The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Letter to Lord Fielding. Suggested by the late proceedings at the New Church at Pantasa

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Title: A Letter to Lord Fielding. Suggested by the late proceedings at the New Church at Pantasa

Author: George Luther Stone

Release date: December 26, 2019 [eBook #61023]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61023

Credits: Transcribed from the [1852] Whittaker and Co. edition by David Price

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER TO LORD FIELDING. SUGGESTED BY THE LATE PROCEEDINGS AT THE NEW CHURCH AT PANTASA ***

Transcribed from the [1852] Whittaker and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

A

LETTER

TO

LORD FIELDING.

SUGGESTED BY

THE LATE PROCEEDINGS AT THE NEW CHURCH

AT PANTASA.

BY

THE REV. G. L. STONE, A.B.

INCUMBENT OF

ROSSETT, DENBIGHSHIRE.

LONDON:

WHITTAKER AND CO.; CHESTER, PRICHARD; MOLD, PRING AND PRICE;

HOLYWELL, MORRIS; WREXHAM, PAINTER.

LETTER, &c.

MY LORD;—

AN able Prelate of the Irish section of the Latin Church once observed—“The chief points to be discussed between the Church of Rome and of England are—the Canon of the Sacred Scriptures, Faith, Justification, the Mass, the Sacraments, the authority of tradition, of Councils, of the Pope, the celibacy of the Clergy, language of the Liturgy, invocation of Saints, respect for images, prayers for the dead.  On most of these it appears to me that there is no essential difference between (Roman) Catholics and Protestants; the existing diversity of opinion arises, in most cases, from certain forms of words which admit of satisfactory explanation, or from the ignorance or misconceptions which ancient prejudice and ill will produce and strengthen,—but which could be removed; they are pride and points of honour which keep us divided on many subjects, not a love of christian humility, charity, and truth.” [3]  Thus wrote the celebrated Bishop Doyle in the year 1824.  Was he right or was he wrong?  Are the differences between the two Churches so very slight that there is no material difference?  If this be so, my Lord, permit me, with all respect for your rank as an English Nobleman, to ask you on what plea you have left the Communion of the English Church, and alienated the consecrated House of God at Pantasa from her service, for that of the dissenting body to which you have joined yourself?  Bishop Doyle wrote either truth or falsehood in the above passage.  If truth, have you left the Church of your Baptism and of your country for a system of foreign production, “no material difference, meanwhile, existing between them.”  If falsehood, I might leave you to settle this matter with one of the ablest Romish Bishops of modern times.  But, my Lord, there is a “material difference” between the two Churches—a difference as great as between light and darkness—the difference between Scriptural verities, and the unfounded figments of Tridentine manufacture.  To prove this as briefly as may be, is my object in addressing you—and I humbly hope that the perusal of this letter may be blessed to your good, and that, as St. Cyprian would speak—you may prove not like the raven who seduced from the Catholic faith, returned to it no more; but, like the dove departing from the ark of God, but finding no rest for the sole of its foot, returned to it again, with an olive branch of peace in its mouth.

The first of the “chief points” is: “the Canon of the sacred Scriptures.”

On this point it were easy to multiply testimonies.  Let Cardinal Bellarmine—without exception, the greatest controversialist the Church of Rome can boast of, speak first.  His words are, [4a] “all those books which the Protestants do not receive; the Jews also did not receive.”  Now, my Lord, you are, of course, aware that “to the Jews were committed the oracles of God.”  Rom. iii. 2.  Moreover, that our blessed Saviour while he pointedly condemned the Jews for “making void the word of God by their traditions,” never blamed them for omitting any part of that word; but on the contrary expressly recognises the Jewish Canon of the Holy Scripture.  Luke xxiv. 44.  Nor did any of the Apostles ever censure them for omitting from the holy volume any portion of God’s revealed Will.  I need not, I presume, inform you, my Lord, that the Ancient Catalogues of the books of Holy Scripture reject what we call the Apocrypha; nor, if you have ever read those ancient writings, need I tell you, that they contain statements opposed to Scripture, to reason, and to fact. [4b]  It may not be unproductive of good also to inform you, my Lord, that on the publication of the Complutensian Polyglot, by Cardinal Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, so late as the 16th Cent: the preface expressly rejects the apocryphal books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, the additional chapters of Esther, and the Maccabees. [4c]  While if we are to be guided by your infallible Church of Rome regarding the Canon of Holy Scripture, we must reject the Epistle to the Hebrews,—perhaps the most important of the Epistles,—for, according to the undeniable testimony of St. Jerome, this Epistle was once rejected by the Latin Church.  Perhaps Dr. Newman’s system of “Developement” may be extended from doctrines to facts, and make the Church which once rejected an inspired Epistle and now receives it, equally right, at each period, owing to the amazing spell of infallibility.  With all these facts before you, I think, my Lord, that this “point of difference” might be easily settled.  I pass on to the next on which I will remark—viz.—The Mass.

