.^Jn^,
W^ \t 1^.
*y- '-^
.%
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
1.0
I.I
"Hi |M
11.25 lu
HA
Ii4l
1.6
:i[|iiir:ii
!?
-^C?
<^>^!^
A*
/
i'a^
^^
^
ScMices
CorporatiQn
23 WMT MAIN STRMT
WlltTM.N.V. I4IM
(7U)t71-4M3
4fS
v\
o^
CIHM/ICMH
Microfiche
Series.
CIHIVI/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.
Canadian Inatituta for Hiatorical IMiororaproduotiona / Inatitut Canadian da mieroraproductlona hiatorlquaa
Tttchnicai and Bibliographic Notos/Notas tachniquas at bibiiographiquaa
Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat
original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia
copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua,
which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha
raproduction, or which may aignificantiy changa
tha uaual mathod of filming, ara chacltad balow.
0Colourad covara/
Couvartura da coulaur
I I Covara damagad/
Couvartura andommagte
□ Covara raatorad and/or laminatad/
Couvartura raataurAa at/ou pailiculAa
|~~| Covar titia miaaing/
D
D
D
La titra da couvartura manqua
Colourad mapa/
Cartaa gtographlquaa an coulaur
□ Colourad inic (i.a. othar than blua or black)/
Encra da coulaur (i.a. autra qua blaua ou noira)
r~1 Colourad plataa and/or illuatrationa/
D
Planchaa at/ou illuatrationa an coulaur
Bound with othar matarial/
RalM avac d'autraa documanta
Tight binding may oauaa ahadovva or diatortion
along intarlor inargin/
La n llura aarrAa paut eauaar da I'ombra ou da la
diatortion la long da la marga IntArlaura
Blank laavaa addad during raatoratlon may
appaar within tha taxt. Whanavar poaalbia, thaaa
hava baan omittad from filming/
II aa paut qua oartainaa pagaa blanehaa aJoutAaa
iora d'una raatauration apparalaaant dana la taxta,
mala, loraqua oala Atalt poaalbia, caa pagaa n'ont
paa 4H4 flimiaa.
Additional commanta:/
Commantalraa aupplAmantairaa:
L'Inatitut a microfilm^ la maillaur axamplaira
qu'il lui a AtA poaalbia da aa procurar. Laa dAtaila
da cat axamplaira qui aont paut-Atra unlquaa du
point da vua bibliographiqua, qui pauvant modifiar
una imaga raproduita, ou qui pauvant axigar una
modification dana la mAthoda normala da f ilmaga .
aont Indiqute ci-daaaoua.
I — I Colourad pagaa/
D
Pagaa da coulaur
Pagaa damagad/
Pagaa andommagAaa
Pagaa raatorad and/oi
Pagaa raatauriaa at/ou paliiculAaa
Pagaa diacolourad, atainad or foxa<
Pagaa dAcoiories, tachatiaa ou piquAaa
Pagaa datachad/
Pagaa d4tach4«i
Showthroughy
Tranaparanca
Quality of prir
Qualiti Inigala da I'impraaaion
Inciudaa auppiamantary matarii
Comprand du material aupplit^iantaira
Only adition availabia/
Saula MItion diaponlbia
r~-\ Pagaa damagad/
I — I Pagaa raatorad and/or laminatad/
H Pagaa diacolourad, atainad or foxad/
Pagaa
I I Pagaa datachad/
r~n Showthrough/
I I Quality of print variaa/
I I Inciudaa auppiamantary matarial/
I — I Only adition availabia/
Pagaa wholly or partially obaourad by arrata
alipa, tiaauaa. ate. hava baan rafllmad to
anaura ttia baat poaalbia imaga/
Laa pagaa totalamant ou partiallamant
obacurclaa par un fauillat d'arrata, una palura,
ate, ont 4t4 fllm4aa i nouvaau da fa^on A
obtanir la maillaura Imaga poaaiMa.
Thi
totl
Th«
poi
ofl
filn
Ori
ba|
tha
aloi
oth
flra
aloi
ori
Th«
aha
Tl^
wh
f1
Itl
Ma
di
anti
bag
rigl
raq
ma
ThIa Itam la filmad at tha raduotlon ratio ohackad balow/
Ca documant aat film* au taux da reduction indlquA ol-daaaoua.
10X 14X 18X 22X
MX
»X
X
12X
ItX
20X
MX
2IX
32X
The copy filmed hare has baan raproducad thanks
to tha ganarosity of:
Library of the Pubiic
Archives of Canada
L'axempiaira filmA fut reproduit grica A la
gAnArosit* da:
La bibliothdqua des Archives
publiques du Canada
The images appearing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
of the original copy and in keeping with the
filming contract specifications.
Las images suivantas ont AtA reproduites avac la
plus grand soin, compta tenu de la condition at
da la natteti de I'exemplaire film*, et en
conformiti avac las conditions du contrat de
filmage.
Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illuatratad imprea-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page wKh a printed or illustrated impres>
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.
Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprimie sont filmte en commen^ant
par la premier plat et en terminant soit par la
darniAre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration. soit par la second
plat, aaion le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmte en commenpant par la
pramlAre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la darnlAre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.
The laat recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain tha symbol -^ (meaning "CON-
TINUED"), or tha symbol V (meaning "END"),
whichever appliaa.
Un das symboles suivants apparattra sur la
darnlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le
caa: le symbols —»^ signifie "A SUIVRE ". le
symbols ▼ signifie "FIN".
Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratioa. Thoaa too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, aa many frames es
required. The following diagrama illustrate the
method:
Lea cartea, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre
filmAa i das taux da rMuction diffArants.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre
reproduit en un seul cllch4. II est filmi A partir
de i'angie supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite,
et de haut an bas, en prenant le nombre
d'images nAcessaira. Las diagrammae suivants
iiiuatrant la mAthoda.
1
2
3
aax
1
2
3
4
S
e
^^
'^^7'
1P[
'::h<:
> n I V
R I
■^<iQJf^
l^ !> <»v
Fj i\ O
o.\ th;:
iPOPULARITY OF RELIGIOUS TRUTH.
I'.v 'niK
im:v. w. sTEWAirr i)AkLiX(;
"issistam inim-iirr of tlir (irinivili of tlir ll'oln iTviniiy.
TOltON'l'O:
I' R I N T K I) !i ^- L (> V K L 1, ,V \ P C
1857.
l\ SON.
PAPERS
CM THE
,.y„pr—
/\
TORONIX):
PRINTED 11 Y L V E L L AND (I I U S N .
1857.
"•^■Jt
imi^^xiC
™>*
■^
J^
'Sir-vJ^
^
mmMtKmttmimm^
ERRATA.
UN
Page 4 (Preface), fifth line from top, for time read
line.
Page 40, seventh line from bottom, omit the comma
after the word commenced.
Page 79, fifth line from bottom, for destructive read
distinctive.
Ppge 82, seventh line from top, for destructive read
distinctive.
PAPERS
ON THB
UNPOPULARITY OF RELIGIOUS TRUTH.
r time read
the comma
iictive read
uctive read
T.'SKTT^
BY THS
REV. W. STEWART DARLING,
Assistant iHttinisttr oC tfjc Cfjurclj of tfje l^olg Crinitg.
TORONIX) :
PRINTED T} Y L V E L L AND C. 1 13 S N
1857.
If6f
Of)
V;
PRErACE.
The following Papers appeared some two years
ago in the editorial columns of " The Church."
They professed to be written for that paper, and
notwithstanding their position they had the initials
of the writer attached.
This was done for two reasons, first, because it
was certain they would excite (as they did) consi-
derable animadversion, and the writer wished the
responsibility to rest on the proper shoulders ; and
secondly, because without this measure he might
have obtained among those of his friends who
would have recognized his mode of thought and
expression, the reputation of being Editor of the
paper named, a reputation for which there would
have been no ground, and which, therefore, he
wished to avoid.
At the suggestion of several friends, and because
he finds in parochial experience that the tune of
argument taken is often striking and effective, he
has now put them into a more permanent form,
hoping that in their proper place they may not be
without some use in the promotion of religious
truth.
W. S. D.
Diocese op Toronto,
August, 1857.
PAPERS
ON THE
raPOPMM OF RILlGIOi TRUTH.
-s '».-, '*.'\.'N,'VW^,'\
^,'\.'>.*\.'\--w
I.
THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Controversy and strife must ever be distasteful to the
truly Christian mind, in consequence of its tendency to
excite in our fallen hearts a feeling of alienation from our
brethren.
Error, however, is worse than controversy, and its un-
happy prevalence may make it necessary for the friends of
truth to ^^ contend for the Faith once delivered to the
Saints."
Under such circumstances, it only remains that those
who enter upon it should fulfil their duty in no harsh and
unloving spirit — keeping back, indeed, no statement how-
ever severe, which they regard as true, but making it in
sorrow rather than in anger, and giving, whenever possible
to those who oppose themselves, that full credit for per-
6
(f^/'X hon<*f7 whi-ih we claim upon oar own Whal:'. We
h</Irl th/w^f; rn rjc?i c^ilaraniat^yi views which are known
a=^ thft di-tinctivr: priricipifr=i of th^; Church to h^ the truth
of (tf,A — 'And wc claim for this conviction that credit for
[»ftrff;ct -inccrity which we are prepared to accord to those
who are ready to denounce thern as erroneous and corrupt.
T\>(', sincerity of thi- conviction leads necessarily anl
irre^i.Hf.ibiy to tlie adiir.ional conclusion, that whatever i>
incorwHt.ent with thos^ principles must therefore be fal.«»^
— that what is falne iriu.st he pernicious — that what is per-
nicious rnu<*t he opposed.
Hence, it is in no spirit of railing or partizanship that
we enter upon the followin;^ series of papers, but for the
love of what we earnefttly believe to be the truth. The
direct (jvidence of that truth has been brought forward in
bor^ks which we firmly believe it to be unanswered and
unariHwerable, and it is only to an auxiliary line of argu-
ment to which wc would <llrect our feeble efforts — a line
of argument which wo liave no desire to exalt out of its
proj»or place, but which we regard as being borne out by
very renuukable circumstances, and which has been sug-
g(5Hted to (Mir mind by the undeniable fact of the unpopu-
larity of our principles among the mass.
W(5 purpose therefore to lay down two great and genei-
ally ncknowlculged principles, as criteria by which to dia-
tiujj;uish seriptural truth from human error. Wc think of
hacinjr these principles in their application to the more
pr(uninont of those occasions during the past when there
has been a vehcHiont struggle between God's truth and
man's corruption ; and finally, wc purpose to show that
when bronnflit to boar u])on the present controversy bc-
din
W. We
known
he truth
redit for
ly those
cor rapt.
rilv an.l
fitever i>
be fals*^
at i> p*^i-
iliip that
; for the
th. The
rward in
Bred and
of argu-
s — a line
>ut of it!*
c out by
)cen sug-
I unpopu-
id genei-
jh to dia-
think of
;he more
en there
ruth and
how that
vorsv be-
tween Church principles and their opposite, they trium-
phantly vindicate the truth of the views which wc advo-
cate, while they convict of error tlie opinions of those wlio,
alas, although our brethren, have become our advei-saries.
The two great principles of which wo speak are tho
following : —
I. That a defective or erroneous faith, while leading
necessarily to a defective or erroneous practice, is ever
popular among the multitude.
II. That the unadulterated and unmutilated truth in the
things of God has always excited the bitter opposition of
the human heart.
Wc address ourselves on the present occasion to a brief
review of some of those struggles between truth and error
with which we meet in the writings of the Old Testament.
Passing over many minor instances which might easily
be mentioned — as Noah, who though a preacher of righte-
ousness to the world before the flood, was rejected in that
character and regarded as a dreamer; and Lot, who
though he declared God's truth to the men of Sodom,
seemed to them as one that mocked, — let us come to
Moses, who was commissioned from on high to deliver the
<:hildren of Israel from Egyptian bondage and to declare
unto them the Divine will, and whose commission was
authenticated by the most stupendous miracles.
Notwithstanding those miracles wc find that his testi-
mony excited the opposition not only of Pharaoh but of
his oion people. In numberless instances they disbelieved
his words, and his commands were deliberately disobeyed.
The most striking event of the kin<l was, no doubt, the
rebellion of Korah and his company, and to that we will
direct our ntteiition for a few niomnnts.
8
1^ I
'
h-
It was acording to the revealed will of the God of Israel
that Moses and Aaron should exclusively rule over His
ancient Church. He required the members thereof to
acknowledge their authority and obey their word. Now
this exclusive claim was a positive iinmutilated truth ; and
yet it had the effect which Divine truth always has — it
(^xcited the violent opposition of the people generally, and
the leaders in that opposition consisted of a few deluded
Ministers of the Jewish faith. They gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto
them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congre-
gation are holy every one of them, and the Lord is among
them. Wherefore then lift vo r.p voursolves above the
congregation of the Lord i
They flattered the laity with the idea that being holy
and having the Lord dwelling among them, they were
under no obligation to be ruled and instructed by Moses
and Aaron, but were fully competent to bo their own
governors.
This idea, we know was an erroneous one, and we see
that it had two results; it led, 1st, to erroneous, nay, sinful
practice, amounting to direct rebellion against the Lord ;
and, 2nd, it was extremely popular among the mass of the
people, almost the whole of whom wen- infected by this
error.
Again : let us look to the case of Elijah. He was
called to the prophetic office when spiritual darkness
covered the land and gross darkness the people. We
know positively that he came with messages of pure and
unrautilated truth from God to his ancient, but, at that
time, corrupt Church, and we knoAv as positively that it
(>!
had the usual effect of truth — it stu . up bitter opposition
— lie was regarded as " a troubler of Israel," and they
sought earnestly to take away his life. As for the people
themselves, they had fallen into idolatry. Their erroneous*
faith brought forth its usual fruit of a corrupt practice,
and this erroneous faith and practice was so popular among
tlie people, that among the many ten thousands of Israel
the prophet esteemed himself the last and only worshipper
of the true God, while tlie allsearching eye of that God
Himself saw but seven thousand who had not bowed the
knee to the image of Baal.
