it for no other purpose than merely to preach their own doctrines in their own places of worship, we could not complain; not even if they went so far as to warn their hearers against what they conceived to be erroneous in us. But to make religion a matter of public declamation-to collect crowds or men in places usually appropriated to profane purposes, and to think it a most important duty to break, if possible, in sunder, the bonds of social community, of affection and kind-. ness, which exist among members of different religions, must be blighting to the holiest virtues, and consequently to the interests of all Christianity. It is by the general feeling of society being declared against such a system, that it can best be checked and prevented. Whoever feels an interest in the welfare of religion, and considers it a sacred, and heavenly, and divine thing, a subject not to be approached with minds agitated by party spirit, or party violence, but rather to be meditated on in silence and in solitude, and to be argued with greater sobriety and solemnity than Plato used when demonstrating the doctrines of his moral philosophy; whoever so feels, will, I am sure, agree that this tumultuous, this unseemly and unchristian way of appealing to the grossest passions, and exposing the doctrines of religion to an approbation or disapprobation expressed by the cheers and shouts of multitudes, is essentially degrading to its character, and tends to make men rather mix it up in their minds with the worst and most unworthy of passions and feelings, than to associate it with those sentiments of awful respect, and deep veneration, and pure affection, which it should inspire in the breasts of men.

It is only by such feelings being, as far as possible, diffused, that so odious, unjust, and cruel a system can possibly be crushed. But this is only a secondary consideration; what I wish principally to inculcate is, that you insist always on proof, and be not satisfied with declamation. Never take the word of those who profess to give our doctrines, and who allege merely their assertions for it. Ask where those articies are recorded, where such a dogma is laid down, in what books

or on what authority it is assumed that this creed, or article of faith, or practice, is taught by the Catholic Church. Însist that every point urged against us be demonstrated; and I am confident that such a system, if pursued, must lead essentially to the narrowing of differences at present existing between us, and bring many, who now wander, once more within the true Church. This anticipation may appear a dream, or an object far beyond our reach; but we have been too long divided, too long separated; and it is impossible not to suppose that divine Providence has appointed some method whereby all well-meaning and right-thinking men may be brought into one way of faith.

Another, and a still more important admonition I wish to give, directed primarily to those who are not already members of the Church and religion which I have endeavoured to uphold; that they proceed to the enquiry boldly, and without reserve; that they imagine not there is a single point whereon we shrink from individual and close investigation. They must not fancy, if they have hitherto done so, that we require so blind a submission to Church authority, as to refuse to satisfy sincere enquirers of the grounds of our faith, on every point that we say even to the faithful "Be silent and believe;" subject your understanding and reason to our teaching, and investigate no more. On the contrary, there is no point on which we do not court enquiry. Nothing would give us greater delight than that any, who have been moved by what they have heard, should apply their minds to study, and seek whatever assistance we can give them in their endeavours to discover the whole truth of Christ. And again, another and still more important exhortation is this; if the enquiry once made, shall prove satisfactory to their minds, if conviction shall follow, that the system which has been till then believed, is not correct, and that the truth of Christ is to be found with us, let them not hesitate one moment between that discovery and the next step. It is fortunate that in this country nothing can any longer make a return to our religion odious or discreditable in any man. He does not thereby abandon the religion

of his country, but only returns to that of his ancestors; to that religion to which we owe whatever is splendid in our monuments, glorious in our history, or beautiful and sacred in our institutions. When a learned and high-minded individual, after mature deliberation, and after having filled all Germany with the reputation of his writings, had become a member of the Catholic Church, that being a time when such changes were rarer among learned men than they are at present, it naturally excited considerable interest. The first time he appeared at court, he was thus addressed by his sovereign"I cannot respect the man who has abandoned the religion of his fathers."-" Nor I, Sire," he replied, "for if my ancestors had not abandoned the religion of their fathers, they would not have now put me to the trouble of returning to it.” Such was the feeling that animated him, and made him brave the bitter taunt. Whatever apparent difficulties may seem to accompany the change, however earth may rise against it, however connexions and friends may tell you that you are making a shipwreck of all your happiness, depend upon it those difficulties will quickly disappear, and with them all that anxious care and racking uneasiness which must exist while the mind is in a state of doubt. For the moment the resolution is once taken, the hand of Providence will be instantly stretched forth to make that easy which before was difficult, and, linked in yours, will lead you forward over every rugged path, and every rising obstacle, to a secure and happy goal.

