Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

of scripture which are hard to be understood, and which the unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction," and, consequently, they have no right to establish a point of union, by which all Christians may become members of one fold, and believers in one faith." The Protestant churches, therefore, under the superintendance of one shepherd, are split and divided into an endless variety of heresies and schisms.(*) No wonder, as has been well observed, that, having fallen from the rock, they should have been shivered into fragments. They are not one body and one spirit." They are neither perfect in the same mind nor in the same judgment,(TM) nor careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.") They are divided every where, and, as if a change of clime must naturally produce a change of doctrine, they vary wherever they are found. The religious opinions of the Protestant are like the political opinions of the Catholic-founded upon private judgment, and influenced by times and circum

and absurd, to her most solemn judgments. Why, a church thus constituted is incoherent and inconsistent; a hulk thrown upon the waters without helm or compass." -Reply to Dr. Magee, by J. K. L., pp. 18, 62.

(f) 2 St. Peter, iii. 16. () St. John, x. 16.

(8) St. John, x. 16. (h) Ephes. iv. 4. (*) 1 Cor. i. 10. (1) Ephes. iv. 4.

(m) 1 Cor. i. 10.

(n) Ephes. iv. 3.

stances, by prejudice and passion. No unity of sentiment pervades a system, established upon principles upon which every man must doubt and hesitate; a system which separates the people of England from every community of Christians in the world, and isolates her in religion, as she is isolated by her geographical position. Had Christ come upon earth to establish a plurality of religions, then, indeed, the principles of Protestantism would have been admirably suited to the purpose; but as we know it was directly the reverse, so are these principles diametrically opposed to the designs of God. For, having no true rule to direct him, and admitting his church to be liable to error, every Protestant becomes his own Apostle: each one follows the weak and fallible guidance of his own limited reason and capacity, which, creating an endless variety of opinions, and frequently of absurd contradictions, is not only wholly incapable of demonstrating the truth, but is eminently calculated to engender error, and to lead astray, instead of conducting to a unity of faith. The effects are true to their cause: religious dissension distracts the land; almost every family is at variance within iself; what God and Nature formed for harmony

() Ephes. iv. 13. See this point admirably argued and illustrated in Dr. Machale's Evidences and Doctrines of the Catholic Church, Vol. ii. p. 166, &c.

t

and concord, Religion, the lover of unity, and the promoter of peace, brings into strife and difference. Every year is ushered in with a new creed-every year, some new temple is erected to the God of Truth for another false worship. The wild reveries of a female impostor; the senseless ravings of an itinerant, self-inspired preacher; every crafty knave, or vain enthusiast, who throws the absurd and fantastic wanderings of his mind into the form of a religious belief, is sure to find votaries amongst Protestants: they contrive to divide what has already undergone a thousand subdivisions; and if Protestantism shall last another century, we may expect to see, in this bewildered country, almost as many creeds as there are Christians.-Is there, -can there be unity in Protestantism? but is not unity the proud and exclusive attribute of Catholicity? United within, by a perfect similitude of doctrine, and bound together without, by a uniformity of government-guided by the same pastors, partakers of the same sacraments, worshippers at the same altars, holding communion with their brethren in every portion of the world, knowing no difference of faith on account of a difference of language, of clime, of manners, of political institutions, or of geographical position -the Catholic Church constitutes that house of peace so prophetically announced by the Psalmistthat assemblage of true believers, for which the

Saviour of mankind declares that he came to sanctify himself, that they also might be sanctified in truth-that they all might be one, as his Father and he were one; and, that BEING ONE, THE WORLD MIGHT BELIEVE THAT HIS FATHER HAD SENT HIM. While the separation of Protestants from the common fold, and their disunion among themselves, not only excludes them from the house of peace, and the alliance with God, but absolutely contradicts and nullifies the mission of our Saviour, robbing Christianity of one of its most distinguishing characteristics, and belying it before the pagan and the infidel.(P) For, if the divine mission of Christ is to be ascertained by the union which is to subsist amongst his followers, and by the agreement of Christians in his doctrines, it is manifest that the want of this necessary proof amongst those who pretend to be his disciples and apostles, must obstruct the progress of truth, and veil the revelations of Heaven from the eyes of the unbeliever. Even the most perverse and discordant sectaries (so universal is the recognition of this essential qualification of truth,) all insist upon unity as a necessary attribute of true religion; but, at the same time, they adopt a principle which banishes this attribute from amongst them.

(P) See some excellent observations on this subject in the 2nd Letter of the Amicable Discussion.

They say, we must all believe alike, but we must all judge for ourselves :-we must all hold the same doctrine, but we must all follow our own fancies. The apostle pronounces an anathema even against an angel from Heaven, should he presume to preach another gospel; but they exalt themselves above the angels of Heaven, and claim the attribute of divinity itself. The Scripture

says, Be of one mind, have peace; and the God of peace and of love shall be with you. (2 Cor. xiii. 2.) But they say, let us be of what mind we please; let dissensions reign amongst us; let us follow false prophets and lying teachers, and make ourselves the dupes of deceitful workmen :no sect shall be a sect of perdition to us; we will transform every man whom we list into an apostle of Christ the house of peace shall be rent with schism; the God of truth must be made insensible to falsehood, and the God of love shall cherish hatred and dissension, as well as charity and union.

Secondly, The Protestant churches are not holy, because Luther, Calvin, Beza, and other inventors and propagators of Protestantism, instead of being pure apostolic men, and models of meekness, piety, and mortification, such as the ministers of the religion of Christ ought undoubtedly to be, who himself fasted, prayed, and forebore, to teach us to do the same, were directly the reverse. Far from imitating the lives of the primitive saints and apostles, whose

« PredošláPokračovať »