Passing over many other instances that might be ad-
duced, let us turn our thoughts to the great struggle
which in the days of Jeremiah took place between the op-
[)Osing principles of truth and error.
Notwithstanding the many provoc^ations of His ancient
Church, God was unwilling to forsake it utterly; and
though in the days of this prophet it had become fearfully
corrupt and idolatrous, lie mercifully sent Jeremiah to call
both king and priests and people to repentance, to warn
them of impending judgments, and to assure them that
unless they broke olf their sins by righteousness, sulfer-
ing, captivity and death vould bo the certain conserpience.
That this was most true we laipw bv the result, which
came to pass in exact conformity with the prophecies de-
livered.
Now in what manner was this certain IruiJi received ?
Wo have only to turn to the Prophet's writings, to see
that it produced the inevitable fruits of truth upon com-
munities in error, viz., opposition and bitter persecution.
" Lord, T am in derision daily, every one mocketh me :
10
fl
for since I spake, the word of the Lord was made a re-
proach unto me and a derision daily." (Jer. xx. T, 8.)
But not only had he to contend against scoffing and ridi-
cule, but when Pashur, the priest, who was also chief
governor over the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah
prophesied these things, he smote him and put him in the
stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was
by the house of the Lord." (xx.) Now it came to pass
that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that
the Lord commanded him to speak unto the people, that
the priests and the prophets and all the people took him,
saying, " thou shalt surely die :" and though he escaped
death at that time, yet was he imprisoned and persecuted
with much severity, throughout his whole life.
While God's solemn truth, declared (at the risk of his
life) by his commissioned servant, excited this virulent op-
position, the people, misled by some deluded priests, had
adopted an erroneous belief, which, as a matter of course,
brought forth erroneous and wicked practices — even re-
bellion against the Divine will — and yet these dangerous
errors in belief and practice were (as is ever the case)
popular among "the priests and prophets and all the
people."
Further reference to the former dispensation is unneces-
sary, for St. Stephen appealing to the Jews of his own
days, asks, without the possibility of reply. " Which of
the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" Wc
trust that we have sufficiently proved, from the Old Test-
ament that in the chief struggles between truth and error,
which arc there narrated, the principles which we have
hii«l down are, in their proper place, unfailing criteria to
11
enable us to judge between the divine will and human
mistakes. We find the truth maintained by a few, yet
opposed, scoffed at and persecuted, by the many. We
observe error, taught by some deluded priests, embraced
by and popular among the great majority of the people,
and bringing forth in them the defective and erroneous
practice which is the necessary result of a defective and
erroneous faith.
!
1
i !
( i
!i i
IL
THE NEW TESTAxMENT.
Having traced the application of the principles originally
laid down, to those strnggles between trutli and error which
are narrated in the Old Testament, we now coine to tlu^
consideration of those events in the New Testament from
which the same unerring principles m;iy be evolved.
The ingrained opposition of the linmfin heart to the trutli
of God was never so awfully manifested as when the Eter-
nal Word took flesh and came nnfo His o\v)i, and yet ITis
own received Him not.
Although His whole character was niarked by a spirit
of such love and gentleness and t(.;nder sympathy as the
world till then had never dreamt of — although He spok(i
concerning truth as man had never SDoken — and thonu'h
His holy teHchings were authenticated by contiiuial and
acknowledged miracles of love and mercy — yet the scorfi-
ful cry of the multitude (incited by some of the chief priests)
with this. " He is a Samaritan and hath a devil : why hear
ye Him.''
To trace the various and bitter persecutions of our blessed
Lord, ending in an ignominious death, will of course b«;
unnecessary, because they are midisputed ; but there are
two facts connected with them to which we desire to direct
attention, because they appear to be frequently overlooked.
I . I
1 i!
I'! I
4 i
: * '
' ^ 1
i 1 1
I 1 1
u
'i J
i (
I
. i
I': ■ i '
14
The fiicts to which wo alhule arc these, first, tliat the
persecutions and sufferings of our Lord were inflicted upon
Him h]/ the ministers and members of the Church of God ;
and second, that the cau&e or reason of their 'bitter oppo-
sition was owing to the circumstance that He declared the
popular interpretation of Holy Scriptures, which almost
universally prevailed among them, to he erroneous and
corrupt.
It seems to us important that we should realize the first
of these facts ; for people are frequently inclined, without
sufficiently considering the difference of their position, to
class the Jews and the Heathen together, as bitter and un-
relenting enemies of Christ and His religion, from whom
little but persecution could be expected.
At the time however when our Lord was so perseveringly
peraecuted, His church was not founded in that foira which
it was afterwards to assume. The Scribes and Pharisees
sat in Moses' seat, and had therefore, according to our Sa-
viour's express words, a divine claim to the obedience of the
people. In the temple the worship which God required
was constantly off'ered up and regularly attended by our
Lord Himself. In their synagogues, the holy scriptures
were read every Sabbsth day, and those scriptures clearly
testified of the Messiah as one who should come in lowly
guise and be a man of many sorrows.
The teachers of these people gave incredible pains to the
study of the scriptures ; and we should never have expected
that when He, to whom those scriptures bore such striking
witness, came to these, His own people, that they should
not only have rejected, but have persecuted Him.
Hence it is plain that the Church of God itself may be
o possessed by human error as to persecute that very truth
of I
sati
15
|at the
upon
Ood:
of which she is nevertheless (as under the Jewish dispen-
sation) the divinely appointed " keeper."
The second fact which accounts for this persecuting spirit
is also an instructive one. The Jewish church, — in her
scriptures, sacrifices and worship, — kepi the truth ; but her
priests and people misinterpreted it, because they chose to
explain it according to their own tradition, which virtually
made it of none effect. The scriptures spoke of the Messiah
as first suffering, and then as conquering and triumphant.
It was humbling to their national pride to think of His
coming in low estate. It was fiattering and pleasant to
their self-love to think of His coming in temporal majesty,
as a mighty monarch of the earth, who should subdue
their enemies and exalt their nation to power and promi-
nence. They consequently were not unwilling to forget
those solemn words which foretold the Messiah*s suff'erings ;
and, looking upon the prophecies of His spiritual con-
quests as referring to temporal victories, they adopted a
most erroneous faith upon, the subject, which, while neces-
sarily bringing forth in their lives the fruit of a most erro-
neous and unholy practice, was nevertheless highly po^mlar
among both priests and people.
While thus confident that " they knew the law," there
suddenly appeared Oneof lowly garb and station, who, while
of holy life and wielding a supernatural power, boldly asser-
ted that the popular belief was lorong^ and claimed to be
the true expounder of those scriptures which they misun-
derstood.
The chief priests saw early how utterly opposed His
teachings were to the views which they entertained, and
consequently they ever strove to neutralise His influence.
10
i' ^ 1
The people, on tlie other hand, wlieu thoy saw the miracles
lie did, lieard Ilim s'ladlv, and would have taken Ilim bv
force to make him a king : that king they were so anxious-
ly expecting. AVhen ■ He rode into Jerusalem^ they were
certain that the glorious hour had at length arrived when
this mysterious man would forsake Ills lowliness and take
His rightful place among the mighty of the earth ; and, filled
with enthusiasm, they cut down branches, and strewed them
in the way and cried "Hosanna ! blessed be the I'ing that
comethpn the name of the Lord."
If our Lord would but have fallen in with the popular
delusion of the day — if He would only have consented to
bo what they desired, viz., their temporal monarch — not
one of all His enemies but would readily have died to defend
His cause ; but because He would not do this, because He
declared the opinion commonly prevailing regarding the
Messiah, to be false and unscriptural — because He ran coun-
ter to the popftht}' idea of f ruth at that time prevailing in
the Church — the hosannas of the multitude were quickly
turned into maledictions ; and wrath, persecution and death,
were the results. • ,
We know too well tlic fate of the faithful followers of
Christ, to midce it neccssarv for ns to trace it in detail.
Thev had been foretold bv their Divine Master what thev
had to expect in this world. " Jn the world you shall have
Iribulation f ''for if they have persecuted me, they will
also persecute yon." Accordingly they found it to be even
as Ho had said. In everv city, bonds and afflictions await-
ed them, and the solemn and blessed truths which thev
boldly declared were " every where spoken against." Their
most determined enemies were those who had been the bit-
terest foes of their Master, the ministers and members of
17
God's ancient church ; and the cause of the i- enmity was
that which has been already indie: ted, viz., indignation at
the presumption of a few in charging the religious opinions
of the many wiih falsehood and error.
From this brief review of some of the narratives of holy
scripture it is abundantly manifest that the unadulterated
and unmutilated truth always excites the opposition of the
human heart ; and that while the remote cause of the op-
position is to be found in the facts of man's fallen state and
consequent enmity towards God, its immediate cause arises
from the circumstance that the religious views of the mul-
titude are always to a greater or less extent wrong ; that
this erroneous or defective faith thus prevailing, while neces-
sarily producing an erroneous or defective practice, is never-
theless popular in a high degree ; and consequently, to ex-
pose the falsehood of these favorite views by the exhibition
of opposing truth naturally produces that feeling of irrita-
tion in the unsanctified heart, the proper fruit of which is
persecution.
In persuing this subject we have no intention of referring
to the character and consequences of the great struggle
which took place between christian truth and heathen error,
nor of those which occurred between the Cathohc Church
and the opposing sects which were without. To do so would
be beside our purpose, which is, to show that within the hol-
ders of the Church herself this struggle is constantly going
on between the error which is brought in through man's cor-
ruption and the eternal truth which God has committed to
her keeping, and to point out those abstract principles which
seem, apart from other proofs, to be unfailing criteria by
which to distinguish the will of God from the device of men.
It wj
glew
versj
have
tory
whei
stooc
Tl
of tl
avail
lixit;
quel
It
side
how
prir
adu
alw
whi
tive
mu:
I
of!
III.
THE REFORMATION.
It was oui' purpose to have adverted to the great strug-
gle which took place in the Church during the Arian contro-
versy, and to have deduced from it those principles which
have been already laid down ; for never perhaps in the his-
tory of the faith were they so remarkably illustrated as
when, in defence of God's eternal truth, St. Athanasius
stood against the world in error.
The struggles which preceded and followed the decisions
of the Deutero-Nicene Council might also be rendered
available for the same purpose ; but in order to avoid pro-
lixity, we rather select instances more recent, and conse-
quently more generally known.
It is our purpose therefore in the present article to con-
sider some of the features of the Reformation, and to show
how clearly we can trace in that great convulsion the two
principles to which we particularly refer, viz., " That un-
adulterated and unmutilated truth in the things of God
always excites the bitter opposition of the human heart,"
while " A defective and erroneous faith, leading to a defec-
tive and erroneous practice, is ever popular among the
multitude,"
In the early part of the reign of Henry VIII. the Church
of England was in a state of great and acknowledged cor-
\ :'!
20
I'uption, and in utter bondage to the usurped authority of
the See of Rome. Learning, both sacred and secular, was
confessedly at a low ebb, and the morals both of priests
and people were disgracefid to their Christian calling.
One of the first reformers of that day was undoubtedly
Cardinal Wolsey, who, by the authority of his Legantine
court, endeavored to restrain the evil lives of the clergy ;
ari<l by his foundation of lectures at the University of Ox-
ord, his revisal of tlieir statutes, and the erection of fresh
colleges and schools of learning, strove to counteract the
miserable philosophy which then prevailed ; and sought
to rectify the ignorance which often excited his indigna-
tion.*
Whatever may be our estimate of his individual character
and motives, there can bo no doubt that his fall, if not
chiefly occasioned, was greatly accelerated by these efforts
to check the vices and overcome the ignornnco of the age
in which he lived.
He was one indeed who could hardly under any circum-
stances have won the love and acclaim of the multitude, but
it is unquestionable that a largo measure c)f the bitterness
vyliich marked the unpopularit}', misrepresentation and
hatred which he endured must be attributed to the fact
that he was, according to his own views, a reformer.
While ho thus, in a certain measure, partook of the in-
evitable fate of evt y religious reformer ; he also partook
in the same proportion of their reward, inasmuch as after
he had passed hence, his etibrts brought forth (as we may
venture to think must be acknowledged) a certain amount
of good. ^
• Sec life of WoUcy, by Gait.
)ritv of
ir, was
priests
btedlv
antine
Icrgy ;
of Ox-
f fresh
let the
sought
uligna-
aractcr
if not
efforts
ho affo
ircuin-
ie, but
tcrness
n and
ft fact
he in-
irtook
after
> may
aount
21
We say so because we think it impossible to reflect on
the immense influence which he exerted without coming
to the conclusion that it was in some degree owing to the
eftbrts which have already adverted to, ihat the wretched
scholastic system of the day fell afterwards into a certain
measure of discredit — that many of the younger men at
the universities, wearied with the fruitless disputations of
philosophy and the barren subtilties of the schoolmen,
turned their thoughts and studied to the works of the
[)rimitive fathers and the decrees of the early councils, thus
forming a class or school which was soon after known as
" the men of the new learning."
This "new learning," which was in truth old, was that
which so especially fitted them for the performance of that
work of reformation which in the providence of God they
were called upon to direct — a work which they wisely be-
gan, and which they would have as wisely completed but
for the obstructions oftered by the laitv who now in certain
quarters are lauded as the most conservative element in
the church, and the truest bulwark of her doctrines — it is
to the obstructions of the laitv, arising from the unprin-
cipled rapacity of the court and the superstitious ignorance
of the multitude, that the defects of that mighty deliverance
are to bo ascribed.
Still, few who read these words will doubt that it was
ii deliverance fraught with blessings far outweighing its
defects, whatever we esteem them to be, and the more in-
timately we become acquainted with all the dangers and
difliculties of those trying and troublous days, the more
grateful must we be to Almighty God who raised up fitting
instruments for the fulfilment of his own work.
