through the Holy Spirit, in the bright and purifying flame of his everlasting word. It is the WORD of the Lord which prevails in both cases. As a hammer it breaks in pieces the rock of the natural mind, that the spirit may be regenerated. As a trumpet it resounds in the profound gulf of buried ages, and the sleepers arise from the trance of death, like soldiers that have been resting. Those who believe that all things were created by him as the efficient cause, and for him as the final cause, have no difficulty in believing that his voice will animate the dead. It was powerful enough to crowd the wilderness of space with splendid mansions, and orders of intelligent being; and it will be efficient in awaking every sleeper, and calling back to each organism the vital spirit which inspires and identifies. The fourth claim, AUTHORITY TO JUDGE THE WORLD.-"For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." Paul argued before the Athenians, that God had given all men assurance of a judgment, by raising Christ from the dead. A righteous tribunal is rendered absolutely certain by the seals of God the Father, and the Spirit of holiness, affixed to the work of Jesus. Deep in the constitution of human nature, and in the framework of creation, the foundation of retribution is laid. The oracles of nature, reason, and revelation, utter consenting tones. They all proclaim accountability, punishment, and reward. We shall all stand in our order before the judgment-seat of Christ; and he that wore the crown of thorns on his pallid brow, shall wear the crown of universal empire. III. But claims are void of power, unless substantiated by proper evidence. The more magnificent the claims, the deeper the confusion and dishonour which follow unless signally ratified. Ordinary testimony may be supported by ordinary documents; but claims such as those we have noticed demand evidence corresponding in power, variety, and conclusiveness. Hence the Lord proceeds to declare, "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." When we hear the Prince of Life and the Prophet of the world speak in this manner, well may we keenly scrutinize the claims of all other teachers. But let us now listen to the great Teacher. In 1. TESTIMONY OF JOHN THE HARBINGER."Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. John 1st. chap. the testimony of the Harbinger is given most explicitly and very solemnly. He was not worthy to unloose the sandals of the Messiah. He knew that he was but a bright morning star-herald of the dawn. Jesus was the Sun of Righteousness--the great luminary, with healing on his wings, flooding with diviner light all nature, and all the universe. : The Jews acknowledged the purity, and the prophetic mission of John; and under his influence there was a great reformation promoted. Upon this fact the Lord reared the dilemma by which he confounded the unbelieving rulers"The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men ?" In the room of replying with frankness and nobility of soul, the guilty men must hold a council before they are prepared with an answer. "If we say of men, the people will stone us." As they had no ambition for martyrdom in any cause, this answer would not serve. "If we say from heaven, he will say, why, then, did ye not believe on him ?" Not daring to reply honestly they confess inability. Yes, he would have said, why did ye not believe on him? But he would have said more, why have ye not likewise believed on me? The eminent man, whose greatness and goodness, whose prophetic rank and spiritual elevation, you all acknowledge, declared that I was the greater and the holier : he avowed that he was sent into the world to prepare my way, and make ready a people for my larger gift of life, liberty, and love. 2. EVIDENCE OF HIS WORKS.- "I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." Nearly forty miracles are circumstantially narrated, extending over an immense field, and bright in all the attributes of power and glory. Yet these, though sufficient for the purposes of evidence, were but a small portion of his actual works. These deeds of supernatural majesty, which revealed the highest power operating with the sweetest benignity, had a mightier voice than the testimony of John. | The miracles may be classed in the following order, as revealing— First Dominion over nature. All the elements obeyed his voice, and every energy of the visible world waited on his command. His creative power, and his governmental power, were equally manifest in the empire of matter. Second-Dominion over humanity. He proved his knowledge of all the mysterious deeps of the human heart he knew what was in man, and all that was there was under his control. Third-Dominion over the invisible world. Satan and his angels, demons or spirits of the wicked dead -angels of pure and heavenly radiance, all were required in various methods, to confess his divinity, and magnify his mission. Some made their confession in fear, and some in love; but in all his glory was manifested, and his name exalted. All provinces of the universe, and all ranks of being, conspired in attesting the grandeur and sacredness of his mission. 3. WITNESS OF THE FATHER. or hath borne witness of me." Our translators, in the concluding portion of this passage, represent our Lord as stating the very reverse of that which he actually said. He is not declaring that they had neither heard his voice nor seen his shape, but he is inquiring "If they had never heard his voice, seen a shape." His question would powerfully revive the memory of the sublime event to which he referred. It is related in Mat. iii. At the manifestation of Jesus, he was baptized as the example of his people in all ages. As he arose from the water in which he had been buried, the opening heavens disclosed a celestial messenger. The Holy Spirit, in the shape of a dove, lighted upon his head; and while pure splendour streamed around the person of the Redeemer, the audible voice of God the Father pronounced the memorable words, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." A scene so overpowering in glory and awe would, by necessity, live in the memory, and haunt the imagination of the people for a considerable time. The words of the Lord would flash upon their minds again that grand and public spectacle, in which Christ was sealed so conspicuously by God the Father. "Did ye never hear his voice, or see a shape?" Have ye forgotten the breathless interest, and the deep solemnity of that auspicious day, when I began my great work, as the loftiest missionary of God— the noblest ambassador of heaven ? 