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In an old English ، Treatise on the Ten Com"mandments," printed in Westminster Abbey before the Reformation, in 1496, by Winker de Worde, it is said, “ Worship not the image, nor the stock, "stone, or tree; but worship him that died on the "tree for thy sin and thy sake, so that thou kneel, "if thou wilt, before the image, but not to the "image; for it seeth thee not, it heareth thee not, "it understandeth thee not; for, if thou do it, for "the image, or to the image, thou doeth idolatry.". Such is the doctrine of the catholic church, on those subjects.

3. We venerate the cross, as a memorial of the passion and death of the Author of our salvation. We venerate the images, paintings and relics, of the saints, as memorials, that bring their virtues and rewards to our minds and hearts. We also venerate their relics, as portions of their holy bodies, which will be glorified through all eternity. : In all this, can you find out any thing repre hensible?

X. 2.

Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead.

As I am not writing a work of controversy, I shall say little on the articles in your present chapter which remain to be discussed.

1. As to the existence of purgatory, for the belief of which the roman-catholics have been so often and so harshly reviled,-Do not all, who call themselves "rational protestants," think with us,

that, (to use the language of doctor Johnson), "the "generality of mankind are neither so obstinately "wicked, as to deserve everlasting punishment; "nor so good, as to merit being admitted into the "society of the blessed spirits; and that God is, "therefore, generously pleased to allow a middle "state, where they may be purified by a certain degree of suffering." With those who profess this doctrine, does not your own opinion accord? And what is this but the very doctrine of the roman-catholic church respecting purgatory?

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As to prayers for the dead. The council of Trent has decreed," that there is a purgatory, "and that the souls detained in it are helped by "the suffrages of the faithful."

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The nature and extent of these suffrages are thus explained by St. Augustine t: "When the "sacrifice of the altar, or alms, are offered for the "dead, then, in regard to those whose lives were very good, such sacrifices may be deemed acts of thanksgiving. In regard to the imperfect, they may be deemed acts of propitiation; and though they bring no aid to the very bad, they may give some comfort to the living.'

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Tradition, in favour of the catholic doctrine of purgatory, is so strong, that Calvin confesses explicitly, that" during 1,300 years before his time,

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(1,600 before ours), it had been the practice to pray for the dead, in the hope of procuring them "relief." You yourself will scarcely venture to

* Sess. xxv. Decretum de Purgatione, p. 286,

Enchird, c. xc. tem. 2, p. 83.

assert, that there is any thing substantially wrong in this devotion, when you recollect, that archbishop Cranmer said a solemn mass for the soul of Henry II. of France; that bishop Ridley preached, and that eight other prelates assisted at it in their copes.

How does it soothe the affliction of the surviving husband, wife, parent, or child, to pray for the souls of those, whose loss they deplore! and to think that they benefit them by their prayers! Does not this communion between the living and the dead call forth the kindest feelings of the heart? those charities which endear man to man, and multiply the circles of benevolence? Is not, therefore, even humanely speaking, the doctrine of the romancatholic church, respecting prayers for the dead, good and profitable?

X. 3.

Auricular Confession-Indulgences.

In respect to the auricular confession, I hope you will be convinced, that it does not deserve a bitter word, when you have perused the following testimonies in its favour.

"The lutheran," says doctor Milner, in his End of Controversy, "who are the elder branch "of the reformation, in their confession of faith, "and apology for that confession, expressly teach, "that absolution is no less a sacrament than bap"tism and the Lord's Supper; that particular abso"lution is to be retained in confession; that, to

"reject it, is the error of the Novatian heretics ; and that, by the power of the keys, (Matth. xvi. 19.); "sins are remitted, not only in the sight of the "church, but also in the sight of God *. Luther "himself, in his catechism, required that the peni *tent, in confession, should expressly declare, that "he believes the forgiveness of the priest to be the forgiveness of God †. What can bishop Porteus, "and other modern prótestants, say to all this, except that Luther and his disciples were in"fected with popery? Let us then proceed to

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inquire into the doctrine of the most distin"guished heads. In the order of the communion, "composed by Cranmer, and published by Ed"ward VI. the parson, vicar, or curate, is to proclaim this, among other things, If there be any of 66 you, whose conscience is troubled and grieved at any thing, lacking comfort or counsel, let him "come to me, or to some other learned priest, and "confess and open his sin and grief secretly, &c. "that of us, as a minister of God, and of the church, he may receive comfort and absolution‡:" "Conformably with this admonition, it is ordained "in the common Prayer Book, that when the “minister visits any sick person, the latter should "be moved to make a special confession of his

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sins, if he feels his conscience troubled with any "weighty matter; after which confession, the

* Confess. August. art. XI. XII. XIII. Apol.

+ In Catech. Parv. See also Luther's Table Talk, c. xvili. on Auricular Confession.

Bishop Sparrow's Collect. p. 10.

"priest should absolve him, if he humbly and heartily desire it, after this sort: Our Lord "Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church "to absolve all sinners, who truly repent and "believe in him, of his great mercy, forgive thee "thine offences; and by his authority, committed "to me, I absolve thee from all the sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the "Holy Ghost. Amen I may add, that soon "after James I. became, at the same time, the ❝member and the head of the English church, he "desired his prelates to inform him, in the confer"ence at Hampton Court, what authority this "church claimed in the article of absolution from

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❝ sin. When archbishop Whitgift began to en"tertain him with an account of the general "confession and absolution, in the communion "service, with which the king not being satisfied, "Bancroft, at that time bishop of London, fell on his knees, and said, 'It becomes us to deal plainly with your majesty. There is also in the "book a more particular and personal absolution in the Visitation of the Sick. Not only the confession of Augusta, (Augsburg), Bohemia and "Saxony, retain and allow it, but also Mr. Calvin "doth approve both such a general and such a private confession and absolution.' To this the king answered, I exceedingly well approve of

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* Order of the Visitation of the Sick. N. B. To encourage the secret confession of sins, the church of England has made a canon, requiring her ministers not to reveal the same. See Canones Eccles. A. D. 1693, n. 113.

1603,