DISS. II. which he deprecates. In short, he will be prepared not only to direct the worship of others, but himself to join in worship-not only to express their sentiments, but his own-not only to read, but to pray.

In conclusion, I have only to express my ardent wish, in behalf of every member of the Church as well as in my own, that all of us (possessing the advantages of a mode of worship so excellent, and truly spiritual,) may, through the grace of God, use this work of primitive piety as devoutly as it was composed. I have only to pray that "all things" as the Apostle directs, being "done decently and in order," or in other words, that all things being "done unto edifying," we may receive the edification which they are calculated to impart. I have only to pray, that our hearts and lives may never deviate from the graces we pray for, and the feelings we express; lest that divine reproof apply to us which was of old addressed to the Israelites: They have well said the words which they have spoken; oh that there were such an heart in them!

DISSERTATION III.

ON INFALLIBILITY.

CHAPTER I.

"Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation."-Sixth Article of Religion.

"Those parts of Holy Scripture which are plain and clear, contain all that is requisite to be believed or to be practised '."—Augustin.

"The Spirit of God, therefore, is the only infallible judge here; and has declared as plainly as any successive judges can, in those things that are necessary to life and salvation, what is to be believed and to be done; which if we believe and practise in particular, and do also in general, and implicitly believe and stand in a readiness to obey the rest of the Scripture, when the sense thereof appears to us, we are in a safe condition, and need not doubt but it will go well with us in the other state."-Works of Henry More, pp. 453, 454.

"When, therefore, you can shew, that in this and all other controversies, God hath interposed his testimony on one side or other; so that either they do see it, and will not; or, were it not for their own voluntary and avoidable fault, might and should see it, and do not; let all such errors be as damnable as you please to make them. In the mean while, if they suffer themselves neither to be betrayed into their errors, nor kept in them by any sin of their will; if they do their best endeavour to free themselves from all errors, and yet fail of it through human frailty; so well am I persuaded of the goodness of God, that if in me alone should meet a confluence of all such errors of all the Protestants in the world, that were thus qualified, I should not be so much afraid of them all, as I should be to ask pardon for them."-Works of Chillingworth, vol. i. p. 113.

CHAP. I.

EVERY reflecting Christian, as soon almost as he is DISS. III. capable of reflection, must have continual occasion to observe with sorrow and anxiety the multiplied Diversity of

Ea quæ manifestè posita sunt in Scripturis sacris omnia continent quæ pertinent ad fidem moresque vivendi.

૨

religious

CHAP. I.

opinions a source of

anxiety.

On account

of others

and on our

own.

DISS. III. varieties of opinion that divide the Church of Christ, on every point or article of Christian faith; the confidence with which every sect lays claim exclusively to the possession of saving knowledge, and the unqualified severity with which each party reprobates the other, as being implicated in unpardonable heresy. On hearing (and who can escape hearing?) the fulmination of these mutual anathemas, we not only grieve for the state of dreadful peril in which, if we admit such principles, a large proportion of our neighbours, friends, and fellow Christians must be involved: but we grieve likewise on our own account. We are visited with doubts and misgivings, and apprehensions, lest we ourselves, through ignorance or prejudice, should have adopted unawares into our creed some article containing deadly error; or should have omitted something indispensable to salvation. We necessarily believe our own creed to be correct, sound, and scriptural, because the profession of it as our own is only a profession of that belief: but our confidence in maintaining it is liable to be shaken, our reliance on its sufficiency impaired, our religious comfort and security of mind destroyed, in proportion to the numbers—the intelligence, the learning, the piety-to be found in Christians of every various denomination, who exclude us, on the ground of heresy, from all hope of Divine favour; or who regard our case at best as precarious or problematical. To discover that the evidence, the arguments and researches, which con

CHAP. I.

vince ourselves, have not succeeded in convincing DISS. III. others, seems to cast a doubt upon the process by which we reached and established our conclusions: and in proportion as our minds have learnt to estimate the all important interests of eternity, will be our sensibility to alarm and perturbation.

from the

In this state of intellectual and spiritual perplexity, if we want the Christian industry, the moral courage, or the strength of understanding, to work out for ourselves this greatest of all problems, we are in a state of passive readiness to receive counsel from the first adviser. But here again new difficulties beset us. We are encumbered with help. Not only do innumerable guides Confusion present themselves, but each of them comes eagerly number of forward to conduct us by a different road. And guides. what is worst of all, the very principles upon which they give advice are fundamentally opposed. We are referred alternately to reason, to common sense, to analogy, to Scripture, to Faith, to Grace, to tradition; and not only to each of these authorities simply, but to all of them in various combinations and proportions.

tended

saving

Among this numerous multitude of counsellors Three prenone are more importunately obtrusive, or more guides to dictatorially confident than the Romanist, the En- knowledge. thusiast, and the Sceptic. It is proposed, for the subject of this dissertation, to examine successively the remedies and expedients proposed by each of these three parties for calming our disquietude,

Q 2

DISS. III. and for the restoration of our minds to religious

CHAP. I.

The Romanist.

peace.

First, then, let it be supposed that we meet with some teacher of the Roman Catholic persuasionthat we explain to him our disturbed feelings, and request the benefit of his friendly guidance. He immediately informs us that our state of mind is the necessary consequence of adhering to a Protestant communion; and that we never can obtain repose and satisfaction until we enter the Catholic Church-until, with the other wandering sheep dispersed over the forbidden pastures of the earth, we return with humble penitence to the fold which we have left; until, in short, we renounce all dependence on the conclusions of uncertain reason, and establish our Faith for ever upon the dictates of infallibility. "That there must," he adds, "be somewhere upon earth an infallible living judge, an arbiter of religious controversy, incapable of error, an authority from whose decision on points of faith there can be no appeal, is a plain and obvious principle, which, on proper reflection, you will find impossible to be rejected. Not to insist on arguments from Scripture, although sufficiently conclusive, and capable in themselves of proving that such an arbiter has been appointed, there are independent considerations in favour of infallibility Motives of which ought to satisfy every reasonable mind: for for an infal- the wise Creator of man would never grant a revelation to his creatures, and then leave them to the

credibility

lible living

arbiter.