" I firmly hold that there is a purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithfial.
" Likewise, that the saints reigning with Christ are to be honoured and invo cated, and that they offer up prayers to God for us ; and that their relics are to be had in veneration.
" I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the mother of God, and also of other saints, ought to be had and re tained, and that due honour and venera tion are to be given them.
" I also affirm that the power of indul gences was left by Christ in the church, and that the use of them is most whole some to Christian people.
I acknowledge the holy Catholic Apostolic Roman church for the mother and mistress of all churches : and I pro mise true obedience to the bishop of Rome, successor to St. Peter, prince of the apostles and vicar of Jesus Christ." Then follow clauses condemnatory of all contrary doctrines, and expressive of adhesion to all the definitions of the Council of Trent.
It is obvious that this form of confes sion was framed in accordance to the decrees of that council, and consequently has chiefly in view the opinions of those who followed the Reformation.
Such is the doctrinal code of the Catho lic church ; of its moral doctrines we Deed not say anything, because no autho rised document could be well referred to that embodies them all. There are many decrees of popes condemnatory of im moral opinions or propositions, but no positive decrees. The moral law, as taught in the Catholic church, is mainly the same as other denominations of Chris tians profess to follow.
Of the disciplanary or governing code we have already spoken, when we ob served that it consisted of the Canon Law, which, unlike the doctrinal and moral code, may vary with time, place, and ac cidental circumstances.
III. The last head was the essential or constitutive principle of the Catholic church. By this we mean that principle which gives it individuality, distinguishes it from other religions, pervades all its institutions, and gives the answer to every query regarding the peculiar constitution, outward and inward, of this church.
Now, the fundamental position, the constitutive principle of the Catholic church, is the doctrine and belief that God has promised, and consequently be stows upon it, a constant and perpetual protection, to the extent of guaranteeing it from destruction, from error, or fatal corruption. This principle once admitted,
every thing else follows. 1. The infkl libility of the church in its decisions on matters concerning faith. 2. The obli gation of submitting to all these deci sions, independently of men's own private judgments or opinions. 3. The authority of tradition, or the unalterable character of all the doctrines committed to the church ; and hence the persuasion that those of its dogmas, which to others appear strange and unscriptural, have been in reality handed down, uncor rupted, since the time of the apostles, who received them from Christ's teach ing. 4. The necessity of religious unity, by perfect uniformity of belief: and thence as a corollary the sinfulness of wilful separation or schism, and culpable errors or heresy. 5. Government by authority, since they who are aided and supported by such a promise must neces sarily be considered appointed to direct others, and are held as the representatives and vicegerents of Christ in the church. 6. The papal supremacy, whether consi dered as a necessary provision for the preservation of this essential unity, or as the principal depository of the divine promises. 7. In fine, the authority of councils, the right to enact canons and ceremonies, the duty of repressing all attempts to broach new opinions ; in a word, all that system of rule and audio ritative teaching which must strike every one as the leading feature in the -...onsti tution of the Catholic church.
The differences, therefore, between this and other religions, however complicated and numerous they may at first sight appear, are thus narrowed to one ques tion ; for particular doctrines must share the fate of the dogmas above cited, as forming the constitutive principle of the Catholic religion. This religion claims for itself a complete consistency from its first principle to its last consequence, and to its least institution, and finds fault with others, as though they preserved forms, dignities, and doctrines which must have sprung from a principle by them rejected, but which are useless and mistaken the moment they are disjoined from it. Be this as it may, the constitution of the Catholic church should seem to possess, what is essential to every moral organized body, a principle of vitality which ac counts for all its actions, and determines at once the direction and the intensity of all its functions.