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PART THE SECOND.

"Sane cum in omnibus literis meis, non solum pium lectorem, sed etiam liberum correctorem desiderem, multo maxime in his ubi ipsa magnitudo quæstionis utinam tam multos inventores habere potest, quam multos contradictores habet. Veruntamen sicut lectorem meum nolo mihi esse deditum, ita correctorem nolo sibi. Ille me non amet amplius quam catholicam fidem; iste se non amet amplius quam catholicam veritatem. Sicut illi dico, Noli meis literis quasi canonicis scripturis inservire; sed in illis et quod non credebas cum inveniris incunctanter crede, in istis autem quod certum non habebas, nisi certum intellexeris, noli firmiter retinere: ita isti dico, Noli meas literas ex tua opinione, vel contentione, sed ex divina lectione, vel inconcussa ratione, corrigere. Si quid in eis veri comprehenderis, existendo non est meum, at intelligendo et amando et tuum sit et meum. Si quid autem falsi conviceris, errando fuerit meum, sed jam cavendo nec tuum sit nec meum." August. De Trin. lib. iii.

"Whoever is afraid of submitting any question, civil or religious, to the test of free discussion, seems to me to be more in love with his own opinion than with truth." Bishop Watson.

PART SECOND.

CHAPTER THE FIRST.

INTRODUCTORY. Popular belief of eternal misery dissented from -Responsibility of so differing recognised-Counterbalancing considerations-Burden of proof with whom-Evidence necessary to establish the common doctrine--If contained in scripture easily and variously proved--and more forcibly established by being called in question--Truth alone desirable.

It is with feelings of deep and even painful anxiety that I approach that part of our subject which is now before us. With the preceding chapters my brethren will for the most part agree, and may possibly accept them as some little service rendered to the common cause. Here, however, the approval of many will terminate, and with not a few will be exchanged for something worse than the opposite. Still I must proceed, for Truth, as I believe, beckons me

on.

Let me reverently follow. Yet how can I be insensible to the fact that the direction in which my guide is leading me, is scarcely that in which many of my brethren affirm Truth to lead? Beyond a doubt the opinions of wise and good men are entitled to respectful attention, and it is a grave consideration that the majority of christian people have adopted views which I find myself bound to reject; how then shall I not be sensitively alive to the circumstances of my position? Have so many of the wisest and best of men been left in error, men too whom God has signally honored? Have they been for the most part mistaking the voice of the oracle, and misinterpreting the counsels of heaven on this solemn subject? Painfully and oppressively do I feel this argumentum ad verecundiam.

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But, on the other hand, are not the best of men fallible? And have not many of the wisest given strange proof of their fallibility? Did not nearly all the wise and good once believe, with Pascal and Fenelon, in transubstantiation and all the other dogmas of the Romish church? Did even the mighty Luther, did the Reformers, achieve their perfect emancipation from all forms of error, and leave no work of reformation for their successors? What shall we say to the consubstantiation of the former, and to the dark doctrine of reprobation so tenaciously held in the stern and iron age that Geneva, Scotland, and even England knew? Why to this day it is Church of England orthodoxy to believe that no one can be saved who doubts the Athanasian creed ;* and fifteen thousand clergyman now living have solemnly sworn their assent and consent to that perilous assertion. Is it true? Nor is it so long since it was held sound doctrine among many of the evangelical dissenters that God had provided no Saviour for mankind at large, but only for a little flock, a chosen few; and it was heresy to maintain that there were glad tidings for every creature. And still the innumerable controversies, which are maintained with a spirit that only too well justifies the current phrase, odium theologicum, show how marvellously small is every man's belief in another's infallibility, and may keep the writer in countenance in replying to any who shall unreasonably press the opinions of individuals or communities, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?'

Besides, is it not our protestant boast, too often indeed a mere empty boast, vox et preteræa nihil, that the bible, and the bible alone, &c.,' and have we not for this aphorism, admirable if only it were true, complacently decreed the apotheosis of the author of so gratifying a period? Let it not then be deemed quite an unpardonable sin if we venture to construe the assertion literally, and so, pushing our way through all that look infallibility, exercise our right of sitting at the feet of the great teacher, whose words-Call no man your father on earth, no man your

* Most readers will remember that the Athanasian creed professes to set forth the Catholick faith," but in reality is chiefly occupied with a sort of philosophy, falsely so called, of the divine essence, unintelligible and contradictory, of which it daringly affirms "Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly!"

master, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren, were spoken not to be eulogised on holiday occasions, or when they may serve a turn, but to be recognised as a daily rule of life; "He is our master in abstract speculation-our master in religious belief—our master in morals, and in the ordering of every day's affairs."

Again, is not theology a science? Is not the word of God better understood now than in any age since the apostolic ? And if no one competently informed will dispute this, let us ask ourselves whether we have reached the Ultima Thule of religious truth, so that in the ages to come, those glorious ages! there will be no discoveries to reward the diligent, and all the people of God will have nothing to do but re-publish and stereotype for all time the theological works of the present day! Believe it who can. Rather is the book of revelation perfect. In those unutterably more glorious eras that are in reserve for the church, there will be no other bible than our own to exercise the loftier powers of our happier successors to the end of the world. Nor needs it. Even in the latest age of all, the wise householder shall bring out thereof things both new and old;' and that prayer of the psalmist shall never be in vain, Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. And just as we have been compelled somewhat to modify the theology of a former day, deeming ourselves more favored than our honored forefathers, so will the holy men of a coming age take leave to consider some of the things most surely believed amongst us, not proven, while they will also bring into luminous prominence some mighty truths which the popular theology of the nineteenth century dooms to unwise neglect.

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There is still another consolation. Truth can stand any test. The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, and purified seven times. No weapon formed there-against shall prosper. This is my comfort. And if the popular doctrine of the real eternity (not of punishment but) of torment be of God, it cannot be overthrown. It will be the more plainly demonstrated the more it is examined, and will stand out in the bolder relief from the feebleness of the opposing arguments. The orthodox have nothing to fear. Let them put their confidence in truth, and in the God of truth. They have

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