Your great Cardinal Bellarmine considers this essential to Christianity.  Yet I will venture to assert that no professing Church would entertain the awful notion of a propitiatory sacrifice to the Almighty now—since the atonement made by the holy one and the just once for all on Calvary,—unless with the determination to outbrave the direct testimony of inspiration that “there is no more offering for sin.” Heb. x. 18. [5a]—With this intention it may be, my Lord, that the Latin Church now receives the Epistle to the Hebrews,—just as, receiving the Gospels in which our Lord commands “Drink ye all of this” wine in the Lord’s Supper, she “notwithstanding”—it is her own word—(“non obstante” in the Council of Constance) prohibits the people from receiving it, and thus, in palpable opposition to Christ’s command, robs them of that “Cup which we bless,” and which “is the communion of the blood of Christ.” [5b]  But this doctrine of the mass must stand or fall, according to your own confession, with the Romish figment of transubstantiation.  Now, my Lord, what is the proof of this doctrine?  We are referred by Romish writers to Matt. xxvi. 26. seq. and John vi. 63. seq.  But hear what some of the ablest writers, on your side of the question, acknowledge with respect to these alleged proofs.  Your celebrated Dr. Lingard, ’tis true, tells us that the latter place, viz., “John vi. contains the clearest proof of the Roman Catholic doctrine.”  But what say Doctors equally celebrated in their day, and no less anxious advocates for the peculiarities of Romanism?  Biel, a well-known Romish authority, in Can. mis, and Cusan and Cajetan, both Cardinals, and Thomas Aquinas, your “Angelic Doctor,”—declare, that this “clearest proof,” does not refer to the subject at all!  I will add, my Lord, because Romanists—however loud in their call “tell it unto the Church”—the Church with them always meaning their particular Priest—seem again unwilling to be guided by the opinion of individual Ecclesiastics.  I will add, I say, that your own “infallible” Council of Trent, while luxuriating in a “twofold interpretation” of this passage, and scorning to be “reduced to the poverty of one,” does not dare to pronounce that it refers to the Lord’s Supper. [5c]  But—supposing that it has that reference,—which I believe it has prospectively,—surely our Saviour’s own commentary upon the discourse is worth a thousand glosses of all the Schoolmen—“It is the Spirit that quickeneth,” He says, “the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.”  John vi. 63. [5d]—But we are also referred to the words of institution in Matt. xxvi. 26.—seq.  Now if I do not very much mistake, your friend, Cardinal Wiseman, decides that this place is destructive of the tenet for which he adduces it.  He says in his “Lectures on the Eucharist” that in a sentence where “two material objects are represented as identical, we must plainly understand the passage figuratively.”  But the Catechismus ad Parochos—otherwise called the Catechism of the Council of Trent, says, “When instituting this Sacrament our Lord himself said ‘this is my body;’ the word ‘this’ expresses the entire substance of the thing present; and, therefore, if the substance of the bread remained, our Lord could not have said, ‘this is my body.’”  Undoubtedly it was what Christ held in his hand that he designated by the word “this.”  But, independent of the consideration that it was impossible for our blessed Saviour to hold His Own Body in His Own Hand, I ask what was that?  The Romish opinion is—that the bread was not changed until our Saviour had pronounced the last of these words—“this is my body.”  If this be true, then, it was bread when the word “this” was used, and consequently the bread must have been referred to by that word.  Apply then to this reasoning the indubitable Canon of Dr. Wiseman—Lec. p. 180.—That “it is obviously necessary to fly from the literal meaning of texts which represent two material objects as identical.”  I will detain your Lordship for a moment or two longer on these words of institution.  Do you rest your faith in transubstantiation on these words?  I ask, then, my Lord, by what process you conclude that the words “This is my body,” mean “Let this be my body.”  The latter clearly denote conversion,—the former, according to all phraseology, can denote nothing of the sort.  Or again—with all reverence let me ask it—whether does your Lordship profess to eat the mortal or the immortal body of your Saviour in participation of the Eucharist?  If the former, I suppose St. Paul is explicit in refutation, for he tells us that “Christ dieth no more.”  Rom. vi. 9.  If the latter, I presume the words of institution will not much help you, for when they were spoken Christ had no immortal body to bestow.  On this “point” I will add no more but that your Prince of Controversialists, the author of what Dr. Wiseman calls “Magnificent Controversies,” plainly confesses that “most learned and acute Romanists believe that there is no place of Scripture so express as without the authority of the Church evidently to compel a reception of transubstantiation.”  De Sac: Euc: 1. iii. c. 23.  The value of the “authority” of the Latin Church will not be very highly estimated by any unprejudiced person moderately acquainted with her principles and practices.

