Church, to bear testimony to the faith, on the point in question, which had been handed down in their respective Churches from the days of the Apostles to their days."

Our Clerical brethren will see at once the importance of this quotation, in reference to the popish council of Trent, and the creed of Pope Pius the Fourth, which was the fruit of that packed synod, and which contains the authoritative standard of the faith of the Romish sect. According to this Romish priest, "to make new articles of faith," or "to add to the faith," is "impious," nothing short of rank impiety. Now, Mr. Walker himself, and every mere tyro in the controversy between the Church and the papists, know perfectly well, that the council of Trent and Pope Pius the Fourth, the infallible head of the papists, did "make new articles of faith," and did "add" those "new articles" to "the faith,"-to the ancient faith which was then, and is now held by the whole Catholic Church, and therefore called the Catholic faith; and consequently, the Pope of Rome, Pius the Fourth, and the council of Trent, stand convicted by Mr. Walker, popish priest at Scarborough, of doing that which is "impious." This word 'impious" means, according to Dr. Johnson, "irreligious, wicked, profane, without reverence of religion." So that, in "making new articles of faith," and in "adding" them" to the faith," pope Pius and the Tridentine synod did that which, according to the views and practice of the Christian Church in the purest ages, as those views and that practice are interpreted by Mr. Walker himself, is "impious;" that is, irreligious, wicked, and profane"!!! Now surely, if this pope and council were guilty of such conduct, they ought all to have been excommunicated; but if Mr. Walker has so misrepresented the matter, as to have placed them in so awkward a predicament, then he ought to be himself excommunicated at once, majore excommunicatione. The Scarborough jesuit has, however, spoken the truth, and justly convicted not only Pope Pius the Fourth, and the council of Trent, but every pope, and every popish bishop and priest, and the whole popish sect, including himself, of "impiety, irreligion, wickedness, and profanity;" for they all the whole popish communion, both clergy and laity-have approved of, embraced, professed, held, and maintained those "new articles of faith," which were so "impiously" made by Pope Pius and the council of Trent, and "added to the faith."

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Surely after this, the papists cannot blame Churchmen, or any other Protestants, if they accuse Pope Pius the Fourth, and the council of Trent, and all the papists who have lived ever since, of that which is "impious, irreligious, wicked, and profane." Let us, then, not be again charged with ignorance, and bigotry, and uncharitableness, in objecting to popery, which is comprised in the "new articles of faith," "added" to the Catholic faith, as "impious" and "wicked."

As it will be convenient for future and constant reference, and may place the matter in a better light, we will give here the popish creed, to be professed by every person whom the jesuit priests may succeed in preverting from the simple truth, and persuade to join the Romish sect. The creed is taken from one of the popish books printed by Keating and Brown, Romish booksellers, London, 1831, by the authority of the Vicars Apostolic, as the popish Bishops in England style themselves. Here follows the creed :

:

"Let the convert make profession of faith in this manner :"I, N. N., with a firm faith believe and profess all and every one of those things which the holy Roman Church [not the holy Catholic Church, observe, but the Roman Church] maketh use of. To wit:-I believe in one God, the

Father Almighty, [and so on to the end of the Nicene Creed, which we use in the Communion service, ending] the life of the world to come. Amen. [Now comes the new or Roman part-namely, the twelve new articles of faith," added by Pius IV., to the ancient Catholic faith just ended.]

"1. I most stedfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and Ecclesiastical traditions, and all other observances and constitutions of the same [i. e. the Roman] Church.

"2. I also admit the holy Scriptures, according to that sense which our holy mother the Church has held and does hold; to which it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures: neither will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

"3. I also profess, that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for every one; to wit,-baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony; and that they confer grace; and that of these baptism, confirmation, and order cannot be reiterated without sacrilege.

"4. I also receive and admit the received and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church, used in the solemn administration of the aforesaid Sacraments. "5. I embrace and receive all and every one of the things which have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent concerning original sin and jnstification.

"6. I profess, likewise, that in the mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood; which conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation.

"7. I also confess, that under either kind alone Christ is received whole and entire and a true Sacrament.

"8. I constantly hold, that there is a purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise that the Saints reigning together with Christ are to be honoured and invocated, and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be had in veneration.

"9. I most firmly assert, that the images of Christ, of the mother of God, ever virgin, and also of other saints, ought to be had and retained, and that due honour and veneration is to be given them.

"10. I also affirm, that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.

"11. I acknowledge the holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church to be the mother and mistress of all Churches; and I promise true obedience to the Bishop of Rome, successor to St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus Christ.

