ing the belief of doctrines giving interpretation of texts as private opinion may suggest. Nothing is more certain than that the Gospel enjoins uniformity of worship and general assent to the doctrine approved by proper authorities, even when in opposition to the declared opinion of the majority of the Church. The word of God most decidedly requires such implicit obedience to the powers symbolically conferred by the gift of the keys. Whatever they bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and disobedience to their decisions is disobedience to an authority which God approves, and is consequently disobedience to the will of God.

The Power of the Keys, thus influential in matters of faith and opinion, is equally influential with respect to matters of practice, that is, to rites and ceremonies. What apostolic authority binds on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever powers duly constituted by them may establish and ordain must be valid, and nothing can be valid unless ordained by such powers, that is, cannot be legal either in heaven or on earth. The strong conviction that every article of faith or every rite and ceremony should obtain the sanction of apostolical authority or of the Power of the Keys, is seen in the furious controversies that disturbed the world during several centuries after the primitive era. Each sect or party regarded their opponents with bitter animosity, and met them with outrageous argument; each contending with strange eagerness that their own peculiar tenets were in accordance with the established word, and therefore gave to them the Power of the Keys, and even imposed the duty of using the keys to open the gates of hell and consign their adversaries to eternal perdition.

According to the laws of the reformed Church of England, the Power of the Keys is vested in the Upper and Lower Houses of Convocation, and all expositions of doctrine and all reform of rites and ceremonies must originate with them, b Blackstone, Comment. Book i. chap. 7.

the observance

V.

In

subject to the confirmation or rejection of the Crown. The authority of the Clergy in Convocation is derived from the Power of the Keys, and has divine sanction. The influence of the Crown is not derived from the Power of the Keys, but is admitted on principles of general expediency. The system is well devised, and if called into operation occasionally, might be of much benefit to the cause of religion. Whether Convocation would be productive of much good, were it convened, must perhaps be doubted. The temper with which several of the clergy have resumed the obsolete practice of reading the offertory to the great offence of their congregations, shews that they can strain at a gnat and swallow a camel,—that they rigidly adhere of a rite, which, being utterly unnecessary, has passed without performance for many years by a consent which ay be said to be universal, and which, had Convocation asembled, would doubtless have been expunged from our Liturg this they strain at a gnat, are precise in a matter of n portance, but swallow the camel: they disregard the re strances, the displeasure, the anger, the secession of th congregations, followed, as with the sons of Eli, by abhorrence of the offering of the Lord. These symptoms suggest the apprehension, that in an assembly containing members of such temper so much wrangling would arise, that no good measure would be passed. These and such like evils, which of late have so foolishly and lamentably troubled the Church of England, must, it is feared, continue undiminished, unamended, for the Power of the Keys cannot be exercised by the legislative bodies of the realm. Should these evils continue, they will greatly forward that perilous state of religion sadly foretold by the prophecies of St. Paul, and render necessary the personal presence of the Saviour upon earth to save the light of the gospel from utter extinc tion, and by the miraculous rule of rulers raised from the

c 2 Tim. iii.

im

jonir

dead cause the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

It clearly appears that the Apostles, the companions of the Saviour during his ministry, never had other or greater power given them than has been given to the ministers of God's word, their immediate successors in the holy office, or any other minister duly ordained in any after age, and even in the present times. The Apostles had indeed the power of working miracles, which was necessary to enable even the Saviour himself effectually to teach and them to preach with effect and plant the gospel. It is also certain that they received from the Holy Spirit the promised aid which was necessary to teach them to understand all things, and bring all things to their remembrance. These aids were absolutely necessary, when as yet the gospels had not been written, and superhuman agency alone could prevent error and discrepancy in the history of the life and the recital of the doctrines of the Saviour. To this same superintending care that harmony must be ascribed which subsists between all the gospels of the four Evangelists. In later years, when the martyrdom of many of the Apostles and other Christians had given both publicity to and assurance of the gospel truths, and the books of the New Testament had been given and verified to all the world, the incidental need either of miracles or the extraordinary influences of the Spirit no longer remained; both were alike withdrawn, and Christian ministers no longer look for them, and only pray that they may be "illuminated with true knowledge and understanding of God's word, and that by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly."

Statements such as these afford a proper estimate of the character of the Apostles, and excite proper feelings, whenever their symbolical forms may be exhibited to the eye. As the friends and companions of the Saviour, they will

d John xiv. 26.

receive our respect; as the disinterested labourers in the Lord's vineyard, they will be regarded with admiration; as the planters of the gospel, they will excite the feelings of gratitude, of affectionate gratitude, of love. To give more would be to rob God of his glory, and the Saviour of the worship due. The Protestant, dutifully observant of the word of God, will never offer more, will never give to the servant that worship which is due exclusively to the Lord. That such worship is given to the servant saint by our erring brethren of the Roman Church must with sorrow be affirmed. The subject calls for some short proofs, which are offered, not with any expectation that they will be received otherwise than with scorn by the members of a Church which, proudly deeming all its acts infallible, never recedes after a false step has been taken, can never amend faults and offences however grievous. The facts now offered may be necessary to apprize those who are not within the pale of that Church, of its idolatrous errors; and farther, to shew, that while the use of symbols is highly salutary, and is earnestly recommended, yet great caution must be kept, lest it lead to the sin, the deadly sin of idolatry.

The sacramental elements, called by the Romanists the host, from the Latin hostia, a victim sacrificed, are held by them to be transformed into the real body of the Saviour, instead of being a symbol only. The deified bread, held up high by the minister during the course of the administration of the mass, is thus addressed: "Most adorable body, I adore thee with all the powers of my soul, O Lord, who hast given thyself wholly for us. Grant &c." When the chalice of wine is held up: "Most adorable blood, that washest away all our sins, I adore thee, &c." During these recitals, the people take the posture of the most pious devotional worship. The host, thus addressed and adored, is but a symbol. The elements said to be transubstantiated, as the phrase is, are unaltered in form or any of their qualities previously extant

before consecration. The substance of the symbol is called god, it is worshipped. Such is the abuse of a symbol in this instance. It is an idol, it is worshipped, it is adored. This is idolatry.

The Litany of the Blessed Virgin begins with this devotional anthem: "We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin." The Virgin is then invoked under a variety of titles, and at each ejaculation is added the sentence, "pray for us." Is it possible to suppose that the Church of Rome can have seen the following texts? "And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the sayings of this book. Worship God." Can the men be Christians who set at nought the example and words of the Saviour? "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." g

f

The Missal gives forms of prayer addressed to numerous saints, which, judging from their names and numbers, must be presumed to have been gathered from all countries and all ages of the world. Among the prayers to be offered to these holy personages, a form of prayer is found to be addressed to the guardian angel of the supplicant, and another to the guardian saint. Extracts from the latter are these. "O blessed Saint glorious citizen of heaven, as I render most humble thanks to God for all the good he hath done to thee, so I beseech thee to remember me in thy prayers, and to obtain for me the entire remission of my sins, the amendment of my life... but especially I recommend to thee the hour of my death,

,

e Missal. f Rev. xxii. 8, 9. g Matt. iv. 10. h Missal. Litany.