"shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away.” (Ps. lxxi.)

Hence, when the angels announced the birth of Christ, they announced it as an event which should “bring glory to God and peace to men." Now, where there is not unity there cannot be peace. "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation," says Jesus Christ. He, therefore, wisely secured unity to his Church, by endowing his apostles with the spirit of truth, and commanding all men to hear them. At the same time he offered up such fervent prayers to procure for them the blessing of unity, that we might suppose he considered it the most valuable and the most essential of all heavenly gifts. "Holy Father, keep them in thy name, whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we also are; and not for them only do I pray, but for those also who through their word shall believe in me, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me; and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given to them, that they may be one, as we also are one." (John xvii.) From these words it is clear that our Saviour intended the unity of his Church to be so striking as to become a proof of its truth, "that the world may believe that thou hast sent me," and that this union should be of so strict a nature as to resemble that ineffable union which subsists between the divine Persons in the Godhead. Hence, the figure of St. Paul, comparing the Church of Christ to a human body, cannot be considered as conveying an exaggerated idea of Christian unity,-"We being one body in Christ, and every one members of another." (Rom. xii.) "There is one body, and one spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Ephes. iv.)

These last words are particularly striking, as describing the points in which the unity of the Christian Church must be exemplified-" one Lord," by which is indicated unity of government,-" one Faith," which implies unity of belief,-and one Baptism," which implies unity of worship.

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We may, therefore, fairly conclude, that if in any society, claiming to be the religion. of Christ, there is not unity of government, unity of faith, and unity of worship, it cannot be the Church of Christ. On the other hand, if we find that, in any such society, there exists this threefold unity, particularly if the same is conjoined with universality, and this again with perpetuity, we may be morally, nay, more than morally sure that the finger of God is there; for in human institutions, universality, unity and perpetuity, never did nor ever can go together.

Another characteristic of the Church of Christ is Apostolicity, or in other words, descent from the apostles. For as Christ, on leaving the world, gave his power to them, and commissioned them to establish his religion in all nations, promising to remain with them for ever, it is clear that there can be no true Christianity which does not come down from the apostles. Unless, therefore, any sect of Christians can trace its origin to the apostles, it cannot be the Church of Christ; as, on the other hand, if there is a religion, and only one, which can trace its origin to the apostles, that one must be the Church of Christ, if such an institution any where exists.

Lastly, Permanency is a characteristic of the true Church, clearly promised in these and many other similar words,—" Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." (Matt. xxviii.)

Now, every one of these characteristics is found in the Catholic Church and in no other. It is universal. In numbers it immensely exceeds any other single sect, and, indeed, all Christian sects put together. Those numbers are variously reported-many Catholic writers having computed the numbers of the Catholic Church at more than two hundred millions, and the generality of Protestants at not less than one hundred and fifty millions. The most numerous by far of the sects which are separated from the Catholic communion are the Greek schismatics; but their numbers bear no comparison with those of the parent Church, and they are confined to the limited locality where they first arose. It is useless to speak of the Church of Eng

land. Though she is anxious to be called Catholic, she never pretends that she is universal. She is a purely national establishment, confined to the limits of the British dominions, and even there forming a small minority amongst the multitude of dissenting sects and the overwhelming numbers of the Catholic Church.

As to unity of faith, she has never known what it is, and her condition becomes every day more desperate. Every one knows that there are within her pale, dignitaries holding doctrines the most opposite and contradictory, on points immediately connected with practical duty and the terms of acceptance with God. All is confusion, contest, and crimination. Whilst one calm, reflecting, and learned portion of her divines, is engaged in the laudable and not altogether unsuccessful effort to bring back her erring children to the leading doctrines of the parent Church, another portion, wild, furious and fanatical, is throwing her articles overboard, denying the efficacy of her sacraments, or administering them wholesale, clamoring for the alteration of her liturgy, and the abolition of her creeds, and stigmatizing those of their own party who differ from them as papists or infidels.

It is seldom that division has arrived at such an extreme in any single sect without immediate dissolution following; but the Church of England is wealthy, and gold can bind together the most heterogeneous substances. Nor is this want of unity peculiar to the Church of England. The difference between her and all other sects is merely as to the mode and manner of disunion. Disunion is the character of them all; for the principle on which they are founded, that of private interpretation of Scripture, is a principle which essentially leads to disunion, and cannot possibly coexist with unity.