I pass on to the third “point,” viz.—Tradition.  Read the following description of your traditions by your own celebrated Dr. Milner, of the “end of controversy” notoriety.  In the twelfth letter of his conclusive work he says—“There are among Catholics divine traditions * * * and there are among many Catholics historical and even fabulous traditions.”  On this point I need add no more except to assure you that no sensible Anglican will ever question that written tradition is a valuable auxiliary in the interpretation of Scripture; while any one acquainted with the wretched fables of oral traditionary transmission in the Church of Rome will heartily unite in the language of Archdeacon Jortin, that “it is a muddy stream of everlasting nonsense.” [7]

I come now to the Authority of Councils:—and here, what Councils are meant?  If I mistake not the Pope, as you call him, is bound by the decrees of only eight.  And surely what are sufficient for “His Holiness” might well be deemed quite enough for his “Subjects.”  Yet De la Hogue tells us that there are eighteen.  There may have been this number, or twice as many, if the Doctor pleases; but can he, or Dr. Wiseman, or any other Doctor induce you or any reasonable man to believe that Councils which contradict each other have all emanated from the spirit of unity and truth?  Do I misrepresent them?  Let us see,—and to be as brief as I can, let one instance suffice.  The Council of Ephesus decreed—“That it should not be lawful to utter, write, or compose any other faith than that which had been defined by the Nicene Fathers; and that if any dared to offer any other Creed, if Ecclesiastics, they should be removed from their office; if laics, that they should be anathematised.”  Labb. et Coss. Concil. t. 3. p. 688.  Compare with this, my Lord, the Creed of Pope Pius, according to the Council of Trent, and then I ask you to answer to your own conscience whether the assembly at Trent, which you call a General Council, was not in direct and irreconcilable opposition to one of the four universally received General Councils of the Church?  Let this suffice on the subject of Councils,—and now we approach the so called “Pope”—not, you may rely upon it, to kiss his toe, or to join in “his adoration;” for who is the Pope, my Lord?  You say he is the Vicar of Christ, and the successor of St. Peter.  But let St. Bernard correct this rashness—“They have not the inheritance of St. Peter,” he says, “who have not the faith of Peter.”  I should like to know which of St. Peter’s writings or which of his traditions contains the twelve New Articles of the Creed of your Pope’s Church.  And as to his being the Vicar of our holy Redeemer let me recommend to you the following passage from the book of Homilies of that Church which you have so unaccountably forsaken—“As the Lion is known by his claws, so let us learn to know these men by their deeds.  What shall we say of him that made the noble King Dandalus to be tied by the neck with a chain, and to lie down before his table, there to gnaw bones like a dog?  Sabel. Ennead. 9. lib. 7.  Shall we think that he had God’s holy Spirit within him, and not rather the Spirit of the devil?  Such a tyrant was Pope Clement the Sixth.  What shall we say of him that proudly and contemptuously trod Frederic the Emperor under his feet, applying that verse of the Psalm unto himself, thou shall go upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon thou shalt tread under thy foot.  Ps. 91.  Shall we say that he had God’s holy Spirit within him, and not rather the Spirit of the devil?  Such a tyrant was Pope Alexander the Third.  What shall we say of him that armed and animated the son against the father, causing him to be taken and cruelly famished to death, contrary to the law both of God and also of nature.  Shall we say that he had God’s holy Spirit within him, and not rather the Spirit of the devil?  Such a tyrant was Pope Pascal the Second.  What shall we say of him that came into his popedom like a fox, that reigned like a lion, and died like a dog?  Shall we say that he had God’s holy Spirit within him, and not rather the Spirit of the devil?  Such a tyrant as Pope Boniface the Eighth.  What shall we say of him that made Henry the Emperor, with his wife and young child to stand at the gates of the city in the rough winter barefooted and bareleged, only clothed in linsey woolsey, eating nothing from morning to night, and that for the space of three days?  Shall we say that he had God’s holy Spirit within him, and not rather the Spirit of the devil?  Such a tyrant was Pope Hildebrand, most worthy to be called a firebrand, if we shall term him as he hath best deserved.  Many other examples might here be alleged, as of Pope Joan the harlot, that was delivered of a child in the high street going solemnly in procession; of Pope Julius the Second, that wilfully cast St. Peter’s keys into the river Tibiris; of Pope Urban the Fifth, that caused five Cardinals to be put in sacks and cruelly drowned; of Pope Sergius the Third, that persecuted the dead body of Formosus his predecessor, when it had been buried eight years; of Pope John the Fourteenth of that name, who, having his enemy delivered into his hands, caused him first to be stripped stark naked, his beard to be shaven, and to be hanged a whole day by the hair, then to be set upon an ass with his face backwards towards the tail, to be carried round the city in despite, to be miserably beaten with rods, last of all to be thrust out of his country, and to be banished for ever.” [8a]  Were these, let me ask you, my Lord, successors of St. Peter, and Vicars of our Lord Jesus Christ?  Oh the blasphemy of such a thought!  Oh the strong delusion which must produce such a notion!  I ask, again, were these the infallible heads of the Church of Rome?  But you perhaps do not believe in the Infallibility of the Pope: you only assert his Supremacy.  Each being equally unfounded, I only now remind you of the words of your famous Bishop Doyle—“Whether we believe the Pope to be infallible or not to be infallible, we are equally good and orthodox Catholics.” [8b]

The next “point” upon our list is the Celibacy of the Clergy.  It is very true that St. Paul said that he would that all men were even as he—that is single.  But this was during a time of persecution when families would have been irksome and injurious to Christian Missionaries.  But the same Apostle when giving permanent instructions concerning the Clerical body directs—“a Bishop must be blameless the husband of one wife.”  1 Tim. iii. 2.  “One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.” v. 4. And again v. 12—“let the Deacons be the husband of one wife.”  Indeed, my Lord, did your fallen Church labour to be identified in Apostacy with the heretics of the first centuries, how could she have better succeeded than in “forbidding to marry?” 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, 3.  And now, hear, from your own authors, the fearful consequences of a celibate Clergy.

