Christ in person; bring him teaching, preaching, and working hiracles, I no longer want the church. But don't take the church from me unless you give me Jesus Christ in person. You say you have his word. certainly we have his holy, adorable word! But, what is to be done with those who understand it in a wrong sense? Jesus Christ is not present in person to set them right; they must therefore obey the church. Before Jesus Christ appeared among the Jews they were bound to obey the synagogue: when the synagogue failed, Jesus Christ came among men to teach them all truth, and they were bound to obey his voice: when he returned to his Father, he left us his church, and we are bound to obey her voice. There is not, no, there is not on earth, any visible higher authority to which you can appeal from her.'

"This, according to Bossuet's account, set Claude within a second dilemma: if he said that the sentence of the national assembly was not to be questioned, Bossuet proved his assertion to Mademoiselle de Duras, that the Huguenots acted as if they believed the authority of their church was infallible; if he said the sentence of the national assembly might be questioned, Bossuet's assertion that it was a maxim of the Huguenot church, that every individual might believe that he understood the scriptures better than the highest authority in his communion, was equally proved. With much apparent reluctance M. Claude veered to the latter position; aud thus Bossuet professes to have performed his second promise to Mademoiselle de Duras.

"We now come to the last of the three points which Bossuet had promised Mademoiselle de Duras to

make M. Claude confess, and which appeared to her the strangest of the three ;-that, in the opinion of Huguenots, there is a period during which a christian is under a necessity of doubting whether the Bible be inspired by God, whether the gospel be truth or fable, and whether Jesus Christ were a teacher of truth or an impostor.' Bossuet opened the discussion of this point by asking M. Claude, if a christian when he has the gospel put, for the first time, into his hands, must necessarily doubt whether it be divinely inspired before he can make an act of faith of its being the word of God.' M. Claude replied, that in such a situation, a christian does not doubt, but is ignorant, whether the gospel is divinely inspired. And permit me,' he said. to Bossuet,

to put the same question to you, substituting, in my question, the church, whenever in yours you introduce the gospel. I therefore ask you, in my turn, whether a christian, who has the. authority of the church for the first time proposed to him must not,' before he makes an act of faith of it, necessarily doubt and examine the grounds of that authority? You see that the question forces each of us into the same difficulties; whatever you say on the subject, in reference to the gospel, I shall say upon it in reference to the church.

"The disputants were now fairly at issue on two points; the first, whether in respect to the gospel, M. Claude, by acknowledging the right of previous examination, admitted that, while that examination lasted, a christian must necessarily doubt that the scripture was the word of God; the second, whether, in respect to the church, the same arguments should not force a similar confession from Bossuet. They

were

were distinct points, and Bossuet appears to have been anxious to keep them distinct.

"I perceive,' he said to M. Claude, the tendency of your expressions. Whether you will argue, or will have a right to argue, from my doctrine, respecting a christian's faith in the church, as I shall argue from your doctrine respecting a christian's faith in the gospel, we shall quickly see. For the present, let us stick to the fact. I aver that, according to the principles of your church, there is a moment, (I mean the period of examination) in which a christian (I don't speak of an infidel), must doubt of the gospel and of Christ.' 'I have said,' M. Claude answered, that he is ignoraut; he does not doubt.'Cau he then,' said Bossuet, when the gospel is thus, for the first time, presented to him, make an act of divine faith, that the book presented to him is the word of God.'.' He cannot; answered M. Claude, he can only believe it out of deference to the authority of his parents, or of some other person. He is a catechumen.'No,' said Bossuet, he is not a catechumen; he is a christian; he has been baptized, and the alliance which baptisin externally sealed on him, has been internally sealed on his heart by the Holy Ghost.' On that point,' said M. Claude, there are two opinions; but M. Claude ingenuously added, I admit it.' Then,' said Bossuet, it follows that, in virtue I of the faith infused into him in his baptism, a christian, who has attained the use of reason, is qualified to make an act of faith, when it is presented to him. I therefore ask you whether, before he has examined the gospel, a christian can make this act of faith.' I believe the scripture to be the word of God

M.

as I believe God to exist." Claude said that, after the christian had read the scripture, he believed it to be the word of God by divine faith; but that, until he had read it, he could not be lad to this couclusion by human reasoning only. But human reason,' said Bossuet, is always fallible, and therefore always doubtful. And thus, according to your principles, there is a moment (that of examination), during which the christian necessarily doubts, or, if you prefer the expression, is ignorant of what you call the fundamental article of faith, that the scripture is the word of God, and therefore, during the whole time of examination, is an infidel.'

