CHAPTER V.

The Religionists of the Breviary, with vast pretension, boast of unity, and of being the only true Church, and yet withhold their titles. The Religionists of the Bible show their unanimity by an universal appeal to the books which all the sects adopt as genuine.

WHEN We meet with in the world a person in possession of a thing or office, which he claims to have derived from a superior power many hundred years ago, and which he uses in a particular manner as affecting other persons, and is always asserting his undoubted and exclusive right to this thing or office, but at the same time studiously suppresses or keeps out of sight his written title-deeds or charter for the right of property, an observer may, without a knowledge of theology, reasonably infer, on principles of common sense, that that person either does not possess a genuine title, or that he uses the thing or office in a way unauthorised by, and contrary to, the original document on which the title is said to rest. That person may put forward a breviat or compendium of his written title, which he affirms to contain all the information necessary to be known concerning it; but the original title itself he will not appeal to as authority. This is very unaccountable, or very dishonest.

The bishops and the priests of Rome, ever since the time of the reformation of religion in the sixteenth century, have boasted of the perfect unity of their

church, and of the unvariableness and certainty of the principles on which it rests and acts, and of the sameness of its ritual, while they charge the various reformed churches with their disunion and sectarian bitterness, and accuse them with abandonment of principle, and separation from the truth. What is very wonderful in this dispute is, that the Protestant churches, instead of suppressing or keeping back from the world their written title-deeds, do the very contrary, for they deposit them in every court of record, place them in every library, teach them in schools, proclaim them in the market-places, and publish them in every tongue and language spoken by the sons of men in every region of the world. It is said that, in the great Exhibition of the productions of all nations in London, there were exposed to the inspection and reading of all men, versions of the Scriptures in one hundred and thirty languages and tongues; and there is something still more wonderful in this dispute between parties so irreconcilable in principle and action, namely, their respective title-deeds are copies of the original documents, and these copies may be said to agree in all the essential points of doctrines and precepts. The Bible is not used in the daily popular worship of the Roman church, but the Breviary is used instead thereof. The Roman church boasts of the perpetuity of its principles, and the unchangeableness of its forms of worship. The Protestants use the Old Testament read by Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and they use the Gospels and Epistles as they were published by their authors, after the Ascension of the Saviour.*

*Note by the friend formerly quoted :—

"Our Saviour, St. Peter, and St. Paul, invariably quote from the Septuagint. The vulgate, which is merely a Latin translation

Although they may differ in matters of form of worship, and in the government of the church, they yet produce the title-deeds which were granted by the apostles; the same to-day as they were 1850 years ago. Compare this with the antiquity and changeableness of the Breviary! The very name was unknown until the eleventh century, unless we go back to the time of the first Roman Emperor, when we find it in the Breviarium, used for a fiscal directory, or an account-book of the revenue and military forces of the Empire. The Breviary of the Roman church contains the order of the seven daily prayers, according to the practice of David, and the general service of the church, with lessons from the Scriptures, prayers, psalms, and with lives of the saints. With respect to the claim of perpetuity, and unchangeableness put forward by the church, we find, in the case of the Breviary, the very contrary to be the case. The Breviary, at present in general use, was not published until as late as 1697, about one hundred and seventy years after the date of the Reformation. Previous to the middle of the seventeenth century, the Breviary had undergone alterations by more than a dozen of popes, and by several general councils. Previous to the name of Breviary adopted in 1080, it had several designations. Throughout the various Catholic countries, each church had some particularity in its Breviary, and, throughout them all, there were not two that agreed in all matters of form and manner. For

of the Septuagint, was the authorised version of the Roman Catholic Church for centuries before the Reformation, and it is still so. Luther, eschewing everything bearing papal sanction, made his translation from the Hebrew text, which differs from the Septuagint. The Gospels and Epistles were not written for many years after the Ascension."

merly the obligation of reading the Breviary every day was universal, but now it is limited to the clergy alone, who are bound to read it on pain of mortal sin, and of refunding their revenues, in proportion to their failure of this duty.*

The foregoing remarks will explain where lies the essential difference between the Christians of the Bible and the Christians of the Breviary.

*See article "Breviary," Cyclopedia, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

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CHAPTER VI.

The Abuse of raising Money under false pretences.-The Falsity of the Claims of the Bishops of Rome to be the Successors of Saint Peter, proved by the contrast between the candour and disinterestedness of the personal and apostolic character of Peter, and the greedy exactions and organised imposture of the Roman Bishops.-The characters and principles of Peter and Paul.-Curious particulars of Exactions by Bishops in collecting of Peter's Pence, and in the appropriation of funds bequeathed by the old Saxons, Alnoth and Azor, for the welfare of their souls.-The honourable names of Peter and Paul made merchandise of in the cathedrals of Rome and London. The Cross made merchandise of in the sale of Crusadoes in Spain and in Spanish America.—A Lesson to Spain at the present crisis of its destiny.

SOCIETY condemns with just severity that class of impostors, who, with the furtive use of the name of some well-known and honourable man to cover their deceit, go about begging money for their own selfish purposes, or procuring it for some object which would be at once disapproved of by the person whose name is abused in the transaction. It is this principle of imposition, which has been so much abused in religion, that we are going to consider here; and, after having endeavoured to show that the papal standard is a banner of pretension, and displays a lie to the world in its device and its motto, we shall use a novel strain of argument, to prove that the bishop of Rome has no claim to be the successor of Saint Peter, and acts on principles and