have passed their days, than to look into their publications. I shall satisfy myself with citing the Pastoral Charge of one of them, a living Bishop, to his Clergy. Speaking of the Christian doctrines, he says, I think it safer to tell you 'where they are contained, than what they are. They are contained in the Bible, and if, in reading that book, your sentiments concerning the 'doctrines of Christianity should be different 'from those of your neighbour, or from those of 'the Church, be persuaded on your part, that 'infallibility appertains as little to you as it does 'to the Church.' (1) Can you read this, my Dear Sir, without shuddering? If a most learned and intelligent Bishop and Professor of Divinity, as Dr. Watson certainly is, after studying all the Scriptures and all the Commentators upon them, is forced publicly to confess to his assembled Clergy, that he cannot tell them what the doctrines of Christianity are, how unsettled must his mind have been! and, of course, how far removed from the assurance of faith! In the next place, how fallacious must that Rule of the mere Bible be, which, while he recommends it to them, he plainly signifies, will not lead them to a uniformity of sentiments, one with another, nor even with their Church! There can be no doubt, Sir, but that those who entertain doubts concerning the truth of their religion, in the course of their lives, must experience the same, with redoubled anxiety, at the approach of death. Accordingly, there are, I believe, few of our Catholic priests, in an extensive ministry, who have not been frequently called in to receive dying Protestants into the Catholic Church, (2) while not a single instance (1) Bishop Watson's Charge to his Clergy, in 1795. (2) A large proportion of those Grandees who were the most forward in promoting the Reformation, so called, and among the rest. Cromwell, Earl of Essex, the King's Ecclesiastical Vicar, when they came can be produced, of a Catholic wishing to die in any other communion than his own. (1) O Death, thou great enlightener! O truth-telling Death, how powerful art thou in confuting the blasphemies and dissipating the prejudices of the enemies of God's Church! Taking it for granted, that you, Dear Sir, have not been without your doubts and fears as to the safety of the road in which you are walking to eternity, more particularly in the course of the present controversy, and being anxious, beyond expression, that you should be free from these, when you arrive at the brink of that vast ocean, I cannot do better than address you in the words of the great St. Augustin, to one in your situation:If you think you 'have been sufficiently tossed about, and wish to see an end to your anxieties, follow the rule 'of Catholic discipline, which came down to us through the apostles from Christ himself, and which shall descend from us to the latest pos'terity.' (2) Yes, renounce the fatal and foolish presumption of fancying that you can interpret the Scripture better than the Catholic Church, aided, as she is, by the tradition of all ages, and the Spirit of all truth. (3) But I mean to treat to die, returned to the Catholic Church. This was the case also with Luther's chief protector, the Elector of Saxony, the persecuting Queen of Navarre, and many other foreign Protestant Princes. Some Bishops of the Established Church; for instance, Goodman and Cheyney, of Gloucester, and Gordon of Glasgow, probably also King, of London, and Halifax, of St. Asaph's, died Catholics. A long list of titled or otherwise distinguished personages, who have either returned to the Catholic faith, or, for the first time, embraced it on their death-beds, in modern times, might be named here, if it were prudent to do so. (1) This is remarked by Sir Toby Mathews, son of the Archbishop of York, Hugh Cressy. Canon of Windsor and Dean of Laughlin, F. Walsingham and Ant. Ulric Duke of Brunswick, all illustrious converts; also Beurier in his Conferences, p. 400. (2) De Utilit. Cred. c. 8. (3) Bossuet in his celebrated Conference with Claude, which produced the conversion of Mlle. Duras, obliged him to confess that, by the Protestant Rule, 'every artisan and husbandman may and ought to 'believe, that he can understand the Scriptures better than all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ancient and modern, put to'gether.' I HAVE received your letter, and also two others from Gentlemen of your Society, on what I have written to you concerning the insufficiency of Scripture, interpreted by individuals, to constitute a secure Rule of Faith. From these it is plain, that my arguments have produced a considerable sensation in the Society; insomuch that I find myself obliged to remind them of the terms on which we mutually entered upon this correspondence; namely, that each one should be at perfect liberty to express his sentiments on the important subject under consideration, without complaint or offence of the other. The strength of my arguments is admitted by you all: yet you all bring invincible objections, as you consider them, from Scripture and other sources against them. I think it will render our controversy more simple and clear, if, with your permission, I defer answering these, till after I have said all that I have to say concerning the Catholic Rule of Faith. The Catholic Rule of Faith, as I stated before, is not merely The Written Word of God, but The Whole Word of God, both Written and Unwritten; in other words, Scripture and Tradition, and these propounded and explained by the Catholic Church. This implies that we have a two-fold Rule, or Law, and that we have an Interpreter or Judge to explain it, and to decide upon it in all doubtful points. I. I enter upon this subject with observing, that all written laws necessarily suppose the existence of unwritten laws, and indeed depend upon them for their force and authority. Not to run into the depths of ethics and metaphysics on this subject; you know, Dear Sir, that in this kingdom, we have Common or Unwritten Law, and Statute or Written Law, both of them binding; but that the former necessarily precedes the latter. The legislature, for example, makes a written statute, but we must learn beforehand, from the common law, what constitutes the Legislature, and we must also have learnt from the Natural and the Divine Laws, that the Legislature is to be obeyed in all things which these do not render unlawful. The municipal law of England,' says Judge Blackstone, may be divided into Lex Non Scripta, 'the Unwritten or Common Law, and the Lex 'Scripta, or Statute Law.'(1) He afterwards calls the Common Law, the first ground and chief corner-stone of the Laws of England. (2) 'If,' continues he, 'the question arises, how these customs or maxims are to be known, and by whom their validity are to be determined, the answer is, by the Judges in the several Courts of Justice. They are the depositories of the laws, the living oracles, 'who must decide in all cases of doubt, and who 'are bound by oath to decide according to the law 'of the land.' (3)-So absurd is the idea of binding mankind by written laws, without laying an adequate foundation for the authority of those laws, and without constituting living judges to decide upon them! Neither has the Divine Wisdom, in founding (1) Comment, on the Laws, Introduct. sect. 3. 12) Ibid. sect. iii. p. 73, 8th edit. the spiritual kingdom of his Church, acted in that inconsistent manner. The Almighty did not send a Book, the New Testament, to Christians, and, without so much as establishing the authority of that Book, leave them to interpret it, till the end of time, each one according to his own opinions or prejudices. But our blessed Master and Legislator, Jesus Christ, having first demonstrated his own divine legation from his heavenly Father by undeniable miracles, commissioned his chosen Apostles, by word of mouth, to proclaim and explain, by word of mouth, his doctrines and precepts to all nations, promising to be with them in the execution of this office of his heralds and judges, even to the end of the world. This implies the power he had given them of ordaining successors in this office, as they themselves were only to live the ordinary term of human life. True it is that, during the execution of their commission, he inspired some of them, and of their disciples, to write certain parts of these doctrines and precepts, namely, the Canonical Gospels and Epistles, which they addressed, for the most part, to particular persons and on particular occasions; but these inspired writings, by no means, rendered void Christ's commission to the Apostles and their successors, of preaching and explaining his word, to the nations, or his promise of being with them till the end of time. On the contrary, the inspiration of these very writings is not otherwise known than by the viva voce evidence of these depositories and judges of the revealed truths. This Analysis of Revealed Religion, so conformable to Reason and the Civil Constitution of our country, is proved to be true by The Written Word itself-by the Tradition and conduct of the Apostles-and by the constant testimony and practice of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church in all ages. II. Nothing then, Dear Sir, is farther from the |