with the temper of charity for our constant companion-may each successive step of our investigation serve to strengthen our convictions, to increase our thankfulness, and to give fervour to our prayers, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may hold the faith, in the unity of the Spirit, and the bond of peace.

LECTURE V.

2 THES. ii. 15.-Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

You are invited once more, beloved brethren, to resume the examination of the principles of that Church, which claims to herself the prerogative of infallibility, and places her traditions upon an equality with the blessed Word of God. We have seen, already, some specimens of the skill and subtilty, with which her advocates defend her pretensions; and we shall have abundant occasion to admire their ingenuity, while we lament its misapplication, before our labours are closed. Regarding the Church of Rome, as I regard every Church in Christendom, with kindliness and esteem for the Redeemer's sake, and anxiously desirous to conduct even the work of controversy so as to subserve the great cause of Christian unity and peace, I have no wish to keep back any portion of their arguments, but rather a disposition to place them all in their strongest light, because in no other way could I do them justice-in no other way could I bring each several question fairly up to the standard of truth-in no other way could I hope to be of any real service in the warfare against errorand above all-in no other way could I pursue my humble undertaking in the fear of God, or obtain for it the guidance and safeguard of his blessing.

But in addition to these conclusive reasons for the mode in which I have resolved to treat this important controversy, I

rejoice in the conviction, that in no other way could I promise myself the desired measure of success. And I hail it as a sign of an improving spirit in our age, when calm and temperate and thorough examination of the most abstruse and uninviting points of theological discussion, is more welcome to the minds of all discerning and reflecting men, than bitter invective, exaggerated misstatements, or noisy and turnid declamation.

Our last lecture was occupied, as you will probably recollect, by the proofs alleged on the part of the distinguished Roman Catholic, Dr. Wiseman, in favour of their fundamental doctrine of the rule of faith, which asserts not only the authority of the Scriptures, as the written Word, but also the equal authority of their traditions, as being the unwritten Word of God, handed down from the apostles themselves, through the infallible instrumentality of the Church. We considered, at large, the evidence which the Scriptures furnished on the insecurity of all tradition, up to the days of our blessed Redeemer. We examined fully the import of the text, in which He promises to be with his apostles and their successors to the end of the world; and we showed how inconsistent it was with the whole tenor of the Word of God, that the presence of Christ should be interpreted as being a warrant for the Church's infallibility. The further discussion of the Roman claim was reserved for the following lecture; in which we hope, by the aid of Him, who is the way, the truth and the life, to dispose of the remaining arguments adduced upon this subject.

The first statement which meets us, in this part of the discussion, is calculated to make considerable impression on an incautious mind. It is briefly, as follows: that our Saviour sent forth his apostles with authority; "As My Father Hath SENT ME, SO SEND I YOU:" that they accordingly preached the Gospel with all authority: that they required assent to the things which they spake, without referring their hearers to the Scriptures; nay, that when they preached to the Gentiles,

they did not even intimate that there was such a Book: that instead of this, they ordained ministers wherever they went, and commanded the people to listen and to obey them that had the rule over them, saying every where, as to the Thessalonians in the text-"Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle." To this our learned advocate adds the language of the apostle to Timothy, (2 Tim. i. 13) “Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us;" in which passage, it is plain that there is something else alluded to, besides the Scriptures. In another place, the same eminent apostle saith to Timothy, “The things which thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, commit thou to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also." "Here then," to use the words of Dr. Wiseman, “St. Paul does not say, 'Treasure up this my epistle as a part of God's holy Word, and give copies of it to those whom you have to instruct;' and this surely would have been the safest way of preserving the doctrines he had delivered; but he tells Timothy to choose faithful or trustworthy men, and to confide the doctrines he had received to their hands, that they, in turn, might communicate them to others. Is not this," saith Dr. Wiseman, "clearly assuming oral teaching as the method to be established and pursued by the Church of Christ?"

Now in all this, my brethren, there is much that we cheerfully acknowledge; but it is so ingeniously applied to a most mistaken inference, that it will take us some time and attention to disentangle the truth from the accompanying error.

It is true that the apostles were sent forth with authority to teach; and that their teaching, as we are assured, was "with the demonstration of the Spirit, and with power." From the time when the Holy Ghost descended upon them on the day

of Pentecost, they had the infallible authority of inspiration, together with the visible seal of heaven to that authority, in the working of miracles, casting out devils, healing the sick, conferring supernatural powers such as the gift of tongues, raising the dead, and thus exhibiting what St. Paul, in his epistle to the Corinthians, calls "the signs of an apostle."

It is true likewise, that the apostles ordained men to be their successors, in preaching the Gospel and governing the Churches when they should be no more; but the Church of Rome herself does not pretend that these successors of the apostles were intended to possess either their inspiration, or their miraculous powers, or their ability to confer supernatural powers on others. I do not indeed forget, in making this assertion, that the Church of Rome claims the continuance of miracles within her communion, and tells a prodigious number of wonderful things about particular saints, which every man is at liberty either to believe or not, just as he may think proper. But this is altogether wide of the present subject, because they have never advanced the idea, that the successors of the apostles, as such, received the communication of the powers which we have enumerated. Every bishop in the Universal or Catholic Church, for instance, is a successor to the office of the apostles, in the authority to teach, to ordain, and to govern. Such, precisely, were Timothy and Titus. But the Church of Rome has not yet maintained the absurdity that her bishops, archbishops, or even the pope himself, succeeded to the apostolic powers of inspiration, miracles, and the supernatural faculty of imparting the gift of tongues to others by the imposition of their hands. Of course, then, they cannot deny that the preaching and teaching of the apostles stood upon an independent basis, peculiar to themselves; and, in the nature of the case, totally inapplicable to those who should come after them.

It was perhaps in this very respect, that the Saviour's ad