the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. The apostle Paul speaking to the Corinthians of that rock, which must be the only foundation of the christian, says: "That rock is Christ. 99 2

If I read the history of the inquisition and compare it with that of the reformation, I cannot believe that the church of Rome is built upon the rock which is Christ. I will not speak of the tens and hundreds of thousands who have perished at the stake, neither of the slaughtered Huguenots in France, nor of the noble army of martyrs in Germany, neither of the strewed ashes of the many Auto da Fe, of which the church of Rome is guilty, and with which she defiled her garments as a testimony of her crimes. But I will only state that if the church was founded upon Christ the rock, she could have withstood the flood of the reformation, resisted the heavenly rain of gospel truth without injury, and remained unshaken like a rock amidst the agitations and civil convulsions of the sixteenth century. Her proud vessel of Catholicism and infallibility could never have

'Matt. chap. 7, v. 24.

21 Ep. to Cor. chap. 10, v. 4.

been wrecked by the adverse wind of Luther's protestations.

But having promised to give historical proofs of her foundation, I will at once proceed. There are: 1st. Ambition. 2nd. Usurpation. 3rd. Avarice, and 4th. Moral corruption.

To prove the ambition of the church of Rome, the decree of Gregory VII. in a council assembled in Rome,' the so-called: "Dictatura Pontificis" will be sufficient; in which he says: "That the pope has the power to depose kings and emperors, and absolve subjects from their fidelity and obedience due to their sovereign.'

To carry out this principle, the same Gregory VII. dethroned emperor Henry IV. and Boleslaus II. King of Poland.

To be faithful to that ambitious dictatura, pope Zacharias deposed Chidrique, King of France, and absolved the French from their allegiance to their legitimate sovereign, and placed Pepin upon the throne in his stead.

Upon the same ground Boniface VIII. deposed Philip le Bell, and hurled the thunders of ex1Anno 1076.

Greg. Septimus, lib. ii. Ep. 30.

3 Anno 1302.

communication against him, declaring:

That it

is necessary for the salvation of all men to be sub

ject to the Pope."

Pope Innocent III. dethroned the Emperor Othon IV.

Pope Innocent IV. deposed Emperor Fredric II., and pope Julius II. took the kingdom of Navarre from its legitimate sovereign and gave it to Spain.

That such an ambition animated all the popes, is abundantly evident from the fact, that in all ages it has been displayed with the greatest arrogance. We find that Innocent III., who dethroned the Emperor Othon, did the same to king John of England, and declared him incapable of governing, and absolved the English subjects from their oath of allegiance to their legitimate prince, and gave the kingdom to Philip Auguste, king of France.

Pope Paul III. excommunicated Henry VIII., and Pius V. the queen Elizabeth of England.'

None can deny that the Dictatura Pontificis of Gregory VII. had its desired effect, and the above facts show, that his successors have been faithful to his principles, though contrary to the will of

'Anno 1534.

the Lord, who expressly commands: "To give to Cæsar what belongs to Cæsar, and to God what belongs to God." The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans,' says, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." The Apostle Paul cannot speak of popes, for in his time there were none, and he never declared himself to be one.

The ambitious power which the popes assume, is not only contrary to scripture, but also to the practice of the primitive church, until the year of our Lord 1076, when the ambitious Gregory VII. established his Dictatura. The Emperors had a right to choose, and to depose the bishops, patriarchs and popes. The following historical facts will plainly show it. The Emperor Othon deposed Pope John XII. for several erimes, but especially for debauchery. The Emperor, Henry III. deposed in a short period three popes, viz. Benedict IX., Sylvester III. and Gregory VI. not only on account of their arrogance in assuming

'Ep. Rom. xiii. 1, 2.

an ecclesiastical power, belonging to the civil authorities, but also on account of their avarice.

USURPATION IS ANOTHER FOUNDATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

That the church of Rome has usurped a power over the other bishops, I have sufficiently proved in a preceding chapter on Infallibility. That these pretentions are neither founded upon the word of God, nor upon the practice of the primitive church, has been clearly shown, for the single fact, that neither Peter, nor any other apostle did ever exercise such a jurisdiction over their brother apostles, is sufficient. That the apostle did not preside at the council of Jerusalem, but St. James the bishop of Jerusalem, is another proof.

According to the doctrines of the church of Rome, the universal bishop or pope has a right to preside over all the councils, or to appoint another bishop in his place. Can any Roman Catholic, show, that Peter ever presided at, or ap

pointed any other apostle to preside in his place at any council? Certainly not. The horror