divisions and produces new sects in christianity. Hear a late number of the Baptist Banner, speaking of this controversy. It says:

"But to be serious, we cannot believe that any good will follow this debate. But too much excitement is attempted to be gotten up against the Roman Catholics-an excitement bordering on intolerance. Could we feel assured, either from his course in this instance or from a retrospect of his past life, that Mr. Campbell sought this discussion solely to vindicate truth and expose error, and not ostentatiously to exhibit his tact in debate and to reap a pecuniary harvest by a new publication, we might feel less distrust of consequences, and should have some faint hope that probably good would ensue; but credulous, nay, stupid must be the man, who in looking over the circumstances which have concurred in originating this debate, can suppose that any religious or commendable motive prompted him to throw the gauntlet and provoke the controversy. In looking over his past career, a love of truth and a desire to promote the peace and prosperity of Zion, have not been the prominent traits which have marked his character and rendered conspicuous his course. [Bishop P. was here called to order; Mr. Campbell also here observed, that as he had read the worst part of the article he might read the balance; and the point of order being examin. ed, the board decided that he was in order.] We do not speak for other places, but in Kentucky he has caused more serious injury to the cause of religion, more disturbance, more wrangling, collision, and division in society, in a few years, than in our humble judgment, the Catholics can ever do. But we forbear. The debate will take place. The Campbellites will sip delicious wisdom from the lips of their leader. A new impulse will be given to their now drooping state. They will again wage his high claims to competency to reform religion and introduce the Millennium. And Mr. Campbell will have the proud satisfaction of rendering great good-to himself by the sale of another book! This will be about all that will result from this discussion."

I knew not until yesterday that the Baptists were opposed to Mr. Campbell; but as necessarily as the stream flows from its source, do these disastrous effects which the Baptist Banner deprecates, flow from the system which acknowledges no head in religious matters, but allows every individual, qualified or disqualified, to give his own crude fancies for the revelation of heaven.

The Zion's Advocate of the 28th ult. and the Palladium of the 7th inst. give similar testimony against the radicalism of my friend. But spare him the reading. You can now judge of the tree by its fruits: his are bitterness and confusion, those of the Catholics, admitting a supremacy in the church, are order, unity and peace. His rule necessarily creates enmities and endless altercations in the church; the Catholic rule cuts them up by the very roots, and not only arrests their growth, but renders their very existence impossible.

Mr. Campbell said that the Roman Catholic church was an apostacy from the true Church, and that this event, so important in the annals of the world, took place precisely on the 16th of July 1054, when she separated from the Greek church, It is a pity, as he intended to be so particular, that he did not tell us whether it was old style or new. But perceiving the terrible effect of this admission, upon his argument, he retraces his steps, and taking us all aback, he says that the Greek church was not after all the true church of Christ, and thus he has left us as much in the dark as ever. Remember I told him how much it had puzzled the world and would puzzle him to settle that point. I ask him again then, if the Roman Catholic church apostatized from the church of Christ at the period in question, and the Greek church, from which she separated, was as corrupt as herself, where was, at that time, the true church? God's covenant with her, Ezech. xxxvii. 62, was an everlasting covenant of peace, a covenant, like that of day and night, to last for all generations, Jre. xxxiii. 20, 21, al

ways visible, Is. 11. 2. 3. Michers Iv. 1. 2. spread far and near, and teaching many nations, Ps. XI. 8. Dan. xi. 35. 44. Malach. 1. 11. The pillar and the ground of truth, unfailing; the gates of hell were never to prevail against her. If all these glorious prophecies were not fulfilled in the Roman Catholic church, in what other church were they fulfilled? When will my friend answer me?

Mr. C. observes that the Roman Catholic church or the see of Peter, assumes to be the representative of Christ in all his power, ecclesiastical and political, and that as Christ was supreme head over all the earth, temporal and spiritual, so was Peter, and so are his successors. I have already shewn that this is no part or parcel of the Catholic doctrine. The pope's power is spiritual, his kingdom like that of Christ, is not of this world. He has not a solitary inch of ground over which to exercise temporal authority in any territory on earth, beyond the narrow limits of the papal states; and the authority with which he is there invested rather originated in the people's preference of the bishop's crosier to the kingly sceptre, than in any views he could himself, have cherished of worldly aggrandizement. Hear Gibbon, III. vol. p. 230., Phil. 1830. "The want of laws could only be supplied by the influence of religion, and their foreign and domestic counsels were moderated by the authority of the bishop. His alms, his sermons, his correspondence with the king and prelates of the west, his recent services, their gratitude, an oath, accustomed the Romans to consider him as the first magistrate. The christian humility of the popes was not offended by the name of dominus or lord, and their face and inscription is still apparent on the most ancient coins. Their temporal dominion is now confirmed by the reverence of a thousand years; and their noblest title is the free choice of a people, whom they had redeemed from slavery."

I had a great deal of other ground to go over on this point, but my time is limited; and I will now proceed to review one of the most dreadful charges ever made against a pope of Rome, and to show that it is totally without foundation.

