They further affirm that the Roman Catholics are too indulgent in their toleration of an infinite number of customs, which deviate from the spirit of Christianity.

The following is a summary of the tenets held by the Roman Catholic church, according to Mr. Bossuet's Exposition of the CaTenets of the tholic Catechism, and which on good authority is alleged to be conformable to the decrees of the famous Council of

Roman Catholics.

Trent.

66

To begin," says he, "with the adoration which is due to God, the Catholic Church teaches, that it principally consists in believing that he is the Creator and Lord of all things; and that it is the duty Worship of Catholics to adhere to him with all the faculties of their souls, through faith, hope, and charity, as being the sole object that can make them happy by the communication of that sovereign good, which is himself.

of God.

"This internal adoration which they render unto God in spirit and in truth, is attended with its external signs, of which sacrifice is the principal, and can be offered to God alone; because sacrifice was ordained to make a public and solemn acknowledgment of God's sovereignty over us, and of our absolute dependence upon him.

"The same Church teaches, that all religious worship ought to terminate in God, as its necessary end; and that if the veneration Adoration of the which is paid to the Blessed Virgin and the saints may be Blessed Virgin. termed religious, it is because it relates of necessity to God. "The Catholic Church, in telling us that it is beneficial to pray to the saints, teaches us to pray to them in that spirit of charity, and according to that order of brotherly love, which inclines us to request the assistance of our brethren living upon earth; and the catechism of the Council of Trent concludes from this doctrine, that if the quality of Mediator, which the Holy Scriptures attribute to Jesus Christ, received the least prejudice from the intercession of the saints who dwell with God, it would receive no less an injury from the mediation of the faithful, who live with us upon earth.

Veneration of Saints.

"This catechism demonstrates the great difference there is between the manner of imploring God's aid and assistance, and that of the saints: for it expressly declares, that the Catholics pray to God either to bestow on them some blessing, or to deliver them from some misfortune; but since the saints are more acceptable in his sight than they are, they beg of them to be their advocates only, and to procure for them such things as they want. For which reason, the Catholics make use of two forms of prayer widely different from each other, for when they make their applications to God himself, they say, HAVE MERCY ON US, HEAR US!' But when they address themselves to the saints, they only say, 'PRAY FOR US!' By which we understand, that in whatever terms those prayers which are directed to the saints are conceived, the intention of the church and of her faithful servants always reduces them to that form."

6

are to

Considering, however, that this honour which the Catholic Church pays Reverence for to the saints principally appears before their images and Images and Sa- sacred relics, it will be proper to explain the belief of the cred Relics. church in both these particulars.

In regard to images, the Catholics are expressly forbidden by the Council of Trent to believe there is any virtue in them of so heavenly a nature as to prove an inducement to pay divine adoration to them and they are enjoined to ask no favours of them, to put no trust nor confidence in them, but to reverence them only in honour of the originals which they represent. . The respect which is paid to relics, in imitation of the primitive Church, must be understood in the same manner. They look upon the bodies of the saints as having been victims offered up to God by martyrdom or penance, without in any way diminishing that duty and respect which they owe to God himself, &c.

As to the point of justification, they believe That their sins are freely remitted by the divine mercy, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST; and that they are freely justified, because neither faith nor good works, which precede their justification, can merit

Justification of Sinners.

that favour.

As to the merit of good works, the Catholic Church teaches, that eternal life ought to be proposed to the children of God, both as a grace merci

Sanctifying fully promised them by the means and mercies of our Lord grace opposed JESUS CHRIST, and as a reward faithfully bestowed on them to good works for their good works and merits, in consequence of that promise. and free will. These are the express terms of the Council of Trent. But that the pride of mankind should not flatter itself with the idea of a pre-. sumptuous merit, the same Council teaches, that the whole worth and value of Christian works arise from a sanctifying grace, which is freely granted us in the name of JESUS CHRIST, and is the result of that constant influence which this divine Head has upon his members.

The Catholics openly declare, that they cannot be acceptable to God, but in and through JESUS CHRIST; nor do they apprehend how any other Salvation sense can be imputed to their belief. They place all the through Jesus hopes of their salvation so perfectly in him alone, that they Christ only. daily direct the following petition to God in the sacrifice: Vouchsafe, O God! to grant unto us sinners, thy servants who trust in the multitude of thy mercies, some share and society with thy blessed apostles and martyrs, into the number of whom we beseech thee to receive us, having no regard to our own merit; but pardoning us through thy grace in the name of JESUS CHRIST our Lord.

