A portraiture of the Roman Catholic religion : or, an unprejudiced sketch of the history, doctrines, opinions, discipline, and present state of Catholicism : with an appendix containing a summary of the laws now in force against English and Irish Catholics

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Preface

SINCERELY devoted to the great cause of Catholic Emancipation, yet zealously attached to the religion of Protestants, I hesitated for some time on the propriety and usefulness of publishing the result of my inquiries concerning the faith and worship of Roman Catholics. To encounter the prejudices and mistakes of my friends, and my enemies, if I have any, by taking, what some will call, a favourable view of the Church of Rome, presented no contemptible obstacle to my mind. Yet, convinced that hitherto no Protestant writer has done full justice to the subject, I was not willing to forego the pleasure of, at least, endeavouring to shew, that the religion of our ancestors has been mistaken, and that unworthy and groundless alarms are excited in consequence of that mistake. Some of my friends, themselves favourably inclined towards the claims of Catholics, had their fears, that if I drew a true portrait of the Catholic Church, so far from serving, I should considerably injure the

a

1490£,<:*

Vlll ciscd towards me. When I first suggested to them the plan and design of this work, I was a perfect stranger, otherwise than as I might be known through the medium of my former publications ; but they all earnestly urged me to undertake it, and to form my account of their Church and tenets from their own formularies, and writings of acknowledged authority among them, and not from the publications of their adversaries. They, moreover, advised me to distinguish between the Articles of their Faith, and the opinions of individuals. With these intimations, and this advice, seconded by the greatest condescension and goodness in procuring me such books as lay in their power to supply me with, they left me to my own impressions, without, in the most distant or slight degree, attempting to influence me in my inferences or conclusions. If, therefore, I have erred in my statements, the fault must be my own — if I be correct, I owe it not to any positive assistance, otherwise than by books and general advice ; and I may be allowed to claim, at least, the merit of patient industry and impartial investigation. The name of the gentleman, who kindly furnished me with the short view of the arguments in support of the Pope's supremacy, is given along with that paper.

When, on a former occasion, I ventured

IX before the public as the author of a Portraiture of Methodism,1.' a system of faith supported by people very different in many of their habits and views from those whose history I have now attempted to delineate, I felt myself secure in the general accuracy of all my statements. I wrote with freedom, because 1 knew it was impossible for me materially to err : but in this instance, I must confess, almost every page has been committed to press with fear and trembling, lest I should injure, through my mistakes, rather than promote by the faithfulness of my representations, a cause in which I feel a deep and serious interest — THE EMANCIPATION OF ROMAN

* Perhaps I may be allowed, in allusion to that work, in this place to say, that, had I been aware or' the ill use which some persons, professed enemies of the Methodists, have since made of some facts therein stated, I certainly should not have felt myself free to have communicated them ; and even could I have conceived it possible, that the general strain of writing pursued in the Portraiture of Methodism could have been construed into an indirect attack on a numerous and valuable body of my fellow Christians, among whom I have still the pleasure to enumerate some of my warmest and most affectionate friends, I should have paused ere I had written any thing that could be regarded as disrespectful to religion, or painful even to the harmless prejudices of any pious and well-meaning Christian. With these concessions, which 1 make in the most voluntrry manner, I wish to be perfectly understood, that I have no fact to contradict — no statement of consequence to deny.

CATHOLICS, AND THE REPEAL OF ALL THOSE DISGRACEFUL PENAL STATUTES WHICH AGGRIEVE AND OPPRESS THE DISSENTERS OF THIS GREAT AND ENLIGHTENED EM- PIRE.

Ever accustomed freely and openly to express my sentiments, religious or political, whatever inconveniences I might suffer in consequence, I have not hesitated, in the following pages, at times, to write in terms which I fear will not prove pleasing to any party. In mentioning the Fathers, for instance, on page 25, if I have seemed to speak with disrespect concerning those venerable sages, it has not been because I feel no regard for the opinions or the reasonings of many of the ancient and primitive defenders of our common salvation; but I am nevertheless convinced, that an implicit reliance on the reasonings or decisions of even those early writers is injurious to the cause of truth, and the real interests of religious inquiry ; and 1 may here add, that in asserting that the Fathers have agreed in hardly a single point of doctrine or discipline, I am supported by no less an authoritv than our own Royal Martyr (as he is oddly termed), Charles I., who speaking of these very writers, in his conference with the Marquis of Worcester, A. D. 1646, in

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Ragland Castle,* thus expresses himself: " I discover no Father's nakedness, but deplore their infirmities, that we should not trust in arms of flesh. Tertullian was a Montanist ; Cyprian a Rebaptist ; Origen an Anthropomorphist ; Jerome a Monoganist ; Nazianzen an Angelist ; Eusebius an Arian : St. Austin had written so many errors, that he wrote a book of Retractations ; and, indeed, they have often contradicted one another, and sometimes even themselves.''

If in some instances it should be thought I have written with too much freedom respecting the Church establishment of this country, or rather against Church and State unions in general, I beg it may be understood, that so far from washing to feel disrespect towards the national Church, I have a sincere and warm regard for the morals and learning of many, nay, of a large majority of our clergy ; and this regard I have never failed to express on all proper occasions.-)- But I am, nevertheless,

* Certamen Re/igiosum, p. 1 14.

•f It may not be improper here to notice, that I am at present engaged in collecting materials for " A POR- TRAITURE of the CHURCH of ENGLAND; or, a View of the Origin, History, Doctrines, Discipline, and present State of the reformed Religion of GREAT BRITAIN." Should any of my readers favour me, through the medium of my booksellers, with their advice or assistance in this undertaking, I shall hold myself under great obligations to them.

Xll decided in my opinion, that the union of Church and State, after the manner in which these things are usually conducted, is a forced and unnatural connexion ; really injurious to the true interests of both, and contrary to the spirit and letter of the New Testament of Jesus Christ.

Many Protestant readers will inquire why I have omitted to notice in the following work, the various prophecies of the Sacred Scriptures which are thought, by some, so clearly to allude to the rise, progress, decline, and destruction of popery. I wish to treat the opinions of those many eminent and excellent writers who have treated on this subject with respect ; but I must throw myself on their candour, while I state, that it is my firm persuasion, no clear and unequivocal proof can be made out, that either Daniel or St. John had an eye peculiarly directed against the Church of Rome, or even against the spiritual head of that church. I perused with attention all that Bishop Newton, Mr. Mede, Mr. Faber, Mr. Kett, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Bicheno, and many other writers have written on the subject, and had prepared a Sec ion on the prophecies supposed to relate to the Church of Rome, and the destruction of Spiritual Babylon; but motives of respect for the opinions of many Protestant writers of the highest celebrity, from whom I have felt

Xlll myself compelled to differ, have induced me, for the present, to withhold my sentiments on these topics. I have been often amused by comparing the various interpretations which commentators have given of the passage in the 13th chapter, and the 18th verse, of the Book of Revelations : — " Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast : for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred, threescore and six." Without pretending to determine which of them is right, I have met with such a confusion and contrariety among learned Commentators on this passage, that I should have thought it impertinent in me to have alluded to any one of them, in treating of the faith of Roman Catholics. It has served, however, to exercise the ingenuity of Expositors of every description. One will have the mystical number to mean the Poj-e — another, Louis XVI. — a third is quite clear that St. John meant thereby to designate Martin Luther, and a large number of expounders have lately discovered that certainly the name of the beast is the number of Napoleon Bonaparte! The Roman Catholic interpreters are quite clear that the mystical Babylon of the Apocalypse is no other than idolatrous Rome, before the introduction of Christianity ; and Sig. Pastorini, in his History of the Church, is decided, that the Reformation in Germany was the iden-