If I understood Mr. C. aright, he asserted, that it was the pope Gregory_consecrated Phocas the centurion king, in the church of St. John the Baptist in Constantinople, and that he did so, contrary to every law of God, or man, for the base, the iniquitous purchase of the title of pope. (Mr. Campbell reasserted the charge.)

Now I aver that the charge is unfounded and false. I mean no disrespect to Mr. C. He would not intentionally deceive this assembly or wilfully sustain by calumny an otherwise hopeless cause. But leaving motives to their proper judge, I shall now prove to this audience that he has stated what is not true, and alleged odious charges against the pope which he cannot substantiate. On his own reputation for accuracy and his knowledge of history let the penalty for ever rest, of having been this day detected before so many of his fellow citizens, egregiously at fault in both. Hormisdas king of Persia, indig nant at the defeat of his general Varamus (see Natalis Alex. sæc. sext. Art. v. p. 226,) sends him a petticoat in derision. The war is renewed; Mauritius loses 12000 troops, taken prisoners by the Chagan; he refuses to release them by paying the humble pittance set as a price on the head of each by the victor; they are butchered in cold blood; people, shocked at his avarice and cruelty revolt-Mauritius abdicates

his

the people choose the centurion, Phocas, to reign over them in his stead; the patriarch of Constantinople consecrates Phocas king, in the church of St. John the Baptist, in C. P. The entire story is thus related by Gibbon.

"The troops of Maurice might listen to the voice of a victorious leader, they disdained the admonitions of statesmen and sophists, and when they received an edict which deducted from their pay the price of their arms and clothing, they execrated the avarice of a prince insensible of the dangers and fatigues from which he had escaped: and every age must condemn the inhumanity or avarice of a prince, who by the trifling ransom of six thousand pieces of gold, might have prevented the massacre of 12,000 prisoners in the hands of the Chagan. In the first fervor of indignation, an order was signified to the army of the Danube, that they should spare the magazines of the province, and establish their winter-quar ters in the hostile country of the Avars. The measure of their grievances was full they pronounced Maurice unworthy to reign, expelled or slaughtered his faithful adherents, and, under the command of Phocas, a simple centurion, returned by hasty marches to the neighborhood of Constantinople.

"The rigid and parsimonious virtues of Maurice had long since alienated the hearts of his subjects; and a vile plebeian, who represented his countenance and apparel, was seated on an ass, and pursued by the imprecations of the multitude.* The emperor suspected the popularity of Germanus with the soldiers and citizens; he feared, he threatened, but he delayed to strike; the patrician fled to the sanctuary of the church; the people rose in his defence, the walls were deserted by the guards, and the lawless city was abandoned to the flames and rapine of nocturnal tumult. In a small bark the unfortunate Maurice, with his wife and nine children, escaped to the Asiatic shore; but the violence of the wind compelled him to land at the church of St. Antoninus, near Chalcedon, from whence he despatched Theodosius, his eldest son, to implore the gratitude and friendship of the Persian monarch. For himself, he refused to fly. His body was tortured with sciatic pains, his mind was enfeebled by superstition; he patiently awaited the event of the revolution, and addressed a fervent and public prayer to the Almighty, that the punishment of his sins might be inflicted in this world, rather than in a future life. After the abdication of Maurice, the two factions disputed the choice of an emperor; but the favorite of the blues, was rejected by the jealousy of their antagonists, and Germanus himself was hurried along by the crowds, who rushed to the palace of Hebdomen, seven miles from the city, to adore the majesty of Phocas, the centurion. A modest wish of resigning the purple to the rank and merit of Germanus was opposed by his resolution, more obstinate, and equally sincere: the senate and clergy obeyed this summons, and as soon as the patriarch was assured of his orthodox belief, he consecrated the successful usurper in the church of St. John the Baptist." Gibbon; sixth Amer. Edit. of the Hist. of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Page 184. Vol. iii. A. D. 1830.

Thus it appears that Gregory did not act the part assigned him by my friend, and that this accusation turns out to be, like a thousand others, taken up at second hand, without examination or suspicion of falsehood or incorrectness, against the pope, a mere fabrication without a shadow of foundation in history! What will this enlightened audience now say? What apology is my friend prepared to make for having unconsciously led them into error? This case may illustrate many others that are similar, and I beg it may not be forgotten. Napoleon, Pepin, &c. are parallels, the pontiff could not resist the will of an entire people; and it would only perpetuate lawless violence and disorder to contest a claim to the throne, to which no one was able to support his rival pretensions. The pope, seeing that the

* In their clamors against Maurice, the people of Constantinople branded him with the name of Marcionite or Marcionist; a heresy, (says Theophylact, Lib. viii. c. 9.) μετα τινος μωρας ευλάβειας ευήθης τε και καταγελαστος. Did they only cast out a vague reproach, or had the emperor really listened to some obscure teacher of those ancient Gnostics?

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people, who had the right, selected themselves. a new ruler, like a true lover of peace and friend of established order, congratulated Phocas on his election, and used the language of scripture, be it observed, in his letter, because anarchy was at an end, and an orthodox and generous prince substituted on the throne of C. P. for a tyrant, a miser, and a suspected Marcionite heretic. Mauritius may have died penitent, but he reigned without love for his subjects.

ture.