22
We are all more or less acquainted with the various steps
by which the work of the Reformation advanced. To
trace those steps would be unnecessary and beside our pur-
pose, for no good churchman but thankfully acknowledges
that the " men of the new learning" who at every hazard
urged the reformatory movement onward upon its course
were doing a good and holy work, well pleasing to God
and full of blessing to man. It is not then to the progress
of the Reformation, but to the manner in which a work so
confessedly ffood and doctrines in which we glory as so
emphatically true^ were received by the bulk of the people
at the time^ to which we would seek to draw attention as
illustrative of the principles which we have laid down.
We find by referring to the history of that period, that
from the first " the men of the new learning " were objects
of suspicion, dislike and calumny to the great majority ol"
all classes. The favor which they met with at the hands
of the king arose from no conviction upon his part of the
doctrinal corruptions which then prevailed, nor any love
for the truth which they were endeavouring to restore, but
simply because their views upon the independence of the
English Church of the See of Rome fell in with his wishes
upon the subject of the divorce. That independence having
been achieved, it was necessary that it should be main-
tained, and in order to its maintenance the power of the
mendicant orders, who were devoted to Rome, had to be,
if possible, dott royed. 1 lence the dissolution of the smaller
monasteries. At this period, and indeed at the time of the
destruction of the larger abbeys which so rapidly followed,
no step had been gained in the work of Reformation be-
yond the repudiation of the Pope's supremacy. It was
^3
the destruction of those establishments, and the unwise as
well as sacrilegious bestowal of their lands and revenues upon
the needy or unprincipled members of the nobility that bound
that powerful class to the cause of " the men of the new
learning." For the most part they had no sympathy with
the holy teachings of the Reformers ; they still held, as
the vast bulk of the population did, the corrupt faith which
the Church of England as a Church had not yet repudiated,
and many of them on their death-beds professed repentance
lor their denial of the authority of " the apostolic sec," and
declared that they died in communion with Rome. Such
men looked with no loving eye upon the Reformers, and
when the day of trial came many of them showed what
manner of spirit they were of.
While the cause of "the new learning" had little hold
upon the laity of the higher classes beyond that afforded
by their own interests, it (together with its advocates) were
held by the bulk of the nation, especially in the rural parts,
in a degree of abhorrence which it is not easy to express.
As it is now, so it was then. It was a few of the clergy —
more learned than the bulk of their brethren, and not only
greater in sacred knowledge but in holy zeal — who were
the means of originating and canning forward the Refor-
mation. It was the mass of the laity who opposed and
obstructed it, but bitterness and violence was added to
their opposition in consequence of the inflammatory teach-
ings of that large portion of the clergy who were the
advocates of the former corruptions and superstitions, " The
men of the new learning*' were discredited as being yown^*
— they were contemned as heretics, innovators, corrupters
♦ BIunt'3 Sketch of Ref, 107, 108.
24
of the old accustomed wnys — the introducers of novelties
both in doctrines and worship, which being, as the)'' thought?
neiVj must consequently bo false.
They pointed to them as the authors of that desecration
of holy things which then prevailed, and appealing to the
(.•hurches and monasteries in ruins ; and the consequent
want and misery that befell the people, they denounced
them as at once the foes of God and the enemies of man.
So violently were the feelings of the bulk of the popula-
tion excited by these considerations that they bd tbroughout
tlie country to proceedings of the most violent character
and to open rebellion against the existing laws.
The pi'oof of tliese statements is so abundant in almost
e\'ory history of Reformation that it would argue on our
part a very mean opinion of the information of our readers
to trespass at any length upon their patience with quota-
tions upon the subject. A few brief references will suffice.
There can be no stronger proof tiiat the nobility, as a
body, had no doctrinal sympathies with " the men of the
new learning," than the fact that, in 1539 (two years sub-
sequent to the dissolution of the smaller monasteries, and
after the surrender of the abbeys), when the rigorous
statute of the Six Articles was passed, which required?
under pain of death, <'onformity to some of the worst
features of Uomanism, " the tcriiporid PcfAv, with tlie ex-
('cption of Cromwell — if he could tlien bo called a Peer —
were «natt /mo//* against the reforming .rrelates.''f
In support of the above statements we lind a good illur'-
t ration in the words addressed l%tho Duke of Northum-
berland to the people when brought to the scaffold for Jiis
i Onrwlthcn, clmp. vi. vol. 1. p, 180, 1E7.
an
of I
that
no
kin
(he
25
lovelties
;hought»
ecratiou
g to the
isequcnt
uouncecl
of man.
) popula-
I'oughout
iliaracter
in almost
le on our
r readers
til quota-
11 suffice,
lility, as a
len of the
^ears sub-
erics, and
rigorous
required?
ho worst
th tlie ex-
a Peer —
't
[ood illuf-
STorthum-
)ld for his
share in the attempt to place Lady Jane Grey upon the
throne. Throughout the reign of Edward VI he had
uniformly favoured the cause of the Reformation, ■' but on
the scaffold he unequivocally professed his sincere belief
in the Roman Catholic faith. He exhorted the people to
be firm in the religion of their forefathers and to reject the
* new teaching.' Innovations in religion had caused all
the miseries of the last thirty years, and therefore he con-
jured the people, if they would avoid a recurrence of such
calamities, to drive out of the nation these trumpets of
sedition, the new preachers," *
As for the plainer sort, especially in the country parts^
we find that under the influence of some of the clergy their
abhorrance of " the new fangled ways " was so great that,
as was observed above, over the larger part of England
they broke out into open rebellion. After a violent out-
break in Lincolnshire that serious insurrection occurred in
the north which is known as " the Pilgrimage of Grace,"
Forty thousand men assembled in arms, led by priests
bearing a crucifix before them. They wore on their sleeves
an emblem of the five wounds of the Saviour with the name
of Jesus wrought in the middle. They all took an oath
that they had entered into the pilgrimage of grace from
no other motive than their love to God, their love to the
king's person, their desire of purifying the nobility, restoring
the Church, and suppressing heresy. ^''\
Fifteen years after the rupture with Rome, the spirit of
insurrection strongly pervaded many of the counties, and
the religious grievance aftbrded by the Reformation waa
• Carwilhen, Vol. I. c. xi. p. 307.
t Hume, xxxi. ; Carwithen, c. v.
B
i'^-M
26
m
II '
i( '' 'I,
eter prominent in their remonstrances. The Commonalty
of Devonshire rose iu 1549 and formed a regular army,
amounting to 10,000 men ; " their demands were that the
Mass should be restored, half the Abbey lands resumed,
the law of the Six Articles executed, holy water and holy
bread respected, and all other particular grievances re-
dressed." * Later still we are told that the people con-
tinued clamorous for the use of the old altars instead
of tables — for candles at Candlemas — ashes on Ash-
Wednesday, and the like ;f and after the accession of
Mary, although the cause of the Reformation had a certain
measure of popularity in London, " still in the country the
cause of the Pope was far more 2^02)ular ; custom
pleaded for it, and its pageants were agreeable to the taste
of the million."! The result of this state of feeling was
that Mary and her counsellors were enabled to deluge
the land with the blood of those, who for the sake of God*s
truth, disregarded the power of the Court as boldly as they
had disregarded the clamors of the people.
Here, then, we have a remarkable proof that the Laity,
as a body, are indeed conservative of the religious opinions
which happen popularly to prevail in their own day and
those immediately preceling; but since ^?o^?w/crr opinions
on the subject of religion are always in a greater or less
degree erroneous, their conservatism necessarily becomes
in the like proportion a conservatism of error. It is so now,
as we hope to shew ; it was confessedly so at the time of
* Hume, c. xxxv.
t Blunt p.240.
\ lb. p. 267.
27
the Reformation. The faith of the Church, as well as of the
people, was defective and erroneous, and it brought forth,
as cannot be denied, most defective and erroneous practice ;
and yet (as we think we have conclusively proved) this
defective and erroneous faith was highly popular. When
learned and holy men arose and denounced that faith as
corrupt, and displayed in contrast the unadulterated truth,
it excited, as it has ever done, the bitterest opposition ;
and those who maintained it met with the universal fate
of religious reformers — they were everywhere spoken
against, ridiculed, and persecuted.
It ii
atter
"the
in m
t:
hen(
fluei
int]
A
the
errc
Cat
and
the
plii
der
vol
one
oft
wh
wo
in
foi
IV.
PURITANISM.
It is impossible to read history with anything like
attention without observing what may almost be termed
"the law of oscillation" which marks the popular mind
in matters of religious opinion.
The tendency of this law is ever towards extremes, and
hence it comes to pass that those who act under its in-
fluence perpetually miss the truth which is ever to be found
in the via media.
At the period which last engaged our attention we found
the great mass of the people violently upholding all those
errors and defects which in England had degraded the
Catholic into the Romish faith. A hundred years elapsed,
and the great pendulum of popular feeling had swung to
the opposite extreme, and the ancient doctrine and disci-
pline of the Church, which in the one age had been
denounced as new, the succeeding age opposed and endea-
vored to destroy because it was old. What the men of
one generation had stigmatized as " Protestant" the men
of the generation succeeding denounced as " Popish^"* — that
which in 1540 was scotled at as being cold and bald in
worship, in 1640 excited indignation as being superstitions
in ceremonial. Those who (as a class) had during the
former period invested their spiritual pastors with almost
tM)
tlu* allrilnitos of tlio Doily, onjoyod notliiiifi;, <lmiii«ij th«
latter |H>rii)(l, so nnicli as llio sport of *' parsoiib.'iitinjr.'*
Those who scurcoly droamod of any j)o\vcr as lawful either
ill CMiurch or Statt* hoyoiul (lie kind's preroujative, nt a
hitcr day practist-d rehrllion as a duty, uiid well iiiufh
■Nvorsliippml ''(he l)l(':>se(l l*arliauuMit" as the one infallihh^
authority \\\ mallors occK'sia^tical as well as civil.
From the day of the return of thi^ Marian exih^s the
unholy leaven of I*uritanisni hei.';an its wovk of eorrnption
^vithin the Chureh. Tliey had learned to sympathize so
deeply with the founders of the reformed eonnnunions
abroad, that it heeame their chief and)ition to conform the
Chureh at home to the model which they established.
Those men whose j>roceedini»s were the object of their
admiration had uidia]>pily been led to (histroy, as far as
their intlnence extentled, the divinely appointed orij^aniza-
tion of the Church, and in its room they erected a human
platform, which, bcitijx destitute of any promise of God's
presence, has, like every work of man, fallen in its due
time into hopeless and irretrievable decay. Blind to this
unfortunate, but (ju'rhaps) in the circumstances, unavoi-
dable feature of the foreign reformation, the exiles on their
return actuallv endeavored to discard that divine system
vhich the leaders of the reliuious movement on the con-
tinent had themselves been unwillin*]: to lose.
The utter lii'cnso of private juilii^ment in which, as a
party, they indulgvd, "cndered them proud, self-sulHcient
and — inconsistent as it may seem — intolerant in the hiu'hest
deo;ree. The iMofound I'onvii'tion they o'enerallv enter-
tained of their own " godliness" and their individual
infallibility made them impatient of all constituted autho-
Ml
Mty, an<l led tluiiii resolutely io do Miai wlilcli whs ri^lit
in their own eyes, liowevor cojilrjiry it miojit l)o to the
loo-ii,imato rei^nireinents \vh(^th(!r of Church or State*
Every oc-elasiaslieal vestrnerjt, hovv(!ver seerrdy and .seriptu-
ral, was denouneed ns ))o|)iHh. Every Raered rile, however
Holeniu and eoiiseerated l>y the use of a«ij<'S, was scoUed at
as sMi)erstItious; the VVonl of (mxI itself was Iw^ld of no
]>rolit uidess explained and applied by a "f^odly minister,"
whieh always meant one of themselves. Every insijjjnilicant
trillo was made a cause of <Mmtroversy and disohedienco —
to the *>reat dishonor of (iod, the rending; of His Church,
and thn injury and loss of the souls of men.
The (node of conduetinjr Divine service in 1559 was
pointed out in the Hook of Common Prayer, which was
then substantially the same as it is at present, and the
observation of that mode was enforced by the authority of
the Act of Uniformity.
It would seem to most men that the course of all cler-
gymen was thus made exceedingly clear — honest principles
would have induced them either to obey tlie law or to
leave the Church ; but Puritan principles were the reverse
of lionesT, and consequently we find that those who enter-
tained them while dinging' to their preferments, systemati-
cally broke the law, obedience to which was the condition
on which they held them. For a proof of all this we have
only to refer to the account of this great practical evil which
was submitted by Cecil to Queen Elizabeth in 1504 — five
years after the return of the exiles, tlie revision of the
Player Book, and the passing of the Act of Uniformity.
" Some perform Divitie service and prayers in the chancel,
others in the body of the church ; some in the pulpit with
32
tbeir faces to the people ; some keep precisely to the order
of the book, others intermix psalms in metre ; some offi-
ciate with a surplice, others without it. In some places
the table stands in the body of the church, in others it
stands in the chancel. In some places it stands altarwise»
distant from the wall a yard, in others it stands in the
middle of the chancel north and south ; in some places
the table is joined, in others it stands upon tressels ; in
some places the table has a carpet, in others none. Some
administer the communion with surplice and cap, some
with a surplice alone, some with neither; some with a
chalice, others with a communion cup ; some with unlea-
vened bread, some with leavened ; some receive kneeling,
some standing ; some baptize in a font, others in a basin ;
some sign with a sign of a cross, others make no sign ;
some administer in a surplice, others without ; some with
a round cap, some with a button cap, some with a hat ;
some in scholar's clothes, some in others."*
Such was the miserable spectacle of diversity caused
by the bitter strife of these men about trifles such as those
enumerated above. But whatever measure of allowance
we might be disposed to make for the " tenderness''' of
those consciences which were grievously wounded by the
shape of a cap or the colour of a vestment, yet permitted
their owners to violate the laws of the Church whose pre-
ferments they nevertheless retained, that allowance must
be withdrawn when wefind that these scruples, contemptible
as they were, had hardly the solitary recommendation of
being honest — that the secret cause of their em Hess and
* Strype's Life of Parker and Neale's Hist. Pur., quoted by
Carwithen, vol. i., chap. IT.
