210 THE ClIUKCll UF KOMb:. 
 
 virtues, disinterested, catliolie, gentle in his conduct yet firm in 
 his iletemiination, and always in pursuit of what he believed to 
 be the interests of truth With him the Church, that is the 
 papacy, was not the grand idea. One of still larger dimensions 
 occupied his mind, the honovir of God and the welfare of mankind. 
 He took the name of Clement XIV. 
 
 Tlie Jesuits in eveiy country in Europe had accomplished 
 their own disgrace. Protestant literature had left them far 
 behind, and Protestant universities had taken the higher branches 
 of education out of their hands. Their politics were odious ; 
 Choiseul, the prime minister of France, detested them. The 
 bankruptcy of a mercantile house coimected with the Jesuits, 
 involved a multitude of other failures, and the sufferers appealed to 
 the courts of justice. Louis XV. was unable to save the order from 
 the indignation of his people; and on the 0th of August, 1762, 
 the parliament decreed the suppression of the Jesuits in France. 
 Carvalho, the minister of Portugal, was bent on their expulsion. 
 They were charged with an attempt to assassinate tlie king in 
 1758 ; the rack and other torments were turned against them ; 
 and they were expelled the country under a tempest of popular 
 rage. Even iSpain and Italy refused to allow them to remain. 
 All the great Catholic countries in Europe remonstrated with 
 the pontiff, and demanded their suppres.sion. On the 2 1st of 
 July, 1773, the order was abolished. "Inspired, as we humbly 
 trust," said the pope, " by the Divine Spirit, urged by the duty 
 of restoring the unanimity of the Church, convinced that the 
 company of Jesus can no longer render those services to the end 
 for whicli it was instituted, and moved by other reasons of pru- 
 dence and state policy which we hold locked in our own breasts, 
 we abolish and annul the society of Jesus, their functions, houses, 
 and institutions." What further reforms Ganganclli meditated 
 were cut short by his death, in Sejitember, 1774, — it was said, by 
 poison administered to him in a cup of chocolate during his 
 celebration of the mass : a report from his physicians denied the 
 fact without satisfying the public mind. The annual cursing and 
 excommunication of heretical princes and others, by the public 
 reading of the bull, In ccena Domini, was discontinued throughout 
 his pontificate ; it has been since revived by his successors, and 
 is now practised at Rome on Maundy Thursday, in the presence 
 of the pope and cardinals, and a vast assemblage. 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 211 
 
 The storm was now preparing which was soon to burst over 
 Europe. The progress of infidel opinions was feebly met in 
 France and Italy, by damnatory bulls and lists of books pro- 
 scribed. The Chvirch was no longer feared ; succeeding events 
 showed how little she was loved. Joseph, the German emperor, 
 before the French revolution broke out, suppressed upwards of a 
 thousand monasteries, forbade the purchase of papal dispensations, 
 and declared himself supreme in all the secular affairs of the 
 Church. From Austria, the spirit of independence was commu- 
 nicated to Tuscany and Naples ; and in a short time, most of the 
 German principalities asserted their independence by various acts 
 vexatious to the papacy. But the French Revolution appeared, 
 and in its surging tide these minor conflicts were forgotten, while 
 the papacy itself seemed on the pohit of min. At the earlier 
 periods of the Revolution, the National Assembly aimed only at 
 the assertion of its own independence. But its claims became, 
 day by day, more urgent. It declared its right, in 1790, 
 to dispose of the estates of the Church as national property • 
 substituted popular election for the installation of bishops under 
 the concordat, and salaried the priesthood by the state, seizing 
 upon the Church properties in return. The monastic orders 
 were suppressed, vows dissolved, and dioceses altered, at the will 
 of the government. But all this was transient. The Revolution 
 advanced ; Louis was dethroned and executed, a republic pro- 
 claimed, and religion under every form denounced. The Gal- 
 lican Church was turned up by its roots, and not a trace remained. 
 The campaign of 1796 placed Italy in the hands of France : 
 Rome was invaded, and the Vatican invested. It was in vain 
 that Pius VI., an old man of eighty, implored that he might die 
 where he had lived ; he was told that he could die anywhere. 
 The room in which he sat was stripped and plundered ; the ring 
 was torn from his finger ; and at length he was carried off to 
 France, where he died in August 1799. A new century dawned, 
 and the papal throne was vacant : it was fondly believed among 
 Protestants, that the chair of St. Peter would never be occupied 
 again. 
 
 In the history of the world there has been nothing more sur- 
 prising than the sudden renovation of the Church of Rome. 
 During the last half- century, she seemed to be at the point of 
 death ; she has reinstated herself in her long-lost dignities, and 
 
 p 2 
 
tihravy oftrhe t:heological ^tminary 
 
 PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY 
 
 /// xV" 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Library of 
 Professor Joseph Addison Alexander 
 
 BR 145 .M38 1856 v. 2 
 Marsden, J. B. 1803-1870. 
 History of Christian 
 churches and sects, from 
 
/ Jin . 
 
 X 
 
 //. /^ 
 
 /l^ 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 CMISTIM CHURCHES AND SECTS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 €mlmt %^t$ d €^xktmxt^. 
 
 By the Rev. J. B. MARSDEN, M.A. 
 
 INCUMBENT OP ST. PETER'S, BIRMINGHAM, 
 AUTHOR OF " THE HISTORY OF THE EARLY AND LATER PURITANS, 
 
 ETC. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 Vol. II. 
 
 LONDON: 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, 
 
 NEW BURLINGTON STREET; 
 OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH ; and HODGES & SMITH, DUBLIN. 
 
 1856. 
 
r/)ytx)s': rRtNTED nr w, clowks ^igtsows, sTAMyonT) sTuriT and niAmKo cRoaai 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VOLUME THE SECOND. 
 
 PAas 
 
 Huntingdon's (Lady) Connexion - - - 1 
 
 Independents ____-- 9 
 
 Ireland, Church of ----- 25 
 
 Irvinqites ______ 54. 
 
 Lutherans -------68 
 
 Mormonites, or Latter Day Saints - - 83 
 
 Nestorians -------95 
 
 Presbyterians ------ 109 
 
 Puritans ------- 123 
 
 Rome, Church of - - - - - 140 
 
 Russia, Church of - - - - - 217 
 
 Scotland, Church of - - - - - 235 
 
 Scottish Episcopal Church _ _ _ _ 298 
 
 Shakers ------- 320 
 
 Swedenborgians -_-__- 324 
 
 Unitarians ------ 336 
 
 Universalists ______ 358 
 
 Wesleyan Methodists _ _ _ _ 370 
 
 ■ New Connexion _ - - _ 450 
 
 •Index _ _ _ _ _ _ 459 
 
o 
 
.»,!»:E-.' 
 
 
 .1 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND SECTS. 
 
 TTUNTINGDON'S (LADY) CONNEXION.— Seliua, wife of 
 the ninth Earl of Huntingdon, and daughter of the second 
 Earl Ferrers, of the ancient and noble house of Shirley, gives her 
 name to this community. She became the friend and corre- 
 spondent of the Wesleys at the opening of their career. In 1 739 
 she was a constant attendant at their chapel in Fetter-lane, and 
 a member of the first Methodist society formed in that place. A 
 division soon occurred in the infant society between the 
 Moravians and the Methodists, and Fetter-lane was abandoned 
 to the Moravians. The Wesleys retired to the Foundry, and 
 Lady Huntingdon accompanied them. Here she was, for some 
 time, one of the most eminent members of the small community, 
 at the head of which were the Wesleys, and their eloquent and 
 zealous coadjutor Whitfield. Whitfield soon afterwards under- 
 took a mission to Georgia, a colony already of importance ; but 
 on his return, after four years' absence, in 1748, differences arose 
 between the Wesleys and himself, which widened into an open 
 breach. Whitfield embraced the Calvinistic doctrines, the 
 Wesleys were Arminians ; he was forbidden to preach at the 
 Foundry, and he complains that he was even shut out from a 
 cKapel in Bristol which he himself had founded. 
 
 r^he clergy of the Established Church were equally indisposed 
 ft) a^lmit either party to their pulpits. The Wesleys formed the 
 socrety which bears their name. Whitfield, too, as a substitute 
 for parochial congregations, f(;rmed societies, as they were 
 
 VOL. II. • " B 
 
2 LADY HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION. 
 
 then teimeel, in various parts. In Juno 1741, lie opened tlio 
 Tabernacle, a temporary screen or shed in Moorfields, thus 
 named in alhision to the moveable tent at which the Israelites 
 worshipped, by divine command, in theii* journey through the 
 desei-t Such was the power of his ministry, and the attraction of 
 his eloquence, that great numbers of the nobility crowded the 
 lowly structure even during the winter season ; amongst these 
 were Sarah, the celebrated Duchess of Marlborough; Catherine,* 
 Duchess of Buckingham; the Duke of Cumberland, and his 
 brother Frederick, the father of George III. And amongst the 
 most constant in their attendance were the Earl and Countess of 
 Huntingdon. The Earl died soon after, but Lady Huntingdon's 
 attachment to the cause suffered no abatement. At her sug- 
 gestion, it was resolved to rebuild the Tabernacle : it was opened 
 in June 1755, and, though capable of seating four thousand 
 persons, was crowded in every part. In the same year, Whitfield 
 obtained possession of Long-acre chapel. Here he was inter- 
 rupted by a noisy mob, and one effect of this persecution was the 
 immediate erection of a large chapel in Tottenham-court-road ; it 
 was opened for divine worship, according to the forms of the 
 Church of England, in November 1756. Whitfield's intention 
 was to have placed the chapel under Lady Huntingdon's pro- 
 tection. He was her chaplain, and he hoped by this means to 
 secure himself from interruption. " We have consulted Doctors' 
 Commons," he says, "about putting the chapel under your 
 Ladyship's protection ; — this was the answer, ' No nobleman can 
 license a chapel, or in any manner have one, but in his dwelling- 
 house ; the chapel must be private, that is, not with doors to the 
 street, for any persons to resort to at pleasure ; for then it 
 becomes public. A chapel cannot be built and used as such 
 without the consent of the parson of the parish ; and when it is 
 done with his consent, no minister can preach therein without 
 license of the bishop of the diocese.' There seems then," he 
 adds, "but one way; to license it as other houses "are." Thus 
 the foundations of a new dissent were laid, and Tottenham-court 
 chapel was licensed as a meeting-house. Yet neither at this 
 time, or to the close of his life, was Whitfield a dissenter. He 
 had no preferment ; and choosing rather to preach in sheds and 
 tabernacles than to be silent (for few of the clergy would now 
 admit him to their pulpits), he embraced the only alternative 
 
LADY HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION. 3 
 
 which lay before him. We may date from this event tlie 
 formation of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, although its formal 
 establisliment took place some years later. 
 
 Whitfield was assisted occasionally at the Tabernacle both by 
 eminent dissenting ministers and by several clergymen. His 
 popularity was astonishing. The meanest beggar heard him 
 with profit ; the greatest orators, the wisest and the most 
 thoughtful men — the elder Fox and Pitt, Soame Jenyns, and 
 the accomplished Chesterfield — listened with admiration and 
 delight. The theatre lampooned the Methodists in vain in 
 a ridiculous farce called ''The Minor;" and Garrick was not 
 ashamed to sanction the miserable piece of buffoonery : but this 
 only increased Whitfield's popularity. Hundreds who had 
 enjoyed the farce at Drury-lane paid a visit to Tottenham-court 
 chapel, in the hope of further entertainment : they returned sad 
 and silent, or sought relief in the vestry, throwing themselves at 
 the preacher's feet and asking his forgivenees. The subscriptions 
 after several of Whitfield's sermons disclose both the extent of 
 his popularity and the wealth of his audience. For the French 
 Protestants in Prussia he once collected 1,500?. Had vanity 
 been predominant in Whitfield's character, here was an ample 
 field for its indulgence. But when he had provided for the 
 duties of his chapels at home, he withdrew to America to super- 
 intend an orphan house and do the work of a missionary to the 
 colonists ; and there he died in 1770. The characteristic of his 
 eloquence seems to have been intense and vehement simplicity. 
 That his preaching should have produced such astonishing effects 
 on the illiterate is not surprising. Its influence with the higher 
 classes is only fully explained when we call to mind their pro- 
 found ignorance, at this period, upon the whole subject of 
 religion. His voice and manner were probably those of a more 
 perfect orator than the pulpit of England has produced in any 
 second instance. Still his boundless popularity remains in some 
 measure unexplained. The depth and fervour of their piety 
 alone redeem his printed sermons from utter neglect ; and the 
 same remark applies, with equal truth, to his correspondence. 
 We look in vain for the flashes of genius, for force or grace of 
 language, or for originality of thought. 
 
 We may here observe that Whitfield's chapels, of which there 
 were several, were vested in trustees; with whom, the congrega- 
 
 b2 
 
4 LADY IirX'lIXODON'S COXXFXloX. 
 
 tion consenting, the appointment of the minister rests. A very 
 considerable number of chapels has been since built on this 
 principle in England and Wnlos, belonging to the various 
 divisions of the Calvinistic Methodists. None of these are 
 strictly in connexion with Lady Huntingdon's societies ; though, 
 for the most part, a union of affectionate regard exists between 
 them. The Calvinistic Methodists are, in fact, indej^endent 
 Churches ; they differ from the old Independents in two points ; 
 they originated with Whitfield and Rowland Hill, his younger 
 friend and zealous associate ; and they retain, in general, a 
 warmer regard to the Church of England. Many of them use 
 the Liturgy, with a few alterations, and they adhere to her 
 Articles as the standard of faith. 
 
 Lady Huntingdon herself laid out vast sums, contributed by 
 generous friends, in nddition to her own private liberality, in 
 building chapels and founding colleges for students for the 
 ministry. At first she confined herself, with few exceptions, to 
 ministers of the Established Church, many of whom accepted lier 
 invitations and laboured in her chapels. But her zeal increas- 
 ing with her success, she built or hired chapels in most of the 
 large towns ; and as they multiplied, the clergy were unequal to 
 the task of supplying them. Some were unwilling to move 
 about in a field so wide and various. Great complaints were 
 made by many Churchmen of the irregularity of their pro- 
 ceedings, as inconsistent with the discipline of the Church of 
 England. As the work extended and l)ecame more sy.stematie, 
 the clergy were more dissatisfied with it. We must add that 
 Lady Huntingdon was imperious, and that the clergy who joined 
 her often found their liberty I'estrained rather than increased by 
 their secession. In 1767 she founded her college at Trevecca, in 
 South Wales. Its basis was broad and generous : she jiroposed 
 to admit young men of real piety who wished to be trained up 
 for the ministry. They were to remain three years. Their 
 education, their board, even their clothing, was provided for 
 them. They were then at liberty to enter into the ministry 
 eithei-, as literates, in the Chm-ch of England, or amongst any 
 body of orthodox Protestants. As to the course of study, she 
 consulted Wesley, Venn, Romaine, and Fletcher, the last of 
 whom became the first master or president. The outline of 
 study which he proposed wns mengre enough no doubt ; but, at 
 
LADY HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION. 5 
 
 the" same time, it was much better than that of either ol" the 
 Universities. We quote an interesting passage on the subject 
 from one of Fletcher's letters, dated January 1768 ; it will show 
 the intentions of Lady Huntingdon's advisers. "A plan of study 
 must be fixed upon first, before proper books can be chosen. 
 Grammar, logic, rhetoric, with ecclesiastical history, and a little 
 natural philosophy, and geography, with a great deal of practical 
 divinity, will be sufficient for those who do not care to dive into 
 languages. Watts' Logic and his History of the Bible seem to 
 me to be excellent books of the kind. Mr. Wesley's Natural 
 Philosophy contains as much as is wanted, or more. With 
 regard to those who propose to learn Latin and Greek, the 
 master your Ladyship shall appoint may choose to follow his 
 particular method. Mr. Wesley's books, printed for the use of 
 Christian youths, seem to me to be short and proper. Two or 
 three dictionaries of Bailey or Dyke, for those who learn English, 
 with two or three Cole's dictionaries, Schrevelius's and Pasore's, 
 for those who will learn Latin and Greek, may be a sufficient 
 stock at first." The students from this college, who joined Lady 
 Huntingdon's Connexion, received ordination at the hands of her 
 ministers, or else without ordination were content to j^reach as 
 laymen. A considerable number took orders from time to time 
 in the Church of England ; and if not distinguished by their 
 learning, they were almost invariably zealous and useful ministers. 
 Thus provided at length with a staff of earnest, enterprising 
 students, the zeal of the foundress aspired to evangelize the 
 kingdom. In 1781 we find four of the students sent out on a 
 preaching mission for three months. Their commission ran 
 thus : " It was concluded at a late meeting, that the only means 
 effectually to reach the multitudes was, that the four princij)al 
 ministers — Mr. Glascott, Mr. Wills, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Plassy 
 — should, for three months, visit universally in four different 
 departments, and thus severally preach through the towns, 
 counties, and villages of the kingdom, by a general voice or 
 proclamation of the glorious Gospel of peace to lost sinners." 
 They preached in the open air and frequently to immense con- 
 gregations. One of the missionaries reports, that at Bosveal not 
 less than ten thousand assembled in a large, deep, hollow ground, 
 a natural amphitheatre, " rendered convenient for the preacher 
 and hearers by circidar benches cut out of the sides from the top 
 
G LADY HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION. 
 
 to the bottom." Their success seemed to Le great in cveiy 
 direction, and they contributed, no doubt, their full share to that 
 revived interest in religion which marked the period. Wesley, 
 who was now regarded by Lady Huntingdon as scarcely orthodox, 
 was at the same time bringing the same machinery to bear upon 
 the wants of England. His field preachers Were neither more 
 numerous nor more zealous than those of Lady Huntingdon ; and 
 the latter had the advantage of some training and mental 
 discipline. Yet lasting success lay on the side of Wesley. 
 Lady Huntingdon's Connexion was ujost vigorous in its infant 
 days ; the Wesleyan societies grew into a mighty manhood, and 
 prospered long after their founder's death. The .success of 
 AV'^esleyan Methodism, and the causes of it, we describe in another 
 article. The comparative want of success of Lady Huntingdon's 
 Connexion was probably inherent in the system. 
 
 It was not Lady Huntingdon's wish at this period of her life 
 to secede from the Churcli of England ; but the bishops, dis- 
 pleased with their irregularities, at length refused to ordain her 
 students.' She and her friends resolved, in consequence, to form 
 a Secession Church, and " Lady Huntingdon's Connexion" 
 appeared. The experiment was interesting. It was an attempt 
 to model an eclectic Church out of materials afforded chiefly, but 
 not entirely, from the Church of England. Its Liturgy, its 
 forms, and even its vestments, were retained, with a few altera- 
 tions in the former, and less precision in the use of the two 
 latter ; but episcopacy was dismissed. Her churches became 
 Presbyterian in their orders ; and, in discipline, they partook 
 both of presbyteriani.sm and independency. To the eye as well 
 as to the mind, however, the service in her chapels was that to 
 which the hearer had been accustomed in his parish church. It 
 might have been foreseen, that the connexion would thrive only 
 where the Church of England was slothful, or in bad hands. 
 There w^ no mechanism to entangle the hearer and prevent his 
 return to tlie Church. And the fact that its forais of worship 
 and so many of its peculiarities were retained, would leave but 
 little scope for Lady Huntingdon's preachers, had they been so 
 disposed, to depreciate the National Church. The irregidar ally, 
 then, would cease to be followed wherever the parent institution 
 recovered its vigour ; or, if really dissatisfied with her terms of 
 communion, the member of Lady Huntingdon's connexion 
 
LADY HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION. 7 
 
 would associate himself with some of the more palpable forms of 
 dissent. A consideration of these causes will explain the slow 
 progress and comparatively slender triumphs of this bold experi- 
 ment. 
 
 The first ordination did not take place till the year 1783 : it 
 was held at the Countess's new chapel in Spa-fields. Six 
 students from Trevecca were ordained, by imposition of hands, 
 by Messrs. Wills and Taylor, presbyters of the Church of England, 
 who had previously resigned their parochial charges. Wills 
 defended the proceeding in an able address to the assembled 
 congregation. " Our dissenting brethren," he argued, " cannot 
 dispute the point against us. Condemning us, they censure their 
 own forefathers, who acted as we do now. It is only the 
 Established Church that, with any appearance of consistency, can 
 contest the matter with us. Let us meet them," he said, " on 
 Scripture ground ;" and he argued at length to show the right of 
 presbyters, as well as bishops, to ordain. But considerations of 
 greater weight, with Lady Huntingdon at least, followed. " What 
 was to be done ? her Ladyship had stepped in to fill up the gap, 
 and proclaim the Gospel here, where once had been a synagogue 
 of Satan" (the building had been erected for a theatre). " What 
 was the consequence ? her right was called in question ; some of 
 her ministers were cited to the Ecclesiastical Courts, so called, 
 and tried and silenced one after another. Was the cause of God 
 to be deserted? was this, were other, chapels to be closed? A 
 minister of a parish says, You shall not preach here ; a bishop 
 says, You shall not preach here. Whether in this case we 
 are to hearken to men more than God, judge ye." The can- 
 didates for ordination gave in writing a declaration of their faith, 
 in fifteen articles. These are the doctrinal Articles of the 
 Church of England, with some alterations which appear to have 
 been based upon the Assembly's Catechism. The seventeenth 
 article on predestination is adopted ; and on the subject of repro- 
 bation, silence is observed. A declaration is affixed, "that some 
 things in the Liturgy, and many things in the discipline and 
 government of the Established Church, being contrary to Holy 
 Scripture, they have felt it necessary to secede ;" but there is no 
 detail given of the points objected against. Thus Lady Hunting- 
 don's Connexion was at last completed. 
 
 During her lifetime Lady Huntingdon appointed and removed 
 
8 J.ADY HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION. 
 
 the ministers tvlio officiated in her chapels at her pleasure ; and 
 also ap])ointeJ laymen, termed managers, iu each congregation, 
 to superintend its secular concerns. On her death, June 17th, 
 1791, in the eighty-fourth year of her age, her chapels were 
 devised to fouv trustees, possessed in all respects of the same 
 powiTs which glici herself had exercised. Rules for the manage- 
 ment of her societies had been drawn up in 1785, and only those 
 Vho conformed to them were members of the connexion. In the 
 year 17^2, the lease of the College of Trevecca having ex])ire4, 
 the institution was removed to Cheshuut. The College is vested 
 in seven trustees, who have the sole right of admitting and 
 Rejecting students, and the appointment and dismissal of the 
 tutors. It has been endowed from time to time with legacies 
 and presents to a considerable amount, and is one of the 
 wealthiest of the dissenting colleges or seminaries. But its field 
 is narrow : it professes to educate only for the ministry, and the 
 students are supported entirely from the funds of the Institution. 
 The same generous sj^irit which was shown by the Countess at 
 Trevecca is still maintained at Cheshunt ; and the student, when- 
 his education is complete, is at full liberty " to serve in the* 
 ministry of the Gospel, either in the late Countess of Hunting- 
 don's Connexion abroad, or in the Established Church, or iu any 
 other of the Churches of Christ." 
 
 The reader will have observed that the Countess of Hunting- 
 don's Connexion can he so termed only with considerable lati- 
 tude. In the strict sense of the word there is no connexion. 
 The trustees appoint to the various chapels such ministers as 
 they please ; but each of these chapels, or congregations, is con- 
 ducted upon the independent model : there is no combined or 
 federal ecclesiastical government, and several of them have 
 merged into purely independent Churches. 
 
 The number of chapels in England in 18.51 was 109. Tlie 
 number of attendants, according to the census, was 19,159. 
 Dr. Hawels, one of the trustees of Lady Huntingdon, says iu 
 1795: " Those wiio are immediately with us, or though ^one 
 out are .still in union with us, preach, I think the Gospel, every 
 Sabbath day, to at least 100,000 people." If this statement 
 were correct, the declension is remarkable : since not more than 
 a fourth part of the number now nimains. The fact is, no doul)t, 
 that the Connexion l;as .'^(mvimI as a focdor to dissent on the one 
 
INDEPENDENTS. 9 
 
 hand, and to the Church of England on the other; and in both 
 instances, by its moderation and its soundness in doctrine, it has 
 been highly useful. 
 
 Life and Times of Selina^ Countess of Huntingdon, by a 
 Meinher of the House of Shirley, 1835. Bogus and Bennett's 
 History of Dissenters, Life of Rev. Rowland Hill, by Sidney. 
 Wesley's Journal. Whitfield's Sermons. 
 
 TNDEPENDENTS.— The Independents maintain as a funda- 
 mental principle that every society of believers united for 
 religious fellowship and Christian worship is a perfect church 
 within itself, that it possesses full power to regulate its own 
 affairs, and is independent of all external control. They have 
 lately taken the name of Congregationalists ; but are better 
 known in history by the older designation. 
 
 No record exists of any Church formed on the independent 
 model from the close of the first century to the Reformation. 
 Still it is asserted that this was the primitive and apostolic form. 
 The Churches of the New Testament, they conceive, were formed 
 u23on these principles, which were stifled by the early corruptions 
 of Christianity, when the spirit of the world established the 
 domination of the few over the consciences of the many. When 
 the Reformation had relieved men from the yoke of Rome, and 
 given them leisure to attend to the discipline of the Church, the 
 congregational, or independent, system was revived as a complete 
 restoration of the primitive regimen of the churches. The Bap- 
 tists were the first to establish independent churches ; this they 
 did in Germany prior to the English Reformation. They were 
 followed by the Brownists in the reign of Elizabeth, who, retain- 
 ing infant bajjtism, agreed on other points with the Anabaptists. 
 Of these two bodies some account has been given. (See Baptists 
 and Brownists.) It was not till the Commonwealth that the 
 Brownists took the name of Independents, and it is from this 
 period their history properly begins. 
 
 The Westminster Assembly of Divines met in 1643 : besides 
 ten lords and t\\ enty members of the House of Commons, it con- 
 sisted of one hundred and twenty-one divines, and six deputies 
 from Scotland. The English divines were appointed by the 
 parliament ; and their business Avas, the reformation of the 
 
10 INDEPENDENTS. 
 
 national Church, and the establishment of a purer ilii^cipliue. 
 The divines, with the exception of the Scotch, had all been 
 members of the Church of England ; a few of them still adhered 
 to Episcopacy, but after a few sittings these ceased to attend. 
 The rest were strongly in favour of Presbyterianism, as it existed 
 in the Church of Scotland ; and it was soon apparent that, if 
 they had the power, they would establish a Presbyterian Church 
 in England. Upon this point they would have been unanimous, 
 had it not been for two or three Erastians (so called from 
 Erastus, a German physician, who wrote a treatise denying the 
 right of self-government to Christian churches, and placing them 
 undfer the power of the secular magistrate) and a small body of 
 five " dissenting brethren." These last were the leaders of the 
 Independents. Their names were Nye, Simpson, Burroughes, 
 Bridge, and Goodwin. Under the recent persecutions of Laud, 
 they had been driven to Holland, where they had formed Inde- 
 pendent Churches. Adojjting the Bro^vnist disciisline, they 
 rejected the name, and severely censured the asj)erity and exclu- 
 siveness of the old party. Nor did they wish to be called Inde- 
 pendents. In a memorial which they addressed to the parliament 
 they say, " that proud and insolent title of Independency was 
 affixed unto us as our claim, the very sound of which conveys to 
 all men's apprehensions the challenge of an exemption of our 
 Churches from all subjection and dependence, or rather a trumpet 
 of defiance against whatever power spiritual or civil, which we do 
 abhor and detest." Apologetic Narration, j^reseiited to the Par- 
 llaTnent, p. 22. 
 
 The five dissenting brethren were at first supported in the 
 Assembly by not more than four or five divines. But these 
 numbers convey no adequate notion of the real power of the 
 party in other places. In the House of Commons the Indepen- 
 dents, already powerful, soon, became sujoreme. In the army, 
 Cromwell espoused their principles, and they soon had many fol- 
 lowers amongst the men who drew the sword. In short, the 
 clergy were more Presbyterian tluin the nation. Yet partly out • 
 of deference to the Scotch alliance, and because no other scheme 
 of discipline had been matured, the Solemn League and Cove- 
 nant was subscribed by the Assembly and House of Conimons,. 
 on the 2oth September, 1 ^\'6, and a few days afterwards, by 
 the House of Lords. It was designed to lay the foundation of a 
 
INDEPENDENTS. 11 
 
 Presbyterian Church in England ; but as it merely asserted " the 
 necessity of endeavouring the preservation of the reformed 
 religion according to the word of God and the example of the 
 best reformed Churches," the Independents, with one exception, 
 yielded their assent to it, and the solitary dissentient was imme- 
 diately excluded from the Assembly, and deposed from his living. 
 The whole nation was called upon to subscribe the Covenant, 
 and no public office, ecclesiastical or civil, could be filled by those 
 who declined to do so. Thus the ground was prepared for the 
 construction of a national Church, in lieu of the old episcopacy. 
 
 The question of the government of the future Church was 
 warmly contested in the Assembly : the Presbyterians maintain- 
 ing the divine authority of the Presbyterian discipline ; Nye, and 
 the Independents, protesting against the ecclesiastical tyranny 
 which they believed it would introduce. " It is inconvenient," 
 said Nye, " to nourish such a vast body in a commonwealth : it 
 is not to be endured. Men are already troubled to think 
 whether a presbytery shall be set up jure divino, and no wonder ; 
 for, if it be, it will grow so as to become as big as the civil 
 power. When two vast bodies are of equal amplitude, if they 
 disagree it will be naught, and if they agree it will be worse." 
 
 The Presbyterians prevailed both in the Assembly and the 
 House of Commons. The five Independent leaders drew up a 
 protest, their " Apologetical Narration," which, in 1644, was 
 presented to the House of Commons. The tide still drifting 
 against them, both in parliament and the Assembly, they were 
 driven to ask for toleration as a favour, and this was stoutly 
 refused b}' the Presbyterian party. The heats in the Assembly 
 produced uneasiness in parliament, which was now beginning to 
 look on the demands of the Presb3rterians for a spiritual juris- 
 diction, similar to that in Scotland, with strong aversion. In 
 September, 1644, the " Grand Committee of Accommodation" was 
 formed out of a committee of lords and commons, the Scotch 
 commissioners, and a committee of divines, " to take into con- 
 sideration the differences of the opinions of the members of the 
 Assembly in point of Church government, and to attempt an 
 union, if possible." Before them the Independents pleaded for 
 toleration and indulgence. They agreed, they said, with the 
 Presbyterians in one confession of faith ; and they humbly 
 pray.ed that they might not be forced into subjection to the Pres- 
 
12 INDEPENDENTS. 
 
 byteriau courts or " classes," which it was now pruposed to erect 
 in every parish, that tliey might have liberty to abstain from the 
 parish church, aiul to form congregational churches, possessing 
 ecclesiastical power within themselves, and subject only to the 
 parliament. But these demands the Presbyterians were by no 
 means disjDosed to grant. Such a concession would imply, they 
 said, a total separation from the established Clmrch. It would 
 admit the lawfulness of "gathered," or independent churches. 
 Should the parliament consent, it would destroy its own work. 
 The members of these gatheied churches would have a degree of 
 liberty denied to the members of the established Church ; the 
 latter must submit to the ecclesiastical courts, the former might 
 set them at defiance. This would countenance a jjerpebual schism, 
 and introduce confusion. One favour they would grant, out of 
 regard to tender consciences ; that those who, after conference 
 with their parish minister, were not satisfied with the Presby- 
 terian Church, should not be compelled to communicate in the 
 Lord's Supper, nor be liable to censure from the classes or synods, 
 l)rovided they joined with the parish congregation, and submitted 
 in other respects to the Church which was about to be by law 
 established. Thus the Independents met with the same harsh 
 treatment at the hands of the Presbyterians, of which the latter 
 had complained so loudly from the hands of Laud and the 
 prelates. 
 
 To these disjDutes we owe our first acquaintance with the doc- 
 trines of toleration. The Independent cause, argued with ability 
 by Nye and Burroughes in the Assembly, was defended else- 
 Avhere by champions of another order. In 1644, Milton published 
 his " Areopngitica," The Presbyterians were already lagging 
 behind in the revolution they themselves had mainly brouglit 
 about. Stung by a thousand pamphleteers, they would have 
 revived the most odious of the practices of the Star-Chamber, 
 and laid an embargo on the press. This attempt produced 
 Milton's work, which contributed in no small measure to turn the 
 wavering tide ; and henceforward the Presbyterians rapidly 
 declined. The nation was afraid of another spiritual despotism, 
 and Milton gave eloquent expression to its alarms. " If," said he, 
 "it come to iuquisitioning again, and licensing, and that we are 
 so timorous of ourselves and suspicious of all men, as to fear each 
 book, and the shakini;' of cNory leaf, before w<' know wlia^ tlio 
 
INDEPENDENTS. 13 
 
 contents are ; if some who Lut of late were little better than 
 silenced from preaching, shall now come to silence us from 
 reading, except what they please, it cannot be guessed what is 
 intended by some, but a second tyranny over learning ; and will 
 soon put it out of controversy, that bishops and presbyters are 
 the same to us, both name and thing." 
 
 John Goodwin, the Arminian leader, though doctrinally 
 opposed to' the Independents, and never recognized amongst 
 them, promoted their views in London, where he held one of 
 the city churches. He was a man of great courage, eloquence, 
 and energy. His insulated position, shunned by all parties, 
 led him to cherish those tolerant principles which a similar 
 necessity had lately imposed on the Independents. The city of 
 London, devoted as it had been to the Presbyterian cause, began 
 to apprehend danger to the cause of civil liberty. A jure divino 
 claim to establish spiritual courts in England, with universal 
 authority, when once understood, was indignantly rejected. The 
 Presbyterian establishment in fact was never set up. In March, 
 ] 646 an ordinance was obtained from Parliament for establishing 
 a presbytery in Loudon ; but upon trial it proved so defective that 
 the city and the London ministers petitioned against it; while 
 the Assembly itself protested, on the other hand, that the 
 ordinance " prescribed no penalty on dissentients," and there- 
 fore " gave no power of vigorous enforcement." In Lancashire 
 the system was also tried, and a presbytery formed at Man- 
 chester. But the civil war grew fiercer. Cromwell became the 
 leader of the parliamentary forces, and his influence was given to 
 the Independents. Their opponents became more and more 
 unpopular ; while the Independents, advocating liberty and 
 popular rights, and carefully avoiding the appearance of a spi- 
 ritual despotism, as rapidly gained the confidence of the nation. 
 They filled many of the best benefices. John Owen, who 
 became their head, was vice-chancellor of Oxford ; and before 
 Cromwell's death the Independents, dominant in the army and 
 the state, were at least a powerful minority in the parishes and 
 pulpits of England. 
 
 The religionists of whom Cromwell was one, necessarily 
 became a political party, and during the twelve years of his 
 rule and protectorate the Independents had the greatest share in 
 the government of the country. But this we pass over, confining 
 
14 INDEPENDENTS. 
 
 ourselves to tlieii- religious history ; and we bring the reader at 
 once to the synod of 1658. 
 
 The Independents were now a numerous and wealthy body, 
 but on several points their principles were still indefinite. They 
 appealed to the Protector for permission to hold a synod, in 
 order, amongst other matters, that they might prepare and 
 publish a uniform confession of their faith. Cromwell, with 
 much reluctance, consented a few months before his death. It 
 has been thought he dreaded a second Westminster Assembly, 
 or that his interest lay in keeijing the great religious factions in 
 a divided state. The Independent synod met on the 29th of 
 September, 1658, at the Savoy in the Strand. 
 
 We may judge of the progress which Independent principles 
 had made in England by the fact that upwards of one hundred 
 churches were represented by ministers and lay delegates ; the 
 latter, according to Neale's statement, being the majority. It is 
 said that of the stricter Independents many refused to attend, 
 apprehending danger from too close an alliance ^vith the state. It 
 was determined to draw up a confession of faith ; and a committee, 
 consisting of Goodwin, Nye, Bridge. Caryl, and Greenhill, Avith 
 the famous Dr. John Owen at their head, was appointed. They 
 prepared " a Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and 
 practised in the Congregational Churches in England ; agreed 
 upon and consented to by their elders and messengers, in their 
 meeting at the Savoy, October 12, 1658." It was at once 
 accepted by the synod ; for in fact it was a republication of the 
 Westminster Confession, with the omission of those passages 
 which maintain the Presbyterian discipline, and with the addi- 
 tion of a chapter in which the Independent scheme is asserted 
 and explained. The other alterations are few and unimpcJrtant. 
 Each church is regarded in this document as invested with all 
 power essential to self-government. The office-bearers are 
 declared to be pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons. Synodical 
 authority is disclaimed, but the association of churches for union 
 and mutual counsel is recommended. A fine spirit of forbearance, 
 and at least an approach towards the doctrines of religious 
 freedom, are perceptible in these documents. The preface, 
 supposed to have been written by Owen, affirms, " that among 
 all (Christian states and Churches there ought to be a mutual 
 forbearance and indulgence to saints of all i)ersuasions that hold 
 
INDEPENDENTS. 15 
 
 fast the necessary foundations of faith and hohness." He goes 
 still further : " All professing Christians with their errors which 
 are purely spiritual, and entrench and overthrow not civil 
 society, are to be borne "vvith, and permitted to enjoy ordinances 
 and privileges according to their light, as fully as any of their 
 brethren who pretend to the greatest orthodoxy." Owen 
 appears to have been the leader of the liberal party among the 
 Independents ; he was far beyond the best men of his age, in 
 the catholicity of his principles. Yet he was a warm advoca,te 
 of the union between Church and State, and at a much later 
 period of his hfe he wrote strongly in favour of the magis- 
 trate's using coercive measures in matters of rehgion. In his 
 " Enquiry into the Original of EvangeHcal Churches," published 
 in 1681, he says, " It is granted that the magistrate may dispose 
 of many outward concerns of the Churches, may impart his 
 favour to them, or to any of them, as he sees cause ; may pro- 
 hibit the public exercise of worship, idolatrous or superstitious ; 
 may remove and take away all instruments of idolatry ; may 
 coerce, punish, and restrain, as there is occasion, persons who, 
 under pretence of religion, do advance larinciples of sedition or 
 promote any foreign interest opposite and destructive to his 
 government, the welfare of the nation, and the truth of religion, 
 with sundry things of the like nature. And herein lies an 
 ample field, wherein the magistrate may exercise his power and 
 discharge his duty " (pp. 1, 4, 5). The declaration was pre- 
 sented to Richard Cromwell, on behalf of the synod, by Dr. 
 Thomas Goodwin. It is evident from his language that the 
 Independents of that day regarded the chief magistrate as the 
 secular head of the Church. But we prefer that his sentiments 
 be expressed in his own words, " And now we present to your 
 highness what we have done, and commit to your trust the 
 common faith once delivered to the saints. The gospel, and the 
 saving truths of it, being a national endowment bequeathed by 
 Christ himself at his ascension, and committed to the trust of 
 some in the nation's behalf (committed to my trust, saith Paul, 
 in the name of the ministers) ; and we look at the magistrate as 
 custos utriusque tahulce, and so commit it to your trust, as om" 
 chief magistrate, to countenance and propagate." These senti- 
 ments prevailed throughout the Independent churches, and 
 were repeated from time to time. After Richard's abdication, 
 
in IXDKPENDENTS, 
 
 wlien all parties were in a state of confusiun, the ministers and 
 delegates of the Congregational churches assembled in London, 
 and passed a series of lesolutions, in the first of which they 
 express " a desire that such a parliament may be called as may 
 preserve the interests of Christ in this nation." The second we 
 give at length. " As touching the magistrate's power in matters 
 of faith and wonship, we have declared our judgment in our late 
 confession ; and though we greatly prize our Christian liberties, 
 yet we profess our utter dislike and abhorrence of an universal 
 toleration as being contrary to the mind of God in his word." 
 Thirdly, they " protest against tlie taking away of tithes, until 
 as full a maintenance be equall}' secured and legally settled upon 
 the ministry." And fourthly, they say, " It is our desire that 
 countenance be not given or trust reposed in the litind of 
 Quakers, they being persons of such princiiales as are destructive 
 to the gospel, and inconsistent with tlie peace of civil societies." 
 
 Mr. Fletcher, himself an Independent, in his history of Inde- 
 pendency adds the following remark : " All these resolutions 
 are utterly inconsistent with the hypothesis, of which modern 
 Indej^endents are too apt to boast, — that the leading Congrega- 
 tionalists of the Commonwealth period were advocates for a 
 perfect liberty. The last of them in particular attaches a stigma 
 to their names which nothing can remove,'' vol. iv., p. 182. It 
 is well that the advocates of a system should deal honestly with 
 its faults. In fairness, however, let it be added, that the Inde- 
 pendents were, after all, embued with a deeper sense of justice, 
 and better understood the principles both of civil and religious 
 liberty, than any party then existing in Great Britain. 
 
 With the RestoratitMi in 1660, the Independents lost all their 
 political importance, and as a religious body they soon fell into 
 decay. They suffered much from the Act of Uniformity of 1 662, 
 the Conventicle Act of 1664, and the Five-mile Act of 1665, 
 in common with other nonconformists. Their sufferings were 
 increased, perhaps in some measure caused, by their want of a 
 good understanding ^vith the Pi-esbyterians. Had the two bodies 
 been united in favoiu' of a general toleration, to which Charles 
 himself was by no means indisposed at any period of his life, the 
 consent of parliament to such a measure might possibly have 
 been gained. But the Presbyterians were utterly averse to a 
 toleration of the Papists, and the Independents were divided 
 
INDErENDENTS. 17 
 
 amongst themselves. After the fire of London, in 1666, tem- 
 porary i^laces of worship, called Tabernacles, were set up among 
 the ruins, and some of the nonconformists were permitted to 
 collect large congTegations ; amongst whom we notice the now 
 venerable names of Caryl, Brook, Goodwin, and Owen. Twenty 
 years of persecution followed, and under it nonconformity of 
 every kind declined. The Independents would seem however to 
 have been, at this time, already more numerous than the Presby- 
 terians. In 1673, Caryl was the minister of a church in London, 
 of which Fleetwood, Desborough, Berry, heroes of the Common- 
 wealth, Sir John Hartopp, Lord Haversham, and others of note 
 were members. In 1674, of six dissenting chapels in Bristol, 
 three were Baptists, two Independents, and one Presbyterian. 
 Bristol has always been the Baptist metropolis ; but with regard 
 to the other sects, the proportion of IndejDendents to Presbyte- 
 rians probably indicates their relative strength in other places. 
 At lenojth the Revolution brouo-ht relief. 
 
 The Act of Toleration was passed in 1689 ; it is still regarded 
 by dissenters as the charter of their religious freedom. The 
 statute is entitled "An Act for exempting their Majesties' 
 Protestant subjects dissenting from the Church of England, from 
 the penalties of certain laws." After rescinding many penal 
 statutes enacted at different periods since the accession of Queen 
 Elizabeth, so far as they related to Protestants dissenting from 
 the Church of England, this Act requires them to take the oath 
 of allegiance ; to declare their abhorrence of the pretended power 
 of the Pope to depose princes ; and to subscribe the thirty-nine 
 articles of religion, except the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, thirty- 
 sixth, and these words in the twentieth : — " The Church hath 
 power to decree rites, or ceremonies, and authority in contro- 
 versies of faith." The Baptists are exempted from subscribing 
 part of the twenty-seventh article, respecting infant baptism ; 
 and the Quakers are required to declare their fidehty to King 
 William and Queen Mary, their abhorrence of the pretended 
 Papal power, their firm belief of the doctrines of the Trinity, and 
 that the Holy Scriptures are of Divine inspiration. Under these 
 conditions " Dissenters from the Church of England, having their 
 places of assembly registered, are allowed, and protected in the 
 public worship of Almighty God." 
 
 In 1691, heads of agreement were drawn up in order to an 
 VOL. II. C 
 
IK hXDKl'KNDEiNTS. 
 
 accommodation between the Presbyterians and the Independents 
 Tlie three denominations — Baptists, Presl)yterians, and Indepen- 
 dents — effected a more complete union in 1(596, and afterwards 
 about 17o0. It is rather a political than religious compact, and 
 formed the basis of other agreements. The three denominations 
 still approach the throne as one body, and act together from time 
 to time in defence of the rights or general interests of noncon- 
 formity. It appears from the agreement of 1691 that each party 
 abandoned something of its former rigidness. The Presbyterians, 
 as Neale observes, abandoned their servile doctrines, and appeared 
 in defence of the civil and religious liberties of mankind. They 
 admitted, too, the grand article of independency, that every con- 
 gregation is to be governed by itself The Independents gave up 
 the theory of a ruling elder, an officer independent of the pastor. 
 " Whereas," they say, " divers are of opinion, that there is also 
 the office of ruling elders who labour not in word and doctrine, 
 and others think other^vise, we agree that this difference make 
 no breach amongst us." But the cause of dissent was losing 
 ground. Their clergy, deprived of the advantages of Oxford and 
 Cambridge, sunk in general esteem for want of learning ; constant 
 defections took place of their best preachers to the Church of 
 England. Dissent in all its forms felt the depressing influences 
 of an irreligious age. Internal dissensions broke out. Antino- 
 mianism destroyed some congregations ; Arianism infected 
 others. Yet the number of dissenters was still considerable. In 
 a petition to parliament in 1714 they state their numbers at one 
 million. From this period, that is from the close of the reign of 
 Queen Anne, while Presbyterianism gradually declined in England, 
 and became at length all but extinct, the Independent dissenters 
 rallied. Under each of the Georges they gained fresh accessions 
 of strength, and now stand at the head of Protestant nonconfor- 
 mity. 
 
 Tlie renovation of the Independent cause from about this 
 period may be partly tiaced to the peculiarities of the congrega- 
 tional system. Each assembly being perfectly free to act for 
 itself, none of those difficulties are felt which operate so disadvan- 
 tageously amongst other bodies. A few zealous men, without 
 interference and without control, form themselves into a Church ; 
 and each new congregation, instoatl of creating a schism, adds 
 another perfect church to the Independent brotherhood. The 
 
INDEPENDENTS. 19 
 
 machinery of Church government is always at hand and always 
 inexpensive. In pushing forward the outworks of Christianity 
 such a system possesses great advantages. 
 
 Another circumstance which tended to revive the drooping 
 interest of dissent was the appearance, about this time, of several 
 men equally distinguished for abilities, zeal and piety. Dr. Isaac 
 W^atts and Matthew Henry will occur to the reader's mind. Both 
 of these were' the children of persecuted nonconformists ; both of 
 them imbibed in their infancy, and retained through life, the 
 strongest affection for what was now termed the dissentino: 
 interest ; and both of them were free, to an extent rare indeed in 
 those days amongst earnest men, from party spirit and its 
 bigotry. Dr. Watts preached in a meeting-house in Mark-lane ; 
 Matthew Henry, for the greater part of his life, in Chester. 
 They were both of them useful and impressive rather than 
 eloquent, though at the time their preaching was much admired. 
 It was by the pen they rendered such eminent service not only 
 to the cause of nonconformity but to that of pure religion in the 
 widest sense. ^Vatts' theological writings were the first among 
 dissenters in which the truths of the Gospel were displayed in a 
 pure and classical style. He showed that, in order to be a faith- 
 ful minister of Christ, it was not requisite to be quaint and 
 vulgar on the one hand or pedantic on the other. He was the 
 father of a new style of composition on sacred subjects. It is 
 true his refinement is excessive, and that he often loses in force 
 more than he gains in elegance. But those who rejoice that 
 religion should be dissevered from barbarous taste and scholastic 
 jargon, wUl always gratefully acknowledge the services of Dr. 
 Isaac Watts. His metrical version of the Psalms and his hymns, 
 produced a revolution in public worshij). The nonconformist 
 poet has reformed the psalmody, not only of every body of 
 dissenters but of the Church of England. There are few parishes 
 in which a collection of psalms and hymns, in addition to the 
 authorized version, has not been introduced ; and still fewer in 
 which the greater proportion of the new psalmody is not the 
 work of Dr. Watts. He lived to old age, and died in 1748. 
 MatthoAv Heniy possessed the genius which perceives the want 
 of the age, and supplies it with something that is at once ready 
 for immediate use and for the necessities of future generations. 
 The dissenters, who read Steele and Addison and Pope during 
 
 c2 
 
20 INDErKXDENTS. 
 
 the weok, wanted soniotliiui;- else tliaii the old Puritan quartos 
 on Sunday. Matthew lleniy supplied the want in his Commentary 
 on the Old and New Testament. It was read by all dissenters, 
 and after a hundred and thirty years is still the popular com- 
 mentary amongst all classes of Protestants. Henry died suddenly 
 in 1711 in the midst of a vigorous and useful life. 
 
 To these men Philip Doddridge succeeded ; a correct and even 
 elegant writer, and an accomplished though by no mean.s 
 a profound scholar. He too was a sacred poet, and we are 
 indebted to lihn for a few of our best hymns. He wrote an 
 exposition, with critical notes, of the New Testament, which is 
 remarkable for piety and good sense. This work, and some 
 practical treatises, particularly one on the Evidences of (Chris- 
 tianity, have become standard books in divinity. The Evidences 
 of Doddi-idge, and Watts' Logic, used to form part of the 
 university course of reading at one, if not both, of our ancient 
 Universities. To Doddridge the dissenters owe their academies ; 
 and to these institutions, in no small measure, their success. 
 Excluded by the tests, and by poverty, from the Universities, 
 their youth brought nothing but zeal and good intentions to the 
 ministerial work. Doddridge collected several promising young 
 men under his roof, and gave them the elements of a sound 
 education. Thus the Northampton academy originated, for the 
 education of students for the sacred office. It was afterwards 
 removed to Daventry, where it produced several divines and 
 scholars of considerable note. Here Dr. Priestley received his 
 education after the death of Doddridge, and the account he 
 gives in his memoirs of its internal state leads irresistibly to 
 the conclusion that the Independent leaders a century ago had 
 ceased to attach much importance to the doctrinal creed of their 
 fathers. " In my time," he says, " the Academy was in a state 
 peculiarly favourable to the pursuit of truth, as the students were 
 about ecjually divided upon every question of nuuh importance ; 
 such Jis liberty and necessity, the sleep of the soul, and all the 
 articles of theological orthodoxy and heresy ; in consequence of 
 which all these topics were the subject of continual discussion 
 Our tutors also were of different opinions, Dr. Ashworth taking 
 the orthodox side of every question, and Mr. Clark, the sub- 
 tutor, that of heresy ; tlutugh always with the greatest modesty." 
 Memoirs, p. 17. 
 
INDEPENDENTS. 21 
 
 Priestley became a Sociniau. Mr. Belsham, the theological 
 tutor, also embraced the Sociuian creed. Under him most of 
 the pupils became Socinians, aud the trustees at length deter- 
 mined to strike at the root of the evil and dissolved the Academy. 
 Academies for the education of dissenting ministers, chiefly 
 Independent, have been formed at various places; at Hoxton, 
 and afterwards at Homerton and Highbury. For some years 
 Dr. John Pye Smith presided over the academy at Homerton, 
 Dr. Andrew Kippis and Dr. Abraham Rees, men of literary 
 eminence, were also connected with an academy in London, of 
 which Dr. Jennings was the principal ; but heterodox principles 
 once more broke up the institution. In short, all the academies 
 of the last century appear to have shared the same fate, and 
 perished under the influence of Socinianism. But with a return- 
 ing spirit of deeper piety and zeal, new institutions sprung up. 
 A second academy was founded at Hoxton in 1791, which at 
 the beginning of the present century, \mder the care of Mr. 
 Henry Foster Burder and others, tutors of evangelical principles, 
 was in high repute. In 1812 nearly a hundred and fifty 
 ministers had been educated at this institution, which has since 
 been removed to Highbury, For many years an academy has 
 existed at Rotherham ; and at the present time, besides an 
 academy near Birmingham, there is a flourishing college at Man- 
 chester. Since the foundation of the University of London, the 
 students from these academies frequently graduate in arts, and 
 their education resembles that which the clergy of the establish- 
 ment receive at Cambridge and Oxford. But the University of 
 Oxford is now accessible to dissenters, and it remains to be seen 
 whether English dissent will gain more by the education of its 
 ministers in that ancient seat of learning, or lose by the associa- 
 tions aud influences of the place. This is a subject upon which 
 thoughtful dissenters express some anxiety. 
 
 To resume the history of the Independents. The successes of 
 Whitfield and the Wesleys in the middle of the last century 
 were highly advantageous to their cause. The Wesleys, it is 
 true, formed societies after a model of their own. The friends 
 of Whitfield formed Lady Huntingdon's Coniiection, of Avhich 
 we have given a sketch. But the overflowing waters of this 
 religious commotion were still sufficient to refresh aud fill tlie 
 reservoirs of the old dissent. From the period of Whitfield's 
 
2'J INDKl'EN'DFATS. 
 
 ministry, the ludepeudents, in common with every other class of 
 orthodox dissenters, received large accessions. A spirit of re- 
 lijrious in([uiry succeeded to a long period of indifference. The 
 Church of England was supine, the dissenting leaders energetic, 
 and the harvest fell into their hands. No technical difficulties 
 interfered to prevent the erection of meeting-houses wherever a 
 spot of ground could be had and funds obtained ; and churches 
 on the Congregational system sprung up in every market town, 
 and every considerable parish. Many of these, especially in Wales, 
 assumed a form of government slightly modified, trustees and 
 managers being introduced in the place of deacons, or in addition 
 to them. They bear the general name of Calvinistic Methodists, 
 and the members amount, in Wales only, to about fifty thousand. 
 The English followers of Whitfield, if not of Lady Huntingdon's 
 Connection, have swelled the ranks of the Congregationalists. 
 
 The opinions of Dr. Priestley and his party were pushed so far 
 and stated with so much warmth about this period that it 
 became impossible for the orthodox dissenters any longer to 
 observe even the appearance of neutrality. " The unlawful 
 truce with error," say Drs. Bogue and Bennett, " which was too 
 long the sin of many dissenters, and which did more mischief 
 than any form of warfare, was broken. To Dr. Priestley, in a 
 great degree, must be attributed the violation of the unholy 
 league. Dr. Priestley's zeal exposed the folly of the orthodox in 
 being induced by the sounds of charity, candour, and forbearance, 
 to tolerate fatal errors ; and, from this time, dissenters ceased 
 to seek an equivocal middle course. This decided change was 
 highly advantageous to the cause of evangelical dissenters." 
 
 At first the breach with these, the relics of the elder Presby- 
 terians, was attended with considerable polemical asperity ; but 
 the orthodox dissenters, desisting from a worn-out controversy, now 
 directed their energies to the difltusion of religion. They entered 
 vigorously on the work of missions ; and the London Missionary 
 Society, formed at the close of the century, is a noble monument 
 of their faith and zeal. It was intended, by the union of Chris- 
 tians of every orthodox communion, to make one grand and 
 simultaneous effort for the conversion of the heathen. An Inde- 
 pendent minister first called the attention of English Christians 
 to the subject. The Independent churches and their pastors 
 entered with great ardour into the projcjct ; they were joined by 
 
INDEPENDENTS. 23 
 
 the (Jalvinistic Methodists, a few Scotch Presbyterians, and by 
 many distinguished laymen and clergymen of the Church of 
 England. The scheme, as originally planned, was soon found 
 impracticable : the members of the Church of England retired, 
 in a friendly spirit, and formed the Church Missionary Society, 
 and the Scotch Presbyterian Church, though not till after the 
 lapse of more than twenty years, established missions of her own . 
 The Baptists likewise, strict Independents in Church government, 
 found it necessary to form a separate missionary society ; and 
 thus the original institution was left almost entirely in the hands 
 of the Independents. Into the details of their missions we do 
 not profess to enter. In zeal, or in success, perhaps no other 
 institution of the same description has outrun them. They have 
 civilized the islands of the South Pacific, and converted Otaheite 
 to the Gospel. They have established vigorous missions in India, 
 and their agents are working with success amongst the Mahome- 
 dans and the decayed churches in the East. 
 
 In the United States, to which the reader may expect that 
 some reference should be made, the history of Independency has 
 only been written as that of the Pilgrim Fathers, the Brownists, 
 who settled at Boston in the reign of Charles I. Its progress, 
 however, has afforded few important incidents, nor has its success 
 been very great, except among the Baptists. Thus, by the 
 seventh census of the United States recently pubhshed, while 
 the Methodists have upwards of twelve thousand churches, accom- 
 modating upwards of four millions two hundred thousand persons, 
 the Baptists have eight thousand seven hundred and ninety-one 
 churches, with accommodation for upwards of three millions. 
 But the Congregationalists, or Independents, have but sixteen 
 hundred and seventy-four churches, accommodating only seven 
 hundred and ninety-five thousand persons. This does not 
 include the Unitarians, who are also Independents, and number 
 upwards of two thousand churches. In Great Britain and Ireland 
 in 1842, the number of congregational churches was two thou- 
 sand one hundred and seventy-three, and the number of ministers, 
 exclusive of itinerant and lay agents, nineteen hundred and 
 .seventy-nine. The Baptists had in addition about two thousand 
 places of worship. Nine years later, in the census of 1851, the 
 Independents, exclusive of Baptists, made a return of three 
 thousand two hundred and forty-four places of worship, accon\- 
 
24 INDEPENDENTS. 
 
 modating one million and sixty-eight thousand persons. Thus 
 in nine years Congregationalism added one-third to the number 
 of its chapels. It may be supposed that the increase of worship- 
 pers was in the same proportion. 
 
 During the long reign of George III., the dissenters took a 
 conspicuous place in English literature. The names of Priestley 
 in science, of Dr. Aiken in polite literature, and of a host of 
 others on the current politics and polemic theology of the day, 
 were well known. But it seems to be a necessary consequence 
 that in churches unendowed, the impoverishment of literature 
 amongst the clergy should be in proportion to their increase of 
 zeal and piety. The duties of the ministry properly discharged 
 so occupy the time and thoughts, that except it be on questions 
 of immediate interest, leisure is seldom found for the employment 
 of the pen. At the present time the literature of dissent in 
 England is chiefly displayed in criticism, and in the production 
 of memoirs or historical sketches and reviews, which aim at 
 nothing beyond an immediate sale and general usefulness. The 
 "Eclectic" and the "British Quarterly" Reviews, the literary 
 organs of dissenters, sustain a high reputation beyond the circle 
 of their religious party. The general consent of all orthodox 
 divines has admitted the " Scripture Testimony to the Divinity of 
 the Messiah," by the late Dr. Pye Smith, into the first rank of 
 critical theology. Of living writers, of course we may not speak, 
 except it be to say that several of them are capable of higher 
 flights than they have yet attempted ; and that the great fault 
 of the literature of dissent at present is its exclusive character. 
 The ground which is common to all Christians is unoccupied, or 
 only made subservient to the promotion of their private views. 
 Nothing is wanted more than a generous spirit on their own part, 
 to introduce some living authors to a far wider circle of readers, 
 and a far wider influence, than as tlie mere exponents of dissent 
 they can ever hope to gain. 
 
 See Walker's History of the Independents. Works of John 
 Owen, D.D. Hetherington's History of the Westminster As- 
 sembly. Fletcher s History of the Rcvivid of Independency in 
 England. Hanburys Historical Memorials relating to the 
 Independents, 4 vols. Bogue and Bennett's History of Pro- 
 testant Dissenters, 2 vols. 
 
THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 25 
 
 TRELAND, Church of. — Christianity has existed in Ireland 
 -*- from a very early period. St. Patrick, its reputed apostle, is 
 supposed by Archbishop Ussher and others to have opened his 
 mission about the year 432. The island was then occupied by 
 colonists of different tribes, who probably spoke in various lan- 
 guages. And, if the accounts in which Irish historians love to 
 indulge of the civilization of the country at a period still more 
 remote be true, it was again relapsing into barbarism. A great 
 change was undoubtedly wrought by St. Patrick, and considerable 
 portions of the island embraced the faith. Beyond these simple 
 facts we have little to relate ; for the history of those times is 
 distorted by fable or buried in obscurity. According to Nennius, 
 who was abbot of Bangor in the seventh century, the name of 
 Patricius or Patrick was given to him by Pope Celestine, by whom 
 he was consecrated a bishop, and sent into Ireland. The form of 
 Christianity which he introduced was most probably that which 
 existed amongst the Picts and Britons. It embraced a few great 
 facts, and founded upon these a moral code, imperfect indeed 
 compared with the lofty standard of the New Testament, yet 
 incalculably superior to the usages of barbarous and heathen 
 tribes. 
 
 Centuries of darkness follow. The same causes which obscure 
 the history of the Church in England, almost obliterate that of 
 the sister country. Amidst frequent invasions of Danish pirates 
 and increasing warfare between its native princes, religion 
 decayed, and the native literature was lost. All that we seem to 
 know with certainty is this, that the original constitution of the 
 Church was episcopal. Indeed, in the earliest ages of its exist- 
 ence, its bishops are said to have exceeded three hundred ; but 
 many of these must have presided only over a cluster of hamlets, 
 or a small district, and their number was soon reduced. Still- in 
 the year 1152, four hundred years before the Keformation, they 
 assembled in a national synod to the number of thirty-four ; of 
 whom five were in the province of Dublin, ten in that of Armagh, 
 seven in Tuam, and eleven in Cashel. Many of these had dis- 
 appeared at the time of the Eeformation. 
 
 It is also sufficiently attested, that, whether St. Patrick received 
 his orders from Celestine or not, the pre-reformation Church of 
 
26 TUE CHUllCU OF IRELAND. 
 
 Ireland maintained itself independent of the Clnncli of Rome, at 
 least till the middle of the twelfth century. The archbishops of 
 Armagh were in spiritual things supreme, creating archbishops 
 and erecting bishoprics without consulting the pope. The vacant 
 bishoprics were filled by candidates chosen by the clergy or laity 
 of the diocese, or by the influence or nomination of the civil 
 power, still with the approbation of the clergy and ijeojjle. Some 
 parts of the Island, peopled by colonies from the North of 
 Europe, regarded the Engli.sh Normans as their countrymen, 
 and sent their bishops to be consecrated by the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury ; but in every case, both appointments and consecra- 
 tions were independent of the papal see. 
 
 The submission of the Irish Church to Rome was voluntary, 
 although the motives which led to the step are uncertain. Ma- 
 lachy O'Morgair, Ai'chbishop of Armagh, dissatisfied upon some 
 account or other, resigned his post in 1137, and retired to the 
 suffi-agan bishopric of Down. The question of the celibacy of 
 the clergy had long agitated the whole of Christendom, and 
 Rome now promoted to the utmost those views which she soon 
 afterwards rigidly enforced. It is probable thut O'Morgair 
 wished to assimilate the usages of his native church to those of 
 Rome, on this as well as some other points. He made a journey 
 to Rome, and solicited from Pope Innocent II. the pallium or 
 pall, an ensign of dignity which the pope had begun to confer on 
 archbishops, for the see of Armagh, as well as for that of Cashel, 
 which had just been erected into a metropolitan church. He 
 was received with courtesy, and sent back as the pope's legate in 
 Ireland. But, with regard to the palls, he was informed that a 
 matter of so much importance must be conducted with great 
 deliberation, and he was advised to call together, in his new 
 capacity, a synod of his countrymen, at whose request alone the 
 favour could be granted. O'Morgair obeyed his instructions with 
 the zeal of a new proselyte, and in the year 1148, at a synod 
 assembled at Hohn-Patrick, fifteen bishops, two hundred priests 
 and a considerable number of the inferior clergy are said to have 
 joined in soliciting the pope for these badges of their own 
 dependence. Eugenius III. now filled the papal chair, and to 
 him the petition was addressed, and O'Morgair at his own 
 request was deputed to convey it. The legate died upon his 
 journey ; but the opportunity for papal interposition was not 
 
THE CHURCH OP IRELAND. 27 
 
 lost, nor were the proceedings delayed. John Paparo, a cardinal, 
 was appointed apostolic legate from the pope in Ireland. He 
 arrived in 1152 with four palls, which he was commanded to 
 confer on the Archbishops of Dublin, Armagh, Casliel, and Tuam. 
 On his arrival he convened a national synod at Kells. Some of 
 the clergy refused to sanction the council by their presence ; but 
 the majority of the bishops obeyed the mandate, and conferred 
 the pall on each of the four archbishops, recognizing Gelatius 
 Archbishop of Armagh, in accordance with ancient usage, as the 
 Primate of all Ireland. 
 
 The Irish Church followed the downward course of Christen- 
 dom. But it does not appear that papal interference extended 
 further than to bestow the pall, as sees fell vacant, for half a 
 century. In 1172, Henry II. completed the conquest of Ireland, 
 and in 1175 he exercised his power by giving the bishopric ot 
 Waterford to an Irishman named Augustine, whom he sent to 
 the Archbishop of Cashel for consecration. In 1202, John had 
 succeeded to the throne, and he plunged into one of those fruit- 
 less controversies with the papacy, a recurrence of which embit- 
 tered and disgraced his whole life. The archbishopric of 
 Armagh being vacant, there were several competitors. The 
 king decided in favour of Humphrey de Tickhull, while the pope 
 declared in favour of another candidate, Eugene MacGillivider. 
 The king incensed sent mandatory letters to all the suffragan 
 bishops of that province, forbidding them to acknowledge Eugene 
 for their metropolitan ; and circulated duplicates among all his 
 faithful subjects of the province, imposing on them the like pro- 
 hibitions. But the king's archbishop died, and he immediately 
 confirmed the election of a third candidate, while MacGillivider 
 hastened to Rome, and procured a formal ratification of his claim. 
 On his return, the king was bribed by three hundred marks of 
 silver, and three marks of gold, and was thus induced to acquiesce 
 in the pope's pretensions. This is the first instance in which an 
 archbishop of Armagh received his appointment from Eome. 
 
 In obedience to her usual policy, the advantage thus gained 
 was turned by the papal court to the best account. The appoint- 
 ments in Ireland were often disputed. It was seldom that the 
 sovereign, the people, and the clergy could agree. If the chapter, 
 or cathedral body, elected without the king's license, or conge 
 iVcllre, he annulled the act, and commanded them to proceed to 
 
28 THE CHUPvCII OF IKKLAND. 
 
 a new election. If he named the pitrson to be chosen, the 
 chapter, supported by the sufifrages of the people, elected some 
 one else. The pope was ever on the watch for these quarrels, 
 which he generally set at rest by placing a creature of his own 
 in the vacant see, out of the plenitude of his apostolic power, and 
 in equal contempt for the rights of both of the contending parties. 
 At first he professed to control only the spiritualities of the 
 sees he thus disposed of, leaving the temporal concerns entirely 
 to the crown ; but occasions presented themselves when the 
 embarrassments of the sovereign invited further aggression, and 
 the papal court began to hold at its disjaosal both the spiritual 
 and the civil rights of the Irish prelates. In short, the encroach- 
 ments which were resisted successfully in England, Avere tamely 
 submitted to in the sister country. Thus, in 1 258, when Henry 
 III. was at war with his barons, Pope Alexander IV. commanded 
 him to restore forthwith the temporalities of the archbishopric 
 of Armagh, which he had conferred on O'Conellan, the arch- 
 bishop, and which Henry had on some account withhtW ; and 
 the king was obliged to consent. This contest was carried on with 
 various success till the Reformation. The Irish bishops were 
 obliged by the sovereign to receive consecration in England, and 
 they were then compelbd to renounce in person any claims pre- 
 judicial to the crow^n contained in the pope's bulls. In 1306, 
 Edward II. withheld the temporalities from Walter, Archbishop 
 of Armagh, until he had renounced the secular rights conferred 
 upon him by the pope, and paid a fine of five thousand crowns 
 for the misdemeanour. Success in this dispute depended on the 
 vigour of the sovereign, on the one side, and on the cunning and 
 pertinacity of the pope, on the other. One device of the papal 
 see was to affect that a flaw existed in the title, owing to some 
 informality in the election, or to other causes. The candidate, 
 wearied with delay, was induced to resign his pretensions and 
 then to receive his bishopric back again by donation from the 
 pope. This occurred in the case of William de Birmingham, 
 elected Archbishop of Tuam in 1289, who on his resignation of 
 his lawful claim was reappointed by the pope. 
 
 In other respects the influence of the papal see was prejudi- 
 cially felt in Ireland. First, in 1229, a tenth of all the moveables 
 was demanded to assist the pope in his war against the emperor. 
 In 1240, P«)i)e Gregory demanded further, under pain of ( xcom- 
 
THE CHURCH of Ireland. 29 
 
 munication and other censures, a twentieth part of the whole 
 land. In 1270, a nuncio was sent to claim the tithes of all 
 spiritual preferments for three years to come. The power of 
 Rome was now at its height ; a fact in proof of which two curious 
 instances are related. In 1329, the pope sent over a commission 
 to the Dean of St. Patrick's, by which he was authorized to hear 
 the Archbishop of Dublin's confession of certain crimes, at his 
 own request ; and the dean was empowered to remit all the sins 
 which might be confessed by the archbishop, except contempt of 
 the papal authority. And in \S94i, Pope Boniface IX., to make 
 room for a favourite of his own, degraded William O'Cormacain, 
 against his will, from the archbishopric of Tuam and removed 
 him to the bishopric of Clonfert. Thus presuming to do, as an 
 Irish historian remarks, what the king could not do ; namely, 
 to deprive a man of his freehold without the judgment of his 
 peers. 
 
 The example of the papal see at length infected the Irish 
 clergy, and more especially those of rank and station. The two 
 centuries before the Reformation were spent in an unceasing effort 
 on their part to get rid of the supremacy of the English crown. 
 We should be disposed to regard their conduct with more com- 
 plaisance had they not showm, at the same time, a spiilt, of 
 abject prostration to the pope. It was not a struggle for the 
 indej)endence of the Irish Church, but merely for the transfer of 
 its allegiance from one master to another. Ireland was certainly 
 governed at this time with a lenient hand ; for had the same 
 offences been committed in England by rebellious prelates, they 
 would have been rewarded with imprisonment for life, or the 
 more speedy justice of the halter. Thus, besides repeated efforts, 
 made by the bishops in a body, to prevent their tenants from 
 suing in the king's court without a license from the pope, the 
 Bishop of Down claimed the right of pardoning felons ; the Arch- 
 bishop of Armagh seized the revenues of Dromore, the see being 
 vacant; and soon afterwards, in 1291, openly placed himself at 
 the head of a treasonable association. This confederacy included 
 the three other archbishops, all the suffragan bishops, all the 
 deans and chapters, and the other orders of the clergy, who 
 bound themselves, not only under their hands and seals, but by 
 the sanction of an oath, to the following articles. They swore, first, 
 " that if they, or any of tiiem, their churches, rights, jurisdictions, 
 
30 'J'lIE CllUrvOlI OF IRELAND. 
 
 liberties, or customs, should, by any lay power or jurisdiction 
 whatever, be impeded, resisted, or grieved, they would at their 
 common expense, in proportion to their respective incomes, 
 support, maintain, and defend each other, in all courts, and before 
 all judges, either ecclesiastical or secular." Secondly, " that if 
 any of their messengers, proctors, or the executors of their orders, 
 should suffer any loss or damage in the execution of their 
 business, by any lay power or jurisdiction, they would amply 
 and without delay, make up to them all such losses and 
 damages, according to a rateable proportion of their revenues." 
 Other articles of the agreement pledged them to mutual co- 
 operation ; others enforced sentences of excommunication ; so 
 that, if a person excommunicated in one diocese, should flee to 
 another, the place where he continued should be put under an 
 interdict ; and they further laid every archbishop and bishop, 
 who should be negligent in executing the agreement, under a 
 penalty, respectively, of five hundred marks, and two hundred 
 pounds to the pope. This agreement was executed in the 
 Dominican convent at Trim, the Sunday after St. Matthew's 
 day, and needs no comment. 
 
 The behaviour of the prelates, and their factious quarrels, not 
 unaccompanied with frequent violence,bears a painful testimony to 
 the wretched state of religion about this period. A controversy 
 existed for three or four centuries between the archbishops of 
 Armagh and Dublin as to the right of either to bear his cross 
 erect in the province of the other. The contest was carried on 
 by force and fraud ; sometimes the obnoxious cross was earned 
 off' by stealth ; more frequently the retainers of the offended 
 prelate fell upon the bearers and blood was shed. The contro- 
 versy was still raging when the Reformation put an end to it. 
 A contention arose between the prelates of Waterford and 
 Lismore about certain lands to which each of them laid claim ; 
 the question was referred to delegates appointed by the pope, 
 who gave their decision in favour of the Bishop of Lismore. 
 His episcopal rival formed a plot, with some of his dependents ; 
 seized him in his own cathedral during divine worship, tore off 
 his episcopal robes, besides plundering the church, hun-ied him 
 from place to place, and at length imprisoned him in irons in the 
 castle of Dungarvan. He contrived to escape after seven weeks' 
 confinement, having suffered cruelly, when he was again surprised 
 
THE CPIURCIi OF IRELAND. 31 
 
 by one of the clergy of the diocese of Waterford, who drew his 
 sword and attempted to cut off his head. In 1353, a strange 
 contest arose betwen the Archbishop of Cashel and his suffragan 
 the Bishop of Waterford. The latter, without the license of his 
 Metropolitan, had committed two heretics to the flames. The 
 archbishop took his revenge, came at midnight with a numerous 
 body of men well armed, attacked the bishop in his apartments, 
 robbed him,' and retired, leaving him severely wounded. A few 
 years afterwards, viz. 1369, matters were reversed, and now a 
 Bishop of Limerick fell upon an Archbishop of Cashel. The 
 former being cited upon the charge of violating certain privileges 
 of the Franciscan friars, assaulted his Metropolitan, tore the 
 citation from his hands with such force that he drew his blood, 
 and threatened him and his attendants with further violence 
 iwaless they instantly retreated. The archbishop fled from 
 Limerick, and ihe bishop in his pontifical robes publicly ex- 
 communicated by bell, book, and candle, every citizen who had 
 given him entertainment. The archbishop returning afterwards, 
 to preach at Limerick, according to custom on a stated solemnity, 
 the bishop, by proclamation, threatened with excommunication 
 all who should hear the sermon, and did in fact proceed to 
 excommunicate those who heard it. When the archbishop left 
 the city the bishop sent his followers after him, who tore the 
 bridle from his horse and otherwise insulted him. 
 
 The character of the inferior clergy was of course like that of 
 their superiors. In the year 1307 the prior of New Town was 
 accused of murdering one of his own canons and of assisting his 
 brother in the murder of another. He evaded justice by tlie 
 plea that he was a clerk, and not amenable to the civil courts — 
 a plea, however, which, at that period, would have effectually 
 secured him, even if the crime had been committed in England, 
 or indeed in any part of western Christendom. In 1390, the 
 king having issued Letters Patent to inquire into certain ex- 
 tortions and offences in the Cistertian Abbey of Dunbrody, the 
 royal commissioner on his arrival was assaulted with violence by 
 the abbot, his monks, and their associates. They seized and 
 destroyed the king's letters, and imprisoned the commissioner 
 until they had extorted an oath that he v/ould not prosecute any 
 of the persons concerned in the transaction. At a much later 
 period, in 1529, the clergy of Lirnerick were again aroused to 
 
32 THE CIIUKCH OF IRELAND. 
 
 violence. The occasion of the tumult wiis a canon, enucted in 
 the joroviucial synod, giving authority to the mayor of Limerick 
 to imprison clerks in orders until their debts were paid, without 
 the risk of excommunication. A more expressive comment on 
 the low condition of the lri.sh Church at the time just preceding 
 the Reformation is not wanted. 
 
 In other respects the morals of the clergy were at the lowest 
 ebb. Celibacy was introduced in the twelfth century, and from 
 that date the clergy rapidly degenerated. Incontinence has 
 never been the vice of the Irish character. The Irish clergy have 
 been the only exception. It were needless, says Bishop Mant, 
 in his History of the Church of Ireland, as it is revolting, to 
 dwell on individual examples of this profligacy : its extensive 
 prevalence appears even amongst the municipal regulations of 
 the town of Galway, and we refer the reader to his pages for an 
 extract from the records of that city, which jDaiufully confirms 
 the charge. John Bale, the first Protestant bishop of Ossory, 
 relates that, when he arrived in Ireland, it was esteemed an 
 honour to be the illegitimate offspring of a priest. In 1537, the 
 grand jury of Clonmel charged several of the regular priests 
 before the king's commissioners, for living in adultery. And 
 in the Irish Statute Book there is an Act (11 Elizabeth, chapter 
 6, anno 1569) to put an end to " the great abuse of the clergy 
 of Munster and Connaught, in admitting unworthy persons to 
 ecclesiastical dignities, which had not lawfulness of birth ; but 
 were descended from unchaste and unmarried abbots, priors, 
 deans, chapters, and such like ; getting into the said dignities 
 either with force, simony, friendship, or other corrupt means, to 
 the great overthrow of God's holy Church, and the evil example 
 of all honest congregations. " 
 
 The intellectual condition of the clergy was on a level with 
 their morals. The seculars were not able to Siiy mass, or even to 
 pronounce the Avords in the Latin tongue. A college existed at 
 Armagh where a few of the higher clergy received theii- education ; 
 and an attempt had been made to found a university in Dublin. 
 A bull was obtained from Clement the Fifth by the archbishop 
 for that purpose in the year 1311, but his death occurred soon after, 
 and the project failed. It was revived by his successor in 1320 ; 
 and a divinity lecture was founded by King Etlward the Third ; 
 but from the want of sufficient endowments, and the poverty oi 
 
THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 33 
 
 the country, the college fell into decay and had ceased to exist in 
 the time of Henry the Eighth. Monastic institutions however 
 abounded, and feebly supplied the place of colleges and schools. 
 The number of monks was almost incredible. They are said at 
 one time to have equalled all the other inhabitants of the kingdom. 
 Archdall, in his " Monasticon Hibernicum," gives an account of 
 about eleven hundred religious houses ; to which Grose, in his 
 " Irish Antiquities," adds three hundred more. Many of these 
 were very obscure, and had gradually perished. The number 
 suppressed at the Reformation did not exceed five hundred. 
 Compared with the magnificent abbeys of England these institu- 
 tions were poor ; yet fourteen abbots and ten priors sat amongst 
 the Lords of the Irish Parliament. 
 
 The finest qualities of the Irish character, its susceptibility to 
 religious impressions, together with the absence of that cunning 
 which teaches men to suspect deceit in others, laid it open to the 
 artifices of a designing priesthood. In consequence, superstition 
 has made Ireland her chosen home. Legends and miracles, the 
 most extravagant, adorn, or disfigure, almost every well and 
 river, and glade and mountain-side. Of these traditions some 
 have at least poetical beauty to commend them, others are desti- 
 tute even of this redeeming feature. Of the former class is the 
 story of Saint Nessan who dwelt in Ireland's Eye, or Saint 
 Nessan's Island, where he gave himself to prayer and fasting. 
 In this place the evil spirit appeared to him in the form of a very 
 black man : the saint pursued him, holding a bunch of hyssop 
 full of holy water, and the tempter fled out upon the sea. Nissan 
 followed, walking safely on the waters, overtook his adversary, 
 and chased him to a cavern in the Hill of Howth, at the mouth 
 of which may still be seen his image in tho, native rock. In his 
 pursuit the saint lost his coj)y of the Gospels in the deep : it was 
 found long afterwards, without a stain, by some fisherman ; and 
 for ages Saint Nessan's Gospel was held in such reverence that 
 no false witness would venture to make oath upon it ; foi- the per- 
 jurer fell instantly before the Divine vengeance. No Church was 
 more rich in relics. A catalogue of those of the cathedral of 
 Christ Church, Dublin, has been preserved in the library of Trinity 
 College. It is a singular proof of ignorance and credulity. 
 Besides the bones of innumerable saints, there was an image of 
 the Saviour which had spoken twice; his staff, conferred by au 
 
 VOL. 11. D 
 
34 THE CUUKCH OF lEELAND. 
 
 angel on St. Patrick ; a thorn from the crown ; the cloak in 
 which he lay in the manger : also the girdle of the Virgin, and 
 some of her milk ; the stone upon which the law was given to 
 Moses ; parts of the selpulchre of Lazarus, and of that of the 
 Virgin Mary ; and, lastly, the stone altar of St. Patrick, on which 
 a leper had been miraculously transported from Ireland to the 
 Welsh coast. In England, penances were comparatively rare ; a 
 pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas of Canterbury always 
 savoured of making holiday ; but in Ireland penances were at 
 once severe and general. These we need not describe, because 
 they are practised to this day, and kno^^^l to every reader. 
 The tens of thousands of both sexes who crawl, bare-legged and 
 bleeding, around Saint Patrick's purgatory, on the Island of 
 Lough Dourg, represent the tens of thousands who performed the 
 same penances upon the same spot long before the Reformation 
 dawned. Lough Dourg indeed had already gained its scandalous 
 notoriety ; and the pilgrims who had lacerated themselves by 
 day, consoled themselves by debaucheries at night. Pope 
 Alexander the Sixth, in 1497, commanded the destruction of the 
 " station ;" but the interest of the priests, who throve upon the 
 sufferings of the deluded people, was stronger than the Papal 
 arm ; and Lough Dourg exhibits in the nineteenth century, 
 fanatical superstitions scarcely to be equalled in any, at least, of 
 the Transalpine dependencies of Rome. 
 
 We now take our leave of the Church of Rome in Ireland to 
 trace the progress of the Reformation, and the fortunes of the 
 Protestant Church, as it was by law established. 
 
 Tlie first step was taken in 1537, when Henry the Eighth asserted 
 his supremacy. The consequences of this claim were at once 
 perceived, and the adherents of the Papal Church determined to 
 resist it. They were led by Cromar, Archbishop of Armagh, a 
 prolate of gravity, learning, and popular manners. He had lately 
 held the high office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland ; his influence 
 was great ; and he made use of it with success amongst the 
 suffragan bishops and inferior clergy ; urging them to support the 
 pope's supremacy in despite of the pretensions of the king. Such 
 contumacy Henry would not have endured in England from the 
 proudest of his prelates. But, either indifferent or afraid, he 
 temporized in Ireland. Cromar, though primate of all Ireland, 
 wa.s permitted to ret;iin his post, nnd tlius tlie Refonnntion was 
 
TPIE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 35 
 
 crippled from its birth. The first Protestant archbish(^p was 
 George Brown, promoted to the metropoHtan see of Dublin in 
 1535. A man of learning and piety, educated at Oxford, and 
 formerly president, or provincial, of the order of Augustine 
 Friars in England. He had been for some time known as a 
 student of Luther's writings and a friend of the Reformation ; he 
 had even taught his Augustine monks to forsake the worship of 
 the Virgin, and address their prayers to Christ alone. He was con- 
 secrated by Cranmer, now Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by 
 Shaxton and Fisher, Bishops of Salisbury and Rochester ; and a 
 commission was issued, about the same time, to confer with the 
 government in Ireland for the removal of the pope's authority. 
 Bills were introduced into the Irish parliament declaring the 
 king's supremacy over the Church in Ireland, and taking away 
 the authority of the bishop of Rome. They were strongly 
 opposed, particularly in the upper house ; but through the 
 influence of the archbishop were passed. The first fruits, by 
 another act, were given to the king. Thirteen religious houses 
 were suppressed ; the twentieth of the profits of all spiritual pro- 
 motions was ordered to be paid yearly to the king for ever ; and 
 the payment of Peter-pence or other fees to the bishop of Rome 
 was forbidden. Another act was passed of which the effect has 
 been unfortunate. It forbade spiritual promotion's '•' only to such 
 as could speak English," unless after four proclamations in the 
 next market-town such could not be had ; and an oath was to be 
 administered to every j^erson in orders, that he would endeavour 
 to learn the English tongue, and speak the same to all under his 
 care, and preach the word of God in English, if a preacher. The 
 statute was no doubt well meant ; but its fruits have been dis- 
 astrous. It was hoped that the native Irish, forgetting their 
 mother-tongue, would forsake its superstitions. But the result 
 has been, that the reformed clergy have always been regarded as 
 aliens, and the national Church a foreign institution. 
 
 The Protestant Archbishop of Dublin appears to have entered 
 upon his arduous duties in a temper at once sincere and 
 moderate. But his success was slow ; and in 1537 an angry lettei 
 was addressed to him by Henry's command^ in which he was 
 threatened with the king's displeasure on account of the tardy 
 progress of the Reformation. The fault lay chiefly with the 
 king himself. Cromar, the primate, was at the head of the 
 
 d2 
 
3() THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 
 
 Popish party, and if he did not openly defy the king's autliority, 
 he secretly countermined it. The Archbishop of Dublin attempted 
 to remove the images ami relics from his cathedral. The Arch- 
 bishop of Tuam protested against the sacrilege, and sought 
 assistance from the Pope. Backed by such authority, the prior 
 of the cathedral, and the Dean of St. Patrick, were encouraged to 
 resist their own diocesan. From a letter addressed by the Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin to Lord Cromwell, dated January 8th, 1538, 
 and preserved at Lambeth, it is evident that the Reformation was 
 already blighted in the bud. He complains that while, upon the 
 one hand, he was insulted and imprisoned by the Lord Deputy, 
 as a man who had fallen beneath the king's displeasure, he was 
 left, on the other, to fight the battle of the Reformation single 
 handed. The clergy were utterly refractory ; not one of them 
 could he induce "either to preach the word of God, or to own 
 the just title of our most illustrious prince." They would not 
 even remove the name of the bishop of Rome out of the mass- 
 books ; while a general pardon for disobedience to the king from 
 the pope of Rome was publicly received. " George, my brother 
 of Armagh," he says in a subsequent letter, " doth underhand 
 occasion quarrels ; and is not active to execute his Highness 's 
 orders in his diocese." The pope issued his bull of excommunica- 
 tion against all heretics ; and especially such as denied supremacy 
 to him and his successors in all thing?, spiritual as well as 
 temporal. A rebellion instantly broke out, headed by O'Neal, a 
 Papist, which was defeated with much bloodshed. The Lord 
 Deputy himself was a favourer of image worship. A commission 
 was at last issued from London at the archbisliop's request, and 
 a visitation was made in some parts of Ireland. Li the presence 
 of the commissioners two archbishops and eight bishojDS took the 
 oath of supremacy. The dissolution of the monasteries now pro- 
 ceeded ; that of the Holy Trinity in Dublin was converted into a 
 dean and chapter, and is since known as the cathedral of Christ 
 Church. In 1536, three hundred and seventy religious houses 
 were suppressed, of the yearly value of 32,000/. Their chattels 
 were rated at 100,000/. These comprehended all the monastic 
 establishments of importance, although a few still remained which 
 were suppressed afterwards. Their value, in so poor a country, 
 was considerable. In England the Ciiurch was possessed at the 
 Reformation, of at least one-third of the whole property of the 
 
THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 37 
 
 kingdom. It seems probable that in Ireland the proportion was 
 at least as great ; and yet the people remained in a state of utter 
 barbarism. Their clergy were illiterate ; " many of them know- 
 ing," as the Archbishop of Dublin says in one of his letters, " no 
 more Latin than might be taught to a bird," and repeating a 
 service the words of which they pronounced with dif3Sculty. It is 
 impossible to avoid the conclusion that the religious houses were the 
 receptacles of sloth, and if so, beyond a doubt of vice and disorder. 
 Under Edward the Sixth the Reformation made some progress. 
 Protestant bishops were appointed in 1550 to five vacant sees, 
 as well as to the archbishopric of Armagh. The English Bible 
 and liturgy were introduced in 1551. A Bible and liturgy in 
 the Irish tongue might have saved Ii-eland from three hundred 
 years of disgrace and wretchedness. But in that age of sagacious 
 statesmen and dauntless reformers, the importance of the 
 measure was not felt. Bishop Burnet says that no attempt was 
 made to introduce the Bible or the Prayer-book in the Irish 
 language. The diligent research of Bishop Mant has discovered 
 that this is not strictly true. Some steps were taken with a view 
 to the translation of the liturgy, but nothing was effected. 
 Turner, being nominated by the king, was urged by Cranmer to 
 fill the see of Armagh. He showed the utmost repugnance 
 to accept it ; if he went thither, he said, he must preach to 
 stone walls and empty benches ; for the people understood no 
 English. Cranmer urged him to learn the Irish tongue ; wisely 
 adding that both his person And his doctrine would be more 
 acceptable, not only to his diocese, but through the whole of 
 Ireland ; but Turner was resolute in his refusal, and the vacant 
 see was given to Hugh Goodacre, the fifth person to whom it 
 had been offered. So reluctant were the English clergy to enter 
 upon this missionary work. Of the new bishops, Bale of Ossory 
 seems to have possessed in a high degree all the qualifications, 
 except a knowledge of the Irish language, for his arduous 
 post. Divine worship was performed for the first time in the 
 cathedral church of Dublin, according to the English liturgy, on 
 Easter-day, 1551, before the viceroy and the civic authorities. 
 Dowdall, now Archbishop of Armagh, like his pi-edecessor, was 
 opposed to the Reformation. He was either deprived, or retiring 
 in disgust a voluntary exile, the primacy was conferred on the 
 Archbishop of Dubhn. 
 
38 THE (JllURCll OF 11[ELA^'D. 
 
 King Edward died, the Reformation was again suspended, 
 and popery was at once restored. Mary issued a commission in 
 April 1 oo-i to Dowdall, now again Archbishop of Armagh, whom 
 she had also reinstated in the primacy, and other delegates, for 
 restoring the ancient faith, and punishing those clergymen who 
 had been guilty of violating the law of celibacy by marriage. 
 The Archbishop of Dublin, and the other Protestant bishops, 
 were deprived ; most of them fled ; Bale was surrounded in his 
 house by a rabble led by the popish priests ; five of his servants 
 were killed before his face, and his own life was saved by the 
 opportune arrival of a military force. After many perils he 
 reached Basle, which was then filled with Engli.sh fugitives, and 
 ho remained there till the death of Mary. He is one of the 
 seven prelates named in the warrant for the consecration of 
 Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1559, after the accession of 
 Elizabeth ; but he was not restored to his Irish diocese, and 
 died a prebend of Canterbury. Probably advancing years 
 indisposed him to return to the scene of his former labours. No 
 Pi otestants were burnt in Ireland, but a commission is said to 
 have been issued for that purpose, when the death of Mary, 
 liappily for the world, occurred, and prevented its execution. 
 Archbishop Ussher and others, relate, that Dr. Cole, a furious 
 papist, was entrusted with this commission, and had arrived at 
 Chester on his way to Ireland with it. Here his vanity led him 
 to boast, in the hearing of his hostess, that he carried that in his 
 bag which would lash the Protestants of Ireland. The woman 
 was a Protestant, having a brother a citizen of Dublin ; much 
 troubled at the doctor's words, she watched her oppoitunity to 
 open the box and take the commission out of it, placing in 
 lieu thereof a sheet of paper with a pack of cards, and the knave 
 of clubs placed uppermost. Cole anived in Dublin on the 7th 
 of October, 1558, and immediately waited on Lord Fit^Walter, 
 the Lord Deputy, and the Privy Council. Here he fii'st dis- 
 covered his loss, l)ut not till he had made a speech and presented 
 the box in which the commission had been enclosed. The Lord 
 Lieutenant seems to have enjoyed the embarrassment of the 
 Queen's messenger, being probably averse to the fanatical mea- 
 suie. " Let us have another commission," he said, " and we 
 will shuftlo the cards in the meanwhile." " The doctor, being 
 troubled in lii.s nund, went his way and retmncd into England, 
 
THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 39 
 
 and coming to the court obtained another commission; but 
 staying for the wind at the water-side, news came to him that 
 the Queen Mary was dead." 
 
 Nearly a year passed after the accession of Elizabeth before 
 any measures were taken to complete the reformation of the 
 Irish Church. In January, 1560, an act was passed in the Irish 
 parliament which restored the supremacy to the Crown in things 
 spiritual, and by a second act the Prayer-book, as revised in 
 1559, was legally enforced. The second Prayer-book of King 
 Edward had not been introduced, and it deserves to be remarked 
 that, while in England the penalty for nonconformity was 
 excommunication, in Ireland the punishment was deprivation 
 and imprisonment, in the case of the clergy, — in that of the laity 
 liue and imprisonment, according to the number of offences. It 
 seems as if the court were unwilling to enforce the dreaded 
 sentence of excommunication amongst a superstitious and 
 irascible people. Another concession, far less excusable, was 
 made by the Irish parliament. On the plea that ministers who 
 could officiate in English were not to be found, and that the 
 service could not be conducted in the native language, " as well 
 for difficulty to get it printed as that few in the whole realm 
 could read the Irish letters," (which resemble the Anglo-Saxon 
 characters; it was therefore allowed " to say and use the Matins, 
 even song, celebration of the Lord's Supper, and administration 
 of each of the Sacraments, and all the common prayer, in the 
 Latin tongue, in such form and order as is set forth in the said 
 book established by this act." Nothing could more forcibly 
 express the heartlessness of those to whom the reformation of 
 the Irish Church was entrusted. Edward the Sixth's instructions 
 were, that the liturgy should be used in the Irish tongue " in 
 places where it was needed." No pains, it seems, had been 
 taken either to j^rint an Irish Prayer-book or to instruct a native 
 clergy in the vernacular tongue. Of Latin they were at least 
 as ignorant, and the permission to read the Protestant Prayer- 
 book in the Latin language was a shameless concession to 
 popery. By other acts of the parliament in Dublin, the 
 twentieth, and the first-fruits, were restored to the Crown, the 
 mass abolished, popish ceremonies forbidden, and the right of 
 conferring bishoprics vested in the Crown without election of 
 deans and chapters, or the issue of a writ of conge d'elire. 
 
40 THE CUURCII OF IRELAND. 
 
 Adam Loftus wa.s appointed to the primacy in 1563, and the 
 care of the infant cause of Protestantism in its most delicate 
 and sickly form, was committed to an inexperienced head, fresh 
 from Cambridge, of whom histoiians are not agreed whether he 
 was in the eight- and-twentieth or thirtieth year of his age. 
 He was one of Elizabeth's favourites, of an ancient family and 
 a graceful person, and skilled in disputation, and she permitted 
 him to hold the deanery of St. Patrick in commendam. The 
 archbishopric, it apj^ears, at this time, in common with all the 
 bishoprics in Ireland, had been greatly impoverished by the 
 frauds of previous occupanta From various returns made in the 
 reign of Elizabeth it seems that, whilst all of them were poor, to 
 some nothing whatever had been left. 
 
 In 1566 a synod was held in Dublin, consistinqr f^f the arch- 
 bishops, bishops, and others, her Majesty's high commissioners, 
 for causes ecclesiastical for the same realm, which issued a book 
 of articles. They have been long since superseded and are 
 scarcely known. They are twelve in number, evidently drawn 
 up by those who took the articles of the Church of England for 
 their guide. They display the same moderation, and some- 
 times adopt the same expressions. The first and second articles 
 assert the doctrine of the Trinity, the sufficiency of Holy Scrip- 
 ture, and the truth of the three creeds. The third, upon the 
 authority of the Church, is as follows : " I acknowledge, also, the 
 Church to be the spouse of Christ, wherein the word of God is 
 truly taught, the sacraments orderly ministered according to 
 Christ's institution, and the authority of the keys duly used. 
 And that every such particular Church hath authority to 
 institute, to change, to clean put away ceremonies, and other 
 ecclesiastical rites, as they take to be superfluous, or be abused, 
 and to constitute other, making more to scemliness, to order, or 
 to edification." The sixth article on the papacy simply declares, 
 " the authority of the bishop of Rome to be no more than that of 
 other bishops in their respective dioce.ses." His holiness made 
 but an indifferent return for this forbearance in excommunicating 
 the queen, and stirring up a fierce and bloody rebellion in 
 Ireland. 
 
 The condition of the country was deplorable. It was not 
 immorality and iiTcligion that prevailed, but heathenism and the 
 habits of savage life. The viceroy reported in 1565 that even 
 
THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 41 
 
 the Pale, a part of Ireland so called, which had long been 
 tenanted by Scotch and English colonists, was overrun with 
 robbers and soldiers of fortune, who lived upon the people. 
 Leinster was harassed by the factions of the O'Tooles, Cavanaghs^ 
 O'Moores, and others ; and Kilkenny was almost desolate from 
 similar causes. Munster was ruined by the fights and quarrels 
 of the Earls of Desmond and Orrnond; and the barony of 
 Ormond was overrun by Pierce Grace, an adventurer. Thomond 
 was desolated by the wars between Sir Daniel O'Brien and the 
 Earl of Thomond. Connaught was almost wasted by the feuds 
 between the Earls of Clanricarde and Outer ; to say nothing of 
 lesser contests between other chiefs. Ulster, which for some 
 time had been the magazine of all the plunder of the other 
 provinces, and so was richer than the rest, was in open rebellion 
 under Shane O'Neill, supported by the papists. They had sent 
 the brother of the Earl of Desmond, with two of their titular 
 bishops, Cashel and Emly, to the pope and to the King of Spain, 
 to solicit assistance, and to rescue their church and country from 
 the hands of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 From a letter addressed to Elizabeth in 1575, by the lord- 
 lieutenant Sir Henry Sidney, these general statements receive a 
 distressing confirmation. He reports that in the bishopric of 
 Meath, the most populous part of the country, there were two 
 hundred and twenty-four parish churches. Of these, one hundred 
 and five were impropriated, leased out for years, or held in fee- 
 farm ; no parson or vicar being resident on any one of them, 
 " and a very simple or sorry curate, for the most part, appointed 
 to serve them ; among which number of curates only eighteen 
 were found able to speak English ; the rest Irish priests, or rather 
 Irish rogues, having very little Latin, less learning or civility." 
 The faithful deputy proceeds to tell her Majesty, that such being 
 the condition of the best-peopled diocese, and the best-governed 
 county in the realm,'^she may easily conjecture the condition of 
 the rest. " Your Majesty may believe it, that upon the face of 
 the earth there is not a Church in so miserable a case." He 
 does not hesitate to blame the queen herself for something of 
 this misery, " which consisteth," he says, " in these particulars ; 
 the ruin of the very temples themselves, the want of good 
 ministers to serve in them, when they shall be re-edified, and 
 competent living for the ministers, being well chosen." Sir 
 
42 THE UllUKCII OF IRELAND. 
 
 Henry Sidney writes like a statesman, and a wise and zealous 
 reformer. Would that Elizabeth had listened to his coun.sels ! 
 The dilapidation of the churches might easily be repaired if the 
 queen would restore the revenues she had seized, and compel 
 inferior delinquents to follow her example. Good ministers 
 might be found, if the stipends were restored, who could speak 
 in Irish ; for these men search should be made in the univer- 
 sities : " Let them be sent here, though somewhat to your high- 
 ness's charge, and, on the peril of my life, it shall be restored 
 again before three years be expired ;" or if the universities failed 
 her Majesty, " she might write to the regent of Scotland where 
 there were many honest, zealous, and learned men of the 
 Reformed Church that could speak this language." There were 
 many other enormities which ought to be remedied. " Cause 
 the bishops," he exclaims, " of that your realm of England, to 
 undertake this apostleship, and that on their own charges. They 
 be rich enough ; and if either they be thankful to your Majesty 
 for your immense bounty done to them, or zealous to increase 
 the Christian flock, they will not refuse this honourable and 
 religious travail ; and I will undertake their guidance and 
 guarding, honourably and safely, from place to place." But 
 other cares engaged the attention of Elizabeth and her privy 
 council ; even the wise Burleigh had few thoughts to spare upon 
 the ecclesiastical affairs of a remote and barbarous dependency. 
 The opportunity was lost, and the Reformation halted in its 
 progress. 
 
 During the remainder of the long reign of Elizabeth few 
 bright spots adorned the annals of the Irish Church. The foun- 
 dation of the University of Trinity College, Dublin, however, 
 deserves notice. It was opened for the admission of students, 
 the 9th of January 1593. Cecil, lord Burleigh, was its first 
 chancellor ; Loftus, archbishop of Dublin, the first provost ; and 
 amongst the first three scholars, is the distinguished name of 
 James Ussher, afterwards lord primate of Ireland. It has been 
 the singular good fortune of this institution to stand out in 
 brilliant contrast, the resort of letters and the abode of solid 
 learning, when all around presented one dismal void of al)ject 
 superstitions ; and, though its disadvantages are not few, it jnstly 
 claims a place amongst the great schools of Europe in the nine- 
 teenth century. It was originally endowed with the suppres.sed 
 
THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 43 
 
 abbey of Allhallows, of the yearly value of twenty pounds ; and 
 the charter empowered the provost and three fellows, of whom 
 the foundation originally consisted, to accept of lands or con- 
 tributions to the amount of four hundred pounds per annum. 
 The appoinment of Henry Ussher to the archbishopric of Armagh 
 in 1595, was also an occurrence of moment in the history of the 
 Irish Church. Through his influence and labours the new 
 University was founded and endowed ; and his name would 
 have descended as one of the greatest benefactors of the Pro- 
 testant cause in Ireland had it not been partially eclipsed by that 
 of his still more illustrious nephew. 
 
 James Ussher was scarcely in orders, when his piety, learning, 
 and eloquence secured for him the foremost place in the contro- 
 versy, then raging with great heat on both sides, between the 
 Jesuits in Ireland and the Protestant Church. In the year 1600 
 he was appointed to preach regularly before the court in Dublin ; 
 and though a mere youth, he gave lectures on the principles of 
 religion, and in opposition to the errors of popery, in the univer- 
 sity. The Court of High Commission had been established in 
 Ireland in 1593. Its method of promoting uniformity was the 
 same which it had enforced in London, only that papists were 
 treated with a degree of consideration unknown to English 
 Puritans. In 1590 an order was issued by the government, in 
 submission to its instructions, compelling the Papists to attend 
 Divine service in the parish churches, under a fine of twelve 
 pence. As a measure of policy it was not altogether inexcusable- 
 Ireland, always in rebellion, was looking for assistance from the 
 Spaniards, who landed soon after, and were beaten at Kinsale, 
 December 24, 1601. Had they succeeded, a massacre of tlie 
 Protestants was to have ensued. A compulsory attendance at 
 the parish church was a weekly muster of the disaffected. But 
 the Protestants of those days would have sought for no such 
 excuses. Strangely ignorant of human nature, they believed 
 that a compulsory attendance would end in a sound conversion. 
 The churches were crowded ; and the Papists, alarmed by their 
 defeat at Kinsale, and awed by the terrors of the High Commis- 
 sion, appeared to be diligent and punctual in their attendance. 
 But Lord Mountjoy succeeded the Earl of Essex as lord-deputy, 
 and he adopted a milder policy, being resolved, he said, to deal 
 moderately in the grout matter of religion. Even Ussher was 
 
44 TUE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 
 
 alarmed. He availed liiniself of a special opportunity, wlien 
 I)reaching before the viceregal court, at the cathedral of Christ 
 Churcli, to protest against what he considered a dangerous and 
 shiful toleration of popery. Choosing for his text Ezekiel iv. 6, 
 where the prophet, lying on his side, was to bear the iniquity of 
 the house of Judah forty days, a day for a year. " From this 
 year," he exclaimed, " will 1 reckon the sin of Ireland, that those 
 whom you now embrace shall be your ruin, and you shall bear 
 their iniquity." In 1641 the massacre broke out, in which at 
 least one hundred thousand Protestants were slaughtered. The 
 coincidence was remarkable : though no prescience was required 
 to foresee that the Papists would again rebel, or that Irish rebels 
 would, if possible, exterminate their foes. On the strength of 
 this prediction, the Protestants long reverenced the memory of 
 Ussher as a proiDhct. 
 
 A convocation was held in Dublin in the year 1615, whose 
 proceedings were unfortunate. So far, the Irish clergy had, in 
 every important point, adopted the forms and confessions of the 
 English Church, Since the year 1562 they had subscribed the 
 English articles on their admission to orders, and on their ap- 
 pointment to a cure of souls. They now determined to assert an 
 independent character, and frame articles of religion of their 
 own. In this attemjit they followed the continental reformers 
 in their diffuse systems of divinity, rather than the English 
 Church in the conciseness and simplicity of her thirty-nine 
 articles. The Irish articles of 1615 consist of one hundred and 
 four sections, in nineteen chapters. Some of them are discursive 
 and too diffuse. Subjects are introduced, such as the fall of 
 angels, the primeval state of man, and the condition of the soul 
 after death, on which some diversity of opinion has always ex- 
 isted amongst the orthodox. Above all, the nine Lambeth 
 Articles of 1695,* which \N hitgift had drawn up and unsuccess- 
 fully attempted to enforce at Cambridge, were introduced. The 
 biographers of Ussher, on his behalf, have undertaken the defence 
 of the Lambeth Articles : it is probable, therefore, that he wjis a 
 chief party to their introduction. A decree of the synod was 
 annexed, forbidding any minister, of whatsoever degree or quality, 
 publicly to teach any doctrine contrary to these articles; " after 
 
 * For wliicli SCO vol. i, page 253. 
 
THE CHURCH OF IRELAND. 45 
 
 due admonition, if he do not conform himself, and cease to dis- 
 turb the peace af the Church, let him be silenced and deprived." 
 The articles were signed by Jones, Archbishop of Dublin, being 
 then Lord Chancellor of Ireland, by the speakers of the two 
 Houses of Convocation, and by the Lord Deputy, with the autho- 
 rity of King James I. 
 
 It has been often said, that in adopting these articles, the 
 Church of Ireland placed herself in opposition to the Church of 
 England. This is an overstatement. The Church of England 
 has left to those who subscribe her articles, a certain latitude of 
 private judgment on the Calvin istic points. Archbishop Whit- 
 gift, when he wrote, and Ussher and his friends, when they 
 adopted, the articles of 1695, intended nothing more than a full 
 and accurate exposition of doctrines which, as understood by 
 them, were already taught in the seventeenth of the thirty-nine 
 articles, and elsewhere, by the Church of England. The Ar- 
 minian controversy, however, partly in consequence of the 
 Lambeth articles themselves, was raging furiously in 1615, and 
 why the Irish clergy should have taken upon themselves to im- 
 port the quarrel into their native land, and to exclude Arminians 
 of every shade from the service of a Church so much wanting 
 recruits, is, we confess, a perplexing question. The facility with 
 which the sanction of James was obtained is no less remarkable. 
 In England he had cast off his Calvinistic prepossessions, and was 
 drawing round him the heads of the Arminian party. Just at 
 the beginning of this century, a large colony of Presbyterians 
 from Scotland had been settled in Ulster ; and it has been sug- 
 gested, that the Lambeth articles were introduced in order to 
 conciliate the disciples of Knox, by making the creed of the 
 national Church expound more accurately the views of the 
 Scotch reformer and his great master Calvin. 
 
