inculcandus sit: since many more persons will be liable to err, and be deceived therein, than even on the mystery of the Incarnation; and because ungodly people will be found, resembling apes which feign themselves to be men, who would pass as the only Catholics, and who affirm (not less proudly than nefariously) that they alone are the Catholic Church. Besides, it is easy for a person, who has this truth strongly impressed on his mind, to shun the horrible danger of HERESY: for he is not called a HERETIC, that first offends against the faith; but he who, neglecting the authority of the Church, pertinaciously maintains impious opinions. Wherefore, no one can be defiled with the pestilence of HERESY if he faithfully adheres to what is implied in this article of the Creed; and Pastors ought very care fully to instruct their flocks therein, that they may be guarded against the artifices of the devil, and persevere in the true faith."

The Catholic Church consists of " the Faithful dispersed over all the world," Populus Fidelis per universum orbem dispersus; but, when the FAITHFUL come to be described, they are limited to a particular set of people who are united by one profession of faith, one communion of the sacraments, one spirit, and one bond of love,—and yet this always means the faith, communion, sacraments, &c. of the LATIN Church, "whose visible head is the Roman Pontiff," and whose ample bosom includes them all. Hence it follows, that there are three sorts of people excluded from the visible Church; viz. 1. Infidels: 2. Heretics and Schismatics: 3. Excommunicated persons.-I need not tell you, that all Protestants are comprehended in the second class. But, I here give the words of this Trent Catechism: “Ex quo fit, ut tria tantummodo hominum genera ab ea excludantur: primò infideles, deinde hæretici, et schismatici, postremò excommunicati. Ethnici quidem, quòd in Ecclesia nunquam fuerunt, neque eam unquam cognoverunt, nec

à

quo

defe

ullius sacramenti participes in populi Christiani societate facti sunt: Hæretici verò, atque Schismatici, quia ab Ec clesia desciverunt; neque enim illi magis ad Ecclesiam spectant, quàm transfugæ ad exercitum pertineant, cerunt. Non negandum tamen, quin in Ecclesiæ potestate sint; ut qui ab ea in judicium vocentur, puniantur, & anathemate damnentur. Postremò etiam Excommunicati, quòd Ecclesiæ judicio ab ea exclusi, ad illius communionem non pertineant, donec resipiscant. De cæteris autem quamvis improbis, & sceleratis hominibus, adhuc eos in Ecclesia perseverare dubitandum non est: idque fidelibus tradendum assiduè, ut si fortè Ecclesiæ Antistitum vita flagitiosa sit, eos tamen in Ecclesia esse, nec propterea quidquam de eorum potestate detrahi certò sibi persuadeant.”

SIR,

LETTER XIII.

It is far from my intention to detain you long with ecclesiastical statements, not bearing on a political question; but, it is quite impossible, in discussing the vital subject on which I now address you, to avoid bringing so much religion forward, as shall exhibit fundamental and unvarying Roman Catholic principles. Allow me, therefore, to give one more proof that their leading doctrine, so obnoxious and detrimental to Protestants in general, is taught in Great Britain at this time.-The late Dr. HAWARDEN § was au

This author was a very acute disputant against Chillingworth, and is deemed by Bishop Milner, &c. to have been the successful controversialist. His works are particularly praised and recommended by the Vicars Apostolic and Clergy, at the present time; and, on this account, I select him: but the late Dr. Challoner is also one of their Pillars, who issued a new edition of the Rheims Testament, with Notes, in 1749, 12mo. often reprinted since.

thor of a celebrated work, entitled "The true Church of Christ shewn ;" and also of another book, named "Charity and Truth, or Catholics not uncharitable in saying that none are saved out of the Catholic Church." I shall cite a few passages from his works, first printed at Brussels in 1728, without the author's name; but reprinted, with his name, by R. Coyne, of Dublin, 1809.-And, by the way, I may mention, that Mr. Coyne, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Messrs. Keating and Brown, and other authorized Roman Catholic booksellers, have long been very assiduous in disseminating the most pungent and bitter controversial pieces of their Church; and have lately put forth some of WARD'S abominable calumnies against our Bible, and the Established Religion, by republishing his poetical and prose writings.

