Christian Revelation, with a discussion of the rules or methods followed, for this purpose, by different classes of Christians. Having taken for granted the following maxims,-that Christ has appointed some rule or method of learning his revelation ;— that this rule must be an unerring one; and that it must be adapted to the capacities and situations of mankind, in general; I proceeded to shew, that a supposed private spirit, or particular inspiration, is not that rule; because this persuasion has led numberless fanatics, in every age, since that of Christ, into the depths of error, folly, and wickedness of every kind.-I proved, in the second place, that the written word or scripture, according to each one's conception of its meaning, is not that rule; because it is not adapted to the capacities and situations of the bulk of mankind; a great proportion of them not being able to read the Scripture, and much less to form a connected sense of a single chapter of it; and because innumerable Christians haveat all times, by following this presumptuous method, given into heresies, impieties, contradictions and crimes, almost as numerous and flagrant as those of the abovementioned fanatics.-Finally, I demonstrated, that there is a two-fold word of God, the unwritten and the written; that the former was appointed by Christ, and made use of by the Apostles, for converting nations; and that it was not made void by the inspired Epistles and Gospels, which some of the Apostles, and the Evangelists, addressed, for the most part, to particular churches or individuals; that the Catholic Church is the divinely commissioned Guardian and Interpreter of the word of God, in both its parts; and that, therefore, the method, appointed by Christ for learning what he

has taught, on the various articles of his Religion, is to HEAR THE CHURCH propounding them to us from the whole of his Rule. This method, I have shewn, continued to be pointed out by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, in constant succession, and that it is the only one, which is adapted to the circumstances of mankind, in general; the only one, which leads to the peace and unity of the Christian Church; and the only one, which affords tranquility and security to individual Christians during life, and at the trying hour of their dissolution.

At this point, my labours might have ended; as the Catholic Church alone follows the Right Rule, and the Right Rule infallibly leads to the Catholic Church. But, since Bishop Porteus, and other Protestant controvertists, raise cavils, as to which is the True Church; and whereas this is a question, that admits of a still more easy and more triumphant answer, than that concerning the Right Rule of Faith, I have made it the subject of a second series of Letters, with which, I flatter myself, the greater part of you are acquainted. In fact, no inquiry is so easy, to an attentive and upright Christian, as that which leads to the discovery of the True Church of Christ; because, on one hand, all Christians agree in their common Creeds, concerning the characters, or marks, which she bears; and because, on the other hand, these marks are of an exterior and splendid kind, such as require no extensive learning or abilities, and little more than the use of our senses and common reason, to discern them. In short, among the numerous and jarring societies of Christians, [all pretending to have found out the truths of Revelation] to ascer

tain which is the True Church of Christ, that in fallibly possesses them, we have only to observe, which among them is distinctively, ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLICAL; and the discovery is made. In treating of these characters, or marks, I said it was obvious to every beholder, that there is no bond of union whatever among the different Societies of Protestants; and that no articles, canons, oaths, or laws, have the force of confining the members of any one of them, as experience shews, to a uniformity of belief, or even profession, in a single kingdom or island, while the great Catholic Church, spread, as it is, over the face of the globe, and consisting, as it does, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, is strictly united together, in the same faith, the same sacraments, and the same church-government; in short, that it demonstratively exhibits the first mark of the True Church, Unity-With respect to the second mark, Sanctity, I shewed that she alone teaches and enforces the whole doctrine of the Gospel; that she is the mother of all the Saints, acknowledged as such by Protestants themselves; that she possesses many Means of attaining to sanctity, which the latter disclaim; and that God himself attests the truth of this Church, by the miracles with which, from time to time, he illustrates her exclusively. And, whereas many eminent Protestant writers have charged the Catholics with deception and forgery on this head, I have unanswerably retorted the charge upon themselves.No words, were wanting to shew, that the Catholic Church bears the glorious name of CATHOLIC, and very few to demonstrate, that she is Catholic or Universal, with respect both to place and time,

and that she is also Apostolical. The latter point, however, I exhibited in a more evident and sensible manner, by means of a sketch of An Apostolical Tree, a Genealogical Table of the Church, which I sent you, shewing the succession of her Pontiffs, her most eminent Bishops, Doctors and Saints, as also that of the most notorious hereticks and schismatics, who have been lopped off from this Tree, in every age, from that of the Apostles down to the present. "No Church, but the Catholic, can exhibit any thing of this kind," as Tertullian reproached the seceders of his time. Under this head, you must have observed, in particular, the want of an apostolical succession of Ministry, under which I shewed that all the Protestant Societies labour; and their want of success in attempting the work of the Apostles, the conversion of Pagan nations.

The third series of my letters has been employed in tearing off the hideous mask, with which calumny aud misrepresentation had disfigured the fair face of Christ's true Spouse, the Catholic Church. In this endeavour, I trust, I have been completely successful, and that there is not one of your Society, who will any more reproach Catholics with being Idolaters, on account of their respect for the Memorials of Christ and his Saints, or of their desiring the prayers of the latter; or on account of the adoration they pay to the divine Jesus, hidden under the Sacramental veils. Nor will they hereafter accuse us of purchasing, or otherwise procuring leave to commit sin, or the previous pardon of sins, to be committed; or, in short, of perfidy, sedition, cruelty, or systematic wickedness of any kind. So far from this, I have.

reason to hope, that the view of the Church herself, which I have exhibited to your Society, instead of the caricature of her, which Dr. Porteus, and other bigotted controvertists have held up to the public, has produced a desire in several of them to return to the communion of this original Church; bearing, as she clearly does, all the marks of the True Church; gifted, as she manifestly is, with so many peculiar helps for salvation; and possessing the only safe and practicable rule for ascertaining the truths of Revelation. The consideration which, I understand, has struck some of them, in the most forcible manner, is that which I suggested from my own knowledge and experience, as well as from the observation of the eminent writers whom I named; that No Catholic, at the near approach of death, is ever found desirous of dying in any other religion, while numbers of Protestants, in that situation, seek to be reconciled to the Catholic Religion.

Some of your number have said, that, though they are of opinion that the Catholic Religion is the true one, yet they have not that evidence of the fact, which they think sufficient to justify a change in so important a point as that of Religion.-God forbid that I should advise any person to embrace the Catholic Religion, without having sufficient evidence of its truth: but I must remind the persons in question, that they have not a metaphysical evidence, nor a mathematical certainty of the truth of Christianity in general. In fact, they have only a high moral evidence and certainty of this truth: for, with all the miracles and other arguments, by which Christ and his Apostles proved this divine system, it was still a stumbling-block to the Jews,