To invite Roman Catholics to investigate their faith is to ask them to doubt it; and we are aware that this is looked upon as a sin of the deepest dye, and sedulously checked in the bud in the confessional; and also that the very superstructure we wish to pull down is to many the object of reverential affection: nevertheless we would say, let them take courage, and liberate themselves from the galling yoke that forbids the exercise of their understandings.

It is recorded of Archbishop Leighton, that during his stay on the Continent, he was often at Douay, where some of his relations had settled. In the seminary he appears to have met with some religious persons, whose lives were framed on the strictest models of primitive piety. Though keenly alive to the errors of Popery, he discerned there, within the Romish Church, beautiful fragments of the original temple. Were he now living, we feel that he would aid us in our present object, which is, to bring into evidence all the remains of primæval beauty to which its most religious and enlightened members may cling with reverential affection, and to prove to them that the work of the Reformation was not to discard truth, but to reject the extraneous matter that had obscured and almost neutralized it. We fear there may be only too many in the present day who cling more to the errors than to the truths. At the same time we cannot doubt that there are hearts within the pale of the Church of Rome, like that of Staupitz, the enlightened friend of Luther, who, feeding upon the Scriptures, to which like him they have free access, pay little attention

to the errors, and are truly devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ, and depend upon Him for salvation.

They, having the free use of the Bible themselves, may not be aware that for centuries the general reading of the Scriptures has been opposed by their Church, for the secret reason that she has adulterated the faith and fears the discovery; while she assigns other motives for the prohibition.

It is for these upright and pious hearts we write— these we would invite to examine for themselves in spite of the prohibitions laid upon them; for it is a duty of the utmost importance to abandon what is false, and a sin of the deepest dye to inculcate it when discovered.

The impossibility of union between the Church of Rome and the Churches formed upon the model of Scripture will be seen as we proceed to examine the erroneous superstructure raised by the former on the original gospel foundation: the whole must be cleared away before union can be possible.

Not only does Scripture condemn the modern doctrines, but they will not bear the test of Catholic tradition. Antiquity is against Popery, and to that standard the Pope professes himself willing to defer.

Having said this, we proceed with the examination, and find a most simple, beautiful, and edifying fragment of the ancient edifice at the opening of the ninth article.

CATECHISM.

Q. What is the ninth article of the Creed?

A. The Holy Catholic Church; the Communion of Saints.

Q. What is the Catholic Church?

A. The union of all the faithful under one head.
Q. Who is that head?

A. Christ Jesus our Lord.

OBSERVATIONS.

Every reformed Church would accept this definition, for it perfectly accords with the truth proclaimed by the Apostle Paul that Christ is indeed "the Head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence."-See Col. i. 18.

This was not written to the Church of Rome, but to the Church at Colosse, and is applicable to all true believers in every part of the globe; its beauty is preserved where all who hold the faith revealed from heaven unite to glorify their Head; but the Church of Rome mars its beauty by what follows, in which her exclusive application of it to those within her own pale becomes apparent.

CATECHISM.

Q. Has not the Church a visible head on earth?
A. Yes; the Bishop of Rome, who is the Vicar of
Christ.

OBSERVATIONS.

Now we would ask, Where does the Bishop of Rome find his credentials for this title of Vicar?

Some curious facts from early British, Saxon, and English records have lately been published relative to this title, of which we give the following:

"The title Vicar of Christ originally belonged to independent sovereigns. So early as the second century, Eluctherius, Bishop of Rome, A.D. 177, styled Lucius, the first Christian King of Britain, Christ's Vicar in his own kingdom; whose duty it was to preserve his subjects and the Church in one faith and law of Christ." Ina, King of the West Saxons, framed a code of laws, A.D. 699, which began thus:

:

"I, Ina, by the grace of God King of the West Saxons, with the counsel and learning of the Bishops, Senators, and Elders of the people, having consulted concerning the salvation of our souls, and the establishment of our kingdom," &c.

These laws were adopted by Offa and Ethelbert, and afterwards collected and committed to writing by Alfred the Great, A.D. 872. In this code the ecclesiastical and civil government was vested in the King's Majesty. Edmund, who was crowned A.D. 940, declared in his laws:

"I, Edmund, King, signify to all people, old and young, within my jurisdiction, with the advice of my counsellors, as well among the clergy as the laity, that it is our intent to uphold the Christian religion as much as possible."

The following enactment by Athelric, A.D. 1000, is quite to our point :

"First, that we shall honour one God, and diligently keep one Christian faith, and reject all Paganism, and observe one faith in one empire. For a Christian King, in a Christian nation, is the Vicar of Christ."

It is a curious circumstance that the founders of the Apostasies in the West and the East assumed the powers of the Emperors about the same time. The Pontificate was formerly vested in Charlemagne and his

successors.

To return to the question of a visible head: if it involved nothing more than a certain visible form of Church government, and if it were confined to the members of the Church of Rome, it would be perfectly harmless; but far otherwise is the fact, and "the evils resulting from a succession of visible heads considering themselves infallible are so glaring that nothing less than the direct interposition of the Almighty, as in the Jewish Church, can prevent the introduction of error. Spanheim and Waddington inform us that from Linus to Leo there were nearly two hundred and thirty visible heads, and more than twenty schisms."-Rev. J. C. Yorke.

True Christians are all one in Christ; but they are not all one in the Bishop of Rome, who is only the head of the Church of Rome, and even as relates to that Church he is only (strictly speaking) the ecclesiastical head, not the head through which spiritual life proceeds. To assert this is an awful intrusion upon the prerogative of Christ, who alone is the Head through whom the members may derive their spiritual strength. "If any other being is to come between us and Christ, cutting us off from all access to the Saviour but through him, then is our safety gone, then may we be led blindfold, in any of the thousand paths that lead to death."-Bird. What says the Scripture?