low, perhaps, and causing flesh and blood to stoop as it passes in. They may wander about its outskirts, they may admire the goodliness of its edifices and of its bulwarks, but they car not be its denizens and children, if they enter not by that one gate, of absolute, unconditional, submission to the teaching of the Church.

Assuredly, there is something here beautifully contrasted, to the eye of the philosopher, with the manifest imperfections of the other system. There is a natural and obvious beauty in the simplicity of this basis, which at once gives stability and unity to conviction, which makes the terms, whereon men are received into the pale of a religion, equal to all, whether learned or illiterate, quick or dull of apprehension, and which obliges all to divest themselves of their peculiar prejudices and opinions, if they clash with the doctrines taught.

But the beauty of this system ends not here: for, after each one has thus embraced the religion, upon a principle one and indivisible, his affections and tastes are allowed their fullest play; they may devote themselves to the adorning and commending of his religion, from the various storehouses of topics which their pursuits may afford them; and he will in it find a fitting and a perfect theme to repay all his zeal and love. The motives which led him to the adoption of the faith will still continue within him as links of attachment to its profession; but the ground of his belief will be unchanged for ever.

And this leads me to another reflection of no mean importance. It is extremely common, to ask an untutored Catholic on what grounds he became, or is, a. Catholic; and it will often appear, that the answer which he gives is not logical, or satisfactory. It probably is not to you; but, mark! while he answers the question, he is not giving you the grounds on which he believes the doctrine of the Catholic Church, he is only giving you the motives which brought him, or bind him to it; and these grounds are as different, as diverse, as the affections, as the pursuits, and as the characters of indi

viduals You have not in your mind the key necessary to understand the force of those motives which influenced him. But it is not on their strength that he believes in transubstantiation; it is not on that ground-whatever it be that he believes in auricular confession, or that he practises it. He is not giving you, therefore, the grounds of his belief; he is giving you the reasons by which he was led to satisfactory inquiries regarding the grounds of faith. And this is certainly remarkable, that in every one who has embraced the Catholic religion, whatever was his difficulty in first receiving it, whatever may have been the first obstacles to his complete conviction, when once he has embraced and received it, it takes as

strong a hold upon his affections and thoughts, as it could have done, if he had been educated in it from his infancy. It is, if I may illustrate it by a comparison, like a shoot or slip, which is forced into the ground, and requires a certain degree of violence for the purpose. It must be by a sharp and wounding point that it is made to penetrate the hard surface of the earth; but no sooner has it once been there placed, than it sends forth shoots, to go and suck the nourishment on every side; and the earth that has so received it, closes and entwines itself around it, and becomes kindly and attached to it; so, that if you should wish, after a short time, to root it up, you must rend and tear that earth in pieces, into which originally it seemed to be driven against its will.

But now, allow me to contrast with the examples of conversion which I have just given you, others of a different class.

I have told you, that in perusing the works of men who have within these few years become members of the Catholi Church-men of talent and erudition-we shall hardly find two of them agree upon the grounds which they record, as having induced them to embrace the Catholic religion. But, you may also read similar works on the other side, purporting to give the grounds upon which individuals have abandoned the Catholic Church, and become members of some Protestant communion. It is, indeed, very seldom, that