We were spoken to of the president of the U. S. He has the same power and authority as Washington had while the constitution of the country endures. And as long as the constitution of the church endures, the successors of Peter have the authority, of Peter. If there was ever to come a time, when the true church was to fail, Jesus Christ was bound by his wisdom and love to foretell it. If it was his intention to forsake the church, and if the power and authorities of all the regularly constituted orders were to fail, he never should have given it the promise of perpetual endurance, and the precise period, and all the different circumstances of its defection should have been more clearly and emphatically revealed, than any other event in the scripIt is needless to add that such defection is not foretold; but on the contrary it is repeatedly declared by the Son of God, that his church should stand for ever, that his Holy Spirit should abide with it all days, that the gates of Hell should not prevail against it. What is the meaning of the words "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it?" In the east, laws were enacted, justice administered, and the sages and people assembled for deliberation at the gates of the cities. Hence the expression denotes, wisdom, subtlety, malice. Again, when a city was invaded by a hostile army, the hottest fighting was around its gates. In them and around them, were all the energies of the conflicting hosts put forth-and on the issue of the battle was suspended a nation's weal or woe. Thus by the gates of Hell are clearly meant, all the craft and power of Hell, the malice of heresy and eraround ror, the force and violence of persecution. All these shall rage the church in vain, for Christ is in the citadel, and his Holy Spirit is the sentinel that guards its outposts and defences from being overthrown by error. But he says that the apostles had all power given to them -grant it but what was the nature of that power? what was its extent? It was a power to teach all nations. The weapon of their warfare was not carnal but spiritual; "for our wrestling," says St. Paul, Ephes. vi. 12. "is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the "Behold," says Christ, "I spirits of wickedness in the high places." send you as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry not with you scrip nor staff, &c. Be not solicitous for the morrow, what you shall eat, or wherewithal you shall be clothed. Behold the lilies of the field, they sow not, neither do they spin-and yet your Heavenly Father clotheth them-careth for them-how much more ye, &c." By patience they were to run towards the fight proposed to them, and by patience they triumphed over their persecutors. The pope, should occasion require, Were will show himself the faithful imitator of these heroic models. he stript to-morrow of all external, temporal power whatever, and a poor wanderer among the mountains of the moon in Abyssinia, he would have no less power, and would be, for aught I know, no less respected, than he is at present. His chief authority is, thank God,

such as this world can neither give nor take away. It was given for the salvation of the people of God, and as long as there is a soul to be saved, a sheep to be brought back to the fold, or a spiritual conquest achieved for the glory of Christ, and the praise of his grace, so long. shall that power survive; when all else decays, itself, amidst vicissitudes unchanged, shall flourish in immortal youth.

For our sakes, in this distant province of creation, and at this late age, as well as for those who saw the Word made flesh conversing among men, was this commission given and this authority conferred. Our souls were no less dear to Christ than were those of the first believers of glad tidings-and Cincinnati was the rival of Jerusalem in the Savior's love! With him there was no exception of personsneither past nor future. He provided for every casualty which he foreknew should happen in the lapse of ages-he anticipated every favorable or adverse circumstance that should affect the condition of his church, and with divine wisdom he adapted its constitutions to the peculiar exigencies of every age and nation and individual believer, until we reach "the consummation of the world." He sent his apostles with power to ordain faithful men, who should in their turn be fit to teach others. This is the charge that St. Paul repeated to Titus, and thus has the succession of apostolic teachers been continued from nation to nation, and from age to age, the church gaining in one region of the earth what she had lost in another, renewing her youth like the eagles, increasing her members, and daily transmitting to the bright realms of heavenly glory innumerable multitudes of her children of every clime and tongue, and peculiarity of social government or manners. The apostles exercised various functions I admit it. But they substituted the deacons to wait on tables, and distribute the alms, so do their successors; Christ gave them powers adequate to every

emergency.

It has been wrongly asserted, that Moses had no successor. Joshua was, in one important branch, his successor, for it devolved on him to lead the people into the land of promise, and without this consummation, the ministry of Moses would have been in vain; and there are Joshuas now whose office it is to lead the people to their spiritual Canaanand as God obeyed the voice of Joshua, in commanding the sun to stand still, so he now obeys the voice of his priests making supplication for his people. Here is an obvious analogy between the old and the new covenants. My friend argues that, because Moses had no successor, Peter could have none, and the apostles none; but it is clear that Moses had a successor. All that Moses accomplished would have been incomplete without a succession of ministry to carry on the work of God in favor of his people, Israel. This, Eusebius beautifully establishes, p. 46. So by the same analogy, it is necessary that the succession of an apostolic priesthood should be continued for the carrying on of the christian dispensation, and be transmitted down from gen. eration of spiritual guides to generation, until they shall have conducted all the people of God to the true land of promise, where I trust we shall all meet, and cease to dispute, as we now do, like little children, at the imminent risk of neglecting the weightier points of the law. myself, I am heartily sick of such interminable contention. Here would I stop and suffer the matter to end without another word, if the sad necessity was not imposed upon me of defending the impugned

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