been incapable, with the advantage of this pretended infallibility, of maintain ing union and peace. Another essential article of the popish creed is the supremacy of the pope, or his sovereign power over the universal church. See SUPREMACY. Farther; the doctrine of the seven sacraments is a peculiar and distinguish ing doctrine of the church of Rome; these are baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony. tisfactions; which supposes that penitents may truly satisfy, by the afflictions they endure under the dispensations of Providence, or by voluntary penances to which they submit, for the temporal penalties of sin to which they are subject, even after the remission of their eternal punishment. Sess. 6. can. 30. and sess. 14, can. 3 and 9. In this connection we may mention the popish distinction of venial and mortal sins: the greatest evils arising from the former, are the temporary pains of purgatory; but no man, it is said, can obtain the pardon of the latter, without confessing to a priest, and performing the penances which he imposes. The council of Trent (sess. 14. can. 1.) has expressly decreed, that every one is accursed who shall affirm that penance is not truly and properly a sacrament instituted by Christ in the universal church, for reconciling those Christians to the Divine Majesty, who The council of Trent (sess. 7, can. 1.) pronounces an anathema on those who say thatthe sacramentsaremoreor fewer than seven, or that any one of the above number is not truly and properly a sacrament. And yet it does not appear that they amounted to this number be fore the twelfth century, when Hugo de St. Victore and Peter Lombard, about the year 1144, taught that there were seven sacraments. The council of Flo-|| rence, held in 1438, was the first coun-have fallen into sin after baptism; and cil that determined this number. These sacraments confer grace, according to the decree of the council of Trent, (sess. 7. can. 8.) ex opere operate, by the mere administration of them: three of them, viz. baptism, confirmation, and orders are said (c. 9.) to impress an indelible character, so that they cannot be repeated without sacrilege; and the efficacy of every sacrament depends on the intention of the priest by whom it is administered (can. 11.) Pope Pius expressly enjoins that all these sacraments should be administered according to the received and approved rites of the Catholic church. With regard to the eucharist, in particular, we may here observe, that the church of Rome holds the doctrine of transubstantiation; the necessity of paying divine worship to Christ under the form of the consecrated bread or host; the propitiatory sacrifice of the mass, according to their ideas of which, Christ is truly and properly offered as a sacrifice as often as the priest says mass; it practises, likewise, solitary mass, in which the priest alone, who consecrates, communicates, and allows communion only in one kind, viz. the bread of the laity: Sess. 14. || The doctrine of merits is another dis tinguishing tenet of popery; with regard to which the council of Trent has expressly decreed (sess. 6. can. 32.) that the good works of justified persons are truly meritorious; deserving not only an increase of grace, but eternal life and an increase of glory; and it has anathematized all who deny this doctrine. Of the same kind is the doctrine of sa." this sacrament, it is declared, consists of two parts, the matter and the form : the matter is the act of the penitent, including contrition, confession, and satisfaction; the form of it is the act of absolution on the part of the priest. Accordingly it is enjoined, that it is the duty of every man who hath fallen after baptism, to confess his sins once a year, at least, to a priest; that this confession is to be secret; for public confession is neither commanded nor expedient: and that it must be exact and particular, including every kind and act of sin, with all the circumstances at. tending it. When the penitent has so done, the priest pronounces an absolution, which is not conditional or declarative only, but absolute and judicial. This secret or auricular confession was first decreed and established in the fourth council of Lateran, under Innocent III. in 1215. (cap. 21.) And the decree of this council was afterwards confirmed and enlarged in the council of Florence and in that of Trent, which ordains, that confession was instituted by Christ; that by the law of God it is necessary to salvation, and that it has always been practised in the Christian church. As for the penances imposed on the penitent by way of satisfaction, they have been commonly the repetition of certain forms of devotion, as paternosters, or ave