course to be adopted-renouncing every idea of domination and every dogma on which opinions may clash in the Church. By so doing his efforts might perchance be crowned with success.

The conversation here became ceremonious and complimentary, and in the end the Pope's Envoy retired with his attendants, carrying with them the rejected invitation."-Daily News.

The Patriarch of the Armenian Church has also declined the summons.

The recent faithful testimony of Le Père Hyacinthe gives further encouragement to our hopes of the ultimate triumph of revealed truth over human error, in the hearts of the real disciples of Christ.

CHAPTER VII.

THE TENTH ARTICLE.

ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

CATECHISM.

Q. What is the tenth article of the Creed ?

A. The forgiveness of sins.

Q. What is meant by this article?

A. That there is in the Church of God forgiveness

of sins for such as properly apply for it.

Q. To whom has Christ given power to forgive sins?

A. To the Apostles and their successors the
Bishops and Priests of His Church.

Q. By what sacraments are sins forgiven?
A. Principally by Baptism and Penance.

OBSERVATIONS.

It is of the utmost importance in examining this answer, to keep in mind the difference between the

G

ancient Apostolic Catholic Church of God, of which all true believers are members, and the assumption of the Church of Rome to be that Church. The drift of the above statement is to inculcate the belief, that there is no forgiveness for any who are not members of the Church of Rome. Not only is this doctrine taught, but it forms the groundwork of the whole Roman Catholic teaching; and we know from sad experience, that unwary Protestants have been terrified by it, and led to renounce the pure faith in which they have been brought up, never having examined the false grounds. upon which the pretension is made.

When we speak of the ancient Apostolic Church of God, we mean the Gospel dispensation, by which forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to the penitent through the blood of Christ. The Apostles published this truth, "in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem ;" and when the Church was first constituted, they thus exhorted those whom they desired to come into it: "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out;" and "Be it known unto you, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." Whoever heartily accepted this doctrine joined himself to those who had received it; and thus, from the begining, congregations of believers were formed, to whom the Word of God was faithfully preached, and who were baptized in His name. "The doctrine of remission of all sins propounded and preached to all men was proper and peculiar to the Gospel, which teacheth us, that all that believe are justified from all things from which

they could not be justified by the law of Moses." What we protest against is, its exclusive application to the Church of Rome, and the abuse and corruption of the doctrine, as tolerated by her, and exercised by the priests.

We utterly repudiate the idea, that it is in the power of man to forgive sin, unless under direct and evident inspiration, as in the days of the Apostles, when power was given them to see into the hearts and consciences of those whose sins they forgave. Men may forgive sins practised against themselves, and remit the temporal punishment that such sins deserve; but to forgive sins, as they are offences towards God, and to purify the heart, must be the prerogative of God alone. The commission which Christ has given to His ministers, is openly to proclaim forgiveness of sins by Jesus Christ our Lord, to those who are truly penitent and who truly believe in Him. That a heart bowed down under a sense of sin may with great profit confer with an experienced Christian, and listen to comfortable assurances drawn from the Word of God, and be helped by prayers offered up in his behalf, whether by a minister or a lay member of the congregation, we cannot for a moment question; but the intervention of a priest is nowhere in Scripture said to be needful, though, when the lips of the minister do really keep knowledge, he may be a special comfort. A minister of Christ, deeply imbued with revealed truth, is a fit person to apply to in all cases of conscience; and there are many who have their senses so exercised in spiritual things, that they

will evince great discernment as to the real state of the penitent's heart, and be able to adapt their consolations to his case; and if this were all that the Church of Rome inculcated, we should be perfectly agreed on the subject. But the great difference is this: Protestants hold that the remission of sins by the clergy is simply a 'ministerial' act, and that God, through their instrumentality, proclaims forgiveness to the penitent. Romanists (and some of our ultra High Churchmen) contend, according to the decree of the Council of Trent, that it is a 'judicial' act, and depends for its validity on the intention of the priest. Gother, in his "Papist Represented and Misrepresented," explains away almost all the pernicious part of this doctrine; and leaves us to think there is scarcely a shadow of difference between the views of the Reformed Churches and the Church of Rome on this head, and that the indulgences have reference only to temporal punishments. But this attempt to explain away the assumption of authority in their Church will not be admitted by those brought up in it, and is evidently a snare to beguile Protestants. If instead of 'temporal' he had said 'purgatorial' he would have stated it truly. For, though the Council of Trent holds the indulgence to be the remission, in whole or in part, of that temporal penalty which is due to sin in this life; it adds also, or in Purgatory,' after the eternal penalty has been done away by Christ.

We are ready to admit, that there may be many, even among the Romish priests scattered throughout the world, who may explain it away as Gother does, and