XIV tical smoke of the bottomless pit ! Though some learned Protestants tell us, that Papal, and not Pagan, Rome is clearly the Babylon* of the New Testament ! — yet the late Mr. Simpson seemed quite sure that not to " be partaker of her sins," he must separate from the Church of England! It is somewhat strange, that few, if any one, should have conceived that these meta-

# That Rome is not the Great Babylon of the Apocalypse is very doubtful, because, 1. Babylon is represented as one of the greatest cities in the world (Rev. xvii. 18, and xviii. 18); but modern Rome is a very small city, compared with others, and but the tenth part of what it was. c2. Babylon is one of the strongest cities in the world (Rev. xviii. 7 and 8) ; but Rome is so weak that it has seldom been besieged without being taken. 3. Babylon is one of the most prosperous cities in the world, and was never to know sorrow, till sudden destruction came upon her ; but Rome, though she has had her days of pleasure and prosperity, has had those of affliction and sorrow also, which Babylon is to have but once, that is, when her sudden destruction comes upon her, and not before. (Rev. xviii. 9, 8, 10. Rev. xvii. 19, 21.) 4. Babylon is represented so confident of her own strength, as to flatter herself she shall never be conquered ; but Rome has been frequently a prey to the Goths, Vandals, &c, and therefore might justly fear she might be taken again. 5. Babylon was not to taste the cup of God's wrath before the seventh, or latt vial was poured out (Rev. xvi. 9); but the city of Rome has tasted it often, and was at one time brought to such a desolate state, that neither man, woman, nor child was seen in it for forty days together ; and, lastly, Babylon is seated near the sea, and her merchants were to carry on immense trade and commerce, till the very moment of her ruin (Rev. xviii. 1 1, 19-)> while Rome, since she became the seat of the sovereign pontiffs, has been not only without trade entirely, but even a closed port.

XV phorical allusions might very well be supposed to relate, not to this or that church in particular, but to a general apostasy from the plain and simple doctrine of Christ and his apostles. To this conclusion they might have come, by observing that, whatever else is meant to be understood by the figure, the apostle describes the personified apostasy, by informing us, that " upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, Sec." I wish those who are so desirous of introducing mysteries into the revealed religion of the Son of God would reflect on this ; and then let those who are free on this score cast the first stone at the mysterious Church of Rome.

When I first conceived the idea of the following work, I had a wish and intention of introducing some topics of importance, which upon mature reflection, and experience in the undertaking, I have found it impossible to do. The subject is great and extensive; and to have done justice to every part of it, which I had first projected, would have swelled my work very much beyond its present bulk ; but it is not improbable, should the present volume meet with a favourable reception with the public, that I may be induced to pursue the subject ; by which I shall be able to introduce those points, and particularly

XVI that relating to the origin and progress of the Catholic question, which I have now unavoidably omitted. The history of the Jesuits and the Jansenists would of itself form a highly curious and interesting work ; and a general view of the history of Catholicism in this country since the Revolution of 1688, with a view of its present state in the various countries of Christendom, would not be unworthv the notice and regard of the religious and political world.

The influence which the French Revolution has had on Catholicism was a topic on which I much wished to have enlarged, giving at the same time a general view of the Gallican Church, which at all times has manifested a praiseworthy spirit of independence on the Pope and the Court of Rome. Did not this subject lead too much into extensive detail, I am convinced it would add considerably to the value and interest of my work; at least it would furnish this important inference, that the practice of persecution in any Catholic state has not depended on the influence or authority of the papal power, or the peculiar nature of the Roman Catholic religion ; seeing, that in France, where that influence was ever the least operative, more victims have been immolated at the shrine of bigotry and state ty- •

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ranny than in any other kingdom or state of Europe.*

* On page 50 1 , in a note, 1 have mentioned the name of Lord Petre : since that part was printed, I have met with the following particulars, which I will take this opportunity to introduce : — The character of Lord Petre w as remarkably dignified and amiable; it is thus sketched in the preface to Dr. Geddes's Translation of the Psalms : — " His Lordship's exalted and amiable character will not soon be forgotten. — Adored by his family, the centre of a numerous and honourable band of friends, connected with some of the most illustrious personages in the kingdom, all of whom revered and loved him ; the warm and steady friend of civil and religious liberty ; the soul of the successful attempts in 1778 and 1779, for the relief of his Roman Catholic brethren ; but, in his expanded benevolence, knowing no difference of Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or Infidel, his Lordship seemed to exist only for purposes of charity and munificence : his death (though his conscientious adherence to his religious principles kept him from the public situations to which his birth, his possessions, and his character, entitled him) was generally bewailed as a public loss."