33
factious opposition was less a conscientious objection to
the ceremonies of the Church than a deeply rooted though
unacknoAvledged aversion to the whole institution of epis-
copacy.
This of course became abundantly evident as the real
principles of Puritanism received their true and fearful
development in the following century ; but even as early
as 1566 some of the deprived nonconformists formed
themselves into a separate body, adopted the Genevan
discipline and service book, and m mifesled their real opin-
ions by the formal objections which they brought against
the Church, the very fir.st of which was " that bishops
affected to be a superior order to presbyters, claiming the
sole right of ordaining ;" while four years later we find
Caitwright at Cambridge declaring from the chair of the
Margaret Professorship that " the names and functions of
archbishops and bishops ought to be suppressed as having
no foundation in Scripture."
In order to check the progress of Puritanical opinion
various penal statutes were enacted, of which we are neither
the admirers nor the apologists. It may be observed,
however, that they were in strict accordance wiui the con-
victions of an age in which neither party understood the
principles of religious toleration. Through the influence
of the enactments alluded to the Puritans were excluded
from all offices of public instruction, but they were still
received into the houses of the upr lasses as chaplains
and tutors. The important duty ii >ructing the young
thus to a great extent fell into their aands, and they took
advantage of the opportunity to sow widely and diligently
that seed which in another generation brought forth so
34
fearful a crop of false doctrine, heresy and schism in the
Church, and rebellion, desolation and regicide in the State.
This natural tendency of Puritanic principles had long
been foreseen, and when, in the days of Charles the First,
that tendency received its full development, there wanted
not a band of faithful men, both clerical and lay, who bore
fearless testimony for God's truth in the midst of a rebel-
lious geneiatioii. The whole body of the loyal clergy,
headed by the Laudian divines, threw themselves devotedly
into the wild torrent of popular phrenzy, and nobly sought
to stem it in its course ; and though it is true they were
themselves swept away, and in many cases lost life, or all
that renders life desirable, yet the principles they advocated
had in them the greatness of eternal trutli, and consequent-
ly they eventually prevailed. They were the reformers
of the age, and they met with the universal fate of all
religious reformers, viz., calumny, hatred and persecution.
The prevailing faith was essentially defective and erroneous,
and it brought forth necessarily a most defective and
erroneous practice, as a reference to the intolerable wicked*
ness of those times wo'^M abundantly provy ; but yet this
defective and erroneous faith wa^n popular beyond expression
— religion was the universal subject of profession, contro-
versy and dis(;U8sion, and any views contrary to the popular
opinion were denounced as popish, superstitious, or malig-
nant.
" The oyster women lock'd their fish up,
And trudged away to cry No bishop."
Apprentice boys sat in judgment ujxui the tcacdiing of the
most learned doctors of divinity, and if displeased therewith
complained of thorn lorLhwith to " the blesscti Parliament,"
as
who joyfully received the accusation, and at once proceeded
to pronounce them unfit for the ministry and to sequester
and seize upon their preferments! — "godly soldiers" in
buff and bandolier dragged orthodox divines from their
pulpits, and then taking their place, preached the wildest
dogmas of fanaticism and rebellion, to the great comfort
and edification of " the saints."
Under these circumstances, whoever was bold enough
to endeavour to stay " the madness of the people" by the
declaiation of the unmutilated truth, necessarily partook
in no stinted measure of the bitter enmity which Divine
truth has always excited in man's fallen heart. Accordingly
we find that between Y,000 and 8,000 of the clergy, beside
a large number of the laity, were subject to the bitterest
persecution ; long-continued imprisonment in noisome jails
and in the holds of ships, loss of all worldly goods, and
de;ith from hardship and starvation, was the bitter lot
of multitudes who were content to forego all things but
the truth. We had purposed, in proof of these statements,
to bring forward some of the many gi'ievous cases of relent-
less and iniquitous persecution mentioned in Walker's
Sufferimjs of the Ckryy^ but being precluded from doing
so by want of sjtace, wo must content ourselves by referring
to the work itself, as well for abundant proof of the point
in question as for the triumphant establishment of the fact,
that those who were called to sutler as "scandalous minis-
ters" were, in the vast majority of cases, men of detp
learning, 8t(\'idfast principle and exemplary life.
In this great stru^^gle between truth and error, nothing
(as it setins to us) can stand forth more clearly than the
fWalker'a Sufferings of the Clergy, passim,
lA-
i : 'I
36
principles which were originally laid down as the criteria
between the two. The great mass of the laity, led by a
portion of the clergy, adopted, as usual, a defective and
erroneous faith, which necessarily bringing forth a most
defective and erroneous practice, was nevertheless so highly
popular that when the unmutilated and unadulterated truth
was proclaimed, it excited, as it ever does in the fallen
heart, an enmity so bitter that advocates met with the
certain fate of religious reformers, viz., persecution and
calumny, which even to this day continues in certain
quarters to load their memory.
V.
WESLEYANISM.
In tracing the consequences resulting from the full deve-
lopment of the principles of puritanism, as they were
manifested in the Great Rebellion, we are immediately
struck with that " oscillatory" character which has been
already referred to as marking the religious movements of
the popular mind.
The direction, however, of those oscillations which
followed that great convulsion, was evidently threefold.
Many rebounded towards Rome, more towards open infidel-
ity, while the great mass of the nation swung from the
galvanic and convulsive earnestness and the overstrained
pretensions to sanctity of the one period to the deadly
inditference and open profligacy of the period that succeeded.
We hear much of the flood of iniquity which overwhelmed
the country subsequent to the Restoration of the Church
and Monarchy, and it is difficult to exaggerate the general
corruption of morals which prevailed. That the guilt of
this state of things rested to a very great extent upon
those principles of puritanism that had so longbeen populur,
can hardly bo denied by any one who observes how inva-
riably the human mind, when overstrained in one direction,
ultimately springs back to the opposite extreme.
38
I
Struck with horror at what they ignorantly supposed to
be the legitimate fruits of the Reformation, one class of
minds rushed back for refuge from puritan excesses to
popish superstition.
Disgusted with the hypocrisy that had so frequently
cloaked the blackest crimes with the loudest professions of
spirituality, another large class were led to deny the reality
and truth of Revelation, and hence it came to pass that
during that unhappy period there prevailed a degree of
infidelity which had been until then unknown.
We?ried with the endless disputes upon the subject of
religion, which had prevailed in those high and palmy
days of the unlimited exercise of private judgment, the
bulk of the people felt it a relief to cast the subject from
their minds, and came at last to treat with indifference
what had once excited them to fury. Thus did the irreve-
rence of puritanism, by the inevitable law of reaction,
produce superstition — its hypocrisy led to unbelief, its
excitement ended in apathy, and superstition, unl)elief and
apathy necessarily and unavoidably brought forth the
natural fruit of ignorance and vice.
Such was the state of things with which the Church
was called upon to contend, at a time when she was as
little capable of doing so as can be well supposed. That
capability, however, was still further crippled by the Revo-
lution of 1G88. Because the non-juring Bishops were
unable to otier their allegiance to one whom they regarded
as having no legitimate right to the Crown, they were
deprived, and William III. naturally placed in their sees
men who were favorable to the existing state of things.
These men were themselves by no means iiiaeusible to their
39
to
of
to
Is of
lity
pbat
of
false position. They were in many cases destitute of tiiose
qualifications which were calculated to give them influence
over the inferior clergy, many — perhaps the majoiity — of
whom questioned their right to the powers which they
exercised, inasmuch as they were inclined to regard them
as intruders into sees, which, as long as the non-juring
Bishops lived, they could hardly regard as vacant. Hence
arose a want of confidence and co-operation between the
Bishops and the lower clergy, producing contentions and
bickerings between them, the inevitable consequence of
\\hich was to cripple still more sadly the Church's power
to perform her work. To those who are in any degree
conversant with the lives of the Bishops previous to the
Revolution, and who mark the wonderful extent of their
power over both clergy and laity arising from constant
intercourse and the weight of personal character — it will
appear evident that the circumstances, necessarily binding
the Bishops to the court and alienating them from the
people, has tended to produce that wide and most injurious
gap between them and their clergy which has since existed*
and has made the Episciopate so often *' stink in the nos-
trils of the people." All these influences, whether arising
from the reactionary influences of puritanism, or from
those political events which were the means of bringing
the Church into that slate of bondage from which she is
now struggling to get free, tended to deepen more and more
the awful state of spiritual apatliy which marked the reli-
gious condition of the eighteenth century.
To describe that condition would occupy too much time
and space, and is the less necessary, inasmuch as the spiri-
tufd darkness of those unhappy days is very generally
acknowledged.
40
The University of Oxford, together with its sister insti-
tution, have ever been, from the days of WidifFe to the
present hour, the fountain-heads of every reformatory
movement in the English Church, Accordingly -vvc find
that amidst the spiritual ignorance and indifference of the
last century, a little knot of earnest-hearted clergymen arose
at Oxford, consisting of the two Wesleys, Whitfield and
their associates. These men were bent not only upon
securing their own salvation, but were led eventually to
make a brave, and in some measure successful effort, to
arouse the church and nation from the deadly slumber
into which they had fallen.
They declared many of those doctrines, which, though
prominently set forth in the Litui'gy, were almost univer-
sally forgotten or denied in the pulpit — and by the holiness
of their lives, and by their self-denying efforts for the good
of others, they proved the powerful influence which those
doctrines exerted upon their hearts.
It is impossible, as consistent Churchmen, to deny that
these zealous men fell into those errors to which the very
earnestness of those who are religious Reformers renders
them liable ; but, however deplorable the consequence
have been of breaking away from the unity of the Church,
which is the divinely constituted guardian of the Truth,
and forming a sect which has already commenced, that
downward course which is the inevitable and unvarying
destiny of every schismatic body, yet we must freely admit
that the guilt of those errors does by no means rest exclu-
sively with them.
For how were the efforts and teachings of these clergy-
men, who beyond ail (question were the reformers of their
41
day — how were they received generally by the church and
nation ? The answer, alas ! is too easily given. They
were everywhere frowned upon, sneered at, denounced and
persecuted, and when the greatness of the movement which
they originated led them into irregular ways, discounte-
nanced by the Church, those irregularities — into which,
however, they were almost forced by the damming up of
the legitimate channels — were made the means of discre-
diting their teachings.
Calumny of every description was heaped upon them,
and, strangely as it may sound in the present day, few
charges were more frequently brought against them, and
their followers than that of being *' papists." So generally
was this the case that upon one occasion we are told by
Mr. Watson that *' Mr. Wesley remained in London, (from
whence, in 1741, all papists had been commanded by pro-
clamation to depart,) a week longer than he intended, that
he might not seem to plead guilty to the charge."* The
violence with which they were treated by the populace
would be scarcely credible, were it not that in our own
days we remember the riots at St. Sidwell's Exeter, and the
threatened destiucti<jn of St. Barnabas, Pimlico, by an
infuriated mob. Mr. Charles Wesley, who had been him-
self in imminent danger from the people, thus notices a
meeting with his brother at Nottingham after he had un-
dergone a similar assault. " My brother came, " says he,"
delivered out of the mouth of the lion ; his clothes were
torn to tatters ; he looked like a soldier of Christ. The
mob of Wedensbury, Durlastonand Walsall were permitted
to take and carry him about for several hours, with a full
• Life of John Wesley.
42
intent to murder him ; but his work was not yet finished,
or he had now been with the souls under the altar."*
Here then we find that these men met with the universal fate
of religious reformers, for such, whatever w^e may think of
some of their teachings and practices, they unquestionably
were. Their ca^^e aflfords the most convincing proof of the
truth of those principles which were originally laid down
as tending to indicate — apart from other proof — the dis-
tinction between truth and error. In the first place, it is
plain that in that day a most erroneous and defective /az7A
brought forth in the mass of the people a most erroneous
and defective practice. Yet so popular was this defective
faith that when a few of the clergy discovered its imperfec-
tion and boldly declared the truth, it is in the second place
equally evident that this proceeding excited the most violent
and bitter opposition on the part of the laity ^ led on by
some of the most worldly-minded and least worthy of their
ministers.
The circumstances which tended to neutralize the direct
influence of this reformatory movement will be adverted to
in the next paper.
* Journal.
VI.
WESLEYANISM.— (Continued.)
We proceed, in accordance with the inthnation contain-
ed in our last paper to advert briefly to some of those cau-
ses which tended to neutralise the salutary influence of that
reformatory movement in the church originated by the two
Wesleys and their associates, — causes which gradually
sootlied the opposition by which it was at first assailed and
eventually secured for it that popular applause which is al-
most universally a symptom of an erroneous or defective
faith.
The first of those causes unquestionably was the forma-
tion of an organized society bound together by ties other
than the unity of the church, subject to new rules of dis-
cipline, and distinguishing itself by the name of an indivi-
dual presbyter.
