a mode of expression will be adopted as is not in its obvious tendency degrading and offensive; and all irritating associations will be carefully avoided.

The first acknowledged generic term given. to the followers of Christ, after the one applied to them at Antioch,* seems to be that of Catholic. It was used to distinguish the true Church, or Society, of Jesus from all separate Societies, such as the Donatists in Africa, and other schismatics. It is argued by Protestants, that, strictly speaking, this term was never appropriate; seeing that in no age of the church, after the death of its founder, have Christians been uniform in their belief; or universal as a body. The history of heretics, particularly of those of the two first centuries, furnishes abundance of evidence against the catholicity of any particular church; though it must be confessed, that the number of ancient heretics has been, in general, improperly stated. Epiphanius counts sixty, after the death of Christ to his own time, the close of the fourth century; and Philastre gives at least one hundred and twenty-two, after the Saviour's mission; but it should not be overlooked, that many of these supposed heresies were some trifling and often absurd notion, not at all affecting the doctrines of the church. The learned Dr. Lardnert

Acts, c. xi. ver. 26.

+ History of Heretics, p. 17.

states, that "most heresies of the two first centuries may be reduced to two kinds." In this conclusion he is partly supported by the early authority of Theodoret,

Chillingworth, the great champion of Protestantism, says, that the meaning of the phrase, Holy Catholic Church in the Apostles' Creed, is "the right the church of Christ, or rather, to speak properly, the Gospel of Christ, hath to be universally believed. And, therefore, the article may be true, though there were no Catholic Church in the world."* This capacious mode of explication seems much more convenient than true; how the holy catholic church could be believed in, were there "no catholic church in the world," I must own, with all my repect for Chillingworth, somewhat puzzles and perplexes me.

It is, however, this appellation, as united with the adjunct Roman, that demands immediate consideration. I will not fatigue the reader's patience and my own by wading through the elaborate squabbles of ecclesiastics, about the fact of St. Peter's residence at Rome.† The

* Works, folio, p. 196.

†The curious in this matter may consult the Art. Church of Rome, in Broughton's Historical Library, vol. i. Also Christianisimus Primativus, b. II. ch. i. p. 12. Dr. Benson's

Account

great probability, at least as far as it appears to me, is, that the apostle did visit that city; and that he was a teacher of Christianity there at the time of his death, during the persecution of the Christians by Nero.

However this may have been, it is a fact, that a pretty regular succession of Roman Bishops may be traced from Alexander I. at the close of the first, or early in the second, century, to Sabinianus, in the beginning of the seventh; from which time the succession is considered somewhat doubtful for several ages. I am prevented from beginning earlier by my determination to avoid controversy as much as possible; and having compared several catalogues, I find some difference with respect to the first six or seven Bishops, and a little confusion, occasioned in the succession, owing to the discrepancy of opinion relative to the names of Cletus and Anacletus: some contending that these were one and the same Bishop. Perhaps, the most ample list of Popes ever published is the one lately given by an intelligent writer in the Rev. Robert Adam's very candid and liberal publication, en

Account of St. Peter's visit to Rome, A. D. 58, and fourth of Nero, in his Hist. of the first planting of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 184. Whiston's Memoirs, Bp. Pearson's Posthumous Works, London, 1688, p. 27 et seq. and Baratier's Inquiry about the Ancient Bishops of Rome, printed at Utrecht, in 1740.

titled "The Religious World Displayed."* This Catalogue is confessedly taken, for the most part, from Berti's Ecclesiastical History. It commences with St. Peter, and ends with the present much injured Pius VII., including a succession of 252 Roman Bishops, exclusive of the Antipopes, Dioscorus, in the sixth century; Constantine, in the eighth; Anastasius, in the ninth; Leo VIII., and Boniface VII., in the tenth; and John XVI., Benedict X., Honorius II. and Clement III., in the eleventh century. The succession of Roman Pontiffs is of more consequence to the interests of religious truth than some Protestant writers have been willing to admit. I confess, for my own part, that could I be convinced of the perfect accuracy of any one of the catalogues that have been hitherto published, I should feel myself somewhat embarrassed in disputing the ecclesiastical authority and superiority of the supreme head of the Catholic Church; not that I should ever admit, that any man, or set of men, has a right by any prescription of mere time, to trample on the sa

*This work is incomparably the best book of the kind ever published. Mr. Evans's is professedly a "Sketch," but, as far as it goes, it is, upon the whole, correct and candid. The View of all Religions, by Hannah Adams, is good, and, generally speaking, just; but there is too much attempted on so small a scale. The English edition, by Mr. Fuller, is certainly the best, though some will think he has not improved it by his "Essay on Truth."

cred exercise of reason, or the unalienable rights of conscience; but how episcopalians can satisfy their consciences on this subject, has often puzzled and surprised me. If visibility and episcopal ordination are, indeed, essential to the character of the church of Christ, it would seem to follow, that a regular uninterrupted succession of christian Prelates from the Apostles is a matter of vital importance. As a Dissenter, I I have no uneasiness on this point: as a Churchman I should tremble for the validity of my sacred office.*

I will not, however, enter into any controversy on the divine right of Episcopacy, in the issue of which question I have so trifling an interest; and upon which it is my firm conviction the holy scriptures are completely silent. Let canonists and schoolmen, civilians and proctors fight the matter out as well as they are able, and dogmatize about non-essentials till they are all weary of the useless contest, and sit down

* "Our Lord himselfe telleth us, that he that is baptized, and beleeveth, shall be saved: now to persuade such a one that is baptized, and beleeveth, that he is no member of Christ's church, except he can also set downe a catalogue of the names of his spirituall parents, since Christ, is al one, as to perswade such a one that he is no man, because he cannot reckon up his naturell parents, and fetch his pedigree from Noah or Adam." Christianographie, or the Description of the multitude and sundry sorts of Christians in the World, not subject to the Pope, 2nd. Ed. 1636. Epistle Dedicatorie.