were delivered by the doctors and which doctors and fathers by the

fathers of the Church; revelation of the Holy Spirit commanded the Church to observe them. So that here again, the revelation of the Holy Spirit, is the ultimate ground on which his faith rests.

And the case is the same with the Protestants. Ask them why they trust in the Scriptures, and take them to be their rule? and their answer is: Because we have in them the mind of God delivered unto us, by those to whom these things were inwardly revealed by the Spirit of God; not because this or that man wrote them, but because the Spirit of God dictated them.

Is it not strange then that men should consider Revelation so uncertain and dangerous to follow, and pronounce it, with the Doctor, a deceitful and fallacious rule; and moreover ridicule their fellow men, who take it to be their guide in matters pertaining to salvation. Alas! for the ignorance and folly of poor mortal man : I believe I have now demonstrated that this very fallible and uncertain rule (the Spirit) is the only one which both Catholics and Protestants have finally to admit as the foundation of their faith, and not the Scriptures and tradition, as they would have us to believe.

I shall now conclude my review of the Doctor's three rules, and shall leave it with your better judgment to decide by which of them we are most likely to obtain a knowledge of the mind of Christ; and with sentiments of respect

I remain yours, &c.

WM. M'GIRR.

LETTER XI.

Gentlemen: I have now taken up my pen to proceed according to the proposition laid down in my first letter, and the first subject I shall introduce for your consideration is, "The doctrine of Original Sin." I shall simply assert my disbelief in the doctrine as generally received. I cannot persuade myself that it has any existence in God, nor yet in the truth; all the existence it ever had or ever will have, I apprehend, is in the imagination of the mind of man; excepting so far as it relates to children inheriting disease from parents, who having violated the organic and physical laws of their being have thus ruined their constitutions, and entailed physical and mental diseases on their children ;* and this I believe to be all the original sin that ever was, is, or will be entailed upon our race; and this has no bearing upon the case at issue, as I shall now endeavor to prove.

I may be allowed to observe that I feel desirous that the mist of prejudice, which has hitherto enveloped the minds of many professing Christians, may be dispersed, and that they may be assisted to become disengaged from the trammels of tradition.

It will be found a very frequent if not almost universal case, if men would but examine themselves impartially, that the sinner is anxious to palliate his crimes, by casting some or all of the blame upon other agents than himself; hence we find in the days of Ezekiel the Prophet, the word of the Lord camo to him concerning a rebellious nation, and a stiff-necked; yet this same people used this proverb concerning themselves: "The fathers have eaten sour

"Physical and mental diseases" are not sins, though they may be the effects of sin.

grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge ;" and this is the first plain inference or proverbial assertion of an idea of original sin, that I have met with on record; and it is so far from having a Divine origin that nearly the whole 18th chapter of Ezekiel is occupied in refuting this false doctrine.

I shall now claim your attention to positive assertions of Eternal Truth in vindication of the equality and justice of all his ways and in his dealings with the children of men : "Behold! saith the Lord God, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine; the soul that sinneth it shall die; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

This is a plain summary of the doctrine of Divine Truth, clearly and emphatically illustrated throughout the whole of the chapter alluded to, and is in itself an ample refutation of the doctrine of original sin; or, the imputation of anything sinful, even as a seed, by transmission from Adam, or any one else; by natural generation or any other medium, excepting only what I have already admitted in this letter, in relation to organic and physical causes.

But inasmuch as mankind in the fallen or sinful state, have long since the epoch to which I have alluded, and in opposition to the plain' unequivocal testimony which I have adduced, and even with the Bible in their hands, sought out many inventions to screen or hide themselves; and like their primogenitor, Adam, to endeavor to palliate their crimes by implicating or throwing at least part of the blame on others. I have been induced to examine the figleaf covering of original sin a little further; and more

especially as some of Paul's Epistles, or our translations of them, appear more favorable to this sin-palliating doctrine, than the unambiguous declarations of the Eternal Jehovah through his prophet Ezekiel.

According to the literal account of the creation of man as given by Moses, he was formed, or made of the dust of the earth. This I apprehend is universally admitted by all those who acknowledge the Scriptures to be of Divine origin. The animal body of Adam, had the same common origin as the beasts of the field, the cattle, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold! it was very good. No doubt can then remain of the first man's body being equally good with the rest of the material world; and as an animal he was good, as every other animal formed of the earth was; and this is what Paul calls the first man of the earth, earthy, and this earthly or animal man was called Adam. Thus far we consider man as an animal among kindred animals.

But in the seventh verse of Chapter 2d, Genesis, after recapitulating the work of creation, the account closes with assigning the reason or cause of the superiority of man over all other animals, thus: "And the Lord God breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life, and man became a living soul." And this breathing or inspiration of the breath, or Spirit of the Divine life, which constituted the image or likeness of God, was that in and by which he was to have dominion over all the inferior parts of his own animal nature; and thus man became a living soul, endowed with sufficient powers and capacities, to keep his rational and animal or inferior nature, his passions and appetites in subjection to the spiritual or Divine nature.

We have now viewed man as an animal, in his nature earthly, having propensities in common with other animals,

susceptible of hunger, thirst, &c. He had the knowledge of himself, and this was essential to the right government of his animal nature, or as the apostle Paul expresses it, "Keeping his body under subjection ;" and doing this, perfect order, harmony and peace pervaded the whole man.

Now, in this state, where was the seed of sin? In the animal passions. As a seed under favorable circumstances brings forth a plant, so the animal propensities, if suffered to rule bring forth sin. Man was made upright; he was pronounced good; and while the soul, influenced by divine wisdom, maintained its dominion over the inferior or animal nature, he remained good; he did his heavenly Father's will, he knew no evil, he knew only what was good; the law by which he was governed was written in his mind and not in a book, and so long as he abode under it and was regulated by it, it kept him free from the law of sin and death.

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But when his inferior or animal nature, being earthy in its inclinations, lusted against the Spirit, and the eye of the mind was turned to look outward, or to desire or follow the desires of the inferior nature, 'Lust conceived, and at length brought forth sin." This is represented by the reasoning of the most subtile part of man's earthly nature, which is called the serpent; and this operated on the weaker vessel, or womanish part of his animal composition.

The apostle James says, "Every man' (then certainly the first man) "when he is tempted is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." Thereby to disobey the divine. law. His own lusts, is the lust or unlawful desire of the flesh or animal nature, with the consent of the will, seeking its gratifications in opposition to the law or will of God.

If there was any seed of sin in Adam it was in his earthly nature; but this was pronounced good and would