Although this society continued for a time to maintain
unity with the church in sacraments, yet it had almost from
the first, tlie proper features of a sect and early manifested
its subjection to that unvarying law which impels all such
bodies, to eventual separation. The influence of this cause
in neutralizing the reformation began by the Wesleys is
exceedingly plain. The better and more thoughtful among
the clergy who felt how much room there was for improve-
ment in the spiritual condition of the nation, were withheld
44
from countenancing the movement by its evident tendency
to run into schism and develope itself into a multitude of
sects, an anticipation which has already been fulfilled to a
very melancholy extent. The more worldly-minded and
vicious both among the clergy and laity found in the same
fact an excuse, of which they gladly availed themselves, to
shut their ears to the earnest counsels of those who would
have awakened them to a conviction of their spiritual danger
— and thus a feeling of antagonism — apart from mere indivi-
dual sentiment — sprang up between the society of Mr,
"Wesley — as such — and the cUurch in her collective cha-
racter. The addition to the numbers of Mr. Wesley's fol-
lowers came to be regarded not as the increase of true re-
ligion and piety in the church, but as the extension of a
sect, altogether adverse to her spirit, her teaching and her
laws. He who became a Wesleyan was regarded by
churchmen as a traitor to the church ; he who refused to do
so was regarded by W^esleyans as a foe to the interests of
true religion. Thus, in consequence of the unhappy step
which has been referred to, the reformation which was be-
gun by these earnest-minded clergymen of the church was
to a great extent cheeked and neutralized — its intluence for
good was rendered indirect — and the chief result has been
the formation of a number of differing sects, which, though
containing many excellent individuals, are nevertheless —
as sects — rapidly pursuing that downward path of deteriora-
tion, which is the doom of all schismatic bodies.
Another cause which, while helping to neutralize the in-
fluence of the movement of the Wesleys, helped also to
8«>othe the opposition of the multitude and eventually to
make it popular among the mass, was the strong terapta-
45
tion it held out to gratify — under the garb of religious
earnestness — the sinful inclination of our nature which
would lead us to free ourselves from the restraint of lawful
authority, and to submit to that only which originates
with ourselves and has the sanction of our own approval.
Previously to the founding of Mr. Wesley's societies
there were whole districts of the kinodom, where to have
denied the authority of the parish priest, and to have
refused to hold communion with him would have amounted
to absolute excommunication, but when " the people called
Methodists" began to arrange themselves into organized
communities, and at last arrogated to themselves the right
of administering the sacraments, the case became widely
different.
The populace no longer supposed themselves under the
necessity of doing that which is ever galling to the unsanc-
tified heart — the necessity of rendei • ig obedience to those
who had been placed in authority over them. A rival
claim to their spiritual allegiance had arisen almost from
among themselves, and thus were they placed in the posi-
tion — most flattering to man's selflove — of judging as to
the correctness of opposing systems and of giving their
patronizing support to that which was stamped with the
imprimatur of their generally most incompetent approval.
Hence, it has come to pass that when a parishioner is
irritated by the faithtulness of his clergyman, no less than
when offended by his neglect, or scandalized by his evil
life, he at once repudiates his authority, and is received with
open arms, flattered, a xd rendered of importance in a reli-
gious community whose spiritual privileges he (from want
of knowledge) supposes to be equal in authority and superior
46
in sanctity to those of the Church Catholic, which owing
to passion, prejudice or want of information, he is betrayed
into the sin of leaving. A system therefore, which by
helping to free men from obedience to lawful authority
and to exalt the most incompetent into tlie position of
judges of religious controversy, gratified some of the strong-
est inclinations of unsanctified humanity, could not long be
unpopular. It was unquestionably by the influence of this
circumstance in no small degree, that the violence with
which the masses assaulted Wesleyanism in its early and
purer days, was gradually mitigated, and that by degrees it
attained that popularity which it has since possessed.
There are other two causes which, while tending to
neutralize the reformatory movement of Wesley, Avere at the
same time extremely powerful in securing for it that popu-
lar applause which ought to be to all who are the objects
of it, a ground of fear and self-suspicion.
These causes arise — one. from (what may be called) the
ecclesiastical, — the other from the religious system of
AVesleyanism.
The mode of organisation adopted by " the people called
Methodists " permits persons to teach in their congregations
and to pray publicly, who have never undergone that cere-
mony which (from want of proper investigation of the sub-
ject) they suppose to be ordination.
This of course necessarily gives prominance and impor-
tance to a vast nnmber of individuals who under the ecclesi-
astical system of the Church would be unknown. A man (or
Indeed a woman either), however small may be the amount
of his religious knowledge or principle, who happens to
possess the "gift" of a fluent tongue, becomes noted
47
throughout his neighborhood for his wonderful ability in
telling his experience or in " making a prayer," and along
■with tame comes a considerable measure of iiiflu'ence and
respect. The man under the Church system would remain
in the undistinguished mass of private christians. There
is of course no comparison in the mind of such an individual
as to the comparative merits of two systems, — one of which
exalts him into importance, the other of which would abase
him to a common level of obscurity. To shrink from fame
and influence — to be willing to be abased and humble and
unknown is too high an attainment in the divine life for it
or anything '^.:at tends to produce it to be popular. This
feature therefore of Wesleyan organization while doing
much to neutralize its real influence for good, has rendered
it highly popular among a large and influential class.
The remaining cause adverted to is the fact that the
movement of Mr. Wesley in its religious aspect has resulted
in a system which — as popularly received — must be ac-
knowledged to be a religion rather oi feeling than oipractice.
No one at all acquainted with the writings or the life of
Mr. Wesley, can doubt the earnestness with which he fol-
lowed after holiness in his own case, or the zeal and energy
with which he enforced it upon others ; neither may we
question the purity of heart and life and the undoubted
excellence of multitudes of the individuals who have em-
braced the vsystem which he originated.
It is however equally impossible for any one who has
had much opportunity of observing the practical working
of Wesleyanism among the populace, to shut his eyes to the
fact of its tendency to substitute vivid feeling for holy acts.
That this tendency (which very early, and very unmis-
48
takeably, manifested itself) should have a powerful influence
in neutralizing the good effects of Mr. Wesley's movement
can require no arguments to prove, for nothing perhaps is
so effectual in setting the worldly-minded against true reli-
gion as the inconsistencies of those who loudly profess to
act upon its principles. That the same circumstance should
help to secure for the system that popularity which we
have seen to be so constantly the token of an erroneous or
defective faith, is also very apparent. Strong and exalted
religious feeling is a privilege, the enjoyment of which,
most men earnestly covet. Rigid, unvarying obedience to
whatever God commands — irrespective of the passing emo-
tions of the hour — is a duty from the performance of which
most men naturally shrink. Excitement of a very earthly
kind, indeed, often serves to produce that religious /ee/m^
which is a luxury that men love. It is a true faith only
that can lead to that unwavering obedience^ which is a trial
that — left to ourselves — we hate.
A system therefore which tended to magnify the impor-
tance of religious feeling, which among the uninstructed is
by no means difficult to excite, — which led its followers to
believe that the vividness of that feeling was the best test
of their spiritual statj, and which depreciated all quiet un-
pretending obedience as mere heaitless formality ; a system
thus understood could hardly fail to attain that popularity
which, as a matter of fact, Wcsleyanism has long enjoyed
among a very largo class in the community. The causes
thus enumerated appear sufficient to account for the fact,
that the earnust-hcarted movement towards reformation
originated at Oxford by Mr. Wesley and his associatei,
ended in the formation of a variety of sects, instead of the
49
I
Ifliience
emen^
haps is
^ue reli-
>fes8 to
should
iich we
leous or
exalted
which,
ence to
\g emo-
f which
earthly
feeling
th only
s a trial
impor-
iicted is
wers to
est test
liet un-
system
mlarity
mjoyed
causes
lie fact,
mation
)ciaLeB,
of the
thorough arousing of the Church and nation to the energy
of spiritual life. The influence of his efforts on this behalf
were turned aside and rendered indire^* by the unhappy
step of organising a distinct society, which same step has
produced those further neutralizing causes which have
been adverted to. We must, however, confess with deep
humiliation that whatever may have been the irregu-
larities and errors of judgment into which Mr. Wesley was
by his zeal betrayed, the guilt and sin of the separation
which has taken place between his followers and the Church
does not rest undividedly upon himself.
The movement of Mr. Wesley having been thus neutral-
ized and rendered indirect in its influence upon the Church,
some further efforts were required to awaken her from the
lethargy into which she had been thrown by the reactionary
influence of Puritan sthnulants and the deadening power
of King William's political anodynes.
Through the mercy of that long suffering Lord who is
her Head, she was not cut off, nor her candlestick finally
removed ; and in the bosom of her other university, He
prepared the instruments of His holy will, whose efforts as
the reformers of their day, wo propose in our next paper
to consider.
i
1
The
been
rend
tlios
nece
witl
to e(
Ii
Ilea
injj
sed
niei
as '
the
■O^eii
an<
to
ine
ce
VIT.
EVANGELICALISM (so-called.)
The reformatory movements of the Wesleys having
been turned aside, and, to a great extent, neutralized and
rendered indirect in its influence upon the Church, by
those causes to which we adverted, it was still urgently
necessary that the spirit of true religion should be revived
within her borders, and that her members should be taught
to comprehend more clearly the giert " 'jtrines of the Faith.
In the time of this ijreat need, He . , iS the Church's
Head showed that He had not forsaken nor, notwithstand-
ing all her provocations ; for by the influence of His bles-
sed Spirit He quickened into earnestness the souls of those
men who are claimed as the fathers of what is now known
as " the Evangelical School."
It is impossible to consider dispassionately the state of
the Church in lliosc days without feeling acutely how ur-
gently she needed to be awakened from spiritual slumber,
and this must be conceded, although we may be disposed
to contend that the number of worthy and excellent cler-
gymen to bo found among ** old-fjishioncd High Church-
men" was even then greater than is jiopularly supposed.
The common impression certainly is, tnat, with the ex-
ception of tlio Evangelic^ P'lrty, the whole body of the
clergy were \u spiritual darkness. But it is easy to see
liow this impression became general. Such men as Remain
and Venn, Scott and Newton, Simeon and the Mihiers,
adopted a system of tlieology, the tendency of which has
ever been to dispose those- who hold it to doubt very
seriously whether their brethren can be true Christians un-
less they can pronounce their peculiar Shibboleth.
When therefore, they observed diligence and excellence
among the ranks of the old High Church party, they were
led by the very earnestness which marked their character
as reformers to give way to the tendencies of the theologi-
cal system which they had adopted, and set down as" legal-
ity" and formalism what may in many cases have been the
fruit of sound, though perhaps not very fervent, faith — a
very remarkable instance of which may be found in the
second chapte; of Simeon's life. Hence, although perhaps
there w^ 'j ["" tosptak) seven thousand in Isi.iel who
had, no 1 ^ .,t,<ai/ lUemselves, bowed the knee to the im-
age of Bail . yei fJeso men, with perfectly good conscience,
declared thcrsel' ^s lo be the only advocates of the truth;
and the multiluJo iiave taken that declaration upon trust.
If all this, ho;, .or, were fully and freely conceded, it
does not alter the lact, that at the time when these men
arose, the Church greatly needed reformation. The move-
ment of the Wesleys had resulted in the throwing off of a
numerous and energetic sect, leaving the body from which
it separated very much as it was before, as to anything like
a general and hearty acknowledgment and reception
among individuals of the great doctrines of grace and the
duties of a holy life.
While the need of reformation is thus a fact confessed,
another fact wliich must be as readily conceded is, that tho
th
H A
53
men now alluded to were the Reformers of their day.
They were led by various means to deep views of the
spiritual feebleness and corruption of man's nature — to
sincere self abasement for their own personal sins and short-
comings — to humble and undivided reliance upon the all*
Sufficient merits and atonement of our blessed Lord — to
earnest waiting in the use of divine ordinances for the in-
fluences of that Holy Spirit who out of weakness can make
us strong. In this renunciation of themselves and of their
own righteousness, and this simple looking to the Cross, they
found a goodly portion of rest and blessing for their souls,
and a measure of strange and hitherto unknown strength
against the power of inbred sin and the force of outward
temptation.
Arousedinto earnestnessthemselves-awakened thorough-
ly from spiritual slumber, and animated with love to the
souls of men through love to Him who had redeemed them
with His own most precious blood, these men went forth,
and — after their manner, — declared these blessed truths,
and to a people in deep spiritual poverty they preached
the unsearchable riches of Christ.
And what was the consequence ? It was what under
similar circumstances it ever has been. The great mass
of the laity (who are now in certain quarters regarded as
the bulwarks of the truth), under the leading of such of the
clergy as were favorable to the erroneous faith and the
defective practice which then prevailed, were violent in
their opposition against those who were scoffingly spoken
of as " new lights." They were regarded as enthusiasts —
madmen — methodists. Their teachings were derided ;
th'jjr words and actions misrepresented ; their motives
64
|) iV
maligned, and themselves treated often with rudeness, and
occasionally with somethingverynearlyallied to persecution.
To prove all this we have only to refer to the memoirs
of these men, which are to be found in almost any library,
where we shall meet with an account in detail of the various
trials which they had to encounter from the spirit of oppo-
sition which prevailed around them.
We are told, for instance, by Mr. Simeon himself, that
on his appointment to Trinity Church, Cambridge, " the
people almost universally put locks upon their pews, and
would neither come to church themselves nor sufter others
to do so I put in then a number of forms, and erected
in vacant places, at my own expense, some open seats, but
the churchwardens pulled them down and cast them out of
the church. To visit the parishioners in their own houses
was impracticable, for they were so embittered against me
that there was scarcely one who would admit me into his
house. In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and
patience." A little farther on he says. *'The opposition thus
formed continued for many years I determined to
establish an evening lecture, but scarcely liad I established
it before the churchwardens shut the church doors against
me. On one occasion the congregation was assembled,
and it was found that, the churchwarden had gone away
with the key in his pocket. I therefore got a gmith to
open the doors for that time, but did not think it ex|)edient
to persist under such circumstances."* Tiic result was,
that he was on the week days excluded from his own
church, and in order to lind an opportunity of instructing
* Life of kSiinoon by Cams, Am. Ed. p. 2G.
those who were disposed to attend his ministry, he had
to hire a small room in his parish and meet them there.
