again read over that Tract carefully, and compare it with the Trent Profession of Faith; (to which the Protestant Reformed Church of England must necessarily be for ever opposed). This Profession then I shall now quote. It begins with the Apostles' Creed, which is succeeded by the twelve following Articles :

"1. I most firmly admit and receive the apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other observances and constitutions of the Church.

"2. I admit also the sacred Scriptures according to that sense, which holy mother Church, to whom it appertains to judge of the true meaning and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, hath holden and still holds: nor will I ever receive and interpret them, otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

"3. I profess likewise, that there are truly and properly, seven sacraments of the new law, instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all of them to every one; namely, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme unction, Orders, and Matrimony; and that they confer grace; and that, of these Sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation, and Orders, cannot be repeated without sacrilege. I receive also and admit the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid sacraments.

"4. I embrace and receive all things, and every thing, which have been defined and declared by the holy Council of Trent, concerning original sin, and justification.

"5. Further I profess that in the Mass is offered unto God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice, for the living and the dead; and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is really, truly, and substantially the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into his body, and of the whole substance of the wine into his blood; which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation.

"6. I confess also, that under one kind only is received the whole and entire Christ, and the true Sacrament.

"7. I strenuously maintain, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls detained there, are assisted by the prayers of the faithful.

"8. Likewise that the Saints, who reign together with Christ, are to be venerated and invoked; and that they offer prayers for us to God; and that their Relicks are to be venerated.

"9. I most firmly declare, that the images of Christ, and of the everVirgin, mother of God, as also of the other Saints, are to be had and retained; and that due honour and veneration are to be shewn to them.

"10. I affirm also, that the power of Indulgences was left by Christ in his Church; and that the use of them is very salutary to Christian people. "11. I acknowledge the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of Rome, to be the mother, and mistress of all Churches and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Pontiff, successor of the prince of the Apostles of St. Peter, and the Vice-gerent of Jesus Christ.

"12. Further I do, without doubt, receive and profess all things, which have been delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons, and œcumenical Councils, especially by the holy Council of Trent; and all things contrary thereunto, and all heresies of whatever kind, which have been condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the Church, I in like manner condemn, reject, and anathematize.

"This true Catholic Faith, out of which no one can be saved, which by these presents, I profess and verily hold, I N. N. do promise, vow, and

swear, most firmly to keep, and confess (by God's help) entire and inviolate, to the last breath of my life; and that I will take care, as far as in me lies, that the same be holden, kept, and preached by all, who are subject to my controul, or who are connected with my charge.

"So help me God, and these the holy Gospels of God."

Such are the Twelve Articles of Faith added to the Apostles' Creed by the Council of Trent; and I maintain that to several of those Articles many passages in Tract 90 are not opposed: but it will be sufficient to refer you to one only. Thus you observe that in the seventh Article it is asserted that "there is a Purgatory, and that the souls detained there are assisted by the prayers of the faithful." In Tract 90 it is also asserted that “there was a primitive doctrine concerning Purgatory,— how far Catholic or universal, is a further question,—but still so widely received, and so respectably supported, that it may well be entertained as a matter of opinion by a theologian now; this, then, whatever be its merits is not condemned by Article XXII." [See Tract 90, p. 23.] After reading this passage, I think that the author of Tract 90 seems to agree with the council of Trent, as you observed to me, in believing that "there is a Purgatory."

Again; after quoting a long passage from the Homily concerning Prayer, in order to show that it is only the Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory that is condemned by the Church of England, the author of Tract 90 has made these observations concerning prayers for the dead: "The mention of prayers for the dead in the above passage affords an additional illustration of the limited (and relative) sense of the terms of the Article now under consideration. (Article XXII.) For such prayers are obviously not condemned in it in abstract, or in every shape, but as offered to rescue the lost from eternal fire.”

Now had the learned author of Tract 90 quoted the whole of the paragraph which refers to this subject, it seems to me that he must have drawn a very different conclusion. Of this, I think, you will be convinced when you read the whole of the

E.

passage from the Homily, a part of which only has been quoted in order to prove a doctrine and a custom, both of which, as it appears to me, are there strongly condemned. I shall therefore now quote the whole of the passage as it stands in the Homily, and also that portion of it which is quoted in Tract 90, in parallel columns.

The passage from the third part of the Homily concerning Prayer.

Now, to entreat of that question, whether we ought to pray for them that are departed out of this world, or no? Wherein, if we will cleave only unto the word of God, then must we needs grant, that we have no commandment so to do. For the Scripture doth acknowledge but two places after this life: the one proper to the elect and blessed of God, the other to the reprobate and damned souls; as may be well gathered by the parable of Lazarus and the rich man : which place St. Augustine expounding, saith in this wise; That which Abraham speaketh unto the rich man in Luke's Gospel, namely, that the just, cannot go into those places where the wicked are tormented; what other thing doth it signify, but only this, that the just by reason of God's judgment, which may not be revoked, can shew no deed of mercy in helping them which after this life are cast into prison, until they pay the uttermost farthing? These words, as they confound the opinion of helping the dead by prayer, so they do clean confute and take away the vain error of

The passage from the third part of the Homily concerning Prayer, which is quoted in Tract 90.

That is Abraham's bosom: See the parable of Dives and Lazarus.