of the successors of St. Peter-questions that could serve no earthly or heavenly purpose; which were only calculated to beget strife, and therefore, according to the direction of St. Paul, should have been carefully avoided. Such as, whether the jurisdiction of the holy see over all the other Churches in Christendom were direct or indirect; whether the chief pastor anciently ever believed it to be his duty to interfere in the diocess of a bishop unless he had been previously appealed to by the prelates of the province; whether, except in cases of the last importance to the Church—that is, when anything like schism was threatened, when he immediately vigorously executed the duties of the primacy he deemed it a part of his sacred office to interfere at all? Questions, too, have been mooted as to the prerogatives he possessed of appointing to bishoprics in the first ages of religion. And what divines, like Du Pin (not a very orthodox theologian) have been very prolific in producing as matters of contention, and the settlement of many of which questions would not be of the value of one single pin to either side, have been now adduced by the Puseyites as solemn objections even to the primacy itself. But what have all these to do with the divine appointment of the supremacy of St. Peter and his successors in the chair of unity and Catholic communion? By the regulations with which the holy Church directs so carefully the course of her sacred discipline, all difficulties about such matters as these are carefully obviated in practice. The appointment to vacant sees, and all such matters, are duly regulated by the canons of religion, which, though varied according to the wants and character of times and circumstances, it is the duty of every Catholic dutifully and respectfully to obey. How many are the questions we find discussed, regarding many of the powers exercised by bishops over the priesthood; their authority of interfering (except in cases of the highest moment), with the principal pastors of each parish; their right of presentation to benefices; their ability to give faculties or jurisdiction, or, as you call it, licences, in the parishes of rectors, without the previously obtained consent of the acting incumbent. How sapient yet would be the argument of the Presbyterian, if from all this he were to question the divine institution of the episcopacy. And yet it is much more easy to prove the divine institution of the primacy, than even a divinely established distinction between the dignity of the priesthood and the office of the episcopacy; and they are poor theologians who do not know it. How many questions have been raised in this country respecting the prerogatives of the crown! How many magistrates possess the power of deciding cases of inferior moment, without any appeal whatever being permitted to the higher powers of the executive! How many important decisions cannot be brought before her Majesty in

her privy council! How many disputes have there been regarding what are the offices in the sole gift of the chief magistrate! How much has been written for and against some of the most lofty rights of the highest station in the executive! And yet what, I pray, would be thought of the Republican, if he were thence to argue, that as all the prerogatives of the sceptre are far from being clearly fixed and decided, that therefore the government of England has never been under the direction of a lawful sovereign, but that the monarch of the country was only on that respectable level with her subjects, which may be best described as a prima inter pares. I must own, however I may be shocked even to the very extremities of my understanding, I am not struck down to the earth by the electrifying genius of Dr. Pusey and his reverend brethren, inventors of such a class of reasoning as this. Certainly, if Christchurch, of which the doctor is a canon, is noted for the euphony of its great bell, it is now much better to be known by the empty sounds which occasionally proceed from the pulpit of its chapel. Some of these gentry, however, appear willing to allow, that Christ gave to St. Peter primacy and superiority, but they will not permit this primacy to descend to his successors. I answer them in the words of their own great champion, Hooker. "Was it a thing so behoveful that pastors should be subject to pastors, in the apostles' own times? And is there any commandment that this subjection should cease with them? And that the pastors of succeeding ages should be all equals? No, no; this strange and absurd conceit of equality amongst pastors, the mother of schism and confusion, is but a dream newly brought forth, and seen never in the Church before." (Ecclesiastical Polity, Book vii. chap. 11.)

23. The absolute necessity of a common centre of communion, and a chair of unity, for the preservation of a Catholic or universal religion, has over and over again been acknowledged by illustrious Protestants; indeed so often, and in such strong language, that I have frequently wondered our opponents do not give our blessed Saviour credit for sufficient sagacity, as to allow that he established that, by his divine authority, which they are willing to confess, is of paramount necessity for the very existence of that spiritual kingdom of the Messiah, which is to extend from sea to sea; which is not to be circumscribed by the limits of any earthly empire; but to possess, among the subjects of its holy rule, the inhabitants of every tongue, and tribe, and nation. But what can we hope for, when passion, prejudice, and interest, are the presiding deities which some men worship? "As many as know Grotius (wrote that learned Protestant), know this of him, that he has always desired that Christians should be again united into one and the same body. He was once of opinion, that this might have been begun by uniting Protestants with one another; after

wards he saw that this was impossible, not only because the disposition of the Calvinists is averse to peace, but Protestants have no common Church government, in which they are joined; which are the reasons that the several divisions of the Protestants can never meet into one body, but still more and more divisions will be made. Wherefore Grotius is now absolutely of this judgment, and many others concur with him in the same sentiments, that Protestants cannot be united among themselves, except they are united together with those who are in communion with the see of Rome. Hence, it is his wish that the separation which was made, and the causes of separation, were taken away. Amongst these causes, the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, according to the canons, is not to be reckoned, as Melancthon himself confesses, who is of opinion that the primacy is even necessary to the preserving of unity." (Reply to Rivetus Apol.) I may add, in reply to Palmer, that it is absolutely requisite, for this preservation of unity, that the supremacy of St. Peter's chair should be acknowledged to be of divine institution, and not of any human establishment. Else an union would have the baseless foundation of the wayward feelings of man, who would obey the mere creature of his own creation as long as it pleased and flattered his pride or vanity, and would again cast it away the moment it stept in, either to controul him by the check of a fatherly admonition, or to terrify him against the formation of schism, by a threat of spiritual censures, which, as they extend to the things of our peace in the city of the new Jerusalem, bind in golden fetters even those very inclinations to novelty and innovation, which otherwise would soon overturn the whole structure of any ecclesiastical constitution. The Church being composed of various masses, can never move together, if the divine Author of nature has given them no central point of cohesion. The members of this holy body will never preserve that useful activity requisite to its very existence, but through the power and influence of a directing head. The children of Christ's family will not dwell together in peaceful love, if there be no respectful obedience to be paid to a common father of the household. The earth, and the seas, and the countries thereof, move upon one axis; the heavenly bodies and the planets have but one sun. The chosen people of God had one high-priest; and in the government of the state they had one leader. Hence, to employ the words of the illustrious St. Eucherius of Lyons, writing about the close of the fourth century :-" First, Christ entrusted Peter with his lambs, next with his sheep; because he made him not only a shepherd, but the shepherd of shepherds. Peter, then, feeds the lambs; he also feeds the sheep; he rules, too, the subjects and the prelates; he is therefore a shepherd over all; for, besides lambs and sheep, there is nothing in the Church." By believing,