Claud D’Expence a very celebrated Parisian divine, writes thus—“Shameful to relate they give permission to Priests to have concubines, and to live with their harlots, who have children by them, upon paying an annual tribute, and in some places they oblige Priests to pay this tax saying they may keep a concubine if they please.”  Espen: Com: ad Cap. 1. ad Tit. Dig: 2.

Hear again, how your Cardinal Baronius writes—“What then was the face of the Roman Church?  How very filthy when the most powerful and sordid harlots then ruled at Rome, at whose pleasure Sees were changed, and Bishopricks were given, and what is horrible to hear and most abominable—their gallants were obtruded into the See of Peter, and made false Popes; for who can say they could have been lawful Popes who were intruded by such harlots without law?  There was no mention of the election or consent of Clergy, the Canons were silent; the decrees of Popes suppressed; the ancient traditions proscribed,—lust, armed with the secular power, challenged all things to itself.”  Bar: Ann: A.D. 912.

This is the system of a celibate Clergy for which you, my Lord, have forsaken that Church which honors “holy Matrimony”—knowing that the Apostle declares that “Marriage is honorable in all.” Heb. xiii. 4. [9]

Our next “point” is—Prayer in the Latin language, of which I presume there was a fair specimen at your late proceedings at Pantasa.  It would be a waste of words to write much upon this subject.  I will therefore merely remind you of the statement of St. Paul in 1 Cor. xiv. 19.  “In the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue,” which compels Cardinal Cajetan to acknowledge—inloco—that “it is more for edification that prayers should be offered in a language understood by Clergy and people, than in Latin.”

Our next point is—the Invocation of Saints.  All Romish writers of the present day seem unanimous in asserting and practising this awful idolatry.  There were some few before who seemed to shrink from it.  Your Dr. Milner does not found the practice on holy Scripture but tradition.  ’Tis true that he refers to Scripture—Letter xxxvi. but suddenly,—evidently from seeing the weakness of his references,—says,—“The Church, however, derived her doctrine on this subject from the Apostles, before the New Testament was written.”  Alas, my Lord, how you “make void the word of God by your tradition!”  What saith our Lord and Master?  “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”  Am I to be told that it is only forbidden to give latria, or supreme adoration, to any but the Almighty?  Your words latreia and douleia are indifferently used in the Bible.  Here you are forbidden to give the one to any being except God.  In 1 Sam. vii. 3. you are forbidden to give the other to any creature.  How then can you reconcile, with the orders of your God, the following most awful prayers?

“We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God; despise not our prayers in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.”—Bishop Riley’s Catechism, Dub. 1830. p. 10.

“Most pure Virgin, conceived without sin, [10a] Thou art the sure refuge of penitent sinners, with reason therefore, I have recourse to Thee.”—Novenas of the B. V. Mary.  Dub. 1833. p. 4.

“O Lady of Heaven and earth,” &c., Ib. p. 12.

“Most prudent Virgin, who by redeeming thy Son Jesus Christ, according to the law, didst co-operate in the salvation of the world; rescue our poor souls from the slavery of sin, that we may be always pure before God.  Hail Mary.”—Ib. p. 21.

St. Joseph, who for so many centuries had actually no commemoration in the Roman calendar, is now exalted to a height of glory, from which the rest of the blessed company are excluded—

“There is no saint in heaven I worship like Thee,

Sweet spouse of our Lady!  O deign to love me.”

And St. Mary is actually made our mediatrix with him—

“With her babe in her arms surely Mary will be,

Sweet spouse of our Lady! my pleader with Thee.” [10b]

Oh! my Lord, as you value His glory who is a jealous God, cease from such refuges of lies as Popery holds out to you.—As you value the Salvation of your soul continue not to serve the creature beside, yea more than, the Creator who is blessed for evermore.  Pray to him whose attribute it is that He hears prayer, and whose gracious promise is that He will answer it.  Dare to show yourself inconsistent, by flinging off the trammels by which you are bound.  And may God direct you by his blessed Spirit to the frame of mind of him who cried—“Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee.”  Ceasing to look to Saints or Angels or deified men and women, may you be directed to the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, and may your attitude be, while here below, not looking to Saint Mary, or any other creature, but “looking unto Jesus.” [10c]

Our next “point” will be, “respect for images.”  Bishop Doyle worded this very cautiously.  But do you pay no more than “respect” to your images?  My Lord, if words have any meaning, Romanists worship images—they give them religious service.  Let us see for a moment.  The Second Council of Nice says—“The honor paid to the image passes to the prototype: and he who adores the image, adores in it the person of him whom it represents.”  Labb: vol. vii. p. 556.—Here is an evident assertion of the “adoration of images.”  While you cannot, my Lord, fail to observe the striking identity of language of this so called Christian Council with that of the heathen idolaters—“not that gold and silver”—say they,—“when fashioned into statues are gods, but that through these images the invisible Gods are honoured and worshipped.” [11a]  And Cardinal Bellarmine, if I remember rightly—says, that “it is most certain that the Nicene Council decreed that images are to be adored with the highest worship.”  Now, my Lord, this Council is one of your eighteen General Councils.  Oh how, then, shall I characterise this idolatry?  We pity the poor heathen who bow down to stocks and stones, but what is their guilt when compared with that of members of Christ’s baptized family committing the same crime?  I may be threatened by those who know no better with the anathema of your “holy Æcumenical Council,”—for verily it does curse enough,—“cursed be the breakers of images,”—“cursed be they who refuse to salute the holy and venerable images.”  But, my Lord, this antiscriptural and irrational anathema will only turn tenfold into the bosoms of its impious pronouncers, while I would with all earnestness call your Lordship’s attention to a curse which I pray God you may never experience, although you are in the fair way for earning it—viz.—Deut xxvii. 15.  “Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.  And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.”