men of any considerable ability, or at all known to the public for their learning, have written such treatises; but still, such as they are, they have been, in general, widely disseminated. It has been thought useful to throw them in a cheap form, among the public, and particularly among the lower orders, that they may see examples of conversion from the Catholic religion. Now, I have read such of these as have fallen in my way, and have noted, that, instead of the rich variety of motives which have brought learned men to the Catholic Church, there is a sad meagreness of reasoning in them; indeed, that they all, without exception, give me but one argument. The history, in every case, is simply this; that the individual-by some chance or other, probably through the ministry of some pious person-became possessed of the word of God, of the Bible; that he perused this Book; that he could not find in it transubstantiation or auricular confession, that he could not discover in it one word of purgatory, or of venerating images. He perhaps goes to the priest, and tells him that he cannot find these doctrines in the Bible; his priest argues with him, and endeavours to convince him that he should shut up the book which is leading him astray; he perseveres, he abandons the communion of the Church of Rome-or, as it is commonly expressed, the errors of that Church-and becomes a Protestant. Now through all this process, the man was a Protestant; from the beginning he started with the principle, that whatsoever is not in that book, cannot be true in religion, or an article of faith--and that is the principle of Protestantism. He took Protestantism, therefore, for granted, before he began to examine the Catholic doctrine. He set out with the supposition, that whatever is not in the Bible, is no part of God's truth; he does not find certain things in the Bible and he concludes that, therefore, the religion that holds these is not the true religion of Christ. The work was done before; it is not an instance of conversion; it is only a case of one, who has lately, perhaps unconsciously, had his breast filled with Protestant principles, coming openly to declare them.

The ground on which the inquiry should have been conducted was, manifestly, not to assume, in the first instance, that there is no truth but what is expressly contained in the Bible; but to examine whether that is the only rule of faith, or whether there are not other means also of arriving at a knowledge of God's revelation.

From all that I have said, you will easily deduce, that the object which I shall have in view, through my first course of lectures, will be to examine the relative value of the two RULES OF FAITH; to see whether the Catholic is not fully justified in the admission of this principle, that God has appointed His Church, the infallible and unfailing depository of all truth.

I now come to say a few words on the manner in which the inquiry shall be conducted. You will naturally at once suppose, that these will be what are commonly called controversial lectures. I own that I have a great dislike—almost an antipathy-to the name; for it supposes that we consider ourselves in a state of warfare with others; that we adopt the principle which I reprobated at the commencement of my discourse-of establishing our doctrines by overthrowing those of others. Now, my brethren, it is not So. We hold, that the demonstration of our belief, and of its grounds, may be conducted without the slightest reference to the existence of any other system. I might prove the doctrines of the Catholic Church to you, precisely, as I should, if addressing an eastern audience, who had never, perhaps, heard even the name of Protestantism. I could expound the grounds on which we believe, without ever adverting to the existence of any opposing system. We do not wish to think that we have adversaries or enemies to attack; for we are willing to consider all who are separated from us, as in a state of error indeed, but of involuntary error. We hope that, having been educated in certain principles and opinions, and not having taken leisure to examine sufficiently into the grounds of their faith, or having had their first impressions so far strengthened by the subsequent efforts of their

instructors, that it is almost impossible for any contrary impression to be made, they are rather separated from us than armed against us—rather wanderers from the city of God, than enemies to its peace. Hence it is not in the way of controversy, it is not as attacking others, or even as wishing to gain a victory, or to have a triumph, that I intend to address you. In stating and explaining our own doctrines I will avoid, as much as possible, the examination of others' opinions; because I am satisfied that the course of argument to be pursued, is such as, in establishing our doctrines, will prove them not merely true, but exclusively true. The method, therefore, which I shall follow, I would rather call demonstrative than controversial. It will consist in laying before you the grounds of our doctrines, rather than in endeavouring to overthrow those professed by others. It will likewise be essentially inductive—that is to say, I will not take any one single principle for granted, which will possibly bear a dispute. I will begin with the simplest elements, and they shall, as they go on, develop themselves, by their own power. It shall be my endeavour to conduct the inquiry precisely as one would do who has no prejudice on either side; but who, using such measure of sagacity or inductive skill, in tracing out proofs, as he may possess, should proceed to search out what is right and true. We will open the word of God; we will examine it by such principles as all must admit; we will discover what are the only consequences that can be drawn from it; and for whom the consequence shall be, his doctrine we will embrace. This is the simple method which I intend to follow; and this will certainly exclude what I fear has been too common elsewhere, and that, not merely because the method itself will not allow it to enter but because I trust, that whatever method were pursued in this holy place, it would not admit it:-I mean, the system of misrepresentation of the doctrines of others, which is, alas too common in this city. I have no hesitation in saying, tha never yet has an attempt been made to expound Catholio