never be a famine over all the world, or that all the crops should never fail at once, so that it would be impossible to grow any more grain.

66

A. And what would you think if a club of farmers, with a rich man at their head, had established themselves in London, and wished to have a monopoly of all the corn on earth, saying to the government, you must go to war to defend our rights: for God has said, that evil shall not prevail against the plough-and who can be the plough, but the head and company of farmers, of the county of Middlesex, wherein stands the great city of London, which is the first city of the world?"

R. I should certainly say that they were a set either of madmen or rogues, who wished to levy a tax upon all farmers, wherever they were.

A. I will now leave you to apply what we have said, to the use which the Pope and his Cardinals have made of Christ's promise, that Satan should not prevail against his Church. Church, in this passage, must be understood in the sense in which we understand Plough, speaking of agriculture in general. It must mean Christianity in general; not Christianity confined to the walls of any town: the meaning, therefore, of Christ's promise must be, that the Devil shall never succeed in abolishing the Faith in God through Christ, which has been published in the Gospel; not that the Pope must always be in the right, and much less that he is to be the Spiritual Lord of all the Christians on earth.

R. I can understand very well, that the promise of Christ cannot be confined to the Church of Rome. But yet, Sir, is not the Church of Rome the Catholic Church; and do we not say in the Creed, that we believe in the Holy Catholic Church? One might suppose that, by these words, we bind ourselves to believe in the Church of Rome.

A. The Romanists, my friend, have on that point, as on many others, taken an unfair advantage,

which they employ to seduce the simple. Catholic, you must understand, is a word which means universal. Just at the times when the Apostles, and their immediate followers, had preached the Gospel to all the world, their doctrine was Catholic, that is, universal. Wherever there were Christians, their belief was the same; and as that belief exactly agreed with the doctrines of the Apostles, Catholic, or universal belief, was the same as true belief. Errors, however, began very soon to multiply in the Christian Churches, and these errors were called heresies, which means, separations; because those who set up their own conceits as the doctrine of the Gospel, separated themselves from the universal belief, which at that time was the true one. These heresies or separations became, in course of time, so numerous, that the true Christian belief could no longer be called Catholic or universal, with respect to the number of Christians who held it; so that to say I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, was not the same as if one said, I believe in the true Church. You will, therefore, observe a change on this point, in the Creed which is used in the Communion Service-a Creed which the Roman Catholics receive, and which is about fifteen hundred years old. In that Creed it was found necessary to add the word Apostolic to the word Catholic; and consequently we find there, "I believe in one Catholic and APOSTOLIC Church:" which is as much as to say, I believe that there is spread over the world a true Church of Christ, which was known in the beginning of Christianity, by its being Catholic or Universal; but which, since error became more general than the true faith, must be known by its being apostolic. By this you will perceive the artful contrivance of the Romanists, who knowing that what in the times of the Apostles was Catholic, was therefore true Christianity, wish us to call them Catholics in the same meaning, even after the time when Rome had made

her errors so common in the world, that they appeared at one time to be Catholic, that is, universal. Protestants, therefore, should be aware of this trick, and never call them Catholics, but Roman Catholics, Romanists, or Papists; though as the last name seems to hurt their feelings, I seldom make use of it myself, and never with an intention to offend them. -Every one, my friend, all over the world, who holds the pure doctrine of the Apostles,-every Apostolic Christian is a true Catholic,-a member of that one true Church which the Apostles made Catholic or universal; but which continued being universal a very short time. The members of that heretical, that is particular Church of the Pope,— that Church of the individual city of Rome, cannot be Catholic or universal, except as far as they are Apostolic.

R. And how, Sir, are men to judge what Christian Churches are Apostolic.

A. By the words of the Apostles and their Divine Master, which we have in the New Testament.

R. But does not the Church of Rome receive the Scriptures?

A. She does; and as far as she regulates her doctrine and practice by that standard, we believe her to be a part of the true universal Church of Christ. But in regard of her inventions, whereby she has nearly made void the spirit and power of the Gospel, we are bound to declare her a corrupt and heretical Church; a Church which has degenerated from the Apostolic rule of faith, and, in proportion to the additions which out of her own fancy she has made to the Gospel, has separated herself from the one Catholic, or universal Church of Christ; which is that multitude of persons, of all times and countries, who being called by the grace of God to believe in his Son Jesus Christ, have conformed, and do now conform, their faith and lives to the rule of the Scriptures, and ground their hopes of eternal salvation on the promises made therein.

R. I believe you said, Sir, that the Church of Rome has made additions to the Gospel out of her own fancy has she also made any omissions in the articles of her faith?

A. No. It pleased Providence to preserve the whole of the Christian faith in her keeping, without diminution or curtailment. The true Gospel was thus kept entire during the ages of general ignorance, under the heap of her superstitions, like live seeds, which want nothing to spring up, but the removal of some layer of stones and rubbish. Had she been permitted to cast off some of the essential articles of the Apostolic doctrine, as other sects do, the work of the Reformation would have been difficult. But when Luther and the other Reformers had removed the superstitious additions of the Romanists, the whole truth, as it is in Christ, appeared in its original purity; and as both Rome and the Protestant Churches agree in every thing which is really a part of the Apostolic doctrine, we cannot be charged with innovation.

R. Yet they say that ours is a new religion.

A. Any Protestant may rebut that charge with the Bible in his hand. The New Testament is the original charter of Christians; any thing under the name of Christianity which we do not find there, must be an abuse of more modern date than the Charter. The additions made by the Church of Rome are, it is true very old; but the foundations over which she has built her fantastic structure must be older still. That foundation, the Testament, is our religion; and we do not wish to prove our religion older than Christ.

R. I wish you would have the goodness to mention the additions and innovations which the Church of Rome has made to the true and scriptural religion of Christ.

A. I will, with great pleasure, in our next conver

sation.

DIALOGUE III.

Conduct of the Church of England and of the Roman Catholic Church compared: some Account of the Innovations made by Rome: Tradition: Transubstantiation: Confession: Relics and Images.

Author. I PROMISED, at our last meeting, to give you an account of the innovations which the Church of Rome has made, and the human additions by which she has adulterated the pure doctrines of the Gospel. But before I begin, I must ask your opinion upon a case which I heard some time ago.

Reader. I will give it you, Sir, to the best of my knowledge.

A. The people of two neighbouring islands, which acknowledged the authority of the same Sovereign, received each a governor from the metropolis. One of the Governors presented himself with his commission in one hand, and with the book of the Colonial Laws in the other. "Gentlemen," he said, "here is the King's commission, which authorizes me to govern you according to these laws. I will direct my officers to get them printed, and every one of you shall have a copy in his possession. If ever any one of you should think that I am stepping beyond my powers, or governing against the laws, he may examine the point and consult his friends about it; and if, after all, he feels inclined not to be under me any longer, I will not at all molest him in his removal to the neighbouring island, carrying away every thing that belongs to him." The other Governor pursued quite a different course. He appeared in the capital with all the pomp and