secrated bread and wine; the preparation of communicants; the giving of the cup to the laity; the language of ministration; the sacrifice of masses; solitary masses by the priest; private confession and absolution; purgatory, indulgences, the worshipping and adoration of images and reliques, and the invocation of saints; the Virgin Mary's exemption from sin; the celibacy of the clergy; the infallibility and dominion of the Church of Rome. Of these numerous articles,―(more might be mentioned, if needed; but the reader will probably deem these sufficient in number; and of all these I venture to anticipate, that he will not dissent from the assertion, that)—there is scarcely any, perhaps not one, that ought not to be ranked among "the fundamentals of Christianity." And the least that can be said upon this subject is, that a great, a very great change indeed, must have been produced in the professions of Christian faith, as now respectively sanctioned by the Churches of Rome and of England, before they can be justly represented as agreeing in all the fundamentals of their religion; or before the difference between them can be regarded as of trivial moment.

The proposed inquiry then may be considered as completed, the answer having been supplied by evidence, to which no objection can be made: the evidence, namely, of each of the two Churches to her own judgment on the articles that have been particularised; evidence, fully according together in this respect, and in this respect only, that they are irreconcileably at variance with each other. If the mind of any individual member of the Church, of which I have the honour of being a minister, shall have been disabused of previous miscon

ception, and have been opened by this little tract to an understanding and conviction of the real state of the case, I shall bless God for having prompted the compilation.

One word more, whilst I revert for a moment with a parting glance to the question, and so take leave of it with a single brief statement.

Within a few weeks after the conclusion of the Council of Trent, Pope Pius the Fourth published a Bull in confirmation of its proceedings; and a few months later, a brief summary of its doctrinal decisions in the form of a profession of belief, which is usually known by his name, being denominated POPE PIUS'S CREED. This Creed was immediately received throughout the Romish Church: it has been in succeeding times acknowledged by all her members and aliens, on their admittance to her communion, make publick avowal and attestation of their assent to it. To those members of our Church, who are not duly aware of the difference between the fundamental doctrines of the two Churches, and who may be indisposed to examine fuller evidence of such difference, I would take the liberty of recommending a perusal of this Creed: and I would then put to them the question, such being the creed of the Church of Rome, can her fundamental doctrines be properly considered the same as those of the Church of England?

The Creed of Pope Pius the Fourth; the essence of the doctrinal decrees and canons of the Council of Trent; the authoritative, the acknowledged, the familiar profession of faith of the Church of Rome, is this:

:

"I, N. believe and profess, with a firm faith, all and every one of the things, which are contained in the symbol of faith, which is used in the holy Roman Church: namely,

"I believe in one God, &c."

Here is inserted the Nicene Creed, being one of the "three Creeds, received and believed" by the Church of England, because, as she states in her 8th Article, "they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture ;" and so far her fundamental docrines are the same as those of the Church of Rome: and then follows Pope Pius's appendix to the Nicene Creed, being the particular profession, which characterises the Romish Church.

"I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and the other constitutions and observances of the same church.

"I also admit the sacred scriptures according to that sense, which the holy mother Church has held, and does hold, whose province it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy scriptures: nor will I ever take or interpret them otherwise, than according to the unanimous consent of the fathers.

"I profess also, that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and for the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessary for every one; namely, baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony; and that they confer grace and of those, that baptism, confirmation, and order, cannot be reiterated without sacrilege.

"I also receive.and admit the ceremonies of the Catholick Church, received and approved in the solemn administration of all the abovesaid sacraments.

"I receive and embrace all and every one of the things, which have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent, concerning original sin and justification.

"I profess likewise, that in the mass is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead: and that in the most holy sacrifice of the eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the

soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ: and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into, the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholick Church calls transubstantiation. "I confess also, that, under either kind alone, whole and entire Christ and a true sacrament is received.

"I constantly hold, that there is a purgatory, and that the souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. "Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be venerated and invoked; that they offer prayers to God for us; and that their reliques are to be venerated.

"I most firmly assert, that the images of Christ, and of the mother of God ever virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and retained; and that due honour and veneration are to be given to them.

"I also affirm, that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church: and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.

"I acknowledge the holy, catholick, and apostolical Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all Churches and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Bishop, the successor of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, and the vicar of Jesus Christ.

"I also undoubtedly receive and profess all other things, delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons, and general councils, and particularly by the most holy council of Trent: and at the same time 1 likewise condemn, reject, and anathematise all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever, condemned, rejected, and anathematised by the Church.

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This true catholick faith, out of which no one can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, I, N. promise, vow, and swear, that I will most constantly hold and profess the same whole and inviolate, with God's assistance, to the end of my life; and that I will procure, as far as lies in my power, that the same shall be held, taught, and preached, by those who are under me, or by those the care of whom shall belong to me, by virtue of my office. So help me God, and these God's holy gospels."

I now propose the question, Such being the creed of the Church of Rome, can she be properly said to agree

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THE CHURCHES OF ROME AND ENGLAND.

with the Church of England in all the fundamentals of Christianity? Rather, must not every one, who knows the sentiments of the Church of England on these articles, concur in the opinion, that the two Churches are so far from being in agreement with each other, that they are as diametrically opposed to each other as the east and the west; as wide apart from each other as earth is from heaven?

LONDON -JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND.