virtues that belong to her; or else, we may place in a prominent and favourable light the vital truths and precious doctrines avowed in her creeds, and then exhibit and oppose the huge, cumbrous fabric of error, superstition, and deceit, that has been built, by human contrivance, upon this solid and fair foundation.

I shall undoubtedly select the latter mode of assault, as being the more dignified, candid, and charitable; and in its result, far more likely to be conclusive and convincing.

While I express my hostility to, and abhorrence of, the system of Popery, I would invariably extend the hand of friendship, employ the language of charity, and offer the prayer of hope, for and towards those of my fellow-creatures who are fettered and debased by this cruel system. Yes, I will continue to love Papists with all my heart, while I persist in exposing the dangers of Popery with all my might. And I will still indulge the hope, that the Romish Church, with her vauntedly unchanged and unchangeable system of Popery, may, in God's good time, renounce and abjure her errors, cast off those unchaste ornaments and unsightly excrescences, that have defaced her beauty, and sullied her purity; and thus, restored to her scriptural character and primitive simplicity, the true Church of God, may acknowledge her as a beloved sister, and with open arms receive her in the embrace of communion, equality, and love; so that, though each remain independent in government, distinct in discipline, and differing, perhaps, in other non-essential points, yet we may all become one in Christ.

I have often been told I have an aptitude for imparting what little knowledge I have, and making it very plain. If I do possess that gift, I cannot, as a teacher of religion, be too thankful for it, nor can I, for the glory of God and the cause of truth, be too desirous of cultivating and employing it but the subject I have chosen for the present discourse will, from the many difficulties and perplexities involved in it, put my aptitude for teaching and plain speaking to a

severe test.

I am to address you, according to promise, upon the assumed SUPREMACY OF THE POPE OF ROME! As the

existence of the Romish System depends on the maintenance of this vain-glorious assumption—as this is the root of Papal power and the cause of Papal intolerance, — by striking at, and overthrowing it you subvert and destroy the whole structure or system; but if you succeed in lopping off all the errors that have sprung from this dogma, and leave the Supremacy unscathed, it will rear its Hydra-head again, and when opportunity offers will, reptile like, scatter its venom over the doctrines of its church, and taint with its slime' every breast that gives it harbour.

Let me observe, however, that I have not the remotest fear of the beloved members of my congregation ever becoming perverts to Popery, or renegades from the faith in which they have been baptized. I have no fear of this; therefore, whatever I shall have occasion to speak upon and against Popery in its essence and practical effects must, if you please, be considered by you as intended for your information and improvement, and not for your warning: so that in the present contest of Protestantism with Popery, while you rank yourselves on the side of mental freedom and scriptural truth, you may have an intelligent and satisfactory answer to give to those who ask of you the reason of the hope that is in you.

In discussing the Supremacy of the Pope, which, you will observe, from the portion of the Papal Brief already quoted, is still vigorously asserted, we are at once led to enquire into the ORIGIN of the title of the supreme head of the Church of Christ. POPE is a name which is derived from a Greek word signifying Father. In the Eastern church this name is given to all Christian priests and in the Western church bishops were so called in ancient times; but dating back from the present period to the commencement of the Popedom, it has been exclusively appropriated by the Bishop of Rome.

Yet, what is there in a name? as Dr. Doyle said a few weeks ago, in a Sermon preached at a Roman Catholie Chapel within the metropolis. I answer, there is a great deal of what is significant and important in a name for no sooner is the Bishop of Rome dubbed par excellence the Pope, than he waves the spiritual sceptre over his head,

and adds exultingly, THE SUPREME HEAD OF THE Church OF CHRIST!!

Bear in mind, that the advocates of Roman supremacy claim the whole of Christ's fold as the heritage of Rome. The Bishop of Rome they maintain to be the sole vicar of Christ; his vice-regent and representative on earth. Except in communion with Rome, they stoutly deny there is any spiritual safety. The doctrines sanctioned by the Pope, are all put on an equality with the written word of God. Not content with spiritual dominion over the consciences of Christians, the Popes assume to themselves the power of dethroning kings;* of releasing the subjects of any heretical government from their allegiance, and of shutting out from the fold of Christ, all who obstruct the Court of Rome in the exercise of these powers.