The next “point” is—“Prayers for the Dead.”  Your lately appointed Cardinal—Dr. Wiseman—connects this “point” with the doctrine of Purgatory thus—“the practice is essentially based on the belief in Purgatory.”  Lec. ii.  Now although it is quite evident that Dr. W.’s learning is to a great extent second hand, [11b] there can be no question of his learning by any one who has read his “profoundly learned work,” as I think Mr. Hartwell Horne calls his Horæ Syriacæ; yet it does appear strange that he should, as here, completely confuse things so very different.  Dr. Wiseman must be aware, as every tyro in such matters is, that prayers were offered for the dead long before a Purgatory was dreamed of.  One of the Doctor’s own references proves this, viz.—1 Maccabees xii. 43.—where we read that that prayer was made in reference to the resurrection,—not to release from purgatory.  On the contrary, it is said, that if Judas had not hoped that the dead should rise again, it had been a “superfluous thing to pray for the dead.”  Prayer for the dead in the early Christian Church had a reference to the same, or to an augmentation of their glory—for they prayed even for the saints and martyrs.  Such prayers for the dead, then, could have had no reference to the doctrine of Purgatory, the fire of which, Bellarmine, if I remember, states to be the same as that of hell, differing only in duration.  I therefore dismiss such a PRACTICE, and will say a little on the doctrine upon which, according to Dr. Wiseman, it is founded.  That is—the doctrine of Purgatory.

On this “point” I will first observe, that your most able men have declared it utterly incapable of proof from the holy Scripture, and also that it is in opposition to the doctrine of the ancient Church.  Let us hear a few on each statement.  It is incapable of proof from holy Scripture.  As to this general statement we have the following among others.  “Purgatory was for a long time unknown, and either never, or very seldom mentioned among the ancient fathers.”  Bishop Fisher—in refut: Luther.—And, a Romish Bishop whose “discussion amicale” you are no doubt well acquainted with, observes, that, “Jesus Christ has not revealed the knowledge of Purgatory, so that we can, therefore, only form conjectures on the subject, more or less probable.”  Vol. ii. p. 242.  As to the Scripture proofs alleged by Dr. Wiseman, and others, your own writers plainly assert their insufficiency.  The places usually quoted are: Matt. v. 25, 26. and Matt. xii. 32., 1 Cor. iii. 15. [13a] and 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19.  Now, my Lord, without at all entering into an examination of those places, which my limits will prevent, and which has been unanswerably done a thousand times, I simply remark—That St. Matt. v. 25, 26. has been given up as a proof by your great Maldonatus who says the prison spoken of is hell.  St. Matt. xii. 32. has been abandoned by Card: Bellarmine who confesses that the sin there spoken of was never to be forgiven.  He also confesses that the fire spoken of in 1 Cor. iii. 13. is not meant of Purgatory,—by what process he extracts it, then, from the 15 v. was perhaps best known to himself: and 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19.—has been given up by Father Maguire, a great champion among you. [13b]  This being the case, may we not well conclude that there is no foundation in holy Scripture for the doctrine of Purgatory—the acknowledged foundation of prayers for the dead, according to Dr. Wiseman,—and which, therefore, fall with it.  I am happy in adding the testimony of your celebrated Picherellus that St. John by the one text—Rev. xiv. 13.—“put out the fire of Purgatory.”  In fact, my Lord, as Meagher observes—“The doctrine of Purgatory is of heathen origin, intended to cheat the simple out of their money, by giving them bills of exchange upon another world for cash paid in this, without any danger of the bills returning protested.”

And now, my Lord, I call on you, as a man of sense, as a man of honesty, as a man wishing the salvation of your neverdying soul, to reject a doctrine “which would rob the believer of his peace, which would throw around the glorious attributes of Heaven’s Sovereign the funereal pall of darkness, and obscurity, which would transform a God of love into a God of terror, mingle our paltry satisfactions with the agonies of Calvary, and attach to the seamless robe of Christ’s righteousness woven from Bethlehem to the Cross, the tattered vestments of personal suffering.”

The Sacraments are another “point” of difference mentioned by Bishop Doyle.  You say that there are seven,—we say that there are “two only as generally necessary to salvation.”  Our two Sacraments are, as you are aware—“Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.”  Your five additional Sacraments are: Confirmation, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. [14]  On these, little need be said.  The universally received definition of a Sacrament excludes all of them.  For what is a Sacrament my Lord?  Our Church Catechism defines it thus, in accordance with St. Augustine—“an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ Himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.”  A like definition is given by your own writers.  Thus the Catechismus ad Parochos—de Sac. and Bishop Bossuet—Expos: de la doc. de l’ Egl: Cath. cap. ix.

