4. Suppose an infallible judge were necessary, why must that judge be necessarily in the church of Rome? Why not in any other church?

5. For all the pretences of infallibility in the church of Rome, they cannot decide the quarrels and controversies that are among themselves.

OBSERVATIONS.

In discussing the question of the infallibility of the church, the catechist surpasses himself in the low arts of misrepresentation and calumny. He considers the whole controversy to be an insidious device to uphold temporal dominion and external grandeur; he takes the method usually employed to alter the state of the question, by directing the reader's attention, not to the whole Catholic church in communion with the sovereign Pontiff, but to the particular diocese of Rome; and he modestly affirms, that infallibility is a pretence, neither founded in Scripture, reason, nor antiquity. In order to recal this wanderer to the real state of the question, we must inform him, and request him always to bear in mind, that by the church of Rome laying claim to infallibility, is not to be understood the particular diocese of Rome, but the whole aggregate of particular churches throughout the universe, united in one faith, connected by the use of the same sacraments, and joined in one communion, under the Pope, the supreme pastor and successor of St. Peter. We must assure him, that

temporal dominion and external grandeur are considerations wholly foreign to the question; the whole force of which consists in these positions: 1st, that Christ has bestowed on his church that infallibility, which preserves her from error in deciding matters of religious truth: 2d, that the church thus gifted is the Roman Catholic church, in the sense here explained, and no other. This is the nature of the celebrated claim made by the Catholic church; and unless this be kept in view, how is it possible to prevent a confusion of ideas from pervading the whole discussion?

Let us therefore begin by shewing, that our Redeemer really conferred on his church the prerogative of infallibility, which was to prevent error, and to preserve the faith inviolate, without variation, without disguise, without change. The catechist has asserted, that infallibility is a pretence contrary to Scripture: let him open the divine oracles, and witness with me the splendid promises, made by Almighty God, respecting his future church. Then he will cease to imagine, that the church, the most noble work of God, was ever abandoned to hazard, and consigned to

error.

The prophet Isaiah seeing, in the light of God, the future kingdom of Christ, acknowledged in the Protestant bibles to be the church, described it as a mountain above mountains; he

represents all nations as flowing to it, and its votaries exclaiming, Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and

HE WILL TEACH OF HIS WAYS, AND WE WILL WALK

IN HIS PATHS1. Again, the same prophet, after exhibiting a bright picture of the future state of the church, has the following passage:—And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness. No unclean person shall pass through it: but he himself shall be with them, walking in the way, and the foolish shall not err therein. Before we make a single remark, let us proceed to furnish the view, which this distinguished prophet gives of the future church. After describing in glowing colours the amplitude of this spiritual kingdom, he exclaims, Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the holy one of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called3. And again, No weapon that is formed against thee shall pros

1 Isa. ii. 2, 3.

Ibid. xxxv. 8. Lowth's Version. See and compare the translation of this passage with the common one, and both with the Hebrew text.

3 lbid. liv. 4, 5.

per; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn1. Such is the representation of the nature, and of the properties of the church, as given by this prophet: it was to be a house of which God was to be the protector; it was to be A WAY OF HOLINESS; a way so MANIFESTLY CLEAR, THAT FOOLS SHOULD NOT ERR; the church was not to be put to shame, as she was ever to continue under the guidance of her Maker, of the Lord of hosts, of the Holy One of Israel, of the God of the universe. Now all these solemn assurances unquestionably exclude, in direct and positive terms, the possibility of error in the church in all matters of faith : they consequently overturn the only plea, on which the pretended reformation is founded. What judgment, therefore, are we to form of the doctrine professed by the catechist, on this very subject, on which the prophet conveys these solemn declarations? By the 35th of the thirty-nine articles, a certain book of homilies is commended, as containing pious and salutary doctrine; and is directed to be read carefully and distinctly, so as to be understood by the people. In one of these homilies occurs the following passage:-Laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women and children, of whole Christendom, had been at once drowned in

abominable idolatry; and that for the space of eight hundred years and more1. and more1. Let the abettors of such doctrine, and all those who join with the authors of these homilies in imputing error to the church of Christ, read the passages here produced from the prophet Isaiah, altogether of a contradictory import, and then hang down their heads in silent shame.

To convince the impartial reader, that it is not in a few solitary instances only, that God commissioned his prophets to represent his future church as under his immediate protection, and free from error, I will designedly produce copious extracts from the same divine source. The reader is requested to peruse the whole of the sixtieth chapter of the same prophet, and he will find a noble and sublime address, celebrating the glory and stability of the church : Arise; says the prophet, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And afterwards: Therefore shall thy gates be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings

'Hom. against Peril of Idolatry, Part 3.

2 Ver. 1, 2.