PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.

THE Complete Exposition of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Protestant Established Church contained in the Apology of Bishop Jewell, offers such a full and perfect Reply to the Work of Mr. Butler, that any further attempt to throw light on the subject of those differences which have existed, and ever must exist, between Protestantism and Popery, may in the first instance appear a work of supererogation. But when we find this incontrovertible work has existed for so many ages, and that although in our Country the Superstitions of Popery have manifestly decayed; still the exertions and attacks of individuals have by no means relaxed: when we perceive that at this very hour the Romish Church is endeavouring, to aid their

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cause, not by Arguments founded on Justice and Reason, but by the secular means of Pecuniary Resources: when this is the case, a few farther observations cannot be considered in any respect irrelevant.

The Popish Writers, who have most violently exclaimed against the injustice of Protestants in attributing to Papists that profession of Faith which in reality they do not hold, have invariably appealed to the Proceedings of the Council of Trent, and the Articles of Belief there laid down by Pope Pius IV. as the Standard of their Faith. We shall therefore in the present instance offer to our Readers a few Remarks on that celebrated Creed: a Copy of which is here inserted from Mr. Butler's Book of the Roman Catholic Church.

"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, "Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things "visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus "Christ, the only begotten Son of God; Light "of Light; true God of true God; begotten, "not made; consubstantial to the Father, by "whom all things were made; who for us men "and for our Salvation, came down from Heaven,

"and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost, of the

Virgin Mary, and was made Man; was cru"cified also for us, under Pontius Pilate, suffered "and was buried, and rose again the third day,

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according to the Scriptures, and ascended into "Heaven; sits at the right hand of the Father, "and will come again with glory to judge the

living and the dead, of whose kingdom there "will be no end: and in the Holy Ghost, the "Lord and Life Giver, who proceeds from the "Father and the Son; who, together with the "Father and the Son, is adored and glorified; "who spoke by the Prophets; and one Holy "Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess "one Baptism for the Remission of Sins; and "I expect the Resurrection of the Body, and "the Life of the World to come. Amen.

"I most firmly admit and embrace Apostolical "and Ecclesiastical Traditions, and all other "Constitutions and Observances of the same "Church.

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"I also admit the Sacred Scriptures, accord

ing to the sense which the Holy Mother "Church has held, and does hold, to whom it

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""

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belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures; nor will I "ever take or interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the "Fathers.

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"I profess also, that there are truly and properly Seven Sacraments of the New Law, "instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and for "the Salvation of Mankind, though all are not

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necessary for every one; viz. Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony, and that they "confer Grace; and of these, Baptism, Con"firmation and Order cannot be reiterated "without Sacrilege..

"I also receive and admit the Ceremonies of "the Catholic Church, received and approved "in the Solemn Administration of all the above " said Sacraments.

"I receive and embrace all and every one of "the things which have been defined and de"clared in the Holy Council of Trent, concern"ing Original Sin and Justification.

"I profess likewise, that in the Mass is offered "to God a true, proper and propitiatory Sacri"fice for the living and the dead; and that in "the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially the Body "and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there "is made a Conversion of the whole Substance " of the Bread into the Body, and of the whole "substance of the Wine into the Blood, which Conversion the Catholic Church calls Transub"stantiation,

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"I confess also, that under either kind alone, "whole and entire, Christ and a true Sacrament " is received.

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"I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, "and that the Souls detained therein are helped by the Suffrages of the Faithful,

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"Likewise, that the Saints reigning together "with Christ, are to be honoured and invocated,

that they offer prayers to God for us, and that "their Relics are to be venerated.'