 The Irish Convocation met again in 1636. Laud was now 
 Archbishop of London, and Ussher Archbishop of Dublin, though 
 no longer primate ; for in the year 1626, after ages of controversy, 
 it was decided by the crown that the primacy of Ireland had per- 
 tained from the remotest antiquity to the see of Armagh, and 
 should there remain. Laud, violent in his Arminianism, was 
 anxious to rescind the articles of 1615. The Court of London 
 forwarded his views, not merely from regard to his theology, biit 
 on account of the political inconveniences which were already 
 
46 THE CIlUllCII OF IRELAND. 
 
 apparent from the two staiulanls of fixith of two sister churches. 
 Strafford, Lord Wentworth, was Viceroy, tlie pliant agent of 
 Laud and Charles. At their suggestion he proposed to the Irish 
 l)ishops that the articles of the English Church should be intro- 
 duced, and those of Ireland quietly superseded ; or to use his 
 own words, " silenced without noise." Bramhall, Bishop of 
 Derry, introduced the matter to the Irish Convocation, in a 
 speech of great moderation. " It were to be wished," he said, 
 " that articles might ho framed in which all orthodox Christians 
 could agree. The two Chm'ches were in reality of the same 
 •opinions : the sense of their articles was the same — though their 
 adversaries clamoured that they were dissonant. The articles of 
 every national Church should be worded with that latitude that 
 persons dissenting on those things that concerned not the Chris- 
 tian faith might subscribe, and tlie Church not lose the benefit 
 of their labours for the sake of an opinion which, it might be, they 
 could not help." The Convocation, with a single dissentient 
 voice, received the English articles. 
 
 But thus the Church of Ireland had two standards of faith, 
 or at least two sets of articles. Heylin, Collyer, and other 
 Arminian writers have affirmed, that the Lish articles were now 
 abrogated and repealed ; and even Fidler speaks of them as 
 l)eing " utterly excluded ; " but these statements are incorrect. 
 They profess indeed no better foundation than that which is in- 
 ferentially supplied, on the supposition that the two codes are 
 inconsistent with each other : a supposition which the Dublin 
 Convocation of 1636 was so far from admitting, that the very 
 canon by which the thirty nine articles are accepted declares, 
 "that it was done for the manifestation of their agreement 
 with the Church of England in the same Christian faith." In 
 fact Ussher, and several other Irish bishops, required of their 
 clergy for some years afterwards subscription to both sets of 
 articles. By degrees those of 1615 fell into neglect ; subscription 
 to two confessions, which one party in the Church believed to be 
 contradictory, seemed to be scandalous. On the Irish rebellion 
 ill 1641 the Church fell into decay: then came the protectorate 
 of Cromwell, and the abolition of episcopacy ; and after the 
 Restoration the Irish articles came into neglect. At the same 
 Convocation canons were framed for the government of the Irish 
 Church. Land had gnaf iiiHuciicc in Irelaml, and his friends 
 
THE CHURCH OF ICELAND. 47 
 
 proposed the adoption of tlie English canons. To this the Irish 
 primate was averse, not merely because the circumstances of the 
 two Churches were different, but further, too, lest the Church of 
 England should seem to be permitted to usurp authority over 
 the Church of Ireland. The eighth canon is the most important, 
 and unfortunately the most neglected of the whole. It is now, 
 and ever has been, a dead letter. It enjoins that the confession, 
 absolution, and communion-service to the homily or sermon, 
 when the people are all or most Irish, shall be used in English 
 first, and after in Irish. Even this was but scanty justice to the 
 natives, who were still doomed to listen to a sermon in an un- 
 known tongue. And the boon, such as it was, lost much of its 
 value by the permission, granted in canon 86, to the parish clerk, 
 " where the minister is an Englishman," to read the Irish portions 
 of the service.. Had the native Irish accepted the reformed faith 
 under allurements such as these, they would have exhibited an 
 indifference to their ancient creed, and a passionate fondness for 
 abstract religious truth, such as no nation on earth has ever yet 
 displayed ! 
 
 We do not relate the dismal tragedy of the Irish massacre. 
 It broke out in 1641, and raged with little intermission for 
 twelve years, when it was finally put down, and righteously 
 avenged, by the iron hand of Cromwell. The rebels formed a 
 disciplined army, acting under a commission from the pope. 
 To exterminate heresy, and of course to annihilate the reformed 
 Church, was their avowed intention. Henrietta, the wife of Charles 
 the First, was undoubtedly their friend, and his own memory 
 is not cleared from the imputation of conniving at their rebellion, 
 partly to conciliate the pope, whose aid he was imploring against 
 his puritanical parliament, and still more, perhaps, to propitiate 
 the queen. 
 
 In 1642 the rebels, in a general assembly, headed by their 
 lords temporal and spiritual, and other representatives of the 
 confederates, decreed that the possessions of the Protestant clergy 
 belonged, in right of the Church, to the Roman Catholics, and 
 the Papal hierarchy was at once restored. In 1645 Innocent 
 the Tenth instructed them, through his nuncio, to prosecute the war 
 till popery should be established, the decrees of the Council of 
 Trent acknowledged, and Ireland placed under a lord-lieute- 
 nant of the true faith. It is by no means clear that Charles 
 
4ft THE lilUliCll OF IKELANl). 
 
 would Hot have conceded even these demands. Bishop Mant has 
 pubHsliod a letter from the Marquis of Ormond, then lord- 
 lieutenant, to Lord r)i,^d)y, Charles's confidential adviser, dated 
 25th D('cenil)er, Kil-G, which ])otrays the misgivings of one who, 
 devoted in his loyalty, was still painfully conscious of the 
 duplicity and the weakness of his royal master. " I shall beseech 
 you to be careful of one thing ; which is, to take order that the 
 commands that shall be directed to me touching this people, if 
 any be, thwart not the grounds I have laid to myself in point of 
 religion, for in that and in that only, I shall resort to the liberty 
 left to a subject, to obey by suffering : and particularly that 
 there be no concession to the papists to perpetuate churches or 
 church-livings to them, or to take ecclesiastical jurisdiction from 
 us. And as for other freedoms from penalties for the quiet 
 exercise of their religion, I am clear of opinion, it not only may, 
 but ought to be given them, if his majesty shall find cause to own 
 them for anything but rebels." — p. 575. 
 
 In this dark period the Irish prelacy, as a body, command our 
 liigh respect. A bishopric in a barbarous coimtry, where 
 intestine warfare never ceased, was not an object of ambition to 
 aspiring churchmen. These posts were left to men cast in another 
 mould, whose noble ambition it was to extend the boundaries of 
 the pure Church of Christ. Yet they achieved but little ; embar- 
 rassed, as we have seen they were, by circumstances over which 
 they had little influence. Some of them appear to have 
 thoroughly understood their work ; others were of that large cla.ss 
 who work well beneath specific instructions, but have not the 
 power of fashioning new enterprises. Ussher did not feel his 
 episcopal office degraded by preaching in the sessions house at 
 Drogheda to Roman Catholics, whose prejudices forbade them to 
 listen to him in a church. The rebellion drove him from his 
 post, to which he never returned ; and we know him rather as a 
 great divine than as an enterprising bishop. The latter character 
 belongs to Bedell, provost of Trinity College, and afterwards 
 Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, to which he was consecrated in 
 1630. He found his diocese, "saving a few British planters here 
 and there, and these not a tenth part of the remnant, entirely 
 popish." He determined to attempt their conversion ; and, as 
 the readiest way to the hearts of the people, began with the 
 priests. Their ignorance wns profound ; but with sovornl of them 
 
THE CITUKCH OF IRELAND. 49 
 
 he succeeded, A convent of friars was induced to listen to his 
 instructions, and read his books, and some sense of rehgion 
 dawned amongst them. Prayers were read in Irish in his 
 cathedral : a short catechism, some prayers, and a few pregnant 
 texts of Scripture, were printed on a sheet in English and Irish, 
 and thankfully received throughout the diocese. The New Tes- 
 tament and the book of Common Prayer were now translated. 
 He began too a version of the Old Testament, having made him- 
 self acquainted with the language on purpose ; nor was he 
 ashamed to ask the assistance of Irish scholars more competent 
 than himself. Arrangements were already made for printing 
 this great work, when the rebellion broke out. Bedell was seized 
 and imprisoned in a small castle, or rather dungeon, in the centre 
 of Lough Outer, and died shortly after his release from the effects 
 of sorrow and ill-usage. The rebel chieftains followed him to the 
 grave, and there they discharged a volley over the best and last 
 of the English bishops ; exclaiming in Latin " Requiescat in pace 
 — ultimus Anglorum ! " May the last of the English rest in peace. 
 
 Jeremy Taylor was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor, 
 after the Restoration, in 1660. He is known to the world 
 as an eloquent preacher and writer, and a somewhat fanciful 
 divine. But he left no impression on the Irish Church. The 
 courtly preacher, whom Laud patronized and Charles flattered, 
 felt himself lost in honourable exile in an Irish diocese. At the 
 request of the clergy he drew up his " Dissuasive from Popery ;" 
 but neither his style, nor the language in which he wrote, com- 
 mended his labours either to Irish priests or to an Irish peasantry. 
 He seems, from his letters, to have looked round him with dismay 
 upon the degraded state of his adopted land, and to have 
 acquiesced in the conclusion of his own helplessness. 
 
 The accession of James the Second gave another triumph to the 
 Papal party. Determined that Ireland should be at once restored 
 to the see of Rome, he introduced a Romish -viceroy, Lord 
 Tyrconnel, who filled up every place of trust with Roman 
 Catholics. The Protestant soldiers were disbanded, and the 
 officers, on various pretences, cashiered. The clergy were insulted 
 in the streets, the revenues of most of the bishoprics sequestered, 
 and the bishops themselves compelled to fly. Everything por- 
 tended a general massacre. The priests interdicted their people 
 from the mass, unless each of them came furnished with a dagger 
 
 VOL. II. E 
 
50 THE ClIUKCn OF IRELAND. 
 
 and a large half-pike, under the penalty of excommunication ; 
 and they were enjoined to be ready, at a moment's warning, for 
 any service for which the priests miglit need them. Fourteen 
 hundred Protestant families left the country. Happily, the Revo- 
 lution of 1G88 occurred at this crisis ; but, after a short retreat in 
 France, the exiled king landed at Kinsale, 12th March, 1689. 
 He entered Dublin in great pomp on the 24;th, preceded by the 
 host, and attended by the Romish hierarchy, and welcomed by 
 the acclamations of the people. A parliament was called in 
 Dublin, in which it was easily contrived that the papal influence 
 should preponderate. Under various pretexts the Protestant 
 nobility, prelates, and gentry were attainted, and their estates 
 forfeited. The property of absentees was seized and vested in 
 the king. The jurisdiction of the Protestant Church was 
 annulled, and tithes, fees, and other Church property, as well as 
 the churches themselves, were granted to the Papists. The 
 cathedral of Christ Church was closed, and a senior fellow who 
 was a Papist was thrust upon Trinity College. The Provost and 
 Fellows protesting, the buildings were seized and the chapel was 
 converted into a magazine, the courts and chambers were used for 
 a garrison, and the foundation itself was promised to the Jesuits. 
 The Protestant party was utterly ruined by confiscations ; which, 
 besides all the nobility and the prelates of Ireland, incliuled three 
 thousand private gentlemen. And their case was hopeless ; for 
 in the act of attainder, a clause had been introduced by which 
 the king himself was forbidden to grant a pardon. Protestant 
 worship was now forbidden ; more than five Protestants were 
 not allowed to meet together in the street ; and Ireland was 
 once more purged of heresy. Happily the battle of the Boyne 
 followed, when James was finally defeated by his son-in-law, 
 and fled into exile ; the Protestant Church was reinstated ; and 
 the tyrannical acts of the Popish })arliament of Dublin were 
 repealed. 
 
 For more than a century we have little to relate. The 
 eccentricities and vices of Dean Swift forbid us to make honour- 
 able mention of his name. He was presented to the deanery of 
 St. Patrick's in 1 71 3, as a reward for political services, and to 
 secure his caustic pen for the ministry of the day. That Swift 
 was not quite destitute of piety has been charitably argued by 
 Dr. Johnson, and succeeding biogra]ihers ; that he promoted the 
 
THK (JIILMICH OF IRELAND. HI 
 
 cause of real religion, whether by his life or his pen, has never 
 been seriously maintained. Many of his writings Avere held, even 
 in that age, to be disgraceful to his profession, and are now 
 banished with disgust. The zeal of the early Methodists made 
 scarcely any impression in Ireland, though Wesley went over and 
 formed a few societies. Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, would have 
 adorned the brightest annals of the Christian Church ; and many 
 exemplary men conducted, each in his obscure sphere, a laborious 
 and faithful ministry in dark times. But Protestantism won no 
 triumphs, contented supinely to retain her own. There were two 
 races and two religions ; and the highest ambition of both 
 parties, or at least of Protestants, was to slumber undisturbed. 
 At the close of the nineteenth centiu^-y the population of Ireland 
 was about five millions ; the number of Protestant churchmen 
 about six hundred thousand. There was an equal number of 
 Presbyterians in Ulster. 
 
 By the Act of Union, which came into effect on the 1st of 
 January, 1801, the national Churches were "united in all 
 matters of doctrine, worship, and discipline," under the title of 
 the United Church of England and Ireland. By this measure 
 the English Canons do not, however, seem to have become the 
 law of the Irish Church. Indeed, having no legal authority at 
 home, they could not be legally imposed elsewhere by a mere 
 act of incorporation with the Church of England. The 32nd of 
 the Irish Canons of 1636 imposes subscription, for orders in 
 Ireland, to the first four of those Canons ; and of these four the 
 first adopts the English Articles. The Irish bishops do not con- 
 sider themselves at liberty to impose any other test. The Irish 
 Act of Uniformity (xvii. and xviii. Car. II.) also requires sub- 
 scription to the Thirty-nine Articles. And this is the latest parlia- 
 mentary enactment on the subject of subscription in Ireland. 
 
 During the last half century the progress of the Church of 
 Ireland has been gratifying. The education of the native Irish 
 has been at length undertaken in their own tongue. Several 
 societies were formed thirty years ago for conveying instruction, 
 through the means of day-schools, Sunday-schools, the circulation 
 of the Irish Scriptures, and the introduction of controversial 
 lectures on the subjects in dispute between Protestants and 
 Roman Catholics. As an inevitable consequence irritation 
 followed ; and the Romish priesthood resolved, if possible, to 
 
52 TIIK cm IK'll <'F II;EI,ANI). 
 
 overthrow the national Churcli. The payment ot the church 
 cess, and of all tithes and dues, was denounced ; and the Pro- 
 testant clergy, under a reign of terror instituted by O'Connell, 
 were in great distress. In 1833, Lord Grey, the prime minister, 
 brought tlu^ condition of the Irish establishment before Parlia- 
 ment, with a view to the removal of existing abuses. An Act 
 was pa.ssed(iii. and iv. of William IV. chap. 37.) the merits of which 
 are matters of keen discussion. It is still aflfirmed, on the one 
 iiand, that the measure was salutary, while at the same time it 
 was inevitable ; and on the other, that it was, to use the words 
 which have since become a proverb, a heavy blow and a great 
 discouragement to the Protestant cause in Ireland, dealt out to 
 propitiate O'Connell and his jDarty. Briefly, the provisions of the 
 Act were these : the payment of first fruits to the Crown, an 
 imposition against which the Irish Clergy had long protested, was 
 abolished ; but in lieu of it, an annual tax was imposed, upon a 
 graduated scale, of from two and a half to fifteen per cent, upon 
 benefices ; and from five to fifteen per cent, on episcopal revenues. 
 And, we may here add, that, by a subsequent Act, a reduction of 
 twenty-five per cent, was made upon the tithes payable through- 
 out Ireland. The incomes of the sees of Annagh and Derr}- were 
 reduced ; ten bishoprics were suppressed ; and the deanery of 
 St. Patrick's Avas united with that of Christ Church, Dublin. 
 The funds obtained from the suppressed bishoprics, a.s well as the 
 annual tax, was applied to "the building and repairing of 
 churches, the augmentation of small livings, and such other 
 purposes as may conduce to the advancement of religion." For 
 the management of these funds, and other purposes, an ecclesias- 
 tical commission for Ireland was appointed, with perpetual suc- 
 cession, to consist of the Lord Primate, the Lord Chancellor of 
 Ireland and the Lord Chief Justice, the Archbishop of Dublin, 
 with four Irish Archbishops or Bishops. The following were the 
 sees suppressed : — 
 
 Cashel (Archbishopnc) united to . iVrmagh. 
 
 Tuam (ditto) .... Dublin. 
 
 Dromore (Bishopric) . . . Down. 
 
 Raphoe ..... Deny. 
 
 Clogher ..... Armagh. 
 
 Klphin ..... Kilmore. 
 
THE CllUKCll UF IRELAND. 53 
 
 Killaloe and Aclionry . . . Tuam. 
 
 Clonfert and Kilmacduagh . . Killaloe. 
 
 Kildare ..... Dublin. 
 
 Ossory ..... Ferns and Leighlin. 
 
 Waterford and Lismore . . Casliel and Emly. 
 
 Cork and Ross . , . . . Cloyne. 
 
 The period since the passing of this Act has been one of still 
 increasing vigour in the Irish Church. Assuming at length her 
 true character, as a great missionary institution, she seems to 
 have undertaken with earnest zeal the work of conversion. 
 Large parishes, nay whole districts, such as Doon, Achill, and 
 Connemara, have embraced the reformed faith ; and we have the 
 testimony of the several prelates in whose dioceses the conver- 
 sions have taken place, that the change in the habits of the 
 people is of the happiest character. The work is chiefly carried 
 on through the agency of different societies. At the head of 
 these stands the Society for promoting Irish Church Missions, 
 whose income, for the year 1854, amounts to upwards of 
 39,000^. Of this sum the greater part is raised in England. All 
 the Irish Societies are mainly indebted for support to English 
 contributions. Ireland, vexed with intestine broils and smitten 
 with a grievous famine, has been reduced, within the last few 
 years, to an extremity of wretchedness unknown for ages to the 
 rest of Europe. Emigration and disease have, within ten years, 
 swept away nearly three millions of her people. These, being the 
 poorest, were chiefly Roman Catholics. At the same time, so 
 great has been the number of converts, and such, too, the influx 
 of Scotch and English settlers, that the Protestants are now two 
 millions. The Roman Catholics are computed at less than four 
 millions, these are wasting away from daily desertions, and an 
 emigration, which has been compared to the restless movement 
 which compelled Huns and Visigoths to forsake their homes, 
 when they poured down upon the plains of Southern Europe. 
 In short, after a long course of misfortune and disgrace, of which 
 one great cause has ever been the neglect, or the injustice, of the 
 English government, the Irish Church displays those liigh gifts 
 of piety, vigour, learning and discretion, which seem to justify tiie 
 warmest hopes in those who look for the regeneration of Ireland 
 through the introduction of a pure faith. 
 
54 lUVlNCilTKS. 
 
 The number of parishes is about one thousand : this may not 
 be exact, for many ancient parishes have been formed into 
 imions, while others have been subdivided. Her income is also 
 imcertain. By her opponents it has been stated at 1,000,000/. 
 sterling per annum. Unless this include the great tithes in the 
 hands of lay impropriators, which are lost to the Church, it is, we 
 conceive, an exaggerated statement. 
 
 Carte's Life of Oi^iond. Fullers Church History. Ware's 
 Irish History and Antiquities, Vol. I. Life and Works of 
 Archhisho}^ Ussher. Ditto of Bishop Jeremy Taylor. ManVs 
 History of the Church of Ireland^ etc. Statutes of the IHsh 
 Parliament. Statutes at large. 
 
 TRVINGITES.— The followers of the Rev. Edward Irvmg desig- 
 -^ nate themselves the Catholic Apostolic Church. No one sec- 
 tion of the Universal Chmch, however sound it were, is entitled 
 exclusively to this distinction ; we therefore use the title which 
 is at once the more aj)propriate and the more generally employed. 
 The Irviugites declare, however, that they make no exclusive claim 
 to this name ; they simply object to be called by any other. They 
 do not profess to be separatists from the Church established, or 
 from the general body of Christians. And far from professing 
 to be another sect, in addition to the numerous sects already 
 dividing the Church, or to be the one Church, to the exclusion 
 of all other bodies, they believe that their special mission is to 
 reunite the scattered members of the one body of Christ. Yet 
 their peculiarities are those of Edward Irving ; he is justly entitled 
 to be regarded as their founder ; and we shall preface the history 
 of their tenets and their progress with a brief outline of his life. 
 
 Mr. Irving was born at Annan in 1792, and was educated at 
 the University of Edinburgh with a view to the ministry of the 
 Church of Scotland. He was a youth of solitary studies, but his 
 early career was by no means brilliant. He is said to have ex- 
 celled in mathematics and classics, and to have been well 
 acquainted with modern languages and literature ; and he made 
 some attainments in natural philosophy. But he had amved at 
 tlie matm-e age of thirty without " a call " from any presbytery 
 or patron, and consequently without employment in the Church. 
 He was indeed invited to preach on trial in various i)laces ; but 
 
IRVINGITES. 55 
 
 the result was constantly the same ; he got no second invitation. 
 He is represented, even by his admirers, as obstinate, wayward, 
 and somewhat overbearing ; and " he had fed liis soul," says one 
 of them, " with the words of Chrysostom, the Christian Plato ; 
 of Jeremy Taylor, the English Chrysostom ; and of Hooker, the 
 Bacon of the Church, till he had come to regard as of mean 
 speech and feeble thought all living preachers and theologians, 
 with the exception of Chalmers," who had started into favour 
 just about this time. Finding no employment congenial to him, 
 he had formed, in 1819, a romantic scheme of travelling through 
 Europe, penetrating into the East, and working alone as a mis- 
 sionary in Persia ; and, with his usual energy, had begun to 
 qualify himself for this arduous enterprise by a course of appro- 
 priate study. At this juncture he received an invitation to 
 preach for Dr. Andrew Thomson, of Edinburgh, with an inti- 
 mation that Dr. Chalmers, who was in want of an assistant, 
 would be present. This led to an engagement with Chalmers, 
 as assistant-minister of St. John's, Glasgow ; and the Oriental 
 mission was abandoned. Here he remained three years, when 
 he received a call to London. He took leave of the church at 
 Glasgow in a sermon which displays an independent spirit, rather, 
 as it seems to us, than a deeply-thinking or a deeply-pious one. 
 It is a cutting diatribe against the style of preaching then preva- 
 lent in the Scottish Church, and an almost arrogant defence of 
 his own pretensions. In force of thought, and in com^^osition, 
 this sermon, however, his first essay in print, is equal to any of 
 his later writings. " We plead and exhort," says the eloquent 
 declaimer, " not in defence of ourselves, but in behalf of our 
 brotherhood, and of the ancient liberty of prophesying, against 
 those narrow prescriptive tastes, bred not of knowledge, nor 
 derived from the better days of the Church, but in the conven- 
 ticle bred ; and fitted perhaps for keeping together a school of 
 Christians, but totally unfit for the wide necessities of the world 
 (else why this alienation of the influential of the world from the 
 cause ?) We are pleading against those shibboleths of a sect, 
 those forms of words, which do not now feed the soul with under- 
 standing, but are, in truth, as the time-worn and bare trunks of 
 those trees from which the Church was formerly nourished, and 
 which have now in them neither sap nor nourishment. We are 
 pleading for a more natural style of preaching, in which the 
 
'>C Il{VlN(ilTKS. 
 
 various moral aud religious wants of meu «hall be mot, artle&sly 
 met, with the simple truths of revelation, delivered as ultimate 
 facts not to be reasoned on, and expressed as Scripture expresses 
 them ; which conjunction being made, and crowned with prayer 
 for the divine blessing, the preacher has fulfilled the tine spirit 
 of his office." This is a fair specimen of Mr. Irving's best man- 
 ner. An accident had brought him acquainted with a work» 
 little read at any time in Scotland, Hooker's " Ecclesiastical 
 Polity," when he was but a boy. His taste was formed upon 
 this model ; and he was bold enough, in an age when they were 
 utterly neglected, " to assert," as he expresses it, and as far as he 
 could to imitate, " the splendour of those lasting forms of speech 
 which Hooker, Bacon, and Milton chose for the covering of their 
 everlasting thoughts." 
 
 In 1821 Irving came up to London, warmly invited, as a can- 
 didate for the Caledonian Church in Cross-street, Hatton Garden. 
 It was not till July in the following year that he fairly entered 
 on his ministry in the metropolis. The congregation did not 
 muster more than fifty, and it was with apprehension that they 
 ventured to invite a minister whose stipend tiiey could scarcely 
 secure. But within the first quarter of a year the fifty seat- 
 holders increased to fifteen hundred. A blaze of popularity 
 welcomed the stranger from the north, which threw in some 
 respects even the triumphs of Whitfield into the shade. Mem- 
 bers of the royal family, the statesmen of the day, wits, authors, 
 the leaders of the world of fashion, to say nothing of men of 
 piety of every sect, besieged the doors, and were admitted by 
 tickets into the obscure chapel in Hatton Garden. Mackintosh. 
 Canning, Brougham, and Wilberforco heard him, and were loud 
 in his praise. The enthusiasm was too passionate to last. 
 Within two years it entirely died away ; but a steady congi-ega- 
 tion remained, who built a new church for their pastor in Regent's- 
 S({uare, St. Pancras, of which he took possession in 1827. 
 
 In 1825 he published a discourse on the Revelation, entitled 
 " Babylon Foredoomed." England was then anxious and rest- 
 less : the subject of Catholic emancipation was uppermost in 
 every mind ; and thoughtful men distinctly foresaw that gi-eat 
 social and political changes were at hand. These subjects fired 
 the imagination of ^Ir. Irving, and henceforth he stands in a new 
 character before tli(^ world. His scheme of ]>r<>[)lietic interpreta- 
 
IllVINGITES. 57 
 
 tion presented little or iiothiDg that was original. But it siu- 
 priscd the world by the singularity of its style, and the confidence 
 of its assertions. The subordinate parts are contradictory in 
 many points ; the work was hastily thrown together, and was 
 popular chiefly because it was peremptory. The battle of Arma- 
 geddon he declared to be at hand. "In 1846," he says, "the 
 sanctuary will be cleansed in Jerusalem ; and the power which 
 now polluteth it will be scattered ; so that, some time before that 
 period, the battle of Armageddon will have been finished." "In 
 1867 the milLennium is to commence, and the resurrection of the 
 righteous to take place," p. 219. Soon afterwards he published 
 a translation from the Spanish of " The Coming of the Messiah 
 in Glory and Majesty," by Juan Joshephat Ben Ezra, a converted 
 Jew. The subject of the second coming of Christ, and his per- 
 sonal reign on earth, now dazzled him. In May, 1828, he went 
 to Edinburgh, chiefly for the purpose of delivering a series of 
 lectures on the book of Revelation : he dwelt especially on all 
 those prophecies which concern the millennial state of the earth, 
 and the promises of glory and triumph to the Church, " He is 
 drawing," writes Chalmers, " prodigious crowds. We attempted 
 this morning to force our way into St. Andrew's Church, but it 
 was all in vain. He changes to the West Church for the accom- 
 modation of the public." Again, Chalmers records : " Monday 
 26th. For the first time heard Mr. Irving in the evening ; I 
 have no hesitation in saying that it is quite woful. There is 
 power and richness, and gleams of exquisite beauty ; but withal 
 a mysticism and extreme allegorization which, I am sure, must 
 be pernicious to the general cause. This is the impression of 
 every clergyman I have met ; and some think of making a 
 friendly remonstrance with him upon the subject." 
 
 About the year 1 827 Mr, Irving was observed to speak in a 
 new strain concerning the human nature of Jesus Christ ; and his 
 friends became alarmed for the soundness of his faith. He 
 maintained, in opposition to all the reformed Churches and to 
 the Church of Rome, that " our Lord took upon him fallen and 
 sinful flesh, with like appetites and desires as are found in us." 
 It would have been strange if such a doctrine had not aroused 
 the suspicions of the whole Church, or even its indignation. 
 Mr, Irving was vigorously assailed by many pens, and from many 
 pulpits. But unfortunately opposition, from whatever quarter it 
 
58 IRVINGITES. 
 
 proceeded, only strengthened Ins resolution. His mind was 
 scarcely open at any time to the conviction that he might have 
 en-ed. He spoke, and wrote, and acted, as if he were infallible. 
 The controversy gave him an ojjportunity, in which he seemed to 
 glory, of stating the obnoxious doctrine in the most offensive 
 terms. In a sermon he declared that our Lord's body was 
 "devil possessed." And in a paper in the " Morning Watch," 
 he asserts, " that every variety of human wickedness which hath 
 been realized, or is possible to be realized, was inherent in his 
 luiniauity " (vol. i., p. 16-i). These evil propensities were of course 
 restrained by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that, in fact, 
 Christ did no sin. Mr. Irving, on a visit to Scotland in 1829, 
 preached these doctrines. Mr. J. A. Haldane denounced them 
 as heresy, and published " A Refutation of the Heretical Doctrine 
 promulgated by the Rev. Edward Irving, respecting the Person 
 and Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ." During the years 
 1830 and 1831, numerous discussions took place before the 
 Scotch presbytery in London, and amongst the members of the 
 C-hurch, on the subject, now a familiar topic, of the sinfulness of 
 Christ's humanity. Mr. Scott, a Presbyterian clergyman of 
 Woolwich, imbibed the doctrine, and publicly defended it. The 
 sul)ject was brought before the General Assembly of Scotland, 
 and immediately taken up by the presbytery in London. But 
 while the agitation was at its height, the world was startled with 
 a new phenomenon. Mr. Irving's followers declared themselves 
 to be in the possession of miraculous powers. The gift of speak- 
 ing with tongues, they said, was now restored to the Church. 
 
 The gifts first broke out in Scotland, in the person of a young 
 woman under the instruction of Mr. Scott, whose name has been 
 already mentioned. These " utterances," as they were named, 
 were soon after heard in London, in the year 1830. We shall 
 make no attempt to describe, what is still in the recollection of 
 )nany of our readers, the astonishment, the joy, the gi'ief, the 
 hope, the shame, with which these gifts were witnessed or 
 described by various parties. The chief, if not the only, miracle 
 was that of the unknown tongues. Sometimes the utterances 
 wore in English : those who were gifted with utterance would 
 rise uj) on a sudden in the congi"egatiou, and pronounce a few 
 sentences in an extraordinary power of voice, accompanied by a 
 most unnatural expression of countenance. The utterances in 
 
IRVINGITES. 59 
 
 the tongues were unintelligible. The sounds were taken down 
 from the lips of the speakers on several occasions, and submitted 
 to the most learned linguists, amongst others to Professor Lee, of 
 Cambridge, Avho agreed in thinking them a mere jargon, a col- 
 lection of incoherent sounds. The tongues were chiefly uttered, 
 it was noticed, by females. When they spoke in English, the 
 prophets testified of the nearness of the coming of Christ, and 
 the judgments \vhich would immediately precede it. Another 
 subject of the utterances was the sinfulness of Christ's human 
 nature : in fact, the utterances bore testimony in confirmation of 
 all the peculiarities of Mr. Irving's creed. Mr. Baxter, who, 
 after having implicitly received these utterances, and indeed 
 shared in them himself, left the Church, and published a recant- 
 ation of his errors, writes thus : " The effect of the utterance 
 upon those who received it, as from God, was to raise the highest 
 expectations. The bestowal of miraculous powers was daily ex- 
 pected. The judgments upon Christendom, and the second 
 advent of Christ, were constantly predicted. It was declared 
 that the persons speaking in power, or gifted with the utterances, 
 were the two witnesses of the eleventh of Revelation, who are 
 said to prophecy three years and a half, and then be slain and 
 raised again, and caught up to heaven. Another step was, the 
 l^rophecy that at the end of three years and a half, when the 
 witnesses were raised again, all living believers would be trans- 
 lated into heaven, and the earth be given over to judgment. 
 We were also promised, that after the close of three years and a half 
 of testimony to the world, commencing from the 14th of January, 
 1832, the Lord Jesus would come again in glory ; the living saints 
 would be caught up to meet him ; the dead saints would be raised ; 
 and the world would be given over to judgment for an appointed 
 season." Mr. Irving, in his preaching, repeated these as unques- 
 tionable predictions, of which God was the author. " He set forth 
 also, that the gift of tongues was but the lowest of all gifts, and that 
 very shortly larger miraculous endowments would be granted." 
 
 On the other hand, let the reader peruse a description of 
 these utterances from the eloquent pen of Mr. Irving himself. 
 " The words uttered in English are as much by power super- 
 natural, and by the same power supernatural, as the words 
 uttered in the language unknown. But no one hearing and 
 observing the utterance could for a moment doubt it : inas- 
 
60 IIJVL\'(ilTi:s. 
 
 much as tho whole utterance, from the beginning to tlie ending 
 of it, is with a power, and strength, and fuhiess, and some- 
 times rapidity of voice, altogether different from the person's 
 ordinary utterance in any mood ; and, I would say, both in 
 its form and in its effects upon a simple mind, quite super- 
 natural. There is a power in the voice to thrill the heart and 
 overawe the spirit, after a manner which I have never felt. 
 There is a march and a majesty, and a sustained grandeur in the 
 voice, especially of those who prophecy, which I have never 
 heard even a resemblance to, except now and then in the sub- 
 liniest and most impassioned moods of Mrs. Siddons and Miss 
 O'Neill. It is a mere abandonment of all truth to call it screara- 
 ino- or crying ; it is the most majestic and divine utterance which 
 1 have ever heard ; some parts of which I never heard equalled, 
 and no part of it surpassed, by the finest execution of genius 
 and of art exhibited at the oratorios in the Concerts of Ancient 
 Music. And when the sjoeech utters itself in the wa}^ of a psalm 
 or spiiitual song, it is the likest to some of the most simple and 
 ancient chants in the cathedral service ; insomuch that I have 
 been often led to think that those chants, of which some can be 
 traced up as high as the days of Ambrose, are recollections and 
 transmissions of the inspired utterances in the primitive Church. 
 Most frequently the silence is broken by utterance in a tongue, 
 and this continues for a longer or shorter period ; sometimes 
 only occupying a few words, as it were filling the first gust of 
 sound ; sometimes extending to five minutes, or even more, of 
 earnest and deep-felt discourse, with which the heart and soul 
 of the speaker are manifestly much moved, to tears and sighs, and 
 unutterable groanings, to joy and mirth and exultation, and even 
 laughter of the heart. So far from being unmeaning gibberish, 
 as the thoughtless and heedless sons of Belial have said, it is 
 regularly-formed, well-proportioned, deeply-felt discourse, which 
 evidently wanteth only the ear of him whose native tongue it is, 
 to make it a very masterpiece of powerful .speech. But as the 
 apostle declareth it is not spoken to the ear of man, but to the 
 ear of God. ' He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto 
 men, but unto God ; for no man understandeth ' (1 Cor. xiv. 2). 
 We ought to stand in awe, and endeavour to enter into .spiritual 
 connnuniiiii with that member of Christ who is the mouth of the 
 whole Cliuicli unto God." 
 
TRVrNGITES. fil 
 
 But, after all, few of Mr. Irvlng's congregation could be won 
 over either to his doctrine of the humanity of Christ or to 
 believe in the miraculous gifts. The former was brought inci- 
 dentally before the notice of the General Assembly in 1831, and 
 by them condemned, on behalf of the Church of Scotland, in the 
 strongest terms. The trustees of the church in London, in the 
 course of the same year, laid a complaint before the London 
 presbytery; and prayed for Mr. Irving's deposition from his 
 living. Omitting the question of false doctrine, they confined 
 themselves to the single charge, that he had allowed the service 
 of God to be interrupted and disturbed by unauthorized persons, 
 neither ministers nor licentiates of the Church of Scotland, some 
 of them being females, " for said persons to exercise the sup- 
 posed gifts with which they professed to be endowed." The 
 court was unanimous ; its decision was, that the Rev. Edward 
 Irving had rendered himself unfit to remain the minister of the 
 Caledonian church, Regent-square, and ought to be removed 
 therefrom. The General Assembly in Edinburgh now took up 
 the question of his doctrine, and directed the presbytery of 
 Annan, where Mr. Irving had been ordained, to investigate the 
 charge. The trial came on 'in 1833; Irving defended himself 
 with great vehemence ; the presbytery seem to have thought, with 
 arrogance. The members of the court were of one mind, and 
 Mr. Irving was deposed from the ministry of the Scottish Church. 
 Before the sentence was pronounced, Mr. Irving hurried out of 
 the church, exclaimed to the crowd, " Stand forth 1 stand forth ! 
 as many as will obey the Holj'' Ghost, let them depart !" and in 
 his absence the sentence was pronoimced. 
 
 Driven from the kirk as well as from his flock in London, 
 Mr. Irving removed, with a small part of his once vast congre- 
 gation, to a room which had been used as a horse bazaar, in 
 Gray's Inn-Jane, and soon afterwards to a smaller but more con- 
 venient apartment in Newman-street, once the studio of 
 Benjamin West ; and here the Irvingite Church was formed. 
 
 On the removal into Newman-street all the arrangements 
 were made in obedience to utterances supposed to be inspired. 
 The room was fitted up with pews and galleries. Instead of a 
 pulpit there was a raised platform, to contain about fifty persons. 
 The ascent was by several steps, and in front of the platform 
 were seven seats ; that in the centre was filled by the angel or 
 
02 lUVlNfUTES. 
 
 bishop ; those cm each side by the six elders. Below tlieso were 
 seven other seats for the prophets, the centre seat being allotted 
 to Mr. Taplin, lately the missionary of the church in Regent- 
 square, as the chief of the prophets. Four of the prophets were 
 females. Still lower were seven other seats appropriated to the 
 deacons ; that in the middle occupied, as before, by the chief 
 deacon. " This threefold cord of a sevenfold ministry was 
 adopted under direction of the utterance." There were also 
 twelve apostles, several of whom were prophets. The body of 
 the chapel was appropriated to the members of the church, and 
 the galleries were open to strangers. The angel ordered the 
 service, and the preaching and expounding were generally con- 
 ducted by the elders, in order. The prophets, speaking in 
 utterance, came after them. There were also sixty evangelists, 
 whose name was taken from the New Testament, while their 
 number was taken from the old. " The sixty evangelists" (says 
 the author of a ' Chronicle of certain Events, which have taken 
 place in the Chiuxh of Christ,' &c.) " were autitypical to the 
 sixty pillars of the court of the tabernacle." The church was at 
 first compared to the candlestick in the holy place of the taber- 
 nacle ; the prophets interpreted the shaft to represent the pastor 
 and people, and the branches the elders. Afterwards the 
 favourite comparison was with the tabernacle, of which, while 
 the sixty pillars prescribed the number of evangelists, the pillars, 
 the curtains, the taches, were represented by living men ; and 
 any person who was brought into the congregation in Newman- 
 street was said to be brought in by the pillars, and brought up 
 to those who represent the altar and the laver ; other individuals 
 were supposed to represent the holy place, and the vessels 
 therein; in short, the whole building and all its parts being 
 appropriated to individual representation. The tabernacle was 
 now said to be duly pitched. The service of the communion 
 was changed soon after the removal to Newman-street, by sub- 
 stituting unleavened for leavened bread, by direction of an 
 utterance. The bread and wine were given by the angel to the 
 elders, by the elders to the deacons, who administered to the 
 people kneeling, contrary to the usage of the Church of Scotland. 
 The church in Newman-street was scarcely completed when 
 its head expired. At the early age of forty-two, on the 8th of 
 December, 1834, Edward Irving died. A man of brilliant iina- 
 
TRVINGITES. G3 
 
 gination, of fair attainments, of a stout and resolute lieart, and, 
 until his judgment was obscured, and, in failing health and 
 blighted hopes, he abandoned himself to the dictation of those 
 whom he had himself, in the first instance, contributed so greatly 
 to mislead, of spotless integrity and truth. In private life he 
 was playful, affectionate, and artless, until he felt it necessary 
 to assume a character, and to act the part of an Elijah or a 
 Knox. His person was tall, his hair luxuriant and dark, his eve 
 and brow commanding, his features full and well-proportioned, 
 his voice, in its lower tones, was music. He wrote much ; but 
 his style was redundant, turgid, and often barbarous. Except 
 from curiosity he was never much read beyond the circle of his 
 personal admirers. Sometimes his sentences remind us of the 
 prose of Milton, but the weighty thoughts are wanting. It is 
 no great achievement either, to imitate the style of the best 
 writers of the fifteenth century. Let the man who aspires to the 
 fame of Milton or Hooker write as such men would have written 
 had they been living now, and the world will not be slow to 
 acknowledge his supremacy. Of Irving's eloquence, if we may 
 speak from our own recollections of it, we should say, that it was 
 at once grand and barbarous. The charm consisted chiefly in. 
 the manliness of the action and the music of the voice. His 
 declamation bordered on invective ; his argument wanted clear- 
 ness, force, and brevity; his illustrations were often good, some- 
 times extremely felicitous, but they were taken from a narrow 
 field — his early associations, and the scenes, or the story of his 
 native land. To that mighty power, which the Christian orator 
 should chiefly cultivate, of so grappling with each man's con- 
 science that the hearer shall be startled with the suspicion that 
 his private thoughts have been betrayed to the preacher, he was 
 stranger. All his statements were general, so were his denun- 
 ciations. The hearer was allowed to retire strongly impressed 
 with the wickedness of the times perhaps, but still with a very fair 
 opinion of himself. Whether in his last days Mr. Irving felt 
 that he had been misled is uncertain. Two letters were pub- 
 lished in the Gospel Magazine for May 1835, written while 
 he was in Scotland, expecting the hour of his dissolution. They 
 certainly contain strong expressions of penitential sorrow. " I 
 tremble when I think of the awful, perilous place, into which I 
 was thrust." And again, " I confess to myself that I was very 
 
fi4 inVIXGlTKS. 
 
 slow, yea, and reluctant, ^o turn hack tVoni my evil way." But 
 as no particular sins are specified these expressions are somewhat 
 vague. " I cannot hut gi-ieve," said Dr. Gumming, in a funeral 
 sermon at the Scotch Church, Crown-court, Covent-garden, on 
 the 14th of December 1834, " at the awful eclipse under whicli 
 he came, and the early tomb he has found. He is gone to the 
 grave, / have reason to believe, vnth a broken heart." 
 
 The death of Mr. Irving did not seriously affect the church in 
 Newman-street An angel was appointed in his place, and the 
 work went on. In 1835 other congregations had been formed in 
 London to the number of seven. They were called " The Seven 
 Churches," and now the system was complete. The apostles 
 were commanded by an utterance to go into all the world and 
 preach ; but afterwards, by the same authority, they were re- 
 manded to Albury, there to remain for study and consultation. 
 The Church, being guided by utterances which are supposed to 
 be divine, is of necessity open to fresh influences from year to 
 year. Thus in 1832 the apostles were appointed ; and it was 
 revealed that the right mode of ordination was by the imposition 
 of their hands upon those angels who had been designated to the 
 oflice by the prophets. Under this revelation there was ordained 
 an angel, or chief pastor, of the church at Albury ; and Mr. 
 Irving, now deprived of his ministry in the Church of Scotland, 
 was reordained angel of Newman-street. In the course of the 
 next few years, churches were formed in several of the great 
 provincial towns. The proper times and modes of worship, the 
 right of the priesthood to a tenth part of the income of the laity, 
 the authority of the angels to govern, and to interpret the tongues, 
 were thus communicated through the "prophetic word." In 
 1836 a council was established, the symbol of which was shown, 
 in the word of prophecy, to have been given in the construction 
 (jf the tabernacle of Moses, where also, as in a figure, the true 
 and spiritual worship of God was set forth. In 1836 a testi- 
 mony or protest, prepared by the apostles, was presented to the 
 Archbishoi^ of Canterbury and most of the bishop.s, as well as to 
 the clergy of those places in which churches had been formed. 
 A similar testimony was presented to the king, and many of the 
 privy council ; and afterwards a Catholic testimoriy was presented 
 to the sovereigns of Em-ope, to many of the bishojis and patri- 
 archs, and through Cardinal Acton, to the pope. In 1838 the 
 
IRYINGITES. G5 
 
 apostles, in obedience to another prophecy, departed for the 
 continent, and visited, for two years, most of the European 
 countries, with the object of remarking closely the condition of 
 the general Church, and gleaning from each portion its peculiar 
 inheritance of truth. They, in 1840, were recalled to settle 
 some disputes which had arisen in their absence, with respect to 
 the comparative authority of the apostles and the council above 
 referred to; The apostles stilled these symptoms of dissension 
 by asserting their supremacy ; and the meetings of the council 
 were suspended, and have not yet been revived. These measures 
 led moreover to the secession of one of the apostles, whose suc- 
 cessor has not yet been named. Seven of the remaining eleven 
 again dispersed themselves in foreign parts, to be again recalled 
 in 1 835, in order to determine what liturgical formalities should 
 be observed. This settled, they once more proceeded to their 
 wor-k abroad ; the senior apostles, who remained at Albury, 
 having the charge of all the London churches (now reduced to 
 six). The principal work of recent years has been the gradual 
 completion of the ritual of the Church. In 1842 a liturgy had 
 been framed, '"' combining the excellences of all preceding 
 liturgies." In this a portion of the service was allotted to each 
 of the four ministers already mentioned — the angels, prophets, 
 priests, and deacons. The communion had for some time been 
 received before the altar, kneeling ; and now the consecrated 
 elements, before tlieir distribution, were offered as an oblation 
 before the Lord. Simultaneously, appropriate vestments were 
 prescribed — the alb and girdle, stole and chasuble, for services 
 connected with the altar ; and a surplice, rochette, and mosette 
 for preaching and other offices. In 1847 considerable additions 
 to the liturgy were made, and the use of consecrated oil was 
 permitted in the visitation of the sick. In 1850 it was ordered 
 that a certain portion of the consecrated bread and wine should 
 be kept in an appropriate ark or tabernacle, placed upon the 
 altar, to be taken by the angel, at the morning and evening ser- 
 vices, and "proposed" as a symbol before the Lord. The latest 
 ceremonial additions were adopted in 1852, when lights — two of 
 which were placed upon, and seven before the altar — were pre- 
 scribed, and incense was commanded to be burnt while prayers 
 were being offered. 
 
 The Church is said to have made considerable progress during 
 VOL. II. F 
 
CG ll;VL\(ilTKS. 
 
 the last few years. In I'lngland there are about thirty congrega- 
 tions, comprising nearly six thousand communicants, and the 
 number is gradually on the increase. There are also congrega- 
 tions in Scotland and Ireland, a considerable number in Germany, 
 and several in France, Switzerland, and America. 
 
 A magnificent structure in Gordon Square, equal in size and 
 beauty to the choirs of our old cathedrals, from which it seems 
 to have been modelled, was opened in 1853 for the congregation 
 which had hitherto met in Newman Street. As the building is 
 magnificent, still more gorgeous was the ceremonial of its conse- 
 cration. The service commenced at ten o'clock, at which hour, 
 the chief officer of the Church, the angel, entered, magnificently 
 clad, wearing a purple cap, the coloiu: denoting authority. Then 
 followed the next order of the ministry, designated prophets, 
 with blue stoles, typical of the skies, whence they draw their 
 inspiration. Following these were evangelists, habited in red, 
 the colour denoting the blood which flowed from the cross. 
 Then came pastors, elders, and the other officers. A sermon 
 was preached by one of the elders. A " Gloria in Excelsis " was 
 given on a splendid organ, which has been erected in the south 
 aisle. Attached to the church is a small chapel, which is used 
 on rare occasions, and which we are infonned by a tablet placed 
 therein, was raised by the piety of two ladies, who contributed 
 the munificent sum of 4,000^. in aid of the work. The chief 
 feature of the church, however, is the altar, which is carved out 
 of various kinds of coloured marble, and is superbly decorated. 
 
 The only standards of faith recognised, are the three creeds of 
 the Catholic Church — the Apostle's creed, the Nicene, and the 
 Athanasian. They are distinguished from other Christian com- 
 munities, in that they hold apostles, prophets, evangelists, and 
 pastors, to be abiding ministries in the Church ; and that these 
 ministries, together with the power and gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
 dispensed and distributed among her members, are necessary for 
 preparing the Church for the second advent of the Lord. They 
 believe that supreme rule in the ('hurcli ought to be exercised as 
 at the first, by twelve apostles, not elected or ordained by men, 
 but called and sent forth immediately by God. The direct, or 
 as we should say, miraculous intervention of God in the aSairs 
 of the Church, is of course implied in the selection of the apostles. 
 The priests, in like manner, are first called to their office by the 
 
IllVINGITES. G7 
 
 voice of inspiration, uttered by the prophets. The angels or 
 bishops are chosen, by a like call and ordination, from among 
 the priests. The deacons are chosen by the congregation. With 
 regard to the holy Eucharist, the Irvingites hold the doctrine of 
 a real presence ; whether by transubstantiation or otherwise we 
 are uncertain. It is administered every Lord's day, and more or 
 less frequently during the week according to the number of 
 priests in feach congregation. Their zeal and fervour are remark- 
 able. Where the congregations are large, the first and last hour 
 of each day, that is from six to seven both morning and evening, 
 are appointed for divine worship ; and, if there be a suflScient 
 number of ministers, there are daily prayers at nine and three, 
 with other services for the more especial object of teaching and 
 preaching. 
 
 Nothing now remains which would indicate the presbyterian 
 origin of this community. The simplicity of the Church of 
 Scotland, its free prayer, its studied avoidance of the slightest 
 approach to the forms of popery, are superseded by a pomp and 
 splendour nowhere to be found except at Rome or Constanti- 
 nople. In their ritual observances and offices of worship, mate- 
 rial symbols have an important place. They contend, indeed, 
 that as through the washing of water men are admitted into the 
 Clnistian covenant, and as bread and wine duly consecrated are 
 ordained, not merely for spiritual food, but for purposes of sacra- 
 mental and symbolic agency, so too the use of other material 
 things — oil, iiglits, incense, robes, and vestments, as exponents 
 of sjDiritual realities, belongs to the dispensation of the Gospel. 
 
 " The Catholic and Apostolic Church " numbers amongst its 
 adherents a large proportion of men of wealth and station. No 
 Christian community in England of equal size can boast of so 
 many families of rank and wealth, or, we must add, upon the 
 other hand, has made so little progress amongst the poor. At 
 present it does not feel the want of endowments. Besides free 
 will offerings, every member of the Church dedicates to its ser- 
 vice the tenth of his increase, including income of every descrip- 
 tion. It is regarded as a sacred duty that tithes should be 
 dedicated to the service of God, and by them the ministry is 
 supported. 
 
 Thirty Sermons by the Rev. Edward Irving, preached in 
 London during the first three years of his residence. Life of 
 
 f2 
 
A' 
 
 (•,8 LUTllKRANS. 
 
 the Rev. Echcard Irving, M.A., by Willviiu Jones, M.A. 
 E(hvard Irving ; An Ecclesiastical Biograj^l'y : by Washington 
 Wilks, 1851;. Irvingism; Its Else, Prog^^ess, and Present 
 State : by Robert Baxter, 1 83G. A Letter to the Gifted Persons. 
 A Letter to the Rev. E. Irving, of Newman Street, London, 
 by M. D. A Chronicle of certain Events ivhich leave taken 
 lAace in the Church of Christ, imncipally in England, between 
 the years 1826 and 1852. Dr. Chalmers' Life and Letters, 
 hy D. Ilannay, 1852. RepoH on Religious Worship, in Census 
 0/1851. 
 
 T UTHERANS. Martin Luther, the founder of the Church 
 -^ which bears his naine, was born in humble Hfe, at Isleben 
 in Saxony, in 1483. He was well educated for the times, at tlie 
 school of Eisenach and the university of Erfurt. In 1505, the 
 death of a fellow-student, who was killed by lightning at his 
 side, first gave to his rnind that solemn tone by which he was 
 ever after distinguished. He became a monk and was ordained 
 in 1507, choosing the order of the Augustines. We need not 
 describe a character the features of which are so well known. 
 Luther, profoundly superstitious and entirely devoted to the 
 papacy, had a force of mind, a moral and physical courage, and 
 an earnestness in the pursuit of truth which seldom meet in the 
 same person. He became professor of divinity in the university 
 recently erected at Wittemburg, in 1508, and was sent to Rome 
 on business connected with his order soon after. Leo X. occupied 
 the papal chair ; at heart an infidel ; the patron of the fine arts 
 and a polished scholar ; but a sensualist who scarcely con- 
 descended to wear the mask of a professional religion. Luxury 
 and vice met Luther's eye at every turn, and the clergy in 
 jjrivate conversiition scoffed at the religion they taught in public. 
 Luther came home abashed and wondering, and the seeds of the 
 Reformation were already planted in his inmost soul. 
 
 In 1517, Tetzel, a Dominican friar, came through Germany to 
 sell indulgences, Leo was building St. Peter's, and by such 
 means the funds were to be raised. Tetzel, who had been 
 created archbishop of Metz to give the more influence to his 
 mission, disposed of his spiritual wares with a low and impudent 
 audacity. The accounts which arc given of his proceedings in 
 
LUTHERANS. G9 
 
 fairs and market-places through the towns and villages of 
 Germany, remind us of the similar exhibitions of mountebanks 
 and quack doctors. Tetzel does not seem to have been a whit 
 more refined or more scrupulous. He stooped to the lowest 
 buffoonery, and dealt in the most extravagant deceptions. Luther, 
 shocked with his profanity, first remonstrated, and then publicly 
 denounced the gigantic fraud. He denied the right of the pope 
 himself td pardon sin ; he denied that indulgences were of any 
 other value than as a release from the censures of the Chmxh. 
 These, with various other propositions to the same effect, Luther 
 drew up in the form of scholastic theses, nailed them to the 
 door of the church at Wittemburg on the 31st of October, 
 1517, and added a challenge to Tetzel and all other adherents 
 of the 2iapal system, to confute them. Almost all Germany took 
 up his cause, partly from disgust with Tetzel's conduct, and, in 
 no small degree, out of admiration of their countryman. Tetzel 
 and the Dominicans were furious ; they denounced Luther and 
 burnt his theses ; the students of Wittemburg in return burnt 
 a copy of Tetzel's commission from the pope. After the slumber 
 of ages, Germany was now agitated with religious controversy. 
 As the conflict spread, divines of the greatest renown were 
 drawn into it. Melancthon and Carlostadt came to the aid of 
 Luther, and Eckius, professor of divinity at Ingoldstadt, chal- 
 lenged Carlostadt to a public disputation. The rumour of these 
 quarrels was carried to Rome, where Leo at first received it 
 with polite indifference. It was the squabble of a few German 
 monks, he thought, and brother Luther had shown a fine spirit. 
 But he was soon convinced that the affair was too serious for a 
 jest, and Cardinal Cajetan, a Dominican, was despatched as the 
 papal legate to Augsburg, to examine and decide the matters in 
 dispute. Cajetan was ill fitted for the task. Instead of per- 
 suasion and argument, he assumed a haughty bearing, and 
 commanded Luther to yield implicit submission to the Church's 
 infallible head. Luther, no doubt anticipating violence, quietly 
 retired from Augsburg. Cajetan returned to Rome, and repre- 
 sented to the pope how Tetzel, and Eckius, and he himself had 
 been set at naught by the bold monk of Wittemburg. Leo's 
 pride got the better of his prudence, and he drove his opponent 
 at once to the alternative of resistance or despair. On the 15th 
 of June, 1520 a Ind! was issued in which forty-one heresies 
 
70 LUTHERANS. 
 
 taken from Luther's writings, were condemned ; his books were 
 ordered to be pul>licly burnt, and he was again summoned, on 
 pain of excommunication, to confess and retract his errors, and 
 throw himself on the mercy of the sovereign pontiff. Luther's 
 mode of reply was characteristic of the man. On the 10th of 
 December, 1520, he erected a huge pile of wood without the 
 walls of Wittemburg, and there, in the presence of an immense 
 multitude of people of all ranks, he threw into the flames both 
 the bull and sundry canons and decretals, which set forth the 
 papal supremacy. By this act he renounced the communion of 
 Rome ; and the Lutheran Church dates its origin from this 
 transaction. Leo merely displayed his own want of temper by 
 a second bull of the 6th of January, 1521, in which Luther was 
 excommunicated with the usual parade of threats and cursings. 
 
 The German princes were no indifferent spectators of the 
 contest between Luther and the pope. Frederic, elector of 
 Saxony, from political motives, warmly supported his courageous 
 subject against a power which no independent sovereign could 
 regard without alarm ; and moreover the principles of the Re- 
 formation had already taken hold of his own mind. Charles V. 
 succeeded to the empire in 1519 ; he was a devoted papist ; and 
 Leo, reminding him of his high titles of advocate and defender 
 of the Church, demanded from him the exemplary punishment 
 of the rebellious Luther. But Charles himself was, in a great 
 measure, indebted to Frederic's support for his own election, 
 against so formidable a rival as Francis I. of France who 
 had also been a candidate for the imperial throne. It was, 
 therefore, resolved that Luther should not be at once condemned 
 unheard; and a diet was assembled at Worms in 1521, before 
 which Luther was commanded to appear and plead his cause. 
 It may seem strange that a great religious question should be 
 discussed and determined in a public diet. But these diets, in 
 which the archbishops, bishops, and abbots had their seats as 
 well as the princes of the empire, were not only political assem- 
 blies, but also provincial councils for the whole of Germany ; and 
 to their jurisdiction, by the ancient canon law, such causes aa 
 that of Luther properly belonged. 
 
 Luther's conduct before the diet is one of the uoblest instances 
 on record of moral courage made sublime by religious principle. 
 He obtained a safe conduct from the emperor, and repaired 
 
LUTHERANS. 71 
 
 immediately to Worms against the remonstrances of his more 
 timid friends. ' " The cause is God's," said he, " and I will go if 
 there are as many devils in the place as there are tiles upon- the 
 houses." He was now the head of a large party ; he was sup- 
 ported by patriots who were jealous for the independence of 
 Germany, and reformers who could no longer bow in blind 
 submission to the pope. He entered Worms in a kind of 
 triumph, escorted by a vast multitude, who joined with him in 
 singing a psalm, afterwards known as Luther's hymn, which, 
 from this circumstance, became at once a national melody. 
 Luther pleaded his cause with great firmness and address, though 
 with all the respect that was due to so august a tribunal. Being 
 asked whether he would maintain those propositions in his 
 writings which had been offensive to the pope, he requested 
 time for consideration, and the next day replied in substance 
 thus : — That of the doctrines he had advanced he retracted 
 nothing ; that the accusations he had levelled against the papacy 
 were true ; but that being a man, infirm and sinful, it was 
 possible he might have expressed himself in an unbecoming 
 manner ; he appealed to the Scriptures, they were his only rule, 
 for popes and councils contradicted one another, and both were 
 liable to error. If the diet could prove him wrong from Scrip- 
 ture, his own hand should commit his writings to the flames. 
 If not, ho could neither abandon his opinions nor alter his 
 conduct. Threats and promises were tried in vain, when argu- 
 ment failed ; and Luther left the diet under a safe conduct from 
 the emperor, for one-and-twenty days, when the sentence was to 
 be pronounced. On the 8th of May, 1521, he was condemned 
 as a notorious and obstinate heretic, and the severest punish- 
 ments were denounced in the usual terms against all those who 
 should countenance his errors or continue to befriend him. His 
 patron, the Elector Frederic, determined that Luther should not 
 perish as a heretic in the flames, had him seized while riding 
 through a wood, by armed men disguised in masks, and carried 
 to his own castle at Wartzberg. Here he lay concealed ten 
 months maturing liis plans, and -writing tracts against the papacy. 
 Thus the imperial edict was frustrated. Indeed, there is some 
 reason to believe that the Emperor Charles himself, having 
 })acified the pope, was not unwilling that Luther should escape. 
 The edict was most unpopular in Germany ; its severity was 
 
71^ LUTHERANS. 
 
 liatt.ful. Luther bad not yet been beard at Rome where he had 
 a right to make his appeal ; his doctrines had not been calmly 
 discussed and refuted at Worms, but rather denounced and 
 execrated. Again, the eniperor had pronounced an authoritative 
 sentence against the doctrine of Luther, and doing so had 
 assumed the infallibility of the Roman pontiff, points which 
 should hav'o been decided by a general council ; and, above all, 
 many German princes, the Electors of Cologne, Saxony, the 
 Palatinate, and other sovereigns, had not been present at the 
 diet, nor did they approve of the edict. Thus the thunders of 
 this formidable court rolled harmless over Luther's head. 
 Leo X. died while he was concealed at Wartzberg, and the Re- 
 formation spread with astonishing rapidity through Saxony by 
 means of his writings. In 1522, Luther published his German 
 version of the New Testament. It was followed by the whole 
 Bible, which was published in short portions as the work ad- 
 vanced. The effect of this sudden burst of light was marvel- 
 lous. Hundreds of the monks renounced their vows ; images 
 were demolished, and at Wittemberg the mass was abolished. 
 But some evils attend all sudden changes which affect the 
 nmltitude, and the difficulties of the Reformation were now 
 beginning. 
 
 Luther heard in his retreat of the proceedings of some of his 
 friends with great uneasiness ; and at the hazard of his life 
 returned to Wittemberg. Carlostadt, professor of divinity there, 
 was rash and weak ; he led on the populace in their attacks upon 
 the images in the churches ; and Luther, at this period at least, 
 was by no means averse to the use of images. A still more 
 serious difference arose soon afterwards which insulated the 
 Lutheran Church from Protestant Christendom, and left it, of 
 all tlie Churches of the Reformation, the nearest to the Church 
 of Rome. A curious and instructive lesson — the most violent 
 of the reformers achieved the most imperfect of the reform- 
 ations. 
 
 Luther, in 1524, had rejected the Romish doctrine of transub- 
 stantiation, and in its place substituted that of impanitiou or 
 con substantiation, which is still the pccidiar feature of Lutlicr- 
 anism. Under these terms the presence of the real body and 
 blood of Christ in the sacrament is held as fully as by the 
 Church of Rome, the difference being onlv as to the mode in 
 
LUTHERANS. 73 
 
 which it exists. While the Church of Rome teaches tliut the 
 bread and wine lose their natural qualities, the Lutherans hold 
 that they retain them, both agreeing in the real presence in the 
 same sense of those words. The method of this union was a 
 mystery which, however, Luther endeavoured to explain by the 
 following illustration : " As in a red-hot iron two distinct sub- 
 stances, iron and heat, are united, so is the body of Christ joined 
 with the bread in the Eucharist." Carlostadt now went to the 
 other extreme ; he forsook Luther and embraced the doctrine 
 of Zuingle and those Swiss reformers who afterwards opposed 
 Calvin on this as well as some other doctrines. They taught 
 that the bread and wine were nothing more than external signs 
 or symbols, without any presence, real or spiritual, whether in the 
 elements or the recipient. The sacrament was not a means of 
 grace, but merely a commemorative rite. 
 
 The Anabaptists, under the enthusiast Mlinzer, rose in arms in 
 1525. Their violence was, of course, charged upon Luther and 
 his, doctrines by the papists ; but, in truth, it was an insurrection 
 of the serfs against the lords of the soil, resembling the rebellions 
 of our own Cade and Tyler, and arising out of the same causes. 
 Vassalage, another term for slavery, was expiring, and these were 
 its convulsive throes. Religion was merely the pretext, and 
 naturally so, when all men's minds were inflamed upon the 
 subject. The insurrection was still raging when the Elector 
 Frederic died. He is charged by German writers, devoted to 
 the Lutheran cause, with indecision and a want of courage, but 
 his sincerity is unquestioned. His successor was a man of greater 
 resolution ; he threw off the authority of Rome, and established 
 the Reformation in his dominions in 1527. A code of ecclesias- 
 tical government was drawn up by Luther and Melancthon for 
 his dominions, and the same forms of worship and discipline were 
 immediately copied by the other states of Germany where the 
 sovereigns favoured the Reformation. But some of the states 
 were unprepared for so great a change, and, in consequence, Ger- 
 many became a divided people, partly Romish and partly Pro- 
 testant, and such it still remains. 
 
 We do not profess to give the history of the various fortunes of 
 Luther and his followers, still less that of the German states, 
 through the stormy period which followed. A diet was held at 
 Spires in 1526, at which the German princes, in o^jposition to 
 
74 LUTHERANS. 
 
 the wish of the emperor, resolved not to insist upon the rigorous 
 execution of the edict of Worms. Each state was left at hberty to 
 conduct its own ecclesiastical affairs, and the reformers made use 
 of this brief interval of sunshine to diffuse their principles. But 
 a second diet was held at Spires in 1529, and the decisions of the 
 former were revoked. A general council, it was said, alone had 
 power to settle their religious differences ; and, until it should be 
 called, all changes in doctrine, discipline, or worship were declared 
 unlawful. Against this iniquitous decree a solemn protest was 
 made on the 19th of April, 1529, in these words: "We protest 
 publicly before God, ovu- only Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and 
 Saviour, who, as the only Searcher of all our hearts, judgeth 
 righteously, and we also protest before all the world, that both 
 for ourselves and for all our connections and subjects, we do not 
 consent to, nor agree with any resolutions or acts contained in the 
 last decree of Spires above referred to, which, in the great con- 
 cern of religion, are contrary to God and to his holy word, 
 injurious to our soul's salvation, and also in direct 0]jpo.sition 
 to the dictates of our conscience, as well as to the decree issued 
 by an imperial diet of Spires ; and w^e hereby solemnly declare 
 that, from reasons already assigned, and from other weighty 
 considerations, we regard all such resolutions or acts as null and 
 void." The protest was signed, besides the Elector of Saxony, 
 by the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the Prince of Anhalt, the 
 Duke of Brunswick, and his brother Ernest the Confessor, 
 hereditary prince of Saxony, and othei'S of high rank ; they were 
 supported by thirteen imperial towns, and also by Luther and 
 Melancthon, by whom the protest was prepared. The reformers 
 ever since have taken the name of Protestants. 
 
 The Protestant leaders appealed to the emperor, who was now 
 in Spain. He seized their amba.ssador, and assumed a hostile 
 Ijearing ; and they, alarmed for their safety, formed a solemn 
 confederacy at Smalcald, binding themselves to assist each other, 
 ("harles perceived that menaces would not subdue the spirit of 
 the Reformation, and for actual warfare he was not prepared. 
 He first attempted to persuade the pope to call a general council ; 
 but the angry pontiff thougiit of nothing but force and chas- 
 tisement. With a view of terminating the disputes which 
 threatened the empire with destruction, the emperor once more 
 called together the diet It met at Augsburg in 1530. Charles 
 
LUTHERANS. 75 
 
 himself knew little of the merits of the case ; he had been absent 
 from the previous diets, engaged in foreign wars, and indeed, had 
 he been present, it was still true that Luther had been con- 
 demned unheard. The Elector of Saxony, therefore, requested 
 Luther and other divines to prepare, in order to lay before the 
 diet, a summary of their creed, and of the differences which com- 
 pelled them to forsake the Church of Rome. These were drawn 
 up and presented to the elector in 1529. They were called the 
 Articles of Torgau, from being presented to the elector at the 
 town so named. They v/ere reviewed before the Protestant 
 princes, and it being thought desirable that they should be 
 extended and enlarged, the work was assigned to ]\Telancthon ; 
 and thus was completed the famous confession of Augsburg, the 
 standard of faith in all the Lutheran churches. When read 
 before the diet by the Chancellor of Saxony, in the presence of 
 tlie emperor and the assembled princes, it produced a deep 
 impression. Of the Romish party, some were surprised to find 
 that the sentiments of Luther, which they had been taught to 
 regard as fanatical and vile, were pure and rational, and in 
 accordance with the word of God. History has long ago deter- 
 mined that the Augsburg confession, marked with the strong 
 sense of Luther, and the classic taste of Melancthon, should take 
 a high rank amongst a class of documents the fewest in number, 
 the most difficult, and, excepting the sacred canon, the most 
 important in existence. It was signed by four princes of the 
 empire, by the imperial cities of Nuremberg and Reutlingen, and 
 by the Elector of Saxony. The Romish clergy present at the 
 diet — Faber, Eckius, and Cochlseus — drew up a refutation which 
 was publicly read in the diet, the emperor demanding the 
 acquiescence of the Protestants ; for he was now determined to 
 insist on their submission, and to close the dispute. This they 
 refused. The emperor again took counsel with the pope, and 
 the result was an imperial edict, commanding the princes, states, 
 and cities which had thrown off tlie j^apal yoke, to return to their 
 duty, on pain of incurring the displeasure of the emperor as the 
 patron and defender of the holy see. Then came the league of 
 Smalcald in 153], when the Protestant sovereigns of Germany 
 formed a rehgious alliance, to which they invited England, Den- 
 mark, and other states in which the Reformation had now dawned. 
 In 1532, the peace of Nuremberg composed for a time the 
 
70 LUTHERANS. 
 
 differences between the emperor and the reformers ; the Lu- 
 therans were permitted the free exercise of their worship, until a 
 generul council or another diet should finally determine the fixith 
 of continental Christendom. In lo3-"), the pope, Paul III., pro- 
 posed to summon a general council at Mantua. The Protestants 
 of Germany, well satisfied that no advantages would result from 
 such a .synod, assembled at Smalcald in 1537, and published a 
 sohmm pi'otest against the constitution of the council as partial 
 and corrupt. To this they added a summary of their doctrine, 
 draAvn up by Luther, in order to present it to the council, if the 
 pope should persist in calling it together. This summar}', which 
 was distinguished by the title of the Articles of Smalcald, is 
 generally joined with the creeds and confessions of the Lutheran 
 Church. The pope, however, died, and the council at Mantua 
 was postponed. New projects were raised, with the vain hope of 
 setting at rest the spirit of religious freedom by which all Ger- 
 many was now disturbed. The emperor summoned a conference 
 at Worms in 1541, and Melancthon disputed for three days with 
 Eckius on the points at issue. A diet followed at Ratisbon, 
 another at Spires in 1542, and a third at Worms in 1545; the 
 emperor vainly attempting to intimidate the Protestants, or to 
 induce their leaders to consent to a general coimcil to be sum- 
 moned by the pope. But their resolution was fixed ; they denied 
 the pope's right to summon a general council ; they regarded the 
 proposal as a snare, and treated it with scorn. The Council of 
 Trent met in 1 546, but no I^-otestant representatives appeared. 
 It thundered its decrees, and the Protestant princes of Germany 
 bade it defiance. The emperor, exas])erate(l by their resistance, 
 and stimulated by the pope, assembled his forces, resolved to 
 crush the spirit he could not otherwise subdue. All Germany 
 was arming in defence of Protestantism or in submission to the 
 emperor, and the stonn darkened on every side. Such was the 
 state of Germany when Luther died. Full of faith and charity, 
 and confident in the truth of his cause, he left the world in 
 peace, February 18th, 1546, at Isleben, where he was bora. 
 
 A leligious war now broke out. The emperor was victorious, 
 and the Interim followed. This was an imperial edict, is.sued in 
 1547, granting certain conces-sions, more specious than really 
 important, to the Protestants, imtil the decisions of a general 
 council .should be taken. It satisfied neither [larty, and the war 
 
LUTHERANS. 77 
 
 soon raged anew. The Emperor was defeated by the German 
 confederates, under Maurice of Saxony, in 1552, and the pacifi- 
 cation of Passau followed. At last, in 1555, the diet of Aucrsburo- 
 met, peace was restored, and the Protestant states of Germany 
 secured their independence. It was decreed that the Protestants 
 who embraced the Confession of Augsburg should be entirely 
 exempted from the jurisdiction of the Romish pontiff, and from 
 the authority and interference of his bishops. They were free 
 to enact laws for the regulation of their own religion in every 
 point, whether of discipline or doctrine. Every subject of the 
 German empire was allowed the right of private judgment, and 
 might unite himself to that Church which he preferred ; and 
 those who should prosecute others under the pretext of religion 
 were declared enemies of the common peace. 
 
 The Lutheran Church, as thus at length established, professed 
 no other rule of faith than holy Scripture. Such at least is the 
 statement of its learned defender and historian. Dr. Mosheim, 
 himself a Lutheran. The Confession of Auo;sbursf, with Melanc- 
 thon"s defence of it, the Articles of Smalcald, and the larger and 
 smaller Catechisms, are generally received as containing the 
 principal points of doctrine, arranged, for the sake of method 
 and perspicuity, in their natural order ; but these books have no 
 authority but that which they derive from the Scriptures; nor 
 may the Lutheran clergy so interpret them as to draw from them 
 any proposition inconsistent with the express declarations of the 
 word of God. The only point of much importance on which the 
 Augsburg Confession is different from that of Calvin and the 
 Keformed Church is the real presence in the Eucharist. It is to 
 be noted, however, that while this is maintained, it is denied that 
 the mass is a sacrifice, or that it ought to be worshipped or 
 adored. On the Arminian question the Confession of Augsburg 
 carefully avoids the explicitness of Calvin, and sets an example of 
 moderation which was probably copied by the framers of our 
 Thirty-Nine Articles : " Like as the preaching of repentance is 
 general, even so the promise of grace is general, and willeth all 
 men to receive the benefit of Christ ; as Christ himself saith, 
 ' Come unto me all ye that are laden,' &c."' In practice the 
 Lutheran Church has always leaned towards the extreme of low 
 Arminianism, 
 
 The constitution of the Church is simple, and in its form of 
 
7s LUTllKllANS. 
 
 worship studiously plain. It is a modified preshytoriainsni. The 
 liead of the state is acknowledged as the supreme visible ruler of the 
 Church. It is governed by a consistory, composed of divines and 
 civilians, frequently appointed by the sovereign himself. The 
 German Lutherans reject Episcopacy ; but as the Reformation 
 extended, Sweden and Denmark, embracing the Lutheran faith, 
 retained the Episcopal government, and these kingdoms are 
 governed by bishops and superintendents, under the authority of 
 the sovereign. The archbishop of Upsal, i^rimate of Sweden, is 
 the only archbishop amongst the Lutherans. The incomes of 
 these prelates are extremely moderate. The archbishop's 
 revenue is less than 1000/. ; those of the bishops about 400/. per 
 aunvim. 
 
 The forms of worship vary. Each state has a Liturgy of its 
 own, which may, or may not, agree verbally with that of neigh- 
 bouring churches. The Lutherans claim in this the same liberty 
 which is exercised in the Churcli of England in our various selec- 
 tions of psalms and hymns. Festivals in commemoration of the 
 great events of the Gospel history were once observed, as well as 
 some few saints' days, but they are now suffered to pass almost • 
 unnoticed. Ecclesiastical discijDline is almost unknown, and 
 religion itself has long, it must be confessed, been at a low ebb 
 in most of the Lutheran churches. 
 
 Luther himself foresaw, and frequently predicted, the decline 
 of Lutherauism. " Our cause," he said, " Avill go on as long as 
 its living advocates — Melaucthon and the rest, survive ; after 
 their death, there will be a sad falling off." Seckendorf describes 
 him as the Jeremiah of his own church, constantly bewailing 
 the sins, and predicting the sorrows of his people. And both 
 Seckendorf and Mosheim, devoted Lutherans, admit that his 
 forebodings were but too correct. Luther anticipated danger 
 from the growth of the sectarians — Anabaptists, Antiuomians, 
 and Sacramentarians. But more grievous perils were at hand 
 from other sources. The great Lutheran historians admit that 
 there was an immediate relapse into vice and irreligion. Within 
 a few years of the death of the great reformer, the lives of those 
 who professed his principles were a disgrace to the Reformation. 
 The German states which had embraced, were not more virtuous 
 or more devout than those which had rejected, the doctrines of 
 Luther. The confession is painful, but still it must not be con- 
 
LUTHERANS. 79 
 
 cealed that zeal and fervent piety almost forsook the Lutherans 
 when Luther died. Ponderous learning, recondite criticism, and 
 historians, laborious, if not eloquent and philosophical, the Lu- 
 theran Church can boast, and but little more. It has never 
 grappled with the warm affections of an ardent people, or subdued 
 and governed the intelligence of a thoughtful race. It has been 
 for centuries a state machine from which little was expected, and 
 by which little has been done.- Sharing deeply in the collapse 
 of Protestantism in other lands, it has scarcely shared in any of 
 its revivals. Its career has been monotonous and undisturbed. 
 When its children have woke up to a due sense of the importance 
 of religion they have forsaken its communion. Thus, Zinzendorf, 
 in the middle of the last century, replenished the Moravian 
 Church with Lutherans. But, amongst themselves, there has 
 not, at any time, been a marked revival of religious power and 
 life such as those with which all other Churches of the Reforma- 
 tion have been visited. 
 
 Nor is it difficult to explain the causes of this want of success. 
 In the first place the Lutheran Church, in the judgment of the 
 Reformation, was still tainted with one of the great errors of the 
 Church of Rome, the doctrine of the real presence in the mass. 
 Consubstantiation excluded the Lutherans from the fellowship, 
 and in a great extent from the affections, of all the reformed 
 churches. It must have had another effect ; agreeing upon a 
 point so vital with Rome, the Lutheran Church occupied a paid- 
 way position between her and other Protestant churches, and so 
 became the antagonist of both. Against the Church of Rome it 
 was difficult to maintain its favourite dogma, which either con- 
 ceded or refused too much ; against other Protestants it was still 
 more difficult to maintain either its peculiar creed or its insulated 
 position. The Lutheran divines, with almost one consent, aban- 
 doned the field of dogmatic theology and buried themselves in 
 antiquarian researches or philological speculations. 
 
 Again, the defection of several of the German princes crippled 
 the Lutheran Church in its infancy. Maurice, Landgrave of 
 Hesse, forsook Lutheranism and joined the reformed or Cal- 
 vinistic church, in 1604, removing the Lutheran professors from 
 the University of Marpburg, and the clergy from their churches. 
 In 1614 Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, followed his ex- 
 ample. Contests arose between the professors of the rival 
 
KO LUTIIEllAXS. 
 
 churches, and the strength wliich sliouM have been spent in 
 assaults on popeiy, or in advancing pure religion amongst them- 
 selves, was wasted in these unnatural conflicts. In Brandenhurg 
 disputes ran high, and the peace of the state was in danger. At 
 first a " form of concord " was enacted, and the two communions 
 were invited to dwell in peace. But the Lutherans of Saxony 
 were outrageous in their violence. The form of concord was in 
 consequence suppressed, and the subjects of Brandenburg were 
 prohibited from studying divinity in the University of Wittem- 
 burg. The repeated attempts which have since been made to 
 unite the Calvinists and Lutherans in Prussia, and other stales 
 of Germany, have been already mentioned. — (See Calvinists.) 
 
 A third cause of the little success which has blessed the Lu- 
 theran Chui'ches is to be found in the metaphysical subtleties by 
 which the simple theology of Luther was soon displaced. We 
 utterly despair of putting the reader in possession of these dis- 
 putes, some of which are long since forgotten, while others form 
 the basis of those speculations both in metaphysics and theology 
 with Avhich Germany is now distracted. In the seventeenth 
 century tlie German Churches repeated most of the follies of the 
 early Christians. There w^as the same attempt to clothe Chris- 
 tianity in philosophical forms; to divest it of the marvellous; 
 and to present it as a code of ethics, instead of a revelation of 
 grace. At the head of this school of divines was Calixtus, a 
 minister of Schleswick : his followers took the name of Syncretists ; 
 their chief aim was to promote union, and, if possible, to reunite 
 in one body all the Protestant Churches, or even, as some assert, 
 the whole of Christendom, including the Church of Rome. 
 Whether Calixtus was a sound divine and a wise diplomatist, is a 
 question to be dug out of many a folio of hard divinity. To us 
 it has but little interest. From his times, if not from his teach- 
 ing, arose that succession of i)hilosophical divines in Germany 
 which is now represented by the great Neologian or Rationalistic 
 })arty. Opposed to these Spener ajjpeared at Francfort, the 
 leatler of the Pietists, about the year 1670. It is admitted, even 
 by his opponents, that his intentions were good, and that he was 
 a man of piety. His own followers claimed for him far higher 
 praise. They look upon him as the restorer of true religion in a 
 dark anil profligate age. The Syncretists treated revelation with 
 some degree of levity ; Spener with profound reverence. He 
 
LUTHERANS. 81 
 
 formed societies for the devout study of the Bible, promoted 
 scriptural expositions and lectures in the churches, and social 
 meetings for prayer and devotional exercises. The Pietists made 
 a great impression. Their meetings were crowded, their converts 
 multiplied. But severe charges were brought against them, and 
 in 1695 Spener was punished as a preacher of dangerous and 
 erroneous tenets. Amongst general accusations of enthusiasm 
 and extravagance, of obscuring the sublime truths of religion by 
 a gloomy kind of jargon, of believing themselves to be under a 
 divine impulse, and the like — charges which, in every age, 
 encounter the friends of pure and earnest religion — there are 
 scattered some few accusations of a graver sort. It is said that 
 some at least of the Pietists assumed the authority of prophets, 
 terrified the people with pretended visions, denounced existing 
 institutions, and proclaimed the millenium at hand as a carnal 
 paradise. But these, if true, were but passing foibles. A great 
 religious movement sweeps along with it a number of the vain, 
 the ignorant, and the fanatical, who are no more to be con- 
 founded with it than the rabble of sutlers and thieves who follow 
 a well-disciplined army with the soldier in the ranks. A graver 
 accusation still remains. Spener and his followers, the old 
 Pietists, indulged to a great extent in that dreaming mysticism, 
 that sentimental piety, which, if not fatal to religion, is one 
 of its worst maladies. Mosheim writes the history of the Pietists 
 in a severe strain : he says they despised philosophy and learning, 
 and placed the whole of their theology in certain vague and 
 incoherent declamations. No doubt there was much extrava- 
 gance, which was carried to its extreme height by Petersen, a 
 pastor in Lunenburg. Of this he gave a painful specimen in 
 1691, publicly maintaining that Rosamond Juliana, countess of 
 Asseburg, was honoured with a vision of the Deity, and com- 
 missioned to make a new declaration of his will to man. Yet 
 the instances which Mosheim furnishes will scarcely be thought 
 to support the charge of vagueness and incoherence in the theo- 
 logy of the Pietists. With respect to morals, they taught, he 
 says, that no person who was not himself a model of piety and 
 divine love was qualified to be a public teacher of piety, or a 
 guidfe to others in the way of salvation. They forbad dancino-, 
 public sports, and theatrical diversions. With respect to doc- 
 trine, they are accused of denying justification by faith alone, 
 VOL. II. G 
 
82 LUTHERANS. 
 
 without good works. But this, if true in some few instances, 
 is to be received, with regard to the Pietists in general, as 
 an extravagant assertion. They insisted much upon works of 
 charity and hoHness of life, and were therefore charged with 
 a denial of the doctrine that men are accounted righteous 
 before God for the sake of Christ, and by virtue of his atone- 
 ment. 
 
 The history of .the Lutheran Church since the beginning of 
 the eighteenth century presents few points of interest. Two 
 subjects for a long time absorbed all her energies. These were, 
 the growth of infidelity and the project of a union with the 
 Calvinists. The former has at length terminated, so far as the 
 Rationalists or anti-Evangelical party are concerned, in what 
 we can only term a compromise. The attempts to effect an 
 union with the Calvinists were frequently renewed, and ended 
 at length in the fusion of the two Churches in Prussia, and the 
 establishment of the Evangelical Church of that kingdom in 
 1817. — (See Calvinists.) 
 
 At present Lutheranisra is most powerful in Denmark and 
 Sweden. In Denmark the whole population, which amounts to 
 two millions, with the exception of less than twenty thousand 
 dissenters of various creeds, is Lutheran. There are eight bishops 
 and about fifteen hundred clergy. At Copenhagen there has 
 existed since 1714? a Missionary college, and from about that 
 period must be dated the origin of the Danish Mission at Tran- 
 quebar. To the Lutheran Church belongs the honour of having 
 been the first of Protestant communities in missionary enterprises. 
 Each of the great missionary societies of the Church of England 
 has been thankful to accept the services of Lutheran missionaries ; 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in India, and the 
 Church Missionary Society, till a very recent period, in all her 
 missions. The people of Sweden, upwards of three millions, are 
 Lutheran with a few exceptions, as in Denmark. The constitution 
 of these Churches is episcopal. In the Protestant states of Ger- 
 many and in Holland the Lutheran is, upon the whole, the 
 prevailing faith, though the proportion of Roman Catholics is 
 often great. In some of the states Catholics and Protestants are 
 equally divided, and we fear it must be added that in few of 
 them does the Lutheran Church present that aspect of wisdouj, 
 zeal, and piety which is calculated to win over the subjects 
 
MORMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS. 83 
 
 of the Pope. In France the Lutherans have about two hundred 
 and fifty congregations. 
 
 Seckendorf, Historia Lutlieranismi : Leipsic, 1692. Mos- 
 eim, Ecclesiastical History. Life of Martin Luther. Luther's 
 Tahle-Talk, edited by John Aurifaher ; 1569. Dr. J. Merle 
 D'Auhigne, History of the Reformation in Germany. Scott's 
 continuation of Milners Church History. 
 
 1/rOKMONITES, OR Latter Day Saints. — Mormonism is not 
 entitled to be termed a Christian sect. It stands in the 
 same relationship to Christianity with Mahoniedanism. In both 
 instances the founder of a new faith professed himself the author 
 of a new revelation ; while at the same time the Holy Scriptures 
 were treated with a certain measure of respect. The reader 
 unacquainted with the peculiarities of Mormonism may, how- 
 ever, have referred to our pages for information ; and under 
 this protest we shall narrate, with the utmost brevity, the strange 
 story of the Mormons. 
 
 The sect first ajipeared in America, and Joseph Smith was its 
 founder. He was born at Sharon, in the state of Vermont, in 
 1805, being the son of a small farmer. When about fifteen years 
 of age he was present at one of those religious revivals which 
 have become so frequent in some of the transatlantic churches. 
 Whether from insanity, enthusiasm, or sheer hypocrisy, the lad 
 professed to have been favoured, while in prayer, with a miracu- 
 lous vision. " A pillar of light above the brightness of the sun 
 gradually descended upon me," he says, " and I saw two per- 
 sonages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing 
 above me in the air." They assured him that his sins were 
 forgiven, and forbade him to join any Christian Church, since all 
 existing Churches were alike in error. His vanity led him to 
 proclaim his vision, and the persecution which he says he mot 
 with in consequence, from professors of religion, made him only 
 the more obstinate. He admits that, as he grew up, he led a 
 vagrant life. By the help of a divining-rod he pretended to be 
 able to discover treasures buried in the earth, and was known as 
 " the money-digger." He earned a precarious living by this and 
 similar contrivances till 1823, when he had a second revelation, 
 and an angel directed him to a spot near Palmyra, in Ontario 
 
 G 2 
 
84 MORMON ITES, OR LATTER DAY tSAINTS. 
 
 county, where hv found, engi-aved on thin plates of gold, certain 
 records jjrophetic and historical. They were written in the " re- 
 formed Egyptian character," and had once belonged to the 
 American Indians, who were a remnant of the Israelites ; and 
 they contained the necessary instiaictions for the formation of a 
 pure Church. Besides the record engiaved on the gold plates, 
 he found Avith them two stones, or lenses, set in silver ; these 
 were the Urim and Thummim of the ancient seers, by means of 
 which he was enabled to translate the book. It was not till 
 1827 that Smith was permitted by the angel to remove his 
 treasure, though he continued to receive supernatural instruc- 
 tions during the interval. Such was Smith's story. In 1880 
 the book was published under the title of the book of Mormon. 
 
 The real history of the book of Mormon has been ascertained, 
 beyond a doubt, to be this : — Solomon Spalding, a Presbyterian 
 minister of little note and imperfect education, who had retired 
 from the ministry and engaged without success in business, at- 
 tempted the composition of an historical romance. He chose for 
 his subject the history of the native American Indians. He 
 represented them as the descendants of the patriarch Joseph, 
 and traced their history from the time of Zedekiah, king of 
 Judah, for a period of a thousand years. It was written in rude 
 imitation of the style and language of the Old Testament. The 
 author was so illiterate that chronology, history, and the simplest 
 rules of grammar, were outraged on every page. Spalding is 
 said to have tried in vain to persuade any publisher or printer to 
 undertake the publication of the book. He died, leaving the 
 manuscript in his widow's possession ; and as she lived in the 
 neighbourhood of Smith's parents it came, about twelve years 
 after the author's death, by what means is uncertain, into Joseph 
 Smitii's possession. He prefixed the title by ^vhich it has since 
 been known, "The Book of Mormon," and pretended that it 
 contained a translation of the characters engraven upon the 
 golden tablets, to which he had been directed by the angel. 
 "An expos(5 of Mormonism" was published at Boston in 1842, 
 in which are given the depositions of Spalding's brother, of his 
 widow, and of Lake, his partner in business, all of whom assert 
 that the Book of Mormon is no other than this historical romance, 
 which they had often seen and read. Smith himself is said at first 
 to have laughed at the deception he was practising; but the 
 
MOllMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS. 86 
 
 seriousness with which the imposture was received, seems to 
 have suggested to him the facihty with which the credulity of 
 his neighbours could be made to contribute to his fortunes, far 
 beyond the mere sale of a few editions of a stupid literary impos- 
 ture. The story of the revelation, written upon tablets of gold, was 
 widely circulated : it is not pretended that, except by ten or 
 twelve chosen witnesses, who of course were Smith's coadjutors, 
 the gold plates were ever seen by mortal eye ; indeed, "the angel 
 in a short time resumed them, and has them," says Smith, in his 
 autobiography, "in his charge till this day." Harris, a neigh- 
 bouring farmer, who had been induced to advance money to 
 Joseph Smith for the expenses of printing, was favoured with a 
 fac-simile of one of the gold plates. Finding himself impoverished 
 by the speculation, he quarrelled with Smith, renounced Mor- 
 mouism, and carried the fac-simile to Professor Anson of New 
 York, who published, in February 1837, a letter, in which he 
 describes the engraving as " the work of an artist who probably 
 had before him a book containing alphabets in various languages. 
 It consists of Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses, and flourishes, 
 Roman letters inverted or placed sideways, the whole ending in 
 the rude delineation of a circle copied from the Mexican calendar, 
 given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as not to betray 
 the source from whence it was derived. I am thus particular," 
 he adds, " as to the contents of the paper, inasmuch as I have 
 frequently conversed with my friends upon the subject since the 
 Mormon excitement began, and well remember that the paper 
 contained anything else but ' Egyptian hieroglyphics.' " 
 
 It is to be noticed that the Book of Mormon is free from 
 heretical statements or novel dogmas, if we except the denial of 
 infant baptism. It asserts the perpetuity of miracles in the 
 Church ; and on this account the Irvingites were induced to send 
 a deputation, in the early stages of Mormonism, to express their 
 sympathy with Joseph Smith. For a short time they too were the 
 dupes of his imposture. According to Smith, Mormon was the 
 name of a prophet who lived in the fourth century, and who 
 engraved on plates of gold a summary of the history of the 
 American tribes, which had now become degenerate, and were 
 soon afterwards extinct. These plates were buried for safety by 
 his son Maroni, in the spot to which Smith was directed by the 
 angel, about the year A.D. 420. The evidence of the Spaldiugs 
 
86 MOHMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS. 
 
 declares that Mormon and Moroni were conspicuous personages 
 in the historical romance of their deceased relation. 
 
 At first the imposture, like that of Mahomet, moved slowly, 
 but a few converts were made, and in 1830 the Mormon Church, 
 or, as Smith named it, the Church of Latter Day Saints, was 
 fonned. As the Book of Mormon forl)ade infant baptism, Smith 
 began to baptize a few of his converts, amongst whom were his 
 o^vn father and other members of his family. About the same 
 time he appears to have been joined by Sidney Rigdon. Rigdon 
 Avas a printer ; he had been employed in an office to which the 
 historical romance had been offered during the life of Spalding, 
 and is supposed to have made himself acquainted wath its contents, 
 and to have been the instrument of j)lacing it in the hands of 
 Joseph Smith. He had been a preacher, in what sect we are 
 not informed, but having some smattering of theology he was the 
 better qualified to carry out the scheme in which he now em- 
 barked. Smith announced him as his prophet ; for whenever 
 occasion required, a revelation through the angel gave fresh 
 powers to the Mormon leader ; and Rigdon signalized his entrance 
 upon olfice by the production of an inspired code of "doctrines 
 and covenants" for the more complete guidance of the Church. 
 Its outward constitution was now finally arranged, of course by 
 revelation. The priesthood was two-fold ; there was the order of 
 Aaron and the order of Melchisedek. All the officers of the primi- 
 tive Church were revived ; prophets, evangelists, apostles, bishops, 
 priests, and deacons. 
 
 The pretensions of Smith were received by his neighbours, who 
 were acquainted with his previous character, with general con- 
 tempt ; which, as he gained a few converts, was exchanged for 
 indignation. He found it expedient to remove; and in 1831, in 
 company with Rigdon, he took iip his abode at Kertland, in 
 Ohio. Here they formed a mercantile house in their capacity of 
 stewards for the consecrated property of the Mormonites. They 
 also pmchascd goods on credit to a large extent ; and, in order 
 still further to increase their profits, opened a bank and issueil 
 promissory notes. The credit of the baid-^ was suspected, and 
 the holders of its notes were of course anxious to discover the 
 amount of capital possessed by the bankers. The ^lormon leader 
 li;ul prepared for this emergency; he filled one box with dollars 
 and about tAvo hundred olhcrs witli stones and iron. Having 
 
MORMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS. 87 
 
 assembled his creditors, he showed them the two hundred boxes, 
 each marked "1000 dollars," and satisfied their curiosity by 
 opening that which contained the only treasure he possessed. 
 The trick answered for a time. The notes were passed off by 
 the elders of the Mormon Church, who obtained, some of them 
 twenty, some even forty thousand dollars in this way ; boasting 
 that they had " sucked the milk of the Gentiles." But the bank 
 failed ; iifiany of the Mormonites, not in the secret of their 
 leaders, were pillaged, and they denounced the prophet for a 
 swindler. He was seized by the populace, tarred and feathered, 
 and narrowly escaped with his life. He took his revenge in 
 denouncing his creditors as wicked dissenters, wanting faith, on 
 whom the vengeance of heaven was about to fall and the earth 
 to swallow them up, like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. — ' Glean- 
 ings by the Way,' by the Rev. J. A. Clarke, D.D., Philadelphia. 
 Soon afterwards Smith and his companions removed to a settle- 
 ment on the banks of the Missouri. Here the new community 
 built the town, or city, of Zion ; and in 1832 the settlement was 
 tenanted by no fewer than twelve hundred Mormonites. But the 
 indignation of the old settlers was again aroused ; partly by the 
 immoral practices which already began to be charged on the sect, 
 and still more perhaps by their vaunts and arrogance. For they 
 boasted they should soon possess the whole country, and that the 
 infidels would be rooted out. A public meeting was held in the 
 county, and the Mormonites were commanded to depart. Resist- 
 ance was in vain. Nor could they obtain redress from the legal 
 tribunals. Zion was abandoned, and the Mormonites, who now 
 amounted to twelve thousand, crossed the Mississippi in 1837, 
 and took refuge in the state of Illinois. Here they built Nauvoo, 
 which, according to the Book of Mormon, signifies beautiful. 
 The compact order, the voluntary obedience, above all the in- 
 tense fanaticism of the Mormonites, wrought in a short time 
 astonishing effects. In eighteen months Nauvoo contained two 
 thousand houses. The proselytes numbered fifteen thousand. 
 A flourishing commonwealth existed, and Joseph Smith presided, 
 with more than the power of an oriental despot, over willing 
 subjects. A magnificent temple was begun in 1841, the founda- 
 tions of which were laid with civic and military pomp ; for the 
 Mormonites had now a well-trained militia of their own body ; 
 and a mansion was begun in which Jo.'^eph Smith and his family 
 were to reside at the public cost. A solemn revelation was an- 
 
88 MORMONITES, OU LAT'IKK DAY SAINTS. 
 
 nounced, iu which the faithful were commanded to build the 
 house ; and it was declared to be the will of God that Smith and 
 his family should dwell in it for ever ^vithout charge or cost, 
 supported by the offerings of the Church. A mission had been 
 sent to England, and already their tenets were making rapid pro- 
 gress. Within five years they had baptized ten thousand British 
 subjects. 
 
 Again the popular indignation broke out against the Mor- 
 monites. In truth, they were formidable neighbours. They had 
 now, in 1 84)2, an army of four thousand men, in a state of great 
 efficiency, commanded by a general who had served in the army 
 in the United States. In ISl-i, Smith offered himself as a can- 
 didate for the office of President of the United States, a proceed- 
 ing which has been regarded as mere bravado, but one, at the 
 same time, in which a true patriot might reasonably feel ground 
 for some alarm. But what most of all aroused the vengeance ot 
 his countrymen was the audacity with which Smith now invoked 
 religion as the minister of his profligacy. In July, 1848, he 
 announced a revelation (which is printed in full in the ' ^lillennial 
 Star,' No. XV., p. 5, the organ of Mormonism) authorising him and 
 all those whom he should license, to take an unlimited number of 
 wives. At first the revelation was kept a profound secret, or 
 communicated only to the leaders of the party; but the infamous 
 conduct of Smith and his apostles to the females in Nauvoo, 
 produced a strong remonstrance from a local newspaper, called 
 the ' Expositor,' which published in its first number the affidavits 
 of sixteen women, who alleged that Smith, Rigdon, Young, and 
 others, had invited them to enter into a secret and illicit con- 
 nexion, imder the title of spiritual marriage. Smith commanded 
 the office of the '' Expositor ' to be levelled to the ground. His 
 mandate Avas instantly carried into effect, and the obnoxious 
 editors fled for their lives. They obtained a writ from the 
 authorities of the state of Illinois against Smith and his brother. 
 The execution of the warrant was resisted in Nauvoo, and Smith 
 ordered the officer entrusted Avith it to be driven away ; but the 
 militia of the state were in motion, and it was perceived that 
 hostilities were hopeless against an overwhelming force of 60,000 
 men. Smith and his brother surrendered, and were committed 
 to the county jail at Carthage, to take their trial for treason 
 against the state. A mob broke into the prison, armed with 
 pistols, and the two Inothcrs were despatched. Joseph Smith 
 
MORMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS. 89 
 
 was shot, June the 7th, 1844, in the thirty-ninth year of his 
 age. 
 
 His vacant office was eagerly contested by several competitors. 
 " The apostolic college " elected Brigham Young, in opposition 
 to Sidney Rigdon, who, disputing the election, was himself ex- 
 communicated and expelled. Brigham Young is now president 
 of the Latter Day Saints, and of the territory of Utah. Eigdon 
 had already quarrelled with Smith, and having now no further 
 interest in the imposture which he had helped to frame, he threw 
 off the mask, and denounced his associates. Bennet, who had 
 been mayor of Nauvoo, and a disciple, but forsook the Mormons 
 on account of the infamous conduct of Smith, explains the 
 secession of Rigdon thus : " Smith," he says, " taught that the 
 blessings of Jacob were granted to him, and, consequently, that 
 he had divine authority and permission for indulging in unre- 
 strained polygamy. He had thus induced several English and 
 American women, whose husbands and fathers had been sent on 
 distant missions by the prophet, to become his spiritual wives. 
 But having attempted to add to their number the daughter of 
 Sidney Rigdon, the feelings of the father were too strong to per- 
 mit such an abomination ; and Rigdon, who had accompanied 
 the prophet in his long and hateful course of imposture and 
 hypocrisy, at once dissolved all connexion with this abandoned 
 wretch, and exposed his infamous proceedings in several news- 
 papers. He spoke of him, as well he might, in terms of un- 
 measured severity, as one polluted mass of corruption, iniquity, 
 and fraud." — (Prof Caswall, ' Prophet of the Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury,' who quotes the above from the ' St. Louis ' newspaper.) 
 Yet after this, it seems, Rigdon was a candidate for the office of 
 Mormon chief, left vacant by Smith's death ! 
 
 Nauvoo prospered once more. The magnificent temple rose 
 upon the summit of a hill, as if in defiance, and the number of 
 converts still increased. The jealousy of the neighbouring 
 settlers had never slumbered ; the Mormons were regarded 
 with a hatred not unmixed with fear, and a league was formed 
 for their extermination from the soil. They wisely resolved to 
 bow before the tempest, abandon the territory of the United 
 States, and find another home in the recesses of the wilderness. 
 In 1846 Nauvoo was forsaken ; but it was not till after a march 
 of a whole year, across the Rocky Mountains, that the first 
 
90 MORMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS." 
 
 detachment reached their new settlement in the basin of the 
 great Salt Lake, in Upper California. A second and a third 
 party followed, suffering dreadful hardships on the way, and 
 losing thousands by hunger and distress. Only about four 
 thousand of the twenty thousand inhabitants of Nauvoo reached 
 the region of the Salt Lake, their new abode. 
 
 But it seemed as if, until some mysterious purpose were fulfilled, 
 no disasters and no disgraces could affect the progress of the 
 Mormon cause. The career of the new commonwealth has been 
 one of boundless prosperity. The descriptions of the scenery of 
 the valley of the Salt Lake, and the character of the new institu- 
 tions there, forcibly remind us of tlie glowing accounts of Mexico, 
 which have been left by the companions of Cortes. A lake, fifty 
 miles in length, studded with beautiful islands, washes on all 
 sides a plain of marvellous fertility. This is girded round with 
 mountains, whose peaks of perpetual snow are burnished by 
 a dazzling sun. The valley is entered only by a deep ravine, 
 five miles in length, through which a river winds its way. Nature 
 has rendered the spot impregnable. Its entire seclusion from the 
 world, its exquisite beauty and genial clime, its prolific soil, and 
 its safety from the attacks of enemies, have suggested to the 
 Mormons a new fable. The territory of Utah, as it is termed, is 
 the land of promise. Their city is the true Zion, and its founda- 
 tions are eternal. To this spot the promises of God pertain, 
 as well as the more questionable predictions of the Mormon 
 seers. 
 
 By a treaty between the United States and Mexico, the region 
 of the Salt Lake was annexed, in 1848, to the territory of the 
 former power. The Mormonites requested the Congi-ess to admit 
 them into the number of sovereign states, as the state of Desoret. 
 This was refused ; but in 1850 the Mormon district was formed 
 into a tenitory, the governor of which is appointed by the presi- 
 dent of the United States. At present the head of the Mormon 
 Church holds that distinction. 
 
 But it is not difficult to foresee the dangers which threaten the 
 very existence of Mormonism in the United States. In other 
 countries it is a foreign institution, and every zealous member of 
 it feels himself an exile. In America it aspires, not merely to 
 independence, but to sovereignty. Its prophets are loud and 
 clamorous in their predictions; and those predictions are the 
 
MOEMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS. 91 
 
 same which Hebrew prophets denounced against the enemies of 
 God, At its present rate of progress, Deseret (the name was taken 
 from the Book of Mormon, under prophetic instruction) may 
 claim, within seven years, to be an independent state in the 
 great American repubHc ; for this distinction is granted to a new 
 territory when its population amounts to 60,000. The number 
 of inhabitants now probably exceeds 40,000 ; and in 1851 not 
 fewer than 3,000 emigrants arrived. An emigration fund, 
 amounting to 35,000 dollars per annum, is liberally spent upon 
 poor Mormons who may be anxious, but unable, to reach the 
 mother colony. It is probable that the demand to be admitted 
 into the federal union, as an independent state, will be rejected. 
 It will be received by a vast number of the citizens of the great 
 republic with feelings of strong aversion. The subject of poly- 
 gamy is full of peril. It is illegal ; the children are illegitimate ; 
 and the courts of law throughout the republic are already appre- 
 hensive of the consequences when the question shall come before 
 them. Meanwhile the indignation of the states is gathering 
 force daily, excited alike by the arrogance of the Mormons, and 
 their immorality. A portion of the American press has begun, 
 not only to denounce polygamy, but to call upon Congress to put 
 down, even by force of arms, " this abominable domestic institu- 
 tion." It is questionable whether the Mormonites will be more 
 dangerous as one of the United States, or as an independent 
 government ; for, if their claim be rejected, they will, no doubt, 
 proclaim themselves a sovereign state. They may be crushed, or 
 perhaps exterminated ; but it seems not beyond the retich of pro- 
 bability that they may long continue to hang on the outskirts of 
 civilization, to spoil and devastate, — the Mahomedans of the 
 Western world. 
 
 The doctrines of a sect whose boast it is that their system is 
 progressive, and that they daily receive new revelations, cannot, 
 of course, be accurately described. The real tenets of Mormonism 
 are rendered the more obscure, because, in the first place, the 
 initiated have a creed the mysteries of which the new converts 
 and the unbelieving world are not permitted to explore. Poly- 
 gamy furnishes an example. Only three years ago, it was indig- 
 nantly denied in the official Mormon publications intended for 
 the public eye ; it is now as openly avowed. Orson Pratt, who 
 has since- ajapeared as its advocate in print, then spoke of it 
 
yj MOltMuNlTES, OK LATTER DAY SAINTS. 
 
 with abhorrence, and his " letter to the Saints" was brought tor- 
 ward, even by writers professing to be unprejudiced, as a trium- 
 phant vindication of a niaUgned sect. And again, the doctrines 
 maintained as fundamental at one time, have been repeatedly set 
 aside by counter revelations at another. The Mormon creed, 
 printed for general circulation, omits most of the questionable 
 points both of their faith and practice. It is as follows : — 
 
 " We believe in God the eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus 
 Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, 
 and not for Adam's transgressions. 
 
 " We believe that, through the atonement of Christ, all man- 
 kind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 " We believe that these ordinances are — 1st. Faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 2nd. Repentance. 3rd. Baptism, by immersion, 
 for the remission of sins. 4th. Laying on of hands for the gift 
 of the Holy Spirit. 5th. The Lord's Supper. 
 
 " We believe that men must be called of God by inspiration, 
 and by laying on of hands by those who are duly commissioned 
 to preach the Gospel, and administer in the ordinances thereof. 
 
 " We believe in the same organization that existed in the 
 primitive Church, viz., apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evan- 
 gelists, &c. 
 
 " We believe in the powers and gifts of the everlasting Gospel 
 — viz., the gift of faith, discerning of spirits, proj^hecy, revelation, 
 visions, healing, tongues and the interpretation of tongues, wis- 
 dom, charity, brotherly love, &c. 
 
 " We believe in the word of God, recorded in the Bible. We 
 also believe the word of God recorded in the Book of Mormon, 
 and in all other good books. 
 
 " We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now 
 reveal ; and we believe that he will yet reveal many more great 
 and important things pertaining to the kuigdom of God and 
 Messiah's second coming. 
 
 " We believe in the literal gathering of Israel, and in the 
 restoration of the ten tribes ; that Zion will be established upon 
 tlie Westein continent; that Christ will reign personally upon 
 tlie earth one thousand years ; and that the earth will be renewed 
 and receive its paradisaical glory. 
 
MORMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS. 03 
 
 " We believe in the literal resurrection of the body, and that 
 the dead in ('hrist vvill rise first, and that the rest of the dead 
 live not again until the thousand years are expired. 
 
 "We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God accord- 
 ing to the dictates of our conscience, unmolested, and allow all 
 men the same privilege, let them worship how or where they 
 may. 
 