The course of Lectures which I have till now delivered has been directed to point out the short and obvious way whereby this pilgrimage after God's dwelling-place with men, may be best discovered. I have endeavoured to show you the demonstration of Christ's rule of faith, upon broad and well-constructed principles, and tried to draw attention from par your tial and detailed investigations, to the examination of the groundworks of faith.

For, my brethren, if God exacts correctness of belief in every point, He must have provided ample and easy means

to attain it: and the advantage which men have taken of these means, must be an important consideration in the judgment which He will make. His religion must be a path palpable and pervious, equally to the poor as to the rich; prac ticable to the feeble as well as to the strong: it must be a system which, while it satisfies, by its rigid demonstration, the scruples of the learned, explains itself, by the simplicity of its proofs, to the untutored enquirer. Its discovery cannot be meant to occupy the whole of life in search,—its acquisition cannot be intended to absorb all our mind by difficulties It must be a system of belief, not of doubt; a state of peace and not of uneasiness. It cannot, therefore, consist in the discussion of every separate point, which requires time, labour, and talent, and often ends in perplexity and agitation; it must be some visible and comprehensive whole, which unites and combines in itself the entire of God's revelation and law. In other words, it cannot consist in a mere gleaning of detached articles of faith from the most discordant communities, but it must be one of the numerous divisions of Christians which is the depositary, and holds the archives of the entire doctrine of Christ Jesus.

My brethren, if the stranger who wished to worship the true God at Jerusalem, had been told that, though the synagogues and places of prayer might be numerous, there was only one Temple in which sacrifice was acceptable to Him, in what way would he have sought this favoured spot? Attracted by one superior building, would he have taken the description of the sacred edifice in the inspired pages, and endeavoured to ascertain, by minute comparison with its separate parts, that this was really the fabric to which such glorious privileges were reserved? Would he have counted the exact number of its chambers, or discussed the architectural details of its vestibules and its windows, its columns and its roof? And if he thought he discovered some discrepancies in any one of these, would he have turned from it, satisfied that its claims were false, and determined to explore the obscurer quarters of the city, for a more exact type?

Instead

of this, the moment the stately, the superb, and finished edifice, caught his eye, towering over every other pigmy building, exact in proportion and unity of design, resting with untottering foundations upon the very spot where its inspired builder laid its first stone; above all, when he entered the vast court, and beheld the great High Priest still wearing on his forehead the golden plate which declared him "Holy to the Lord," in uninterrupted succession to the first Pontiff of his religion, and saw the Levites sacrificing on the same altar, and performing the same liturgy, as were consecrated on the first solemn establishment of God's worship— surely upon seeing all this he would yield to the overpowering conviction of his feelings, and, despising the slow process of measurement by the compass and rule, pronounce himself assured that he had found the true house of God, and be satisfied that the subsequent examination of details could not result at variance with the great and general evidences of its identity

Reason then in like manner now. Think not to discover the only true Church of Christ by the painful task of minute examination; but seek out some great and striking system which may verify prophecy, and answer to the attributes of its founder. Let it be as the mountain raised upon the top of hills, a landmark, drawing towards it the gaze of nations, and a ral-, lying point, attracting the tribes of the earth to ascend. Let it be a kingdom worthy of the son of David, refusing every name but that which designates its universal dominion, truly extending in unity of government from sea to sea, and holding in willing submission tne uttermost pounds of the earth. Let it be the abode of unity, harmony, and peace, where all believe and act by the same rule; for our Goa is not a God of dissension but of peace. Let it be perpetual in history, unchangeable and unmoved in principle; for as the truth of God changes not, so must the depositary of it be unchanged no less. In fine, let it be one from which all others profess to have separated, but which has never departed from any; one from which others make it their boast that they have received priesthood,