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themselves under the spiritual control of Pastors, Teachers, Bishops and Elders, and give themselves unreservedly up to their guidance. The fact is palpable, that there is scarcely a Parish Priest, Deacon, Class-leader, Bishop, Elder or Preacher in the land who is not virtually a Pope, so far as his jurisdic tion extends. The power of each of these is often that of a petty sovereign in his own territory, in the days of Feudal vassalage. They say to one go, and he goeth, and to an other come, and he cometh," and woe, woe to the obstin te professor who dares resist the mandates of his rulers. In some churches, moreover, these rulers are multiplied, and a system of drill discipline is adopted, which serves well to steal power from the many and lodge it in the hands of a few. For instance, the Methodist Church has Class Leaders, Lo. cal Preachers, Stewards, Circuit Preachers. Presiding Elders and Bishops, besides Local and General Conferences, to the authority of most if not all of whom the private member submits his walk and conscience! Well, how much better is this system than that of the Catholic? For ourselves, we have not the least hesitation in saying, that when we bring our mind to the point of acknowledging the right of any one to lord it over our conscience, we should prefer much to have one Pope than half a dozen. And it matters not whether the officers of Protestant Churches claim the authority which a Pope does or not, so long as they virtually exercise it, its dan ger to the liberties of the people is by no means lessened.

Third, The right of private judgment in matters of faith and duty, and the privilege of reading the Bible for themselves, is contended for by Protestants with all earnestness, and, we think, correctly. It is indeed a privilege worth contending for by every freeman. But do Protestant sects act out the principle? Do they allow this right of private judgment to the people? True, they place the Bible in our hands and exhort us to read it, but are there no penalties annexed to the crime of not giving the same interpretation to it that the minister does? Is there not a sword of priestly vengeance hanging over our heads, by a single hair, to keep our minds from

wandering from the gloss which the church has put upon thẻ sacred oracles? Else why so many trammels on Christians in the way of Creeds and Confessions? Why are men excommunicated for want of proper understanding of the Word, or for drawing therefrom doctrines adverse to popular the ology? An answer to these queries will prove, that however much the people may imagine they have a right to judge för themselves in religious concerns, they have it under such re... strictions as completely to nullify the privilege. But few dare, at least, to express their opinions unless they find them. selves in the strong current which leadeth to the port of fash ionable worship.

Fourth, Catholics hold to forgiveness of sin by the Priest and absolution from its penalties, by what are called indulgences. So do Protestants, as per following extract;

Of Church Censures.-The Lord Jesus, as king and head of his church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of church-officers, distinct from the civil magis. trate

2. To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed, by virtue whereof they have power respectively to retain and remit sins, to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the word and censures; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the Gospel, and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall require."Con. of Faith, Chap. 30.

Here all that was ever claimed by Catholics is contended for by Presbyterians--and more--for absolution by the Catholic Priest does not extend to the "guilt or pain eternal duc to it," but only "such temporal punishment as remains duc after the guilt is remitted--those indulgences being nothing else than a mitigation a relaxation of the canonical penances enjoined by the church on penitent sinners, according to their 'several degrees of merit."(Doyle's Ed. Manual of Catholic piety p. 322,) but the Protestant faith goes a step further. By the very convenient doctrine of death-bed repentances, so often practically set forth in the conversion of convicts in prison or under the gallows--the ministers absolve the 'most hardened wretches from all future and eternal punish

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ment, and give them a passport from a dungeon's gloom to heaven's glory, and this too, after they have enjoyed the "pleasures of sin" unpunished and unrecompensed, for a long, lifetime! Besides, do not the Partialist Clergy often set themselves up as the vice-gerents of the Most High, and as intercessors between offended Deity and guilty sinners? And is not the promise frequently given to the unconverted of their getting a pardon for their sins, if they will only come for ward to the "anxious seat," and the "altar," to be prayed for by God's ministers? The idea certainly is entertained and enforced, that the prayers of the Clergy are of great avail in absolving sinners from the guilt of sin, and convert ing them to God; and any one who would avow his preference to have his sins forgiven on application to God himself, without the intervention of the priesthood, would doubtless be deemed a scoffing infidel and so denounced. The claim of the Protestant Clergy therefore to "retain or remit sins," or to "shut the kingdom of heaven against the impenitent or open it to the penitent," cannot justly be denied--- and hence they are in the same condemnation which they pro. nounce upon their Catholic neighbors.

