trine of transubstantiation, which is contrary to the evidence of our senses, has also declared in the creed of Pope Pius IV., that "in the mass is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead *." I need not remind you of the numerous passages in Scripture which insist upon the single sacrifice of Christ on the cross for the sins of the whole world, on its sufficiency for the salvation of all mankind, the futility of any other sacrifice for sin, the impossibility of acceptance with heaven by any other means. But I will remind you that this sacrifice of the priest, who first, monstrous supposition! makes God out of a piece of bread, and then sacrifices this God of bread to himself, is entirely subversive of the doctrine of atonement by Christ alone. It makes the priest the mediator between God and man, and the Saviour of sinners; and in that light are the Popish priests regarded by the ignorant and unlearned of their own sect.

Auricular confession to the priest is one of the various modes in which the Romish clergy obtain unbounded sway and power over them. One who in his official capacity must be acquainted with your most secret designs and actions, to whom all your sins and unholy thoughts are divulged,

"Profiteor pariter in Missâ offerri Deo verum, proprium et propitiatorium sacrificium pro vivis, et defunctis; atque in Sanctissimo Eucharistiæ Sacramento esse verè, realiter et substantialiter corpus et sanguinem unà cum anima et divinitate Domini nostri Jesu Christi, fierique conversionem totius substantiæ panis in corpus, et totius substantiæ vini in sanguinem, &c.”—Ex bull. Pap. Pi IV. "Injunctum nobis."

must necessarily have despotic power over you. Your hands, and your heart, and your purse, must be at his devotion. No wonder then that this class of Christian ministers are at no loss to find fit persons to carry into effect any of their objects; we need not be surprised at the manner in which they can command this world's golden treasures. We shall have to speak somewhat more at large of the Romish confessional in our sermon this afternoon.

Of the Romish doctrine of justification we can here only give you an extract from the thirtysecond canon of the fifth session of the council of Trent: "If any man shall say that the good works of a justified man are in such sense the gifts of God, that they are not also his worthy merits, or that he, being justified by his good works, which are wrought by him through the grace of God, and the merits of Jesus Christ, of whom he is a living member, does not really deserve increase of grace, eternal life, the enjoyment of that eternal life if he dies in a state of grace, and even an increase of glory; let him be accursed *"

How, my brethren, can Christ profit those who thus build up their hopes on self-righteousness,

*"Si quis dixerit, hominis justificati bona opera ita esse dona Dei, ut non sint etiam bona ipsius justificati merita; aut ipsum justificatum bonis operibus, quæ ab eo per Dei gratiam, et Jesu Christi merita, cujus vivum membrum est fiunt, non verè mereri augmentum gratiæ, vitam æternam, et ipsius vitæ æternæ, si tamen in gratiâ decesserit, consecutionem, atque etiam gloriæ augmentum; anathema sit."-Concil: Trid: Sess: vi. Can. 32.

who trust to their own obedience, and are justified by the works of the law? Must it not be true of such, that, so far as they are concerned, Christ has died in vain: they are still in their sins?

We have thus briefly recapitulated with such notices as the occasion permitted the chief peculiarities of Popery; any one of which constitutes gross heresy; so that it would be using very inadequate language to say that Popery is heretical. It is a compound, the quintessence of many deadly heresies that are united in the body of this corrupt, fallen and apostate church. Out of its own mouth is this church condemned, by her absurdities, incredible fabrications, and contradictions; by the word of that holy Scripture, which she professes to venerate, and of which she pretends to be the guardian; by the councils, bishops, and fathers of the early church, and that through a series of centuries since the commencement of the Christian era; those very apostles, councils, and fathers, of which she calls herself the lineal successor and descendant.

Can we, my brethren, contemplate this hideous mass of spiritual deformity and falsehood without calling upon those who are in bondage to her, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues?"

SERMON IV.

POPERY THE PATRON OF IGNORANCE, VICE AND INFIDELITY.

TITUS I. 15, 16.

"Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

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They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work re probate."

In the preceding discourse, my brethren, we have exhibited to you the most striking and peculiar features of Popery, as contradistinguished from the religion which Scripture inculcates, from that which the church of Christ received for several centuries after the ascension of our Lord, and from that which the church of England has now invariably taught for three hundred years. It has been our object to point out to you, not so much the fallacies in reason and argument which the defenders of the Romish church resort to in her defence,-for that, if desirable, were not practicable within our limits of time,-but to prove to you clearly and substantially the following particulars-First, that Popery is a very modern thing, some of its particular doctrines and peculiarities being eight hundred, others six hundred, and one of them but four hundred years old, and none of them traceable to within three hundred years of the Christian era.--Secondly, that in all these respects

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Popery is irreconcileably at variance with Holy Scripture, and that therefore the chief and main object of the Romish church has been to prevent the people from reading the word of God for themselves, and inquiring what is God's will respecting their belief and practice.-Thirdly, that the system of Popery is one which appeals to the naturally corrupt and unrenewed heart of man; that it is the religion of Jesus Christ adapted by specious corruptions to suit the depraved heart of fallen man, and that, for this purpose, salvation by the free grace of God is so concealed and disguised, though not in positive terms denied, and merit is attributed to human works in such a manuer, that the grace of God is of none effect, and practically man is left to work out his own salvation by the deeds of a moral law. In bringing these particulars before your notice, we have shown by indisputable proof that Popery is contradicted by Scripture, and by the authority of councils and Fathers of the early church for several centuries, who in point of doctrine agree in all essential points. with the church of England.

Having thus recapitulated the heads of our noonday discourse, we now proceed to consider the practical effects of Popery on the minds and the conduct of those who are enslaved by it. And no better test could we possibly apply as a corroborative proof of what has been previously advanced on the ground of direct testimony. So our Lord directs us to try the spirits, whether they be of God, and to judge of the tree by its fruits.

And first we shall speak of the natural and neces