Confirmation is a sacred rite and of Apostolic origin.  But where did Christ institute it?  No where.  It, therefore, is not a Sacrament.  Penance is a godly discipline, if practiced after a godly sort, but it was never instituted by Christ, and consequently is not a Sacrament.  One of the parts of Penance, according to your Church, is Confession.  And here, one feels a difficulty in addressing a married nobleman of your persuasion, or a bachelor with female relations and friends.  Oh my Lord are you aware of the filthy questions to which married ladies are subject in the Confessional of the Church of Rome?  They may not yet have been proposed to any of your friends: policy, on the part of the wily party with which you have connected yourselves, may have hitherto prevented it.  But you ought to be informed that there is a printed catalogue of the questions which bachelor Priests of your unholy system are in duty bound to propose to married, as well as unmarried, females.  Have you read this catalogue, my Lord?  If you have, your common decency is for ever obliterated from the annals of your family, if any female friend of your’s, under your control, ever confesses to a Romish Priest.  If you have not, as you value even a respectable position in society, read the instructions given to Priests, for hearing Confession, as given in Dens and Baillie, the Maynooth Class books, before you allow any female friend of your’s to attend such Confession.  I will not pollute these pages by giving you even an abstract of them.  They are filthy—they are loathsome, they are beyond description disgustingly offensive.  Break the shackles, my Lord, with which you have voluntarily bound yourself: dare to assert yourself a free man.  Were you chained to the plough as a slave, your mind might be free; but your soul is enchained by the Church of Rome.

Extreme Unction is your next Sacrament.  The Council of Trent goes no farther—except in its Canon as before shown—than to say that Christ “insinuated” this “as it were” a Sacrament.—“INSINUAVIT”—“TANQUAM”—while their reference to James v. 14. is suicidal, for the words—“the Lord shall raise him up”—εγερει [15a]—show that it has no reference to the dying, which indeed your Cardinal Cajetan confesses—inloco—where he also denies the Tridentine “insinuation” of our Lord.  Titular Bishop Doyle informs us also—p. 101.—of his “Abridgement of the Christian Doctrine”—or rather his edition of.  Tubbervill’s older work—“the time is uncertain” when Christ “instituted Extreme Unction.”  Uncertain!  I had thought that nothing could be uncertain to an “infallible” Church.

Your next additional Sacrament is: Holy Orders.  Now, my Lord, although “it is evident unto all men diligently reading the holy Scripture and ancient authors that from the Apostles’ time there have been these Orders of Ministers in Christ’s Church—Bishops, Priests, and Deacons,” yet it no where appears that Christ himself instituted them.  I call upon you, then, either to reject Holy Orders as, or refuse your definition of, a Sacrament.  The last of your additional Sacraments is Matrimony. [15b]  I had thought that Matrimony was instituted in the time of man’s innocency; but your infallible Church, by her definition of a Sacrament, and by pronouncing this one, decides the contrary.  I will only further remark here, that it is most marvellous that a Church which so honors and exalts Matrimony as to make it a Sacrament, should deem it too polluting for those whom she exclusively calls “Spirituals!”

“Faith and justification” are the only other points of difference alluded to by Bishop Doyle. [16]  On these I prefer to give you the decisive statements of the Bible.  “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.”  Mark xvi.  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”  Acts xvi. 31.  “We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”  Rom. iii. 28.  “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”  Gal. ii. 16.  My Lord, “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ.”  He died, the Just One instead of the unjust ones, that he might bring us to God.  His blood cleanseth from all sin.  And although to you “there be Gods many, and Lords many,” to us there is but One—The Father, the Creator,—the Son, the Redeemer,—the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, for “these three are one.”  1 John v. 7.

And now, my Lord, I have done.  I offer no apology for addressing you.  I trust you may be enabled to thank me, however unworthy, for having done so.  I offer no apology for my manner of writing to you.  I have endeavoured to show you “the error of your way,” and if I have used “great plainness of speech” “it is what I could attain unto,” and what I desired.  That God may show you the fearfulness of the step you have taken—the grovelling bondage under which you have placed yourself, and rescue you from that bondage, before it be too late, when your eyes shall have closed upon everything of earth once and for ever, is my fervent prayer; and with every good wish for you, and for the unconscious partner in your guilt,

I beg to subscribe myself,

MY LORD,

Your well-wisher, and obedient humble servant,

G. L. STONE.

Some readers of the foregoing Letter may have expected to find in it some allusion, at least, to what Gavazzi calls “the broken faith of Lord Fielding.”  I have purposely avoided any remarks on the subject; and do not think it necessary to account for the omission.

PRINTED BY T. PAINTER, HIGH-STREET, WREXHAM.

FOOTNOTES.

[3]  Analysis of Divine Faith, p. 359.

[4a]  Omnes libros quos Protestantes, &c.  De verbo dei. lib. 1. cap. 10.

