dness of her instructions; I have been at the same time assured,
that with many of her communion the case is far otherwise; and that
instead of their being averse to all investigation, a calm, candid, and
friendly, but still a free and unreserved inquiry into the disputed
articles of their creed, is an object of their sincere desire. On this
ground I trust some preliminary reflections upon the duty of proving all
things, with a view of holding the more fast {3} and sure what is good,
may be considered as neither superfluous nor out of place.

[Footnote 1: It is sometimes curious to observe the language in
which the teachers and doctors themselves profess their entire,
unlimited, and implicit submission of all their doctrines, even
in the most minute particulars, to the judgment and will of the
authorities of Rome. Instances are of very frequent occurrence.
Thus Joannes de Carthagena, a very voluminous writer of
homilies, closes different parts of his work in these words,
"These and all mine I willingly subject to the judgment of the
Catholic Roman Church, ready, if there be written any thing in
any way in the very least point contrary to her doctrine, to
correct, amend, erase, and utterly abolish it." Hom. Cath. De
Sacris Arcanis Deiparae et Josephi. Paris, 1615. page 921.]

But just as it would belong to another and a separate province to
examine, at such length as its importance demands, the claims of the
Church of Rome to be acknowledged as that universal interpreter of the
word and will of God, from whose decisions there is no appeal; so would
it evidently be incompatible with the nature of the present address, to
dwell in any way corresponding with the magnitude and delicacy of the
subject, on the duty, the responsibility, and the privilege of private
judgment; on the dangers to which an unchastened exercise of it may
expose both an individual, and the cause of Christian truth; or on the
rules which sound wisdom and the analogy of faith may prescribe to us in
the government of ourselves with respect to it. My remarks, therefore,
on this subject will be as few and brief as I believe to be consistent
with an acknowledgment of the principles upon which this work has been
conducted.

The foundation, then, on which, to be safe and beneficial, the duty of
private judgment, as we maintain, must be built, is very far indeed
removed from that common and mischievous notion of