We find that after thirty years labor in the parish of
which he was incumbent, he was still exposed to bitter and
unfounded complaints which were laid by a considerable
number of laymen before a bishop who appears to have
been only too well disposed to second their malignant inten-
tions — and we find at the same period, a strong disposition
on the part of " the Heads of the Houses" at Cambridge,
to fall in with both bishop and parishioners, in the endeavour
to thwart his efforts for good.f
The history of the Venns — both father and son — shows
very clearly that they were in a greater or less degree ex-
posed to the same trials ; and we all remember how the
most intimate friends of Joseph Milner at Hull became so
embittered against him, when he began to preach distinctly
the doctrines of repentance towards God and faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ, that when they met him in public, they
would cross the street in order to avoid him, or refuse to
return his ordinary salutation.
Before Scott was himself awakened to real earnestness,
we find in his sentiments and conduct towards his neighbor
John Newton at Olney, a very remarkable indication of the
l<^elino' that prevailed against the reformers of that day»
even among the clergy and the ranks of the better informed
classes (see his life). He looked upon him as a broacher
of novelties — an enthusiast and a bigot, who, though too
contemptible to bo crushed by logic, was nevertheless,
too excellent to be withered by scorn.
I.Simeon's Lifp, pp. 180-189.
IF 'f.''
i "il','.
6iy
p: i^'i'-'i
Here, then, we submit, is abundant evidence of the sound-
ness of those principles which we seek to establish as (in
their appropriate place) criteria of truth. At the time
when the leaders of the so called evangelical school arose,
the faith -which popularly prevailed in the church was most
erroneous and defective. It consisted for the most part in
a strong conviction that if a man paid some attention to
public worship — partook three times a year in the Holy
Communion — and was guilty of no very great and scanda-
lous offences, he was safe for eternity. Miserably erroneous
and defective as such views unquestionably were, they were
nevertheless in great favour with the multitude ; and when
the Reformers of that day arose and, with earnest spirits
and unanswerable arguments proved the utter groundlessness
of such opinions, showing that without a true repentance
and a lively faith, leading to holiness of life, men could
have no hope of salvation, they immediately experienced
the inevitable fate of religious reformers — viz.,mi8representa-
tation, calumny and persecution ; and thus they found that
unadulterated truth in the things of God excites the bitterest
enmity of the human heart.
In our next paper we propose to consider some of those
leading causes which rendered the (so called) Evangelical
movement less satisfactory in its results than could have
been desired. And, since the Church is an organized body
instinct with life, the very law of vitality impels her con-
stantly to strive to throw oft' whatever is dead and evil ; and
hence the failure, or at all events the incompleteness, of
that camest-hearted movement entailed upon her the sad
necessity of yet further reformation — not in her own teach-
\u\rfiy but in our appreciation of thcui, and in that holy
practice which is the only legitimate fiuit of sound opinion.
il
soiind-
h as (in
e time
1 arose,
as most
|t part in
ntion to
he Holy
i scanda-
rroneous
hey were
md when
est spirits
adlessness
epentance
nen could
cperienced
epresenta-
found that
e bitterest
le of those
Ivangelical
ould have
lizcd body
8 her con-
l evil ; and
e ten ess, of
ler the sad
)wn teach-
that holy
d opinion.
Vlll.
feVANGELICALTSM (so callv.d.)-~ Coniinuel
We proceed, according to the intimation contained iit
our last paper to dwell briefly upon some of the peculiar
features which marked the teachings of the (so called' evan-
gelical school, and to advert to a few of the unfoitunate
results which appear to many amongst us to have sprung
from those peculiarities, and to have rendered the great
reforniatoiy movement originated by its founders incom-
plete, and, as a whole, unsatisfactory.
At the time when these brave and earnest-hearted refor-
mers arose, the great mass of the nation were in lamentable
igu'.u'ance as to the grounds of the faith which they pro-
fussed to hold '* concerning Christ and the Church." AVith
reference to the Chui'ch, indeed, many cluno* to her with a
dull tenacity. It was Avliat they were accustomed to ; it
was respectable and according to law, thei'e was no " me-
thodism" about her ; and owing to the general apathy
which prevailed, she allowed men to slumber on in the
ways of decent worldliness. Hence the general ignorance
concerning the Church ; and lur scriptural and catholic
claims to their submission and attachment did not at that
period produce in the popular mind any strong tendency
to undervalue her authority or to separate from her com-
munion* J^ul the ignoranee which, existed concerning
C3
m
.Ik
I ; 'I
.ill
Christ led the multitude practically to reject the doctdne
t)f repentance towards God, and of our juatiflcatioti through
faith in that all-sufficient atonement which was offered
upon the cross for us^ As this melancholy state of things
presented itself t'^ the minds of those of the clergy whoj
bne after another, were awakened into earnestness, they
l^vere thrown into the deepest concern for the imminent
danger to which the souls of the people were exposed ;
and in this prevailing ignorance of the great plan of human
redemption through the Incarnation and blood-ahedding of
Christ, and the destructive consequence resulting from it,
they found that one absorbing master- thought which is
necessary to the character of a religious reformer*
Without some such overpowering consideration men
naturally shrink from the religious reformer's fatej which
has ever been what it will ever be — calumny, misrepresen-
tation, and, as far as circumstances will permit, persecution!
It is no pleasing task to cast one'^seif into the eddying and
turbulent tide of popular opinion ; not merely to breast it
bravely for one-self, but to seek to turn it from its course.
It was this which the founders of the (so called) evangelical
school sought to do ; and they did if, impelled as they
were by a true earnestness, and by the one overmastering
consideration of men's ignorance of the work of the Re-
deemer.
1. It was this one thought which gave its color and tone
to all their acts and teachings, and to remedy it, was the
one object of their lives. Hence they took up the salient
points of the scheme of our salvation, and spoke so con-
stantly and so exclusively concerning Christ, that men forgot
that there were any words in Holy Scripture " concerning
irough
oflFered
things
y whoi
they
minent
posed ;
' human
Iding of
from it,
vrhich is
ion men
;e^ which
represen-
rsecutioiii
lying and
» breast it
18 course,
jrangelical
i as they
mastering
»f the lie-
r and tone
it, was ihe
the salient
ke so con-
naen forgot
joncerning
Ihc Church ;" and though they still profess (each time they
repeat the creed) to believe in Her existence as an article
of faith, yet, in consequence of this defective teaching,
there are multitudes who have not a single definite idea of
the true meaning of that article of their belief. Hence
the inability of tlie popular mind to realize not the guilt
only, but almost the possibility of such a sin as schism.
2. In their deep anxiety for the extension of what were
now distinctively termed "Evangelical opinions," the
founders of this school hailed as fellow-laborers in the good
cause, all who professed to " love the Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity.'* As long as they held the great doctrines of
repentance and faith, all other things were considered *' non-
essentials,^' — candidates for the ministry, although prefer-
ring "the establishment" on the ground of influence and
respectability, had no sort of misgivings as to the validity
of Dissenting Ordination (so called). The whole School
would have been shocked by the idea of its being wrong
to CO operate with non-conformists in religious works and
services, and they recognised little difference between
themselves and their " separated brethren" beyond those
arising from the legal sanctions which the Church possessed,
Simeon and others, on tlieir visits to Scotland, seem to
have altogether avoided the Episcopalians of tha* country,
and constantly occupied the pulpits ofPresbyterian teacher?,
and '' fenced tables" at Presbyterian Sacraments.
The necessary and unavoidable result of this mode of
proceeding evidently was to destroy utterly in the minds of
the people all idea of the ministerial commission ; and it
Ims led to that almost hopeless and most injurious confusion,
which i« distressingly evident in popular opinion, between
I ^u
QO
tlic authority wliieli a valid commission conveys and the
qualifications which are necessary to its proper and effec-
tive exercise.
3. In consequence of the apathy and ignorance which
in those days generally prevailed upon tlie subject of reli-
gion, very few were taught from their earliest childhood
to conduct themselves in a manner worthv of that rei>-e-
nerate life which in Holy Baptism had been conferred
upon them. They fell from those pure and unworldly
ways in which they were pledged to walk, and followed in
daikness of soul the paths of indifference and sin. Hence,
in consequence of thus sinning against the grace of Rege-
neration, arose the general necessity for conversion. Tiie
urgencv of ihis need presented itself strongly to the minds of
the founders of the school in question, and they dwelt upon
it so earnestly and continuously, pointing out the marks and
tokens of what must ever be, to a greater or less extent, a
sensible operation of the mind, that they obscured ihe
doctrine of the invisible working of the blessed Sacraments,
and have hxl the masses to suppose that though they are
to be observed as significant rites and instituted memtnials,
they Mre not to be regarded as effectual channels of grace.
By thus depreciating their value they lessened their impor-
tance, and bv diminishino- their importani'e thev still furtiier
destroyed the idea of any special and divine authority
being required for their administration, for no great autho-
rity could be required to perform rites whicli, upon their
theory, were of little moment.
4. Teachings which in the popular mind tlius t-jmiod (o
destroy the very idea of ''the Church " as an outwai'd and
viiiblc (jrj'aniza'iiun, — which utterly confused all idea of
r,j
the
Fec-
lliich
reli-
lioocl
;ired
ministerial authority, and obscured and denied (lie doctrines
of the Sacraments — naturally and inevitably produce
another result — viz., a violent tendency towards 8chism.
If a few earnest and godly people could constitute themselvea
into a church, why should tliey coiilinuc in " the Est d)lish-
meut," where, according to their views, there were many
tliino;s which were distasteful ?
If personal piety and the power to preach were the
chief points in the ministerial character, why sliould they
not select one from among themselves to act as their pastorj
who in these respects was perhaps far superior to the parson
of the parish. If the Sacraments were only empty signs,
conveying no direct gifts of grace to the worthy receiver,
except in as far as the outward symbol affected and aroused
the inward feeling, why should they trouble themselves
about the authority requisite to administer them? The
outward repnrsent.uion of the truths, whic^h the Sacraments
are intended to commemorate, would be equally effectual
upon the mind of the devout recipient by whomsoever
administered. This mode of reasoning, logically and
unavoidably resulting from the principles propagated
by these men, did, as a matter of fact, almost at onco
present itself to the minds of their followers. If we open
the life of that most excellent man, the elder of tlie Venns,
we see how strongly this tendency manifested itself at
Iluddeisfield. The same fact is abundantly visible in the
record of Mr. Simeon's unwearied laboi's at Cambridge,
as well as in the memoirs of all the leadino- men of that
day. We know as a certainty, which no one attempts to
deuy, that the movement of reform which they originated,
induced multitude;-) to foisake the Church and innc; them-
6^
selves into the ranks of Dissent, although it did not, as in
the case of Mr. Wesley's efforts in the same direction,
result in the formation of a positive and distinct sect.
6. Again — By thus strengthening the hands of dissent,
they were in no small measure indirectly instrumental in
adding to the violence and strength of that tempest of poli-
tical anil religious hatred by which, in 1830-32, the church
was assaulted, and which, even in the minds of her most
hopeful childr3n, seemed for a time to render her destruc-
tion, as an establishment^ all but certain^
6. Once more — the defective system introduced by these
men must be confessed, when judged by \i9> practical results,
(as compared with the consequences of the Truth set forth
in its completeness) to have been to a great extent inoper-
ative upon the Church as a whole. No one, indeed, can
with truth deny that it led to many noble eftbrts for the
temporal and spiritual good of mankind — worthy of all
respect and reverence in the motives by which they were
prompted — if in many cases unsatisfictory in the conse-
quences which they have produced : but when weighed
in the balance of comparison with the more recent move-
ment of church reform which has marked the concluding
years of the last half century, it must be pronounced wantim;.
As this is a subject to which we shall ere long return,
We content ourselves with merely indicating it at present ;
an<l in our next paper we propose to atlvert to those causes
which have rendered popular a system which at its coni-
mencomont was so violently opposed.
ol
b
Is m
Lion.
sent,
lal in
poli-
iiirch
I most
itruc-
It.
feVANGELICALISM (so called.)— CotittnueA.
fevBRY system which is human in its character, must, from
ibhat very fact^ be inevitably subject to the law of develop-
ment.
Hence, that human system which Rome has engrafted
on a system that is divine, has in the course of centuries
developed itself into a fearful mass of unheard of novelties,
and most dangerous corruptions.
All sects, being systems entirely human, very rapidly
manifest their subjection to the same law — they possess no
power of maintaining their identity for any length of time
— they never continue what they originally were. The
sin of schism which at the beginning constituted them sects,
becomes developed — first, into fresh separations — subse-
quently, into heresy— eventually into death — the inevitable
doom^ not necessarily of the individuals belonging to them
— but of all sects and systems which are diverse and cut
off from the one Catholic Church, which being the mystical
body of our Lord, alone partakes in His immortality.
The system which was adopted by the earnest-hearted
founders of the (so called) " Evangelical School," in order
to bring men to the knowledge of the truth, was unhappily,
to great extent, a human system. It conscqieiitly Admitted
of development, jml in that development it is easy to
discover the secret of the popularity which it now m largely
e^jo^ •
u
Jjy denying the divine systeni of j*acranicnt}il otmcc they
" liumanized" (so to speak) tlie scriptural doctrine of con-
version, because they were forced to pnt it out of that place
"ivliich it wns intended to occupy in the economy of the
gf!8pe1, and to invest it wi'ili features which arc other
tha'i those wliich are as-igned to it in Holy Scripture.
AVLhoun'h thev endeavored to jruard against the evil of
E'.icli a course, yet their teachings upon the great subject
of "a change of heart," have as a matter of fact become
developed into a system, the practical cftect of which is,
that before this mysterious viscissitude of feeling is expe-
vienced, men do nothing for the salvation of their souls,
because according to their theory, it is in vain ; and after
it is ex|)eriencc 1 they still do nothing, because then it ia
unUHcessarv. We are of cour.-e very ia)' from assertiuiif that
any sucdi ideas weie either lield or tanoiht l>y the founders
of this school ; on the contrary, we lepeat that they u«ed
all the means which their views permitted, to prevent this
inevitable tendency of the human system vvhicli they had
adopted. What we do assert is this, that those means have
pi'oveil unavailing and that the ^^rat'/iwi cHt.'ct upon the
mind of the multitude has been whiit we have stitctl it to be.