The following circumstance, in which his Lordship bore a principal part, is one of many proofs of Roman Catholic loyalty. In consequence of some occurrences, in the years 1791 and 1792, the committee of the Roman Catholic body, had thoughts of sending the late Dr. Hussey, the titular Bishop of Waterford, to Rome, to clear up the erroneous notions, which, they thought, were entertained there of their proceedings ; and Lord Petre undertook to defray the expenses of the Dr.'s journey. — The instructions given to Dr. Hussey contain the following article : — " If any scruple should be raised about the act of settlement, and limiting the succession of the crown to the Protestant line, Mr. Hussey will not permit that subject to be discussed, because the English Catholics acknowledge no authority to interfere with the succession of their kin^s, but the law of the land, the authority of winch law, they have already solemnly acknowledged by their oath of allegiance of 1774-"

Dr.

If any Protestant should infer, that because I have taken a somewhat favourable view of Popery, as it is called, I am, therefore, inclined to admit the truth of its doctrines, or the scriptural authority of its discipline, let me be permitted to assert, that so far from having become more inclined to admit those doctrines, by the investigations in which I have been necessarily engaged, / am, if possible, more disposed to express my gratitude and praise to the Great Governor of the Universe, that I have been born and educated amtng Protestants, and that I have the unspeakable privilege of deciding for myself what appears to my own mind to be the genuine religion of the Son of God, and what the weak and fallible "commandments of men."

It is not needful for me to say a single word respecting the style and manner in which this publication has been written ; nor how far I have made a good or ill use of the materials before me. These are matters which belong so entirely to the public and the critics, that I must be content to submit to their decisions, as I shall always be happy to profit by their advice.

London, July 18, 1812.

Dr. Hussey's projected journey did not take place : but the above extract of his instructions deserves to be preserved, on account of the true sentiments of loyalty, which it expresses.

Contents

pAGfe,

PREFACE v— xviii.

Section I

Difficulties attending an undertaking of this nature. — Design of the present work. — On the use of the term Catholic. — Papist a term of reproach. — Legal appellation of Catholics in Great Britain . . 1 — 15

Section I

Difficulties attending an undertaking of this nature— Design of the present Work — On the use of the term Catholic — Papist a term of reproach — Legal appellation of Catholics in Great Britain.

J.N narrating the History, and portraying the Character of the Roman Catholic Religion, a most valuable and elaborate mass of materials presents itself. Whatever is venerable in Antiquities, important in History, or interesting in Religion and Politics, calls for consideration in an investigation of this nature. During the long eventful succession of, perhaps, thirteen centuries, the Religion of Christian Rome has possessed the minds of Princes, and guided the

B councils of Politicians in almost all the kingdoms and states of the civilized world.

A subject so extensive in its objects, important in its consequences, and, withal, so remote in its origin, must necessarily be attended with considerable difficulty and obscurity. These unavoidable perplexities are increased by those clouds of superstition, ignorance, intolerance, prejudice, vindictiveness, and mistake, which for centuries have been collecting, in almost impenetrable masses, to shut out the rays of truth and darken every avenue to historical accuracy.