"In this manner Bossuet professes to have performed his third promise to Mademoiselle de Duras: it remained for him to defend himself against M. Claude's intimation, that, in maintaining a christian's obligation to believe, with divine faith, the authority of the church, it would be necessary for Bossuet to admit that he must previously examine the point, as he must doubt it, during the continuance of such an examination, and be therefore, during the whole of that period, an infidel.

"No such consequence attends the Roman catholic doctrine,' said Bossuet. The first instant after a Roman catholic or any christian comes to the use of reason, he may make this act of divine faith, I believe the church. I entreat you to observe, that I am speaking of a baptized person, of a christian, not of an infidel. In virtue of his baptism the christian has the habit of true faith, and therefore believes, when he attains the use of reason, in God the Father, in God the Son, in God the Holy Ghost, and in the

holy

holy catholic church. The apostles' creed contains all these articles: and the apostles' creed is not a set of conclusions to which a child arrives by examination, but a declaration of the faith infused into him at his baptism by the Holy Ghost. Against this the infidel may argue consistently with his tenets; a christian cannot. Thus the doctrine of Roman catholics is wholly free from the difficulty you have intimated. All Roman catholics, all christians, except protestants, believe the divine authority of the church to be an article of faith, infused by the Holy Ghost into every christian at his baptism. Now, it is a tenet of the church, that the scripture is the word of God. Thus, from the first instant of their reason, the Roman catholics believe their church and the tenets of their church; so that, as there never is a moment in which a Roman catholic doubts of the church, there never is a moment in which he doubts of the divine inspiration of the scripture, which is a tenet of his church. But you, who deny the authority of the church, are driven to the terrible inconvenience of being obliged to admit, that there is a period during which, it is in the necessity of things, that the christian doubts, or, if you prefer the expression, is without the belief of this fundamental article of faith, the divine inspiration of the scrip

true scriptures, and the true interpretation of them.'

"Bossuet's acknowledgment of the force of this argument, and of the great impression which it made on the persons present at the conference, should be mentioned in his own words. A more forcible objection than M. Claude's could not be urged. The answer to it immediately occurred to me, but I was apprehensive of not expressing it in a manner to make it fully understood. I trembled as I spoke, for I thought the salvation of a soul was at stake; and I offered a prayer to God that, as he made the truth known to me, he would furnish me with words that would enable me to present it, in its full light; to my hearers. My dispute was with a man who listened patiently, expressed himself with clearness and strength, and was able to avail himself of any thing which the least want of precision opened to attack.'

"Such were Bossuet's feelings, as he himselt has expressed them, on M. Claude's observation: the reader probably is curious to see how he delivered himself from the consequences to which it seemed to lead. He remarked to M. Claude that the reformed church was to be. distinguished from the Greek, and from all the other churches which he had motioned; as the members of all those churches professed both to receive, at their baptism, the faith of the true church, and to believe, with divine faith at their first use of reason, her divine authority so that, in their own opinion, there never was a moment in which the members of those churches were without faith in the true church, or faith in her authority, or faith in her scriptures: while, on the other hand, M. Claude, and all F

the

the communicants with his church, admitted it to be an article of their doctrine, that, during all the period which preceded, or was employed in examination, they had not faith in the true church, in her authority, er in her scriptures; and thus, as to the point immediately under discussion, all those churches might be citel against M. Claude.

