And will not the LORD visit for these things? And will it be believed, that the Romanists pray to this saint Dominic, who, if there be truth in Scripture, must find his place in hell's lowest pit Him who has caused the mother of harlots to be drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus! Awake, ye wretched Romanists, from the foul lethargy in which, whilst ye dream of exclusive heaven, ye are wending your way to the warm embrace of your pattern as well as patron saint, the spirit Dominic.

When we find that the disciples of these infallible saints have settled this dispute, then may we listen to the " unanimous readings" of the fathers!

Numerous other disputes and schisms might be adduced, but this, or any one, must be as good as a thousand, to prove the absurdity of the pretence set forth.

XV. I do profess and believe, that there are seven

sacraments of the new law, truly and properly so called, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and

The 1st, An infallible receipt to make a unanimous church by destroying all opposers thereto !

The 2d, A specific and indisputable nostrum to cure all evils arising from a redundant population!

The 3d, A continued increase of the national income, by means of unceasing confiscations!

Lastly, The wiping out of the national debt, by proving heresy against the fundholders: absolute death and confiscation.

For this noble principle they have this strong authority of Cardinal Bellarmine, the greatest champion the church of Rome ever had, who says (Bellar. de Laic.)" If it were possible to root out heretics, without doubt they are to be destroyed root and branch!"

necessary to the salvation of man, though not all of them to every one.

The Council of Florence, held 1438, was the first that determined the number of sacraments to be seven. You will observe, my friends, that they declare these seven sacraments to have been instituted by our blessed Lord himself, meaning in his fleshly sojourn. It will be shown here upon how flimsy a pretext they ground this declaration in three out of the seven points, viz. Holy Orders, Marriage, and Penance. For two more of them, even their priests do not pretend to quote an authority from His Word, namely, Confirmation and Extreme Unction; and it will be shown that the only two sacramental rites (properly so called) which they perform, are the Baptismal and Eucharistic.

Viz. Baptism.

About this, with them, we have no dispute; and though, preparatory to the performance of this rite, they sprinkle the new-born infant, the instant it is born, even before it is washed, with holy water, and whip the little weakly creature with a bunch of rods, to whip the evil spirit out of it (i. e. exorcise it), for which there is no authority in scripture, and afterwards put a huge wooden cross on it,-if they choose to go through all this mumming and mockery, why e'en let them. The Scripture proofs for spiritual baptism have been already given under this head in the Nicene creed.

Confirmation.

The Scripture they quote to prove this to be a sacra

ment, instituted by Jesus Christ himself, they find in Acts, viii. 15. 16. 17, where Peter and John prayed for themselves and the other disciples, that they might receive the Holy Ghost, according to the promise and expectation received from their Lord and Master on his resurrection, and parting with them at Bethany. Luke xx. 49. 50. "For as yet He was fallen upon none of them; only they were (i. e. had been) baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost."

This, then, cannot be said to have been instituted by the Lord himself, seeing that He did not lay on hands in this manner upon any. Besides which, this rite here described was preparatory to undertaking their heavenly mission as apostles and preachers. It was not confirmation in faith that they required, after seeing the Lord himself, and hearing and conversing with Him after his resurrection. This was rather the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, to strengthen and miraculously fit them for their apostolic mission, making the fisherman Peter to speak with the wisdom of a Solomon and the foresight of a David; and, through the same Spirit, to see clearly, and describe minutely, events perhaps two thousand years distant.

But confirmation, as used by the Romanists, implies, as in our Church, the confirmation or ratification of the vows and promises made for us by our Christian sponsors at our christenings; and which, when we come of an age to understand, we are bound ourselves to take upon us to perform. Now, as this confirmation is a consequence of the wholesome practice of infant

baptism, and as no infants which might have been baptized during the period of our blessed Lord's earthly ministry, principally the last year of his life, could, before his death, have been old enough themselves to ratify the promises made for them, He could not have instituted this rite Himself.

This, then, is an incorrect assertion, and, by consequence, no sacrament.

Eucharist.

As this will be fully considered under the head of Transubstantiation, the reader is referred to Art. XVII. (page 85), for the opinions entertained by Romanists on this most important subject.

Penance.

With respect to this sacrament of penance, properly understood, they are now themselves beginning to be so much ashamed (though the priests in Ireland enjoin the performances of pilgrimages and penance, in this way to take heaven by storm), that, for Scripture proof of the sacrament, they give John, xx. 23. "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." Thus jesuitically substituting "absolution" for penance. But this is merely blinking the question, and does not at all refer to confession, and consequent absolution; for not only do the Romish priests inflict these penances (fleshly mortifications) upon their parishioners, but many thousands of people in Ireland yearly undertake them, in order to keep all

square with the Virgin Mary. I dare to say I shall not be believed unless I produce a document to prove the truth of this assertion; therefore, to this end, as well as to enable Englishmen entirely to comprehend the nature of penance, as well as how it is performed, I deem it well to give in Appendix III. a note published with a sermon delivered at Westport Church, in the county of Mayo, giving a description of a pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, a large mountain in the neighbourhood of that place, the same on which St. Patrick stood, when he, with the assistance of an iron sheep bell, which came from heaven on purpose, hurled destruction at the mother of all "sarpents," (Anglice, serpents). Heaven lent his arm such strength on this grand occasion and he wielded so mighty a blow, that the bell, recoiling from the body of the "mother of all the sarpents," came back again into his hand! whilst the mother of the reptiles was precipitated into a pond at the bottom of the mountain, where she lies to this day. When she died, all her progeny, in all parts of Ireland, died instanter. This was rather an Irish operation, to destroy the mother for the sake of getting rid of the progeny after it was born and had multiplied exceedingly; but we are credibly assured that it succeeded à merveille! I should not have insulted the understanding or patience of my readers in the relation of a legend so stupid as the above, were it not for the purpose of showing them, that there is nothing too absurd for the Romanists implicitly to believe, if told them by a priest. And, as a proof that they do believe this farrago of nonsense, I instance the numbers of