You here see the assumption of power that followed on the exclusive possession of the title of Pope by one individual; so, that we are constrained to confess, there is after all a great deal in a name ! Aye, and if the thing signified were always attached to the name; if the power always corresponded with the claim, we should be apprized of our present danger; not by the seductive voice and insinuating pleadings of an oily Cardinal,-but by seeing our gracious and beloved Queen crouching at the feet of a certain Archbishop of Westminster, her sceptre wrested from her hand,-her crown torn from her brow, and held in trust by the Pope's Legate, until she condescended to violate her coronation oath, swear obedience to the decree of the Roman Pontiff, and accept the kingdom as the vassal or slave of his holiness the Pope, as did one of her undignified predecessors!

It may be interesting and instructive to trace the steps which led the Bishops of Rome to assert the claim to preeminence and unbounded spiritual power. The claim wears a two-fold aspect: it demands allegiance to its mandates, and obedience to its faith. On its banner is inscribed, on the one side, spiritual dominion, on the other, temporal sway! Spiritual dominion was first claimed and earnestly

* Bullarium, vol. ii. Pope Pius V. condemnation of Elizabeth, Queen of England.

contended for, from an impression, that the Apostle Peter had been endued by our blessed Lord, with preeminence and authority over the other Apostles, and was commissioned to be the founder of the Church of Christ; so that because Peter became Bishop of the Church of Rome, that Church had a right to distinguish herself as the Mother, and Mistress of all other churches in the Christian world! And while it is pretty certain she put forth this claim of superiority at a very early period of her history, it is equally certain, that her claim was unacknowledged, and treated with undisguised contempt by every Christian Church for six hundred years after the commencement of the Christian dispensation!

The Church of Rome finding it impossible to cram down the throats of her antagonists her theory of spiritual supremacy by the force of scripture argument and human reasoning, thought it possible to do so by the force of material power, by the actual possession of a temporal sovereignty, and by artfully decoying the kings of the earth to recognise her right to a kingdom she had obtained by fraud and by forgery!

The learned Isaac Barrow, thus traces the progress of Papal supremacy,—" In the first times, while the emperors were Pagans, the pretences of the Bishop of Rome were suited to their condition, and could not soar high: they were not so mad then as to pretend to any temporal power, and a pittance of spiritual eminency did content them." "When the empire was divided, they could sometimes be more haughty and peremptory!" "When the Western Empire was fallen, their influence became greater, because they were more able to be of service, or the contrary, to the Eastern Empire, whose dominions still extended over a part of Italy. And when Rome, at last, had grown in a manner loose and independent from other secular powers, the Popes advanced their pretences, by interposing and arbitrating between contending princes, and by truckling and bartering with them."*

Mr. Gibbon, the celebrated historian, thus graphically

See Barrow's Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy.

describes the act of fraud by which the Pope secured to himself the temporal sovereignty, which we now call “the States of the Church."

"Fraud is the resource of weakness and cunning: and the strong, though ignorant barbarian, was often entangled in the net of sacerdotal policy. Before the end of the eighth century, some apostolical scribe, perhaps the notorious Isidore, composed the decretals and the donation of Constantine, the two magic pillars of the spiritual and temporal monarchy of the Popes. This memorable donation was introduced to the world by an epistle of Adrian the 1st, who exhorts Charlemagne, to imitate the liberality, and revive the name of the great Constantine. According to the legend, the first of the Christian emperors was healed of the leprosy, and purified in the waters of baptism by St. Silvester, the Roman Bishop, and never was physician more gloriously recompensed! His royal proselyte withdrew from the seat and patrimony of St. Peter; declared his resolution of founding a new capital in the East; and resigned to the Popes the free and perpetual sovereignty of Rome, Italy, and the provinces of the West." "The sovereignty of Rome no longer depended upon the choice of a fickle people; and the successors of St. Peter and Constantine were invested with the purple and prerogatives of the Cæsars!"*

To which I may be allowed to add, that in after ages, the Popes were not content with two crowns, symbolic of a temporal kingdom and a spiritual supremacy; but when Pope Urban V. was elected to the Pontificate, there must needs be added another temporal crown, viz., that of Ruler of the World!! Thus, at the present moment, the Pope's triple crown has the following meaning, according to the authority of the Romish Church, "Father of Princes and of Kings,-the Ruler of the World,-and on earth, the Vicar of Jesus Christ our Saviour!! So that she has not bated one jot or tittle of her assumptions, but rather added to her claims.

* Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xlix. Bp. Hopkins on Ch. of Rome. Eng. ed. p. 274, Note.