true Church. To show the inconsistency of the Protestant method; let us suppose that at a levee, some person were to inquire of his neighbour, Which of the personages present is the Prince Regent? and that he was to receive for answer: It is the King's eldest son: would this answer, however true, be of any use to the inquirer? Evidently not. Whereas, if he were told that the Prince wore such and such clothes and ornaments, and was seated in such or such a place, these exterior marks would, at once, put him in possession of the information he was in search of. Thus we Catholics, when we are asked; which are the marks of the True Church? point out certain exterior, visible marks, such as plain, unlearned persons can discover, if they will take ordinary pains for this purpose, no less than persons of the greatest abilities and literature: at the same time that they are the very marks of this Church, which, as I said above, natural Reason, the Scriptures, the Creeds, and the Fathers, assign and demonstrate to be the true marks, by which it is to be distinguished. Yes, my dear Sir, these marks of the True Church are so plain in themselves, and so evidently point it out, that, as the Prophet Isaias has foretold, xxxv. 8., fools cannot err, in the road to it. They are the flaming beacons, which for ever shine on the mountain at the top of the mountains of the Lord's house. Isai. ii. 2. short, the particular motives for credibility, which point out the True Church of Christ, demonstrate this with no less certitude and evidence, than the general motives of credibility demonstrate the Truth of the Christian Religion.

In

The chief marks of the True Church, which I shall here assign, are not only conformable to Reason, Scripture, and Tradition, but (which is a most fortunate circumstance) they are such as the Church of England, and most other respectable denominations of Protestants, acknowledge and profess to believe in, no less than Catholics. Yes, dear Sir, they are contained in those Creeds which you recite in your daily prayers, and proclaim in your solemn worship. In fact, what do you say of the Church you believe in, when you repeat the Apostles' Creed? You say, I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH. Again, how is this Church more particularly described in the Nicene Creed, which makes part of your public liturgy? In this you say: I BELIEVE IN ONE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH, (1) Hence it evidently follows that the Church which you, no less than we, profess to believe in, is possessed of these four marks: UNITY, SANCTITY, CATHOLICITY, and APOSTOLICITY. -It is agreed upon, then, that all we have to do, by way of discovering the True Church, is to find out which of the rival Churches, or communions, is peculiarly ONE-HOLY-CATHOLIC-and APOSTOLIC.-Thrice happy, dear Sir, I deem it, that we agree together, by the terms of our common Creeds, in a matter of such infinite importance, for the happy termination of all our controversies, as are these qualities or characters of the True Church, whichever that may be found to be! Still, notwithstanding this agreement in our Creeds,

(1) Order of Administration of the Lord's Supper.

I shall not omit to illustrate these characters or marks, as I treat them, by arguments from Reason, Scripture, and the ancient Fathers.

NOTHING is more clear to natural reason, than that God cannot be the author of different Religions: for being the Eternal Truth, he cannot reveal contradictory doctrines; and being at the same time, the Eternal Wisdom, and the God of Peace, he cannot establish a kingdom divided against itself. Hence it follows, that the Church of Christ must be strictly ONE; one in doctrine, one in worship, and one in government. This mark of Unity in the True Church, which is so clear from reason, is still more clear from the following passages of Holy Writ. Our Saviour, then, speaking of himself, in the character of the good Shepherd, says: I have other sheep (the Gentiles) which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be ONE FOLD, and one Shepherd. John, x. 16. To the same effect, addressing his heavenly Father, previously to his passion, he says: I pray for all that

shall believe in me, that THEY MAY BE ONE, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee. John xvii. 20, 21. In like manner St. Paul emphatically inculcates the Unity of the Church, where he writes: We being many are ONE BODY in Christ, and every one members one of another, Rom. xii. 5. Again he writes: There is ONE BODY and one spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, ONE FAITH, and one Baptism. Ephes. iv. 4, 5. Conformably with this doctrine, respecting the necessary unity of the Church, this Apostle reckons HERESIES among the sins which exclude from the kingdom of God, Gal. v. 20. and he requires that a man who is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, be rejected. Tit. iii. 10.

6

The Apostolical Fathers, St. Polycarp and St. Ignatius, in their published Epistles, hold precisely the same language on this subject with St. Paul; as does also their disciple St. Irenæus, who writes thus: No reformation can be so advantageous, as the evil of schism is pernicious.' (1) The great light of the third century, St, Cyprian, has left us a whole book on the Unity of the Church, in which, among other similar passages, he writes as follows: There is but one God, and one Christ, and one Faith, and a people joined in one solid body with the cement of concord. This unity cannot suffer a division, nor this one body bear to be disjointed. He cannot have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his Mother. If any one could escape the deluge out of Noah's ark, he who is out of the Church may also escape. To abandon the Church is a crime,

(1) De Hær. l. i. c. 3.

which blood cannot wash away. Such a one may be killed, but he cannot be crowned.' (1) In the fourth century, the illustrious St. John Chrysostom, writes thus: We know that salvation belongs to the Church alone, and that no one can partake of Christ, nor can be saved out of the Catholic Church and Faith.' (2) The language of St. Augustin, in the fifth century, is equally strong on this subject, in numerous passages. Among others, the synodical Epistle of the Council of Zerta, in 412, drawn up by this Saint, tells the Donatist schismatics: Whoever is separated from this Catholic Church, however innocently he may think he lives, for this crime alone, that he is separated from the unity of Christ, will not have life, but the anger of God remains upon him.' (3) To the same effect, and not less emphatical, are the testimonies of St. Fulgentius and St. Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, in various passages of their writings. I shall content myself with citing one of them. 'Out of this Church,' says the former Father,'' neither the name of Christian avails, nor does baptism save, nor is a clean sacrifice offered, nor is there forgiveness of sins, nor is the happiness of eternal life to be found.' (4) In short, such has

(1) Cypr. de Unit Oxon, p. 109. (2) Hom. 1. in Pasc. (3) Concil. Labbe, tom. ii. p. 1520.

(4) Lib. de Remiss. Peccat. c. 23-N. B. This doctrine concerning the Unity of the Church, and the necessity of adhering to it, under pain of damnation, which appears so rigid to modern Protestants, was almost universally taught by their predecessors: as, for example, by Calvin, 1. iv. Instit. 1., and Beza, Confess. Fid. c. v.; by the Hugenots in their Catechism; by the Scotch, in their Profession of 1568; by the Church of England, Art. 18; by the cele brated Bishop Pearson, &c. The last-named writes thus: