The Old Church of England. (1) And even now, it is notorious that many clergymen preach in the Churches in the morning, and in the Meeting-houses in the evening; whilst their opulent patrons are purchasing as many Church-livings as they can, in order to fill them with incumbents of the same description. Tell me now, dear Sir, whether, from this view of the state of the Church of England, or from any other fair view which can be taken of it, you will venture to ascribe to it that first mark of the True Church, which you profess to belong to her, when in the face of heaven and earth, you solemnly declare: I believe in ONE Catholic Church? Say, is there any single mark or principle of real unity in it! I anticipate the answers your candour will give to these questions.

I am, &c.

J. M.

LETTER XVI.

TO JAMES BROWN, Esq. &c.

DEAR SIR,

CATHOLIC UNITY.

WE have now to see whether that first mark of the True Church, which we confess in our Creeds, but which we have found to be wanting to

I., in the course of which that monarch sent -Episcopal representatives from England and Scotland to the great Protestant Synod of Dort. These, in the name of their respective Churches, signed that The Faithful who fail into atrocious crimes, do not forfeit justification, or incur damnation.'

(1) Vol. ii. p. 73.

the Protestant Societies, and even to the most ostensible and orderly amongst them, the Established Church of England, does or does not appear in that principal and primæval stock of Christianity, called The Catholic Church. In case this Church, spread, as it is, throughout the various nations of the earth, and subsisting, as it has done, through all ages, since that of Christ and his Apostles, should have maintained that religious Unity, which the modern sects, confined to a single people, have been unable to preserve, you will allow that it must have been framed by a consummate Wisdom, and protected by an omnipotent Providence.

Now, Sir, I maintain it, as a notorious fact, that this original and great Church is, and ever has been, strictly ONE in all the above-mentioned particulars, and first in her Faith and terms of communion. The same Creeds, namely, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Creed of Pope Pius IV., drawn up in conformity with the definitions of the Council of Trent, are every where recited and professed, to the strict letter; the same articles of Faith and morality are taught in all our Catechisms, the same Rule of Faith, namely, the Revealed Word of God, contained in Scripture and Tradition, and the same expositor and interpreter of this Rule, the Catholic Church, speaking by the mouth of her Pastors, are admitted and proclaimed by all Catholics throughout the four quarters of the globe, from Ireland to Chili, and from Canada to India. You may convince yourself of this any day at the Royal Exchange, by conversing with intelligent Catholic merchants, from the several countries in question. You may satisfy yourself respecting it,

even by interrogating the poor illiterate Irish, and other Catholic foreigners, who traverse the country in various directions. Ask them their belief as to the fundamental articles of Christianity, the Unity and Trinity of God, the Incarnation and Death of Christ, his Divinity, and Atonement for sin by his passion and death, the necessity of Baptism, the nature of the Blessed Sacrament; question them on these and other such points, but with kindness, patience, and condescension, particularly with respect to their language and delivery, and, I will venture to say, you will not find any essential variation in the answers of most of them; and much less such as you will find by proposing the same questions to an equal number of Protestants, whether learned or unlearned, of the same denomination. At all events, the Catholics, if properly interrogated, will confess their belief in one comprehensive article, namely this: I believe whatever the Holy Catholic Church believes and teaches.

Protestant divines, at the present day, excuse their dissent from the Articles which they subscribe and swear to, by reason of their alleged antiquity and obsoleteness, (1) though none of them are yet quite two centuries and a half old; (2) and they feel no difficulty in avowing, that a tacit Reformation, since the first pretended Reformation, has taken place among them. (3) This alone is a confession that their Church is not one and the same: whereas all Catholics believe as firmly in the doc

(1) Dr. Hey's Lectures in Divinity, vol. ii. pp. 49, 50, 51, &c.

(2) The 39 Articles were drawn in 1562, and confirmed by the Queen and the Bishops in 1571. (5, Hey, p. 48.

trinal decisions of the Council of Nice, passed 1500 years ago, as they do in those of the Council of Trent, confirmed in 1564, and other still more recent decisions; because the Catholic Church, like its Divine Founder, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Heb. xiii. 8.

Nor is it in her Doctrine only, that the Catholic Church is one and the same; she is also uniform in whatever is essential in her Liturgy. In every part of the world, she offers up the same unbloody Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, which is her chief act of Divine worship; she administers the same seven sacraments, provided by infinite wisdom and mercy for the several wants of the faithful; the great festivals of our Redemption are kept holy on the same days, and the Apostolical fast of Lent is every where proclaimed and observed. In short, such is the Unity of the Catholic Church, that when Catholic Priests or laymen, landing at one of the neighbouring ports, from India, Canada, or Brazil, come to my chapel, (1) I find them capable of joining with me in every essential part of the Divine service. Lastly, as a regular, uniform, ecclesiastical constitution and government, and a due subordination of its members, are requisite to constitute an uniform Church, and to preserve in it Unity of doctrine and liturgy; so these are undeniably evident in the Catholic Church, and in her alone. She is, in the language of St. Cyprian, The habitation of Peace and Unity,' (2) and in that of the inspired text like an army in battle array. (3) Spread, as the

(1) At Winchester, where the writer letter was written. (2) Domicilium pacis et unitatis.' (3) Cant. vi. 4.

resided when this

St. Cyp.

my

Catholics are, over the face of the earth, according to former observation, and disunited, as they are, in every other respect, they form one uniform body in the order of Religion. Whether roaming in the plains of Paraguay, or confined in the palaces of Pekin, each simple Catholic, in point of ecclesiastical economy, is subject to his Pastor; each Pastor submits to his Bishop; and each Bishop acknowledges the supremacy of the successor of St. Peter, in matters of faith, morality, and spiritual jurisdiction. In every case of error, or insubordination, which, from the frailty and malice of the human heart, must, from time to time, disturb her, there are found canons and ecclesiastical tribunals and judges, to correct and put an end to the evil, while similar evils in other religious Societies are found to be interminable.

I have said little or nothing of the varieties of Protestants, in regard to their liturgies and ecclesiastical governments, because these matters being very intricate and obscure, as well as diversified, would lead me too far-a-field for my present plan. It is sufficient to remark, that the numerous Protestant sects, expressly disclaim any union with each other in these points; that a great proportion of them reject every species of liturgy and ecclesiastical government whatever;-that, in the Church of England herself, very many of her dignitaries, and other distinguished members, express their pointed disapprobation of certain parts of her liturgy, no less than of her articles; (1)—and that none of them appear to stand

(1) Archdeacon Paley very naturally complains, that the doctrine of the Articles of the Church of England,'