Excellence of Sacrifice. Appointed by God. Practised by ail eopie, except Protestants. Sacrifice of the New Law, promised of old to the Christian Church. Instituted by Christ. The Holy Fathers bear testimony to it, and performed it. St. Paul's Epistle to the He- brews misinterpreted by the Bishops of London, Lincoln, &c. De- ception of talking of the Popish Mass. Inconsistency of Estab- lished Church in ordaining Priests without having a Sacrifice. Ir- religious invectives of Dr. Hey against the Holy Mass, without his To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Absolution from sin. Horrid misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine. Real doctrine of the Church, defined by the Council of Trent. This pure and holy. Violent distortion of Christ's words concern- ing the forgiveness of sins, by Bishop Porteus. Opposite doctrine of Chillingworth: and of Luther and the Lutherans: and of the Es- tablished Liturgy Inconsistency of Bishop P. Refutation of his arguments about confession: and of his assertions concerning the an- cient doctrine. Impossibility of imposing this practice on mankind. Testimony of Chillingworth as to the comfort and benefit of a good Indulgences. Unsupported false definition of them by the Bishop of London. His further calumnies on the subject. Similar calumnies of other Protestant Prelates and Divines. The genuine doctrine of Catholics. No permission to commit sin. No pardon of any future sin. No pardon of sin at all. No exemption from contrition or do- ing penance. No transfer of superfluous holiness. Retortion of the charge on the Protestant tenet of imputed justice. A mere re- laxation of temporal punishment. No encouragement of vice; but rather of virtue. Indulgences authorized in all Protestant Societies. Proofs of this in the Church of England. Among the Anabaptists. Among the ancient and modern Calvinists. Scandalous Bulls, Dis- Purgatory and Prayers for the dead. Weak objection of Dr. Porteus against a middle state. Scriptural arguments for it. Dr. P's. Ap- peal to Antiquity defeated. Testimonies of Lutherans and English Prelates in favour of Prayers for the Dead. Eminent modern Pro- testants, who proclaim a Universal Purgatory. Consolations attend. Extreme Unction. Clear proof of this Sacrament from Scripture. Impiety and inconsistency of the Bishop in slighting this. His Ap- LETTER XLV. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Antichrist: Impious assertions of Protestants concerning him. Their absurd and contradictory systems. Retortion of the charge of Apostasy. Other charges against the Popedom refuted LETTER XLVI. To th: Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. The Pope's Supremacy truly stated. His spiritual authority proved LETTER XLVII. To James Brown, Jun. Esq. The language of the Liturgy and Reading the Scriptures. Language a matter of discipline. Reasons for the Latin Church retaining the Latin Language. Wise economy of the Church as to reading the Holy Scriptures. Inconsistencies of the Bible Societies LETTER XLVIII. To James Brown, Jun. Esq. Page 291 291 301 Various misrepresentations. Canonical and Apocryphal books of To James Brown, Jun. Esq. Religious Persecution. The Catholic Church claims no right to inflict sanguinary punishments, but disclaims it. The right of temporal Princes and States in this matter. Meaning of Can. 3, Lateran iv. truly stated. Queen Mary persecuted as a Sovereign, not as a Catholic. James II. deposed for refusing to persecute. Retortion of the charge upon Protestants the most effectual way of silencing them upon it. Instances of persecution by Protestants in every Protestant country: in Germany: in Switzerland: at Geneva, and in France: in Holland: in Sweden: in Scotland: in England. Violence and long continuance of it here. Eminent loyalty of Catholics. Two circumstances which distinguish the persecution exercised by Catholics from that exercised by Protestants LETTER L. To the Friendly Society of New Cottage. Conclusion. Recapitulation of points proved in these letters. The True Rule of Faith: The True Church of Christ. Falsity of the Charges alleged against her. An equal moral evidence for the Catholic as for the Christian Religion. The former, by the confession of its adversaries, the safer side. No security too great where Eternity is at stake! A POSTSCRIPT To the second Edition of the Address to the Right Rev. the Lord Bp. of St. David's, occasioned by his Lordship's One Word to the Rev. Dr. Milner.' 319 336 341 ADDRESS. MY LORD, ΤΟ THE RIGHT REVEREND LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S. THE following Letters, with some others belonging to the same series, were written in the latter part of the year 1801, and the first months of 1802, though they have since that time been revised, and, in some respects, altered. They grew out of the controversy, which the principal writer of them was obliged to sustain against an eminent author, a prebendary of the cathedral, and the chancellor of the diocese of Winchester, who had personally challenged him to the field of argument, in a book, called Reflections on Popery. That controversy having made some noise in the public, and even in the house of parliament, particularly in the upper house, where the lord chancellor,* and a predecessor of your lordship, then the light and glory of the established church,† expressed opposite opinions on the issue of it, certain powerful personages expressed an earnest wish for its termination. For this purpose, the usual method of silencing authors was at first resolved upon with respect to the writer, and a Catholic gentleman of name, still living, was commissioned to sound him on the business: but, in conclusion, it was thought Lost advisable to employ the influence which the prelate alluded to had so justly acquired over him. This method succeeded; and, accordingly, these Letters, which, otherwise, would have been published fifteen years ago, have slept in silence ever since. ? I trust your lordship will not be the person to ask me, why the Letters, after having been so long suppressed, now appear -You are witness, my lord, of the increased and increasing virulence of the press against Catholics; and this, in many instances, directed by