(1.) In vindicating the doctrines and practices of the church of Rome, the bishop distinctly states, what, in his judgment, those doctrines and practices really are. Such being the case, I immediately perceived that 1 had here the identical text-book which 1 required: for, in his lordship's work, I might safely study the system of the Latin church, not as distorted by the prejudices of an enemy, but as exhibited in its true colours by a dignified ecclesiastic, to whom in all its bearings it could not but be perfectly familiar.

(2.) Interested as 1 was on this account in the bishop's publication, I was yet additionally interested in it by the circumstance, that the same train of reasoning from the evidence of antiquity, which had passed through my own mind, had likewise passed through the mind of the bishop. This reasoning, which to myself appears so natural and so unobjectionable, he makes, in fact, the very basis of his work: for his general argument, in favour of the church of Rome and against the church of England, may be briefly stated in manner following:-

Those who conversed with the apostles, and those who lived nearest to the times of the apostles, must best have known the mind of the apostles. With these primitive theologians, the church of Rome agrees, and the church of England disagrees. Therefore the former must teach the truth, while the latter teaches falsehood.

2. Thus runs the bishop's argument: and thus, in evolving his argument does he state and vindicate what he himself defines to be the doctrines and practices of the church of Rome. On both these accounts, therefore, I was deeply interested by his lordship's Amicable Discussion: and henceforth I determined to

adopt its authoritative statement of the Latin system, as the unimpeachable basis of a work, which should exhibit to the English laity the formidable Difficulties of Romanism, even on the ground assumed by the bishop himself.

His lordship asserts, that, in all those peculiar doctrines and practices, which so grievously offend the members of the Anglican church, and which he himself specifies and explains with sufficient precision, the firm and immutable church of Rome perfectly agrees with those primitive theologians, who either conversed with the apostles, or who lived nearest to the times of the apostles: whence he contends, that the church of Rome, unlike the innovating church of England, still teaches and still acts, as the catholic church of Christ has ever taught and has ever acted from the very beginning.

By this process, the question is resolved, as it ought to be resolved, into A NAKED HISTORICAL MATTER OF FACT, and, accordingly, the sole point to be decided is, whether the doctrines and practices of the Roman church, as propounded and explained and vindicated by the bishop of Aire himself, have or have not the unbroken sanction of all primitive antiquity.

Such then is the ground, a ground of his lordship's own selection, on which I am in no wise reluctant to take up the discussion: and, when the early ecclesiastical writers up to the time of the apostles shall have been examined somewhat more fully, perhaps also somewhat more impartially, than the bishop has performed the task, I greatly mistake, if the alleged immutable church of Rome will not stand convicted of palpable innova

tion, and thence (according to Tertullian's canon) of manifest error.

V. Unwilling to waste my strength and my time in a mere ephemeral controversy, talked of to-day and forgotten to-morrow, I have endeavoured to impress upon my work the character of PERMANENT UTILITY. Had the bishop of Aire never undertaken the defence of the church of Rome at the expense of the church of England; still a work, in which the claims of the peculiar doctrines and practices of the Latin church to the support of primitive antiquity are considered with some measure of fulness, can never, so long as truth is valuable, be useless and unseasonable. When a Roman ecclesiastic perplexes an English laymen by boldly asserting the strict accordance of his church with the church nearest to the times of the apostles, it is desirable, that the layman, without the trouble of any very extended research imposed upon himself, should be provided with a reply.

1. A wish, says my intelligent correspondent, to be able to answer the questions, repeatedly and triumphantly proposed by the catholics upon topics of this description, is everywhere now reigning.

Thus speaks a well-informed layman from actual experience: the object of my work is to furnish an easy reply to such questions, not merely in the present day, but at any future period whatsoever.

2. Your own theologians, says the bishop of Aire to his English friend, no less than ourselves, have in their hands the ancient liturgies of the primitive church and the works of the earty ecclesiastical writers: but they will have small inclination, I suspect, to bring you acquainted with such documents. Ask them to communicate these

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documents to you: desire them to specify the opinion which they express. You will soon find, that they take your request with no very good grace: and, in truth, to deal plainly with you, it is impossible that they should. Ah well, Sir, I will spare them their embarrassment: and, so far as you are concerned, I will go on to accomplish their defective ministrations.*

Thus speaks a learned prelate of the Latin Church: the object of my work is to furnish a permanent answer to the supposed embarrassing questions, which, at his lordship's suggestion, the English laity might propound to the English clergy.

VI. In discussing the difficulties of Romanism on the professed ground of primitive antiquity, an obstacle occured, which, to a person situated so disadvantageously as myself, might well have appeared altogether insurmountable.

To work without tools is impossible: the tools, absolutely necessary for an undertaking of this description, are the works of the primitive fathers, the early ecclesiastical histories, and the acts of those councils which claim to be ecumenical: and it is not the lot of every painful student to be enrolled among those highly-privileged divines, who, by their connexion with colleges or with cathedrals, can leisurely expatiate in the free use of such requisite instruments.

As for myself, buried in the deep oblivion of a sequestered northern village, possessing only a limited collection of the ancient ecclesiastical writers, and from local circumstances unable to profit by the rich stores of a collegiate library of reference, I should have found

* Discuss. Amic. vol. ii. p. 8.

it physically impossible to execute the task which has been imposed upon me, had not the means been supplied after a mode, which, in the ordinary course of rustic life, could not rationally have been anticipated. More ample opportunities might probably have rendered my work less imperfect: yet, with some trifling exceptions, the copious library of a valued clerical friend, united with my own, left me but little to desire. Mr. Anstey will, I hope, permit a neighbour of twenty years to say, that the service, which he rendered to me, was only surpassed by the manner in which that service was rendered.

VII. The present work is a work of defence, not of attack: for I claim to possess the advantage of appearing in the light of a blameless defendant, not of an unprovoked assailant.

When a Roman ecclesiastic, however excellent and venerable his character may be, spontaneously assaults the church of England; and when he attempts to proselyte her members on the specious but insecure plea, that, because she has rejected certain doctrines and practices of the Latin church, she has therefore departed from primitive antiquity: it becomes a matter of strict defence to shew, by incontrovertible testimony, that the really innovating church is not the church of England, but the church of Rome.

VIII. In prosecuting the subject which I have been induced to take in hand, I felt the want of a term, which should express both accurately and compendiously the system of doctrine and practice maintained by the church of Rome.

1. The word popery I was unwilling to employ: both because I have no inclination to give needless offence;

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