 " We believe in being subject to kings, queens, presidents, 
 rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honouring, and sustaining the 
 law. 
 
 " We believe in being honest, true, chaste, temperate, benevo- 
 lent, virtuous, and upi'ight, and in doing good to all men ; indeed, 
 we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, we ' believe 
 all things,' we ' hope all things,' we have endured very many 
 things, and hope to be able to ' endure all things.' Everything 
 virtuous, lovely, praiseworthy, and of good report we seek after, 
 looking forward to the ' recompense of reward.' " 
 
 But many of the doctrines taught in the accredited Mormon 
 books are irreconcilable with this creed. Some of them are such 
 as a devout Christian must regard with abhorrence, and others 
 are childish and absurd. Of the former class are the descriptions 
 of the Deity. In the " Millennial Star," volume vi., Joseph 
 Smith himself teaches the following blasphemies : — The Deity 
 is a material person with human passions. He is a material, 
 organized intelligence, possessing both body and parts. He is 
 in form of man, and is, in fact, of the same species. He eats, 
 he drinks, he loves and hates ; he goes from place to place. His 
 omnipresence is denied ; he cannot be in two places at once. 
 He was once a man, and from manhood by continual progression 
 became God. Man, likewise, is a creature of continual pro- 
 gression, and will in time possess more power, more subjects, and 
 more glory, than is now possessed by Jesus Christ or his Father ; 
 while at the same time they will have had their dominion, 
 kingdom, and subjects increased in the same proportion. In 
 the " Book of Doctrines and Covenants," (page 87, third European 
 edition,) the reader is informed, that unless he receive baptism 
 by Mormon hands he shall jjerish everlastingly. From the 
 same source, (page 318,) we learn that the multitude, who, from 
 our Lord's time have died believing the gospel, are in purgatory. 
 These, without one exception, continued to suffer torment till 
 
94 MORMONITES, OR LATTER DAY SAINTS. 
 
 the year 1830, when Mormon baptism was instituted ; apcl the 
 only method of escape is by the vicarious substitution of a 
 Mormon saint, who receives on their behalf what is termed 
 " baptism for the dead." In this revelation, Smith has given 
 explicit directions for the appointment of clerks or recorders to 
 keep the books in the Mormonite temple at Nauvoo, in which 
 the names of those deceased persons shall be entered on whose 
 behalf any living man receives " baptism for the dead." Not- 
 withstanding the fair professions of benevolence and philanthropy 
 in the creed, ' The Book of Doctrines and Covenants,' is filled 
 with bitter denunciations against unbelievers, and revenge is 
 inculcated as a duty. " And it shall come to pass that who- 
 soever shall lay hands on you by violence ye shall command to 
 be smitten in my name, and behold I will smite them according 
 to your words." The doctrine of spiritual marriage, as recently set 
 forth in the ' Seer,' and the ' Millennial Star,' is this : No marriage 
 is lawful without the sanction of the Mormon priesthood, by 
 whom it may also be dissolved. Polygamy is the privilege of 
 the faithful, and the Mahomedan paradise, with its sensual in- 
 dulgences, is distinctly taught. Indeed the grovelling sensuality 
 with which Mormonism invests a future state of being is the 
 climax, at once hideous and most appropriate, to the most trans- 
 parent, and yet hitherto the most successful system of imposture 
 which ever duped the credulity of man. 
 
 Besides the great Mormon tribe, as they may be termed, in 
 North California, the sect is now to be fotmd in many states of 
 Europe, in the Sandwich Islands, and in the East Indies. Its 
 success, we are ashamed to say, has been gi-eat in England. In 
 1851, the census reports 222 places of worship belonging to this 
 body, most of them, however, being only rooms. The number of 
 sittings in those places was about 30,000. From an official census 
 of their own, published half yearly, we learn that in Jul}^ 1853, 
 the British Mormonites amounted to 30,690. The number of 
 those who bear office is a large proportion of the whole, about one 
 in five, and to this circumstance their success no doubt is nuich 
 indebted. The officers of the Church in England numbered 40 
 Seventies, 10 High-priests, 2,578 Elders, 1,85-4 Priests, 1,460 
 Teachers, and 834 Deacons. The most numerous body in 
 England is in Manchester, where the Mormon Chtn-ch contains 
 3,166 members. The excitable character of the Welsh pea- 
 
NESTORIANS. 95 
 
 santry has afforded some of its greatest triumphs to the Mormon 
 cause : thousands have emigrated ; but the Church at Merthyr 
 Tydvil still contains 2,338 members. 
 
 See the following publications of the Mormonites : — 1. Book 
 of Mormon, American edition, 1830. 2. The Book of Doc- 
 trines and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter 
 Day Saints ; selected from the Revelations of God, by Joseph 
 Smith, President ; second European edition : Liverpool, 1849. 
 
 3. Tiie Millennial Star ; a weekly periodical : Liverpool. 
 
 4. Patriarchal Order, or Plurality of Wives, by Orson 
 Spencer, Chancellor of the University of Deseret : Liverpool, 
 1853. See too, The Doctrines of Mormonisiin : London, 1854. 
 Edinburgh Review, No. 202, Article, Mormonism. RepoH 
 on Religious Woi'ship, Census 1851. The Mormons, or 
 Latter Day Saints, a coiitemporary history : London, 1852. 
 
 "^ESTORIANS. — In the fifth century Nestorius, a Syrian, was 
 ■^ bishop of Constantinople. The Arian controversy was now 
 growing extinct. Out of its ashes had arisen new fires. In their 
 zeal to establish the deity of the Son of God, the Alexandrians 
 and Copts had begun to speak of the Virgin Mary in terms 
 hitherto unknown. They called her Theotokos, or Mother of 
 God. Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea, is said to have introduced 
 the phrase, and the use of it was defended by Cyril, bishop of 
 Alexandria, the rival of Nestorius. Anastatius, a presbyter of 
 Constantinople, declaimed against the attempt to invest the 
 Virgin with a title which seemed to convey at once the ideas of 
 blasphemy and idolatry, and he was warmly supported by his 
 bishop, Nestorms. Cyril obtained the assistance of Celestinus, 
 bishop of Rome, assembled a council in Alexandria, A. D. 430, 
 and anathematized Nestorius. 
 
 The Eastern empire was in flames with the quarrel of the rival 
 patriarchs, for Nestorius and his opponent are both described 
 as haughty, bold, and resolute ; the emperor Theodosius was, 
 therefore, induced to assemble a council at Ephesus. This was 
 the third general or oecumenical council, and it met in the 
 year 431. 
 
 Two disputes, the one theological, the other historical, arose 
 
or; NESTOKIANS. 
 
 out of the proceedings of this council : they are in agitation to 
 this very day. 
 
 First, as to the title itself: it is disputed whether it was un- 
 derstood to affect the Virgin or the Virgin's Son ; to exalt the 
 mother, or simply to declare that her offspring was divine. The 
 Church of Rome, and some Anglican divines, affirm that both 
 meanings were intended. Was it simply a question as to the 
 divinity of our Lord, or did the opponents of Nestorius covertly 
 intend to exalt the Virgin ? or, in the heat of controversy, was it 
 that they obstinately clung to an expression which they had, in 
 the first instance, rashly adopted ? The term Theotokos is not 
 in use among the apostolic fathers in their genuine epistles, or 
 in those that are attributed to them, of which the authorship is 
 micertain, although they are full and clear on the doctrine of the 
 union of the divine and human natures in one Christ. Before 
 the Council of Ephesus, the original sense in which the word 
 Theotokos was used was as a protest against the Apollinarian and 
 Ariau heresies, It does not occur in the remains of Justin 
 Martyr, Irenaeus, or any other Greek writer, before Origen. 
 Tertullian and Cyprian appear to be equally ignorant of Deipara, 
 Dei genetrix, and Mater Dei ; and it is certain that no one of 
 these terms was generally acknowledged by the Church before 
 the Council of Ephesus. The word was used, however, as Bishop 
 Pearson has shown, before this time, by Origen, Dionysius, 
 Alexandrinus, Alexander bishop of Alexandria, Eusebius, Basil, 
 Gregory Nazianzen, and Athanasius : and Socrates, the eccle- 
 siastical historian, tells us that the use of it was confirmed in 
 the time of Justinian, by the synod of (Constantinople. And it 
 was by the denial of this term, he adds, that the heresy of Nes- 
 torius was first discovered, not in himself, but in his presbyter, 
 Anastatius, who first in a sermon authoritatively delivered that 
 no one should call ]\[ary Theotokos, because she was but a 
 woman, and that God could not be born of a woman. — Eccl. 
 Hi8t.,\\h. vii., ch. i:J2. 
 
 Again, the question is not yet determined whether Nestorius 
 was fairly treated by the council, (-ynl, his powerful adversar}', 
 presided, and was at once the judge and the accuser. Nestorius 
 remonstrated in vain against the precipitation with which Cyril, 
 as he affirmed, was urging on the case, without waiting for the 
 arrival of the Eastern bishops. According to Socrates, Cyril 
 
NESTORIANS. 07 
 
 refused to hear his explanation, although he offered to concede 
 the title of Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, provided that 
 nothing else were meant thereby hut that the child born of her 
 was united to the Godhead. On the other hand, he is charged 
 with levity and presumption. He was accused by his opponents 
 of dividing the nature of Christ into two distinct persons. This 
 he denied ; and Luther, and after him many German divines 
 especially, have concluded" that the doctrine of Nestorius, and 
 that of the council which condemned him, was, in fact, the 
 same ; that their difference was only one of words ; and, conse- 
 quently, that the whole of the blame is to be charged on the 
 turbulent spirit of Cyril and his hatred of Nestorius. In short, 
 Nestorius was condemned in his absence, and that of the Eastern 
 bishops, on the charge of blasphemy. He was deprived of his 
 bishopric, and banished, first to Petrea, in Arabia, and after- 
 wards to Oasis, in the deserts of Egypt, where he died about the 
 year 439. 
 
 The Eastern prelates, resenting the affront which C3n:il had 
 shown them, took part with Nestorius. They met at Ephesus, 
 and excommunicated Cyril. Retiring eastward, the disciples and 
 friends of Nestorius carried his doctrines with them, and diffused 
 them in all directions. The Christians in Persia maintained, 
 when the tidings reached them, that he had been unjustly con- 
 demned at Ephesus, and charged Cyril with confounding the two 
 natures of Christ. Schools were erected ; zealous preachers ad- 
 vocated the cause ; the Persian king was induced to espouse 
 their interests, and before the close of the fifth century the Nes- 
 torians were the only Christians to be found in Persia. Within 
 the neit century they spread themselves through parts of Egypt, 
 Syria, India, and Tartary, and they are said to have made some 
 converts even in China. Several ages of darkness follow, and we 
 know scarcely anything of the state of the Nestorians. The 
 ancient Chaldea seems to have been their proper home, and from 
 hence they diffused some faint knowledge of Christianity amongst 
 Turks and Tartars. 
 
 The story of Prester John belongs to the tenth century. About 
 that time, a Tartar prince, if the tradition may be received, was 
 converted by the Nestorians to the Christian faith, and took, at 
 his baptism, the name of John, to which he added, instead of 
 other titles, the humble designation of Presbyter. The suc- 
 
 VOL. II. H 
 
98 NESTOHIANS. 
 
 cessors of tliis monarch retained the name until the time of 
 Genghiz Khan, in the thirteenth century. In the middle ages a 
 Christian sovereign was supposed by all Christendom to reside 
 somewhere in the centre of Asia, and the report apjjears to have 
 originated amongst the Nestorians, whose missionaries were pro- 
 bably protected by some powerful sovereign. Oungh Khan, a 
 Tartar chief, was defeated by Genghiz Khan, and died in battle 
 A. D. 1 202. He was reported in Europe to be a Christian, and to 
 have taken priest's orders, and letters were published, said to have 
 been addressed by him to the Pope, the king of France, and 
 others, in which he is made to style himself John the High 
 Priest. Several missionaries were sent out at different times 
 from France, with a view of discovering the remote nation 
 governed by a priestly sovereign. Their inquiries were always 
 fruitless, but the story continued to be believed in western Eu- 
 rope till the close of the fifteenth century. 
 
 In the sixteenth century a schism arose among the Nestorians, 
 which ended in the subjection of one party to the Church of 
 Rome. Two rival patriarchs were nominated by two contending 
 factions. Sulaka, one of the candidates, sought the aid of Rome, 
 which was cheerfully granted on the terms which the sove- 
 reign pontiff invariably exacts, namely, the promise of unlimited 
 submission to the papal see. He was consecrated patriarch of 
 the Chaldean Church by Pope Julius the Third, A. D. 1553, re- 
 ceiving the name of John, a badge of his disgraceful subjection 
 to a foreign power. He returned, attended by several monks, 
 skilled in the Syriac language, by whose aid the papal faction 
 was firmly established in the Nestorian Church. Since this pe- 
 riod the Nestorians have continued to exist as two separate 
 churches — the ancient disciples of Nestorius, and the Chaldeans, 
 who are members of the Church of Rome. When the Portu- 
 guese, in the sixteenth century, invaded the Coromandel coast of 
 India, they found there a Nestorian Church, who called them- 
 selves the Christians of St. Thomas, and held traditionally that 
 the apostle Thomas Avas their foinuler. I'hey were living in 
 purity and simplicity, retaining the Holy Scnptures in the Syriac 
 language, using two sacraments, and exhibiting many of the 
 features of primitive Christianity ; and they were governed by 
 bishops under a metropolitan. They had been once an inde- 
 pendent nation, for when Vasco do Gnma arrived at Cochin, on 
 
NESTORIANS. 99 
 
 the Malabar coast, in the year 1503, he was shown the sceptre of 
 the last Christian king ; he had lately died without issue, and his 
 throne had devolved upon one of the native princes. 
 
 The Portuguese, to their surprise, found upwards of a hundred 
 Christian churches on the coast of Malabar. " These churches," 
 said they, " belong to the pope," " Who is the pope V said the 
 natives, " we never heard of him." De Gama's chaplains were yet 
 more alarmed when they found that these Indians maintained 
 the discipline of an Episcopal Church, and that for thirteen 
 hundred years they boasted of a succession of bishops appointed 
 by the patriarch of Antioch. When their power became sufficient 
 for the purpose, they invaded these tranquil churches, seized 
 some of the clergy, and put them to the death of heretics. The 
 inquisition was introduced at Goa, and there its fires were lighted. 
 They seized the Syrian bishojj. Mar Josei^h, and sent him a pri- 
 soner to Lisbon ; and then convened a synod at one of the Syrian 
 churches called Diamper, near Cochin, at which the Romish 
 archbishop, Menezies, presided. At this compulsory synod one 
 hundred and fifty of the Syrian clergy appeared. They were 
 accused of the following practices and opinions : — That they had 
 married wives ; that they owned but two sacraments, baptism 
 and the Lord's supper; that they neither invoked saints, nor 
 worshipped images, nor believed in purgatory; and that they 
 had no other orders or names of dignity in the church than 
 bishop, priest, and deacon. These tenets they were called on 
 to abjure, or to suffer suspension from all church benefices. It 
 was also decreed that all the Syrian books on ecclesiastical sub- 
 jects that could be found should be burned ; in order, said the 
 inquisitors, that no pretended apostolical monuments may re- 
 main. The churches on the sea-coast were thus compelled to 
 acknowledge the supremacy of the pope ; but they refused to 
 pray in Latin, and insisted on using their own language and 
 liturgy. The pope submitted to a compromise. They still retain 
 the Syriac language in their public worship, though the primitive 
 liturgy has been altered in some points to suit the views of the 
 papacy, and they still have a Syriac college. The churches in 
 the interior resisted. After a show of submission for awhile, 
 they proclaimed eternal war against the Inquisition, hid their 
 books, fled to the mountains, and sought the protection of the 
 native princes. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 NEST(H;iA\S. 
 
 Two centuries liaJ elapse 1 without an}' particular inforniatiou 
 concerning the Nestorian Christians in the interior of India. It 
 was doubted by many if they were still in existence, when they 
 were visited by Dr. Claudius Buchanan, in 1807. He found in 
 the neighbourhood of Travancore the Syrian metropolitan and 
 his clergy. They were much depressed, but they still numbered 
 fifty -five churches. They made use of the liturgy of Antioch, in 
 the Syrian language. They had many old and valuable copies 
 of the Scriptures. One of those, a Syrian manuscript of high 
 antiquity, they presented to Dr. Buchanan, by whom it was 
 ])laced in the university library at ('ambridge. He describes the 
 doctrines of the Syrian Christians as few in number, but pure, 
 and agreeing in essential points with those of the Church of 
 England. There were then, he computed, 200,000 Syrian Chris- 
 tians in the south of India ; besides the Indians wdio speak the 
 Malabar language, and are subject to the Church of Rome. Dr. 
 Buchanan thus describes the appearance of Mar Dionysius the 
 metropolitan : — "He was dressed in a vestment of dark red silk, 
 a large golden cross hung from liis neck, and his venerable beard 
 reached below his girdle. On public occasions he wears the 
 episcopal mitre, and a muslin robe is thrown over his unrler 
 garment ; and in his hand he bears the crosier, or pastoral staff. 
 He is a man of highly respectable character in his Church ; emi- 
 nent for his piety, and for the attention he devotes to his sacred 
 functions." Later visitors speak in less glowing terms of this 
 interesting people. Their general ignorance seems to have been 
 much greater than Dr. Buchanan was led to suppose, and they 
 observed superstitions with which he does not appear to have 
 been made acquainted In quitting the subject we may add 
 that this Syrian branch of the Nestorian Church still retains its 
 independence, and that its metropolitan holds friendly intercourse, 
 on equal terms, with the English prelates in India. It has been 
 supplied with copies of the Scriptures in abundance by the 
 agency of the British societies. 
 
 We now return to the Nestorians of Persia and the neighbour- 
 ing countries. They, too, had perished from the sight and know- 
 ledge of European Christendom, and their existence wa.s forgotten. 
 Within the last twenty years they have, however, been visited 
 by many travellers, especially by clergymen, both English and 
 American, sent out on purpose to ascertjiin their state, and if 
 
NESTOllIANS. 101 
 
 possible to estabiisli iiiissiuiis amongst them. From tliese sources 
 we have derived the following statements. 
 
 Dividing the Turkish from the Persian empire is a wild range 
 of mountains, now called Kourdistan, which includes within its 
 boundaries portions of the ancient Assyria, Media, and Armenia. 
 In the most accessible parts of this district the Nestorians dwell. 
 They are still governed by melicks, or kings, chosen from their 
 own people by the popular voice irregularly expressed. The 
 office of these chiefs is usually hereditary, in the same family. 
 The Turkish government, however, is making vigorous efforts, 
 through the agency of the neighbouring Koords, to reduce these 
 independent Nestorians to a state of vassalage. Dwelling in 
 these mountainous recesses their independence is dearly pur- 
 chased ; they find it difficult to obtain a bare subsistence, and 
 many of them are miserably poor ; numbers travel abroad and 
 beg as a profession. Their fare is coarse and their manners rude. 
 During the summer many of them descend to the plains of 
 Oroomiah, at the foot of the Kourdistan range, and here a con- 
 siderable body of Nestorian Christians have fixed their residence. 
 They have a tradition that their ancestors came down from the 
 mountains to live on the plain five or six hundred years ago. It 
 is probable that they were entirely swept away from this province 
 during the devastations of Timourlane, but there are monuments 
 of their residence here at an earlier period. The oldest mosque 
 in the city of Oroomiah was once a Christian church. The Nes- 
 torians of the plain partake in their manners of the urbanity of the 
 Persians, and they themselves deiiominate their fellow Christians, 
 the mountaineers, wild men. Though suffering oppression and ex- 
 tortion from the Mahomedans, their circumstances are tolerable 
 for a people in bondage. The country is fertile, aud the indus- 
 trious among them are surrounded with plenty. Their character 
 is bold, generous, kind, and artless; oppression has not broke 
 their spirit. They are still brave and restless ; and, so far as a 
 subject people can be, independent. The Nestorians of the moun- 
 tains, with all their rudeness and even ferocity, possess the same 
 traits of kindness and generosity. The hungry man will divide 
 his last morsel of bread with a stranger, or even with a foe. The 
 Nestorians of the plain, as a matter of calculation, lay in liberal 
 stores for their poor countrymen of Kourdistan, when, pinched 
 with want, they come down in the winter to seek subsistence. 
 
102 NESTUKIANS. 
 
 The total number of the Nestorian Christians, exchisive of the 
 Jacobites or Monophysite Syrians, and the Chaldeans or converts 
 to the Romish faith, was computed by the American missionaries, 
 in 1840, at one hundred and forty thousand; one hundred 
 thousand in the mountains, and thirty or forty thousand in the 
 plain. Later travellers confirm this statement. 
 
 The patriarch of the Nestorian Church resiiles at Diz, a village 
 in one of the most inaccessible parts of the Kourdish mountains. 
 In early times, the patriarch resided at Seleucia ; after A. D. 752 
 at Bagdad and Elkoosh. Since the quarrel of the rival can- 
 didates and the defection of the Chaldeans to Rome, about the 
 close of the sixteenth century, the patriarch has taken refuge in 
 the mountains. The patriarch professes only to wield spiritual 
 power, but amongst the mountaineers his word is law, both in 
 matters spiritual and temporal. Amongst the Nestonans of 
 Oroomiah his power is more limited ; he seldom ventures to 
 come amongst them ; and being thus beyond the reach of the 
 full exercise of his authority, the people have become lax in 
 their regard for his spiritual prerogatives ; still they look up to 
 him with respect and veneration. The patriarch does not receive 
 the imposition af hands at his consecration, since it cannot be 
 performed by his inferiors ; but all orders of the clergy, from the 
 deacon to the metropolian, are ordained ))y him with the impo- 
 sition of handa Under the Nestorian patriarch are eighteen 
 bishops, four of whom reside in the province of Oroomiah. A 
 diocese varies in size from a single village to twenty or thirty. 
 The bishops ordain the inferior clergy, make annual visitations, 
 and superintend the diocese. Besides deacons and priests there 
 are archdeacons, siibdeacons, and readers. Tire office of metran 
 or metropolitan, is distinct from that of the patriarch, although, 
 it is true, they are often united in the same person. The 
 canons of the Nestorian Church rcriuire celibacy, but only from 
 the episcopal orders, from whom they also demand abstinence 
 from animal food, even from their infancy. The mother of the 
 candidate for the episcopate or patriarchate must observe the 
 same abstinence while she nurses the infant. The Nestorian 
 bishoi)s do not defend these practices from Scripture, but only as 
 matters of propriety. Neither celibacy nor abstinence from 
 animal food are required of the inferior clergy, nor do monas- 
 teries or convents exist among the Nestorians. The clergy are 
 
NESTORIANS. 103 
 
 usually poor. They cultivate the ground, or teach a few scholars, 
 or gain a small pittance by marriage fees and small contributions. 
 It can be no matter of surprise that some of them can scarcely 
 read. When visited by the American missionaries in 1833, a 
 majority of them could merely chant their devotions in the 
 ancient Syriac, and even some of the bishops were in the same 
 predicament. The Syriac Bible has since been distributed 
 freely amongst them, and the state of general knowledge is 
 improved. The patriarch receives an annual contribution, col- 
 lected for him by the bishops ; it seldom exceeds three hundred 
 dollars. The Romish agents leave no measures untried, of force 
 or fraud, to seduce the Nestorian Church and even its patriarchs. 
 A few years ago a Jesuit oifered to the Nestorian jaatriarch ten 
 thousand dollars, it is said, on condition that he would acknow- 
 ledge the papal supremacy. He made answer in the words that 
 Simon Peter once addressed to Simon Magus, " Thy money 
 perish with thee." A more adroit overture was made after- 
 wards, though with as little success, in the offer to canonize 
 Nestorius. 
 
 Religion, in the proper sense, is in a low condition. The vice 
 of lying is almost universal among clergy and laity ; intem- 
 perance is very prevalent. The Sunday is to a great extent 
 regarded only as a holiday, and profaneness and some other 
 vices are very common. Still a venerable remnant exists of a 
 primitive Church, founded, as they invariably maintain, not by 
 Nestorius, but in apostolic times, by Thomas the Apostle. It is 
 beset with dangers on every side. The artifices of the Jesuits 
 are unceasing and sometimes successful. Recently a patriarch 
 was bought over by violence to the Church of Rome. On the 
 other hand, the Mahomedans attempt to proselyte. Nestorian 
 girls are occasionally kidnapped or decoyed away, and become 
 the wives of the followers of the false prophet. Some hardened 
 culprits apostatize for the sake of escaping punishment, but these 
 are all the triumphs of which the Mahomedans can boast. 
 
 The sword of the Moslem has not spared the Nestorians. 
 Grievously oppressed and ground down with taxes and impo- 
 sitions, the lofty spirit of the mountaineers at length ventured 
 to rebel, and an indiscriminate massacre was the penalty. " What 
 can we do ?" said they to the European visitors who enquired 
 the cause of their rebellion ; " if we descend into the plains, 
 
104 NKSTUHIANS. 
 
 build villages, plant vineyards, and till the barren soil, we are so 
 overwhelmed Avith taxations and impositions of every kind that 
 our labour, though blessed of God, is of no profit to ourselves. 
 If we take refuge in the mountains, even here we are liable every 
 year to be hunted like partridges. Such is our lot ; but God is 
 merciful." Mr. Badger, who visited the Koords, on behalf of 
 the Society for promoting C'hristiau Knowledge, relates, that as 
 he passed through Harden, a village on one of the suaamits of the 
 mountain range, in 1843, he saw in the market place several 
 human heads rolling in the dust which had been brought in as 
 trophies by the soldiers of Mahommed Pasha. " The next day," 
 he says, " I saw a large number of horses, asses, mules, and even 
 cows, laden with booty taken from the same people, the Koords 
 of a neighbouring district. Amongst these, there were loads of 
 human heads, and a number of prisoners, some of whom were to 
 be impaled on the moiTow. The collector of taxes in the district 
 had embezzled a sum of money, and the Koords were ordered to 
 make good the deficiency. As they were unable or unmlling to 
 comply, a troop of Albanians was sent against them, who plun- 
 dered the refractory villages, massacred about a hundred and 
 fifty persons, and committed other excesses too homble to relate. 
 Such was the Ottoman rule." 
 
 The Nestorians have been termed, with some propriety, the 
 Protestants of Asia. Their creed and practice is more simple 
 and more scriptural than those of the Greek or any other Oriental 
 Church. They entertain the deepest abhoiTcnce of image 
 worship, auricular confession, and purgatory. Their doctrinal 
 tenets lie under sus^Dicion ; yet the American missionaries do not 
 hesitate to vouch for their coiTcctness. Mr. Perkins was sent out 
 by the American Board of Foreign Missions, and lived amongst 
 them six years, labouring apparently with considerable success. 
 " On the momentous subject of the divinity of Christ," he says, 
 " in relation to which the charge of heresy is so violently thrown 
 upon them by the papal and other Oriental sects ; their belief is 
 oithodox and scriptural." Mr. Badger also judges favourably of 
 their orthodoxy. He thinks that, although in error with respect 
 to the language in which they express their belief with regard to 
 the second person in the Trinity, the Nestorians hold, never- 
 theless, in effect the true Catholic doctrine as it is revealed in 
 holy Scripture, and as it was set forth by the council of Ephesus, 
 
NESTOPtTANS. 105 
 
 Several writers have lately placed translations of the Nestorian 
 rituals within the reach of English Christians. These, however, 
 are so overlaid with Oriental figure and sentiment that to ascertain 
 their exact meaning on the points at issue, is by no means an 
 easy task. We make a single extract from a service for the holy 
 Nativity : " Blessed art thou, O Virgin, daughter of David, since 
 in thee all the promises made to the righteous have been fulfilled ; 
 and in tbee the race of prophecy has found rest ; for after a won- 
 derful manner thou didst conceive as a virgin, without marriage, 
 and in a wonderful way thou didst bring forth the Messiah, the 
 Son of God ; as it is written, the Holy Spirit formed Him in 
 thee, and the word dwelt in him by union without conversion 
 or confusion, the natures continuing to subsist unchanged, and 
 the Persons also, by their essential attributes, the divinity and 
 humanity subsisting in one Parsopa of Filiation. For the Lord 
 is one, the power is one, the dominion ruling over all is one, and 
 He is the ruler and disposer of all by the mysterious power of 
 his divinity, whom we ought ever to thank and worship, saying ; 
 Blessed is the righteous One, who clothed himself with Adam's 
 (humanity) and made him Lord in heaven and earth." — Badger, 
 vol. ii., page 34. 
 
 The Nestorians receive instruction gladly, and seem to view 
 the labours of missionaries who have once gained their con- 
 fidence with generous satisfaction, Avell satisfied with any 
 attempts to improve their Church, so long as its discipline is not 
 invaded. The Nestorians are the only Chm-ch, except the 
 Moravians, and those which appeared at the Reformation, which 
 acknowledges the supreme authority of holy Scripture, holding, 
 with ourselves, no doctrine or practice essential to salvation 
 which may not be proved therefrom. The reverence in which 
 the inspired volume is held, has made them the fortunate pos- 
 sessors of some of the most ancient and valuable manuscripts in 
 existence. Their ancient language was the Syriac, of which the 
 modern vernacular is a dialect, corrupted by contractions and 
 inversions and a great number of Persian and Turkish words. 
 Amongst their books are some very ancient copies of the Scrip- 
 tures in Syriac. Several of these are at least six hundred years 
 old ; and the missionaries were shown a copy of the New Tes- 
 tament which purports to be fifteen hundred years old. These 
 copies are regarded by the Nestorians with much veneration. 
 
]0G NESTORIANS. 
 
 and used with great care ; they are wrapped in several covers, 
 ail J when taken into the hands are reverently kissed. The Bible 
 lias recently been introduced amongst them, in the Peschito or 
 pure Syriac, and Ly the American missionaries, in the modem 
 vernacular Syriac. Their other books are few. Dr. Grant found 
 in the library of the patriarch not more than sixty volumes, all 
 in manuscript, and a part of these were duplicates. They have 
 no works of value, except on devotional subjects. Once an 
 educated people, the Nestorians are now perfectly illiterate. 
 The only books they possess are the Church rituals ; to be able 
 to read these, and to write fairly, is considered a high education, 
 and is all that is desired, even from candidates for holy orders. 
 Except the priests, few or none can read. The laity are regular 
 in attendance at church, wdiere they hear a liturgy of great 
 beauty, partly chaunted and partly mumbled. The New Testa- 
 ment is read in the old Syriac; but this differs considerably 
 from the dialect in common use, and it is read withal in such a 
 manner as to be almost unintelligible. Certain prayers are 
 familiar to all ranks, and persons devoutly disposed are often 
 seen retiring to a corner of the church to pray in secret. There 
 is no sermon to arouse reflection or to sustain faith, by impressing 
 the conscience and the understanding; no lecture to expound 
 the difficulties of Scripture. Thus the main body of the Nes- 
 torians are only nominal Christians, and such they must pro- 
 bably remain until more favoured nations come to their relief. 
 The existence of such a people for seventeen hundred years, 
 amongst hostile nations and circumstances so disastrous ; and 
 their own preservation, too, of so much of the pure doctrine of 
 the gospel as they still retain, seems to be an intimation from 
 the sovereign ruler of the Church that the Nestorians are not 
 utterly rejected, but that days of spiritual glory and prosperity 
 yet await them. 
 
 Dr. Grant, a learned American missionary, has recently put 
 forth an argument to show that the Nestorians are the descend- 
 ants of the lost tribes of Israel. He insists strongly on their 
 Jewish physiognomy, on the frequency of those proper names 
 which occur in the Old Testament, on the peculiarities of their 
 customs, and on other points of resemblance. His proofs are not 
 n'gard(!d as satisfactory by his co-missionaries, nor by Mr. Badger, 
 who contests his facts. It is a (luestion, however, of detail and 
 
NESTORIANS. 107 
 
 research, and we refer the reader to Dr. Grant's volume, and to 
 the discussions it has provoked. 
 
 One service of the Nestorian Church certainly partakes much 
 more of a Jewish than a Christian character : this is a commemo- 
 ration for the dead celebrated in all the mountain villages once 
 a year, on some Saturday in the month of October. For some 
 days previous to the festival each family prepares its offerings. 
 These consist of lambs and bread, which are carried into the 
 churchyard. After the people have partaken of the holy Eucha- 
 rist, the priest goes out, cuts several locks of wool off the fleeces, 
 and throws them into a censer. While a deacon swings this to 
 and fro in the presence of the guests the priest recites an anthem, 
 in which the oblation is offered to the Lord, and prayers are 
 offered both for the living and the dead. The service concluded, 
 the lambs and bread are divided amongst the company. Many 
 come from distant villages to join in the commemoration. Those 
 who can afford it kill a lamb and distribute bread and other 
 provisions amongst the poor after the death of their relations, 
 hoping that these offerings will, in some way, profit the souls of 
 the departed. Dr. Grant mentions another sacrifice which is 
 offered occasionally as a thank-offering for blessings received. A 
 lamb is slain before the door of the church, when a little of the 
 blood is put on the door and lintel ; the right shoulder and 
 breast belong to the officiating priest, and the skin is also given 
 to the priest, as was required in the law of burnt offerings. 
 (Leviticus vii.) But these strange customs may have been 
 derived fi'om the Mahomedans, who often sacrifice a lamb with 
 the same intention at the doors of their shrines throughout 
 Turkey, and sprinkle the building with the blood, after which 
 the animal is distributed amongst the people of the village. As 
 might be expected in a people so ignorant, the Nestorians are 
 superstitious. They observe many fasts. Their ritual contains 
 offices for the purification of those who have touched the corpse 
 of an unbeliever, and a service for the purification of vmelean 
 cisterns and fountains, some parts of which are extremely beau- 
 tiful. The Nestorians place a high value on charms and talis- 
 mans, and the clergy are generally the authors of these profane 
 and absurd effusions, which they transcribe and sell to the 
 people. 
 
 The Chaldeans, or Nestorians in communion with the Church 
 
108 XKSTOIIIAXS 
 
 of Rome, arc computeil at twenty thousand suuls, scattcied over 
 a large surface extending from Diarbekir to the frontiers of 
 Persia, and from the borders of Tyari to Bagdad. Tliey are 
 ooverned by a patriarch and six bishops, but these have lately 
 been pensioned by the Propaganda; the patriarch receiving a 
 yearly salary of 20,000 })iastres, or 200^., and the bishops sums 
 varying from 2,000 to 8,000 piastres each. Through the influ- 
 ence of the French embassy, in 1845, Mar Zcyya obtained a 
 firman from Constantinople acknowledging him as patriarcii of 
 the Chaldeans. This was the first recognition by the Ottoman 
 Porte of the new community. 
 
 But the patriarch soon discovered that his functions were 
 virtually exercised by the Propaganda. He grew weary of the 
 interference of the Latin missionaries, and resisted their demands. 
 Various charges were brought against him in consequence, and 
 he was suimuoned to Rome to answer for himself. He chose 
 rather to resign his office, and was succeeded, in 1846, by Mar 
 Yoosef. In effect, the Chaldeans have no longer an independent 
 existence. They are a section of the Romish Church, their 
 coiuiection with -which, while on the one liand it has introduced 
 amongst them schools and education after the European manner, 
 has on the other infected them with deeiier superstitions ; and 
 the only benefit which they have derived from a change of 
 name and communion is the promise of political protection from 
 France, with occasional presents of ecclesiastical vestments, pic- 
 tures of saints, and rosaries, — " Gifts," says Mr. Badger, " which 
 they know not how to use, and show no disjaosition to learn." 
 
 Ainsworth : Travels and Researches in Mesopotamia, &c. 
 Layard : Nineveh and its Remains. Dr. Grant : The Nesto- 
 rians, or the Lost Tribes. Perkins : Eight Years spent among 
 the Nestorian Christians; Netv York, 184-3. Badger: The 
 Nestorians and their Rituals ; 1852. Christian Researches in 
 the East, by Claudius Buchanan, D.D. Asserrumi Bibliotheca 
 Orientalis, torn. i. ii. iii. Moshelm : Eccl. Hist. Etheridge : 
 Rituals of the Syrian Churches. 
 
TRESBYTERIANS. 109 
 
 PRESBYTERIANS.— Presbyterianism in England (to which 
 this article refers) dates its origin from the Westminster 
 Assembly. Charles I. and his parliament were on the eve of the 
 final rupture, when, in deference to the petition of the London 
 clergy, praying for ecclesiastical reform, the House of Commons 
 requested that a general synod might be called by royal authority. 
 For the present the king refused compliance, and in 1612, while 
 matters stood thus, the civil war began. The Scotch, with an 
 army of twenty thousand, marched into England to assist the 
 parliament, and they naturally used all their influence to per- 
 suade the latter to introduce Presbyterianism. The House of 
 Commons resolved, in consequence, " that such a government 
 should be settled in the Church as might be most agreeable to 
 God!s holy word, and most apt to procure and preserve the peace 
 of the Church at home, and bring it into nearer agreement with 
 the Church of Scotland and the reformed Churches abroad." 
 An ordinance followed, bearing date June 12, IG-iS, "for the 
 calling of an assembly of learned and godly divines, and others, 
 to be consulted with by the parliament, for settling the govern- 
 ment and liturgy of the Church of England, and for vindicating 
 and clearing of the doctrine of the said Church from false asper- 
 sions and interpretations." This was the origin of the West- 
 minster Assembly. 
 
 The Westminster Assembly first met in Henry VH.'s Chapel, 
 July 1st, 1643. It was composed of one hundred and twenty-one 
 divines, selected by the House of Commons ; six deputies from 
 Scotland ; ten English peers ; and twenty members of the Lower 
 House of Parliament. But of this number seldom more than 
 sixty were in attendance. There were amongst them a few 
 Episcopalians, including Archbishop Usher, and the bishops of 
 Bristol and Exeter, with Drs. Sanderson and Hammond. But 
 the king, by proclamation, forbad the Assembly, declaring it 
 illegal, and the Episcopalians immediately withdrew. Of those 
 who remained, a few were Independents ; a few, of whom Selden 
 was the leader, were called Erastians ; not that they held all the 
 opinions of Erastus (who had maintained that the Christian 
 minister was a mere lecturer on divinity, and that Christian 
 Churches were merely secular associations), but that they sliowed 
 no great respect for any of the theories of Church government 
 
110 PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 then so clamorously argued on all sides. But the great body of 
 the clergy were Presbyterians, or at least so favourably inclined 
 to that fomi of government as to be easily induced to accept it. 
 
 Their first business was, of course, to settle the constitution of 
 the future Church of England. Prelacy was already overthrown. 
 In its place Archbishop Usher would have proposed a scheme of 
 " reduced Episcopacy/' as it was termed, in which the bisliop 
 should retain his office, assisted by a council, but stripped of his 
 rank, and secular distinctions. This met ^vith little favour, and 
 was not even discussed in the assembly. The crisis was urgent. 
 The Scotch allies were impatient, and the House of Commons 
 was anxious to dismiss a question which distracted its attention, 
 while it agitated the whole kingdom. Vane and two other com- 
 missioners were sent to Edinburgh, where they accepted, on 
 behalf of England, the ancient Scottish Covenant, with a few 
 slight alterations, under the title of the Solemn League and 
 Covenant. The House of Commons solemnly subscribed their 
 hands, and swore to observe it, in St. Margaret's church, West- 
 minster, on the 15th of September, 1643 ; and the House of 
 Lords, or rather that small section of the peerage which had not 
 joined the king and still remained at Westminster, followed their 
 example a few days afterwards. 
 
 The Covenant consists of six articles. The first sets forth the 
 lamentable condition of the Church and nation, and expresses a 
 determination to reform religion in the kingdoms of England and 
 Ireland, in doctrine, discipline, worship, and goverument, "ac- 
 cording to the word of God and the example of the best reformed 
 Churches." The next clause binds the English and Irish 
 nations, in effect, though not expressly, to embrace Presby- 
 terianism. It runs thus : "And we shall endeavour to bring 
 the Church of God in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunc- 
 tion and uniformity in religion, confession of faith, form of 
 Church government, directory for worship, and catechising ; that 
 we, and our posterity after us, may, as brethren, live in faith and 
 love, and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us." The 
 second article denounces popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy, 
 schism, and profaneness. Prelacy is explained to signify " (Church 
 government by archbishops, bishops, chapters, archdeacons, and 
 all other ecclesiastical officers depending on that hierarchy." 
 I'he remaining articles bind the covenanters to maintain the 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. Ill 
 
 rights of the king and parliament, to expose malignants and 
 incendiaries, and to persist through life in carrying out the prin- 
 ciples of this solemn league. 
 
 The Assembly now addressed itself to its two great tasks ; 
 namely, to provide first a scheme of doctrine and next a scheme 
 of government for the national Church which was next to rise 
 upon the ruins of the Episcopal Church of England. 
 
 The first of these imdertakings was prosecuted during four 
 years with unceasing application, and unquestionably with great 
 success. It was not till the 11th of December, 164-6, that the 
 Assembly laid its great work, the Confession of Faith, upon the 
 table of the House of Commons. It has been severely censured, 
 and, perhaps, extravagantly praised ; but at least it deserves the 
 qualified applause with which Neal dismisses it : " Upon the 
 whole," he says, "the Assembly's Confession, with all its faults, 
 has been ranked by very good judges among the most perfect 
 S3^stems of divinity that have been published on the Calvinistic 
 principle in the last age." The Shorter Catechism was pre- 
 sented to the House of Commons on the 5th of November, 1647, 
 and a Larger Catechism on the 5th of April, 1648. The Con- 
 fession, and the Catechisms were published, by authority of par- 
 liament, for public use ; and in the same year an ordinance was 
 passed forbidding the use of the Book of Common Prayer. The 
 Confession was immediately approved and adopted by the Gene- 
 ral Assembly of the Church of Scotland, at Edinburgh, as the 
 standard of her faith and order. The Catechisms were also 
 adopted and approved, and these documents still hold their 
 position as the standards of faith and discipline in all the ortho- 
 dox Presbyterian Churches of Scotland, Ireland, and America, 
 and, we may add, throughout the world. The labours of the 
 Westminster Assembly entitle them, as theologians of a high 
 order, to great respect. 
 
 In their attempt to establish a Presbyterian Church in Eng- 
 land their merit, if we may judge by their success, was less. 
 They projected a scheme of discipline, which was equally dis- 
 tasteful to the House of Commons and the English people ; and 
 in consequence the intended Church was never fairly launched. 
 We will lay before the reader, in the fewest words, a summary 
 of the remarkable disputes which now arose. 
 
 The Assembly decided, by large majorities, that the Presbyterian 
 
112 PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 discipline was most agi'coable to the word of God ; they proposed, 
 therefore; the following scheme : Several congregations were to 
 form a presbytery or classis ; a given number of these a S}'nod ; 
 and out of the synod a national assembly was to be created, to 
 which, in the last instance, all ecclesiastical questions were to be 
 referred, and by which the ultimate sentence in all spiritual 
 causes should be pronounced. But the House of Commons, now 
 conscious of its power, was very little disposed to lend a heljiing 
 hand to the establishment of a spiritual jurisdiction which should 
 own no superior, and assert its independence even of parliament 
 itself. The same quarrel arose which has lately rent the Church 
 of Scotland. The secular power Avas jealous of the spiritual ; and 
 the supreme courts of the former demanded submission from the 
 supreme courts of the latter. The question at issue was the same, 
 but the battle was fought on other gi'ounds. The free churchmen 
 of Scotland maintaining that, since they demanded supremacy only 
 in things spiiitual, the civil power had nothing to dread nor any 
 right to interfere. The Presbyterians of the Assembly took higher 
 ground, asserting that the presbyterian form of government was 
 a precept of the gospel ; it existed jure divino ; it Avas in fact 
 the only scriptural or lawful form of Church government ; it was 
 to be submitted to because it was ordained of God. This ground 
 was expressly taken by Marshall and Henderson against the 
 king's chaplains, at the treaty of Uxbridge, and against the 
 Independent party and the leaders of the House of Commons, 
 Whitelocke, Selden, and others, in the Westminster Assembly. 
 For fifteen days the Independents argued against the divine 
 right of presbytery before the Presbyterians ; and then for fifteen 
 days the Presbyterians maintained their thesis against the Inde- 
 pendents. At last a large majority decided that presbyterianism 
 was a divine ordinance, and now its triumph seemed complete. 
 15ut the question was no sooner transferred to the House of Com- 
 mons than the lustre of the victory was tarnished. On the 
 motion of Whitelocke, it was merely carried in general terms, 
 " that it is lawful and agreeable to the word of God that the 
 Church be governed by congregational, classical, and synodical 
 assemblies." The Presbyterians were greatly dissatisfied. Their 
 interest was great in London ; petitions were presented in favour 
 of a Presl)yterian (^hurch, and the lord mayor and aldermen 
 went lip to jDarliament with a prayer for " the speedy .settlement 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 113 
 
 of Chinch governnieut according to the Covenant, and that no 
 toleration might be given to popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy, 
 profaneness, or anything contiary to sound doctrine, and tliat all 
 private assemblies might be restrained." But the House of Com- 
 mons, led by Selden and Whitelocke, voted the petition scan- 
 dalous, and resolved that "the presbytery should not meddle 
 with any thing of 'mewni and twum till it were determined by 
 the civil iliagistrate." The Presbyterians claimed for their su- 
 preme court the power of excommunication, and for the inferior 
 tribunals the right of suspension from the sacrament. Selden 
 argued that for four thousand years there had been no trace of 
 any law in the Church of God to suspend persons from religious 
 exercises ; strangers were kept away from the passover, but they 
 were pagans, and not of the Jewish religion : but now, said he, 
 the question is not for keeping aw^ay pagans in times of Chris- 
 tianity, but Protestants from Protestant worship ; and " he chal- 
 lenged any divine to show that there is any such command as 
 this to suspend from the sacrament." " Mr. Speaker," said 
 Whitelocke, " the assembly of divines have petitioned that in 
 every presbytery, or presbyterian congregation, pastors, or ruling 
 members, may have the power of excommunication, and of sus- 
 pending such as they shall judge ignorant or scandalous persons 
 from the sacrament. The duty of a pastor is to feed, and not to 
 disperse and drive away the flock. Excomnmnication is a total 
 driving or thundering away of the party from all spiritual food 
 whatever. T'lie best excommunication is for pastors, elders, and 
 people to excommunicate sin out of their own hearts and con- 
 versations. To suspend themselves from all works of iniquity. — 
 But only the ignorant and the scandalous are to be suspended. 
 I am sure I am a very ignorant person, and I fear we are all 
 moi-e ignorant than we ought to be of the truth of Christ ; but 
 to keep an ignorant person from the ordinances is no way to 
 improve his knowledge. — Scandalous persons are likewise to be 
 suspended ; and who shall be called scandalous is to be referred 
 to the j udgmeut of the pastors and ruling elders ; but where 
 their commission is it will be hard to show. Both pastors and 
 people are scandalous in the general sense, and our best perfor- 
 mances are but scandalous. To excommunicate those who are 
 so, deprives them wholly of the best means for their cure." 
 
 The Presbyterian party felt, perhaps, that they were treated 
 VOL. II. I 
 
114 TRESBYTEKIANS. 
 
 like children, with banter instead of argument. But their power, 
 though ra})idly declining, was still so great in London and some 
 other parts, that they extorted a compromise from the House of 
 (Jommons. A table of rules for suspension, in cases of ignorance 
 and scandal, was published by the Parliament, and the elders 
 had power -within these limits to suspend. But even to this 
 ordinance a provision was attached which effectually crippled the 
 Presbyterian system. It enacted that "if any person find himself 
 aggrieved with the proceedings of the presbytery to which he 
 belongs, he may appeal to the classical eldership ; from them to 
 the provincial assembly ; from them to the national ; and from 
 them to the parliament. The ecclesiastical courts were also 
 forbidden to interfere " in matters of contracts and payments, or 
 in any matter of conveyance, title, or property in lands or 
 goods." 
 
 With these conditions an ordinance was passed by the House 
 of Commons, and, after some delay, by the House of Lords, on 
 the 6th June, IG-iG, by which a Presbyterian Church superseded 
 the old Church of England. It decreed that all parishes and 
 other places whatsoever should be brought under the exercise of 
 congregational, classical, jDrovincial, and national assemblies ; the 
 private chapels of the king and the nobility only being excepted. 
 In these, however, the Presbyterian mode of worship must be 
 used. The province of London, which superseded the ancient 
 diocese, was to be divided into twelve classical elderships, each 
 to contain about twelve parishes. The several counties of 
 England and Wales were to be divided into provinces, and these 
 into classical presbyteries, by Parliamentary Commissioners. It 
 was ordered that the presbytery of every parish should meet 
 once a week ; the classical assemblies of each province once a 
 month ; provincial assemblies twice a year ; " national assemblies 
 as often as they shall be summoned by Parliament, and to con- 
 tinue sitting as long as the Parliament shall direct and appomt, 
 and not otherwise." The constitution of these courts was thus 
 provided for : every congregational or parochial eldership to 
 send not less than two, nor more than four ciders, and one 
 minister, to the classical assembly ; every classical assembly 
 within the province to send two ministers, and at least four 
 ruling elders, but not exceeding nine, to the provincial assembly ; 
 and lastly, the national assembly was to be composed of two 
 
PRESliYTERlANS. 115 
 
 ministers and four ruling members, deputed from each provincial 
 assembly. 
 
 The scheme was no sooner launched than it seemed in danger 
 of making shipwreck. To all parties it was alike unwelcome. 
 The Episcopalians, of course, rejected it, and thej were still 
 numerous and powerful, though sharing deeply the reverses of 
 the royal cause. The Independents were yet more formidable, 
 for they Were rising every day in public estimation, and Crom- 
 well and the army were their friends. The Sectaries regarded it 
 as a new tyranny, and spoke of it with the same contempt and 
 scorn with which they had lately spoken of the prelates. The 
 Scotch protested against it in several points. They objected to 
 the power assumed by the English Parliament to control the 
 national assembly ; to its restraining the elderships in carrying 
 out their discipline ; and to its code of rules. Marshall, as the 
 spokesman of the English Presbyterians and of the Westminster 
 divines, presented a remonstrance against the restraining clauses 
 at the bar of the House of Commons. He again asserted the 
 divine right of Presbyterian government, and complained that an 
 appeal should be suffered from the censures of the Church to a 
 Committee of the House of Commons. 
 
 The House chafed under this opposition from a creature of 
 their own, and threatened the Assembly of Divines with a prse- 
 munire for their rash and offensive conduct ; requesting to know 
 from them, however, in return, which particular in the Presby- 
 terian scheme was a divine ordinance ? or which of the four 
 courts was jure divino ? or whether all of them ? And if so, 
 demanding the proofs from Scriptiire. Marshall and his party 
 returned an answer in general terms, " that there was, set forth 
 in Scripture, a spiritual government distinct from that of the 
 civil power ;" thus, for a time, evading the difficulty. 
 
 A furious controversy raged meanwhile between the Presby- 
 terians and Independents ; the latter praying to be left to the 
 free exercise of their own Church government, the former 
 demanding from them a strict conformity to the Presbyterian 
 discipline. There was no other point of difference. Both parties 
 accepted the Westminster Confession, and both agreed to conduct 
 their worship according to its " Directory," — a manual of instruc- 
 tions for the public services of the Church. But the Independents 
 prayed for toleration, and the Presbyterians sternly refused to 
 
 I 2 
 
lie, rUESnYTEIJIANS. 
 
 grant it. It would be oifensive to God ; it would justify scliism ; 
 it would promote heresy. Toleration, granted to Independents, 
 could not be refused to Quakers and Anabaptists, and then 
 chaos was comi)lete. The Scotch Parliament came to their 
 assistance, and set fortli a declaration " Against toleration of 
 sectaries and liberty of conscience." Liberty of conscience, they 
 say, would supplant true religion ; it is the nourisher of all here- 
 sies and schisms " And however the Parliament of England 
 may determine in point of toleration and liberty of conscience, 
 they are resolv^ed not to change, but to live and die for the glory 
 of God and the entire preservation of the truth." Neal, iii. 
 p. 24-i. Burroughes, Good^vin the Arminian, and his still gi-eater 
 contemporary, Dr. John Owen, with Milton for their brave ally, 
 pleaded in vain for those elementary jDrinciples of justice which 
 all parties in their turn had fought against, and beneath which 
 all of them have been driven thankfully to take shelter in later 
 daj^s. 
 
 But the Presbyterians were still losing gi'ound. The self- 
 denying ordinance had been fatal to them in the House 'of 
 Commons. The distance between the army and their few re- 
 maining leaders grew wider from day to day. They were 
 royalists, and Cromwell and the officers had now seized the king, 
 and were bent on a republic. On the 14th June 164<7, the army 
 marching towards London in a threatening attitude, eleven 
 members of the House of Commons, the Presbyterian chiefs, 
 were impeached as the enemies of their country, and the cause of 
 all the mistakes into which the parliament had fallen. They fled 
 abroad to avoid the impending blow, and the triumphs of the 
 Presbyterian party were at an end. Few or none of them re- 
 turned home till the Restoration, which they promoted to the 
 utmost of their power; and their leader, Denzil llollis, was 
 rewarded with a peerage. 
 
 The parliamentary commissioners appear to have proceeded so 
 far on their task as to have marked out some districts into pro- 
 vinces, -with their classes and presbyteries But it is a question 
 upon which even contemporary writers differ, whether a pres- 
 bytery was ever actually established so as to have been legally 
 in force in any part of England. Baxter tells us that the ordi- 
 nance for setting up presbyteries was executed in Ix)ndon and 
 Lancashire, but neglected in all other parts of tlie country. 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 117 
 
 Echard affirms that it was never established iu any one part of 
 England. Presbyteries were certainly held in Lancashire ; but 
 it is highly probable that under the government of Cromwell 
 they were not recognised by law, and were merely private assem- 
 blies to regulate the interior affairs of their own community. In 
 the life of Flavel, prefixed to his works, we read that he was the 
 moderator of a provincial synod, in the county of Devon, about 
 the year 1650. Wherever Presbyterianism prevailed, classes and 
 presbyteries probably existed ; but it does not appear that they 
 ever formed a part of the ecclesiastical constitution of England : 
 they stood on the same footing as the Wesley an conference or 
 the general assembly of the free Church. 
 
 At the Restoration, in 1660, the Presbyterians and Inde- 
 pendents would have laid aside their differences with each other, 
 and rejoined the Church on the basis of Archbishop Ussher's 
 reduced episcopacy. This was proposed at the Savoy conference, 
 but haughtily rejected by the prelates and the court. Baxter and 
 the moderate Presbyterians were willing to allow that their pro- 
 vincial assemblies might be governed by a bishop. Moderate 
 churchmen admitted that a bishop might be assisted, and even 
 controlled in some cases, by a clerical council. On this platform 
 it was not impossible to have effected an union once more ; but 
 the project failed. The Act of Uniformity followed, and both 
 Presbyterians and Independents were ejected from their livings. 
 The Presbyterians had been active in bringing back the king. 
 They had all along been royalists ; protesting against the execu- 
 tion of Charles, and treating Cromwell as an usurper. The Act 
 of Uniformity was revengeful and unjiist. That some law was 
 wanted to produce uniformity amongst so many jarring sects, and 
 to restore them, if possible, to the bosom of the national Church, 
 will not be denied. This might have been accomplished to a 
 great extent by enlarging her terms of comnumiou, and relaxing- 
 some trifling matters in her forms and discipline. Uuhai^pily 
 the attempt was made in the opposite direction. The terms 
 were made more, rigid and compliance was more rigorously 
 enforced. 
 
 From this period the English Presbyterians become one of the 
 three divisions of the old dissenters ; and their history, during 
 the long reign of Charles II., a shameful record of suffering and 
 oppression, is scarcely to be distinguished from that of the other 
 
118 PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 ■^two — the Baptists and the Independents. The Revohition at 
 lengtli brought repose to the nonconformists. It was the wish 
 of King WiUiam to include them once more in the national 
 Church. A deputation of the non-conforming clergy, about ninety 
 in immber, waited upon him on the 2nd of January, 1689, when 
 Mr. Howe presented an address of congratulation ; in his reply 
 to which he said, " My great end was the j^reservation of the 
 Protestant religion, and I will use my utmost endeavours so to 
 settle and cement all different persuasions of Protestants in such 
 a bond of love and union as may contril)ute to the lasting security 
 and enjoyment of spirituals and temporals, to all sincere pro- 
 fessors of that holy religion." The king was perfectly sincere ; 
 but his views were thwarted by the Jacobites. The Toleration 
 Act of 1689, however, was no sooner passed than Presbyterian 
 chapels began to spring up in every part of the kingdom. Pres- 
 byteries were formed and ministers ordained. Within five-and- 
 twenty years fifty-nine congregations were formed in Yorkshire ; 
 and throughout England, says a Presbyterian writer, the entire 
 number was not less than eight hundred. He adds, that at this 
 time they were the largest and most important section of those 
 who were not comprised in the establishment, and formed at 
 least two-thirds of the whole body of nonconformists, both the 
 number and size of the Presbyterian congregations being nearly 
 double those of the Independents ; and their superiority was 
 evidently conceded, he contends, by the arrangements when the 
 three denominations met for business. For one Independent and 
 one Baptist there were always two Presbyterians. This statement 
 is taken from a sketch of the History of the Presbyterian Church 
 in England (Nisbet, London, 1850). But it does not agree with 
 statements we have made elsewhere (see Independents) as to 
 the relative proportions of the three denominations, and we think 
 it is to be i-eceived with hesitation. 
 
 In 1691 the Independents and Presbyterians entered into 
 articles of agreement. They were nine in number, and professed 
 to lay down certain principles on which the two bodies were 
 agreed. On the whole, these articles must be regarded as a large 
 concession on the part of the Pn^sbyterians. They had evidently 
 abandoned the notion of a Church government jure divino, in 
 behalf of which their forefathers had braved the displeasui'e of 
 tiif English parliament, and incnncd th(> destruction of Pros- 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 119 
 
 byterianism as a national Church. These articles deserve to be 
 recited. The first treats of Churches and Church members ; 
 under which it is said, each particular Church has a right to 
 choose its own officers, and hath authority from Christ for exer- 
 cising government, and enjoying all the ordinances of worship 
 within itself; and it belongs to the pastors and other elders of 
 any particular Church (if such there be) to rule and govern, and 
 to the brotherhood to consent, according to the rule of the gospel. 
 Under article second — Of the Ministry — which they acknowledge 
 to be an institution of Christ, they would have the ministers 
 to be elected by the Church, with the advice of the neighbouring 
 Churches, and also solemnly ordained. Article third — Of Cen- 
 sures — decrees that scandalous or offending members be first 
 admonished, and if they do not reform, be excluded from the 
 Church by the pastors, but with the consent of the brethren. 
 Article fourth — Of Communion of Churches — declares all 
 Churches to be on perfect equality, and, therefore, independent ; 
 yet pastors and teachers are to act together, and consult on the 
 interests of the Churches. Article fifth — Of Deacons and Rulino- 
 Elders — declares that the office of deacon or curator of the poor 
 is of divine appointment ; and whereas divers are of opinion that 
 there is also the office of ruling elders, who labour not in word 
 and doctrine, and others think otherwise, we agree that the dif- 
 ference make no breach among us. Article sixth — Of Synods — 
 admits that it is useful and necessary, in cases of importance, for 
 the ministers of many Churches to hold a council ; and that the 
 decisions formed in their conventions must not be rejected by the 
 Churches without the most weighty reasons. Article seventh is, 
 Of the Civil Magistrate, and exhorts that prayer be made for 
 him. Article eighth treats Of a Confession of Faith, and says, 
 " As to what appertains to soundness of judgment in matters of 
 faith, we esteem it sufficient that a Church acknowledge the 
 Scriptures to be the word of God, the perfect and only rule of 
 faith and practice, and own either the doctrinal part of those 
 commonly called the Articles of the Church of England, or the 
 Confession, or Catechism, shorter or larger, compiled by the 
 Assembly at Westminster, or the Confession agreed on at Savoy, 
 to be agreeable to the said rule." Article ninth is, Of our duty 
 towards those not in Communion with us. 
 
 At the beginning of the last century, the Presbyterians shared 
 
120 PKESBYTEI{[ANS. 
 
 the decline which befel every kind of nonconformity. Presby- 
 terians assign two causes for this decay. The fii'st and greatest 
 was tlie sudden outburst of Arian and Socinian doctrine. Arian- 
 ism in the second century was the ofifspring of a metaphysical 
 speculation on the nature of the deity ; in the nineteenth it was 
 the result of indifference to evangelical doctrine, and to the dog- 
 matic teaching of the New Testament. T4ie seed was sown in 
 the Church of England by the latitudinarian divines, but the plant, 
 transferred to a Pre.sbyterian soil, grew there to its fidl luxunance. 
 These opinions first appeared among the nonconformists at Exeter, 
 Avhere two Presbyterian ministers, who had adopted the Arian 
 view of Dr. Samuel Clarke, refused to acknowledge the divinity 
 of Christ, and were excluded from their chai3cls by the trustees. 
 This happened in 1719. The progress of Arianism amongst the 
 dissenters may be gathered from the fact, that when, in the fol- 
 lowing ]\Iay, the doctrine of the Trinity came to be discussed 
 before the ministers of C^ornwall and Devonshire, nineteen out <if 
 seventy-five who were present refused to subscribe to the article 
 of the Church of England on the Trinity. The doctrinal articles 
 of the Chiu'ch were at this time the admitted test of orthodoxy 
 among the nonconformists. 
 
 The controversy was soon revived in London. At a meeting 
 at Salter's Hall, the question of subscription to creeds was 
 agitated, and the progress of loose opinions was now more 
 striking. A hundred and ten ministers were present, of whom 
 fifty-seven voted, in opposition to the eighth article of the agree- 
 ment of 1091, against the necessity of subscription to creeds. 
 This led to an immediate separation ; the one party requiring 
 subscription to the first article of the Church of England, and 
 tlie fifth and sixth questions of the Sliorter Catecliism ; and the 
 other, though professing still to hold the divinity of Christ and 
 the doctrine of the Trinity, objecting to any subscription. I'he 
 seceders gradually became Arians or Socinians. The question of 
 suljscription was agitated at the same time by the Independents ; 
 but it is said that the Presbyterians were the more hostile of the 
 two to creeds and confessions. They certainly lapsed more 
 generally into Arian or Socinian jtriiiciples. 
 
 After the decision of Salter's Hall, the defections from ortho- 
 dox Presbyterian ism rapidly increased. The treatise of Dr. John 
 'J'ayl(jr, of Norwich, On Original Sin, ami his otliei' uritings, 
 
PRESBYTEKIANS. 121 
 
 about 1740, tended greatly to consolidate and encourage the 
 Arian party ; and towards the close of the century, almost every 
 congregcition of the old Presbyterians was in fact Socinian in doc- 
 trine. Lists were published in the ' Manchester Socinian Con- 
 troversy ' a few years since, and transferred into various periodi- 
 cals, of one hundred and seventy chapels in England now possessed 
 by Unitarians, which had an orthodox foundation. 
 
 Presbyterian writers maintain that the failure of their cause in 
 England was owing further to the desuetude into which their 
 principles of Church government had been allowed to fall. To 
 this cause they ascribe even the inroads of Arianism. The Pres- 
 byterians, they say, were, at the beginning of the last century, a 
 numerous and respectable body, but supineness and laxity of 
 principle were beginning to show themselves in a dejsarture from 
 the strict discipline of the Church. As a system of government, 
 its details were neglected ; the office of ruling elder was often 
 vacant, Church-sessions, presbyteries, and synods were seldom 
 convened, and when they met their influence was scarcely felt. 
 Dr. jMerle D'Aubigne', Vvhen recently in England, appeared to 
 coincide with this view of the case. " There was," he said, " a 
 Presbyterian Church in England, and it became Socinian ; but I 
 believe it was because it was never rightly organized." It favours 
 this opinion, to some extent, that just as the Presbyterians have 
 become Socinian, they have throv/n off the Presbyterian discipline. 
 " The modern Unitarian congregations," says Dr. Pye Smith, in 
 the ' Manchester Socinian Controversy,' " are not really Presby- 
 terian. Do they constitute ruling elders in each congregation, 
 to act in conjunction with their pastors, forjudging of the quali- 
 fications of communicants, and other acts of discipline ? Have 
 they courts of review, have they classical, provincial, and synodi- 
 cal assemblies? Do they even, in general, maintain any kind of 
 Church discipline whatever? In j)oint of fact, they are as little 
 entitled to be considered as the successors and representatives of 
 the old Presbyterians, in relation to ecclesiastical order, as they 
 are with respect to the most important principles of doctrine." 
 
 There are now about one hundred and sixty Presbyterian 
 places of worship in England which still adhere to the orthodox 
 confession of the Westminster divines and use their catechisms. 
 Of these, a great number are in the county of Northumber- 
 land, and many of them date their existence from the Act of 
 
122 TRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 Uniformity, 1662. In several of the large towns in England 
 there are Scotch churches with which English Presbyterians 
 have been incorporated. About sixty of the Presbyterian con- 
 gregations in England are associated with the United Presbyterian 
 Church of Scotland, and placed beneath the oversight of the 
 General Assembly of that body. The Churches of the Scotch 
 Kirk and those of the Free Church are also included. After 
 these deductions a few remain — the English orthodox Presby- 
 terians, who may be considered as the lineal representatives of 
 the Westminster divines. These form several Presbyteries and 
 a General Synod, which meets annually at one of the principal 
 towns of the kingdom, under the designation of the Presbyterian 
 Church in England. 
 
 About the year 1830 the English Presbyterians opened nego- 
 tiations with the Church of Scotland, and expressed their anxiety 
 to Ije legally connected with it. But it was ascertained that the 
 established Church of Scotland could have no jurisdiction in 
 England, where episcopacy is established by law. The General 
 Assembly therefore declared by an Act, passed in 1839, "that 
 they could not go beyond an interchange of friendly communi- 
 cations ; at the same time assuring the Synod in England of the 
 warm and brotherly affection wherewith their Church regards it, 
 and the earnest desire entertained by the Church of Scotland to 
 co-operate, to the utmost of their power, in promoting the inte- 
 i-est of the Presbyterian Chm'ch in England, to which they are 
 bound alike in present ties and by the grateful recollections of 
 former days." In 1844 the English Synod, with a view of 
 removing some apprehensions which seem to have arisen, issued 
 a Declaration of Independence, which declares that, " in all acts 
 of intercourse with another branch, or other branches, of the 
 Church of Christ, or in forming or maintaining a friendly rela- 
 tion with them, this Church shall assert, provide for, and main- 
 tain its own freedom and independence in all matters spiritual." 
 The English Presbyterian Church still adheres to the principle 
 for which the Westminster divines contended against the Long 
 Parliament, namely, the independence of its spiritual courts. It 
 has always been opposed to the interference of the civil magis- 
 trate, and to the claims of patronage. Consequently it regards 
 the cause of the Free Church of Scotland Avith deep sympathy, 
 and has contributed liberally tf)\vards its support. It seems, 
 
PURITANS. 123 
 
 indeed, not improbable that the English orthodox Presbyterians 
 will finally merge into the Free Church of Scotland. A project 
 to this effect is at present, we believe, under consideration. 
 
 To this body the honour belongs of training and sending 
 forth the man whose name future ages will associate with the 
 evangelizing of the Chinese empire. Dr. Morison was the son 
 of an elder of Highbridge Church, in the town of Newcastle. 
 
 In the United States the number of Presbyterian churches is 
 4,584. These accommodate 2,040,316 persons. In point of 
 numbers the orthodox Presbyterians are the third, but in wealth 
 the first, of all the denominations. The total value of their 
 church property amounts to 14,369,889 dollars, according to the 
 seventh American Census, published 1854. 
 
 Westmmster Assembly, History of. Ditto, Confessions of. 
 Whitelochcs 31emoricds of English Affairs. Baxter's Life, by 
 Silvester. NeaVs Hidory of the Puritans. Bogue and Ben- 
 nett's History of Dissenters. Palmer'' s Nonconformist's Me- 
 TTiorial. Sketch of the History and Princi'ples of the Presbyterian 
 Church in England : London, 1850. 
 
 "pURITANS. — Amongst the first who introduced into England 
 the controversy which soon after ripened into Puritanism, 
 was the martyr. Bishop Hooper. He had lived some time 
 abroad, and was the friend of Bullinger and Gualter, the two 
 leaders of the Protestant cause in Germany and Switzerland. 
 Returning home in the days of Edward VI., his piety and 
 talents were at once appreciated, and he was nominated, in the 
 spring of 1550, to the see of Gloucester. But his conscience was 
 embarrassed ; and in his person a contest began which has never 
 since been stilled. He demurred first to the oath of supremacy, 
 and secondly to the robes in which the episcopal investiture 
 usually took place ; and he wrote to the king, earnestly requesting 
 that he might be allowed to decline the bishoprick, or to be 
 admitted without the usual oath and ceremonial. His objec- 
 tion, so far as the oath was involved, seems to have been easily 
 removed. The obnoxious passage, in which he was required to 
 swear " by God, by the saints, and by the holy gospels," was at 
 once altered by the king's own hand, in the presence of the 
 council, when Hooper's protest against the impiety of a solemn 
 
124 PURITANS. 
 
 appeal to the (lepartod saints was placed before him. But the 
 greater difficulty remained. Hooper would by no nicans consent 
 to wear the vestments. He refused to be consecrated in robes 
 worn by the bishops of the Church of Rome, and which he 
 regarded as a badge of antichrist. Cranmer was then archbishop 
 of Canterbury, and Ridley bishop of London, and they endea- 
 voured to convince him that his scruples were unfounded. But 
 their persuasions and arguments failed. The council, in the 
 king's name, requested Cranmer to give way, and to proceed 
 with Hooper's consecration. This Cranmer refused to do, " not 
 thinking," says his biographer, Sfcrype, " that even such a man- 
 date was a sufficient authority for the breach of an existing law." 
 Still he does not seem to have been insensible of Hooper's 
 worth, much less to have been mfluenced by any private jealousy. 
 His conduct claims our respect, as that of a man who, in arbitrary 
 times, revered the authority of the law, and held it to be superior 
 to the mere commands of the sovereign. The professorships 
 of divinity at Oxford and Cambridge were then filled by 
 two eminent foreigners, Peter Martyr and Bucer, whom the 
 archbishop, by the king's command, had invited to those posts. 
 He desired each of them to write to Hooper on the subject 
 of the vestments, supposing that the judgment of those who 
 were esteemed in their own churches abroad as leaders of the 
 Reformation would have great weight. Meanwhile Hooper con- 
 tinued to inveigh in his sermons, and often with some asperity, 
 against the vestments. The Privy (Council, in consequence, con- 
 fined him to his own house ; but his ardent spirit disdained to 
 be silent. His zeal was not always tempered with discretion. 
 He could not preach upon the Decalogue, for example, (for he 
 was still permitted to preach in London,) without referring to 
 the forbidden subject. Amongst other fiagrant violations of 
 the Lord's-day, he introduces the teaching of false doctrine. 
 " Further," he exclaims, " to augment the ceremonies of the 
 Church, and bring in a new Judaism and Aaronical rites, is 
 aoainst this commandment. As the bishops have used the 
 matter, there be more ceremonies in the Church of Christ than 
 were in the (.^hurch of the Jews." He even published an answer 
 to his opponents, which he called " A Confes.sion of Faith." This 
 seems to have been regarded as an act of contumacy. By order 
 of the Privv Council he was sileui-ed. and iiii]>risi>ncd in the Fleet. 
 
PURITANS. . 125 
 
 The letters of Bucer and Martyr upon the subject are still 
 extant; and it is interesting at this distance of time to observe 
 how th€ise men regarded the infant controversy. Bucer thought 
 that the garments might be retained iir obedience to the law of 
 the laud, but not as parts of the law of Moses : to the pure all 
 things are pure ; and upon this principle the apostles had com- 
 plied with the Jews in many things. The garments were in 
 themselves indifferent ; they had been used by the a,ncient 
 fathers before popery began. He wished they were removed by 
 legal authority, but he argued fully for the use of them till 
 then. He implores Hooper, for the sake of the Church of 
 Christ, to dismiss his scruples, and to accept an office of such 
 vast importance, and one to which he was so especially called by 
 the voice of his sovereio^n and the necessities of the English 
 Chiu'ch. Martyr was in communication with Bucer, and ap- 
 proved of what he wrote. " Hooper's affair," he writes to 
 Bucer, " has assumed a character of which the most pious must 
 disapprove. I grieve, I deeply grieve, that such things should 
 happen amongst the professors of the gospel. Though at this 
 time forbidden to preach, and under confinement, he seems as 
 if he could not rest ; he has just published his confession of 
 faith, which has exasperated many ; he complains of the privy 
 council, and perhaps, though this is not my concern, of us too. 
 May God give a happy issue to these inauspicious beginnings." 
 In the same strain he wrote to Hooper, imi^loring him to yield ; 
 " and yet," he adds, " when I consider the superstition and 
 contention the vestments have occasioned, T could wish they were 
 abandoned." Bishop Burnet has remarked that Cranmer and 
 his friends habitually deferred to the judgment of Peter Martyr 
 to a degree which almost amounted to submissiveuess. It was 
 not likely that Hooper should feel indisposed to admit his weight 
 as an umpire. Swayed by such advisers, he consented to use 
 the vestments in the ceremonial of his consecration, and to 
 preach in them, once at least, before the court ; for it seems 
 uncertain whether he ever wore them afterwards. Thus he 
 exchanged his prison for a bishopric. On the 8th March, 155], 
 he was consecrated bishop of that cathedral in sight of which, 
 four years afterwards he died a martyr. Bidley, in whose diocese 
 he had been so harshly used, was brought, and almost at the 
 same time, to the same fiery ordeal. 
 
12>\ PURITANS. 
 
 This affair of Bishop Hooper made a Jeep inipressiou. His 
 elevated position, his popular eloquence, his dauntless courage 
 and above all, his glorious martjTdom, embalmed his nicmory 
 and riveted his opinions upon the hearts of the reformers. 
 Other circumstances occurred to keep alive the controversy which 
 had now unhappily arisen. Several congregations of German 
 Protestants, fleeing from continental persecution, had found an 
 asylum in England. One of the principal of these was settled 
 in London tinder the pastoral care of John Alasco, a man of 
 great repute, the fiiend and patron of Erasmus ; while another 
 was placed by the duke of Somerset, the protector during the 
 king's minority, at Glastonbury, upon the lands of the famous 
 monastery then recently dissolved. 
 
 But a change was again at hand. j\Iary succeeded to the 
 throne, and the ancient superstitions were restored. The influ- 
 ence of the foreigners ia matters of religion, however imper- 
 cejotible, must have been already such as to excite suspicion ; for 
 they were commanded to leave the kingdom without delay. 
 Nor did they retire alone. A furious burst of persecution drove 
 with them a thousand of our countrymen, who felt that to 
 remain at home was to incur a needless hazard. The low 
 countries, the free cities of the Khine, and Switzerland, were 
 now filled with the English wanderers. Frankfort, Basle, Zurich, 
 and Geneva were the towns of their chief resort ; for there the 
 doctrines of the Reformation had taken the strongest hold, and 
 there its most eminent professors dwelt. Mingled with these 
 were the leaders of the continectal Reformation. The English 
 refugees had constant intercourse with Calvin, with Gualter, 
 with Peter Martyr, and Alasco ; and al)ove all with Henry 
 Bullinger. 
 
 On the death of Mary our English exiles returned home, 
 " bringing nothing back with them," says Fuller, " but much 
 learning and some experience." It is likely that they were 
 influenced by the manners of the German Churches. On their 
 return to England the contrast between the splendour of the 
 English ceremonial and the simplicity of that abroad was the more 
 striking. Their opponents never ceased to attribute much of 
 the discontent that followed to the Genevan exile. " They were 
 for the most part Zwinglian-gospellers at their going hence," 
 says Heylin, "and became the great promoters of the Puritan 
 
PURITANS. 127 
 
 faction at their coming home." The Puritans themselves were 
 never unwilling to own their obligations to the German reformers, 
 still, however, founding their scruples rather upon what they 
 conceived to be the absence of scriptural simplicity than upon 
 the practice of other Churches. But the question of the habits, 
 or, as it has since been termed, the vestiarian controversy, was 
 unsettled, and it now began to wear an anxious, if not a threaten- 
 ing, aspect. 
 
 This dispute with regard to the vestments to be worn by the 
 ministers of Christ when discharging their official duties, lay at 
 the root of many other controversies, and was the source from 
 which they arose. During the reigns of Edward VI., and 
 Mary, and the first years of Elizabeth, the controversy was ma- 
 naged with great ability, and generally with temper and for- 
 bearance, but as the first leaders disappeared it fell into the 
 hands of other disputants, and was conducted in a very different 
 spirit. 
 
 It was urged by the dissatisfied party that the imposition of 
 the vestments was an infringement of their Christian liberty. 
 They were called under the gospel to worship God iu spirit and 
 in truth ; and no outward forms or splendours could contribute 
 in any measure to assist the devout mind in a service so spiritual 
 and exalted. On the contrary, the tendency of these official 
 garments was to distract the worshipper, and to debase his 
 devotions by an admixture of those sentiments which are allowed 
 no place in spiritual things. The Church of Christ was only safe 
 in its simplicity, and such was its inward glory that any attempts 
 to decorate could but in fact degrade it. They objected too, that 
 the vestments against which they were now contending had a 
 Jewish origin, and belonged not to the Christian ministry, but to 
 the priesthood of the house of Aaron. To introduce them into 
 the Church of Christ was to pervert their meaning. They were 
 a part of the divinely appointed constitution of the Jewish 
 Church, and had passed away together with the rest of its figura- 
 tive and mystic ceremonial. 
 
 It was a further objection, and one that appealed not only to 
 divines and controversialists, but to the feelings of the common 
 people, that the vestments were identical with all the superstitions 
 of popery. They were looked upon as the badge of antichrist ; 
 and they who wore them were regarded with suspicion, as men 
 
128 PUKITANS. 
 
 either indifferent to the cause of the Reformation, or not yet 
 sufficiently eulio'htened as to the danger, and indeed the sinful- 
 ness, of approaching the most distant confines of a system which 
 ought to be avoided with alarm and horror. " If we are bound 
 to wear popish apparel when commanded, we may be obliged to 
 have shaven crowns, and to use oil, and cream, and spittle, and 
 all the rest of the papistical additions to the ordinances of 
 Christ." 
 
 The question of the vestments was ver}' soon followed by 
 others not less irritating. From dislike to the habits the pro- 
 gress was very easy to a dislike of the service-book ; and that of 
 king Edward was, they believed, not free from superstition. All 
 forms of prayer soon fell under a suspicion of pojjcry ; so that the 
 revision of the prayer-book, which took place on the accession of 
 Elizabeth, gave little satisfaction to those, now a considerable 
 p^u-ty, who had began to think all forms unlawful. 
 
 Thus arose the first secession from the English Church of the 
 Reformation. The first actual rujature took place abroad in 1554. 
 The English residents at Frankfort entered into an agreement 
 v^^ith a congregation of French Protestants, in whose church ihey 
 were allowed to assemble, binding themselves not only to sub- 
 scribe to the French confession of faith, recently drawn up by 
 Calvin, but further, not to make responses after the minister, 
 nor to use the litany, or surplice, and (a condition of no less 
 importance) not to quarrel about ceremonies. Their Church 
 discipline seems to have been that of the Independents rather 
 tlian Presbyterian. They looked upon themselves as, under 
 God, the source and fountain of ecclesiastical power. They pro- 
 ceeded to choose their o^vll minister and deacons, and to invite 
 their brethren, dispersed through the neighbouring cities, to join 
 a community where, they said, " God's word was faitlifully 
 preached, the sacraments rightly administered, and scripture 
 discipline enforced." Their public service was conducted thus : 
 it begun with extemporaneous prayer ; a hymn was sung ; the 
 minister then prayed a second time, and more at large, conclud- 
 ing with the Lord's prayer. Then followed another psalm and 
 a sermon, if a preacher were present ; or otherwise, the recital of 
 a confession of faith. The congregation w;is then dismissed with 
 the apostolic benediction. 
 
 The experiment was not successful. The English divines of 
 
PURITANS. 129 
 
 Strasburgh, Zurich, and Basle, declined, in succession, the invi- 
 tations of the newly-formed congregation. They next applied to 
 Knox, and he, with two assistants, became their pastor. But 
 difficulties arose amongst themselves ; many of them were 
 attached to the English forms. These, it seems, were the ma- 
 jority : they elected Dr. Cox, who had been tutor to Edward VI. 
 and Elizabeth, their minister ; and Knox found himself displaced, 
 and was required by the government to leave the city. He 
 retired to Geneva, and immediately gathered another congre- 
 gation amongst the English exiles. But the death of Mary, 
 which happened in the following year, again broke up his flock, 
 and their pastor was now free to return to his native land. 
 
 The Act of Uniformity, which passed in the first year of 
 Elizabeth, may be considered as the point of time at which the 
 battle was at length joined, and each of the two parties — the 
 Puritans and the Prelatists — assumed its definite position. The 
 Act embraced two vital questions —the revisal of the prayer-book 
 and the compliance hereafter to be rendered to the forms and 
 ceremonies. With regard to the Book of Common Prayer, it 
 remained in substance the second of the two prayer-books issued 
 by King Edward, namely, that of 1552. The few alterations in 
 it did not relieve the Puritans, nor perhaps were they meant to 
 do so. With regard to the vestments, they felt themselves 
 injured afresh ; for they were compelled by a rubric in the revised 
 book to retain " all such ornaments of the Church and ministers 
 as were in use in the second year of King Edward," the year in 
 which his first imperfect prayer-book was put forth ; whereas the 
 second prayer-book of 1552 insiiAed only on the use of the sur- 
 plice. As its enactments were successively urged upon them, 
 their discontent increased. Each attempt to reduce them to an 
 uniform submission only provoked a fresh resistance. 
 
 The Act of Uniformity was passed in May, and came into 
 effect on the 24th of June, 1559, though not without a protest 
 from Heath, the archbishop of York. It not only exacted a 
 rigorous conformity in the conduct of divine worship and in the 
 habits worn by the minister, but further empowered the queen, 
 by the advice of the commissioners or metropolitan, to ordain 
 and publish, at her pleasure, further rites or ceremonies, with no 
 other limitation than what these words convey: — "As maybe 
 most for God's glory, and the edifying of his Church, and the 
 
 VOL. II. K 
 
130 rUUlTANS. 
 
 due reverence of Christ's holy mysteries and sacraments." The 
 rigorous pressing of this Act, says Neale, tlie great historian of 
 puritanism, was the occasion of all the mischiefs that befel the 
 Church for above eighty years. The evils which it was meant to 
 remedy were no doubt both real and extensive, but the measure 
 was violent ; and it fared with it according to the disastrous law 
 which ever governs such proceedings ; what was conceived with 
 rashness was carried into effect with obstinate severity. 
 
 Parker was now Archbishop of Canterbury. On his part no 
 pains were spared to produce an exact obedience ; and the dis- 
 orders which prevailed in the Church afforded a man not indis- 
 posed to Avield despotic power frequent occasions to interfere. 
 The ejection of many good men immediately followed. One of 
 the first sufferers was Miles Coverdale, bishop of Exeter, in the 
 reign of Edward VI. On the accession of Mary he was impri- 
 soned, and escaped the flames only through the intercession of 
 the King of Denmark, to whose territoiies he fled. Returning 
 at Elizabeth's accession, he assisted at the consecration of Arch- 
 bishop Parker ; but as he disliked the ceremonies and habits, his 
 bishopric was not restored, and the venerable translator of the 
 Bible was suffered to fall into neglect and poverty. When old 
 and poor he was presented, by Grindal, bishop of London, with 
 the small living of St. Magnus, near London Bridge. He had 
 scarcely held his preferment two years, when he was driven from 
 his parish by the stringent demand of a rigorous conformity, with 
 which he could not comply. He died soon after, in 1 567, at the 
 age of eighty-one. 
 
 Sampson, dean of Christchurch, was one of the proscribed. 
 He was somewhat rash and headstrong, but upon the whole, a 
 man of whom Grindal and Horn attest, that his learning was 
 equal to his piety. 
 
 Nor were these the only victims. The venerable Jolin Foxe 
 shared in Coverdale's disgrace. He too hail narrowly escaped 
 the flames by a voluntary exile. But he lived to return. He 
 placed the Church of England under greater obligations than 
 any writer of his age, by his " Book of Maityre," and liad his 
 recompense in an old age of poverty and shame. 
 
 But it must not be concealed that amongst the Puritans them- 
 selves extreme and violent opinions appeared. As the infection 
 spread, an angry, factious temper, or, as Bishop (^xe expressed 
 
PURITANS. 131 
 
 it, " a zeal for discord," infected multitudes. Santh^s, bishop of 
 London, writing toBullinger, August 15, 1573, says, despairingly, 
 " I wish for nothing more than that, relieved from those cares 
 and anxieties Avith which I am now overwhelmed, I might pass 
 the remainder of my life at Zurich as a sojourner and private 
 person. Thoughts of this kind are continually occurring to me, 
 nor is there anything that I should wish for more. But I 
 perceive tliat this cannot be. I am not born for myself: our 
 Church which is most sadly tossed about in these evil times, and 
 is in a most wretched state of confusion, vehemently demands all 
 my exertions : I dare not desert the spouse of Christ in her 
 danger; for conscience would cry out against me, and convict 
 me of having betrayed her. New orators are rising up among 
 us, foolish young men, who, while they despise authority, and 
 admit of no superior, are seeking the complete overthrow and 
 rooting up of our whole ecclesiastical i^olity, so piously con- 
 stituted, and confirmed, and established by the entire consent of 
 most excellent men, and are striving to shape out for us, I 
 know not what new platform of a Church. And you would not 
 imagine with what approbation this new face of things is re- 
 garded, as well by the people as the nobility. The people are 
 fond of change, and seek after liberty ; the nobility (seek for) 
 what is useful. These good folks promise both, and that in 
 abundance. But that you may be better acquainted with the 
 whole matter, accept this summary of the question at issue 
 reduced under certain heads : — 
 
 " 1. The civil magistrate has no authority in ecclesiastical 
 matters. He is only a member of the Church, the government of 
 which ought to be committed to the clergy. 
 
 " 2. The Church of Christ admits of no other government 
 than that by presbyteries ; viz., by the minister, elders, and 
 deacon. 
 
 " 3. The names and authority of archbishops, archdeacons, 
 deans, chancellors, commissaries, and other titles and dignities of 
 the like kind, should be altogether removed from the Church of 
 Christ. 
 
 " 4. Each parish should have its own presbytery. 
 
 " 5. The choice of ministers of necessity belong to the people. 
 
 " 6. The goods, professions, lands, revenues, titles, honours, 
 authorities, and all other things relating either to bishops or 
 
 K 2 
 
132 rURITAKS. 
 
 cathedrals, and which now of right belong to them, should be 
 taken away furthwith and for ever. 
 
 " 7. No one should be allowed to preach who is not a pastor 
 of some congregation ; and he ought to preach to his own flock 
 exclusively, and nowhere else. 
 
 " 8. The infants of papists are not to be baptized. 
 
 " 9. The judicial laws of Moses are binding upon Christian 
 princes, and they ought not in the slightest degree to depart from 
 them. 
 
 " There are many other things of the same kind, not less absurd, 
 and which I shall not mention ; none of which, as far as I can 
 judge, will make for the advantage and peace of the Church, but 
 for her ruin and confusion." — Zuriclt Letters, vol. i. 
 
 In 1572, a Presbyterian Church was formed, and a meeting- 
 house erected at Wandsworth in SuiTey. Field, the lecturer of 
 Wandsworth, was its (Irst minister ; and several names of con- 
 sideration with the Puritans, including those of Travers and 
 Wilcox, were amongst its founders. Presbyteries were formed 
 in other parts of the kingdom, and numerous secret meetings 
 were held in private houses, which gave more alarm to the 
 government, or at least a stronger pi'etext for severity. Even 
 moderate men began to express anxiety. To meet the danger, 
 the high court of commission, was now first put in motion. It 
 empowered the queen and her successors, by their letters patent 
 under the great seal, to authorize, whenever they thought fit, 
 and for as long a period as they pleased, a commission of persons, 
 lay or clerical, to exercise all manner of jurisdiction under the 
 queen and her successors in spiritual things ; and, " to order, 
 visit, reform, and redress all heresies, errors, schisms, abuses, 
 contempts, offences, and enormities whatsoever." One of its 
 first acts was the violent suppression of the Presbyterian meeting 
 at Wandsworth ; its subsequent labours were of the same 
 character. 
 
 Notwithstanding these severities, puritanism continued to in- 
 crease ; for the persecution which does not exterminate a religious 
 party never fails to strengthen it. And while the cause was 
 gaining strength in London, it was taking firm root in the great 
 seats of learning. 
 
 Thomas Cartwright, Margaret professor of divinity at Cam- 
 bridge in 1569, delivered a course of lectures in which the order 
 
. PURITANS. 133 
 
 and constitution of the Church were openly assailed. His lec- 
 tures were highly popular, and he was answered from week to 
 week in the University pulpit by an opponent of no common 
 fame. This was John Whitgift, afterwards archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. He, too, had lately been a Puritan, but he had renounced 
 his party, and was now zealous for conformity. Cartwright main- 
 tained that the Scriptures contained the exact model by which 
 the Church ought to be framed and governed, and this model 
 was complete without bishops and archbishops. He, therefore, 
 insisted on the establishment, in England, of a Presbyterian 
 Church. "To effect this reformation," he said, "every one 
 ought to labour in his calling, the magistrate by his authority, 
 the minister by the word, and all by their prayers." 
 
 Whitgift answered, in substance, thus : Christ has left the 
 mode of Church government to be regulated from time to time 
 by the Church itself. No absolute form is prescribed ; no mi- 
 nute injunctions are laid down in Scripture. Let everything be 
 done for edification, let nothing be done contrary to an express 
 command. Within these limits the Church is left to her own 
 discretion. The controversy was carried on for several years : 
 by the Puritan leaders, in two " Admonitions to Parliament for 
 the reformation of Church discipline ;" by Whitgift, in his 
 " Answers to a certain Libel called an Admonition," &c. The 
 first of these admonitions was presented to parliament by Field 
 and Wilcox, who were imprisoned, and the petition was burned 
 at St. Paul's cross. Cartwright was deprived of his fellowship, 
 degraded from the professor's chair, and expelled the University. 
 But the controversy continued to rage with unabated warmth for 
 twenty years, when it began to assume new forms, and to ally 
 itself with new disputes. 
 
 On the death of Parker, Grindal succeeded to the primacy in 
 1575. Though opposed to the violent extremes of Cartwright, 
 and even ready to punish the factious Puritans with imprison- 
 ment, he would have given full scope to their zeal on the mild 
 condition of a moderate conformity. When they established 
 their prophecyings (for an account of which, see vol. i., p. 248), 
 he not only gave his consent, but threw over the proceeding the 
 mantle of his authority. 
 
 The prophecyings, as well or ill managed, might be productive 
 of the greatest good or evil. They were highly popular, and in 
 
134 PURITANS. . 
 
 some cases partially mischievous. Political discussion broke in 
 upon religious inquiry. The hierarchy was assailed, the Prayer- 
 book vilified, and ministers who had been silenced for their 
 irregularities were listened to, perhaps with the greater satisfac- 
 tion because of their nonconformity, in the prophecyings. Yet 
 the need was great. In many counties scarcely one preacher 
 could be found. In some dioceses there were but two or three ; 
 there was a general thirst for religious instruction, while the 
 people, as the archbishop told the queen, were allowed to perish 
 for lack of knowledge. Grindal resolved to take the prophecy- 
 incfs under his own care, and at the same time to remove the 
 causes of objection. He, therefore, forbade the introduction of 
 politics, the speaking of laymen, or ministers suppressed, and the 
 allusions, hitherto not unfrequent, to matters of government ; 
 and instead of a chairman elected by the societies, he placed the 
 meetings for the future under the care of the archdeacon, or of 
 some grave divine to be appointed by the bishop. Ten bishops 
 heartily approved of the primate's decision, and encouraged the 
 prophecyings in their dioceses. But the queen regarded them 
 with great dislike, and the court resolved on their suppression. 
 It was in vain the faithful primate remonstrated with the queen. 
 " Alas ! madam, is the scripture more plain in any one thing than 
 that the gospel of Christ should be plentifully preached ? 1 am 
 forced, with all humility, and yet plainly, to profess that I can- 
 not with safe conscience, and without otfence to the majesty of 
 God, give my assent to the suppressing of the said exercises." 
 In vain did the earl of Leicester and the lord-treasurer Burghley, 
 who presented the remonstrance, add the weight of their inter- 
 cessions. The queen was enraged, and the primate, who was old 
 and sick, Avas ordered to consider himself a prisoner in his own 
 house, and would probably have been deprived, if death had not 
 stepped in to his release. He died on the 6th July, 1583. 
 Preaching fell into contempt, and the Church of England has 
 never since entirely recovered from the blow. There has always 
 since this event been a party in the Church who have regarded 
 this divine ordinance with real or well-feigned contempt. 
 
 The immediate consequence was to give importance to the 
 Brownists or ultra- Puritans (see BiiowNiSTs), whose rapid triumph 
 in the face of persecution, is one of the most remarkable episodes 
 in the reign of Elizabeth. The moderate Puritans were stunned ; 
 
PURITANS. 135 
 
 and under Whitgift first arose a high-church party, against which 
 there was for some time no moderate party to contend ; and thus 
 the equilibrium of the Church was lost. 
 
 When James came to the throne in 1602, the moderate or 
 Church Puritans, took heart and presented to the new king, before 
 he had arrived in London, a petition signed by about eight hun- 
 dred of the clergy, setting forth their grievances. Their demands 
 were moderate, and their tone respectful and submissive. James, 
 anxious to please all parties, dismissed them with fair promises, 
 and the HamjDton Court conference was the result. It was held 
 in llJO-i, James himself presiding. The Puritans were represented 
 by Eeynolds, Sparkes, Chadderton, and Newstubbs. The con- 
 ference lasted several days, the prelates and law-officers of the 
 crown, under Whitgift as their leader, being arrayed against 
 the Puritans. To the latter the conference gave no satisfaction. 
 They complained that the king was partial, while their opponents 
 were insulting. Their requests were heard with impatience, and 
 rejected with scorn. No doctrinal questions had yet occurred 
 between them. The Puritans were moderate Calvinists ; Whit- 
 gift was an ultra- Calvinist ; and they would even have accepted 
 his own exposition of these doctrines and incorporated the Lam- 
 beth articles in the thirty-nine. Their objections lay entirely 
 against matters of form and ceremony, or against expressions in 
 the Prayer-book, capable of misapprehension. They would have 
 done away with confirmation, forbidden private baptism, and 
 amended the terms made use of in absolving the sick ; both sides, 
 however, agTceing in this, that the absolution had reference only 
 to those who lay under Church censures, or, as James expressed it, 
 " to special parties, who having committed a scandal, and repent- 
 ing, are absolved : so that where there precedes not excommuni- 
 cation nor penance there needs no absolution." Some slio-ht 
 concessions were made ; private baptism by women was forbidden; 
 the Church Catechism was enlarged by the addition of the expla- 
 nation of the Sacraments ; and to Dr. Reynolds's suggestion we 
 owe that inestimable treasm-e the authorized English version of 
 tlie Bible. Their requests that the cross in ba^Jtism might be 
 omitted were received by the king with contempt ; and the 
 Puritans retired brow-beaten and dismayed. The Puritan party 
 was angry with their repi'esentatives, who they said had not done 
 justice to then- cause ; and with themselves, who should have 
 
136 PURITANS. 
 
 known their opponents better than to have expected from them 
 cither candour or forbearance. 
 
 The petitions of the Puritans at this famous conference were 
 moderate. They did not ask for the subversion of prelacy or 
 the introduction of the Geneva disciphue. They sought for reforms, 
 many of which were needed, most of which were practicable, and 
 none of which involved the abandonment of any vital principle. 
 They deserved better treatment ; and the harshness they received 
 soon began to recoil upon its authors. 
 
 Puritanism feeling itself oppressed became morose. Whitgift 
 died in 1615, and his death was the signal for the introduction 
 of a new system of theology, a low Arminianism. Within a few 
 years all the bishoprics, except two or three at the utmost, were 
 rilled by men who formally denied the Calvinistic creed, and 
 placed a new construction on the articles. The Puritans adhered 
 to their Calvinism, becoming naturally more tenacious of it, or 
 at least more systematic in their method of stating it, now that 
 it was impeached. The consequences on both sides were injuri- 
 ous to religion. It wore a wrangling, disputatious character, and 
 if it gained something in precision when these debates were over, 
 it lost far more in real force, in attractiveness, and in its freedom 
 from the trammels and the verbiage of systematic theology 
 
 This was the state of things when Charles I., in 1625, 
 succeeded to the throne. He took Laud to his councils ; and 
 upon the death of Abbot, in 1 633, raised him to the jDrimacy. 
 Charles was now the husband of a popish queen : and the Ar- 
 minianism of the Laudian party did not interfere with their tole- 
 rance of Rome. New views of sacramental grace and efficacy 
 were every day announced ; new forms and ceremonies, unknown 
 in England since the Reformation, were everywhere seen. To 
 Laud himself a cardinal's hat was twice offered ; and the Church 
 of England seemed to be drifting back again to popery. At 
 the same time the terms of communion were so narrowed as, if 
 possible, to exclude the Puritans altogether. The Laudian prelates 
 not only enforced the harsh injunctions of Elizabeth, but added 
 new ones of their own. They multiplied ])owings and ^^rostra- 
 tions ; placed lighted tapers on the altars ; decorated the churches 
 with pictures and images of saints ; pronounced the sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper to lie a s icrificc, and the minister a sacrific- 
 iijg priest. Wo have the as.surance of the moderate prelates, 
 
PURITANS. 137 
 
 Sanderson and Hall, that an incredible number of clergymen who 
 had hitherto cheeriully conformed, were forced in consequence 
 into the ranks of the Puritans. Political contentions, and the 
 frenzy of the Sectarians, from whom the Puritans had always 
 held themselves aloof, added bitterness to the quarrel. The 
 sword was drawn in 1642, and the war began, which ended in 
 the subversion of the throne and the execution of the monarch. 
 
 With the power of Charles the Church of England fell ; and 
 the Puritans for a time were masters of the field. It was a reli- 
 gious age ; and when the people had trampled the crown beneath 
 their feet, they showed no disposition to depreciate the office of 
 the clergy. During the heat of the war, the Puritans, who almost 
 to a man sided with the parliament, preached to large congi-ega- 
 tions ; and, in all the great towns at least, they had the implicit 
 ear of the people. Episcopacy being at an end, they acted, for 
 a while, according to the dictates of conscience or mere taste ; the 
 surplice was generally laid aside ; and extempore prayer was used 
 in the parish churches even before the ordinance of parliament 
 appeared in 1645, forbidding the Book of Common Prayer. The 
 old puritanism, however, was now passing away. A generation 
 had arisen in whose eyes the principles of Cartwright were crude 
 and imperfect. They no longer contended against the forms and 
 vestments, but against the constitution of the Church of England. 
 Prelacy, by which we understand the episcopacy titled and asso- 
 ciated with civil authority, was detested ; all forms of prayer 
 were decried ; and episcopacy even in its mildest forms was 
 thought unscriptural. Thus puritanism properly so called became 
 extinct, because the grounds of the old contention no longer ex- 
 isted. The later Puritans appeared, and iinmediately fell into two 
 great parties, Presbyterians, and Independents ; and we refer 
 the reader to the articles, in which, under those designations, we 
 have followed out their history. 
 
 It may be proper to mention, in conclusion, the doctrinal Puri- 
 tans. These formed, in fact, the moderate Church party during 
 the reign of Charles I. Their leaders were Bishops Dave- 
 nant, Hall, Williams, and Carleton. The title of doctrinal 
 Puritans was fastened upon them by the Laudian party. They 
 held and taught the doctrines of the Reformation, in opposition to 
 the sacramental system which Laud had recently introduced. 
 They entertained no scruples as to the forms and ceremonies of 
 
138 rUIUTANS. 
 
 the Church of England, to which they willingly conformetl. But 
 they rejected, with indignation, the innovations of the Laudian 
 party ; who in return branded them with the name of Puritans. 
 It was an entirely new application of the word ; and one against 
 which they diil not fail to protest. It seems to have been first 
 used about lG2o by Bishop Montague in a controversy with Carle- 
 ton, and the latter exclaims : " This is the first time that I ever 
 heard of a Puritan doctrine in points dogmatical, and I have lived 
 longer in the Church than he hath done. I thought that Puri- 
 tans were only such as were factious against the bishops, in the 
 point of pretended discipline ; and so I am sure it hath been 
 understood in our Church." The controversies which have ever 
 since existed within the bosom of the Church of England now for 
 the first time appeared. The construction of the baptismal offices 
 became a subject of contention ; and the whole question of bap- 
 tismal and sacramental grace. The doctrinal Puritans adhered 
 to the ancient forms of worship, and for doing so were severely 
 harassed. The Laudian party maintained " that whatever rites 
 were practised in the ('hurch of Rome, and not expressly abolished 
 at the Reformation, nor disclaimed by any doctrine, law or canon, 
 were consistent with the Church of England." Under this gene- 
 ral maxim they introduced a multitude of ceremonies, such, for 
 instance, as bowing to the east, and placing candles on the altar, 
 now gorgeously decorated once more ; which had long been dis- 
 missed as badges of popery. And thus in a short time a differ- 
 ence was apparent between the two parties both in doctrinal 
 teaching and in visible forms. To complete the quarrel the 
 Laudians were of the Arminian school, while the doctrinal 
 Puritans were moderate Calviuists. 
 
 For twenty years the doctrinal Puritans suffered great indig- 
 nities ; but they remained stedfast in their attachment to the 
 (Church, and when the storm burst upon it, they were exposed to 
 all its fury. They took no share in Laud's convocation of 1 G40, 
 and greatly disapproved of its arbitrary measures. But the 
 popular rage made no distinctions, and the Church Puritans 
 suffered just as much as their old opponents of the high prelatic 
 party. The Church itself was overthrown ; and in the darkness 
 and confusion that ensued, they disappear from siglit during the 
 civil war. There is no party in the Church of England to whom 
 we are more deeply indebted, none for whom we feel a mvrr 
 
PURITANS. 139 
 
 profound respect. They were the evangehsts of their own times 
 and by means of their admirable writings they contributed not a 
 Httle to the restoration of pure rehgion in later days. If Laud 
 had listened to their warnings they would have saved the 
 Church. If the Long Parliament would have profited by their 
 moderation, they might have saved the monarchy. They have 
 been compared to the prophets of old, who were raised up to 
 foretell impending ruin, and to leave both factious without 
 excuse. 
 
 The literature of the Puritans, as a religious party, consists 
 chiefly of controversial and practical theology, and in both its 
 ability is confessed by friend and foe. As Whitgift and his 
 disciple Hooker exhausted the argument in favour of episcopacy 
 and a liturgical Church, so did Cartwright and Travers that in 
 behalf of presbyterian discipline. The student, after a wide 
 search amongst the combatants of later times, finds to his sur- 
 prise how insignificant are all their additions to a controversy 
 opened, and, as far as learning and argument can go, finally 
 closed by the earliest champions on either side. Of the practical 
 divinity of Elizabeth's reign, a large proportion was contributed 
 by the Puritans. The party embraced men of high rank and 
 general education as well as men of theological learning ; and the 
 literature of the age bears many tokens of their influence. If 
 we descend to the next age, the names of the greatest men of 
 the reigns of James, Charles I., and the Commonwealth, present 
 themselves as in a greater or less degree connected with the 
 Puritans. Selden, Whitelock, Milton, with their pens ; Rudyard, 
 Hampden, Vane, in Parliament ; Owen, Marshall, Calamy, Baxter, 
 and a host of others, in the pulpit; Cromwell, Essex, and 
 Fairfax, in the field, — all ranged themselves under the Puritan 
 cause. Never was a party more distinguished in its advocates ; 
 never was a cause lost amidst more hopeful prospects, or when 
 to human eyes its triumph was more secure. In 1 650 it was at 
 the summit of its pride and power, with the Church of England 
 at its feet. Ten years afterwards its influence had passed away ; 
 and, in the persons of the Presbyterians who crossed over to 
 propitiate the young king at Breda, it was submissively pleading 
 for its life. 
 
 Zurich Letters. Strypes Life of Cranmer, PauU's Life of 
 Whitgift. BrooFs Memoir of 2'homas Cartivright. Bishop 
 
140 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 Hall's Hard Measure, and Shaking of the Olive Tree. 
 Whitelock's Mertiorials. Sjjeeches in this gre-it and happy 
 Parliament, 1645. History of the Westmiiuter Assernhlij. 
 Clarendoii s History of the Great Rebellion. Neales History 
 of the Puritans. Heyllns History of the Reformation ; and 
 his Life of Laud. 
 
 "DOME, Church of.* — The Church of Rome professes to 
 have beea founded by St. Peter. She maintains that he 
 was the primate amongst the apostles, and that his primacy is 
 inherited by the popes or bishops of Rome. It follows that to 
 them pertains the right of governing the universal Church, and, 
 further, that sej^aration from her communion involves the guilt 
 of schism. 
 
 To establish these claims it is of course necessary to prove that 
 St. Peter Avas himself invested with the primacy ; that he visited 
 Rome, and was the founder of its Church ; and that the popes of 
 Rome are his lawful successors. The controversy which these 
 points involve is one of the most extensive and profound in the 
 whole compass of theological polemics. The primacy of St. Peter 
 is argued by Roman Catholic divines from the fact, that in the 
 lists of the apostles in the New Testament St. Peter's name 
 always stands first ; that by St. Matthew, as Grotius and some 
 other Protestant commentators admit, he is especially styled 
 Trpwroc, the first of the ajjostles ; that he alone received from oiu- 
 Lord a new name, changing his former designation for one which 
 conveyed a peculiar commission, and indicating that the person 
 who bore it had an especial authority to represent himself ; and, 
 above all, that our Lord intrusted Peter with the primacy in 
 these express words, " Thou art Peter, and on this rock 1 will 
 build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
 it ; and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." 
 This primacy, it is contended, is recognised in the Acts of the 
 
 * The design of this work being to furnish the reader with the Avcts of 
 ecclesiastical history in their simplest form, no attempt is made, in this 
 article, to discuss the great questions at issue between Protestants, as well as 
 all other Churches, and the Church of Rome. As far as jiossible the history 
 1)1' the f'hurch nf Rome is told, as it is given by her own wrilers. 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 141 
 
 Apostles, and, in general, by the inspired writers in the New 
 Testament on several occasions. 
 