[4b]  2 Es. viii. 33.  Eccles. iii. 3, 30.  Comp. Eccles. vii. 20.  Rom. iii. 20. 1 John i. 8.  Tobit. vi. 16, 17.  2 Mac. xiv. 41, 46.  Comp. Tobit. v. 12 and xii. 15.  While the books of Maccabees seem to represent Antiochus to have died three times!  1 Mac. xvi. 6.  2 Mac. i. 16. ix. 28.

[4c]  Cardinal Cajetan also rejects the Apocrypha.  Com: in Om: authen: vet: testam.  Paris, 1546. p. 481–2.

[5a]  Cardinal Cajetan in 2 Thess. 2. speaks of the “Sacrificum altaris” as a matter merely of traditionary authority, while, your Bourdeaux New Testament wishes to make it Scriptural also, as appears by its horrid falsification of Acts xiii. 2. by rendering it—“as they offered to the Lord the Sacrifice of the Mass.”  le Sacrifice de la Messe.  What will not Popery do, to gain a point?  Your Catechism of the Council of Trent says—“Our Lord himself, at his last Supper, offered to his Eternal Father his precious body and blood, under the appearances of bread and wine, at the same time declaring himself ‘a Priest for ever according to the Order of Melchisedec.’”  Was a greater falsehood every uttered?

[5b]  “The Ministers whom we call Deacons, distribute to each one present, a portion of the blessed bread and the wine and water.”  Justin Martyr, Apol. 1.

[5c]  “Cum ea geminæ interpretationis opulentia de S. Johannes testimonio Ecclesia frueratur, quarum utraque probationem ab hœreticis inde deductum impugnabat, ad unius tantummodo paupertatem non esse redigendam.”

[5d]  St. Augustine’s Commentary on this is well worth your reading.

[7]  Dr. Milner tells us Letter 12—that “the English Testament puts the word ‘Ordinances’ in 1 Cor. xi. 2. instead of ‘Traditions,’ contrary to the original Greek,” &c.  It is remarkable that, notwithstanding this, in the edition of the Rhemish Testament printed by Coyne in Dublin in 1825, “Ordinances” is found, and not “Traditions.”  So much for the authority of our titulars.

[8a]  Second Book of Homilies.

[8b]  Reply to the Appendix of the Bishop of Fern’s Charge—p. 7.

[9]  The Achilli trial is fresh in the recollection of all.  View this matter as you may,—whether Dr. Newman was a libeller, or Dr. Achilli a debauchee,—it proves your system to be what your own celebrated Espenseus long ago called it—“A Custom House of sin.”  Ubi sup.

[10a]  Is not this at variance with the Blessed Virgin Mary’s own confession?  St. Luke i. 46, 47.

[10b]  Warden Neale’s Lectures.  Lond. Cleaver. 1852.

[10c]  On the subject of angel worship, so fearfully practiced in your Church, against the express command of St. Paul, Coloss. ii. 18, 19, I will here remark that your authors, are horribly reckless in quotation.  Titular Bishop Doyle actually refers to St. John’s PROHIBITED angel worship,—Rev. xix. 10. xxii. 8–9.—in proof of its propriety,—and the Catechism of the Council of Trent says—“Jacob invoked the blessing not only of the angel whom he saw, but also of him whom he saw not.  Gen. xxxii. 26. xlviii. 16.” pretending to be ignorant of the fact that it was the same angel—the Angel of the Covenant—the second Person of the blessed Trinity—“God whom he saw face to face”—“even the Lord God of Hosts.”

[11a]  Vide Arnob.

[11b]  In Dr. Wiseman’s reply to Dr. Turton’s work on the Eucharist I find the following—

“I quoted the Meletamata Sacra—I suppose the learned Professor (Dr. Turton) was unacquainted with the work; so, like a good controversialist—certainly, not like a good scholar—he goes to another work of Titman’s, and from that attempts to confute me.  This is his Commentary on St. John. * * * * The words from the Meletamata Sacra are as clear as those from the Commentary; nor will any quotation from the latter obscure or invalidate the former, p. 186.

“There are readers who, without any intimation from me”—writes Dr. Turton—“will be aware of my astonishment at the sight of the foregoing extract from the reply; and every reader will be enabled to form some judgment on the subject, when I state, that the Meletamata Sacra and the Commentary on St. John are the same work.  And thus Dr. Wiseman, after treating familiarly of “the learned Titman”—after quoting the Meletamata Sacra—after supposing that the Cambridge Professor was unacquainted with that work—Dr. Wiseman, I say, after all this—writes himself down, either as a person who did not know that the work, called Meletamata Sacra, is a Commentary—the Commentary—Titman’s Commentary—on St. John—or as one who aimed at inducing people to believe that the Meletamata Sacra and the Commentary are different productions. * * * Now, whether this misrepresentation proceeded from ignorance or design, there is something about it so wrong—wrong in such a manner and to such a degree—that I have the greatest difficulty in deciding upon my future course.  If I could persuade myself that Dr. Wiseman had ever had the Meletamata Sacra open before him, I should certainly stop here.  No earthly consideration could induce me to add another sentence to these observations. * * * * If Dr. Wiseman was—as he professed to be—acquainted with the Meletamata Sacra, he has used language, respecting that work, and myself, which, as I have already intimated, must effectually preclude all further attention, on my part, to his Reply.  If, again, he really was not—as he professed to be—acquainted with that work, still his language cannot but raise great doubts with regard to the course that ought to be pursued.  In truth Dr. Wiseman’s proceeding, even when viewed in the most favorable light, is so marked by every thing that is contrary to propriety, and excites so much suspicion as to the rest of his book, that my undertaking has now become irksome beyond expression.”  Dr. Turton’s Observations on Dr. Wiseman’s Reply.  p. 130 to 135.

