<div class="description">
<dl><dd>CONTENTS</dd></dl><p>INTRODUCTION. 
1. Self-defence not the object of the letter. — 2. Motives which impelled to an examination of Catholic truth. — 3. The struggle with myself in coming to the examination. — 4. The feelings in which it was undertaken. — 5. What is the essential prerequisite to an examination of the question between Catholics and Protestants 11 
CHAPTER I. 
CERTAINTY IN THE FAITH TO BE SOUGHT AND EXPECTED. 
1. This argued from the feet of man's wants and of God's revelation, God's promise and God's provision. — 2. Argued from the confidence that, under the circumstances, is reasonably expected from man towards God. — 3. Ending with a friendly caution 99 
CHAPTER II. 
GOD'S REVELATION TO BE RECEIVED AND SUBMITTED TO WITHOUT RESERVE. 
1. The case stated. — 2. God's revelation to be received in all its parts, from the simple fact of its having been made by God. — 3. From the teaching of God Himself in various examples from His written Word 33
CHAPTER III. 
IN WHAT WAY GOD HAS NOT SECURED TO US THE GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY GHOST IN LEARNING HIS WILL. 
1. All Christians concur in the belief, that God's Spirit must guide into all truth. — 2. In what way has God secured to us the guidance of His Holy Spirit? — 3. It must be a way of universal applicability. — 4. It must be a way suited especially to the condition of the poor. — 5. It must be a way calculated to promote "unity in the Faith." — 6. In all these respects the way of Protestants fails 37 
CHAPTER IV. 
GOD HAS NOT MADE THE CHURCH THE MEDIUM OF HIS GUIDANCE IN ANY MODIFIED SENSE. 
1. High-Churchmen admit the duty of all to "hear the Church." — 2. They admit this because instructed by the Fathers. — 3. But the unreasonableness of admitting it in any modified sense. — 4. The application of the precept "hear the Church," to myself, as a leader, and the effect of discovering my inability to teach 43 
CHAPTER V. 
THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH TO TEACH PERPETUAL, AND WHY. 
1. The necessity of the Church's guidance as great now as it ever has been. — 2. No proof from Scripture or reason that such guidance was ever to cease to be infallible. — 3. The infallibility of the Church rests not upon the wisdom of man, but the power of God. — 4. The union of Christ with His body the Church, secures its infallibility. — 5. The testimony of the primitive Fathers in this particular. 60 
CHAPTER VI.
THE STATE OF PROTESTANTISM NOT RECONCILABLE WITH THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE CHURCH'S LATTER DAYS. 
1. The testimonies of the Fathers. — 2. Christ will not disappoint those who have trusted Him 69 
CHAPTER VII. 
UNITY OF THE CHURCH SECURITY AGAINST SUCH DIVISION AS EXISTS AMONG PROTESTANTS. 
1. This clear, from the Scriptural illustrations of unity. — 2. From our Lord's prayer for unity. — 3. From the uniform testimonies of the Fathers. — 4. In unity Catholicity necessarily embraced. — 5. This proved from the Fathers. — 6. Application of the argument to Protestantism 74 
CHAPTER VIII. 
FALLIBILITY IN TEACHING FATAL TO THE CLAIMS OF ONE PROFESSING TO DECLARE GOD'S INFALLIBLE WILL. 
1. An examination, under this head, of the claims of the Church of England and America. — 2. England virtually disclaims infallibility. — 3. The dreadful consequence 84 
CHAPTER IX.
ANGLICAN AUTHORITY FURTHER CONSIDERED. 
1. The authority of the English Church not Catholic — 2. The consequence, her teaching not Cathode —3. Her own admissions. — 4. An inquiry into Anglican inconsistency. — 5. The ultimate Catholic tribunal or standard 87 
CHAPTER X. 
AT WHAT PERIOD OF HER AUTHORITY IS ENGLAND TO BE TRUSTED ? 
1. The reasonableness of this question. — 2. Is she to be trusted before oi after the Reformation ? — 3. Is she to be trusted under Henry VIII., or under Edward VI., or under Mary, or under Elizabeth, or how? — 4. Is she to be trusted as she speaks in her Prayer book, or as she speaks in opposition to its plain sense by the Queen's Court? — 5. The necessary confusion and uncertainty under such a system 90 
CHAPTER XI. 
WHAT WAS THE LIVING, TEACHING AUTHORITY IN ENGLAND FOR EIGHT HUNDRED OR A THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE THE REFORMATION? 
1. On the principle that we are to hear the Church, to whom are we to listen from the time of Augustine to the time of Henry VIII.? — 2. We are to hear a speaking Church, not dumb books. — 3. Wycliffe a heretic according to the faith of the Anglo-Saxon Church 87 
CHAPTER XII.
WAS THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND REALLY CONDUCTED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBMISSION TO THE PRIMITIVE CATHOLIC CHURCH? 
1. A test of Mr. Palmer's principle of Reformation by "the authority of Catholic Tradition." — 2. The absurdity of his principle as applied to the facts of the English Reformation. — 3. What tradition is. — 4. Tradition, to have authority, must be submitted to and trusted. — 5. Origin and source of Tradition. — 6. Its perpetuity, as viewed by the Fathers. — 7. Applied to England. — 8. Not derogatory to God's Word 109 
CHAPTER XIII. 
TRADITION A NECESSARY KEY TO THE FACTS OF CHURCH HISTORY. 
1. Why so little is said in the New Testament about Church order and Sacraments. — 2. Tradition necessary to establish infant baptism, the necessity of sanctifying the Lord's day, &amp;c. — 3. Why so little is found in regard to certain points of Catholic faith and practice in the very early Church. — 4. Nothing added to the fundamental Faith by the Church 118 
CHAPTER XIV. 
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND THE MERE CHILD OF THE STATE.
1. The Protestant alleged motive for the Reformation a mere fancy. — 2. The real motive personal to Henry VIII. — 3. The resistance of the Church in the outset— 4. Her submission through fear. — 5. The transfer of the whole spiritual jurisdiction from the See of St. Peter to the king. — 6. Acts of parliament-and Protestant testimonies confirm this. — 7. The king made the living standard of faith as well as the source of priestly authority, 125 
CHAPTER XV. 
THE SUBMISSION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO THE TEMPORAL POWER PERPETUATED. 
1. Acts of parliament conclusive. — 2. The changes of Queen Mary justified on every principle, and effected without a struggle. — 3. The changes of Elizabeth on every ground unlawful, and forced upon the Church against the will of every bishop, the convocation, and the two universities. — 4. The new system of things passed through parliament, not only against the vote of every bishop, but also by means of imprisoning two bishops, and creating five new Peers 143 
CHAPTER XVI. 
THE POSITION OF THE PRESENT CHURCH OF ENGLAND, AND OF HER DAUGHTER IN AMERICA, FIXED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF ELIZABETH. 
1. Act of William IV. sufficient. — 2. The case of the American Protestant Episcopal Church shown to be the same as that of the Mother in England. — 3. The entire independence of the American laity. — The application of the facts of the case. — 5. Who sent Archbishop Parker? Who gave him the faith, — the faith of the one Catholic Church. — 6. The application of the facts to myself 158 
CHAPTER XVII. REASONS "WHY SEPARATION FROM THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER MUST BE FATAL TO THE ANGLICAN, AND HENCE TO THE AMERICAN, EPISCOPAL CLAIMS. 
1. Reflections on the Act of Separation by parliament — 2. Which claim of jurisdiction over the Church, that of the king or the Pope, most likely, by the rules of common sense, to be well founded? — 3. The necessity of a head to the body considered. — 4. The fact of the Pope's present Supremacy considered. — 5. The testimony of heretics to the Supremacy, either directly or indirectly. — 6. A gradual growth of the Papal power not tenable. — 7. The Scriptural argument for the Primacy of St Peter. — 8. The Catholic interpretation of St. John i. 35, and St Matt xxi. 18, abundantly sustained by the Fathers. — 9. The authority of St Peter touching the Faith set forth in St John xxi. 15-17, as interpreted by the Fathers. — 10. The Scriptural argument applied to myself 158 
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE PRIMACY OF ST. PETER INTERWOVEN IN THE FAITH AND DISCIPLINE OF THE PRIMITIVE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
1. The primitive Church affords just such testimony to the claims of St. Peter as the circumstances call for. — 2. The Apostolic See, according to the Fathers, the centre of Catholic unity, the keeper of the Catholic Faith, and the source of Catholic authority. — 3. Extraordinary assertion of Dr. Wordsworth in his book "Theophilus Anglicanus." — 4. Shown to be utterly without foundation in every particular 179 
CHAPTER XIX. 
THE APPLICATION OF THE FACTS IN THE TWO PRECEDING CHAPTERS TO MY OWN CASE. 
1. The extraordinary assertion of Blackstone in reference to the Anglo-Saxon Church shown to be false. — 2. The Anglo-Saxon Church Catholic, and submissive tor the Holy See of Rome. — 3. The case of St. Augustine considered. — 4. The document which puts a speech into the mouth of Dinoth against the Supremacy shown to be spurious. — 5. The application of the argument for the Supremacy. — 6. The sum of the whole matter. — 7. A confession and a warning conclusion 215
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<dl><dd>Includes bibliographical references</dd>
<dd>Mode of access: Internet</dd></dl><br>Subjects: Catholic Converts; Catholic Church -- Doctrines; Catholic Church; Catholic converts</div>
<div class="fn value">
Ives, L. Silliman (Levi Silliman), 1797-1867</div>
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