 In proof that the bishops of Rome are St. Peter's successors, it 
 is argued thus : St. Irenseus, in the second century, sjjeaks of the 
 Church of Rome as having been constituted and founded by 
 Peter and Paul. The two apostles, he says, made Linus, of 
 whom St. Paul speaks in his Epistle to Timothy, the first bishop ; 
 and from him he traces the descent of the episcopate down to 
 Eleutherus, the twelfth bishop in succession, who was then livmg. 
 Tertullian, at the end of the second century, refers to the appoint- 
 ment of the first bishop, as having received his episcopate from 
 St. Peter. St. Cyprian, Eusebius, and Lactantius, in later times, 
 speak of Rome as the see of St. Peter. Other writers repeat and 
 confirm these statements ; and the evidence they afford is sup- 
 posed to set at rest the doubts which have been raised as to the 
 fact whether St. Peter ever visited Rome or not. Of Protestant 
 writers. Cave and Lardner admit, without hesitation, a fact which 
 they believe to be ascertained beyond dispute by early and well- 
 attested tradition. No other Church, it is contended, can trace 
 up the line of its episcopate in an unbroken succession to the 
 time of Christ. There is one apostle whose successors have been 
 recorded ; one Church respecting which the line of the episcopate 
 has been preserved unbroken : this Church is the Church of 
 Rome, and that apostle was St. Peter. 
 
 Some difficulty is admitted in establishing the proof that in 
 the first ages of the Church the primacy of the Romish bishops 
 was either asserted or allowed. The early bishops of Rome are 
 scarcely known in ecclesiastical history. Till the first Council of 
 Nice, although various disputes had rent the Church, and ques- 
 tions of importance had solicited the interference of a master 
 hand, it does not appear that any of these were remitted to the 
 Romish bishop to be set at rest by his adjudication. It is replied, 
 that the primacy might exist without discovering itself ; that as 
 a child possesses the capacity of reason before it gives utterance 
 to thought, so the Church may have had a centre of unity, 
 though as 5'et the effects were not manifest. Antecedent pro- 
 babilities, it is added, are in favour of the primacy, and not 
 against it. Why should it be supposed that the early bishops of 
 Rome did not possess the primacy, simply because it cannot be 
 proved to have been exercised ? Since a primacy was given to 
 
142 THE CIIUKCII OF ROME. 
 
 St. Peter ; and since it is clear that the bishop of Rome was styled 
 his successor, the inference is that his office implied precedence 
 over his brethren. If it be asked why the authority of the 
 primate was not exerted to put down the various errors intro- 
 duced by the Gnostics and the Arians, the answer is, that there 
 was nothing in these heresies which directly assaulted the 
 Church's unity, and, therefore, nothing to afford occasion for the 
 interference of the chief bishop rather than that of his sub- 
 ordinates. 
 
 By such arguments the papal supremacy is maintained. It 
 consists of three particulars, which are inherent in it, and ^\hich 
 are said to include or involve the most important rights which 
 have been claimed for it. First, that the bishop of Rome is the 
 final judge in all questions of doctrine. Secondly, the right of 
 supreme government, of assembling general councils, and pre- 
 siding over them. And, thirdly, the right of making ail eccle- 
 siastical appointments. 
 
 Yet proofs are not wanting that the primacy of St. Peter's 
 chair was a novel doctrine even in the third century. For in- 
 stance, Novatian, a Roman presbyter, boldly opposed the election 
 of Cornelius to the vacant see in the year 250. Cornelius was 
 elected, and is said to have been worthy of the office ; but 
 Novatian placed himself at the head of another Church, of which 
 he became the bishop ; and though he was excommunicated by 
 Cornelius, it does not appear either that the fact of his having 
 opposed his election, or of his lying beneath the sentence of 
 excommunication, exposed him to the ban of the Chiu-ch Catholic. 
 The Novatians existed as an indeiDeudent Church until the sixth 
 century. For some time their morality was rigid ; and, with 
 regard to doctrine, there was no point of difiference ; only they 
 insisted on baptizing anew those Christians who entered their 
 communion. Had they retained their purity, the Novatians 
 might possibly have still existed as an independent Church. 
 
 And, further, the pretensions of the Roman bishop were firmly 
 resisted by all the Eastern Churches. The coming of Antichrist 
 was a subject of universal interest. It was generally exjiected 
 when Rome was destroyed by Alaric ; and the heads of the rival 
 Churches of Rome and Constantinople freely charged upon each 
 other the marks and signs of Antichrist in the arrogance which 
 claimed universal supremacy. Even the bishops of Rome did 
 
THE CHURCH OF KOME 143 
 
 not hesitate to use this argument. The patriarch of Constan- 
 tinople, John the Abstinent, assumed the title of universal bishop. 
 Against this the Popes Pelagius and Gregory protested ; the 
 latter, in letters written and published by him at different times, 
 and this so late as the close of the sixth century, " declared before 
 all Christendom, that whoever called himself a universal bishop, 
 or aimed at the title, was a precursor of Antichrist, inasmuch as 
 in his pride he exalted himself above his brethren." A protest 
 to this effect was addressed to the Greek emperor, and to the 
 patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria, as well as 
 to others. No Protestant writer has denounced the assumption 
 of the popes in stronger language than that in which Pope 
 Gregory himself denounces the assumption of his rival. " Our 
 brother and fellow -bishop, John," he exclaims, " despising the 
 commands of Christ, attempts to exalt himself above the rest. 
 He would subjugate to himself the members of Christ. In 
 pompous speech he claims that supremacy which belongs to 
 Christ, and to Christ alone, who is the sole head of the Church : 
 ita ut universa sibi tentet adscribere, et omnia quae soli uni capiti 
 cohaerent, scilicet Christo." (Lib iv., Epist. 86.) 
 
 Still the power of the Western primates continued to increase. 
 While Rome continued to be the seat of government, the primacy 
 was claimed, and sometimes conceded, on that gi"ound alone. 
 When the seat of empire was removed, the patriarchs of Con- 
 stantinople claimed to participate in the same distinction. In 
 the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, the legate of Pope Celestine 
 demanded it as an undoubted right, grounding his claim on the 
 succession of St. Peter. The Council of Chalcedon, otherwise the 
 second Council of Nice, A.D. 451, allowed an equal dignity to the 
 Roman and the Byzantine patriarch. Leo, the existing pope, 
 indignantly rejected the canon. His successor, Hilary, styles 
 himself the vicar of St. Peter, and claims the keys of the king- 
 dom. Pushing his demands still further, Pope Galatius, about 
 496, began to claim the right to govern kings. " There are two 
 authorities," he says, in a letter to the emperor, " by which the 
 world is governed, the pontifical and the royal : the first is the 
 greater, having the charge of the sacraments of life." In fact, 
 he advanced, on behalf of the papacy, all those claims, in sub- 
 stance, which have since been admitted. He asserted the supre- 
 macy of the Roman see, as delegated to it by Christ himself ; he 
 
144 Tin: ciiuiicn of homk. 
 
 affirmed the iniallibility of the Church of Rome ; lie drew up a 
 list of the canonical Scriptures, in which he included several of 
 the apocryphal books ; he issued a rescript, condemning heretical 
 writers and their books ; and the list includes some of the works 
 of Tertullian and Lactantius. At the opening of the sixth century, 
 Symmachus, the pope, was summoned by the Emperor Theodoric 
 before a council on various charges of misconduct ; but the assem- 
 bled clergy declared that the pope was above all ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction ; and passed a resolution that the pope was judge in 
 the place of God himself, and could l)e judged Ijy no mortal. 
 " Theodoric," to quote a sentence from Gibbon, " was made to 
 feel the dignity and importance of the Roman pontiff: a bishop 
 who claims such ample provision in heaven and earth, who had 
 been declared in numerous synods pure from all sin and exempt 
 from all judgment." 
 
 The claims of the Roman bishops, which had now so long 
 agitated the whole of Christendom, were formally confirmed by 
 the Emperor Justinian in his judicial code, and in a decretal 
 epistle to the pope in the year 533. The imperial law hence- 
 forth allowed his ecclesiastical supremacy to the full extent, and 
 undertook, moreover, to enforce his sentences against heresy. 
 These declarations were repeated by the Emperor Phocas, who, 
 in the year G06, issued a decree confirming that of Justinian, and 
 placing the bishop of Rome above the patriarch of Constantinople, 
 and all other prelates and churches. He further presented the 
 pope vnih the Pantheon for a Christian church, and in return 
 his own statue was erected in the Forum. From this point of 
 time the papacy was secure, and it soon appeared that it was 
 destined to wield a far greater power than that of any of the 
 Caesars. 
 
 Gregory the Great was now the Roman pontiff ; having been 
 elected, in the year 590, by the unanimous and enthusiastic voice 
 of the clergy, senate, and people. He was born of a noble 
 Roman family, and had received such an education in science 
 and philosophy, as the increasing gloom of the dark ages denied 
 to his successors in the papal chair. The contrast between 
 Gregory, the last representative of an ancient civilization, and 
 the monks who followed him, throws, no doubt, a false lustre on 
 his character. But still his abilities were great, and at any 
 period he wouM have made himself renowned. Together with a 
 
THE CHUnCII OF ROME. 145 
 
 genius for government, he had religious zeal and enterprize, and 
 a vast ambition. Tlie state of Europe was such as to present a 
 field for the exercise at once of his noblest qualities and of his 
 worst. It seemed to invite the aggression of a spiritual despot, 
 and to suggest the idea of universal empire. 
 
 The ancient Roman empire had finally disappeared, and new- 
 born nations were struggling into life. The Saxon heptarchy 
 was not y6t complete, but the materials were at hand. The 
 Franks, under Clevis, had laid the foundations of the French 
 empire. The Germans were establishing themselves upon their 
 own soil in those national divisions which they still retain. In 
 Italy, the struggle was scarcely concluded out of which arose the 
 exarchate of Ravenna, and those territorial distributions which 
 continued* almost unaltered till the beginning of the present 
 century. The kingdom of Bavaria had just appeared. Spain 
 and Portugal, under the rude Visigoths and Suevi, had lost the 
 civilization of Roman colonies, and had not regained either liberty 
 or science. Thus over the whole of Europe the nations had 
 assumed new forms, and were waiting for new institutions. To 
 most of them religion was a blank. They had begun to feel 
 ashamed of their old idolatry ; and their acquaintance with the 
 Gospel was so imperfect, that, except in a few highly-favoured 
 districts, they were without the means of establishing Christianity 
 and erecting themselves into independent Churches. Gregory 
 saw the opportunity, and embraced it ; and the religion of Rome 
 became, in consequence, the religion of all Western Europe. 
 Whether he foresaw the stupendous results which followed, or 
 even desired to accomplish them, must be left to conjecture ; but 
 he made it the great business of his life to extend the influence 
 of the Church of Rome among the Gothic tribes. The mission 
 of his monk Augustine to France and Britain, is too well known 
 to be repeated. He himself, before his elevation to the pope- 
 dom, had embraced the life of a mi-ssionary, and had already left 
 Rome upon his enterprise, when he was recalled by the pope, in 
 obedience to the clamour of an affectionate people, who could 
 not submit to the absence of their idolized and patrician teacher. 
 In the course of the sixth century, the supremacy of the. pope of 
 Rome was acknowledged by the sovereigns of all the western 
 nations, and the secular arm had undertaken to carry out the 
 decrees of the spiritual head, 
 
 VOL. II L 
 
14G THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 The discipline of the Church was extended to the newly-con- 
 verted nations. A system of ecclesiastical rule, coni])lete antl 
 perfect in all its parts, w^as devised. By means of decretal 
 epistles, to which the Roman canonists attach tlie authority due 
 to holy Scripture, the bishops in the remotest parts were directed 
 and controlled. The clergy were subjected to the bishop, the 
 bishop to the metrojsolitan, the metropolitan to the papal vicar, 
 or legate, and he to the pope himself. The bishop was now 
 elected by the clergy, subject to the papal approval. The metro- 
 politan was instituted by the reception of the pallium, or pall, 
 from Rome, and very soon the pall was only granted after a vow- 
 had been taken of implicit obedience to the see of Rome. These 
 demands, no doubt, were frequently resisted, and for centuries 
 the history of Europe is filled with disputes, and sometimes wars, 
 between the pontiffs and the secular princes, originating solely 
 in these demands. But the result invariably was, the triumph 
 of the Church and the depression of the secular power. At the 
 same time the clergy were rendered more subservient by an 
 enforced celibacy. This had been for some time a popular 
 doctrine, but Cregory urged it with a severity hitherto unknown. 
 He also sanctioned the doctrine of purgatory, image-worshijj, 
 pilgrimages, and the veneration of pious relics. New rites, and 
 methods of devotion hitherto unpractised, were introduced. The 
 Gregorian chant still bears witness to its author's fondness for 
 that gorgeous service which was echoed during so many subse- 
 quent ages from the cathedrals of Western Europe. He pre- 
 scribed a new ceremonial in the administration of the Lord's 
 Supper, and it was termed the canon of the mass. Baptism was 
 now administered only on the great festivals, of which the 
 number was augmented till they were at least equal to tliose ot 
 ancient Rome. Litanies were addressed to the saints and 
 martyrs ; churches were built to their honour in numbers almost 
 incredible ; and the simple and credulous people began to regard 
 them as the tutelary shrines of the patron saint to whom they 
 were dedicated. The church became an asylum for the criminal, 
 in which the arm of the law could not reach him, and a sacred 
 spot in which the bodies of the departed could repose in safety, 
 since no evil spirit would venture to intrude. To build and to 
 endow a church was the most acceptable sacrifice that could be 
 offered to the Most Hiirh. 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 147 
 
 To Gregory the Church of Rome is indebted for the comple- 
 tion of the monastic system. For two hundred years the deserts 
 of Syria and Egypt had been the abode of monks and hermits, 
 whose sanctity was extolled, and the story of whose miracles and 
 devotion was now the only literature. The infection spread to 
 Italy, and men who were anxious to excel in holiness, or to 
 obtain the reputation of sanctity, plunged into solitude, and em- 
 braced a monastic life. Gregory, no doubt, shared in that reverence 
 for the cloister which universally prevailed ; and he probably 
 saw, too, that if the monkish spirit could be controlled and re- 
 duced to a system, it might be made subservient to the interests 
 of the papacy, in a degree far beyond all other agencies whatever. 
 Nor was it difficult to accomplish a work, the materials for which 
 lay within his reach. St. Benedict died just about the time that 
 Gregory was born. His fame was great in Rome. He was the 
 son of a Roman senator, born at Nurcia, in Italy, A.D. 48; >. 
 While yet a child he stole away from his parents to dwell in 
 solitude. The ferocious Huns and Vandals had swept every 
 trace of civilization from large districts, even in the heart of Italy ; 
 and at a distance of no more than forty miles from Rome 
 Benedict dwelt for years in a perfect solitude. As the fame of 
 his piety increased, he was persuaded to remove to Monte 
 Cassino, near Rome, to found a monastery there, and to place 
 himself at its liead. It is said that he was influenced by no 
 secular or ambitious motives ; that it was not his intention to 
 found a monastic order, but simply to prescribe rules for the 
 Italian monks, in accordance with the practice of the anchorites 
 and recluses of the early Church. But the monks of Monte 
 Cassino were already famous when their founder died. Their 
 monastery was distinguished by the superior intelligence, tlio 
 correct lives, and the earnest zeal of its members, in a country 
 where rapine, ignorance, and dissolute manners were universal. 
 Gregory employed some of his leisure in writing a Hfe of St 
 Benedict, in which he does not omit a long; catalogue of his 
 miracles. The saint had composed a code of rules for the 
 monastery ; these Gregory confirmed, and so added to them the 
 sanction of the head of the Church — thus, in fact, placing him- 
 self at the head of the Benedictine order. According to some 
 writers, Gregory himself had been a monk of Monte Cassino. 
 
 l2 
 
148 THE CHUriCII OF ROME. 
 
 He founded several monasteries, and originated the Oregorian 
 order ; but his monks were, in fact, Benedictines, though under 
 another name. 
 
 The institution of St. Dominic gave new features to th" 
 Church of Rome. Its progress must have astonished, if it di 1 
 not sometimes alarm, the papacy itself. For 6(56 years — that is. 
 till the time of the Augustines and Mendicants— it wont on 
 increasing, till its wealth and power wore incredible. The 
 property belonging to the parent monastery of Monte (^assino 
 at length inckuled four bishoprics, two dukedoms, thirty-si .x 
 cities, two hundred castles, three hundred territories, thirty-three 
 islands, and one thousand six hundred and sixty-two churches. 
 The abbot assumed the following titles : — Patriarch of the holy 
 faith ; abbot of the holy monastery of Cassino ; head and prince 
 of all abbots and religious houses ; vice-chancellor of both the 
 Sicilies, of Jerusalem, and Hungary ; count and governor of 
 Campania and Terra di Lavoro, and of the maritime provinces ; 
 vice-emperor ; and prince of peace. A writer of the sixteenth 
 century enumerates amongst the illustrious men of the Benedic- 
 tine order twenty-eight popes, two hundred cardinals, sixteen 
 hundred archbishops, and four thousand bishops. The order 
 during the life of Gregory had forced its way into Gaul and 
 Britain, and had established itself in the remotest dependencies 
 of the Church. Of its gigantic progress some conception may be 
 formed from its magnificence and power at the period of the 
 Reformation. Upwards of sixteen hundred abbeys then acknow- 
 ledged the rule of St. Benedict, besides innumerable nunneries, 
 priories, hospitals, and smaller foundationa The abbots were 
 often little inferior to sovereign princes. Their splendour wa.s 
 greatest in Germany, where the abbot of Angia, surnamed the 
 Rich, had a yearly revenue of sixty thousand golden crowns, and 
 into his monastery were received none but the sons of princes, 
 earls, and bai'ons. The abbots of Weissemburgh, of Fulda, and 
 St. Gall, were princes of the empire. The abbot of St. Gall 
 once entered Strasburg with a retinue of a thousand horse. In 
 process of time the Benedictine order gave rise to a number of 
 monastic sects, differing from each other in some slight points of 
 discipline, or dress, but all acknowledging the rule of Benedict. 
 AmongxSt the chief of these were the Cluniac monks of Bur- 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 140 
 
 giiudy, the Camaldeunses aud Valumbrosians of the Apennines, 
 tlie Graiidimonten.sians of France, the Cistercians of Germany. 
 To these may be added a muititude of obscurer names ; the 
 Gregorians, Celestines, Gerundines, Bernardines, Camaldoni, and 
 many others. 
 
 The rules which Benedict prescribed, and Gregory sanctioned, 
 prescribe a Hfe of rigid abstinence, devotion, and obedience, to 
 each member of the religious community. Their food was of the 
 plainest kind and the smallest quantity, to be eaten in silence 
 while a spiritual discourse was read. Two dishes, a little fruit, 
 and a pound of bread, was the daily fare. Wine was drunk only 
 on Sunday ; and meat, except in sickness, was never tasted . 
 Fasts were to be rigidly observed. The head was shaven, and 
 the dress was plain ; a woollen garment reacliing to the feet was 
 worn day and night, for they were enjoined to sleep in their 
 clothes. The various orders were known, in time, by the slight 
 varieties of their costume ; that of the Benedictines was a hood 
 and scapular, an upper garment of black cloth, one of white 
 beneath, and a shirt of sackcloth : they were allowed the luxury 
 of boots. The public devotions within the abbey occupied a 
 great portion of time, the rest was spent in manual labour, in the 
 instruction of the young, in devotion, aud private study. The 
 most. unhesitating obedience was exacted. If the abbot or supe- 
 rior imposed a task which it was impossible to perform, the monk 
 might meekly offer his remonstrance. If tlie abbot refused to 
 yield, the monk must submit, looking up to God for help. 
 Humility, says the rule of St. Benedict, consists of twelve 
 degrees, which compose that mysterious ladder which appeared 
 unto Jacob. The first degree of humility which the monk 
 attains is to fear God, and think him always present ; the jecond, 
 not to love to do his own will :, the third, to submit himself to 
 his superiors, in all obedience, for the love of God ; the fourth, 
 to suffer with patience all sorts of injuries ; the fifth, to discover 
 all his most secret sins and faults to his abbot ; the sixth, to be 
 content with the meanest things and the most abject employ- 
 ments ; the seventh, to think the meanest of himself; the eighth, 
 to do nothing but what the common rule of the monastery and 
 the example of the ancient recluses allow ; the ninth, to speak 
 nothing unless being asked ; the tenth, not to laugh easily ; 
 
150 THE CIIURCri OF ItOME. 
 
 the eleventh, being obliged to speak, to do it without laughter, 
 with gravity, in few words, and in a low voice ; the twelfth, that 
 a monk ought not only to be humble in heart, but also in 
 behaviour, and that in all places he ought to hang down his 
 head and his eyes towards the ground. And St. Benedict pro- 
 mises to him who shall have surmounted all these degrees of 
 humility, to arrive at that perfect charity which drives away 
 fear. Thus submission is placed on the same footing with 
 obedience to the will of God. If a monk were rebellious, or 
 proud, or discontented, after public admonition, he might be 
 chastised with rods. He had nothing of his own. Whatever 
 wealth he might have once possessed became the property of the 
 monastery. He served by turn in the kitchen or at the table ; 
 assisted in the performance of every servile office, and washed 
 his own clothes, and the feet of strangers and of his fellow- 
 monks. 
 
 The institution of St. Benedict included both sexes. Scho- 
 lastica, the sister of the saint, is said to have been the foundress 
 of the order of Benedictine nuns. They were required to devote 
 themselves to a life of seclusion, and to submit to a severe 
 discipline. A nun, when she entered the cloister, forsook her 
 liume, and was afterwards regarded as dead to all worldly con- 
 cerns ; her time was supposed to be spent in charitable works, in 
 prayer and meditation, and in the strict observance of the 
 canonical hours. She was not allowed to speak with the other 
 sex, except in the presence of witnesses. If found unchaste, the 
 punishment in early periods was corporal chastisement, repeated 
 three times, and a whole year's imprisonment on bread and 
 water. In later periods, death by starvation in a cell was often 
 inflicted. The purity of the nuns, and the piety of the monks, 
 are points on which Roman Catholics are sensitive ; and Pro- 
 testants are frequently charged with unkindness and injustice in 
 their reflections on them ; but the candid historian will be com- 
 pelled to admit that, however strict they may have been at first, 
 great irregularities prevailed in the course of time. The zeal of 
 the religious cooled, while tlieir vows admitted of no relaxation. 
 The repeated interference of bishops, popes, and councils, proves, 
 fmin time to time, the existence of monstrous disordei-s ; and tin- 
 lampoons of indignant Roman Catholics before the Reformation 
 
THE CHURCH OF HOME. 151 
 
 broke out, iU'O quite as cutting as the sarcasms of Lutlitr, or the 
 revelations of Ileu'ry VIII.'s commissioners* wlicn the abbeys 
 were suppressed. 
 
 When Gregory called the Benedictines into existence, he in- 
 troduced a new element into the constitution of the Church. If 
 the experiment were successful, the power of the monks, it might 
 be foreseen, wo<ild soon preponderate over that of the secular 
 clergy. Bound by a rigid vow, animated by a deep enthusiasm, 
 separated from all the world, or bound to it by the single chain 
 of a spiritual ambition, and at the same time regarded with pro- 
 found reverence for their superior sanctity, the monks would form 
 a spiritual empire of their own, an imperium in imperio. This 
 on the one hand might check, and at length control, the papacy ; 
 or, on the other, if thoroughly subdued, and at the same time 
 animated with an intense devotion to the papal chair, it mi-ght 
 become its most powerful instrument ; and through the monkish 
 institutions, everywhere spreading themselves, and everywhere 
 received with enthusiastic respect and confidence, the successor of 
 Saint Peter might extend his conquests, and sway a sceptre 
 before which all Christendom should bend. Gregory saw the 
 alternative, and his sagacity devised a plan by which every 
 monastery in Europe became his docile and obsequious tool. Each 
 monastery was governed by a superior ; the greater houses by an 
 abbot chosen from amongst themselves. The abbot was subject 
 to the bishop of the diocese, by whom he might be suspended ; 
 but if he felt himself aggrieved, he appealed to the temporal 
 power ; for in general it happened, during the first ages of the 
 system, that the sovereign prince was also the founder and patron 
 of the abbey. Some abbeys, from the first, as that of Monte 
 Cassino, for instance, were subject only to the pope ; others, as 
 that of Treves, were subject to the sovereign only in temporal, and 
 to the pope in spiritual things. Gregory introduced two measures 
 
 * r)alaeii.s, a mediaeval writer, has the following ^■el•ses on the lums of tlie 
 fourteenth centuiy : — 
 
 Harum sunt quajdaru steriles, quanlani parientes, 
 
 Virgiueo tanien nomine cuncta tegnnt. 
 Qu;« pastoralis baculi dotatur honorc, 
 
 lUa quidem melius, fertilius que parit. 
 Vix etiam qua^vis sterilis reperitur in illis, 
 Donee ejus tetas talia posse ncgat. 
 
 See Enjiliennc'a History of Monastic Orders, p. 134. 
 
152 THE CIIUHCH UF KOMK. 
 
 which contributed largely to the reduction not only of the reli- 
 gious houses, but of Europe itself, into complete submission. He 
 established the principle, that no metropolitan bishop should 
 assume his functions without the sanction of the pontitf. This 
 sanction it became the practice to intimate by the investiture of 
 the pallium, a cloak, or hood, of consecrated wool sent from 
 Rome. The zeal of Boniface completed what Pope Gregory had 
 begun : this zealous missionary, a Briton by birth, travelletl 
 throughout Gerinany and Gaul, preaching profound submission 
 to Peter and his representative the Roman bishop; and lie suc- 
 ceeded in inducing the Frank and German bishops to take the 
 vow, which he himself had taken, of implicit obedience to the 
 Roman see. Henceforward, without the pallium, no metropo- 
 litan could enter upon the duties of his office. And thus the pope 
 became the direct head of the Church, without whose permis.sion 
 the metropolitans of nations the most remote from Rome could 
 neither remove their abbots, nor indeed control tlieir dioceses. 
 In addition, the popes from the time of Gregory, and in imitation 
 of his conduct, extorted from the secular powers the right of in- 
 terference with the election of the abbot ; they di'ew all investi- 
 tures, as they were termed, to themselves. In Germany the 
 custom was, that the emperor confirmed the abbot's appointment, 
 by delivering a staff or crozier into his hands : this ceremony was 
 superseded, and the abbots upon their institution took an oath of 
 implicit obedience to the pope. 
 
 The theory of the papal supremacy, and with it that of the 
 imiversalily of the Church of Rome, was therefore now esta- 
 blished. But, however it may be explained, these dogmas were 
 received by the Northern nations and Gothic tribes far more im- 
 plicitly than by the more cultivated people of the South. The 
 Eastern Church, during the seventh and eighth centuries, was 
 loud and frequent in its protests; and even the Italian bishops 
 hesitated to admit the superiority of the bishops of Rome. The 
 bishop of Ravenna long asserted and maintained his independence. 
 But amongst the Frankish and German nations, the pope, or 
 father as he was now termed exclusively, was admitted to be God's 
 vicegerent upon earth. In the seventh century the sovereigns of 
 Western Europe submitted implicitly to the Roman see in all 
 matters pertaining to religion. In most of these nations, the 
 change was not yet complete which transferred them from a 
 
TPIE CHURCH OF ROME. 153 
 
 heatlien to a Christian state. As pagans, thoy liad been accus- 
 tomed to pay to their priests and Drui(]s an implicit obedience, 
 which Csesar and Tacitus record with admiration ; and now they 
 transferred to the ministers of the new religion the submissiveness 
 they had paid to a heathen priesthood. And the clergy, in their 
 turn, were but too willing to accejU, for themselves and their suc- 
 cessors, the same authority which the pagan ministers had usurped 
 over an ignorant and brutish people. 
 
 In the eighth century a combination of dangers seemed for a 
 while to threaten the existence of the papacy. But the result of 
 the struggle was to invest it with still greater poAver. The Church 
 of Rome adopted the use, and even the worship, of images before 
 the end of the sixth century. John, the patriarch of Constanti- 
 nople, had removed pictures from the churches, and obtained an 
 imperial edict, forbidding their use. The pope, Constantino, re- 
 jected the imperial edict with scorn, and in a council held at 
 Rome, condemned the emperor himself as an apostate. A tumult 
 followed at Constantinople, and the emperor was dethroned by 
 his own subjects. He was succeeded by Leo the Isaurian, a 
 prince of courage and resolution, who saw with disgust the super- 
 stitious veneration which even the Greeks paid to their images, 
 and resolved at whatever cost to check the evil, and purify the 
 Church. In the year 726, he issued an edict which again forbade 
 image-worship ; and, according to some writers, commanded the 
 destruction of those pictures which had been placed in* the 
 churches. The Greeks, led on by the monks, gave way to a 
 frantic enthusiasm, and broke out into insurrections which ex- 
 tended over the whole empire, and the war of the Iconoclasts 
 raged far and wide. Leo, it is said, was even excommuni- 
 cated by the Roman pontiffs Gregory II. and III., who pro- 
 moted the insurrection in Italy, and declared the emjjeror to be 
 unworthy of the allegiance of his subjects. Lombard y was still 
 subject to the Greek empire ; and its kings, taking part with 
 the emperor, enforced the decision of the council of Constanti- 
 nople, of 7o4<, which had forbidden the worship and even the use 
 of images. The sword was drawn, and the Lombards met with so 
 much success, that their king, Aistulphus, formed the ambitious 
 project of making all Italy a Lombard province, and he was 
 already on his way with an army to the gates of Rome. The 
 Saracens had con(|uercd Spain, and now threatened both the in- 
 
154 'rilK CliUUCll OF ItUMK. 
 
 (Icpeiidcncc of Italy ami its religion. Pressed on all .siJ<3.s, 
 Stephen, the reigning pojie, turned an imploring eye to France 
 where Pepin was no less in want of assistance, such as only the 
 pope could offer. Pepin Wcis mayor of the palace to Childeric 
 the third, but exercising in fact the royal power in the name of a 
 weak and helpless sovereign. He aimed at the throne itself, and 
 for this purpose he assembled the states of the realm in 751. 
 They were disposed to favour his ambitious project ; but, so deeply 
 were they impressed with the reverence due to the Roman see, 
 tiiat they insisted on referring to the pope a query to this effect : 
 — Did the Divine law permit a valiant and warlike people to 
 dethrone a weak and indolent king ? was it lawful, in his place, 
 to elect one more worthy of empire ; one who had already done 
 good service to the state ? The answer of the pope instantly raised 
 Pepin to undisputed empire, and Childeric was dethroned without 
 the slightest opposition. The grateful monarch flew to the a-ssist- 
 ance of his spiritual sire, crossed tlie Alps with a numerous army, 
 defeated Aistulphus, and compelled him by treaty to deliver up 
 to the see of Rome the exarchate of Ravenna, and all the cities, 
 castles, and territories which he had seized in the Roman duke- 
 dom. Pepin retired, and the Lonibard prince immediately took 
 up arms a second time. The next year the French king returned 
 to Italy, compelled the Lombard to execute the treaty he had 
 violated so rashly, and made a new grant of the exarchate, with 
 othe* territories, to the pontiff and his .successors ; and thus, in 
 755, the foundation was laid of the temporal sovereignty ever since 
 exercised by the popes of Rome. The theory of the popedom 
 henceforth maintained was this — that since to the pope all spiri- 
 tual power had been delegated by Christ, so too all tem])oral 
 power was vested ultimately in him for the good of the Church. 
 The papacy therefore sustains a mixed character, partly spiritual 
 and partly temporal ; and its jurisdiction is necessarily of a mixed 
 kind. The idea that the popedom wields a power merely S[)iritual 
 is contradicted by its fundamental principles, as well as liy its 
 repeated acts and most grave and deliberate statements. In its 
 constitution, and in the prerogatives it claims, it differs from all 
 other institutions. It claims supremacy in all things, secidar and 
 religious The pope is at once the head of all temporal sovereigns, 
 and of the universal Chinch of Christ. 
 
 The donations of I'epin were eonfiiinod by his yet more distin- 
 
THE CnUUCIl OF ROME. 155 
 
 guished son Charlemagne. The Lombards had again become 
 troublesome to the pope ; they were besieging him in his city of 
 Rome. The pontiff again supplicated the aid of France ; and 
 Charlemagne, in answer to his prayer, entered Italy, in 774, at 
 the head of an army. After defeating the Lombards, he visited 
 the pope in his capital ; and so profound was his deference for 
 the see of Rome, that he kissed the steps of St. Peter's chair as 
 he ascended, and at the interview that followed, ratified and en- 
 larged the donations of his father Pepin to the Church. But 
 civil wars broke out, and a second time Charlemagne appeared 
 in Rome. The factions that now reigned in turn, threatened to 
 put an end, by their violence, to the authority of the pontiff ; and 
 again did France interpose to save the papacy from apparent 
 destruction. (Charlemagne having pacified Italy, ojDened to him- 
 self a passage to the empire of Western Christendom, lie 
 also claimed to distribute the territories he had subdued ; and 
 the Church of Rome acknowledges him as the pious donor of 
 Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the duchy of Spoleto, and several other 
 districts to St. Peter and his successors. The motives of the 
 French monarch, as well as the extent of his grants, have been 
 much disputed. Adrian the reigning pontiff ascribes them, in an 
 extant letter to Charlemagne, to his piety, and to his desire to 
 make atonement for his sins. Superstition no doubt played 
 her part, but ambition led the way. Resolved to add the 
 Western Empire to his dominions, he knew that his success de- 
 pended on the pope's consent. The power which had firmly 
 seated his father on the throne could sanctify the most ambitious 
 projects, and secure the consent of Western Europe. He there- 
 fore lavished gifts upon the pope, that with his assistance he 
 might at once gain the empire, and at the same time secure 
 his new dominions in Italy. In the year 800, Leo III. induced 
 the people of Rome, still elated with the notion of their indepen- 
 dence to unite their suffrages in favour of Charlemagne, and he 
 himself proclaimed him Emperor of the West. 
 
 The terms of the compact between the pope and Charlemagne 
 have long been the subject of historical dispute ; and different 
 writers, as swayed by their affection for civil rights or for those of 
 the Church of Rome, assert, on the one hand, that Charles the 
 Great was the patron and benefactor of the pope, or on the other 
 that he was little more than his serf or vassal. The secular 
 
150 TIIK CllUKCll OK ROME. 
 
 historians maintaiu that (.'liarleniagno reserved to himself the 
 supreme authority, not only in his western empire Lut even in 
 Rome and its adjacent territory. Law was administered to the 
 citizens, and malefactors were punished, by judges of his own 
 appointment ; he enjoyed the prerogatives of royalty and exer- 
 cised all its functions. The Roman pontiff, according to these 
 writers, held the city of Rome and its territory by the same 
 tenure by which he held the exarchate of Ravenna and the 
 other lands already granted by Pepin ; that is as a feudal tenure, 
 though charged perhaps with fewer demands than other fiefs, in 
 consideration of the kistre of a city so long renowned as the 
 mistress of the world, and tlu; peculiar services which the pope 
 had rendered. Leo, in order to induce Charlemagxie to concedii 
 the sovereignty of Rome, reminded him that Constantine the 
 Great, when he removed the seat of empire to the shores of the 
 Bosphorus, had given Rome and its dejjendencies to the Church, 
 and that he could not recal the donation and not incur the in- 
 dignation of St. Peter. Whether such a grant were ever made 
 by Constantine is by no means certain. 
 
 On the other hand, the writers favourable to the papacy main- 
 tain that Charlemagne was more indebted to the Church than 
 the pope to Charlemagne " Charlemagne," says Machiavelli, 
 " decreed that his holiness, being Gods vicar, could not be sub- 
 ject to the judgment of man." The pontitf", in placing the crown 
 upon his head, is regarded by ]ia{)al writers as having displayed 
 his j^ower no less than his gratitude ; and in this act he was recog- 
 nized by the most poweiful sovereign of Europe as having the 
 sole earthly right to dispose of crowns and kingdoms. " Whereas 
 formerly," says Machiavelli, in his history of Florence, " the popes 
 were confirmed by the emperors, the emperor now in his election 
 was to be indebted to the pope. Thus the power and dignity of 
 the empire declined and the (Jhurch began to advance, and by 
 these steps to supersede the authority of temporal princes " 
 
 But up to this period the absolute supremacy of the see of 
 Rome, as it w'as afterwards asserted, had never yet been formally 
 admitted. The supremacy of the Greek emperors had not been 
 contested, and the fiery sj)irit of Charlemagne would scarcely 
 suljmit to restraints which rival sovereigns disdained. The Roman 
 pontiffs for some time obeyed the laws of the emperors of the 
 west, received then- commands, and executed their judicial de- 
 
THE (;[Ii:i!(!H OF HOME. ■ 757 
 
 cisions. In a council held at Rome, Adrian the First confored 
 upon Charlemagne and his successors the right of electing the 
 popes. The power was exercised with forbearance, and Charle- 
 magne and his son Louis were satisfied simply to approve and 
 confirm the nominee of the clergy and people ; but the consecra- 
 tion of the new pontiff was not valid unless performed in the 
 presence of the emperor's au:ibassador. The Latin emperors did 
 not, it is true, assume to govern the Church in spiritual things, 
 which belonged, they freely admitted, to the tribunal of the 
 Roman pontiff and to the councils of the Church. But they 
 appointed envoys, whose business it was to inspect the lives and 
 manners of the clergy, to settle their internal discords, and to 
 punish their delincpiencies. All churches and monasteries were 
 also taxed by the state. 
 
 The authority of general councils was still supposed to be 
 superior to that of the Roman pontiff Upon religious questions 
 he could decide nothing by his own authority ; he was obliged to 
 convene a council, whose decisions were final upon the points at 
 issue. Nor did the provincial synods always wait for the per- 
 mission of the bishop of Rome. They met by their own autho- 
 rity, debated the questions before them with the utmost freedom, 
 and often voted in direct opposition to the Roman see. Thus 
 the Franks and Germans determined, in their own provincial 
 council, to reject the use of images, while Rome, on the other 
 hand, enjoined their use and worship. It is further to be observed 
 that the power of convening councils, and the right of presiding 
 in them, were the prerogatives of the sovereign in whose domi- 
 nions they were held ; and that none of their decrees obtained 
 the force of laws until confirmed by the civil power. Thus even 
 the spiritual authority of Rome was still under some restraints ; 
 but the popedom was already too powerful to submit with 
 patience to the control whether of councils or emperors ; and 
 from the time of Charlemagne to the Reformation it aimed 
 incessantly, and in general with success, to reduce the civilized 
 world to a state of implicit submission to its will. 
 
 The ninth and tenth centuries were the midnight of the dark 
 ages. Ignorance and superstition held their dreary reign. 
 Speaking of the tenth century, Ca,rdinal Bellarmine (De Rom. 
 Pontif lib. iv., c. 12) says, " there never was a period more un- 
 learned or more unhappy. Every kind of virtue perished, and 
 
158 TllK CllllHIl OF i;OMK. 
 
 wickedness suj)i)lievl its place. The second cunnnj,^ of the Son of 
 man seemed to draw near, for love was grown cold, and faith was 
 not found on the earth." Cardinal Baronius still more em- 
 phaticall}^ says, " What was then the face of the Roman Church ? 
 How deformed ! When harlots, no less powerful than vile. Lore 
 the chief sway at home, and at their pleasure changed sees, ap- 
 pointed bishops, and (which is horrible to mention) did thrust 
 into St. Peter's see their own gallants, false popes !" Religion 
 consisted entirely in external ceremonies. At a council held at 
 Paris, in 824, the idolatrous worshipping of images was forbidden, 
 and a treatise against image-worship was published in the em- 
 peror's name. But in Italy the introduction of images had long 
 had the papal sanction. The churches, already filled with relics 
 of the saints, were now adorned with images before which the 
 worshippers bowed in adoration. Charlemagne had not been 
 without some taste for letters, but with him all literature at last 
 expired. He endeavoured to collect around him a body of 
 learned men ; he erected schools, and was long regarded, though 
 the tradition is doubtful, as the founder of the university of Paris. 
 He was assisted by Alcuin, Bede, and Egbert, wise men, whose 
 attainments, however, were confined within a narrow compass. 
 A little grammar, rhetoric, and logic, the elements of geometry 
 and arithmetic, astronomy in its first elements, imperfectly under- 
 stood, and music, were the seven sciences Avithin which all know- 
 ledge was supposed to be contained. In the monastic bouses 
 these sciences were taught, and there they lingered during the 
 long mcdigeval winter of six centuries. The ( -hurch was enriched 
 by vast revenues derived from the impression, which now 
 universally prevailed, that liberality to the Church made some 
 amends for sin. The notion grew and prevailed, though no 
 council or ancient father of the Church could be challenged .is 
 its author. It was congenial to the darkness of the times, and, 
 we'must add, to the rapacity of the clergy. The just judgments 
 of God were to be averted by liberal donations to his Church. 
 This superstition was the parent of a thousand crimes. The 
 wealthy compounded for their sinful indulgences, tyrants for 
 their oppressions, and merchants for their extortionate gains," by 
 sharing their wealth or booty with the Church. A reluctant 
 sinner was, no doubt, punished in this life with pains and penal- 
 ties, with fasts ;ind vigils, with ])il'4iiinng('s to the tombs of saints, 
 
THE CHUIK^II OF liOME. IfiO 
 
 or solitude, or the scourge ; but money could purchase an exemp- 
 tion even for the greatest crimes. By a common form of speech, 
 donations to the Church were said to be paid for the redemption 
 of the soul, and the gifts themselves were called the price of 
 transgression. 
 
 The wealth of the Church and its easy discipline drew into it 
 the sons of men of rank, and not unfrequently those of sovereign 
 princes. When emperors signalized their devotion by endowing 
 bishoprics and monasteries with princely revenues, it naturally 
 occurred to them to make a provision in the Church for their less 
 affluent relations or for their younger sons. It was the interest 
 of the popes to sanction an arrangement by which the Church 
 was enriched, while, at the same time, the interests of the great 
 families of Europe were embarked in it. Several remarkable 
 consequences arose, and imparted to the clergy of the mediaeval 
 times certain peculiarities both for good and evil. The most 
 favourable result was this : the clergy, connected by the ties of 
 blood with princely families, had some tincture in the darkest 
 times of elevation of mind and courtesy of manners. That 
 Europe did not relapse into barbarism and savage life was owing 
 solely to religion. This religion, imperfectly taught, and greatly 
 obscured by superstitions, might have been trampled under foot 
 and quite forgotten, had it not been intrusted to the keeping of 
 an order amongst whom were found men of high rank and birth. 
 It became the interest of sovereigns and feudal lords to sustain 
 the institutions which gave importance to their own families- 
 Their motives were selfish, but the result was beneficial. Policy 
 induced the sovereign to attach the clerg}^ to his interests ; he 
 gave them fortresses and towns, reserving only the military rights 
 due to the liege lord, and he expected in return to find them 
 docile subjects, or rather friends and clients. It was not super- 
 stition only that enriched the Church ; Charlemagne set the ex- 
 ample of creating spiritual dukedoms in Italy to check the 
 influence of the secular princes. The presence of the clergy was 
 intended to restrain the license of rebellious subjects. Succeed- 
 ing monarclis acted in the same way, from similar motives ; they 
 expected more fidelity from men who were bound by the obliga- 
 tions of religion, and consecrated to the service of God, than from 
 a haughty nobility, impetuous and fierce. And they hoped to 
 control the turbulent spirit of their vassals by the influence of the 
 
160 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 bishops, whose commands no man daretl to dispnte, and whose 
 excommunications terrified the stoutest hearts. On the other 
 hand, the wealth of the Church deb:ised the clergy. Whole 
 provinces were sometimes bestowed upon it in one magnificent 
 donation. Private persons had already, in order to make expia- 
 tion for their sins, enriched the churches and convents ; public 
 grants were now made by emperors and kings. Regalia, or royal 
 domains, passed over by donation to the Church, and within the 
 domains thus obtained the clergy were supreme. Bishops, abbots, 
 and priors were created dukes, counts, marquises, and even sove- 
 reign legislators. Prelates buckled on the harness and led their 
 own armies in person to the field. They often rivalled the 
 sovereign himself in wealth and splendour, and in the number of 
 their armed retainers. The men, whose holy profession it was to 
 teach the vanity of human grandeur, and the crimes to which 
 ambition leads, were a scandal to the world for pomp and luxury, 
 and the avarice of power. 
 
 The family of Charles the Great contested with each other 
 the succession to the throne : the quarrel was advantageous to 
 the papacy. His grandson, Charles the Bald, secured at length 
 the favour of the reigning pontiff, John VIII., by whom he was 
 proclaimed emperor in the year 876. He returned this eminent 
 service by surrendering, for himself and his successors, the right 
 of interfering in the election of the Eoman pontiff. From the 
 time of Eugenius III., who was raised to the pontificate in 884, 
 the election of the pope was conducted for a century with little 
 regard to law or decency, and often with tumult and bloodshed. 
 The popes were men, for the most part, of infamous lives. The 
 best Roman Catholic writers speak of their conduct with abhor- 
 rence and disgust. The intrigues and violence which now pre- 
 vailed may be gathered from the fact, that from the death of 
 J^enedict IV. in the year 903, to the elevation of John XII. in 
 9o6, an interval of fifty-three years, thirteen popes in succession 
 held the pontificate. The poisoned cup and the assassin's dagger 
 opened a ready path tf) St. Peter's chair. Even the forms of 
 religion were scorned ; and Rome was again familiar with all the 
 crimes which it had kniuvn in piigan times under the worst of 
 the twelve Ca3sars. To this period belongs the story of Pope 
 Joan, once universally believed by well-informed men throughout 
 Western Christendnin. That a [)ro.stitutf in man's di.sguist; 
 
THE CHUKCII OF ROME. 161 
 
 should have sat in the papal chair was not it seems incredible ! 
 No comment is recpiired to show the degradation into which 
 the papacy and religion itself had fallen. 
 
 Otho the Great was elected to the throne of Germany on the 
 death of his father, the Emperor Henry I., A. D. 937. Tlio 
 licentiousness and tyranny of the popes had become intolerable 
 even at Rome, and he resolved to interfere. The pope, John XII., 
 had crowned him at Rome emperor and king of Italy ; but in 
 Otho the spirit of Charlemagne had revived, and this considera- 
 tion was not suffered to prevent an act of just severity. lie 
 visited Rome, called a council together, deposed John, and 
 elected the eighth Leo in his place. He again asserted his sove- 
 reign right in temporal matters, and resumed the concessions 
 which ("harles the Bald had made. Once more the emperor 
 nominated the pope ; and this state of things continued till the 
 pontificate of Gregory VII. 
 
 To the pontificate of this wonderful man, who laid a second 
 time on still wider foundations than before the empire of the 
 popes, we now advance, leaving untold the gloomy and monoto- 
 nous history of two centuries, dark with ignorance and crime. 
 Hildebrand, a Tuscan of humble birth, was a monk of Cluny. 
 As the Benedictine order became rich and indolent various reli- 
 gious houses had assumed a sort of independence, and issued new 
 rules for their own guidance, with the pope's permission. Oden, 
 abbot of Cluny in Burgundy, was one of these reformers. He 
 inveighed bitterly against the sins and the self-indulgence of the 
 monks of Benedict. " Our brethren," said he, " despise God ; 
 and having passed all shame eat flesh all the days of the week 
 except Friday, not only in secret but in public ; also boasting of 
 their sin like those of Sodom. They run here and there, and 
 fly with the swiftness of kites and vultures to the kitchen smoke, 
 and to the scent of the best of the roast and boiled. Those who 
 will not do as the rest, they mock and jeer at as profane and 
 hypocrites." The Cluniac monks were soon in a condition to 
 contest the palm of popular favour with the ancient Benedictines. 
 Upwards of two thousand monasteries received their rule and 
 bore their title. In this school Hildebrand acquired those 
 austere lessons, and that veneration for the papal chair, mingled 
 with a proud disdain of secular authorities, which marked his 
 character through life. To emancipate the pontificate from the 
 
 VOL. II. M 
 
102 TIIF. ClirilClI OF HOME. 
 
 authority of the empire, :uid to establish avisil)lc tlieocraey with 
 the vicar of Christ at its head, became liis ruliiii,^ passion. lint 
 another great object of his ambition was, un(l(jubte(lly, as he 
 himself expressed it, to effect a total reform of the Church, which 
 had now reached the lowest state of degradation. His talents 
 and ambition forced him into notice ; lie became first an arch- 
 deacon, and then the companion and adviser of Leo IX., and, on 
 his death, of four succeeding pontiffs. In the year 1073 he wa.s 
 unanimously raised to the pontificate by the suffrages of cardinals, 
 bishops, monks, and people ; but he did not assume the title 
 until the election was confirmed by the Emjieror Henry IV., to 
 whom he sent ambassadors for the purpose. The emperor, 
 pleased with this mark of respect, confirmed the election, and 
 Hildebrand was known henceforward as Pope Gregory VII. " No 
 sooner was this man made pope," says Du Pin, " but he formeil 
 a design of becoming lord, spiritual and temporal, over the whole 
 earth ; the suj^reme judge and determiner of all affairs, both 
 ecclesiastical and civil ; the distributor of all manner of gi-aces, 
 of what kind soever ; the disposer not only of archbi-shoprics, 
 bishopricks, and other ecclesiastical benefices, but also of king- 
 doms, states, and the revenues of particular persons. To bring 
 about this revolution, he made use of the ecclesiastical authority 
 and the spiritual sword." 
 
 He was scarcely seated on the papal throne before he began 
 the reformation of the Church, 'i'wo evils, which had grown to 
 a fearful magnitude, demanded his attention ; these were simony 
 and the concubinage of the clergy. In the second year of his 
 pontificate, 1074, he assembled a council at Rome which con- 
 firmed the laws of former pontiffs against simony, and forbade the 
 sale or jjurchase of spiritual benefices under the severest penalties. 
 Concubinage was denounced if possible with still greater severity. 
 It was decreed that maniage was unlawful to a priest ; those 
 who lived with wives or concubines were pronounced incapable 
 of the sacred office. Letters were addressed b}' Hildeband to all 
 the provincial bishops of Europe, commanding that the decrees 
 of the council should be carried forthwith into effect ; and am- 
 bas.sadors were sent to the emperor to induce him to summon 
 a council for the trial and punishment of such of the clergy a.s 
 had incurred the guilt of simony. 
 
 But each of these decisions involved (pu'stidiis of the greatest 
 
THE CHURCH OF HOME. 163 
 
 difficulty. The celibacy of the clergy was rather a popular 
 demand than an accepted dogma of the Church. Many of the 
 clergy, wanting courage to offer in their own example a protest 
 against the popular superstition, concealed their marriages ; and 
 though guilty of a base servility were not justly to be taxed with 
 any grosser crime. Others of the clergy, and even of the bishops 
 were openly married ; refusing to submit to a restraint unknown 
 to the eastern Church or to the first ages. Others a^ain lived 
 in secret, if not in open and shameless, habits of licentiousness. 
 It was the policy of Hildebrand to punish all alike. He had 
 learned at Cluny to regard a married priesthood with scorn ; he 
 denied the validity of such marriages, and so made no distinction 
 between the virtuous and the profligate. Indeed, he took 
 delight in exposing the married clergy to contempt ; and jealous 
 as he was of the secular courts, he handed over the married 
 priests to the civil magistrate to be disgraced and punished as 
 bad citizens rather than ecclesiastical delinquents. The clergy 
 resisted a decree at once tyrannical and novel. Every kingdom 
 in Western Europe was agitated. In some places the clergy 
 took up arms in behalf of their wives and families. The monks, 
 an austere and solitary race, denounced the married clergy, who 
 in return defied the monks, exposing to the world in coarse 
 lampoons their hypocrisy and their secret vices. In some pro- 
 vinces the married clergy even chose to quit their benefices rather 
 than their wives. At Milan they dared the fury of the pontiff, 
 forsook the communion of the Cliurch, and pronounced the 
 abettors of an opinion so monstrous as that of the unlawfulness 
 of marriage to be the true descendants of the ancient Manichees. 
 Hildebrand was still haughty and unyielding. He would listen 
 to no remonstrances, and when opposed became only more 
 resolute. Besides the monks, he had with him the voice of the 
 laity, who had been taught to regard celibacy as the highest 
 attainment in religion and the most exalted virtue. The clergy 
 were compelled to acquiesce ; and from this time forward celibacy 
 became the inflexible rule of the Church of Rome with respect 
 to all of her ecclesiastics. Gregory exulted that the last cord 
 was snapped by which the clergy had been held in bondage to 
 the world. They had now no object in life but to promote the 
 interests of the Church. 
 
 Simony, for so traffic in spiritual preferments was termed, 
 
 m2 
 
1«4 THE CHURCH OF KUME. 
 
 prevailed tlirouglioiit the Church. Bishoprics were openly sold 
 or presented by sovereigns to their favourites. The bishops 
 raised by such means were indifferent to their spiritual duties 
 and intent on gain or pleasure ; they sold their benefices, or 
 alienated the bishoprics themselves. A bishop sometimes be- 
 queathed the profits of his bishopric to his wife, sometimes to his 
 children. The traffic was carried on without the least disguise, 
 and was defended with impudent effrontery. We do not, said 
 they, buy and sell the spiritual office ; this truly is a sacred 
 affair ; the possessions of the Church are another matter ; these 
 are mundane things, and the traffic is lawful. Gregory determined 
 to remove the evil by inducing the secular princes to abandon 
 the right of disposing of the sees within their dominions. He 
 sent legates into Germany, but Henry was intractable, for he 
 was poor and licentious, and at war with his vassals ; and he was 
 neither disposed to forego his right nor to give up a fruitful 
 source of revenue ; neither would the German bishops permit 
 the legates to assemble a council and proceed judicially against 
 those of their own body who were guilty of simony. Gregory, 
 impetuous and arrogant, could ill brook opposition even from the 
 emperor himself He summoned another council at Rome, in 
 which, besides the excommunication of the German bishops, it 
 was decreed that neither kings nor princes should, under pain of 
 the most awful censure of the Church, give inve.stiture of sees 
 and abbeys by conferring the ring and crozier. And it pro- 
 nounced an anathema against any person who should dare to 
 receive the investiture from the hands of a layman, as well as on 
 those by whom the investiture should be performed. All the 
 sovereigns in Europe were aghast. The proud spirit of the 
 pontiff had thrown off disguise ; his determination was evi- 
 dently not so much to make the Church independent of the 
 emperor as to lay all Europe prostrate at the feet of Rome. 
 Henry paid no regard to the decrees of the papal council, and 
 continued to nominate to his vacant bishoprics. The breach 
 widened. Gregory sent an imperious message to the emperor 
 commanding him to appear at Rome, and to answer before a 
 council to be there convened, to various crimes which were now 
 alleged against him. The emperor, rash and young, and mis- 
 calculating his strength, assembled a diet at Worms, and deposed 
 Gregory from tlie popedom. The message was received at Rome 
 
THE CHURCH OP ROME. 105 
 
 with scorn. Gregory called a council together at the Lateran 
 palace A. d. 1 076, excommunicated Henry ; and in the name of 
 St. Peter, prince of the apostles, declared the thrones of Germany 
 and Italy vacant, and the subjects of those kingdoms released 
 from their allegiance. This was the first time that a pope had 
 assumed a right of deposing kings. Hitherto the popes had 
 been the vassals of the emperor. He had even exercised his 
 power in the previous century by deposing several of them 
 whose election was illegal, or whose conduct was unworthy of 
 their office. 
 
 But his quarrel with the emperor by no means engrossed the 
 attention of the pope. From every sovereign in Europe he 
 endeavoured to exact some new concessions. He reminded 
 Philip I. of France, that both his kingdom and his soul were 
 under the power of St. Peter, who could bind him both in earth 
 and heaven. He wrote to the king of Arragon that the king- 
 dom of Spain belonged of right and from ancient times to the 
 apostolic chair, and was St. Peter's property. He framed an 
 oath for the king of the Romans in which he was made to vow 
 implicit obedience to St. Peter and his vicar. To the remote 
 sovereigns of Poland and Denmark, and to the most powerful of 
 the German princes, he wrote circular letters commanding them 
 to make a grant of their kingdoms to St. Peter, in order that 
 they might receive them back as gifts of the apostolic see. He 
 raised the duke of Dalmatia to regal dignity, and, by his legate, 
 in his own capital, proclaimed him king, on condition that he 
 paid an annual tribute to St. Peter. William the Conqueror, of 
 England, alone had the courage to resist the demands of the 
 spiritual despot before whom ail Europe quailed. " Your legate 
 Hubert," says the Conqueror, in a letter to Gregory, " admo- 
 nishes me to remit to you the usual tribute " (alluding to Peter's 
 pence) "paid by my predecessors to the Church. To this I consent. 
 He requires me, too, to do homage for my kingdom. This I 
 have declined. I neither have done it, nor shall do it. I owe my 
 kingdom to God and to my own sword." 
 
 Gregory had calculated well. The audacity of his conduct 
 struck terror into the hearts of all the sovereigns of Europe. The 
 emperor was unpopular at home ; his subjects were already in 
 rebellion. The Saxons and Swabians, who had recently laid 
 down their arms, assumed a hostile attitude as soon as Henry was 
 
im 'I'HK CllUlICIl (tK IIOMK. 
 
 oxcoiniimiiicated. A diet asseniljled to elect a new emperor, in 
 obedience to the papal mandate ; and it agreed that Henry shouUl 
 be suspended for a year from his sovereignty ; that at the close of 
 this period, if not reconciled to the pope, his kingdom should be 
 forfeited ; and that the pope should be invited to a congress, at 
 which his successor should then be chosen. Deserted by his sub- 
 jects, the emperor had no alternative but unconditional submis- 
 sion. Amidst the rigours of winter, he crossed the Alps, and 
 arrived, in February 1077, at the castle of Reggio, in Lombardy, 
 which belonged to Matilda, countess of Tuscany, a devoted friend 
 to Gregory and the papal see. The snow was on the ground ; but 
 the proud sovereign of the Western Empire was allowed to re- 
 main three days, from break of day to sunset, his feet bare, his 
 head uncovered, with no other clothing on his back than the 
 coarse woollen cloak generally worn by penitents, waiting at 
 the castle gate. On the fourth day he was admitted into the 
 presence of the haughty pontiff. He confessed his errors, and 
 received a reluctant pardon, and with it absolution from the 
 censures of the Church. But his crown was not yet restored ; he 
 was referred back again to the approaching diet, and forbidden 
 meanwhile to resume his titles, or to exercise any of his royal 
 functions. Happily for the world, the arrogance of Gregory pro- 
 duced a natural recoil. When the diet was opened, the Saxon 
 malcontents, it is true, dethroned Henry, and elected Rodolph in 
 his place. But he was suppcjrted by his Lombard vassals, and by 
 the Italian bishops, who were all of them indignant at the outrage 
 committed by the sovereign pontiff. Henry led his army into 
 Italy, and fought several l^attles with various success. In one of 
 these he was defeated ; the pope excommunicated him a second 
 time, sent a crown to Rodolph, and declared him emperor. The 
 bold spirit of Henry had however now revived within him ; he 
 assembled the German and Italian bishops of his party, and again 
 pronounced the sentence of deposition upon Gregory, and nomi- 
 nated Guibert, archbishop of Ravenna, to the papal chair, which 
 he actually assumed on the death of Hildebrand, under the title 
 of Clement III. 
 
 The war continued for three years : many bloody battles were 
 fought, in one of which Rodolph fell. Rome was twice besieged ; 
 and at length, in 1084, Henry marched into it as a conqueror. 
 The pope took refuge in tlie castle of St. Angelo ; he was rescued 
 
THE CHUKCll OF KOMK. 167 
 
 by Robert Guiscard, the Norman conqueror of Sicily, and again 
 excommunicated Henry and the rival pope. He now retired for 
 safety to Salerno, protected by the army of duke Robert ; and 
 hei'e he died in the year 10S5, exclaiming with his last breath, 
 " I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore I die 
 in exile." The struggle seemed to terminate in Henry's favour. 
 His nominee was consecrated to the popedom, and by him he 
 was then once more crowned. But the party of Gregory, sup- 
 ported by the Normans, elected a counter-pope under the title of 
 Victor III. He soon abdicated, and the monks of Cluny elected 
 Urban II. in his stead. Thus there were still two popes ; Urban 
 and Clement, the representatives of the Church jaarty and of the 
 emperor. They both died about the same time, in the year 1099, 
 and the close of the century found Pascal II. sole possessor of the 
 papal chair. 
 
 Thus from the violent conduct and imperious demands of 
 Hildebrand, the war of the investitures arose, which distracted 
 Europe for several years. It was in fact the expiring struggle 
 of the secular against the papal power. The emperors, and other 
 sovereign princes, having founded and endowed the various bishop- 
 rics and abbeys, regarded the incumbents in the light of feudal 
 tenants, and from the time of Charlemagne, had claimed the 
 right of presenting the ring and crozier, by which investiture was 
 signified, and then demanding the oath of fealty in return. The 
 ancient practice of the Church had been for the clergy, together 
 with the municipal authorities of the city, or even the people at 
 large, to elect their own bishop. But when the bishop was no 
 longer a spiritual person only, but the proprietor of a large domain, 
 the sovereign could no longer permit him to exercise what was in 
 fact a feudal lordship, without securing his allegiance. As soon 
 as a bishop died, the sovereign ordered the ring and crozier to be 
 seized, so that no appointment could be made to the vacant see 
 without his consent. Thus the ancient right of election was lost 
 to the clergy and laity alike ; for the power of choosing the 
 dignitaries of the Church was usurped by the sovereign. It was 
 against this usurpation that Gregory protested. His successor, 
 Urban II., carried the demands of the Church still further ; for- 
 bidding the clergy not only to receive the investiture, but even to 
 swear allegiance to the sovereign, which Gregory himself had 
 permitted. And thus, in fact, he claimed the right of establishing, 
 
168 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 under the name of bishoprics and abbeys, independent sovereign- 
 ties over the wliole of Europe, accountable only to the Roman 
 see. It will be observed that this struggle lay entirely between 
 the sovereigns and the popes. The rights of the people in the 
 election of their bishops were overlooked on both sides. The 
 bishop was henceforth to be the creature of the pope ; and in 
 order still further to enhance their own power and to reduce that 
 of the episcopate, the popes of the eleventh century encouraged 
 the monastic at the expense of the episcopal order, reducing as 
 much as possible the power and wealth of the latter, and augment- 
 ing that of the former. Thus the monks were devoted to the 
 papacy, and in general the pope himself was chosen from their 
 own order. 
 
 Hitherto the popes had been elected by the voice of the bishops 
 and clergy, and by popular suffrages. To Hildebrand the Church 
 of Rome is indebted, it is generally supposed, for the institution 
 of the college of Cardinals in the form in which it now appears, 
 as the conclave by whom alone the pope is chosen. Some obscu- 
 rity overhangs the origin of the institution ; nor is the exact 
 period at which it was first organized beyond all dispute. Of an 
 order which was destined in after times to mould the character of 
 tlie Church, and not unfrequently to govern the pope himself, 
 some account may be expected. 
 
 " The name of Cardinal," says Father Paul Sarpi, " originally 
 derived from a very low condition, has by a change of rneaning 
 become a title of high distinction, so that cardinals are now said 
 to be, Quasi Cardines omnium terrarum — the hinges as it were on 
 which the world revolves." They were at first nothing more than 
 the deacons, to whom was intrusted the care of distributing alms 
 to the poor of Rome ; and as they held assemblies of the poor in 
 certain churches of their several districts, they took the names and 
 titles of those churches. They were called cardinals about A. D- 
 300, during the pontificate of Sylvester. The cardinal priests, in 
 the primitive Church, being the chief priests of a parish, and 
 next in dignity to the bishop. Afterwards the office gi'ew more 
 considerable as Rome increased in wealth, and the civic clergy 
 became of more importance. Nicholas II., at the suggestion of 
 Hildebrand, is said to have decreed in J 058, that the pope should 
 be chosen only by their college, a decree which wiuj ccnamly iv- 
 peated by pope Pius IV. The tenth centiu-y, a period of inces- 
 
THE CHUilCII OF ROME. 1G9 
 
 sant tumult, saw several popes elected and deposed at the caprice 
 of the Roman nobility or It;vlian princes. It is only mice the 
 election of Celestine in 1 44<o, that the cardinals have retained the 
 power of election independent of the Roman people, or of any 
 sovereign prince whatever. The cardinals ai'e nominated, when a 
 vacancy occurs, by the pope : at the expiration of ten days, the 
 sacred college is assembled ; it consists of six bishops, fifty priests, 
 and fourteen deacons, making seventy in all. Each cardinal then 
 votes, having full liberty, should he think proper, to reject the 
 pope's candidate. If elected, the new cardinal receives a red hat. 
 The cardinals are princes of the holy Roman empire ; they fill 
 most of the great offices at the court of Rome; when sent to 
 other courts it is in the quality of legate a latere. Their title, 
 till Urban VIII., was that of most illustrious ; by a decree of 
 his they have since had the title of eminence. We may here 
 describe the manner of a pope's election as it has been managed 
 since it fell into the hands of the sacred colhge. Nine or ten 
 days after the funeral of the deceased pope, the cardinals enter 
 the conclave, which is a range of small temporary cells, ten feet 
 square, framed of wood and covered with purple cloth ; they are 
 numbered and appropriated by lot, each cardinal taking his own 
 cell. The door of the Vatican is then closed and guarded day 
 and night ; no persons are permitted to enter the conclave ; and 
 even the provisions introduced are carefully examined by officers 
 stationed for the purpose, so that no letters or messages may be 
 CDnveyed in them from the ministers of foreign princes or other 
 parties, who may have an interest in the election of the pontiff. 
 Still intrigues are carried on. A few lines are sometimes written 
 on the skin of a bird or concealed in a pie, and the eatables 
 placed upon the table are so many signs and hieroglyphics. The 
 election is made by scrutiny, access, or adoration. The first is 
 conducted thus. Each cardinal (or rather one of his servants, 
 that the handwriting may be concealed) writes the name of his 
 candidate, who must be a member of the sacred college, on a 
 scroll of paper, which is carefully enclosed in several covers and 
 sealed. The voting papers are then laid upon the altar, in the 
 chapel of the Vatican, by each cardinal in succession, who returns 
 to his seat after a short prayer upon his knees before the altar. 
 Two cardinals sit by the altar ; one of them reads the votes 
 aloud, the other immediately burns the paper. If two-thirds of 
 
170 THE CilUllCll OF HOME. 
 
 the number present are found to agree, the election is niaclo, and 
 the candidate on whom tlie choice has fallen is immediately 
 declared pope. When the election is made by access, the car- 
 dinals rising from their places and approaching the person they 
 wish to elect, say, " Ego accedo ad reverendissimum Dominum 
 
 ." The choice by adoration nmch resembles it, only 
 
 that the cardinal approaches the candidate with a profound 
 reverence. Both of these methods must be confirmed by the 
 scrutiny. Another method, by coniproinlse, has been sometimes 
 employed ; that is, when the differences run high and cannot be 
 adjusted in the conclave, the choice is referred to three or five 
 of the college to be made by them within a given time which is 
 limited to the consumption of a lighted taper. Sometimes the 
 election is by inspiration ; the first cardinal then rises in the 
 chapel, and as if inspired, suddenly names a candidate, to which 
 if two-thirds of the cardinals agree the election is made. In fact, 
 however, the election is now made by the scrutiny. 
 
 When the pope is elected, the master of the ceremonies informs 
 him of his promotion, in his cell. He is then clothed in the 
 pontifical habit, and conducted to the chapel, where he receives 
 the adoration or homage paid by the cardinals to the pope. The 
 gates of the conclave are now thrown open, the new^aope presents 
 himself to the people in the court of the Vatican, and gives them 
 his benediction. The first cardinal deacon proclaiming, in a loud 
 voice, these words in Latin, I give you tidings of great joy ; 
 
 the most reverend lord cardinal has been chosen 
 
 sovereign pontiff, and he selects the name of . He is 
 
 then carried to St. Peter's and placed upon the altar, where the 
 cardinals a second time perform the adoration. A few days 
 after a throne is erected before the church of St. Peter, where 
 the triple crown, or tiara, is placed upon his head. It is a conical 
 cap, with three coronets rising one above the other, and said to 
 be of immense value. The jewels have been estiuiated at 
 500,000 pieces of gold. A procession is then formed to the 
 church of St. John Lateran, where the archbishop presents him 
 with two keys, the one of gold, the emblem of his spiritual sove- 
 reignty, and the other of silver, in token that the kingdoms of 
 the earth are governed by the successors of St. Peter. 
 
 The war of the investitures closed in 1 1 22 with a comjiromise 
 between the emperor and (^alixtus II. by which the election of 
 
THE CHUliClI OF P.OME. 171 
 
 bishops was to be free, and their investiture was conceded to the 
 Chui'ch. The secular power henceforth inducted them into their 
 temporalities only, and this, not by the ring and ci'ozier, but by 
 the sceptre. The bishops were now chosen, not as in earlier 
 times by the suffrages of the laity and clergy, but by the chapters 
 of the cathedral churches. And, as the clergy were devoted to 
 the papal ^ee, the changes thus introduced tended still further 
 to enlarge the power of the supreme pontiff. " After long 
 centuries of subjection," says Eanke, " after other centuries of 
 an often doubtful struggle, the independence of the Koman see 
 was at length attained. The position of the popes at this moment 
 was most lofty. The clergy were completely in their hands. By 
 the introduction of celibacy they transferred the whole body of 
 secular clergy into a sort of monastic order. They interfered 
 without hesitation in the administration of every diocese. They 
 even compared their legates to the pro-consuls of ancient Rome." 
 The sense in which they held the temporal sword admitted of 
 no dispute ; nor from this time to the dawn of the Reformation 
 was it, in fact, disputed. " Both swords," said Boniface VIIL 
 ill a bull which was inserted in the canon law, " belong to the 
 jurisdiction of the Church, the spiritual and the secular. The 
 one is to be -wielded for the benefit of the Church, the other by 
 the Church herself The one is the sword of the priest, the 
 other is in the hand of the sovereign, but at the command and 
 by permission of the priest. The one sword must be held in 
 submission to the other ; the temporal authority must be subject 
 to the spiritual power." Thus it appears that the papacy is not 
 simply a religion, it claims a jurisdiction of a mixed character. 
 The Church of Rome is a temporal monarchy as well as an 
 ecclesiastical body. As the vicar of Christ, who is the head of 
 the world as well as the head of the Church, the pope claims to 
 rule, not only over the Church, but over the world, and to 
 dispose of crowns as well as bishoprics. History places this fact 
 before us in the most unquestionable light : not to speak of 
 kingdoms interdicted and tributes imposed, no less than sixty- 
 four emperors and sovereign princes have been at one time or 
 other deposed by the sentence of the pope. 
 
 The crusades, the frenzy of the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
 turies, Avhile they show the power to which the papacy had arisen, 
 contributed greatly, no doubt, to enhance its influence. The 
 
172 TllK ClIUl^CII OF ItOMH. 
 
 countless legions who set out for the holy land were under the 
 special protectiuu of the pope : they received his benediction. 
 He instituted religious and military orders, to protect the pilgrims 
 or to join in the conquest of Jerusalem ; and he received ia return 
 those vast estates, the owners of which perished in the enter[)nse, 
 or were lost sight of in the confusion which overspread Europe. 
 In the person of their legates, the pojjes commanded the armies, 
 and in the exhaustion which followed they reaped the spoil, of 
 Christendom. 
 
 The claims of the papal chair to temjjoral jiower have since 
 the Reformation divided the Church of Rome into two parties, the 
 ultra-2ind trans-montsimsts. The former defend the pope's 
 temporal supremacy in the literal sense in which it is maintained 
 in various bulls and decretals, and in the canon law. The latter, 
 of whom Bellarmine is the great authoiity, believe that in secular 
 matters the pope's authority is not immediate and direct : *' Yet," 
 they add, " he has a sort of supreme authority even in temporal 
 things, by virtue of his spiritual supremacy." Dr. Wiseman, in his 
 lectures "on the Doctrines of the Catholic Church," affirms that 
 the pope's supremacy, " is of a character purely spiritual, and has 
 no connection with any temporal jurisdiction." The question then 
 to be resolved is this — How far does the spiritual jurisdiction 
 extend ? We give the answer in the words of Bellarmine : — " As 
 regards persons, the pope, as pope, cannot ordinarily depose 
 princes, even for a just cause, in the same manner in which he 
 deposes bishops; that is, as their ordinary judge. Yet he can 
 change kingdoms. He may take them from one and confer them 
 on another, in his capacity of supreme spiritual ruler, w henever 
 such a step is necessary for their souls' health." (De Romano 
 Pontidce, lib v., cap vi.) Thus, then, according to Bellarmine, 
 the pope may add the sentence of deposition to that of excom- 
 munication, acting in his spiritual character as head of the 
 Church, and he may release subjects from their allegiance ; 
 and if so the dispute is rather verbal than real. 
 
 A centuiy passed on ; the kingdoms of Northern Europe 
 gradually emerged from barbarism ; the people sighed for 
 liberty, and their sovereigns for independence of the papacy. 
 The ancient traditions began to lose their hold. From time to 
 time the (Jhiuch had asserted new dogniiis : first, the celibate of 
 the clergy, and then tiie dortrine of transubstantiation, which, 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 173 
 
 after a slight rosistanco, were implicitly received. Innocent III. 
 (known in England lis the pontiff wlio bowed the craven spirit of 
 King John, and laid his kingdom under an interdict until it was 
 formally surrendered to the Roman see) held the fourth Lateran 
 Ooun(il in the year 1215. In courage and in ambition he was 
 only inferior to Hildebrand himself. He consulted no advisers, 
 and he hesitated at no remonstrances. He issued a code of laws, 
 which not only confirmed the power of the popes and of the 
 clergy, but imposed new articles of faith. One of these was the 
 dogma of transubstantiation. Hitherto the church had been 
 satisfied to declare that Christ was really present in the sacrament. 
 The manner of the presence was now defined and made an 
 article of faith. Auricular confession, or the confession of parti- 
 cular acts of sin to the priest in private, was introduced into the 
 Church of Rome at the same time, and, it is said, solely on the 
 authority of Innocent III. A multitude of new ceremonies and 
 rules were rendered necessary by these two doctrines ; and the 
 pompous ceremonial of the mass grew into yet deeper veneration. 
 But tiie Church was stationary while all Europe was advancing. 
 Everywhere there were mutterings of discontent ; in every king- 
 dom symptoms of an approaching storm. In many languages 
 the Scriptures v/ere dispersed. First the recent doctrines, and 
 then the ancient traditions, of Rome were questioned. The 
 crusades were scarcely at an end when the Paulicians and 
 Waldenses appeared, not merely to dispute some of the aggran- 
 dizements of the see of Rome, but to denounce the pope himself 
 as antichrist. The heresy was quenched in seas of blood ; but 
 other enemies appeared, and it was necessary to forge new 
 weapons with which to contend against them. 
 
 The new sects won their way, in no small degree, by the purity 
 of their lives and the simplicity of their manners. Thek conduct 
 was the severest censure upon the clergy, with wliose sloth and 
 pride it stood in pointed contrast ; for even the monastic orders, 
 gorged with wealth, were now corrupted with the worst vices of 
 prosperity. The restraints of religion were set at naught ; its 
 service was an irksome drudgery : the monks were ignorant and 
 incapable of teaching others ; they disdained the authority of the 
 Church, and the rules of their own order. Too frequently their 
 depraved conduct was the scandal of the neighbourhood. It was 
 necessary to oppose the heretics not only with the arm of justice 
 
174 THE riirimii of home. 
 
 Imt by tlic institution of some new machinery. Innocent III. 
 determined upon two measures by which the rising spirit of dis- 
 satisfaction was, for a while, effectually suppressed. These were, 
 first, the reformation of the monks, and, secondly, the erection 
 of the Inquisition. 
 
 During the thirteenth century, as the Benedictine orders fell 
 into decay, new sects of religious devotees appeared. Amongst 
 these, the most considerable were the mendicants, or begging 
 friars. Like other candidates for popularity, they at first affected 
 to surpass their rivals in the severity of their penances, in indif- 
 ference to the world, and in religious zeal. The monks had 
 gi'own rich ; they therefore professed a vow of perpetual poverty. 
 The monasteries were amongst the most splendid edifices in 
 Europe ; the mendicants had neither house nor home. They 
 wandered from place to place, subsisting on the alms of the cha- 
 ritable. Voluntary poverty, they maintained, was the chief sign 
 of faithfulness to Christ. They imitated the garb of the apostles, 
 and went about without scrip or shoes, preaching up an ascetic 
 piety, and not failing to reproach the secular clerg'y Avith their 
 supineness and rapacity. Innocent perceived their value, and 
 resolved to form them into a more regular body, and to reduce 
 their zeal within those limits in which it could be made entirely 
 subservient to the interests of the holy see. In the Lateran 
 Council, A.D. 1215, he passed a decree forbidding the introduction 
 of new religious orders, and at tlie same time encouraged the 
 mendicants, and all those who made the vow of poverty, with 
 every mark of favour. In consequence, Europe was soon overnm 
 with mendicant friars. In 1 272, Gregory X., by a decree, forbade 
 their multiplication ; while, at the same time, he su2:>pressed a 
 number of new orders which had recently sprung up, and carried 
 out the reformation begun by Innocent III. The mendicants 
 were finally reduced to four orders, the Dominicans, Franciscans, 
 Carmelites, and Augustines. Of these, the two first demand 
 some further notice. 
 
 Dominic, the founder of this order, by birth a Spaniard, was 
 born in Arragon in 1170, of an illustrious family. He became 
 canon of Osimo, and being a man of ardent mind and relentles.s 
 bigotry, he resolved to devote his life to the service of the Churcl) 
 and the extirpation of heresy. He visited Rome, and was re- 
 ceived by Innocent III. with great attention. Innocent posses.sed. 
 
THE CllUIICn OF ROME. 175 
 
 in a high degree, the instinct which discerns tlio instruments 
 most suited to its purpose, and the higher power of movdding 
 them at will. Dominic was intent upon his scheme for a new 
 monastic order ; Innocent encouraged the undertaking, and 
 placed him at its head. The Dominican friars, honoured by the 
 Roman pontiffs, rose at once into the possession of public favour. 
 They were soon the most popular, the most powerful, and, but 
 for their vow of poverty, they might have been the wealthiest, of 
 all the monastic orders. The privileges that Innocent conferred 
 were confirmed to them by Honorius III. in the year 1216, and 
 extended by Innocent VI. in lo60. Before the Reformation 
 they reckoned upwards of four hundred convents. Their spirit 
 was austere, yet they ingratiated themselves with the govern- 
 ments, and even with the populace, of every kingdom in Europe. 
 In England they had fifty-eight houses ; and the often-recurring 
 name of the Blackfriars, which to this day indicates their former 
 residence in all our ancient towns, reminds us of the influence 
 they once enjoyed. They were divided into three ranks : the 
 first were preaching friars, the second nuns, the third were 
 termed by Dominic himself the Militia of Jesus Christ, or, more 
 usually, the penitential brothers of St. Dominic. In England, 
 the success of the order was owing to the preaching friars, in 
 France to the militia. The former were, in the strict sense, 
 field preachers. They appeared attired in the simplest garb, 
 with naked feet and a black hood thrown over the shoulders, in 
 every town and village. They won confidence by declaiming 
 against the vices of the parochial clergy and the Benedictine 
 monks, not less than by the austerities they practised. For 
 there existed for ages, in the bosom of the Church of Rome her- 
 self, what seemed to the uninitiated spectator to be an inter- 
 necine war. Each order of monks would lampoon the rest, even 
 on the gravest occasions ; and between the secular and the 
 regular clergy, that is the clergy of the parish and those of the 
 monastery, the contest was systematically waged — all the monks 
 forgetting their private differences, and making common cause 
 against all the seculars. The grotesque, and not seldom indecent 
 figures, carved in stone and wood in our ancient parish churches, 
 show the spirit in which the conflict was carried out. Yet. as 
 neither party was seriously injured, the conclusion is natural tliat 
 no great harm was meant. The people were amused, and the 
 
ITfi TITK CIIUUCII OF i;r)ME. 
 
 Churcli was enriched b)' their credulity. Tlic superiors probaMy 
 regarded these contests as a pious fraud, by •which rehgion was 
 benefited. But, however this may be, the preaching friars con- 
 tributed in no small degree to fasten each new assumption of the 
 Church upon the consciences of a submissive people. 
 
 Next in influence were the Franciscan friars, of whom Francis 
 of Assisi was the founder. This order, too, was established by 
 Innocent III. It was distinguished, not more by its rigid di.sci- 
 ])line, than by its intense devotion to the papal see. The Fran- 
 ciscan was forbidden to ride on horseback, to possess property, or 
 to indulge in luxuries ; he was to labour with his hands, and to 
 bog when labour failed ; above all, to be submissive to ecclesias- 
 tical authority and zealous for the honour of the pope ; and 
 wherever he might find any friar who had broken his vows, or 
 become a heretic, his duty was to apprehend him, and drag him 
 bound in chains, before the cardinal-governor, or corrector of the 
 order. The two other orders of mendicant friars it is unnecessary 
 to describe at length. The Cai'melites, driven by the Saracens 
 from their monastery on Moimt Carmel during the crusades, 
 were formed into a mendicant order. The Augustines professed 
 to follow the rule of that great father ; but there is no reason to 
 believe that the bishop of Hippo either framed their rule, or was 
 in any sense their founder. In their monasteries, learning found 
 its last refuge in the dark ages. But neither the Carmelites nor 
 the Augustines attained the same reputation as the Dominicans 
 and Franciscans. During three centuries, these two fraternities 
 governed, with an almost absolute and universal sway, the states 
 of Western Europe, and even the Vatican herself. It has been 
 f^aid that these two orders were, before the Reformation, what the 
 Jesuits became afterwards, — the sovd of the Vatican, the great 
 engine of the secular power, and the secret spring that directed 
 all the motions of both. The people looked upon them with the 
 deepest reverence. In many cities even the sacraments were un- 
 acceptable but from the hands of a mendicant priest. The living 
 crowded their churches, and the dead were honoured with inter- 
 ment in their vaults. These two orders restored the papacy 
 from that decrepitude into which its ambition, its rival popes, 
 and its unseemly quarrels had reduced it. They undertook 
 negotiations, and were employed as ministers of state. They 
 composed the quarrels of courts, fonicnteil war, concluded 
 
THE CllUrvCII OF ROME. 177 
 
 tro;itics, and formed alliances for sovereigns. For two hundred 
 years, the monks were the prime ministers of Europe. The 
 pontiffs, sensible of their obligations to the new fraternities, 
 placed them in the highest stations in the Church, and they sunk 
 at last in public estimation, crushed beneath their own dignities, 
 the victims of jea.lousy and fear. Amongst other concessions, 
 they were allowed by succeeding popes to preach, hear confes- 
 sions, and absolve, without permission from the bishop of the 
 diocese. To the Franciscans was granted the sale of indul- 
 gences, which afforded a vast revenue, and supplied the want 
 of other property. The privileges granted to the monks were 
 by them again sold to the people. Some of these were of the 
 most extraordinary kind. John XXIII., for instance, by the 
 same decree exempted the mendicants from episcopal jurisdiction 
 and from purgatory, and from the latter they professed to 
 release the laity who visited their churches, and complied with 
 their instructions. Eugenius III. permitted them to eat flesh ; 
 this was a reward for having burnt alive one Thomas, a brother 
 of their own order, for heresy. Bat the grand instrument by 
 which Dominic retrieved the fortunes of the pope was the Inqui- 
 sition. Of this terrible tribunal we lay before the reader, at one 
 view, a brief sketch of the origin and history ; although, in doing 
 so, we anticipate the regular course of events as connected with 
 the history of the Church of Rome. 
 
 The Albigenses had already made a great impression in northern 
 Italy and the south of France, as we have, on a former page, 
 related. Under Raymond, earl of Toulouse, they were protected 
 in Languedoc, and formed large congregations. Innocent III. 
 heai-d of their proceedings with indignation, for they denied the 
 authority of the Roman pontiff and denounced him as the enemy 
 of Christ. He sent legates into the territories of Raymond to 
 remonstrate and chastise. Amongst these were Castleneau and 
 Dominic. They plunged with zeal into the work of reformation ; 
 and set about the extermination of heresy by instituting local 
 courts before which they summoned, by the pope's authority, 
 those who were accused or suspected. They inflicted imprison- 
 ment on heretics and even death by fire. The Albigenses were 
 exasperated, and Castleneau met with a violent death in 1208. 
 Dominic returned to Rome ; obtained greater powers from the 
 papal see ; returned to the south of France, and formed the tii- 
 bunal of the Inquisition. 
 
 VOL. II. N 
 
178 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 It had long been the practice of the Chnrch of Rome to 
 pmiish heretics with death. Theodosius I., A.D. 382, is said to 
 have been the first who adjudged the penalty. Constantius, the 
 son of Constantino the Great, had forbidden heathen sacrifices 
 under pain of death. But the fathers of the Church down to the 
 times of Gregory Nazianzen, Chrysostom, and Augustine dis- 
 claim the use of the sword, as a means of punishing heresy. The 
 first who was put to death for heresy is said to have been Priscil- 
 lianus, a Spaniard, who was accused before a council held at 
 Bourdeaux in the fourth century, and beheaded. But this pro- 
 ceeding gave great offence ; Martin, bishop of Tours, and St. 
 Ambrose, interceding on his behalf; and the bishop, Idacius, his 
 prosecutor, being excommunicated and banished in consequence 
 of his share in the transaction. From the time of Justinian, by 
 whom the orthodox creed, as expounded by the first four general 
 councils, was incorporated with the law of the empire, the prac- 
 tice had arisen of treating heresy as an offence against the state ; 
 and capital punishment had sometimes been inflicted by the civil 
 courts in cases of heresy. Supported by these precedents, Inno- 
 cent III., in the council of the Lateran, A.D. 1215, enacted new 
 laws against heresy ; committing the execution of them not as 
 before to the civil courts, but to the bishops. The exact time 
 when the Court of the Inquisition, or Holy Office, was formed, 
 as it afterwards existed, is a little uncertain. Honorius III. and 
 Gregory IX. defined its powers and extended its jurisdiction. 
 By the latter it was introduced into Rome and other parts of 
 Italy ; the Emperor Frederic II. and Louis IX. of France having 
 been already persuaded to allow of its introduction into their king- 
 doms, where heresy chiefly showed itself. In time the Inquisition 
 appeared in most of the other countries of Europe. Into the 
 British islands it was never allowed to force its way. The ma- 
 nagement of the Inquisition was committed to the Dominicans ; 
 Gregory IX. discharging the bishops from the duty of discovering 
 and punishing heretics, and intrusting the painful duty to the 
 new tribunal. Its proceedings were first opened at Toulouse ; it 
 was empowered to try heretics, blasphemers, apostates, relapsed 
 Jews and Mahometans, and other persons charged with crimes 
 against the Cliurch. 
 
 The profound secresy with which the Inquisition moved, added 
 to the terror which its presence diffused wherever it existed. It 
 encouraged secret denunciations, invaded domestic privacy, and 
 
THE CLiUKCH OF VAMK. 179 
 
 accepted confidential information from those who were known to 
 be goaded by mahce or revenge. Confessors were bound to exact 
 from the penitents the betrayal of the secrets of friends or 
 parents, if injurious to the faith. Witnesses when summoned 
 were not informed of the matter on which their evidence was 
 required ; they were examined in private, and not confronted 
 with the accused, and their evidence was noted down to be used 
 perhaps against themselves. If there appeared to be sufficient 
 ground, the in(][uisitor arrested the suspected person, who was 
 carried, often in the night, to the next Dominican convent or to 
 the prison of the diocese. At the first examination he was not 
 informed of the nature of the charge against him. He was told 
 in general that he was suspected of heavy crimes ; that if he 
 confessed he might hope for mercy ; and his answers were taken 
 down to be used as evidence against him. The act of accusation, 
 when afterwards drawn up, was merely read to him, and he was 
 interrogated as to the truth of each particular. If he denied the 
 charges, he was obliged to choose for his counsel a lawyer upon 
 the list of those whom the Inquisition approved, who was not 
 permitted to communicate with him in private, nor to know the 
 names of the witnesses. The inquisitor and his assistant might 
 put him to the torture three times to extort a confession. An 
 acquittal was seldom known ; and it has been shown by several 
 Roman Catholic writers, quoted by Llorente, our authority for 
 these statements, that a great number of orthodox Catholics suf- 
 fered torture, and even death, in consequence of malicious in- 
 formations. If there were no sufficient proof of the prisoner's 
 guilt, he was declared to be suspected of heresy, and obliged to 
 purge himself by a public abjuration and other penances which 
 were terribly severe. If convicted of heresy, but professing con- 
 trition for his fault, the sentence was imprisonment for life, 
 which, however, the inquisitor had it in his power to mitigate. 
 If he were a relapsed heretic, that is, one who had been pre- 
 viously tried and condemned, or even strongly suspected, he was 
 handed over to the civil magistrate, who, by the canon law, was 
 bound, upon the sentence of the inquisitor declaring him a 
 heretic, to have him publicly burnt. The only favour which 
 could now be shown him was that, if he recanted, he was first 
 strangled and then burnt. 
 
 The war against the Albigenses closed only with their destruc- 
 
 N 2 
 
180 TIIH CHURCH OF HOME. 
 
 tion. The fires of the Inquisition, however, no longer bhized in 
 Languedoc. And as the fourteenth century dawned, the revival 
 of letters seemed to promise a milder influence upon the affairs 
 of nations. But it was long before that influence was felt. Col- 
 leges were built, academies formed, and libraries collected. The 
 classic wiiters of antiquity were dug out of their long repose. 
 Clement v., a Frenchman and archbishop of Bordeaux, succeeded 
 to the papal throne in 1305. He was anxious for the conversion 
 of the Eastern nations, and he longed for the salvation of the 
 Jews. But in him the old system of force and the new methods 
 of persuasion strangely met. The order of Knights Templars, 
 created to lead the Cinisaders, had become too powerful. Philip 
 of France determined to suppress them ; and Clement assisted 
 him, by condemning the Grand Master and sixty knights to be 
 burnt alive. He gave the sanction of his sacred office to the 
 Spanish Inquisition. In Spain the existence of the Inqusition 
 can be traced up to the year 1232. Spain was then divided into 
 four Christian kingdoms, besides the Mahometan states ; and in 
 each of these there were vast numbers of Jews, The Albigen.ses 
 had some followers, against whom the In(|uisition was directed, but 
 its terrors fell chiefly on the sons of Abraham. In the year 1301 
 the Dominicans had multiplied in Spain to such an extent that 
 it was decreed, in a general chapter of the order, that it should 
 be divided into two provinces ; that the first should comprise 
 Castille and Arragon, and the second the rest of Spain and the 
 Balearic Islands. The provincial of the former, designated the 
 provincial of Spain, possessed the right of naming tlie inquisitor- 
 general in the other provinces. In 1302 Father Bernard was the 
 inquisitor of Arragon, and he celebrated several autos-da-fe in 
 the same year. The auto-da-fe was a national spectacle in Spain 
 for upwards of four centuries, which its kings witnessed in the 
 pomp of royalty. Then the relapsed heretics with caps on their 
 heads painted with yellow flames, and clothed to the feet in 
 hideous garments, emblazoned with devils, were brought from the 
 dungeons of the Inquisition and burnt to ashes. Then penances 
 were performed and recantations made by the suspected. The 
 humanity of Clement V. and his successors did not interfure with 
 these proceedings. The Spanish Inquisition grew upon the con- 
 trary during this century to an enormous height of power. The 
 inquisitor-general had more authority than any of the Spanish 
 
THE CIIUKCII OF ROME. 181 
 
 kings. The nuncios and all other officers of the pope, as well as 
 the bishops, were exempt from his power, but not the proud kings 
 of Castile and Arragon. The Jews and Moors were considered 
 as the subjects of the holy office. Every means (excepting that 
 which reason would alone suggest) was made use of for their 
 conversion, and with transient success. But soon great numbers 
 of the new Christians, as they were termed, apostatized, and the 
 ingenuity of the inquisitors was racked to discover and to punish 
 them. Sometimes an edict of grace was published offering for- 
 giveness and absolution to the repentant; but these had no 
 sooner betrayed themselves than they were compelled on oath to 
 reveal the names of all the apostates they knew or had ever 
 heard of. Sometimes an edict was published commanding all 
 persons to denounce those who had embraced the Jewish heresy, 
 on pain of mortal sin and excommunication. The converted 
 Jews were watched in every movement. The inquisitors pub- 
 lished an edict commanding those to be accused before them, who 
 wore better clothes on Saturday, or made no fire, or ate no fat, 
 or pronoimced a blessing on their table, or ate of an animal 
 killed by Jews, or recited the Psalms of David without the Gloria 
 Patri, or gave their sons Hebrew names in baptism, or per- 
 formed any one of fifty insignificant observances which are 
 minutely described. The prisons of the Inquisition were filled 
 with victims, the persecutions lasted with still increasing fury for 
 more than a century and a half, and we turn from a subject at 
 which humanity shudders. 
 
 The Inquisition was introduced into Italy about the year 1 28-i. 
 It was firmly established there by Gregory IX. the zealous pro- 
 tector of St. Dominic, and the intimate acquaintance of Francis 
 of Assisi. The heresy of the Albigenses had probably reached 
 even the capital of Christendom, For at a council held at 
 Toulouse, in 1229, laymen were first prohibited from reading the 
 Scriptures in the vulgar tongue. 
 
 The gi-eat schism of the West occurs in the thirteenth century. 
 Clement Y. to oblige the French King, Philip le Bel, removed the 
 seat of the Roman see to Avignon. At the Council of Vienna. 
 A.D. 1308, he published some iinpoi'tant additions to the canon 
 law ; which were followed by those of his successor John XXII 
 in 1317. The former volume is called, the Clementines, or Consti- 
 tutions of Clement ; the latter, the Extravagantes of John. Tlie 
 
182 THE ClIliRCH OF HOME. 
 
 pope retired within the dominions of the French sovereign ; 
 and seemed to court his favour. But in fact no pontiff moie 
 seriously invaded his rights ; for the great object of the canon law 
 was certainly to establish the complete independence of the clergy 
 upon the civil powers. A brief digression upon the history of the 
 canon law may not be out of place. 
 
 The code, as it now exists, consists of a series of canons and 
 other ecclesiastical constitutions, somti comparatively recent, others 
 of very ancient date. In the twelftli century, Gratian, a Bene- 
 dictine monk, arranged and methodized all which then existed, 
 beginning from the time of Constantine the Great. To the.se, five 
 books were added by Gregory IX. in 1234, which still form the 
 most important part of the canon law. To these Boniface VIII. 
 added a sixth, A.D, 1298, which he named the Sext. These again 
 were followed by the Clementines and Extravagantes. Suc- 
 ceeding pontiffs down to Sextus IV. have added other decretals, 
 and decrees of councils, all which form together the canon law of 
 Rome. In England this ctide was never cordially received ; and 
 in those points in which it asserted the al)solute independence of 
 the Church, was indeed stiffly resisted by the king and barons 
 long before the Reformation, in the statute of provisors, and 
 many similar Acts. " All tlie strength," says Blackstone, " that 
 either the papal or imperial laws, have obtained in this realm, is 
 only because they have been admitted and received by immemo- 
 rial usage and custom, in some particular cases, and some particular 
 courts." In Enfrland, the canon law in use before the Reformation 
 was that which was enacted from time to time in national synods ; 
 of which we have records from the earliest period of the English 
 or Anglo-Saxon Church. The residence of the popes at Avignon 
 seemed for a time to have impaired the authority of the Roman 
 see. Residing at a distance from the ancient capital of the 
 (.'hurch they were neither so well informed of tlie state of public 
 affairs, nor .so independent of the great western sovereigns. 
 During their absence factions appeared and insurrections broke 
 out, fir-st at Rome, and then in other parts of Italy. The Roman 
 people, no longer enriched by the distriltution of their wealth, 
 loudly complained of their rapacity ; the Italian dominions, torn 
 V)y faction, were less productive ; and the pontiffs, by the sale of 
 indulgences and by connivances at simoniacal abuses, filled 
 Europe with comi)laints. Clement V. is described as a mere 
 
THE CHURCH OF HOME. 183 
 
 creature of Philip. He was more probably crafty and deceptive. 
 Upou his death a contest naturally arose between the French 
 cardinals and those of Italy. For two years the papal throne 
 was vacant ; at length a French cardinal was chosen, John XXII. 
 He quarrelled with the emperor, who had assumed the imperial 
 crown without his permission, and twice excommunicated him. 
 The emperor, in return, deposed him from the popedom, and 
 placed Nicholas V. in the papal chair, accepting the imperial 
 crown in return at his hands. Nicholas, however, in 1330, was 
 compelled to abdicate, and died soon after a prisoner at Avignon. 
 John himself was accused of heresy for teaching doctrines incon- 
 sistent with purgatory ; he died Avhile the dispute still conti- 
 nued ; and again the contest for the popedom was renewed 
 between the French and Italian cardinals. While the court 
 remained at Avignon, six Frenchmen in succession were elected 
 to the papacy. Italy meantime was neglected and overrun with 
 war. At length in 1378, on the death of Gregory XI., the great 
 schism broke out. The Romans elected Urban VI., a Neapo- 
 litan, the French elected Clement. The one resided at Rome, 
 the other at Avignon. France, a part of Spain, Scotland, and 
 their dependencies acknowledged Urban ; the rest of Europe 
 followed the party of Clement. The people of Castile were 
 Clementines, while the Portuguese were Urbanites. The order 
 of Dominicans was equally divided in those kingdoms, and it 
 elected two rival vicars. The confusion of the Church could 
 scarcely have been greater when, in the year 1409, the two great 
 factions were again divided, and a third was formed. The 
 quarrels of the rival popes, Benedict XIII., at Avignon, and 
 Gregory XII., at Rome, engaged the attention of a council held 
 at Pisa, which excommunicated both the pontiffs, and in their 
 place elected Alexander V. Benedict and Gregory agreed, how- 
 ever, on one point — to treat the council with contempt. The 
 one sought the protection of France ; the other, of the king of 
 Naples. Alexander V. died soon after his election, but a successor 
 was immediately chosen by the cardinals who had met at Pisa, 
 and John XXIIL, a Neapolitan, claimed the papal throne in 
 1401. Thus three popes, each of whom anathematized the other 
 two, demanded the allegiance of the Church. A state of things 
 so full of peril and of scandal could not last. In self-defence, 
 the civil power was compelled to interfere ; and, with the 
 
184 TllK CilL'ltClI OF KUME. 
 
 exception of the factious leaders, the clergy of all parties were 
 anxious for repose. In 141 -i the Council of Constance was sum- 
 uioned ; the Emperor Sigismund was present with many of the 
 Gennan princes, and all the states of Europe were represented by 
 their amba-ssadors. John himself, although he had convoked 
 the council, was, on tlie 29th May, 1415, foniially deposed 
 on account of various crimes of which he was alleged to have 
 been guilty. Gregory sent in his voluntary resignation ; Bene- 
 dict alone remained to be dealt with ; and he too, at a later 
 session of the council, on the 26th July, 1417, was also deposed, 
 and Martin Y. elected sole pope. Benedict refused to submit ; 
 and on his death, which occurred in 1423, the dregs of his party 
 attempted to perpetuate the schism, by electing Munoz, a 
 Spaniard, under the title of Clement VIII. ; but he soon re- 
 signed his pretensions, and in 1429 the breach finally closed up, 
 and Martin Y. was left in undisputed possession of the papacy. 
 
 One subject absorbed the attention of the Church of Rome 
 during the whole of the fifteenth century — the progress of heresy 
 and the means of its suppression. There was a large party, in 
 the bosom of the Church itself, Avho were conscious of its faults 
 and longed for reformation. Their influence may be traced at 
 the Council of Constance in two decrees ; the one of which 
 vindicates the authority of general councils, while the other 
 as-serts that even the Roman pontiff is subject to the decisions of 
 the universal Church. The council admitted the necessity of a 
 general reform. It is not probable that it would have revised 
 the creed, or to any great extent remodelled the constitution of 
 the Church. It would have confined its labours to the retrench- 
 ment of some luxuries, and the suppression of the old abuses of 
 simony and clerical incapacity and sloth; but the jaope, now secure 
 in his seat, abruptly dissolved the council in 1418, promising 
 that within five years another should be called for the express 
 purpose of the reformation of the Church. In consequence the 
 Council of Ba.sle met, but not till 1434; it was adjourned to 
 FeiTara in 1438, and afterwards to Florence. But nothing was 
 done of the least importance ; the cardinals and pope would 
 make no concessions to the rising spirit of inquiry and dis- 
 content. They determined that severity was the method by 
 which the peace of the Church and its unity must be preserved. 
 
 The opinions of Wickliffe were widely spread, not in England 
 
THE CHUKCH OF EOME. 185 
 
 only but upon tbe continent of Europe. They had already been 
 condemned in two provincial councils at London and Oxford ; 
 yet WicklifFe, protected by the Duke of Lancaster, had died in 
 peace. The Council of Constance felt it necessary to anathema- 
 tize his memory, and, in consequence of their decree, his bones 
 were dug from their resting-place, after half a century, and 
 publicly burnt. John Huss had imbibed his principles : he was 
 professor of divinity in the university of Prague, and a preacher 
 in that city. He was a man of gentle and persuasive eloquence, 
 of an affable deportment, of great learning for the times, and of 
 a stout heart. In vain did the archbishop of Prague denounce 
 his doctrines as heretical : he was confessor to Sophia, queen of 
 Bohemia, and Wenceslaus, her husband, protected him from 
 harm. In the year 1408, the lieads of the university resolved, 
 since they could do no more, to expel the Wickliffites. Huss 
 maintained his ground, at the head of a great number of the 
 students, and the papal party withdrew to Leipzig. He was 
 now installed rector of the university of Prague ; his influence 
 extended over all Bohemia, and the principles of Wickliffe were 
 everywhere avowed. Simj)le women as well as men discussed 
 the docti-ines of the Gospel, and, still worse, declaimed against 
 the usurpations of the pope. Huss, who had been already sum- 
 moned by the pope to appear before him and answer for his 
 cou<:luct, was now again cited before the Council of Constance. 
 Had he listened to the entreaties of the people of Bohemia, he 
 would have disobeyed the mandate ; but, trusting to the safe- 
 conduct of Sigismund, both for his journey to Constance, his 
 residence there, and his secure return, he appeared before the 
 council. He was immediately seized — pronounced guilty of 
 heresy, and, on his refusal to recant, given over to the secular 
 arm, and burnt alive on the 16th of July, 1415. Braccioiini, 
 who saw him suffer, admits that he endured the agony with the 
 utmost fortitude, expressed in his last moments sentiments 
 worthy of the Gospel. He died exulting. His friend and asso- 
 ciate in the work of reformation, Jerome of Prague, was seized 
 and put to death soon after by a similar process. The coimcil 
 justified its conduct towards Huss in a decree which assert.s, 
 " that by no laws, either human or divine, is it right to observe 
 either oath or promise to the prejudice of the CathoHc faith," 
 The history of Spain in the fifteenth century is httle more 
 
186 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 than the history of the Spanish Inquisition. When, towards the 
 close of the century, the petty kingdoms of the peninsula were 
 united under Ferdinand and Isabella, a grand in([uisitor was 
 appointed for the Avhole of Spain, and the holy office became a 
 great national institution ; but it was admitted with extrem3 
 reluctance into Castile and Arragon. In the latter kingdo n 
 many of the nobles were of Jewish descent, and their ancestors 
 had suffered from the Inquisition. An appeal was made in vain 
 to the pope, and the assassination of Arl)ues, the grand inquisitor, 
 followed. A magnificent monument was erected to his memory 
 by the two sovereigns, and he was beatified by the pope. The 
 authors and accomplices of the crime were betrayed, and two 
 hundred victims were sacrificed in vengeance to his memory. 
 There was scarcely a single family in the three first orders ot 
 nobility which did not furnish at least one of its members to the 
 auto-da-fe, wearing the habit of a penitent. 
 
 Torquemada, bishop of Barcelona, now received his commission 
 as special inquisitor from Rome. His dreadful fanaticism was 
 appalled by no considerations whether of policy or of pity. To 
 eradicate heresy at whatever cost of individual suffering, or 
 national disgrace, was his commission. The unbaptized Jews 
 were expelled from Spain ; they were accused of persuading the 
 new Christians to apostatize, of crucifying children on Good 
 Friday, and of poisoning the Christians by means of their own 
 physicians. They offered thirty thousand pieces of silver to 
 Ferdinand, promising to live peaceably and to comply with any 
 i-egulations he might think proper to impose, on the sole condi- 
 tion of being permitted to remain his subjects without abandoning 
 their faith. Ferdinand and Isabella seemed willing to consent, 
 when Torquemada appeared before them with a crucifix in his 
 hand. " Behold your Saviour !" he exclaimed ; " take him and sell 
 him ! Judas sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver, your 
 highnesses are about to do the same for thirty thousand." The 
 Dominican triumphed ; a decree was issued, on the 31st of 
 March, 1492, by which all the Jews were compelled to leave 
 Spain within four months on pain of death. They were for- 
 bidden to carry their gold and silver with them ; but they might 
 exchange it for merchandise, which of course from its bulk could 
 not so readily be removed. According to Mariana, the great 
 Spanish historian, a Jesuit of the sixteenth century, eight hun- 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 187 
 
 dred thousand Jews quitted Spain ; and if the Moors who emi- 
 grated to Africa, and the Christians who settled in the New 
 World, are added to the number, we shall find that Ferdinand 
 and Isabella lost, through these measures, two millions of their 
 subjects. Benialdez, a contemporary historian, affirms that the 
 Jews carried a quantity of gold with them, concealed in their 
 garments and saddles, and even in their stomachs, for they broke 
 up the ducats and swallowed them. A great number afterwards 
 returned to Spain, and received baptism. Some too returned 
 from the kingdom of Fez, where the Moors had seized their 
 money and effects, and killed even the women, to take the gold 
 which they expected to find within them. Innocent VIIL pur- 
 sued the wretched fugitives with a bull, issued at the desire of 
 Torquemada, commanding all governments to arrest them on pain 
 of excommunication ; but happily little attention was paid to it. 
 Not satisfied with these severities, Torquemada obtained a brief 
 from Rome prohibiting bishops of Jewish origin from interfering 
 in the proceedings of the Inquisition. Although bishops were 
 especially excepted from the jurisdiction of the holy office, he 
 accused two of the Spanish prelates, of Jewish descent, of heresy. 
 One of these, Davila, bishop of Segovia, had held that office for 
 thirty years, when he was summoned to Eome ; but he was 
 kindly received by the pope, and no charge appears to have been 
 sustained against him. Aranda, bishop of Calahora, and presi- 
 dent of the council of Castile, was also summoned on the charge 
 of heresy ; his father had been a wealthy Jew, and the real in- 
 tention was to confiscate his property. He was condemned in a 
 secret consistory, and died in prison. Such was the terror of the 
 Inquisition, that gentlemen of high bnth volunteered to become 
 familiars of the holy office to secure themselves from danger. 
 Torquemada travelled with fifty of these familiars, his body- 
 guard, on horseback, and two hundred more on foot. His bar- 
 barity placed his life in continual danger. The pope himself was 
 alai-med at the complaints which reached liim, and three times 
 was the colleague of the grand inquisitor sent to Rome to defend 
 his conduct. At length Alexander VI., weary of continual 
 clamours, partially superseded him, on the plea of his great age 
 and infirmities, by naming four other inquisitors possessing equal 
 powers with himself. In 1498, Thomas de Torquemada, the first 
 grand inquisitor of Spain, died. Ferdinand and Isabella became 
 
188 TIIK CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 possessed of the kingdom of Granada about this period, and 
 Diego Dcza, tlie new inquisitor, was instructed to wield the 
 terrors of the Inquisition in the kingdom recently acquired. He 
 presided eight years over the tribunal, and his victims are num- 
 bered thus : 2,500 heretics burnt alive, and 896 in effigy, besides 
 34,952 condemned to different penances. Nor did this include 
 the whole of Spain. Cisneros presided at the same time over 
 the In(|uisition of Castile and Arragon. In eleven years he con- 
 demned 52,855 individuals, of whom 3,564 were burnt alive. 
 