I will here add that Dr. Turton’s “suspicions” have been more than realised as regards Dr. Wiseman’s performances.  Dr. Wiseman tells us in the preface to the first edition of his “Lectures, p. viii.” that “he has in general drawn his quotations of the fathers from the useful compilation of Messrs. Kirk and Barrington.”  In the address “to the reader” in the second edition of this work we are informed that “the venerable Prelates (Dr. Poynter and Dr. Trevern) and many other Catholic writers, have made use of the Faith of Catholics in their publications.” p. p. vii. viii.  Now what is the fact, as regards this Romish text book?  Let the title of the following book give you some idea—“Romish Misquotation: or certain passages from the Fathers, adduced in a work entitled—“the Faith of Catholics,” &c., brought to the test of the originals, and their perverted character demonstrated, by the Rev. Richard T. P. Pope.”  A work which verifies its title beyond the possibility of refutation.

Since the above went to press I have looked into titular Bishop Doyle’s “Analysis of Divine Faith.”  I find that he also used Barrington’s Compilation.  His words are: p. 176: “The testimony of these witnesses”—the fathers—“I shall insert here, copied or translated from the original records, by the late Rev. Joseph Barrington, whose fidelity and accuracy in this respect, has never, to my knowledge, been impeached or even suspected.”  I will only say here, that a more gross and unprincipled misrepresentation and perversion of the testimony of the Ancients was never published.  See Pope’s Roman Misquotation.  London.  Holdsworth. 1840.

Mr. Faber in his last edition of “the Difficulties of Romanism” has left little for any one else to say in proof that the Fathers are opposed to the peculiarities of the Latin Church.  ’Tis true that Mr. Husenbeth has published a ponderous reply—approaching to a thousand pages.  Mr. Faber’s little pamphlet demolishes the huge affair.  Its title is: as well as I remember—“An Account of Mr. Husenbeth’s refutation of the argument of the Difficulties of Romanism, upon the entirely new principle of a refusal to meet it.”

The testimony of the Syrian Fathers alleged by Dr. Wiseman in favor of the doctrine of transubstantiation in particular, is shown to be thoroughly adverse to it by the great and good Doctor Lee.  See his Visitation Sermon.  I am really surprised that Dr. Wiseman could ever have appeared in public after the publication of Dr. Lee’s Sermon: yet, perhaps, one might have been prepared for such want of common propriety, by his previous conduct, after Dr. Turton’s triumphant exposure of him and of his arguments.

[13a]  Your French Testament of Bourdeaux, 1686—most disgracefully has here—“he shall be saved, yet so as by the fire of Purgatory”—ainsi toutefois comme par le feu du Purgatoire.

[13b]  Discussion with Mr. Pope.  Report, p. 150.  Comp. p. 158.

[14] The Canons of your Council of Trent on these are as follow—

“If any one shall say that Confirmation is not a true and proper Sacrament—let him be damned.”  Can. 1.  De Confirm.

“If any one shall say that Penance is not truly and properly a Sacrament—let him be damned.”  Can. 1.  De pæn. Sac.

“If any one shall say that Extreme Unction is not truly and properly a Sacrament—let him be damned.”  Can. 1.  De Sac.  Ex. Unc.

And so of the others.  I will here just say that this Canon adds “instituted by Christ”—institutum.—We shall presently see that this is an advance from the “insinuatum” of the Council.

[15a]  Where did your Testament get “ease him?”

[15b]  You are aware, perhaps, of the gross mistranslation of your Testament, in Eph. v. 32. to support this notion.—μυστηριον is mystery, not sacrament.  But your French new Testament is bolder still, and actually foists in the words—le Sacrement de Mariage in 1 Cor. vii. 10.—and again in 2 Cor. vi. 14. and in 1 Tim. iv. 3.  This is a very rare book,—a small thick octavo of 774 p. p.: I have examined it, but believe that there are now very few copies to be found.  I saw one purchased by the present Lord Bishop of Cashel, at a public auction, for the enormous sum—if my memory does not fail me—of £40.  Bishop Kidder, I think first called public attention to it—next Mr. Grier—and Archdeacon Cotton, in 1827, republished Bishop Kidder’s tract, with notes.  I add here, that the book was published—“avec approbation et permission,” abundantly.

[16]  I need scarcely say, however, to any one but moderately acquainted with the controversy, that the mere titles of the points of difference would occupy ten times the space of Bishop Doyle’s whole letter to Mr. Robertson.  Willett’s Synopsis Papismi will afford a fair specimen to those desirous of one.

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Table of Contents

A LETTER TO LORD FIELDING.

LETTER, &c.

FOOTNOTES.

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