When John beheld Mystical Babylon, in all the splendour of her meretricious array, surrounded by adoring multitudes, and sitting Empress among the nations, he "wondered with great admiration." But, my brethren, we have, if possible, even more cause for wonder, when we behold mystical Babylon, after she has been stripped of her treacherous array, and exhibited before the eyes of mankind, in all her deformity, and perfidy, and destructive influence on communities, and on the souls of men,--still esteemed and honoured by mankind, and even elevated to power, and put into a condition to gain other subjects, and to accomplish wider and more aggravated ruin! I profess, I cannot but regard all this as deep infatuation on the part of those who have been emancipated from her power; and I cannot but express my apprehension, that this infatuation will be followed with disastrous consequences:-At all events, I am convinced, that he studies the good of his country, and of the souls of his fellow-men, who seeks to impress their minds with abhorrence of that divinely doomed system which is altogether hostile to both.

I. THE DOCTRINES OF THE PAPAL CHURCH ARE AN UTTER CORRUPTION OF CHRISTIANITY.

The two grand expedients which Satan has employed in order, if possible, to accomplish the overthrow of the Church, have been the introduction of error, and the stirring up of persecution;—and, although the latter is the most dreadful and appalling, the for

mer has been the most fatally successful. Amid the fires of persecution, the Church has stood forth like gold in the furnace of the refiner; but the secret workings of error have withered her beauty, and given cause to inscribe on all her dwelling places"Ichabod"-the glory is departed.

"The

Even in the early days of the Church, when a century had not yet passed over her, "the mystery of iniquity" was at work. The invisible adversary of the Church was sowing his tares, was secretly introducing errors and delusions, and laying the basis of that mighty system of abominations which was, ere long, to gain the ascendancy, and to spread its desolating influence over the Christian world. mystery of iniquity" was working, even in those early times-in the pride and ambition that distinguished many who professed to be Christians-in the schisms that began to mar the loveliness of the Church-in the contentions that began to take place among Christian teachers and, in short, in those errors respecting the worship of angels, the observation of holidays, the distinction of meats, and the ground of a sinner's acceptance with God, which, in many parts of the Church, began to prevail. These were the beginnings of Antichrist-the melancholy presages of that night of ignorance, superstition, and idolatry, which was soon to close over what would still continue to be called "the Church of Christ."

At length, "the great Apostacy" assumed its proper character. The Pagan empire of Rome, which hin

dered the appearance of the "Man of Sin," being re moved out of the way, he began to be fully revealed; and many of the errors of preceding times were methodized in the Roman Church, and settled down into an established system. Corruption after corruption was introduced-one holy institution of Christianity after another was prostituted and debased-one feature of her spiritual comeliness after another was obscured and destroyed, till, 600 years after Christ, the Re deemer's high prerogative, as Head of the Church, was usurped; an impious mortal received the title of Universal Bishop, and, "sitting in the temple of God, and exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped," gave sanction and permanence to every encroachment that had been made on the purity of the Church, and to every dishonour that had been done to her Head.

Your time would fail me, if I were to attempt to give more than a faint outline of the errors of this unholy system, and of the entire opposition that there is between it and genuine Christianity. For there is scarcely one doctrine of our blessed faith which it has not corrupted; there is not one of its sacred institutions which it has not degraded ; there is not one part of its sublime worship which it has not profaned.

"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve"-is the dictate of Christianity; but the Papal Church offers adoration and prayers to saints, angels, and, particularly, to the mother of our Lord, and pays honours, nothing short of divine, to

the crucifix, and the most paltry relics of departed saints.

The leading doctrine in the Christian system is the existence and glorious sufficiency of the mediation of Jesus Christ; but the Church of Rome has dishonoured the One Mediator, by associating with him, in the discharge of this exalted office, angels, and all the multitude of departed saints.

Christianity proclaims the one sacrifice of Christ to be the great atonement, the only propitiation for sin, and that, being infinitely precious, it needs never to be repeated; but the Church of Rome affirms that this sacrifice does need to be repeated, and is repeated in the celebration of the mass, which service she declares to be the offering up of a "true propitiatory sacrifice, not merely for the living, but also for the dead."

Christianity proclaims to guilty men pardon of sin and acceptance before God, freely through the righteousness of the Redeemer, received by faith; but the Papal Church introduces into the ground of a sinner's justification, penances, satisfactions, indulgences, and, especially, the merit of good works; and her last general council declares those to be accursed, who maintain, that justifying faith is nothing else than a trust in the divine mercy, manifested to sinners through Jesus Christ.

Christianity declares that holiness of heart and life, proceeding from the regenerating and purifying in

fluence of the Spirit of God, is indispensibly neces◄ sary to prepare the soul for admission into the heavenly kingdom; but, according to the Church of Rome, baptism is regeneration; penance, confession, and the mass, are the sanctification of the life; and the sacrament of extreme unction infallibly secures introduction into heaven.

The supreme headship of our Redeemer, in and over his Church, is a prominent doctrine in the Christian system; but, under the Papacy, the prerogatives of the King of Zion are usurped by the Pope.

Christianity declares that the whole efficacy of divine ordinances is from God; that " Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God giveth the increase;" but the Popish system, in a variety of instances, affirms that the success of divine institutions depends on the intention of their administrator, and the pious dispositions of those who enjoy them.

In short, it is the doctrine of Christianity, that the souls of men, on their departure from the body, return to Him from whom they came, and are either secured in the happiness of his blissful presence, or subjected to everlasting condemnation-thus solemnly teaching the absolute need of faith, repentance, and true religion in the present life; but, under the Papacy, this momentous doctrine has given place to the fanciful and unscriptural notion of an intermediate state, or purgatory, in which the souls of the faithful, who have passed out of this world with unexpiat