Dr. Hawarden inquires (and answers his own question), "Is not the Catholic Church highly uncharitable in coining new articles of faith, and in obliging all men to believe them?

"To this I answer, first, If her adversaries are to be her judges, and judges in their own cause, she is. But if she is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; if she is the pillar and the support of truth, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail; if she is the judge appointed by Christ in all disputes of religion, which she has always thought it both her duty and right to decide, in seventeen centuries; that is, if the Creed, the Scripture, and universal tradition, is true; she is not uncharitable.

"I answer, secondly, This objection, I fear, will not be of much credit to our adversaries: for (without reflecting upon them) it is the common cry of all Heretics, who ever were in Christendom. We have long and large catalogues of heretical sects, as well in the history and councils of the Church, as in the writings of Theodoret, of St. Augustine, of St. Epiphanius, of Tertullian, and of St. Irenæus. But there was never any heretical sect which did not

accuse the Catholic Church of coining new articles of faith, and of obliging all men to believe them. And as our adversaries accuse the Council of Trent on this head, so did the Eutychians as freely accuse the Council of Chalcedon; the Nestorians that of Ephesus; the Macedonians that of Constantinople; and the Arians that of Nicea. For, as it is essentially necessary for all Schismatics to accuse the Catholic Church of casual schism, so it is essentially necessary for all heresies, which either are, or ever will be in the world, to accuse the Catholic Church of coining new articles of faith, and obliging all men to believe them. Why? Because Schismatics are certainly offenders, unless the Catholic Church be guilty of their schism. And Heretics have no claim to Christianity, unless they pretend to the faith first delivered to the Saints.

"I must therefore beg leave to say, because it is undeniably true, that all Heretics and Schismatics, who ever were in Christendom, have accused the Catholic Church of UNCHARITABLENESS. All Schismatics have proclaimed her uncharitable, by being the cause of their schism. All Heretics have proclaimed her uncharitable, by coining new articles of faith, and obliging all men to believe them. A consideration which ought to make our adversaries more backward in renewing the charge: for Heretics and Schismatics are bad precedents; and St. Augustine makes it a question, Which is in the more dangerous condition, a most vicious Catholic, or a person who is guilty of heresy only?

"It is a general, not an universal rule without any exception, that none are saved out of the Catholic communion: for, as in baptism, so we may here except two cases. The first is that of an inevitable and involuntary necessity as if a person who loves God above all things, desires to be baptized or to be received into the Catholic communion, but dies before a Priest can be called. The second is probably that of an involuntary and invincible ignorance; as if a per

6

son, who is out of the Catholic communion, be ignorant, without any fault of his, of the true Church, and of the true religion. And here too Mr. Chillingworth, in his Dedication to the King, is not altogether so sincere, as might be expected from a writer of controversies concerning religion: for, if I understand him right, he would have His Majesty to think, that a point of doctrine and its explication, a general rule and its exception, are contradictions. For the most part,' says he, they speak nothing but thunder and lightning to us, and damn us all without mercy or exception. Yet sometimes, to serve other purposes, they can be content to speak to us in a milder strain, and tell us, that they allow Protestants as much charity as Protestants allow them. Neither is this the only contradiction which I have observed in this uncharitable work; and since his Dedication is so very exact, what marks of sincerity may we not expect from the book itself?

"Can the Catholic Church be in separate communions, as in that of Catholics, of Protestants, of modern Greeks,

&c.?

“This our adversaries assert; but whether by inclination or by necessity, I shall not determine, though I cannot but suspect the latter: for if it be a general rule, that there› is no salvation out of the Catholic Church, how can a Protestant be saved? How can he be a member of the Catholic Church? The rock is plain. How is it to be avoided?.

:

"For this, two courses may be assigned. The first by holding, that Protestants are the whole Catholic Church, the Church of all nations, and the Church of all ages and that this Church, although it be always in being, for behold I am with you always,' says Christ, even to the end of the world,' is not always visible; for in the fifteenth century, and upwards, there was no known society of Protestants on the earth. The second course is, by holding that the Catholic Church may be, and is, in separate and dissenting