4. CORRESPONDENCE OF CHARACTER WITH PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION. -Our translators have missed the import in verse 39. The Lord is not delivering a precept to search the scriptures, but making an acknowledgment of fact, that he may build an argument upon it. "Ye search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." Yes, they did search the scriptures earnest "The Father himself which sent me,ly, because they rightly thought that eternal life might be found there; yet, when the being appeared who was the life of prophecy, and the heir of all the ages, they could not discern his transcendent grace. It was as if the Lord had said, " O, ye Jews who search the scriptures from day to day, and who, by consequence, are looking for a great Redeemer, can ye not perceive that he stands in the midst of you? Can ye not discover, from the wisdom of my doctrine, the holiness of my life, the majesty of my power, that I am the person and character painted in the word of prophecy? Testimony concerning me is the very spirit and substance of that word to which ye cling." But they were blinded by steam from the pit, and could see no form nor comeliness in God's anointed Son. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." Consequently they perished in fearful darkness, and bequeathed the burden of a dire curse as a legacy to the generations following. A depraved will corrupted the understanding, and petrified the heart. G. GREENWell. (To be continued.) LETTERS ON ROMANISM. NO. V. RELICS AND INDULGENCES. MY DEAR SIR-Permit me to ask your kind attention, in the present letter, to two more objections which prevent my return to your church, drawn from your use of relics and indulgences. The importance which you attach to these things, and the evils which flow from them, demand a letter for the consideration of each; but I will consider them both in one, and, as I trust, without weakening the force of my objections. "Relics are the dead bodies or bones of saints, and whatever belonged to them in their mortal life." The clause I place in italics enables you to multiply them indefinitely. These relics are honored with an inferior and relative, but not with divine honor. First, they are honoured because they were the temples of God; secondly, because they are to be raised from the dead; thirdly, because of their miraculous power; fourthly, they encourage the faithful to imitate their virtues. This is Challoner's account of them, with which that of Milner agrees. This doctrine of relics is intimately connected with that of miracles: it flows from it. The man who performed miracles, when living, should be highly honoured : his bones may perform them, and as in many cases they do perform them, their relics should be honoured with an inferior and relative, but not with a divine honour. Here is the link which connects your doctrine of relics with your miracles. Relics are matters of immense importance to Rome. They are to your churches what the ark of the covenant, and the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded were to the Jewish temple. Hence the prodigious efforts of past ages to obtain relics, and the enormous prices for them, in order to place them in churches; and the sleepless vigilance with which they have been guarded, lest they should be stolen for the adorning of new churches by their virtues. They have been more than mines of wealth to Holy Mother, as they have brought her the gold and the silver, without the trouble of mining, smelting, or coining. If a bone or relic of a saint could be secured for a new church, the church was called by his name, and placed under his guardianship. This is the origin of calling churches after the names of saints. And thus nations were placed under the guardianship of saints, as Ireland under that of St. Patrick, Scotland under that of St. Andrew, England under that of St. George. So also cities were placed under the care of saints, and their relics were esteemed as im- and hammer of St. Joseph-and with parting far greater security against the tail of Balaam's ass. Different assault than cannon, walls, or bul- churches are enriched with pieces of warks. Constantine, you know, de- the wood of the cross; and were the fended the town of Nisibis with the pieces all brought together they dead body of St. James; and when | would make a hundred crosses. In the Emperor Leo desired to secure one church is some of the manna in the relics of Simeon, the Stylite, from the wilderness — in another some Antioch, for the purposes of defence, | blossoms from Aaron's rodin anothe prudent citizens replied, "Our ther the arm of St. Simon-in anocity has no walls, and we have brought ther the picture of the Virgin, painthere the holy body of Simeon, that it ed by Luke-in another one of her might serve us in the stead of bul- combs—in another the combs of the warks." So individuals are placed apostle, but little used—in another a under a guardian saint, or they select part of the body of St. Lazarus, that one for themselves. I remember, smells-in another a part of the goswhen a boy, I had one myself; but pel of St. Mark, in his own handhis name I am utterly unable to recall. writing-in another the fingers of St. I have no doubt but that you will say Ann, the Virgin's sister-in another he took bad care of me. the stick of