question to communicate. And no such course of reasoning can be invalidated by the most weighty probabilities, from whatever source such probabilities may arise. For it is based upon a truth of which we are sure as of our own existence, even the truth that no assertion can be proved by first taking for granted that it is already made good.

CHAP. IV.

ANTECEDENT PRESUMPTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE EXISTENCE OF A DIVINELY AUTHORIZED INTERPRETER OF SCRIPTURE.

WE cannot doubt that the Lord God of light and truth is the same in all his dealings with his creatures. His treatment and government of us, as inhabitants of this world, are doubtless types and shadowings forth of the great scheme and principles upon which He rules us, with reference to our condition and destiny as immortal beings. What God is to man, as a creature of time and earth, such He unquestionably is to him as a subject of heaven, and an heir of immortality. Unchangeableness is an attribute inherent in the very idea of Deity. To suppose the Almighty to guide Himself at one time, and in one series of actions, by principles and laws wholly different from those which he employs at other periods, and in other circumstances, is to invest Him with a mutability of purpose and of conduct, which runs counter to the notion of

Godhead itself. We may safely conclude, that if the brightness which streams forth from the fulness of God, were to dissipate the mists and the darkness that hide so many of his deeds and attributes from mortal sight, we should behold an exquisite correspondence and beauty in all the parts of his government of nature, of this world, and of the things which are unseen and eternal. Were it not for the jarring discords of sin and ignorance that sound in our mortal ears, and drown the soft breathings of truth that come down from heaven, we should hear as it were a full and glorious harmony, unbroken and undying, swelling forth from the countless operations of the hand of Jehovah; and bespeaking, by its rich and measured and concordant tones, the unchanging unity of purpose of the Almighty Spirit that designed them, and called them into existence.

Whensoever, therefore, we have attained to any reasonable knowledge and perception of the system of the divine government exercised over us in this present life, we thereby are prepared for the contemplation of the pervading truths and principles which God has made known to us by revelation. And this acquaintance with the present purposes and practices of the Creator,

will further furnish us with no slight assistance in the solution of any doubts, which may arise in our minds, with respect to the true character of the truths directly revealed. The difficulties of Scripture may be cleared up and illustrated by the undeniable facts of life and experience; and we may ascertain the path of duty which God has designed us to tread in order to reach our everlasting inheritance, by meditations on the nature of the track which has been fixed to conduct us to peace and happiness in this passing world. When we know the methods by which our Maker governs us in the present life, we may fairly anticipate some similar plans in his kingdom of grace; the characteristic features of the constitution of things that we now behold, will in all probability be found to respond to the laws, circumstances, and privileges of the pure Church of Christ.

Our first step, therefore, in the course of our present inquiry, is to ascertain how far the regulations, by which the Almighty directs the affairs of this life, justify us in expecting to find that it is his will that in the interpretation of his written word, we should submit without hesitation to the authority of some infallible teacher, guided from on high. And it should be pre

mised, that so far as the present part of the subject is concerned, the following observations apply alike to every institution, which professes itself appointed by God to teach divine truth to individuals. It matters not whether the Church be that of Rome, which assumes to itself a privilege to declare on its own authority the revealed will of God; or that Catholic Church, which is believed by some Protestants to have a right to declare authoritatively the great truths of the Gospel, as derived by an uninterrupted tradition from the apostles, or as collected from the writings of antiquity. It will be of no moment to our present question, whether the infallible authority of Rome be supposed to reside in the Pope as the successor of Saint Peter, or as presiding in council, or in the decrees of general councils, or in any other source. The observations made have reference simply to the question, whether or not a man is bound to defer to any external authority, when the doctrines or precepts thereby maintained appear to his personal judgment, honestly, carefully, and humbly exercised, to be at variance with the Holy Scriptures.

1. It is alleged by those who believe that Christ Himself appointed an institution, which