build a church, or establish a nunnery, or give of his goods to feed the poor, or perform some similar external act; or, on the other hand, renounce his self-righteousness, and rely for justification solely upon the blood of Christ; it is plain that in all cases, to follow his inclinations, he would at once choose the former. And were it not for the positive declaration of God's word, that there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved but the name of Jesus, which leaves but one alternative, and makes it a matter of life and death to believe in him or not, there is not a living mortal who could ever be brought to accept salvation on any other terms than the merit of his own good works. In this respect, therefore, Romanism is guilty of a double evil. She first consults the depraved inclinations of the sinner so as to adapt her system to them, and then teaches him that that system is right; so that he becomes doubly confirmed in sin, first, by the natural disposition of his heart towards sin, and secondly, by the conviction of his understanding that he is doing right.

The third objectionable feature of Romanism is the practice of invoking saints and the Virgin Mary, and of confessing to priests, instead of praying and confessing directly to God alone. The whole design of God in introducing among men the economy of grace, was to restore them, if possible, to the same moral image in which they were originally created. While in the first possession of this image, man was both holy and humble. When it was lost to him, he at once became sinful and proud-disposed, though guilty of the most enormous acts of iniquity, to justify himself in all his ways. The first thing, therefore, for God to do, in attempting his restoration, was to bring him down from his lofty position, and make him assume his proper stand at the footstool of mercy. In order to accomplish this, God commanded him to confess his sins to him-frankly to admit that he was a sinner, guilty of transgression against his own law, and without palliation or excuse. At the same time promising that if he would do this, accompanied by sincere repentance, he should, through the merits of Christ, be forgiven. It is evident to any one who will consult his own heart and experience, that a more humiliating act than this, man could not possibly have been ordered to perform. The command strikes at the very root of pride, and, in all cases, when obeyed, is effectual in producing a spirit of meekness and humbleness of mind. It is therefore very proper, in striving to regain our original holiness, to confess our sins, and also, according to the scriptural representation, to confess them directly to God alone, against whom they were committed. Not so, says Romanism; God is too holy and pure a being for a sinner to approach. Go to the creature, if you wish absolution-some one more holy than yourself, whom some extraordinary circumstance, or martyr-like achievement, or the virtue of office, has raised high in the favour of God; make interest with such a one; confess your sins to him; and leave it to him to settle the matter with God. Go, for example, to the Virgin Mary, who was the mother of the infant Jesus; or to St. Peter, who first sat in the apostolic chair and imparted to it an official efficacy; or to the priest, who boasts of the same venerable St. Peter as his true spiritual father, descended from him in an unbroken line of succession eighteen hundred years long, without a single bastard or adulterous interloper to defile the whole of it ;-lay your case before any one of these; confess to him that you have sinned against another, and satisfy your conscience with his promise that he will intercede and obtain for you a pardon.

Such are in substance the two modes of confession, and I again ask, what is the reason that men prefer the latter to the former? It is because the latter method entirely frustrates the design of God in exacting confession, which was, as before stated, to subdue the strong pride of the heart.

For in view of the known principles of human nature, I confidently affirm, that when one person sins against another person or being, and confesses the act to some third party, it is done without any sacrifice of pride at all. Suppose, for example, in a circle of intimate female friends, one of the number is guilty of slander, or some other injury towards another, and is afterwards, upon reflection, grieved at her own misconduct. She will go and recount the circumstances, and confess her fault, and express her sorrow to every other member of that circle rather than the very party whom she has injured. Such a confession costs her nothing. It is a fact rather gratifying to her thus to disburden her mind, by giving vent to her feelings in the ears of others. But to make the same confession to the person aggrieved, is an act which flesh and blood do not relish. In like manner

the sinner may all his life-time pray and confess to the priest, to saints and to the Virgin Mary, and yet remain a proud, arrogant, confirmed, abandoned sinner still. Such a mode of confession does not meet the point proposed at all. It is like going all around the hill, first on this side, and then on that, without ever going up it. To stand face to face with God, who is the being we have dishonoured, and confess our sins to him, is the only way to make the act profitable, either in subduing pride or obtaining forgiveness.

The fourth and last wrong principle of Romanism I shall examine, which completes the outline I intended to give of the system, is the doctrine of purgatory. In my estimation, one of the chief beauties of the gospel, next to the intrinsic excellence of that gospel itself, is the clearness with which its several essential and fundamental doctrines are defined and expressed. For though there be many things obscurely hinted at, which relate to another world, and from their own vastness and our littleness are above our reason, there is not a single important feature of the whole system which is not stated with the most definite exactness, and capable of being easily understood. Such is the fact, especially, if there be any ground at all for such distinctions, in regard to the existence of an eternal hell. For while other important truths are revealed with sufficient - certainty, this seems to have been set forth with peculiar clearness and force. There are repeated declarations throughout the whole of the New Testament, which show that it was a principal part of the burden of the message which its writers were sent to communicate; that all men might know that there is, in the nature of things and the constitution of God's moral government, an eternal distinction between right and wrong, and that that distinction will be eternally observed. Time after time Christ himself takes occasion to urge upon his disciples, above all things, to escape its dreadful sufferings;-even to pluck out a right eye, and cut off a right hand, and enter into life halt or maimed, rather than, having two eyes or two hands, to be cast into hell fire-where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And this latter expression he repeats, in another connexion, three times in rapid succession. The apostles Paul, Peter, Jude and John, all give utterance, in terms more or less strong, to the same eternal truth. And if men would only look at things as they are, it should also excite in their hearts gratitude to God for his goodness and mercy in being thus precise in the revelation of his will. For if there really be an eternal hell to which all men are by nature exposed, it is certainly a matter of vast importance for them to know the fact. Strange that any one, rather than admire the candour and kindness of God and act with wisdom in view of his declarations, should cheat himself and others also into the fatal delusion that sin and holiness are substantially the same, and will be forever treated alike in God's moral government. Yet this is the very thing that Romanism does. For in view of the known

