Rt. Rev. Wm. Quarter 39 



In this condition of things, it was no wonder that 

 serious doubts began to disturb his mind, and that 

 anxiety succeeded to doubt; that the little bark, in 

 which his faith had hitherto quietly sailed, began to 

 be tossed by the tempest, and that he began to direct 

 his mind to the applying of those marks by which 

 only the true Church of Christ is to be recognized. 



It would be out of place here to follow him 

 through the arguments he advances in the course 

 of his inquiry : suffice it to say, that in laying down 

 the marks of the true Church; — her Unity, her 

 Sanctity, her Catholicity and her Apostolicity, as the 

 only means whereby she could be tested, he found 

 that his Lutheran Church could claim no inheritance 

 of the faith of the early Church, and that, therefore, 

 as these marks would not apply to her, she was not 

 the true Church. 



Arrived at this point of his inquiry, he was tossed 



like a vessel ••-->. r j 



'-oov.i Q^ ^ gg^ Q^ dreams, 



Her helm of reason lost;" 



and for a time he balanced between Christianity and 

 infidelity, between hope and despair! 



"Oh, it would be difficult to describe," says he, 

 "my feelings at the eventful moment when I became 

 convinced that I was not a member of the true Church. 

 Could I have persuaded myself that it was only a 

 dream, and that the illusion would pass away as 

 soon as I awoke, what a consolation would it have 

 been to my agitated mind, and to my bleeding soul ! 

 But I could not do so. The vizard was now lifted, 