marias, the payment of stipulated sums, pilgrimages, fasts, or various species of corporal discipline. But the most formidable penance, in the estimation of many who have belonged to the Roman communion, has been the temporary pains of purgatory. Bnt under all the And because he is sensible that these penalties which are inflicted or threat-holy pictures and images represent and ened in the Romish church, it has pro- bring to his mind such objects as in his vided relief by its indulgences, and by heart he loves, honours, and venerates, its prayers or masses for the dead, per- he cannot but upon that account love, formed professedly for relieving and || honour, and respect the images themrescuing the souls that are detained in selves. purgatory. || The council of Trent likewise deAnother article that has been long creed, that all bishops and pastors who authoritatively enjoined and observed in have the care of souls do diligently inthe church of Rome, is the celibacy of struct their flocks that it is good and her clergy. This was first enjoined at || profitable to desire the intercession of Rome by Gregory VII. about the year saints reigning with Christ in heaven. 1074, and established in England by And this decree the Papists endeavour Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, to defend by the following observations: about the year 1175; though his prede- They confess that we have but one mecessor Lanfranc had imposed it upon diator of redemption: but affirm that it the prebendaries and clergy that lived is accceptable to God that we should in towns. And though the council of have many mediators of intercession. Trent was repeatedly petitioned by se- Moses (say they) was such a mediator veral princes and states to abolish this for the Israelites; Job for his three restraint, the obligation of celibacy was friends; Stephen for his persecutors. rather established than relaxed by this || The Romans were thus desired by St. council; for they decreed, that mar-Paul to be his mediators; so were the riage contracted after a vow of conti- Corinthians; so the Ephesians (Ep. nence, is neither lawful nor valid; and ad. Rom. Cor. Eph.) so almost every thus deprived the church of the possi- sick man desires the congregation to be bility of ever restoring marriage to the his mediators, by remembering him in clergy. For if marriage, after a vow, their prayers. And so the Papist debe in itself unlawful, the greatest au sires the blessed in heaven to be his me thority upon earth cannot dispense with diators: that is, that they would pray it, nor permit marriage to the clergy to God for him. But between these who have already vowed continence. living and dead mediators there is no See CELIBACY. similarity: the living mediator is present, and certainly hears the request of those who desire him to intercede for them; the dead mediator is as certainly absent, and cannot possibly hear the requests of all those who at the same in. stant may be begging him to intercede for them, unless he be possessed of the divine attribute of omnipresence; and he who gives that attribute to any crea ture, is unquestionably guilty of idolatry. And as this decree is contrary to one of the first principles of natural religion, so does it receive no counterance from Scripture, or any Christian writer of the three first centuries. Other practices peculiar to the Papists are, the reThese pictures or images have this ligious honour and respect that they advantage, that they inform the mind pay to sacred relics: by which they un by one glance of what in reading might derstand not only the bodies and paris require a whole chapter: there being no of the bodies of the saints, but any of other difference between them than that those things that appertained to them, reading represents leisurely, and by de- and which they touched; and the cegrees, and a picture all at once. Hence lebration of divine service in an unhe finds a convenience in saying his known tongue: to which purpose the prayers with some devout pictures be- council of Trent hath denounced an fore him, he being no sooner distracted, anathema on any one who shall say that but the sight of these recalls his wan- mass ought to be celebrated only in the dering thoughts to the right object; and vulgar tongue. (Sess. 25, and sess. 22, as certainly brings something good into can. 9.) Though the council of Latehis mind, as an immodest picture dis-ran, under Innocent III. in 1215 (Call. turbs his heart with filthy thoughts.9.) had expressly decryed, that, be To the doctrines and practices above recited, may be farther added, the worship of images, of which Protestants accuse the Papists. But to this accusation the Papist replies, that he keeps