Nature of the

The Catholics, without exception, teach that JESUS CHRIST only, who was both God and man, was able, by the infinite dignity of his person, to offer up a sufficient satisfaction to God for our sins; but Atonement. having made an abundant recompense for them, he had power to apply that infinite satisfaction to us in two several ways; either by an absolute remission, without the least reserve of any penalty; or by exchanging a greater for a less, that is to say, an eternal for a temporal punishment. As the first is the most perfect and conformable to his divine goodness, he makes use of that, first of all, in the sacrament of baptism; and they believe that he uses the second in the forgiveness which he grants to those who after baptism relapse into sin, he being in some measure compelled thereto, through the ingratitude of those who have abused his first favours; for which reason they are to suffer some temporal punishment, though the eternal be taken off.

In order to satisfy the duties imposed upon them by their religion, the Catholics are subject to certain penances, which ought to be performed on their parts with repentance and humiliation; and it is the necessity of these works of expiation, which obliged the primitive Church to inflict those punishments upon penitents,

Penance and Indulgences.

that are termed canonical.

When the Church, therefore, imposes those painful and laborious penances upon sinners, and they undergo them with patience and humility, it is called satisfaction; and when the Church shows any regard either to the ardent devotion of the penitents, or to other good works which she prescribes, and remits any part of the punishment due to them, it is termed indulgence.

The Council of Trent proposes nothing more relating to indulgences, than that the Church had the power of granting them from JESUS CHRIST, and that the practice of them is wholesome; which custom, that Council adds, ought still be preserved, though with moderation, lest ecclesiastical discipline should be weakened by too great a toleration: from whence it is manifest, that the articles of indulgences only regard discipline. Certain it is, however, that indulgences have been, and still are, carried to a length of extravagance and sin in the Roman Catholic community.

It is the belief of the Catholics, that those who depart this life in peace · and charity, and are, notwithstanding, subject to those temporal punishments which divine justice has reserved for them, must suffer Purgatory. them in the other world; and for that reason the whole Christian Church in the earliest ages offered up both prayers, alms, and sacrifices for the faithful who have died in peace, and in the communion of the Church, with a lively hope and expectation of their being relieved by those acts of devotion. This is what the Council of Trent proposes that the Catholics should believe with respect to souls confined in purgatory, without determining either the nature of their punishments, or several other things of the like kind; in regard to which that holy Council exacts considerable precaution, and particularly condemns those who say anything that is uncertain and precarious.

The Seven Sacraments.

The sacraments of the New Testament are not only in the creed of the Catholics sacred tokens of grace, or seals by which it is confirmed to them, but they are also instruments of the Holy Ghost, which apply and confer it on them by virtue of the words pronounced, and the outward action performed, on their behalf, provided they do not prevent the effects of it by their own evil dispositions.

When God annexes so high a prerogative to external signs, which in their nature bear no proportion to such excellent effects, he plainly signifies, say the Catholics, that, independently of all that the Catholics can do inwardly through their good inclinations, a special operation of the Holy Ghost, and a particular application of the merits of our blessed Saviour, represented to us by the sacraments, must still intervene to sanctify them. This doctrine, therefore, cannot be rejected without offering an indignity to the merit of JESUS CHRIST; and to the influence of the divine power in their regeneration.

They acknowledge seven signs or sacraments, ordained by JESUS CHRIST

as the ordinary means by which the new man is sanctified and made perfect. Their divine institution, they say, appears from the sacred Scriptures, either by the express words of JESUS CHRIST himself, or by grace, which is accordingly annexed to them, and necessarily denotes an order from God. As infants cannot supply the defects of baptism, by acts of faith, hope, and charity, or by any vow hereafter to receive that sacrament, the Catholics believe, that if they do not actually receive it, they are in Baptism. nowise partakers of the grace of redemption; and so dying in the guilt of Adam, have no share at all in JESUS CHRIST.

The Catholics say that imposition of hands, practised by the blessed apostles for the confirmation of the faithful against persecutions, having its chief effect in the internal descent of the Holy Ghost, and Confirmation. the infusion of his gracious gifts, ought not to have been rejected by their adversaries on pretence that the Holy Ghost does not at present descend visibly upon them. Indeed, all Christian Churches, from the time of the apostles, have religiously preserved that practice, making use likewise of the sacred ointment in baptism, to show the virtue of that sacrament by a more express representation of the unction of the Holy Ghost.

They believe that it was the will of JESUS CHRIST, that those who have submitted themselves to the authority of the Church by baptism, and have afterwards violated the laws of the Gospel, shall be subject to the decision of the same Church in the tribunal of penance, at which it exercises the full power granted to it of absolution and remission of sins.

Confession and Absolution.

The terms of the commission which is given to the ministers of the Church to forgive sins are so general, that it would be presumptuous tó reduce it only to public sins, and as, when they pronounce absolution in the name of JESUS CHRIST, they only observe the express terms of that commission, so the sentence is looked upon as passed by JESUS CHRIST himself, in whose name they are appointed judges. He is the invisible high priest, who absolves the penitent inwardly, whilst the priest performs the same office externally.

Extreme

Unction.

The Holy Ghost having annexed to extreme unction, an express promise of remission of sins, and the relief of the sick, nothing more can be required to make this sacred ceremony a real sacrament. It is to be observed, however, that the sick person, according to the doctrine of the Council of Trent, receives more consolation and relief in soul than in body; and as spiritual benefit is ever the principal object of the new law, it is that which the Catholics chiefly expect from this holy unction, in case they are duly prepared for it; whereas corporeal relief in sickness is only granted unto them with respect to their eternal salvation, according to the secret designs of Divine Providence, and the different degrees of preparation and faith, which are to be met with in the faithful.

Upon considering that Jesus Christ has given a new turn to the holy state of marriage, (see Matthew, chap. xix. v. 5,) by reducing it to the constant and indissoluble union of two persons only; and likewise reflecting that this inseparable union is a mark or

Matrimony.

token of his eternal union with his church, it will be very easy to comprehend that the marriage of the faithful is attended by the Holy Ghost and the Grace of God.

The imposition of hands, which the Catholic spiritual ministers receive at their ordination, being attended, according to their belief, with so immediate an influence from the Holy Ghost, (see 1 Timothy, Imposition chap. iv. and 2 Tim. chap. i.) and with so perfect an infusion of grace, ought to be reckoned also among the number of

of Hands.

sacraments.

The Eucharist.

Catholics believe in the real presence of the body and blood of JESUS CHRIST in the sacrament of the Eucharist, for they maintain that there is not any thing in the words which JESUS CHRIST makes use of in the institution of this mystery, that induces them to take them figuratively; and this reason is sufficient, in their opinion, to determine them in favour of the former.

The ceremony of the Eucharist may be considered as one of the fundamental pillars of the Catholic religion, and we shall therefore give the exposition of it, as laid down by the Romish ritual. "It is evident," say the Catholics, "that these words of our Saviour, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you, show us, that as the ancient Jews were not only united in spirit at the sacrifice of the victims which were offered up for them, but were also partakers of the flesh which was sacrificed, and which was also a sign to them of the share they had in that oblation; so JESUS CHRIST having offered up himself a sacrifice for us, it was his pleasure that we should, in reality, partake of the flesh of that adorable victim; in order that the actual communication of it might be a lasting testimony to each of us in particular, that he had not only assumed his body, but made a sacrifice of it for us.

"Thus the eating of the body, and drinking of the blood of the Son of God, is as real at the holy communion, as grace, expiation of sins, and participation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is actual and effectual under the new covenant.

"As he was willing, however, to try our faith in this mystery, and free us at the same time from the horror of eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, under their proper species, it was necessary for him to give them to us disguised under a species of another nature; and if these considerations induced him to let us eat the flesh of our sacrifice, in a manner different from the Jews, yet he was not for that reason obliged to subtract any thing from its reality and substance.

"It appears, therefore, that for the accomplishment of the ancient types, and in order to put us in the actual possession of the sacrifice that was offered up for our sins, it was the intention of Jesus Christ to give us, in reality, his body and blood, and this does not admit of any denial. We can never agree that these words should be received only in a figurative sense, because the Son of God, who was so careful to explain every thing to his apostles which he taught them under parables and figures, said nothing of that kind to explain this matter; and it is thence evident that he left these words in their natural signification. It is as easy for the Son of God to cause his body to be in the Eucharist, by