 When the sixteenth century dawned, the Roman see indulged 
 in pleasing visions of perfect triuni])h and of a long repose. 
 "There appeared," says father Paul, the lii.'torian of the Council 
 of Trent, " no urgent cause to convoke a council, nor was any 
 likely to happen for a long spaca." The complaints of many 
 churches, he proceeds to tell us, against the grandeur of the papal 
 see seemed absolutely to be appeased, and all the kingdoms of 
 Western Europe were not only in communion with Rome, but in 
 strict sid)jection to her. "A few Waldenses lingered on the sides 
 of the Alps and Pyrenees, impious and obscene men from whom 
 nothing was to be feared. The hatred of their pious neighbours 
 kept them in complete subjection." He speaks of the Picards 
 and Hussites of Bohemia with similar contempt, and the Lollard- 
 ism of England was unworthy of his notice. Some danger of a 
 schism there had been ; for Julius 11. , who was more a soldier 
 than a priest, had quarrelled with Louis XII. of France, and 
 thundered an excommunication against him. The French king, 
 supported by several cardinals, withdrew his allegiance ; but 
 Julius opportunely dying and Leo being created in his stead, he 
 reconciled at once with admirable ease both the kingdom of 
 France and the insurgent cardinals ; and thus a lire was 
 quenched which threatened, in the judgment of father Paul, to 
 have burned up the Church herself. (Hist. Council of Trent, 
 lib. 1.) 
 
 The surface was unruffled, it is true, but dangers were already 
 lowering which only the infatuated could refuse to see. There is 
 a pitch of corruption in public affairs which, in the decrees of 
 Providence, is always suicidal. There is an audacity in vice, once 
 reached, from which men in public stations are never permitted 
 to escape. This pre-eminence in guilt the papacy had at length 
 attained. Alexander VI. occupied the p;q)al throne. The history 
 
THE CHUrX'II OF ROME. 189 
 
 of his popedom as written by Muratori, Fleury, and otlier Roman 
 Catholics, has been described as certainly the Ijlackest l)age in 
 the history of modern Rome. When elected in 1492, a Spaniard 
 by birth, daring, adventurous, of most licentious habits, he was 
 already the flither of four sons. Lucretia, an only daughter, 
 rivalled her father's profligacy. Of his sons the second, Coesar 
 Borgia, is illustrious in the annals of guilt ; and his crimes are to 
 som.e extent those of the papacy itself, inasmuch as he was made 
 archbishop of Valenza and cardinal, when his vicious disposition 
 was notorious. He was suspected of the murder of his brother ; 
 and, soon growing weary of the slight restraint which it imposed 
 upon him, he resigned the office of cardinal and joined the king 
 of France, by whom he was created duke of Valentinois. His 
 career was rather that of a ferocious ruffian than a brave soldier; 
 his prisoners were murdered ; the female captives taken at Capua 
 were sold as slaves, or reserved for his own palace at Rome. His 
 life, in short, was a career of the most atrocious crimes, which he 
 completed, according to general tradition, by poisoning the pope 
 his father. Of this last act of wickedness various accounts are 
 given. It has been said they both drank, by mistake, of poisoned 
 wine which they themselves intended for one of the cardinals. 
 A court thus ruled, a Church administered by such hands, how- 
 ever smoothly the stream might glide, must have been from the 
 nature of things in peril of some high disaster. 
 
 But the magnificent pontificate of Leo X. retrieved the fortunes 
 of the papacy for a time, and moulded its character anew. Yet 
 it did nothing to avert the impending crisis of the Reformation ; 
 it rather showed its absolute necessity. Giovanni, the second 
 son of Lorenzo de Medici, surnamed the Magnificent, was elected 
 pope in 1513 at the early age of thirty -seven. On a subject so 
 well known as that of his life and character it is unnecessary to 
 enlarge. His tastes were refined, his disposition generous, nis 
 attainments considerable, his abilities unquestioned. To religion 
 he made no pretensions ; his whole life was one of refined intel- 
 lectual sensualism. All that he conceded to the clerical office 
 was a decent submission to its forms. Yet he was ambitious to 
 extend the power, as well as to enhance the splemiour, of the 
 church. Since the year 1438 the French Church had been 
 governed under a law of its own, called the Pragmatic Sanction, 
 which, besides rejecting other encroachments of the popes, wrested 
 
190 TliK CHIIKCII UF ROME. 
 
 from them the patronage of the bishopricks, wlii<li,\viili (lie greater 
 monasteries, had been vested in tlie kings of France. Leo induced 
 Francis I. to abandon the Pragmatic Sanction and substitute a 
 concordat in its place. It was with difficulty the parliament of 
 Paris was induced to register the edict. At length it did so under 
 a solemn protest, in which the University of Paris and the clergy 
 joined ; and thus the rights of the Gallican (Jhurch were lost. In 
 every direction the claims of the papacy were rigidly maintained. 
 
 It was the childish ambition of Leo to construct a Christian 
 temple which should throw into the shade the grandest monuments 
 of pagan Rome. The idea was curious, and of a piece with all 
 his character. He had a boyish admiration of classical antiquity. 
 He would have reformed the city, the Italian states, the church 
 itself, after the classical model. To this caprice we owe Luther's 
 theses and the reformation. To raise the necessary funds for 
 the erection of St. Peter's, his vast cathedral, he was compelled 
 to resort to the expedient of selling indulgences. Germany, 
 now populous and rich, was expected to yield a liberal harvest. 
 Tetzel, the Dominican monk, was intrusted with a mission the 
 result of which has been told in the article on the Lutheran 
 Churcli. 
 
 On the subject of indulgences a short digression may be 
 allowed. 
 
 They were first issued by Pope Urban 11., a.d. 1100: he 
 granted plenary indulgence, and remission of all tiieir sins, to 
 every person who should fight in Palestine to regain the sepulchre. 
 His example was followed by his successors for several centuries ; 
 and, as the zeal of the crusaders flagged, they granted indulgences 
 to those who, unwilling to fight themselves, would maintain a 
 soldier ; a condition which was easily commuted into the payment 
 of a stated tax, and thus indulgences became a vendible com- 
 modity. In process of time similar indulgences and 2)ardons 
 were granted to those who took arms against heretics, or against 
 those states which were in hostility to the see of Rome. From 
 these indulgences an immense revenue was extracted. Clement 
 VI. proclaimed a jubilee, in the year 1350, when indulgences 
 were issued to a vast extent to all those who should either visit 
 Rome, or perform certain vows or penances, or, failing in these 
 duties, contribute liberally to the Church. This was the origin 
 of the papal jubilee, which is now celebrated every twenty-fifth 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 191 
 
 year. Leo, whose treasury was exhausted, consulted his able 
 financier Lorenzo Pucci, cardinal of Sante Quatro, who suggested 
 a general issue of indulgences throughout Christendom, to be 
 granted to all who would pay for them, and to be valid both for 
 the living and the dead ; freeing the former from penances, and 
 the latter from the pains of purgatory. In the execution of this 
 enterprise, if Leo erred, his apology, as given by Father Paul, is 
 this : — " That many of the indulgences formerly made by pre- 
 ceding popes had causes more unjust and were exercised with 
 more avarice and extortion." The thoughtless generosity of Leo 
 exposed the traffic to additional reproach. The indulgence was 
 published in 1517, and before any part of it had reached his 
 own exchequer, the revenues expected from various kingdoms 
 had already been given away, — those of Saxony to his sister 
 Magdalen, the wife of Cibo, a son of Innocent VIII. The 
 business of preaching the indulgences was intnisted to the bishop 
 Arembold, and by him again to those agents, however worthless, 
 who were likely to raise the largest sums of money. The 
 Dominicans undertook the work which the more respectable of 
 the clergy had refused. Of these men Tetzel was the most 
 notorious. They were in general worthless persons, who spent 
 their time in taverns, or in places of resort still more disre- 
 putable. 
 
 The real value of these indulgences was a question much 
 agitated at the time even amongst the Canonists themselves. 
 Leo attempted to settle this amongst other difficulties, in the 
 bull of 1520, in which Luther was summarily condemned. But 
 the bull had very little weight with theologians, for Leo was well 
 known to be unacquainted with divinity. His death, which 
 occurred in 1521, made way for Adrian, a pontiff of a different 
 character, profoundly versed in the learning of the church and of 
 the Canonists. Four opinions were held amongst good Catholics 
 as to the value of indulgences : some believed, with Luther, that 
 they were merely a release from ecclesiastical censures ; a 
 second party held that they availed, if the purchaser was truly 
 penitent, for the pardon of sin ; a third that their efficacy was 
 absolute, and limited by no such condition ; while a fourth 
 maintained, with Tetzel and the Dominican monks of Saxony, 
 that there was a fund of merit treasured up in the church, and 
 distributed by means of these indulgences, by virtue of which all 
 
192 THE ClIUllCII OF KOMK. 
 
 sins of the living :ur1 dead, past, present, aiid to come, were 
 instantly remitted. Saute Quatro recommended Adrian to give 
 his apostolic sanction to each of the four opinions ; thus leaving 
 the question open, but in effect at the same time absolving 
 Lutlier. The pontiff was deeply perplexed. The question, 
 while it agitated Germany, filled Rome itself with imeasincss. 
 If indulgences had no spiritual efficacy the Church of Rome 
 must be remodelled ; the popes must abandon the claims of at 
 least five hundred years ; they nuist allow thcimsclvcs liable to 
 error in spiritual things, and those, too, of the highest moment. 
 They might even be compelled to submit to the decrees of a 
 general council. Yet there was no alternative. Germany had 
 now, to a great extent, renounced its allegiance. The new 
 opinions were spreading rapidly in France. The Lollards in 
 England gave uneasiness. Adrian resolved upon a general 
 coiuicil ; and the Council of Trent was the consequence of these 
 distractions. 
 
 Adrian himself was disposed to acknowledge many faults in 
 the Church, and to reform glaring abuses. He openly admitted, 
 by his nuncio at the diet of Nuremburgh, the sins of 2->riests 
 and prelates and some abominations even in the holy see. 
 Such candour was unwelcome at the court of Rome. Cardinal 
 Volterra resisted all change : governments fell by making con- 
 cessions : severity had crushed the Waldenses ; crusades, not 
 reformations were the ])r()j>(;r cure of heresy. Distracted by 
 opposite opinions, and overwhelmed with anxieties, Adrian died 
 in September, 152.3. It was not till the loth of December, 1545, 
 that the Council of Trent actually assembled. 
 
 It was convoked at Mantua by Paul III. in 1537, but pro- 
 rogued in consequence of the war which ravaged Italy. It met 
 at length in 1545 at Trent, as a neutral ground on the borders of 
 Germany, and easy of access from France and Spain. The re- 
 formers of Germany, France, and England were summoned to 
 appear by their bishops, but all of them refused, remembering, 
 fus they said, the fate of Huss at the Council of Constance, and 
 denying the right of the bishop of Rome to call together general 
 Councils. The apprehensions of the Protestants were not un- 
 founded. The year 1545 was signalized both by the meeting of 
 the Council of 'i'rent and the massacre of tour thousand unresist- 
 ing Waldenses at Cabriers and Mcrindolo, the latter in the 
 
THE CHURGE OF ROME. 193 
 
 pope's own territories. Neither the emperor Charles V. nor 
 Francis I. of France entered cordially into the project ; the 
 former still hoping by negotiation to recover the Protestants of 
 Germany, while the latter was secretly assisting them ; the two 
 monarchs being at war with each other. The council was formed 
 when only ten bishops had arrived; and on the 13th of De- 
 cember, when the pope's bull was read convoking the council and 
 proclaiming a jubilee, only twenty-five prelates were in attendance. 
 In the session of January, 1546, besides the papal legates and 
 the cardinal of Trent, there were present four archbishops, 
 twenty-eight bishops, three Benedictine abbots, and four generals, 
 or heads of religious orders. These forty-three persons con- 
 stituted the general council. The two archbishops were merely 
 titulars who had never seen their churches — Olaus archbishop of 
 Upsal ; and Veuante a Scotchman, archbishop of Armagh : 
 about twenty divines were present as spectators. The king of 
 the Romans sent an ambassador, the cardinal of Augsburg a 
 proctor ; and ten gentlemen watched over the secular interests 
 of the cardinal of Trent. Thus opened a council whose decrees 
 were to give law to Christendom, restore the Church to the 
 affections of the Protestants, and purify all its disorders. The 
 council sat, though with several intervals while its sessions were 
 prorogued, for eighteen years ; it was not finally dissolved till 
 1564. Its canons and decrees were then, by a bull of pope 
 Pius IV., declared to be the statutes of the Catholic Church. All 
 graces, privileges, and indulgences whatever, at variance with 
 the decrees and statutes of the council, are revoked, made null 
 and void, and reduced to the terms and limits of the council 
 itself. By a second bull, dated November, 1564, the Tridentiue 
 decisions on matters of faith were reduced into the form of a 
 creed, since known as that of pope Pius IV. To this creed 
 all ecclesiastics of the Church of Rome subscribe, adding the 
 sanction of an oath. It contains a summary of the doctrines of 
 the Church of Rome as they are now professed. After reciting 
 the Nicene creed it proceeds thus : — 
 
 " 1. I most firmly adnut and receive the apostolical and eccle- 
 siastical traditions, and all other observances and constitutions of 
 the Church. 
 
 " 2. I admit also the sacred Scriptures according to that sense 
 which holy mother Church, to whom it appertains to judge of 
 
 VOL. II. O 
 
194 THE CllUUeli OF KoMl-:. 
 
 ■ ♦. 
 
 the true meaning and interpretation of the sacred Scriptures, 
 hath holdon and still holds : nor will I oyer receive and interpret 
 them, otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the 
 Fathers. 
 
 " 3. I profess, likewise, that there are truly and properly 
 seven sacraments of the new law, instituted by our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not 
 all of them to every one ; namely, Baptism, Confirmation, the 
 Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders, and Matrimony ; 
 and that they confer grace ; and that of these sacraments Bap- 
 tism, Confirmation, and Orders cannot be repeated without 
 sacrilege. I receive also and admit the received and approved 
 rites of the Catholic Church, in the solemn administration of all 
 the aforesaid sacraments. 
 
 ** 4, I embrace and receive all things, and every thing, which 
 have been defined and declared by the holy Council of Trent, con- 
 cerning original sin and justification. 
 
 " 5. Further, I profess that in the mass is offered unto God a 
 true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice, for the living and the 
 dead ; and that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist 
 there is really, truly, and substantially the body and blood, 
 together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 and that a conversion is made of the whole substance of the 
 bread into his body, and of the whole substance of the wine into 
 his blood ; which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transub- 
 stantiation. 
 
 " 6. I confess, also, that under one kind only is received the 
 whole and entire Christ, and the true sacrament. 
 
 " 7. I strenuously maintain, that there is a purgatory, and 
 that the souls detained there are assisted by the prayers of the 
 faithful. 
 
 " 8. Likewise, that the saints, who reign together with 
 Christ, are to be venerated and invoked, and that they 
 offer prayers for us to God ; and that their relics are to be 
 venerated. 
 
 " 9. I most firmly declare, that the images of Christ, and of 
 the ever- Virgin, mother of God, as also of the other saints, are to 
 be had and retained ; and that due honour and veneration are to 
 be .shown to them. 
 
 "10. I affirm aUo, that the power of indulgences was left by 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 195 
 
 Christ in his Church ; and that the use of them is very sahitary 
 to Christian people. 
 
 "11. I acknowledge the Holy Catholic and Apostohc Church 
 of Rome to be the mother and mistress of all churches : and I 
 promise and swear true obedience to the Roman pontiff, suc- 
 cessor to the prince of the apostles St. Peter, and the vicegerent 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 " 12. Further I do, without doubt, receive and profess all 
 things which have been delivered, defined, and declared by the 
 sacred canons, and oecumenical councils, especially by the holy 
 Council of Trent ; and all things contrary thereunto, and all 
 heresies of whatsoever kind, which have been condemned, re- 
 jected, and anathematized by the Church, I in like manner con- 
 demn, reject, and anathematize. 
 
 " This true Catholic faith, out of which no one can be saved, 
 which by these presents I profess and verily hold, I, iV. N., do 
 promise, vow, and swear, most firmly to keep, and confess (by 
 God's help) entire and inviolate, to the last breath of my life ; 
 and that I will take care, as far as in me lies, that the same be 
 holden, kept, and preached by all who are subject to my control, 
 or who are connected with my charge. 
 
 " So help me God, and these the holy gospels of God." 
 
 No point was more laboriously discussed, or, according to 
 father Paul, presented more difficulties to the Tridentine theolo- 
 gians, than the doctrine of justification by faith. Luther's 
 opinions were collected in twenty-five articles, which, after 
 mature deliberation, were all of them condemned. Nothing 
 appears more simple to an English reader than Luther's method 
 of stating his views on this subject : the Tridentine fathers found 
 them difficult to understand. With the sacred Scriptures they 
 had little acquaintance, and their reading amongst the schoolmen 
 helped them not at all. " The opinion of Luther," says father 
 Paul, " concerning justifying faith, concerning the distinction 
 between the law and the gospel, and of the quality of the works 
 depending the one on the other, was never thought of by any 
 school writer, and therefore never confuted or discussed ; so that 
 the divines had work enough, first to understand the meaning of 
 the Lutheran propositions themselves, and then the reasons by 
 which to refute them. That faith justified must be true, no 
 doubt, for it is said and repeated by St. Paul ; but to resolve 
 
 o2 
 
KiO THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 what that faitli was, and how it made men just, here lay the 
 iliffieulty. Faith had vaiious meanings ; some gave nine, othere 
 to the number of fifteen. How faith justifies, perplexed them 
 further, and with this the whole doctrine of good works. One 
 point was never touched, that is, whether a man is justified and 
 then obeys the law, or whether he first obeys and then is justified. 
 In one opinion all the Tridentine fathers at last agreed ; that to 
 say, as Luther did, that only faith justifies is a proposition which, 
 may be taken in various senses, and all of them are absurd." 
 Their decrees apjiear in thirty-three canons (chapter xvi., session 
 vi.) ; and so long as these are received as the standards of the 
 ( 'hurcli of Rome, it is impossible, were this the sole ground of 
 ditference, for any Protestant Church to return to her com- 
 munion. When the council broke up, and its decrees were pub- 
 lished, the Reformation had extended to Great Britain ; tlie 
 labours of Calvin had established it in France ; the Swiss re- 
 formers had achieved their work ; the Lutheran Church had 
 attained what proved to be the summit of its power. The papacy 
 had lost its hold upon some of the most powerful nations of 
 Western Europe ; and, in short, the Reformation occupied, with 
 regard to its territorial triumphs, the ground on which it stands 
 in the nineteenth century. 
 
 Five years before the council assembled, Paul IIL decided 
 on a measure even more fruitful of results than the decrees of the 
 Tridentine fathers. By a bull which bears date in 1 540, he con- 
 stituted the order of Jesuits. Ignatius Loyola was their founder. 
 Like Dominic, and Francis of Assisi, a Spaniard ; in his youth a 
 soldier, who had won distinction at the siege of Pampeluna. Here 
 he was wounded, and his conduct on his recovery was such as 
 would, in later times, have placed his insanity beyond dispute. 
 His story, as told by Ribadaneira, his first biographer, is that of a 
 fiery enthusiast with a disordered mind. He read during his hours 
 of suffering and convalescence the ' Life of (^hrist,' the ' Lives and 
 ]\Iartyrdoms of the Saints,' a translation into Spanish of the 
 * Flos Sanctorum ;' and, aspiring to rival their devotion, resolved 
 to expose himself to penances and sufferings such as they had 
 undergone. He distributed his property to the poor, bound up 
 his wounded limb with a piece of cord, threw his armour and 
 military decorations upon a mule, and set forth on foot in a 
 pilgrim s garb under a vow to walk l)arefooted to the holy sepul- 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 197 
 
 clire. At Montserrat he overtook a Moresco, or Spanish Moor, 
 fell upon him unprovoked, and nearly killed hirn, only because 
 he was an infidel. In the chapel of the convent at Montserrat, 
 he knelt three days and nights cased in armour, and had a vision 
 commandinfr him to devote his life to the service of the Church. 
 He then took up his abode in the neighbouring hospital of 
 Manresa vyith a company of beggars, whose society he courted. 
 Seven hours a day he prayed upon his knees. Thrice a day he 
 scourged himself. His food was a crust from the filthy wallet of 
 one of the mendicants. For four months he performed no ablu- 
 tions, and Avas at length shunned by the poorest of the fraternity 
 as a foetid and loathsome mass of impurity. Having begged his 
 way to Jerusalem, there he was foiled in his great object ; for 
 the prior, fearing that his indiscretion might provoke the Maho- 
 metans to some act of violence, forbade him to appear in the 
 holy city, and commanded him instantly to return. He reached 
 Barcelona in 152i, and placed himself as a pupil in the public 
 grammar-school, sitting on the same form with the boys, to learn 
 the first rudiments of Latin, and receiving at his own desire the 
 same corporal chastisement. For ten years he begged his way 
 through the Universities of France and Spain, submitting to the 
 most unnatural hardships, and keeping in sight, his one object, 
 the honour of the Catholic Church. At Paris, in 1534, he formed 
 his first society, which consisted of six members, of whom one 
 was Francis Xavier. Six years were spent in perfecting its rules, 
 obtaining fresh adherents, and preaching from place to place 
 through southern Europe. His fame had preceded him to Rome. 
 The austerity of his life, his public sermons, his romantic history, 
 his squalid dress and haggard looks, soon made a deep impres- 
 sion ; and when with his few companions he offered his services 
 to Paul III., the pontiff was already prepared to embrace them 
 with alacrity. The papal chair was beset with dangers ; the great 
 sovereigns of Europe viewed its enormous power with jealousy ; 
 it was by no means certain that the approaching council would 
 not attempt to limit its prerogatives. The new society of Jesus, 
 as they now styled themselves, offered their services to the pope 
 in the same spirit in which a former generation had devoted their 
 lives and fortunes to the recovery of the sepulchre. There was 
 all the romance of chivalry ; and this was mingled with intense 
 devotion to the Church, which seemed to them incarnate in the 
 
198 'I'llK (JliUJiCll UF KUME. 
 
 popedom. They had already takeu tlie three monastic vows of 
 chastity, poverty, and obedience ; they added a fourth, impHcit 
 obedience to the pope ; they would obey all Lis commands ; they 
 would bind themselves to be absolutely at his disposal ; they 
 would go at his bidding into every countr}' under heaven, to 
 certain imprisonment, or to certain death, without inquiry, with- 
 out cost, and, when required, with the profoundest secrecy. 
 
 The popes felt the value of their new allies, and loaded them 
 with honours. Paul III. limited their number at first to sixty, 
 but the prohibition Avas soon removed and they increased rapidly. 
 He gave them leave to make their own rules and constitutions, 
 to elect their own general, to hear confessions, to absolve and to 
 excommunicate, in all places whatever, without consulting the 
 local bishops or other ecclesiastical authorities, and to receive 
 laymen as well as priests into their order. He enlarged even 
 these privileges in subsequent bulls, empowering them to depose 
 or change their general without consulting the papal see ; to 
 absolve heretics ; to excommunicate delinquents and punish 
 them ; to exercise all episcopal functions, to ordain, confirm, dis- 
 pense and consecrate ; to disguise themselves in any such dress or 
 habit, as they pleased ; to be exempt from secular jurisdiction, and 
 from all tithes and taxes due to the Church. Julius III., who 
 succeeded Paul, authorized them to erect universities wherever 
 they pleased, and to confer whatever decrees they chose ; and. 
 Pius IV. confirmed all their previous grants and privileges. Six 
 Jesuits represented the order at the Council of Trent, and did 
 not fail to give the assembled fathers an early intimation of theii* 
 power. By a rule which was rigidly observed no speaker occu- 
 pied more than half an hour. A Jesuit, on a matter of no import- 
 ance, spoke for a whole day ; another followed the day after, and 
 repeated almost verbatim the same wearisome harangue. They 
 were deputed, they said, by the pope, and it was not for the 
 council to prescribe rules to them. Pius V. gave the Jesuits the 
 right of entering into any university in Christendom and giving 
 public lectures, to which all the members were bound to listen. 
 Gregory XIII. still further enlarged their powers ; he gave them 
 their own judges and advocates, made them the papal librarians, 
 committed the Index Expurgatorius to their keeping, and autho- 
 rized them to correct, change, exjiunge, and burn such books and 
 ratoiiscripts as they deemed proper. 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 199 
 
 The constitutions of the Jesuits were published by authority 
 at Rome in 1558. The society consisted of priests and lay 
 members ; but the great principle pervading the laws of the 
 society was the same for both, namely, the separation of all its 
 members from the duties and relationships of common life ; even 
 the love of kindred was denounced as sinful. The novice, who 
 renounced his property in order to join the society, was not al- 
 lowed to give it to his relations, it belonged to the order. Not a 
 letter could be received or written without being shown to the 
 superior. Every secret of his heart must be revealed to the con- 
 fessor of the society before the candidate was admitted ; and the 
 superior himself reserved the right of hearing confession when 
 necessary. Obedience usurped the place of all other motives and 
 affections, and it was blind and absolute. No Jesuit was per- 
 mitted to aspire after any higher rank or station : the ecclesias- 
 tics of the order renounced the dignities of the Church ; the 
 secular, if he entered the society unlettered, might neither learn 
 to read nor write without permission of the superior. All right 
 of private judgment was renounced; "and let each member 
 persuade himself," says one of the constitutions, " that he ought 
 to be governed and moved by his superior, even as though he 
 were a lifeless body." The power of the general was in some 
 respects greater than the pope's, since he alone could wield this 
 obedience, and that without responsibility, and for life. He had, 
 however, assistants in every province ; but they had no power to 
 interfere beyond the terms of their commission. He appointed 
 the presidents of provinces, colleges, and religious houses at 
 pleasure ; he admitted members and dismissed them ; he ab- 
 solved and punished. Still he was subject to some restraints. 
 All the members of the society formed one great council ; the 
 general might always ask their advice if he thought proper ; but 
 if a change in the constitution of the order, or the dissolution of 
 existing houses were desired, this could only be done with their 
 consent. There was also a body of assistants not nominated by 
 the general, who exercised a constant supervision over his con- 
 duct ; and an admonitor, whose special office it was to reprove 
 or caution him ; and, in case of any gross delinquency, the assist- 
 ants were empowered to summon the general congregation, which 
 might then proceed even to pronounce a sentence of deposition, 
 and to elect another general. 
 
200 THE CHUJtCH OF HOME. 
 
 The profound secrecy which the Jesuits observe, aud which is 
 imposed upon them in their constitutions, while it has no douU 
 contributed to their astonishing successes, has at the same ^me 
 created the darlcest suspicious. A Jesuit has been thought 
 capable of every crime ; there is no conceivable form of guilt of 
 which societies or men are capable, which has not been alleged 
 against them by Protestant, an(l even by Roman Catholic writers 
 A volume entitled ' Secreta Monita Societatis Jesu,' professing 
 to contain the secret instructions of the order, was reprinted by 
 a Protestant bookseller at Antwerp, in the seventeenth century ; 
 it was again reprinted in England, in Latin and English, in 
 1723. This work consists of seventeen chapters. It is a master- 
 piece of policy devoid of principle ; it explains and teaches the 
 whole mechanism of fraud and cunning ; and is, without excep- 
 tion, as base a comj^endium of deceit and heartlessness as the 
 world has ever seen. The novice is instructed how to feign the 
 air of devotion ; how to excite compassion on account of his 
 poverty ; how to worm himself into the confidence of the unsus- 
 pecting ; how to sow dissension in families ; how to obtain the 
 property of rich widows ; and how, in short, to establish the 
 interests of his order upon the ruins of human happiness and 
 social life. But the Jesuits deny that the ' Secreta Monita ' is 
 authentic ; and they have always been coiisistent in their protes- 
 tation that it libels their order. The question is revived as 
 often as the morality of the Jesuits is called in question, and 
 there is but one way in which it can really be set at rest : a 
 society which is found in every civilized state, interfering in 
 national, religious, and even domestic matters, among friends and 
 foes, must either lay bare its bosom to the world, as did the first 
 preachers of Christianity, or it must be content to lie for ever 
 beneath the worst suspicions. If the charges brought against the 
 Jesuits are false, it is not the malice of others, but their own mys- 
 terious silence which is alone in fault. 
 
 From this order the reforming party expected the regeneration 
 of the Church, the popes the restoration of their power, and all 
 true Catholics a triumph over heresy. Is' or were they entirely 
 disappointed. When Ignatius died, his company numbered 
 thirteen provinces, exclusive of that of Rome, and seven of these 
 belonged to Spain and its dependencies. The Inquisition, under 
 Charles V., had relaxed nothing of its vigour : during the reign 
 
THE CHUnCH OF EOME. 201 
 
 of Ferdiuaud and Isabella it had burnt tweuty thousand heretics, 
 and banished nine hundred thousand ; during that of Charles V. 
 it was introduced into the Low Countries ; it was sujiported with 
 all his authority in Spain and Sicily ; and he was only prevented 
 by an insurrection from establishing it at Naples. After all, he 
 regretted nothing on his death-bed, but his sinful lenity to 
 Luther and the heretics. Yet, even in Spain, the Jesuits were 
 already supplanting the Inquisitors of St. Dominic : they wielded 
 a more formidable weapon ; they planted schools in every city, 
 and in a few years monopolized in Spain, as well as the rest of 
 papal Europe, the education of the young. America was just 
 discovered, and the Jesuits had entered on their mission in Brazil 
 and Paraguay. Francis Xavier, with a hundred missionaries, 
 had penetrated the East Indies from Goa to Japan. Abyssinia 
 was the seat of a provincial who aspired to rule its ancient church, 
 and who succeeded in overthrowing its ancient dynasty. France 
 was reluctant to receive the Jesuits, and contained only one col- 
 lege regidarly formed. Germany M'as divided into two provinces. 
 Into England the Jesuits, except by stealth, were not allowed to 
 force their way. So early and so rapid was the progress of the 
 society. Viewed with fear and wonder, and received in the most 
 papal countries with distrust, it proceeded unchecked on its 
 march of triumph. Henry III. of France was stabbed by a 
 priest ; Henry IV. was assassinated ; the life of Elizabeth of 
 England was threatened ; and in each case suspicion, if not 
 proof, rested on the Jesuits. Still their influence grew amidst 
 universal dread or hate. The gunpowder plot, in 1605, they 
 avowed as their own device ; and Mariana, in his book dedicated 
 to the king of Spain, defended the doctrine that it was meri- 
 torious to remove heretical princes by assassination. Yet, ac- 
 cording to father Ribadaneira, in the year 1608 the society 
 numbered 10,581 members, with an annual revenue of two mil- 
 lions of crowns. At the close of the sixteenth century it had 
 thrown into the shade Franciscans, Dominicans, the parochial 
 clergy, and all the other agencies on which the court of Rome 
 had so long depended. 
 
 The history of the Roman Catholic Church during the last two 
 centuries and a half is so complicated with that of European 
 politics, and with the growth of those colonial empires which 
 have started into life beyond the seas, that it becomes impossible 
 
•202 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 to trace, within a limited space, any but the most important 
 events. Our narrative henceforth becomes a summary, and we 
 must be satisfied to notice only those occurrences which iiave 
 left some abiding impressions on the character or the constitution 
 of the Church of Rome. 
 
 In 1622 the famous congi-egation de Propaganda fide was 
 founded by Gregory XV. It consisted of a number of cardinals 
 assisted by a secretary, a notary, an officer of the Inquisition, 
 and a few priests, and was designed to propagate religion in 
 foreign pnrts, to conduct the missions which had already been 
 established, and to form new ones in every jjart oi the world. 
 The example of Gregory was followed by Urban VIII., who in 
 1687 added a college for the education of young men destined 
 for foreign missions. They were instructed, not, like the old 
 juonks, in barbarous literature and school divinity, but in science, 
 in the philosophy of* grammar, and in languages. The same 
 zeal for the conversion of the heathen extended into France, 
 where in 1 663 a congregation of bishops and other ecclesiastics 
 was founded at Paris for the education of Christian missionaries. 
 Another society ajDpeared in France in 1644 under the title of 
 the Congregation of the Holy Sacrament. These were followed 
 by other associations of less note in different countries for pro- 
 moting the cause of the Church amongst the infidels. They were 
 all in subjection to the parent congregation of Gregorj^ XV. at 
 Rome. Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Capuchins, were em- 
 ployed abroad. But the Jesuits were the most successful. A 
 bitter warfare was waged between the Jesuits and the other 
 missionaries, not unlike that which two hundred years before 
 had raged between the monks and the parochial clergy. The 
 Jesuits accused the Dominicans of want of zeal, and the Domini- 
 cans replied, accusing the Jesuits, Avith bitter invectives, of 
 corrupting the doctrines of the church to jDromote their own 
 ambitious purposes. South America and the East Indies were 
 the two theatres on which the amazing influence of the Jesuits 
 over savage natures was conspicuously displayed. Early in the 
 seventeenth century the Catholic Church was reared with Italian 
 splendour in South America. There were five archbishopricks, 
 twenty-seven bishopricks, four hundred monasteries, and jDarish 
 churches in proportional numbers, besides two magnificent catlie- 
 (Irals. The Jesuits taught grammar and the liberal arts to the 
 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 203 
 
 children of the Porti^^^ ; a theological seminary was added 
 for students for the P^B^iy ; meanwhile the mendicant orders 
 undertook the humbler task of instructing the aborigines. These 
 monks taught them to read and to sing, to build houses, and to 
 cultivate the soil. The disposition of the native Mexicans, as 
 represented by all travellers of that age, was guileless and affec- 
 tionate. They held the priest in profound respect; when he 
 visited his parish he was received with the ringing of bells and 
 strains of music ; flowers were strewed in his path, and the 
 mothers held out their inflmts to receive his benediction. The 
 simple converts were never weary of attending mass and singing 
 vespers ; they had a talent for music, and took delight in deco- 
 rating their churclies. They were extremely susceptible to 
 fanciful impressions ; in their dreams, the Jesuits tell us, they 
 beheld the joys of paradise. The queen of heaven appeared to 
 the sick in glory and majesty, surrounded by youthful attendants, 
 who brought refreshment to the feverish sufferer. The only 
 hindrance to complete success was that of which later missionaries 
 have had but too much reason to complain, the bad example of the 
 European settlers. The East Indian mission had been founded 
 by Francisco Xavier in person. He laid the foundations of a 
 church in India and Japan, but his zeal sought new fields of 
 enterprise, and he died in sight of China. But other leaders 
 scarcely inferior to him in devotion or iii enterprise occupied his 
 place, and the work of conversion had never been allowed to 
 flag. It received fresh life when Gregory XV. canonized at the 
 same time the founder of the order and his great disciple. The 
 pope's motives are explained in the preamble to his bull : — "At 
 the time when new worlds were just discovered, Avhen in tlie old 
 Luther had risen up in arms against the Catholic Church, the 
 soul of Ignatius Loyola was inspired to found a company which 
 should devote itself specially to bring about the conversion of the 
 heathen and the return of heretics. But of all its members 
 Francisco Xavier proved himself most worthy to be called the 
 apostle of the new-discovered nations. For this cause both are 
 now to be received into the catalogue of saints." 
 
 The successes of the Roman Catholic missions in Japan, so far 
 as the number of converts is concerned, throw into the shade all 
 other triumphs of Christianity. The mission Avas undertaken in 
 1529 ; fifty years afterwards the Japanese converts were esti- 
 
204 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 ijiateil at three hundred thousaiid ; and between the years 1603 
 and 1022 not fewer than two hundred and thhty nine thousand 
 were baptized. In Siam, and even in China, the Jesuits met 
 with equal success. These nations seemed on the point of 
 embracing the faith, and the pajjal court looked forward to the 
 time when the millions of the East should prostrate themselves 
 before the feet of St. Peter's successor, and the Church, amidst 
 new triumphs, should forget her vexations in Western Europe. 
 But the brilliant prospect faded even more suddenly than it had 
 appeared. A relentless persecution extinguished the Japanese 
 Church in blood. Frorii China the missionaries were expelled, 
 and almost every trace of their labours vanished. Of all their 
 successes scarcely anything now remains but the nominal Chris- 
 tianity of the Cingalese, who, retaining some Christian notions, 
 worship Buddha and Vishnu, and a few thousand native Roman 
 Catholics, converts from the native Syrian Church in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Goa. 
 
 The cause of the rapid triumph of their missions, their sudden 
 collapse and premature decaj', has been investigated by WTiters 
 of every class with a diligence proportioned to the imjDortauce of 
 the subject. The Jesuits explain their successes by a reference 
 to the saintly zeal and consummate wisdom of the great apostles 
 of their order. They ascribe their defeats to the intrigues of 
 Protestants, and the jealousy of rival missionaries of their own 
 Church. It is probable there is some truth in these apologies. 
 Protestants, no doubly would caution tlie barbarian coiu'ts against 
 their insidious visitors ; and rival Dominicans would naturally 
 thwart an order whose assumption and arrogance were intole- 
 rable. In this way difficulties were, no doubt, created ; but it 
 may be questioned whether they were of so grave a character as 
 to end in the destruction not only of the Jesuit missionaries, 
 but of the missionary work itself in every region of the East. 
 
 It is alleged against them, that instead of instructing their 
 converts in the pure doctrines of Christianity, they taught a 
 corrupt system both of religion and morality, and made the 
 duties of the Gospel perfectly consistent with the indulgence of 
 every vicious passion. They not only tolerated but encouraged 
 in new converts the observance of heathenish customs, however 
 lewd. And their ingenuity was employed in showing how, with 
 a little contrivance, heathen superstitions might be made In 
 
THE CIIUECH OF ROME. 205 
 
 wear a Christian ch'ess. With regard to their own conduct, they 
 were accused of avarice and anihition. They engaged in the 
 pursuits of commerce with avidity, and accumulated large sums 
 by metliods inconsistent with fair dealing. They were constantly 
 involved in civil affairs, and were charged, wherever they ap- 
 peared, with sedition and intrigue. Their restless love of power 
 grovelled in the lowest arts of bribery and servile adulation, and 
 soared in the loftier regions of civil war and sanguinary revoki- 
 tions. Even Rome itself felt some alarm as it regarded their 
 formidable power. The sovereign pontiff was often driven to 
 govern them by submitting to their dictates, and making their 
 acts his own. It was only when his decisions coincided with 
 theirs that they were treated with respect. The decline of their 
 influence in the East was heard with secret pleasure at the 
 Vatican ; and if the triumphs of the Church were lost in China 
 and Japan, there remained ihe consolation that, at least, the 
 janissaries of the Church were crippled. 
 
 The relations of the Gallican Church with Rome always stood 
 upon a very different footing from those of the countries south of 
 the Alps and Pyrenees. Ever since the wars of the investitures, 
 the French kings w^ere tenacious of their rights. These were 
 comprehended in a code termed the " Regale ;" which included, 
 with other matters, the collation by the crown to all benefices 
 which became vacant in the diocese of a deceased bishop before 
 the nomination of his successor. Louis XIV, now sat upon the 
 throne. He had already, in 1662, on a slight quarrel with the 
 pope, marched his troops to Italy, and exacted a humiliating 
 peace. As a true son of the Church he could not chastise its 
 head, but he had no scruple in fighting against the pope in his 
 temporal capacity as an Italian sovereign. It speaks loudly for 
 the assumption of the papacy that Innocent XI. should have 
 courted a contest with such a monarch as Louis XIV. on the question 
 of the Regale. The pontiff fought with the ancient weapons, — 
 edicts, bulls, and threats of excommunication. Louis, follov/ing 
 the example of our Plantagenets, forbade the introduction of the 
 bulls, and threatened death to those who should either publish 
 or obey them. It was a mere war of words, for the age had 
 passed in which papal anathemas were terrible. At length, in 
 1682, the king assembled a convocation at Paris. It consisted 
 of thirty-five bishops and as many deputies. The ancient doc- 
 
206 TUK Oai'TJCIT OF ROME. 
 
 trine-of the Gallican Church was asserted in four propositions, 
 which were submitted to the clergy and the universities of 
 France on the authority of the convocation as an inviolable rule 
 of faith. The propositions were these : — 
 
 1. That neither St. Peter nor his successors have received 
 from God any power to interfere, directly or indirectly, in what 
 concerns the temporal interests of princes and sovereign states ; 
 that kings and princes cannot be deposed by ecclesiastical autho- 
 rity, nor their subjects forced from the sacred obligation of fidelity 
 and allegiance, by the power of the Church or the bulls of the 
 Roman pontiff. 
 
 2. That the decrees of the Council of Constance, which repre- 
 sent the authority of general councils as superior to that of the 
 pope, in spiritual matters, are approved and adopted by the 
 Gallican Church. 
 
 3. That the rules, customs, institutions, and observances which 
 have been received in the Gallican Church, are to be preserved 
 inviolable. 
 
 4. That the decisions of the pope, in points of faith, are not in- 
 fallible unless they be attended with the consent of the Church. 
 
 The pope in vain protested against the decisions of the council, 
 and forbade the execution of its decrees. The Gallican Church 
 maintained its independence as thus asserted till it was swept 
 away in the revolution of 1789. 
 
 The story of the Jansenists of Port Royal would deserve atten- 
 tion as a romantic episode, had it no further bearing upon the 
 history of the Church of Rome. 
 
 Early in the seventeenth century Madame de St. Arnaud was 
 abbess of Port Royal, in the neighbourhood of ParisL Her family 
 were remarkable for intellectual endowments : her brother, 
 Antoine Arnaud, was the greatest controversial WTiter of the 
 age ; her father, a distinguished advocate, had contested the 
 rights of the French Church against the Jesuits in the forum 
 and with the pen. The abbess sustained the reputation of her 
 name. To a masculine decision of purpose and force of mind, 
 she added feminine gentleness, a cultivated mind, and great 
 devotion. Port Royal was no exception to the careless state into 
 which all monastic establishments had fallen, and she determined 
 to reform it. The rules which she adopted were severe. Her 
 nuns ])ractiscd austerities such as Bonotlict and Dominic enforced. 
 
THE CHURCH OF T.OMK. 207 
 
 But the intolligeiicc of the abbess imparted a peculiar character 
 to the fouiidatiou over which she presided. It was no less a 
 school of letters than a school of piety. She drew around her a 
 body of men, who sought retirement at once for the purposes of 
 religious devotion and of the highest intellectual pursuits. At 
 the head of these was her brother ; his associates were Nicole, 
 Pascal, Le Maistre de Sacy, and Tillcmont. Parisian society in 
 a dissolute age bore witness to the purity of their lives, and the 
 press soon proclaimed their learning and industry. The writings 
 of the Port Koyalists created the Augustine age of French litera- 
 ture ; and, stooping to the lowest capacities, they sent forth ele- 
 mentary books, and works on education, which for more than a 
 century were in general use in the best schools in Europe, The 
 Jesuits viewed their rising influence with deep jealousy. Between 
 them and the Arnauds there was the ancient feud. The education 
 of the young was the most powerful instrument the Jesuits pos- 
 sessed for the aggrandizement of their order : they had engrossed 
 it ; and the Port Royalists, in one bold attempt, had now wrested 
 it from them. The Calvinistic theology of Port Royal was a 
 further offence ; and at the middle of the century the Jesuits, it 
 became evident, had resolved that nothing less should satisfy 
 them than the destruction of Port Royal. The conflict lasted for 
 more than fifty years, during which it assumed the forms we 
 shall now briefly describe. 
 
 First of all, the morality inculcated by the Jesuits, their 
 demand of absolute submission, their defence of the most criminal 
 actions when done with a view to the interests of the Church, 
 their claim not merely to guide but to subjugate the conscience, 
 were exposed with the keenest wit and argument by Arnaud, and 
 his greater ally Pascal, in the voluminous Morale Pratique des 
 Jdsuites of the one, and the incomparable Provincial Letters of 
 the other. Underneath this controversy lay another of wider 
 extent and of far more importance, inasmuch as it concerned the 
 true nature of religion itself. The Port Royalists were Jansenists, 
 and Jansen taught the doctrines of Augustine, known in modern 
 times as Calvinism. On the doctrines of grace and predestination 
 the Jesuits were committed to the contrary opinions, and on this 
 ground a war of doctrine raged between the parties. Jansen died 
 in 1638, but five propositions extracted by the Jesuits from his 
 book, were sent to Rome and condemned by Innocent X , in the 
 
208 'I'llK CllUlKll C»F KOMK. 
 
 year 165Ji, as iuipious and bla:5pliemous. The Jansenists deaicil 
 that these propositions existed in the sense in which they were 
 condemned, and resisted the bull, although it had the king's 
 sanction. The Jesuits made a second appeal to Rome, and the 
 propositions were a second time condemned by Alexander VII, 
 in 1656 ; the Port Royalists still protesting against the justice of 
 the censure, and falling of course under the displeasure both of 
 tlie pope and king. And lastly, the theory of true devotion, if 
 we may so call it, maintained by the Jaiiseni.st8, completed their 
 demerits in the estimation of a court which was entirely led by 
 the Jesuits. Molinos, a Spanish priest who lived at Rome and 
 had a high reputation for sanctity, published a Guide to 
 Devotion, in which he avowed sentiments with regard to the 
 inward light, and the nature of spiritual worship, precisely 
 similar to those wdiich John Fox the Quaker had proclaimed in 
 England just twenty years before. Ilis lillle book was instantly 
 translated into various languages ; and his followers, a numerous 
 party who still believed themselves true members of tlie Church 
 of Rome, obtained the name of Mystics or Quietists. Except in 
 their compliance with the rites of the Church they were the 
 Quakers of the papacy. Madame Guyon became the leader of 
 the Mystics in France ; a woman of rank, earnest and devout, 
 but, as her writings show, of confused judgment and wild imagi- 
 nation. Still truth lay essentially in the doctrine of ilolinos, and 
 it was cordially embraced by the Port Royalists. True religion 
 they made to consist, not in external forms, but in the dispositions 
 of the soul, and supremely in the love of God. The Jesuits soon 
 perceived that the system was a tacit censure on themselves, if 
 not upon the Church, which seemed to place the essence of piety 
 in a certain round of ceremonies. Molinos was violently assailed, 
 and, though a personal friend of the pope, was thrown into prison. 
 He recanted, but was sentenced to^imprisonment for life. Nine 
 years afterwards, in 1 696, he died an okl man. But his doctrines 
 had taken root, and even Fenelon defended them at the court of 
 Louis XIV. Bossuet, who is said to have beheld with anxiety 
 the rising fame and eminent talents of Fenelon, obtained, through 
 Louis, the papal condemnation of the Mystics and of Fenelon 
 himself. This was in 1699; and Fenelon, it must be told, 
 wliether from conviction or fear, admitted tlie justice of the 
 decree, and read Ids own recantation at his church of Cambray. 
 
THE CHURCH OF EOME. 209 
 
 The Jesuits pursued their triumpli ; the Jansenists were crushed, 
 and in 1709 the convent of Port Royal was levelled with the 
 ground. Thus perished the most persevering and systematic 
 effort to bring about internal reformation which the Church of 
 Rome has ever seen. The hideous profligacy of France during 
 the Orleans' regency followed the triumph of the Jesuits and the 
 destruction of Port Royal ; and to this again the Revolution of 
 1789, in which the Church and monarchy were lost I 
 
 A few Jansenists remained. At the beginning of the eight- 
 eenth century they were ably represented by Quesnel, a Dutch 
 pastor, who published his well-known work, ' Moral Reflections 
 on the New Testament,' in 1708. It was thought worthy of 
 especial reprobation, and Clement XI. condemned one hundred 
 and one propositions extracted from it as blasphemous and 
 heretical, in the famous bull Unigenitus The Jansenists asked 
 for a general council to decide the qiiestion ; and the parliament 
 of Paris, and some of the French bishops, were dissatisfied ; for 
 the bull was inconsistent, in several particulars, with the -rights 
 of the Galilean Church. But the regent Orleans, in ] 720, gave 
 the sanction of the court to the papal edict, which had now been for 
 seven years a subject of constant dispute. It was ordained, and the 
 parliament of Paris was prevailed on to register the decree, that 
 the constitution Unigenitus, received by the bishops, should be 
 observed by all orders of people in the French dominions ; that 
 no university or incorporated society, and no individual of any 
 description whatever, should speak, write, maintain or teach, 
 directly or indirectly, anything repugnant to the ordinance, or to 
 the explanations given of it, by the dignitaries of the Galilean 
 Church ; that all appeals and proceedings against it should be 
 deemed void ; and that the courts of parliament and all the 
 judges should assist the prelates in the execution of spiritual 
 censures. Under this last blow the Jansenists expired. 
 
 In the month of February, 1769, Lorenzo Ganganelli was 
 elected to the papal throne. If the volume of letters which bear 
 his name be genuine (a point which after much controversy pro- 
 fessor Ranke appears to have decided),* he was a man of many 
 
 * In his "History of the Popes," vol. iii. p. 212 note. Amongst other 
 reasons, " because they hear the atamp of an originality, a peculiar turn of 
 thought, unchanged under all the circumstances of life, such as no one could 
 have invented or forged." This alone would be snfiicient. 
 
 VOL. II. P 
 
210 THE ciiuiu"!! OF koml:. 
 
 virtues, disinterested, catholic, gentle in his conduct yet firm in 
 liis detenuination, and always in pursuit of" what he believed to 
 be the interests of truth With him the Church, that is the 
 papacy, was not the grand idea. One of still larger dimensions 
 occupied his mind, the lionour of God and the welfare of mankind. 
 He took the name of Clement XIV. 
 
 The Jesuits in every country in Europe had accomplished 
 their own disgrace. Protestant literature had left them far 
 bi^hind, and Protestant universities had taken the higher branches 
 of education oxit of their hands. Their politics were odious ; 
 Choiseul, the prime minister of France, detested them. The 
 bankruptcy of a mercantile house connected with the Jesuits, 
 involved a multitude of other failures, and the sutferers appealed to 
 the courts of justice. Louis XV. was unable to save the order from 
 the indignation of his people ; and on the 6th of August, 1762, 
 the parliament decreed the suppression of the Jesuits in France, 
 Carvalho, the minister of Portugal, was bent on their expulsion. 
 They were charged with an attempt to assassinate the king in 
 1758 ; the rack and other torments were turned against them ; 
 and they were expelled the country under a tempest of popular 
 rage. Even Spain and Italy refused to allow them to remain. 
 All the great Catholic countries in Europe remonstrated with 
 the pontiff, and demanded their suppression. On the 2 1st of 
 July, 1773, the order was abolished. "Inspired, as we himably 
 trust," said the poj^e, " by the Divine Spirit, urged by the duty 
 of restoring the unanimity of the Church, convinced that the 
 company of Jesus can no longer render those services to the end 
 for which it was instituted, and moved by other reasons of pru- 
 dence and state policy which we hold locked in our own breasts, 
 we abolish and annul the society of Jesus, their functions, houses, 
 and institutions." What further reforms Ganganelli meditated 
 were cut short by his death, in September, 1774, — it was said, by 
 poison administered to him in a cup of chocolate during his 
 celebration of the mass : a report from his physicians denied the 
 fact without satisfying the public mind. Tiie annual cursing and 
 excommunication of heretical princes and others, by the public 
 reading of the brdl. In coena Domini, was discontinued throughout 
 his pontificate ; it has been since revived by his successors, and 
 is now practised at Rome on Maundy Thursday, in the presence 
 of the pope and cardinals, and a xixst assemblage. 
 
THE CHURCH OP ROME. 211 
 
 The storm was now preparing which was soon to burst over 
 Europe. The progress of infidel oj^inions was feebly met in 
 France and Italy, by damnatory bulls and lists of books pro- 
 scribed. The Church was no longer feared ; succeeding events 
 showed how Little she was loved. Joseph, the German emperor, 
 before the French revolution broke out, suppressed upwards of a 
 thousand monasteries, forbade the purchase of papal dispensations, 
 and declared himself supreme in all the secular affiiirs of the 
 Church. From Austria, the spirit of independence was commu- 
 nicated to Tuscany and Naples ; and in a short time, most of the 
 German principalities asserted their independence by various acts 
 vexatious to the papacy. But the French Revolution appeared, 
 and in its surging tide these minor conflicts were forgotten, while 
 the papacy itself seemed on the point of rain. At the earlier 
 periods of the Revolution, the National Assembly aimed only at 
 the assertion of its own independence. But its claims became, 
 day by day, more urgent. It declared its right, in 1790, 
 to dispose of the estates of the Church as national property • 
 substituted popular election for the installation of bishops under 
 the concordat, and salaried the priesthood by the state, seizing 
 upon the Church properties in return. The monastic orders 
 were suppressed, vows dissolved, and dioceses altered, at the will 
 of the government. But all this was transient. The Revolution 
 advanced ; Louis was dethroned and executed, a republic pro- 
 claimed, and religion under every form denounced. The Gal- 
 ilean Church was turned up by its roots, and not a trace remained. 
 The campaign of 1796 placed Italy in the hands of France : 
 Rome was invaded, and the Vatican invested. It was in vain 
 that Pius VI., an old man of eighty, implored that he might die 
 where he had lived ; he was told that he could die anywhere. 
 The room in which he sat was stripped and plundered ; the ring- 
 was torn from his finger ; and at length he was carried off to 
 France, where he died in August 1799. A new century dawned, 
 and the papal throne was vacant : it was fondly believed among 
 Protestants, that the chair of St. Peter would never be occupied 
 again. 
 
 In the history of the world there has been nothing more sur- 
 prising than the sudden renovation of the Church of Rome. 
 During the last half- century, she seemed to be at the point of 
 death ; she has reinstated herself in her long-lost dignities, and 
 
 P 2 
 
212 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 
 
 asserts and wields a power, far less, it is true, than that which 
 she once had, but immeasurably greater than that which she 
 possessed during the two previous centuries. Her renovated life, 
 the agents by whom it was produced, the means by which it was 
 sustained, and the results to which it was made subservient, will 
 form perhaps, in some future age, a marvellous and instructive 
 history. 
 
 On the 13th of March, 1800, a few timid cardinals assembled 
 in the church of St. George at Venice and elected Pins VII. 
 pope. The battle of Marengo followed, and Napoleon was 
 virtually master both of France and Austria. He determined 
 that in France the Church should be restored. But his terms 
 were hai'd. He insisted on the alienation of the Church lands, 
 valued at no less than four hundred millions of francs ; and the 
 clergy henceforth Avere to be paid and appointed by the State. 
 The pope on the other hand was allowed to retain the right of 
 canonical institution, to its full extent. Pius VII. yielded a 
 reluctant consent, and the concordat of 1801 was the conse- 
 quence. Still no monks were permitted, nor any religious vows. 
 The regulations concerning marriage, introduced into the civil 
 code, were also at variance with the principles of the Church. 
 The concordat was published in Paris in 1802, not without 
 much opposition from the theologians and canonists at Rome. 
 Yet, in 1804, Pius VII. complied with Napoleon's request, and 
 came to Paris to assist at his coronation. He was suffered to 
 return to Rome. But Italy had now become a dependent king- 
 dom, and it suited the views of Napoleon to keep the pope in 
 his own power. He demanded to be allowed to nominate a 
 third of the cardinals, and made other claims which Pius at length 
 detemiined to resist ; he was in consequence torn from his capital, 
 and lived for some years a prisoner at Fontainebleau, possessing 
 the title of pope, but with scarcely a shadow of real power. By 
 degrees his consent was gained on all important points to the 
 emperor's demands, and a second concordat was framed at 
 Fontainbleau in 1813 on the preliminary condition that the 
 pope should not return to Rome. Napoleon fell in 1814 ; the 
 Bourbon dynasties of France and Spain were restored ; and the 
 continent resumed the territorial aspect of the previous century, 
 Pius VII. revoked the last concordat, received back the States of 
 the Church which had been ^Tested from hiin, and on the 21st 
 
THE CHUKCH OF EOME. 213 
 
 of. May, 1814, re-entered Rome in triumph. "This," says 
 Ranke, " was the commeHcement not only of a new age for the 
 world, but of a new era for the holy see." 
 
 It was now evident that Pius VII. liad resolved to govern in the 
 spirit which had animated the Vatican in the fifteenth century. 
 One of his first acts was the re-establishment of the Jesuits ; it 
 was followed by another not less significant, the restoration of 
 the Inquisition, which at once began its work in Spain. In 
 Sardinia new bishoprics were founded, in Tuscany monasteries 
 were restored, in the kingdom of Naples the clergy were again 
 placed under the control of the Vatican. The Galilean Church 
 was placed in 1815 in a state of dependence on Rome unparal- 
 leled in any former age. The power of the Church and of the 
 restored dynasties was harshly used ; there seemed to be a 
 compact between the two ; the Church was engaged to crush the 
 civil liberties of nations, the restored dynasties were, in return, 
 to uphold the Church however extravagant her pretensions. Re- 
 sistance followed in Spain and Italy, and in 1820 the peace of 
 Europe was again in danger. But the power of France and 
 Austria was sufficient to repress the insurrections of Italian 
 carbonari and Spanish patriots, and for some years longer the 
 cause of legitimacy and of the Church of Rome prevailed. 
 
 In 1 829 the Roman Catholics obtained in England a repeal of the 
 statutes by which they had been, since the revolution of 1688, ex- 
 cluded from both houses of parliament. The nation was averse to 
 the measure, which was carried by the influence of the duke of Wel- 
 lington in the House of Lords, assisted by Mr. Peel in the House 
 of Commons. It was viewed with great apprehension by many 
 of the statesmen who had presided, during a long and stormy 
 period, at the councils of George III. In the House of Lords, the 
 duke of York, the heir apparent to the throne, had two years 
 before protested against the introduction of such a bill, with deep 
 emotion. It was his last address, and left a great impression on 
 the nation. " Should this bill pass," exclaimed Lord Eldon, who 
 had been high chancellor for a quarter of a century, " the sun 
 of England will set for ever." The statesmen by whom it was 
 introduced had in former years been loud and frequent in their 
 opposition to it. The two arguments which induced the parlia- 
 ment to acijuiesce were these : first the apprehension of danger 
 from Ireland ; and secondly, the hope that the Church of Rome 
 
214 THE CllUUCII OF HOME. 
 
 had abandoned her exclusive claims and persecuting principles. 
 The revolution of July, 1830, in France once more crippled the 
 papal party. During the seventeen years of Louis Philippe the 
 Church of Rome rather retained its position than gained fresh 
 victories. It was part of the cautious policy of that sovereign to 
 uphold the clergy in public estimation, and yet to counteract 
 their power. Another revolution followed, in 18-i8, and the 
 dynasty of the house of Orleans was at an end. The convulsions 
 in Paris were repeated in almost all the capitals of Europe. At 
 Rome the populace rose upon the pope and as.sa.ssinated his 
 prime minister on the steps of the Vatican. Pius IX. escaped 
 upon the coach-box of the Austrian ambassador, disguised as a 
 servant in livery. The Inquisition was torn open, the Vatican 
 was ransacked. A republic was proclaimed, and for a whole 
 year the pontiff lived in exile. In France, too, a republic was 
 proclaimed, and Louis Napoleon was chosen president. He 
 furnished an army to the pope, who possessed themselves of 
 Rome after a short siege, and Pius ventured to return. The 
 republic was dissolved within three years, and Napoleon III. 
 elected emperor by the suffrages of the people. The army of 
 occupation still remained at Rome, nor to this day has it been 
 withdrawn. At present the pope is indebted for his throne, 
 perhaps for his life, to the presence of his French allies. The 
 influence of the Church has greatly increased in France since the 
 revolution of 1848. At present her position in France and 
 through the whole of Christendom, is that of an institution which 
 seems to be conscious of no decay, struggling intensely for the 
 recovery of all that it possessed in the days of Hildebrand or 
 Innocent III. and often with success. 
 
 In England, the Roman Catholic Relief Bill of 1829 removed 
 the last of the disabilities imposed upon the worship, or the civil 
 rights, of Roman Catholics. Except in the matter of their 
 exclusion from parliament, these disjibilities had long had no 
 real being The pas.sing of this momentous law was immediately 
 followed by visible signs of renewed activity and zeal. Churches, 
 colleges, monasteries, and schools, sprung up with amazing 
 rapidity. In the first year of the present century there were 
 about sixty Roman Catholic? chapels and two colleges in England 
 and Wales, and no religious houses. In the year 1830, these 
 institutions .amounted to upwards of six hundred ; they have 
 
THE CHURCH OF KOME. 215 
 
 since increased to more than eight hundred Magnificent col- 
 leges exist at Stonyhurst and Oscott ; and the cathedrals of 
 Westminster and Birmingham, though poor in comparison with 
 our mediaeval structures, far surpass in size and internal splendour 
 any Protestant churches of recent date. For the last quarter of 
 a century the condition of the Church of Rome in England has 
 been that of perfect security, and unquestionably of great success. 
 That success, however, has dazzled the leaders of the Church, 
 and brought on a conflict with the government and the Protestant 
 feeling of England which is not likely to subside. In 1851, the 
 pope consecrated Dr. Wiseman cardinal archbishop of West- 
 minster. The prelate signalized his introduction to his new 
 honours by a pompous address, in which he declared that " he 
 governed, and should continue to govern," the several counties 
 which comprised his bishoprick under the authority committed 
 to him by the holy see. At the same time the Roman Catholic 
 bishops ostentatiously appeared in public in their episcopal 
 costume, and assumed titles such as those which belong to our 
 Protestant bishops as barons of the realm. The Protestantism, 
 and with it the indignation, of the people, was roused ; scenes 
 with which London had been once familiar were again enacted ; 
 the pope was dragged in mock triumph through the streets, and 
 hung in effigy amidst jeers and laughter. Scarcely a parish in 
 England which did not express its indignation in burning the 
 pope or his popular representative Guy Fawkes. The govern- 
 ment, indignant if not alarmed, allayed the public irritation by 
 the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, rendering it penal to usurp eccle- 
 siastical authority, or to assume or use the offensive titles. But 
 a heavier blow followed ; the attention of wise and thoughtful 
 men of all parties was concentrated upon this aggressive move- 
 ment. What principles did it enunciate, a,nd what did it por- 
 tend ? Were the claims of the pope to govern England to be 
 admitted ? Was the jDrogress of the Church of Rome consistent 
 with national liberty ? Our ablest divines took up the question 
 in its theological bearings, and in Westminster Abbey and many 
 other churches, sermons worthy of the best days of the English 
 pulpit were again heard by thronging crowds on the long-forgotten 
 topics of the pope's supremacy, the canon law, and the Romish 
 doctrine of the sacraments. The Church of Rome had raised up 
 against lierself a new race of combatants. Tlie English clergy of 
 
2ir, THE CIIURCil OF ROME. 
 
 the last generation were scarcely acquainted with the outlines of 
 the controversy ; it is now their familiar study, and one in which 
 not a few of them are profoundly versed. The result of the 
 momentous struggle is yet to be seen. The two parties once 
 more stand to their arms, and Protestants and Roman Catholics 
 have determined to renew the solemn conflict which the Reforma- 
 tion opened, but did not set at rest. 
 
 According to a tabular statement extracted from " Battersby's 
 Registry for the whole World," the statistics of the Church of 
 Rome in 1851 were as follows: — Pius IX. pope; conclave of 
 cardinals, 72 ; patriarchs in the Roman Church, 1 2 ; archbishops 
 and bishops, 690 ; coadjutors, auxiliaries, suffragans, &c., 90 ; 
 vicars apostolic, 76, prefects, 9 ; total, 879. 
 
 BiSHOPRicKS, with their Population : — 
 
 Bishops. Population. 
 
 Europe 606 .. . 124,993,961 
 
 A.sia 60 . . . 1,155,618 
 
 Africa . . . • . 11 . . . 751,751 
 
 America .... 94, . . . 25,819,210 
 
 Oceanica .... 10 . . . 3,057,007 
 
 Grand total. . 781 . 
 Add, in various missions 
 
 155,777,547 
 8,731,052 
 
 Total population of the Catholic [ , ^ , ~^^ -q^ 
 world I ' ' 
 
 Du Pin, Neio Ecclesiastical History. Bellarmini Dis2nit<L- 
 iiones in Hcrcvticos. Fleury, Ecclesiast. Hist. BrouglUon, 
 Blhliotheca Historica et Sacra. Le Glerc, Billiothrque Uni- 
 verselle. Alex. Ross, Pansebeia, or Vieio of all Religions, 
 1655. D'Emillienne, History of Monastic Orders. Pietro 
 Soave Polano (Father Paul) Hist, of the Council of Trent. 
 Ditto, Hist, of the Inquisition. Guicciardini, Francis, Hist. 
 Italy. Llorente, Hist. Inquisition in Sjjain. Roscoe, Life 
 Leo X. Ranlce, Hist, of the Popes of Rome. Canons and 
 Decrees of the Council of Trent Lives of Loyola, Xavier, &c. 
 &c. Hist, of Port Royal in France. Roman CatJiolicism, 
 from the Standards of the Church, C. Elliott, D.D., 1850. 
 Wylie on the Papacy, 1852. 
 
THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 217 
 
 ■pUSSIA, dHURCH OF.— The Sclavonic nations were the 
 last of the European family to receive the gospel. Its light* 
 reached them through the Eastern Church. The Germans 
 attempted their conversion at various times on the shores of the 
 Baltic, but, unfortunately, their weapon was the sword ; and, as 
 the heathen tribes resisted, they were either exterminated or 
 reduced to bondage, by whole provinces, and their lands divided 
 amongst the bishops and nobles who were forced upon them. 
 Christianity became hateful as a badge of slavery, and con- 
 sequently made no progress. But the tribes bordering on the 
 Black Sea came into frequent contact with the Greeks, some- 
 times it is true, in hostile collision, but more frequently in com- 
 mercial intercourse. Many Sclavonians entered the service of 
 the Greek emperors, and several of them occupied places of high 
 trust at Constantinople in the sixth and seventh centuries. The 
 Croats and Servians, from the north of the Carpathian moun- 
 tains, were the first Sclavonic nations amongst whom Christianity 
 was established. The sovereign of Bulgaria was converted in the 
 year 861, and the real foundation of the Sclavonic Christian 
 Church was laid by the translation of the Scriptures. The 
 Moravian prince, Rostislav, in 863, requested the Greek emperor 
 to send him learned men, well acquainted with the Sclavonic 
 language, in order to translate the Scripture and organise public 
 worship in decent forms. The emperor sent Methodius and 
 Constantino, or Cyrillus, who composed a Sclavonic alphabet, 
 and translated the Psalter, the Gospels, and the Acts of the 
 Apostles ; they also rendered the Liturgy of the Eastern Church 
 into Sclavonic ; and these ancient translations are those still in 
 use in the Russian Church. 
 
 The name of Russia, which since the time of Peter the Great 
 has been substituted for that of Muscovy, was first heard in the 
 ninth century. Ruric, the captain of a band of Scandinavians 
 called Russes, founded a state on the Baltic Sea by the conciuest 
 of several Sclavonic and Finnish tribes, the capital of which was 
 Novgorod. During his reign two Scandinavian chieftains are 
 said to have been the means of introducing from Constantinople 
 the religion of the Eastern Church. Be this as it may, there aie 
 many traces of Christianity since about this period amongst the 
 Sclavonians and their Scandinavian conquerors. Under teachers 
 sent to KiofF by the patriarchs Photius and Ignatius, the Greek 
 
218 THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 Church found many converts in Russia Monkish fables assert 
 •that the rapid spread of the new religion was ciiioHy owing to 
 the miraculous preservation of a cop}' of the gospels, which when 
 thrown into the fire lay uninjured, till it was removed by a 
 faithful confessor over whose body the flames had no power. 
 
 For above a century paganism continued to prevail in Russia, 
 The conversion of Olga, the widow of Ruric's son, prepared the 
 way for its final overthrow ; and from her reign may be properly 
 dated the introduction of the Greek Church into the northern 
 parts of Europe ; though a Jong period elapsed before the pre- 
 judices of her pagan subjects finally gave way and Christianity 
 was firmly established. The accounts of this interesting change 
 are presented to us by monkish writers, and we must be content 
 to receive the simple statements which gratified their own cre- 
 dulity. Awed by the solemn rites of Christian worship, which 
 while yet a pagaii Olga had witnessed at Kioff, she was curious 
 to be made acquainted with its doctrines. The Greek clergy 
 seized the opportunity to describe in lively colours the wonders 
 of the church of Saint Sophia, and the splendours of the religion 
 taught and practised at Constantinople. Olga resolved to visit 
 the great seat of religion in the West, and receive instruction at 
 what she conceived to be the fountain-head of truth. Delighted 
 with her discoveries slie became a Christian. She was in.structed 
 and baptized by the patriarch himself, who also became her 
 sponsor at the font. Returning home she hastened to attempt 
 the conversion of her son ; but her efforts seemed to fail. The 
 ridicule of his courtiers, and the scorn of a rude soldiery, had 
 more weight than the prayers and tears of his mother, and 
 Vladimir the Great took his seat upon the thront? a pagan, ad- 
 dicted to the gross vices of heathenism. But his enterprising 
 .spirit began to show itself. Curiosity, or perhaps some higher 
 motive, led him to investigate the different religions of his sub- 
 jects. In an empire stretching from the shores of the Baltic to 
 the Black Sea in one direction, and from the peaks of the Cau- 
 casus to the Carpathian ridge in the other, — a temtory including 
 Mahometans, Jews, Greeks and Latins, — this was no easy task : 
 he commissioned ten men for the purpose. The worship of the 
 Ea.stern Church has always been addressed more to the ear than 
 the understanding, and is more fitted to please than to instruct. 
 In Russia it is to this dav condiuted in the original Sclavonic 
 
■ THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 219 
 
 tongue, of which, it may be easily imagined, the hearers can 
 understand but little. The messengers from Kioff chanced to . 
 enter the stately church of Saint Sophia while the patriarch was 
 performing the service. The stillness of the worshippers as the 
 swelling notes rolled along the nave, the gorgeous robes of the 
 priests, the rich curtain that divided them from the people, half 
 disclosing the blaze of numberless lamps, the chanting from a 
 thousan-d voices, and above all, the solemn sense that seemed to 
 pervade the assembled multitude, all combined to render the 
 scene impressive to the rude strangers. Full of wonder and 
 admiration they returned to Vladimir, and related all that they 
 had witnessed. Their descriptions, aided by the address of the 
 Greek envoy, Constantino, fixed his choice. In Vladimir we 
 must remember, the ignorance of a savage, the ferocity of a pagan 
 soldier, and the awakening conscience of a half-taught, yet pro- 
 bably sincere, convert were all combined. He was sho^vn an 
 icon, or picture of the day of judgment ; his mind was filled 
 with horror at the representation of unbelievers struggling in 
 tlie flames of perdition, while the Christians in glory stood gazino- 
 at their misery. He resolved at once to be a Christian ; and, to 
 prove his sincerity, devoted his sword, in the true spirit of a 
 crusader, to the honour of Christ, and vowed to make war upon 
 the infidels. After besieging Kherson, he married a Greek 
 princess, and was baptized by the name of Basil. Soon after he 
 returned to Kioff, and the baptism of his twelve children fol- 
 lowed. An edict was issued for the destruction of idols and idol 
 temples throughout his dominions ; and his subjects were com- 
 manded to receive baptism, for which the example of Olga had 
 in some measure prepared them. Churches rose up in all direc- 
 tions, the first of which, built of stone, was dedicated by Vladimir 
 himself with gi'eat solemnity. 
 
 The 'Stroke by which the pagan usages, rooted in long habit, 
 were thus swept away almost by a breath, is rendered more re- 
 markable from the peculiar condition of the people. The}' 
 were composed of different tribes, kej^t together neither by 
 common institutions, nor by any regular system of government, 
 but only by the bond of allegiance to a sovereign, whose authority 
 seems to have consisted in levying tributes, the payment of which 
 depended as much on the caprice of the subject as the. power of 
 the ruler. 
 
220 THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 The arts and rcfineinent of Greece began to be valued in 
 Kiotf. Even before the establisliment of religion a constant in- 
 tercourse with Constantinople had imbued the Sclavonic tribes 
 with some degree of aversion for idolatry. A German annalist in 
 1018 speaks of its churches and market-places as rivalling those 
 of Constantinople in elegance and wealth. At the death of 
 Vladimir in 1015, a considerable number of Greek traders had 
 already made it their abode. 
 
 Yaroslav, the next Russian monarch, built convents, which he 
 filled with Greek scholars and artists : under his direction many 
 works now in use were translated from Greek into the Sclavonic 
 dialects. In following up the attempts of his pagan ancestors 
 against Constantinople his fleet was burnt by the Greeks, and his 
 land forces after a desperate resistance met with a severe defeat 
 at Varna. Warned by this resistance the Russians did not again 
 embark on expeditions against the Greek empire. Tom by 
 intestine struggles, and weakened by the rivalry of popular chiefs, 
 the successors of Yaroslav were without the means of uniting 
 their forces for foreign enterprise. 
 
 The government of the Christian Church in Russia remained 
 for centuries in the hands of the mother church. The patriarch 
 of Constantinople consecrated the first archbishop of Kioff about 
 the year 900. Greeks and Russians indiscriminately filled the 
 office, the Russian candidate being selected by a synod of Russian 
 bishops ; but the sanction of the patriarch of Constantinople was 
 necessary to confirm the election. The Russian patriarchs resided 
 at Kioff till the destruction of the city by the Mongols, when 
 they transferred their residence to Moscow. At the invasion of 
 the Mongols, A. D. 1250, Christianity was in danger of being 
 rooted out ; many of the churches and convents were destroyed, 
 and the clergy were plundered or put to death ; but as the power 
 of the conquerors became more firmly established, they endea- 
 voured to regain the favour of the Church by exempting the 
 clergy and all persons connected with the churches, as well as 
 their families, from those taxes and services to which the rest of 
 the conquered nation was liable. 
 
 Many of the highest offices in the Church were filled by Russian 
 nobles ; its wealth and influence seemed to offer a security not 
 elsewhere to be nu.'t with. Multitudes, goaded by the oppres.sion 
 of \]\v\r barbaious ma.sters, sought for that refuge in the pale of 
 
THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 221 
 
 the Church, which the retirement of their own estates ceased to 
 afford them. Others to preserve a remnant of their property 
 made it over to the ecclesiastics, and became their tenants ; vast 
 estates were thus added to the Church domains. The clergy 
 alone seemed destined to survive the general wreck ; and in the 
 midst of national distress the Church increased in wealth and 
 power. 
 
 On the fall of Constantinople, in the middle of the fifteenth 
 century, the Russian Church began to assert its independence. 
 The patriarchate was established at Moscow, and a question of 
 precedence between the metropolitan of Moscow and the patriarch 
 of Antioch soon afforded a plausible pretext for the independence 
 of the former. The crisis was at length brought about in the 
 following manner. Jeremiah II., patriarch of Constantinople, 
 sought refuge in Russia from the sultan Amuj-ath, whose ven- 
 geance he had roused by protesting against his oppression of the 
 Church. Means were taken by the Czar, when his visit was 
 announced, to provide for him the appearance at least of a cordial 
 welcome. The clergy were enjoined to receive him on the road 
 with every mark of respect, and the laity crowded around him to 
 facilitate bis journey and to receive his blessing. But under 
 these outward signs of friendship deep caution and contrivance 
 were concealed : a memorandum to the Czar's commissioners 
 instructed them to treat the illustrious stranger with every pos- 
 sible courtesy, but at the same time to learn privately on the 
 road, from his monks and attendants, the purpose of his visit and 
 the real state of his affairs, with a multitude of other questions ; 
 and he was to be detained near Moscow till these inquiries were 
 fully satisfied. The circumstances of his departure allowed of no 
 concealment ; he was a fugitive, and he had left his church in 
 the hands of an infidel oppressor. The Czar at one perceived 
 that his opportunity had arrived, and that he might now hope to 
 establish in his dominions a separate priesthood and an inde- 
 pendent Church. The patriarch was not in a position to refuse 
 the request of a despotic sovereign, in whose hands his safety lay, 
 and to whom he had fled for protection. Without much oppo- 
 sition he was induced, in the year 1589, to consecrate Job, arch- 
 bishop of Rostow, the first patriarch of Moscow and metropolitan 
 of all Russia. The new patriarch was placed upon the spiritual 
 throne of Moscow with every circumstance of pomp and splen- 
 
222 THE CIIURCII OF RUSSIA. 
 
 dour. His appointment wa.s recognized by the other patriarchs ; 
 as their junior he ranked after the patriarchs of Alexandria, 
 Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople ; this, liowever, dis- 
 pleased the haughty Czar his master, who insisted that his own 
 chief bishop should concede the right of precedence only to the 
 highest prelate of the Eastern Church himself, and this demand 
 was also yielded after much vain opiDOsition. This step, however, 
 was taken upon condition that each new patriarch of the Russians 
 should ask the consent and suffrage of the patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople ; and pay at stated periods a tribute of five hundred 
 golden ducats. The compact was ratified in a council held at 
 Constantinople in 1593, to which the Turkish emperor gave his 
 solemn consent. But the privileges and immunities of the 
 patriarch of Moscow were extended about the middle of the fol- 
 lowing century, when Dionysius II , the Constantiuopolitan pri- 
 mate, and his three patriarchal colleagues, exempted him, at the 
 renewed solicitation of the grand duke of Muscovy, from the 
 double obligation of paying tribute and of depending for the 
 confirmation of his election and installation on a foreign juris- 
 diction. 
 
 The independence thus obtained was a questionable advantage. 
 Russia was a barbarous nation, or rather an assemblage of bar- 
 barous tribes. Her Church, released from its connection with 
 Constantinople in its infancy, was unable to stand alone, much 
 less to stem the brutality and lurking heathenism against which 
 it feebly struggled. In doctrine and discipline it adhered to the 
 Greek Church in all essential points ; but, in fact, neither doctrine 
 nor discipline was either known or practised. Religion, where 
 it existed, was a ferocious superstition, the ancient paganism 
 accommodated to a few Christian foniis. From a very early 
 period reformers appeared and new sects were formed. The 
 first of these arose at Novgorod so early as the year 1375. They 
 were called Rascolnics, or Schismatics, and had probably caught 
 something of the spirit of the Paulicians, or Waldenses. They 
 reprobated confession to a priest, and the payment of fees for 
 ordination, which they inveighed against as simony. Here was 
 clearly seen the rippling of the distant storm which dashed itself in 
 southern Europe about the same time against the jjretcnsions of 
 the papacy and the ecclesiastics. But there was no Luther to 
 guide it in its ccjurse. These opinions spread with rapidity over 
 
THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 223 
 
 Siberia, amongst the Cossacks, and into the most distant pro- 
 vinces, till the Schismatics goaded to madness by persecution, 
 broke out into the wildest fanaticism. Doubts had been raised 
 as to the completeness of baptism without the purification of 
 fire. The superstition spread, and soon assumed such an ex- 
 aggerated form, that fires were kindled in every direction ; 
 deluded wretches cast themselves into the flames by hundreds ; 
 and in the villages, the towns, and the forests, multitudes thus 
 devoted themselves to horrible destruction in the hope of gaining 
 heaven. In the neighbourhood of Novgorod alone it is estimated 
 that the bodies of a thousand victims of both sexes, were reduced 
 to ashes in consequence of this Satanic frenzy. Remonstrances 
 were unheeded ; the bishops in vain attempted to stem the 
 torrent of popular delusion. Aggravated by the mistaken 
 enthusiasm of the lower clergy the evil continued to spread. A 
 fanatical monk of Siberia constructed a huge funeral pile of 
 pitch, resin, and similar materials ; he mounted the scorching 
 mass, repeating the Sclavonic proverb, " When you cook groats 
 spare not the butter," and, as the fire approached him on all 
 sides, frantically addressed the multitude on the purifying efficacy 
 of the devouring flames, urging them to share his martyrdom. 
 Scores of them leaped upon the burning pile, and in a few 
 minutes nothing remained but a revolting heap of blackened 
 corpses. This fire-baptism consumed, it was supposed, seventeen 
 hundred self-immolated victims. Some biuried themselves alive ; 
 some shut themselves up in barns or houses, and setting them 
 on fire perir-hed in the flames with hymns or prayers upon their 
 lips. This frenzy for self-destruction still lingers in Russia and 
 breaks out at times. Within the last ten years a number of 
 fanatics resolved on mutual slaughter. To carry out their 
 horrible design, they assembled at the estate of one M. GouriefF 
 on the left bank of the Volga. At the sight of thirty- six mangled 
 corpses the courage of one of the devotees failed her, and she 
 fled for life to the next village. When the jseople reached the 
 hideous scene, out of forty -nine victims only two survived, too 
 much exhausted with the carnage to complete the work of death 
 upon each other. 
 
 It would be useless, if indeed it were possible, to repeat the 
 extravagances and follies which disgraced the Russian Church 
 till the stronef hand of Peter the Great reduced it to order and 
 
224 THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 reformed some of its worst abuses. The very forms of Church 
 governiuent had melted away before the barbarism of Tartar 
 hordes on one side of the empire, and the intrigues of Polish 
 Jesuits on the other. The interior of Russia was a vast field on 
 which contending chieftains defied the laws with impunity, and 
 corrupted their tenantry by their profligate and vicious lives. 
 The clergy were ignorant men ; their disputes had reference to 
 the correct form of the cross, the right position of the fingers, 
 and the best means of preserving the sacramental bread from 
 mould. In the code of ecclesiastical laws, called the Stroglavnic, 
 or book of one hundred chapters, which was drawn up by an 
 assembly of bishops at Moscow in the sixteenth century, the 
 idleness and ignorance of the clergy are severely censured. They 
 condemn various heresies, the worst of which they declare to be 
 that of shaving the beard. They say, " Of all the heresies that 
 have come under the ban of the Church there is none so abo- 
 minable and worthy of punishment as that of beard-shaving; 
 verily the blood of martyrs itself cannot wash away the guilt of 
 so grievous a sin ; whoso shaveth off his beard to please men 
 thereby, he is a transgressor of the law and an enemy of God, 
 who made man after his own image." From such reformers the 
 Cliurch had little to expect. 
 
 But in spite of these follies it cannot be denied that the influ- 
 ence of the clergy was often the only link by which a rude and 
 barbarous society was held together. The little virtue or lite- 
 rature which existed was to be found in the convents. The 
 clergy often formed a centre of union for the quarrelsome princes 
 of the ducal family, whose restless ambition and mutual intrigues 
 involved Russia in constant bloodshed. Their persons were 
 sacred : they passed safely through the hostile camps, and by 
 common consent were often the mediators between the contend- 
 ing parties. Savage as Russia was, and imperfect a.s her form 
 of religion, the healing influences of Christianity were visible in 
 her institutions. 
 
 Peter the Great came into possession of the whole of Rus.sia 
 in 1689. He perceived at once that although he held the reins 
 of empire, his government was in fact divided with the clergy 
 and the patriarch. He complained that the clergy possessed an 
 independent authority of their own, and that " the people be- 
 lieved that small spiritual head, the patriarch, to be another 
 
THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 225 
 
 monarch of equal dignity with the true monarch or even 
 greater ;" and he determined to remodel, rather than reform, 
 the Church. The patriarch had been treated by former sove- 
 reigns with obsequious respect. On Palm Sunday the ass 
 on which he rode through the streets of Moscow in commemo- 
 ration of our Lord, was led by the Czar, walking by his side 
 on foot, with his hand upon the bridle. This continued till 
 the death of Adrian, whom Peter found on the patriarchal 
 throne. On Adrian's death, the bishops assembled in their 
 synod to choose a successor ; Peter, to their surprise, entered 
 the room, and broke up the meeting, declaring that he himself 
 was the patriarch of the Russian Church. To wean the clergy 
 by degrees from their established rights, he kept the office open 
 for upwards' of twenty years, appointing Stephen Gavouisky his 
 deputy, and to him he intrusted the provisional guardianship of 
 the Church until his plans of reformation should be matured. 
 
 Peter the Great resolved, in short, to frame the constitution 
 of the Church anew. With the assistance of an obsequious 
 prelate he drew up a spiritual code to which, with little diffi- 
 culty, he obtained the sanction of the chief clergy and the 
 nobles ; he then organised a supreme Court for the regulation 
 of spiritual matters. This holy legislative synod was at first 
 composed of twelve members, amongst whom were a president 
 a procurator, and a commissioQer called the Czar's eye ; who 
 was always present to watch his master's interests. This was the 
 highest court of appeal for the clergy ; the bishops were ac- 
 countable to it ; and the secular priests listened to its delibera- 
 tions with alarm. To give a face of justice to these arbitrary 
 measures, the approval of the mother Church of Constantinople 
 was requested ; and the Greek patriarch, oppressed by Turkish 
 despotism, was compelled to sanction the encroachment rather 
 than offend the Czar, his only remaining friend. We give at 
 length the document by which the patriarch renounced, in fact, 
 the right of interference with the Russian Church, and consented 
 to place it at the feet of the Czar. 
 
 " Jeremiah, by the mercy of God, patriarch of the city of 
 Constantinople. Our humility, by the grace and power of the all 
 holy life-giving Spirit, the sole Author of all governance, legiti- 
 matizes, confirms, and proclaims the synod which has been in- 
 stituted in the great and holy kingdom of Russia, by the most 
 
 VOL. II. Q 
 
220 THE CTIUT^CII OF RUSSIA. 
 
 pious and pacific autocrat, the holy Czar, sovereign of all Mus- 
 covy, of Little auJ White Russia, and all the Northern, Eastern, 
 Western, and many other countries, the Lord Peter Alexaevich, 
 Emperor, whom we love, and of whom we desire to have refresh- 
 ment in the Holy Ghost. It is, and is to be named, our brother 
 in Christ, the holy and sacred synod, by all pious and orthodox 
 Christians, both clergy and laity, rulers and subjects, and by all 
 official persons and dignitaries ; and it has authority to do and 
 perform all that is done or performed by the four apostolical and 
 most holy patriarchal thrones. Moreover, we put it in remem- 
 brance. We exhort and enjoin on it to hold and preserve 
 inviolably the customs and canons of the seven holy oecumenical 
 councils, and all besides, that the holy Eastern Church acknow- 
 ledges and observes. The grace of God, and the prayer and 
 blessing of our humility be with you. In the year 1723, this 23rd 
 day of September. (Signed) Jeremiah, by the mercy of God, 
 Patriarch of Constantinople, your brother in Christ." 
 
 Peter the Great, it has been said, offered the Church his pro- 
 tection and then crushed her beneath his shield. The holy 
 legislative synod was transferred to the new capital of St. Peters- 
 burgh to be more immediately under the monarch's eye. Its 
 numbers, too, were now unlimited ; the president being allowed / 
 to introduce new members whenever it was necessary, that is, I 
 whenever the Czar's proposals wanted support. The Church! 
 property was taken under the management of the state. Schools 
 were built, and the convents declared incapable of holding lands 
 either by gift or purchase. A heavy tax was laid upon the 
 Church, and to render the clergy more subservient, their emolu- 
 ments were proportioned to the liberality of the reigning Czar ; 
 and allowances were granted them just sufficient to preserve 
 their families from absolute want. This pillage drove the monks 
 to agricultural labour, while the nuns devoted themselves to 
 household duties. In 1764 the remnant of the spoil was torn 
 from the Church by the Empress Catherine ; all its remaining 
 estates were confiscated, and nominal pensions were assigned 
 instead to the clergy and the convents. More than nine hundred 
 thousand male serfs are said to have changed masters under this 
 decree. 
 
 The Russian Church is still nominally governed by the holy , 
 synod though really by the Czar. It is usually composed of two ' 
 
THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 227 
 
 metropolitans, two bishops, the chief secular priest of the im- 
 perial staff, and the following lay members : the procurator, two 
 chief and five under secretaries, and a certain number of clerks. 
 The procurator has the right of suspending its decisions for the 
 Emperor's approval. All questions relating to the faith and 
 order of the Church are decided by the synod, and reports on 
 the state of the schools and churches through the empire are 
 laid before it twice a year. The Church being impoverished, 
 learned leisure and repose are unknown, though sloth and 
 indolence are common, and clerical hterature can scarcely be 
 said to exist at all where the inducements to study are with- 
 drawn. To supply the deficiency a compulsory system of edu- 
 cation has been adopted. The clergy are compelled to send 
 their sons to schools, in which many of them are educated without 
 expense. The clergy form a separate class or caste. Their sons 
 are expected to take orders, and a license is necessary to enable 
 them to follow any secular occupation. By youths of talent this 
 is easily obtained ; the refuse become priests, or enter the mo- 
 nastic order, from which the higher oflScers of the Church are 
 always chosen. Thus the clergy are divided into two ranks, the 
 white and black, or the seculars or parish priests and the regu- 
 lars or monks ; the five chief ecclesiastical academies are at Kioff, 
 Moscow, St. Petersburgh, Kasaw, and Trowitza. In 1814 no 
 less than twenty six thousand youths were educated in the 
 Russian schools : the sons of two hundred and fifteen thousand 
 clergy. 
 
 The Russian Church, from the days of Peter the Great, would 
 not be inaccurately described as the reflection of the mind and 
 will of the Russian emperor. The intercourse of the Muscovite 
 court and nobility with the rest of Euroi^e imbued the higher 
 classes with scepticism, and this has tended to diminish the little 
 respect they might otherwise feel towards an inferior and illite- 
 rate clergy. The Czar is represented in the catechisms taught to 
 all the children of his empire as God's vicegerent. Under this 
 title he claims absolute submission ; his designs assume a sacred 
 character ; and the subject who shall dare to thwart him is re- 
 garded as accursed both in this world and the next. The late 
 Emperor Nicholas, following the precedent of Peter I., was 
 patriarch as well as emperor ; and, when occasion offered, he 
 never hesitated to employ force in defence of his spiritual assump- 
 
 q2 
 
228 THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 tions. He matio tluxi^santls of proselytes by the aid of tlio bayonet 
 and the dungeon. His predecessor Alexander encouraged the cir- 
 culation of the Holy Scriptures ; Nicholas forbade their perusal 
 and excluded them from his dominions. The metropolitan arch- 
 bishops are treated with pompous courtesy by the (Jzar, but they 
 possess no real power ; they are always liable, on the shghtcst 
 opposition, to be imprisoned in their palaces or exiled into some 
 unknown solitude. All the ecclesiastics swear fidelity to the 
 emperor, — fidelity in the military sense. The holy Synod remains, 
 to amuse the people, but it is a mere machine of the government ; 
 it possesses no independent rights whatever. The priests of in- 
 ferior order, the village curates, are universally despised, even by 
 the poor. Their ignorance is extreme, and their servility and 
 avarice are proverbial. They are the tools and victims of the 
 boyards ; and it is not uncommon to see a priest who has been 
 publicly whipped, like a miserable vagabond, perform his religious 
 services a few hours after, before the parish which witnessed his 
 flisgrace. The interests of the Czars has been to keep the people 
 in unreflecting ignorance. Their religion consists in childish 
 superstitions, which the court promotes by its presence and ex- 
 ample. The benediction of the waters, as practised at St. Peters- 
 burgh, is thus described by Dr. King. " On the river, upon the ice, 
 a kind of wooden church is raised, painted and richly gilt, and 
 hung round with pictures, especially that of St. John the Baptist. 
 This is called the Jordan. This Jordan is suiTounded by a tempo- 
 rary hedge of the boughs of fir trees : and in the middle of it a hole 
 is cut through the ice into the water : a platform of boards, 
 covered with red cloth, is laid down for the procession to pass 
 over, also guarded with a fence of fir boughs. After the liturgy 
 is finished in the chapel of the imperial palace, the clerks, the 
 deacons, the priests, the archimandrites, and the bishops, vested 
 in their richest robes, and carrying in their hands lighted tapers, 
 the censer, the gospel, and the sacred pictures and banners, pro- 
 ceed from the chapel to the Jordan, singing the hymns appointed 
 for the office, followed by the emperor and the whole court. All 
 the troops of the city are drawn up round the place, the standards 
 of the regiments arc also planted upon it, and all the artillery. 
 The artillery and soldiers fire as soon as the service is finished, 
 and then are sprinkled with the .sanctified water. The water is 
 held in such estimation by the common people, that they look on 
 
THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 229 
 
 it as a preservation from, as well as a cure of, not only spiritual 
 but natural infirmities. The aged, the sick, and especially chil- 
 dren, are brought in numbers to receive the benefit of these 
 waters by drinking them, or by aspersion or immersion. Vast 
 quantities are carried home by them in bottles, to be kept in the 
 house for the use of their families during the ensuing year. It is 
 considered as having great efficacy to drive away evil spirits. 
 They have a singular custom in the evening, when this service is 
 performed in the church, of marking a cross upon their window 
 shutters and doors, in order to hinder those spirits, when chased 
 from the water, as they are believed to be by the consecration, 
 from entering into their houses." 
 
 Religious sects abound. Under the most absolute monarchy 
 in Europe we have the singular phenomena of large bodies of 
 dissenters, defying the sovereign's power and living in open 
 secession from the national Church. The fact is thus explained 
 by the Marquis De Custine. The Russians are fond of religious 
 speculation, and their ignorance lays them open to every kind of 
 extravagance. A peasant, for example, imagines some new doc- 
 trine, and makes a few proselytes. When the Greek bishop of 
 the diocese is informed of this heresy, he would denounce it to 
 the government ; but the feudal lord prevents him, because he 
 fears that the inhabitants of his domains will be transported to 
 Siberia, and this would ruin him. Nothing is therefore done at 
 the beginning, and when, at last, the supreme authority becomes 
 cognisant of the heresy, the number of the heretics is so great 
 that it is impossible to extirpate them. Violence would expose 
 the evil without destroying it. The government has no resource 
 but silence and forgetfulness, and feigns ignorance of what it 
 cannot suppress. 
 
 Hence, the mania amongst the common people to dogmatise, 
 the interested calculations of the nobles, the bishops' submission 
 to the nobles, and the government policy to avoid everything that 
 would produce excitement, cause a great multiplication of reli- 
 gious sects in Russia. We will now proceed to details. 
 
 The Rascolniki, or Schismatics, are divided into two great 
 branches, those who have, and those who reject, a priesthood or 
 clerical order. To the former belong tbe Starovertzi, or " those 
 of the old faith." They have existed since 1659, when Nicon, a 
 Russian patriarch, having corrected the liturgies, and introduced 
 
230 THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 a few alterations in the ceremonies, many of the rustics protested 
 against the change, and refused to submit to Nicon's innovations. 
 Their points of difference are few, and for the most part 
 frivolous. They use the old Sclavonic alphabet in their litur- 
 gical books ; they make the sign of the cross differently from the 
 parent Church ; the processions in their churches walk from 
 rio-ht to left, instead of from left to right, as Nicon ordered. 
 They think it unlawful to eat certain kinds of food, including 
 hares and potatoes ; and they prove from the Old Testament 
 the unlawfulness of cutting their beards. They never celebrate 
 the Eucharist, and only administer baptism at the approach of 
 death. Under Peter the Great they suffered dreadful cruelties. 
 They regard him as the antichrist, and refer to his reign as the 
 period when Satan was let loose amongst men. 
 
 Attempts have been lately made to reconcile them to the 
 Church, which has met their prejudices so far as to declare that 
 their prejudices do not amount to heresy. Their priests are 
 even invited to receive ordination from the bishops of the 
 Established Church ; and they are termed co-religionists ; but 
 these concessions are looked upon with suspicion. They have 
 a o-reat number of convents governed by the same monastic rules 
 as those in force in the Greek monasteries. 
 
 The sects which have no priests are numerous. Some of 
 their opinions may be traced to the discussions which agitated 
 the Eastern Church in the earliest ages ; others bear no doubtful 
 resemblance to the pagan worship of the ancient Sclavonic 
 races. 
 
 The Skoptzi, or Eunuchs, bury their tenets in profound secresy. 
 They have many followers amongst the tradesmen and jewellers 
 of St. Petersburgh and other large towns. Their origin is un- 
 known, but they entertain great reverence for the Emperor 
 Peter III., the murdered husband of the Empress Catherine- 
 They maintain that he was not murdered but escaped to Siberia, 
 and that the body of a soldier was buried instead ; they believe 
 Peter to have been a true emanation from Christ, and that, on 
 his return, the great bell of Moscow will be tolled, and its sound 
 will gather the true disciples from the farthest corners of the 
 earth. Largesses and rewards arc freely offered to those who 
 join theni ; whoever can succeed in making twelve converts is 
 allied an apostle. They are known )>y mysterious signs, and 
 
THE CHUKCH OF KUSSIA. 231 
 
 spend the night between Saturday and Sunday in performing 
 their secret rites. It is known that they inflict upon them- 
 selves the most cruel tortures for the mortification of the flesh : 
 their converts are forced to suffer self-mutilation after the 
 example of Origen. Their penances far exceed in severity even 
 the Romish discipline. Their naked bodies are tortured with 
 chains, iron crosses, and frequent scourgings. Haircloth gar- 
 ments are always worn next the skin. Many of these fanatics 
 have died under the rigours of their self-inflicted torments. 
 
 A lower grade of these eunuchs are the KhUsti, or Flagellants, 
 who are victims to the same delusions. These are said to have 
 a community of women. They also resemble certain small 
 Protestant sects, who perform their worship by leaping and 
 dancing. One of the great ceremonies of the khlisti is to 
 assemble in a room divested of every kind of furniture, and 
 dance and leap about, while they whip themselves, occasionally 
 bathing their heads and hands in a vase of water in the middle 
 of the room, until they finally fall exhausted. 
 
 The " Voluntary Martyrs," called Morelstschiki seem, in em- 
 • bracing Christianity, to have retained many pagan opinions, and 
 resemble more the savage idolaters of Scandinavia than the 
 disciples of the gospel. Some of them, on an appointed day in 
 each year, meet in a secret place. With barbarous songs and 
 strange ceremonies, they dig a deep pit, filling it with wood, 
 straw, and combustible matter. The most zealous then descend 
 into the burning pit, where they stoically burn to death, while 
 their brothers applaud the saints who thus receive the baptism of 
 fire ! Others, without sacrificing life, cruelly mutilate their bodies, 
 like the fanatics of India, who throw themselves beneath the 
 triumphal car of their idol. 
 
 It is difficult to know what are the dogmas of these voluntary 
 martyrs, because they have no printed books, and they do not 
 confide to foreigners the mysteries of their sect. Regarding the 
 Old and New Testament as having been corrupted, it is said that 
 they give themselves the right to change it. They recognise 
 God the Father, manifested to men under the double form of 
 Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. They reject the true death 
 and resurrection of Jesus, maintaining that the body placed in 
 the sepulchre by Joseph of Arimathea was not the Lord's body, 
 but that of an obscure soldier. They think that Christ will soon 
 
232 THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 return and make his triumphant entrance into Moscow, and that 
 thither his true disciples will rush from every part of the earth. 
 They do not observe the Sabbath. Their only religious holiday 
 is Easter. They then celebrate the Lord's Supper with bread 
 which has been buried in the tomb of some saint, supposing that 
 it thus receives a kind of mysterious consecration. Their 
 meetings are held on Saturday night. The following are a few 
 lines of one of their hymns : — " Be firm, mariners ! triumph 
 over the tempest ! fear neither fire or the whirlwind, — Christ 
 is with us, — He will collect the faithful in his vessel, his masts 
 will not break, his sails will never be rent, and he ^\'ill hold the 
 helm firmly, and land us in a safe haven. The Holy Spirit is 
 with us ; the Holy Spirit is in us." 
 
 The sectarians are to be found in the north of Russia, in 
 Siberia, and even upon the banks of the Volga. There are a 
 few also at Moscow, St. Petersburgh, Riga, Odessa, &c. They 
 try also to make proselytes in the anny ; but the imperial police 
 pursue their missionaries, and when they are discovered, punish 
 them most cruelly. 
 
 There are other sects in Russia, which seem to be remnants 
 of the ancient Manicheans. The Philippons, whose priests are 
 old men, or stariki, are recruited from among young boys, whom 
 their parents dedicate to this ministry in youth. As soon as the 
 child's vocation is decided he no more touches any animal food, 
 renounces all strong drink, and remains unmarried all his life. 
 The Philippons fast on Wednesday, because it was the day on 
 which Jesus was betrayed, and on Friday, in remembrance of his 
 passion. They celebrate three extraordinaiy fasts, — the first, 
 before Easter, continues seven weeks ; the second, up to the 
 commencemeut of August, fifteen days ; and the third, before 
 Christmas, is prolonged six weeks. They cannot drink wine, 
 except on special occasions. They cannot take an oath, but 
 must substitute these words : " Yes, yes, in truth," which they 
 pronounce with a peculiar gesture of the hand. Many take no 
 food but milk and vegetables. They are extremely abstinent 
 These sectarians resemble the disciples of Manicheism, who, sup- 
 posing that matter is the source of all evil, strive to diminish it 
 by ascetic rigour. 
 
 The Beypoportchine priests recognise no priestly hierarchy. 
 They dislike the uaticjiial l)i,sho{xs and priests so nmch that, when 
 
THE CHUECH OF RUSSIA. 233 
 
 any one of them enters their houses, they hasten, so soon as they 
 leave, to wash the seats and the walls. They believe that the 
 Church is in a period of decline and apostacy ; that the true 
 apostolic succession has been interrupted, and that legitimate 
 priests are impossible at the present day. They await the 
 coming of the Lord to reorganise the Church upon regular and 
 holy foundations. " The world," they say, in their strange 
 theology, " has had four eras— a spring or morning, from Adam 
 till the building of Solomon's temple ; a summer, or noon, which 
 lasted till the birth of Christ ; an autumn, or evening, until the 
 appearance of the Antichrist, who came two hundred years ago; 
 and now we are in the cold winter, the dark night which shall 
 continue till the Lord will descend upon the earth to save men, 
 and open their eyes to the tiTie light." 
 
 In the beginning of the present century, the purest of the 
 Russian sects arose under the Chevalier St. Martin, The efforts 
 of the Martinists were directed chiefly to practical religion. By 
 avoiding as far as possible religious disputes and devoting them- 
 selves to works of benevolence and Christian morality, they soon 
 gained extensive influence. At Moscow they founded a society 
 for the promotion of literature ; it was furnished with a splendid 
 library, accessible to all ; deserving young men were provided 
 with the means of studying in foreign universities, and their ranks 
 were swelled by many of the greatest and best men in the 
 empire. But the sudden growth of liberal opinions roused the 
 suspicions of the Empress Catherine. One of their most active 
 leaders, Novikoff, was imprisoned, and others banished, and the 
 library was destroyed. The Martinists were set free by the 
 Emperor Paul : it is mentioned as an instance of his generosity 
 that he wished to compensate Novikoff for his sufferings. 
 Novikoff requested, as the only favour, the liberation of his fellow- 
 prisoners in the same cause. The Martinists afterwards rose high 
 in the esteem of the Emperor Alexander, and were frequently 
 members of his council. For a short time they took a leading 
 part in the affairs of Russia, and by their influence other religious 
 societies were encouraged by the government. But the policy of 
 the late Emperor Nicholas was on this, as on many other points, 
 at variance with that of his elder brother : and the Martinists 
 have met, of late years, with no encouragement. They seem to 
 have been improperly termed a sect ; they had no singularities 
 
?34 THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 of creed or practice ; they were rather a society for the promotion 
 of Christian knowledge and vii'tue than a sect. 
 
 The Mulakanes, or True Believers, are so called from the Rus- 
 sian word Malako, milk, which is their food on fast days. The zeal 
 of a Prussian prisoner of war first brought them into notice in 
 the middle of the last century. He settled in a village under the 
 government of Kharkow, and spent his life in explaining the 
 Scriptures to the villagers, and visiting from house to house. 
 After his death they began to look upon him as the founder of 
 their sect, though it seems more probable that he only revived 
 the knowledge of scriptural doctrines he found still lingering in 
 the Russian Church. They acknowledge the Bible as the word 
 of God, and the Trinity of the Godhead. Tliey admit the fall of 
 Adam, and the resurrection of our Lord. They maintain that 
 Adam's soul only, and not his body, was made after God's image. 
 The Ten Commandments are received among them. Idolatry 
 and the worship of images are forbidden. It is considered sinful 
 to take an oath, and the observance of the sabbath is strictly en- 
 joined; so much so, that, like many of the oriental sects, they 
 devote Saturday evening to preparation for the sabbath. They 
 are firm believers in the Millennium, and ai-e improperly described 
 as the followers of the fanatic Terenti Beloreff, who was, in fact, 
 a member of their body. He announced in 1833 the coming of 
 the Lord within two years and a half. Many Malakanes in con- 
 sequence abandoned their callings, and waited the event in prayer 
 and fasting. Beloreff persuaded himself that, like Elijah, he 
 should ascend to heaven on a certain day in a chariot of fire. 
 Thousands of his followers came from all parts of Russia to wit- 
 ness this miracle. Terenti appeared, majestically seated in a 
 chariot, ordered the multitude to prostrate themselves, and then, 
 opening his arras like an eagle spreading his wings, he leapt into 
 the air, but dropping down on the heads of the gaping multitude, 
 was instantly seized and dragged off to prison as an impostor 
 He died soon after, no doubt in a state of insanity, declaiing 
 himself to be the prophet of God. But many of the Russians 
 still believe in his divine mission. A considerable number of his 
 followers afterwards emigrated to Georgia, and settled in sight of 
 Mount Ararat, expecting the ^lillonnium. They spend whole days 
 and nights in prayer, and have all their goods in common. Such 
 delusions luivc frequently appeared in other countries, and may 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. . 235 
 
 be expected sometimes to return. The sublime truths of revela- 
 tion operating on a disordered mind, and there mingled up with 
 incoherent fancies, naturally break out in some wild extravagance. 
 It would be unjust to charge upon the Malakanes the follies of a 
 demented fanatic, 
 
 Mouravieff, History of the Church in Russia ; Krazinski, 
 Religious .Hist, of the Slavonic Nations; Ricaut, Hist, of 
 Greek and Armenian Churches, 1694; Dr. King, Travels in 
 Russia ; PicaH, Religious Ceremonies, <&g. ; Sketch of Russian 
 Sects, Nevj York, 1854. 
 