"After this preliminary observation, Bossuet proceeded to consider M. Claude's assertion, that, as the members of all those churches, and also the members of the Huguenot churches were baptized, it necessarily followed from Bossuet's own doctrine, that they continued, while they were members of the church, in which they were baptized, to possess the true faith, the true scriptures, and the true interpretation of them. This brought the disputants to immediate issue:-Bossuet replied, that, when a person is baptized, the Holy Ghost confers on him, without regard to the faith of the person who baptizes him, or the church, in which he is baptized, the faith of the church mentioned in the apostle's creed; the faith of the holy Catholic church: that the baptized person continues a member of that true church, till the example of his parents, or some other circumstance, seduces him from it. Thus,' said Bossuet, the

members of the churches which have been mentioned, and the members of your church, are in error, not on account of au erroneous faith which they received in baptism, but because they have abandoned the true faith, the faith of the holy Catholic church, which they received in baptism."

"This was Bossuet's reply to his adversary's attack:-and the conference now drew to its conclusion.

"Both Bossuet and M Claude published accounts of it; and, as it generally happens in such cases, their accounts disagreed. On this circumstance, Bossuet expresses binself with great good temper and moderation. It is not my intention,' he says, to accuse M. Claude of wilful misrepresentation. It is difficult to remember, with precision, the things which have been said, or the order in which they were spoken; the mind often confounds things that were spoken with things that occurred afterwards; and thus, without the slightest intentional aberration from it, truth is often disfigured.-All I say of M. Claude, he has my leave to say of me.' This is the language of a Christian and a gentleman. Violence ever injures the cause which it is intended to support, and often refutes the accusation in aid of which it is used."

M

every effort to save him from selfdestruction. The last scene of his life will serve for the present purpose; and may the following narra tive (should it meet the eyes of de spondency)

L

spondency) rouse the party to a sense of the atrocity exhibited by Mr. G. He arrived at the town already mentioned in a stage-coach, and remained at the Saracen's-head Inn informing the attendants, after he had dined, that he was indisposed, they sent for Dr. Waller, who bled him; at the conclusion of the operation, several persons entered the room, upon which the pretended patient drew a pistol from his pocket, and presenting it at them alternately, commanded their instant departure; he then ordered a bed, and almost undressing himself, waited till the chambermaid with drew, when he fired at his head, and severely wounded some part not immediately mortal.

"The people of the house rushed into the apartment, and found Mr. G. sitting upright in the bed with a second pistol in his hand, which he declared he would discharge at the first person who should approach him. Mr. G. having a servant with him, the poor fellow entreated that he might be an exception; but his obdurate master refused, and added, he was ready to hear any thing that the people present wished to say.

"A Mr. Duncomb resolved to make an effort to save the maniac, and had his name announced as that of a physician. This stratagem so far succeeded as to enable him to seize the hand which held the pistol at the very instant when the worthy gentleman would have wrested it from him, the two maids of the house who attended with a candle fled, and left the parties to contend in total darkness: thus circumstanced, Mr.-D. very properly resolved on a speedy retreat, which he effected in safety; and his antagonist, now on the alert, would not suffer a man to enter the room, but lay on the bed occasionally convers

[83]

ing with the female servants, whom he informed that he had determined to die by the means he had adopted, which was preferable to a lingering death.

"Several persons who felt deeply interested were at one time led to suppose that Mr. G. had fallen asleep, and sent his servant to ascertain the fact; the wary domestic approached with caution, and perceived the unhappy man extended, with the muzzle of the pistol close to his head: Mr. G. started, and aiming at the intruder, bade him instantly depart: on his perceiving that he was promptly obeyed, he resumed his first position, and for the last time. The feelings of every person acquainted with this most extraordinary case, were excited to the highest degree of irritation, and holding a council of what was best to be done, they resolved to assemble at the door, and rush thence to the bed, hoping to secure the suicide ere he could recover his faculties from the surprise consequent to their method of proceeding: the fatal moment arrived, they darted forward, the pistol was instantaneously discharged, and in the same dreadful moment Mr. Goringe breathed his last.

"Such was the fortitude or reso❤ lution evinced by the miserable self-destroyer, that though he was often heard in prayer, neither complaint nor expression of agony es caped him, although his torture from the wound must have been excessively acute. The following sentences were found in his pocketbook: