and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; he also enjoined and instituted a holy pledge and means of grace, by the breaking of bread, and the drinking of wine; and as all persons were to be baptized, so all were to eat of this bread and drink of this cup. They, therefore, who refuse baptism altogether, or who administer it with superstitious rites not sanctioned by Christ or his apostles, such as the Romanists use when they put salt into the mouth of the baptized person, breathing thrice upon him, touching his ears and nostrils with spittle, dressing him in a white garment, and putting a lighted candle in his hand, none of which things. are mentioned by any of the apostles; or who do not allow the elements to be both equally received by all, as is the case with the Church of Rome, which denies the cup to the laity; or who do not in baptism acknowledge that the three persons of the blessed Trinity are all coequal and coeternal; do not hold the unity of baptism, and therefore cannot belong to the true Catholic Church of Christ on earth.

The "one faith" and the "one baptism" which the Church of Rome professes, are, therefore, neither of them the faith "delivered to the saints," nor the baptism of the apostles, who used water only. But nevertheless the Church of Rome building upon the assertion that there is but "one faith," and but "one baptism," vainly imagines that they who do not embrace her faith are heretics, and that whosoever is baptized, no matter where, no matter by whom, belongs to her Church, not seeing, that as there was once a Catholic Church at Jerusalem as well as at Rome, they who were baptized on the day of Pentecost by St. Peter were members of the Church at Jerusalem and not at Rome; and, therefore, the proceedings of their patron, or rather patronized apostle, contradict their claim. Many persons are not, perhaps, aware, that the Church of Rome presumes to consider all who have been baptized in every other church as belonging to her by right, and therefore schismaties if not in communion with her. But it may be sufficient to overturn the claim, by shewing that the "one baptism" of which the apostle speaks in the text, is not the baptism of any church that in any way fails in establishing her proof that she holds the "unity of the Spirit" in all and every particular. It must not however be omitted to be mentioned, that as the apostle says, "there is one baptism," they who deny any baptism cannot be said to be in union with the true Catholic Church of Christ on earth; and therefore whatever may be their faith in other respects, their faith in the "one Lord" who is the head of the "one body," and the "one Spirit" which sanctifieth all the members of that body, is not the faith which is possessed by the true Catholic Church.

There is yet another text, in which all are summed up and included. There is "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all," (ver. 6;) or rather, there is one and the same God, who is your Father, over all by his providence, and in all by his Spirit. Perhaps there is no church which denies that this is the case, for the truth involved is a truth of natural as well as revealed religion, and belongs as much to the confession of a pagan as to that of a Christianto all who belong not to the assembly of "the fool" who "saith in his heart there is no God," (Ps. xiv. 1.) Notwithstanding this common consent, however, it is possible to contradict it; and it is the express

assertion of the same apostle, who speaks of the unity of faith respecting one God, that there was to be a falling away, and a revelation of the man of sin, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God," (2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.) Now such a falling away would be direct opposition to the first truth of revelation and of reason, and the first express commandment-"Thou shalt have no other gods before me," (Exod. xx. 2.) Yet, without wishing to brand the Church of Rome with any opprobrium which she does not merit, it may be mentioned that the concurring testimony of all the commentators on this passage from the Epistle to the Thessalonians tends to establish the fact, that the Papal power represents this man of sin, not this or that pope as an individual, but the power of the pope in his assumed supremacy of Christ's vicar on earth. And I do not see how the illustration can be denied, when it is on record that the pope has been addressed by the title of exclusive Godhead-Our Lord God the Pope, "Dominus noster Deus Papa." Nor does the fact that the Church of Rome has rejected the second commandment altogether from the decalogue, calling the third the second, and so on to the ninth, which is made to consist of a part of the tenth, viz. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife;" and the tenth of the remainder-"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, nor his field, nor any thing that is his," prove less; for this rejection of the commandment against graven images, and likenesses of things in heaven and earth, goes at once to admit that idolatry which the acknowledgment of one God denies, and to the resistance of that one Spirit of truth who moved the holy penmen to record the word of God as it was delivered. In this respect the Church of Rome holds not the unity of the one God and Father of all, over all, through all, and in all, and therefore she cannot be said to hold the faith of the holy Catholic Church. We might go farther, and say that all who deny by their conduct that God is their Father, who honour him not by word and deed, acknowledge not their duty as sons, reverence not his word, obey not his will, and who do not in the spirit of adoption cry Abba, Father, do also virtually deny the doctrine of our text, and hold not that unity which distinguishes the true Catholic Church; and in this are involved all, for God as Father must be the head of his family, and that family can be but one of which he is the head; and whatsoever he has revealed in his word, whether of faith, or sacraments, or in the person of a Redeemer as Lord, must be believed by those who hold that unity, the completion of which has been the grand design of all the prophetic and apostolic writings, upon which the truth is built and established.

In the foregoing inquiry it has not been my object to seek occasion of censure against the Church of Rome, but merely to try her pretensions to that"unity" and that "faith," which she makes her boast, and by which she judges us who have separated from her as heretics and schismatics. I have shewn you by the process of calm and deliberate deduction from the words of St. Paul, compared and tested by the doctrines of Romanism, that so far from being the only representative of the holy Catholic Church of which we Protestants express our belief publicly in the services of the Church, she has, in consequence of her

introduction of rites and doctrines not sanctioned by the Scriptures, lost nearly all claim to be herself even a member of the Catholic Church. Such being the case, it follows directly, that in throwing off allegiance to the Roman pontiff, we have merely obeyed the instigations of duty and the promptings of truth; and that so far from being heretics for having so done, we have been amongst the foremost in that band of champions and confessors "of the faith once delivered to the saints," by which the honour of God has been vindicated amongst men, and the blessings which Christ procured to us have been secured and handed down to all that may come after us.

It is to be lamented that there are those who have separated with us from the Church of Rome, who have also separated from the doctrines of the Catholic Church; but as they assert no dominion and claim, no supremacy, our present business has not been, except in two cases, (the denial of baptism, and the doctrine of the Trinity,) to point out wherein they err. The religion which we profess, and which has another feature of unity yet to be considered, teaches us not to follow the example of the Church of Rome, but the exhortation of the apostle, of which a brief consideration will close my present discourse :-"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace :"-the second head of discourse which I proposed to illustrate when I began.

The especial object which the apostle had in view in this part of his epistle was to urge that unity which results from those which we have been considering, and without which there can be no communion : the unity which in the primitive ages displayed itself in "having all things in common," and which must now display itself in the mutual sharing of kindly affection and friendly dispositions "towards them who are of the household of faith." But the whole tenor of the Scriptures, and the very nature of the tests by which this sealing and amalgamating unity is detected and declared, justify us in applying the apostle's words to the state of religious differences, as well as of religious agreement, which the world presents without and within the bosom of the Catholic Church. Towards the members of that Church it requires no argument, beyond the enforcement of the idea of unity, to establish the necessity of lowliness and meekness in the performance of these outward acts of duty and benevolence, to which the necessities of our brethren may appeal. Such is the requirement of the family of the one common Father; the fraternity of the one common head; the inspiration of the one common Spirit; who has made of one blood all the nations under heaven and poured out his life for all that will accept it as their ransom and their salvation. Even in the bosom of the christian Church there are men of different tempers and different dispositions, and we are often called upon to bear for charity's sake, and the cause of religion, that which is irksome to the flesh and the mind. In all such cases we are to remember, that "forbearing one another in love" is the completest method of keeping up the unity which exists, as we have seen, in all the characters of the christian family of which we are the members. And the apostle expressly exhorts us to this, by reference to the "vocation

wherewith we have been called," to exercise a unity of affection, and patience, and a forgiveness of disposition, in a Church whose simple and sublime description is, that she has but "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father," and which being "one body," ought to be actuated by "one Spirit."

