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Of GREGORY II., it is well ascertained that he deluged Germany with blood. Pope GREGORY VII. equalled, if he did not surpass his namesake in acts of cruelty and insolence. INNOCENT III. was designated by his Popish Historian, " lion in cruelty, and a blood-sucker in avarice." BENEDICT XII. is accused of having purchased the sister of Petrarch from her family, to live with him as his mistress. ALEXANDER VI., after debauching his own daughter, gave her to one of his sons as a mistress, who transferred her to another son, with whom she afterwards lived as his wife. INNOCENT VIII. had sixteen natural children. LEO X. was an atheist, and used to exclaim, "what treasures the Church has derived from the fable of CHRIST." Of Pope PAUL III. it is said, that he not only lay with his own daughter, but to have her all to himself, poisoned her husband.

The sketch which we have attempted to give, is but a faint one, indeed, of the atrocities committed by these pious or rather impious Pontiffs. Say, gentle reader, were these "Vicars of CHRIST." or Vicars of the Devil.

men

POPISH PERJURY.

Every consistent Catholic must have been shocked at the Popish perfidy manifested by several members of the House of Parliament during its late session. That Papists do not think it necessary to keep faith with those whom they term "heretics," is a well known historical fact. It has indeed been sufficiently evinced in our own country. All our readers will remember the OATH which each Popish member takes on his admission to Parliament. We cordially agree in Lord Brougham's assertion, that the Papist's "insensibility to the obligation of his OATH was but ANOTHER proof of the EVIL character of the influence exerted by the (Roman) Catholic priesthood, and ANOTHER REASON FOR ATTENDING MORE

STRICTLY THAN HITHERTO TO THE NATURE OF THE INSTRUC

TIONS GIVEN AT MAYNOOTH." As for the distinction which Lord Camoys draws between taking the Oath as a private gentleman, and as a Member of Parliament, we shall be glad to know, when the Member of Parliament goes to hell for his perjury, what will become of the private gentleman.

AN ACT FOR THE PROMOTION OF

IDOLATRY, &c.

(Continued from page 64.)

No Roman Catholic to advise the Crown in the Appointment to Offices iu the Established Church.

XVIII. And be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful for any person professing the Roman Catholic religion, directly or indirectly, to advise His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, or any person or persons holding or exercising the office of Guardians of the United Kingdom, or of Regent of the United Kingdom, under whatever name, style, or title such office may be constituted, or the Lord Lieutenant, or Lord Deputy, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland, touching or concerning the Appointment to or disposal of any office or preferment in the United Church of England and Ireland, or in the Church of Scotland; and if any such person shall offend in the premises, he shall, being thereof convicted by due course of law, be deemed guilty of a high Misdemeanor, and disabled for ever from holding any office, Civil or Military, under the

crown.

Time and Manner of taking Oaths for Corporate Offices. XIX. And be it enacted, that every person professing the Roman Catholic Religion, who shall after the commencement of this Act be placed, elected, or chosen in or to the office of Mayor, Provost, Alderman, Recorder, Bailiff, Town Clerk, Magistrate, Councillor, or Common Councilman, or in or to any office of Magistracy or place of trust or employment relating to the government of any City, Corporation, Borough, Burgh, or district within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall, within one calendar month next before or upon the admission into any of the same respectively, take and subscribe the Oath herein-before appointed and set forth, in the presence of such person or persons respectively as by the Charters or usages of the said respective Cities, Corporations, Burghs, Boroughs, or districts ought to administer the Oath for due execution of the said offices or places respectively; and in default of such, in the presence of two Justices of the Peace, Councillors, or Magistrates, of the said cities, corporations, burghs, boroughs, or districts, if such there be, or otherwise in the presence of two Justices of the Peace of the respective counties, ridings, divisions, or franchises wherein the said cities, corporations, burghs, boroughs, or districts are; which said Oath shall either be entered in a book, roll, or other record to be kept for that purpose, or shall be filed amongst the records of the city, corporation, burgh, borough, or district.

(To be continued ~)

THE

CHRISTIAN WATCHMAN,

AND

MIDLAND COUNTIES' PROTESTANT MAGAZINE.

THE CHARACTER AND TOKENS OF THE TRUE CATHOLIC CHURCH,

BY THE REV. RICHARD WALDO SIBTHORP, B.D. (Late Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.)

(Continued from page 84.)

