cluded it from her Catechisms is all the proof we want on the point. If a party in a court of justice has managed to put a witness out of the way, and when that fact is proved against him, pleads that the testimony of this witness is not unfavourable to his cause, who would believe him? If not unfavourable, why take so much trouble to remove him? To the Church of Rome we may say, Out of thine own mouth thou art condemned, thou wicked servant. Thou hast taken away from the people a statute confessedly written by the finger of God on a table of stone, because it pointedly condemned certain practices to which thou hast always, in the days of thy degeneracy, manifested a violent hankering. But now, that thy treacherous dealing has been exposed, and is likely to excite the jealous scrutiny of thine own children (for some of them are showing themselves men in understanding),

I

pray thee to confess thy guilt to that gracious Being from whom thou hast so grievously apostatized. Come to him with repentant feelings; and, deeply as thou hast offended him, "from all thy filthiness and all thine idols he will cleanse thee," and restore thee to that purity which thou hadst ere the sinister attentions and flattering allurements of CAESAR seduced thee from thy

AN EXHORTATION.

301

first love. Thou art now trying to paint thy faded and wrinkled features, but in vain. They still betray the ravages of unbridled appetite, and malignant passion. Thy smiles of liberality are hollow and forced, and evanescent as the sun-gleam that rests on the bosom of the tempest. Let me whisper into thine ear the fatal secret-thy beauty is withered, thy strength hath failed. Thou art not, indeed, bloated with intemperance. The "rotundity of thy configuration" hath disappeared. But thy constitution is broken down. Paralysis hath smitten several of thy most important members. Many of thy royal children are obstreporously disobedient. In short, Ichabod may be written on thy dwelling, for thy glory hath departed. How are the mighty fallen! In thy prime of life, when thou didst sit as a queen over tributary kingdoms, thou wert a woman of blood, and the appetite is still insatiable, whetted too by an irritating sense of impotence; yet while "passions corroding are rankling within," thou triest to smile good humouredly, but believe me, 'tis a "ghastly smile!" Cease then to act the hypocrite. Confess thy fallibility and thy guilt, lest when the indignant nations are aroused by pondering on the wrongs thou hast inflicted, they should not have compassion on

thy hoary locks, but administer unto thee the dregs of that cup which erst the people of France compelled thee to taste !

I assure you, dear Sir, this advice is worthy

of attention.

Your's truly.

RULE OF FAITH.

303

LETTER XVII.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Ir is a dictate of common sense, that our accountableness to God implies, First, an internal principle, by which we are enabled to distinguish between truth and error, and right and wrong. And, Secondly, a law or standard given by our Creator, to which we can confidently appeal in cases of doubt. If there be no conscience there can be no accountability. If there be no law, there can be no transgression. These are principles which no man of sound mind will dispute. They are repeatedly appealed to by the Holy Spirit in the Bible. For instance, our Lord asks, "Yea, and why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right," Luke xii. 57. How could they without a judging principle, and a standard of rectitude? "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your ownselves," 2 Cor. xiii. 5. This duty requires a principle that is capable of examining, and a test, to which it submits the character. "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good," 1 Thess. v. 21. How can this possibly be done without a discriminating faculty, and a touchstone by which we can distinguish

between the precious and the vile? We must be able to give a reason for rejecting some things and retaining others. Our reason is, that we have tried them.

two things, a judge and a law.

But a trial involves

As to the discriminating faculty, or conscience, (call it what you will,) there ought to be no dispute, as the Church of Rome appeals to it to prove her own exclusive authority to guide the human race in the affairs of salvation. To this point your earnest attention is requested. The Church appeals to private judgment to establish her authority. The question now is, What should we take for our guide in religion? What is the rule of faith or the standard of Truth?

This question is referred to Private Judgment, before whose tribunal Roman Catholics plead on the one side, and Protestants on the other. The Romish Church is not now on the bench, but at the bar is not the judge deciding, but the party pleading. The question sub lite-the matter at issue is, whether the authority of the Church, or something else, shall be the standard of truth and the sole arbiter in religious disputes.

Suppose now that she succeeds in establishing her point that the arguments of various kinds which she advances are held to be valid and convincing by the judge in this case that as the