"12. I likewise, undoubtedly, receive and profess all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and general councils, and particularly by the holy council of Trent [which declared the Apocrypha to be part of the Bible, and the old corrupt Latin Vulgate to be authentic Scripture]; and I condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies which the Church has condemned, rejected, and anathematized.

"I, N. N., do at this present freely profess and sincerely hold this true Catholic faith, without which no man can be saved; and I promise most constantly to retain and profess the same entire and inviolated, with God assistance, to the end of my life.'

Such are the " new articles of faith" which were invented by Pius IV., and "added" to the Catholic faith, to which they are appended, in the year 1565; so that, notwithstanding all the boast and pretence of the papists

about the antiquity of their religion, popery is only two hundred and seventyfour years old.

It may perhaps be said, that the Church of England has also added thirty-nine new articles of faith" to the old Catholic faith, but such is not the fact; and the case is altogether very widely different. The Church of England has not added any articles nor anything else to the Catholic faith; she has merely exercised a right, which she possessed as a particular Church, to decree, more especially for her Clergy, such matters as seemed to her expedient for her own particular state and welfare, taking care, as she has scrupulously done, to decree nothing contrary to the Scriptures, or to the Catholic faith, which is contained in the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian creeds. But the " new articles of faith" invented by Pope Pius, and held by the whole of the popish sect, are repugnant to the Word of God, and opposed to the Catholic faith, and idolatrous and superstitious. The three Catholic creeds are all that the Church of England requires people to believe and profess, in order to union and communion with her as a portion of the Catholic Church of Christ, which nowhere requires either more or less. The Church of England does not wish to impose her Articles upon the whole Catholic Church, of which she is but a part, as absolutely necessary to communion with herselfand so with the Catholic Church-or as essential to everlasting salvation. Whereas the popish sect will not be contented with a profession of the old Catholic faith, but demands in addition thereto, as we have shown above, a belief and profession of unscriptural and anti-Catholic " new articles of faith," which have been "impiously" and "wickedly" "added" to the ancient Catholic faith, to which alone she has any right to demand assent, at least, as a branch of the Catholic Church; but as a sect, of course, the papists may, as every other sect does, prescribe just what terms of communion they please. But, by prescribing terms of communion, and demanding assent to them as essential to salvation, from the whole Catholic Church, the papists have excluded the Catholic Church from their pale, and have thus separated and cut themselves off from the Catholic Church, and reduced themselves to a mere sect-a persecuting, and, according to the belief and practice of the primitive Church as interpreted by Mr. Walker, an "impious, irreligious, wicked, and profane" sect. We, therefore, of the ancient branch of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church here in England, and all other branches. and members of the Catholic Church of Christ in every part of the world, are not only fully justified in adhering to the ancient Catholic faith, and rejecting the new articles of faith" impiously invented by the papists, but are imperatively called upon to do so, as a matter of Christian duty to ourselves, to the Church of Christ, and to the world at large.

In point of time, we might also add that the Articles of the Church of England are older than the Romish creed of Pope Pius the Fourth. But we must defer further remarks upon Mr. Walker's sermon, until our next when we shall enter into a fine field of popish jesuitry and imposture on the doctrine of the Apostolical Succession and other points-the right understanding of which is essential to the existence and welfare of the Church of England, the purest and most flourishing branch of the Christian Church in all the world. May God preserve, and prosper, and extend her, and make her a blessing to many lands.

(To be continued.)

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THE ORIGIN OF PARISHES IN ENGLAND AND WALES.

SOME derive the word pluyf, the Welsh for parish, from the Latin, plebs; whether this be the true etymology or not, we will not undertake to decide. It is certain, however, that amongst the ancient Britons, the term originally signified the common people. It is used in that sense by Taliesin, who flourished in the sixth century. The same import was applied to it sometimes at a much later period, as may be seen from the translation of the Psalms, by Dafydd Ddu o Hiraddug, A.D. 1340, and of the New Testament, by William Salisbury, A. D. 1560. But though this was the primary meaning of the word, it does not follow, that certain territorial districts were not also frequently implied in it at a very early period; on the contrary, it appears from the British records, that the territorial principle was recognised and acted upon by the Druids themselves, previously to the introduction of Christianity into the country. Thus, in one Triad, we read, that of the "three kinds of proprietors," the third were men of learning, who had the privilege of teachers, that is, a rate from every plough within the district in which they were the authorised teachers. When the Gospel was preached in this island, the Druids generally embraced it, and by an easy transition, their different orders resolved themselves respectively into those of the Christian hierarchy. This state of things was so far from being opposed by the civil authorities, that it met with every encouragement from them. Lucius, A. D. 156, established the Christian religion in his own dominions in South Wales. This prince, most probably, had inherited such a Christian spirit from his ancestors. His fathers' name, Coel (Anglicised a believer), would imply his conversion to Christianity. It is certain, that his grandfather, Cyllin, was a Christian, for he is ranked with the British saints. Eigen, the sister of Cyllin, is represented to have been the first female saint amongst the Britons. Bran, the great great grandfather of Lucius, is believed to have been the first that brought the Christian religion over from Rome, about the year 59. The natural consequence of this general transition from Druidism to Christianity, and the favour with which it was regarded by the civil powers, would be the confirmation of the original rights and privileges of the Spiritual Ministers, as far as they accorded with the character of the Ecclesiastical system. We are borne out in our inference by a Triad, which states, that Lucius "established the first Archbishopric at Llandaff, and granted land and constitutional privileges to the first Christians."

As the Clergy were supported by the tithes and offerings of their several districts, their parochial limits must have been accurately defined. In their respective spheres, they devoted themselves wholly to their sacred calling, and, as occasions required, built for the service of the Lord temples in which their congregations might worship Him. These primitive churches were invariably named after their respective founders. The different charges assigned to the Clergy in these early times, varied considerably in point of extent, according to the nature of the ground and state of population. Hence the inequalities still observed in most of the Welsh parishes. In some instances, however, too extensive districts, as circumstances demanded, were gradually divided and sub-divided into smaller portions, leaving, nevertheless, sufficient traces to indicate that they had been once subject to the surveillance of only one Clergyman. For an interesting account of such sub-divisions, we refer the reader to 'Rees' Essay on the Welsh Saints," sold by Longman, London.

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The parishes in England, as at present constituted, were not so early defined, though there is reason to believe, that territorial establishments, similar to

those of Wales, were formed there also, previously to the settlement of the Saxons. The origin of Saxon parishes seemed to have been this :-Theoderet, Archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 680, with a view to induce his wealthy countrymen to build and endow churches on their estates, promised them the patronage of their several foundations. This plan operated gradually, until it received an additional impulse, A. D. 928, from Athelstan, who granted the rank of Thane to such proprietors as would not leave their tenants unprovided with a place of worship. Still later, about the commencement of the eleventh century, we find the Archbishops, at a legislative assembly held at Eanham, urging the duty of building churches in all parts of the country.

Thus, the parochial system occupied a period of nearly four hundred years in practically developing itself in England. There are some parishes indeed of a still later date; and it is probable that existing parochial sub-divisions were not consummated under six hundred years. It is evident, that the estates on which these churches stood, were not all of the same dimensions; and as the districts apportioned for each foundation were commensurate with the several estates, we can easily account thereby for the inequalities of the English parishes.

Such is the origin of that admirable system in our country, which secures the superintendence of a Christian Pastor over every member of the community. Its advantages over the voluntary principle is immense: whilst the latter only secures the service of a Minister for those who seek and pay for it, the former sends him with the Gospel message into the cottages of the most indifferent and profane. Voluntaryism makes only a Minister of a congregation; the territorial principle makes a Minister of a parish. "It is in the territorial principle," as Dr. Chalmers observes," the great strength of an establishment lies; and although, by means of voluntaryism, or of merely congregational establishments, we might somewhat retard the march of irreligion in the country, yet it is only by the territorial establishment, that we can arrest its melancholy progress, and regain the people from the destitution into which they have fallen."

And seeing the superior efficiency of these parochialestablishments in promoting the welfare of Christ's Holy Catholic Church, is it to be wondered at, that Whig-Radical legislators should attempt to obliterate the ancient boundaries, by the formation of New Poor Law Unions; or that the heterogeneous mass of dissenters should endeavour to violate the unity which the system is calculated to promote, by fixing their rebellious standards within those sacred precincts? J. W.

EXTRACT FROM A FUNERAL SERMON,

PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF A YOUNG MAN, WHO DIED AT THE AGE OF 26. "It falls to my office to enforce this duty (early piety), by reference to the example (I had almost said the living example) of one who was called away from among us just seven days since. The office is not one of my own seeking. It was, I am given to understand, the last, the dying request, of him whom, more among you, I doubt not, mourn, than just those whose dresses shew it-for he was naturally one of cheerful and pleasant temper ;it was, I say, his dying request, that his example should be held up from this place to all who knew him in his health and strength. He, being dead, desires yet to speak' to you, to tell you of your perishing souls, to call you