power of sin over the human heart, I aver with confidence, that the doctrine of purgatory, as taught and practised upon for centuries in the Romish Church, invariably produces, in the majority of cases, the same virtual effects upon the sinner as if no mention of hell were ever made. When the sinner comes to ascertain his prospects in regard to the future world, it rests entirely with the priest, who judges of the venality of his sins, in what part of purgatory he shall be located, or whether he shall be placed there at all. And that always depends upon the amount of money he is willing to pay, or the prayers he will offer. So that it matters not if he be the most hardened, guilty, and abandoned criminal that ever lived, only let him give what the priest demands, and his reverence, by a single turn of the keys, will elevate him, in an instant, from the depths of hell to the mansions of heaven. It is easy to see how such a mode of proceeding entirely takes off the keen edge of the great truth of endless punishment; makes the salvation of men depend upon a contingency they can always meet; thus allays their fears, and leaves them to glut their vicious appetites with sin to the day of their death. O, it is sickening thus to uncover and behold, in its native nakedness, this foul, polluted, rotten stuff—this dead corpse wearing an aspect of life and vigour-this deep hole of sin, and filth, and stagnant mire, and slimy serpents-this abandoned harlot, attracting wonder by her false glare and external beauty, but inwardly concealing cancerous sores and poisonous humours, a single breath from which is the blast of death.

Let us now very briefly consider the several practical effects which these opposing principles, when embraced, will necessarily produce. 1. Infallibility. Admit the doctrine of God's infallibility, and you make men free in all their opinions and acts. He requires the belief of nothing which is not in exact accordance with the noblest principles of reason, and the practice of nothing which is not easily performed, and conducive to the best interests of the soul for time and eternity. Admit the doctrine of the pope's infallibility, and you make men slaves in all that they believe and do. Only let the pope say that the simple bread and wine, when conse crated by the blessing of the priest, are instantly changed into the actual, living, present body and blood of the Son of God, and no matter if reason, shocked and confounded at the glaring absurdity, endeavours to oppose it, still it must be firmly believed. Only let the pope give orders to bow in the closet of the priest, and confess all the acts both of mind and body, -secret or open, civil or religious, good or bad, in his eager ear, and entrust for safe keeping the soul's everlasting welfare to him, and no matter how much the poor victim may shrink back from the despotic command, still, without a murmur it must be obeyed.

2. Good works. Admit the Bible doctrine of Christ's righteousness as the only ground of justification, and you make men holy, free from sin, and fit to appear in the presence of God. Admit, either in whole or in part, the merit of good works, and you confirm men in their natural depravity, and bring them to the bar of God, clothed in the filthy rags of their own Pharisaic self-righteousness.

3. Prayer and Confession. Teach men to pray and confess their sins directly to God alone, and you at once introduce them to communion with the Father of mercies, who alone, in heaven or on earth, hath power to forgive sins. Allow them to pray and confess to the creature, and you lead them to one who, in regard to authority, stands, in the eye of God, upon the same level with themselves.

4. Purgatory. Instruct men in the belief of an eternal hell, and you leave them but one alternative in regard to a life of sin and holiness. Teach them the existence of a purgatory, and you at once destroy the

bridgeless gulf, and make it an easy matter to pass from the place of torment to Abraham's bosom.

Such is Romanism, in its great outline, as a system of religion. In the next place, let us look at some of its essential features in a civil aspect.

The only important principle to be here examined, since like a mantle it covers all the rest, is the doctrine of the pope's supremacy. The true theory of civil government, in its relation to the Church of Christ, as developed in the Bible, appears to be this. That the whole world has in the course of ages, though at different periods and from different causes, become divided into numerous districts of greater or less extent, called nations; that each of these nations, independently of all others, has, and of right ought to have, its own civil laws and government, established by its own.free choice; and that, nevertheless, all the rulers and magistrates in each nation are the lawful ministers of God, bound to execute their office without respect of persons, in fidelity and righteousness, as appointed and accountable to Him. In this state of things, the ministers of Christ go forth, with their Divine commission, to preach the gospel to every creature. They encounter the people of the several different nations referred to, and deliver to each of them in turn their appropriate message,-proclaiming everywhere that it is the sole object of their mission to establish a universal kingdom upon earth, but at the same time distinctly avowing that it is not a kingdom of this world, calculated, in the slightest degree, to clash with the internal policy and regulations of the established government. Thereupon, that it is the duty of the civil government at once to admit them as missionaries within its limits, and from thenceforward, afford to them and all their converts, so long as they continue peaceable, loyal subjects, equal protection in all things in common with all other citizens. Thus much, and nothing more.

