maintenance of the Supremacy proved to be untenable.-Consequences

to England's Christianity flowing from the assumed Supremacy.-

Folly of the recent address made to the Queen, relative to the Indepen-

dence of the Church in England.-The scriptural proof in favour of

the Royal Supremacy, false as a fact, and absurd as an argument.—

No mission in the Anglican Church.-The marks of the Church have

disappeared here ever since a King was substituted for the Pope.. 138

· CHAPTER VII.—On the Anglican Authorized Bible.

Heretics, both ancient and modern, adopt some distinctive version of

the Scriptures.-Necessity of this; and consequent recriminations.-

Translations formerly approved of, but condemned by Henry VIII.—

Elizabeth's Bibles denounced.-The Authorized version of 1611.-

History of this version.-The Translators, and the rules which they

were obliged by James to follow.-No correct Anglican Bible till

seventy-seven years after the Reformation.-Consequences to be drawn

from this admission, fatal to the Reformation.-The Authorized Version

has been and is complained of by the learned.-Proofs.-Lowth has

shaken to pieces the very foundations on which the translation of the

Old Testament was based.-Obvious difficulties in connexion with the

translation of the New Testament.-Development of the principles of

this difficulty.-Labours of Mills and others to recover the true Apos-

tolic text.-Proofs given in detail of the ignorance and unfitness of the

English translators

177

CHAPTER VIII.-On the meaning of the word, Holy Scriptures; and

on the inspiration, authenticity, and canonicity of the Bible.

Importance of this examination, and the difficulty it involves.-Meaning

of the word Bible.-Origin, age, country, and character of the sacred

writings.-Inspiration required.-What it is.-Protestant theories de-

veloped. No fixed ideas on this head, though inspiration is essential to

the Bible.-By extrinsic proofs only can inspiration be proved-ad-

mitted by Taylor, Hooker, &c.-Foolish proofs of inspiration adduced

by Anglicans from Christ's words.-Authenticity.—The canonical

writings. The sixth Article on this head, false. Some works admitted

by Protestants, were formerly doubted of as much as those writings

which they reject.-Continuous evidence on this head.-Principles

advocated by Cyril and others for discovering the canonicity of any

writing. Whether Protestants reject or receive tradition, their posi-

tion is untenable.-Belief of the Church at the end of the fourth cen-

tury relative to the sacred books.-Lists of the Scriptures drawn up at

Carthage, at Rome, and elsewhere.-Detailed and specific examination

of each of the divine writings rejected by Protestants.-Their canonicity

clearly established.-Falseness of the sixth Article in whatever way it be

tested.-Protestants know absolutely nothing of the origin and mode of

settling the canon of the Old Testament.-Varying accounts on this

head, in respect to Esdras, the Synagogue, and the works forming the

Bible, at various periods.-Even after Esdras, books added to the

Canon.-Testimony of Josephus, and the principle involved in it.—

Observations on the statement of the sixth Article in connexion with

St. Jerome. The statement unfair, and disproved by St. Jerome him-

self.-Catholic principle advocated by this Saint.....

......

CHAP. IX.-The Solibiblical principle-its difficulties and

contradictions.

194

The Solibiblical principle false-opposed to the teaching of Christ, his

Apostles, and the Church of all ages, and in direct opposition to the

antisymbolical origin and character of the Sacred writings.-Mode of

acting of Christ, the Apostles, and the Church.-How many Apostles

wrote, and why they wrote.-The generative principle of faith in the

Apostolic and after times.-Testimonies of the Fathers on this head.

The Solibiblical principle unavailable for more than 1400 years.-The

Scriptures decide nothing about their own meaning-this evidenced by

the Sects which pretend to believe the Bible.-Selden's observations and

Henry the Eighth's restrictions.-The Scripture full of difficulties—

cause of this.-Proposed limitation of this principle.-Useless as a prin-

ciple of faith and unjust in Anglicanism.-Examination of the texts

ordinarily adduced in favour of the Bible being the only "Rule of Faith."

-The Biblical system justly opposed by Catholics.-It is irreconcilable

too with numerous tenets believed in by the English Church.-Instances

in proof.-Motives of the adherence of Catholics to the authority of the

Church.

264

....

CHAP. X.-On the Zeal of the Catholics in Transcribing and Circu-

lating the Sacred Scriptures, and the Grounds of Opposition to the

Bible Society.