 OCOTLAND, CHURCH OF.— If credit may be given to the 
 early Scotch historians, sanctioned by such later writers as 
 Knox and Buchanan, the Culdees introduced the gospel into 
 Scotland in the second or third century. The name seems to 
 have been descriptive of these primitive Christians - Gille De, 
 in Gaelic, meaning the servants of God, from which probably the 
 title Culdee was derived. Others suppose that it was formed 
 from Cuil or Gael, a place of shelter, from the retreats and 
 hiding-places of the first converts under persecution. 
 
 Of the Culdees little is known. It is even uncertain whether 
 the name belongs to the ministers of religion or to the whole 
 body. It is no less uncertain what was the constitution of their 
 Church. In the absence of facts of deeper interest it has been 
 warmly contended, on the grounds of probability, that the infant 
 Church was purely presbyterian ; and again, on the other hand, 
 that it contained the germs of prelacy. The reader will, perhaps, 
 acquiesce in the sensible remark of Dr. Cooke, himself an 
 eminent Presb3^erian. It is, in fact, he says, a matter of little 
 moment ; for however eagerly it may have been canvassed by 
 the advocates of episcopacy or presbytery, it is obvious that, if any 
 one form of ecclesiastical government has been exclusively sanc- 
 tioned by divine authority, we must derive our opinions of its 
 nature, and of the arrangements which are connected with it, 
 not from the practice of an age enjoying few advantages for the 
 investigation of truth, but from the positive declarations of the 
 sacred Scriptures. 
 
 All that is known of the Culdees seems to amount to this: 
 they existed before the year 431, for at that date Pailadius was 
 
236 THE CHUKCII OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 despatched fron^ Rome by Celestine, to take charge of " the 
 Scots beUeving on Christ." The nation wa,s inhabited by 
 barbarous tribes of pagans, and the Christians living in com- 
 parative affluence on their own cultivated lands, with a few 
 domestic cattle, would of course become, if on that account 
 alone, the mark for these wild marauders. The persecution of 
 Christian settlers in a savage country is easily explained, even 
 without reference to the enmity which their faith provokes. 
 They fled to the island of lona, which afforded a safe retreat : it 
 was insignificant in extent, and at the same time convenient as 
 a centre of missionary labours amongst the Picts, Scots, and 
 Irish. Columba, a native of Ireland and of royal blood, founded 
 the monastery of loua in the year 563, and was its first bishop, 
 chief presbyter, or abbot. He was assisted in the government 
 of the monastery by a council of twelve monks or presbyters ; 
 and when the Culdees formed new settlements they still adhered 
 to the same apostolic number. Though termed monks by the 
 ecclesiastical wTiters of the middle ages, it is to be observed that 
 they were married ; for they were often succeeded in their office 
 by their own sons. Little is known of the progress made by the 
 Culdees in the conversion of Scotland, further than that colleges, 
 similar to that of lona, were opened at Dunkeld, Arbroath, 
 Brechin, and a few other places. The Picts and Scots were still 
 known in southern Britain only as pagan warriors, and no 
 general impression seems to have been made upon the national 
 character. When the Romans withdrew from England, the 
 northern tribes rushed down from their mountains, and the last 
 traces of religion and of civilization disappeared before them. 
 The remainder of the British family retired, with their persecuted 
 faith, into the fastnesses of Wales, and here the relics of the 
 Culdee system at length expired. 
 
 As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were formed Chri^^tianity 
 returned. We have the authority of Bede that Oswald, king of 
 the Northumbrians, had been brought up at lona ; and that he 
 sent messengers to the sacred island to obtain a missionary to 
 instruct his people in the Christian faith. Corman and Aidan 
 were the first evangelists ; they erected a college at Llandisfarn 
 upon the model of that at lona ; and, such was the esteem in 
 which the j>arent institution was held, that the successors of Aidau 
 in the abbacy of Llandisfarn were sent from lona. 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 237 
 
 At a council held at Whitby in 662, Colman, bishop of 
 Llandisfarn, was opposed to the Romish party on the dispute 
 which then agitated Christendom as to the right period for the 
 observance of Easter. Colman was borne down by Wilfred, the 
 representative of Rome, and rather than abandon his tenets he 
 returned to lona. The struggle which in appearance was trifling 
 was, in fact, of the utmost importance, the real issue being the 
 supremacy of the Roman see, and the right of the bishop of 
 Rome to dictate on questions whether of great or little moment 
 to other Churches. Soon after furious wars broke out between 
 the Scots and Picts, in which the latter disappeared. The 
 Christians of lona seem to have been great sufferers, and the 
 adherents of Rome seized the opportunity and pushed their 
 triumphs. In 716, Nectan, who is termed king of the Picts, is 
 said to have attempted to introduce the forms of the Anglo- 
 Saxon Church ; but on his death, lona again asserted her inde- 
 pendence. The Danes now began their piratical incursions, and 
 in 801 lona was burned and a great number of the Christians 
 put to the sword. In 877 the remainder fled from a second 
 invasion to Ireland, taking with them the bones of St. Columba. 
 Their affections still clinging to the ancient soil, they returned 
 once more, and lona rose from its ruins, but only to be again 
 laid waste. In 985 the Danes pillaged and destroyed the 
 monastery, and murdered the abbot with fifteen of his clergy. 
 It was again restored, though with diminished splendour, to be 
 destroyed by fire in 1059. There are traces of the Christians of 
 lona till the beginning of the twelfth century, when the papal 
 party finally seized the stronghold of primitive religion in the 
 north. The Scriptural principles of Columba and Aidan lin- 
 gered in the western counties of Scotland till the days of the 
 English Lollards, of Wicklifife, and the Reformation. 
 
 Soon after the Norman conquest, the English Church, now 
 vastly augmented in power and splendour, began to exercise 
 authority over her northern sister. In the year 1176 the arch 
 bishop of York claimed the supremacy of the Scottish Church, 
 and a synod of the English and Scotch clergy was held at North- 
 ampton, by a rescript from the pope, to decide the question. 
 The martyrdom of Becket, just five years before, and their 
 victory over the king in consequence, had given fresh life to the 
 EngHsh clergy and added wings to their ambition. John kino- 
 
238 THE CIIUKCII OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of Scotland had been taken prisoner at the battle of Alnwick 
 in 1174, and he regained his liberty only on the humiliating 
 condition of doing homage to Henry II. as his liege lord, for 
 Scotland and all his other dominions. He brought up all his 
 barons, prelates, and abbots to do homage likewise in the 
 cathedral of York, and to acknowledge Henry and his successors 
 as their superior lords. The spirit of Scotland was entirely 
 broken ; and it is probable that political intrigue had not been 
 spared, for not one of the Scotch prelates resisted the demand 
 of the archbishop. A solitary canon, Gilbert MuiTay, had the 
 courage to assert, in that assembly, the independence of the 
 Scottish Church. The consequence was probably foreseen, if not 
 brought about, by the papal legate ; it was, that an appeal was 
 made by both parties to the pope himself. A bull was issued 
 which declared in favour of the independence of Scotland in all 
 ecclesiastical affairs. She was to acknowledge no other power 
 than that of the pope or his legate. The triumph, which seemed 
 to be great, was in fact a disaster. A union with the English 
 Church and submission to its northern prelate would have been 
 a slight misfortune compared with that subserviency to Rome 
 which from this period to the Reformation disgraced the Scotch 
 ecclesiastics, and plunged the kingdom in ignorance and super- 
 stition. Long before the Reformation, the wealth, and we must 
 add the corruptions, of the Church had become enormous ; they 
 had grown, says Dr. M'Crie, in his life of Knox, to a greater 
 height in Scotland than in any other nation within the pale of 
 the Western ChurcL The full half of the wealth of the nation 
 belonged to the clergy, and the greater part of it was in the 
 hands of a few individuals, bishops and abbots, who rivalled the 
 nobility in magnificence and preceded them in rank. They were 
 privy councillors and lords of session, and they had long en- 
 grossed the principal offices of state. A vacant bishopric pro- 
 duced as many competitors as a disputed succession ; and was 
 disposed of in the same manner, namely, by gross intrigue, or by 
 an appeal to the sword. Monasteries abounded, and these on a 
 scale of luxurious grandeur which contrasted strangely Avith the 
 surrounding poverty ; the hves of the clergy were scandalous ; 
 preaching was utterly neglected by the bishops, and was prac- 
 tised chiefly by the mendicant friars for mercenary purposes. In 
 Scotland, as elsewhere, their sermons were an appeal to the 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 239 
 
 credulity, the fears, or the folly of a gaping crowd, or merely to its 
 love of coarse buffoonery. The popes did not demand in Scotland 
 the right of nomination to the bishoprics ; but they did not want 
 frequent pretexts for interfering in the affairs of every diocese. 
 The most important causes of a civil nature, which the eccle- 
 siastical courts had contrived to bring within their jurisdiction, 
 were carried to Rome, and large sums were spent every year in 
 the confirmation of benefices, and the management of appeals. 
 The one great advantage which Scotland reaped from her 
 Church was, that its hierarchy checked the ambition, and in 
 some degree softened the manners, if it did not elevate the 
 morality, of a barbarous and tyrannical nobility. It answered 
 some of the purposes which the House of Commons began, about 
 the same time, to discharge in England ; protecting the people 
 by turns from the aggressions of the sovereign, and the power of 
 baronial lords. 
 
 At length the Reformation came ; introduced in Scotland, as 
 in other countries, with cruel martyrdoms and civil war. The 
 Lollards of Kyle led the van in 1494. Robert Blackater, arch- 
 bishop of Glasgow, prevailed on James IV. to summon before 
 the privy council about thirty persons from the western coasts 
 on the charge of heresy. They had ceased to attend mass or 
 to worship the virgin ; they despised the reliques of saints, and 
 declaimed against the pride of the clergy. They were defended 
 with courage by one of their party, which included several per- 
 sons of rank, and were dismissed with a reprimand. Patrick 
 Hamilton was less fortunate. He was a youth of rank and 
 talent when Beaton was archbishop of Glasgow and James V. a 
 minor. The writings of the continental divines had probably 
 fallen in his way; for in 1525, an Act of the Scotch parliament 
 forbids " all disputations about the heresies of Luther ;" and in 
 the next year we find Hamilton at Wittemberg taking counsel 
 with Luther and Melancthon. He returned to Scotland to pro- 
 claim his principles, and to fall at once into the hands of Beaton 
 and the popish clergy. He was nearly related to the young king, 
 but such war- the power of the archbishop, who, in conjunction 
 v/itb the house of Douglas, ruled the kingdom, that he was 
 condemned for heresy and burnt in front of the college of St. 
 Salvador. He perished the 28th of February, 1528, in the 
 twenty-fourth year of his age, the proto-martyr of the Scottish 
 
240 THE rilUliCII OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 reformation. Otlior victims followed ; for the sinoko, Jis a by- 
 stander said, of Patrick Hamilton's fire, infected as many as it 
 blew upon. Seaton a Dominican friar, the king's confessor, 
 Logic principal of St. Leonard's, and Wareham the subprior, 
 openly taught the doctrines of the Reformation. Bitter perse- 
 cution followed, and the fires were lighted at Glasgow, St. 
 Andrew's, and Edinburgh. In February, 1538, Robert For- 
 rester, Simpson, Kyllor and Beveridge, priests, with Thomas 
 Forrest, a dean, were burnt on one huge pile on the castle hill. 
 Beaton, archbishop of Glasgow, died in lo39, and the manage- 
 ment of Church affairs in Scotland passed into the hands of his 
 nephew, David Beaton, upon whom the pope conferred the rank 
 of cardinal. He was a man of great ambition, tyrannical and 
 stern ; and to him the Church of Scotland owes the same obli- 
 gations which Protestants in England render to the memory of 
 the bloody Mary. During the life of James V. he ruled that 
 moiiarch absolutely. His reign was spent in fruitless efforts to 
 reduce the power of his nobility, and to carry on the war with 
 England. He died in 1542, leaving an infant daughter, the 
 unhappy Mary, his successor. The nobility assembled at Edin- 
 burgh and in defiance of the cardinal, elected Hamilton, earl of 
 Arran, v^ho was the next heir to the crown, regent during the 
 queen's minority. At first he was well disposed to the reformers, 
 now a considerable party in the state. In a parliament held in 
 the first year of his regency, an Act was passed allowing the 
 Scriptures to be read in English. The cardinal and the clergy 
 were violent in their opposition, but resistance was in vain. The 
 effect of the new law was to betray the strength of the Reforma- 
 tion, and the extent to which it had already spread. Copies of 
 the scriptures, which had been carefully hidden and read in 
 secret, were now to be seen on every gentleman's table, and 
 almost every man carried the New Testament in his hand. And, 
 as if to settle the Reformation upon a firm basis, a treaty was 
 concluded with Henry VIII. for a contract of marriage between 
 his son Edward and the infant queen. But all at once the pro- 
 spect changed. Whether from weakness of character or from 
 other causes Avith which we are imperfectly acquainted, the 
 regent quarrelled with the reformers, abjured the reformed reli- 
 gion, broke off the English treaty, and became the subservient 
 instniment of the cardinal and the ecclesiastics. Uo \um entered 
 
THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 241 
 
 into the project, of which Beaton was the author, of giving the 
 young queen in marriage to the dauphin of France, a step which 
 it was hoped would at once extinguish the reformation. 
 
 The cardinal having thus recovered his influence, employed it 
 with the fury of our own Bonner for the extirpation of heresy. 
 He began his barbarous career at Perth, where five men and one 
 woman were brought before him on the charge of heresy ; they 
 were triedj condemned, and sentenced, the men to be hanged, 
 the woman to be drowned. The offence of the latter was that she 
 had refused to pray to the virgin Mary ; she would pray to God 
 only, in the name of Jesus Christ. On the day of execution she 
 earnestly requested that she might die with her husband, who 
 was one of the condemned ; her appeal was refused, but she 
 walked with him to the fatal spot, bearing her infant in her arms, 
 and still exhorting him to patience in the cause of Christ. She 
 saw him die, and was instantly dragged to a pool of water, her 
 babe still clinging to her bosom. She consigned it to the charge 
 of a pitying neighbour. She was flung into the WcXter and died 
 in peace and without a struggle ; for to her the bitterness of 
 death was passed. The cardinal pursued his journey through the 
 infected counties ; and his assize, like that of Jeffreys after Mon- 
 mouth's insurrection in the west of England, was to be tracked 
 in blood. The indignation of the people was smothered for a 
 time : they waited for leaders and for an opportunity ; but the 
 day of reckoning was at hand. 
 
 The cardinal's last victim was George Wishart, a gentleman of 
 family, brother of the laird of Pittarow. He had been esaij 
 imbued with the doctrines of the reformation, and had been 
 banished at the instigation of the bishop of Brechin for teaching 
 Greek at Montrose ; for the love of Greek was a sure sign of 
 heresy in every university in Europe in the sixteenth century. 
 He retired to Cambridge, where his principles were of course 
 confirmed, since Cambridge was the cradle of the English refor- 
 mation. In 1544 he returned home, and immediately began to 
 preach the new doctrines at Montrose and Dundee. Expelled 
 from thence, he opened his mission in the town of Ayr. The 
 archbishop of Glasgow excluded him from one church, and the 
 sheriff of the county hindered his preaching in another. This 
 opposition increased his influence ; lie preached in the fields and 
 at tlie market-cross. He was warm and elocpient, but his manner 
 
 VOL. II. li 
 
242 'JHE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 was refined, and his preaching was gentle anil persuasive. Plots 
 were laid for his destruction ; but he had many friends, and 
 amongst the number was John Knox, at that time residing as 
 tutor in the family of a neighbouring laird, wlio did not scruple 
 to carry a sword for tlie protection of his friend, tlie gentle, non- 
 resisting Wishart. In 154)6, during the night, the house in which 
 he slept was beset with a troop of horse, headed by the earl of 
 Bothwell, while the regent and the cardinal himself were at a 
 short distance with a larger force. The laird of Ormiston, whose 
 guest he was, refused to give up Wishart till Bothwell pledged 
 his honour to protect him from the cardinal. He was imme- 
 diately placed upon his trial, which took place in the abbey 
 church, before the archbishop of Glasgow and other dignitaries, 
 attended by a large body of soldiers. He defended himself from 
 the charge of heresy with his usual mildness, but with great force 
 of reasoning and a ready command of Scripture. He was con- 
 demned, by the unanimous voice of the assembled prelates and 
 clergy, and burnt as a heretic the next morning, the 2nd of 
 March, 1546. 
 
 Some of the circumstances of his death made a deep impression 
 at the time, and have been ever since a fruitful source of acrimo- 
 nious controversy both to historians and divines. Wishart refused 
 the assistance of two friars, who were sent to hear his confession 
 on the morning of his death ; but would have received the Lord's 
 Supper from the subprior had he been permitted. Being hu- 
 manely invited to breakfast with the captain in command of the 
 castle, he prayed, exhorted, and then distributed the bread and 
 wine devoutly, as a sacrament, to the company. Wishart was a 
 layman ; and this act has been denounced with the utmost 
 severity, even by some Protestant writers. We know no scene 
 in history in which party spirit has revelled with less decorum. 
 Wishart, a man of the purest life and gentlest spirit, has been 
 charged, not merely with acting under a mistaken impulse, but 
 as impious and profane ; and the martyr has received as little 
 justice from Protestant writers as from the cardinal himself. But 
 a much heavier charge has been insinuated. In many of the 
 accounts of his sufferings it is related that, looking towards the 
 cardinal (who feasted his eyes from a window of the castle, where 
 he sat in state, upon the last agonies of his victim), he exclaimed, 
 as the flames gathered round him, "he who from yonder place 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 243 
 
 beholdeth us with such pride, shall within a few days, lie in the 
 same as ignominiously as now he is seen proudly to rest there." 
 The violent death of the cardinal, which followed, gave rise to a 
 conjecture that Wishart was privy to the conspiracy, and affected 
 to foretell that which he knew would be attempted. On the other 
 hand, the spirit of prophecy is supposed to have descended on the 
 expiring saint, and the solemn utterance is regarded as a token 
 of the Divine presence, in a moment when, if ever, the presence 
 of the Head of the Church may be expected by those who are 
 called to suffer in his cause. The subject has been discussed in 
 Scotland, with great warmth on both sides. 
 
 There is reason, however to believe, notwithstanding the bold 
 assertions of even contemporary writers, including Foxe the 
 Martyrologist, to the contrary, that Wishart uttered no such pre- 
 diction. Knox, his most intimate friend, was not many miles 
 distant from St. Andrews when he suffered. From personal 
 affection, as well as from zeal in the cause of the Reformation, 
 he would naturally make the most minute inquiry into all the 
 circumstances of his death, and more particularly as to his last 
 words. Knox, in other parts of his history, has actually repre- 
 sented Wishart as endowed with the gift of prophecy, and, had 
 he believed the story, would undoubtedly have recorded it. 
 He relates the last words of Wishart thus : — " I beseech you, 
 brethren and sisters, to exhort your prelates to the leaining of 
 the word of God, that they may be ashamed to do e^nl, and learn 
 to do good ; and if they will not conveii; themselves from their 
 wicked errors, there shall hastily come upon them the wrath of 
 God, which they will eschew." From these concluding words no 
 doubt the fiction had its rise. It was easily believed by those 
 who, from a false respect for this good man, were willing to invest 
 him with prophetic gifts, as well as by his enemies, who found in 
 the story the materials with which to gratify their hatred and 
 malignity. The innocence of Wishart might be safely assumed, 
 were the evidence even less conclusive, from the habits of his 
 life, his singularly gentle and forgiving sjDirit, and the general 
 complexion of his character. 
 
 The death of Wishart gave but a short triumph to the cardinal 
 and his friends. It was followed by a proclamation forbidding 
 prayers for the soul of the heretic under the heaviest censures of 
 the Church. But the murmurs of the Reformers were deep ; 
 
 r2 
 
244 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the nobles, indifferent perhaps to the rcHgious aspect of the 
 quarrel, were disgusted with Beaton's insolence ; even the Papists 
 abhorred his cruelty. The time was come when his career was 
 to be stopped short and his victims signally avenged. 
 
 The laws of Scotland, and of the Church of Rome, required 
 that capital punishment for heresy should be inflicted only by a 
 warrant from the civil powers. In the present case not only had 
 this law been disregarded, but Wishart had been condemned by 
 the cardinal and his faction in express opposition to the governor's 
 command. His trial and execution, thus divested of legal sanc- 
 tion, were justly regarded as an atrocious outrage, a murder 
 perpetrated with the most refined cruelty. Many were persuaded 
 that the death of the cardinal might justly be sought without the 
 forms of law, which indeed could not be set in motion against 
 the man who governed the sovereign himself and poisoned the 
 stream of justice at the fountain-head. John Leslie, brother of 
 the Earl of Rothes, vowed in secret that the blood of Wishart 
 should be avenged. A band of conspirators was formed : his 
 nephew Norman Leslie, Kircaldy of Grange, Peter Carmichael, 
 James Leslie, James Melville of Carnbee, and others, to the 
 number of thirty-five, placed themselves under Leslie's guidance, 
 and resolved to inflict upon the cardinal the punishment which 
 his crimes deserved. They assembled at St. Andrews privately, 
 entering the city by night and at different times ; but on the 
 29th of May they were prepared for their enterpri.^e of blood. 
 Beaton was just then strengthening the fortifications of the 
 castle, for he knew that he had incuiTed the hatred of a resolute 
 people, and that his ultimate success still depended on the 
 eword. A great number of workmen thronged the castle, and 
 it seemed almost impossible to gain admission unperceived ; 
 however, Kircaldy and six companions concerted their plans, 
 passed through the castle gate at day-break, and entered into 
 conversation with the warder. Norman Leslie and his party 
 passed unmolested, but his uncle betraying some emotion, the 
 warder was alarmed, and suddenly attempted to draw up the 
 bridge. He was at once secured. The workmen, terrified by 
 the presence of thirty-five armed men, offered no resistance ; the 
 keys were seized and the governor arrested. The conspirators, 
 guided by Norman Leslie, then humed to the chamber where 
 the cardinal was 3'et asleep in his bed. They demanded admis- 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 245 
 
 sion, and being refused prepared to burn the door. After a short 
 parley, during which, according to some accounts, the conspira- 
 tors promised the cardinal his life, though others assert the 
 contrary, the door was opened, the wretched man exclaiming, "I 
 am a priest ; ye will not slay me ?" John Leslie and Carmichael 
 fell upon him with their dirks, but Melville interposed. " This," 
 said he, " is the judgment of God, and though it be done in 
 secret, yet ought it to be done with gravity." He then called 
 upon the cardinal to repent of all his sins, and especially of the 
 death of Wishart ; and, protesting that he was moved thereto 
 by no private enmity, but only because he was an obstinate 
 enemy of Christ and his holy Gospel, thrust-him twice or thrice 
 through the body. He fell back into his chair, and died implor- 
 ing mercy. The murderers then exposed the dead body from the 
 window and quietly retired without interruption. Thus perished 
 David Beaton, cardinal and archbishop of St. Andrews, on the 
 29th of May, 1546. 
 
 The death of the cardinal gave at once a new aspect to the 
 affairs of Scotland. The clergy were filled with horror; they 
 had the sympathy of the queen-dowager and the Court, but the 
 great barons looked on with unconcern. Outrages of this kind 
 were not so rare, in a barbarous and lawless age, as to excite that 
 abhorrence which the bare recital of them now creates in those 
 who have been trained to a purer sense of justice. The nobles 
 considered the cardinal as their sworn foe ; they looked upon the 
 possessions of the Church with envious eyes, and upon its enor- 
 mous pretensions with a hatred which they did not affect to hide. 
 Many of them had heard Wishart preach, and some had been 
 deej^ly affected by his mmistry ; all of them perceived that the 
 new opinions struck at the very foundation upon Avhich the 
 power of the clergy rested, and that their reception would not 
 only wrest from the Church her immense possessions, but might 
 possibly transfer them back again to their ancient iDroprietors, 
 from whom, by a long course of fraud and superstition, they had 
 been alienated. Thus the great majority of the nobility were 
 favovirable to the Reformers, and encouraged the difRision of 
 their principles, though a few of the most ancient families still 
 adhered to the religion of Rome. 
 
 The conspirators had retained possession of the castle of St. 
 Andrews. They were cited, when the news spread, to appear on 
 
24G THE CHUKCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 a summons of treason before the Parliament at Edinburjirh, on 
 the 30th of July. Instead of submission they returned a lofty 
 defiance, shut themselves up in the castle, and prepared for a 
 siege. The Pope appointed in the place of Beaton a new arch- 
 bishop, John Hamilton, the regent's brother, who immediately 
 excommunicated the garrison, and induced the earl of Angus, Sir 
 George Douglas, and others, to press the siege. Thus harassed 
 the conspirators took the desperate resolution of soliciting aid 
 from Henry VIII. He was then at peace with Scotland, and 
 bound by treaty to abstain from every act of hostility an<l aggres- 
 sion ; but the obligations of honour and good faith Avere little 
 thought of in the -sixteenth century, and several vessels were 
 despatched from England with arms and other succours. The 
 garrison were now in a condition to insist upon easy terms. It 
 Avas agreed that the government should procure for them from 
 the Pope absolution for the slaughter of the cardinal, and that, 
 luitil this were obtained, they should retain possession of the 
 castle ; and, further, that they should enjoy all their privileges 
 and rights, spiritual and temporal, as freely as though it had 
 never been committed. The first article shows how much the 
 power of the Church was still dreaded. The garrison listened 
 with delight to teachers who stigmatized the Pope as antichrist 
 In stipulating, therefore, for his absolution, they must have been 
 guided, not by any conviction of its inherent value or sanctity, 
 but by the belief that, unless it were obtained, the pardon of the 
 regent would be despised by the clergy, and thus they would still 
 be exposed to the fury of a resentful faction. 
 
 The castle of St. Andrews was visited during the siege by two 
 memorable men, John Rough and John Knox. Rough had 
 once been chaplain to the regent, and now preached in the castle, 
 and, during the armistice, in the town of St. Andrews. In the 
 beginning of 15t7, he was joined by Knox, who sought au 
 asylum from the fury of the popish clergy, and was anxious, too, 
 to assist his friend in a controversy with Annan, the dean, who 
 had challenged him to a public disputation. Knox was still a 
 layman ; but his piety, his intrepidity, and his superior learning, 
 placed him at once at the head of the Reformers. Rough joined 
 his influence to the solicitations of the people of St. Andrews, 
 and implored Knox to become their pastor. Wiien the proposal 
 was first made to Knox, hv, pointed out the objections which 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 247 
 
 presented tliemselves with the greatest force to his own mind. 
 He declared that he would not run where God had not called 
 liim ; that he would not, without a lawful vocation, intrude as a 
 teacher in the Church. Rough, in a sermon upon the election of 
 ministers, laid down the following positions : — That every Church 
 has the power to nominate, as teachers or pastors, those whose 
 faith and zeal fit them for the office ; and he represented the 
 will of the Church, thus expressed, as imposing an obligation 
 which no man could lightly disregard. He then addressed him- 
 self to Knox, enjoining him, as he tendered the glory of God, the 
 edification of mankind, and the purity of the gospel, not to refuse 
 the holy vocation which he now gave him. Then turning to the 
 audience, he said, " Was not this your charge to me? and do ye 
 not approve this vocation ?" they answered, " Yes ;" and Knox, 
 though, as he declared, with an awful sense of the ministerial 
 office, accepted the call at once, and became their pastor : thus 
 were laid the foundations of the Presbyterian Kirk of Scotland. 
 The one simple principle upon which it stands is this,— that the 
 call or invitation of a Christian congregation constitutes a Chris- 
 tian minister. 
 
 Knox entered upon the ministry with all the fire which burned 
 in him till life itself, exhausted by its own heat, was spent. Other 
 reformers had skirmished against the outposts of papacy ; he 
 attacked the citadel. His earliest discourses, delivered with 
 fervent eloquence, were meant to prove that the Church of Rome 
 was thoroughly corrupt ; that its religious doctrines and its canon 
 law were alike repugnant to the Gospel ; that the titles which 
 the pope assumed were blasphemous ; and that the papal Church 
 was antichrist. His hearers declared that, while others had 
 hewn down the branches of popery, Knox had struck at the 
 root. The power of the Church was already weakened ; for now 
 tenets, infinitely more offensive than those for which Wishart 
 had so lately been condemned, were hazarded by the youthful 
 preacher in the presence of the Romish clergy in a manner which 
 seemed to challenge and defy them, and yet he escaped their 
 violence. 
 
 In the same year in which Knox commenced his ministry 
 the kings of France and England, Francis I. and Henry VIII., 
 expired. War ahnost immediately broke out between France 
 and Scotland on the one hand and England on the other. The 
 
248 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Reformation was in peril. Knox shared the fate of tlie con- 
 spirators wlio had murdered Beaton although he was no party 
 to their crime. The garrison surrendered to a French arma- 
 ment ; he was carried abroad, and, in violation of the promise 
 under which they had surrendered to the French allies, con- 
 demned during the ensuing winter to the galleys. On his 
 release which took jjlace in consequence of the interference of 
 the English ambassador, he returned to England where it is said 
 a bishopric was offered him, which he declined. On the accession 
 of Mary he withdrew to Frankfort, where he became the pastor 
 of a church formed of English refugees ; soon afterwards he re- 
 moved to Geneva, where, in the society of Calvin, his principles, 
 as a reformer and a presbyterian, were of course confirmed. 
 Rough was destined to receive the crown of martyrdom. He 
 went to England where he lay some time concealed, working as 
 an artizan for the support of his family. He was seized and 
 burnt as a heretic during the Marian persecution. 
 
 In the absence of its leaders the Reformation languished. 
 The queen-mother governed Scotland, with the blind fury of a 
 zealot. The infant queen of the Scots was sent over to France 
 to receive her education. It was such as might be expected 
 from the bigotry of her uncles, the Guises, to whom she was 
 intrusted. Meantime the clergy recovered their influence, and, 
 had it not been for the resistance of the nobles, the Reformation 
 must have perished. The lords and gentry at the head of the 
 new opinions met at Edinburgh to consult upon the gloomy 
 state of affairs, and determine, if possible, upon some active 
 measures. Knox was still absent, though letters had passed 
 betwixt him and the leaders at home, and in consequence his 
 return was daily looked for. The assembled lords and gentry, 
 unprepared for active measure.s, drew up a bond or covenant, 
 pledging themselves to stand by each other in defence of the 
 principles of the Reformation. This document was the first of 
 the several covenants which occui:)y so conspicuous a place in 
 the religious history of Scotland. It was subscribed at Edin- 
 ])urgh on the 3rd of December, 1557; and from the frequent 
 recurrence of the word congregation in it, those who framed and 
 signed it were afterwards termed the Lords of the Congregation. 
 " Perceiving,' they say, " how Satan rages to destroy the 
 go.spel of Christ and his people, and that we ougiit to .strive in 
 
THE CnUECII OF SCOTLAND. 249 
 
 our Master's cause, oven unto death, being certain of the victory 
 in him, — the which our duty being well considered, we do 
 promise before the majesty of God and his congregation, that we, 
 by his grace, shall with all diligence apply our whole power, 
 substance, and our very lives, to maintain, set forward, and 
 establish, the most blessed word of God and his congregation ; 
 and shall labour at our possibility to have faithful ministers, 
 purely arid truly to minister Christ's evangel and sacraments to 
 his people. We shall maintain them, nourish them, and defend 
 them, the whole congregation of Christ, and every member 
 thereof, at our whole powers, and spending of our lives, against 
 Satan and all wicked power that does intend tyranny and 
 trouble against the aforesaid congregation. Unto which holy 
 word and congregation we do join us, and also renounce and 
 forsake the congregation of Satan with all the superstitions, 
 abominations, and idolatries thereof, and moreover shall declare 
 ourselves manifestly enemies thereto by this our faithful promise 
 before God testified to his congregation by our subscription to 
 these presents." The covenant bore the signatures of the earls 
 of Argyle, Glencairn, and Morton, the lord Lorn, Erskine of 
 Dun, and other men of note amongst the reformers. It was also 
 immediately signed by numbers of inferior rank. From this 
 moment the sword was drawn, and for several years the Re- 
 formation forced its way in Scotland through civil war and fields 
 of blood. The congregation immediately proceeded to set up 
 the reformed worship in the parish churches. This they did by 
 publishing two resolutions. The first declares that it is expedient 
 that, in all parishes of the realm, common prayer be read on 
 Sunday and other festivals in the churches, with the lessons from 
 the Old and New Testament. The second declares that, till 
 God moved the prince to grant public preaching by faithful and 
 true ministers, preaching should be had quietly in private houses 
 without great assemblies of the people. Nothing could exceed 
 the irritation of the clergy when they saw a rival Church thus 
 rooting itself, as if at the bidding of a few private laymen, in the 
 heart of Scotland. They seized Walter Mill and burnt him on 
 the charge of heresy. He was an aged man and had been in 
 his youth a priest, but ever since the introduction of the 
 Reformation he had been one of the suspected. He now avowed 
 his principles and sealed them with his blood. The lords of the 
 
250 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 conQTeiiation acted ou the occasion with finnness and discretioii. 
 They first addressed their petition to the (jueeu-regeut, im- 
 ploring protection from the tyranny of ecclesiastics, liberty to 
 worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, and a 
 speedy reformation of the Church. They made similar requests 
 to an ecclesiastical council which sat in Edinburgh ; and when 
 the Parliament met in 1558 they laid before it a petition con- 
 sisting of various articles to the same purport. They received 
 at first assurances from the regent Avhich satisfied them. But 
 they discovered that she was not sincere, and that the Parliament 
 was about to be dissolved before its attention had been directed 
 to the state of religion in the kingdom. They now drew up a 
 manly protest, in which they claim the rights of freemen and 
 Christians, and protest that, if any tumult or uproar should arise, 
 and if it should chance that abuses be violently reformed, the 
 crime should not be imputed to them but to those who refused 
 to listen to their petitions for reformation. 
 
 In 1559 Knox returned to Scotland. The enthusiasm of the 
 people could no longer be restrained, and it broke out, in ojDposi- 
 tion, as Knox affirms, to the admonitions of himself and the 
 other preachers, as well as the remonstrances of the magistrates, 
 in acts of violence. At Perth and Cupar images were broken, 
 altars torn down, and a splendid monastery levelled with the 
 ground. The outrage was dej)lorable, but it was at least free 
 from selfishness ; no plunder was attempted, the monks were 
 permitted to carry away their private property, and the rest of 
 the spoil was distributed amongst the poor. The queen-regent 
 swore, it is said, that the atrocities committed at Perth should be 
 expiated in the destruction of the town and the blood of its 
 citizens. She hastened thither at the head of a small army, 
 supported by the clergy, the duke of Hamilton, and Dosell, the 
 French general, whose influence with her was great. The Con- 
 gregation retired from Perth as she approached, hoping to allay 
 her passions, and a convention was agreed upon to the effect that 
 both armies should be disbanded and the town left open to the 
 queen-regent, and that none of the inhabitants should be mo- 
 lested on account of religion, and that no Frenchman shouhl 
 enter the town. Every condition was violated. On the 30tii of 
 May, 1559, she entered Perth in military triumph; a tumult 
 occurred, and the son of an eminent citizen, a Reformer, wa.'^ 
 
THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 251 
 
 shot ; her own friends were shocked, and the prior and the earl 
 of Argyle at once retired in disgust, and joiued the Congregation 
 at St. Andrews. Here, on the 11th of June, Knox preached to 
 the excited multitude. He chose as the subject of his discourse, 
 the casting out of them that bought and sold in the temple ; 
 " and so," said he, " should our churches now be purified by the 
 casting out of idolatrous pageantry." His sermon not only in- 
 flamed the' common people, but aroused the zeal of the magistrates 
 and of all classes of the citizens. They rushed to the cathedral, 
 tore it down, and left it, when night set in, the naked ruin which 
 it now stands. 
 
 The queen-regent died on the 9th of June, 1560. Elizabeth 
 was now upon the throne of England ; and the French court, 
 convinced that nothing would shake her resolution of defending 
 the Protestant cause in Scotland, proposed as the basis of a treaty 
 that the troops of both countries should be withdrawn. To this 
 she readily agreed, and a few days after the death of the queen- 
 mother, the congregation assembled in St. Giles's church, to 
 return thanks for the restoration of peace and the success which 
 had crowned their exertions. 
 
 A parliament was held at Edinburgh on the 1st of August, and 
 the question of the national religion was immediately brought 
 forward, A confession of faith, drawn up by Knox, assisted by 
 five ministers, Wmram, Spotswood, Willock, Douglas, and Row, 
 Avas laid before it, and publicly read. The clergy were silent ; in- 
 deed, most of the lords spiritual and temporal, who Avere still at- 
 tached to the old religion, absented themselves. The archbishop 
 of St. Andrews and the bishops of Dunkeld and Dunblane were pre- 
 sent, but either from policy or fear they said nothing in defence 
 of the ancient faith. An act w^as at once passed, by which the 
 confession was pronounced to be the standard of the Protestant 
 faith in Scotland. On the 22nd and 23rd of August three other 
 acts were passed. By the first the parliament abolished the 
 power and jurisdiction of the Pope in Scotland ; by the second 
 they repealed all the acts formerly made in favour of the Church 
 and against the Reformation ; and by the third they ordained that 
 all who said mass, or were present at the celebration of it, should 
 be punished, for the first offence, by imprisonment or confiscation, 
 for the second by banishment, and for the third by death. Over 
 the last of these statutes every friend to true religion would wish 
 
252 TUE CHUllCII OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 to cast a veil. " It too plainly shows," to use the words of a 
 great Scotch divine, "that the worst parts of popery had not 
 been taken from the hearts of those who so vehemently opposed 
 it." 
 
 The great preachers of the Reformation were invited to the 
 chief towns. Knox was settled at Edinburgh, Row at Perth, 
 Methven at Jedburgh. The remote parts of the kingdom, where 
 ministers were much needed, were divided into districts, or de- 
 partments, and committed to the care of su}jerintendents. who 
 ministered from place to place. On the 2()tli of December. 15G0, 
 the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland met for the first 
 time. It consisted of forty members, and of this small number 
 only six were ministers of religion. 
 
 It was necessary to frame a scheme of Church government, 
 and the General Assembly deputed the task to the committee of 
 five who had drawn up the confession of faith. They prepared 
 in consequence the First Book of Discipline, wliich was approved 
 by the General Assembly, as well as by the privy council in the 
 following year. This Book of Discipline contains the great princi- 
 ples of the Church of Scotland. It met with considerable oppo- 
 sition, not only from the court but from many of the Protestant 
 nobility. Some of them regarded its restraints as unreasonably 
 severe ; a greater number, who, to use the language of Knox, 
 "had greedily nipped the possessions of the Church," wereunAvill- 
 ing to be deprived of their ill-gotten wealth. The majority of 
 the privy council, however, subscribed to the Book of Discipline, 
 though it was not formally ratified by the coimcil itself. It was 
 the honest boast of those who drew up this first Book of Disci- 
 pline, that they took their example neither from Geneva nor from 
 any other Church, but from the word of God. It was modified 
 in some respects by the Second Book of Discipline of 1578, which 
 was ratified by parliament in 1592, and still continues to be 
 received as an authority in the Church of Scotland ; but as the 
 first book contains the deliberate opinions of the Scottish re- 
 formers on the great principles of Church government, and is, in 
 fact, with a few unimportant changes, the statute-book of the 
 Scotch Church, it seems neces.sary briefly to examine its contents. 
 
 Knox, anil the other ministers who were associated with him, 
 assumed, as the foundation of their proceedings, the right of a 
 Christian Cliuroh t<» institute that form of government which 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 253 
 
 policy might dictate. " We do not think," they say, in the Con- 
 fession of Faith, " that one policy can l)e appointed for all ages, 
 times, and places." The excellence of any particular form of 
 government is to be estimated, in part at least, according to the 
 situation of those amongst whom it is established. That Knox 
 had not that abhorrence of episcopacy which is frequently ascribed 
 to him by those who profess to be his followers, is very apparent, 
 yet he agreed with Calvin in rejecting it. The Book of Dis- 
 cipline enumerates four classes of teachers — superintendents, 
 parochial ministers, ruling elders to assist the minister in enforc- 
 ing discipline, and deacons, who had the special charge of the 
 alms of the congregation and the oversight of the poor. 
 
 The superintendents have long fallen into disuse. They were 
 invested with powers in many respects similar to those which, in 
 churches governed according to the episcopal model, were com- 
 mitted to bishops. Particular provinces, sometimes agreeably to 
 the ancient custom denominated dioceses, were allotted to them; 
 they had jurisdiction over the great body of ministers in their 
 respective districts; they were enjoined and authorized in their 
 visitations to try the life, diligence, and behaviour of the clergy ; 
 to inquire into the order observed in their churches and into the 
 manners of their people ; to investigate how the poor were suj)- 
 ported, how the youth were instructed ; to admonish where 
 admonition appeared, to them to be requisite, and to redress 
 whatever by counsel and prudence could be remedied. From 
 all these marks of distinction many advocates of episcopacy have 
 contended that, although in Scotland the title of bishop was 
 overlooked, the office was virtually retained ; yet when we 
 examine the limitations to which the superintendents were sub- 
 ject, as well as the duties imposed upon them, there seems to be 
 no gTound on which to rest the argument. They were rather 
 itinerating missionaries of a superior class. They were required 
 to remain in a particular place for several months, exercising the 
 pastoral office ; daring their visitations they were to preach at 
 least three times a-week, providing also ministers, if possible, or, 
 at least, readers in every parish. Far from being exempt from 
 the control of the clergy, they were liable to their censure and 
 correction, and even the elders of the large towns might complain 
 of them when they became remiss in their duties ; if convicted of 
 any scandal they might be deprived like other ministers. Instead 
 
254 TEK CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of governing the Church, they lived, in short, beneath its strict 
 control, and the office was probably designed only for the present 
 necessity. A similar scheme was attempted in England about 
 the same time. Select preachers were appointed to visit from 
 town to town, assisting less gifted ministers, and preaching faith- 
 fully in those parishes where a zealous preacher was imknown ; 
 and it would have been well for our Church had the plan been 
 vigorously pursued in later days. 
 
 To the superintendent succeeded the minister or pastor, who 
 dispensed the sacraments, preached, and resided in the parish. It 
 was found impossible at first to obtain a sufficient number of 
 these properly qualified ; they were therefore assisted by readers, 
 whose duty it was distinctly to read a form of prayer and the 
 Holy Scriptures to the people. Sometimes the reader, or doctor 
 as he was termed, seems to have been set over the pastor ; 
 it Avas then his province to interpret Scripture and confute errors, 
 and fi'om this rank were taken the tutors in the schools and uni- 
 versities, who taught theology. The elders assisted the minister 
 in all the public affairs of the Church, and watched with a 
 cautious eye over the moral conduct of the people. They were 
 also em^Dowered to take heed to the life and doctrine of the 
 pastor himself. The deacons distributed the alms. They were per- 
 mitted on particular occasions to act as elders, and to become 
 readers, if qualified and duly called ; " for in a reformed Church," 
 says the Book of Discipline, " or even in one tending to reforma- 
 tion, none ought to presume to take the clerical office till regu- 
 larly called." This call consisted in three particulars, election, 
 examination and admission. The election lay absolutely with 
 the people : "it appertaineth to the people and to every several 
 congregation to elect their minister." If within forty days they 
 failed to elect, the superintendent with his council chose a pastor 
 for them. Examination took place in an open assembly and 
 before the whole congregation : a candidate was required to in- 
 terpret and expound some passage of Scripture selected by the 
 examiners ; he was questioned as to his motives, principles and 
 piety ; he was appointed to preach upon a given subject, in the 
 church for which he was destined, — upon justification, upon the 
 offices of Christ, upon the number, use, and efi'ect of the Siicra- 
 ments, and, generally, upon all those tenets by which Protestants 
 are distinijuished from the Church of Rome. 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 255 
 
 The act of admission followed. It consisted merely in the 
 consent of the people to receive a particular person as their 
 teacher, and in the formal apj)robation of the ministers who had 
 judged him qualified to become a religious instructor. This was 
 done however with much solemnity. The candidate was pub- 
 licly warned to attend carefully to the flock over which he was 
 to be placed, to walk in the presence of God sincerely, that the 
 graces of the Holy Spirit might be multiplied upon him, and in 
 the presence of men soberly and uprightly, that, by his exem- 
 plary life, the word which he taught might be confirmed. The 
 people, likewise, were exhorted to reverence and honour their 
 minister as the servant and ambassador of the Lord Jesus, obey- 
 ing the doctrine delivered to them out of the word, as they would 
 obey God himself. This was all that was requisite for admission. 
 Imposition of hands was not thought to be a necessary form in 
 the ordination of ministers, though it has since been introduced, 
 and is now practised in the Church of Scotland. 
 
 The elements of the Presbyterian government as it still exists 
 in Scotland are developed in the Book of Discipline, together 
 with its present modes of worship. There is the Kirk Session, 
 consisting of the ]3astor and his elders, meeting every week ; the 
 Presbytery or classis, a weekly meeting for devotion of all the 
 ministers and principal laymen of a great town or district ; the 
 Provincial Synod, which took cognizance of ecclesiastical matters 
 within a wider range ; and last of all the General Assembly, the 
 superior ecclesiastical court and parliament of the Church of 
 Scotland, a body so peculiar in its structure, so important 
 throughout its varied history, and now at length so venerable from 
 its antiquity, that its constitution demands the attention of every 
 student of Scottish history. 
 
 The General Assembly is a representative body, in which all 
 the parochial clergy, with the ruling elders of the Church, are 
 supposed to have a voice. In the inferior courts, the Provincial 
 Synod, Presbytery, and Kirk Sessions, each minister and elder is 
 present ; but in the Assembly they are represented by a system 
 which affords to every parochial minister an opportunity in rota- 
 tion of becoming a member of the court. The several bodies 
 which possess the elective franchise and the number of represent- 
 atives returned are thus arranged. Presbyteries which include not 
 more than twelve parishes, return two ministers and one lay elder; 
 
■ e 
 
 ?56 THE CllUltCII OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 those wliich contain from twelve to eighteen parishes three mi- 
 nisters and one elder. Presbyteries containing between eight(;en 
 and twenty-four parishes are represented by four ministers and 
 two elders, and so on of still larger presbyteries. Each of the 
 royal burghs, each of the universities, and, in recent times, the 
 Presbyterian Church in India, is represented by at least one 
 member ; Edinburgh sends two. The total number of lay and 
 clerical members is 363 ; of these a majority, that is, at least 200, 
 are necessarily clergymen ; laymen are eligible only if elders of 
 tlie Church. The Asseml^ly meets once a-year in Edinburgh ; the 
 sovereign is represented in it by a nobleman of rank, who is 
 styled the Lord High Commissioner. He opens the sessions and 
 is present at all the proceedings, rather to sanction the acts of the 
 Assembly by the civil authority than in any way to interfere. 
 He is allowed a salary of two thousand pounds a-year to uphold 
 his dignity ; as the representative of royalty he holds a court, 
 and is expected to give a courteous receiJtion to each of the mem- 
 bers of the Assembly. The business of the Assembly commences 
 with prayer, after which a moderator is elected, when the royal 
 commission is read, committees are formed, and the business of 
 the house begins. Being a court of justice, counsel are admitted 
 to plead at the bar on behalf of the accused. In cases purely 
 spiritual the sentence of this court is final. It may deprive a 
 delinquent clergyman of his office, and by consequence of its 
 emoluments. Since the events of 1842, of which we have given 
 an account in the history of the Free Church, it has been gene- 
 rally supposed, or at least frequently asserted, that the Assembly 
 no longer possesses, even in spiritual things, this ultimate juris- 
 diction ; but causes have since been tried before it (in the instance 
 of deposed ministers) from which the Court of Session has refused 
 to entertain an appeal ; the judges declaring that while the As- 
 sembly kept within its own province the secular courts had no 
 right to interfere, even though the sentence it pronounced might 
 be wrong ; the judicial authority of the spuitual courts being 
 entirely independent of the civil. 
 
 The Assembly is also a deliberative body, with whom it rests 
 to rescind, alter, or create laws ecclesiastical for the government 
 of the national Church. To prevent impatient legislation, the 
 Assembly, in 1697, imposed a curious restriction upon itself, 
 enacting that no law sliould have fofcc until it received the sane- 
 
THE CUUUOII OF SCOTLAND. i'57 
 
 tion of at least forty presbyteries ; it was found difficult, how- 
 ever, to obtain the attention of so large a number of these 
 inferior courts to acts which were sometimes of little general 
 interest or importance, and from the obstacles it created in the 
 way of all immediate legislation it was termed the Barrier Act. 
 The difficulty was at length met by converting every new law 
 into an interim act, which gives it immediate force vmtil it shall 
 be rejected by the presbyteries. Since all the inferior ecclesias- 
 tical courts are amenable to the Assembly, it may readily be 
 supposed that difficult cases will occur, and anxious discus- 
 sions arise, in the review of their proceedings. These, with 
 other matters of immediate interest, furnish an arena on which 
 ambitious eloquence, party spirit, and the love of victory will 
 sometimes show themselves ; but, upon the whole, the debates in 
 the General Assembly are said to be conducted in a spirit not 
 unworthy of its venerable character. The Assembly meets once 
 a-3^ear in the month of May, and sits in general about ten days. 
 As a civil court, it is formally dissolved by the commissioner in 
 the name of the sovereign ; and afterwards by the moderator in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, as a 
 spiritual synod. 
 
 Returning to our lustoiy, it is necessary to bear in mind that 
 when the Book of Discipline was published, the revenues of the 
 Church had yet to be dealt with. The reformers proposed that 
 the tithes should go to support the ministry and the poor, and 
 that the revenues of the bishojjs, abbeys, and cathedrals should 
 be appropriated to the endowment of universities and public 
 schools. These proposals, and especially the latter, gave great 
 offence to the nobility, and produced a scene of confusion through 
 which the Reformation waded with uncertain steps for several 
 years. The outline of the story may be given in few words — a 
 volume would scarcely unravel the minute perplexities of this 
 intricate period of Scottish history. 
 
 The young king of France, Mary's husband, died in December, 
 1560, and feeling that her influence was at an end abroad she 
 returned to Scotland. There were two parties at home : the 
 clergy and the old nobility devoted to the ancient faith, and the 
 burghers, led on by no inconsiderable number of the gentry and 
 the reformed preachers, in behalf of the Reformation. Mary 
 placed herself at the head of the former, went publicly to 
 
 VOL. II. S 
 
258 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 mass, and though she promised freedom of worsliip to the re- 
 formers, soon showed that slie liad resolved on tlie suppression of 
 the new opinions. Tumults broke out in consequence, and the 
 kingdom was distracted. The Protestants were di\aded amongst 
 themselves, for in the spoil of the Church their leaders expected 
 to have shared, and the abbeys and bishoprics being suppressed, 
 to have been allowed, after the example of the English court 
 favourites of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., to appropriate a 
 considerable portion to themselves, Knox had evidently placed 
 the Reformation in peril, partly by the severity of his Book of 
 Discipline, and perhaps still more by the rigid appropriation of 
 the whole of the Church property. Whether he ought to be 
 more lauded for his high integrity or censured for his want of 
 prudence is a question upon which even Presbyterian historians 
 have not agreed, and one uiDon which we shall therefore offer no 
 opinion. In 1561 the reformed clergy were still without a stipend, 
 for though Popery was legally suppressed, no steps had yet been 
 taken to apply the tithes or ancient foundations to the Reforma- 
 tion. The privy council determined that the revenues should be 
 divided into three parts, that two of these should be given to the 
 ejected Romish clergy, and that the third part should be divided 
 between the court and the ministers of the Reformation. " Two 
 parts," exclaimed Knox, " freely given to the devil, and the 
 third part divided between God and the devil !" On the other 
 hand, this distribution of Church property has been much com- 
 mended. The ejected clergy had but a life-interest in this 
 allowance, which, as they disappeared, Avas secured by an act of 
 the privy council to the nobility. The revenue attached to the 
 crown had never been very great, and on Mary's accession the 
 royal income, dissipated by the wars in which the kingdom had 
 been involved, was totally inadequate to the necessary expenses 
 of the court. The poverty of the nation rendered any .scheme 
 of taxation fruitless. To the clergy or to the crown the whole 
 patrimony of the Church, in law or in equity, belonged. The 
 jfull possession of it by the preachers might have again introduced 
 the luxury which had disgraced the ancient priesthood, and it has 
 been argued, with some appearance of truth, that it was obviously 
 more for the advantage of the kingdom that what remained after 
 giving comfort to the teachers of religion should be divided 
 among.st a class of men whose indu.stry it stimulated, an<l whose 
 
f-' 
 
 TFIE CHURCH OP bCOTLAND. 259 
 
 civilizalion and refinement it advanced, than that it should have 
 been vested in the sovereign, whom it might have enabled to sap 
 the foundations of liberty, and even to establish an arbitrary 
 government. 
 
 These points were still unsettled when the queen, in 1565, was 
 married to Lord Darnley, a zealous Papist. She gave him the 
 title of king, and they jointly strove to repair the injuries which 
 the Reformation had inflicted on the Romish faith. The eccle- 
 siastics were restored to their seats in parliament, and St. Giles's 
 church, in Edinburgh, was prepared for the celebration of the 
 mass. Mary became a party to the league by which the extir- 
 pation of the Huguenots in France was undertaken by her 
 family, the house of Guise, and the Protestant lords of Scotland 
 were still in exile. Rizzio, her secretary, was supposed to be her 
 adviser in these measures, which were avenged by his assassina- 
 tion, in Holyrood Palace, in 1566. Darnley 's mysterious death 
 or murder, followed in 1567, and in a few weeks the queen's 
 marriage with Bothwell, who was more than suspected of the 
 crime. The nation at once abandoned her. She found herself 
 universally abhorred, a prisoner at Lochleven, in the hands of the 
 Protestant nobles, and without a friend. Her resignation of the 
 crown in favour of her son, who was yet an infant, her escape 
 from her confinement into England, her long imprisonment, and 
 cruel death in 1588 upon the scaftbld, are subjects too familiar to 
 be repeated here. 
 
 The deposition of Mary was favourable to the Reformation. 
 The young king was crowned, and the earl of Murray, a Pro- 
 testant, was appointed regent. On accepting the office he took 
 a solemn oath in public to maintain the Reformation and abolish 
 popery. The General Assembly also met and expressed their de- 
 termination to support the lords hostile to the queen ; and they 
 seized the occasion to confirm the Protestant Church in Scotland. 
 The associated lords subscribed without hesitation the scheme 
 prepared by the Assembly. It consisted of six articles, which 
 provided effectually for the security of the Protestant cause. The 
 reformed faith is not only declared to be the religion of Scotland, 
 but is taken under the especial protection of the state, and bound 
 upon the monarch by his coronation oath. The restitution of the 
 patrimony of the Church for the support of the ministry is expressly 
 demanded in these terms : that in the first lawful parliament that 
 
 s2 
 
200 'JIIE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 slioukl be held, or sooner if an opportunity sliould occur, the 
 Church in this kingdom shall be put in possession of the patri- 
 mony of the Church. The seminaries of education were also to 
 be filled with Protestant.s, and there was to be in future only one 
 established religion. The inconsistency of a Popish and a Pro- 
 testant establishment, the one deprived of all power to teach, 
 the other destitute of the means of support, was now done 
 away. The nobility, barons, and others subscribing to these 
 articles, faithfully promise " to root out idolatry, especially the 
 blasphemous mass, without exception of place or person, and also 
 to remove all idolaters and others not admitted to the preaching 
 of the word from being any function in the Church." From this 
 period the Protestant religion, though it passed through many 
 conflicts, was firmly established, and the reformation in Scotland 
 was complete. A parliament met in 1567, in which the pro- 
 ceedir.gs of the Assembly were confirmed, the acts of Mary in 
 favour of j^opery were repealed, and the Protestant Church de- 
 clared to be " the only true and holy Church of Jesus Christ 
 within the realm." No judge, procurator, notary, or member of 
 any court, no teacher of youth or public examiner, was allowed to 
 be a Papist. 
 
 In 1570, Murray, the good regent, was assassinated by a 
 nephew of the archbishop of St. Andrews^ to avenge his uncle's 
 death. His loss was soon followed by one of yet greater import- 
 ance to the Reformation. John Knox expired, worn out with 
 toil rather than age, on the 20th of November, 1572. He was fol- 
 lowed to the grave by the earl of Morton, the new regent, and all 
 the nobility in Edinburgh ; and as the grave closed, the regent 
 thus pi'onounced his eulogy : " There lies he, who never feared 
 the face of man." The memory of Knox, in England at least, is 
 ungenerously treated, for his character is little understood. Living 
 in an age and countr}' where the refinements and courtesies of 
 life were still unknown, his manners were rude and his conduct 
 sometimes barbarous. In this, however, he was not singular ; he 
 would rather have been singular had he acted otherwise. If his 
 behaviour be placed beside that of the barons, or the Romish 
 clergy, it will be found to suffer nothing from the comparison. It 
 was an age of rude and savage men ; firmness of character had 
 not not yet learned to divorce itself from roughness and brutality 
 in manners. The feudal f^ystcm was unknuwn in the greater 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 261 
 
 part (jf Scotland ; and so too were those laws of com-tesy by w1iic-h 
 the feudal system made some amends for the systematic appetite 
 for war, and those other social injuries, which it inflicted upon 
 the southern nations of Europe. As a divine, Knox cannot he 
 compared with Calvin, or even with the leaders of the Englisli 
 reformation. As a reformer he was perhaps too impetuous. The 
 moderate divines of the Presbyterian Church seem to be of 
 opinion that by gentler methods, and a process more circuitous, 
 though not less upright, he might have obtained for the Scotch 
 Church some advantages which it does not possess, and have 
 established it on a more comprehensive basis. These views, how- 
 ever, are decried by more rigid Presbyterians as those of a timid 
 and unfaithful policy. After fair criticism, nay after prejudice 
 and party spirit, have made every abatement, Knox stands before 
 us still, one of the nobles of our race. Few ever possessed in a 
 higher degree the rare faculty of governing men ; perhaps no 
 man ever exercised that faculty under greater difficulties or with 
 more success. His piety was fervent, his integrity was never im- 
 peached. The nobility who espoused the Reformation were often 
 guided by self-interest ; though not indifferent about religion, 
 their zeal for its purity was mixed up too often with covetous or 
 ambitious motives. Knox never, for an instant, either deserted 
 what he believed to be his duty, or, affecting to pursue it, Avas in 
 fact in the pursuit of sinister or selfish ends. He forfeited the 
 warmest friendships, as he flung aside, with far less concern, the 
 patronage of the great and powerful, whenever the choice lay be- 
 tween these on the one hand, and the liberty, the honour, and 
 above all, the religion, of Scotland on the other. The worst faults 
 of an unpolished age and a rugged temper detract but little from 
 merits such as these. 
 
 After the death of Knox, a long struggle of five-and-twenty 
 years ensued ; the court and the old nobility attempting the 
 restoration of episcopacy, against the remonstrances of the clergy 
 and the indignant protests of the citizens and middle classes. It 
 is too true, that the greatest outrages which the institutions of 
 Scotland have received, have been inflicted by her own children, 
 who have unnaturally turned their weapons on themselves. Even 
 before the death of Knox, the regent Morton had begun to in- 
 trigue for the destruction of the Presbyterian Church. He had 
 summoned a convention at Leith in 1572, consistinw of several of 
 
262 'I'ilK CllUltCil OF SCUTLAXl). 
 
 the privy council, assisted by a few obse([uious ininisters, wlio 
 agreed that until the king's majority, the titles of archbishops and 
 bishops should be retained, and that the dignitaries of the Church 
 should be again admitted to sit in parliament as before the Refor- 
 mation. In order to conciliate the Presbyterian leaders, it was 
 decreed, that the bishops should be chosen by an assembly of 
 learned ministers ; and that they should be subject to the General 
 Assembly in spiritual matters. These decrees were confiraied by 
 the regent and council on behalf of the young king. The arch- 
 Ijibhopric of St. Andrews was immediately filled by Douglas, a 
 creature of the earl of Morton. The object appears to have been 
 twofold. It was, first, by means of the bishops to exercise a 
 power over the Church, similar to that which Elizabeth possessed 
 in England ; a power which they could not fail to see contributed 
 greatly to the stability of her government. Had the regent been 
 able to pursue his scheme openly, and by fair means, Presbyte- 
 rians would have had little ground for complaint. It was no less 
 competent to the regent and the nobles to encourage episcopacy, 
 than for Knox and his friends to promote Presbyterianism, had 
 the settlement of the Church been an open fpiestiori. But this 
 was not now the case. The nobility and the parliament had de- 
 cided in favour of the existing form of Church discipline, and the 
 regent was bound by his oath of office to protect it. But another 
 motive, and probably a still more powerful one, was the sordid 
 wish, by means of the bishops, to retain the plunder of the 
 Church. This was done in the most unblushing manner by the 
 nobility, both by obtaining the appointment of bishops, who paid 
 large sums for the honour, and by the union of parishes, three or 
 four of which were placed under the charge of a single incumbent, 
 who received the tithes of but one parish, while the patrons re- 
 ceived the rest. It was obvious that such arrangements could 
 not bear the scrutiny of a General Assembly where every griev- 
 ance of the Church was publicly discussed ; and therefore the 
 interest of the patrons was, if possible, to suppress the Assembly 
 as well as the other Presbyterian courts. Thus, however, for 
 several years, the Church of Scotland presented a strange anomaly 
 prelacy coexisting with Presbyterianism, and each to the utmost 
 of its power thwarting the other. 
 
 King James, a boy of twelve years old, was allowed to assume 
 tlie government in the year lo7<S, and Morton resigned tlic re- 
 
THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND. 263 
 
 gency. The Assembly, which had all along protested against 
 the regent's acts, and obeyed them with reluctance, at once 
 regained cotirage. The Second Book of Discipline, which is still 
 the law of the Church of Scotland, was at once drawn up and 
 sanctioned. It was agreed that the bishops should, for the future, 
 be addressed in the usual style of other ministers; and this was 
 soon followed by a second act, which ordained that no new 
 bishops should be made, and the existing ones were commanded 
 to submit themselves to the Assembly under pain of excommu- 
 nication. These proceedings were sanctioned by the parliament 
 and the young king ; still the king was prevailed upon to protect 
 the bishops from the interference of the Assembly, even when 
 their misconduct was palpable. This induced the Assembly, in 
 1 oSO, to pass an act for the abolition of episcopacy, an office, they 
 declared, without warrant or authority from the word of God, a 
 mere human invention, tending to the great injury of the Church. 
 With five exceptions the bishops immediately submitted and laid 
 down their charge. Besides the Book of Discipline, the Assembly 
 passed another act, known as the first national Covenant of Scot- 
 land. It was intended as a test by which to discover suspected 
 adherents of prelacy and popery, and as a bond by which to con- 
 firm the attachment of the nation to the Presbyterian Church. 
 It was subscribed with great solemnity by the king himself, the 
 nobility, gentry, and a vast number of the common j^eople, as 
 well as the ministers of religion. 
 
 Young as he was, the king felt and resented the restraints 
 which the house of Assembly had imposed upon him. With 
 little respect to the obligations of his oath, he made over the 
 revenues of the archbishopric of Glasgow to the duke of Lennox ; 
 but as these revenues still belonged to the Church, a nominal 
 archbishop was created, in whose name the revenues were drawn 
 and paid over to the duke. The transaction was disgraceful, and 
 in every view of the case illegal, and the Assembly at once ex- 
 communicated the nominal prelate. The king interfered on his 
 behalf, and commanded them to stay their procedure ; they re- 
 fused to comply, and the sentence was pronounced. Had the 
 leaders of the kirk been satisfied thus constitutionally to main 
 tain their ground in the face of an arbitrary court, their firmnes^ . 
 wovdd have deserved respect, anu their example would have beei. 
 highly beneficial ; but in a violent and lawless age, they, too, were 
 
264 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 factious. Andrew Melville was their leader: he had the courage 
 of Knox without his sagacious wisdom : he was one of those 
 men who are rather boisterous than bold, and who mistake an 
 overbearing manner for true courage. On behalf of the As.sembly 
 he presented a remonstrance to the king, which, admitting its 
 tnith, was rude, and, beyond necessity, discourteous. It began 
 thus : " Your maje^-ty, by devise of some councillors, is caused to 
 take upon you a spiritual power and authority which properly 
 belungeth unto Christ, the ministry and execution whereof is 
 only given unto such as bear office in the ecclesiastical government 
 in the same ; so that, in your highness's person, some men press 
 to erect a new popedom, as though your majesty could not be full 
 king and head of this commonwealth unless as well the spiritual 
 as temporal sword be put into your highness's hand ; unless 
 Christ be bereft of his authority, and the two jurisdictions con- 
 founded which God hath divided, which directly tendeth to the 
 wreck of all true religion." 
 
 The question which Melville decided in this peremptory way 
 was not to be so easily dismissed. After agitating Scotland 
 for nearly three centuries, it has at last produced the lament- 
 able secession of nearly one-half of Scotland from the national 
 Church. It is, in fact, a question that can never be adjusted. 
 Christian churches, if national establishments, possess a power 
 over their members Avhich the state must always regard with 
 jealousy. The state, on the other hand, in asserting its right 
 to control its subjects, may, in the hands of unscrupulous men, 
 bear hard upon the rights of conscience ; and, since there is 
 no third party to whom such diiferences can be remitted for ad- 
 justment, the abstract question must, to a great extent, give way 
 to considerations of practical utility ; while, with a spirit of 
 mutual confidence, with forbearance on both sides, a compromise 
 may be affected by wliich neither party shall be disgraced. The 
 earl of Arran, the king's chief adviser, exclaimed, when the 
 remonstrance was read, " Who dares to sign these treasonable 
 articles?" " We dare," said Melville, taking up the pen and 
 signing his name, while the other ministers followed his example. 
 A warrant was issued shortly after to inquire into what was 
 termed the late sedition, and to punish its authors. It was 
 stopped by a daring outrage characteristic of the times. A ])lot 
 was laid by the nobility of the Protestant party — thr king was 
 
THE CFIIJRCH OF SCOTLAND. 265 
 
 seized in Edinburgh, and carried off by force to Riithven Castle, 
 Lennox and lluthven, the king's advisors tied, and a proclama- 
 tion was issued in the king's name, extorted by his new council- 
 lors, annulling his recent measures against the Church. The 
 Assembly met in October the same year, 1582. The lords con- 
 nected with the Raid of Ruthven, as it was termed, explained 
 the motives of their conduct, and requested the Assembly to 
 give their sanction to the affair. The Assembly, whether from 
 respect to their sovereign, or to display their power as a judicial 
 court, determined to hear both sides before they gave judgment, 
 and sent a deputation to the imprisoned king to receive his 
 own statement of the facts. They then expressed their ap- 
 probation of the deed, and they proceeded to the trial and 
 deposition of the other prelates. James felt that he was a pri- 
 soner and affected to approve their conduct, but he soon contrived 
 his escape, and hastened to St. Andrews, where he found the Earl 
 of Arran and a powerful body of the nobility prepared to support 
 him against the Assembly. 
 
 Acts of violence against the sovereign, if not fatal to the 
 throne, proverbially recoil. Public opinion in Scotland, callous 
 as it was, felt the outrage and resented it. In 1584 the 
 parliament was induced to pass, with little opposition, three 
 acts which lay the kirk prostrate at the monarch's feet. By the 
 first of these the proceedings taken for the abolition of prelacy 
 were overthrown ; by the second the Church courts, unless they 
 sat by special commandment and licence, were closed ; by the 
 third the king was empowered to commission the bishops or 
 others to regulate all ecclesiastical matters, each in his diocese? 
 and above all, perhaps, in imjDortance, it was ordered " that none 
 should i:)resume in sermons or in private conference to censure 
 the king or his council under the penalties of treason." Num- 
 bers of the clergy fled ; others who remained at home submitted ; 
 not a few were preparing for stern resistance, when the king, 
 always fickle, grew weary of the struggle and of his favom'ite, 
 Arran, and the storm exploded in threats and harmless bravado. 
 In 1587 the parliament gave to the crown those Church lands 
 which had not been already alienated to the nobles and gentry. 
 If James still wished to restore episcopacy, this measure was 
 short-sighted, f)r it was now impossible to endow the bishops 
 with revenues such as became lords of parliament. The next 
 
26G THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 year witnessed the execution of his niuther in England ; and 
 James, probably under feelings of just exasperation, soon after- 
 wards denounced the Church of England, and " praised God," in 
 the presence of the Assembly, " that he was bom at such a time 
 as to see the full light of the Gospel, and in such a place as to 
 be the king in the sincerest kirk in the world." But the prospect 
 of succeeding to the English throne again abated his attachment, 
 and the remainder of his life was spent in thwarting the exer- 
 tions and undermining the power of the Church of Scotland. 
 Yet in 1592 the Presbyterian party were able to carry a measure 
 through parliament of so much importance as to have been 
 termed the great charter of the Church of Scotland. It gave to 
 the General Assembly the right of meeting once every year. It 
 construed the Act of 1 584, respecting the royal supremacy, so as 
 to exclude Church censures from its operation, and it declared 
 the commissions granted to the bishops null. It also determined 
 the respective rights of patrons and Church courts in the matter 
 of appointments to vacant livings. 
 
 James succeeded to the throne of Elizabeth in the year 1603. 
 He left Edinburgh with professions of reverence for the kirk on 
 his lips, but being now at liberty, and having the power to carry 
 his wishes into effect, his dislike for Presbyterianism broke out, 
 even in his conversations, with indecent violence. He virtually 
 suppressed the Assembly, proroguing it from time to time before 
 it could proceed to business, and restoring the bishops as oppor- 
 tunity occurred. At length in 1606, a parliament was held at 
 Perth which erected seventeen sees, and reinstated the bishops 
 in their ancient dignities. It is evident that the nolnlity and a 
 large proportion of the people of Scotland must have been, if not 
 in favour of the measure, at least indifferent spectators of it. It 
 met with opposition only from the mini.sters. The violence of 
 the Assembly had produced its natiu^al reaction, and they fell be- 
 neath the recoil of their own blow. 
 
 James now felt that he could venture still further. In the 
 month of February, 1610, a commission was uBSued under the 
 gi'eat seal, to the archbishops of Glasgow and St. Andrews, em- 
 powering them to hold two courts of high commission. These 
 were united in 1615, and held thenceforth at St. Andrews. They 
 were formed upon the model of that which had been called into 
 1-ieing at the opening of the reign of Elizabeth, and by means of 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 267 
 
 which she vainly attempted to crush the Puritans. The power 
 of this court was absolute ; it was subject to no rules of evidence 
 or precedents of law. It was, in the fullest sense, an arbitrary 
 tribunal. In England it was universally detested, and was now 
 seldom put in motion. Its introduction into Scotland was an 
 audacious act of tyranny ; and the placing it in the hands of 
 the prelates, a proceeding of at least equal folly. If the attempt 
 succeeded, there was an end of the liberties of Scotland, both 
 civil and ecclesiastical. An Assembly was held in Glasgow, and 
 a majority was found base enough to lend the sanction of its ap- 
 probation to the measures of the court. In 1618, in a General 
 Assembly held at Perth, the struggle between the court and the 
 ministers was renewed, and, as it seemed to the men of that 
 generation, finally decided. Spotswood, archbishop of St. An- 
 drews, took the chair, supported by the nobility, gentry and 
 prelates ; the cause of the Church of Scotland being now aban- 
 doned to a few of her faithful and courageous ministers. Five 
 articles were proposed and carried; one peer, one doctor, and forty- 
 five ministers daring to vote against them. The articles enforced 
 all those forms which were most abhorrent to the Presbyterian 
 Church, namely, kneeling at the communion, the observance of 
 saints' days, private baptism, and the administration of the eucha- 
 rist in private houses. Three years afterwards the parliament 
 ratified the articles, and thus, in fact, completed the overthrow 
 of the Presbyterian Church. Four years of bitter persecution 
 followed ; and the Presbyterian Church in Scotland suffered those 
 insults, fines, imprisonments, and depredations, with which the 
 prelatic party in England had vainly attempted during forty years 
 to bend the stubborn spirit of the English Puritans. 
 
 James I. expired in 1625, leaving his native land in a state of 
 deplorable disquietude. Gradually the spirit of the burghers and 
 men of the middle class had revived ; the prelates were odious, 
 and the nobility unpopular ; while the courageous meekness of 
 the persecuted ministers placed them high once more in the 
 affections of an ardent people. It was remarked with sorrow, not 
 unmingled with a deep sense of shame, that every one of those 
 destructive measures by which the Presbyterian Church was over- 
 thrown, had originated in some court or commission of the Church 
 itself; her own children had shorn her of her glory, and trampled 
 her in the dust. 
 
2G8 THE CllUlJCIi OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Charles I. resolved to carry on two great designs which his 
 father had set on foot. The first of these was the recoveiy of 
 the Church lands and tithes, the second was the restoration of 
 Episcopacy. In the year of his accession to the tlirone, he entered 
 on the former of these perilous schemes by a proclamation, re- 
 voking all his father's acts in prejudice of the Crown, as well as 
 those uhich had been made during his fiither's minority. That 
 the two great families of Hamilton and Lennox miglit apjjear to 
 set an example to the nation, they were induced to make over the 
 abbey of Aberbroath and the lordshij) of Glasgow, to endow the 
 two archbishoprics of Glasgow and St. AndreAvs. Several smaller 
 estates were purchased from men of less note. The jealousy 
 of the nobility subsided, and it became a fashion with those who 
 affected the favour of the court to offer their Church lands for 
 sale at a low rate. In the year 1633, the king went down in 
 person to be crowned at Edinburgh. The coronation was magni- 
 ficent, and the country, being scarcely able to bear the expense, 
 suffered much in consequence. But he took no i^ains to conceal 
 his dislike of the Presbyterian Church, nor his contempt for the 
 best feelings of his subjects. He introduced ten Englishmen into 
 the Privy Council of Scotland, and one of these was archbishop 
 Laud. The lords of the articles (a sort of high committee by whom 
 business was prepared for the consideration of parliament) were 
 cliosen from subservient creatures of the court : they prepared an 
 Act declaring the royal prerogative to be absolute; thus affirming 
 the decision of the parliament held at Perth in IGOG. They also 
 confirmed another Act, passed in 1609, by which the bishops had 
 been restored to the civil jurisdictions they possessed before the 
 Reformation. Burnet asserts that the Act was rejected by a majo- 
 rity, and that the clerk of the register was instructed to declare 
 falsely that it was carried in the affirmative. The king, while in 
 Scotland, erected a new bishoi^ric at Edinburgh, and made one 
 Eorbes the bishop. According to Burnet, he was a very learned 
 and pious man, with the strange faculty of preaching for five or 
 six hours at a time ; his way of life was monastic, and his learn- 
 ing lay among the schoolmen ; he was a very simple man, and 
 knew little of the world ; he died soon after, suspected of popiTy ; 
 and the suspicion was increased when his son declared himself a 
 Pa])ist. So unfortunate were the king's first measures. 
 
 The bishops of Scotland now resolved to frame a liturgy, and 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 2G9 
 
 a body of canons for tlio use of the Cluirch. These were not sub- 
 mitted to any public assenibly of tlie clcigy, but everything was 
 managed by four or five aspiring bishops ; namely, Ross, Galloway, 
 Dunblane and Aberdeen, acting under Spotswood, archbishop of 
 St. Andrews and lord chancellor, who again, in his turn, was 
 obsequious to archbishop Laud. A proclamation, dated at Edin- 
 burgh the 20th of December, 1636, commands all his Majesty's 
 subjects, "to conform themselves to the said public form of wor- 
 ship, wliich is the only form which we, having taken the counsel 
 of our clergy, think fit to be used in God's public worship in this 
 our kingdom ; commanding also all archbishops and bishops, and 
 other presbyters and churchmen to take a special care that the 
 same be duly obeyed and observed, and the contraveners con- 
 dignly censured and punished." To enforce the proclamation, 
 the bishops obtained commissions from the high commission 
 court, and set up in their several dioceses institutions which were 
 thought, except in name, to differ little from the inquisition. With 
 regard to the book itself, though in substance that of the Church 
 of England, it differs from it in some points of importance ; and 
 those are the very points on which Lavid had already joined issue, 
 not merely with the Puritans, but with the sound and Protestant 
 portion of the Church of England. In the service for the admi- 
 nistration of the Lord's Supper, God is entreated to bless and 
 sanctify with his word, and Holy Sjsirit, " these thy gifts and 
 creatures of bread and wine, that they may be unto ns the body 
 and blood of thy most dearly beloved Son." A prayer of obla- 
 tion follows, in which the communicants " celebrate and make 
 before the divine Majesty with these his holy gifts, the memorial 
 which his Son hath willed us to make." The changes may seem 
 unimportant ; they were sufficient to inflame a nation who already 
 saw, as they supposed, the restoration of popery in the use of litur- 
 gical forms, however scriptural ; nor were their suspicions lessened 
 when, turning to the rubric, they found that " it was lawful to 
 use wafer bread," " that the elements should not be carried out of 
 the church," or that, "to the end there may be little left, he 
 that officiates is required to consecrate with the least, and if more 
 be wanting to repeat the words of consecration." All this excited 
 deep misgivings. The book of canons had appeared in print a 
 few months before the prayer-book, yet one of its articles de- 
 nounced excommunication against all who should malis-n it, as 
 
270 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 contrary to Scripture ; another excommunicated all who should 
 deny the king's supremacy; a third decreed that no General As- 
 sembly should be called except by the king, and that no ecclesias- 
 tical business should be discussed except before the episcopal 
 courts. In short, the book of canons subverted the Presbyterian 
 Church, and episcopacy, after the Laudian model, was substituted 
 in its stead. 
 
 The great civil war was approaching. The rashness of Charles 
 in provoking the resistance of his subjects was equalled only by 
 his feebleness in action. He was now attempting to change by 
 force the whole constitution both in Church and State of the king- 
 dom of Scotland ; he was endeavouring to wrest the Church 
 lands and tithes from powerful chieftains, who would scarcely 
 part with them without a struggle, and yet his government was 
 weak, and he had provided himself with no force at hand to 
 compel submission. All men saw the imbecility, while they 
 complained of the rigour, of the government. Every one who 
 returned from England swelled the clamour of the king's inexor- 
 able stiffness, the queen's influence, the favour shown to the 
 pope's nuncio, and the report of proselytes daily falling away to 
 Rome. The 23rd of July, 1637, was the day appointed for the 
 introduction of the new services in public worship. The dean 
 of Edinburgh, officiating at St. Giles's, was interrupted by a mob 
 of Avomen. No force was at hand to restore order : in a few 
 hours the tumult swelled into a formidable insurrection, and the 
 cause of prelacy was already lost. In the church of the Grey 
 Friars the bishop of Argyle was interrupted with groans and 
 exclamations. In a few days all Scotland was aroused ; most of 
 the clergy refused to make use of the service-book ; some assem- 
 bled in deep distress, and took counsel with each other and with 
 their flocks ; some petitioned the king to withdraw the book, and 
 others, in a sterner mood, prepared for the final decision by force 
 of arms. During the winter angr}' recriminations passed on all 
 sides. The prelates blamed the magistracy for their supineness, 
 the magistrates retorted and upbraided the bishops with arrogance 
 and haste. The king protested and equivocated, at one time 
 giving way to the Presbyterians, nt another urging the bishops to 
 proceed with all severity. Laud in this atiair was Charles's ad- 
 viser ; his counsels were disastrous to the Church at home, they 
 wore necessarily still mor<' mischievous in Scotlnnd, from his 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 271 
 
 proforind ignorance of tlie character of the nation, and its deep 
 attachment to the institutions he was endeavouring to subvert. 
 The passionate feelings of a people impatient of insult and in- 
 dignant under a deep sense of wrong were at jfirst peaceably 
 expressed. A national Covenant had been resorted to in former 
 days. It was proposed once more, and all Scotland, with deep 
 enthusiasm, pledged herself anew to the cause of Wishart and of 
 Knox. 
 
 A kind of provisional government was formed at Edinburgh 
 until the king's decision should be known. It was called the 
 four houses, or tables — one of the nobility, another of the gentry, 
 a third of the burgesses, and a fourth of the ministry. The 
 four united formed one General Table. The Tables requested 
 Henderson, at that time one of the best divines of Scotland, with 
 Warriston, uncle to bishop Burnet, and a few assistants, to pre- 
 pare the Covenant. They took as their basis that which had 
 been subscribed by king James in 1580, and again by the nation 
 in 1598, and to this they added several protests suited to the 
 crisis. After declaring their abhorrence of popery, which they 
 promise to oppose to the utmost of their power, they undertake 
 " to defend the ancient doctrine and discipline of the kirk under 
 the pains contained in the law, and danger both of body and 
 soul in the day of God's fearful judgment, protesting and calling 
 the Searcher of all Hearts to witness that their minds and hearts 
 do fully agree with this their profession, oath, promise, and 
 subscription." " Under the same oath and pains, they engage 
 to preserve the king's royal person and authority with their 
 goods, bodies, and lives." They further " pledge themselves to 
 support the authority of parliaments upon which the security of 
 their rights and properties depend, and without which neither 
 any law or lawful judicatory can be established ;" and " they 
 declare the late innovations brought into the kirk to be contrary 
 to the doctrine and discipline of it, and contrary to the Covenant 
 above mentioned, and therefore they will forbear the practice of 
 them till they are tried and allowed in a free assembly and in 
 parliament, and not only so, but they promise and swear, by the 
 great name of God, to resist all these eiTors and corruptions to 
 the utmost of their power all the days of their lives." This was 
 the substance of the Covenant. It was subscribed Avith a degree 
 of enthusiasm which scarcely beai\s description, first in the groat 
 
272 'J'liK c;iiui;rii of Scotland. 
 
 church of Edinburgh, and then in every shire and paiish. It 
 became the test of eac^i man's principles. If it united the friends 
 of the kirk it marked their opponents, tore the kingdom into 
 hostile parties, widened the breach already so deep and broad, 
 and made any future compromise impossible. The privy council, 
 the law officers of the cr<j\vn, and tlie episcoiial clergy refused 
 to subscribe. Two of the universities opposed it, and that of 
 Glasgow received it mth some hesitation. 
 
 The defence of this bold measure rests entirely upon its neces- 
 sity. "Never," exclaims an ardent votary of the Presbyterian 
 cause, " except amongst God's peculiar people, the Jews, did any 
 national transaction ecjual in moral and religious sublimity that 
 which was displayed in Scotland on the great day of her sacred 
 national Covenant." It is represented as a sublime appeal from 
 the tyranny of man to the righteous Judge of all. Other WTiters, 
 not unfriendly to the kirk, have viewed it in a different light. 
 Neal is of opinion that such a combination of subjects, without 
 the consent of their sovereign, in a well-settled government, is 
 unwarrantable, especially when confirmed with an oath, for no 
 oath ought to be administered but by commission from the chief 
 magistrate. The only ground, therefore, he concludes, upon 
 which the Covenant can be vindicated, is the apprehension of 
 the Scotch that their legal Church establishment was violated, 
 and their fundamental laws subverted, by the king's assumption 
 of the spiritual supremacy in tlie court of high commission, and 
 by the imposition of a book of canons and a liturgy by the royal 
 prerogative without the consent of Parliament or of the General 
 Assembly. It is clear that Charles had violated the fundamental 
 laws of Scotland in each of these particulars. The question then 
 immediately resolves itself into the more general one, whether 
 passive obedience is, under all circumstances, the duty of a 
 Christian state ? The prudence of the measure is, of course, a 
 distinct consideration. 
 
 At first the king was violent. He sent the marquis of 
 Hamilton, his high commissioner, to Scotland, with instructions 
 to suspend the service-book for the present, but at the same time 
 to dissolve the Tables and to demand the Covenant itself, now 
 revered as a sacred document, to be delivered up withui six weeks. 
 He was empowered to use force, and to treat the Covenanters who 
 might not return to their duty as in open rebellion. But again, 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 273 
 
 he had no forces at liand, and Hamilton was obliged to temporise. 
 By a proclamation he called together ihe General Assembly at 
 Glasgow on the 21st of November, 1688. The ministers chosen 
 were, with scarcely an exception, the men who had signed the 
 covenant, and Henderson was elected moderator. The bishops 
 presented a useless protest, declaring the Assembly unlawful ; for 
 the king, as the lesser evil, was obliged to sanction it, and he 
 presided in the person of his commissioner. The bishops' protest 
 was at once rejected. The covenanters, it was now perceived, 
 would carry all before them ; they would dissolve the bishoprics, 
 and repeal, by an Act which the Parliament would unquestionably 
 confirm, all the offensive laws by which Charles had provoked 
 the contest. Tiie commissioner was now prepared to make great 
 concessions ; his Majesty was willing to recall the Service Book and 
 the Book of Canons ; to dissolve the high commission ; to grant 
 that the articles of Perth shoidd not l)e urged ; that no oath 
 should be required of any minister at his entrance into the 
 ministry, but what was required by Act of Parliament ; that for 
 the future there should be general assemblies as often as the affairs 
 of the Kirk require, and that the bishops be censurable by the 
 Assembly according to their merits : and that the Confession of 
 Faith of 1580 should be subscribed by all his Majesty's subjects in 
 Scotland. But even these concessions fell short of the Assembly's 
 demands, and Hamilton dissolved them, forbidding them to con- 
 tinue their sessions on pain of treason. The Assembly now at last, 
 resolved to place themselves in hostility to the Crown. They pub- 
 lished a manifesto, declaring, amongst other matters, that his 
 Majesty's presence in their assemblies, either in his own person 
 or by his commissioners, implied no right of interference, " but 
 merely as princes and emperors of old, in a princely manner, to 
 countenance their meetings and preside in them for external 
 order ;" and they proceed to assert the position, always maintained 
 with such tenacity by the Church of Scotland, of its independence 
 of the Crown. " It is clear," they say, " by the doctrine and dis- 
 cipline of the Kirk, contained in the Book of Policy registered in 
 the Book of Assembly, and subscribed by the Presbyters of this 
 Kirk, that it is unlawful in itself, and prejudicial to the privileges 
 that Christ hath left to his Church, for the king to dissolve or 
 break up the assemby of this Kirk, or to stay their proceedings; 
 for then it would follow that religion and Church government 
 VOL. II. T 
 
274 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 should tlcperftl absolutely upon the pleasure of the prince." The^ 
 proceed to affirm that the conduct of the king in ahrujitly closing 
 the sessions was without precedent ; that it would lead every man 
 "to despair hereafter to see innovations removed, subjects com- 
 plaints regarded, or offenders punished." And they conclude 
 with declaring that '■ the present Assembly is, and shall be es- 
 teemed and obeyed as, a most lawful and free General Assembly of 
 this kingdom, and that the acts, sentences, censures and proceedings 
 of it shall be obeyed and observed by all the subjects of this king- 
 dom." Henderson, the moderator, closed with prayer, but, as if 
 the exasperation on both sides were not yet bitter enough, he 
 added this defiance : " We have now cast down the walls of Jericho. 
 Let him that rebuildeth them beware of the curse of Hiel the 
 Bethelite." The dreadful curse which he imprecated on his king 
 was this : " Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up 
 and buildeth this city Jericho : he shall lay the foundation thereof 
 in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates 
 of it," Joshua vi. 26. 
 
 The irritation of the Court when these tidings were conveyed 
 to London may be conceived. Archbishop Laud writing to the 
 Marquis of Hamilton, exclaims, " I will be bold to say, never were 
 there more gross absurdities, nor half so many, in so short a time, 
 committed in any public meeting ; and, for a national assembly, 
 never did the Church of Christ see the like" But threats and 
 proclamations had now lost their terrors. The Assembly, in defi- 
 ance of the king, continued sitting. The acts of the six late 
 Assemblies, since the year 1606, were one and all of them repealed. 
 Sentence of deposition was then pronounced against the bishops ; 
 eio'ht of whom were excommunicated, four excluded from the 
 ministerial office, and two only allowed to officiate as pastors or 
 presbyters Spotswood, bishop of St. Andrews, felt the bitterness 
 of the stroke. " All that we have done," he exclaimed, " these 
 thirty years, is thrown down at once." He retired to London in 
 deep dejection, and died the next year. Most of the bishops 
 fled ; four remained in Scotland, of whom three renounced their 
 episcopal orders, the fourth, George Guthrcy, bishop of Murray, 
 kept his ground and weathered the storm. At the close of the 
 session, the Assembly addressed a courteous letter to the king, 
 complaining of his high commissioner who had proclaimed them 
 traitors and forl)id(ltii the people to obey them, and imploring 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 275 
 
 him to regard them still as good and loyal subjects. They also 
 published a vindication of their proceedings, addressed to the good 
 people of England, which the king immediately suppressed ; and 
 in return, he issued a proclamation, denouncing the seditious con- 
 duct of the covenanters, which he commanded to be read in all 
 the churches of his southern kingdom. Both sides had now gone 
 too far for any peaceful adjustment of the quarrel. The Scotch 
 fortified their castles ; the king raised troops in England. On the 
 27th of March, he placed himself at the head of his army, and 
 marched to subdue his rebellious subjects. The Scotch, under 
 the command of General Leslie, met him on the borders, and men 
 saw once more, with deep forebodings, a king and his subjects 
 drawn up in array against each other. 
 
 Yet the cloud did not burst at once. "While the two armies 
 faced each other at Kelso, it became apparent that the royal troops 
 had little disposition for the contest. In fact, there was nothing 
 which seemed to justify the quarrel. Englishmen might love 
 episcoj)acy, but neither then nor at any other period wpre they dis- 
 posed to enforce it by violent measures upon foreign lands. All 
 the enthusiasm was upon the side of Scotland. The Scotch 
 standard displayed the motto, " For Christ's crown and covenant." 
 It is certain that the English army was not hearty in what they 
 considered to be the king's personal quarrel. On the 18th of 
 June a treaty was signed in the camp ; the terms were, the rati- 
 fication of the promises made to the Glasgow Assembly in 1638, 
 and an assurance from the king that a free assembly should be 
 held forthwith, and a parliament convened, by whom all the 
 ecclesiastical and civil affairs of Scotland should be finally deter- 
 mined. The Assembly met in Augu.st, and renewed the national 
 covenant ; the Earl of Traquair, the royal commissioner, himself 
 subscribing it on the king's behalf. Traquair made other con- 
 cessions, one of which was, that ejjiscopal government was unlaw- 
 ful in the Kirk. This the king absolutely refused to sanction, 
 though he was ready to allow that it was contrary to the consti- 
 tution of the Kirk and State of Scotland. Charles, by some 
 Scotch writers, is blamed as for a base equivocation in this affair. 
 We cannot agree with them. At the treaty of IS ewport, when a 
 captive and overwhelmed with disasters, he still maintained the 
 position that episcopacy was a divine appointment, against Hen- 
 
 T 2 
 
276 TTTE church OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ilerson and others, in whose hands he knew that his Hberty and 
 his crown were placed, and at the peril of hoth. 
 
 In 1640 the war began in eamesj, ; the king being now resolved 
 to reduce the Scotch to subjection by force of arms. He took 
 the field with an army of twenty thousand men. The Scotch 
 were beforehand with him. They crossed the Tweed and entered 
 England, to carry on offensive war, before Charles was prepared 
 to meet them. To relate the events that followed would be to 
 write the history of the most stirring period in the annals of Great 
 Britain : we must presume upon the reader's acquaintance with 
 the story, and confine ourselves closely to the affairs of the Church 
 of Scotland, 
 
 The reverses of Charles in England were fatal to episcopacy. 
 It had been the ambition both of James and his unhappy son to 
 unite the Churches of the two kingdoms, and to provide each 
 with the same canons, forms of government, and modes (^f wor- 
 ship. And this was now the ambition of the Scotch themselves, 
 as well as that of many of the Puritans in England. Only with 
 this difference : that, whereas the Stuarts would have established 
 episcopacy, the Scotch leaders and their English allies would 
 have brought about the union by conforming the Churches of 
 both kingdoms to the Genevan or Presbyterian model. Commis- 
 sioners were sent to London, at first with the design of consulting 
 with the parliament upon various measures in their common 
 warfare with the king. Gradually, however, the scheme occurred 
 of bringing the English nation to an agreement with the Church 
 of Scotland. They presented to the English parliament, in the 
 year 1641, a memorial suggesting " conformity of (.Tiurch govern- 
 ment as one principal means of a continued peace between the 
 two nations." Disclaiming " the right of interfering with another 
 free and independent church and kingdom," they were satisfied 
 with pointing out the weakness occasioned by division in matters 
 of religion, and expressing the wish that there were one confes- 
 sion of faith, one fonn of catechism, one directory for the 
 common worship of God, and one form of Church goverment 
 in all the churches of his Majesty's dominions. 
 
 The Westminster Assembly was the fruit of these suggestions. 
 Commissioners or delegates were chosen to attend it by the 
 Church i4 Scotland, who were instructed to endeavour to bring 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 277 
 
 about a union between the two kingdoms in all spiritual matters. 
 The solemn league and covenant, afterwards adopted by the 
 Westminster divines, was drawn up by Henderson, and in the 
 first instance submitted to the General Assembly and the Conven- 
 tion of Estates, who now governed Scotland. It was then trans- 
 mitted to London, and accepted by the Westminster Assembly 
 and the parliament. In England it was never rigidly enforced, 
 and in fact was soon forgotten, but in Scotland it was received 
 with enthusiasm. The Convention of Estates, who governed in 
 the king's name, issued their commands that every man should 
 subscribe to it under the penalty of the confiscation of his goods, 
 and such other punishment as they might see fit to inflict. The 
 Lords of the Council were summoned to sign and swear to it on 
 the 2nd of November, 1643, and again on the 14th of the same 
 month, under the severest penalties. A few of the king's j^arty 
 refusing to attend wei"e declared enemies to religion, to their 
 king and country ; and on the 17th an order was issued for the 
 confiscation of their property and the apprehension of their per- 
 sons. These measures were the more severe because superfluous. 
 The whole kingdom of Scotland, with the exception of a mere 
 handful of men, was prepared to embrace the covenant ; and 
 this was done in a tumult of religious fervour and political en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 The Westminster Confession was no sooner laid before the 
 English parliament than a rupture took place between the divines 
 and the civil power. The point of difference, again, was that 
 which has never ceased to agitate the Church of Scotland, — the 
 independence, or rather the supremacy, of the spiritual courts. 
 Tlie English parliament determined that from the highest of the 
 Presbyterian courts an appeal should always lie to their own 
 tribunal ; but, when the scheme of government thus amended was 
 laid before the Scotch jjarliament, they demurred to the power 
 claimed by the State, and their commissioners in London were 
 instructed to protest against it. The dispute ran high ; the 
 parliament was angry ; " they think it strange," they say, in 
 their answer to the commissioners' papers, printed April 17, 1 645, 
 '•^ that any sober and modest men should charge them with un- 
 willingness to settle the government of the Church, after they 
 had declared so fully for the Presbyterian form, only because 
 they cannot consent to the granting an arbitrary and unlimited 
 
278 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 power and jurisdiction to near ten thoiisand judicatories, to be 
 erected within this kingdom ; and this demanded in such a way 
 as is not consistent with the fundamental laws and government 
 of the same ; and by necessary consequence excluding the parlia- 
 ment of England from the exercise of all ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
 tion." And they add another consideration, which in England 
 has always had groat weight ; " we have the more reason not to 
 part with this power out of the hands of the civil magistrate, 
 since the experience of all ages will manifest that the reformation 
 and purity of religion, and the presei'vation and protection of the 
 ] eople of God in this kingdom, has under God been owing to the 
 ])arliament's exercise of this power. . . If then," they conclude, 
 " the minds of any are disturbed for want of the present settling 
 of Church government, let them apply to those ministers who, 
 having sufficient power and direction from the houses on that 
 behalf, have not, as yet, put the same in execution." 
 
 But the Scotch determined to adopt the whole Confession as it 
 came from the Assembly ; it was ratified accordingly by the 
 General Assembly at Edinburgh on the 4:th of August, I6i7. 
 The "Westminster Confession became thenceforward the authorized 
 standard of the Church of Scotland. Her forms of worship and 
 discipline, as they still exist, were framed by the Westminster 
 divines. A coolness, however, had arisen which led to painful 
 consequences, and the Scotch commissioners returned home, de- 
 ploring the hardships under which the Presbyterians in England 
 still laboured. A solemn fast was appointed to lament their own 
 defection from the covenant, in several points, and " the dis- 
 tressed condition of their brethren in England, zealous for the 
 Avork of God, but now suffering oppression under pretence of 
 liberty, from those who aimed at nothing less than tyranny and 
 arbitrary power." The growth of the Independents and of re- 
 publicanism gave them unfeigned concern. They entered into a 
 secret treaty with Charles, by which they undertook to restore 
 him to his throne ; the king engaging on his part to confirm the 
 Presbyterian government for three year.s, till an assembly of 
 divines, aided by twenty commissioners whom he might nomi- 
 nate, should frame " such a system of discipline as they should 
 conclude to be mo-st agreeable to scripture." When the treaty 
 became known it was highly unpopuhir with tlio covenanters. It 
 was in truth a (hrect viohition of the CdVcnant. Scotland was 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 279 
 
 therefore divided against herself. To complete her sorrows 
 Cromwell defeated the army which the Duke of Hamiltou led 
 into England to the king's rescue, and the general himself died 
 upon the scaffold. The death of Charles I. in 1649 did not 
 remove the difficulty. No sooner did the Scotch receive tidings 
 of his death than Charles II. was proclaimed king ; at the same 
 time the confession of faith was ratified by the parliament, and 
 the young' sovereign was informed that he must embrace the 
 Covenant as the condition of ascending his father's throne. He 
 did so, and repeated the ceremony at his coronation on the first 
 of January, 1651. The crown was placed on his head by the 
 Marquis of Argyle. The National Covenant and the Solemn 
 League and Covenant were then read, and the king solemnly 
 swore to observe both of them. The oath to defend and support 
 the Church of Scotland was then administered to him. Kneelino- 
 and holding up his right hand he exclaimed, " By the Eternal 
 and Almighty God who liveth and reigneth for ever, I shall ob- 
 serve and keep all that is contained in this oath." But the battle 
 of Worcester, in September, 1651, put an end to the shadow of 
 royalty, and left Cromwell master of both kingdoms. While he 
 lived the Church of Scotland was in peace ; for his policy was 
 to give the largest toleration to all parties, so far as toleration was 
 consistent with the public safety. The discussions of the General 
 Assembly might, however, have caused him some uneasiness, had 
 he not suppressed their sittings just as he suppressed the long 
 parliainent at Westminster. In July, 1653, his troops entered 
 the house, and Colonel Cottrel, their leader, demanded by whose 
 authority they met. A few brief sentences were exchanged ; the 
 ministers were ordered to withdraw, and the colonel and his sol- 
 diers escorted them out of the city, and courteously intimated 
 that they would do well to retire to their own parishes, and not 
 to return to Edinburgh. The Assembly sat no more for five and 
 thirty years. 
 
 From the restoration of Charles the Second to the revolution 
 of 1688, the Church of Scotland existed only in the persons of 
 the covenanters. We have already told their melancholy story — 
 an episode of horrors and of blood. The Scotch parliament 
 signalized its obsequious loyalty by the rescissory act of 1661. 
 This, says Burnet, with great truth, " was a most extravagant 
 act, and only fit to be concluded after a drunken bout ;" it 
 
280 TOE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 annulled all the acts of previous parliament.s since the year HjHo, 
 thus leaving the Church where Charles the First hail placed it 
 when prelacy was introduced. It was followed immediately by 
 other acts by which the Kirk was overthrown. Several of the 
 provincial synods maintained their ancient character of honest 
 independence, and protested against the tyrannical conduct of the 
 king and parliament. But the times were changed ; both nations 
 were obsequious and servile, and in both the life and spirit of 
 religion was extinct except amongst a few persecuted men. In 
 16G2 bi.shops were sent down to Scotland, and a proclamation 
 followed prohibiting synods, presbyteries, and sessions, till the 
 bishops should convene them. Of course presbyterianism was at 
 an end. Diocesan assemblies were established, termed bishops' 
 courts, and by an act of parliament ministers were required to 
 repair to these, and to abstain from other ecclesiastical assemblies. 
 In 1 GG2 an act was passed, whicli had precisely the same effect 
 as the English Act of Uniformity of the same date : four hundred 
 ministers resigned their livings, and according to Burnet two 
 hundred parisli churches were at once closed. The Scotch eject- 
 ment was accomplished thus : all the ministers who had entered 
 on their duties since the death of King Charles, in 1649, were 
 required to obtain presentations from the several patrons, and to 
 present themselves to the bishops to receive collation and ailmis- 
 sion after the episcopal forms and usage. In England the 
 ejection of two thousand ministers produced no imj session ; in 
 Scotland the ejection of four hundred aroused the deepest sym- 
 pathy. It cemented the covenanters by the closest bonds : instead 
 of tolling the knell of their cause, it summoned them to a com- 
 bined and heroic resistance, patient and resolute;, under protracted 
 horrors to which even the annals of the Church of Christ, in her 
 deepest sufferings, scarcely afford another example. 
 
 William III. was invited to the English throne by a vote of the 
 convention parliament, which declared that King James had 
 broken the original contract between the king and peojile, 
 violated the fundamental laws, withdrawn himself out of the 
 kingdom, and thus abdicated the government. Scotland followed 
 the example ; but the resolutions of her convention were ex- 
 pressed in stronger and perhaps more consistent language. — 
 " Whereas," they .say, " King James being a professed papist, did 
 assume the regal power ami acted as king without ever takiiig 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 281 
 
 the oath required by law, whereby the kiug at his accession is 
 obUged to swear to maintain the Protestant rehgion, and did 
 invade the fundamental constitution of this kingdom, and alter 
 it from a legal limited monarchy to an arbitrary despotic j^ower 
 * * * therefore the estates of the kingdom of Scotland find and 
 declare, that King James VII. hath forfeited the right to the 
 crown, and the throne has become vacant." Leaving the question 
 of the original contract between the king and people to those 
 political casuists by whom it has been so long discussed, it cannot 
 be denied that, in simplicity and force, the Scotch manifesto has 
 the advantage : but James had yet a strong party in the heart of 
 Scotland, and it has always appeared to English writers that their 
 power was increased by the tenacity of the Presbyterians in the 
 needless assertion of abstract principles. In the Scotch claim of 
 right, for example, which forms the basis of the revolution settle- 
 ment, they felt it necessary to advance the following proposition : 
 " That prelacy and the superiority of any office in the Church 
 above presbyters is, and hath been, a great and insupportable 
 giievance and trouble to this nation, and contrary to the inclina- 
 tions of the generality of the people, ever since the Reformation, 
 they having been reformed from popery by presbyters, and 
 therefore ought to be abolished." This was followed by an act 
 " abolishing prelacy, and all superiority of any office in the 
 Church in tliis kingdom above presbyters :" and by another, 
 excluding Episcopalians from places of trust. Kiug William, 
 though a Presbyterian, was displeased. He was anxious to effect 
 a comprehension in both his kingdoms ; in England by extending 
 the terms of subscription so as to embrace orthodox dissent ; in 
 Scotland by admitting the Episcopal clergy on the condition that 
 they recognised the authority of the General Assembly. He was 
 met in both countries, and foiled, by the same objection ; in 
 England the divine right of Episcopacy, in Scotland the divine 
 right of Presbyterian ism. In each case the stumbling stone lay 
 at the threshold, and the question was never advanced so far as 
 to permit of a discussion on the details. William, indeed, gave 
 great offence by the terms in which he gave the royal consent to 
 the establishment of the Presbyterian Church, " as agreeable to 
 the word of God ;" whereas the high Presbyterians maintained, 
 in the words of Knox, " that it was grounded uiaon the infallible 
 truth of God's word." The (icneral Assembly met on the loth 
 
282 THE CIUTllCII OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ot January, 1692, when the king, by letter, expressed his regret 
 that those of the clergy who were willing to conform should be 
 excluded by the Presbyterians from the privileges which they 
 themselves enjoyed. His desire was, that those of the episcopa- 
 lian persuasion who were willing to sign the Confession of Faith 
 should not only retain their churches and benefices, but also be 
 admitted to sit and act in Church judicatories ; and that the 
 Commission of Assembly should consist of Pi'esbyterians and of 
 those admitted prelatists, in equal numbers. To this the Assembly 
 were unwilling to consent, and they were abruptly dissolved in 
 consequence. The next year the king declined calling them 
 together, and it was with difficulty the moderate Presbyterians 
 prevailed upon them not to meet as a spiritual synod, as if in 
 defiance, at the summons of their own moderator. The Scotch 
 parliament stepped in, and passed '' an act for the quiet and 
 peace of the Church,"' which empowered the king to secure to 
 the Episcopalians the possession of their churches and stipends 
 without reference to the Assembly. In this decision the Assembly 
 with reluctance acquiesced. Their conduct is viewed in different 
 lights by historians of different jDrinciples ; but with the exception 
 of Bishop Burnet, there is no English writer of that age who has 
 spoken with any tolerable degree of candour and information 
 upon Scotch ecclesiastical affairs, and even he is charged with 
 prejudice. He sums up between both parties thus : the Presby- 
 terians by their violence and their foolish conduct were rendering 
 tliemselves both odious and contemptible. In the General 
 Assembly they exposed themselves by their weakness and 
 peevishness ; little learning or prudence appeared amongst them ; 
 their preaching and harangues were pitiful ; they were partial 
 and unjust to those who differed from them ; and thus they 
 weaned the nation most effectually from the Presbyterian cause- 
 To these infirmities he ascribes whatever partial success attended 
 the king's project. The episcopal clergy were only required to 
 make an address to the General Assembly, offering to subscribe 
 to the Confession of Faith, and to acknowledge presbytery " to 
 be the only government of that Church," with a promise to sub- 
 mit to it. Upon these conditions the Assembly was to receive 
 them, and to allow them a share in the government of the 
 Church ; or, if they could not be induced to make this conces- 
 sion, flu- king would take them under liis own protection, and 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 288 
 
 maintain them in their churches without any dependence on the 
 presbytery. This, he proceeds, was a strain of moderation that 
 the Presbyterians were not easily brought to listen to. A sub- 
 scription which owned presbytery to be the only legal government 
 of the Church, without owning any divine right in it, was very far 
 below their usual pretensions, and this act vested the king with 
 an authority very like that which they were wont to condemn as 
 Erastiauism. There are still two parties in the Church of Scot- 
 land ; the one of whom applaud King William's scheme for a 
 comprehension as wise and good, while the other speak of it with 
 indimiation as an insolent invasion of the Church's dearest riarhts. 
 By the former it is argued, that by the revolution settlement the 
 Church of Scotland abandoned some of its ancient principles, 
 widened its basis, and became, to use the expression most fre- 
 quently employed in the controversy, somewhat Erastian. The 
 Assembly seems to have been apprehensive of such a charge ; for 
 in 1698 they sent forth " a seasonable admonition," in which the 
 following passage occurs : " We do believe and own, that Jesus 
 Christ is the only head and king of his Church, and that he hath 
 instituted in his Church officers and ordinances, order and 
 government, and not left it to the will of man, magistrate, or 
 Church, to alter at their pleasure ; and we believe that this 
 government is neither prelatical nor congregational, but Presby- 
 terian, which now through the mercy of God is established among 
 us : and we believe we have a better foundation for this our 
 Church government than the inclination of the people, or the 
 laws of men." 
 
