Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit conferred upon them in ordination," and the council further adds, "that those who contend that wicked Priests have not this power are grievously in error."

The idea that an immoral and ungodly man can forgive sins, or retain sins, and that the declaration comes with the force of a judicial act cannot be believed for a moment, save by the mind that has received its training along this special line, and every item of testimony pointing in this direction is as foreign to the teachings of Jesus as the sin of witchcraft.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, who was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI, in 1839, and made a Doctor of the Church by Pius IX in 1871, says in his work on "The Dignity and Duties of the Priest": "The Priest holds the place of the Saviour himself when, by saying 'ego te absolvo,' he absolves from sin. This power which Christ received from His eternal Father, He has communicated to His Priests. To pardon a single sin requires all the omnipotence of God. But what only God can do by His omnipotence, the Priest can also do by saying * ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis.' The priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering sinners from hell, of changing them from the slaves of Satan into the children of God. And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of His Priests, and either not

to pardon or to pardon, according as they refuse or give absolution."

This same Liguori wrote a book, possibly the one above mentioned, which was endorsed by the Pope.

It is one of the most immoral books in the English language. It would make a decent man blush with shame to read it, and yet we read about such men standing in Jesus' place and pronouncing the remission of sins.

These are Papal doctrines, born in the mind of some corrupt Pope or Priest, during the age when the "Holy (?) Catholic Church" would burn a man to death, bore his eyes, cut out his tongue or stretch him on an iron bedstead if he was too short, or cut his feet or head off if he was too long to fit the bed, if he dared to deny any of the doctrines of the Church, or make a new and valuable discovery.

Do you find any of these doctrines affirmed in the New Testament? None but the bigot will say yes. Even the Catholic will not claim it. He sets aside the whole difficulty by declaring that the "Church has a right to change the ordinances to suit herself."

Would that the people were well read on the subject of Romanism. It is the most gigantic system of ignorance and oppression that ever cursed the earth.

From whence came the doctrine concerning infants, elect and non-elect? The little inno

cent ones who are so unfortunate as to be of the non-elect, though they have never performed a single act, either good or bad, must be consigned to the regions of the damned. And to intensify the comforting and consoling doctrine(?), please remember that the decree that relegates them to the dark abodes of the condemned, was made in the "secret councils of God before the worlds were framed."

This heathenish doctrine is found in the Westminster Confession of Faith, a book that was not written for 1,600 years after Christ.

Explain how intelligent men can teach that infants go to hell, and you have explained how they can teach that immersion is scriptural, and at the same time practice something entirely unlike it.

Does the Bible say anything about "Total Hereditary Depravity?" Not a word. It is the "Calvinistic Baptist Confession of Faith" that teaches this doctrine, that makes a man as bad as the Devil; for Satan himself cannot be more than totally depraved.

This doctrine our Baptist brethren have inscribed upon their battle flag, as the following extract from a paper of recent date proves:

We wish it distinctly understood that, with all true Baptists, we hold and teach the Bible doctrine of the total hereditary depravity of the sinner.-Baptist Flag.

"Bible doctrine!" Will the "Flag" give the chapter and verse? One statement from the

Holy Spirit will outweigh all that men can say on this subject. The doctrines of unconditional election and total depravity have made more infidels than all the Îngersols that ever lived.

The Church voting to decide if a penitent believer shall be baptized.

This is purely Baptist usage, in regard to which the Holy Spirit says not one word. It may be a good rule for the Baptist Church, but please, dear brethren, do not seek to govern the Church of Christ by this human invention. Demanding a Christian experience before one can be immersed is another practice that is wholly without any divine warrant. It does not keep out impostors. The Apostles could not keep them out; one of their number was a devil.

Cyprian relates a case concerning a nursing child "who so violently refused to taste the sacramental wine, that the deacon was obliged forcibly to open her lips and pour it down her throat.

It seems clear that men who could practice such unscriptural, not to say unreasonable things, would practice almost anything in the name of religion, if it only had the sanction of a robed and mitered priest.

For a thousand years during the dark ages, which lasted from the African war, A. D. 533, to the French revolution, A. D. 1793, perhaps

not one person in five hundred could read a word in the Bible. It was owned and controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. It was printed in Latin on purpose to keep it from the common people, and the Priests, many of whom were corrupt and licentious, explained the scriptures to the people according as it best suited their designing and unscrupulous purposes. During the dark ages thousands of errors crept into the Church, and by long practice they came to be regarded as sacred. Generation after generation was trained up in the belief and practice of these unscriptural doctrines.

The idea of the infallibility of the Pope, gave birth to the kindred idea that "the Church had the right to change the ordinances of the Church to suit herself," and these doctrines laid the foundation for untold error and corruption, which was received by the people in all good faith, because they believed in the Pope and Priest, more than they did in Jesus Christ, since they knew more about them.

"Old ecclesiastical words" with erroneous ideas attached, were accepted by an ignorant people, who had implicit faith in their Priest. When light began to dawn, and the Reformation came, in the sixteenth century, it found these errors, hoary with age, so deeply grounded in the minds of the people, that ignorance,