Church should incline more to favor the Roman Church, "who are unsound in every thing but the ministry, than those Dissenters who are unsound in the ministry only." But, in fact, there is no other one point in which the Roman Church, in the view of Protestants, is more in error than in the ministry. They have set up an order of priesthood, of which true Christianity knows nothing, far above all other orders, and every thing human. The pope claims authority over all the ministers of Christ, of any grade, and indeed over all the powers of the earth, both civil and ecclesiastical. Of what his claims are, and what authority he has exercised, none who read ecclesiastical history can be ignorant. The Bishop of Arath tells us that the pope's power "interferes with civil liberty and independence no farther than the divine law puts bounds to human power, and says to the pride of man, Thus far shalt thou go, and here shalt thou break thy swelling waves.' And as the pope claims to be the infallible interpreter of the divine law, this disclaimer amounts to no more than that the pope interferes with the civil liberty and independence of kingdoms and states no farther than what seems to him fitting. What he has in many instances done, and what power the Roman Church claims for him, is well known to all who have candidly made the inquiry. My present purpose is but to remind the reader that it is a power against which we protest. We deny that God has given such power to any one man; nor is there, indeed, any proof that Christ gave to any one of his ministers such authority over the others. The papal hierarchy is a power remarkably distinct from Christianity; the pope appoints the cardinals, and the cardinals elect the pope. He has various orders of clergy dispersed through the world, subject to himself, and not to the bishops of the churches. The

* Letter, p. 12.

popes, indeed, have uniformly endeavored, and with too much success, to lessen the authority of Christian bishops, the more to exalt their own. It is remarka

ble, that, when they assume that office, they renounce or discard the use of their Christian names, given at their baptism. In this, indeed, they act consistently; as the office is no part of Christianity, it seems fitting that they should not, as popes, be distinguished by the sacred names which would indicate their connection with the church of Christ.

§ II. Another thing against which we protest is the pope's pretended power to dispose of kingdoms and states, and to excommunicate as heretics, all who deny his authority. That this he has done in a number of instances, none will deny; nor has the Church of Rome denied that he has this power; but on the contrary, has sanctioned it. To give one instance will suffice; and let it be that which to us, as a Church, is the most interesting.* Pius V. thus introduces his bull for deposing Queen Elizabeth:

"He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in heaven and in earth, committed one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, out of which there is no salvation, to one alone upon earth, namely, to Peter, the chief of the apostles, and to Peter's successor, the Bishop of Rome, to be governed in fulness of power. Him alone he made prince over all people and all kingdoms, to pluck, destroy, scatter, consume, plant and build," and so forth. In virtue of this supreme authority given him of God, he proceeds to excommunicate Elizabeth and all who adhered to her, and to deprive her of all title to the kingdom, and of all dignity and dominion.

We should constantly bear in mind that this infallible church of which he is the sovereign, with such unlimited power, never changes; it claims to

See, among many writers, Fuller's Church History, book ix. pp. 93, 94.

be free from all error. The pope would still do the same, if he could do it with safety, and to his own advantage. The light of the Reformation has, we know well, imposed a restraint upon the exercise of that power, but has effected no change in its arrogant claims. It is very natural, for some kings and princes, from their circumstances, and the superstitious devotion of their subjects to the papal authority, to submit to it through fear; and others find it for their interest and security, to acknowledge the pope's power, as the means of securing their own. How far it may endanger a republican government, to have within its bosom, a large body of people devotedly subject to their priests, and all those priests religiously bound and subject to a foreign power, is for the politician to consider. When two great parties shall be nearly balanced, one of them, by favoring the Papists, may easily succeed. How very much this state of things will naturally tend to strengthen and increase that denomination among is very evident.

us,

§ III. We protest, also, against any power of the pope to set aside or counteract the laws of God, such as pretending to release men from the obligation of their solemn oaths, though God has commanded that our oaths shall be performed. For an instance of this we may take the following further extract from the bull deposing Queen Elizabeth : "We do, out of the fulness of our apostolic power, declare the aforesaid Elizabeth, being a heretic, and a favorer of heresies, and her adherents in the matters aforesaid, to have incurred sentence of anathema, and to be cut off from the unity of the body of Christ. And, moreover, we do declare her to be deprived of her pretended title to the kingdom aforesaid, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege whatsoever; and also the nobility, subjects and people of the said kingdom, and all others which have

in any way sworn unto her, to be forever absolved from any such oath, and all manner of duty of dominion, allegiance and obedience; as we do also, by authority of these presents, absolve them, and do deprive the same Elizabeth, of her pretended title to the kingdom, and all other things above said. And we do command and interdict all and every noblemen, subjects, people and others aforesaid, that they presume not to obey her, or her monitions, mandates and laws: and those which do the contrary, we do innodate (innodamus) with the like sentence of anathema."

Should there hereafter, in this or any other country, be a war between Papists and Protestants, who can doubt but that the former would, by this same usurped power, be in like manner absolved from any oaths or laws, or allegiance, which would otherwise operate as a hindrance to their success? We abhor the Jesuitical doctrine that the end in view, if supposed to be good, justifies means in themselves wicked, for the gaining of that end; that we may do evil that good may come. We might speak of unnumbered murders, massacres, assassinations, and other horrible crimes, which, by this diabolical principle, have been justified and approved. We condemn the principle, and we deny the right of any foreign power to interfere in the concerns of this country, either civil or religious. No bishop of Rome, or of Greece, or of England, has any influence or control, farther than that of Christian fellowship and love, over the Protestant Episcopal Church in these United States.

§ IV. Another thing which Protestants reject is, the power of the pope, or of any human being, to forbid a people or nation to worship God, which is usually called an interdict. I cannot give the reader a better idea of what this means, than by citing the account which the historian, David Hume, gives of

the one which Pope Innocent fulminated against John, king of England.* "The sentence of interdict," says the historian, "was at that time the great instrument of vengeance and policy employed by the court of Rome. It was denounced against sovereigns for the slightest offences, and made the guilt of one person involve the ruin of millions, even in their spiritual and eternal welfare. The execution of it was calculated to strike the senses in the highest degree, and to operate with irresistible force on the superstitious minds of the people. The nation was of a sudden deprived of all exterior exercise of its religion. The altars were despoiled of their ornaments; the crosses, the relics, the images, the statues of the saints, were laid on the ground; and, as if the air itself were profaned, and might pollute them by its contact, the priests carefully covered them up, even from their own approach and veneration. The use of bells entirely ceased in all the churches; the bells themselves were removed from the steeples, and laid on the ground, with the other sacred utensils. Mass was celebrated with shut doors, and none but the priests were admitted to the holy institution. The laity partook of no religious rite, except baptism to new-born infants, and the communion to the dying. The dead were not interred in the consecrated ground; they were thrown into ditches, or buried in common fields, and their obsequies were not attended with prayers or any hallowed ceremony. Marriages were celebrated in the church-yard; and, that every action in life might bear the marks of this dreadful situation, the people were prohibited the use of meat, as in Lent, or in the times of highest penance, -were debarred from all pleasures and entertainments, and even to salute each other, or as much as to shave their beards, and give any decent attention to their persons and

* See Chapter xi.