In government and worship these different sects agree as little as they do in faith. To call them a kingdom would be absurd. If they resemble any thing in the shape of a government, it is a multitude of independent republics, in which popular clamor, conflicting parties and systematic opposition, are the uniting principles. Take a survey

of the whole collection of sects, who have forsaken the unity of the Catholic Church, from the days of the apostles. It is ever the same. No extravagance, no impiety of doctrine, no diversity of government, no phantasy of worship that has not prevailed amongst them. Were it possible to assemble them altogether into one place, the confusion would be indescribable. Not a doctrine held by any of them which would not be condemned by their motley associates! scarce a single doctrine of the Catholic Church, which, if put to vote, would not be approved by a large majority! So that every impartial spectator must say of such an assembly, "Out of thy own mouth I judge thee."

How different is the state of the Catholic Church. Her empire extends to the remotest regions of the habitable globe. Her subjects are the various-colored inhabitants of the four continents who differ from each other in dispositions, habits, interests, civilization; whose mental culture is of every grade, from the profound scholar to the unlettered peasant; whose secular rulers are of every rank, from the stately European emperor, to the wandering Indian chief. Yet in religion all believe the same doctrines, all adore at the same altars, all obey the same authority. In religion all are brothers, all fellow-countrymen, all pursuing the same bright hopes, through the same narrow but well beaten path. The high have no advantage over the lowly, the rich over the poor, the learned over the ignorant; for all are members of the same body, each filling his respective office in obedience to the same head. To believe what God has taught, to worship as God has prescribed, to hear the teachers he has appointed, to obey the authorities he has placed over us, are the plain and simple duties of the Catholic, whether he wear the monarch's crown, the philosopher's robe, or the peasant's humble garb. In all this, I grant you, there is no room for the pride of station or intellect. No one can say in religion, “I will be subject to no authority; I am wiser than all the world; my own judgment alone shall be my guide." On the other hand, if submission be demanded of

one, it is demanded of all. In matters of belief, the visible ruler of the Catholic Church is as dependent as the humblest of his subjects. Should he attempt to teach or hold a single doctrine contrary to the faith of the Church (an event wholly out of the question), he would at once fall from his dignity, and incur the same anathema as any private individual. For the office of the rulers of the Church is to guard the sacred deposit from error. Their commission extends not to the alteration of a single tittle of the revealed law. How faithfully they have fulfilled this commission is attested by the fact, that whereas they have met together in general council, from every part of Christendom, eighteen times during as many centuries, their faith was ever found to be uniform on every point; so that they condemned, with one voice, the novelties which from time to time were attempted to be introduced.

That the Catholic Church descends in direct and unbroken succession from the apostles, and is, therefore, apostolical, is not disputed; that she has so far been permanent, having never ceased to exist, is equally manifest. Whether she will continue to exist till the end of the world, time only can disclose; but as the promises of Christ are express that he will remain with his Church," all days even to the consummation of the world," and as there is no other Church but the Catholic, in which, combining the past with the future, this promise can be fulfilled, we cannot doubt that she will continue to enjoy his divine protection for the future as she has done for the past. Indeed her present state promises well for the future; for never did she enjoy in greater vigor, the strength and comeliness of youth. No symptoms of infirmity or decay impair her force or tarnish her beauty. An increasing offspring of converted nations and continents, prove that she is still the Spouse of Christ. In the meantime, her disobedient children, who, three centuries ago, revolted against her parental authority, proclaiming to the world that she had been divorced for her infidelities, and that they had succeeded to her honors, have remained in their native bar

renness, and, though youthful in years, exhibit the wrinkles and decrepitude of age.

Will it be said that the Church of England has lately, by asserting her apostolicity, established her claim to be a branch of the true Church of Christ. But where are the other branches? Does she consider the English dissenters as another branch? No; she rejects their fellowship on the ground that they have not the apostolical succession. Then where are the other branches? for there is not an apostolical Church in the world which will hold communion with the Church of England. The Greek schismatical Church spurns her; the Nestorian and Eutychian sects abhor her, the Catholic Church anathematizes her. In vain, then, does she boast her apostolical descent. Even if she could prove it, which she cannot, the consecration of her first bishops being generally considered invalid, it could avail her nothing, since apostolicity, though one of the essential characteristics of the true Church, is not the only one. Whole national communities, with an episcopacy ind putably apostolical, fell into the Arian heresy. Will the Church of England say that they formed a branch of the true Church, because they were apostolical?

