(?HAP. �L] ?,A?HOLIC AND PIt0TBSTANT I?ULB8 eOI!PAlUD. 167 and moruls, while othen e?te?. d. it to aimmot every thi/ig. The lowing objecdbns lie, in our opimon, against the Roman Catholic rule of hith. 1. It is the source of ?,,?svt?/?y, as will appear from these consi- derations. (t.) Their authorized version of the Bible is in Latin, as well as the prayers and services of their church. The other parts of their rule tOO, nMuoly, the fathers, written traditions, decree8 of councils, and decisions of popes, are also in Latin. Thus, by the adopt/on of a dead language, the dOOr of knowledge is shut against the people. (2.) Unwritten tradition.. as we have seen, is 'attended with so many inconveninnce8 and uncertrdnties, that their enumeration would be endless. One is tempted to suspect that the placing this in the rule of faith was done for the express purixme of producing uncertainty in matters of faith, and of resolving all into the hands of the clergy. (3.) The Church of Rome is .d/?nt about many things which she deems important. Whether the mother of our Lord was born sinless is not decided. Where the seat of infallibility is lodged, whether in the pope, a council, the Pope and council, or the church, is not decided. Many other points to which they attach ?oTeat importance are left in the same state of uncertainty. (4.) Their doctrine of intent/on is the source of uncertainty. Ac- cording to the Council of Trent,** the efllcacy of the sacraments depends on the intention of the administrator. Some of these sacraments are necessary to salvation, and all of them necessary for certain states in life. Thtm baptism, ordination, and every other one of their seven sacraments may' become invalid, for want of due intent/on in the admi- nistrator. Condieting the number and prominent place given to the sacraments in the Church of Rome, and that the want of intention in the administrator renders them null, a world of uncerts/nty, by this means, mingles itself with the doctrines, mornis, and institution8 of their church. 2. TA? b C?Ad/c ?/?/? i?ulm,?.t/cd?/?/? dpp//cd//?. Their rule, in addition to the Scriptures, comprises about one hun- dred and tbirty-flve volumes folio, made up of the following works: the bulls of pope8 are at least eight volumes folio; the decretals ten volumes folio; the acta of councils thirty-one volume8 folio; the Acts Sanatomm, or Doings of the Saints, are in ?if?y-one volumes folio. Add to these at least thirty-five volumes folio of (}reek and Lutin fathers, in which is to be found that part of the rule called the unani- mous consent; add to these one hundred and thirty-five volumes folio, of unread and unexamined materials, the unlimited mass of mmn. iffm traditions, which have floated down from the commencement of the Christian era to the present time in oral communication, or, in other words, by mere barsay transmission; all these cumbrous additions made to the Holy Scriptures constitute the Roman Catholic rule. Of this rule the pope is judge. Of course he must know the Holy Bible, wholly and infallibly. He must be minutely acquainted ? these one hundred and thirty-live folio volumes. He must know infal- libly their unknowable contents; reconcile all their irreconcilable con-
- Ch..?, c. fl. 1
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