Another Circumstance, particularly unfavourable to the early part of my undertaking, arises in the triteness of the subject. The same truths have been narrated again and again ; the same falsehoods have been stated, defended, and refuted in every possible shape. Syllogisms without number have demonstrated and destroyed the same fact; sophism and argumentation have in their turns exemplified and confused the same event :

One thinks on Luther Heaven's own spirit fell. Another deems him instrument of Hell ;

and as one or other of these mistakes has predominated, the records of history have been twisted to answer any or every purpose. Yet this subject in one point of view remains, as far as I know, untouched : I believe no protestant writer has ever yet attempted to describe the Catholic Church, as distinct from the Catholic Court of Rome; and to display the doctrines and internal discipline of that Church as they are stated and explained by accredited, and universallyacknowledged authors among the Catholics themselves. I know of no writer, who has paid sufficient attention to this obvious truth : that every well informed Christian, of whatever Church or Sect, better knows his own 'opinions, and conceives more justly of the bearings and tendency of his own faith than any other person ; that every Church or Society must be the properest judges of its own doctrine and government. This then is the ground I take ; this the great design of my work, to give a faithful account of the Catholic Religion, in doctrine and discipline; and to represent these points exactly as Catholics themselves understand and describe them. I am to draw a picture of a living object ; and that I may not give an unfair or an improper likeness, I have placed the original before me, rather than copy any picture of the same object that has hitherto been given. But it may be asked, by those who do not discriminate between the candid statement of a fact, and the defence of its consequences, what Protestant, particularly what Protestant Dissenter, will presume to lift up his voice to advocate the cause of the " mother of harlots ?"

Who will venture his reputation in the little band against the myriads of zealots, learned and unlearned, priest and layman, king and subject, to support "the beast with seven heads and ten horns ?" Who, that is not himself " drunk with the wine of her abominations," will plead for " the scarlet whore of fallen Babylon ?" And who, however willing, is " sufficient for these things?" Not the present" writer, truly i he is neither willing nor able to cope with powers so mighty; but he dare plead the cause of justice and of charity; he has sufficient courage to meet the most pointed shafts of prejudice and mistake, armed, as he feels himself, to be, with the invulnerable panoply of truth. Strictly speaking, in describing the Religion of Catholics he has nothing to do with the burning of heretics; the deposition of kings; the interdicts of Churches or of nations, though these matters shall not be overlooked by him. No one can be more willing than himself to reprobate, in the strongest possible terms, the wickedness of Popes, or the arrogance and spiritual tyranny of Priests. He is a Protestant, from long and serious conviction ; but does it, therefore, follow, that he should cherish in his bosom feelings of revenge against those who still adhere to the religion of his ancestors, merely because those ancestors, in some instances, acted unworthy of their Christian calling, and fell into the common snares and common errors of their times ? And he must add, that even could it enter into the design of this work to attempt an apology for the principles, or an excuse for the practices of any part, or of any age of the Catholic Church, it would be no very difficult task to demonstrate, that the crimes by which her annals are disgraced, have in no instance originated from an adherence to any prescribed forms of religious conduct; or any sentiment enforced in her books of devotion and worship.* Much in extenuation might be offered on account of the mental darkness, the political bondage, and the mistaken policy of the ages in which those enormities were committed; while much obloquy would be removed, by distinguishing between the acts of princes and politicians, and those of the heads and ministers of religion.

To state with candour, and to delineate with faithfulness, some of the leading features of Catholic history, and all the great doctrines of the

* " We are never to confound the weakness of the minister with the holiness of his ministry. We respect the sanctuary in which Stephen officiated, — though Nicholas profaned it: we revere the place from whence Judas fell, — and to which Matthias was promoted : the Scriptures respect the chair of Moses, — though they censure several pontifl's who sat in it; and no Catholic canonizes the vices of popes, — though he respects their station and dignity. The pontifical throne is still the same, vvheLher it he filled by a cruel Alexander VI. or a benevolent Ganganelli." See the Rev. Arthur OLeary's Remarks on Mr. Wesley's Letter and Defence of the Protestant Association, p. 39.

