their writings and actions. We would willingly except from this charge, Ambrose, and Hilary, Augustine, Gregory Nazianzen, and Jerome; but truth, which is more respectable than these venerable Fathers, obliges us to involve them in the general accusation." Ecclesiastical History, vol. 1. part II. ch. III. 4th Century.

And

So then, my Lord, a maxim was almost universally adopted in the Christian Church in the fourth century, that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie. this error, says Mosheim, had been adopted for some ages past; which makes it appear, that to deceive and lie had been practised in the Christian Church ever since its very existence, for only three hundred years had elapsed since the birth of Christ up to that time, This, my Lord, is a most important admission. And how any man after this can have confidence in the tales of the Fathers, I am at a loss to conceive. They are the men on whose authority alone the Christian world rest for the truth of their religion, and they considered it an act of virtue to DECEIVE and LIE. Ponder this over, my Lord, until my next Letter, for it is pregnant with important inferences.

I am,

&c.

C. J. HASLAM.

Hulme, March 1st, 1841.

LETTERS TO THE

CLERGY OF ALL DENOMINATIONS.

Just published, price one penny each, LETTERS II. VIII. XXIII. and XXIV. of this series; so that ties can now complete their sets.

par

PRINTED BY C. J. HASLAM, HULME.

LETTER XVIII.

TO THE BISHOP OF EXETER:

CONTAINING

MATERIALS FOR DECIDING THE QUESTION,

WHETHER OR NOT

THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD?

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 65, STOTT-STREET, HULME, MANCHESTER.

MY LORD,

Price one Penny.

any

In the course of these Letters I have once or twice observed, that before we believe tale that may be told us, we ought first to inquire, who are the men who tell us the tale, and what are their characters ? Of course this observation has reference in particular to the Fathers of the Church, who tell us that the Bible is a book of divine revelation, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and on whose authority alone the Christian world rest for the truth of these propositions. St. Augustine says:

"That he would not have believed the Gospel, had he not been determined to give credit to it on the authority of the Church." Du Pin's Complete History, &c. vol. II. ch. 1. sec. VIII. p. 15.

Why St. Augustine would not believe it, was, of course, because it was so absurd; for he afterwards says:

"If we meet with any thing there [meaning the Bible] that seems absurd, it is not lawful for us to say, that the author of that book strayed from the truth; but we must say, that the copy is faulty, the translator is mistaken, or that we do not understand it." Ibid.

At this rate, where are we to stop? Might we not say the same of the most absurd and fabulous book that ever was written? Might we not, for instance, say the same of the Koran, or any other pretended word of God? God gave us our reasoning faculties to enable us to distinguish truth from falsehood, and to surrender their use in this manner, is to offer ingratitude to the Deity for that gift which alone distinguishes us from the brute creation. And how are we to secure ourselves against fraud and imposition, if we are to act upon this principle? impostor were to start up to-morrow, and pretend that he had received a book from heaven, and if, upon examining the book, we found, that it consisted for the most part of absurdities and evident fabrications, we are not to say, according to St. Augustine, that the author of that book strayed from the truth, but we must say, "that the copy is faulty, the translator is mistaken, or that we do not understand it," or any thing but what our reasoning faculties tell us to say. Never was there a principle more abominable; and it is owing to the successful inculcation of such principles, that the human race are the victims of the many frauds that are practiced upon them.

The above citations from St. Augustine are merely to show, that the only evidence you have of the truth of your religion, is the authority of the Church; for it is impossible to prove the Bible to be the word of God from the Bible itself. The Church has declared that that book is a revelation from heaven, and notwithstanding its absurdities, St. Augustine was determined to believe it be

cause the Church had declared it. And so is it with the whole of the Christian world.

Let us then here refer to the passage from Mosheim which I quoted in my last Letter, respecting the practice of a certain principle in the Christian Church ever since its very commencement, namely, that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie; and then let us ask ourselves, how we can have confidence in such a church, practising such a principle? That is to say, how can we believe the Bible to be the word of God, when the men who tell us so considered it an act of virtue to deceive and lie?

Bishop Watson, in his Apology for the Bible, has the following passage, Letter II. :—

"

Had, indeed, Moses said that he wrote the first five books of the Bible; and had Joshua and Samuel said that they wrote the books which are respectively attributed to them; and had it been found that Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, did not write these books; then I grant the authority of the whole would have been gone at once; these men would have been found liars as to the genuineness of the books; and this proof of their want of veracity, in one point, would have invalidated their testimony in every other; these books would have been justly stigmatized, as neither genuine nor authentic."

This is a valuable principle of reasoning laid down by Bishop Watson, and applying it to the Fathers of the Church, it completely destroys their authority in relation to what they tell us about the Bible being a book of divine revelation, and Jesus Christ the Son of God. Mosheim, one of the highest of Christian authorities, tell us, that the Fathers considered it an act of virtue to deceive and lie, and hence, according to Bishop Watson, "this proof of their want of veracity, in one point, invalidates their testimony in every other; so that the tales of the Fathers respecting the Christian religion are unfit to be believed; and this, too, agreeably to the reasoning of a celebrated Bishop of the Christian Church.