We profess to believe with Romanists, that the one, Holy, Catholic Church is also,

4th. APOSTOLIC. In the Abridgement of Christian Doctrine, I find this word thus explained, in answer to the question, "How is the Church APOSTOLICAL ?—A. Because she comes down by a perpetual succession from the Apostles of CHRIST, and has her doctrine, her orders, and her mission from them." It is evidently the doctrine of the Church of Rome, and which she sedulously aims to inculcate on all her adherents, and to enforce upon others, that the Church of CHRIST and herself are one and the same that therefore it is just as true to say that the Apostles laboured to found the Roman Catholic Church, as it is to say that they laboured to found the Christian Church. But this is utterly unsupported by SCRIPTURE, or by the writings of the early "Fathers." In the writings of the "Apostles," all individual Christian Churches are spoken of as being on an equality; or if any difference is shown to any, it is to the Church of Jerusalem, and not of Rome. The latter, for any thing which

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appears to the contrary, was on an entire equality with the Churches of Ephesus, and Corinth, and Thessalonica, of Galatia, and of Asia. ST. PAUL addresses the Church of Rome in the same style as he does other churches to which he writes. In neither of his epistles does ST. PETER advert to such superiority, or intimate that any peculiar Apostolical authority was derived by the Roman Church from its connexion with himself. And if he was (as the Romanists affirm) bishop of Rome at the time he wrote, or was to be in a few years, the omission of such intimation is more surprising in writings which were to instruct the churches in time to come, respecting the way of salvation. CLEMENT of Rome wrote to the Corinthians to settle their differences; but this he did, as he himself informs us, at their desire. He addresses his letter from the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth, as to an equal; and in various parts of it, where he could scarcely have avoided referring to the Papal authority, had it existed, he is as silent on the subject as the Apostles Peter and Paul had been before him. Equally so are Ignatius and Polycarp, contemporary writers of the first century. That is, in none of these writers is there any thing to lead to a conclusion, that there was something peculiarly "Apostolical" in the See of Rome, and that it had thereby a Divine right of supremacy over other sees and churches. Yet had this see occupied that not only prominent, but singular rank which its own adherents have since given it, can we suppose this never would have been, if not directly taught, at least so intimated as to have been inferred? What says Irenæus ? 66 Things being made thus plain, (he is alluding to the derivation of doctrine from the Apostles) it is not from others that truth is to be sought, which is easily learned from the Church (or in the words of the original, quam facile est ab ecclesia sumere), for to this Church, as into a rich repository, the Apostles committed whatever is Divine truth; that each one, if so inclined, might thence draw the drink of life. This is the way of life; all other teachers must be shunned as thieves and robbers. For what! should there be any dispute on a point of small moment, must not recourse be had to the most ancient Churches, (observe, he does not say to the Church, or Church of Rome, but to the Churches,) where the Apostles resided, and from them collect

the truth." I receive the quotation as given by a Roman Catholic Priest, but I draw a different conclusion from it, for it appears to me to teach not the supremacy of Rome, but the entire equality and equal Apostolic authority of all the Churches which the Apostles founded. Again, "To know what the Apostles taught, that is, what CHRIST revealed to them, recourse must be had," (not to Rome, but) "to the Churches which they founded, and which they instructed by word of mouth, and by their Epistles. For it is plain, that all doctrine which is conformable to the faith of these mother Churches is true, being that which they received from the Apostles, the Apostles from CHRIST, CHRIST from GOD." TERTULLIAN who lived in the second century says; "Let those who are near to Corinth, go to Corinth; those who are near to Philippi, go to Philippi: those who are near to Ephesus, go to Ephesus: those who are near to Rome, go to Rome: and those who are near to Thessalonica, go to Thessalonica. In each of these principal Churches, where the Apostolic autographs are lodged, and where the pure Apostolic tradition eminently flourishes, those who are in difficulties, may best seek genuine information." 1 advert to these authorities to shew how little foundation there is for the position assumed by the Roman Church, of a peculiar Apostolic dignity and authority being possessed by her, by which she is entitled to lord it over other Churches, and indeed identify herself, and those only who are in subjection to her, with the Apostolic Church of CHRIST. I may add here that by the 28th canon of the council holden at Chalcedon in the year 451, it was resolved, that the same rights and honours which had been conferred upon the Bishop of Rome, were due to the Bishop of Constantinople, on account of the equal dignity and lustre of the two cities. And this Council is considered to be one of the general or œcumenical councils.

ALL therefore (it would appear from SCRIPTURE, and the early "Fathers,") who hold the Apostles' doctrines, may claim a succession from the Apostles, and a relation to that Catholic and Apostolic Church which they founded. Some learned men have supposed that the Apostle Paul personally founded the English Church or introduced Christianity into Britain. There can be no doubt whatever, of its introduction into this country at a

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