Catholic faith, uninfluenced by the zeal of a partisan, or the disingenuous arts of an apologist, is the chief, if not the sole, duty incumbent on the author of this work. If in the discharge of this duty, it should appear that a great majority of our fellow Christians have been, and still are, misunderstood in regard to their tenets, and misrepresented in their history ; and that from these mistakes, to give them no harsher a term, have been generated and fostered a spirit and conduct on the part of Protestants, unworthy of their principles, and impolitic and unjust in the results, a most important point will be attained, and a desirable object accomplished : for the liberal genius of the Protestant doctrines is most assuredly hostile to all acts of oppression, and all sentiments manifestly unjust.

Prejudice, the source of a thousand evils, would be much lessened against our Catholic brethren, were Protestants carefully to abstain from using terms of reproach and invidious epithets. The very name, though erroneous, by which we first designate a real or su pposed enemy, so strongly prepossesses the mind, that no subsequent facts can erase the impression, as long as the first error is persisted in. On this account, a spirit of conciliation will always suggest the propriety of even making some concessions on the side of chanty ; and will infallibly lead to the use of such terms as the adverse parly cannot property object to ; at least, such a mode of expression will be adopted as is not in its obvious tendency degrading and offensive ; and all irritating associations will be carefully avoided.

The first acknowledged generic term given to the followers of Christ, after the one applied to them at Antioch,* seems to be that of Catholic. It was used to distinguish the true Church, or Society, of Jesus from all separate Societies, such as the Donatists in Africa, and other schismatics. It is argued by Protestants, that, strictly speaking, this term was never appropriate; seeing that in no age of the church, after the death of its founder, have Christians been uniform in their belief; or universal as a body. The history of heretics, particularly of those of the two first centuries, furnishes abundance of evidence against the catholicity of any particular church ; though it must be confessed, that the number of ancient heretics has been, in general, improperly stated. Epiphanius counts sixty, after the death of Christ to his own time, the close of the fourth century; and Philastre gives at least one hundred and twenty-two, after the Saviour's mission ; but it should not be overlooked, that many of these supposed heresies were some trilling and often absurd notion, not at all affecting the doctrines of the church. The learned Dr. Larducrf

♦ Acts, c. xi. ver. 26. f History of Heretics, pr 17.

states, that fe most heresies of the two first centuries may be reduced to two kinds." In this conclusion he is partly supported by the early authority of Theodoret.

Chillingworth, the great champion of Protestantism, says, that the meaning of the phrase, Holy Catholic Church in the Apostks' Creed, is " the right the church of Christ, or rather, to speak properly, the Gospel of Christ, hath to be universally believed. And, therefore, the article may be true, though there were no Catholic Church in the world."* This capacious mode of explication seems much more convenient than true : how the holy catholic church could be believed in, were there " no catholic church in the world,5' I must own, with all my repect for Chillingworth, somewhat puzzles and perplexes me.

It is, however, this appellation, as united with the adjunct Roman, that demands immediate consideration. I will not fatigue the reader's patience and my own by wading through the elaborate squabbles of ecclesiastics, about the fact of St. Peter's residence at Rome.f The

* Works, folio, p. 196.

f The curious in this matter may consult the Art. Church of Rome, in Broughton's Historical Library, vol. i. Also Christianisimus Primativus, b. II. ch. i. p. 12. Dr. Benson's

Account, great probability, at least as far as it appears to me, is, that the apostle did visit that city ; and that he was a teacher of Christianity there at the time of his death, during the persecution of the Christians by Nero.

However this may have been, it is a fact, that a pretty regular succession of Roman Bishops may be traced from Alexander I. at the close of the first, or early in the second, century, to Sabinianus, in the beginning of the seventh ; from which time the succession is considered somewhat doubtful for several ages. I am prevented from beginning earlier by my determination to avoid controversy as much as possible; and having compared several catalogues, I find some difference with respect to the first six or seven Bishops, and a little confusion, occasioned in the succession, owing to the discrepancy of opinion relative to the names of Cletusand Anacletus; some contending that these were one and the same Bishop. Perhaps, the most ample list of Popes ever published is the one lately given by an intelligent writer in the Rev. Robert Adam's very candid and liberal publication, en-