vm^4-^:'' ¦«j;i? iiW«ii!!i!l!i«l!i!ii!iiliiiffi [3m~ NEW BOOKS aud NEW EDITIONS, Kecently Puulished By BX U 14 P H ^" .t CO. Xetv and Iitt proved Editions of TWO HIGHLY IMPORTANT WORKS. By the Most Rev. Archbishop SPALDING. JVbiP ready, in 1 vol. qf 1000 pages, So, cloth, price $3.50, Another Edition, on fine paper, 2 vols. So. cloth, bev'd, $5; library style, $6; half calf , $7.50, The Historyof the Protestant Reiofmation, In Ger HI a n }/, Sivitscvtand, England, Ireland, Scotland, Tile Xetherland.>i, France and 2\'orfJiern Europe. In a Serie.^ qf E.-i.sai/s, Sevieioing D'Aubigxr, Menzbl, Hallam, Short, Prescott, Banke, Fryxell and others, THE FOUKTH EDITION, CiREFllllT KEVISED, With a New Preface and a New & Complete Index. By the Most Rev, M. J. SPALDING, D. D. Akchbishop or Baltimore, In announcing a New Edition of this celebrated work, the Publishers feel that they are offering the most Com prehensive, Elaborate, and Complete HISTORY of the EEFOfiMATION" ever published. It Is replete -with facts, well arranged, and thoroughly digested. Jt abounds with References to the Original Authorities, most of them Protestant. All the hidden springs of action, are devel oped, and the actors, themselves, in the stirring drama of the Sixteenth Century, are brought upon the stage, and portrayed, as represented by themselves, or depicted by their contemporaries and friends. The various influences of the Reformation in the different countries of Europe, are also thoroughly examined; and its claims to have given a new impulse to Liberty, Literature and Civiliza tion, are carefully scrutinized. Facts and authorities are succintly and methodically arranged, ^^®~This work ought to occupy a conspicuous place in every Public and Private Library iu the country, as a Complete and Reliable Work of Reference, MuBPHV & Co., Printers, BooTcaellerg & Statitmere, 182 Baltimore at.. Bait. Recently Publislied, in 1 vol. Demi 80., cloth S2, half calf $?.. Lectures on the Meoces of Catholicity, Third Itevised Edition. By the Most Eev. M. J. SPALDING, D.D. AUGHBI.SHOP OT BALTIMORE. These Lectures are intended to exhibit, in a plain and straight forward manner, the principal Evidences of the Catholic Church. They are now offered to the public in a third edition, with the hope that some* sincere and candid souls, now wandering amidst the mazes of hereditary error, may be led back by the perusal of them to the bosom ofthe true Church, from which their fathers in an evil hour separated, to follow after the devices of their own hearts. To every lover of the Christian Religion, it must be apparent, on sufficient examination, that the Evidences which sustain Catholicity, are sulDstantially identical v/ith those which establish Christianity itself. 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This first Eng lish Edition, is confidently peeojnaiended to the Ecclesiastics of this country. BIirnPUY &. Co. Printfr.f, Buvli^ellera i& Stationers, 182 iiaUiinore st.,Jinlt. Recently Published, in 1 col. ISo., cloth 75 cis. ; cloth, gt. $125 Tie' Love of Relipns Ferfeclioii, Or, How to Awaken, Increase, anil Preserve it in tlic fieligioiis Soiil- From the Latin* of Father JOS. BAYM A, S, .1. With IHE Approb.\tio.v ov the Most Rkv. ARCHBISHOP SPAI.DINO. From, tiie Preface io ike American Edition. No one can read, in the prop6r Spirit, this valuable Treatise, without perceiving it well deserves the reputa tion it has won. Learning, M-isdom and piety, unite to recommend it to all who wish to advance in that best and purest of all Sciences, the Science of Salvation. Like two other similar works, the Imitation of Christ, and the Spiritual Combat which have helped to enlighten and encourage thousands on their way to our only true home. you may open this little book at almost any chapter, and find something to turn your thoughts heavenward; to raise your heart to God. to purify its affections, to warn you against the deceitfulness of Sin, and the allurements of the world in the midst of which we live. To all thereforo, and all times such works as this are highly useful; and to such as will profit by the experi ence and wisdom they teach, better by far, than trea sures of gold, and precious stones and the purest silver. Since 1851, when this treatise first appeared in Rome, it has passed through many editions in different places, and has been translated into several languages. May the perusal of it here increase in many souls the love of solid virtue and perfection which it is so well calculated to inspire. 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This series of six Books are printed on Fine Cap Paper. They are uniformly bound in Books of various sizes, and may be had separately or in sets, done up in neat Walnut Cases. Murphy & Co., Printers, Booliscllers dc Stationers, 183 Baltimore st , Bait. B Murphy's Cheap Sthbeotype Edition. THE End of Religious Controversy, BETWEEN A RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF PROTESTANTS, AND A CATHOLIC DIVINE. BY THE RIGHT REV. JOHN MILNER, D. D. TO ¦WHICH IS ADDED, BALTIMOEB: Pbinted and Published bt John Mubphy & Oo. Metropolitan Press, 182 Baltimore street. Pittsbukq: Geokge Quiqlbt. Sold dy Catholic Boolcsellers generally tJtroughout the United Slates. 1866. ' JLet those treat you harshly, who are not acquainted with the difficulty of at taining to truth arid avoiding error. Let those treat you harshly, who know not how hard it is to get rid of old prejudices. Let those treat you harshly, who have not learned how very iiard it is to purify the interior eje and render it capable ol contemplating the sun ofthe soul, truth. But as to us: we are far from this dis position towai-ds persons who are separated from us, not by errors of their own invention, but by being entangled in those of others. We are so far from this dis position tiiat we pray to God, that, in refiiting the false opinions of those, whom you follow, not from malice, but imprudence, he would bestow upon us tnat spirit of peace, which feels no other sentiment than charity, no other interest than that of Jesus Christ, no other wish but for your salvation." St. Austin, Doctor oj -liie Churcli, A. D. 400, contra Ep. Fund. c. i. c. ii. " There are many oilier things which keep me in the bosom of the Catholic Church. The agreement of different people and nations keeps me there. The authority established by Miracles, nourished by hope, increased by charity, and oonfirmed by antiquity, keeps me there. The succession of bishops in the See of St. Peter, tiie apostle, (to whom our Lord, after his resurrection, committed his sheep, to be fed) down to the present bishop, keeps me there. Finally, the verj name of CATHOLIC, which, among so many heresies, this church alone pos sesses, keeps me there." St. Augustin, Doctor of the Church, Ji. D. 400, contrt Epist. Fundam. c. 4. " It is a shame to charge men with what they are not guilty of, in order to makt the breach wider, already too wide." Dr. Montague, bishop of A'onoich. Invoc. nJ Saints, p. 60. " Let them not lead people by the nose to believe they can prove their supiiosi- (ion, that the Pope is Antichrist, and the Papists idolaters, when they cannot." Dr. Herbert Thomdike, prebendary of Westminster. Jifst Weights and Measures, p. 1 1 . " The object of their (the Catholics) adoration ofthe B. Sacramor;'. » the onlj true and eternal God, hypostatically joined with his holy humanity, wlii.;^; humanitjf they believe actually present under the veil of the sacramental signs : and if tliej thought him not present, they are so far from worshipping the bread i; this case that themselves profess it to be idolatry to do so." Dr Jeremy Tafiv. bishop oj Oaism. Liberty of proph4:sying, chap sx THE EDITOR TO THE READER. In this work, entitled " The End of Religious Controversy," the author and Dis correspondents having established the certainty of divine revelation and the truth of the Chrbtian religion, he proposes the means by which, among the various discordant creeds of those who profess Christianity, the true faith which Jesus Christ brought down from heaven, and the true church which he established on earth, may be discovered. He undertakes to prove that we are provided with the certain means of making this discovery, and that Christ himself has left us a rule of faith, adapted to the capacities of all, by which we may come to the knowledge of true religion. Before he attempts to show what this rule is, he notices certain methods, whichhave been adopted as rules of faith, and proves them to be insufficient and faUacious. Private inspiration, he maintains, cannot be a rule of faith, because private inspiration is iu itself a ijuestionable pretension ; may be claim ed by one as well as by another, and all alike ; and has. In fact, been claimed and acted upon by different sectaries. In support of different and conlradiclory tenets ; at the same time that it has. In many instances, led the pretenders to it into the greatest absurdities and most shocking impieties. Another rule of faith, the rule adopted by the reformed churches In general, is the scripture or the urritten word of God, left to the interpretation of each individual : for as no tupreme, unerring authority is acknowledged by Protestants to determine tne tense and meaning of Scripture, or to decide and announce what articles of faith are necessary for salvation, individual judgment is made the guide to in dividuals, the necessity of preachers is done away, and the commission of Jesus Christ to his apostles, "Go, teach all nations," Is annulled. Where there is no obligation to hear and obey, there can be no quthority to teach and insti-uct. The church, as an Infallible teacher, is discarded, but its powers are transferred to each individual person ; each person possesses infallibility