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 repeatedly 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 me by a very respectable lay gentleman of the Roman Catholic

* See a pamphlet entitled Protestantism and Popery illustrated. Two Letters from the Rev. J. Berington to the author of the Sketch of the Denominations, &c. with a reply by J. Evans. Second edition, enlarged. The principal complaint was the adoption of the term Papist which is here abandoned as a term of reproach. The above article is rewritten, and will be found both enlarged and improved.

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."

"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, ass 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, in the Catholic Church.

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, alt 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 author then adds

"There are points of DISCIPLINE also, which regulate conduct, and to which we pay obedience; as fasting on particular days, communion in one kind, celibacy of churchmen, use of the Latin language in public service, and other similar practices; but as these vary, and may be either altered or suppressed by due authority, they belong not to what is properly styled the faith of Catholics.

Opinions also, whether regarding belief or practice, of particular schools or of particular divines, constitute a distinct and separate object. Great latitude in the forming of such opinions is allowed; and con sequently it will be often abused. It has been in the power of some men to give an undue weight to such opinions, whereby Catholics themselves have been too often imposed on. They have ignorantly confounded the inventions of fallible men with the unerring declarations of Heaven. Of this circum→ stance our enemies have many times taken an unfair advantage, and the faith of Catholics has suffered from the false representation.-Some opinions may deserve respect, but others should be despised and reprobated. And it should be noticed, that most of the charges brought against us are founded on this false supposition; that the opinions of private men, or of whole societies, are as much a part of our real creed, as the articles I have mentioned. When all this extraneous matter, whether of discipline or of