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is alone qualified to pronounce on the innocence or criminality of his conduct; by determining how far the error of his head has been occafioned by the corruption of his heart.

With refpect to points which are not clearly revealed, and on which fome of the best of men have differed in opinion, the less that is faid on them the better. Boldness of affertion, except in matters of clear revelation, is not fo much an argument of the truth of a propofition, as of fomething elfe. To fuch points, the faying of ZENOPHANES in VARRO is applicable" Hominis eft hæc opinari, DEI fcire." And though I feel as natural a defire for knowledge, perhaps, as most men, yet there are some fubjects on which I think it prudent to fay, with ST. AUGUSTIN, "Magis eligo cautam ignorantiam confiteri, quam falfam fcientiam profiteri.”

I have the honour to be,

SIR,

&c.

LETTER II.

SIR,

YOUR

OUR first letter profeffes to treat of the original conftitution of Church Government. On this fubject I fhould have hoped there could have been no difference of opinion between two perfons avowing their fincere attachment to the church of England, in doctrine, in conftitution, and in difcipline; and believing her to be the most pure apoftolical church on earth, which is the reafon given by yourself, in page 5, for your communicating with

ber, and her only."

But, Sir, it fhould feem that you are not fo perfectly fettled in your judgment on this point, as the above declaration would lead us to fuppofe. I cannot otherwise account for your bringing forward all those hackneyed objections to the conftitution of the church established in this country, which have been so re

peatedly done away by writers properly acquainted with the fources from whence they have been induftriously drawn. By diffenters we expect to hear the moft made of fuch objections: they are the weapons of their warfare; weapons which have always been employed in defence of their feparation. But when a profeffed member of the Church of England brings thefe objections forward, and details them in order before his reader; thereby throwing, as it were, a weight into the fcale, oppofite to that in which he is fuppofed to have previously thrown his own opinion; the reader will be apt to think, that there is so much ftrength in the caufe, which the writer profeffes not to espouse, that it is a matter of little consequence to which fide his decifion leans.

Now, though I perfectly agree with the Divine you have quoted, that "Theology is every man's concern; and that it is his duty to study it according to his abilities and opportunity:" that it fhould not be confined to the cloifter of the monk, or to the retirement of the profeffional Divine, because religion is every man's business: I yet perfuade myself that, both you and Dr. KNOX will agree with me in thinking, that a writer fhould make himself acquainted with a fubject, before he commits himself on it to the

public. It was a remark of ST. JEROM, not inapplicable, I think, to the times in which we live, that proficients in all occupations are content to learn of their mafters. The knowledge of the facred fcripture is the only knowledge, in which every one thinks himself qualified to be his own instructor, "This, the prattling old woman, the doting old man, the babbling fophifter, and, generally, all men prefume they have acquired: tearing the fcripture in pieces in their attempt to teach, before they have learnt it."*

This remark, fo far as it refpects theology, certainly does not apply to you, Sir; but if it be extended to the knowledge of church hiftory, I am inclined to think, from the specimen before me, that in some confiderable degree it does. For had you acquired a perfect acquaintance with those original records, from which alone authentic information upon this fubject is to be derived, I cannot help thinking that no fmall portion of your first letter would have been

A

*"Abfque Doctore non poffunt effe quod cupiunt. Quod medicorum eft, promittunt medici; tractant f. lia fabri. S Scripturarum ars eft quam fibi paffim omnes vendicant. Hanc garrula anus, hanc delirus fenex, hanc fophifta verbofus, anc univerfi præfumunt, lacerant, docent, antequam difcunt."-JEROM. Ep. ad PAULINUM,

unwritten. But as you have thought proper to write it, the respect due to your character and station forbids its being paffed over unanswered.

Suppofing, then, that I fhould admit your allufion to the gold and the temple which fanctifieth the gold to be in itself a just one, yet must I think it to be not ftrictly applicable to the cafe under confideration; because Christians are not called upon to determine, which is of most confequence, the outward polity of the church, or its facred verities; but to receive them both, as coming from GoD: and not to attempt to put afunder what God for wife reasons has joined together. So long, therefore, as you allow that the outward polity of the church was instituted for the fake of the facred verities; you allow all that is required; for the obvious conclufion from these premifes is, that the maintenance of the outward polity of the church is ftill neceffary for the preservation of the fame object for which it was originally inftituted; unless it can be proved that the circumstances of the church and the world are fo altered, as to render this gracious provifion for the fecurity of the faith unneceffary.

The allufion made ufe of on this occafion in my book appears to me to correfpond more strictly with

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