ir himself^ each person is himself a church, accordingly as he may please to fone The Editor to the Reader. ) his creed ; and every possible contradictory opinion is equally defensible, as resting upon the interpretation of Scripture, adopted by the person who main tains it. This rule, like private inspiration, is shown to be fallacious ; since, like the former. It has led, as it is calculated lo lead, to opposite conclusions on numberless points of faith: and since there Is no acknowledged ^'udge on earth to decide, it necessarily follows that either contradictory doctrines are favored by the sacred volume, and revealed, as equally true, by the God from whom that sacred volume came, or else that it was intended by the God of peace, as an apple of discord, and meant by the God of truth forthe propagation of false hood. But as such intentions can never be imputed to the Deity, nor can it be imagined that our Redeemer established a church to succeed to the Jewish dis pensation, and to last till the end of the world, so vague and Indeterminate in its creed, so uncertain as to its form or even existence, in one place professing, on the authority of God's InfalUble word, articles and doctrines which, in another place, it anathematizes and disclaims on the same unerring authority, — the author maintains that the Scripture alone does not furnish this certain ^nd altainable rule adapted to the capacities and situations of mankind at large. Still he maintains that a rule does exist, and ever has existed since the time of Christ, by which the faith of his disciples is secured from error, and his true religion, with all Its doctrines and articles of belief proclaimed to them wilh equai certainty, by means of his protecting Spirit, his promised Paraclete, as if He yi-ere visibly seen by them, and were heard by them speaking in his own person, as when he conversed with his disciples upon earth. This rule, he contends, is the word of God, written and unwritten, as it is interpreted and ex plained by his appointed oracle, HIS CHURCH, which he has authorized and commissioned to teach all nations, while he has commanded all raankind to hear his church. This rule of faith, subject lo the interpretation of an infaUible ex positor, inspired by himself, aud guided by his Holy Spirit, ihe Spirit of Truth, must necessarily commiiniC3.te his revelations, must in/a/KiZy leach Ais truth, the whole truth, and the truth alone. This rule, thus unerringly explained by the Light of Light, inevitably implies teachers instituted by J-esvs Christ him self, and a succession of teachers kept up by Him and inspired by Him. It se cures their followers from the danger of error, in adopting their own conjec tures, and the teachers it preserves from the spirit of innovation and imposture, from all the attempts of ambitious or interested dogmatizers. He then pro ceeds to show, that the church dispersed throughout the world and in commu nion with the See of Rome (commonly called the Catholic Church) alone adopts and follows this infallible rule ; and he produces numberless arguments to prove that, whereas Christians have, in every age since that of the apostles, pro fessed their belief of One, Holy, Catholic, and .Apostolic Church, — the Church in cammununi with the See of Rome, and presided over by the successor of St. Peter in that see, exclusively exhibits these four essential marks of the church of Christ, viz., Unity, in doctrine, liturgy, govemment, ane.. constilution ; Sanc tity, in doctrine, in the means of holiness, and the fruits of holiness ; Cath- The Editor to ihe Reader. oticiTT, or universality, in its extent, as to iime and place, no less than its name, which It has borne from time immemorial ; and, finally, Apostolicity, in its descent and regular succession of ministers, from the time of the apostles, as well as in its sucromen/s and sacred instltutiom. He then proceeds to show, that these marks are deficient to every Christian society, except that which is in communio7i vnth the See of Rome, and which exclusively enjoys, as it ever Das enjoyed, the distinctive appellation of the Catholic Cliurch. Here, strictly speaking, his work is at an end and controversy concluded. For the infalhble superintendence and inspiration of Jesus Christ promised uid preserved, and the marks, by which his church may be distinguished from *very other society or congregation, being ascertained and applied. It follows »f consequence, (without porhraiar proof with regard to each particular arti cle,) that every doctrine of a cliurch so guarded and protected, must be the doc trine of Jesus Christ himself, and the church secure from error. However, for the sake ol candid and sincere inquirers, the author condescends to particu lar examination ; brings forward the principal charges that are usually made against the Roman CathoUc Church, and proves them to be either the involun tary errors of mistaken ignorance, or the unfair means resorted to by misrepre sentation, with the view to blacken anc disfigure the spouse of Christ. He draws aside the mask which malice had held up as her genuine countenance, and displays her form and features in all their native beauty and loveliness. For fiirther satisfaction, he explains and justifies those particular doctrinal points, which are excepted against by the separatists from the Church of Rome. Such are the nature and character of the work now presented to the public ; such is the object of the pre-eminent writer, which Ifhe have attained, he has without question put an Mnd to Religious Controversy, and fully justified the title given to his matchless performance. Let the reader juage. CONTENTS. PART I. Pvg*. letter I. Introduction. Mr. Brown's Apology to Dr. M. Account of the Friendly Society of New Cotteee - - - -'- - - - -I ESSAY I. On the Existeno* of God and Natural Rehgion, by the Rev. Samuel Carey, LL.D. - - - - - - - - 4 ESSAY n. On the truth of the Christian Religion, by Do. • • • - 8 LETTER n. To James Brown, Esq. Dr. M "s Conditions for entering on the Correspondence. Freedom of Speech. Sincerity and Candour. A Conclusive Method • - 13 LETTER in. * Prom James Brown, Esq, Agreement to the Conditions on the part of the Society - . -19 LETTER IV. To James Brown, Esq. Dispositions for success in Religious Inquiries. Renunciation of prejudices, passions, and vicious inclinations. Fervent prayer - • - IC LETTER V. To James Brotcn, Esq. Rule or Method of finding out the True Religion. Christ has left a Rule. This Rule must be sure and unerring. It must be adapted to the capacitr and situations of the bulk of mankind - - - . -18 LETTER VI. To James Brawn, Esq. First fallacious Rule ; Private Inspiration. Jhis has led numberless Christians into errors, impiety and vice, in ancient and in modern times. Account of Modern Fanatics, Anabaptists, Quakers, Moravians, Swodenborgians, Methodists, &c -j. . - . . . -80 LETTER vn. To James Brown, Esq. Olyections of certain Members ofthe Socie^ answered • • SS iJontents. Pag*. LETTER VIIL To James Brown, Esq. Second fallacious Rule ; the Scripture according to each person's particular interpretation of it. Christ did not intend that mankind, in general, should learn his Religion from a Book. No Legislator ever made Laws without providing Judges and Magistrates to explain and enforce them. Dissen- siohs, divisions. Immorality, and infidelity, which have arisen from the pri vate interpretatidn of Scripture. Illusions of Protestants in this matter. Their inconsistency in making Articles, Catechisms, &c. Acknowledgment of learned Protestants on this head - - - - - 3> LETTER IX. To James Brown, Esq. The subject continued. Protestants have ho evidence of the /nspirafion of Scripture : nor of its authe7iticity : nor of the fidelity of their copies : nor of its sense. Causes of the! obscurity of Scripture : Instances of this; The Protestant Rule affords no ground for Faitli. Doubts in which those who follow it live and also die - - - - - - - 4^ LETTER X. To James Brown, Esq. The True Rule, namely. The Whok Word of God, unwritten as well as writ ten, subject to the interpretation of the Church. In this and in evfey other , CQUntry, the written law is grounded upon the unwritten law. Christ ' taught the Apostles by word of mouth, and sent them to preach it by word of mouth. This method was followed by them and their disciples and suc cessors. Testimonies of this from the Fathers of the five first centuries E9 LETTER XI. To James Brown, Esq. The subject continued. Protestants forced to have recourse to the Catholic Rule, in different instances. Different instances of this. Their vain at tempts to adopt it in other instances. Quibbling evasions of the Articles, Canons, Oaths, and Laws respecting uniformity. Acknowledged necessity of deceiving the people. Bishop Hoadley the patron of this hypocrisy. The Catholic Rule confessed by Bishop Marsh to be the Original Rule. Prooft that it has never been abrogated. Advantages of this Rule to the Church at large, and to its individual members - - ¦ ^ - - 61 LETTER XII. To James Brown, Esq. Objections answered. Texts of Scripture. Other oWections. IBusory de clamation of Bishop Porteus. The advice of Tobiai; when he sent his Son into a strangt country, recommended to the Society of New Cottage - 75 Contents. PdRT IL Page. LETTER XIII. To James Brown, Esq. Congratulation with the SoJtty of New Cottage on their acknowledgment of the right lUile of Faith. Frooi" th-..t tlic Catholic Church alone is pos sessed of tills Rule. Characters or Marks of the True Church - - 86 LETTER XIV. To Jtimes Brown, Esq. Unify, tiie First Mark ofthe True Cliurch. This proved from Reason— from Scripture — and from the Holy Fathers - - - • - 90 LETTER XV To .fames Brmcn, Esq. Want of Unity among Protestants in general. This acknowledged by their eminent writers. Striking instances of it in the Established Church. Vain attempts to lyconcile diversity of belief with uniform Articles - - 93 LETTER XVI. To Ju}ii£S iiroion, Esq. Unity ofthe Catholic Church — in Doctrine — in Liturgy — in Government, and Constitution -- .-.--98 LETTER XVn. To Dr. M. from James Brown, Esq. Objections against the exclusive claims of Catholics. Extract of a letter from tiie Rev. N. N. Prebendary of N. Bishop Watson's doctrine on this head 102 LETTER XVIII. To James Broicn, Esq. Objections answered. Bishop Watson, bv attempting tfT prove too much, proves nothing. Doctrine of tlie Holy Scriptures and the Fathers on tliis bead. Exclusive claim of the Catliolic Church a proof of her truth - 103 LETTER XIX. To James Brown, Esq. Second Mark ofthe True Church, Sanctity. Sanctity of doctrine wanting to the different Protestant Communions— to Luther's system— to Calvin's— lo - that of the E.stablishcd Church— to those of Dissenters and Methodists. Doctrine ofthe Catholic Chuich Holy - - - . - 108 POSTSCRIPT. Variations and Impiety ofthe late Rev. John Wesley's doctrine - - 116 LETTER XX. To James Brown, Esq, Means of Sanctity. The Seven Sacraments, possessed by Catholics. Pro testants possess none of them, except Baptism. The whole Liturgy of the Established Church borrowed from the Catholic Missal and Ritua.. Sa crifice the most acceptable worship of God. Tlic most perfect Sacrifice offered in the Catholic Church. Protestants destitute of Sacrifice. Other means of .Sanctity in tlie Catholic communion 119 Contents. Past. LETTER XXI. To James Brown, Esq, Fruits of Sanctity. All the saints were CathoUcs. Comparison of eminent Protestants with contemporary Catholics. Immorality caused by changing the Ancient Religion - - - - - 126 LETTER XXII. « To Mr. J. Toulmin. Objections answered. False accounts of the Church before the Reformation, so called. Ditto of John Fox's Martyrs. The vices of a few Popes no impeachment ofthe Church's Sanctity. Scriptural practices and exercises common among Catholics but despised by Protestants ... ISP LETTER XXin. To James Brown, Esq. Divine Attestation of Sanctity in the Catholic Church. Miracles the Crite rion of Truth. Christ appeals to them, and promises a continuation of them. The Holy Fathers and Church writers attest their continuation, and appeal to them, in proof of the Tiue Church. Evidence of the Truth of many Miracles. Irreligious scepticism of Dr. Conyer's Middleton : this undermines the Credit ofthe Gospel. Continuation of miracles down to the present time : living witnesses of it - - - - . 133 LETTER XXIV. To James Brown, Esq. Objections answered. False and unauthenticated miracles no disproof of true and authenticated ones. Strictness of the examination of reported miracles at Rorae. Not necessary to know God's design in working each miracle. Examination of the arguments of celebrated Protestants against Catholic miracles. Objection of Gibbon and the late bishop of Salisbury (Dr. John Douglass) against St. Bernard's miracles refuted. St. Xavier's miracles proved frora the authori. quoted against them. Dr. Middleton's Confident assertion clearly refuted. Bishop Douglass's Conclusive Evidence from Acosta against St. Xavier's miracles clearly refuted, by the testimony of the said Acosta. Testimony of Ribadeneira concerning St. Ignatius's miracles truly stated. True account of the miracle of Saragossa. Impostures at the tomb of Abb6 Paris. Refutation ofthe Rev. Peter Rouert's pamphlet, con- cernuig the miraculous cure of Wincfrid White - - - . 145 LETTER XXV. To James Brown, Esq. The True Church Catholic. Always Catholic in name, by the testimony of the Fathers. Still distinguished by that name in spite of all opposition - 153 LETTER XXVI. To James Brown, Esq. Qualities of Catholicity. The Church Catholic as to its members : as to its ex tent ; as to its duration. The original Chuich of this country - - 15J LETTER XXVII. To James Broken,' Esq. • , Objections -of the Rev. Josuah Clark answered. Existence of an invisible Church disproved. Vain attempt to trace the existence of Protestantism through the discordant heresies of former ages. Vain Prognostication of the failure ofthe True Church. Late attempts to undermine it - -161 Contents. Pog*- LETTER XXVIII. To James Brown, Esq. The True Church, ^ostoKcol: so described by the ancient Fathers. APOS TOLICAL TREE ofthe Catholic church explained, by a brief account of the Popes and of distinguished Pastors, also of nations converted by her, and of heretics and schismatics cut ofl" from the True Church - -166 LETTER XXIX. To Jotnes, Brown, Esq. f Apostolical succession of Ministry in the Catholic Church. Among Protest ant Societies the Church of England alone claims such succession. Doc trine and conduct of Luther, and of dilTerent Dissenters on this point. Un certainty of the Orders of the Established Church from the doctrine of its foundei-s— from the history ofthe times— from the defectiveness of the form. Apostolic Mission, evidentiy wanting to all Protestants. They cannot show an ordinary mission : they cannot work miracles to prove an extraordinary one ---------- 177 LETTER XXX. To Jam£s Brown, Esq. Objections of the Rev. Josuah Clark answered. Apostolical ministry not in terrupted by the personal vices of certain Popes. Fable of Pope Joan re futed. Comparison between the Protestant and the Catholic Missions for the conversion of Infidels. Vain prediction of conversions and of refor mation by the Bible Societies. Increase of crimes commensurate with that of tiie Societies - - - - - - - - 186 POSTSCRIPT. Recapitulation of things proved ic the foregoing Letters . W* Contentt. PjIrt m. LETTER XXXL To the Rev. J. M. D D. Introduction. Effects produced by the foregoing Letters on the minds of Mr. Brown, and others of his Society. This in part counteracted by the Bi shop of London's (Dr. Porteus' ) Charges against the Catholic Religion - 197 LETTER XXXIL To James Brown, Esq. Observations on the Charges in question. Impossibility of the True Church being guilty of them. Just conditions to be required by a Catholic Divine in discussing them. Calumny aqd misrepresentation necessary weapons for the assailants of the True Church. Instances of gross calumny pubhsh ed by eminent Protestant writers, now living. Effects of these calumnies. No Catholic ever shaken in his faith by them. They occasion the convei^ sion of many Protestants. They render their authors dreadfully guilty be fore God - . . ..... 199 LETTER XXXIII. Te^ James Brown, Esq. Charge of Idolatry. Protestantism not originally founded on this. Invoca^ tion of the Prayers of Angels and Saints grossly misrepresented by Protest ants : truly stated from the Council of Trent, and Catholic Doctors. Vindi cation ofthe practice. Evasive attack of the Bish(Jp of Durham: Retorted upon his Lordship. The practice recommended by Luther : vindicated by distinguished Protestant Bishops. Not imposed upon the faithful : highly consoling and beneficial .... . . 2OC LETTER XXXIV. To Jam£s Brown, Esq. Religious Memorials. Doctrine and practice of Catholics, most of all, mis represented on this head. Old Protestant versions of Scripture corrupted to favour such misrepyssentation. Unbounded calumnies in the Homilies, and other Protestant publications. True doctrin^ of the Catholic Church defined by the Council of Trent, and taught in her books of instruction. Errors of Bishop Porteus, in fact and in reasoning. Inconsistency of his own practice. No obligation on Catholics of possessing pious images, pic tures, or relics - .- - - - - . gij LETTER XXXV. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Objections refuted. That the Saints cannot hear us. Extravagant addresses to Saints. Want of candour in explaining them. No evidence of the Faith of the Church. Notorious falsehoods of the Bishop of London, concerning the ancient doctrine and practice ----.. 219 LETTER XXXVL To James Brown, Esq. Transubstantiation. Important remark of Bishop Bossuet concerning it Ca tholics not worshippers of bread and wine. Acknowldgement of some eminent Protestants. Disingenuity of others, in concealing the main ques tion, and bringing forward another of secondary importance. The Luthe rans and the most respectable Prelates of the EstabUshment agree with Ca thoUcs on the main point - - - . . gSi Contatts. Ptgt. LETTER XXXVII. To Jianes Brown, Esq. The Real Presence. Variations of tbe Established Church on this point In consistency of her present doctrine concerning it Proofs of the Real Pre sence from Christ's promise of the Sacrament ; from his institution of it The same proved from Uie ancient Fathers. Absurd position of Bishop Porteus, as to the origin of the tenet The reality strongly maintained by Luther. Acknowledged by the most learned English Bishops and Divines. Its superior excellence and sublimity ... - - 226 LETTER XXXVHL To the Rev. Robert-Clayton, Jtf. A. Objections answered. Texts of Scripture examined. Testimony, of tbtt senses weighed. Alleged Contradictions disproved ... S34 LETTER XXXIX. To James Brown, Esq. Communion under one or both kinds a matter of discipline. Protestants forced to recur to Tradition and Church disciphne. The blessed Eucharist a Sacrifice as well as a Sacrament. As a Sacrifice, both kinds necessary : ai a Sacrament, whole and entire under either kind. Protestants receive no Sacrament at all The aposties sometimes administered the communion under one kind. The Text, 1 Cor. xi. 27, corrupted in the English Pro testant Bible. Testimonies of the Fathers for communion in one Iflnd. Oc casion ofthe ordinances of St Leo and Pope Galasius. DiscipUne of the Church different at different times in this matter. Luther allowed of com munion in one kind ; also the French Calvinists ,- also the Church of Eng land. . - . 338 LETTER XL. To James Brown, Esq. Excellence of Sacrifice. Appointed by God. Practised by all people, ex cept Protestants. Sacrifice ofthe New Law, promised of old to the Chri»> tian Church. Instituted by Christ The Holy Fathers bear testimony to it, and performed it St Paul's Epistie to the Hebrews misinterpreted by the Bishops of London, Lincoln, &c. Deception of talking ofthe Popish Mass. Inconsistency of EstabUshed Church in ordaining Priests without having a Sacrifice. IrreUgious invectives of Dr. Hey against the Holy Mass, wiUiout his luiderstanding it ! - - - - - ,- - 243 LETTER XLI. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A Absolution from sin. Horrid misrepresentation of CathoUc doctrine. Real doctrine of the Church, defined by the Council of Trent This pure and holy. Violent distortion of Christ's words concerning the forgiveness of sins, by Bishop Porteus. Opposite doctrine of Chillingworth : and of Lu ther and the Lutherans : and of the EstabUshed Liturgy. Inconsistency of Bishop P. Reftitation of his arguraents about confession : and of his asser tions concerning the ancient doctrine. ImpossibiUty of imposing thisprao- ti6e on mankind. Testimony of Chillingworth as io tbe comfort and bene fit of 3 good confession ... . . > 241 LETTER XLIL To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Indulgences. Unsupported false definition of them by the Bishop of London. His further calumnies on the subject Similar calumnies of other Protest ant Prelates and Divines. The genuine doctrine of CathoUcs. No permi»- 2 • B • Contents. sion to commit sin. No pardon of any future sin. No pardon of sin at all. No exemption from contrition or doing penance. Notransfer of superfluous holiness. Retortion of the charge on the Protestant tenet of imputed justice. A mere relaxation of temporal punishment. No encouragement of vice; but rather of virtue. Indulgences authorized in aU Protestant .So cieties. Proofs ofthis in the Church of England. Among the Anabaptists. Among the ancient and modern Calvinists. Scandalous BuUs, Dispensa tions, and Indiilgences of Luther and his disciples - - 25B LETTER XLIII. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Purgatory and Prayers for the dead. Weak objection of Dr. Porteus against ^ a middle state. Scriptural arguments for it Dr. P's Appeal to Antiquity defeated. Testimonies of Lutherans and English Prelates In favour of Prayers for the Dead. Eminent modern Protestants, who proclaim a Uni versal Purgatory. Consolations attending the Catholic belief and practice 265 LETTER XLIV. , To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Extreme Unction. Clear proof of this Sacrament from Scj-ipture. Impiety and inconsistency of the Bishop in slighting this. His Appeal to Antiquity • refuted - - 272 LETTER XLV To the Rev. Robert Clayton, Jtl. A. Antichrist : Impious assertions of Protestants concerning him. Their absurd and contradictory systems. Retortion of the charge of Apostasy. Other charges against the Popedom refuted ..... 279 LETTER XLVI. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. The Pope's Supremacy truly stated. His spiritual authority proved from Scripture. Exercised and acknowledged in the primitive ages. St Gre gory's contest with the Patriarch of C. P. about the title of CEcumenica], Concessions of eminent Protestants ..... 232 LETTER XLVIL To James Brown, Jun. Esq, The languaga of the Liturgy and Reading the Scriptures. Language a mat ter of disciphne. Reasons for the Latin Church retaining the Latin Lan guage. Wise economy of the Church as to reading the Holy Scriptures. Inconslstenciesof the Bible Societies .... .292 LETTER XLVIII. To Jflmes Broion, Jun. Esq. Various misrepresentations. Canonical and Apocryphal books of Scripture. Pretended invention of five new Sacraments. Intention of Ministers ofthe Sacraments. Continence of the Clergy— Recommended by Parliament Advantages of fasting. Deposition of Sovereigns by Popes far less fre quent than by Protestant Reformers The bishop's egregious falsehoods respecting the primitive Church - - - - - . 2S9 LETTER XLIX. To James Brmon, Jun. Esq. Beligious Persecution. The CathoUc Church claims no right to inflict sau- puinary punishments, but disclaims it The right of temporal Princes and Contents. States in this matter. Meaning of Can. 3, Lateran iv. truly stated. Queen Mary persecuted as a Sovereign, not as a Catholic. James II. deposed for refusing to persecute. Retortion of the charge upon Protestants the mo.'sl ef fectual way of silencing them upon it Instances of persecution by Pro testants in every Protestant country : in Germany: in Switzerlanil: at Ge neva, and in France: in Holland: in Sweden: in Scotland: in England. Violence and long continuance of it here. Eminent loyalty of CaUiolics. Two circumstances which distinguished the persecution exercised by Ca^ tholics from tl^t exercised by Protestants - • - 305 LETTER L. To the Friendly Society of J^ew Cottage. Conclusion. Recapitulation of points proved in these letters. The True Rule of FaiUi : The True Church of Christ. Falsity ofthe Charges alleged against her. An equal moral evidence for the Catholic as for the Christian Religion. The former, by the confession of its adversaries, the safer side. No security too great where Eternity is at stake ! - - - - 321 A POSTSCRIPT To tbe second Edition of the Address to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of -81. David's, occasioned by his Lordship's ' One Word to the Rev. Dr Milmer! 32? ADDRESS. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S. My Lord, THE following Letters, with some others belonging to the same series, were written in the latter part ofthe year 1801, and the first months of 1802, though they have since that time been revised, and, in some respects, altered. They grew out of the controversy, which the principal vi'riter of them was obliged to sustain against an eminent author, a prebendary ofthe cathedral, and the chancellor of the diocese of Winchester, who had person ally challengefl him to the field of argument, in a book, called Reflections on Popery. That controversy having made some noise in the public, and even in the houses of parliament, particularly in the upper house, where the lord chancellor,* and a predecessor of your lordship, then the light and glory of the established church,t expressed opposite opinions on the issue of it, certain powerful personages expressed an earnest wish for its termina tion.' For this purpose, the usual method of silencing authors was at first resolved upon with respect to the writer, and a Ca tholic gentleman of name, still living, was commissioned to sound him on the business : but, in conclusion, it was thought most ad visable to employ the influence which the prelate alluded to had so justly acquired over him. This method succeedecl J and, ac cordingly, these Letters, which, otherwise, would liave been pub lished fifteen years ago, have slept in silence ever since. I trusft your lordship will not be the person to ask me, why the Letters, after having been so long suppressed, now appear? — You are witness, my lord, of tbe increased and increasipgviruleifce of * Th^Right Hon. tlie Earl of Loughboroug-h. ¦ \ The Right Kev. Dr. Ilorsely, successively bishop of St. DaviJ's, Roches ter, anel St. Asaph's. 2* li Address. the press against Catholics ; and this, in many instances, directed by no ignoble or profane hands. Abundant proofs of this will be seen in the following work. For the present, it is sufficient to mention, that one of your most venerable colleagues publishes and re-publishes, that we stand convicted of idolatry, blasphemy, and sacrilege. Another proclaims to the fclergy, assembled in Synod, that we arc enemies of all law, human and divine. More than one of them has charged us with the guilt of that Anti-Christian con spiracy on the continent, of which we were exclusively the vic tims. This dignitary accuses us of Antinomianism; that main tains our religion to be fit only for persons weak in body and in mind. ¦ In short, we seldom find ourselves, or our religion, men tioned in modern sermons, or other theological works, unaccom-j panied with the epithets of superstitious, idolatrous, impious, dis loyal, perfidious, and sanguinary. One of the theologues alluded to, who, like many others, has gained promotion by the fervour ot his NO POPERY zeal, has exalted his tone to the pitch of pro claiming that our. religion is calculated for the meridian of hell.' .' — Thus solemnly, and almost continually, charged before the tribu nal ofthe public, with crimes against society and our country, no less than against religion, and yet conscious, all the while, of our entire innocence, it is not only lawful, but also a duty, which we owe to our fellow-subjects and ourselves, to repel these charges, by proving that there was rea.son, and religion, and loyalty, and good faith among Christians, before Luther quarreled with Leo X., and Henry VIII. fell in lov^Kvith Ann Bullen; and that, if we ourselves have not yet been persuaded by the arguments, either of the monk or the monarch, to I'elinquish the faith originally preached in thi? island, above 1300 years before their time, we are, at least, possessed of common sense, virtuous principles, and untainted loyalty. The writer might assign another reason for making the present publication; namely^ the number and acrimony of his own public opponents on subjects of religion. To say nothing ofthe ground less charges, by word of mouth, of certain privileged personages, the following writers are some of those who have published books, pamphlets, essays, or notes against him, on subjects of a religious nature ; the deans of Winchester and Peterborough ; chancellor Sturges; prebendary