"Let a Prince only descend from the throne and he will return to the common and undistinguished mass of his fellow creatures, whereas the sacred character of a Catholic Priest is INDELIBLE in his PERSON!

"It (the ministry) ranks them even above the angelic Spirits! and clothes them with the divine character of the MESSIAH himself! These distinctions, however, arising from the sacerdotal ministry, exclusively belong to the priesthood of the CATHOLIC CHURCH!" (v. IV. p. 116, &c.)

"When in the sacrifice of the Mass we celebrate the mystery of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, the consecrated Priest of God acts not in the capacity of a mere human agent, but exercises the DIVINE POWER lodged in HIM, of working the mysterious change in the substances of bread and wine, and of producing, under their species, that VERY BODY of Jesus Christ, which the Angels adore! At the moment he fulfils the word spoken by our blessed Saviour, the omnipotence of God operates BY HIS MINISTER, and there is instantaneously and substantially present in the whole, and in every particle of the sacramental elements, that GLORIFIED BODY OF JESUS CHRIST, which therein

subsists as long as the elements of bread and wine endure !" (v. III. p. 135.)

In the earlier pages of this pamphlet, it was stated that the Romish priesthood looked upon themselves as a body altogether superior to their fellow subjects; does not the statement that has been just given from the authority of Rome, satisfy the Protestant of this intolerable presumption. What true obedience to human laws can we expect from men who are pronounced to be "above Princes! nay, above Angels; nay, images of the unchangeable UNITY OF GOD! Acting by a divine power lodged in them! and clothed with the divine character of the MESSIAH himself!" Or what prostrate, extravagant, and dangerous obedience to spiritual ambition, hatred, or revenge, must we not expect to find from the ignorant multitude, who can believe that their Priests are invested with such attributes! Well might the Pope command the dethronement of Kings and the subversion of nations, if such are his ministers; well might he command the world, in its brute humiliation, to hail him "OUR LORD GOD, THE POPE! Dominus DEUS noster, Papa!" And well may thrones and nations be on their guard, while such men, armed with such doctrines, are among them!

The Protestant Church.

According to this exposition of "the ancient faith," the Protestant clergy have no title whatever to be considered as ecclesiastics; their ordination is declared to be the apostate work of an apostate! their virtue is hypocrisy, their faith ignorance, and their office impiety. I shall give but a few quotations.

True virtue and religion are to be attained EXCLUSIVELY in the Catholic Church." (v. II. p. 3.)

"By this form (the form of consecration under Edward VI.) and the apostate hands of the impious Cranmer, some few Protestants were advanced to the episcopacy.

"He (Cranmer) was the principal promoter of the REBELLION against Mary; and after practising every species of hypocrisy and deceit, suffered at the stake for treason and heresy!" (v. II. note, p. 158.)

Such is the verdict of Popery on the character of a man, whose blameless life and cruel death place him among the Martyrs, and have brought round his memory the praise and pity of all Christian men. No act of the infuriate reign of Mary excited greater horror through

England and Europe than that murder, which Popery now calls the just punishment of a heretic and a traitor. Even Hume, who cannot be suspected of an undue leaning to Protestantism, thus describes Cranmer. "Undoubtedly, a man of merit, possessed of learning and capacity, and adorned with candour, sincerity, and beneficence, and all those virtues which were fitted to render him useful and amiable in society. His moral qualities procured him universal respect; and the courage of his martyrdom, though he fell short of the rigid inflexibility observed in many, made him the hero of the Protestant party." (See Burnet, Collier, &c.)

Let the Protestant clergy look to the following distinct declaration, authorized as it was at Rome!

"It may be matter of serious astonishment to Protestants, that Catholics have so pertinaciously refused to recognize the spiritual character of the ministers of the established Church, and have uniformly viewed its Bishops and inferior Clergy in the light of Laymen."

66

Filling, as I do, a public station in the Catholic Church, and being expressly appointed to guard the truth; it would ill become me to fear the idle charge of illiberality, &c." The

arguments of Catholics against the validity of Protestant ordination, may be resolved into these two grand objections. 1. A defect of succession from the Catholic hierarchy. 2. A defect in the sacramental form of ordaining! At present, a Protestant Bishop or Clergyman, on his conversion to the Catholic faith, returns to the rank of a Layman." (v. IV. p. 68.)

Thus it is daringly declared, not merely that our Clergy are impostors and usurpers, but that all the rites solemnized by them, marriage, baptism, &c., are impostures, invalid, and destitute of all legal authority in the eyes of the Popish Sovereignty; and, of course, liable to be annulled whenever it shall have the power! What, then, becomes of the tenures of property, which are so deeply involved in the validity of marriage, &c. This doctrine amounts to a complete overthrow of property.

In the year 1556, in the last period of acknowledged papal authority in the British empire, the Irish Parliament were obliged to obtain, and that through the Queen's favour, a Papal Bull for the confirmation of the marriages, &c. which had taken place during the previous period of Protestantism! (Leland, v. II. p. 209.)

"

The Defence of the ancient Faith," pronounces the holding of Church property by the