the Holy Ghost, and to whom Thou gavest Thy divine promise: "Behold, I am with you even unto the consummation of the world."

My dear reader, reflect! reflect!-reflect !-before you proceed in your journey, an alien to the Church of Christ. If you be not convinced yet of the fallacy, of the Bible being the rule of faith, ask yourself still:

WHEN DID THE BIBLE SUPERSEDE THE AUTHORITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

which, as you see, unquestionably existed before this sacred book was formed.

Did the gospel of St. John supersede the authority of the pastors, whom he had ordained?

Did any of the epistles supersede the authority of the pastors of those, to whom they were addressed? Did the holy Scriptures supersede the authority of the Church, when they were circulating under the name of the "Italic ?"

When did they supersede the pastors, ordained by Sts. Fugatius and Damian, who, at the request of King Lucius, in 182, were sent into Britain by Pope Eleutherius?

Was it when Origen compiled his Hexapla, that the Scriptures were exalted above the Church?

Did the Bible supersede the sacerdotal authority of St. Jerome, after he had revised, and newly translated it?

Did the Scriptures supersede the authority of the Council of Carthage, that stamped the seal of the Church upon them?

Did they supersede the Church in 431, when Pope Celestine sent St. Palladius to preach the gospel to the Scots ? When the same Pope sent St. Patrick for the conversion of Ireland? When he sent Sts. Lupus and Germanus into England? Or was it, when Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to this country?

Was it, when at various times the authority of the Church condemned false and corrupted Scripture ?

Was it, when Great Britain, under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Holy See of Rome, was called the Island of Saints?

Was it, when Wickliffe made a bad translation from the Latin Vulgate ?

Was it, when punctuation was introduced into the Scriptures by Catholic hands?

Was it, when the children of the Church invented printing, and when, with her sanction and encouragement, Bibles were published in every language, edition after edition?

Or was it, when the wretched translation of Tyndal was condemned and burnt?

Was it, when Erasmus issued his Greek defective Bible? Or when Luther translated from a Hebrew copy ? Or when he pretended like his co-deformers, to understand the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, better than they had understood it, always the same, for 1500 years?

Was it, when before the sixteenth century a few bad popes, now out of two hundred and sixty, disgraced the chair of St. Peter by personal vices, for which they were personally responsible to their God? Or was it, when the tyrant Henry, or the abandoned Queen Elizabeth assumed and exercised Papal authority in this country?

Was it, when at the Reformation the principle of anarchy was proclaimed in some portion of the kingdom of Christ on earth, in some part of the Church of God, each Christian taking the law in his own hands?

Or: when did the letter of credential supersede the ambassador who delivered it?

When did the compass supersede the pilot or the captain?

When?-when?-when ?-echo answers-when? And if, my dear reader, some person were bold

enough to answer, when; there would still come the question: On what grounds? By what authority?

RECAPITULATION.

We now trust to have clearly shown:

That religion, to be true, must be divine, must come from the essence of truth, from God Himself; that therefore God is our rule of faith, and not our reason, because no true religion can come from reason, reason being itself a creature, a thing created.

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That Christ being God, and for this reason of necessity, our rule of faith, instituted a Church, to whom he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors," but no Bibles, "for the perfecting of the saints;" who were to teach all nations the saving truths He had announced, and whom the nations were to hear and to obey.

That these dignitaries and pastors, having been appointed by Christ for the purpose just stated, became our rule of faith in His stead; for He said to them: "he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth me;" that therefore this rule, given by our Saviour himself, can only be reversed or abrogated by Him, which nowhere, neither by miraculous nor other evidence, is recorded as having been done.

That some of these ambassadors of Christ, these messengers of the gospel, wrote certain histories of our Redeemer, and letters to different parties in the Church and to the faithful in general, for their instruction and edification.

That these writings were not intended as a rule of faith, much less as an exclusive one; that they neither did, nor could, in any imaginable manner, supersede the authority of the pastors, governing the ffocks, to whom they were addressed; that in progress of time, they could not obtain an authority,

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much less in copies and translations, which they did not originally enjoy; that in fact they could never supersede the authority of that Church, from which they emanated, which alone preserved them, and to which they exclusively belong.

That only to the Catholic Church we owe the preservation of the holy Scriptures, of which she was and is alone the lawful proprietor and natural guardian; and that from her alone we can infallibly learn, what is the canon of the sacred writings; that but on her testimony we are assured of the purity of their text, and the correctness of its interpretation.

That she scrupulously guarded the faithful from false and corrupted Scripture, never preventing, but always promoting, encouraging and facilitating the dissemination of the pure word of God, though from the time of St. Peter to the present day, condemning and anathematizing private interpretation, which would exalt INDIVIDUAL OPINION, above the teaching of the very authority instituted by our Saviour Himself, above the concurrent testimony of the pastors of the Church of all ages.

That Protestant Bibles abound in errors and mistranslations, founded upon the caprice and opinions of the socalled Reformers; that without special and manifest inspiration, no amount of human intellect or learning, can ascertain, without the Catholic Church, the canon, correct text, and true meaning of the Scriptures.

That it would be blasphemy even to suppose, that the divine wisdom of our Saviour should have given us a code of laws, not only for ages gone, but inaccessible still to millions of the poor, for whom he especially came, and unable to read and to understand even if they possessed it; that it would be insane to maintain, that our blessed Redeemer gave this divine code, without establishing an authority to watch over, purely to preserve and administer its laws, when it would be a libel on the common sense of man, if we

were to think for a moment, that he could make laws, without providing a magistrate or judge to dispense them, or that he could make a last will and testament, and appoint no executors.

That Protestants do not in practice prove the Bible their exclusive rule of faith, nor the private judgment of every individual as the highest authority; for, if they did, they would neither presume, by teaching, preaching and writing, to teach others the meaning of the Scriptures, nor would they continue to listen to others. Their acts condemn the rule they profess to hold, and they thereby show its natural erroneousness and inapplicability; upon their rule, they neither have a right to teach, nor right to hear.

That when, and on what grounds and authority the Bible superseded the teaching and authority of the Catholic Church, cannot be answered; and

That the Catholic Church alone is the true and infallible rule of faith.

CONCLUSION.

THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE WRITTEN WORD

OF GOD.

Yes, my dear reader, the holy Catholic Church is the true rule of faith, and the holy Scriptures, are, as it were, the sheet anchor of additional security; in her hands they are the compass, the mariner's chart, that never superseded the captain or the pilot; these, but not the crew, can moreover safely use them. But what would be the use of anchor, chart or compass, if previous teaching had not made them familiar with their nature and application; what would they avail the sailor, the untaught youth, if sent upon the boisterous ocean of the world without instruction, without an experienced hand to guide them? And what would even the captain or the pilot do, if anchor,