Poulter; the doctors Hoadly, Ash, Rjan, Ledwich, Le Mesurier.f and Elrington ; Sir Richard Musgrave, • To one only objection of his adversaries, the writer wishes here to give an answer, that of having quoted falsely ,- which, however, has been adv.inced by very few of them, and is confined, as far as he knows, to two instances. Thelfirst of these, is, that the writer, in his History of Winchester, vol. i. p. 61, " guotes Oildas, for the exploits of king Arthur, who never once men tions his name." This objection \vas first started by Dr. O'Conor, In his Co- himbanus, was borrowed from him, by the Rev. iff. Le JHesurifer, in his Bamptim Lectures, and was adopted from the latter by the Rev. Mr. Urier, in his Answer to Ward's Errata. — After all, this pretended _/br^«-y ofthe writer Address. iii John Reeves, Esq. the Reverend Messrs Williamson, Bazeley, Churton.'Giier, aud Roberts ; besides numerous anonymous rifle men in the Gentleman's Magazine, the Monthly Magazine, the Anti-Jacobin Review, the Protestant Advocate, the Antibiblion, and other periodical works, including newspapers. By some of these he has been challenged into the field of controversy, and when he did not appear there, he has been posted as a coward. A still more cogent reason, my lord, for the appearance of this work, which was heretofore suppressed, at the desire of a former bishop of St. David's, has been furnished by his present successor, in the work the latter has lately published, called THE PRO TESTANT'S CATECHISM. This is no ordinary effusion ot NO POPERY zeal. It was not called for by the increase of the ancient religion in his lordship's diocese, which teems with Me thodist jumpers, to the danger of his cathedral and parish church es being left quite empty ; while not one Catholic family, is, per haps, to be found in it. It was not provoked by any late attempt on the established church, or on Protestantism in general ; as the bishop does not pretend that such thing has taken place. Never theless he comes forward in his Episcopal mitre, bearing in his hands a new Protestant Catechism, to be learnt by Protestants of every description, which teaches them to hale and persecute their elder brethren, the authors of their Christianity and civilization ! In fact, this Christian bishop, begins and ends his Protestant Cate chism, with a quotation from a Puritan regicide, declaring, that " Popery is not to be tolerated, either in public or in pritjate, and that it must be thought how to remove it, and hinder the growth thereof:" adding, " if they say, that, by removing their idols we violate their consciences, we have no warrant to regard conscience, w^lich is not grounded on Scripture."* This, jour lordship must will be found, on consulting the passage referred to above, to be nothing else but a blunder of his crit cs ,• since it will appear that he quotes William, of Malm.sbury, for the exploits of Arthur and Gildas, barely for the year in which one of them, the battle of Mons Budonicus, took place ! The second accusation ofthis n.-iture, was inserted by one ofthe above named writers, in the Gentleman's Magazine, namely, that the writer had advanced, without any historical authority , that James 1. used to call November 5, " Cecil's holi day." In answer to this charge, he gave notice in the next number of the Magazine, that he had sent up to the editor's office, as he had done, there to remain, during a month, for public inspection, lord. Castlemaln's Catholigtie Apology, which contains the fact, and the authorities on which it is advanced The writer is far from claiming inerrancy ; but he should despise hiraself, if he, knowingly, published any falsehood, or hesitated to retract any one that. he was proved to have fitlkn into. j • Milton's prose works, vol. 4. The prose writings of this secretary of the Long parliament are execrable, for their regicide and anti-prelatic principles, as his poetry is super-excellent for its sublimity and sweetness. Four other Ehglisli authors are brought forwiu-d, by the bishop of St. David's, to justiftr that persecution of Catholics, which he recommends. The first of these iS the Socinian Locke, who will not allow of Catholics being tolerated, on the demonstrated false prcte.\t, that tlicy cannot tolerate other Christians. Tho IV. Address, kno>v,.is thegenuine cant of a Mar-Preate Independent; the same cant which brought Laud, and Charles I. to the block ; tbe same cant v/hich overthrevv the church and state in the grand rebellion. But what chiefiy concerns my present purpose, in this, the bish op's twice repeated quotation from Milton, is to observe that it' breathes the vvhole persecuting spirit of Ihe sixteenth century, and calls for the fines and forfeitures, dungeons and halters, and knives, of Elizabeth's reign, against the devoted Catholics ; since, it is evident, tha.i the idolatry of Popery, as it is termed, exercised in private, cannot be reriioved without such persecuting and san guinary measures-. The s:inie thing is plain from the nature of the diff'erent legal offences which tlie Right Rev. prelate lays to their charge. In one place, he accuses the Catholics of England and Ireland, that is to say, more, tlian a quar(er,of his majesty's European^ubjects, .of " acknowledging thejurisdiction ofthe Pope, m defiance of the laivs, and ofthe allegiance due to their rightful . sovereign ;" though he well knows, tiiat they have abjured tbe Pope's jurisdiction in all civil and temporal cases, whichis all that the king, lords and commons required of them, in their Acts of ir91 and 1793. Again, the prelate describes their opposition to the veto (though equally opposed in the appointment of their re spective pastors by all Protestant dissenters, who constitute more than another fourth part of his majesty's subjects,) as " treasona ble by statute," p. 35. Now, every one knows that the legal pun ishment of a subject, acting in defiance of his allegiance, and con tracting the guilt of treason, is nothing less than dealh. Nay, so much bent on the persecution of Catholics is this modern bishop, aSito arraign parliament itself as guilty ofa breach ofthe Consti tution, by the latter of the above mentioned tolerating Acts ; true cause was, that his hands being stained by tlie blood of twenty innocent CathoUcs, who were immolated by tlie sanguinary policy of his master Shafts bury, in Oatqs' infamous plot, he w^is obliged to find a pretext for excluding them from the legal toleration, which he stood in nee If so absurd a paradox, as the above-mentioned., • To make some brief confutation of each of the Catechist's alleged of them, which I shall mention, is contained in the following ques- tiom and answer. " Q. What is it excludes Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans from our churches and from parliament? A. Re ligion," p. 44. — Your lordship will permit the writer to observe, in the first place, that it is impossible either for the simple cate chumens of Wales, or even forthe learned reviewers of England, to gather from this passage, whether tbe Rt. Rev. prelate means to say, that it isthe religion of Pagans, Jews, and Turks, or that of Protestants, which excludes tbe former from Parliament, for example : nevertheless, the passage, taken either way, is perfectly paradoxical. For can that, prelate, or any one else, cite a pre cept ofthe Vedam, or the Talmud, or the Koran, which prohibits its respective votaries from sitting and voting in the British parliaraent'if they can get entrance into it? Or can he show any thing in Protestantism (whicb he defines to be "The abjura tion of Popery, and the exclusion of I-apists from all power, ec clesiastical or civil") that prevents a man, who publicly pro claims Mahomet, or wlio publicly denies Jesus Christ, or who pulilicly worships the obscene and blood-stained idol Juggernaut, from being a member of either house of the legislature ? No, my .lord, there is no one article in any one of these religions, if they may be called so, which excludes them from our parliament-; the only condition for rendering them fit and worthy to enter into it, and becoming legislators, being their calling God to witness, that " there is no transubstantiation in the mass," and that " the wor ship ofthe Virgin Mary and the saints, as practised in tbe church of Rome, (upon both which points the worshippers of Juggernaut and English Protestants are, for the most part, equally well in structed,) are Idolatrous! A second political paradox lii this Catechism is, that " the inviolable covenants of the two unions show the injustice and unconstitutional nature of the Ro • man Catholic claims," p. viii. This, my lord, is equally incom prehensible ; since the act of union with Scotland neither men- • Hist. Major T. Walsingham, Knighton De vent. Angl. Collier's Eccl Hist. Address. jiv tions these claims, nor alludes to them: and since that of the union with Ireland expressly admits the principle of their being conceded, and prepares the minds of men for their actual con cession ; as it is therein enacted, that " Members of the united parliament shall take and subscribe the usual oaths and declara tions UNTIL THE SAID PARLIAMENT SHALL OTHEMl- WISE PROVIDE." Art. IV. The last of these paradoxes, which tbe writer will extract from the incomprehensible Cate chism, is the following. It teaches, at page 35, that " Not to con sent to the veto, is not to acknowledge the king^s supremacy, which it is treasonable, by statute, to oppose." And immediately after, at p. 36, it teaches that " the veto, or the king's nomination is unprotestant and illegal:" to which the bishop adds, in the words of his friend Mr. Sharp ; "it is highly improper and everi illegal for the crown of England to aciept the power of the pro posed veto; or to have any concern in the appointment of unreform- ed bishops," p. 56. Can any one, my lord, reconcile these oppo site doctrines? To the plain sense of the writer it appears, that if it be illegal for his majesty to accept ofthe veto, it would be criminal in the Catholics to offer ii to liim ; so far from its being treasonable to refuse giving it ! MY LORD BISHOP, The wise man has said, in the Sacred Text, of making many books there is no end, Eccles. xii. 12. ; and we are certain, from reason and experience, that, least of all, will there be an end of making books, and disputing on subjects of religion, with respect to those who have no fixed rule, or none* but a false one, for de ciding on religious controversies, or who suffer wordly interest, pride, or the prejudices of education, to take place ofthe sincerity, humility and piety, which oughtito guide thera in a matter of such infinite moment. The writer trusts that, in the first part of the following Letters, he has shown the rule appointed by Christ, for clearly discerning the truths be has revealed, and whicb con ducts to the same end; that he has, in his second part, clearly pointed out Christ's true church, whicb cannot but teach his tru doctrine. With men of good will, who follow either of these ways in the uprightness and fervour of their souls, a satisfactory end to their religious discussions and doubts, will quickly be found. But who can subdue or soften the above-mentioned pas sions and prejudices ? No one, certainly, but God alone ; and, aa the greater part of mankind is notoriously under their influ ence, the wnter is so far from expecting to make these persons proselytes to bis demonstrations, that he has prepared his mind for the opposition and obloquy which he is sure to experience from them. He is aware, that most statesmen,'and other great Rvi Addreis. personages, regard religion ^merely as a political engine for .ma naging the population, and therefore wish to keep one as well as the other as quiet as possible. On. this principle, bad they been counsellors to king Ethelbert, they would have persuaded him to banish St. Austin, and to continue the worship of Thor and Wo den. The multitude, in this age of infidelity and dissipation, nauseate religious inquiries and instructions; and, when they must hear them, like the Jews of old ; they say to the seer, see not; and to the prophet, prophesy not to us right things: speak unto us smooth things ; prophesy deceits, Isai. xxx. 10. The cri tics and reviewers are, for the most part, as smooth in this re spect, as the prophets : if they lead the public opinion in matters of less consequence, they follow it in those of greater. — But what ever excuse there may be for the inconsistency of other men, in religious matters, there would, evidently, be none for persons of your lordship's and the writer's profession and situation, should they for their temporal advantage, or their prejudices, mislead others in a matter of eternal consequence. Such conduct would be hypocritical, and doubly perfidious and ruinous. It would be perfidious to the individuals so misguided, and to the church ot sect which they profess to serve; since nothing can injure that so much, as the appearance of insincerity and human passions in its official defenders. Accordingly it will be- seen, in the fol lowing work, that the most fruitful source of conversions to the Catholic church, are the detected calumnies and misrepresenta tions of her bitterest enemies. Such conduct would also be ut terly ruinous; first, to its immediate victims ; and secondly, to the persons of your lordship's and the writer's profession and charac ter. In fact, my lord, if, as Christ assures us, at the great day of universal trial, some oTthe arrsiigned will rise up in judgment against others and condemn tliexn for their peculiar guilt, ]\latt. xii. 41.; bow heavy a condemnation will poor bewildered souls call down upon those faithless guides who have led them astray! Or rather, how severe. a vengeance will the Good Shepherd himself (then also the Judge of the living and the dead) who hath laid down his life for his sheep, take of those hirelings, who have not only left his sheep to be caught and scattered by ihe wolf, but have themselves killed and destroyed them! John x. -For all these important motives, let us, my lord, dismiss every selfish interest, human respect, and prejudice from our minds in the discussion of religious subjects, and M\ow truth, whitherso ever she leads us, with the utmost sincerity and aj-dour of our souls. The writer of this, for his part, disgusted, as he is, at see ing the most serious and sacred of all subjects become a mere field of exercise forthe talents, the learning, and the passions of different writers, and averse, as he is, from taking a part in such contests, nevei-theles? holds himself bound, not only to render an account of the hope ihnl is in him, to every one who asketh it of Address. * xvii Wm, in the sincerity of an upright heart, but also to yield the palm to your lordshiji thankfully and publicly, should you be able to prove(not, however, by extravagant and unsupported asser tions, but by sound and convincing theological arguments) that the rule of faith, which he maintains, is not' the one appointed by Christ and his apostles, for guiding Christians into all truth ; or that the church to which he adheres, has not exclusively those marks of the true church, which your lordship ascribes to it, in the creeds j'OU repeat, equally with the writer. Until one or ather of these points is proved, he will hold himself bound to stick close both to the rule and the church, in spite of calumny, mis representation, ridicule, clamour, persecution, and to maintain, in opposition to your lordship, that there is n» just cause for either making or continuing apy penal laws agaiastthe piofessors ofthe original faith. The writer has the hoii ur to remain, my loi .. Your lordship's obedient servant. ¦W , May 3, 1818. J. M. D. Ik THE END OF llELIGTOUS CONTROVERSY. LETTER I. thm JAMES BROWN, Esq. to the Rev. J. M. D D. F. S. A INTRODUCTION. New Cottage, near Cressage, Salop, Oct. 13, 1801. Reverend Sir, I SHOULD need an ample apology tor the liberty [ take, in th^us addressing you -without havmg the honour of your ac quaintance, and still more forthe heavy task I am endeavouring to impose upon you, if I did not consider your public character, as a pastor of your religion, and as a ¦writer in defence of it, and likewise your personal character for benevolence, which has been described to me by a gentleman of your communion, Mr. J. C — ^ne, who is well acquainted with us both. Having mentioned this, I need only add, that I write to you in the name of a societyof serious and worthy Christians, of different persuasions, to which I myself belong, who are as desirous as I am, to receive satisfaction from you, on certam doubts, . which your late work, in answer to Dr. Sturges, has suggested to us.* However, rn making this request of our society to you, it .t tlie golden mean among the coi^jtending sects, and which I am fully persuaded, approaches nearer to the purity of the apbstol ic church, than any other which has- existed since the age ot it, Mrs. Brown professes an equal attachment to the church; yet, being of an inquisiti\'e and ardent mind,' she cannot re frain from frequenting the meetings, and even supporting the missions of those .self-created apostles, who are undermining this church on every side, and who are no where more active than in our sequestered valley, 'i With these differences among us, on thie most interesting ol all subjects, we cannot help having frequent religious contro versies : but reason and charity enables us to manage these without anv breach of either good manners or good will to each other. Indeed, I believe that we are, one and all, possessed of an unfeigned respect and cordial love for christians of every description, one only excepted. Must I name it on the pre sent occasion? — Yes, I must; in order to fulfil my commis sion in a proper manner. It is then the church that you, Rey, sir, belong to ; which, if any credit is due to the eminent divines, whose, works we are in the habit of reading, and more particularly to theiillustrious bishop Porteus, in his celebrated and standing work, called A BRIEF CONFUTATION OF THE ERRORS OFTHE CHURCH OF HOME, extract ed from archbishop Seeker's V. SERMONS AGAINST Introduction. H POPERY,* is such amass of absurdity, bigotry, superstition, idolatry, and immorality, tliat, to say we respect and love those who obstinately adhere to it, as we do other Christians, would seem a compromibc of reason. Scripture, and virtuous feeling. And yet even of this church, we have forined a less revol ting idea, in some particulars, than we did formerly. Thi has happened, from our having just read over your controver sial -work, against Dr. Sturges, called LETTERS TO A PREBENDARY, to which our attention was directed by the notice taken- of it in the house of parliament, and particularly by the very unexpected compliment paid to it, by that orna ment of our church, bishop Horsley. We admit then (at least I, for my part, admit) that you have refuted, the most odious of the charges brought against your religion, namely, that it is, necessarily, and, upon principal, intolerant and sanguinary, re quiring its members to persecute, with fire and sword, all per sons of a different creed from theirown, when this is in their power. You have also proved that Papists may be good sub jects to a Protestant sovereign ; and youhaveshown,by an inter esting historical detail, thatthe Roman Catholics ofthis kingdom have been conspicuous for their loyalty, from the time of Eliza beth, down to the present time. Still most pfthe absurd and anti scriptural doctrines and practices, alluded to above, rela ting to the worship of saints and images, ta transubstantiation and the half communion, to purgatory, and shutting up the Bible, with others ofthe same nature, you have not, to my recollection, so much as attempted to defend. In a word, I write to you. Rev. sir, on the present occasion, in the name of our respectable society, to ask y^ou whether you fairly give up these doctrines and practices of Popery, as untenable, cr otherwise, whether you will condescend to interchange a few letters with me on the subject of them, for the satisfaction of me and my friends, and with the sole view of mutually discovering and communicating religious truths. We remark that you say, in your first letter to Dr. Sturges : " Should I have occasion to make another reply to you, I will try if it be not possible to put the whole question at issue between us, into such a shape as shall remove the danger of irri tation on both sides, and still enable us if we are mutually so disposed, to agree together in the acknowledgment of the same religious truths." — If you stUl think that this is possible, for God's sake and your neighbours' sake, delay not to undertake • The Norrisian professor of divinity, in tlie university of Cambridge speak ing of tliis work, s.iys, " The refutation ofthe Popish eiTors is now reduccc) into a .smtill compass by archbishop Seeker and bishop Porteus." — Lectura in Divinity, Vol. IF. p. 7\. 