images by him to preserve in his mind the memory of the persons represented by them; as people are wont to preserve the memory of their deceased friends by keeping their pictures. He is taught (he says) to use them so as to casthis eyes upon the pictures or images, and thence to raise his heart to the things represented; and there to employ it in medi tation, love, and thanksgiving, desire of imitation, &c. as the object requires. SN craments. cause, in many parts within the same mind is a state of ignorance, or a mind city and diocese, there are many peo-void of religious principle, Rev. iii. 17. ple of different manners and rites mix--3. Poverty of spirit, consists in an ined together, but of one faith, the bishops ward sense and feeling of our wants and of such cities or dioceses should provide defects; a conviction of our wretched fit men for celebrating divine offices, and forlorn condition by nature; with a according to the diversity of tongues dependence on divine grace and mercy and rites, and for administering the sa- for pardon and acceptance, Mat. v. 3. It must be distinguished from a poor spiWe shall only add, that the church of ritedness, a sneaking fearfulness, which Rome maintains, that unwritten tradi-bringeth a snare. It is the effect of the tions ought to be added to the Holy operation of the Divine Spirit on the Scriptures, in order to supply their de- heart, John, xvi. 8.; is attended with fect, and to be regarded as of equal au- submission to the divine will; contentthority; that the books of the Apocry-ment in our situation; meekness and pha are canonical Scripture; that the Vulgate edition of the Bible is to be deemed authentic; and that the Scriptares are to be received and interpreted according to that sense which the holy mother church, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense, hath held, and doth hold, and according to the unanimous consent of the fathers. Such are the principal and distin guishing doctrines of popery, most of which have received the sanction of the || council of Trent, and that the creed of pope Pius IV. which is received, professed, and sworn to, by every one who enters into holy orders in the church of Rome; and at the close of this creed, we are told, that the faith contained in it is so absolutely and indispensably necessary, that no man can be saved without it. See ANTICHRIST; Bowers's History of the Popes; Smith's Errors of the Church of Rome detected; Ben net's Confutation of Popery; Sermons at Salter Hall against Popery; Bishop Burnet's Travels, &c. Moore's View of Society and Manners in Italy;|| Dr. Middleton's Letters from Rome Stevenson's Historical and Critical View of some of the Doctrines of the Church of Rome. POSITIVE INSTITUTES. See IN STITUTIONS. POSSESSION OF THE DEVIL. See DEMONIACS. forbearance as to others, and genuine humility as to ourselves. It is a spirit approved of by God, Isa. Ixvi. 2. evidential of true religion, Luke, xviii. 13. and terminates in endless felicity, Matt. v. 3. Isa. lvii. 15. Ps. xxxiv. 18. Dun lon's Ser. lec. 1, vol. ii. Barclay's Dict. South's Ser. vol. x. ser. 1; No. 464. Spec. vol, vi. Robert Harris' Sermons, ser 3. part 3. POWER, ability, force, strength. Power includes a particular relation to the subordinate execution of superior orders. In the word authority we find a sufficient energy to make us perceive a right. Dominion carries with it an idea of empire. POWER OF GOD. See OMNIPO TENCE. POWERS OF THE MIND are those faculties by which we think, reason, ||judge, &c. They are so various," says Dr. Reid, "so many, so connected, and complicated in most of their operations, that there never has been any division of them proposed which is not liable to considerable objections. The most common division is that of understanding and will. Under the will we comprehend our active powers, and all that lead to action, or influence the mind to act; such as appetites, passions, affections. The understanding comprehends our contemplative powers, by which we perceive objects; by which we conceive or remember them; by which we analyze or compound them; and by which we judge and reason con cerning them. Or the intellectual powers are commonly divided into simple apprehension, judgment, and reasoning.' See Reid on the Active Powers, also on the Human Mind, and the Intellectual Powers; Locke on the Understanding. For the influence Christianity has had on the moral and intellectual powers, see White's admirable Sermons, ser. 9. POVERTY is that state or situation, opposed to riches, in which we are deprived of the conveniences of life. In digence is a degree lower, where we want the necessaries, and is opposed to|| superfluity. Want seems rather to ar rive by accident, implies a scarcity of provision rather than a lack of money, and is opposed to abundance. Need and necessity relate less to the situation of life than the other three words, but more to the relief we expect, or the remedy we seek; with this difference between the two, that need seems less pressing than necessity.