St. Patrick, with which he drove venomous beasts out of Ire caught by an angel in a phial-in another a piece of the rope with which Judas hung himself—in another some of the Virgin's hair—in another some of her milk. The monks once showed among their relics the spear and shield with which Michael encountered the dragon of Revelation; and some relic-monger had a feather from the wing of the Holy Spirit, when taking the form of a dove, he abode upon Christ at his baptism! On the miracles wrought by the relics of the saints I have already sufficiently dwelt. They are various, and very numerous. There is, I learn, an authentic list of the relics deemed true, possessed | landin another St. Joseph's breath, and published by your church. I have never seen it. It must be a very curious book. In the absence of your catalogue, I select a few of the relics greatly venerated by Papists, from books of authority that lie before me. They are almost as amusing as your miracles. I will omit those too offensive to be named, out of respect for you, my readers, and myself. The arms, legs, fingers, and toes of the saints are greatly multiplied. There are eight arms of St. Matthew, three of St. John, and almost any number of St. Thomas a Becket. | There are in the church of the Lateran, the ark made by Moses in the wilderness, the rod of Moses, and the table on which the last supper was instituted by the Saviour. The table is entire at Rome, but there are many pieces of it in other places. On the altar of the Lateran are the heads of Peter and Paul entire, but there are pieces of them in Bilboa greatly honoured by the monks. St. Peter's church is blessed with the cross of the penitent thief—with the lantern of Judas — with the dice used by the soldiers in casting lots for the Saviour's garments-with the axe, saw, I will not, I cannot here dwell upon the awful abuses of your doctrine of relics—on the robbery of all kinds of graves in Palestine, and the hawking of pilfered bones all over Europe-on the selling of old wood, sufficient to warm a small town through the winter, as pieces of the cross on the selling of hands and feet of particular saints, until the proof is positive that some of the favored ones had as many hands as Briareus, and as many feet as the crawling centipede. I turn from the abuse to the doctrine. Now, Sir, where is the origin of granting them is clearly proved by your doctrine of relics? Can you the fact, that the Saviour gave the find a trace of it in the New Testa- keys to Peter, and told him that whatment? Will you, for a moment, soever he bound or loosed on earth compare the sham miracles wrought should be bound or loosed in heaven. at the tombs of some of your saints, with that wrought by the bones of the prophet of Israel? Will you dare to say, that the curing of a sore throat by a dead man's hand, is to be placed on the same ground with the miraculous cures of the apostles? I venerate the names - I would even decorate the tombs of the good; but what virtue is there in a bone from the body of Paul or Peter ?—or in a slip of wood from the cross ?—or in a strand from the rope with which Judas hung himself? -or in some hairs from the tail of the beast which Balaam whipped? If relics ever performed miracles, why do they not perform some now? Is the virtue of all your old bones exhausted? Where is the holy coat of Treves? Where now are the pilgrims to the bones of Becket? Where is your shop in New York for the sale of holy teeth, and holy fingers, and holy bones, taken from the graves of the saints? Sir, the whole matter is one of the vilest impositions ever practiced upon the credulity of man. I do not charge you with believing a word of it. I could almost as soon believe in the virtue of the paring of the toe-nails of some of your saints, as admit that a man of your high sense can believe in these things. Indulgences can only be granted to those who have, by penance, secured the remission of eternal punishment; and they can be granted even to such only for a good cause or motive. Unless the cause or motive is a good one, heaven does not loose what the bishop looses. The causes or motives deemed good are, "The doing of great works for the glory of God and the public benefit of the church, such as the propagations of the Catholic faith, building churches, alms, &c. The way in which the bishop secures the remission of the temporal punishment of the indulged one is― he draws upon the satisfaction of Christ and his saints, called "The treasure of the church," and offers the draft to God as an equivalent for the punishment due to the individual! I do think that some heated controversialists have distorted the doctrine of your church; but you will not say that this is a distortion of it. It is taken almost literally from Challoner and Milner. The illustration of Milner of the working of the thing is a curiosity in its way. It is drawn from 2nd Saml. xxii. David, by the murder of Uriah, and adultery with his wife, incurred eternal and temporal punishment he confessed to Nathan, did penance, and eternal punishment was remitted. The temporal yet remainAnd why? But I must hasten to a brief consideratiou of your doctrine of indulgences. And how shall I characte-ed, and he suffered it all. rize it? Your church teaches that sins of a certain character deserve temporal and eternal punishment. Penance secures the remission of the latter-indulgence releases from the former so that indulgences secure a release from the debt of temporal punishment. There was no priest or bishop to grant him indulgence! No person but a lineal descendant of St. Peter can grant an indulgence. And that all such have the power of Such, Sir, is your doctrine of indulgence. Permit me to give you my thoughts in reference to it. There is not a shadow of authority for prescribing a meritorious satisfaction to God, in lieu of the penalty annexed to his law, and pronounced against sin. I have already examined and exploded your claims as to the |