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earnestly exhorting them, with pious and healing entreaties, to preserve love and amity with one another. Upon this he left them, in hopes that both parties would follow his advice, and obey his instructions. But Grymbold, resenting these proceedings, retired immediately to the monastery at Winchester, which King Ælfred had lately founded : and soon after he got his tomb to be removed thither to him, in which he had designed his bones should be put after his decease. This was in a vault under the chancel of the church of St. Peter's in Oxford; which church the said Grymbold had raised from the ground, of stones hewn and carved with great art and beauty."

An excellent writer, under the signature of Britannicus, in a pamphlet entitled "The Church of England its own Witness," has brought forward the same account of the matter from Camden, and has drawn his conclusions from the narrative in a manner so much to the present purpose, that we cannot do better than quote his own words.

"We have thus," he says, "the most undoubted evidence, that the origin of our universities is independent of the Church of Rome; that they are clearly identified with the ancient British and Apostolical Church, and that they must have existed at least 500 years before the Church of Rome visited our shores?

"From Alfred's decision, it is evident that the three colleges he founded were given to the early proprietors the representatives Gildas, Melkinnus, and Kentigern, who were Church of England men, in the fullest sense of the designation. And it is manifest, that whatever power the Church of Rome afterwards exercised in the universities, was not an original right, but acquired by artifice, or usurped by violence. At the Reformation, the universities and the revenues reverted back to their proper owners to men who were the legitimate representatives of the ancient British Church, and the true successors of those primitive men, Gildas and Kentigern, by whom they were founded and instituted.

"Should it be urged, notwithstanding, that some of the colleges were founded under the dominion of the Church of Rome, it does not form any solid objection to the argument. They were founded on the ancient basis, and without a legal title; and what is more, during a time of usurpation. Under such circumstances, restitution can neither be demanded nor given. It would be just as rational to insist, that whatever wealth or accession of territory accrued to the Crown, during the usurpation of Cromwell, belonged and should have been restored to the usurping party. No. Usurpation itself is a crime; and the least punishment that can be awarded

is, that it should be mulcted to the extent of its unjustly acquired booty.

"The present Church of England, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, are clearly identified for at least fifteen hundred years! Their league is ancient-their union is complete their interests inseparable. And does it now require a debate in the British Parliament to decide, whether these ancient institutions shall remain in the same relation to each other, and descend to our posterity in the same wholesome integrity in which they have been handed down to ourselves? It is disgraceful enough that it should have formed the subject of dispute; but it must proceed no further, if reason and justice are yet to reign in the councils of Britain !"

No. IV.

FOR THE INDEPEN

A PROTESTANT'S REASONS

DENCE AND PROTESTANTISM OF THE ANCIENT

BRITISH CHURCH.

1. St. Peter possessed no supremacy over the rest of the apostles; therefore the Church of Britain, established by St. Paul, was independent of St. Peter.

2. St. Paul says of himself, that he had the care of all the Churches of his own foundation; and therefore the Church of Britain was dependent on him, and not on Peter.

3. The bishopric of Rome was established jointly by St. Paul and St. Peter, after St. Paul's return from Britain; and therefore the Church of Britain was prior to, and independent of, the Church of Rome.

4. The Church of Britain was established before the bishop of Rome had any authority beyond his own diocese, and therefore was independent of the Church of Rome.

5. In the fourth century Jerome declared the Church of Rome and Britain to be "ejusdem meriti et sacerdotii," of the same condition, and merit, and pastoral authority.

6. The Church of Britain was subsisting in the fifth and sixth century, when Britain ceased to be a part of the Roman empire; and therefore was independent of the Church of Rome.

7. The bishop of Rome derived the title and power of universal bishop from an emperor in the seventh century; and therefore the Church of Britain was independent of the Church of Rome prior to the existence of such power.

8. The bishop of Rome attempted to establish a spiritual jurisdiction over the Church of Britain in the seventh century, which the British bishops indignantly rejected; and therefore the Church of Britain was independent of the Church of Rome.

A ROMAN CATHOLIC'S REASONS WHY HE CANNOT

CONFORM TO THE PROTESTANT RELIGION.

ROMAN CATHOLIC REASONS.

I. Because the Protestant religion is a new religion, which had no being in the world till 1500 years after Christ; and therefore it comes 1500 years too late to be the true Church of Christ. Martin Luther laid the first foundation of the Protestant religion, A.D. 1517.

II. Because the Protestant religion cannot be true, except the whole Scripture, both of the Old and New Testament, from the beginning to the end, be false, which in so many places assures us that the Church of Christ shall never go astray. For every one knows, that the Protestant religion pretends to be a Reformation of the Church of Christ.

III. Because the first founda

tions of the Protestant religion were laid by an insupportable pride in one man, viz. Luther.

IV. Because Luther and the first Protestants, when they began

ROMAN CATHOLIC REASONS ANSWERED. I. The religion of Protestants in this United Kingdom is not a new religion, but is as old as the days of St. Paul, who preached it and established it in Britain. The Church of Britain was fully established before the Church of Rome. M. Luther did not lay the first foundation of the Protestant religion. The Church of Britain protested against the su perstition and idolatry of the Church of Rome, and would hold no communion with it, as early as the beginning of the seventh century. II. The Protestant religion does not pretend to be a Reformation of the Church of Christ, but of the Church of Rome. The Scriptures nowhere say that the Church of Rome shall not go astray. The Church of Rome has undoubtedly greatly gone astray by idolatry, in the invocation of saints, and by the suppression of half of the eucharist in refusing the cup to the laity, &c. III. The religion of Protestants in this United Kingdom, as was observed before, is coeval with St. Paul. But the first Protest against the Church of Rome was made by the British Bishops of the seventh century.

IV. Protestants believe in the Holy Catholic Church, by be

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