not the means ordained by Christ for the communication of the true knowledge of his law to all nations: she knows that Christianity was established in many countries before one book of the New Testament was written; that it was not by means of the Scriptures, that the apostles and their successors converted nations, or any one nation, to the unity of the Christian faith; that the unauthorized reading and circulation of the Scriptures, and the interpretation of them by private judgment, are calculated to lead men to contradictory doctrines on the primary articles of Christian belief; to inconsistent forms of worship, which cannot all be constituent parts of the uniform and sublime system of Christianity; to errors and fanaticism, and to seditions, and the greatest disorders in states and kingdoms.

"so;" whether the expositions they have heard are agreeable to the written Word of God. If they will read them, she gives permission only that they shall read them through her glasses, and receive them with her glosses.

been the Church of JERUSALEM; for the apostles themselves were all members of this Church, in the first instance; and from her they took their departure, in various directions, for the accomplishment of the great work to which they had been ordained. The claim, therefore, of the Church of ROME to this title is an arbitrary imposition. And no less so is that other claim which she has assumed, to have been "the MISTRESS of all Churches;-for all the Churches above enumerated, or alluded to, were entirely independent of the Church of ROME; and many of them, in after times, were placed in entire орроsition to her on points both of doctrine and practice. Hence, therefore, this TITLE altogether, and the ARTICLE of her Creed which advances it, are contradictory to the truth of all ecclesiastical antiquity.

REMARKS ON SECTION IV.

"Now idolatry consists," etc.] This definition of IDOLATRY, I apprehend, will stand the Romanists in little stead. The prohibition of this crime, by GOD himself, is conveyed in these terms:-" Thou "shalt not make to thyself ANY graven image, nor the likeness of "ANY thing, that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, 66 or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." This is IDOLATRY. Exod. XX.

66

4, 5.

And we have the history of the very time, at which this divine Law was receiving its delivery, to illustrate the nature of the sin here forbidden. "When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down "out of the mount, they gathered themselves together unto Aaron, "and said unto him,-Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; "for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the "land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him." Then, at the command of Aaron, "all the people brake off the golden ear-rings "which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he "received them at their hand; and fashioned it with a graving-tool, "after he had made it a molten calf: and they" (the people)" said"These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the "land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar be"fore it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said-(na mn's an)

SECTION IV.

On the Charge of Idolatry and Superstition.

Ignorance or malice has gone so far as to charge the Catholic Church with IDOLATRY in the sacrifice of the Mass, in the adoration (as it is called) of the Virgin Mary, and in the worship of the saints, and of the images of Christ and of the saints; and with SUPERSTITION in invoking the saints, and in praying for souls in purgatory.

Now IDOLATRY consists in giving to any creature that supreme adoration, honour, and worship, which is due only to Almighty GOD.

"to-morrow is a FEAST to JEHOVAH.' Thus it appears, that, after the peculiar superstitions of Egypt, and in imitation of the Apis of the Memphites, or the Mneuis of the Heliopolitans, he had made a golden CALF. Before this CALF he erected an altar; and then proclaimed a religious feast, to be held on the morrow. The people called this CALF (an image of)" the gods who had brought them up "out of Egypt:" but Aaron proclaimed this feast to JEHOVAH; that is to say, he, perhaps, worshipped "ALMIGHTY GOD," under the semblance of this image of a CALF; but the people, not capable of such nice distinctions, are expressly said to have "made a CALF “in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image." But, in both cases, the IDOLATRY was complete, and utterly at variance with the express commandment of GOD. See Exodus xxii. 1-6. and Psalm cvi. 19.

And of this nature is the IDOLATRY committed by the members of the Church of ROME in the sacrifice" of the Mass." By their famous doctrine of TRANSUBSTANTIATION, they first destroy the sacramental use of the bread and wine in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, by transforming these types into their antitypes, "the very body and blood of Christ ;" and then they pay the same adoration to these "creatures" of their own imagination, the bread and wine thus transmuted, as they would to CHRIST himself, if he were substantially and corporally present.

Thus they convert what is in itself a spiritual ordinance of the highest moment in the Church of Christ, into one that is comparatively carnal; and actually feed upon that very substance which they before had worshipped! Can any idolatry be more preposterous than this? Yet this is called "the sacrifice of the Mass!" and, in order to vindicate the honour of it, hundreds in this country, and countless thousands in other countries, have been committed by their torturers to the flames!

"We must explain the different meanings of the words Adoration, "Honour, and Worship."] That is to say, we must throw a little of our spiritual dust into the eyes of the Protestants of Great Britain.

The question is not, however, as to the RELATIVE DEGREES of adoration, honour, or worship, which they assign to these objects of their veneration,-that is, to the consecrated elements of bread and wine, which, in plain repugnance to Christ's holy ordinance, they transubstantiate into "the real body and blood of Christ;"-to the Virgin Mary, whom they denominate "the MOTHER of GOD evervirgin;”—to the saints, as to those who offer up prayers to God for us, "and thus supply the place of mediators and advocates with him;1 -or to the images of Christ and of the saints :-but whether they do at all actually PROSTRATE THEMSELVES in devotion before the

See pages 15 and 30.

The Catholic Church teaches, that idolatry is one of the greatest crimes that can be committed against the majesty of GOD: and every true member of this Church shudders at the idea of such a crime, and feels grievously injured by such an imputation.

But it is said that Catholics adore the elements of bread and wine in the Mass; that they adore the Virgin Mary; that they adore the cross; and that they worship the saints, and the images of Christ and of the saints. Before we repel these horrid imputations, in the sense in which they are made, we must explain the different meanings of the words adoration, honour, and worship; that the calumnious charge, and its denial, may be understood in the same explained sense.