Catholic Zeal in Transcribing, Translating, and Spreading the Sacred Scrip-

tures, attested by Protestants, and evidenced by a Multiplicity of Manu-

scripts in the various Libraries of Europe, &c.-Continuation and Extension

of this Zeal after the Discovery of the Art of Printing.-Bibles published

in every Ancient and nearly every Modern Language.-Continuous proofs

of this point.-Zeal and favour of the Popes.-Catholic Commentators

as contrasted with Protestant Annotators.-Origin of the Protestant

Idea respecting Catholic Opposition to the Scriptures.-Origin of the

Index, and History of the Fourth Rule.-This Rule both Wise and

Truthful, and conformable to the Apostolic Teaching.-Even Protes-

tants approve of the Principle advocated in the Fourth Rule.-Modifica-

tion of the Rule under altered circumstances.-Causes of the Opposition

of the Pontiffs to the Bible Society.-These Causes just and commend-

able.-Antagonism of the Members of the Bible Society.-This Anta-

gonism clearly demonstrated.-Conclusion.

345

APPENDIX

391

THE

ENGLISH REFORMATION.

Chapter the First.

Anglican statements relative to the defection of the Universal Church.

CONTENTS.

Statement of the Homilies relative to an universal apostacy.-Consequences derivable from this statement.-These consequences, as well as the general accusations proved to be untenable.

Ir is stated in the second book of Homilies, that "Laity and Clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children, of whole Christendom (an horrible and most dreadful thing to think), have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry: of all other vices most detested of God, and most damnable to man, and that by the space of eight hundred years and more." The

1 Third part of the Sermon against the Peril of Idolatry, p. 150, Ed. 1683. The second book of Homilies was first published in 1562; the first was printed as early as 1547. Cranmer and Becon were the principal writers of the first book, and Bishop Jewel of the second.

B

Homilies, if we may credit the declaration of the thirty-fifth of the Thirty-nine Articles, contain "a godly and wholesome doctrine and necessary for these times." On their first publication, they were commanded to be read in every Church of the land, by the parochial Clergy, on whose capacity or orthodoxy neither Edward nor Elizabeth could rely; and every minister is still bound to read them, at least privately, inasmuch as he subscribes the Articles, and through them declares, that the doctrine of the Homilies is "godly and wholesome"; for how can this declaration be honestly made, if the Homilies have not been attentively studied? From this statement, then, which ministers and people are commanded to believe in, and which is repeated over and over again, not only in the Homilies,1 but also in the writings of the first Reformers, it follows, that Christianity had, according to Protestant belief, wholly and entirely disappeared from the face of the earth; that from the year 734 down to the year 1534, when Protestantism was introduced into this country, under the auspices of our eighth Henry, idolatry had prevailed everywhere; men, women, and children, having all forfeited the grace of Christianity, become objects of detestation to the Deity, and amenable to Heaven's severest chastise

ments.

Christianity, we are also told, was re-introduced by the Anglican Reformation. Then idolatry became legally extinct; and in the Prayer-book of the Established Church, composed in 1548, was seen the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, that work having been composed "by the aid of

1 See thirty-fifth Article.

2 Ibid., and Burnet's Exposition of the Articles, p. 375, Ed. 1705.

3 Burnet's Articles, p. 376.

4 Burnet, ibid.

the Holy Ghost,"5 as we are solemnly assured, in the preamble to the act of Parliament which approved of the new Liturgy, and also enacted, under severe penalties, that it, and it only, should be used by every minister of the Church whilst celebrating divine service, through the length and breadth of the land.

In the above statements, two most important propositions are contained: 1° Not only may Christianity, or the one form of faith established by Jesus Christ, fail, but as a matter of fact, it did fail utterly; and, for nearly a thousand years, the system of religion introduced by our blessed Saviour, was nothing more than matter of history -it was a thing which had once been, but which, eventually, had ceased to be. 2° When Christianity was again restored, it was restored by the English Reformers, aided by a divinely assisted Parliament: the Articles of the new religion contained the symbol of orthodoxy; the Common Prayer-book was a work of more than human wisdom; and the Homilies taught a godly and wholesome doctrine.

Now, I need hardly inform the reader, that both these propositions are absolutely and unhesitatingly denied by the vast majority of the Christian world. The first assertion is denied by all Catholics, and the second is disallowed by the whole of Christendom, if we except the comparatively small establishment, known by the name of the Anglican Church. The Catholic Church, which is spread

5 See the preamble in Burnet's Reformation, vol. ii, p. 93, Ed. 1683; as also in Lingard's Hist. of England, vol. iv, p. 396, Ed. 4to. This preamble is remarkable, on account of a gross falsehood. It states that the Prayerbook had been drawn up with one common agreement; whereas, it is a well-known fact, that eight out of the eighteen prelates, on the committee which framed the Liturgy, voted against it.-Lord's Journals, 331.