4 4 £:»say /. it. Ihe plan embraces every advantage we wish for, and ex cludes every evil we deprecate. You shall manage the discus sion in your own way, and we will give you as little interuption as possible.— Two of the essays above alluded to, with which our worthy rector lately furnished us, I, with your permission, enclose, to convince you, that genius and sacred literature are cultivated round the Wrekin, and on the banks of the Severn. I remain. Rev. Sir, with great respect, Your faithful and obedient servant, JAMES BROWN. ESSAf I. ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, AND OF NATURAL RELIGION. BY THE REV. SAMUEL CAREY, LL. D. FORESEEING that my health will not permit me, for a considerable time, to meet my respected friends at New Cot tage, I comply with the request, which several of them have made me, in sending them in writing, my ideas on the two noblest subjects which can occupy the mind of man ; the ex istence of God, and the truth of Christianity. In doing this, I profess not to make new discoveries, but barely to state cer tain arguments, which I collected in my youth, from the leamed Hugo Grotius, our judicious Clark, and other advocates of natural and revealed religion. I offer no apology fbr adopting the words of Scripture, in arguing with persons who are sup posed 'not to admit its authority, when these express my mean ing as fully as any others can do. The first argument for the existence of God, is thus express ed by the royal prophet ; Know ye thatthe Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, not we ourselves. Ps. c. 3. In fact, when I ask myself that question, which every reflecting man must sometimes ask himself: How came I into this state of ex istence ? Who has bestowed upon me the being -which I enjoy ? I am forced to answer: It is not I that made myself; and each of my forefathers, if asked the same question, must have returned the same answer. In like manner, if I interrogate the several Essay I. .f beings with which I am surrounded, the earth, the air, the water, the stars, the moon, the sun, each of then», as an ancient father says, will answer me, in its turn : It was not Ithat made you ; I, like you, am a creature of yesterday, as incapable of giv ing existence to you, as I am of giving it to myself. In short, however pften each of us repeats the question : How came 1 hither ? Who has made me what I am ? we shall never find a ra tional answer to them, till we come to acknowledge that there is an eternal, necessary self-existent Being, the author of all contin gent beings, which is no other than GOD. It is this necessity of being, this self existence, which constitutes the nature of God, and from which all his other perfections flow. Hence when he deigned to reveal himself, on the flaming mountain of Horeb, to the holy legislator of his chosen people, being asked by this prophet, what was his proper name ? he answered : I AM THAT I AM. Exod. iii. 14. This is as much as to say: I alone exist of myself: all others are created beings, which exist by my will. From this zttribnte of self-existence, all the other perfections ofthe Deity, eternity, immensity, omnipotence, omniscience,' holiness, justice, mercy, aad bounty, each in an infinite degree, necessarily flow, because there is nothing to limit hjs existence and attributes, and because whatever perfection is found in any created being, must, like its existence, have been derived from this universal source. This proof of the esdstence of God, though demonstrative and self-evident to reflecting beings, is, nevertheless, we have rea son to fear, lost on a great proportion of our fellow creatures ; because they hardly reflect at all ; or at least, never consider, who made thpn, or what they were ?naafe _/or / but that other proof, which results from the magnificence, the beauty, and the harmony of the creation, as it falls under the senses, so it cannot be thought to escape the attention of the most stupid oi savage of rational beings. The starry heavens, the fulminating clouds, the boundless ocean, the variegated earth, the organized human body, all these, and many other phenomena of nature, must strike the mind of the untutored savage, no less than that ol the studious philosopher, \/ith a conviction that there is an infi nitely powerful, wise and bountiful Being, who is the author of these things : though, doubtless, the latter, in proportion as he sees more clearly and extensively than the former, the properties and economy of different parts of the creation, possesses a stronger physical evidence, as it is called, of the existence of the great Creator. In fact, if the Pagan physician, Galen,* * De Usu Partiiim. 6 Essay I. from the imperfect knowledge which he p6ssessed of the struc ture of the human body, found himself compt^Ued to acknow ledge the existence of an infinitely wise and benificent Being, to make it such as it is, what would he not have said, had he been acquainted with the circulation of the blood, and the uses and harmony of thfe arteries, veins, and lacteals! If the philosophi cal orator, Tully, discovered and enlarged on the same truth, from the little knowledge of astronomy which he possessed,* what strains of eloquence would he not have poured forth upon it, had he been acquainted with the discoveries of Galileo and Newton, relative to the m-agnitdde and distances of the stars, ihe motions of the planets and comets ! Yes, all nature proclaims that there is a Being, who is wise inheart and mighty in strength: who d'Jth great things and past finding out; yea,wonders xuith- jut number: — who stretcheth out the north over the enipty places, 2nd hangeth the earth upon nothing. — -The pillars of heuven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. — Lo ! these are a part of his ways ; but how little aportion is heardofhim! . The thun der of his power who can understand! Job. ix. — xxvi. The proofs,, however, of God's existence, w^hich can least be evaded, are those -which come immediately home to a man's own heart; convincing him, -wnth the same evidence he has of nis own existence, that there is an all-seeing, infinitely just, and infinitely bountiful Master abo-\'e, who is witness of all his ac tions and words, and of his very thoughts. For whence arises the heart-felt pleasure which the good man feels on resisting a secret temptation to sin, or in performing an act of benificence, though in the utmost secrecy? Why does he raise his counte nance to heaven, with devotion, and vvhy is he then prepared to meet death with cheerful hope, unless it be that his conscience tells him of amunificent rewarder of virtue, the spectator of what he does? And why does the most hardened sinner, treriihlc and falter iri his limbs, and at his heart, when he commits his most siicret sins of theft, vengea.ice, or impurity? Why, especially, dobs he sink into agonies of horror and despair at the approach •Df death, unless it be that he is deeply convinced of the constant presence of an all-seelhg witness, alnd of -an infihitjely holy, pow erful, andjust Judge, Into whose hands it is a terrible thing to full. — fn vain dCics he stly : Darkness encompasseth me dnd the walls rover me: no one seeth: of-w-homamlafraid? — for his conscience tells him that, The eyei's ofthe Lord are far brighter than the siin, beholding round about all the ways ofmen. Eccles. yyiii. 26 2r This last argiiment, in particulai, is sfi obvious ahd convinc ing, that I cannot bring myself to believe there ever was ahu- • Ue Natura Deonim. 1. ii. Essay [. man being, of sound sense, who was really ar. Atheist. Those persons who have tried to work themselves into a persuasion that there is no God, will generally be found, both in ancient and modern times, to be' bf the most profligate manners, who, dreading to meet him as their Judge, try to persuade themselves that he does not exist. This has been observed by St. Austin, who says : " No man denies the existence of Gcd, but such a one whose interest it is that there should be no God." Yet even they who pretend to disbelieve the existence of a Supreme Be ing, in the broad day-light, and among their profligate compa nions, in the darkness and solitude of the night, and, still more, under the apprehension of death, fail not to confess it; as Se neca, I think, has somewhere observed.