tance of this fact, and of the immense and inevitable consequences which flow from it? In the first place you have no knowledge of the Scripture as a canonical book, but from the testimony of the Catholic church; for the obvious arguments which you produce to prove its authenticity, render it, in your view, but a human performance, and will never establish its divine inspiration. Hence St. Augustine made the celebrated declaration so often referred to in these pages, that he would not believe the gospel, but for the authority of the Catholic church. Secondly, how are we to ascertain the meaning of the sacred writings, particularly in those parts, which have been variously interpreted. Evidently we are to resort to the authority of that church, thus, divinely established, and invested with such a manifest commission from above. Thus, by reciting these words, you not only admit the existence of the church, but its divine authority, its heavenly commission, its perpetual indefectibility, its utter exemption from all error; for otherwise the distinguishing characteristic of holiness, which you ascribe to it, would prove but an empty sound.

You are to recollect, that this admission of the authority of the church is an article of faith, inserted in this document, immediately after the profession of the belief in the three divine Persons of the most adorable Trinity; that as such it is of its own nature unalterable and immuta

ble; that consequently the church was to teach with the same undisputed authority, till the second coming of Christ, when our Redeemer is to deliver it to his heavenly Father. This church, by the terms here employed, was to be the church of all ages and all nations; for such is the import of the word Catholic, or universal. It was not to be confined to any one nation, or people, or kingdom, or republic; but to be altogether unconfined both as to its extent and duration. Its commission was clearly of divine original, without any reference to the temporal sway of sovereigns, to the haughty claims of the great, or to the more dangerous influence of the people. From the genuine records of authentic history, we can state, without fear of contradiction, that, for the first three hundred years, the church, instead of being fostered with the paternal care of temporal sovereigns, was established in defiance of the majesty of imperial Rome. This event took place amidst the horrors of ten general persecutions, in which every species of suffering and torture was exhibited, to subdue the fortitude, and overcome the constancy of the Christian, without effect. The blood of the martyr, exclaimed Tertullian, proves the seed of the Christian.

If all this is true, my Lord, and assuredly every statement here made is incontrovertible, how has it happened, that this HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH

has been the seed-plot of error? that it has been darkened by a general eclipse, which lasted for eight hundred years and more, and involved in one universal night every Christian nation under the sun1? If the authority of this church has been vested in the apostles, and their lawful successors, by what unaccountable change has it taken place, that spiritual power should be claimed by civil potentates, and that a man, a boy, and a woman, should successively usurp the whole authority emanating from Christ? My Lord, these are trying questions, searching questions, tremendous questions: I leave them to your Lordship's fullest and most deliberate consideration.

Perhaps, my Lord, I may be charged with straining the meaning of this celebrated article beyond its natural and obvious ́ import. To remove this impression, I beg leave to cite the explanation of a protestant divine, the learned Dr. Pearson, bishop of Chester. That eminent scholar, in his exposition of the ninth article of the apostle's creed, has the following passages: "When I say, I believe the holy Catholic church, I mean, that there is a church which is holy and which is Catholic. And afterwards: "It is not only an acknowledgment of a church, which shall be, but also of that which is. That

'Peril of Idolatry, Part I. b. 1, ant. cit.

ble; that consequently the church was to teach with the same undisputed authority, till the second coming of Christ, when our Redeemer is to deliver it to his heavenly Father. This church, by the terms here employed, was to be the church of all ages and all nations; for such is the import of the word Catholic, or universal. It was not to be confined to any one nation, or people, or kingdom, or republic; but to be altogether unconfined both as to its extent and duration. Its commission was clearly of divine original, without any reference to the temporal sway of sovereigns, to the haughty claims of the great, or to the more dangerous influence of the people. From the genuine records of authentic history, we can state, without fear of contradiction, that, for the first three hundred years, the church, instead of being fostered with the paternal care of temporal sovereigns, was established in defiance of the majesty of imperial Rome. This event took place amidst the horrors of ten general persecutions, in which every species of suffering and torture was exhibited, to subdue the fortitude, and overcome the constancy of the Christian, without effect. The blood of the martyr, exclaimed Tertullian, proves the seed of the Christian.

If all this is true, my Lord, and assuredly every statement here made is incontrovertible, how has it happened, that this HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH

has been the seed-plot of error? that it has been darkened by a general eclipse, which lasted for eight hundred years and more, and involved in one universal night every Christian nation under the sun1? If the authority of this church has been vested in the apostles, and their lawful successors, by what unaccountable change has it taken place, that spiritual power should be claimed by civil potentates, and that a man, a boy, and a woman, should successively usurp the whole authority emanating from Christ? My Lord, these are trying questions, searching questions, tremendous questions: I leave them to your Lordship's fullest and most deliberate consideration.

Perhaps, my Lord, I may be charged with straining the meaning of this celebrated article beyond its natural and obvious import. To remove this impression, I beg leave to cite the explanation of a protestant divine, the learned Dr. Pearson, bishop of Chester. That eminent scholar, in his exposition of the ninth article of the apostle's creed, has the following passages: “ When I say, I believe the holy Catholic church, I mean, that there is a church which is holy and which is Catholic. And afterwards: "It is not only an acknowledgment of a church, which shall be, but also of that which is. That