therefore, in the primacy of St. Peter and of his successors in the apostolic see, to use the very words of your Tracts for the Times, when treating on the necessity of remaining in the Church: "By so doing, I follow the example of my forefathers, of holy martyrs before me, and rest my faith on the authority of those who are, by virtue of their office, successors of the apostles. Whereas, in the other case, I must, on my own judgment, set aside all this weight of authority, and do that which is as much as to say, that till the last three hundred years the whole world has been in darkness, and that I can see clearer than all those great and good, and pious and learned persons who have lived and died before me in this faith." (vol. ii. No. 51.)

24. Sir, I have favoured you with the foregoing argument as a slight specimen, such as humble talents like mine must necessarily produce, of the honourable, fair, candid, and legitimate reasoning, by which we are not only permitted, but even encouraged, to employ the faculties with which the Almighty has intrusted us, in proving those sacred doctrines of the primitive religion of Christianity, which have been already humbly received by our wills and understandings, upon the authoritative teaching of the Church established by the Victim of Redemption. Nothing, indeed, is more calculated to attach Catholicity to the soul of man, than, in addition to the security which the spotless and ancient religion of all our common forefathers affords to the belief of the most feeble and uninstructed, that plenitude of the most overpowering arguments, added to the decorations of the most chastened illustration, by which we are enabled to support and beautify the appearance of the dogmas of her holy religion, to bring conviction to the candid and inquiring mind, and to captivate for them the admiration and love of every heart that has the smallest pretensions to taste, generosity, and refinement. Therefore may I close this chapter with a beautiful admonition of the great St. Augustine; an admonition which, if it be a living word, must wonder how you could think it could ever find a moment's repose amidst the waters of confusion, on one of the drifting quicksands of your wayward, blinding, and even self-repelling chapters. Let it, then, come to the hand of one who dwells in the ark. It will know its faithful guardian and protector; for dearer is it to him than the possession of every earthly treasure; and he will watch over its peace to the last moment of his existence. "Sequere viam Catholicæ disciplinæ, quæ ab ipso Christo per Apostolos ad nos usque manavit, et abhinc ad posteros manatura est. (De Utilitate credendi.) And I will, with your permission, couple with it another sentence from the writings of the same illustrious father:-" Tenenda nobis est Christiana religio, et ejus Ecclesiæ communicatio, quæ Catholica est, et Catholica nominatur, non solum a suis verum etiam ab omnibus inimicis.” (De Vera Religione, cap. vii.)

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CHAPTER X.

"Lest their acts should be slenderly accounted of, or had in contempt; whether they admit to the fellowship of the saints, or seclude from it; whether they bind offenders, or set them again at liberty; whether they remit or retain sins, whatsoever is done by way of orderly and lawful proceeding, the Lord himself has promised to ratify. This is that grand original warrant, by force whereof, the guides and prelates in God's Church, first the Apostles, and afterwards others following them successively, did both use and uphold that discipline, the end whereof is to heal men's consciences-to cure their sins-to reclaim offenders from iniquity, and to make them by repentance just."-Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.

SIR,

1. Quick and sudden transitions from the sublime to the ridiculous, form no small portion of those beauties with which your books so luxuriantly abound. The mind is thus happily never exhausted; ever-varying feasts are provided for the understanding and the fancy; and one short step is often perfectly sufficient to carry us from the academy of an eloquent Plato, to the tub of a snarling Diogenes. Far, however, from me, be the fault of standing in your light; of depriving my readers of one single ray of your brilliant sunshine. Like Menippus, you may pass over the Styx, unencumbered by any of the good deeds which Catholicism would help you to place in your wallet; and even I will concede to you, that all the works you have hitherto been guilty of, even taking your last published work into the account, are not of the value of the penny which is to pay for your passage. I am not going to combat with a cynic; and if, in this chapter, I am condescending enough to place you pleasantly under the surface of the water, it will only be, because if an enemy come to create a mutiny in a ship where you have no right to disturb us-like the honest Quaker, I feel that I am perfectly justified in handing you gently over the side of our vessel.

2. But is there not something quite terrific in the long bill of accusations, which, as an advocate of the Queen's bench of bishops, you have thought it necessary to file against Catholicism? Ex officio, you charge us on the first count, of being guilty of an act of robbery. In taking away the cup from the laity, we have perpetrated a deed, in which you "see the wantonness of spiritual despotism in its extremest stage, exercising oppressive power, as it would appear, simply for its own sake." (p. 135.) Now, when I considered, that not only the laity, but that also all those of the clergy, who from bodily infirmities are unable to perform the ceremonies of the everlasting sacrifice; that priests, that bishops, that sovereign pontiffs, even within