But a convocation of the Church of England sat in judgment on the doctrines of the Catholic Church, and pronounced them erroneous. Be it so; but at the same time a general council of the universal Church sat in judgment on the doctrines of the Church of England, and pronounced them heretical. Can both of these conflicting authorities be the Church of Christ? If not, which has the best claim to be considered such? One possesses all the characteristics of that Church-universality, unity, perpetuity, apostolicity. The other possesses only the latter, and that upon a dubious title.

One received from the apostles, and had exercised for fifteen centuries, the authority to "teach all nations;" the other, revolting against this authority, proclaimed her independence, and insisted upon becoming her own instructer. She was accordingly judged by the parent Church, condemned, anathe

matized, and disowned. What avails it to call herself a branch of that Church, when she is severed from the parent stock? What avails it to assert that her doctrines are true, when the only legitimate authority on earth has pronounced them false? And who will obey her authority which is founded on disobedience and usurpation? It is true the evangelical tree has many branches, but these are all connected together in the same common stem, from which they all receive their vitality and growth. Under the shade of this gigantic tree, all the nations of the earth repose. If a moral storm now and then tear from it some fair branch, the latter fades and dies, but the tree itself, rooted in the divine promises, and watered by the dews of heaven, flourishes still.

Behold, my Christian brethren, the characteristic marks of the true Church. It is the empire of the Messiah, his universal, united, permanent empire. There is none other such in the world. What further proof do you require of its truth? Will you say, I must examine its doctrines in detail, and see how they agree with my Bible? An arduous task indeed! And why impose it on yourself in religion, when you would see the folly of doing so in the ordinary concerns of life? You are sending a friend to London to consult the first legal authority of the day. No man of all the bench is so infallible an oracle as he. What directions do you give your friend to find him? Do you put into his hands some compilation of our civil code, and say to him, "Study this well; get to understand it all thoroughly, and when you arrive in town, examine all the lawyers, one by one, to see whose opinions agree best with your book?" No; you would consider such a course absolute insanity. You give the lawyer's name and address. This is all you give, and all your friend requires. Again if some stranger were about to visit Bath, for the sake of seeing its venerable abbey church, would you send a book containing a minute description of all its sepulchral monuments-(alas! they are the only monuments it now contains; for its altars are thrown down, its saints have forsaken their niches, and the glowing in

habitants of heaven, who formerly looked through its windows, have all been scared away) ;-would you, I say, give your friend such a book, and tell him when he arrives in Bath, to go to all the churches and compare their monuments with his catalogue? No; you would tell him, "The abbey church is the ancient church built by our Catholic ancestors, and towering above every edifice around it, like a cedar amongst the brambles." This is all you would tell him, and it would be enough. He would know the object of his search before he had descended the surrounding hills. So does the wisdom of God act with all who seek his Church. He puts a creed into their hands which all learn; and he tells them in that creed, that his Church is the "One, the Holy, the Catholic and Apostolic Church." There is not, there never was, more than one such Church. It is visible to every eye. It looks down on every other edifice in the city of this world. Its antiquity, grandeur and majesty, excite your admiration. Enter it, and you will be still more impressed. No partitions of wood and plaster divide it into separate and hostile conventicles. The beauty of unity and holiness dwells there. Its walls record the names of thousands of the faithful followers of Christ, from the apostles of the Lamb to the last of the sainted throng. The ambitious monarch, the ensanguined warrior, the eloquent orator, the enlightened statesman, find no niche there; but the heroes who shed their blood for Jesus Christ, who carried his Gospel to pagan nations, who sold themselves to redeem the captive, who gave up their possessions to relieve the poor, who renounced earthly pleasures to follow more freely the footsteps of their suffering Lord,—these are honored in his temple as his faithful servants. But God himself is the sole object of supreme adoration; for he alone is God. To him alone the altar rises and sacrifice is offered. A splendid priesthood throngs that altar, such as he himself instituted in the old law; a thousand lights blaze around in token of holy joy; clouds of incense perfume the sacred atmosphere, the sounds of heavenly music re-echo the divine praises, whilst millions of adorers, of every people, and tribe,