* A son heareth his father, and a servant his master, says the prophet Malachi. If then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear ? saith the Lord of Hosts, i. 6. In a word : it is impossible to believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, o"ur Creator, our Lord, and our Judge, with out being conscious, at the same time, of our obligation to wor ship him exteriorly and interiorly, to fear him, to love him, and to obey him. This constitutes natural religion : by the observ ance of which the ancient patriarchs, together with Melchise dec, Job, and, we trust, very many other virtuous and religious persons of different ages and countries, have been acceptable to God, in this life, and have attained to everlasting bliss, in the other ; still we must confess, with deep sorrow, that the num ber of such persons has been small, compared with those of eve ry age and nation, who, as St. Paul says. When they knew God, glorified him not as God; neither were they thankful, but became vain in their imaginations; and their foolish hearts Tjoere dark ened; — who charige'd the truth of God into a lie, andworshippea and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever more. Rom. i. 21, 25. , SAMUEL CAREY. * It is proper here to observe, that a large proportion ofthe boasting Athe ists who signalized their impiety during the late French reyoliition, when they came to die, acknowledged that their irreligion had been affected, and that they never doubted, in their hearts, ofthe existence of God and the truths ol Christianity. Among these were Boulanger, La Metric V.oMn* -"'frthois. Egalite duke, of Ofleansj &c. (8) ESSAY II. ON THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. BY THE REV. SAMUEL CAREY, LL. D. THOUGH the light of nature is abundantly sufficient, as I trust I have shown in ihy former essay, to prove the existence of God, and the duty of worshipping and serving him, yet this was not the only light that was communicated to mankind in the first ages of the world concerning these matters^ since many things relating to them were revealed by God to the patriarchs, and, through them, to their contemporaries and descendants. At length this knowledge was almost universally obliterated from the minds of men,'and the light of reason .itself was so clouded by the boundless indulgence of their passions, that they seemed, every where, sunk almost to a level with the brute creation. , Even the most polished nations, the Greeks and the Romans, blushed not at unnatural lusts, and boasted of the most horrid , cruelties. , Plutarch describes the celebrated Grecian sages, Socrates, Plato, Xenophon, Cebes, &c. as indulging free ly in the former* and everyone knows that the chief amuse ment ofthe Roman people, was to behold their fellow creatures murdering one another in the amphitheatres, sometimes by hundreds and thousands at a time. But the depravity and im piety of the ancient Pagans, and I may say the same of those of modern times, appears chiefly in their religious doctrines and worship. What an absurd and disgusting rabble of pretended dei- ties,marked with every crime that disgraces the worst of mortals, lust, envy, hatred and cruelty, did not the above named refined nations worship, and that, in several instances, by the imitation of their crimes ! Plato allows of drunkenness in honour of the gods: Aristotle admits of indecent representations of them. How many temples were every where erected, and prostitutes consecrated to the worship qf Venus ?f And how generally were human sacrifices offered up in honour of Moloch, Saturn, Thor, Diana, Woden, and other pretended gods, or rather real demons, by almost every Pagan nation, Greek and barbarian, • De Isid et Osiiid. Even the refined Cicero and 'Virpl did not blush at these infamies, •j- Strabo tells us, that there were a thousand prostitutes attached to the temple ofVenus, at Corinth. The Athenians attributed the preservation of tlieir city to the prayers of its prostitutes. l^ssai^ II. 9 and among the rest by the ancient Britons, inhabitants of this island ! It is true, some few sages of antiquity, by listening to the dictates of nature and reason, saw into the absurdity of the popular religion, and discovered the existence and attributes ol the true God ; but then how unsteady and imperfect was theit belief, even in this point! and when they knew God, they dia not glorify him as God, nor give him thanks, but became vain in '¦heir thoughts. Rom. i. 21. In short, they were so bewilder- ^ -d on the whole subject of religion, that Socrates, the wisest of whem all, declared it " impossible for men to discover this, un less the Deity himself deigned to reveal it to tliem."f Indeed it was an effort of mercy, worthy the great and good, God, to make such a revelation of himself, and ot his acceptable wor ship, to poor, benighted, and degraded man. This he did, first, in favour of a poor, afflicted captive tribe on the banks of the Nile, the Israelites, whom he led from thence into the country oftheir ancestors, and raised up to be a powerful nation, by a series of astonishing miracles, instructing and confirming them in the knowledge and worship of himselt by his different pro phets. He afterwards did the same thing in favour of all the people ofthe earth, and to afar greater extent, by the promised Messiah, and his aposties. It is to this latter divine legation I shall here confine my arguments : though indeed, the one con firms the other ; since Christ and the apostles continually bear testimony to the mission of Moses. All history, then, and tradition prove that in the reign of Tiberius, the second Roman emperor after Julius Csesar, an extraordinary personage, Jesus Christ, appeared in Palestine, teaching a new system of religion and morality, tar more sub lime and perfect than any which the Pagan philosophers, or even than the Hebrew prophets, had inculcated- He confirmed the truths of natural religion and of the Mosaic revelation ; but then he vastiy extended their sphere, by tne communication of many heavenly mysteries, conceming the nature of the one true God, his economy in redeeming man by his own vicarious suf ferings, the restoration and future immortality of our bodies and tlje final decisive trial we are to undergo before him, oui lestihed Judge. He enforced the obligation of loving oui neavenly Father, above all things, of praying to him continually, and of referring all our thoughts, words, and actions to his di vine honour. He insisted on the necessity of denying, not ont or other of our passions, as the philosophers had done, who, a; TertuUian says, drove out one nail with another ; but the whole collection of them, disorderly and vitiated as they are, since the ¦|- Plato Dialog. Alcibiad. 10 Essay II. fall of our first parent. In opposition to oui mnate avarice, pride, and love of pleasure ; he opened his mission by teaching that, blessed are the poor inspirit; blessed are themeek ; blessed are they that mourn, &'c. With respect to our fellow creatures ; teaching, as he did, every virtue, he singled our fraternal charity for his peculiar and characteristic precept; requiring that his disciples should love one another as they love themselves, and even as he himself has loved them ; he who laid down his life for them 1 and he extended the obligation of this precept to our enemies, equally jvith our friends. Nor was the morality of Jesus a mere speculative system of precepts, like the systems of the philosophers: it was of a practical nature, and - he himself confirmed, by his example, every virtue which he inculcated, and more particularly the hardest of all others to reduce to practice, the love of om en emies. Christ had _g-o?2e about, as the Sacred Text expresses it, doing good to all, Acts x. 38. and evil to no one. He had cured the sick of Judea and the neighboiiring countries, had given sight to the' blind, heating to the deaf, and even life to the dead ; but above all things, he had enlightened the minds of his hearers with the knowledge of pure and sublime truths, capable of lead ing them tc present and future happiness : yet was he every where calumniated and persecuted, till at length, his inveterate enemies fulfilled their malice against him by nailing him to a cross, thereon to expire, by lengthened torments. Not content with this, they came before his gibbet, deriding him in his' ago ny with insulting words and gestures. What, now, is the return which the author of Christianity makes for such unexampled barbarity? He excuses the authors of it! He prays for them! Father., forgive them: for they know not -what theydo/Liuke xxiii. 34.' No wonder this proof of supernatural charity should have staggered the most hardened infidels; one of whom confesses that, " if Socrates has died like a philosopher, Jesus alone has died like a God !"* The precepts and the exarriple of the mas ter have hot been lost upon his disciples. — These have eve. bfech distinguished by their practice of virtue, and, particularly by their charity and forgiveness of injuries. Ihe first oS thei who laid down his life for Christ, St. Stephen, while the Jew were stoning him to death, prayed thus, with his last voice-. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! Acts vH. 59. Having considered the several systems of paganism, which have prevailed, and that still prevail, in different parts of the vvorld, both as to belief and practice, together with the specula tions of the wisest infidel philosophers concerning them; and ha- * Rousseau Emile. Essay II. 11 ving contemplated, on the other han 15. how inexcusable would a person of my ministry and lommission be, who am a debtor both to the. Greeks and to the tiarbarians, both to the wise and the unwise, Rom. i. 14. were I unwilling to give the utmost satisfaction in my pow