ity. See a Tract against Antinomianism, by the Rev. S. Chase, with a Prefatory Introduction, by the Rev. Robert Hall, highly creditable to his good sense and piety. See "An Account of Plymouth Antinomians," by Joseph Cottle, of Bristol. This is an interesting pamphlet, and should be read by all who want an insight into Antinomianism. The author took down from Dr. Hawker some of the choicest portions of his Pulpit Addresses, which savour of Hyper-Calvinism, and has accompanied them with remarks, counteracting their tendency. Mr. Cottle is well known as a poet, and is a respectable man. He would not willingly libel any one class of the professors of Christianity.

III.

OPINIONS RESPECTING CHURCH GOVERMENT, AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF CEREMONIES.

The Christian world, usually denominated Christendom, consists of religious societies, which are called churches. A Christian church is a society called out from the vicious world, by the preaching of the gospel, and regulated in all parts by the plain rules of the New Testament. The ministers of the Christian church, in its primitive state, were extraordinary or ordinary. The Extraordinary were chiefly three: 1. Apostles, who were delegated by Christ with a commission to preach the gospel, and a power to work miracles in its confirmation, among all nations. 2. Prophets, who were not such as simply foretold things, but those to whom God was pleased to reveal his more secret counsels and designs. Evangelists, such as were assistants to the apostles in preaching the gospel, and were endued with many extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, as of languages and interpretations, &c. But these extraordinary offices have ceased. The Ordinary ministers of the Christian church are principally three: 1. A Bishop, who had the oversight of the flock of Christ; to him pertained the preaching of the word, and regulation of the church; and this

3.

precedence of the bishop is called Fpiscopacy. 2. Presbyters, or Elders, or Priest: these were such as preached the word, and administered the sacraments, under the inspection of the bishop. But it is a controversy, whether the scripture doth not intend the same person by the appellations Bishop and Presbyter. The power of the Presbyter is called Presbytery. 3. Deacons ; whose business was to take the collections of money made in the church, and to distribute it to the poor; and their office, properly speaking, is called the Ministry, or Deaconship.

After this introductory explanation of the Christian church, I proceed to the Opinions respecting Church Government, and the Administration of Ceremonies.

ROMAN CATHOLICS.

This body of Christians have been usually denominated Papists. This is an appellation derived to them in consequence of their acknowledging the spiritual supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, who, for many centuries, was distinguished in the western church by the denomination of Pope, and, from their remaining in his communion, contradistinguishing themselves from Protestants, who are so called from protesting against his supremacy. In the act passed for their relief, 1791, an oath and declaration are proposed to them, in which the party is made to avow that he is Roman Catholic. This makes Roman Catholic their legal appellation. Catholics having complained of the erroneousness of the statements of their tenets, I have thought proper to state them from their own writers. The following account is extracted from a work written by a Priest of talents and learning, and which was sent to me by a very respectable lay gentleman of the Roman Catholic profession. The work is anonymous, but its title is, "The State and Behaviour of the English Catholics, from the Reformation to the year 1780, with a view of their present Number, Wealth, Character," &c. It was written by the Rev. J. Berrington.

"the following rule is the grand criterion by which each article of our faith may be distinctly ascertained.

"This rule is-All that, and only that, belongs to Catholic belief, which is revealed in the word of God, and which is proposed by the Catholic Church to all its members, to be believed with divine faith.

"Guided by this certain criterion, we profess to believe :

"1. That Christ has established a church upon earth, and that this church is that which holds communion with the see of Rome, being one, holy, Catholic, and apostolical.

"2. That we are obliged to hear this Church; and therefore that she is infallible, by the guidance of Almighty God, in her decisions regarding faith.

"3. That Saint Peter, by divine commission, was appointed the head of this church, under Christ its founder ; and that the Pope, or Bishop of Rome, as successor to Saint Peter, has always been, and is at present, by divine right, head of this church.

4. That the canon of the Old and New Testament, as proposed to us by this church, is the word of God; as also such traditions, belonging to faith and morals, which being originally delivered by Christ to his Apostles have been preserved by constant succession.

5. That honour and veneration are due to the Angels. of God and his saints; that they offer up prayers to God for us; that it is good and profitable to have recourse to their intercession; and that the relics or earthly remains of God's particular servants are to be held in respect.

"6. That no sins ever were, or can be remitted, unless by the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ; and therefore that man's justification is the work of divine Grace.

"7. That the good works, which we do, receive their whole value from the grace of God; and that by such works we not only comply with the precepts of the divine law, but that we thereby likewise merit eternal life.

"8. That by works done in the spirit of penance we can make satisfaction to God for the temporal punishment, which often remains due, after our sins, by the divine goodness, have been forgiven us,

"9. That Christ has left to his church a power of granting indulgences, that is, a relaxation from such temporal chastisement only as remains due after the divine pardon of sin; and that the use of such indulgences is profitable to sinners.

"10. That there is a purgatory or middle state; and that the souls of imperfect Christians therein detained are helped by the prayers of the faithful.

"11. That there are seven sacraments, all instituted by Christ; baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, holy order, matrimony.

"12. That in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist, there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"13. That in this sacrament there is, by the omnipotence of God, a conversion, or change, of the whole substance of the bread into the body of Christ, and of the whole substance of the wine into his blood, which change we call TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

"14. That under either kind Christ is received whole and entire.

"15. That in the mass or sacrifice of the altar, is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead.

"16. That in the sacrament of penance, the sins we fall into after baptism are, by the divine mercy, forgiven

us.

"These are the great points of Catholic belief, by which we are distinguished from other Christian societies; and these only are the real and essential tenets of our religion. We admit also the other grand articles of revealed and natural religion, which the gospel and the light of reason have manifested to us. To these we submit as men and as Christians, and to the former as obedient children of the Catholic Church."

The persecuting and domineering spirit of our forefathers must not be imputed to their reformed posterity. All churches, having power, are too apt to abuse it in matters of religion. Mr. Pitt, in the year 1788, reques

ted to be furnished with the opinion of the Catholic clergy and foreign universities on certain important points. Three questions sent to the universities of Paris, Louvain, Alcala, Douay, Salamanca,and Valladolid, were thus unanimously answered-1. That the Pope, or cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the church of Rome, has not any civil authority, power, jurisdiction, or pre-eminence whatsoever within the realm of England. 2. That the Pope or cardinals, &c. cannot absolve or dispense with his majesty's subjects from their oaths, allegiance, upon any pretext whatsoever. 3. That there is no principle in the tenets of the Catholic faith, by which Catholics are justified in not keeping faith with heretics, or other persons differing from them in religious opinions, in any transactions either of a public or private nature. To these replies must be added, that the declaration signed by the English as well as Scotch Catholics, in 1789, is to the same purpose, and most unequivocally expressed. The present Roman Catholics, also, disavow all manner of persecution; indeed, they profess to acknowledge the principles, and to admit, in its full extent, the claims of religious liberty. Some Roman Catholics, renouncing the supremacy of the Pope, distinguish themselves by the name of Catholics, and sometimes of Catholic Dissenters. Of this number was the ingenious and learned Dr. Alexander Geddes, who having translated a large part of the Old Testament, died, and lies buried in Paddington churchyard. His Patron was Lord Petre, and he wrote a curious tract, entituled "A modest Apology for the Roman Catholics of Great Britain, addressed to all moderate Protestants, particularly to the Members of both Houses of Parliament.'

There have been seventeen general councils, and to these is attached, by Roman Catholics, infallibility. In the council of Trent, the last of them, held 1549, the tenets of their religion were embodied, and the summary exhibited in Pope Pius' Creed containing the substance of the decrees and canons of this council. Father Paul gave a curious history of this council, which was composed of 196 bishops. Bellarmine, an acute Jesuit, and Bos