No one who irt thrown into dose contact with the masses
in relation to their spiritual state can deny that there are
th()U8an<ls who consider themselves almost cntirelv fice
from the obliitatiouH of Christianity, "because thev are not
conv( rU'd," and that there are thousands more, who, tliough
living in gross neglect and inconsistency, look back with
comfort and conij)lacetu'y to some ))eriod of awjikened
feoling, when they experienced v.hat they rogard as u
((
chaiiti'e of iieart.
65
A system which has practically developed itself in this
way, could not be long unpopular. For the difficulties of
godly practice, it substituted the ease of godly profession ;
for the sternness of regular and unvarying obedience, it
substituted the luxury of religious feeling. Every day
developes more and more its utter hollowness and unreality;
but this very fact renders it popular among the multitude,
who have ever loved to say " Lord, Lord," though they
care not to do the things which the Lord commands.
Again, the founders of this School were constantly
warning the people not to depend upon the mere outward
attendance upon the means of grace, and that prayer,
fasting and alms-deeds are vain, unless they spring from
motives acceptable to God,
No one, of course, would question the abstract truth of
such statements ; and no one who is acquainted with the
lives of these men can doubt that their own practice with
reference to these duties wnsmuch better than their precepts.
"We know how fervent and frequent they were in devotion.
We remember how regularly some among them observed
the Fasts, especially the Friday Fast, and spoke of it as
full of blessing'* to their souls.* We must gratefully confess
how abundant many of them were in alms-giving. But
their teachings on these points were to a great degree after
the manner of men ; and hence those teachings have in
the hands of their followers become developed into a system
which keeps the gates of the house of Prayer shut for six
days out of seven — which teaches that religious fasting is
mere popery and superstition, and allows men to suppose
that liberal and systematic alms-deeds arc^ not amonnr the
• Sec capccially tlic Life of Venn.
66
med
obligations of tlic ChristiHn Coveivv «' ^i adovtlopment
as tills inevitably teniled to the ^ it - vf the system.
People were not unvviliing to be (a . at h; iie strict rule
of'tiieOIuirch for spending each da} r.. -j > ;?'v ^vjs nothing'
but formalisui and " legalit}'^ ;" that, L.a-,.ie' > >", '1 v w""».
free from the obliiralioii of a law that wa^ .:'(•• 'i
beyond their own will ; and that * believes ^Vv,
in spiritual things, to do that which to thcinselves,
good.
While the followers of the irreat men who oriirinated the
(so called) " Evangelical School," have thus developed the
godly practice of its founders into unreality; they have
also in no small degree departed from their teachings —
defective ns we hold those teachings to have been.
Proof's that this is no mere assertion might be abun-
dant Iv brouo-ht forward : but none of them can be more
siriking than the following language of Simeon, when
)nii);ired with that of manv v ho resrard themselves as
('(
his followei's in the present day. Speaking of the Baptis-
mal eofitroversv, he savs : —
(( T
riic only quostiou is, not whotlior a baptised person can be
paved ]t\ that ordinanee, witiiout saiictiticatlon ; l)ut whether
(iod does alwiiys aeeonipaiiy the sijjcn with tlic thin;^ signified?
JhM'e is eertaiiilv room for dilt'ereucc of opinion, but it cannot be
positively decided in the iietTJitive, because we cannot know or
even jiid're respeclinjj; it in siny instance wluitever, cxcei^t l)y the
fruits tlmt follow, at\d therefore, in all fairness it n>ay be consi-
ilered a doubtful point, nud if we appeal ns we ought to do to
Ifoly Scriptures, they certainly tlo in a very remarkable way
iccord witi) the expressions in (tur Liturgy. St. I'aul siiy
lb'
one Spirit are we (til baptised into one body, whether we be Jews
or (n'Mtiles, whether wo be bond or free, nn<l have been o//nindp
to (//-//iV i/ilii o/ir Sitirit.' And this lie .«ays of .ill the visible
nent
stem.
rule
thinj?"
w"- •
07
members of Christ's body. Again, speaking of the whole nation
of Israel, infants as well as adults, he says : They were all bap-
tised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the
same spiritual meat, and did also drink the same spiritual drink,
for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and
that rock was Christ,^^ Yet behold in the very next verse, he
tells us that "with many of them God was not well pleased, and
overthrew them in the wilderness." In another place he speaks
yet more strongly still. "As many of you," says he, "as are
baptised into Christ, have put on Christ." Here we sec what ia
meant by the expression " baptised into Christ." It is precisely
the same expression as that before mentioned, of the Israelites
being " baptized unto Moses" (the preposition eis is used in both
places). It includes all that had been initiated into his religion
by the rite of baptism, and of them universally does the apostle
say " they have put on Christ." Now I ask, Have not the persons
who scruple the use of that prayer in the baptismal service equal
reason to scruple the use of those different expressions ?
"Again, St. Peter says, "Repent and be baptized every one
of you for the remission of sins," and in another place, " Baptism
doth now save us :" and — speaking elsewhere of baptized persons
who were unfaithful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
— he says, " He hatli forgotten that he was purged from his old
sins? Does not this very strongly countenance the idea which
the Reformers entertained, that the remission of our sins, as well
as the regeneration of our souls is an attendant on the baptismal
rite! Perhai)s it will be said that inspired writers speak of per-
sons who hnd been baptized at an adult age. But if they did
so in some places, they certainly did not in others, and where
they did not they must be understood as compreliending all,
whether infants or adults, and therefore tlie language of tho
Liturgy is not a whit stronger than theirs."
The italics aro tlioso of Mr. Simeon, jukI tho comparison
bfitwooii his statements on this subject, as quoted above,
ami those of many who now iijlory in his name, is instruc-
tivo. IIk 8AVK that what is railed bai>tismHl legeneratiou
is at most a " doubtful point." Those who in the present
day profess to think with him, declare that it is nothing
less than " a soul-destroying error." He says that the
Holy Scripture " very strongly countenance the idea that
the remission of our sins, as well as the regeneration of our
souls, is an attendant on the baptismal rite.^^ They main-
tain that it is almost impossible to imagine an idea more
violently anti-scriptural. He expressly declares that the
above idea, which was so " very strongly countenanced "
by the Holy Scripture, was " the id'^a which the Reformers
entertaiijad." They most strenuoiisiy deny the correctresa
of this decliration ; and to prove it, they determiiuni, through
the ageiicv >f the Parker Society, to p\iblish tho writings
of the Reformei'ri, and when they had done so they -^ound
that Mr. Simeon waj right.*
Such is a small specimen of the system of development
which has been going on among the (so called) Evangeli-
cal School ; and we cannot shut our eyes tx) the fact, that
in proportion as its views of truth have beco'ne more and
more defective, its loving-earne&'.ness, its holy self-denial
its burning zeal have parsed awa^^ . and have given place
to a cold, unkindly spirit towards ail who fail to pronounce
its shibboleth ; to a self-seeking that contradicts its pro-
fessions, and to a want of zealous effort that holds ba'^k
from labor, apparently on the principle that the less that
is done by man, the greater will be the glory that will be
given to God.
• How Mr. Simeon reconciles these expressions with the views
he tau^lit, and the position he assumed may be left to his friends
to cxphiiu.
rov
trn
reg
ma
it-
gei
oui
to
COl
or
pri
mi
69
Tiiese are strong expressions ; but they are written sor-
rowfully, and only because of a deep conviction of their
truth. They refer, as will be understood, only to the school
regarded as a whole. There are, we rejoice to think, still
many noble exceptic as among the individuals composing
it— men who, m spite of their system, are earnest and
gentle-hearted, and fiill of a'l i^ood deeds for the love of
our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. For them\yQ give thanks
to God ; while in the history oi their party we see another
confirmutAon of the uq changing principle, that an erroneous
or defective faith will bring forth an erroneous or defective
practice, and at tha saru-^. time will be popular among the
mass, whose bitterest enmity is ever reserved for the Truth.
The
niov
gref
furt
cieii
to 1
unt
I
me
one
the
the
\vh
wi
by
Tl
hi
is
to
tr
X.
ANGLO CATHOLICISM.
The practical nnrealily of the (so called) Evang-elical
movement towards refonn having rendered it to a very
great extent ineffectual, there still existed the necessity for
further efforts to restore the Church to that state of effi-
ciency which would enable her to fulfil the work committed
to her by lier Head, of doing good unto all men, especially
unto them which were of the Ilousehold of Faith.
In one of her darkest hours of peril, God of His own free
mercy raised up His chosen instruments for this work in
one of those great seats of Christian learning, whence all
the great reformatory movements among us Iiave taken
their rise — the University of Oxford.
They were earnest thoughtful men of learning and leisnre,
who looked out upon the surging waves of popular strife
with an eye unclouded by excitement and minds unwarped
by prejudice.
They clearly discovered the source of the Church's
weakness, as well as the secret of her adversaries' power.
They saw that she was contending with the weapons of
human ex])ediency instead of the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God ; — that, while she made high claims
to the loyal allegiance of the people, she failed to rest those
true but lofty clainis upon that high and questionless an-
72
^H
?'^^
If
tliority by which alone they conld be sustcained ; — that
she had forsaken the vantage ground, which was hers alone,
and had gone down to the common level of those who
sought her destruction.
Hence they saw that she strove at disadvantage, and
that the struggle wliich otherwise had been brietj was thus
rendered doubtful and protracted. They felt well assured
that if they could but render these things manifest and
plain, and leading the Church back to her true position,
could induce her to contend with those divinely-tempered
weapons given her from on high, the truth was certain to
prevail.
Hence they calmly and clearly pointed out the claims
of the Chui'ch to the dutiful obedience of Christian men,
not on the miserable ground of her establishment by the
State, but on the scriptural ground that she was a portion
of Christ's true body — deriving her authority from Him,
and His appointed instrument and organization for the
salvation of their souls.
They shewed that the Holy Bible was the " book of the
Church," growing out of her necessities, and bestowed upon
her, long after her organization, as the code of laws by
which she was to be governed ; — that it came down to us
through her to whom alone it was given, and that she
therefore was its keeper, the witness and interpreter of its
truth, and that without her, its elementary requirements
could not be obeyed. In short, they boldly declared her
to be the work of God, — instinct with the life of His own
Blessed Spirit — and that man can no more make "a Church"
than he could create a world.
They appealed in all the confidence of truth to the word
and to the testimony, and fiom it, they established their
78
position. Tliey showed tbat the views they promulgated
were those entertained by the Church herself in every age,
and that the idea of her being a mere aggregation of indi-
viduals held together by a voluntary compact, was a notion
as new as it was unfounded.
These doctrines took the contending parties by surprise*
The great mass of Churchmen themselves had never dreamt
of them, and at first they were so startled by them, that
they refused credence to their truth. But when one after
another they came to examine these points, they seemed
reasonable in themselves, and in very striking analogy
with the Divine dealings, as well as worthy of, and almost
necessarily springing from, the attributes of the Divine
character.
Finally, when they brought them to the test of Holy
Scriptures, and compared them with the teachings of those
who had in the early and undivided church been conversant
with the holy Apostles and Apostolic men, they were
forced to confess how entire and striking was the agreement
existing between them.
That this is not over-stating the case, is evident from tbe
results that followed. Thousands of the Clergy and of the
educated, earnest and thoughtful Laity, rapidly adopted
these views, from an intelligent and conscientious conviction
of their incontrovertible truth. They saw that the opinions
advocated by these men, instead of being, as was supposed,
novelties and innovations involved simply a return to first
principles, and restored to harmony and order many of
those scriptural precepts which were difficult and indeed
impossible to reconcile with the conflicting and disorganized
character which popular Christianity presented.
D
1^*
74
When the truth of theso distinctive principles was once
clearly understood, they were warmly and earnestly em-
braced, and immediately led to energetic action. — Hence
the results already flowing from the great movement in
question, are perhaps without a parallel, since the Gospel
was first proclaimed in Britain.
This doubtless arises from the greater completeness of this,
as compared with the previous movements towards reform.
— Evangelic truth is strongly enforced, in its due connexion
with Apostolic order. — Christ is constantly spoken of as
our only hope of glory ; while the Church is set forth as
the Divinely appointed means by which men are led to
Him, and trained to meetness for His presence.
Hence, the greater and more simple the reliance upon
our Lord, who is the Head, the more earnest became their
love towards the Church, because they believed it to be
His body ; the deeper the anxiety for the souls of men,
the more fervent their desire to extend her ministrations,
because they believed that she was organized by the Re-
deemer Himself to be the instrument of applying to them
the blessings of His Salvation.
This it is that has led to eflbrts in the cause of Christ and
His Church, which even now are fruitful in blessing both
to the souls and bodies of men.
In the early part of the present century (years, however,
after the beginning of the so called Evangelical movement),
the total number of Churches built and endowed in England
and Wales was three annually. At the present time, there
are nearly as many erected every week^ for they are rising
over all the land, in a richness and beauty in some degree
worthy of their object, at the rate of one hundred and four
in the course of the year.
75
I once
eni-
Lence
fnt in
fospel
to be
Durino^ tl)e moj^t prosperous days of tlie evangelical (?)
parly the total number of colonial bishops was, we believe,
some five or six — at the present day, we have five or six
times that number, each with a proportionate staft' of infe-
rior clergy.
During the dominancy of evangelical (?) opinions the
importance of christian education was naturally overlooked.
Indeed, it could hardly be otherwise, for persons holding
those opinions must have seemed to^themselves to have
nothing to work upon — as they have in truth little to teach.
