instance, the church did not prohibit the diffusion of the Scriptures.

Those, therefore, who say that the first Reformers were the persons who communicated the Scriptures, are evidently in error; for they had previously been spread in the Catholic Church, which, subject to the supervision of its pastors, permitted almost, I might say quite, their indiscriminate perusal.

This much may suffice for the present. I have only as yet kept you amidst the outworks, I have not yet brought you within the precincts, of the inquiry. In treating of the Protestant rule of faith, I have refrained from alluding to the decision of Scripture itself. As yet, I have handled it merely as a question of moral and philosophical discussion. I have simply deduced, from the nature of the rule itself, how far it can be considered satisfactory. I have arrayed its difficulties before you, and I have shown that it requires a strong shelter under Divine warrant and sanction to justify the institution of so complicated and difficult a rule. Now, whether there is that Divine authority, I have not examined, for I have not touched upon the passages adduced, to prove that the Scripture is a satisfactory rule of faith. That I reserve for future discourses, when I hope I shall be able to meet before you all the arguments that are to be drawn from the Word of God. Next Friday, I will pass to the positive portion of my theme. Having first excluded, or partially removed, the system of others, I shall proceed to consider the true and legitimate mode of argument on this subject; that is to say, to prove what we believe; and when you can compare the two together, you will judge between them which is the institution of God.

You will, I am sure, consider that system which I have already described, (and upon which more has yet to be said,) as a thing at first sight appearing regular, orderly, and beautiful. It may be compared to a handsome, modern edifice, which strikes you when passing along the high road, and which, only judging of it, as you hastened on, by the measure of its outward proportions, by the artful scale on which it has been constructed, and the apparent uniformity of all its parts, has seemed to you to possess within, a proportionable fitness and beauty and convenience; but which, when you have entered in, as I have partly led you this day, you discover to be composed of dark and tortuous passages, and of strait and inharmonious, and ill-contrived apartments, which give no joy or comfort to those who therein dwell. And

from it, I will lead you to a far more beautiful fabric, of which the other will seem to be but a mean copy, as though its architect had seen the exterior of ours, but was not allowed the privilege of entering. It will appear, at first, to you, as if upon it there were time-stains, and other traces of the course of centuries over its surface; but, on a nearer approach, even these will be respected, as venerable signs of sacred antiquity. But, when you have looked within, you will see through every part of the edifice, beauty, and symmetry, and just proportion, and grandeur in every part; where all the members of the goodly building are harmoniously composed into one beautiful whole, and all its chambers adorned with whatever can rejoice the heart of man, and gladden his existence. Then, I am sure, you will acknowledge, that if that which you have just seen was but the work of man, this which you will have inwardly examined, was the erection of God. And I trust that you will not so content yourselves with looking in-that you will not be satisfied with taking a cursory glance at all the beauties and perfections of the edifice; but that, using the lights which it is given to fallen man to have, you will, under my humble guidance, enter therein: that so many, who now stand without, may come therein to abide, with the children of Christ, and to sit around that banquet of heavenly gifts, which there only are to be obtained on earth, as an earnest of what God has prepared in Heaven.

LECTURE III.

EXPOSITION OF THE CATHOLIC RULE OF FAITH.

Sanctify the Lord Jesus Christ in your hearts: being ready always to satisfy any one that asketh you the reason of the hope that is in you."-1 Peter, iii. 15.

In my last discourse, I was principally occupied with the less pleasing task of examining and confuting the opinions of others. I endeavoured, with the utmost impartiality, to analyze the principle of belief adopted by those religions which have rejected ours; and, without any reference to express authority, by simply tracing it to its simple elements, I attempted to show you that it was fraught with so many difficulties, as absolutely to render it in practice inapplicable, and void of fruit. For, while it supposes, on the one hand, the obligation of each individual to examine for himself the Word of God, and draw thence the doctrines which he believes as therein contained; it, on the other hand, supposes, necessarily, a train of difficult, learned, and often abstruse, inquiry, to which very few, comparatively, can be equal.

I come now to the more agreeable duty of explaining to you the faith which we hold: and I shall endeavour to proceed precisely in the same manner, as I did at our last meeting. I will at present content myself with simply giving you the outline of our belief; showing, as I proceed, how simple and obvious is the whole process of our reasoning; such, indeed, as must at once satisfy the most accurate and logical inquirer, and, at the same time, be within the reach of the most illiterate capacity. I shall endeavour, also, to point out the beautiful harmony of all its parts, and the striking way in which the adoption of such a rule must in-. fluence, not only the whole basis and nature of the demonstration, but also the construction of perfect Christianity.

We are told, in the 31st chapter of Deuteronomy, how, when Moses had completed the law of God, and had written

VOL. I.-5

it in a book, he gave it to the Levites who bare the Ark of the Lord, and commanded that it should be placed beside the Ark of the Covenant, within the Tabernacle, as a testimony against Israel. But that was not the only object which received so distinguished an honour. For we read how, on a certain occasion,* when many would have disputed the supreme priesthood of Aaron's line, and, jealous of the authority vested in him as the priest appointed of God, would have claimed a share in his dignity, the Almighty commanded Moses to give a rod unto each of the tribes, whereon the name of its head was written, and all were placed in the presence of the Lord; and on the next morning, it was found that the rod of Aaron had blossomed, and brought forth fruit. And then God commanded this rod, which was the emblem of authority, and a witness that he had confided the spiritual rule, and the teaching of the people, to one line, to be also deposited and kept in the same place, as a testimony in like manner to the people of Israel. And even so, on another occasion, Moses commanded Aaron to take a certain portion of the manna, of the holy and spiritual food sent down from the clouds to feed the people of Israel; and having put it into a vessel, he treated it likewise with the same distinction, and placed it to stand in the Sanctuary, before the Mercy-seat of God.t

Now, my brethren, all these are perfectly symbolical of the elements, which the Catholic supposes to enter into the composition of the ground-work of his faith. For, first, above all, he reveres and values the Sacred Volume revealed by God, which he places as the foundation-stone of his faith, in the holiest of his temple. But beside it is also the rod of the children of Aaron, the sceptre of power and authority, the badge of dignity and command, which God hath given to the rulers and pastors of the church; and in this also he recognizes the honourable right to claim a place beside the other in the Sanctuary, although with such distinctions as I shall just now explain. Then, in the third place, he believes also, that a necessary and important ingredient in the formation of individual faith, is the strengthening and life-giving grace which God sends down into the soul, which infuses faith as a virtue into the heart, ready to be exercised the moment its object is properly placed before it. And such is the three-fold composition of the provision made by God for the

* Numbers, xvii.

+ Exod. xvi. 33.