which the Pope governs with episcopal jurisdiction; or they mean, the whole Catholic church throughout the world, in communion with the see of Rome, acknowledging the Pope the vicar of Christ, and successor of St. Peter. In this latter sense only do we invariably speak, when we call the church of Rome, the Catholic church.

That the church of Rome in this sense is really and truly the church of Christ, cannot be a matter of doubt to those, who admit the three creeds in the plain and obvious sense of the words. I beg the most serious, and deliberate attention of the catechist and his friends to their own admission, and particularly to the direct and inevitable consequences, connected with that fundamental point. They believe, with the framers of the Apostles' creed, "the Holy Catholic Church," and with the authors of the Nicene creed, they profess to believe, ONE, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church." From this admission, it directly and immediately follows as a consequence, which must be deemed inevitable, that our Redeemer has always had, from the foundation of Christianity, a church on earth; and that this church has ever been distinguished by the four marks of unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity. Though our 'adversaries, by the admission of the three creeds, necessarily recognise the perpetual existence and visibility of

this church, with its attendant marks, it is a fair and proper mode of treating the question, to establish the perpetual appearance of this church, to prove the reality of its marks from the Scripture, and to ascertain to what society of Christians respectively they belong.

To be fully convinced, without entertaining the possibility of doubt, that Christ has always had upon earth a church, or a society of the faithful, governed by lawful pastors, teaching the divine will, and uniting all its members in one fold, the reader has only to open his Scripture, and give but a slight attention to the manifest predictions of the prophets on the church, and to the undeniable declarations of our Redeemer on the same subject. In the dignified strains of Isaiah, the church of Christ is represented as a mountain established on the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills; it is stated, that ALL NATIONS shall flow unto it; that people will go up to the house of the God of Jacob, and exclaim: he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths1: by the same prophet its greatness, its amplitude, and its perpetual existence, are described in most glowing colours; it is there distinctly said3, that the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be 2 Ibid. liv. tot. capite.

Isaiah, ii. 2, 3.

Ibid. ver. 10.

removed. By the same inspired writer, we are told in exalted strains1: this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my spirit is upon thee, and my words, which I have put in thy mouth, SHALL

NOT DEPART OUT OF THY MOUTH, NOR OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THY SEED, NOR OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THY SEED'S SEED, FROM HENCE

FORTH AND FOR EVER. What noble, splendid, and convincing testimonies are these of the perpetual existence, visibility, amplitude, and indefectibility of that church, which was to subsist for ever. If to this we add what the same prophet says, in his sixtieth and sixty-second chapters; if we subjoin the important testimony of the prophet Daniel, who calls the church of Christ a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed2; if we refer also to the predictions of Micah, who emulates in some degree the exalted and glowing language of Isaiah, on the subject of the church; if we couple the whole with the well-known declarations of our Redeemer, that he would build his church on a rock, and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it3; and again, that he would be with it all days to the end of the world*; we shall want nothing to produce in the minds of the most sceptic, a calm and intimate conviction of this fundamental truth, that there always has been, and that there ever will be to the end

1

1 Isaiah, lix. 21.

Matt. xvi. 18.

2 Dan. ii. 44.

4 Ibid. xxviii. 20.

of time, ONE CHURCH, divinely assisted, perpetually visible, and teaching the will of God, in defiance of all opposition.

Here the grand and important question arises, to what society of Christians, are these declarations, promises, and assurances of divine protections to be applied? are they meant to designate all the societies of those, who call themselves Christians, taken collectively? or are they to be understood of any particular sect, viewed separately, which has appeared during the last three hundred years? or finally, are they to be clearly and distinctly applied to that illustrious society of believers, in communion with the see of Rome, which has subsisted from the first period of Christianity to the present hour? These are truly important and interesting questions, involving in their consequences, whatever is dear to the heart of man.

That these promises, relating clearly to one visible church, which was to subsist for ever, cannot be understood of the whole collection of various sects which divide the Christian world, appears indubitably clear to a man who consults his reason for a single moment. Truth of its own nature is but one; consequently the God of all truth cannot be said to sanction the whole collection of those, who have the name of Christian, and treat them as members of his church, since they all differ in faith, in worship, and dis

cipline, and all maintain a heterogeneous mass of jarring and discordant opinions. He cannot say of the same object it is, and it is not1. Besides, how can the whole collection of sects, which now divide the Christian world, lay any claim to the effect of those promises of perpetual visibility, when before the period of fifteen hundred they had positively no existence? How can they subsist in virtue of these promises of God, when, in order to obtain credit with the people, they represent the state of Christendom, before their appearance, as immersed in darkness and error; and consequently they must be understood to say, that these fair assurances have proved illusive? The language of the prophets, coupled with that of our Redeemer, is that the church is to be considered as a kingdom, which is to stand for ever, a city upon a mountain, a church built on a rock; a school, in which ALL TRUTH was to be taught. The plea of those, calling themselves reformers, invariably is, that darkness, error, superstition, idolatry, with a long catalogue of other infamous crimes, prevailed in the church; and that they, without claiming a divine commission, commenced the work of reform. Thus we may ask again and again, how can such portions of Christians, either collectively or separately, pretend to be the church of Christ, when to establish their