who are subject to my control, or who are con So help me God, and

nected with my charge. these the gospels of God." *

As the profession of faith here given begins with the Apostles' Creed, it would be unjust to represent the Roman Catholic faith as altogether erroneous. On the contrary, the church of Rome retains in her creed and formularies a large portion of scriptural and fundamental truth : her error consists in the corrupt additions made to the "faith once delivered to the saints;" the effect of which is to neutralize those scriptural truths which are embodied in her creed and formularies of devotion. Other articles of faith are authoritatively propounded by the decrees of the Trent Council, which, though not formally stated in the summary given above, are equally binding on the faith of Roman Catholics :-these are comprehended in the phrase, "I do, without doubt, receive and profess all other things, which have been delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and œcumenical councils, especially by the holy Council of Trent." To ascertain what these additional articles of faith are, the author has felt it necessary to examine the canons and decrees of the Trent Council, and to make frequent extracts from them, in the course of this inquiry.

The quotations from the writings of eminent divines of both churches have been given with the * Bishop Marsh's Comparative View, pp. 122-126.

view of confirming and explaining the doctrines of the respective churches to which they belonged.

The work now offered to the public is one which has occasioned the author much labour and research. It is the fruit of the little leisure not demanded by his professional avocations: and has occupied much of that time which has often been redeemed from hours usually appropriated to recreation and rest. Should the work be of service to his younger brethren, who are looking forward to the laborious and responsible office of the christian ministry, the author will have reason to rejoice that he has not laboured in vain.

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,

A

FAITHFUL WITNESS, &c.

CHAPTER I.

THE SUPREMACY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME CONSIDERED.

Church of Rome.

"I acknowledge the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic church of Rome to be the mother and mistress of all churches."Trent. Profess. Art. xi.

Church of England.

"The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.

"As the church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred, so also the church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith."-Art. xix.

THE claim of supremacy, as "the mother and mistress of all churches," asserted by the church of Rome, as above, is still retained as an article of the Romish faith. Dr. Milner, a writer and eccle

B

siastic of that communion, says " In short, no other church but the Catholic can claim to be a religious guide, because, evidently, she alone is the true church of Christ.”* In consistency with this claim, the church of Rome considers all who are separate from her as heretics, still amenable to her authority. The Romish Catechism, published by order of Pope Pius V., and which embodies the doctrines authoritatively propounded by the Council of Trent, declares that heretics and schismatics, though no longer members of the church of Rome, are still" in the power of the church, as persons to be called by it to judgment, punished and doomed by anathema to damnation."† The same doctrine is inculcated at the present day in the Theological Lectures, delivered in the Romish college at Maynooth. "For," says Bishop Marsh, "in the treatise De Ecelesia Christi,' which contains the sum and substance of those Lectures, it is po. sitively asserted, that the church retains its jurisdiction, over all apostates, heretics, and schismatics, though they no longer belong to its body:' the reason assigned is, that a general has the right of inflicting severer punishments on those deserters whose names have been erased from the muster

"End of Religious Controversy," p. 118, 119.

+ "Hæretici sero et schismatici, qui ab Ecclesia desciverunt, &c. non negandum tamen quin in Ecclesiæ potestate sint, ut qui ab ea in judicium vocentur, puniantur, anathemate damnentur."-Cat. Roman. p. 78. Edit. 1587.

roll.'"* This will account for the systematic persecution of Protestants by the church of Rome, in all ages and places, where she has possessed the power, of which ecclesiastical history furnishes such abundant and melancholy proofs. It may not be altogether out of place here to remark, that Papists retort the charge of persecution on Protestants. If the latter however have, and especially shortly after the Reformation, manifested a degree of intolerance, they inherited it from the church of Rome. Besides, much of that which is branded by Roman Catholics as Protestant persecution, especially in the reign of Elizabeth, may be traced to political, rather than to religious feeling. penal statutes, enacted against Papists, had for their object, preservation against the designs of a foreign power, rather than the punishment of heresy. There is nothing in the principles of Protestantism to countenance persecution: whereas, on the contrary, persecution is cherished and sanctioned by the avowed principles of the church of Rome.

The

The grounds on which the church of Rome claims to be the "mother and mistress of all churches," it will be necessary here to examine as briefly as possible.

Priority of existence is urged in support of this claim; for which reason the church of Rome is called "the mother of all churches." No claim is

"Bishop Marsh's Comparative View," p. 178. 180.