In these days, however, when the Church has been distracted by a variety of opinions, many of them contradictory to what we are bound to believe to be true Catholicism, yet where there are many points of community of interest, and community of belief, it is extremely necessary that we should keep up in our minds the remembrance that, if we would unite those who are now separated, it must be not by endeavouring to widen or keep open the breach by hostility, but to endeavour to close the wound by a wise and long-suffering forbearance of those with whom we have to do. Even in our conduct towards the members of the Church of Rome this doctrine equally applies. That they have branded us as heretics is no reason why we should hate them. They believe, probably, that they are right; let us give them credit for this belief, and act towards them as if we knew they were in error and wished to convince them of the truth, which cannot be done whilst we look upon them individually as wilful enemies to the gospel. That the great body of Romanists are deceived, and not deceivers, is, I venture to say, the truth: combat then the errors and presumption of the Church of Rome, but pity and pray for the members of that Church. And to them who have separated from us as well as from the Church of Rome use the same cogent and all-powerful means of good. Many are there who have been also deceived into believing that the Church of England is, what we consider the Church of Rome, in gross delusion and apostasy. Let us try to convince them what are the gospel characters of the Church of Christ, that it consists of unity in all its parts, and that we are the members of that church by our adherence to the doctrines involved therein, especially that unity of affection which will enable us to bear and "forbear, with long-suffering, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth," (2 Tim ii. 25,) " endeavouring " above all things, "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Peace it is which consolidates masses as well as unites individuals; and happy would it be for this land, and our own Church, if our statesmen and our fellow-christians knew, or acted as if they knew this. Peace restores what war has destroyed; peace is the chain which links earth with heaven; peace, that gift of God which passeth all understanding; peace, the balm to the troubled mind; peace, the calm of the tormented conscience. "Peace on earth, good will towards men," was the strain which ushered in the glory of the Highest to earth; and

peace, such " as the world giveth not," was the legacy which he who so came, bequeathed to his disciples when he returned to those heavens whence he had descended. Peace is the bond which unites friendship and love with righteousness and obedience, and therefore we shall show that we are "one with Christ, and Christ with us," no better nor more surely, than in endeavouring not only towards the members of our own Church, but also to Romanists and Dissenters, to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." W. B. C.

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE REFORMATION AND ROMANISM.

VERY early in the existence of the Christian Church, as established by the apostles, did those heresies which were prophesied as about to occur, take place. The Scriptures of the New Testament, which contain predictions of the success of the apostles, as well as the hostility of their enemies, having been preached throughout the world to Jew and Gentile, became acknowledged as the religion of the Roman empire in the fourth century after the death of the Redeemer. The Bishops of Rome assuming to themselves a supremacy in ecclesiastical power, in consequence of the dignity of their city as the metropolis of the Roman empire, and the idea, that to St. Peter, (who was crucified at Rome,) under the emblem of the keys of heaven, was given a greater authority than was enjoyed by the Bishops of other places, took the name of Pope, and Papa, the title which, as a spiritual father, all Bishops originally enjoyed. In process of time, troubles from foreign war came upon the empire; christian Italy was conquered by heathen nations, and one result was, that though Christianity was embraced by those barbarians, they impressed upon it so many of their own superstitions and idolatries, that Christianity became exceedingly corrupted. In this state of religion, Europe fell into a condition of almost general ignorance, at least, so far as the mass of the people were concerned; and in process of time, all the learning and science of mankind were found to be centred in the ministers of religion. Had they, however, discharged their duty as the depositaries and ministers of the light of truth, the ignorance which ensued in consequence of the irruption of barbarous nations would have soon been dispersed. But it so happened, that the Church fell into evil hands; and instead of enlightening the people, the priests, and especially the Bishop of Rome, who still maintained his spiritual authority over all, conceived the idea of absolute dominion, and using the power which they obtained by keeping the Scriptures in their own possession, and introducing various ceremonies to impose upon the people, they contrived so to establish a spiritual tyranny over the minds of men, that in the course of a few years the Bishop of Rome asserted his authority over the kings of every country in Europe; and they, to serve their own peculiar and private ends, upheld the Church by their support and allegiance, as deriving from it an increased dignity in the eyes of their subjects. We have not sufficient space to give in detail the different steps by which the Church of Rome thus obtained its political importance. Suffice it to observe, that a variety of concurring circumstances, carefully studied, and with much worldly wisdom employed by the Bishops of Rome, led to that supremacy which they arrogantly claimed as the appointed will of God; and riveted upon the necks of the sovereigns of Christendom a yoke which they found to be any thing but that of which the Saviour spoke, when he said, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

This supremacy the Church of Rome endeavoured to establish, and