that the only questions at issue are these three: 1st, Whether this Revelation has not been made and conveyed by the unwritten, as well as by the written word of God? 2dly, Whether Christ did not commit this word to his Apostles, and their successors till the end of the world, for them to preserve and announce it? Lastly, whether, independantly of this commission it is consistent with common sense, for each Protestant ploughman and mechanic, to persuade himself that he, individually, (for he cannot, according to his rule, build on the opinion of other Protestants, though he could find any whose faith exactly tallied with his own) that he, I say, individually, understands the Scriptures better than all the Doctors and Bishops of the Church, who now are, or ever have been, since the time of the Apostles. (1)

One of your Salopian friends, in writing to me, ridicules the idea of infallibility being lodged in any mortal man, or number of men. Hence it is fair to conclude that he does not look upon himself to be infallible: now nothing short of a man's conviction of his own infallibility, one might think, would induce him to prefer his own judgment, in matters of religion, to that of the Church of all ages and all nations. Secondly, if this objection were valid, it would prove that the Apostles themselves were not infallible. Finally, I could wish your friend to form a right idea of this matter. The infallibility, then, of our Church, is not a power of telling all things past, present and to come, such as the Pagans ascribed to their oracles; but merely the aid of God's Holy Spirit, to enable her truly to decide what her faith is and has ever been in such articles as have been made known to her by Scripture and Tradition. This definition furnishes answers to divers other ob

(1) The great Bossuet obliged the Minister, Claude, in his conference with him, openly to avow this principle; which, in fact, every consistent Protestant must avow, who maintains his private interpretation of the Bible to be the only rule of his faith.

jections and questions of Dr. P.-The Church does not decide the controversy concerning the conception of the Blessed Virgin, and several other disputed points, because she sees nothing absolutely clear and certain concerning them, either in the written or the unwritten word; and therefore leaves her children to form their own opinions concerning them. She does not dictate an exposition of the whole Bible, because she has no tradition concerning a very great proportion of it, as for example, concerning the prophecy of Enoch, quoted by Jude 14; and the Baptism for the dead, of which St. Paul makes mention, 1 Cor. xv. 29, and the chronologies and genealogies in Genesis.-The Prelate urges the words of St. Paul, where he declares that, The Church of God is the pillar and ground of Truth, 1 Tim. iii. 15, may be translated a different way from that received. -True: they may, but not without altering the original Greek, as also the common Protestant version.-He says, it was ordained in the Old Law that every controversy should be decided by the Priests and Levites, Deut. xvii. 8; and yet that these avowedly erred in rejecting Christ.True: but the Law had then run its destined course, and the divine assistance failed the Priests in the very act of their rejecting the promised Messiah, who was then before them.-He adds, that St. Paul in his epistle to the Church of Rome, bids her not to be high-minded, but fear: for (he adds) if God spared not the Jews, take heed lest he also spare not thee, Rom. xi.-Supposing the quotation to be accurate, and that the threat is partic ularly addressed to the Christians of Rome; what is that to the present purpose? We never supposed the promises of Christ to belong to them or their successors, more than to the inhabitants of any other city. Indeed it is the opinion of some of our most learned commentators, that before the end of the world, Rome will relapse into its

former Paganism. (1) In a word, the promises of our Saviour, that Hell's gates shall not prevail against his Church-that his Holy Spirit shall lead it into all truth-and that he himself will remain with it for ever, were made to the Church of all nations and all times, in communion with St. Peter and his successors, the Bishops of Rome: and as these promises have been fulfilled, during a succession of eighteen centuries, contrary to the usual and natural course of events, and by the visible protection of the Almighty, so we rest assured that he will continue to fulfil them, till the Church Militant shall be wholly transformed into the Church Triumphant in the heavenly kingdom.

Finally, his Lordship, with other controvertists, objects against the infallibility of the Catholic Church, that its advocates are not agreed where to lodge this prerogative; some ascribing it to the Pope, others to a General Council, or to the Bishops dispersed throughout the Church.True, schoolmen discuss some such points; but let me ask his Lordship, whether he finds any Catholic who denies or doubts, that a General Council, with the Pope at his head, or that the Pope himself, issuing a doctrinal decision, which is received by the great body of Catholic Bishops, is secure from error? Most certainly not: and hence he may gather where all Catholics agree in lodging infallibility. In like manner, with respect to our national constitution; some lawyers hold that a royal proclamation, in such and such circumstances, has the force of a law; others, that a vote of the House of Lords, or of the Commons, or of both Houses together, has the same strength; but all subjects acknowledge that an Act of the King, Lords, and Commons, is binding upon them; and this suffices for all practical purposes.

But when, Dear Sir, will there be an end of the objections and cavils of men, whose pride, am(1) See Cornel. a Lapid. in Apocalyp.

bition, or interest, leads them to deny the plainest truths? You have seen those which the ingenuity and learning of the Porteus's, Seckers, and Tillotsons have raised against the unchangeable Catholic Rule and interpreter of Faith: say, is there any thing sufficiently clear and certain in them to oppose to the luminous and sure principles, on which the Catholic method is placed? Do they afford you a sure footing, to support you against all doubts and fears on the score of your Religion, especially under the apprehension of approaching dissolution? If you answer affirmatively, I have nothing more to say: but if you cannot so answer, and, if you justly dread undertaking your voyage to eternity on the presumption of your private judgment, a presumption which you have clearly seen has led so many other rash Christians to certain shipwreck, follow the example of those who have happily arrived at the port which you are in quest of. In other words, listen to the advice of the Holy Patriarch to his son: Then Tobias answered his Father-I know not the way, &c.;-then his Father said-Seek thee a faithful guide. Tob. V. You will no sooner have sacrificed your own wavering judgment, and have submitted to follow the guide whom your Heavenly Father has provided for you, than you will feel a deep conviction that you are in the right and secure way; and very soon you will be enabled to join with the happy converts of ancient and modern times, (1) in this hymn of praise: 'I give thee thanks, O 'God, my Enlightener and Deliverer; for that thou hast opened the eyes of my soul to know 'thee. Alas! too late have I known thee, O 'ancient and eternal Truth! too late have I 'known thee.' I am, Dear Sir, yours, &c. J. M. (1) St. Austin's Soliloquies, c, 33, quoted by Dean Cressy, Exomol. p,

656.

THE END OF PART I,

172

THE END

OF

RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY.

PART II.

There are many other things which keep me in the bosom of the 'Catholic Church.-The agreement of different people and nations 'keeps me there.--The authority established by Miracles, nourished by hope, increased by charity and confirmed by antiquity, keeps me there.-The succession of Bishops in the See of St. Peter, the Apostle, (to whom our Lord, after his Resurrection, committed his sheep, to be fed) down to the present Bishop, keeps me there.-Finally, the very name of CATHOLIC, which, among so many heresies, this Church 'alone possesses, keeps me there.'-St. Augustin, Doctor of the Church, A. D. 400, contra Epist. Fundam, c. 4.

ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRUE CHURCH.

LETTER XIII.

To JAMES BROWN, Esq. &c.

DEAR SIR,

ON THE TRUE CHURCH.

The Letters which I have received from you, and some others of your Religious Society, satisfy me that I have not altogether lost my labour, in endeavouring to prove to you that the Private Interpretation of Holy Scripture is not a more certain Rule of Faith than an imaginary Private Inspiration is; and, in short, that the Church of Christ is the only sure expounder of the doctrine of Christ. Thus much you, Sir, in parti