false doctrine of the latter remain exactly the same. Rome bas at present no inquisition in England, nor has she the power to light a single fire in any part of it for a heretic.-The "Declaration of the catholic Bishops, the Vi

cars Apostolic and their coadjutors in Great "Britain," will shew whether the leading tenets of their ancient religion are very materially altered, and whether I misrepresent it, when I assert that it is still deeply tinctured with idolatry and false worship.-"In the mass,

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catholics do offer supreme adoration, not to "the elements of bread and wine, which they "hold not to be present after the consecration; "but to Jesus Christ, the son of God, whom

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they believe to be truly, really and substan"tially present, under the appearances only of “bread and wine, after the consecration, and change thereby of the elements into his body "and blood.-To adore Christ, by an act of supreme adoration, is no idolatry; because he "is the true God, and consequently a legiti"mate object of supreme worship.-But if ca"tholics, using the ancient language of the "christian church, are said,

1st. "To worship the saints; this worship "must be understood to be only an inferior "worship, honour and respect, paid to them proportionate to the limited perfections and "excellences which God has bestowed upon them, but this worship is infinitely below that supreme worship which they pay to God.

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"Catholics acknowledge no perfection or ex"cellence in any saint, not even in the blessed

Virgin Mary, which they do not profess to be "the work and gift of God in them. So that "in honouring the saints, they celebrate the "works of God, and consequently give glory to "him. Whatever act of religious veneration we pay to the saints, is ultimately referred to "God."

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2nd. "To adore the cross: this word, if "applied to the cross itself, means "than an inferior and relative respect paid to "the instrument of our redemption; but if in "view of the cross it be applied to Christ him"self, then it means as it ought to mean, an "act of supreme adoration.

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3rd. To worship the images of Christ or "saints; the word is here again understood by "catholics only of an inferior and relative respect shewn to images, in consideration of the respect due to the objects which they represent, and to which the respect shewn to the images is referred. In this sense, respect is 66 shewn to the statue or to the throne of the king, in consideration of the majesty of the personage to whom they relate.-An insult "offered to his statue would be considered as "intended to be offered to the king himself.”—

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Here then, in direct violation of the laws of God, and in opposition to the doctrine of the gospel, the catholic Bishops in Great Britain, publicly acknowledge and defend the supreme

adoration in the mass, and justify the worship of saints, images, and crosses. They pretend indeed that the worship of saints and images is inferior to the supreme adoration they offer to God;—but still they own it to be worship, and boldly justify it accordingly; saying, "that to condemn this relative regard for images, pictures, crosses and saints, would be to condemn 66 the very feelings of nature."-The divine command is, "thou shalt not make to thyself

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any graven image, or any likeness of any thing "that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth "beneath, or that is in the water under the "earth;-thou shalt not bow down thyself to "them, nor worship them."-It is God that forbids the making and worshipping of images; it is God, therefore, according to the catholic Bishops, who "condemn the very feelings of nature."

These catholic Bishops, likewise, give their unlettered laity credit for great discrimiration in spiritual affairs, when they suppose them

* The catholic Bishops say, to charge the catholic with "idolatry, because the term worship, meaning ouly an inferior "and relative regard, is found in the ancient and modern li66 turgies of his church, is not consistent with candour and "charity."-But, where does God allow " an inferior and re"lative regard," which the catholic terms worship, to be paid to saints, images, pictures, and crucifixes?—If it "is not con"sistent with candour or charity," to condemn such worship as idolatrous, it is certainly not inconsistent with truth to say, that it is not allowed by God, and that his revealed will, and directions concerning our religious duties, are more to be regarded than the ancient and modern liturgies of the church of Rome, and the bold declarations of her Bishops.

capable of distinguishing between superior and inferior worship-between the worship due to omnipotence, and that which is due to images; and when they imagine them capable of paying a kind of "worship, honour, and respect to the "saints, proportionate to the limited perfections "and excellences which God has bestowed upon them." They must possess uncommon judgment to know exactly when to stop, that they may not exceed the limits of secondary, or inferior worship, and encroach upon that adoration which is due to God, and so fall into idolatry, of which the Bishops thus speak in their “De"claration:"-" The catholic church teaches "that idolatry is one of the greatest crimes that

can be committed against the majesty of hea"ven; and every true member of this church "shudders at the idea of such a crime, and feels

grievously injured by so horrid an imputation." In the catholic churches and large chapels, the worship, offered by prostrate or bowing people to images, appears to be very pure and fervent:how much the adoration they offer to God exceeds this, the protestant spectator has no means of judging:-he concludes, that if it bears any ratio to the fervour and intenseness of saint and image worship, it must be superlatively great:-but, he recollects that God had no respect to the offering and worship of Cain, because they were not like his brother's, unmixed with impurity.

There is something in this Declaration of the

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"catholic Bishops," with the annexed address of the "British Roman catholics to their pro"testant fellow countrymen," which deserves particular attention. It is a little mirror, made by her own hands, that clearly shews the deformity of the church of Rome, and in which the world may clearly see that "the kingdom of "the beast," and its inhabitants, are under the chastisement of the most high, and in the exact state described by inspiration, in the following passage." And the fifth angel poured out his "vial upon the seat of the beast: and his king"dom was full of darkness; and they gnawed "their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the "God of heaven because of their pains and "sores, and repented not of their deeds."-Ever since the French Emperor set his foot upon Italy, "the kingdom of the beast" has been full of "darkness."-The political sufferings of the head and people of the papal territories, have been aggravated by another event, which has grievously affected their religious feelings; namely, the dissemination of the sacred writings in the different languages of Europe, and of many nations in other quarters of the globe ;and they receive additional pain from perceiving that national education is spreading, and that the poor people of all countries will soon be able to read, and examine the scriptures for themselves. These circumstances, so delightful to real christians, have occasioned intolerable pain and unea siness to the papacy.-"When the