to undertake the task you impose upon me. Nevertheless availing myself of the liberty of speech which, you and your friends allow me, I am forced to observe that there is nothing in which men are more apt to deceive themselves, than in think ing themselves to be free from religious prejudices, and sincere in seeking after, and resolved to embrace and follow the truth of religion, in opposition to their preconceived opinions and worldly interests. How many imitate Pilate, who, when he had asked our Saviour the question, What is truth? presently went out of his company, before he could receive an answer to it. John xviii. 38. How many others resemble the rich young man, who, having interrogated Christ, What good thing shall I do that may have eternal life? when this divine master answered him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast and give to the poor;—went away sorrowful! Matt. xix. 22. Finally, how many more act like certain presumptuous disciples of our Lord, who when he had propounded to them a mystery beyond their conception, that of the real presence, in these words, My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed :—said, this is a hard saying; who can hear it? - and went back and walked no more with him! John vi. 56 O! if all Christians, of the different sects and opinions, were but possessed of the sincerity, disinterestedness, and earnestness, to serve their God, and save their souls, which a Francis Walsingham, kinsman to the great statesman of that name, a Hugh Paulin Cressy, dean of Laughlin, and prebendary of Windsor, and an Anthony Ulric, duke of Brunswick and Lunenburgh, prove themselves to have been possessed of; the first, in his Search into Matters of Religion; the second, in his Exomologesis, or Motives of Conversion, &c.; and the last, in his Fifty Reasons; how soon would all and every one of our controversies cease, and we be all united in one faith, hope, and charity! I will here transcribe, from the preface to the Fifty Reasons, what the illustrious relative of his majesty says, concerning the dispositions, with which he set about inquiring into the grounds and differences of the several systems of Christianity, when he began to entertain doubts cerning the truth of that in which he had been educated namely, Lutheranism. He says, "First, I earnestly implored the aid and grace of the Holy Ghost, and with all my power begged the light of true faith, from God, the father of lights," &c. Secondly, I made a strong resolution, by the grace of God, to avoid sin, well knowing that Wisdom will not enter into a corrupt mind, nor dwell in a body subject to sin," Wisd. i. 4. “and I am convinced, and was so then, that the reason why so many con. are ignorant of the true faith, and do not embrace it, is because they are plunged into several vices, and particularly into carnal sins Then, "Thirdly, I renounced all sorts of prejudices, whatever they were, which incline men to one religon more than another, which unhappily I might have formerly espoused, and I brought myself to a perfect indifference, so as to be ready to embrace whichsoever the grace of the Holy Ghost, and the light of reason, should point out to me, without any regard to the advantages and inconveniences, that might attend it in this world." "Lastly, I entered upon this deliberation, and this choice, in the manner I should wish to have done it at the hour of my death, and in a full conviction, that, at the day of judgment, I must give an account to God, why I followed this religion in preference to all the rest." The princely inquirer finishes this account of himself with the following awful reflectiens: "Man has but one soul, which will be eternally either damned or saved. What doth it avail a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Matt. xvi. 26. — Eternity knows no end. The course of it is perpetual. It is a series of unlimited duration.-There is no comparison between things infinite and those which are not so O! the happiness of the eternity of the saints! O! the wretchedness of the eternity of the damned. One of these two eternities awaits us!" I remain, Sir, yours, &e J M. LETTER V. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. METHOD OF FINDING OUT THE TRUE RELIGION DEAR SIR, IT is obvious to common sense, that, in order to find out any hidden thing, or to do any difficult thing, we must first discover, and then follow, the proper method for such purpose. If we do not take the right road to any distant place, it cannot be expected that we should arrive at it. If we get hold of a wrong clue, we shall never extricate ourselves from a labyrinth. Some persons choose their religion as they do their clothes, by fancy They are pleased, for example, with the talents of a preacher, when presently they adopt his creed. Many adhere to their religious system, merely because they were educated in it, and because it was that of their parents and family; which if it were reasonable motive for their resolution, would equally excuse Jews, Turks, and Pagans, for persisting in their respective im piety, and would impeach the preaching of Christ and his apos tles! Others glory in their religion, because it is the one estab lished in this their country, so renowned for science, literature and arms not reflecting that the polished and conquering na tions of antiquity, the Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, were left, by the inscrutable judgments of God, is darkness and the shadow of death, while a poor oppressed and despised people on the banks of the Jordan, were the only depos itary of divine truth, and the sole truly enlightened nation. But, far the greater part even of Christians, of every denomination make the business of eternity subservient to that of time, an profess the religion which suits best their interest, their reputa tion, and their convenience. I trust that none of your respectable society fall under any of these descriptions. They all have or fancy they have, a rational method of discovering religious truth, in other words an adequate rule of faith. Before I enter into any disquisition on this all-important controversy, concerning the right rule of furth, on which the determination of every other depends, I will lay down three fundamental maxims, the truth of which, I believe, no rational Christian will dispute. First, our divine master, Christ, in establishing a religion here on earth, to which all the nations of it were invited, Mat. xviii. 