-2. Poverty of PRAISE, an acknowledgment made of the excellency or perfection of any person or action, with a commendation his mercies." Nothing can be more of the same. "The desire of praise," rational or consistent than the exercise says an elegant writer, "is generally of this duty. It is a divine injunction connected with all the finer sensibilities that men should always pray, and not of human nature. It affords a ground faint, Luke, xviii. 1. It is highly proper we should acknowledge the obligations on which exhortation, counsel, and reproof, can work a proper effect: To we are under to the Divine Being, and be entirely destitute of this passion be- supplicate his throne for the blessings we stand in need of. It is essential to tokens an ignoble mind, on which no moral impression is easily made; for our peace and felicity, and is the happy mean of our carrying on and enjoying where there is no desire of praise, there will also be no sense of reproach; but fellowship with God. It has an influwhile it is admitted to be a natural and ence on our tempers and conduct, and in many respects an useful principle of evidences our subjection and obedience to God. We shall here consider the action, we are to observe that it is en. titled to no more than our secondary object, nature, kinds, matter, manner, regard. It has its boundary set, by and forms of prayer, together with its transgressing which, it is at once trans-efficacy, and the objections made formed from an innocent into a most against it. dangerous passion. When passing its natural line, it becomes the ruling spring of conduct; when the regard which we pay to the opinions of men encroaches on that reverence which we owe to the voice of conscience and the sense of duty; the love of praise, having then gone out of its proper place, instead of improving, corrupts; and instead of elevating, debases our nature." Young's Love of Fame; Blair's Sermons, ser. 6. vol. ii.Jortin's Diss. dis. 4. passim; Wilberforce's Pract. View, ch. iv. sec. 3; Smith's Theory of Mora. Sent. vol. 1, p. 233; Fitzosborne's Letters, let. 18. 1. The object of prayer is God alone, through Jesus Christ, as the Mediator. All supplications, therefore, to saints or angels, are not only useless but blasphemous. All worship of the creature, however exalted that creature is, is idolatry, and strictly prohibited in the sacred law of God. Nor are we to pray to the Trinity, as three_distinct Gods; for though the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be addressed in various parts of the Scripture, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 2 Thess. ii. 16, 17. yet never as three Gods, for that would lead us directly to the doctrine of polytheism: the more ordinary mode the Scripture points out, is, to address the Father through the Son, depending on the Spirit to help our infirmities, Eph. ii. 18. Rom. viii. 26. It PRAISE OF GOD, the acknowledging his perfections, works, and benefits. Praise and thanksgiving are generally considered as synonymous, II. As to the nature of this duty: it yet some distinguish them thus. Praise properly terminates in God, on account must be observed, that it does not conof his natural excellencies and perfec-sist in the elevation of the voice, the tions, and is that act of devotion by which we confess and admire his se veral attributes: but thanksgiving is a more contracted duty, and imports only a grateful sense and acknowledgment of past mercies. We praise God for all his glorious acts of every kind, that regard either us or other men; for his very vengeance, and those judgments which he sometimes sends abroad in the earth; but we thank him, properly speaking, for the instances of his goodness alone, and for such only of these as we ourselves are some way concerned in. See THANKSGIVING; Bishop Atterbury's Sermon on Psalm 1. 14; Saurin's Sermons, vol. i. ser. 14; Tillotson's Sermons, ser, 146, concl. PRAYER, a request or petition for mercies; or it is an offering up our desires to God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of posture of the body, the use of a form, which we express our joy in God, and gratitude for his mercies: but, as all these appear to me to be included in the first five parts of prayer, I think they need not be insisted on. from the constant exercise of this necessary and important duty.