Believing that children, unless "elect," are destitute of
divine grace, christian instruction could be of little avail
where there was no spiritual life ; and since it was subse-
quent conversion that was to convey that life, they might
as well be left to themselves until they received it. That
they must have reasoned practically, if not in words, in
some such manner, is evident from their acts ; for until the
church movement of later days, the work of education was
fearfully neglected. On the other hand, those who have
been led to more scriptural views have most earnestly taken,
up this question — and just in proportion as a man realizes
the truth that the Church is the body of Christ, and that
little children are members of that body, so in the same
proportion will he labour in his schools.
However we may be disposed to view the theories enter-
tained by these respective parties, there is no disputing the
fact that while the fonor neglected tlie young, the latter
have followed the example of our Lord, and have received
the little children of the church, and are ble^sing them by
training them up in the ways of truth and holiness. To
prove these points we need no other testimony than that
76
of the present Archbishop of Canterbury in his speech at
the meeting of the National Society, held on the 31st of
May last.* He says, " I was led b}^ one of these tables to
form some estimate of the progress of education in the two
counties with which I am more particularly acquainted
within the last twenty years, and I find that whereas in
the twenty years from 1811 to 1831" (i. e., during the
reign of ' Evangelicalism') " there were in the county of
Chester 36 parish schools established, in the next two
decades, from 1831 to 1851 (i. <?., since the beginning of
the Church movement), the number of such schools esta-
])lishcd was no fewer than 2 17. This must be considered
a most remarkable rate of progress. So far for the north..
Then going on to the county with which it is now my
happiness to be associated, I find that in the county of
Kent, the circumstances are the same. In the twenty years
from 1811 to 1831 the number of schools established in
that county was 84, whereas in tho succeeding twenty
years from 1831 to 1851 the number was 284. No one
can look at these tables without beinji; astonished at the
ii'reat change which has taken place in the interests of cdu-
i'ation."
Time would fail to tell of the numberless enterprises of
christian benevolence that have arisen under the infiuencc
of the late reformatory movcnent. The constant ofiering
of prayer — the deeper reverence for holy things — the res-
toration of a kindlier feeling and a closer intercoursn
between the rich and poor — the hospitals and alms-houses
for the do'titute and disease<l — the places of refuge an< I
• i. c, May, 1854.
t7
til at
st of
|es to
two
in ted
fas ill
tho
|ty of
two
\ng of
esta-
lerod
recovery for the friendless and the fallen, the abundant
offerings for all goods works — the noble denial of self, even
among high-born and delicate women, in order to minister
to Cijrist in the persons of the poor, the suffering and
degraded. These things are finding their way to the
nation's heart and forcing thousands to feel that whatevei
may be the doctrines of those who do these things, their
WORKS are the works of christ.
Notwithstanding this, however, the views and proceedings
of the Anglo- catholics are violently unpopular among the
multitude, who, however little they know or care about the
subject of religion generally, are ever ready to join in the
outcry that is made against any unfortunate clergyman who
is stigmatized as "a Puseyite" or " Tractarian." Such
men are the reformers of the day ; but, like religious reform-
ers in all ages, they are everywhere spoken against — and
the onslaught that is made against their principles and
practice is led now, as it has always been, by some of the
clergy, who, unconscious of the erroneous or defective cha-
racter of tlie faith to which they arc wedded, regard it as
all that can be desired, notwithstanding the fact that it
brings forth a defective or erroneous practice.
We have seen that from the beginning those religions
systems which have been erroneous or defective in faith
and practice, have been always popular , and that in every
attempt made to reform them the persona who led that
attempt have b^en violently attacked an<l have had tu
"ontend against suspicion, c:dnmny and persecution.
In the existing controversy between ''evangelicalism"
(so-oalled) and the true principles of Holy scripture and
tho church, we know to yf\\\ch 9\(\q tha popttlar acclaim is
d2
78
l^iven ; and surely we can have read the history of th-e past
to little profit, if it does not give us comfort for the present,
under the bitter attacks and ceaseless misrepresentation
to which those who urge onward the present movement
towards reform, are subjected from every quarter.
One word more. Truth, which has always been opposed,
has nevertheless always prevailed, Hence, the extraordi-
nary victories which are made by the true principles of
the churi'h. No one with any power of thought ever sin-
cerely investigates the subject and fails to be brought over
to their adoption. The groat bulk of the clergy, and
almost thr entire body of candidates for the ministry, are
everywhere receiving them. The young, when^^'ver they
have these principles clearly explained to rhem, warmly
and heartilv em!)race them, Theii- mar^^h is over onward
ruid irresii*tible — another twenty years, and they will
triumph — conquering the young by thoir truth and beauty
— and the aged by their results.
pre
po
tio
thi
th
oi
si
1).
w
v>
[past
}cnt,
Ition
lent
)sed,
5rdi-
les of
sin-
over
and
, are
tliey
nnly
Mard
will
bautv
ROMANIZING TENDENCIES.
By a rapid glance at the history of the past we have
proved (as we humbly venture to think) the constant un-
popularity of religious truth, and have shown the applica-
tion of the principles we have laid down to the state of
things at present existing among ourselves.
We are, however, prepared to hear exceptions taken to
the justice of that application. We know that men with-
r)ut pausing to reflect that they are denying a law, which,
since the fall, has been invariable in its operation, will
boldly denounce, if not the truth of the principles which
we advocate, yet certainly the soundness of the position
which we assume.
We know too beforehand that the ground upon which
tliat denial will be rested, will be the assumed "Iloman-
izing'" tendency of the Church movement, and the fact
that many both of the clergy and the laity have been led
to adopt that cc>!rui>t form of Christianity in consequence,
HH is erroneously supposed, of receiving as true, what are
termed " the destructive principles of tlie Church."
The fact of a considerable number of perversions to
Uomish error is admitted. The inference that such per-
v«»rsiona are the legitimate results of the principles in
question ia denied, it requires no very deep reflection on
80
the nature of the human mind to see that in so great and
remarkable a revokition of religious opinion as has marked
the last quarter of a century, some of its most earnest ad-
vocates would be almost sure to run into extremes.
When the strain in one direction has been excessive, we
must be wanting in the commonest observation, if we do
not expect its rebound in the direction which is opposite to
be proportionably violent.
Arguing too, a priori,, from the peculiar character of
those who alone are fitted for the office of religious re-
formers, and from the difficulties and trials by which they
are necessarily assailed, we must be prepared to mourn
over excess where we should have hoped for moderation,
and to sorrow over those who in striving after perfection,
have overrun their mark and fallen into error. The
philosophy of the question, however, has been well argued
by much abler writers, and since our investigation ban
thus far been historical in its nature, — we shall address
ourselves to the task of glancing briefly at the past, and
endeavour to show in a few words that every effort which
has been made towards reforn ution in religion has invari-
abij l»een accompanied by excesses both in opinion and
The state of God's ancient Church was we know moat
'.orrupt, ;it the period of our Lor-l's advent. lie came to
work the most blessed reformation which th(^ world ha»
ever «<'en, and mo»t earnestly did His followers labor to
Hj)read the knowledge of His saving name; but even con-
cerning these men it wa« said by the word of inspiration,
'• of your own Helves shall men arise, speakini^ pHrverw
thin^ to 'draw away disciples aft«)r theiru" Accordingly
'
and
(•ked
ad-
les.
do
be to
81
in the very first century of the Christian Era we find mul-
titudes led away from the true Faith by the Docetce, wht)
denied the humanity of Christ, and by the .Ebionites
whose opinions were destructive of His Divinity. It
would, however, be a most inconclusive style of argument
to maintain, that the principles of the Gospel favored those
deh^sions because some who had at one time embraced
and propagated the truth subsequently labored to extend
the infiuence of error.
Again, the principles for which our Reformers strove,
and suffered, and died, are admitted by all faithful church-
men to be true principles, but can we forget the terrible
•'xcesscs into which vast multitudes of all classes fell at
that eventful period ?
It was not a fetv here and there who forsook the Church,
and adopted as truth some figment of their own imagina-
tion, but both in England and abroad, the shoal of heresies
that arose in direct consequence of that great movement,
thoiigli in direct contradiction to its true principles, (at
least as held in the Church of England) is almost appalling
to contemplate.
The Anabaptists, the Mennonitos, the Socinians, the
Family of Love, the Schwenkfeldiaiis, the Brownists, em-
lu'aced a mass of jiersons whose nnniber it would be difti-
fult to estimate. These men went witli the Reformers an
long as their proceedings aecorded with their own fanatic
or «ireainy fancies, but when the Reformers stoj»pc<l, they
were ready to denounce them because they refused to run
to the same excess of spiritual riot with tlieniselvcs.
Are we therefore to condenm the Refbimation because
it was accompanied by many lamentable abuses, or be-
82
cause multitudes over-ran the limits of sound doctrine
and Scriptural conduct? No! We can no more believe
the Romanist when lie would endeavor to convince us that
the excesses of the Anabaptists, or the heresies of the
Socinians, are the legitimate^ results of the principles of
the Reformation, than we can believe the unreasoning and
uninformed assertion of the present day, that the destructive
principles of the Church which have been so prominently
brought forward in the great Reformation movement
which is now going on, must lead in tiieir ultimate deve-
lopment to subjection to Rome.
Again, the earnest and much nee. J d effort at reform
which was originated by Mr. Wt -^'oy : nd his associates,
was commenced within the Chiirch. i\nd was intended by
its leaders to be regulated by her priu' iities, and yet there
has never been a movement since the Reformation which
lias led such vast multitudes to forsake the Church of their
fathers, and to adopt a system which is yearly become
more and more diverse from its original idea. What
movement towards reform we would ask ever lost the
Church, as was the case in the Wesleyan movement, from
tifty to seventy-five thousand of her people often in the
course of a single year.
Once more, the (so called) " Evangelical" Reformation
was accompanied by the alienation or multitudes from the
Church to various forms of error. The process by which
this took place is generally apparent in the biographies of
the leaders of that movement The result of Mr. VcnnV
labors at Uuddersfield, for example, was the erection of
one or more dissenting chapels, erected and frequented by
his " own more peculiar people" who on his removal to
another sphere of duty regarded his successor with dislike.
83
That a very large number were perverted from the
Church in consequence of (so called) Evangelical teaching
cannot be denied for the proof of it is overwhelming. The
justness, however, of comparing these perversions with
those which have taken place under the present Church
movement will be denied, probably on two grounds, first
because it will be said that their perversion from the
Church was not a perversion from the Faith, and next
that those who were so perverted belonged mostly to the
humbler classes, whereas those who, under the present
movement have forsaken us pertain in an unprecedentedly
large proportion to the ranks of the clergy.
With regard to the first objection we may observe that
the teaching miscalled "Evangelical" being itself to a
great extent defective and in many points positively errone-
ous, naturally paved the way for the adoption of principles
to a yet greater degree contrary to the Faith once for all
delivered to the Saints. We know the downward ten-
dency of that dissent, into which " Evangelicalism" led
such great multitudes, and we se« the lef^itimate result of
its principles in the fate of tne meetmg houses of the old
(so called) orthodox didsenters, which have almost univer-
sally fallen under Socinian iiitiuence.
Little as wc sympathize with what we sincerely believe
to be the unscriptural novelties and corruptions ot' Rome,
we would far rather that a man nhouid become a devout
adherent of the Pope than, that ho should sink step by
step into the horrors of Socinianism.
As for the second point, it would seem that the Church
movement even when abused tends at ail events to pro-
duce an hjnesty f purpose which has too often been want-
ing in Qtiier caues.
.-s.i
84
There have been Romanizers who continuing in the
Church have endeavored to teach Romish doctrine, but
have found ere long that the strong language of the Prayer
Book protesting against that form of error forbids the,
possibility of doing so with a clear conscience. They
have consequently been forced by their regard for honesty
to lep ve the Church often at the sacrifice of every earthly
prospect, and unite themselves with that community which
publicly avowed the doctrines which they believed to be
true, hence the number of clergymen who in recent years
have gone over to Rome.
The number of Evangelical clergy who have held and
taught dissenting doctrine has been immeasurably larger
than that of those who entertained Romish views, but
they seem to have been wanting in the honesty of those
who erred like themselves, but erred on the side of Rome.
The latter have generally gone to their proper home,
the Church of the Seven hills — the former while adopting
and teaching a system in manifest antagonism to that of
the Church have preferred to retain their emoluments and
position within her pale. A fact which readily accounts
for the smaller number of clerical perverts under the
" Evangelical" ? movement as compared with that under
the Church movement which is at present going on.
We could not expect that the presiont Church move-
ment, being an earnest effort towards a much needed re-
form ; could escape the operation of that law which has
ever manifested itself in all such attempts among fallen
men, by the force of which a certain number of its advo-
cates and adherents are ever impelled into extremes.
But we claim on its behalf that as a reformation it is
more complete in itself — that it has been marked by fewer
85
excesses, and that those excesses have been fallen into by
a smaller numh:r of its adherents than any shnilnv at-
tempts of the like extent and effectiveness with ivhich we
are acquainted.
The number of perversions to Rome both among clergy
and laity has been eslimateil at a thousand,* but what
comparison is there between this number and the multi-
tudes who in this great Reformation forsook the truth, or
the masses who in consequence of the Wesleyan and
"Evangelical" movements were in luced to leave the
Cliurch.
Let ua then be thankful that Almighty God is, by His
good Spirit, stirring up the hearts of His faithful people to
an earnestness in His service that has been long unknown,
and let us banish all unreasoning fears of popery as long
as those who minister to us cling closely to the letter of
the Prayer Book, which is our great security against all
llomish error.
We have brought our task to a close. We htivo writ-
ten plainly and strongly — holding back nothing which we
regard as true, and shrinking from no consequence which
tliat truth involves. We have sought, however, to make
our statemcM.ts in a kindly and candid spirit, and shall
grieve if in our advocacy of the truth we liave sinned by
so much .'IS a single word against that christian temper
which alone is worthy of it.
See Newlttud's admirublc Lecturos on Tmclarirtnifim.