It is not difficult to perceive what a just and harmonious state of things would have been every where produced, had this beautiful theory only been practically carried out. The pure principles of the gospel, borne abroad, taught, and enforced by the earnest preaching and example of active, intelligent, and holy men, would have been made known and understood universally. As often as embraced and suffered to exhibit their practical effects upon the life of the individual, elevating and refining his character, followed by a corresponding improvement in the general tone of society around him. Gradually dissipating all ignorance and superstition; purging away all error and crime; uprooting all infidelity and atheism; overthrowing idolatry and all opposing systems of paganism; producing in all families, communities, and countries, a universal peace and love; reviving industry, commerce and intercourse among the nations, and fast restoring the world to its original harmony and loveliness. Civil government also, kept entirely separate from the state, either as its assistant or dependant, would have likewise moved on harmoniously, unexposed to jarrings and clashings with the kingdom of Christ. In every nation protecting its subjects in the full enjoyment of their equal rights; encouraging industry, the arts, manufactures, agriculture, science and education; levying a just tax upon its several branches and articles of trade; carrying on a reciprocal commerce with all other countries; and the world over, permitting every man to sit under his own vine and fig-tree, there to enjoy at leisure the fruits of his honest labour.

But, mirabile dictu !-horrible to relate-how different the actual result which has been witnessed! Wars and rumours of wars; nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; the brother putting to death his brother, the father the son, the mother-in-law her daughter-inlaw, and a man's foes they of his own household-these were the first sad

effects of fatal perversion and misgovernment. At length, over all the storm and fury of the conflicting elements, as from the sea of nations, slowly rises the grim head of the pope,-the second beast, having two horns like a lamb, and which spake as a dragon. Gradually emerging and unfolding his frightful visage; pushing gently, first in one direction, then another; cunningly enlarging the circuit of his operations; growing at length bold enough to pluck up three kingdoms at his side and place their triple crown upon his own brow; next engaging in the systematic practice of robbing and enslaving kings, and even emperors themselves; until finally, by means of his successes, waxing audaciously arrogant, as the climax of impudence, he dared to claim for the proper jurisdiction of his threefold crown, the absolute dominion of heaven, earth, and hell! For such is the origin, and, astounding as it may seem, the explanation given of the meaning of that gorgeous tiara. One of their writers, Ferraris, speaking in his Ecclesiastical Dictionary of the word pope, article 2, says: "The pope is of such dignity and highness, that he is not simply man, but, as it were, God, and the vicar of God. Hence the pope is of such supreme and sovereign dignity, that, properly speaking, he is not merely constituted in dignity, but is rather placed on the very summit of dignities. Hence also the pope is father of fathers; and he alone can use this name, because he only can be called father of fathers, since he possesses the primacy over all, is truly greater than all, and the greatest of all. He is called most holy, because he is presumed to be such. On account of the excellency of his supreme dignity, he is called bishop of bishops, ordinary of ordinaries, universal bishop of the Church, bishop, or diocesan, of the whole world, divine monarch, supreme emperor and king of kings. Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven, of earth, and (infernorum) of hell. Nay, the pope's excellence and power is not only about heavenly, terrestrial, and infernal things, but he is also above angels, and is their superior; so that if it were possible that angels could err from the faith, or entertain sentiments contrary thereto, they could be judged and excommunicated by the pope. He is of such great dignity and power, that he occupies one and the same tribunal with Christ; so that whatsoever the pope does, seems to proceed from the mouth of God, as is proved from many doctors. The pope is, as it were, God on earth, the only prince of the faithful of Christ, the greatest of all kings, possessing the plenitude of power, to whom the government of the earthly and heavenly kingdom is entrusted. Hence the COMMON DOCTRINE teacheth, that the pope hath the power of the two swords, viz., the spiritual and temporal, which jurisdiction and power Christ himself committed to Peter and his successors, Matt. xvi. To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, &c.— where doctors note that he did not say key, but keys, and by this comprehending the temporal and spiritual power: which opinion is abundantly confirmed by the authority of the holy fathers, the decision of the canon and civil law, and by the apostolic constitutions; so that those who hold to the contrary, seem to adhere to the opinion of the heretics reprobated by Boniface VIII., in his Extravagant entitled, Unam Sanctam. Hence infidel princes and kings, by the decision of the pope, may be deprived, in certain cases, of that dominion which they have over the faithful, as if they have occupied the country of the Christians by violence, or endeavour to draw away their faithful (Catholic) subjects from the faith, or any such thing, as Bellarmine, Suarez, Barbara, Gonzalez, Cardinal Petra, &c., very fully demonstrate. And hence the pope may cede those provinces, which formerly belonged to Christians, that were subsequently occupied by infidels, to any Christian princes to be redeemed. And if a king becomes heretic, he can be removed from his kingdom by the pope, to whom the