Fifth, The doctrine of the "real presence" of Christ in the Eucharist, is denounced as a mischievous Catholic sentiment, and the sacrifice of the mass as an impious custom. But the first idea is thus explained in the Manual before quo. ted from.

"Christ is not present in this sacrament, according to his natural way of existence, that is, with extension of parts, &c. but in a supernatural manner one and the same in ma. ny places: his presence, therefore, though real and substantial, is, sacramentally, not exposed to the external senses or obnoxious to corporal contingencies."

In this light, if we mistake not, Protestants look upon the sacrament of the Lord's supper.--The bread and wine are symbols of the broken body and blood of Christ-thus show. ing that they understand the words of our Saviour, "take pat, this is my body," and drink, "this is my blood,” in a fig

urative and not a literal sense. The difference then, is not important enough to unchristianize the Catholics, unless the rule works both ways.

Sixth, Catholics worship Images and believe in Purgatory, say the Protestants. But such is not the case so far as the first item is concerned. In the 11th article of their principles the charge is denied in plain terms, as follows:

"Catholics renounce all divine worship and adoration of images or pictures. God alone we worship and adore, nevertheless we place pictures in our churches to reduce our wandering thoughts and excite our memory towards heaven. ly things," &c.

And as to the second item-that of Purgatory-why com plain of its erroneous character, when, manifestly, it is a more benevolent sentiment than is found in most Protestant creeds. According to the Catholic doctrine, there is a place of purification for those who have committed venial sins, or who have died with sins not fully repented of. But not so with Protestant Trinitarians, for their endless hell is equally the doom of the veteran in crime and the novitiate. The child who commits but one sin, after arriving at years of dis. cretion or knowledge of good and evil, and dies without re. penting thereof, is consigned to the same pit of perdition that awaits the obstinate and abandoned culprit! So their creeds teach-while the more merciful Mother Church provides an intermediate state of corrective discipline. Who will then say that the Protestant Faith is any better than the Catholic?

The truth is, that Luther and the early reformers, so called, never waged war against the Doctrines of Catholics, but against their abuse of power and their numerous traditional customs; and, as we have seen, those who have protested against what they deemed errors in the Mother Church, have virtually fallen into the same courses. Even the sword of persecution, which had been so fatally used for ages by Popes and Councils, when wrested from their grasp, was by no means suffered to rest in its scabbard, but has ever since been bathed in the blood of victims "for conscience' sake.”

Witness the persecutions during the reign of the Protestant Queen Mary, and of the Protestant King James, and the Pres. byterian Parliament, &c. in England. Look too at the per-. secutions in our own land, of one Protestant sect against another. The sufferings of the Baptists and Quakers from the hands of the Puritans of New England, were almost incred ible. The Methodists too in their infancy were subjected to all manner of reproach and scorn--but now that they have grown to the stature of a man, and have obtained power, how easy have they slidden into the same excesses which have marked the reign of every dominant sect in Christendom! Alas! how true is the voice of Prophecy-" As is the moth er, so is her daughter."

However

Reader, the sum of the whole matter is this. Protestants and Catholics may differ on unessential points of doctrine and practice, there is a perfect agreement between them on all the important topics of Theology. The creeds of all those spoken of in this chapter, are partial in their character and limited in their results. They unite in the worship of a God of partial love to his creatures, and who will eventually crown only a part of his offspring with his everlasting salvation. They all "limit the Holy One of Israel,” and are therefore justly entitled to the distinctive appellation of Limitarians or Partialists. As it regards the final destiny of man, they are one in opinion, and may therefore be regarded as ONE Church and ONE People. Opposed to them in sentiment are all those, of whatever name, who believe in the "restitution of all things," or the final holiness and happiness of all mankind, and who are hence denominated Universalists. Thus there are in truth but "two opinions" in the Church. Our work then is plain before us. In opposing Partialism, we oppose the various Creeds of the age which involve the dogma of endless misery for a part of the human race. Having reduced the opposition to a unit, on a major proposition, so we succeed in proving it fallacious and contrary to the word of God, we shall care but little what becomes of the minor principles involved in the contest. To all would