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house, having his children in subjection with all gravity."" Again he says, "have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?" And even St. Clement of Alexandria says "There are those who condemn the priests that marry, but will they also condemn the Apostles? for Peter and Philip had children, and the latter gave his daughters in marriage." — The ministers of the Reformed Religion conduct themselves on this principle, and after the example of the Apostles; they are like them fathers of families, patterns for their flock; they live with simplicity, and make no vows contrary to human nature, to the precepts of Holy Writ, to purity of morals, and to the good order of society.

I have embraced their communion, because therein one does not prostrate one-self before wood, before stone, nor before the ancient remains of dead bodies, which corruption has not spared.

I have embraced this communion, because in every thing it refers directly to God, the Saviour of men, and not to sinful creatures like ourselves; for, as St. Paul says, "there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And St. John, that "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;"' and consequently, Christ being here the only hope of the faithful, we are in this communion purely and solely Christian.

I have embraced this communion, because it does not command the faithful to make a shew of their piety by pomps displayed in streets and public places, a thing which Jesus Christ reproves, saying, "when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the

(1) 1 Tim. iii. v. 2, 3, and 4. (2) 1 Cor. ix. v. 5. (4) 1 Tim. ii. v. 5. (5) 1 Epist. John ii. v. i.

(3) Strom. 1 iii.

synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. When ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."1

I have embraced this communion, because it is not therein pretended that a man is more virtuous for eating fish than for eating beef; and because I have never been able to believe that God should have at all times been pleased to create wholesome aliments, to forbid us the use of them at certain periods, unless we pay for obtaining this permission from him. Jesus Christ does not say so in these words, "not that which goeth ' into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." And St. Paul saith “ Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no questions for conscience sake; for the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof."3

I have embraced this communion, because in its public service every thing is heard and understood by each person; and because, having never learnt the Latin language, I could not conceive it to be the will of God that the Ministers should edify me in Latin, a practice condemned by St. Paul; "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but

(1) St. Math. vi. v. 5, 6, 16, 17, and 18. (2) St. Math. xv. v. 11. (3) 1 Cor. x. v. 25 and 26. [See also 1 Tim. c. iv. v. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.]

unto God, for no man understandeth him. If I come unto you speaking with tongues what shall I profit you? Except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken?—If I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest. I had rather in the church speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."-Pope John VIII. was in this respect a protestant like me, for he said "let the praises of God be sung in the language of the country in which one is born;" and in effect I consider that, if what people wish to say to us is good, useful, and instructive, it should be addressed to us in a language which we understand; and that on the contrary if it is any thing bad, it ought not to be expressed at all, either in Latin, Greek, or Chinese.

I have embraced this communion, because it does not exclude poor little children from future happiness, on account of the negligence of their parents in omitting to have them baptized before their death; this dogma having always appeared to me absurd, unjust, an outrage on the Deity; and Holy Writ not saying a single word respecting it.

I have embraced this communion, because the Eucharist is there an entirely spiritual ceremony, which recalls to us the benefits which the Saviour came to bestow upon mankind; a remembrance of his death, in which the bread and wine only represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ. For I was never

(1) 1 Cor. xiv. v. 2, 6. 9, 14, 16, and 19. (I invite you to read the whole chapter.)

(2) "The Scripture teaches us, that Jesus Christ instituted the communion in both kinds (that is bread and wine), and so commanded that it should be celebrated. Jesus took bread and blessed it, and gave it to the Disciples, and

able to admit that God who is a spirit, that the Creator of Heaven and Earth, that the infinite God of Nature, could be swallowed as a pill; it even appeared to me that the idea which thus materialises the Creator was an insult offered to Him, as indeed it is an insult to reason.

Lastly, I have embraced the communion of Reformed Chris

said, "Take, eat, this is [represents, according to the oriental idiom] my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink ye all of it for this is [represents] my blood of the new testament.' Matt. xxvi. 26-28.) But the Church of Rome has changed what Christ appointed, and has deprived the laity of the cup; and has anathematized any who say, "that from the command of God, and the necessity of salvation, all and every believer in Christ ought to receive both kinds of the most holy sacrament of the eucharist.” Conc. Tríd. Sess. 21. Can. 1.)—“I do also confess that under either kind or species only, whole and entire Christ and the true sacrament is received.” (Creed of Pius IV. Art. 18.) The Council of Constance, held in the year 1416, was the first that sacrilegiously deprived the laity of the cup in the sacrament, in direct contradiction to Christ's command, and the practice of the primitive church. (The testimonies of the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, for thirteen or fourteen hundred years, are collected by Bp. Beveridge on the Articles. Art. xxx.)

"The Scripture teaches us that the consecrated bread and wine are the communion of the body and blood of Christ. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (1 Cor. x. 16.)

"But the Romish Church affirms “that in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist there is really and substantially the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into his body, and of the whole substance of the wine into his blood, which conversion the [Roman] Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation.” (Creed of Pius IV. Art. 17.)”

On the different points of doctrine and practice, there is a striking coincidence in the exhibition of scriptural proofs between the letter of M. Mollard-Lefevre, and Mr. HORNE's "Romanism contradictory to the Bible;" an excellent DEFENSIVE MANUAL for the use of Protestants, in which that learned Biblical Critic has given a clear, though concise, statement of " the peculiar tenets of the Church of Rome as exhibited in her accredited Formularies, contrasted with the Holy Scriptures.-Note by the Translator.

tianity, and have embraced it with faith, confidence, and happiness, because it does not rely for support on the sword of the executioner; because it does not place the scaffolds of the Inquisition beside the Cross of HIM who came, not to destroy men, but to save them. I have noticed that the violences charged at the outset on some of its members, proceeded from a remnant of human prejudices, from a habit of dominion and of two-fold power, of which those men were not immediately able to divest themselves. But at the present day this Church is mild and charitable: it stands in no need of the Rack to sustain it; it does not desire to be upheld by such means. Its great precept is the precept of the Saviour, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment; and the second is like unto it; thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

I recognise in this Communion the true Church of Jesus Christ-that Primitive Church to which a return was effected by the Gospel, at the epocha of the Reformation.—I bless God for having opened my eyes to his divine light. My children shall one day bless me for having pursued the conduct of an honest man, whose part it is to embrace the Truth from the moment that he perceives it, without suffering himself to be disturbed by the threats and calumnies of those who shun the light, because their deeds are evil. If the course which I have taken were again to be decided upon, in vain would the preparations of torture and of the scaffold be set in array to stop me. Truth is my motto; the approbation of God and of my conscience is my law. Multitudes are prevented from imitating me, by their indifference respecting truth

(1) St. Math. xxii. v. 37, 38, 39, and 40.

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