REVELATION ii. 26.

"To him will I give power over the nations."

(ROMAN CATHOLICS.)

"See here how the saints deceased live with God, and have power given them over countries and

It has been observed, in a note on Matthew iii. 11, that the Quakers do not observe either the sacrament of baptism or the Lord's supper. They argue, that the commandment to wash one another's feet (John xiii. 12-15,) is regarded by nearly every sect of Christians, as having been temporal and local; but that it is enforced in more direct terms than either baptism or the Lord's supper. They contend that "retaining these ceremonies has, in general, a tendency to settle the minds of the professors of Christianity in unnecessary forms, and to prevent their aspiring sufficiently after the practice of real and vital Christianity. They advocate an inward communion, and spiritual participation of the Lord's supper.' They believe that the true Lord's supper requires no such elementary mediums as bread and wine for its participation; but that it

is the same, and the qualification to receive it the same, as is pointed out by this language to one of the churches. · Behold I stand, &c. and will sup with him and he with me."..

"We believe that the Apostle, in 1 Cor. xi. 20, saith true, where he saith, When ye come together therefore in one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. And all that he speaks in that chapter is, not to perpetuate that outward breaking of bread, otherwise than as the believers did, that were filled with the Holy Ghost in singleness of heart."

See "Declaration of our Faith who are called Quakers," A.D. 1668.

"It may be doubted," says Mr. Gurney, "whether this supper, as it was observed by the primitive Christians, could justly be considered as a direct ceremonial ordinance. But upon the supposition that the Apostles and their companions, like more modern Christians, were accustomed to practice it as a religious rite, and as a part of their system of divine worship, such an institution must be regarded as immediately connected with the Jewish passover.

The lamb eaten at the passover, and the bread broken, and wine poured forth in the Christian eucharist, were equally intended as types, and they were types of the same event, the death and sacrifice of Christ. The two ceremonies, therefore, may be looked upon as the same in point of principle. But it is more especially to our present purpose to remark, that the breaking of the bread, and the pouring forth of the wine, together with the blessing, and giving of thanks, which distinguish the ceremony of the eucharist, actually formed a part of the ritual order to which the ancient Jews were accustomed, in celebrating the supper of the pass

over. This fact is sufficiently evident, from the narrations contained in the gospels of our Lord's last paschal meal with his disciples, and is fully substantiated on the authority of the Rabbinical writers, who, in their minute statements respecting the right method of conducting that ceremonial Jewish supper, have explicitly directed the observance of these several particulars. See extracts from the Talmud and Maimonides in Lightfoot. Hor. Heb. in Matthew xxvi."

"Here we see that the saints in heaven offer up to Christ the prayers of the faithful upon earth."

Note to the Roman Catholic Version.

،،، The saints, reigning with Christ, offer up their prayers to God for man. It is a good and useful supplication to invoke them; and to have recourse to their prayers, help and assistance to obtain favours from God, through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, above, who is our Redeemer and Saviour? This is the decree of the Council of Trent. Sess. 25. De invocatione Sanctorum. The catechism, published in pursuance of its decrees, teaches, that God and the saints are not to be prayed to in the same manner; for we pray to God that he himself would give us good things, and deliver us from evil things but we beg of the saints, because they are

pleasing to God, that they would be our advocates, and obtain from God what we stand in need of.? Part iv. Quis orandus. Consult Bossuet's Exposi tion of Faith.

"Open our prayer-books," says Mr. Butler, "you will find, that when we address God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Trinity, we say to them, have mercy on us.' And that when we address the blessed Virgin, the saints, or the angels, the descent is infinite; and we say to them, 'pray for us.'

"The Roman Catholic children, in their very first catechism, are asked the following questions, and give the following answers.

"Q. Does the second commandment forbid the making of images?

T

"A. It forbids the making of them so as to adore them; that is, it forbids making them our gods.

"Q. Does this commandment forbid all honour and veneration of the saints and angels?

"A. No; we are to honour them as God's special friends and servants, but not with the honour that belongs to God.'"

Mr. Butler observes, that "the catechisms for the adult express the same doctrine, but in stronger terms. Dr. Challoner's Summary of Christian Doctrine' prefixed to the Garden of the Soul," the most popular prayer-book of the English Roman Catholics, lays down the same doctrine; and in

the Papist Misrepresented and Represented,' published by the Rev. Mr. Gother, our most eminent controversialist, in the seventeenth century, and often republished by Dr. Challoner, the following anathema is pronounced against the idolatrous worship of the saints: Cursed is he that believes the

saints in heaven to be his Redeemers; that prays to them as such; or that gives God's honour to them, or to any creature whatsoever. Amen.""

No. 2.

Butler's Book of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the ninth century, particularly, every church, and indeed every private Christian, had their particular patron among the saints; from an apprehension that their spiritual interests would be but indifferently conducted by those who were already employed respecting the souls of others. This notion rendered it necessary to multiply prodigiously the number of saints, and to create daily new patrons for the people.

The ecclesiastical councils found it necessary at length to set limits to the superstition of the populace, who, with a view to have still more friends in the celestial regions, (for such were their notions) were daily adding new saints to the list of their mediators. They accordingly declared, by a solemn decree, that no departed Christian should be considered as a member of the order of saints, before the Bishop, in a provincial council, and in presence of the people, had pronounced him worthy of that distinguished honour.

It was in the tenth century that the Roman Pontiff afforded the first specimen of his ghostly power; for, in the preceding ages, there is no example of his having alone exercised this privilege. This specimen was given in the year 993, by John XV. who, with all the formalities of a solemn canonization, enrolled Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg, in the number of the saints, and thus conferred upon