Bishop Short, an Anglican historian, candidly admits that “the existence of the Church of England as a distinct body, and her final separation from Rome, may be dated from the period of the divorce.”[97]
The Book of Homilies, in the language of fulsome praise, calls Henry “the true and faithful minister,” and gives him the credit for having abolished in England the Papal supremacy and established the new order of things.[98]
John Wesley is the acknowledged founder of the Methodist Church. Methodism dates from the year 1729, and its cradle was the Oxford University in England. John and Charles Wesley were students at Oxford. They gathered around them a number of young men who devoted themselves to the frequent reading of the Holy Scriptures and to prayer. Their methodical and exact mode of life obtained for them the name of Methodists. The Methodist Church in this country is the offspring of a colony sent hither from England.
As it would be tedious to give even a succinct history of each sect, I shall content myself with presenting a tabular statement exhibiting the [pg 045] name and founder of each denomination, the place and date of its origin, and the names of the authors from whom I quote. My authorities in every instance are Protestants.
| Name of Sect. | Place of Origin. | Founder. | Year. | Authority Quoted. |
| Anabaptists | Germany | Nicolas Stork | 1521 | Vincent L. Milner, “Religious Denominations.” |
| Baptists | Rhode Island | Roger Williams | 1639 | “The Book of Religions” by John Hayward. |
| Free-Will Baptists | New Hampshire | Benj. Randall | 1780 | Ibid. |
| Free Communion Baptists | New York | Benijah Corp | Close of 18th century | Rev. A. D. Williams in “History of all Denominations.” |
| Seventh-Day Baptists | United States | General Conference | 1833 | W. B. Gillett, Ibid. |
| Campbellites, or Christians | Virginia | Alex. Campbell | 1813 | “Book of Religions.” |
| Methodist Episcopal | England | John Wesley | 1739 | Rev. Nathan Bangs in “History of all Denominations.” |
| Reformed Methodist | Vermont | Branch of the Meth. Episcopal Church | 1814 | Ibid. |
| Methodist Society | New York | Do. | 1820 | Rev. W. M. Stilwell, Ibid. |
| Methodist Protestant | Baltimore | Do. | 1830 | James R. Williams, Ibid. |
| True Wesleyan Methodist | New York | Delegates from Methodist denominations | 1843 | J. Timberman, Ibid. |
| Presbyterian (Old School) | Scotland | General Assembly | 1560 | John M. Krebs, Ibid. |
| Presbyterian (New School) | Philadelphia | General Assembly | 1840 | Joel Parker, D. D., Ibid. |
| Episcopalian | England | Henry VIII | 1534 | Macaulay and other English Historians. |
| Lutheran | Germany | Martin Luther | 1524 | S. S. Schmucker in “History of all Denominations.” |
| Unitarian Congrega- tionalists | Germany | Celatius | About 1540 | Alvan Lamson, Ibid. |
| Congrega- tionalists | England | Robert Browne | 1583 | E. W. Andrews, Ibid. |
| Quakers | England | George Fox | 1647 | English Historians. |
| Do | America | William Penn | 1681 | American Historians. |
| Catholic Church | Jerusalem | Jesus | 33 | New Testament. |
From this brief historical tableau we find that all the Christian sects now existing in the United States had their origin since the year 1500. Consequently, the oldest body of Christians among us, outside the Catholic Church, is not yet four centuries old. They all, therefore, come fifteen centuries too late to have any pretensions to be called the Apostolic Church.
But I may be told: “Though our public history as Protestants dates from the Reformation, we can trace our origin back to the Apostles.” This I say is impossible. First of all, the very name you bear betrays your recent birth; for who ever heard of a Baptist or an Episcopal, or any other Protestant church, prior to the Reformation? Nor can you say: “We existed in every age as an invisible church.” Your concealment, indeed, was so complete that no man can tell, to this day, where you lay hid for sixteen centuries. But even if you did exist you could not claim to be the Church of Christ; for our Lord predicted that His Church should ever be as a city placed upon the mountain top, that all might see it, and that its ministers should preach the truths of salvation from the watch-towers thereof, that all might hear them.
It is equally in vain to tell me that you were allied in faith to the various Christian sects that went out from the Catholic Church from age to age; for these sects proclaimed doctrines diametrically opposed to one another, and the true Church must be one in faith. And besides, the less relationship you claim with many of these seceders the better for you, as they all advocated errors against Christian truth, and some of them disseminated principles at variance with decency and morality.
The Catholic Church, on the contrary, can easily vindicate the title of Apostolic, because she derives her origin from the Apostles. Every Priest and Bishop can trace his genealogy to the first disciples of Christ with as much facility as the most remote branch of a vine can be traced to the main stem.
All the Catholic Clergy in the United States, for instance, were ordained only by Bishops who are in active communion with the See of Rome. These Bishops themselves received their commissions from the Bishop of Rome. The present Bishop of Rome, Pius IX., is the successor of Gregory XVI., who succeeded Pius VIII., who was the successor of Leo XII. And thus we go back from century to century till we come to Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ. Like the Evangelist Luke, who traces the genealogy of our Savior back to Adam and to God, we can trace the pedigree of Pius IX. to Peter and to Christ. There is not a link wanting in the chain which binds the humblest Priest in the land to the Prince of the Apostles. And although on a few occasions there happened to be two or even three claimants for the chair of Peter, these counter-claims could no more affect the validity of the legitimate Pope than the struggle of two contestants for the Presidency could invalidate the title of the recognized Chief Magistrate.