Chess in your mission to his subjects, so as to offend even me of his Eccle ones? It was the testimony of Jesus himself that i would be better for such a one that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea.

if

Again: The responsibility of your office appears to be, possible, still more magnified by the werd of the Lord to his Prophet Ezekiel, in which you are compared to a watchman of 3 city—“But if the watchman see the sword come, and biow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; f he sword come and take away any person from among im, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.”

So, thou, O son of man! I have set thee a watchman me be house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word s my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say * De wicked—“O! wicked man thou shalt surely he** I shou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his ways, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his You will I require at thy hand.

1 quadre appears evident that the watchman or ambassors receive the word of the Lord at the mouth of we Lord, and not from men or books.

Houston — But, says one, I thought that Christ had, in De Separes wevealed his will unto his followers. But, wider. Je has revealed his will in his written and a sa unaniter word. And these objections induce me to aques veur aspartion to the three different rules, adopted stand know the mind of Christ. They are laid Day Wher, in his "End of Controversy." I shall e vale 2 so you, and afterwards review them. I am, &c.

WM. M'GIRR.

LETTER II.

Gentlemen: It may not be improper, at the commencement of this Letter, to state that the J. Milner I am about introducing to your notice is a Roman Catholic Bishop, who was addressed by a respectable society of Protestants, of different denominations, who had associated themselves together "to promote brotherly love and Christian charity," which they felt disposed to extend to all denominations, except the Catholics. They were induced to appoint one of their number to write to Dr. Milner, and inform him of their organization, and also of their exceptions against those of his church; likewise, to query of him whether he would undertake to defend the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church; to which he replied that he would, and with the greatest pleasure. Thus they engaged in a controversy, which continued for more than a year; and in his sixth letter, addressed to one of the members of this society, he introduces, in the following language, the subject of the three rules, to show that his is superior to either of the others, viz:

"Among serious Christians, who profess to make the discovery and practice of religion their first and earnest care, three different methods or rules have been adopted for this purpose. The first consists in a supposed private inspiration, or an immediate light and motion of God's spirit, communicated to the individual. This was the rule of faith and conduct formerly professed by the Montanests, Anabaptists, the Family of Love, and is now professed by the Quakers and others.

"The second rule is, The written Word of God; or, the Bible, according as it is understood by each particular reader or hearer thereof. This is the professed rule of the

more regular sects of Protestants, such as the Lutherans, the Calvinists, the Socinians, and the members of the Church of England.

'The third rule is, The word of God at large, whether written in the Bible, or handed down from the Apostles in continued succession by the Catholic church; or, to speak more accurately, as it is understood and explained by the church; for Catholics acknowledge (besides Scripture and tradition) in the authority of their church, an unerring judge of controversy, and sure guide in all matters pertaining to salvation.

"I shall now proceed to show that the first mentioned rule, namely, a supposed private inspiration, is quite fallacious, inasmuch as it is liable to conduct, and has conducted many into acknowledged errors and impiety."

The Dr. therefore, condemns the first rule, because the Anabaptists of Munster, and the Fifth Monarchy Men, of London, under the pretence of inspiration, ran into great extravagances.

He likewise condemns the Society of Friends, because James Naylor, and some others, under pretence of the same spirit, ran into certain extravagant delusions; and he enumerates other societies and individuals, whose names, for brevity's sake, I must omit to mention.

The written

If Christ had

In his review of the second rule, viz. Word of God, or the Bible," the Dr. says: intended that all mankind should learn his religion from a book-namely, the New Testament-he himself would have written that book; and would have laid it down as the first and fundamental principle of his religion, the obligation of learning to read it; whereas, he never wrote anything at all, unless, perhaps, the sins of the Pharisees, with his finger upon the dust. (JOHN viii: 6.)

"It does not appear that he gave his Apostles any command to write the Gospel, though he repeatedly and emphatically commanded them to preach it, (MATT. x.) and that to all the nations of the earth. (MATT. xxviii: 19.) In this ministry they spent their lives, preaching the religion of Christ in every country, from Judea to Spain, in one direction, and to India in another; everywhere establishing churches, and commending their doctrine to faithful men, who should be fit to teach it to others also. (TIM. ii: 2.) Only a part of them wrote anything, and what these did write, was, for the most part, addressed to particular persons or congregations, and on particular occasions.

The ancient fathers tell us that St. Matthew wrote his Gospel at the particular request of the Christians of Palestine, and that St. Mark composed his at the desire of those at Rome. St. Luke addressed his Gospel to an individual, (1heophilus) having written it, says the Holy Evangelist, because it seemed good to him to do so. (LUKE i: 3.) St. John wrote the last of the Gospels, in compliance with the petitions of the clergy and people of Lesser Asia, to prove in particular the Divinity of Jesus Christ, which Corinthus Ebion, and other heretics, began to deny. No doubt the Evangelists were moved by the Holy Ghost to listen to the requests of the faithful, in writing their respective Gospels; nevertheless, there is nothing in the Gospels themselves which indicates that any of them, or all of them together, contain an entire, detailed and clear exposition of the whole religion of Jesus Christ.

"The canonical epistles in the New Testament show the particular occasions on which they were written, and prove, as the Bishop of Lincoln observes, that they are not to be considered as regular treatises on the Christian religion.

Second. In supposing our Saviour to have appointed his mere written word for the rule of our faith, without any authorized judge to decide on the unavoidable controversies growing out of it, you would suppose that he has acted differently from what common sense dictates to all other legislators; for, where do we read of a legislator, who, after dictating a code of laws, neglected to appoint judges and magistrates to decide on their meaning, and to enforce obedience to such decisions.

"Third. The fact is, this method of determining religious questions by Scripture only, according to each individual's interpretation thereof, whenever and wherever it has been adopted, has always produced innumerable dissensions, and, of course, errors-because truth is one, while errors are numberless.

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To speak now of the Protestant Reformers. No sooner had their progenitor, Martin Luther, set up the tribunal of his private judgment on the sense of Scripture in opposition to the authority of the church, ancient and modern, than his disciples, proceeding on his principles, undertook to prove, from plain texts of the Bible, that his own doctrines were erroneous, and that the Reformation itself wanted reforming.

"Carlostad, Zwinglius, Ecolampadius, Muncer, and a hundred more of his followers, wrote and preached against him, and against each other, with the utmost virulence; yet each of them professing to ground his doctrine and conduct on the written Word of God alone.

In vain did Luther claim a superiority over them; in vain did he denounce hell fire against them; in vain did he threaten to return back to the Catholic religion He had put the Bible into each man's hand, to explain it for himself, and this his followers continued to do in open defiance