ble arts of misrepresentation and slander; and their party is split into an infinite variety of divisions, exhibiting a discordant mass of human opinions.

On the other side, you behold a society of faithful, always subsisting in every part of the known world; tracing its antiquity to the apostolic age; always teaching the same doctrine, and propagating it without change, among those nations that have been favoured with the inestimable benefit of Christianity; we behold a continued and unbroken succession of supreme pastors from St. Peter to the present time, with a complete subordination of the inferior ministers to the head we discover in this distinguished society the four grand marks of unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity: we witness the gift of miracles, acknowledged by its adversaries: and we find it honoured with that name, which solely and exclusively belongs to that church proclaimed in the apostles' creed. All these points are clearly seen, and accurately unfolded in this address, and in the preceding observations and I now, with all due solemnity, call upon your Lordship to make use of that rectitude of judgment, with which Providence has blessed you, and to pronounce upon the relative claims of the contending parties. Let your consideration of the case bé calm and deliberate; let it be accompanied with the most fervent addresses to

:

the throne of grace; and I entertain no apprehension concerning the result.

My Lord, we have been living in eventful times, and we are still dragging on our existence in a period of uncertainty and alarm; we are both of us rapidly advancing in life; eternity approaches; wealth, honours, rank, and distinction, are the phantoms of a day, or the visionary dreams of the night. Omnes eodem cogimur; or, if on so solemn a subject, you prefer the inspired language of St. Paul, Παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχημα το Κόσμε τέτε. “The figure of this world passeth away" the shifting of the scenes in a drama is but an imperfect representation of the unsub> stantial nature of human enjoyments. Nothing, my Lord, can secure our future welfare, but a faith working by charity in Jesus Christ. May the efforts of your Lordship to secure the friendship of our Redeemer be such, as to render, by his grace, the future stage of your existence the abode of eternal tranquillity, and immortal triumph! This is a consummation most ardently and devoutly desired by him who has the honour to subscribe himself, with the highest respect and truest regard,

Your Lordship's obedient,

and devoted Servant,

W. H. COOMBES.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

NOTE A.

Referred to in Page 51.

THE attestations obtained by the means indicated in the text, are on the most extensive scale, and of the most satisfactory description. They fill a whole book of the great work, entitled La Perpetuité de la Foi, and extend to nearly two hundred pages 4to.; 406587. We have there the definitions of synods; confessions of faith, signed by patriarchs and bishops; catechisms and books of instruction; attestations, most respectably and numerously signed; and all these documents, without exception, afford the clearest and most decisive evidence, that the faith of all the Greek churches, on the articles controverted between Catholics and Protestants, is precisely the same as that which is professed by the church in communion with the See of Rome. That the English reader, who may probably be unacquainted with this fact, may form some idea of these documents, I will subjoin, at full length, the attestation of seven archbishops of the east, referred to in the text; the first in order among these celebrated pieces. It is given in the following words:

Attestation of Seven Archbishops of the East. Those are employed in a fruitless search after truth, who trace not its course to the evangelical fountain;

and labouring to establish it only on the basis of their own reasoning, and of a vain philosophy, widely depart from the purpose which they have in view, and plunge into the precipice, while they seek to involve their brethren in the same danger. This is the character of the Calvinists in France; who, full of vanity and presumption, raise their impudent calumnies against our eastern church, and boldly impute to it the darkest impostures; publishing in all places, that it agrees with their opinions, and assents to their fancies: though, however, their absurd and extraordinary opinion concerning the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, and some other points, has been scornfully rejected by particular councils, assembled at Constantinople, as unlawful, and unknown to the Greek church. For which reason, the most illustrious ambassador of the most serene and most Christian King of France, his Excellency Charles Francis Olier, Marquis of Nointel, having requested us to furnish him with a true and sincere attestation on the subject of the articles proposed to us,-We, the undersigned, have deemed it a duty to comply with so pious and so legitimate a request on the sentiments of the eastern church.

1. In the first place, concerning the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, we affirm, that the living body of Jesus Christ, who was crucified, who ascended to Heaven, and who is seated at the right-hand of the Father, is truly present in the Eucharist, but invisibly.

2. That the bread and wine, after the invocation of the priest, and after the consecration, ARE CHANGED from their own substance into the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, and that though the accidents which

remain, appear under the forms of bread and wine, there are, however, neither bread nor wine.

3. That the Eucharist is a sacrifice for the living and the dead, established by Jesus Christ, and which the apostles have left to us by tradition.

4. That the body of Jesus Christ is eaten whole and entire, in an impassible state, by those who receive it, the worthy or the unworthy; the worthy receiving it for their salvation, and the unworthy to their condemnation; and that it is immolated without the effusion of blood, and justly adored as God.

5. That the church orders fasts and abstinence from certain meats.

6. That Christians pay to the Virgin a veneration of hyperdulia, and to the saints who are in heaven a particular honour, without diminishing the adoration due to Jesus Christ.

7. That a relative honour is to be given to the images of the saints, but that we are by no means to pay to them supreme worship.

8. That we are to honour and respect the saints as having suffered for Jesus Christ.

9. That bishops, by an order established by God, are superior to priests, who receive divine grace annexed to their ministry.

10. That the order of bishops is necessary in the church of Jesus Christ.

11. That the Catholic church, built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the corner-stone, will always be visible and infallible.

12. That baptism is necessary to all the children of the faithful to be saved.