-3. Family prayer is also another part not to be neglected. It is true there is no absolute command for this in God's word; yet from hints, allusions, and examples, we may learn that it was the practice of our forefathers: Abraham, Gen. xviii. 19. David, 2 Sam. vi. 20. Solomon, Prov. xxii, 6. Job, i. 4, 5. Joshua, xxiv. 15. See also Eph. vi. 4. Prov. vi. 20. Jer. x. 25. Acts, x. 2, 30. Acts, xvi. 15. Family prayer, indeed, may not be essential to the character of a true Christian, but it is surely no honour to heads of families to have it said that they have no religion in their houses. If we consider what a blessing it is likely to prove to our children and our domestics; what comfort it must afford to ourselves; what utility it may prove to the com 11. The different kinds of prayer are, 1. Ejaculatory, by which the mind is directed to God on any emergency. It is derived from the word ejaculor, to dart or shoot out suddenly, and is therefore appropriate to describe this kind of prayer, which is made up of short sentences spontaneously springing from the mind. The Scriptures afford us many instances of ejaculatory prayer, Exod. xiv. 15. 1 Sam. i. 13. Rom. vii. 24, 25. Gen. xliii. 29. Judges, xvi. 28. Luke, xxiii. 43, 43. It is one of the principal excellencies of this kind of prayer, that it can be practised at all times, and in all places; in the public ordinances of religion; in all our ordi-munity at large; how it sanctifies do nary and extraordinary undertakings;mestic comforts and crosses; and what in times of affliction, temptation, and a tendency it has to promote order, dedanger; in seasons of social intercourse, cency, sobriety, and religion in general, in worldly business, in travelling, in we must at once see the propriety of atsickness, and pain. In fact, every thing tending to it. The objection often made around us, and every event that trans- to family prayer is, want of time; but pires, may afford us matter for ejacula- this is a very frivolous excuse, since the tion. It is worthy, therefore, of our time allotted for this purpose need be practice, especially when we consider but short, and may easily be redeemed that it is a species of devotion that can from sleep or business. Others say, receive no impediment from any exter- they have no gifts: where this is the nal circumstances; that it has a ten- case, a form may soon be procured and dency to support the mind, and keep it used, but it should be remembered that in a happy frame; fortifies us against gifts increase by exercise, and no man the temptations of the world; elevates can properly decide, unless he make our affections to God; directs the mind repeated trials. Others are deterred into a spiritual channel; and has a ten- through shame, or the fear of man; in dency to excite trust and dependence answer to such we shall refer them to on Divine Providence.-2. Secret or the declarations of our Lord, Matt. x. closet prayer is another kind of prayer 37, 38. Mark, viii. 38. As to the season to which we should attend. It has its for family prayer, every family must name from the manner in which Christ | determine for itself; but before breakrecommended it. Matt. vi. 6. He him- fast every morning, and before supper self set us an example of it, Luke, vi. at night, seems most proper: perhaps 12; and it has been the practice of the a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes saints in every age, Gen. xxviii. xxxii. may be sufficient as to the time.-4. SoDan. vi. 10. Acts, x. 9. There are cial prayer is another kind Christians some particular occasions when this are called upon to attend to. It is deduty may be practised to advantage, as nominated social, because it is offered when we are entering into any impor-by a society of Christians in their coltant situation; undertaking any thing of lective capacity, convened for that par consequence; before we go into the ticular purpose, either on some peculiar world; when calamities surround us, and extraordinary occasions, or at stated Isa. xxvi. 20; or when ease and pros- and regular seasons. Special prayerperity attend us. As closet prayer is meetings are such as are held at the calculated to inspire us with peace, de- meeting and parting of intimate friends, fend us from our spiritual enemies, ex-especially churches and ministers; cite us to obedience, and promote our when the church is in a state of unusual real happiness, we should be watchful deadness and barrenness; when milest the stupidity of our frame, the in-nisters are sick, or taken away by trusion of company, the cares of the death; in times of public calamity and world, the insinuations of Satan, or the distress, &c. Stated meetings for social indulgence of sensual objects, prevent us prayer are such as are held weekly in |