19, left some RULE or method, by which those persons, who sincerely seek for it, may certainly find it. Secondly, this rule or method, must be SECURE and neverfailing; so as not to be ever liable to lead a rational, sincere inquirer, into error, impiety, or immorality, of any kind. Thirdly, This rule or method must be UNIVERSAL, that is to say, adapted to the abilities and other circumstances, of all those persons for whom the religion itself was intended; namely the great bulk of mankind. By adhering to these undeniable maxims, we shall quickly, dear sir, and clearly, discover the method appointed by Christ, for arriving at the knowledge of the truths which he has taught, in other words, at the right rule of faith. Being possessed of this rule, we shall have nothing else, of course, to do than to make use of it, for securely, and, I trust, amicably settling all ur controversies. This is the short and satisfac ory method of composing religious lifferences, which I alluded to in my above mentioned letter to Dr Sturges. To discuss them all separately is an endless task, whereas this method reduces the to a single question. DEAR SIR, LETTER VI. TO JAMES BROWN, Esq. THE FIRST FALLACIOUS RULE OF FAITH. AMONG serious Christians, who profess to make the dis. covery and practice of religion their first and earnest care, three different methods or rules have been adopted for the purpose The first consists in a supposed private inspiration, or an immefiate light and motion of God's spirit, communicated to the individual. This was the rule of faith and conduct formerly professed by the Montanists, the Anabaptists, the Family of Love, and is now professed by the Quakers, the Moravians, and different classes of the Methodists. The second of these rules is the written Word of God, or THE BIBLE, according as it is understood by each particular reader or hearer of it. This is the professed rule of the more regular sects of Protestants, such as the Lutherans the Calvinists, the Socinians, the Church of England men. 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, and as it is understood and explained by this church. To speak more accurately, besides their rule of faith, namely, Scripture and tradition, Catholics acknowledge an unerring judge of controversy, or sure guide in all matters relating to salvation, namely, THE CHURCH. I shall now proceed to show that the first mentioned rule, namely, a supposed private inspiration, is quite fallacious, in as much as it is liable to conduct, and has conducted many, into acknowledged errors and impiety. About the middle of the second age of Christianity, Montanus, Maximilla and Priscilla, with their followers, by adopting this enthusiastical rule, rushed into the excess of folly and blasphemy. They taught that the Holy Spirit, having failed to save mankind, by Moses, and afterwards by Christ, had enlightened and sanctified them to accomplish this great work. The strictness of their precepts, and apparent sanctity of their lives, deceived many, till at length the two former proved what spiri. they were guided by, in hanging themselves. Several other heretics became dupes of the same principles in the primitive and the middle ages; but it was reserved for the time of religious licentiousness, improperly called the Reformation, to display Euseb. Eccles Hist. 1. v. c. 15. the full extent of its absurdity and impiety. In less than five years after Luther had sounded the trumpet of evangelical liberty, the sect of Anabaptists arose in Germany and the Low Coun tries. They professed to hold immediate communication with God, and to be ordered by him to despoil and kill all the wicked, and to establish a kingdom of the just,* who, to become such were all to be rebaptized. Carlostad, Luther's first disciple of note, embraced this Ultra-Reformation; but its acknowledged head, during his reign, was John Bockhold, a taylor of Leyden, who proclaimed himself king of Sion, and who, during a certain time, was really sovereign of Munster, in Lower Germany where he committed the greatest imaginable excesses, marrying eleven wives at a time, and putting them, and numberless other of his subjects to death, at the motion of his supposed interior spirit. He declared that God had made him a present of Amsterdam and other cities, which he sent parties of his disciples to take possession of. These ran naked through the streets, howling out, "Wo to Babylon; wo to the wicked;" and, when they were apprehended, and on the point of being executed for their seditions and murders, they sung and danced on the scaffold, exulting in the imaginary light of their spirit, Herman, another Anabaptist, was moved by his spirit to declare himself the Messiah, and thus to evangelize the people, his hearers: "Kill the priests, kill all the migistrates in the world: repent: your redemption is at hand." One of their chief and most accredited preachers, David George, persuaded a numerous sect of them, that "the doctrine both of the Old and New Testament was imperfect, but that his own was perfect, and that he was the true Son of God." I do not notice these impieties and other crimes for their singularity or their atrociousness, but because they were committed upon the principle and under a full conviction of an individual and uncontrolable inspiration, on the part of their dupes and perpetrators. Nor has our own country been more free from this enthusi astic principle than Germany and Holland. Nicholas, a disciple of the above mentioned David George, came over to Eng. land with a supposed commission from God to teach men that the essence of religion consists in the feelings of divine love, *"Cum Deo colloquium esse et mandatum habere se dicebant, ut, im piis omnibus interfectis, novum constituerent mundum, in quo pii solum e nnocentes viverent et rerum, potirentur.”—Sleidan. De Stat. Rel. et Reip. Comment. 1. iii. p. 45. + Hist. Abreg. de la Reform. par Garard Branat, tom. i. p. 46. Mo sheim, Eccles. Hist. by Maclaine, vol. iv. p. 452. Brandt, p. 49, &a Brandt, p. 51. Mosheim, vol. iv. p. 484. |