erred and are deceived," requires the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, for which we should "pray without ceasing."

Christians will

But other means are to be used. not be united till they know and clearly understand wherein and why they differ. With this knowledge, each one may inquire and examine for himself, and if he does it in an honest and good heart, and with humble, fervent prayer, he will "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in him;" and also to do it "with meekness and fear," which is very essential, that he may do it to good effect. My chief purpose, as I have repeatedly stated, and wish it to be constantly kept in mind, is to give our own people a knowledge of the points or articles wherein we differ from the Church of Rome; a knowledge which our people seem much to need, especially at the present time. In giving reasons why we thus differ, I aim at little more than a brief statement of the points wherein that difference consists. If in any of the articles I have misrepresented the tenets of the Romish Church, no one would regret it more than myself. I wish not to diminish their usefulness;-I would gladly unite with them, and all Christians, so far as it may be without departing from the truth of God, as taught in his word. If I truly state wherein we differ, the subject may be as useful to them as to ourselves; it points out to them what their church stigmatizes as our heresies; and gives them occasion and opportunity to examine and judge for themselves; happy would it be were they, by their priests, permitted thus to examine and to judge. And should any of our brethren of other Protestant denominations deign to look at these remarks, it is hoped that they will be less inclined, than in times past, to accuse us of Popery;-many of thern certainly may see that while we differ from themselves but in three or four points at most, which we deem essential, we

differ from the Romanists in more than ten times as many.

Twenty-nine of these points I have already mentioned, the last of which was the offering of prayers to the dead. The one to which I now ask your attention, is praying for the dead. Among all the errors against which we protest, there is no one which seems more accordant with our natural feelings than this; it seems to flow from a pure and charitable spirit. But we are commanded to worship not only in spirit but in truth; we are to "pray with the spirit and with the understanding also." And what do we understand in our praying for dead men and for dead women? What authority have we for believing that such prayers will be of use to the dead or to the living? What do they imply? and to what does the practice lead? We have no divine authority for such a practice; nor do we know what is the present state of those who have departed this life. The Bible is silent upon the subject, which it would not be were it a practice which could be of good effect. The gospel of Christ is a revealed religion, and wholly of divine authority. What may be Our natural feelings, or desires, or wisdom, is of little amount and of no authority; if indeed we were to follow our own imaginations it would lead to confusion and every evil work.

And what, I repeat, does this practice imply? If we pray in faith and with any meaning, it implies the presumptuous and unauthorized belief, that God will hear, to their benefit, our prayers for the dead. And it leads to a belief in the doctrine of Purgatory, one of the worst of the corruptions which have crept into the Church. This is undoubtedly its practical effect. It leads also to other superstitious practices. It encourages men to delay repentance and continue in their sins in the expectation that others will pray and offer masses for them after their death. And

also to trust in their money to save them; for when they have no longer use for it in this world, they can leave it to purchase of their priests such masses and prayers. This increases very much the power and the wealth of the priests, and must be with them a very prevailing argument for the continuance of the practice. This practice also derogates from the glory of Christ, the only Mediator whom God has accepted. The doctrine that there is to be another state of probation after this life is of immense consequence, and cannot reasonably be received without divine authority, clear and express. To receive it on human authority would be a perilous presumption. Though praying for the dead was introduced into the church at an early day, probably in the third century, and although some individuals of the Reformed Churches have favored it, by our Church, and by Protestants generally, it is discarded as a practice wholly unauthorized and of very evil tendency.

§ XXXI. It will suffice briefly to mention as another article of our Reformation, the practice of the Roman Church of using in their mass and public prayers, the Latin language, which is to almost all who pretend to unite in it, an unknown tongue. With those who will continue and defend such a practice, it can be of little use to reason. We are bound to render a reasonable service, and how can it be such to those who do not understand what is offered in their name, and as their prayer to God? In the apostles' days there were individuals who, in their prayer-meetings, seem to have been vain of displaying their gifts of tongues by praying and giving thanks in such foreign languages as were unknown to many, probably to most of the people present, who, of course, could not with propriety say "Amen," in response to the prayer. What St. Paul has written upon this subject in his first Epistle to the

Corinthians, and fourteenth chapter, may justly be applied to this present article, and must, we might expect, be decisive with those who revere the precepts of an inspired apostle. They who will persist in worshipping "in an unknown tongue," may pray with the spirit," but certainly do not " pray with the understanding also."

§ XXXII. The next article which I would mention, is what is called Auricular Confession; the Roman Church makes it imperative on all her members to confess their sins to a priest; a practice which, like most of their other distinctive principles, adds very much to the power and wealth of their priesthood. It is not only fitting, but the duty of Christians to confess their sins one to another, especially to those whom they have injured, that they may make restitution, and obtain forgiveness; and also to confess such faults and offences as others have a right to know. By making known our feelings to our Christian brethren, we may hope to obtain better knowledge of our religious state, and of our duty as Christians. But there are many secrets, which, though they may be connected with what in God's sight is sinful, had better not be known to man. And that laymen are bound to confess to priests, any more than priests to laymen, no good reason, nor divine authority can be given. The confession should be voluntary, without human constraint, and its object be, as above said, to make restitution, or to obtain counsel, or to increase our sorrow for having done amiss. The practical effect of the Roman auricular confession is, on the part of the priests, gaining the secrets and the wealth of the people, and on the part of the people the notion most evidently and very generally is entertained, that if they advance the money required, do penance, repeating perhaps a few ave-Marias, or visiting the shrine of some saint, and obtain absolution from one

of their priests, their sins are forgiven, and they feel wholly at ease respecting what is past. Though the priest may say, with all sincerity and truth, that the absolution is given on condition of their repentance, the practical effect is too evidently as I have stated; there is, in practice, and very naturally, an undue and perilous reliance on the formality. What immense power and influence must be added to the priests by knowing the most important secrets of every family and individual, may easily be conceived. That men should be willing that such questions should be put to their wives, and sisters, and young daughters in the confessional, as are found even in the published rules of that church, have seemed to me strange and astonishing. One who had been educated among the Papists says, "I learned (in the confessional) more sins than ever I had heard of when conversant in the world." What effect many of the questions which are known to be put to females must have on the priests themselves, may easily be imagined. Of what is done in private, and in convents especially, where all is secret as the grave, will not be known till that day when all the works of darkness shall be brought to light. That the people of this our free country, should have such awakened suspicions and fears of the private meetings of the people called freemasons, who are men only, and they respectable members of society, mingling with the community in all the affairs of life, and yet manifest such apathy respecting the secrets of the confessional, and of men and women wholly retired from the view of the world, has long to me seemed unaccountable.

§ XXXIII. Another point in which we cannot agree with the Papists is their substituting penance for scriptural repentance, and directing sinners to a priest rather than to God, that they may obtain remission and forgiveness. This is admirably adapted