no ignoble or profane hands. Abundant proofs of this will be seen in the following work. For the present, it is sufficient to mention, that one of your most venerable colleagues publishes and re-publishes, that we stand The Right Hon. the Earl of Loughborough. + The Right Rev. Dr. Horsely, successively bishop of St. David's, Ro chester, and St. Asaph's. convicted of idolatry, blasphemy, and sacrilege. Another pro claims to the clergy, assembled in Synod, that we are enemies of all law, human and divine. More than one of them has charged us with the guilt of that Anti-Christian conspiracy on the continent, of which we were exclusively the victims. This dignitary accuses us of Antinomianism; that maintains our religion to be fit only for persons weak in body and in mind. In short, we seldom find ourselves, or our religion, mentioned in modern sermons, or other theological works, unaccompanied with the epithets of superstitious, idolatrous, impious, disloyal, perfidious, and sanguinary. One of the theologues alluded to, who, like many others, has gained promotion by the fervour of his NO POPERY zeal, has exalted his tone to the pitch of proclaiming that our religion is calculated for the meridian of hell!!—Thus solemnly, and almost continually, charged before the tribunal of the public, with crimes against society and our country, no less than against religion, and yet conscious, all the while, of our entire innocence, it is not only lawful, but also a duty, which we owe to our fellow-subjects and ourselves, to repel these charges, by proving that there was reason, and religion, an loyalty, and good faith among Christians, before Luther quarrelled with Leo X., and Henry VIII. fell in love with Ann Bullen, and that, if we ourselves have not yet been persuaded by the arguments, either of the monk or the monarch, to relinquish the faith originally preached in this island, above 1300 years before their time, we are, at least. possessed of common sense, virtuous principles, and unatained loyalty. The writer might assign another reason for making the present publication; namely, the number and acrimony of his own public opponents on subjects of religion. To say nothing of the groundless charges, by word of mouth, of certain privileged personages the following writers are some of those who have published books, pamphlets, essays, or notes against him, on subjects of a religious nature; the deans of Winchester and Peterborough; chancellor Sturges; prebendary Poulter; the doctors Hoadly, Ash, Ryan, Ledwich, Le Mesurier, and Elrington; Sir Rich *To one only objection of his adversaries, the writer wishes here to give an answer, that of having quoted falsely; which, however, has been advanced by very few of them, and is confined, as far as he knows, to two instances. The first of these, is, that the writer, in his History of Winchester, vol. i. p. 61, " quotes Gildas, for the exploits of king Arthur, who never once mentions his name." This objection was first started by Dr. O'Conor, in his Columbanus, was borrowed from him, by the Rev. Mr. Le Mesurier in his Bampton Lectures, and was adopted from the latter by the Rev. Mr. Grier, in his Answer to Ward's Errata.- -After all, this pretended forgery ard Musgrave, John Reeves, Esq.; the Reverend Messrs Wil liamson, Bazeley. Churton, Grier, and Roberts; besides numerous anonymous riflemen in the Gentleman's Magazine, the Monthly Magazine, the Anti-Jacobin Review, the Protestant Advocate, the Antibiblion, and other periodical works, including newspapers. By some of these he has been challenged into the field of controversy, and when he did not appear there, he has been posted as a coward. A still more cogent reason, my lord, for the appearance of this work, which was heretofore suppressed, at the desire of a former bishop of St. David's, has been furnished by his present successor, in the work the latter has lately published, called THE PROTESTANT'S CATECHISM. This is no ordinary effusion of NO POPERY zeal. It was not called for by the increase of the ancient religion in his lordship's diocese, which teems with Methodist jumpers, to the danger of his cathedral and parish churches being left quite empty; while not one Catholic family, is, perhaps, to be found in it. It was not provoked by any late attempt on the established church, or on Protestanism in general; as the bishop does not pretend that such thing has taken place. Nevertheless he comes forward in his Episcopal mitre, bearing in his hands a new Protestant Catechism, to be learnt by Protestants of every description, which teaches them to hate and persecute their elder brethren, the authors of their Christianity and civilization! In fact, this Christian bishop, begins and ends his Protestant Catechism, with a quotation from a Puritan regicide, declaring, that " Popery is not to be tolerated, either in public or in private, and that it must be thought how to remove it, and hinder the growth thereof:" adding, "if they say, that, by removing their idols we violate their consciences, we have no warrant to regard conscience, which is not grounded on Scripture." This, your lordship of the writer, will be fouud, on consulting the passage referred to above, to be nothing else but a blunder of his critics; since it will appear that he quotes William, of Malmsbury, for the exploits of Arthur and Gildas, barely for the year in which one of them, the battle of Mons Badonicus, took place! The second accusation of this nature, was inserted by one of the above named writers, in the Gentleman's Magazine, namely, that the writer had advanced, without any historical authority, that James I. used to call November 5, "Cecil's holiday." In answer to this charge, he gave notice in the next number of the Magazine, that he had sent up to the editor's office, as he had done, there to remain, during a month, for public inspection, lord Castlemain's Catholique Apology, which contains the fact, and the authorties on which it is advanced. The writer is far from claiming inerrancy, but he should despise himself, if he, knowingly, published any falsehood, of nesitated to retract any one that he was proved to have fallen into. Milton's prose works, v 1. 4. The prose writ ngs of this secretary of |