 The points of historical interest in the Church of Scotland, 
 from the beginning of the eighteenth century, are three : — The 
 question of patronage, the growth and character of the moderate 
 party, and the repeated secessions which occurred, creating in 
 Scotland a new species of dissent. The question of patronage, 
 which ended in the disruption of the Church in 1842, has been 
 sufficiently explained in our article on the Free Church. The 
 other points deserve a careful examination. 
 
 The doctrinal basis of the Church of Scotland, as settled at 
 the Reformation, was that of rigid Calvinism. Tlie episcopal 
 clergy had gradually introduced the Arminian principles of Laud, 
 which, ever since the synod of Dort, in 1618, had l)een gaining 
 ground in the Church of England. Before the Revolution it had 
 
284 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 been for some years the custom of the more aspiring and intelH- 
 gent youth of Scotland to complete their education in the German 
 universities. In these Arminianism, properly so called, was now 
 superseded by the still lower views of Episcopius and his party, 
 verging towards Socinianism. With these extreme opinions the 
 English Presbyterians were deeply affected, and they now began 
 to make their appearance even within the well-guarded pale of 
 the Church of Scotland. In the year 1710 the Assembly passed 
 an act " for the preservation of the purity of doctrine,'' which 
 indicates the existence of those divisions which had long troubled 
 the National Church in England. Professedly the act was intended 
 to exclude opinions " not agrocaljle to the form of sound words 
 expressed in the word of God and in the confes.sion of faith," 
 but, in fact, according to the statements of Dr. M'Crie, Mr. Ileth- 
 riugton, and other evangelical Presbyterians, it was intended by 
 the moderate party to exclude those very doctrines wliich the 
 Reformation taught ; and it was carried in the Assembly by the 
 votes of the episcopal clergy, assisted by a considerable number 
 of young men who had imbibed those lax notions of a modified 
 Arminianism which were prevalent both in the English and 
 continental churches. The act was especially directed against a 
 catechism, written by a minister, on the covenants of works and 
 grace. It contained some inaccurate statements, of which the 
 Assembly appears to have taken an unfair advantage. The con- 
 test was renewed in 1714, when Simpson, professor of divinity 
 at Glasgow, was accused before the Assembly of teaching Armi- 
 nian or Pelagian tenets. The Assembly is said to have thrown 
 every difficulty in the way of the prosecutors, antl, after three 
 years' delay, finally dismissed the case with a gentle censure. 
 The very same year, however, the Assembly visited with severity 
 some unguarded statements of the presbytery of Auchterarder, 
 who closely adhered to the Calvinistic scheme. The proposition 
 which they condemned was this : — " It is not sound and orthodox 
 to teach that we must forsake sin in order to our coming to 
 Christ, and instating us in covenant with God," with several 
 others of a similar kind. The Assembly declared its abhorrence 
 of the aforesaid proposition as unsound and most detestable, and 
 summoned the presbytery to answer for its misconduct. This 
 affair of the Auchterarder creed, as it was termed, formed' the 
 starting ])()int from which two systems of divinity began to be 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 285 
 
 oponly avowed in the (.^hurch of Scotland ; the ancient Calvinistic 
 scheme being retained by the Covenanters and rigid Presbyte- 
 rians, and an extreme Arminianism by the moderate party with 
 whom the episcopalians were united. The latter regarded the 
 Auchterarder proposition as embodying the darkest Antinomian 
 tenets, whereas, to quote a sentence from one of their opponents, 
 " a little more discrimination and candour, and a little less party 
 spirit, might have enabled them to perceive that, although loosely 
 expressed, it was intended merely to guard against the unsound 
 doctrine that a man must, of himself, first abandon sin and cease 
 to be a sinner before he can be at liberty, or entitled, to come to 
 Christ and to enter into covenant with God." The dispute was 
 still hot on both sides, when, in the course of the year 17 18, two 
 ministers republished, with a commendatory preface, an old 
 English book of Calvinistic theology, called 'The Marrow of 
 Modern Divinity.' The work was attacked by the Principal of 
 St. Andrew's, in a sermon preached before the synod of Fife, in 
 1719. His sermon was published at the request of the synod, 
 and the discussion inmicdiately assumed the form of a contro- 
 versy between two parties in the Church, the evangelical or 
 Calvinistic party, who adhered to the original principles of Pres- 
 byterianism, and the Neonomian or moderate party, who now 
 displayed their readiness to alter its constitution both in govern- 
 ment and doctrine. We should have spoken with more respect 
 of the moderates if they had acted with more integrity ; but 
 instead of avowing their intentions, and proceeding in a manly 
 course to the point they had in view, they disguised their inten- 
 tions under an affected and dishonest profession of respect for the 
 ancient principles of the Church of Scotland. Tn 1719 they 
 issued a commission " to inquire into the publishing books and 
 pamphlets tending to the diffusion of the condemned proposition 
 of Auchterarder." The commission entered with alacrity upon 
 its task, and chose a committee " for preserving the purity of 
 doctrine " to assist them. They reported to the General As- 
 sembly, who, by an act, condemned certain false doctrines, arranged 
 under five heads. The propositions condemned are these, and 
 they savour strongly, it must be confessed, of Antinomianism ; 
 first, concerning the nature of faith, the charge being that assur- 
 ance is of the essence of foith ; secondly, univer.sal atonement 
 and pardon ; thirdly, holiness not necessary to salvation ; fourthl}^, 
 
280 THE CHTTRCTT OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 fear of punishment and hope of reward are not motives of a 
 believer's obedience ; fifthly, that the believer is not under the 
 law as a rule of life. The Assembly not only condemned these 
 theses, but they prohibited ' The Marrow of Divinity ' in a 
 manner worthy of the \'atican and the ' Index Expurgatorius. 
 They " strictly prohibit and discharge all the ministers of this 
 church, either by preaching, writing, or printing, to recommend 
 the said book, or in discourse to say anything in favour of it ; 
 but, on the contrary, they are enjoined and required to warn and 
 exhort their people in whose hands the said book is, or may 
 come, not to read or use the same." Their opponents asserted, 
 and still maintain, that the five projaositions are not fairly con- 
 tained in the volume in question, though incidental expressions, 
 taken apart from the context, may seem to countenance the 
 charge ; and that, under the pretext of excluding antinomianism, 
 the General Assembly formally condemned the principles of 
 Knox and Calvin and of the Church of Scotland. 
 
 From this period to the close of the century the power of the 
 moderate party was supreme, and, whatever were their merits in 
 othe¥ respects, in their hands religion fell into a state of deplor- 
 able decay. The leaders of the party lived on terms of intimate 
 friendship with the men who not only avowed infidel principles, 
 but devoted their lives to the promulgation of them. In 1755 a 
 discussion arose on the infidel writings of David Hume, whose 
 essays, in one of which the ministers of religion are attacked 
 with vvilgar and insolent asjoerity, had just then been jDublished. 
 The Assembly condemned the work, without venturing to name 
 the author, and Hume was defended by Dr. Blair in a jDamphlet 
 anonymously published, to avoid the unseemliness of a minister 
 of the gospel appearing before the world as the apologist of an 
 infidel. Dr. Robertson, the historian, led the General Assembly 
 for nearly thirty years. His influence was such that this period 
 is always spoken of by Scotch writers as that of his administra- 
 tion. He ruled the Assembly as Mr. Pitt ruled the House of 
 Commons. His influence was entirely given against the popular 
 right of election, and in favour of the absolute claims of patrons. 
 His argument upon the subject (which may be seen in his 
 biography by Dugald Stewart), is a fine specimen of clear rea- 
 soning, but it leaves almost untouched the legal merits of the 
 question, and still less does it remove those scruples of conscience 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 287 
 
 wliich, taken together, made up, in later days^ the case of the 
 Free Church against the moderate party. Religion continued to 
 decline till Dr. Robertson himself seems to have been shocked 
 by the rapidity with which his own disciples were hastening to a 
 state of scepticism. He retired from the General Asseml)ly in 
 1780, vexed, as his friend, Sir Henry Moncrieff, declares, with 
 the importunities of his friends, who had now embarked with 
 zeal into a scheme for abolishing subscription to the Confession of 
 Faith and other formularies of the Church of Scotland. To such 
 proposals Robertson was too wise to listen, and he retired in 
 disgust from public life. Socinianism was openly maintained, 
 particularly in the west of Scotland, by a party termed the 
 New-light men. In 1790 Dr. M'Gill, the minister of Ayr, even 
 ventured to publish an essay on the death of Christ, in which 
 Socinian principles were boldly maintained. Proceedings were 
 threatened and the work was withdrawn, but he still continued 
 to officiate as a minister of the kirk. The shock of the French 
 revolution aroused both of the British nations from their deep 
 spiritual slumber, and we mark in each the dawning of a brighter 
 day. In 1796 a proposal was made to the Assembly that an act 
 be passed in aid of the several societies for propagating the 
 gospel among the heathen nations ; it met Avith little encourage- 
 ment, and was, in fact, rejected. The proposal was even treated 
 by several leading members of the house with the utmost scorn ; 
 but the Assembly have since rescinded the disgraceful resolution 
 of 1796, and the moderate party, as it existed in the last century, 
 ceased to control the affairs of the Church of Scotland soon 
 after this display of folly and irreligion. Under Dr. Hill, Prin- 
 cipal of St. Andrew's, at the beginning of the present century, 
 it assumed a more scriptural and evangelical character, and since 
 the great secession of 1842 it remains in almost undisputed pos- 
 session of the Assembly and the Church. 
 
 But to the old moderate party the Church of Scotland is at 
 least indebted for its literary fame. At the beginning of the 
 present century they were the only men whose writings had 
 obtained a general circulation ; for they alone had risen above 
 the barbarisms to which educated Scotchmen still cling with 
 strange pertinacity, and dared to imitate the great classic models- 
 As authors, it is true, one fault pervades them, which has made 
 their triumphs short, and is nov/ consigning them to a neglect 
 
288 THE cnrncii of Scotland. 
 
 from wliicli they will never emerge. Their style is deficient in 
 the idiomatic graces. It moves on with a pompous and a leaden 
 march, wanting variety and relief. The histories of Henry and 
 Robertson scarcely fall within our province. With the faults we 
 have mentioned they are undoubtt'dly great works, and formed 
 an epoch in the literature of Great Britain. Of Blair's Sermons 
 the popularity was once amazing, and they still deserve to be read 
 by those who would cultivate a style of theological composition, 
 cold, indeed, but chaste and vigorous. They appear to have 
 been written upon the scheme which Tillotson introduced in 
 England with unhappy consequences, that of divorcing Christian 
 ethics from Christian doctrine, enforcing ' the one and studiously 
 avoiding the other. The consequences are too well known to be 
 repeated ; like plucked flowers, Christian morals wither from the 
 moment they are dissevered from Christian principles. It may 
 be doubted whether Blair's Sermons ever converted an infidel, 
 reclaimed a sinner, or impressed with sentiments of true devotion 
 one human heart. Other writings of the moderate school on 
 metaphysics and biblical criticism have gained distinguished 
 honour. Under the former class must be placed those metaphy- 
 sical writers who shed so great a lustre on Scottish literature 
 during the latter half of the last century. They have one great 
 fault, and it is owing no doubt to their defective views of religion, 
 and the slender influence it exerted uj^on their literary pursuits. 
 They throw no light whatever upon the grand question of spiritual 
 religion in its influences upon a compound being such as man. 
 They neither help us to detect the mental delusions of the en- 
 thusiast, nor to defend the doctrines of a Divine influence upon 
 the soul. They have furnished us with a rigid analysis of our 
 mental powers, and this is all. Their speculations, when they 
 have ventured into the region of theory, have had no refer- 
 ence to religion. A race of clerical metaphysicMans flourished 
 and disappeared, and made no contributions whatever through 
 the medium of mental philosophy to the nobler science of theo- 
 logy, which it should have been the business of their lives to 
 teach. The critical and exegetical writers of tlie Church of 
 Scotland are less known in England than their merit deserves. 
 The Dissertations of Dr. George Campbell on the terms and 
 phrases of the New Testament, are not only of great value in 
 themselves, but ns the first examples of a kind of writing which 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 289 
 
 has since become extremely popular. No English author has 
 written so well as Dr. Blair on the rhetoric and the secular 
 studies of the pulpit ; and this acknowledgment must still be 
 made, notwithstanding the appearance of Dr. Whately's more 
 learned and more deeply-thoughtful treatise upon rhetoric. In 
 practical divinity the Church of Scotland abounds ; but the aim 
 of her ministers seems to have been chiefly directed to the in- 
 struction of their own parishioners, and a stranger feels that he 
 is reading that which was not intended for his use. We hesitate 
 to speak of the divines and authors of the present century. Br. 
 Chalmers for zeal, philanthropy, and purity of mind and purpose, 
 will ever be revered. Whether his projects were wise, when he had 
 in view the improvement of civil economy or the reformation of 
 the Church, another generation will be more competent to decide. 
 To the same tribunal we refer the question of his claims as a 
 Christian philosopher, an orator, and a writer ; for these are 
 points on which no inconsiderable difference of opinion as yet 
 exists. 
 
 The Church of Scotland during the present century has dis- 
 played all the tokens of a renewed and vigorous life. Long before 
 the rupture of the Free Church, the dominant party had re- 
 nounced the unsound principles of the moderates of a former 
 generation, and with these their secular habits and spiritual 
 indifference. The doctrines generally preached in her pulpits 
 now are those of the Confession of Faith and of the Bible ; and 
 the clergy are, for pastoral diligence, an example to most other 
 Churches. The public services of the Church, depending for their 
 efficiency upon the zeal and gifts of the officiating minister, the 
 faculty of extemporary address is generally cultivated. Till recent 
 times written sermons were never carried into the pulpit, though 
 the practice of mandating or committing to memory and repeat- 
 ing them by rote was almost universal. The prejudice against 
 written sermons has disappeared since the pulpit triumphs of 
 Dr. Chalmers, who carefully adhered to his written notes. At 
 the same time, habits of deeper thought, and a wider range of 
 study, mark the character of the Scottish clergy. 
 
 The Church of Scotland is the only national Protestant church 
 which, in its corporate capacity, has undertaken the work of mis- 
 sions to the heathen. The honour of proposing this undertaking 
 and carrying it into effect is due to Dr. Inglis, a member of the 
 
 VOL. II. u 
 
290 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 moderate party. His attention was directed to the subject in 
 the year 1818, and in 1824 he brought Ijcfore the Assembly the 
 unchristian character of the resolutions of 1796 on the question 
 of missions. The weight of his character, and his high position, 
 secured the attention of all parties : the disgraceful resolutions 
 were removed ; and in 1825, a committee was appointed to con- 
 sider and report upon the whole subject of missionary enter- 
 prise. In 1826, a pastoral address to the people of Scotland 
 appeared from his pen, which tended powerfully to direct the 
 attention of Scotland to the duty of evangelizing the heathen ; 
 and collections were made, and a fund set apart, in conse- 
 quence : and in 1829, Dr. Duff, the first missionary, set sail for 
 India. The mission which he set on foot is unquestionably 
 amongst the most efficient of these sacred exploits, as Dr. Duff 
 is, in his own person, an illustrious example amongst Christian 
 missionaries. 
 
 We must close our brief history of the National Church of a 
 sister kingdom without any attempt to recite its long roll of 
 famous men. And we must be content to mention, as those of 
 recent times whose biography will well repay a nearer investiga- 
 tion, the names of such men as Dr. M'Crie, Dr. Cook, Principal 
 Hill, Dr. Andrew Thomson, and Dr. Chalmers. Of such men 
 Scotland has reason to be proud. 
 
 The statistics of the Church of Scotland lie within a narrow 
 compass. At the Reformation there were nine hundred and fifty 
 parishes. Some of these have been united ; in parts of the High- 
 lands the population has diminished, and several ancient parishes 
 no lonfjer exist. No accurate return has been taken of the value 
 of Church property in recent times. The average of ministerial 
 incomes is probably not more than one hundred pounds a-year ; 
 none are destitute ; and there are on the other hand no wealthy 
 sinecures or extravagant endowments. Almost ever}' parish has 
 its manse or parsonage, with a small glebe ; and every parish has 
 its school. 
 
 Seceders from the National Church arc numerous. They have, 
 however, as compared with English dissenters, this peculiarity — 
 that while the latter have forsaken the Established Church on 
 account of its alleged impurities in constitution or in doctrine, 
 the former have withdrawn because, as they maintain, the kirk 
 is unfaithfully administered. English dissenters in general object 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 291 
 
 to the principles of tlieir National Church ; Scotch dissenters 
 only to its practice. 
 
 An Act of the General Assembly in 1708 " For the suppression 
 of schism and disorders in the Church," is the first record of 
 dissent in Scotland. The Rev. John Macmillan, minister of 
 Balmaghie, had petitioned the Assembly against the Revolution 
 Settlement. He held the rigid principles of the Cameronians, 
 and found at that period no sympathy from the dominant party 
 in the Church. Refusing to submit to their decision, he was 
 suspended from the ministry. From this sentence he "appealed 
 to the first free Assembly," accepted a call from the Cameronians, 
 and became their minister. He was joined by John Macneile, a 
 licentiate, who died soon after ; and Macmillan continued his 
 ministrations alone till he was joined in 1743 by the Rev. — 
 Nairn, when the two ministers with their elders constituted a 
 presbytery, under the title of the Reformed Presbytery. They 
 differ in no respect from the ancient Presbyterians, the fathers of 
 the Church of Scotland, except it be in the rejection of national 
 endowments ; a conclusion which appears to have grown out of 
 their peculiar circumstances rather than to have been a cause of 
 their secession. From their own authorised statements embodied 
 in "the testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 
 Scotland," we make the following extracts : they view Presby- 
 terianism as the law of Christ, providing for the unity, extension 
 and perpetuity of the Church, in a happy medium between the 
 extremes of episcopacy and independency. The Reformed Pres- 
 byterian Church is not political in the popular sense of this term ; 
 but they hold that the word of God is the supreme standard of 
 the political conduct of men in everything respecting morality 
 and religion. Christianity does not interfere with previous moral 
 relations, obligations and institutions, excepting as it sheds upon 
 them a clearer light and confirms them with its peculiar sanc- 
 tions. They hold the doctrinal standards of the Kirk, and con- 
 duct their worship in the same form. In Scotland this ancient 
 secession is still weak in numbers. They have about forty 
 ordained ministers, and six presbyteries, forming one synod. In 
 Ireland they have several congregations, as well as a few in Eng- 
 land ; and in America their numbers exceed those of the parent 
 Church at home. The Reformed Presbyterian Church have 
 missions in various parts of the world. 
 
 u2 
 
292 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Anotlier seoession arose in the year 1731 wliicli led, about 
 tliirty years sivice, to the formation of the United Presbyterian 
 Church. Of this second secession Ebenezer Erskine, minister of 
 Stirling, was the father. It arose out of the quarrel concerning 
 the Marrow of Divinity, of which some account has been given. 
 Erskine and eleven other ministers issued a protest against the 
 judgment of the Assembly by which that work had been con- 
 demned. They extracted from the Marrow a number of pro- 
 positions, censured by the Assembly, but in perfect agreement 
 with the standards of the Church ; thus exhibiting the supreme 
 tribunal of the Church as the corrupter of its doctrine and the 
 persecutor of its faithful children. Erskine and three others 
 were severely censured. They refused to admit the justice of the 
 sentence ; protested a second time against the proceedings of the 
 Assembly ; seceded from the Church, and formed an " Asso- 
 ciated Presbytery." They also drew up a " Testimony," in 
 vindication of their conduct, which they published to the world. 
 
 The Assembly was alarmed ; and in 1734<, the year after the 
 Associated Presbytery was formed, an attempt was made to 
 conciliate the seceders. A recent act, forbidding protests to be 
 received, was repealed ; a declaration was made in favour of 
 the freedom of ministers (as not being in any way affected by the 
 late censures), and the synod of Perth was instructed again to 
 take into consideration the case of the seceders with a view to 
 their restoration to their parishes. With these concessions they 
 were by no means satisfied ; demanding from the Church, not 
 only that its acts should be reversed, but that it should make an 
 acknowledgment of its own sinful misconduct. The charges 
 against them had not been cancelled, and they were not content 
 to assume the attitude of culprits respited or even pardoned. 
 But the prevailing party could scarcely be expected to stoop so 
 low. It is enough if a government recalls its measures ; a con- 
 fession of error is a precedent full of danger to those who are 
 still to 1)0 entrusted with the reins of power. And there was in 
 the Assembly a large body of ministers who agreed substantially 
 with Erskine and his friends, and yet felt that they were gro^ving 
 unreasonable. The Assembly, too, in order further to conciliate 
 them, agreed upon an address for the repeal of the acts of 
 patronage, and against the intrusion of ministei-s into vacant 
 congregations, and last of nil, in 1738, resolved that, " choosing 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 293 
 
 still to treat them in the spirit of meekness, brotherly love, and 
 forbearance, they enjoin all the ministers of this Church, and 
 especially th'e ministers of the synods and presbyteries within 
 which these seceding brethren reside, to be at all pains by con- 
 ferences, and other gentle means of persuasion, to reclaim them 
 to their duty and the communion of this Church." But con- 
 cession was of no avail. The seceders denounced the Church 
 courts; "finding and declaring that the ^^resent judicators of 
 this Church are not lawful nor rightly constituted courts of 
 Christ." The General Assembly had now no alternative before 
 them. They delayed the last step for a whole year, but at length 
 in 1740 finally deposed the leaders of the secession. 
 
 The Relief Secession dates from 1761. It arose entirely from 
 the question of patronage. The people of Kilconquhar, displeased 
 with their minister, built a church for Mr. Gillespie, of Gharnock, 
 and elected him to the pastoral office. With the aid of the Rev. 
 Thomas Boston and a few other friends, he formed the first 
 presbytery of relief at Colingsburg in Fife ; intimating, by the 
 title assumed, that the step was taken to obtain relief from the 
 oppressions of the law of patronage. 
 
 These various secessions met with great success. In 1766 an 
 overture, or petition, to the Assembly states that there were 
 already one hundred and twenty meeting-houses in Scotland in 
 connexion with them. In 1773 the congregations of the different 
 seceders amounted to one hundred and ninety. Before the 
 rupture of 1842, the seceding congregations amounted to about 
 five hundred. 
 
 The Erskine secession soon divided itself into two sections, the 
 Burghers and the Antiburghers. The origin of the schism was 
 this. An oath was imposed on the burgesses of the large towns 
 of Scotland which ran in these words : " I profess and allow 
 with my heart the true religion presently professed within this 
 realm and authorized by the laws thereof; I shall abide thereat 
 and defend the same to my life's end ; renouncing the Roman 
 religion called Papistry." The seceders could not agree in their 
 interpretation of this oath ; some of them construing it into a 
 virtual approval of the National Church which they had forsaken ; 
 others maintaining that it was merely a declaration of Protes- 
 tantism and a proper security against Popery. The contest was 
 soon embittered by personal asperities, and in 17-i7 a schism 
 
294 THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 took place. Those who rejected the oath were called the 
 General Associate Synod, or Antiburghers, the others were 
 known as the Associate Synod, or Burghers. The former party 
 were in matters of Church government rigid adherents of the 
 old presbyterian system. They published a declaration in which 
 the principles of the Covenanters are distinctly avowed ; and they 
 could advance their opinions with consistency, inasmuch as they 
 no longer claimed the privileges resulting from a national 
 endowment. The statement of their views is expressed with 
 brevity and force, and we lay it before the reader as one of the 
 best which the controversy has produced, They say : 
 
 " 1. That the Church is a spiritual kingdom. Her members, 
 as such, are spiritual persons. The same character belongs to 
 her doctrines, ordinances, and office-bearers ; but the kingdoms of 
 the world are secular and earthly societies, the members of which, 
 as such, are considered as capable of performing the duties and 
 of enjoying the privileges belonging to a civil state. The power 
 of the Church is wholly spiritual, and is exercised by her office- 
 bearers, in its whole extent, solely with respect to the spiritual 
 interests of men, and in no other name but that of Christ. But 
 the power competent to worldly kingdoms is wholly temporal ; 
 their rulers have no spiritual power, because this cannot reside 
 in a civil body, and therefore cannot be communicated to them 
 by those who have entrusted them with power. The rulers of 
 the Church are bound to publish and execute the laws given her 
 by Christ, but have no right to make new laws, or in the least to 
 deviate from his ; but civil society may choose what form of 
 government, and make what civil laAvs they please, if they do 
 nothing contrary to the eternal law of righteousness, which is 
 tiie rule of civil society as such. 
 
 " 2. That neither of these kingdoms have power over the 
 other. The Church hath a spiritual authority over such of the 
 subjects and rulers of earthly kingdoms as are in her communion, 
 and the civil powers have the same authority over the members 
 and office-bearers of the Church as over the rest of their sub- 
 jects, but she hath no power over earthly kingdoms in their 
 C(jllective and civil capacity, nor luive they any power over her as 
 a Cluirch. Christ, her head while on earth, disclaimed all exer- 
 cise of civil authority, and tliere is not the least evidence from 
 the New Tefitament that he entrusted his servants with anv. On 
 
THE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND. 295 
 
 the other haud, neither these kingdoms, nor their sovereigns, have 
 any power in or over the Church. Christ, her only sovereign, 
 hath, neither directly nor indirectly, given them any spiritual 
 authority. In matters purely religious civil rulers have no right 
 to judge for any but themselves." 
 
 The two parties. Burghers and Antiburghers, divided the great 
 body of Scottish dissent between them in nearly equal propor- 
 tions ; at length, after seventy years of discord, their quarrel was 
 adjusted both in England and America. The synods of the two 
 bodies met in Edinburgh, in November, 1820, and reunited 
 themselves into one Church, under the title of the United Asso- 
 ciate Synod of the Presbyterian Church. They had all along 
 adhered to the same doctrines and Church government, and it 
 was felt that the burgher's oath was no longer a sufficient ground 
 of difference. When the union took place the United Presbyte- 
 rian Church now consisted of two hundred and sixty-two congre- 
 gations, of which one hundred and twenty-three had previously 
 belonged to the Antiburghers and the remainder to the Burghers. 
 
 The Relief Church has since been received into this commu- 
 nion. This was effected in May, 184^7. The synod of the United 
 Presbyterian Church, and that of the Relief Church, assembled 
 in Edinburgh, and agreed upon the articles of union. They are 
 ten in number. They are moderate and conciliatory. The West- 
 minster Confession and its Catechisms are received as " the 
 authorized exhibition of the sense in which we understand the 
 Holy Scriptures," but wth the following proviso, " it being 
 always understood that we do not approve of anything in these 
 documents which teaches, or may be supposed to teach, compul- 
 sory or persecuting and intolerant principles of religion." The 
 Presbyterian government is recognized, not as exclusively a 
 divine ordinance, but " as founded on and agreeable to the word 
 of God." Those who think free communion lawful are to enjoy 
 " the right of acting on their conscientious convictions." And, 
 with regard to their past differences with each other and the 
 National Church, they agree upon an act of oblivion, no conces- 
 sions being asked by any of the contracting parties ; and thus, at 
 length, was formed the United Presbyterian Church. The Relief 
 Secession brought into its pale one hundred and fourteen congre- 
 gations. 
 
 Thus dissent in Scotland is now gathered, with a few exceptions. 
 
2(iG THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 numerically of no groat amount, into a single head. The United 
 Presbyterian Church is a powerful competitor with the National 
 Establishment, and a rival on nearly equal ternis with the Free 
 Church of 1842. It has upwards of five hundred congregations, 
 a theological hall or college, with five professors, one hundred and 
 fifty thousand members in full commiinion, besides large churches 
 in Canada and Australia, and missionary stations in various parts 
 of the world. In the course of a discussion in the General As- 
 sembly in 1834, it was stated that within the space of a century 
 nearly six hundred dissenting congregations had risen up in 
 Scotland ; while only sixty-three chapels of ease, or quoad sacra 
 churches in connexion vnth the Established Church, had been 
 erected during the same period. It was in consequence of this 
 discussion, that an Act was passed which placed the ministers of 
 the quoad sacra churches on the footing of parochial ministers. 
 Thus a large body of men, hitherto regarded as curates, were 
 made admissible to the Assembly, where their presence contri- 
 buted in a great degTce to the secession of the Free Church in 
 1842. 
 
 The national feeling of Scotland has always been strongly in 
 favour of Presbyterianism ; yet some seccders are found who 
 adopt the Independent principle. These are chiefly Scotch 
 Baptists or Sanderaanians. The former body we have briefly 
 mentioned (see Baptists). The latter originated about the year 
 1730. Their first leader was John Glas, minister of Tealing, near 
 Dundee, who was cited before the synod of Angus in 1728 for 
 certain strange opinions. He was deposed, but still continued to 
 preach in the fields, maintaining (if his opinions are fairly repre- 
 sented) these propositions : that the faith which justifies is no 
 more than an assent to the truth of the gospel history, and that 
 every church or congregation is independent, and in its discipline 
 subject to no jurisdiction under heaven. He appealed from the 
 decision of the Presbytery to the General Assembly, by whom 
 liowever the sentence was confirmed. In his own parish he suc- 
 ceeded in establi.-^hing a church on independent princii)les, but 
 beyond this he met with little success. His spirit was narrow 
 and exclusive, and he is charged with having confined religion to 
 his own little community. He condemned all national esta 
 blishments as essentially hostile to the kingdom of Christ. His 
 ()])inions, hitherto almost unknown, were avowed with more 
 
THE CHURCH OF SCOTLvVND. 297 
 
 success, in 1755, by Robert Sandeman, an elder in one of these 
 Independent churches. In bitterness he surpassed Glas himself, 
 assailing the most zealous and useful men of his age both in Eng- 
 land and Scotland, and denouncing their most venial errors with 
 merciless fury. He expounded in several controversial writings 
 Glas's theory of faith. The sole requisite to justification, he says, 
 or acceptance with God, is the work finished by Christ upon the 
 cross. The whole benefit of this event is conveyed to men only 
 by the apostolic report concerning it. Every one who under- 
 stands this report to be true, or is persuaded that the event 
 actvially happened as testified by the apostles, is justified and 
 finds relief to his guilty conscience. These views, coupled with 
 an austere discipline, were sufficient to confine his cause within 
 narrow boundaries in Scotland. Sandeman removed to London 
 in 1760, and his followers became an English sect, or at least 
 were no longer confined to Scotland. He gathered a congrega- 
 tion in London, but in 1764 he sailed for America, where at present 
 [lis disciples are said to be more numerous than at home. The 
 following inscription was placed upon his tomb, at Danbury, in 
 the United States, where he died. " Here lies, until the resur- 
 rection, the body of Robert Sandeman, who in the face of con- 
 tinual opposition from all sorts of men, long and boldly contended 
 for the antient faith, that the bare death of Jesus Christ, without 
 a deed or thought on the part of man, is sufficient to present the 
 chief of sinners spotless before God." This small community is 
 marked by strong peculiarities. In all acts of discipline the 
 whole Church must be unanimous. If the minority remain dis- 
 satisfied they are at once expelled, for the voice of the Church 
 having been expressed they are now regarded as contumacious. 
 No new member is admitted, except by the votes of every 
 member of the Church. An excommunicated member may be 
 restored once on repentance, but not a second time. The Scrip- 
 tures they say, the only guide in ecclesiastical affairs, give no 
 sanction to any second restoration, nor can they have better 
 evidence of contrition than that which they had before, and which 
 has once proved fallacious. With an excommunicated member 
 they hold it unlawful to maintain social intercourse. They 
 observe certain customs of the primitive Church. The Lord's 
 Supper is received weekly, and the Love Feast is retained ; they 
 abstain from things strangled and from blood, and they wash 
 
293 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHUPCH. 
 
 each other's feet. In the choice of their pastors, or elders, the 
 want of learning is no disqualification ; Ijut, placing a peculiar 
 interpretation upon St. Paul's injunction to Timothy, they exclude 
 both the unmarried and those Avho have married a second time, 
 from the ministry. In Scotland their numbers are small. In 
 England, by the census of 1851, they had six congregations. 
 
 Spottisivood (Archbishop of St. Andreius), History of the 
 Church of Scotland. Life of John Knox, by Dr. M'Crie. 
 Burnet's History of the Reformation. History of the Refor- 
 mation in Scotland, by George Cooke, D.D. History of the 
 Church of Scotland, by W. M. Hetherington, M.A. 
 
 OCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. -The episcopacy which 
 now exists in Scotland dates from the year 1661. Of the 
 old episcopate, Beatson, archbisliop of Glasgow, who died in 
 1603, was the last survivor. James I. revived the order, by the 
 consecration of three bishops in 1610. These were Spottiswood, 
 Lamb, and Hamilton, who were consecrated in London by the 
 English bishops, and apjDointed to the sees of Glasgow, Brechin, 
 and Galloway. But the Solemn League and Covenant followed 
 soon after, and episcopacy was again suppressed. The last of this 
 line of bishops was Sydserf, bishop of Orkney, who died in 1663. 
 Charles II. was scarcely seated on the throne when he was ad- 
 vised to restore episcopacy, and to suppress, if not all at once, 
 yet by gradual encroachments, the Presbyterian government in 
 the Scotch Church. The earl of Lauderdale warned him of the 
 danger ; the earl of Middleton assured him, on the contrary, 
 that the task was easy. Sharp, once a zealous Presbyterian, now 
 an Episcopalian, urged him to take the step at once — while the 
 people were in the first transports of joy after the restoration- 
 Few, he said, but the most violent were against it ; not twenty 
 of the Resolutioners themselves (the warmest adherents of the 
 Covenant) would oppose it. The king hated presbytery ; it was 
 not, he told the earl of Lauderdale, the religion for gentlemen ; 
 a council of the Scotch nobility was lield at Whitehall, and 
 they decided in favour of the measure. The jirivy council of 
 Scotland offered the same advice. Thus, with a strange mixture 
 of levity and violence, it was resolved to establish episcopacy 
 once more in Scotland. 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 299 
 
 The choice of bishops was now to be made. Archbishop 
 Sheldon and the Enghsh bishops were averse to the Presbyterian 
 clergy, who had, all of them, sworn to the Covenant, and they 
 would have chosen some of the old episcopalians. They were much 
 opposed to a body of Presbyterian bishops, who, they believed, 
 would have no influence and but little zeal. Sharp was in 
 London and hastened to Lord Clarendon, who was high in 
 favour with the king. He represented to him that the old epis- 
 copalians had been long absent from Scotland and knew nothing 
 of the present generation ; they were irritated by the ill usage 
 they had suffered and would run into extremes. It was only by 
 cautious measures, and the greatest moderation, that Scotland 
 would be induced to accept the change. Then, there would be 
 a division amongst them ; some priding themselves on their con- 
 sistent loyalty during the commonwealth, some atoning for past 
 delinquencies by harshness and intolerance. Thus Clarendon 
 was persuaded ; and the management of the whole affair was 
 remitted to Sharp himself, who was ]ilaced at the head of the 
 new establishment as archbishop of St. Andrews. On the 16th 
 December, 1661, the new bishops Sharp, Fa.irfoul, Hamilton, 
 and Leighton were consecrated to the sees of St. Andrews, Glas- 
 gow, Galloway, and Dunblane ; the officiating bishops being those 
 of London, Carlisle, Worcester, and Llandaff. 
 
 The selection was unfortunate. Some of them might perhaps 
 have been useful bishops in quiet times ; not one of them was 
 equal to the difficult task before them, which was to conciliate 
 the affections of Scotland to a religion it had been tutored to 
 abhor. Sharp abandoned his pacific views from the day of his 
 consecration, and was chiefly known, through the whole period 
 of his episcopate, as the unrelenting foe of the Presbyterians. 
 Fairfoul, as described by Burnet, whose pen, however, was credu- 
 lous, and too prone to detraction, was a pleasant and facetious 
 man, with a life not free from scandal ; a better physician than 
 divine, and eminent in no one branch of his profession ; and his 
 fiiculties began to fail almost as soon as he was raised to the 
 episcopate. Hamilton was good-natured and weak ; and both he 
 and Fairfoul had been zealous in past times to enforce the Cove- 
 nant. When he administered the sacrament, his custom then 
 was to excomnmnicate all who were false to the Covenant, shaking 
 out the lap of his gown, after a custom of the Jews, and thus 
 
300 THE SCOTTISTI EPISCOPAL CIIUPCII. 
 
 casting tlicni out t'roin the Cliurch and her communion. Leighton 
 was a man of primitive holiness ; but in other respects not well 
 qualified for an office which he accepted with extreme reluctance. 
 He was an accomplished scholar, and a profound and eloquent 
 divine ; but he had little regard to his person, except to mortify 
 it, nor to his rank, except to hide it from observation. He had 
 the meanest thoughts of himself, and his wish seemed to be that 
 others should think as meanly of him. He was retired in his 
 manners, and, except in temper, an ascetic. He had been 
 brought up with the greatest aversion to the Church of England, 
 for he wns the son of that Dr. Leigliton who suffered in the 
 pillory with Prynne and Bastwick for libels on the Church and 
 government in the days of Charles I. ; yet, strange to say, he was 
 now an episcopalian, and stranger still, without a spark of re- 
 sentment against his old associates. His humility bordered upon 
 weakness. Though the ablest preacher the Church could boast, 
 with perhaps the exception of Dr. Jeremy Taylor, he seemed 
 ignorant of his powers, and was always ready to give up his 
 pulpit and sit as a listener before infeiior men. In short, 
 Leigliton was one of those whose example affords a brilliant 
 light to such as are already disposed to submit to its direction. 
 That commanding energy w^hich arrests attention and moulds 
 unruly dispositions to its own purposes, he does not appear in 
 any measure to have possessed. His virtues were of the highest 
 class, and therefore unperceived except by those who were men 
 of lofty principles themselves. 
 
 The new institution was in danger from another source. Sharp 
 and Leighton had not received episcopal ordination ; the others 
 had been ordained by the Scottish bishops, and they now insisted 
 that the orders of Sharp and Leighton were invalid; and that 
 they must be ordained deacons and presbyters before they could 
 be raised to the episcopate. Sharp resisted the proposal with 
 great firmness. Leighton was more disposed to yield. He did 
 not doubt the validity of Presbyterian orders. He thought that 
 forms of Church government were not laid down as positive laws 
 in the New Testament ; but he was of opinion that episcopacy, 
 as the best form, had the sanction of apostolic practice and usage. 
 Still it did not seem to him essential to the being of a Church ; 
 but he thought that every Church was at liberty to make such 
 rules on the subject of ordination as it pleased, and that it might 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 3C1 
 
 reordain if it saw fit. " The reordaining of a priest," lie con- 
 tended, " implied no more than that they received him into 
 orders according to their rules, and did not infer the annulling 
 the orders he had formerly received." — (Burnet's Own Times, i. 
 J 95). These arguments prevailed; Sharp and Leighton were 
 privately ordained priests and deacons, and all the bishops were 
 then publicly consecrated in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Leighton' entered upon his episcopate with two schemes in 
 view ; the one was a comprehension with the Presbyterians, the 
 other an endeavour to elevate the morals and raise the tone of 
 piety in Scotland. He suggested to Sharp the outlines of a plan 
 by which he thought these great objects might be gained. With 
 respect to the first of them, he proposed the adoption of arch- 
 bishop Usher's reduced episcopacy. This would allow great 
 scope for the peculiarities of Presbyterianism, its synods, presby- 
 teries and representative courts of General Assembly, while at 
 the same time it retained the episcopal office in all that was 
 essential to its integrity. With respect to the second, he sug- 
 gested the adoption of some simple liturgy. This he thought of 
 more importance for Scotland than any forms of Church govern- 
 ment. Public worship, being entirely extemporary, had suffered 
 in common with the ministers themselves ; it was the dull echo 
 of their ignorance, their animosities, and their spiritual indiffer- 
 ence. To raise the ministers it seemed reasonable to raise the 
 tone of their public worship. The forms of a devout and sober 
 piety might suggest the necessity for a higher spirit of devotion, 
 and even lead the way to it ; but Sharp was not disposed to 
 enter upon either of the projects. He was anxious, in the 
 first place, to obtain the sanction of Parliament for their legal 
 possession of the bishoprics, and then other matters w^ould follow 
 in their place, each bishop doing the best he could to induce 
 both ministers and people to acknowledge his authority. Leigh- 
 ton soon lost all heart and hope, and saw, as he mournfully said 
 to Burnet, that the hand of the Almighty was against them. 
 They were not the men to build up his Church ; " the struggling 
 about it appeared like a fighting against God.*' 
 
 The new bishops went down to Scotland and w^ere received in 
 great state at Edinburgh. Leighton disliked the pomp, and re- 
 mained at Morpeth till it was over. Six other bishops were then 
 consecrated, but though their orders were those of the Prcsbyte- 
 
302 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 rian Church, they were not reordained priests and deacons 
 Wisliart, who had been chaplain to the Marquis of Montrose, and 
 had suffered for his loyalty, was appointed to the see of Edin- 
 burgh. The Scotch Parliament opened in 1662, and the bishops 
 were waited upon, and formally invited to take their seats accord- 
 iuiC to the ancient constitution. 
 
 The meeting of the clergy in their presbyteries was imme- 
 diately forbidden by proclamation " till such time as the bi.shops 
 should appoint." This step was fatal. The presbyteries were 
 courts recognized by the laws of Scotland, both civil and eccle- 
 siastical ; and they were now suppressed by the sole authority of 
 the Archbishop of St. Andrews ; for Sharp it was known had ob- 
 tained the proclamation, and he had acted Avithout the advice 
 even of his brethren. The irritation was only bursting out, and 
 had scarcely reached its height, when the first Act of the new 
 Parliament was passed. It vested the whole government and 
 jurisdiction of the Church in the several dioceses in the bishops, 
 who were to call to their assistance such of their clergy as were 
 of known loyalty and discretion ; and all those who held any 
 benefice were required to submit to the government ecclesiastical 
 as now by law established. By this Act episcopalian government 
 was placed upon a basis hitherto, since the Reformation, un- 
 known. Under the modified episcopacy which James I. had set 
 up, the presbyteries had possessed a voice in the administration 
 of the diocese ; the bishops had never pretended to an absolute 
 authority ; they were the presidents of these courts, with a ne- 
 gative voice upon their decision. Now the whole power was 
 lodged in the bishop ; the presbyters who might form his council 
 were to be chosen by himself ; they would be selected, no doubt, 
 from amongst his personal friends, and thus all real power was 
 wrested from the presbyters. Indeed, the bishop's council had 
 no real power ; it might recommend or advise, but as to autho- 
 rity and the right to govern, that was vested solely in the 
 bishop. These murmurs were heard not merely from Presbyte- 
 rians, but from well-afifected members of the Episcopal Church. 
 Many of them carried the argument in favour of episcopacy no 
 farther than to concede to the bishop the office of a president, 
 some authority in the ordination of ministers, and a veto in mat- 
 ters of jurisdictioai. They even held that the body of the clergy 
 ought to be a check upon the bi.-ihops, and that, without their 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 303 
 
 consent, given by a majority of votes, no bishops ought to possess 
 the powers with which the Act invested them. Many of the 
 clergy never would subscribe according to the terms prescriljed, 
 and the more prudent of the bishoj^s did not enforce it. The 
 whole frame and temper of the Act was wrong. Except Arch- 
 bishop Sharp, all the bishops disclaimed having had any share in 
 it, nor did he himself ever venture to enforce it in all its points. 
 Even the forbearance of the bishops was used as an argument 
 against their office. The law, it was said, asserted on behalf of 
 episcopacy a power so tyrannical that the bishops themselves did 
 not venture to assume their rights. " The Act was then thought," 
 says Burnet, " an inexcusable piece of madness," and by those 
 who revere episcopacy, and are distressed that a sacred institution 
 should be made to suffer from the folly of its advocates, it is 
 thought an inexcusable piece of madness still. 
 
 The ejection of the Presbyterian ministers followed. The 
 bishops held their synods throughout their dioceses in October. 
 In the northern parts most of the clergy attended, and were in- 
 stituted anew into their parishes, but in the west few conde- 
 scended to appear. A proclamation was issued, requiring all 
 who had not obeyed the late Act (that is, who held their livings 
 only by virtue of a call from the people, and an appointment by 
 the presbytery), to desist from preaching and other ministerial 
 functions. Above two hundred churches were closed in one day, 
 and many more within a few weeks. The archbishop knew 
 nothing of this rash proceeding till he saw the proclamation in 
 print. It was the work of the Privy Council. 
 
 Several counties were deprived of the public means of grace as 
 effectually as if a papal interdict had been laid upon them, for 
 the Privy Council had acted on the persuasion that few or none 
 of the Presbyterians would allow themselves to be ejected when 
 the day of trial came. There was now a sort of general invita- 
 tion, a hue and cry, sent over the kingdom, to students and 
 candidates for orders to accept of the vacant livings in the west. 
 The ejected ministers were, in general, men of weight and of 
 good abilities ; the intruders were raw lads, unfit for the ministry 
 under any circumstances, and their position was the more dis- 
 graceful from the force of contrast. " They were," Burnet says, 
 " the worst preachers I ever heard ; they were ignorant to a re- 
 proach, and many of them were openly vicious. They were a 
 
304 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 disgrace to their orders and the sacred functions, and were in- 
 deed the dreg and refuse of the northern parts. Those of them 
 who arose above contempt or scandal were men of such vio- 
 lent tempers that they were as much hated as the others were 
 despised." 
 
 Such were the ftital omens amidst which the Episcopal Church 
 was re-established amongst a reluctant people. 
 
 The Conventicle Act, which passed the English Parliament in 
 1G63, was immediately adopted by the Scotch legislature, and 
 almost in the same terms. A meeting for religious worship in a 
 private house, at which five persons besides the family were pre- 
 sent, was a conventicle. Every person above sixteen years of 
 age who was present was liable to a fine of five pounds, or three 
 months' imprisonment, for the first offence ; six months or twenty 
 pounds for the second ; and for the third transportation for life to 
 any plantation except New England or Virginia, or to pay a hun- 
 dred pounds. It was carried in the Scotch Parliament by large 
 majorities. Another Act followed, which substituted a national 
 synod in the place of the General Assembly. It was to be com- 
 posed of the two archbishops, all the bishops and deans, and 
 two ministers deputed from each presbytery, of whom, however, 
 one must be the moderator of the presbytery, and he was nomi- 
 nated by the bishop of the diocese. The business of the na- 
 tional synod was to be laid before it by the crown, and whatever 
 should be agreed to by a majority and confirmed by the president, 
 the Archbishop of St. Andrews, was to become, when sanctioned 
 by the king, one of the ecclesiastical laws of the land. Such a 
 constitution was of course unwelcome to the Presb}-terians, and 
 of the episcopal party none but a few intemperate men approved 
 of it. It seemed little better than a mockery to assemble a de- 
 liberative body, and then tie up their hands ; precluding them 
 from the consideration of any other business than what the 
 crown might lay before them, and crushing their voices, it might 
 be, by the single veto, not of the episcopal order, but of one man. 
 In short, the national synod never met for the discharge of busi- 
 ness, and it is mentioned here only to show the disposition of the 
 ruling party. 
 
 Archbishop Sharp had now the management of the ecclesias- 
 tical afltiirs of Scotland virtually in himself He was met on all 
 sides by difficulties which soured his temper, and for which scvc- 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 305 
 
 rity was his only remedy. Never, perhaps, has a Protestant 
 Church been more unfortunate in its leader. The Covenanters 
 were rude and lawless, and those scenes began which reflect an 
 infamy on his character which not even his atrocious murder can 
 o])literate.* But it is unjust to lay these offences to the charge of 
 episcopacy or of the Scottish clergy. The whole affair was poli- 
 tical, and religion the disguise. A large proportion of the Scotch 
 gentry, and a still greater number of the nobility, had felt 
 themselves oppressed and insulted by the Presbyterians. The 
 triumphs of the Covenant had been won at their expense, and 
 these were their reprisals. They were still the days of faction iu 
 Scotland and of lawless violence. The nation had never yet, 
 during any period of fifty years, been free from intestine wars, 
 conducted with a fierceness to which England had for ages been 
 unaccustomed. The Court in London, indolent and wicked, was 
 always ready to give the largest powers to the man who promised 
 to be the most unscrupulous. Unhappily, the political chieftains 
 found in Sharp both a colleague and a dupe. But there were 
 many of the Episcopal clergy who deplored his conduct, and 
 some, even amongst the bishops, who protested against his vio- 
 lence. Leighton, after a short struggle, implored permission to 
 retire from the bootless effort, and surrender a bishopric in which 
 he could do so little good. As the bishoprics fell vacant, they 
 were declined by several eminent men, on the ground of the 
 archbishop's severe measures. They would not lend their names 
 to sanction the wickedness, which, under pretence of religion, 
 covered the land with violence. They detested the measures of 
 the government, not only as impolitic, but as opposed to the 
 spirit of the Gospel, and some of them had the courage to protest 
 against them. 
 
 The Covenanters, maddened by oppression, rose in arms, but 
 in an abortive attempt at Pentland, in 1666, they were entirely 
 subdued. As a rebellion the affair was insignificant ; it was of 
 no more consequence than the insurrection of the Fifth Monarchy 
 men in the streets of London ; but it afforded a pretext for re- 
 venge ; and the two archbishops of St. Andrews and Glasgow 
 stimulated the government to those severities, which, by every 
 consideration, they ought rather to have checked. Burnet, now 
 archbishop of Glasgow (not the historian of that name), advised 
 * See Vol. I., jjage 159, Art. Covenanters. 
 
 VOIi. II. X 
 
.WG TUE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 the hanging of all those who would not renounce the Covenant, 
 but this was thought severe even in the days of Charles II. ; yet 
 he was sent up to London on purpose to obtain an instruction 
 from the king that the declaration renouncing the Covenant 
 should be tendered to all suspected persons, and that those who 
 refused it should be proceeded against as seditious. The Epis- 
 copal clergy, as a whole, were incompetent and worthless men, 
 but amongst them there were some who clearly saw the folly and 
 wickedness of their leaders, and the calamitous result of triumphs 
 gained by the help of the public executioner. They represented 
 to the bishops that if. iust^'^d cf jjeisecuLoi 5, they were to become 
 interce^oors lOr the prisoners, they might hope at once to regain 
 the affections of the people. The advice was equally politic and 
 just ; but Sharp was iuexorable, though many of the bishops 
 showed a better spirit. Wishart, of ILdinburgh, who had himself 
 been a sufferer from Presbyterian violence, set a noble example 
 of Christian charity. He sent daily sujd plies of food to the pri- 
 soners in the Tolbooth ; the Avhole town imitated his good deeds, 
 and the hungry Covenanters were in greater danger from their 
 plenty than from the hazards of their late campaign. But a few 
 instances of Christian principle made only a faint impression in 
 the midst of systematic cruelties. It was an affecting spectacle 
 to see ten of the prisoners hanged on one gibbet at Edinburgh. 
 Thirty-five more were sent to their OA\ai counties, and hanged 
 before their own doors, their ministers all the while treating them 
 harshly, and declaring them damned for their rebellion. The 
 sufferers might have saved their lives if they would have re- 
 nounced the Covenant, and every man of them could have saved 
 himself by accusing another. They were really martyrs for the 
 Covenant, and they died expressing their adherence to it. The 
 people's hatred of the Episcopal ministers was deep and dreadful ; 
 they were looked upon as wolves, and not as shepherds ; the 
 flocks they should have tended fled at their approach. 
 
 xVt last the heart of Charles relented, though Sharp and the 
 civil powers were still inexorable. In IfiGT he resolved on more 
 gentle methods in the government of Scotland. The state of 
 affairs nearer home probably suggested to the court the folly of 
 nursing a sedition in the northern kingdom. The Dutch had 
 sailed into the Med way, and burnt the fleet at Chatham. There 
 was a change of administration in Scotland ; the instruments of 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 307 
 
 the persecution were recalled, and even Sharp grew meek and 
 humble. Still there was no great improvement in the workiug 
 of the Church, for the bishops seemed concerned only for their 
 authority and revenues, and took little care to regulate either the 
 worship or the discipline. The army which had dragooned the 
 Covenanters being now disbanded, the people forsook the parish 
 churches, the Presbyterian ministers appeared again amongst 
 them, and crowded conventicles were held. Leighton was' in- 
 duced to go up to London, where he had two audiences with the 
 king. He laid before him the madness of the former adminis- 
 tration of Church affairs, and the necessity of moderate counsels. 
 Again, too, he proposed a comprehension, and to this the king 
 was favourable, though Leighton stood alone among the Scottish 
 bishops. As a proof of Charles's sincerity, Leighton was pro- 
 moted to the archbishopric of Glasgow, which Burnet, whose 
 severity had brought him into disgrace, was compelled to resign. 
 
 Schemes for the comprehension of different churches, which 
 agree in the great truths of Christian doctrine, have frequently 
 been proposed. Hitherto they have been, in general, unsuc- 
 cessful. They have always to encounter two enormous diffi- 
 culties ; first, to gain admission for the principle of a com- 
 promise, and then to conciliate tenacious rivals on questions 
 of detail. The compromise which Leighton offered was to this 
 effect : — 
 
 He proposed that the Church should be governed jointly by 
 the bishops and their clergy, who should assemble in ecclesiastical 
 courts or judicatories. In each of these the bishop should act 
 only as the president, every question, both in matters of Jurisdic- 
 tion and of orders being determined by a majority of the pres- 
 byters who were present. To the Presbyterian clergy a further 
 concession was offered ; on taking their seats, they should be 
 allowed to declare that their recognition of a bishop was made 
 only for the sake of peace, and did not involve an admission of 
 prelatic government. The bishop had no veto after the decision 
 of the presbyters. He was to ordain candidates for the ministry 
 only with their approbation and concurrence, and the licentiate 
 might, if he thought proper, declare at his ordination that he re- 
 garded the bishop only as the chief presbyter. Every third year, 
 if not more frequently, the king was to summon a provincial 
 synod, in which complaints against the bishops might be heard, 
 
 x2 
 
308 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHUIICII. 
 
 and they ceusured accordingly ; and he proposed that a national 
 synod should he called forthwith, with power to remodel the 
 ecclesiastical laws of Scotland, so as to accord with this amended 
 constitution. 
 
 Thus the scheme was one of pure concession. Its only merit 
 consisted in this, that it reduced episcopacy to the lowest point of 
 authority compatible with its bare existence. But why retain an 
 office when it is despoiled not only of its lionours but of its 
 utility? A bishop without a veto was nothing more than a 
 chairman for life of the ecclesiastical a.sscmblies. In many re- 
 spects he would have been rather the inferior of his clergy than 
 their head. A majority of them would have had it in their 
 power to compel him to ordain to the sacred ministry those can- 
 didates whom he might disapprove. Archbishop Leighton's love 
 of peace is worthy of high respect ; but an upright man would 
 have found himself sorely trammelled as the nominal bishop of a 
 diocese thus administered. Leighton, hoAvever, defended his con- 
 cessions, which left little more than the name of a bishop, thus : — 
 As to the protest of the Presbyterian clergy against the Episcopal 
 order it would be little heeded and soon forgotten : there would 
 be a practical union, and the protect would be a mere dead letter. 
 As to the veto, it would seldom be required : if an imperious 
 necessity at any time demanded it, the king might interpose at 
 the bishop's request, the veto being lodged in the king's name 
 with some secular person. If the bishop could but title it over 
 the present generation all would be still, and these disputes for- 
 gotten. With regard to ordination, he thought it much more 
 proper that the bishop should go from place to place, and, after 
 prayer and fasting, ordain the candidate at his own parish church, 
 at the request of the neighbouring ministers, " than to huddle 
 the work over in a cathedral at a distance and among strangers." 
 It was perfectly reasonable, he thought, that bishops should be 
 liable to censure, and a court, which was to consist of bishops 
 and deans, and representatives from each presbytery, was compe- 
 tent to inflict a censure. He defended the permission granted to 
 licentiates, of pronouncing their opinion against episcopacy, as a 
 liberty of which very few would take advantage. The patronage 
 beinf^, to a great extent, in the hands of the king and the bishops, 
 would, of course, be given to sound Kpiscopalians, and if by these 
 concessions the schism could be once healed and the Church and 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL OHUllCJI. 300 
 
 State of Scotland brought to work together harmoniously, the 
 price to be paid was not too great. 
 
 The Presbyterians were consulted, but they showed no disposi- 
 tion to accept the terms. The Government, they said, might lay 
 what restraints it pleased upon them, and it might punish their 
 disobedience ; but they laid down this maxim for themselves, 
 that they had received a complete ministry from Christ, and that 
 only the judicatories of the Church had the right to govern them 
 in the exercise of their spiritual functions. The Earl of Lauder- 
 dale, to whom the government of Scotland was intrusted, refused 
 his consent to Leighton's project until he should be assured that 
 tlie Presbyterians would accept it : unless he could declare that 
 the scheme had their approbation, and would put an end to their 
 grievances, it would only be regarded in England as a flimsy 
 pretext for the destruction of episcopacy. 
 
 Several conferences followed between Leighton and the Pres- 
 byterians. He stood alone amidst angry rivals, exhorting both 
 l)arties to forbearance and peace ; but his efforts were in vain. 
 The Covenanters were stubborn, insolent and captious ; but they 
 have this excuse — they were suffering from oppression. The 
 Episcopalians were equally intractable ; while they scorned the 
 pacific counsels of the Archbishop of Glasgow, they widened the 
 breach with the people by their arrogance, and their too general 
 contempt even for the decencies of their holy calling. They 
 regarded Leighton as a traitor, and treated him with rudeness. 
 Thus his efforts failed : the great bulk of the Scotch people, 
 wearied with the follies of both parties, would have gladly accepted 
 the compromise ; but Sharp and the bishops on the one side, and 
 the high Presbyterian leaders on the other, could not conceal 
 their exultation when the last hope vanished. A final meeting 
 was held at the house of the Earl of Rothes, in 1670. After 
 the Presbyterians had spoken, Leighton closed the controversy in 
 a speech worthy of his apostolic character. His design, he said, 
 had been to procure peace and to promote religion : he had offered 
 several concessions which he was persuaded were a great abate- 
 ment of the just rights of episcopacy ; yet, since all Church 
 power was intended for edification and not for destruction, he 
 had thought that, in our present circumstances, it might conduce 
 to the interests of religion if episcopacy should even divest itself 
 of some of its lawful authority. His offers did not proceed from 
 
310 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 any distrust of the gooduess of liis cause ; he was satisfied that 
 episcopacy had been handed dowTi through all ages of the Cliurch, 
 from the days of the apostles : perhaps he had wronged the order 
 by the concessions he had made ; if so, God, he trusted, would 
 forgive his error, as he hoped his brethren would : now that they 
 had thought proper to reject his proposals, without either assign- 
 ing their reasons, or offering any counter- project, he himself was 
 free from blame ; he had done his part, and they must answer 
 for it if their unseemly divisions continued, both before God 
 and man. 
 
 An attempt was made, just at the same time, on the life of 
 Archbishop Shar^ as he drove through the streets of Edinburgh ; 
 the bullet wounded the Bishop of Orkney, who sat by him, but 
 the assassin walked away unmolested. Conventicles increased, 
 the preachers were violent, the Government t)nrannical ; an army 
 of Highlanders was let loose on the Covenanters, and ten years 
 of misery and persecution followed. In 1679 the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews perished under the hands of a band of assassins ; his 
 death was the signal for a rebellion, and the rebellion for fresh 
 severities on the part of the Government. The Duke of York 
 was sent down to govern Scotland. Cruelty was congenial to his 
 nature. When political culprits Avere tortured, the council usually 
 retired from the chamber, but the duke, it was observed, remained 
 to witness the hideous experiment upon human endurance, and 
 to gloat over the agonies of his victim. The people were driven 
 to church by their fears ; and some of the clergy believed, or pre- 
 tended, that even this was a triumph to their cause, and the duke 
 was eulogised as the friend of religion. The natural consequences 
 ensued ; atheism spread under the show of conformity, and the 
 Covenanters who held out were still more bitterly exasperated. 
 
 On the arrival of the Prince of Orange in 1688, Scotland wel- 
 comed him with enthusiasm : but in the western coimties the 
 Presbyterians rose upon the Episcopal clergy, and retaliated Asith 
 equal injustice, if not with equal cruelty. They carried them 
 about their parishes in mock triumph ; they drove them from 
 their houses, tore up their vestments, and forced them out of 
 their churches. They had suffered much, and they now took 
 their revenge. Some of the Episcopal clergy had been as zealous 
 against popery as themselves, but these met with uo better usage. 
 The Scotch bishops had disgraced themselves, and, as far as they 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 311 
 
 could, the cause of episcopacy, by an obsequious letter to King 
 James on the news of the great storm which had dispersed the 
 fleet of the Prince of Orange, when he first sailed from Holland. 
 Not satisfied with expressing their detestation of the Prince of 
 Orange, and their abhorrence of his design, they concluded with 
 the wish that " the king might have the necks of his enemies." 
 It was published in the London Gazette as an example to the 
 English bishops ; but it was one which they had no disposition to 
 imitate. The Scotch Convention, in their claim of rights, stated 
 the conditions upon which they admitted William to the vacant 
 throne. They affirmed in this state paper that " all prelacy was 
 a great and insupportable grievance." The rashness of the 
 bishops had now deprived them of confidence and respect. They 
 retired from the Convention, and the Presbyterians were left to 
 carry matters as they pleased : episcopacy in Scotland was once 
 more abolished. 
 
 William's conduct to the Episcopalians was noble and generous. 
 The Dean of Glasgow waited upon him at St. James's to sound his 
 intentions; Burnet the historian introduced him to the prince. He 
 tells us that William said he would do all in his power to preserve 
 them, granting a full toleration to the Presbyterians, provided they 
 concurred in the revolution ; but if not, he would still do all that 
 was in his power to maintain such of them as should live peace- 
 ably in their functions, and he commanded Burnet to write to 
 some of the bishops to the same effect. Nor were these empty 
 words : he recommended the General Assembly, which satin 1692, 
 to receive the Episcopal clergy, and to co-operate with them in 
 the government of the Church ; his advice was unwelcome, and 
 his project failed. The leaders on both sides studied rather how 
 to exasperate than how to mollify each other. William is the 
 only party whose conduct entitles him to much respect. 
 
 At the revolution, the Episcopal Church of Scotland stood thus : 
 there were two archiepiscopal provinces, St, Andrews and Glas- 
 gow ; the former contained the bishoprics of Aberdeen, Brechin, 
 Caithness, Dunkeld, Dunblane, Edinburgh, Moray, Orkney, and 
 Ross ; the latter, those of Argyle, Galloway, and the Islands. 
 The clergymen were about nine hundred. The livings were very 
 poor ; neither of the three bishoprics of Edinburgh, Brechin, or 
 Dunblane, about this period, were worth a hundred pounds a year. 
 Some of the Episcopalian clergy followed the course of the revo- 
 
312 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHUltCH. 
 
 lution, and transferred their allegiance to William and Mary ; 
 but the greater part declined the oath of allegiance, refused to 
 pray in public for the new sovereigns, and were dispossessed of 
 their livings. These formed an union with the English non- 
 jurors, and the history of the two bodies is closely entwined for 
 ninety years, until the nonjurors disappeared. The Scotch 
 bishops placed themselves at the head of this party, and the 
 Episcopalians were regarded in consequence as disaffected to the 
 state. The bishops were ejected from their sees; but they suf- 
 fered no further interruption, and some of them continued to 
 officiate privately in their episcopal capacity : and the clergy 
 who consented to accept the new state of things, were allowed to 
 retain their benefices ; but as they had no share in the govern- 
 ment of the Church of Scotland, it was understood that they 
 should not be subject to its judicatories. The Presbyterians were 
 unreasonable, and still claimed the right of citing and punishing 
 Episcopal delinquents. Two cases are mentioned in 1699, in 
 which clergymen were charged with crimes, and cited before the 
 presbytery ; they were actually censured, but the government 
 interposed to prevent the execution of the sentence. 
 
 On the accession of Queen Anne, the clergy naturally expected 
 some relief. In 1702 she wrote to the Privy Council, expressing 
 her desire that the Episcopal clergy should be permitted the free 
 exercise of public worship. As thev still declined the oath of 
 allegiance to the reigning family, this was an act of great gene- 
 rosity. She perceived, no doubt, that whatever the pretext might 
 be, they were in truth suffering for their attachment to episco- 
 pacy. The clergy regained courage, and presented an address to 
 Her Majesty, in which, after expressing their satisfaction at 
 having a queen of their ancient race of kings, they beseech her 
 to give liberty to those parishes whose inhabitants were chiefly 
 Episcopalians, to select ministers of their own principles. The 
 next year another address was presented, in which they mention 
 the sufferings of the clergy in 1688 and 1689, and subsequent 
 years. The queen returned a kind and gracious answer. 
 
 Such toleration gave great offence. Tiie General Assembly 
 addressed their remonstrances to the lord high commissioner. 
 " We are bold in the Lord," they say, "and in the name of the 
 Church of God, to attest his grace, and the most honourable 
 estates of parliament, that no such motion of any legal toleration 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHUECH. 313 
 
 to those of the prelatical principles might be entertained ; to 
 tolerate that way would be to establish iniquity by a law." 
 
 The Act of Union, by which England and Scotland were 
 united, took place on the 1st of May, 1707. The first imperial 
 parliament sat on the 23rd of October in the same year. 
 
 The union did not immediately benefit the Episcopalians. The 
 Presbyterians of Scotland were suspicious of a measure which 
 obliged them to receive laws from a parliament defiled with the 
 the presence of a bench of bishops ; it was an invasion of the 
 ancient Covenant. Many of them preached against it ; and one 
 of the Cameronians maintained pubhcly that the queen, by im- 
 posing the union, had forfeited her right to the crown. Abun- 
 dant evidence, it is said, exists, that the Presbyterians, in their 
 hatred of the measure, agreed to recal the Pretender on the sole 
 condition that he woald support the Protestant faith, and that he 
 would repeal the union. 
 
 The prejudices of the Kirk were great ; but an impartial reader 
 will not forget how great had been her provocations. In the 
 year 1709, Greenshields, the son of an Episcopalian minister, who 
 had been driven from his parish at the revolution, opened a 
 meeting-house in Edinburgh. He had been ordained by one of 
 the Scottish bishops, and he introduced the English liturgy, — for 
 hitherto the Episcopalians had used extemporary prayers, the an- 
 cient liturgy not having been restored, nor any new one authorised. 
 He took the oaths, and was by law exempt from the Presbyterian 
 courts. The Assembly took alarm. They passed an act, in which 
 it was alleged, that the union was infringed " by the use of set 
 forms, rites, and ceremonies ; that such innovations were dan- 
 gerous to the Church, and contrary to the Confession." Green- 
 shields was in consequence cited before the presbytery, deposed 
 from the ministry, and, on his refusal to recognize their authority, 
 imprisoned by the magistrates at their request in the Tolbooth. 
 Even the English regiments stationed at Scotland were not in- 
 dulged in the use of the English prayer-book. A riot took place 
 in Glasgow in consequence of the English service. Mr. Burgess, 
 who had taken the oaths, introduced the liturgy into his chapel, 
 upon which the mob broke into the meeting, and, but for the 
 interference of the magistrates, would have proceeded to acts of 
 violence upon the congregation. The matter was taken up by 
 the House of Lords ; and the persecutions of Greenshields led 
 
314 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 immediately to the Act of Toleration, and to that for the restora- 
 tion of patronage. Thus the violence of the extreme Presbyte- 
 rians produced a reaction, from the effects of which their cause 
 never recovered. Their extravagance, indeed, was almost lu- 
 dicrous. Nicholson, Bishop of Carlisle, writing to Archbishop 
 Wake, exclaims, " If the extemporary prayers of the Presbyterians 
 are current on this side the Tweed, why should not the episco- 
 palian forms be received on the other ?" Alluding to the objec- 
 tion that it would inflame the Scotch, he says, " And what if it 
 should ? It would look somewhat oddly that a moderator of a 
 northern presbytery should have the liberty of worsiiippiug God 
 in his own way at Lincoln or Carlisle, and that you and I should 
 be debarred the like indulgence at Edinburgh or Glasgow." The 
 subject excited some degree of interest in England, and Avas 
 noticed by Swift in the ' Examiner.' According to a statement 
 which he quotes, a very large proportion of Scotland, nine parts 
 in ten of the nobility and gentry, and two in three of the com- 
 mons, were Episcopal. This may be extravagant; but many 
 facts conspire to show that the nitmber of Episcopalians was con- 
 siderable, and that it had been for some time increasing. The 
 violence of the Assembly .sufficiently accounts for this. In no 
 state into which the elements of free government have fought 
 their wa} will the people, especially the educated classes, submit 
 for any length of time to a spiritual despotism. " If these," ex- 
 claims the Dean of St. Patricks, " be the principles of the higli 
 Kirk, God preserve the southern parts, at least, from their 
 tyranny." Greenshields remained in prison till liberated by a 
 decision of the House of Lords. 
 
 Queen Anne died in 1714. The next year the rebellion broke 
 out on behalf of the Pretender. Tlie Episcopalians were supposed 
 to be favourable to his cause, and were regarded with distrust. 
 Wherever the English troops appeared their congregations were 
 broken up, their chapels and private houses, where the liturgy 
 was read, were closed, the clergy were roughly treated or impri- 
 soned, and the people were prevented from assembling with them 
 for public worship. It is still contended by their advocates that 
 this usage was unjust, and the nonjurors of Scotland are repre- 
 sented as a peaceable, if not a loyal, people ; but it is useless to 
 deny that, although the Episcopal Church was no doubt divided 
 into two parties, its influence, in the main, was given to the Pre- 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHUECH. 315 
 
 tender. The bishop of Edinburgh was devoted to his cause ; he 
 was even bitterly opposed to Greenshields, because he had taken 
 the oaths and made use of the English liturgy. The Episcopal 
 clergy of Aberdeen presented an address to the Pretender begin- 
 ning thus : — "We, your majesty's most faithful and dutiful sub- 
 jects." And amongst the rebels taken in arms were the sons of 
 two Scotch prelates. But, upon the whole, they experienced much 
 forbearance. On taking the oaths of allegiance, the Episcopal 
 clergy were again permitted, by an Act passed in 1719, to ofiBciate 
 in public and to use the English liturgy ; and even this condition 
 was overlooked, and many were permitted to officiate without 
 swearing allegiance. Until the second rebellion, in 1 745, they 
 were almost undisturbed ; their numbers had now shrunk to 
 about a hundred and twenty clergymen and three bishops. They 
 had incurred just suspicion from their conduct with regard to the 
 Pretender, and the ruin of their cause was now precipitated by 
 theological animosities amongst themselves. 
 
 In 1720 the English nonjurors broke up into two sections. 
 The ground of their quarrel was a new communion office, which 
 involves several practices, or usages, which had been rejected by 
 the Church of England. Each party withdrew from the other, 
 and each consecrated bishops, in order to continue the succession 
 in itself. In the year 1722 those who insisted on the usages or- 
 dained John Griffin to be a bishop. He was consecrated by 
 Collier and Brett, English nonjuring bishops, assisted by the 
 Scottish bishop, Campbell ; he, and some others, having already 
 adopted the principles embodied in the usages. 
 
 The usages were these : mingling water with wine in the 
 Lord's Supper ; prayers for the dead ; a prayer for the descent of 
 the Holy Ghost upon the sacramental elements ; an oblatory 
 prayer in the Eucharistic office, which was defended upon this 
 ground, " that the holy Eucharist is a proper sacrifice, and that 
 our blessed Saviour, at his last supper, offered the bread and 
 wine to God the Father, as the symbols of his body and blood, 
 and commanded his apostles to do the same." It is evident that 
 here was a broad departure from the principles of the Church of 
 England, and indeed of all the reformed Churches. A new 
 communion office was published, in which the usages were intro- 
 duced ; it differs little from the first prayer-book of King Ed- 
 ward VI. The old nonjurors condemned these innovations with 
 
316 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 the gi-eatest firniness. Leslie, a bislioi? of their party, contro- 
 verted the opinions of Collier and the rest, in print. " The 
 utmost they can amount to," he says, " is probable oijinions ;'' 
 and he adds these words: "Nothing is to be received as faith 
 or Christian doctrine but what is written in the Holy Scriptures, 
 which is so perfect a rule that nothing is to be added to them ; 
 which, if any do, let him fear that woe denounced against such. 
 In short, we must first find our rule of faith before we apply 
 anything to it, or it to anything ; if it be Scripture we know 
 where we are ; but if it be tradition we launch into an ocean 
 which has neither shore nor bottom, nor we any compass to steer 
 by, where we must be driven about by every wind of doctrine." 
 Between the two parties whose opinions were thus expressed, the 
 breach was now incurable. 
 
 The division reached the Episcopal Church in Scotland. Two 
 of the bishops, Gadderer and Campbell, espoused the usages, the 
 others opposed them. The clergy, too, were divided. It is a 
 curious fact, as we gather from the ' Lockhart Papers,' that the 
 question was referred to the Pretender for his decision, as the 
 supreme head of the Church, by both parties. At length a con- 
 cordat was agreed upon in 1731, and by this those usages to 
 which we have referred were accepted ; but other usages, which it 
 seems some of the Scotch Episcopalians had adopted, were 
 abandoned ; these were immersion in l)aptism, the chrism in 
 confirmation, and the anointing of the sick. Still dilferences 
 continued to exist, and the small body of Episcopalians was dis- 
 tracted for many years with its own internal and unseemly com- 
 motions. 
 
 The second rebellion of 1745 nearly completed its destruction. 
 A church, whose bishops were appointed by the Pretender, was 
 of course regarded by the house of Hanover as a hostile institu- 
 tion. The meeting-houses were burnt down or demolished by 
 the soldiers, and the clergy fled at their approach. The consti- 
 tution of Scotland was suspended for three months, and the 
 country placed uu<ler martial law. An Act was passed by which 
 every Episcopal clergyman officiating without having taken the 
 oaths was liable to imprisonment for the first offence, and trans- 
 })()rtation for the second, and an assembly of five pensons consti- 
 tuted an illegal meeting. Hitherto the laity had escaped ; but in 
 1746 all persons frequenting such illegal meetings were com- 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. ni7 
 
 manded to give information, under a penalty of fine and impri- 
 sonment. In l7-t8 the Act was revived, when it was enacted 
 that none but English or Irish letters of orders should be deemed 
 sufficient to qualify any minister for the exercise of his office in 
 Scotland, and the clergy were only permitted to officiate in their 
 own houses. Such was the state of things till the accession of 
 George III. in 1760. 
 
 In 1765 the communion office was revised by the bishops, and 
 brought into its present state, and from this period the practice 
 of the Scottish Episcopal Church has been to use the English 
 liturgy, with the exception of the communion office. In the 
 year 1817 the Scottish bishops and clergy assembled in synod, 
 drew up a body of canons, of which the twenty-first enacts, 
 that while the English communion office may be used (and it is, 
 we believe, in fact, generally made use of at the present time), 
 yet that, " from respect for the authority which originally sanc- 
 tioned the Scotch liturgy, and for other sufficient reasons, it is 
 hereby enacted that the Scotch communion office continue to be 
 held of primary authority in this Church, and that it shall be 
 used not only in all consecrations of bishops, but also at the 
 opening of all general synods." 
 
 The death of Charles Edward, the grandson of James II., the 
 last of the Stuarts, put an end, at length, to the diffi.culties of 
 the nonjurors in 1788. The bishops of the Episcopal Church in 
 Scotland met at Aberdeen, and, with the concurrence of the 
 clergy, resolved to submit to the government, and to acknowledge 
 the rightful sovereignty of George III. Fi-om this time they 
 ceased to b** a nonjuring Church, and soon afterwards, in 1792, 
 an Act was passed, which relieved them from the penalties im- 
 posed by the various Acts of Queen Anne, George I., and 
 George II. The bill provides that the clergy shall take the usual 
 oaths, subscribe to the thirty-nine articles, and pray, by name, 
 for the king and royal family. But it excludes the Scottish 
 clergy from officiating in England, " except in the case of such 
 as shall have been ordained by some bishop of the Church of 
 England or of Ireland." This prohibition was, to some extent, 
 removed in 1840, by an Act which permits the bishops and 
 clergy of "the Protestant Episcopal Church in Scotland" to 
 officiate in our churches, " only with the special permission of 
 the bishop in writing, such permission extending only to two 
 
3J8 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 Sundays at a time." By the canons which the Scotch Episcopa- 
 lians framed for their own government in 1817, tlie thirty-nine 
 articles were made the standard of faith. Still the comnmnion 
 odice forms a painful subject of contention. There are now in 
 Scotland several flourishing congregations of English Episcopa- 
 lians, who decline to recognise the authority of the Scotch bishops, 
 or to hold communion with their Church, regarding its usages 
 and doctrines on the subject of the Eucharist as unsound and 
 superstitious. The bishops, in return, charge them with con- 
 tumacy. They affirm, that having made the thirty-nine articles 
 the standard of faith, differences of interpretation do not justify 
 a schism. The English Episcopalians reply, that the articles con- 
 demn the doctrine which the communion office embodies ; and 
 they decline to unite themselves with a Church Avhose offices are 
 at variance with its standards. 
 
 The bishops and clergy of the Scottish Episcopal Church 
 would do well to cousider whether the bond of union between 
 their Church and omrs would not become closer, and whether 
 the obstacles in the way of their real usefulness would not be 
 diminished, by their disuse of a separate communion office. 
 And further, too, they must rescind their gratuitous repudiation 
 of the Gorham decision, for by this act the Scottish bishops 
 have placed themselves in open collision with the twenty- 
 seventh, and other, English canons. With this resolution upon 
 record, they can scarcely expect to obtain that legal recognition 
 of being in full comnmnion with the Church of England which 
 at present they are so anxious to possess. 
 
 The Scottish bishops, early in the present century, resumed 
 the titles which they had been compelled to lay aside. These 
 titles are not recognised by law, and a case has occurred within 
 the last month in which the claim has been disallowed by 
 a civil judge. The interests of the Church have rcAdved, and 
 its numbers increased. The synodical constitution is again 
 Ijrought into action. Synods of the seven bishops are now 
 held every year ; the president or primus (for they have no 
 longer an archbishop) being at present the bishop of Aber- 
 deen. Provincial synods are held in the several dioceses, 
 and a general synod is occasionally convoked by the bishops. 
 This synod consists of the bishops, the deans, and one clerical 
 delegate from each diocesan synod. It may amend and abrogate 
 
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 319 
 
 the canons, or enact new ones. The number of clergymen and 
 churches is said to have increased threefold within the last 
 twenty years. The livings are in general very small ; the mini- 
 mum income is fixed at a hundred pounds a-year. In 1838 a 
 " Church Society " was formed to supply the wants of the poorer 
 clergy, as well as to assist in forming new congregations ; its 
 income does not exceed 3000Z. Few of the middling class are 
 connected with the Episcopal Church ; its members are the 
 wealthy nobles and the poor peasantry ; the former, it would 
 seem, indifferent to her welfare, and the latter unable to contribute 
 to her support. The bishopric of Argyle and the Islands extends 
 from the Isle of Lewis in the north to the southern point of 
 Cantire, a distance of not less than two hundred and thirty miles, 
 and from Lochaber in the east, to the Island of Tyree in the west, 
 one hundred and twenty miles. In this vast diocese the members 
 of the Church are about two thousand souls. In 184*1 Trinity 
 College was founded at Glenalmond, in Perthshire. It was in- 
 tended to provide a liberal education for the sons of the gentry, 
 as well as for students for holy orders. Nearly 50,000?. have 
 been expended on the strvicture, which is still, however, incom- 
 plete. It is governed by a council of twenty, which includes t.he 
 seven Scottish bishops, the dean of Edinburgh, the Duke of 
 Buccleuch, the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, and other distin- 
 guished lay and clerical members of the Scottish Episcopal 
 Church. The Hon. Mr. Boyle has also erected a magnificent 
 college at Cumbrae. It is intended that the church and college 
 shall eventually become the cathedral seat of the Isles within the 
 united dioceses of Argyle and the Islands, and the founder has 
 bequeathed the sum of 8000Z. for that purpose. 
 
 St. Ninian's Cathedral, at Perth, was consecrated by the bishop 
 of Brechin in 1851. It is on a scale of considerable grandeur, 
 but at present little more than the choir and transept is complete. 
 In this cathedral Dr. Torry, bishop of St. Andrews, lay in state, 
 the cathedral clergy relieving each other by turns in Avatching 
 and singing psalms through the night. He died in 1852, in the 
 seventieth year of his ministry and the forty-fourth of his 
 episcopate. He had begun his ministry in a kitchen, and for 
 several years had no better accommodation. " He lived," says 
 his biographer, " to preside over the first diocese in which the 
 cathedral system was revived, and his funeral ob.sequies were 
 
320 SHAKERS. 
 
 celebrated with a pomp and honour never equalled since the 
 Reformation ; and this, too, in the very city in which Knox first 
 led on the peoj)le to despoil and desecrate the temples of God." 
 
 In the year 1853 the Scottish Episcopal Church was adminis- 
 tered by seven bishops, who had under their control one hundred 
 and thirty-nine presbyters. The diocese of Glasgow contained 
 twenty-six congregations. This was the greatest number of con- 
 gregations in one diocese. The diocese of Argyle contained 
 eleven, which was the least number. The congregations are 
 small ; and great as was the disruption of the Presbyterian Church 
 in 18i2, episcopacy does not appear to have gained by it to any 
 considerable extent. 
 
 Burnet : History of his otvn Times. Spott/'swood : Histoi^y 
 of the Clcurch of Scotland. Collier: Ecclesiastical History. 
 Round : Letters^ &c., of Bishoj) Ken. Skinner (Bishop)) : Ec- 
 clesiastical History. Russel : History of the Church in Scot- 
 lo.nd. Lathhwry : History of the Nonjurors. Caswall: Scot- 
 Icmd and the Scottish Church. 
 
 OHAKERS. A sect of English origin chiefly found at present 
 in America. In the time of Charles I. a body of enthu- 
 siasts appeared, who from the convulsions into which they threw 
 themselves obtained the name of Shakers. We know very little 
 of this sect, which was small and soon disappeared : all the 
 writers of that age speak of them reproachfully, and when the 
 Quakers under John Fox appeared, they protested against the 
 injustice they suffered in being confounded with the Shakers. 
 The sect of which we are now writing, traces itself through the 
 French prophets of the last century to the Shakers of the Com- 
 monwealth. About 17-i7, James Wardley, originally a Quaker, 
 imagining that he had supernatural dreams and revelations, 
 headed a party which, from the bodily agitations practised in 
 some parts of their religious services, were called Shakers, or 
 shaking Quakers ; not, however, that they are now in any way 
 connected with the people called Quakers, or Friends. Ann Lee, 
 or rather Mrs. Standley, for she was a married woman, the 
 daughter of a blacksmith in Manchester, adopted A\'ardley's 
 views and the bodily exercises of his followers. From the 
 accounts of her conduct she appears to have become an adept in 
 imposture during nine years which she spent in convulsions, 
 
SIIAKKKH. 321 
 
 fastings, and similar contrivances. She is said to have clenched 
 her fists in the course of her fits so as to make the blood pass 
 through the pores of her skin, and to have wasted away so that 
 at last she was fed like an infant. Wardley and Ann Lee had 
 originally been Quakers, but were dismissed from that com- 
 munity. The latter now became the head of a new society who 
 adopted the name of Shakers. " The work," they said, " which 
 God promised to accomplish in the latter day was eminently- 
 marked out by the prophets to be a work of shaking." About 
 1770 Ann Lee discovered the wickedness of marriage, and began 
 to " testify against it," She called herself " Ann the Word," 
 meaning that the word dwelt in her. And her followers say' 
 that " the man who was called Jesus, and the woman who was 
 called Ann, are verily the two first pillars of the church, the two 
 anointed ones." 
 
 In May, 177-i, Ann Lee, otherwise Mrs. Standley, together 
 with three elders, and others of the sect, emigrated to America, 
 and two years after formed a settlement at Niskayuna, a few 
 miles from Albany, in the state of New York. From that, as 
 from a centre, they put forth shoots, until at length there are 
 now about fifteen Shaker settlements, or villages, in different 
 parts of the United States, comprising 6,000 or 8,000 souls. 
 Their doctrines arc a strange mixture of the crudest errors with 
 some few gospel truths ; but it would be a misnomer to call them 
 Christians. They now term themselves the millennial Church : 
 they hold that the millennium has begun, and that they are the 
 only true Church, and have all the apostolic gifts. They insist 
 that baptism and the Lord's supper ceased with the apostolic 
 age ; that the wicked will be punished for a definite period only, 
 except such as apostatise from them, and these will be piuiished 
 for ever ; that Christ will not appear again in the world, except 
 in the persons of his followers, that is, the Shakers ; that mar- 
 riage is sinful, and that "they that have wives should be as 
 though they had none " even now, and that thus alone purity 
 and holiness, and the consequent beatitude of the heaveidy 
 state, caa be attained ; that sin committed against God is com- 
 mitted against them, and can be pardoned only for Christ's sake 
 through them. Such are some of their tenets. The disci- 
 pline of their churches rests for the most part with " their 
 elders," who follow the instructions loft by " Mother Ann Lee." 
 
 VOL. ]I, Y 
 
322 SlIAKKliS. 
 
 In thoir reli^nous worship they range themselves at intervals 
 in rows, and then spring upwards a few inches ; sometimes they 
 become so excited in this exercise as to throw off their upper 
 garments, and jump as if they would reach the ceiling, all, as 
 they any, to express their joy in the Lord. After this they sit 
 down and listen awhile to their preachers, and then, when tired 
 of hearing, resume their dancing. 
 
 The tenets on which they insist most frequently, are those of 
 human depravity and of the gift of the Spirit ; on both points 
 they speak in a mystical way and with much obscurity. They 
 have unconsciously revived the worst eiTors of the early chui'ch, 
 confounding the natural instincts of man with his sinful ap- 
 petites. Thus, like the Egyptian hermits in the third century, 
 they place holiness in a life of celibacy. Their way of stating 
 the argument is peculiar. The essence of it is, that the resurrec- 
 tion spoken of in the New Testament means nothing more then 
 conversion. Our Saviour declares that, " in the resurrection they 
 neither marry nor are given in marriage ;" therefore, on the con- 
 version (or the resurrection) of the individual, marriage cea.ses. 
 To speak more plainly, the single must continue single, and the 
 married must separate. Every passage in the Gospels, and in 
 the Epistles, is interpreted according to this hypothesis. Not 
 jDcrmitting marriage, much less concubinage, thoir body cannot be 
 expected to increase. It appears they have a great accession of 
 members from the class of the "unfortunate," and from widows 
 and orphans, to whom their institutions furnish an asylum. Their 
 property is all in common ; and individual wants are supplied 
 from a general magazine or storehouse, and ultimately the elders 
 invest the gains in land or other property for the good of the 
 society. 
 
 They profess to have the power of working miracles, and to be 
 guided not so much by the Scriptures as immediately by the 
 Holy S])irit. They maintain that it is unlawful to take oaths, to 
 use compliments, or to play at games of chance. 
 
 They hold general fasts, and have no order of persons regularly 
 educated for the ministry. In their chapter upon public worship 
 they vindicate their music and ilancing as leading parts of wor- 
 ship, especially alluding to the return of the prodigal ; while the 
 elder son, disliking music and dancing, represents the natural 
 man condemning their soul-reviving ])ractices. 
 
SIIAKEES. 323 
 
 Their political principles are strictly republican, viewing all 
 hereditary rank, in civil or religious government, as repugnant to 
 the spirit of Christianity : nevertheless, with the Quakers, they 
 wish their own religious government to be considered rather as a 
 theocracy than a democracy. Such is the favourable opinion 
 entertained of them, that the legislature of New York have by 
 law exempted them from all military duty, and from any fine or 
 tax in lieu thereof. They have likewise passed a law enabling 
 individuals who desire to join them to become divorced ; but 
 permitting the party who does not join them to retain the chil- 
 dren and the property. The Shakers never meddle in public 
 affairs, not accepting any office under the government, or even 
 voting at an election ; considering it to be highly inconsistent in 
 those who from principle are averse to war, to vote into office 
 those who are not, and who may involve the state in bloodshed 
 Robert Owen, of New Lanark, gives, in his " New View of 
 Society," the following account of their religious worship. Their 
 meeting-house for religious worship at Hancock is of beautiful 
 workmanship, painted inside a glossy Prussian blue ; the steps 
 at the door are hewn out of a solid block of white marble ; and 
 from the neatness of everything one would suppose the whole 
 house was washed between every meeting-day. They walk in 
 regular procession to the meeting, and having no appointed 
 preacher, an exhortation is delivered by one of the elders, or of 
 the brethren. There are no fixed seats or pews in the meeting- 
 house, but only moveable benches. They enter, the men at one 
 door the women at the other. The floor being quite clean, they 
 all kneel to a silent prayer on the right knee. They then rise 
 and form in regular columns, the men on one side the women on 
 the other. Several men and women then commence a tune 
 while every other person dances, keeping time admirably for at 
 least half an hour. The men and women, facing each other, 
 advance and recede a few steps alternately through the per- 
 formance. When dancing is over, the seats are placed, and an 
 exhortation begins. After sitting a short time they rise and 
 join in singing a hymn ; then they take their seats and another 
 exhortation follows, that generally concludes the meeting. Some- 
 times they sing and dance a second time ; perhaps it may depend 
 on the temperature of the weather. In the hottest season the 
 men usually take off their coats and hang them with their hats 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 SWEDENBOHGIANS ; Ol?, 
 
 on a row of wooden pins. After meeting tliey return iii great 
 order to then- dwellings and partake of a cold dinner, as tliey 
 do not cook on that day. I'his people have been charged with 
 being narrow minded, in confining their benevolence to their 
 own society ; b»it a late writer denies this, lie says they fre- 
 (juently give large sums to the public charities of New York. 
 
 The Shakers' account of their own principles may be seen in 
 Tlce Testhnoiiy of Christ's Second Appearance, <kc., published 
 at Albany, America, 1810. See also Adams' Dictionary, and 
 Holmes' Account of the United States. 
 
 S 
 
 nVEDENBORGIANS ; or, NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. 
 
 — Emanuel Swedberg, afterwards known :ts Baron von Swe- 
 (ionborg, was born of a respectable family at Stockholm, on the 
 29th of January, 1688. Descended from the miners of the 
 ►Stora KoiJparberg ( the great copper mountain), his father is re- 
 lated to have been a person of considerable talents and influence, 
 a voluminous author upon sacred subjects, and at length bishop 
 aud professor of theology in the Lutheran Church and chaplain 
 to the court of Sweden. From his youth the mind of Emanuel 
 Swedenborg was imbued with serious impressions. A letter 
 written late in life refers with satisflxction to this part of his 
 liistory, and describes the wonder with which both his parents 
 listened to the revelations of their child, through whom angels 
 spoke. A disposition for religious speculation was born with him, 
 and his mind, he informs us, up to the twelfth year of his age, 
 was engrossed with reflections on God and on the spiritual affec- 
 tions of man. He seems to have been left very much at liberty 
 to form his own opinions, and these were often crude and visionary. 
 " If at that time he had heard," he says, " of the systematic, or 
 dogmatic, kind of faith, namely, that God the Father, imputes 
 the risrhteousness or merits of his Son to whomsoever and at 
 whatsoever time he wills, even to the impenitent, it would have 
 been then as ever perfectly unintelligible to him." 
 
 He was educated at the University of Upsala, where he was 
 ilistinguished for his success in mathematical aud physical science, 
 and was soon afterwards appointed assessor to the Board of 
 Mines, an important department in the Swedish government. 
 For some time his mind was now directed with intense application 
 
NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. ;jL'o 
 
 to secular studies. He published au iutruductiou to algebra, and 
 a new method of finding the longitude by lunar observation, 
 which were followed by proposals for fixing the value of coins, and 
 for determining the measures of Sweden. Other scientific tracts 
 followed on the motion and position of the earth and planets, 
 the depth and tides of the ocean, and various philosophical ([ues- 
 tions. To some hints furnislied by Swedenborg, Dumas ascribes 
 the origin of the modern science ot crystallography. 
 
 In 1719 he was eleva-ted to the rank of nobility, though 
 with(jut a title. This gave him a seat in the triennial assemblies 
 of the states of Sweden ; but in Sweden he was neither a count 
 nor a biiron, but was always known as the Assessor Swedenborg. 
 Several years were spent in travel ; England and Rome were 
 visited ; his philosophical studies were pursued with intense zeal, 
 and, in connection with these, the peculiarities of his mind were 
 developed. After various adventures, in the year 1733 we find 
 him asking permission from the king to travel for the third time, 
 to give him opportunity of storing his mind with every kind of 
 knowledge necessary for the completion of his great work. It is 
 entitled the " Principia, or the First Principles of Natural Things, 
 being a new attempt towards a Philosophical Explanation of the 
 Elementary World." Itwas printed in 1 734 at Leipsic and Dresden, 
 in Latin, at the expense of the Duke of Brunswick. In explaining 
 the generation of the elements, and ultimately the formation of 
 solid matter — the origin of the hidden forces of nature, and the 
 process and circumstances under which they become material, 
 two things are virtually assmned, the absolute reality of the 
 Infinite and the existence of finite entities. Descending from 
 the " first natural point,' a term by which pure motion is desig- 
 nated, Swedenborg defines the phenomena of heat, light, 
 magnetism, and the elementary substances, as so many degrees 
 of infinite activity. The origin of many recent discoveries is 
 attributed to his investigations ; as the identity of lightning with 
 electricity, and that the milky way is a composition of stars ; 
 also the theory of the magnetic properties of the earth. The last 
 is shown by Swedenborg from the spherical condition of the 
 particles that constitjjite this element, from which he argues thnt 
 their form must give them either a spiral, or vertical, or circular 
 motion ; and that, as each of these motions requires a centn^, 
 whenever the particles meet with a body adapted to their motion, 
 
32G SWEDENBORGIANS ; OR, 
 
 they avail themselve of it, and form a magnetic vortex, from 
 whence it is inferred that the magnetism of bodies depends not 
 on their suLstaucc but their form. 
 
 Tlie " Philosophy of the Infinite ; or, Outlines of a Philosophical 
 Aiuument on the Infinite and the final Cause of Creation, and 
 on the Mechanism of the Intercourse of the Soul and Body," was 
 published in 1 734. It contains his metaphysical system, of which 
 it would bo unfair to express a judgment, unless we were in a 
 condition to place at least the outline of his arguments before the 
 reader, and to show the coherence of its parts. Other publica- 
 tions followed on philosophical subjects. The titles of some of 
 them clearly indicate that Swedenborg's method of reasoning 
 was radically vicious ; but in this respect he was at least not 
 worse than the metaphysical reasoners of Great Britain. Like 
 them he was still unacquainted with the laws of inductive 
 science, or careless of their application to the study of mental 
 phenomena. Those who wish to i)ursue the subject we refer, to 
 his "Economy of the Animal Kingdom," first published at 
 Amsterdam in 17-40 and 174-1, which is partly medical and 
 partly metaphysical, while each intrudes on the province of the 
 other. Thus the first part consists of a dissertation on the 
 Ijlood-vcssels and heart, with an introduction to rational psy- 
 chology. The second contains a dissertation on the cortical 
 substance of the brain, and the human soul. The third part 
 treats of the nerves and lirain. 
 
 In a series of philosophical Essays on the worship and love of 
 God, published in 1745, the year to which he refers the opening 
 of his spiritual sight, Swedenborg takes leave of nature, and 
 approaches the theological doctrines upon which his fame chiefly 
 rests. The first part treats of the origin of the earth, of the 
 state of paradise, the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and of the 
 birth, infancy, and love of Adam, the first-born man. The second 
 part discourses on the marriage of the first-born, and on the soul, 
 the intellectual mind, the state of integrity, and the image of 
 God. The origin of the universe is represented to have begun 
 froui the sun ; the origin of our own jDlanet is dwelt upon, and 
 the successive development of the mineral, ^getable, and animal 
 kingdoms. Nature is pictured as pregnant in the beginning with 
 the jninciple of all things, which were gradually developed by 
 the influence of the parent sun, while, as yet, there was no 
 
NEW JERUSALEM CHUIICII. 327 
 
 atmosphere. Seven planets are supposed to have been created 
 at the same time. 
 
 The human body, sprung from the tree of life, gradually 
 became imbued with the infancy and growth of the mind in the 
 first-born, until the birth of Eve and her marriage with Adam. 
 
 From this time, Swedenborg's diary contains almost daily 
 notes of his interviews with the spiritual world. It was revealed 
 to him thqit the breathing of the lungs depended upon the state 
 of faith ; that he was so formed of the Lord, that while in com- 
 munication with spiritual beings, he could breathe inwardly for 
 a length of time, without the aid of external air. He mentions 
 many such visions. Whilst writing anything to which evil spirits 
 were averse, he was frequently beset by troops of spiritual tor- 
 mentors. He had accustomed himself from his childhood, during 
 prayer, to make his breathing corresiJond with his thoughts, and 
 by these means, with long respirations, he relates, that his sense 
 of earthly things almost vanished. 
 
 The date of his spiritual call is alluded to in a letter, written 
 in 1769, to his friend Dr. Hartley, where he says he had been 
 called to a holy office by the Lord himself, who most graciously 
 had manifested himself in joerson to his servant in the year 174^5, 
 when his sight was opened to the view of the spiritual world, and 
 the privilege of conversing with angels and spirits, which he de- 
 clai-es he continued to enjoy to that day ; and that his only 
 reason for foreign travel was now the desire of being useful to 
 mankind, by making known the secrets intrusted to him. 
 
 In conversation as to his call, he declared himself to have been 
 from his youth a spiritual fisherman, in the same way as our 
 Lord's apostles ; and that his system of divinity was based upon 
 two principles — namely, that God is one, and that there is a con- 
 junction of charity with faith. 
 
 About this period the circumstances of his personal history are 
 little known, but he is supposed to have spent much of his time 
 in England, with the Moravians, in Fetter-Lane, until his depar- 
 ture for Sweden, in the beginning of July, l7-i5, whither he 
 repaired to resign his office of assessor to the Board of Mines, 
 that he might devote himself, without interruption, to the dis- 
 charge of his spiritual functions. He retired with king Fre- 
 derick's permission, in the enjoyment of his full salary, as a pen- 
 sion for thirty-one years' faitliful services. 
 
32S SWKDENliOUGlANS; 01!, 
 
 *From 17-tD to 1756, appeared his "Arcana Ccelestia," in eight 
 (piarto volumes, containing an exposition of the spiritual sense 
 of the Books of Genesis and Exoilus. The work was printed at 
 an expense of -iOOl. He had prepared himself for the enterprise 
 by studying the Hebrew language, and comparing many editions 
 of the Hebrew Bible. 
 
 The Arcana professes to be a direct revelation from the 
 Almighty himself: besides the scriptural interjjretation of the 
 letter of the Word, it embraces a description of " the wonders of 
 the other life.'' 
 
 The Bible is defined to be a message from the Infinite, from 
 its wisdom and love adapted to man in all states of existence, 
 connecting every possible state of the soul with the fountain of 
 blessings. The method whereby it is unfolded, is called " the 
 general science of correspondences ;" which is defined by one 
 of his biographers, to be the intellectual meaning of the relations 
 between all different spheres ; — as that the unity in creation im- 
 plies a whole scheme, beginning and ending in God ; that in the 
 orders of nature, the highest produces the next degree, while 
 that gives birth to the third ; the second creature standing next to 
 the first, and the third to the second ; each being placed between 
 those that are next of kin above and below it, each new mean 
 carrying in itself the essence of the next progressive sphere. 
 
 In 17o8, Swedenborg i)ublished in London the five following- 
 works : — 1. " An Account of the Last Judgment, and the De- 
 struction of Babylon ; showing that all the Predictions in the 
 Apocalypse are at this day fulfilled." 2. " Concerning Heaven 
 and its Wonders, and Concerning Hell ; being a relation of 
 Things heard and seen." 3. '* On the White Horse mentioned 
 in the Apocalypse." 4. " On the Planets in our Solar System, 
 and on those in the Starry Heavens ; with an account of their 
 Inhabitants, and of their Spirits and Angels." 5. "On the 
 New Jerusalem, and its Heavenly Doctrine, iis revealed from 
 Heaven." 
 
 In the " Last Judgment, ' the earth is represented as the se- 
 minary of the human race, by whicii heaven is supplied with 
 inhabitants ; it is affirmed that a succession of fresh human races 
 will never cease, because evt.'ry divine work represents infinity 
 and eternity. Tiie earth, therefore, will not be destroyed at the 
 day uf judgment. Further, ibat all angels and spirits have once 
 
NEW JERUSALEM CIIURCII. 329 
 
 been men upon some planet ; from vvlience it is argued, the 
 generation of" angelic purity depends upon the purity of mankind 
 here below. When, therefore, man's natural proneness to vice 
 by degrees degrades him, and tends to extinguish the divine part 
 of humanity, utter ruin is only averted by the interposition of 
 God. Three such calamities have threatened the creation ; once 
 in the most ancient Church, whose last judgment was the flood ; 
 once when the Lord was in the world, and said, " Now is the 
 judgment of this world, now is the prince of this world cast out ;" 
 and a third time in 1757, when the first Christian Church was 
 consummated. This last judgment is described to have com- 
 prised the people of seventeen centuries, arranged in order, ac- 
 cording to their spiritual progress ; the reformed Churches in the 
 middle, the Romanists round them, the Mahometans in a still 
 outer ring, and beyond these, the Gentile nations, enclosed by a 
 boundless sea of space. 
 
 Swedenborg's visits to the planets enabled him to describe 
 some of their inhabitants. The journey took two days in one 
 instance, and ten hours in another. The spirits of Mercury, we 
 learn, are the rovers of the inner universe. The people of the 
 moon are dwarfs, who do not speak from the lungs, but from a 
 quantity of air collected in the abdomen. Saturn is spoken of 
 as the last planet in our system. To the end of the doctrine of 
 the " New Jerusalem," is appended his idea of civil and eccle- 
 siastical government. He teaches, that the Lord's ministers are 
 to claim no power of souls, and those who differ from them are 
 allowed peaceably to enjoy their opinions. Offices are given to 
 certain persons but are not to be abused. 
 
 It is difficult to compress within the limits of this sketch, 
 Swedenborg's views of the divinity of Christ. But in Him, the 
 Godhead of the Trinity dwells, adajited to a personal form, that 
 it may be approached by man ; and the Holy Spirit is the in- 
 fluence he communicates to Churches and individuals. Our 
 Lord's incarnation through the Virgin Mary, is understood 
 literally. The Father is inaccessible to us out of Christ ; there- 
 fore worship is to be directed to Jesus Christ alone. 
 
 The Divine love and wisdom are illustrated by the doctrine of 
 universal correspondences, showing that, if God be infinite, 
 the universe proceeding from him must represent man in an 
 image. There must be a correspondence between the creature 
 
330 SWEDENBORGIANS ; OE, 
 
 and the Creator, and tlius from the mineral, vegetable, and 
 animal forms, and even the planets and atmospheres, is drawn an 
 analogy to the formation of man. 
 
 ^Vith regard to the Sacred Scripture, an ancient Word is sup- 
 posed to have existed before the present Bible, still extant in 
 Great Tartary, of which the Book of Jashur, and the Wars of 
 Jehovah formed part. The present Word consists of four styles ; 
 the first is by pure correspondences throAvn into an historical 
 series ; of this character are the first eleven chapters of Genesis, 
 down to the call of Abraham ; the^^econd is the historical style, 
 with a sjairitual sense ; the third is the prophetical ; the fourth 
 is the Psalms, and includes the following books : — The five Books 
 of Moses, the Book of Joshua, the Book of Judges, the two Books 
 of Samuel, the two Books of Kings, the Psalms of David, and all 
 the Prophets; and, in the New Testament, the four evangelists, 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the Apocalypse. 
 
 The reason given for excluding the writings of St. Paul, and 
 the other apostles, is, that they are merely dogmatic writings 
 not written in the style of the Word, and not capable of the same 
 correspondences. He says, in the " Apocalypse Revealed," that 
 the words of Paul in Rom. iii. 28, are quite misunderstood ; and 
 that the doctrine of justification by faith alone, which at present 
 constitutes the theology of the reformed Churches, is built on an 
 entirely false foundation. Faith, we are told, is simply an 
 inward acknowledgment of the truth, which comes to those who 
 lead good lives from good motives. 
 
 " The Doctrine of Life " enjoins that we should shun, as sins 
 against God, whatever is forbidden in the Ten Commandments. 
 Charity consists in shunning evil and doing good ; after this faith 
 follows. 
 
 Various laws of Divine Providence are propounded, the grand 
 object of which is the forming an angelic out of a human race. 
 L^pon the subject of predestination, he maintains that all are 
 predestined to be saved, and that it is their oAvn doing if they do 
 jiot airive in heaven. 
 
 Svvedenborg's spiritual diary, carried on to the year 1764, 
 relates many strange communications between himself and the 
 s])irits of ancient heroes. In one page we find him conversing 
 with Cicero, Ari.stutle, and Augustus, and then with ]\loscs and 
 Abraham, who again give i»lace to Charles XIL of Sweden, 
 
NEW JERUSALEM CnURCII. 331 
 
 while Frederick of Prussia is succeeded by the author of the 
 " Whole Duty of Man." Pursuing the spiritual dialogue a little 
 further, the assessor finds Paul and David sunk into a sadly low 
 state of Christian life, and Mahomet a Christian convert. 
 
 The " Apocalypse Revealed " contains an exposition of the 
 spiritual sense of the Book of Revelation. The interpretation is 
 drawn out upon the same principle as that applied to the books 
 of the 014 Testament. 
 
 In 1769, Swedenborg's "Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of 
 the New Church " (in which, he says, are fully shown the errors 
 of the then existing doctrines of justification by faith alone, and 
 of the imputation of the righteousness or merits of Jesus Christ), 
 called down upon its author a storm of indignation from the 
 dignitaries of the Swedish Church. Dr. Ekeboum, dean of the theo- 
 logical faculty at Gottenburg, braifded his doctrines as in the 
 highest degi'ee heretical, and on the points most tender to every 
 Christian — Socinian. These charges of Socinianism were re- 
 pelled with equal warmth ; Swedenborg declared them to be 
 " horrid blasphemy and untruth ;" and he considered the word 
 Socinian to be " a scoffing and diabolical reviling." 
 
 In the " Brief Exposition," the intercourse between the soul 
 and body is illustrated by the doctrine of spiritual influx. The 
 soul is viewed as the complete man, and the body a garment 
 with which it is clothed, suited to protect it from the climate in 
 Avhich Providence has placed it. Pursuing this notion a step 
 further, our author arrives at the conclusion that as every spirit 
 belongs to some province of the "grand man," his presence ex- 
 cites correspondently that part of the human body to which he 
 answers. When one of the eye men or heart men, he tells us, 
 come near him, his own eyes or heart become sympathetically 
 affected ; when evil spirits sought him, the pains to which they 
 answered were for the time being excited in his system. Hypo- 
 crisy gave him pain in the teeth, because hypocrisy is spiritual 
 toothache. 
 
 These speculations were highly offensive to the Lutheran 
 clergy. Provoked by their opposition, and still more by the 
 seizure of some copies of his book on " Conjugal Felicity," 
 on their way to England, under a law prohibiting publica- 
 tions opposed to the Lutheran faith, Swedenborg appealed 
 to the king. Disturbances had arisen at Gottenburg, from the 
 
r.32 RWEDENBORGIANS; OK, 
 
 differences of the clergy upon the sulyect of his doctrines ; and 
 his opponents, too, made their appeal to the sovereign, in a letter 
 addressed to the chancellor of the consistory. The dispute 
 appears to have ended to Swedenborg's disadvantage, for in the 
 following year he found that the importation of his books into 
 Sweden was totally prohibited. 
 
 Of his works, which are so voluminous that we do not attempt 
 to enumerate the titles, some were thought at the time to be of 
 licentious tendency, while all of them were, more or less, opposed 
 to the received faith of the reformed Churches. Of the former 
 class were his treatises on the "Delights of ^Yisdom," "Con- 
 cerning Conjugal Love," &c. He affirms, upon the groimds 
 stated, that sex is an eternal distinctioii residing in the soul, 
 which the body assumes in consequence of its spiritual endow- 
 ment, and carries with it to immortality. Whence every thought, 
 atfection, and sense of a male is male, and of a female is femi- 
 nine. We do not feel disposed to pursue the subject through 
 the details to which Swedenborg conducts us, some of which are 
 strange enough. Neither his OAvn morals nor those of his fol- 
 lowers have ever been impeached ; but his disquisitions on the 
 sex of angels, and those on spiritual marriage, vnW seem to most 
 readers idly absurd or intolerably offensive. Of his doctrinal 
 writings, not a few are almost unintelligible to those who are 
 not initiated by a careful study of his writings into Sweden- 
 borg's peculiarities both of thought and expression. " The 
 True Christian Religion " contains a digest of Swedenborg's 
 system of divinity. The following summarj^ of the chapters 
 will show the scope of the work. I. God the Creator. II. The 
 Lord the Redeemer. III. The Holy Spirit and the Divine 
 Operation. IV. The Holy Scripture or the Word of the Lord. 
 V. The Ten Commandments in their External and Internal 
 Senses. VI . Faith. VII. Charity, or love towards our neigh- 
 bour, and good works. VIII. Free Determination. IX. Re- 
 pentance. X. Reformation and regeneration. XI. Imputation. 
 XII. Baptism. XIIL The Holy Supper. XIV. The con- 
 sunmiatiou of the Age, the coming of the Lord, and the 
 new Heaven and the new Church, Besides these subjects the 
 work contains no less than seventy-six memorable relations from 
 tlie spiritual world. He now believed himself to be in frequent 
 iulcrcoursL' with the souls of the departed. He tuld his frii'id. 
 
NEW JIOItUSALEM CIIliTU'TI. XS 
 
 Dr. (T^ttingcr, that a vorso in the Epistlo to the Romans (verse 8, 
 chap, iii.) liad been a frequent subject of discussion between 
 St. Paul and himself for a whole year. He mentions that he 
 had spoken three times with St. John, once with Moses, and 
 with Luther a hundred times. Numberless instances are re- 
 corded of spiritual visions. He believed that our opinions attend 
 us into the next world ; and his theory was confirmed by the 
 assurances he received from a departed friend that his leading 
 passions still predominated in him. 
 
 In August, 1771, Swedenborg left Amsterdam for the last 
 time ; he reached London and took up his abode at 26, Great 
 Bath-street, Coldbath Fields. Here, on the eve of Christmas- 
 day, a stroke of apoplexy, from which he never recovered, left 
 him speechless. For more than three weeks he lingered senseless, 
 while scarcely a morsel of food passed his lips. He then revived 
 sufficiently to converse with the few friends who visited him 
 upon subjects relating to his intercourse with the world of spirits. 
 The month before his death he had requested iin interview with 
 the Rev. John Wesley ; but this gentleman, who had a strong 
 wi.sh to visit Swedenborg, was absent from London. He received 
 the Sacrament, it is said with some reluctance, and breathed his 
 last at his lodgings in Clerkenwell. According to an affidavit 
 made by his landlord before the lord mayor a few years' after- 
 wards, he died at the hour which he had previously foretold. 
 His body was buried in the vault under the Swedish Church, in 
 Princes Square, Radcliffe Highway, his coffin being placed by 
 the side of that of Dr. Solan der. His manners are described as 
 calm and agreeable, and not wanting in dignity. In general his 
 health was good ; one of his friends remarks that he was never 
 ill except when under temptation. He left behind him no 
 instructions to form a new Church or rules for its guidance. The 
 idea of founding a sect does not appear to have occurred to him 
 He regarded himself, rather, as the expositor of the true nature 
 of that religion which in its main points had been already 
 revealed. 
 
 The first congregation of his followers in England met in 
 Great F-n,stcheap, London, on the 27th of January, 1788. At 
 that time General Tuxen estimated the number of converts in 
 Sweden at about sixty persons. 
 
 About six months before the place of worship in Eastcheap was 
 
334 SWEDENBORGIANS; OK, 
 
 opened, n meeting of a society of the readers of his works was 
 lu'ld at the house of Mr. Wright in the Poultry. Here, on the 
 31st July, 1787, five persons celebrated the sacraments of Bap- 
 tism and the Holy Supper. 
 
 In England there are now about eighty societies scattered 
 over the different counties. One of tlie most flourishing pro- 
 vincial congregations has established itself at Bu-mingham. 
 Throughout the manufacturing districts in the north of England 
 the novelty of these speculative doctrines has attracted many 
 followers. At Edinburgh, in Yorkshire, ami in Lancashire, there 
 are congregations presided over by their own ministers, as well 
 also as in some other counties. In London, several societies 
 have been founded for the spread of these doctrines and the 
 publishing of Swedenborg's voluminous writings at a rate suffi- 
 ciently low to bring them within the reach of all. Among others 
 wc may notice the Society for the publication of the New Church 
 Doctrines, the New Jerusalem Missionary and Tract Society, 
 the New Church Free School Society, the Swedenborg Asso- 
 ciation, established in 1810, and Emanuel College. The chief 
 place of worship in Loudon is in Argyle Square. There is 
 another congregation in CVoss- street, Hatton-garden. In France, 
 M. Le Boys des Guays has contributed largely to the spread 
 of Swedenborg's doctrines by translating them into the French 
 language. Into Austria and Prussia they have found their way. 
 At Wurtemburgh, Dr. Tafel, the librarian of the Royal Uni- 
 versity at Tubingen, has been active in promoting the New 
 Jerusalem cause. In Sweden, the doctrines of the New Church 
 are not openly preached, on account of the determined opposition 
 of the Church ; but it is believed that many of the Lutheran 
 clergy favour them in secret. In America, as well in Canada as 
 in the United States, the mysterious charms of spiritual specula- 
 tion are confessed by numerous converts. There are about four 
 hundred and fifty places in the States alone in which converts 
 are known to reside. The number of ministers, or preachers, in 
 England is about seventy-five, in America about sixty. But in 
 America the discipline is much stricter than at home. In 
 America public worship is conducted by ministers or licentiates 
 who are admitted by the presiding minister of an association, 
 if he be an ordaining minister, with the joint concurrence of the 
 a-ssociatioii and of a council consisting of two pastors and three 
 
NEW JERUSALEM CPIUECII. 335 
 
 nioiubers of a committee of laymen on behalf of a convention of 
 the whole body. There are three orders in the ministry ; or- 
 daining ministers, who receive societies into the New Clim'ch, 
 and ordain and superintend its ministers ; pastors, who also 
 conduct public worship, marry, and administer the Sacraments ; 
 and licentiates, or young men on trial. In England, membership 
 is easily obtained by those who profess a readiness to support and 
 contribute to the cause ; and the ordaining ministers have no 
 authority over the pastors or their flocks. There are a few other 
 unimportant points of difference. 
 
 The New Jerusalem Church uses a liturgy. It asserts the 
 oneness of the divine personality, and denies that justification is 
 by faith, in the sense understood by the reformed Churches. 
 Faith is simple belief; and justification is to be sought in keep- 
 ing the Ten Commandments, which cire literally translated from 
 the Hebrew. The Lord's Prayer is also rendered with the same 
 exactness from the Greek. We speak of the liturgy of 1791, 
 the preface of which, however, seems to contemplate the possi- 
 bility of occasional alterations suited to the growth of the infant 
 Church. A form of baptismal service is provided both for infants 
 and adults. Sponsors are not required, but the friends of the 
 infant are to make confession of the New Church doctrine of 
 the Trinity and of justification. A form is also given for the 
 administration of the Lord's Supper, in which the elements are 
 taken simjoly as remembrances of the cross and passion. 
 
 Swedenborg recommended four rules of life which deserve to 
 be repeated here : I. Often to read and meditate on the word 
 of God. II. To submit everything to the divine providence. 
 III. To observe in everything a propriety of behaviour, and 
 always to keep the conscience clear. IV. To discharge with 
 fidelity the functions of our employment, and the duties of our 
 office, and to render ourselves in all things useful to society. 
 
 See the writings of Baron Swedenborg published by the Swe- 
 denljorg Society, Bloomsbury-street, London, particularly the 
 following : — /. Arcana Coelestia. II. A Brief Exposition o/ 
 the Doctrine of the New Church, which is meant by the Ne%u 
 Jerusalem in the Apocalypse. III. Cooicerning Heaven and 
 its Wonders, and of Hell ; being a relation of things heard 
 and seen. IV. The Delights of Wisdom, concerning Gonju- 
 (jial Love and the Pleasures of Insanity concerning Scortatm^y 
 
3;3() UNITAIIIANS. 
 
 Love. V. The Doctrine of Faith of the Neiv Jerusalem. 
 VI. On the Intercourse of the Soul and Body. VII. The 
 Princijna of Sivedenhorg. ■ See also HoharVs Life of Sweden- 
 horrj. Biography of ditto, by J. I. G. WiUcinson. An 
 Anonymoiis Life of ditto^ 'published at Boston, U. S. 1854. 
 The New Church Liturgy, puhlished in 1791. Swedenborg, a 
 Biography and an Exposition, by E. P. Hood, 1854. 
 
 UNITARIANS.— The spirit of free inquiry to which the 
 Reformation owed its existence did not confine itself to the 
 examination of the doctrines and practices by which the Church 
 of Rome had so long obscured the primitive faith. Some 
 inquisitive minds were led to believe that these formed a part 
 only, though confessedly the worst part, of those corruptions by 
 which Christianity had been defaced. Assemblies appear to 
 have been held at Vicenza, in the government of Venice, about 
 the year 154G, of persons who had formed themselves into asso- 
 ciations to debate with freedom on various points of theology. 
 The ancient Ariau party is supposed never to have been quite 
 extinct in Italy, and in these assemblies it revived. The 
 subjects of discussion were, the necessity of a reformation not 
 only in the forms and morals of the C'i. ach, but in her doctrines, 
 and in the whole system of religion reputed orthodox. In 
 particular, they discussed the truth of the doctrine commonly 
 received concerning the Trinity, ikit these meetings were soon 
 interrupted by the vigilance of the emissaries of the Church. 
 Some of the members were seized and })ut to death ; the 
 remainder fled, and dispersed themselves through different 
 euuntries 
 
 One of the leaders was Lailius Socinus, of Sirma, After 
 s[)eniling several years at Zurich as a voluntary exile, he visited 
 Poland in 1551. Here he succeeded in converting to Arian, 
 or probably Unitarian, principles, Francis Lismaninus, preacher 
 ;ind confessor to the queen of Sigismund I., king of Poland. 
 From this period, the orthodox faith had to maintain a severe 
 eoiitlict with Uniturianism in Poland ;uid the north of Europe. 
 Lismaninus published several tracts, in which he denied the true 
 divinity of the Son. He was followed Ijy Gregory Paul, the 
 minister (if a Protestant church in Crarow, who wrote against the 
 
UNITARIANS. 3.37 
 
 doctrine of tlic Trinity still more openly. Other writers followed 
 in his train, and the new principles spread with great rapidity ; 
 for, in the year 1556, Peter Gonezius, a Pole, who had recently 
 returned from his travels, avowed m the Sjnaod of Seceminum 
 his approbation of the Apostles' Creed, but his rejection of the 
 Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, his denial of the doctrine of the 
 Trinit}'-, and his belief of the inferiority of the Son. He made 
 the same declaration afterwards at Brescia, in 1558. 
 
 In the same year, Blandrata, who had been acquainted with 
 Servetus at Geneva, visited Poland, where several Italians of 
 note joined him. They held public disputations, in which they 
 deined the doctrine of a Trinity. Several synods were called in 
 succession, with the view of bringing all the reformers to an 
 agreement in one faith ; but at each synod new advocates for 
 the Unitarian sentiments appeared. Calvin, dreading the influ- 
 ence of this party, wrote to a synod which met at Cracow in 
 1561, urging them to be on their guard against Blandrata and 
 his dangerous sentiments. But the new views continued to gain 
 a still firmer footing. At length, in 1565, as the dissensions 
 became more violent, Gregory Paul, with the approbation of 
 some persons of rank in Poland, attempted to restore the peace 
 of the Church by a petition to the National Assembly, or 
 council of the kingdom, at that time convened, desiring a full 
 discussion of the subject. 
 
 The conference was held, but neither side being convinced by 
 the reasonings of the other, an open schism followed, and the 
 reformed Church was divided into two parties ; the greater body 
 professing to hold a trinity of persons in the Divine Being, and 
 the lesser holding the unity of his person. The former esteemed 
 it unlawful to communicate with the latter, and instigated the 
 popes and their bishops to treat the weaker j^arty as Arian 
 blasphemers ; and some of the nobility, who patronized them, 
 were calumniated as guilty of treason against their country. 
 
 The time occupied by these events in Poland was spent by 
 Servetus in spreading the same doctrines in the south of France. 
 This remarkable man was born in Spain in the year 1509; he 
 had scarcely arrived at manhood when he travelled in Switzer- 
 land and Germany, and became acquainted with the leaders of 
 the Reformation. In the year 1530, in his one-and-twentieth 
 year, he resided at Basle, and began to state and defend the 
 
 VOL. II. Z 
 
X]S UNITARIANS. 
 
 Unitarian doctrines, which were regarded by all parties as 
 heretical. Tl»e next year he puhlished his first treatise on the 
 doctrine of the Trinity, which was soon followed by a second on 
 the same subject. His theological opinions not only rendered 
 him unpopular, but exposed him to great danger. He visited 
 Paris, where he studied medicine, and was admitted a professor 
 of the University. He afterwards practised as a physician for 
 several years at Lyons, but, during the whole of his life, theology 
 was his favom-ite pursuit. Foi- many years he carried on a 
 correspondence with Calvin, to whom he submitted portions of 
 his manuscripts, which the latter perused with angiy, perhaps 
 viiulictive, sentiments. Calvin's temper was arrogant and harsh, 
 and it is not likely that he read these papers, the production of 
 a youth, inexperienced and, as his own friends admit, of a most 
 imgovernable temper, without acrimonious feelings. Indeed 
 (though to a reader acquainted with the sixteenth century the 
 remark is needless), asperity appears to have been then regarded 
 as one of the essentials of honest controversy ; tlie combatants 
 seem to have thought that it was necessary in order to prove 
 their sincerity. It is not the vice of any one party, or of any 
 particular set of principles : we are not acquainted with a single 
 controversy of that period, whatever were the subject, in which 
 the opponents, provided they were at liberty to select their own 
 weapons, and under no fears from the apprehension of punish- 
 ment, did not assail each other with personal invectives and 
 coarse abuse. Servetus now published his " Christianismi 
 Restitutio," in which he maintained the Unitarian doctrines. 
 It was not without difficulty that a publisher was found for so 
 dangerous a work ; it was printed anonymously at Vienna in 
 1553, without the author's or printer's name, and without a date 
 or the name of the city. It was a bold attack on the common 
 faith both of Protestants and Roman Catholics, and Servetus had 
 little mercy to expect from either. He was arrested, it is said 
 at (Calvin's instance, imprisoned by the governor of Dauphin^, 
 and brought before the inquisition at Vienne. Amongst the 
 evidences of his guilt were several letters, containing heretical 
 sentiments, which had been addressed in the confidence of 
 friendship to Calvin himself, and by him, it is alleged, betrayed 
 to the inquisition. Servetus was condemned, and, contriving to 
 escape from his prison, was burnt in effigy at Vionnc. He took 
 
UNITAKIANS. 339 
 
 refuge at Geneva, where he was again arrested, and again, it is 
 said, through Calvin's influence. In August, 1553, he was 
 brought to his trial ; the articles of accusation against him beino- 
 drawn up by Calvin's hand. He was sentenced, as a heretic 
 and blasphemer, to be slowly burnt, and the frightful sentence 
 was executed with horrible severity on the 27th October, 1553. 
 
 Calvin's share in these infamous transactions has long been a 
 matter of warm dispute. The childish, yet almost universal 
 weakness, which confounds the private character of the indi- 
 vidual with the soundness of his creed, has led zealous Calvinists 
 to defend Calvin's proceedings at no small detriment to their 
 own reputation for the love of truth and justice. Socinians, on 
 the other hand, and all the opponents of Calvinism, continue 
 to dwell upon this dark shade on the character of an illustrioaq 
 man with an evident satisfaction, by no means advantageous to 
 their pretensions to a more generous creed or a more enlarged 
 benevolence. Something may be alleged in mitigation of Cal- 
 vin's conduct. He had been brought up in a hard and brutalizing 
 school ; he had been educated a Romish priest in the sixteenth 
 century; and, great as he was in intellectual power, he was in 
 other respects an ordinary man, on a level with his times. The 
 Church had held and practised the burning of heretics for at 
 least five hundred years. He saw with an eagle's eye the 
 corruptions of Rome, but he did not understand the horrible 
 wickedness of a persecuting spirit. Few of the reformers under- 
 stood it. Foxe, in his memorable protest to Queen Elizabeth 
 against the burning of the German Anabaptists in Smithfield, 
 stands almost alone. When Calvin entered on the prosecution 
 of Servetus, there is some reason to believe that he did not 
 anticipate a capital sentence ; and we know that he attempted 
 to obtain for Servetus, when condemned, the favour of a less 
 torturing death. For a defence of his conduct, so far as it 
 admits of palliation, the reader, if so disposed, may consult the 
 Rev. John Scott, in continuation of Milner's " Church History," 
 or Dr. Merle D'Aubign^ on the " Reformation in France and 
 Switzerland." 
 
 \Mth the death of Servetus, his opinions fell into neglect ; he 
 did not succeed in forming a party at Geneva, nor did a Socinian 
 church rise from his ashes. The minds of men, suddenly freed 
 from the restraints of ages, broke out, however, in extravagant 
 
 z2 
 
310 UNITARIANS. 
 
 speculations on the nature of the Deity, wliich were repressed, 
 after the manner of the times, by the torments of the Inqui- 
 sition. Gentilli, a Neapolitan, suffered death in 1;j66 for having 
 adopted the Arian hypothesis rather than the doctrine of 
 Servetus ; he considered the Son and the Holy Spirit as sub- 
 ordinate to the Father, Gribaldi, a lawyer, escaped public 
 execution by a timely death in prison ; he supposed the Divine 
 Nature to be divided into three spirits, each distinguished from 
 the rest by number and subordination. The names of Alciat, 
 Tollius, Paruta, Leonardo, and others, appear amongst those 
 who exposed themselves to danger, or suffered death, for senti- 
 ments deemed heretical on the question of the Divine nature. 
 It was in Poland that the Unitarian cause was gaining ground. 
 
 Persecuted elsewhere, the Unitarians were treated with kind- 
 ness by the Emperor Sigismund, who granted them the free 
 exercise of their religion, and invited Blandrata to his court. 
 The states of Poland entered into an agreement, by which their 
 sovereigns were bound to subscribe and swear to a declaration 
 that universal toleration should be maintained. Those who 
 denied the Trinity now first took the name of Unitarians : they 
 had been called Pinczovians, from the town of Pinczow, in which 
 many of them lived, or, more frequently, Racovians, from the 
 city of E-acow, the centre of their community, where they were 
 protected by John Sienenius, prince or palatine of Podolia ; they 
 had also flourishing societies at Cracow and other towns in 
 Poland and Lithuania. 
 
 Up to this period the Unitarians had not adopted any settled 
 creed : amongst themselves great differences existed ; and the 
 young community was threatened with destiniction from its in- 
 ternal discords. The only great point of agreement was their 
 rejection of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity ; and the 
 early history of the Unitarian Church in Poland, if Church it 
 might be called, is that of a number of jarring sects, each tena- 
 cious of its own opinions and impatient of its rivals. Besides a 
 considerable number of enthusiasts, smitten with the follies of 
 the German Anabaptists, and anxious to introduce a community 
 of goods, an equality of rank, and other extravagances, there 
 were some who entertained the ancient Arian doctrine, con- 
 necting with it the denial of infant baptism. At length two 
 great factions, the Budnseans and the Farnovians, absorbed the 
 
UNITARIANS. 341 
 
 rest. The former were so called from Simon BudiiEeus, their 
 leader, a man of considerable acuteness and sagacity, who per- 
 ceived more clearly than the rest the conclusions to which the 
 peculiar principles of Laslius Socinus naturally led, and protested 
 against the propriety of offering religious worship of any kind to 
 Jesus Christ ; he maintained, further, that Christ was not be- 
 gotten by any extraordinary act of Divine power, but that he 
 was conceived, like other men, in a natural way. This opinion, 
 generally avowed by Socinians in later times, was then received 
 as impious and profane. Budnoeus, who had gained over to his 
 doctrine a great number of proselytes in Lithuania and Russian 
 Poland, was deposed from his ministerial functions in 1584, and 
 publicly excommunicated, with all his disciples. It is said, how- 
 ever, that he afterwai'ds abandoned his peculiar and offensive 
 sentiments, and was readmitted to the communion of the sect. 
 His peculiar doctrine was soon afterwards adopted by Francis 
 David, the superintendent of the anti-Trinitarian Churches in 
 Transylvania, and violent contentions followed. Blandrata inter- 
 fered, but without success : his influence with the government 
 was supreme, and he must, therefore, bear the odium which 
 attaches to the first persecutor within the infant community. 
 David remained unmoved : he was in consequence arrested by 
 Christopher, Prince of Transylvania, and thrown into prison, where 
 he died at an advanced age. 
 
 In this dispute we first become acquainted with the celebrated 
 Faustus Socinus, who was long regarded as the apostle of the 
 Unitarian creed and the founder of the Socinian Churches. He 
 was the nephew of Laelius; he was born, in 1539, at Sienna, in 
 Tuscany, of a noble family, and seems to have possessed a culti- 
 vated mind and a generous heart. It is with reason that the 
 Unitarians of later days object to be called Socinians ; for, in 
 fact, the authority of Socinus is opposed to them on several vital 
 points. He was invited by Blandrata into Transylvania, to dis- 
 pute with Francis David ; and a discussion followed in public, 
 after the manner of those times, which proves that Socinus was 
 at this period, when he was forty years of age, rather an Arian than 
 what is now understood as a Socinian. He thought that worship 
 ought to be offered to God through Christ as a mediator ; he be- 
 lieved in the miraculous conception, and the perfect holiness, of 
 Christ. " I am accused," he says, in a private letter to Vado- 
 
342 UNITARIANS. 
 
 vitz, professor in the academy at Cracow, "of making Christ a 
 sinner ; whereas I have expressly said, this is the height of blas- 
 phemy, such as I wish might never arise in my mind, not even 
 in my dreams." '• Jesus," he says again, in his works. " is in the 
 higliest, truest sense, the King of God's people." At the same 
 time he denies that Christ was the only-begotten Son of God. 
 "This," he says, "I regard as a mere human invention, and as 
 entirely repugnant to sound reason." This last exj^ression 
 reveals what all orthodox Christians agree to condemn as tiie 
 unsound principle on which Unitarianism is erected. The pro- 
 gress of philosophy, which has laid hands so rudely on many 
 conceits of the sixteenth century, has exposed the fallacy of this. 
 Tlie boast of right reason, as applied to the mode of the Divine 
 existence, or the generation of the Son, is childish, simply be- 
 cause the facts on which reason professes to be exercised lie 
 beyond her province ; and the reasoning.';, so called, are nothing 
 more than a series of assertions or negations, sustained only by 
 illustrations or analogies, neither of which can, from their nature, 
 enforce a process of induction. "Sound reasoning," he jDroceeds, 
 " abhors the thought that the individual and simple essence of 
 God should be divided or multiplied, or that remaining entire or 
 numerically one, it should be common to many." (Socini. Opera, 
 tom. i., p. G54.) It would be more correct to say, that inasmuch 
 as the individual and simple essence of the Deity is some- 
 thing incomprehensible, it therefore follows that we have no 
 means of ascertaining under what forms or conditions it may 
 exist, and must satisfy ourselves simply with the declarations of 
 revelation on the subject. 
 
 The pre-existence of Christ before his birth of the Virgin is 
 thus curiously explained: "These passages," he s."iys, quoting 
 the texts in favour of the doctrine, " might refer to a prior 
 existence, if they could not be applied to Christ as a man. Bnt 
 nothing is more probable, and more agreeable to the very words 
 of Christ himself, here and elsewhere, than that Christ himself, 
 after he was born, and before he entered on the office assigned 
 him by his Father, was, by consequence of the Divine counsel 
 and agency, taken up into heaven and remained there sometime, 
 that he miglit hear from God, and, being with him, might see 
 tho.se things he was to announce to the world in the name of 
 God himself" Socinus rejects the doctrine of the atononcnt, 
 
UNITARIANS. 343 
 
 and yet, in some sense not easily explained, he admits the eternal 
 priesthood of Christ. On justification, Socinus differs but little 
 from the Council of Trent. " No one is justified before (Jod un- 
 less he first confide in Christ, and obey him ; which obedience 
 constitutes those good works by which we are justified ; so then, 
 when St. Paul denies that we are justified by works, his intention 
 is only to say that we cannot be justified before God by the merit 
 of these works, but not that no good works are required of us to 
 our justification before God." — Opera, torn. 1, p. 603. 
 
 From these principles the Unitarian system grew. The 
 opinions of Socinus, as they gained ground, were afterwards cast 
 into a more systematic form, and in some instances modelled 
 anew. But of all sects or parties, the Unitarians are those of 
 whose acknowledged principles it is most difficult to speak with 
 certainty. They push liberty of thought and independence of 
 authority to the utmost extreme, and they have always gloried 
 in this avowal. They acknowledge no masters. 
 
 We have yet to mention the Farnovian.s, so named from Far- 
 novius, or Farnecius, who taught the Arian system, asserted the 
 pre- existence of Jesus Christ before the creation of the world, and 
 refused religious worshijj to the Holy Spirit. Farnovius separated 
 in 1568 from the Polish Unitarians, and was followed by several 
 persons of rank and learning. For a time the schism flourished, 
 but on the death of its leader it was dispersed, or returned into 
 the communion of those who were led by Faustus Socinus. 
 
 In-175-i a catechism or confession of faith was published at 
 Cracow. It is sufficient to mention it, since it has, we believe, 
 no authority with Unitarians ; it may be seen in Mosheim. 
 It is remarkable for the inconsistency of its statements with 
 each other, and the loose oriental style in v/hich it is drawn 
 up. This ancient catechism, which was little more than a rude 
 and incoherent sketch, was laid aside, and a new form was pre- 
 pared by Faustus Socinus himself. It is called the Racovian 
 catechism. It was corrected from time to time by eminent 
 Socinian teachers, and was once regarded as the confession of 
 faith of the whole Church. It Avas first published in 1609, with a 
 dedication to our king James I. Socinus was now at the head 
 of the Unitarians of Poland, and under his direction the small 
 body, hitherto wanting nundjers, strength, and union, was re- 
 cruited by proselytes of all ranks. The noble, the opulent, the 
 
344 UNITAKIANS. 
 
 learned, and the eloquent crowded to his standard. They still 
 had to contend against the hostility of the orthodox churches, 
 but the zeal of the Reformers was fast expiring, and the jealousy 
 of Rome was diverted into other channels. Another fortunate 
 event seemed to complete their success. In the year 1 600 Ja- 
 cobus a Sienno. the lord of Racow, embraced the doctrine, and 
 erected a public school, designed as a seminary for the Socinian 
 Church, in his own city, which he declared to be the metropolis 
 of the Unitarian faith. The affairs of the Unitarians were now 
 managed by assemblies, or synods, on the Presbyterian plan. 
 The synod consisted of the elders, ministers, and deacons of the 
 Unitarian Churches of Poland and the neighbouring countries. 
 They elected two moderators, the one a minister, the other a lay- 
 man, who presided jointly. The power of these assemblies over the 
 churches represented in them was almost despotic. They dis- 
 cussed every subject connected with religion, formed new churches, 
 undertook missions into foreign countries, and discussed projects, 
 frequently entertained about this time, for a union with the Cal- 
 vinists or Anabaptists. The synod assigned pastors to particular 
 churches, remo^'ed them from place to place, and ordained or 
 consecrated those who were candidates for the sacred otiice. 
 They inquired into the morals and conduct of the clergy, and 
 investigated the discijDline maintained by the pastors, elders, and 
 deacons. Private tutors were apjjointed for the nobles and pro- 
 fessors for the public schools ; the oversight being intrusted to the 
 |)residents, who were to examine into the learning and morals 
 both of professors and students, and to make reports to the 
 synod. The control of the public treasury was entirely in their 
 hands. To this fund every member of the Church contributed, 
 and out of it the salaries of the ministers and the expenses of the 
 colleges were paid. A provision was made for the support of 
 widows and orjihans and aged ministers. Relief was gi'anted to 
 exiles and foreigners in distress, with special reference to those 
 who suffered for their attachment to Unitarian principles. The 
 remainder of the fund was devoted to the extension of the 
 Unitarian cause, by publishing books, or sending out mission- 
 aries. General deacons laid before the synod an account of the 
 sums expended or recjuired, and a report Wius made of the con- 
 tributions of each church towards the public expenses; and, 
 h\stly, at these meetings the Lord's Sui)per was celebrated, and 
 
UNITARIANS. 345 
 
 converts admitted throiigli the rite of baptism. The acts and 
 resolutions of tliese synods were of national importance ; they 
 were kept with great care, and were still in existence when 
 Poland ceased to be a nation in the last century. They were 
 contained in several volumes in manuscript, chiefly in the Polish 
 language, with an intermixture of Latin words and phrases. 
 
 The fall of Socinianism in Poland was no less rapid than its 
 rise. TliQ Socinians were regarded by all parties with dislike 
 and jealousy. The Roman Catholics of Poland were inveterate 
 against them ; for they had not only blighted the glories of the 
 ancient superstitions, but had succeeded in obtaining possession 
 of all those honours in the state which were the reward of elo- 
 quence, art, or learning. In time the ill-feeling broke out, and 
 the two parties proceeded from mutual insults to acts of violence. 
 In the year 1 638 some students of the Unitarian college at Racow 
 threw down a wooden crucifix which stood at the entrance of the 
 town. The foolish act was resented by the whole papal commu- 
 nity, and an accusation against the Unitarians was laid before 
 the courts of law. This boyish freak was construed into a pre- 
 meditated act of sedition. The Socinians offered in vain the 
 most solid proofs of their innocence ; the president of the aca- 
 demy in vain cleared himself from the charge by a solemn oath ; 
 in vain was a protest offered on their behalf by many delegates 
 of high rank and of other churches. The diet of Warsaw 
 decreed that the academy of Racow should be destroyed, its 
 professors banished, the printing-house of the Socinians pulled 
 down, and their churches closed. The vindictive sentence was 
 executed without the least delay. Other calamities followed, and 
 similar edicts were enacted in other parts of Poland. The 
 Cossacks made frequent irruptions, and the Unitarians, whom 
 they had learned to abhor as impious men, suffered greatly from 
 their violence. The king of Sweden invaded Poland, and they 
 submitted to him in the hope of finding relief. Casimir recovered 
 his territory, and avenged himself on the Socinians as traitorous 
 subjects. In the year 1658 it was decreed by the diet at Warsaw 
 that all the Socinians should leave the kingdom, and capital 
 punishment was denounced against all who should, for the future, 
 either profess their opinions or shelter those who did so. They 
 were at first indulged with a respite of three years for the settle- 
 ment of their affair's ; but this short term was soon afterwards 
 
yiG UNITARIANS. 
 
 reduced to two years. In the year IGGl the terrible edict was 
 renewed, and all the Socinians who remained in Poland were 
 barbarously expelled, with cruelties such as the Jews experienced 
 when driven from Spain by the Dominicans. Some of them 
 sought an asylum in Transylvania ; a considerable number found 
 their way to Silesia, Brandenburgh, and Prussia; others repaired 
 to Holland and Great Britain. They met with little favour in 
 any one of their retreats. The hand of power was everywhere 
 against them. Papist and Protestant alike received them with 
 coldness, if they did not treat them with tyrannical severit}'- 
 Tims the Unitarian churches, after an existence of more than a 
 hundred years in Pijlaud, were at length destroyed, and in Europe 
 tbey liave never since regained the same importance. 
 
 Till the partition of Poland, a few Socinians still lingered 
 there, holding their meetings as opportunity permitted, like the 
 Huguenots in France, in fields, or forests, or private houses. 
 They retained a regular ministry ; their young men being edu- 
 cated at Leyden, or at the college of the Remonstrants at 
 Amsterdam. On the partition of the kingdom, they were in- 
 cluded by Russia and Austria in the number of Dissidents, a 
 general title under which all (Jhristians were included who were 
 not members of the Established Church in one or other of those 
 kingdoms ; and they have since been permitted to enjoy their 
 roligiuus opinions undisturbed. In Holland, they were known as 
 Anabaptists, who practised immersion ; but their numbers were 
 not considerable, and they have slowly disappeared. 
 
 The only society of Socinians in England, was formed by the 
 famous John Biddle, during the protectorate. He had been 
 imprisoned for his heretical notions before the king's death, and 
 during his confinement, in the year IG-i?, he had published twelve 
 cpiestions or arguments against the deity of the Holy Spirit. He 
 was answered by the learnotl Matthew Poole, the author of the 
 " Synopsis Criticorum," and his book was ordered to be burnt. 
 The next year, being still in prison, ho published .seven articles 
 against the deity of Christ. The Westminster Assembly was 
 sitting, and it was seriously moved by some of its zealots, that he 
 .should be put to death as a heretic. But Cromwell disliked 
 intolerance, and, when it showed itself among the Presbyterian.s, 
 viewed it with contempt. In Kiol, Biddle was set at lil)erty ; 
 he immediately published two catechisms, the one a Scripture 
 
UNITARIANS. U7 
 
 Catechism, the other for the use of children. In these, he 
 maintains, That God is confined to a certain place : That he has 
 a bodily shape ; That he has passions : That he is neither omni- 
 potent nor unchangeable : That we are not to believe three 
 Persons in the Godhead : That Jesus Christ has not the nature 
 of God, but only a divine lordship : That he was not a priest 
 while upon earth, nor did reconcile men to God : That there is 
 no deitj; in the Holy Ghost. These propositions were condemned 
 by the Parliament, and the author was again committed to prison. 
 But soon after, Cromwell dissolved his Parliament, and Biddle 
 was set at liberty. His zeal, however, does not appear to have 
 been crushed amidst the dangers to which it had exposed him. 
 He now challenged Griffin, a Baptist minister, to dispute with 
 him, in St. Paul's, on the question of the deity of (.ihrist. This 
 occasioned fresh disturbance, and the Privy Council committed 
 him once more to Newgate ; but the Protector again wisely 
 interfered, removed him to the Scilly Islands, and even allowed 
 him a pension of a hundred crowns a year. Here he remained 
 seven years, when he was set at liberty. Dr. Owen, the Inde- 
 pendent, answered his catechisms in a learned and elaborate 
 treatise, entitled " Vindicise Evangelicse." After the Protector's 
 death, he ojDened a chapel in London, where he preached till the 
 Restoration. He was again seized while in the pulpit, and im- 
 prisoned, probably under the Act of Uniformity, rather than for 
 heresy, and died in confinement in 1662. Biddle is represented 
 by his friends, as a man of exalted piety ; his learning was ad- 
 mitted by all parties ; his memory was retentive ; and, in proof 
 of his knowledge of the Scriptures, it is mentioned, that he could 
 repeat all St. Paul's Epistles in Greek. Notwithstanding the 
 peculiarities of his doctrine, he observed, and expected from 
 others, seriousness and reverence in speaking of God, and Christ, 
 and holy things. He would, by no means, hear their names or 
 titles, nor any sentence of Holy Scripture, made use of lightly. 
 In his common conversation, he expressed an awe of the Divine 
 presence. In his private devotions, it was his frequent custom to 
 prostrate himself upon the ground, after the example of our 
 Saviour in his agony, and this posture of worship he recom- 
 mended to his intimate friends. He was succeeded by Mr. 
 Thomas Firmin, a person of great benevolence ; but his congre- 
 gation disappeared, and with it, the last traces of the ancient 
 
348 UNITAUIANS. 
 
 Polish Unitarians in England. The adherents of Biddle ware 
 called Bidcllians at the time ; but they preferred the title of 
 Unitarians, although they did not perfectly agree either with 
 Socimis or the Unitarians of Poland. They differed from them 
 in this, that they believed the Holy Spirit, though not God, to 
 be a person, in the common acceptation of that word. Biddle 
 asserted the liberty in which Unitarians make their boast. He 
 was not anxious to form a party guarded by specific tests, or doc- 
 trines accurately defined. He left all men to that liberty which 
 was consistent with their mutual edification, says his biographer, 
 and a consciencious profession of what appeared to their minds 
 the truth. 
 
 Before we leave the ancient Unitarians, their most distin- 
 guished writers must be mentioned. At the head of these stands 
 Faustus Socinus himself. The works of the Polish Unitarian 
 authors were published at Amsterdam, in nine volumes folio, in 
 1668. The first two volumes contain the works of Socinus. 
 They consist of expositions of Scripture, and of controversial 
 tracts. The former are partly critical, partly philosophical. His 
 criticisms would not now be received by any party, as of much 
 importance. His theological creed resembled that of Arius, in 
 the divinity it assigns to the Son of Man, rather than that of mo- 
 dern Unitarians, in the mere humanity which they assign to the 
 Son of God. What is worthy of praise is the candid spirit, and 
 the freedom from passion, with which he writes in an intem- 
 perate age. After him, Crellius comes next, with several others 
 of less note. He was the son of a Lutheran minister, but adopt- 
 ing Unitarian sentiments, became rector of the university of 
 Racow. He published commentaries upon some of the gospels 
 and epistles, and other practical works in divinity. Grotius is 
 claimed by the Socinians as a convert in his later years. In his 
 youth he attacked the Socinian doctrine, as to the design and 
 efficacy of the death of Christ. He was answered by Crellius, 
 to whom he made no reply, but thanked (Jrellius for his woi'k ; 
 and his annotations, it is argued, are a complete system of So- 
 cinianism, not excepting his notes on the fir5t chapter of St. 
 John's Gospel. On the other hand, it is maintained, by those 
 who defend his oithodoxy, thai in many of his private lettei-s, he 
 expressed great dislike to the Socinian theory ; that his compli- 
 ments to Crellius show nothint'- more than the liberalitv of his 
 
UNITARIANS. 349 
 
 mind ; and that if iiis interpretation of certain texts be admitted 
 to prove his Socinianism, Calvin himself, by the same method of 
 reasoning, may be charged with Arianism. And that, after all, 
 it is not material to the cause of truth what side any man, emi- 
 nent for learning and judgment, may have espoused, since reli- 
 gious truth rests on evidence, and not on authority. 
 
 With the decay of piety Arianism appeared, ^soon after the 
 revolution, amongst the English Nonconformists, and, to a certain 
 extent, amongst the clergy of the Church of England, It was 
 not, however, the Arianism of the second century, but rather the 
 result of a philosophical exercise upon the supposed nature of the 
 Deity. It rested neither on biblical criticism nor patristic autho- 
 rity, but upon a metaphysical philosophy then much in vogue. 
 Whiston, ])rofessor of mathematics at Cambridge, is perhaps as 
 much entitled as any other person to be considered the founder 
 of the school. He felt himself at liberty to frame theories of the 
 Divine existence precisely as he framed theories of the creation 
 of the world, without the support of any kind of evidence, but 
 simply as hypotheses by which apparent difficulties might be 
 explained. Whiston was expelled the university in 1710 for 
 heresy. Dr. Samuel Clarke, rector of St. James's, \Vestminster, 
 maintained Arian sentiments from the pulpit and the press a few 
 years afterwards ; but his conduct was blamed ; the Convocation 
 took up the question, and Clarke desisted from the controversy 
 as the condition of retaining his preferment. Beyond this, 
 Arianism made no advances of importance in the Established 
 Church. It was otherwise with the Dissenters. For a period of 
 at least fifty years, the whole of the three denominations, Bap- 
 tists, Independents, and Presbyterians, were agitated with discus- 
 sions on the Trinity ; the Arians still gaining ground, and the 
 orthodox party being gradually silenced. Still there was no 
 well-defined creed or symbol to which the Arians subscribed. 
 They were known rather by their contempt of creeds and sub- 
 scriptions. They prided themselves upon their freedom from 
 human impositions ; they were the friends of free inquiry, free 
 thinkers, rational Christians. They were known rather by what 
 they denied than by what they taught. The founder of modern 
 Unitarianism in England was Robert Priestley 
 
 Priestley, the son of a Dissenter, was sent for his education to 
 the academy at Dciventry, which Dr. Doddridge had founded ; it 
 
350 UNITARIANS. 
 
 was then under the control of Dr. Ashworth ; antl he left it with 
 a mind unsettled, the tutors themselves being divided on the 
 question of the Trinity. In 1762 he became tutor of an academy 
 at Warrington, under the auspices of the heterodox Dissenters. In 
 1771 he removed to Birmingham, where he undertook the charge 
 of a congregation of Nonconformists ; and here the most im- 
 portant part of his ministerial life was spent. He was a volu- 
 minous writer, not only in theology, but in chemistry, science, 
 histor}', and other subjects; and from his own writings we collect 
 the outline of his creed. In his " Theological Repository," 
 volume iv., page 22, he says, that " as to the apostles, there will 
 perhaps be no great difficulty in admitting that the great object 
 of their mission did not require any particular illumination with 
 respect to the knowledge of the Scripture ; and therefore they 
 would be naturally influenced by that mode of interpretation 
 which was generally adopted by their countrymen." And, in 
 page 442, "it is evident that the apostles often applied the 
 Scriptm-es very improperly, and with no better judgment than 
 their unbelieving countrymen." This may be sufficient to ex- 
 plain his views on the subject of the inspiration of Scripture. lie 
 denies that the Holy Spirit enlightened the apostles on the day 
 of Pentecost, although they were then endued with extraordinary 
 powers; "but we do not find that their minds were enlightened 
 in a direct manner at all ; that is, they had no new knowledge 
 communicated to them ; all their illumination that they had in 
 consequence of it being that which they derived from their 
 own reflections on that remarkable event, and on the powers 
 which they had in consequence of it." (Vol iv,, page 192.) "I 
 have frequently declared myself," he says in his letters to Dr. 
 Horsley, " not to be a believer in the inspiration of the evan- 
 gelists and apostles as writers," (Part i., page 132.) Thus 
 the testimony of the writers of the New Testament to the proper 
 divinity of our Lord is at once disposed of. This, the cardinal 
 point of the controversy, Dr. Priestley treated with a freedom 
 equally unknown to Socinus and the English Arians. Socinus 
 admitted that Jesus, though not God, had a nature far exalted 
 above that of man : Priestley denied that he was more than a 
 mere man, and .sometimes he did this in language that could not 
 fail t') be offensive to his opponents. Socinus thought the wor- 
 ship of Christ admissible; maintaining only that the highest 
 
UNITARIANS. 351 
 
 fjiitli, and consequently the purest devotion, weuld lead the 
 worshipper at once to God the Father. Priestley, in his " Fami- 
 liar Letters, addressed to the inhabitants of Birmingham," charges 
 all orthodox Christians with idolatry. " All," he says, " who 
 believe Christ to be a man, and not God, must necessarily think 
 it idolatry to pay him Divine honours. We have no other defini- 
 tion of idolatry than to worship as God that which is not God. 
 Do not all Protestants say it is idolatry in the Catholics to pray 
 to the Virgin Mary, to Peter, Paul, or any other saints, or even 
 to angels or archangels? Do you not continually charge the 
 Catholics with idolatry on this principle ? Now it is on the very 
 same principle, and no other, that we, who consider Christ as 
 being a man, such as Peter and Paul were, say that it must be 
 idolatry to worship or to pray to him. This is only the necessary 
 consequence of avowing our belief, with what must follow from 
 it." (Letter V.) Dr. Priestley also maintained that future punish- 
 ment is probationary, holding, in fact, the doctrine of a purga- 
 tory ; and he dwelt with satisfaction on this view of the subject 
 to the last moment of his life. A disgraceful riot, in which his 
 house and chapel were destroyed, drove him from Birmingham 
 in 1798 ; he had become obnoxious, not only from the freedom of 
 his religious opinions, but still more from his admiration of the 
 French revolution. He then took charge of the congregation of 
 his deceased friend Dr. Price, in London ; but soon afterwards 
 retired to x^merica, where he was received but coldly, and died in 
 retirement in 1 80 i. 
 
 The academy at Daventry, under the superintendence of Dr. 
 Ashworth, produced another Unitarian minister, in some respects 
 more eminent than Priestley. Thomas Belsham, the son of a 
 dissenting minister, pursued his studies with so much success, 
 that he was appointed assistant tutor, and, upon the death of 
 Dr. Ashworth, principal of the institution. He had been edu- 
 cated in the doctrines of Calvinism ; he now began to doubt their 
 truth ; and having embraced Unitarianism, he left the college, 
 and relinquished his connexion with an orthodox congregation in 
 the neighbourhood, of which he was the pastor. A new college 
 was opened at Hackney by the Unitarians, and it was placed 
 under his care, but it was soon closed for want of funds, and 
 Belsham succeeded to the congregation over which Dr. Priestley 
 had for a time presided. In 1805 he removed to the chapel in. 
 
352 UNl'J'AT^IANR. 
 
 Essex-stroct, wliicli had 1)Com Iniilt for Mr. Lintlsey, a clergyman 
 of the Church of England who had emhraccd Socinianism, and 
 was eminent in the last century, as a TTnitarian minister. Hero 
 Mr. Belsham laboured till the close of his life, and was long 
 regarded as the head of his party. His talents were undoubtedly 
 of a high order ; he was an able writer upon almost every point of 
 theology. He published a volume on the evidences of the Chris- 
 tian revelation, winch, for a time, was popular ; and an improved 
 version of the " New Testament," which was severely criticised 
 by his Trinitarian opponents. Priestley and Belsham met with 
 a powerful antagonist in Horsley, Bishop of St. David's. Horsley 
 was a controversialist of a clear head and of great attainments, 
 alihougli the latter are now supposed to have been overrated. 
 He wrote with force, but in a dictatorial style ; he was proud 
 and disputatious ; and Priestley replied with needless irritation. 
 The great point at issue between them was the faith of the 
 primitive Church on the subject of the incarnation and the atone- 
 ment. Dr. Priestley had published a treatise on the corruptions 
 of Christianity, amongst which he placed the doctrine of the 
 Trinity: this, he said, in the form in which it is now maintained, 
 was of no greater antiquity than the Council of Nice. Horsley, 
 then archdeacon of St. Albans, answered these assertions in a 
 charge to the clergy, in 1783. Priestley, who never declined a 
 challenge, immediately replied. Horsley resumed his pen, and 
 the result was given to the world in the most valuable of his 
 writings, namely, his " Tracts in controversy with Dr. Priestley, 
 upon the historical Question of the Belief of the First Ages in our 
 Lord's Divinity." 
 
 After the death of Priestley, th<t leadership of the Unitarians 
 in Enixland devolved on Thomas Belsham. Less varioua in his 
 knowledge than Priestley, he was a more formidable opponent. 
 Priestley, whose attainments were rather extensive than profound, 
 was rash in his assertions, and was easily driven in from many of 
 his outposts. Belsham was more thoughtful ; he reasoned with 
 less acuteness, but greater force of argument. His " Calm Inquiry 
 into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ," pub- 
 lished in 1811, formed an epoch in Unitarian controversy. To 
 a great extent it affected the whole character of Unitarianisra, 
 and its influence is still apparent in the tone of feeling which pre- 
 vails amongst tho body. It is unddiibtedly the ablest work wliich 
 
UNITARIANS. 353 
 
 modern Unitarianism has produced, though orthodox Christians 
 consider that it has received a full refutation from the works of 
 Dr. Magee on the Atonement and Dr. Pye Smith on the Scrip- 
 ture testimonies to the divinity of the Messiah. 
 
 The history of the Unitariaus during the present century 
 aifords no striking incidents either in England or elsewhere. It 
 has been that of quiet, rather than rapid, progress. Indeed, 
 taking into the account the increase of population, and comparing 
 the advances of Unitarianism with those of almost every sect of 
 evangelical Christians, it may be questioned whether its relative 
 position is improved since the days of Price and Priestley. In 
 bringing this paper to a close, we shall offer some remarks on the 
 constitution of the Unitarian Churches, as they now exist, and 
 upon the scheme of doctrine they profess. 
 
 The number of congregations m England is about two hundred 
 and fifty. In Scotland and Ireland there are, besides these, 
 about lifty congregations. Of these three hundred one-third at 
 least are old Presbyterian foundations of the Nonconformists 
 and later Puritans, Events which have been related (see Peks- 
 BYTERIANS) placed these chapels, most of which have small 
 endowments, in the hands of the Arians of the last century, and 
 these, in turn, made way for the Unitarians who now possess 
 them. A few congregations practise adult baptism ; these are 
 the descendants of the Anabaptists; but whatever may have 
 been their constitution in past times, all the Unitarian Churches are 
 now congregational. Perfect independence is the characteristic 
 of the whole body, each congregation being, in Church discipline, 
 in its mode of worship, and in the peculiarity of its creed, free to 
 act after its own judgment. The Unitarian body have no accre- 
 dited rejjresentatives, answering to the Convocation of the Church 
 of England or the Wesleyan Conference, They have a general 
 association in London, styled the British and Foreign Unitarian 
 Association. They have also many other societies, but all of 
 these are voluntary, nor is any one of them recognised as having 
 any authority whatever ; neither does there exist any Unitarian 
 creed or standard which the general body have ever formally 
 recognised as of authority. Hence they do not receive the Ra- 
 covian, or any other, catechism, as a standard of faith ; nor have 
 they any test of orthodoxy, as applicable either to ministers or 
 laity. Their leading fundamental principles being admitted, their 
 VOL. II. 2 A 
 
354 UNITARIANS. 
 
 churches are perfectly free to all who may choose to join them for 
 worship and religious communion ; nor is there any such distinc- 
 tion amongst them as that, which exists among Trinitarian con- 
 gregationalists, between the church and the congregation, both 
 being one and the same body. They welcome to the Lord's table, 
 in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, all who choose to join 
 them, nor question on any account their right to partake with 
 them whenever so disposed. It will immediately be seen that it 
 must be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the 
 numbers of a society thus constituted. On a rough calculation, 
 the Unitarians of the three kingdoms are computed at one hun- 
 dred thousand. 
 
 In America the triumphs of Unitarianism have been greater. 
 The same causes which led to the defection of the English Pres- 
 byterians, induced the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers to 
 abandon the orthodox faith. Boston, the chosen retreat of the 
 self-exiled Puritans, is now said to contain, in the city and ueigh- 
 boiuhood, one hundred and fifty congregations of LTnitarians. 
 Throughout New England, comprising those northern states 
 which were first colonized by English Nonconformists, Socinian 
 principles are extensively avowed ; and the Unitarian body, though 
 by no means the greatest in point of numbers, is the wealthiest 
 throughout the United States. Amongst the phenomena of 
 Church history, few are more deserving of the student's consider- 
 ation. He will naturally inquire how it is that a system which 
 has gained so few converts at home should so fascinate our de- 
 scendants in the western continent. The existence of a national 
 Church is generally admitted on both sides to furnish the solution. 
 There are peculiarities in the American character which must also 
 be taken into the account ; a boldness of incpiiry, a fondjicss for 
 abstract theories, a restlessness beneath opinions of long standing, 
 which have probably contributed to the same result. A majority 
 of the American Quakers, amounting to upwards of forty-three 
 thousand, are Unitarians, and they form a distinct community, 
 the orthodox Quakers having seceded from them. 
 
 In Europe Socinianism prevails in the Church founded by 
 Calvin at Geneva, and the Swiss Cantons have undergone a similar 
 change. The few orthodox clergy who remain suffer constant 
 insult and persecution ; for the Unitarians of Geneva have not yet 
 learned to practise those lessons of catholicity and of respect for 
 
UNITARIANS. 355 
 
 the rights of conscience which are the just boast of their party in 
 other lands. The Unitarians of Geneva are entitled to no respect. 
 Enjoying the emoluments and honours of a Calvinistic Church, 
 they denounce from Calvin's pulpits the doctrines which Calvin 
 taught. They are dishonest men, who add to their delinquency 
 the crime of persecuting those who still preach the doctrines of 
 their owii Church. With such men the Unitarians of England 
 and America have nothing in common except the name. 
 
 Unitarianism, as a theological system, is thus explained by 
 one of its living advocates: — 1. Trinitarian and Unitarian are 
 correlative terms ; the latter rendered necessary only by the 
 existence of the former ; both expressing different views of the 
 one Christian faith. 2. Trinitarianism is not anything more of a 
 positive and substantial faith than Unitarianism. Unitarian 
 Christianity is the distinctive name of that view or form of 
 Christian faith which recognises "but one God, the Father." 
 Trinitarian Christianity, on the other hand, recognises " the Son 
 as God, and the Holy Ghost as God," as well as " the Father." 
 Unitarian Christianity negatives these two additional articles, 
 maintaining the godhead of the Father to be supreme and sole 
 " To us there is but one God, the Father." This text furnishes 
 a clear and complete definition of Unitarian Christianity. 
 
 Thus Unitarian is employed as the correlative of Trinitarian. 
 A believer in one God is a monotheist, as opposed to a poly- 
 theist. The words Unitarian and Trinitarian have reference not 
 to the unity, but to the personality of the godhead. 
 
 Unitarians defend their system by three lines of argument — 
 critical, historical, and philosophical. Under the first of these 
 the meaning of the Scriptures, and especially the critical exami- 
 nation of the New Testament, is comiDrised. Under the second 
 it is argued, that Trinitarianism is comparatively a modern doc- 
 trine ; that its gradual formation can be traced from its commence- 
 ment to its final establishment by the emperor Theodosius, 
 towards the close of the fourth century, A. D. 880. And under 
 the third the impossibility of the doctrine is asserted. "It is a 
 doctrine," says Mr. James Yates, in his " Vindication of Unita- 
 rianism," " which councils and parliaments may decree, but 
 which miracles cannot prove." The examination of these im- 
 portant questions is a labour from which, in the present day, 
 no orthodox minister of religion can shrink, and upon whicli 
 
 2 A 2 
 
3r>fi UNITARIANS. 
 
 icfnorance is unpardonaVjle. A fair amount of learning and iu- 
 (Instry will soon enable him to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion 
 upon the first and second points. The real difficulty lies only 
 with the third, but it exists rather in words than in reality. Uni- 
 tarianism is, we conceive, the result of a wrong method in philo- 
 sophy ; it overlooks those ultimate facts which are admitted to 
 exist in all other speculations ; and, plunging onward in a waste 
 of speculation, demands a proof of that of which it is impossible 
 that any other proofs should reach us than the bare statement of 
 the doctrine by a competent, that is, an inspired, authority. 
 
 It remains only to speak of the literature of Unitarianism. 
 Here a striking contrast greets us. In general literature Uni- 
 tarians occupy a high position ; in theology they are almost 
 imknown. 
 
 Dr. Channing, whose fame as a writer is now established 
 wherever the language in which he wrote is read, became the 
 minister of a congregation in Boston at the beginning of the 
 present century. His first appearance in the pulpit made a sen- 
 sation such as had been long unknown, even in a city famous for 
 its preachers. His week-day evening lecture was crowded in 
 that mart of commerce, and his friends announced "a new era 
 in preaching." He brought a fervour into the Socinian pulpit 
 to which it had been long a stranger ; the seriousness of his de- 
 portment, we are told by his biographer, the depth and sweetness 
 of his voice, the pathos with which he read the Scriptures, and 
 sacred poetry ; the solemnity of his appeals ; his rapt and kind- 
 ling enthusiasm, his humble trustful spirit of prayer, his subdued 
 feeling, so expressive of personal experience, made religion a 
 new reality. Spiritual religion was the end of his ministrations. 
 " Let me unite," he says, in his diary, " witli the most serious, 
 statedly in prayer, for the revival of religion in the society." His 
 biogi-apher indignantly disclaims the imputation that he ever 
 embraced, or even approached, orthodox Trinitarian sentiments ; 
 if so, we admire the happy inconsistency which dictated the fol- 
 lowing sentences : — 
 
 " Have I not reason to fear that many are destitute of love to 
 God, to Christ, to the Church, to man? Do they not confide in 
 a course of negative goodness? Are they n(jt full of false hopes 
 from the performance of particular duties, abstinence from great 
 crimes? Are they not ea.sy, an<l satisfied, because they give no 
 
UNITARIANS. 357 
 
 positive evidence of irreligion, not because they have positive 
 evidence of religion ? Do they not mistake habit for principle ? 
 Is holiness an end ? Is God all in all ? Is Christ all in all to 
 them ? Is love the habit of their soul, operating in their whole 
 conduct ? * * * * Christ came to recover man from sin. A 
 change of heart is the object of the Gospel. In this consists the 
 redemption of Christ. It becomes man to weep, to feel true, 
 hearty sorrow at sin itself; to abhor and condemn themselves 
 as without excuse, to feel themselves dependent upon free, un- 
 merited, viuobligated, sovereign grace, for pardon and renev/al. 
 
 "The Spirit of God is the blessing of the new covenant. The 
 knowledge, love, imitation, service, and enjoyment of God 
 through eternity are all included in this gift. There can be no 
 other rational, eternal blessedness. The Spirit of God operates 
 on the heart, creates new exercises, and dwells in the souls of 
 Christians, by constantly and immediately supporting all good 
 affections. Every man must be new-born, have a new heart, a 
 new principle, end, motive, disposition ; a change, by the Spirit, 
 into a meek, submissive, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, benevo- 
 lent state of soul, before he can believe, approve, choose the 
 Gospel, and receive the kingdom of heaven." — CI tanning's Me- 
 TYioir, vol. i. Judging from these specimens, the religion of Dr. 
 Channing appears to have diff'ered from that of Priestley and 
 Belsham in principle as well as in warmth and spirituality. 
 
 But even Dr. Channing is better known as an essayist than a 
 divine. His reviews and historical dissertations, rather than his 
 contributions to religious science, have won his reputation. And 
 so it is at home. There is no department of science or literature 
 in which Unitarians do not occupy a distinguished place. 'I he 
 theory of education, political economy, poetry and fiction, and 
 the best reviews, they may safely claim, but in theology little is 
 attempted. No sect in England is so well educated ; yet no 
 sect, of equal numbers, contributes so little through the press to 
 the direct spiritual instruction of the people. The same apathy 
 pervades their missions. Their efforts are feeble, their converts 
 few. The fact is admitted and deplored by candid members of 
 their own communion. Whether it be the necessary result of 
 Unitarian principles, whether fervent zeal be consistent with 
 those views of the Divine character and of man's condition, 
 which Unitarians hold, is a (juestion full of the deepest interest 
 
35R UNIVERSALISTS. 
 
 both to tlipnisolves and their opponents Tlie E<litor is indebted 
 to the courtesy of the llev. S. Bache, minister of the New Meet- 
 ing, Birmingham, for several of the particulars already mentioned, 
 as well as for the following statements : — 
 
 " That freedom from tests which is characteristic of Unita- 
 rians is characteristic also of our theological institutions, espe- 
 cially of that one of them in which provision is made for the 
 complete education of our youth for the Christian ministry, 
 namely, Manchester New College, which has its library and class- 
 rooms in University Hall, Gordon-square, and is in connection 
 with the University of London. The Presbyterian College at 
 Carmarthen, too, is equally unsectarian, and is also connected 
 with the London University. Several of our Unitarian ministers 
 from the Principality have received their education partially or 
 wholly there. Besides these two unsectarian institutions, the 
 " Unitarian Home Missionary Board," has recently been esta- 
 blished in ]\Ianchester, having for its object to prepare men of 
 earnest and devout minds to be domestic missionaries, Unita- 
 rian missionaries, and ministers to rural and other small congre- 
 gations. 
 
 '■The chief periodicals connected with the Unitarian denomi- 
 nation in England are the Christian Reformer, edited by the 
 Rev. R. B. Aspland. The Enquirer; or. Weekly Newspaper. 
 The Sunday-school Penny Magazine, edited for the ]\Ianchester 
 District Sunday-school Association," &c. 
 
 See Socini Opera. Toidmin : Life of Faustus Socinus. 
 Moshelm : Eccl. Hist. Dictionnaire des Heresies : Art. Soci- 
 nianisme. Dr. Priestley : Letters, Sermons, and Tracts- 
 Lindsay s Apology ; and Life of, by Belsham. BcUliam : GaJ/m, 
 Enquiry ; Tracts and Life by Williams. Memoirs of Dr. 
 Clumning. Baehe : Lectures mi Unitarian Christianity. Art. 
 in Penny Gydopcedia : Unitarianism. 
 
 UNIV1':KSALISTS.— The great doctrine of Univcrsalism is 
 that the sufferings of the wicked after death are purgatorial 
 in their character, and will finally terminate in eternal happi- 
 ness. This doctrine is fundamental ; but it is held, of course, in 
 conjtuictiou with many others. Uuiversivlists ma\, howi'vor. 
 
QNIVERSALISTS. 359 
 
 now be divided into two parties ; the evangelical or orthodox, 
 and those who embrace Arian or Unitarian sentiments. Of the 
 latter it is unnecessary to give any detailed account, since, in 
 fact, they form a part, by far the larger part, of the Unitarian 
 body. The process by which Universalism has linked itself with 
 Socinianism has been the result of a mutual attraction. Great 
 numbers of those who began with Unitarianisra have advanced 
 in the course of their speculations to Universalism ; and, on the 
 other hand, not a few of those who set out from Universalism 
 have cast aside the orthodox creed to embrace the doctrines of 
 Sociuus. 
 
 Universalism professes to rest in part upon critical exegesis, 
 but more fully perhaps upon philosophical argument. Under 
 the former, those texts of Scripture are argued and exjslained in 
 which our Lord and the sacred writers have been generally 
 supposed to assert the eternity of future punishment. Under 
 the latter, the benevolence of the Deity, the proper ends of 
 jjuuishment, and similar considerations, are advanced. Nor does 
 Universalism hesitate to make its appeals to the Christian 
 fathers, and to claim their sanction. But few traces of the 
 doctrine, it is admitted, are to be found in the first and second 
 centuries. During this period no controversies had arisen on the 
 subject. Clemens, of Alexandria, is claimed as one of the fathers 
 who during this period held these doctrines. Daille and Arch- 
 bishop Potter admit the justice of the charge, the truth of which ^ 
 from the diffuseness of the father's writings, it is no easy matter 
 to determine. "It is manifest," says the former, "throughout 
 his works, that Clemens thought all the punishments that God 
 inflicts upon men are salutary, and executed by him only for the 
 purpose of instruction and reformation. Of this kind he reckons 
 the torments which the damned in hell suffer."^ — De Usu Pairum, 
 lib. ii. 4. Potter, having spoken of Origen's belief in the salva- 
 tion of all the damned, adds, "From which opinion Clemens does 
 not appear to have differed much, as he taught that the devil 
 can repent, and that even the most heinous sins are purged 
 away by punishments after death." — Note in Gleon. A/ex., book 
 vi., p. 794^. 
 
 Origen was the pupil of Clemens, and may be considered as 
 the founder of Universalism in the early Church. About the 
 year 230 he published his books ' Do Principiis," in which he 
 
3G0 UNIVERSALISTS. 
 
 advocates at length tlie doctrine of universal salvation. It forms 
 part of a system which exposed him to the charge of heresy in 
 his own times, and has ranked him ever since amongst the 
 fanciful and visionary. In connexion with Univcrsalism he held 
 the doctrine of pre-existence. His opinion was, that in the past ages 
 of eternity God created, at once, all the rational minds which have 
 ever existed, whether of angels or men, gave them the same nature 
 and the same powers, and placed thorn all in one celestial state. 
 Accordingly they were all, at first, exactly alike in rank, capacity, 
 and character. But, as they all had perfect freedom of will, they 
 did not long continue in this state of equality ; for while some 
 improved themselves more or less, others degenerated propor- 
 tionally ; till an infinite diversity of character and condition 
 began to take place among them. In consequence of this, the 
 Almighty at length formed the material universe out of pre- 
 existent matter, and appointed those spirits to different ranks 
 and conditions in it according to their respective deserts ; ele- 
 vating some to the angelic order, consigning others to the infernal 
 abodes as demons, and sending the intermediate class, as occasion 
 might require, into human bodies. All these intelligent beings 
 still retain their original freedom of will, and are, therefore, 
 capable of returning from their former transgressions, or of rising 
 to still higher degrees of excellence. The fall of man, in his 
 view, consisted in the descent of the celestial soul to the prison 
 of an earthly hody, in consequence of its transgressions in a pre- 
 existent state. In the resurrection, mankind will come forth 
 with bodies not of gross earthly matter, but of an aerial sub- 
 stance ; and then the whole human race, both good and bad, 
 will be subjected to a fiery ordeal in the general conflagration, 
 with different degrees of pain, according to their moral purity or 
 corruption. 'J'he righteous will quickly pass through this trial 
 into the enjoyments of heaven ; but the wicked will then be 
 condemned to the punishments of hell, which consist both of 
 inflicted pain, and of the remorse of conscience. These suffer- 
 ings, though he calls them everlasting, Origen held would be 
 apportioned in length and severity to each one's wickedness and 
 hardness of heart ; but for others, especially for the devil, they 
 would necessarily be rendered intense, and protracted to an im- 
 mense duration, in order to overcome the obstinacy and corruption 
 of the guilty sufferers. At last, however, the whole intelligent 
 
UNIVERSALISTS. 3t>l 
 
 creation should be purified, and God become all in all. — De 
 Princqnis, lib. ii. cap. 10, &c. 
 
 To what extent Origen was infected either by the Gnostic or 
 the Manichean principles, or whether he framed a system of his 
 own, has been long disputed ; for each of the opinions he main- 
 tained some text of Scripture is cited as authority. But Origen's 
 theory of interpretation has never been sustained ; and the 
 Universalists of modern times, while they quote his name as an 
 illustrious instance of the existence of their doctrines in early 
 times, and amongst some of the leaders of the Church, still 
 decline to bow to his authority. Origen, it must be remembered, 
 was excommunicated by the orthodox party, and died before the 
 sentence was removed. 
 
 His opinions lingered in the Church, and even gained ground. 
 Modern Universalists claim St. Basil, Bishop of Csesarea, his 
 brother the Bishop of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen, in the 
 fourth century as more or less inclined to the sentiments of 
 Origen on the nature of future punishments, 
 
 Universalism appears to have been for a time the opinion 
 of a majority of the fathers in the Eastern Church. Gregory 
 Nyssen, Didymus, and Jerome, were to some extent its advo- 
 cates. Nazianzen, speaking of the Novatians, an heretical sect, 
 exclaims : " Perhaps they will be baptized in the next world 
 with fire, which is the last baptism, and is not only keen but of 
 great duration, and which shall feed on the dull matter as on 
 hay, until it shall have consumed all their sins." — Oratio. xxxix. 
 This seems to be the language of indecision, at least ; but it 
 must not be forgotten that the writings of the Oriental fathers 
 were at this period deeply infected with the vicious tastes of 
 a rapidly-declining age. Accuracy, and even truth, were of 
 less account with them than some gaudy metaplior or startling 
 paradox. In the Western Church the opinions of Origen also 
 made some progress. St. Augustine, in the greatest of his 
 writings, " The City of God," devotes several chapters to a refu- 
 tation of the prevailing error. He begins by defending the 
 Church from the charge of intolerance for refusing to allow her 
 members to dispute in favour of a purgatorial fire, and the final 
 release, not only of bad men, but of Satan himself Such sen- 
 timents, he argues, cannot possibly be reconciled with the words 
 of Christ, " Depart from me ye cursed into eternal fire, prepared 
 
.^(52 UNIVERSALISTS. 
 
 for tlie devil and his angels." — Matt. xxv. 41. Nor with the 
 declaration of St. John in the Revelation, that the beast and 
 the false prophet shall bo tormented day and night for ever and 
 ever. — Rev. xx. 10. Nor with the statement of St. Peter, that 
 God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to 
 hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved 
 unto judgment. — 2 Peter ii. 4. "This l)oiug the case," he 
 exclaims, " how can we believe that all or any of mankind, after 
 a certain period, shall bo restored from the eternity of this 
 punishment, and not immediately weaken that faith by which 
 we believe the torments of the demons will be endless. Or will 
 the sentence of God, which is pronounced alike against evil 
 angels and evil men, be true with respect to the angels, and be 
 false with respect to men ? And again, how can we suppose 
 eternal torment to be only of long duration, and yet eternal life 
 to be without end ; when, in the very same passage, and in one 
 and the same sentence, Christ said with reference to both, these 
 shall go away into etei'nal punishment but the righteous into 
 eternal life. — Matt. xxv. 46. Both are eternal, both must be 
 luulerstood either of long duration but at length comingj to an 
 end, or else as perpetual with no end. They are linked 
 together : Oi) the one hand eternal punishment, on the other 
 hand eternal lite ; and it is absurd to say in one and the same 
 sentence, that eternal life will be without end, and that eternal 
 punishment will have an end. Whence we conclude that, as the 
 eternal life of the saints Avill be without end, so also the eternal 
 punishment of those who shall be condemned will without any 
 doubt have no end," — De Givitatc Dei, lib. xxi. cap. 23. He 
 confirms the argument by considerations drawn from the justice 
 of God, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The decisions of 
 St, Augustine were received with almost universal deference by 
 the Western Church ; in the East his name was regarded with 
 great, though not with equal, veneration ; and his authority 
 imposed upon the cause of the Universalists a more fatal chock 
 than even the decisions of a fjeneral council, Autjustine wrote 
 his great work about A.D. 420, and through the remainder of the 
 century we seek in vain for any traces of the doctrine. The 
 final salvation of Satan and his angels wa.s brancVed as a heresy, 
 and the doctrine of the final restoration of mankind, nearly 
 connected with it, was looked upon as an i)bn(Vxious nnd kindred 
 
UNIVERSALISTS. 3f)3 
 
 error ; aud the familiar name of Origeti almost wholly dis- 
 appears. 
 
 At length the Fifth General Council was held at Constan- 
 tinople on the -ith of May, 553. One hundred and sixty bisho2)s 
 of the Greek and African Churches were present, and the opi- 
 nions of the " impious Origen " were condemned. As a summary 
 of doctrines which once extensively prevailed, and, we must add, 
 as a melancholy proof of the degradation of the Christian ('hm-ch 
 in the sixth century, we place before the reader the decree in 
 which the council uttered its sentence : " Whoever says or thinks 
 that the souls of mankind pre-existed as intellectual, holy natures, 
 but that, growing Aveary of divine contemplation, they degene- 
 rated to their present character, and were sent into these bodies 
 for the purpose of punishment, let him be anathema Whoever 
 says or thiulvs that the human soul of Christ pre-existed and 
 became united to the Word before its incarnation and nativity 
 of the Blessed Virgin, let him be anathema Whoever says or 
 thinks that the body of Christ was first formed in the womb of 
 the Holy Virgin, and that the Word and his pre-existent human 
 soul were afterwards united with it, let him be anathema. Who- 
 ever says or thinks that the Divine Word is to become like the 
 angelic and celestial powers, and thus be reduced to an equality 
 with them, let him be anathema. Whoever says or thinks that 
 in the resurrection human bodies are to be of a round, globular 
 form, or whoever will not acknowledge that mankind are to rise 
 in an erect posture, let him be anathenm. Whoever says that 
 the sun, the moon, the stars, and the waters above the heavens, 
 are certain animated or intelligent powers, let him be anathema. 
 Whoever says or thinks that Christ is to be crucified in the future 
 world for the demons, as he was in this for men, let him be 
 anathema. Whoever says or thinks that the power of God is 
 limited, and that it has created all that it was able to embrace, 
 let him be anathema. Whoever says or thinks that the torments 
 of the demons and of impious men are temporal, so that they 
 will at length come to an end, or whoever holds a restoration 
 either of the demons and of impious men, so that their torments 
 will at length come to an end, or whoever holds a restoration 
 either of the demons or of the impious, let him be anathema. 
 Anathema to Origen Adamantius, who taught these things among 
 his detestable aud accursed dogmas ; and to every one who 
 
3(34 UNIVERSALIBTS. 
 
 Ijclievcs thesu things, or asserts thein, or who sliall ever dare to 
 defend them in any part, let them be anathema ; in Christ Jesus 
 our Lord, to whom be glory for ever. Amen." — Summa Con- 
 cilioruni, Paris edit., 1672. 
 
 Thus the faith of the Catholic Church was fixed, and it has 
 remained ever since unaltered. The opinions of Origen have 
 from time to time revived, but only to be condemned, and too 
 frequently, we must allow, to expose their abettors to pains 
 and penalties which disgrace the orthodox party. The censure 
 of Origen was repeated in various councils : for example, in the 
 first Lateran, A.D. 649 ; in the Sixth General Council at Constan- 
 tinople, A.D. 680 ; and in the Seventh General Council at Nice, 
 A.D. 687. 
 
 The Paulicians are sometimes claimed as Universalists. The 
 history of this people is obsciu-e, and their tenets, as related to us 
 by their persecutors, have probably been misrepresented. They 
 claimed, as their name implies, to be an ancient Church, in doc- 
 trine the disciples of St. Paul. Their enemies as.sert that they 
 were the descendants of the Manichees. About the year 660 we 
 first discover this people in considerable numbers, spreading 
 quietly from the neighbourhood of Samosata, in the upper region 
 of the Euphrates, through Armenia, and to the north through 
 Cappadocia and Pontus. They abhorred the use of images and 
 relics, were simple in their rites, and suffered no ecclesiastical 
 domination. Their preachers were distinguished by no titles, 
 and they acknowledged no superiority but that of greater zeal 
 or gi-eater wisdom. Gibbon has written their history with a 
 candour which Milner, the Church historian, has commended. 
 He assumes their descent from the Gnostics, yet he admits that 
 they condemned the memory and opinions of the Manichean 
 sect, and he allows that their creed was simple and sjiiritual. 
 They are said to have rejected the Old Testament, and some 
 books of the New. For a hundred and fifty years they sustained 
 a bloody persecution from the orthodox emj^erors of the East 
 with jiatieut and inoffensive meekness. At length they took up 
 arras, about the year 845, and carried on a long and disastrous 
 contest with their oppressors. They were driven into the Arme- 
 nian mountains, where they remained fur two hundred years in 
 comparative (juiet and repose. .Mtout A.n. 1100 they became 
 known in iMuope, a colony "f tliciri having lucn transported by 
 
UNIVERSALISTS. 3G.-, 
 
 one of the Greek emperors into wliat are now tlie Danubian prin- 
 cipalities. A strong though secret discontent was already gene- 
 rally provoked by the profligacy of the Church of Rome ; and as 
 the strangers made their way towards Western Europe, the 
 humility of their demeanour and the simplicity of their faith 
 gained many converts : and thus arose those various sects of 
 media3val times known to Protestants as Albigenses, Cathari, and 
 Wakienses. By Roman Catholic writers they are always described 
 as Manicheans, and they are especially denounced as holding the 
 doctrine of universal salvation, or denying altogether the future 
 punishment of the wicked. But the accusations of Rome are to 
 be received with caution. Into what excesses a few vasrrant 
 spirits might wander we cannot tell. The Paulicians, and their 
 successors the Waldenses, pleaded guilty to no such heresies : 
 their books were destroyed, as they themselves were annihilated, 
 in the uni'elenting persecutions with which Rome distressed 
 them. At this period the notion of a purgatory was generally 
 entertained by the Romish theologians ; and had the Paulicians 
 avowed the doctrine of a final restoration of the lost to happiness 
 it would probably, if not connected with more ofifensive tenets, 
 have excited but little opposition. Their real crime was the sim- 
 plicity of their fliith. And without better evidence we cannot 
 inscribe them in the catena of Universalism. 
 
 The English Lollards were charged with teaching, amongst 
 other doctrines, that all the damned, even the demons, might be- 
 come happy : and it is pi'obable that some among them held these 
 notions ; for at a council convened at Canterbury in the year 
 1368, Archbishop Langham gave judgment against thirty pro- 
 positions taught in his province, of which this was one. Vestiges 
 of the opinions of Origen continue indeed to be met with in 
 every kingdom in Europe down to the Reformation. 
 
 It is unnecessary to trace the progress of Universalism from 
 the Reformation to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its 
 peculiar opinions were maintained by individuals, but we are not 
 aware that they formed, in England or elsewhere, the creed of a 
 denomination or sect. In every country they were extensively 
 received by Unitarians, and occasionally by divines in other 
 respects reputed orthodox. Of the latter class was Jeremiah 
 White, once chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and preacher to his 
 Council of State. After his denth was published his '■ Restoratiou 
 
:m> IINIVERSALISTS. 
 
 of all Things : a Vindication of the Goodness and Grace of God 
 to be manifested at last in the Recovery of the whole Creation 
 out of their Fall." This volume has been several times repub- 
 lished. Tiie author was a Nonconformist and a Calvinist, and, 
 according to his scheme, Universalism is made consistent with 
 the Calvinistic creed. The work was not made public till the 
 year 1712. About the same time similar doctrines were advo- 
 cated by Dr. Thomas Burnet, Master of the Charter House, and 
 afterwards by the Rev. William Law and others, of the mystic 
 school of the Church of England. But their opinions made no 
 progress. Soames Jenyns, Dr. Lettsome, Sir George Stonehouse, 
 and other men of speculative minds, entertained and avowed 
 these principles. 
 
 From the continent of Europe it would be easy to furnish a 
 long list of names in favour of Universalism ; but in general they 
 were neither the leaders of religious opinions, nor themselves men 
 of earnest piety. Theirs were rather the speculations of unbe- 
 lievers than the conclusions of deferential students of the Bible. 
 The opinions of D'Alembert and Diderot are of no importance. 
 Some exceptions there were no doubt, and amongst them the 
 name of Lavater must not be omitted. The doctrine of Uni- 
 versalism, we are told, was a sentiment which this eminent phi- 
 lanthropist embraced with all the native fervour of his heart. In 
 more recent times the name of the profound critic, Tholuck, 
 nmst be added. 
 
 The father of the modern Universalists was James Relly, ori- 
 ginally a friend and follower of George Whitfield. Relly began 
 his ministerial career in Mr. Whitfields, or Lady Huntingdon's, 
 connexion ; but, gradually renouncing the doctrines he had once 
 espoused, he taught that Christ, as a mediator, was united to 
 mankind, and, by his obedience and sufferings, had as fully 
 restored the whole human race to the divine favour as if all had 
 obeyed or suffered in their own persons. Rellian Universalism, 
 as it has been called, has the system of Calvin for its basis. A 
 work of Mr. Relly 's, entitled " Union ; or a^ Treatise on the Con- 
 sanguinity and Affinity between Christ and his Church," is that 
 ])y which he is best known. It has been more than once repub- 
 lislied in America and this country. His creed is thus stated by 
 one of his followers, Mr. Whittemore, in his Modern History of 
 Universalism : " Jesus Christ had made satisfaction for all the 
 
UNIVERSALISTS. r>,(]7 
 
 human race, and bore their sins in his body. Hence he Ivnew 
 nothing of inflicting the demands of justice upon the sinner. Sin 
 is to be dreaded for the natural evils which it brings in its train, 
 but not for the penalty of the Divine law, which we have all 
 suffered to the full in the person of Jesus. Thus although Relly 
 admitted the doctrine of partial suffering in the future state, he 
 maintained that the state of unbelievers, after death, cannot bo 
 a state of punishment, because Jesus Christ, who hath tasted 
 death for every man, bore the chastisements of their peace when 
 the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all. He admitted 
 the doctrine of misery in the future state only on the principle 
 that while in unbelief men know not, nor believe, that Jesus 
 hath put away their sins by the sacrifice of himself ; and there- 
 fore they are oppressed with guilt and fear ; and these are in 
 proportion to their use or abuse of knowledge ; to their receiving, 
 or obstinately rejecting, the Divine evidences and demonstrations 
 of grace and salvation. But he looked beyond all evil and 
 misery, whether in this or the future state, to a time of universal 
 restitution, when all mankind will be brought to know the Lamb 
 of God who hath taken away the sin of the world." 
 
 Amongst the early converts of Relly was John Murray. For 
 a time he was a preacher in Wesley's connexion, and after that, 
 a member of Whitfield's congregation at the Tabernacle ; but 
 having joined the Universalists in 1770, he lost the confidence 
 of his friends, and sought a home in America, where he is still 
 regarded as the patriarch of Universalism. On the other hand, 
 America furnished a successor to Relly in the person of Elkanan 
 Winchester, who preached to his congregation in Southwark for 
 some years with considerable success. At length the calamity 
 happened to the Rellian Universalists which has again and again 
 occurred in the societies of this sect. They quarrelled and broke 
 up, the majority becoming Unitarians. Universalism in the 
 metropolis, as the characteristic of a denomination, dwindled 
 away, and at length became extinct about the year 1820. 
 
 There are at present three societies in Great Britain known as 
 Universalists, which maintain in other respects orthodox sen- 
 timents, "all holding, and all rejoicing to hold, as essential 
 tenets of Christianity, the supreme deity of Jesus Christ, the 
 efficacy of his atoning sacrifice, the power of his resurrection, 
 new creation by his Spirit through his word, the election of his 
 
3C8 UNIVEIi.SALTRTix 
 
 Church, and the inlieritancc of" his kingdom by the niemhcrs of 
 that Oliurch alone." These are, first a hody at Glasgow, among 
 whom are some of the friends and followers of Mr. Neil 
 Douglas, who is regarded as the father of Universalism in Scot- 
 land. lie was a pastor of the Relief Church in Dundee, but 
 embracing Universalism in 1801, became for more than twenty 
 years the active and laborious leader of the party whose cause he 
 had espoused, or rather had called into existence. Second, a 
 church at Plymouth, of which the Rev. William Seabrook is 
 the pastor; and thii'dly, a congregation in Crown -street, Liver- 
 pool, under the pastoral care of the Rev. David Thom, who has 
 now presided over it for a period of above thirty years. 
 
 The principles maintained by the Liverpool Society are thus 
 briefly stated by Dr. Thom (to whose courtesy we are indebted 
 for much valuable information on the subject of this article) in a 
 private communication to the Editor. " We love the leading 
 doctrines of the Gospel, not as they appear in popular creeds, 
 but as they are laid down in the Scriptures themselves. We 
 know no teacher of Divine truth but the Holy Ghost himself, 
 speaking to us and teaching us in and through the Holy 
 Scriptures. Nevertheless we can love and admire the statements 
 of divine truth which are to be found in the Thirty-nine 
 Articles of the Church of England, and in other pubHcatidns, 
 the leading views of which rest upon evangelical principles. To 
 us [Jniversalism is a truth, because God himself reveals it ; but 
 it is not to us the main truth. Hence we very seldom speak of 
 it. Regeneration by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, admission into 
 the enjoyment of his knowledge and love, and the fruits and 
 effects which spring from the influence and operation of the 
 truth, are our constant, as they are scriptural, themes. ' For a 
 further statement of the views entertained by Dr. Thom, we 
 must refer to his " Five Dialogues on Universal Redemption." 
 
 To trace minutely tlie progress of Universalism in the United 
 States is beyond our limits. Murray landed in America in 1 770, 
 and there for the first time proclaimed the doctrine as a pro- 
 minent theme, and in a public and decided manner. New Jersey 
 was the scene of his first labours. Few at first su])ported him: 
 his opinions, on the contrary, encountered great ojjposition. At 
 length his converts became numerous. Societies sprang up in 
 every direction. Conv(^nti(>ns of Universalists were organized. 
 
UNIVERSALISTS. 3C9 
 
 and long before his death, which occurred in 1815, Universahsm 
 in America had diffused itself to an extent, and had come to 
 possess amongst its supporters an amount of talent, energy, and 
 influence, calculated to give it a high standing among the 
 religious denominatious of the great transatlantic republic. Its 
 followers amount to 650,000. Should the reader ask why a 
 cause which advances so slowly in England should have tri- 
 umphed in America, the chief answer, as supplied by an 
 American Universahst, is this : " Here we have no national 
 establishment to crush us." — Rev. J. Sawyer, letter in Appendix 
 to " Dialogues " bi/ Dr. Thorn. 
 
 The American Universalists are now at variance amongst 
 themselves. About the year 1840, after many bickerings, and 
 the exhibition of much unpleasant feeling, they split into two 
 subordinate divisions, denominated the Impartialists and the 
 Restorationists. The former, who are by far the more numerous 
 of the two bodies, deny the existence of an intermediate state of 
 happiness and misery, the infliction of temporary torments, and the 
 natural immortality of the soul ; maintaining, that although there 
 is a distinction between believers and unbelievers in time, this 
 distinction, nevertheless, extends no further ; the whole human 
 family, after having died, continuing till the end of time in a 
 state of unconsciousness, and then rising again all at once, and 
 without any distinction, to the enjoyment of eternal life. The 
 latter maintain the immortality of the soul, the existence of an 
 intermediate stat 3, torments inflicted upon the wicked during a 
 longer or shorter period, the reign of the saints, and the 
 ultimate restoration through them of all things by Christ. 
 These, it will be seen, are the sentiments of the older Uni- 
 versalists. Unitarianism is now in America one of the leading 
 features of Universalism. 
 
 Ballou: Ancient History of Universalism. Boston, U- S. 1829. 
 Whittemore : Modern History of Universalism, from the Reforma- 
 tion to the Present Time. Boston, U. S. J 830. Dialoyucs on 
 Universal Salvation, by David Thorn, D.D. Second Edition. 
 The Restoration of All Things, by Jeremiah White, Chaplain, to 
 Oliver Cromwell; with an Introductory Essay, by David Thorn, 
 D.D. The Universalist. London. 1850. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 B 
 
370 WESLEYAXS. 
 
 TXTESLEYANS ; or, WESLEYAN METHODISTS.— Fow 
 occurrences in Church liistory are of greater interest than 
 the rise and progress of the Methodists. Their story is interwoven 
 •with the founder's life, a man whose character was offeree enough 
 to impress itself upon his own age, and to mould into new forms 
 the religion of multitudes of his posterity. 
 
 Samuel Wesley, rector of Epworth, at the beginning of the 
 last century, was the father of three sons ; Samuel, born in 
 1692; John, in 1703; and Charles, in 1708. To John, the 
 second son, assisted by Charles, the youngest, the Methodist 
 societies owe their existence ; Samuel took no part in the move- 
 ment, of which, indeed, he strongly disapproved. The three 
 were brought up at the University of Oxford, and received orders 
 in the Church of England. 
 
 Their father, the rector of Epworth, was the son and grandson 
 of clergymen of note. Their mother was the daughter of Dr. 
 Annesley, an ejected minister. The rector's family, too, had 
 been infected with dissent, for both his father and his father's 
 father had retired from the Church under the fatal Act of Non- 
 conformity of 1G62, and taken up their lot amongst the Noncon- 
 formists. The rector of Epworth appears to have run into the 
 other extreme. He was a high churchman, a man of great 
 erudition, a leader in the polemics of the day, and an author of 
 some renown. He published, in 1736, a folio volume, in Latin, 
 of "Dissertations on the Book of Job." The dissertations are 
 fifty-three in number, and they seem to have been meant to 
 exhaust the subject. Everything connected with the patriarch, 
 the times in which he lived, his language and country, the struc- 
 ture of the book which bears his name, its meaning and inspira- 
 tion, the behaviour of his friends, and the tempers of his wife, 
 are learnedly discussed. When his son John was one-and-twenty 
 he wrote to him at college, desiring him " to render his assistance 
 in an edition of the Holy Bible, in octavo, in the Hebrew, 
 Chaldee, Septuagint, and the Vulgate," which, he .says, " I have 
 sometime since designed, and have made some progress in." Yet 
 his sons, studious and learned as they were, gi-ew up in ignorance 
 both of the literature of the Nonconformists and of their his- 
 tory. John had been some years in orders, when, at the house 
 of a friend, he met with " Calamy's Lives of the Ejected Minis- 
 ters ;" and for the first time, read in it the story of the zeal, and 
 
WESLEYANS. 371 
 
 the sufferings, of his own grandfather. The rector of Epworth 
 spent much of his time in London, and was an active member of 
 convocation at a period when convocation was important. His 
 wife perceived with sorrow that the parish suffered in his absence, 
 assembled his parishioners in her kitchen on Sunday evenings, 
 and read a sermon and prayers with them. The rector wrote 
 home in alarm to stay her proceedings ; she defended her con- 
 duct in a letter, gentle, argumentative, and firm : " And where 
 is the harm of this ? If I and my children went a visiting on 
 Sunday night, or if we admitted of impertinent visits, as too 
 many do who think themselves good Christians, perhaps it would 
 be thought no scandalous practice, though, in truth, it would be 
 so ; therefore, why any should reflect upon you, let your station 
 be what it will, because your wife endeavours to draw people to 
 church, and to restrain them, by reading and other persuasions, 
 from their profanation of God's most holy day, I cannot con- 
 ceive. But if any should be so mad as to do so, I wish you would 
 not regard it. And yet," she adds, with great modesty, " there 
 is one thing about which I am much dissatisfied ; that is, their 
 being present at family prayers. I do not speak of any concern 
 I am uuder barely because so many are present, for those who 
 have the honour of speaking to the great and holy God need not 
 be ashamed to speak before the whole world, but because of my 
 sex. I doubt if it be proper for me to present the prayers of 
 the people to God. Last Sunday I would feign have dismissed 
 them before prayers, but they begged so earnestly to stay I could 
 not deny them. We had above two hundred, and yet many 
 went away for want of room." But the rector was afraid of the 
 charge of holding a conventicle, and, greatly to his wife's sorrow, 
 her domestic ministrations closed, with a solemn protest on her 
 part that she was free from the blood of her husband's flock. 
 
 From such a home the young Wesleys removed to the univer- 
 sity, John having been first sent to the Charter-house, and Charles 
 to Westminster. The seriousness of their deportment was ob- 
 served, and their success perhaps excited some jealousy amojigst 
 their rivals. In 1726 John was elected fellow of Lincoln Col- 
 lege ; in the same year Chai-les was elected from Westminster to 
 a studentship at Christchurch, and both distinguished themvselves 
 as men of no ordinary promise. In 1729 they began to spend a 
 few evenings in the week tugether, with two friends, in reading 
 
 2 Ti 2 
 
372 WESLEYANS. 
 
 the Greek Testcamcnt and religious conversation ; their numbers 
 were increased from time to time by the addition of several 
 under-graduates their pupils, and by two names afterwards well 
 known in the religious history of England, Ilervey and George 
 Whitfield. They now began to visit the prisoners in the Castle, 
 and to attend the weekly sacraments in the college chapel. 
 They read the works of Bull, Taylor, and Thomas a Kempis, 
 and endeavoured, as they afterwards thought, in much igno- 
 rance, to exhibit a pattern of the Christian life in their own 
 behaviour. They proceeded with humility and caution, consult- 
 ing their father at every step, and obtaining the further sanction 
 of the bishop of Oxford. Yet their conduct, in an irreligious 
 age, was regarded by the whole university at first with susjiicion 
 and then with anger. A storm of ridicule broke over them ; 
 they were called the Holy Club. '' I hear," writes their father at 
 Epworth, "my son John has the honour of being styled the 
 ' Father of the Holy Club.' If it be so, I am sure I must be the 
 grandfather of it, and I need not say that I had rather any of 
 ray sons should be so dignified and distinguished than to have 
 the title of his Holiness." But they soon obtained a name by 
 which they are far better known. Its meaning has been much 
 disputed. John Wesley's own account of it, many years after- 
 wards, is this : — "The regularity of our behaviour gave occasion 
 to a young gentleman of the college to say, ' I think we hnve got 
 a new set of Methodists,' alluding to a set of physicians, who 
 began to flourish at Rome about the time of Nero, and continued 
 for several ages. The name was new and (juaint ; it clave to them 
 immediately ; and from that time, both those four young gentle- 
 men, and all that had any religious connexion with them, were 
 distinguished by the name of Methodists." This passage occurs 
 in a sermon preached on laying the foundation of the new chapel 
 near the City-road, Loudon, in 1777, in which there is the fol- 
 lowing sentence : — " But you will naturally ask what is Me- 
 thodism ? What does the new word mean ? Is it not a new 
 religion ? This is a very common, nay, almost universal suppo- 
 sition, but nothing can be more remote from the truth. It is a 
 mistake all over ; Methodism, so called, is the old religion, the 
 religion of the Bible, the religion of the i>rimiiivc Church, and 
 the religion of the Church of England." And these three points 
 ho proceeds to prove at large. 
 
WESLEYANS. 373 
 
 John Wesley remained at Oxford, with few intervals, till his 
 father's death in 1735. His course in the university exposed 
 him to constant insults from the young and thoughtless, and to 
 a more determined opposition from the seniors. The living of 
 Epworth was in the gift of the Chancellor, and he was urged by 
 his friends to make application for it. His father, while living, 
 added his importunities ; but he was inexorable, believing, as he 
 said, that he could do more good at Oxford. But a wider field 
 opened, and tempted him abroad. Governor Oglethorpe had 
 just founded Savannah, and concluded a treaty with the Creek 
 Indians (the race has disappeared from the earth, it was then 
 computed at 25,000 souls), for whose conversion he professed to 
 feel great anxiety. At his request the two brothers undertook 
 the mission to the Indians, and sailed in October, 1735, for the 
 new province of Georgia. Their mission was unfruitful ; they 
 were not allowed to leave the colony and preach among the 
 Indians, and their success as colonial chaplains was not great. 
 They abandoned the mission, and returned home in 1738. From 
 this period the history of the Methodists begins. 
 
 The Wesleys had hitherto held the opinions of the extreme 
 high churchmen of that day, both in discipline and doctrine ; they 
 were now about to renounce them. In Georgia they had formed 
 an intimate acquaintance with David Nitschinan, a Moravian 
 bishop, and other members of that community : the purity of 
 whose lives, their constant cheerfulness in hardship and danger, 
 and the simplicity of their faith, first attracted the admiration of 
 John Wesley. The most prominent article of their creed was 
 "justification by faith only ; a faith which was the gift of God, 
 and which wrought by love, producing all good works, through 
 the Spirit, as its consequences." The Wesleys, according to 
 their own statements, had lived hitherto in bondage under the 
 law, seeking justification partly through the merit of good 
 works, and especially through alms and sacraments. *' But 
 still," John says, " I was ' under the law,' not ' under grace ' (the 
 state most who are called Christians are content to live and die 
 in), for I was only striving with, not freed from, sin. Neither 
 had I the witness of the Spirit with my spirit, and indeed could 
 not ; for I sought it not by faith, but, as it were, by the works 
 of the law." — Journal, vol. i. page 101. 
 
 He was now convinced, from a careful study of the Scriptures, 
 
374 WESLEYANS. 
 
 that his fuith liad been too mucli separated from an evangelical 
 view of the promises of a free justification, or pardon of sin, 
 throuerh the atonement and mediation of Christ alone, which was 
 the reason why he had been held in continued bondage and 
 fear. The reading of Luther on the Galatians confirmed him in 
 this view, as well as a more careful study of the articles and 
 homilies. The definition of faith, as given by Cranmer in the 
 latter, namely, " a sure trust and confidence which a man hath 
 in God, that through the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, 
 and he reconciled to the favour of God," was much upon his 
 mind ; and in a short time both he and his brother Charles, 
 inverting their former teaching, began everywhere to proclaim 
 that salvation was to be sought and obtained, " not by the works 
 of the law, but by the faith of Christ." 
 
 Before we quit the doctrinal views of the Wesleys, two points 
 should be noticed in which the peculiarities of the Methodists 
 consist, both of which were learned from the Moravians in the 
 first instance, and both of which ever afterwards continued, to 
 influence their OAvn ministry, and to mould the opinions of their 
 followers. 
 
 1. The first of these is the instautaneousness of conversion. 
 The sense in which this was held will be best explained by a 
 short extract from the diary of the elder brother. " In the 
 evening I went," says John Wesley, in his journal, " very un- 
 willingly to a society in Aldersgate-street, where one was reading 
 Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a ([uarter 
 before nine, while he was describing the change which God 
 works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart 
 strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for 
 .salvation ; and an assurance was given me that he had taken 
 my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and 
 death." The experience of his brother Charles was very 
 similar ; and here we quote a passage from Moore's " Life of 
 Wesley." " Mr. C. Wesley's knowledge of himself, and con- 
 scious want of peace with God on a foundation that cannot be 
 shaken, furnished him with a key which opened the true mean- 
 ing of the ScrijDtures. He saw the Gospel contained ample 
 provision for all his wants, and that its operation on the mind 
 is also admirably adapted to the human faculties. He now lost 
 <h(' pridr of literature, and sought (he kingdom of heaven as a 
 
WESLEYANS. 375 
 
 little child ; he counted all things as dung and dross in com- 
 parison of it ; and all his thoughts, his desires, his hopes, and his 
 fears, had some relation to it. He was now brought to the 
 birth. On Whitsunday, May 21st, he waked in hope and ex- 
 pectation of soon 'attaining the object of his wishes — the know- 
 ledge of God reconciled in Christ Jesus. At nine o'clock his 
 brotlier and some friends came to him, and sung a hymn suited 
 to the day. When they left him he betook himself to prayer. 
 Soon afterwards a person came and said, in a very solemn 
 manner, 'Believe in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and thou 
 shalt be healed of all thine infirmities.' The words went 
 through his heart, and animated him with confidence. He 
 looked into the Scripture, and read, 'Now, Lord, what is my 
 hope ? Truly my hope is even in thee,' He then cast his eyes 
 on these words, ' He hath put a new song into my mouth, even 
 a thanksgiving unto our God ; many shall see it and fear, and 
 put their trust in the Lord.' Afterwards he opened upon 
 Isaiah xl. 1, ' Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith yoiu' God. 
 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her 
 warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned : for she 
 hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.' In 
 reading these jDassages of Scripture he was enabled to view 
 Christ as 'Set forth to be a propitiation for his sins, through 
 faith in his blood,' and received, to his unspeakable comfort, 
 that peace and rest in God, which he had so earnestly sought." 
 
 " I cannot but believe," says John Wesley, in a sermon 
 written late in life, "that sanctification is commonly, if not 
 always, an instantaneous work." On this point modern Wes- 
 leyans entertain, and allow, a certain latitude. They admit that 
 the work is itself progressive ; they maintain that its beginnings 
 are sometimes, though not always, instantaneous and perceptible. 
 
 2. The second peculiarity of Methodist doctrine was Cliristian 
 perfection, or deliverance from all sin. In his earlier days 
 Wesley spoke of the perfection which a Christian may attain, in 
 a strain the correctness of which he afterwards saw reason to 
 question. We quote again from one of his latest sermons. 
 " First believe that God has promised to save you from all sin, 
 and to fill you with all holiness. Secondly, believe that he is 
 able thus 'to save to the uttermost all that come unto God 
 through him.' Thirdly, believe that he is willing, as well as able, 
 
37(5 WESLEYANS. 
 
 to save you to the uttermost ; to purify you from all sin, aiul to 
 fill up all your lioart vnih love. Believe, fourthly, that he is not 
 only able, but willing to do it now. Not when you come to die, 
 not at any distant time, not to-morrow, but to-day. He will 
 then enable you to believe it is done, according to his word ; and 
 then 'patience shall have its perfect work, that ye may be 
 perfect and entire, wanting nothing.' Ye shall then be perfect. 
 The Apo.stle seems to mean by this expression teXejoj, ye shall be 
 wholly delivered from every evil work, from every evil word, 
 from every sinful thought ; yea, from every evil desire, passion 
 temper, from all inbred corruption, from all remains of the 
 carnal mind, from the body of sin ; and ye shall be renewed in 
 the spirit of your mind, in every right temper, after the image of 
 him that created you in righteousness and true holiness. Ye 
 shall be entire, oKoKXnpoi, the same word which the Apostle uses 
 to the Christians in Thcssalonica. This seems to refer not so 
 much to the kind as to the degree of holiness ; as if he had said 
 ye shall enjoy as high a degree of holiness as is consistent A\nth 
 your present state of pilgrimage." — Serrtion Lxxxiii. Wesley's 
 seiTnons form the standard of appeal on mattei's of doctrine in 
 the Wesleyan Society. 
 
 With these altered views the Wesleys entered on their work. 
 John had been a popular preacher in London, but he now found 
 himself shut out, in succession, from almost every pulpit. In 
 1738, his friend Whitfield, who had also been in Georgia, upon a 
 mission had just returned home. A small society of earnest 
 religious persons had been already formed in Fetter Lane, the 
 seed from which the Methodist societies were afterwards to rise. 
 Of this the Wesleys were members. At first they were associated 
 with the Moravians, but as the latter fell into mystic notions, 
 Wesley Avithdrew, and the two societies parted. " The first rise 
 of Methodism," says Wesley, " was in November 1729, when four 
 of us met together at Oxford ; the second was at Savannah in 
 April 1730; the third at London on this day. May 1st, 1738." 
 Their rules contain the germ of future Methodism. AMiitfield 
 had already begun his out-door ministry amongst the colliers at 
 Kingswood, near Bristol ; and Wesley was not slow to follow his 
 example, first in Bristol, then in London, and soon afterwards in 
 many other parts of the kingdom. The impression they produced 
 was marvellous. The crowds who thronged around tlicni heard 
 
WESLEYANS. 377 
 
 for the first time of the realities of the world unseen ; or at least 
 so heard as to be impressed. They were joined in the work by 
 Howel Harris, a minister in Wales, " a man," writes Charles 
 Wesley, " after my own heart." The congregations were im- 
 mense. In the years 1739, 1740, and 1741, when the experi- 
 ment was new, we meet continually, in Wesley's journal, with 
 such entries as these : " Sunday, April 15 (at Bristol), explained 
 at seven in the morning, to five or six thousand persons, the story 
 of the Pharisee and the Publican. About three thousand were 
 present at Hannam Mount. Between five and six we went to 
 Rose Green. It rained hard at Bristol, but not a drop fell upon 
 us, while I declared to about five thousand, ' Christ our wisdom, 
 righteousness, sanctifi cation, and redemption.' I concluded the 
 day by showing the society at Baldwin Street that ' His blood 
 cleanseth us from all sin.' " These were the labours of a single 
 day. We might fill pages with similar quotations. In London, 
 the favourite preaching grounds were Moorfields and Kennington 
 Common. The hearers in general amounted to from five to ten, 
 and even fifteen, thousand. In these labours Charles Wesley took 
 his full share. 
 
 The moral sublimity of these scenes beggars description. Some- 
 times, it is true, the people were indifferent. Wesley records 
 that he went, in company with Whitfield, to Blackheath, where 
 twelve or fourteen thousand people were assembled. " I was 
 greatly moved with compassion for the rich who were there, to 
 whom I made a particular application. Some of them seemed to 
 attend, while others drove away their coaches from so uncouth a 
 preacher." He frequently began to speak amidst a shower of 
 stones or more offensive missiles ; but the composure of his man- 
 ner, and the music of his voice, charmed the few who listened, 
 till their deep attention by degrees infected the rest. The mob, 
 as he stepped out of his coach on one occasion, gathered round 
 him, and closed him in : it was the opportunity he had long been 
 looking for in that neighbourhood ; and he immediately " began 
 to speak to those next to him of righteousness and judgment to 
 come. At first not many heard, the noise around us being ex- 
 ceeding great. But the silence spread further and further, till I 
 had a quiet and attentive congregation ; and when I left them 
 they all showed much love, and dismissed me with many bless- 
 ings." This was generally the case. " Many more," he relates. 
 
378 WESLEYANS 
 
 after another sermon, " who came in amongst us like lions, in a 
 short space became a<? lambs, the tears trickling apace down their 
 cheeks who at first most loudly contradicted and blasphemed. " I 
 wonder," he adds, in a style of remark not a little characteristic, 
 " the devil has not wisdom enough to discern that he is destroying 
 his own kingdom !" His courage and address frequently won the 
 admiration of the most deprav(.'d, and those who came to mob the 
 preacher flung off their coats to fight in his defence. Returning 
 home one Sunday night, after preaching on Kennington Common, 
 he found an innumerable mob round the door : the scene which 
 followed he thus describes : " They opened all their throats the 
 moment they saw me. I desired my friends to go into the house ; 
 and then, walking into the midst of the people, proclaimed * the 
 name of the Lord, gracious and merciful, and repenting him of 
 the evil.' They stood staring at one another. I told them they 
 could not flee from the face of this great God, and therefore be- 
 soiight them that we might all join together in crying to Him for 
 mercy. To this they readily agreed. I then commended them 
 to his grace, and went undisturbed to the little company within." 
 In a few minutes a brawling crowd Avas brought upon its knees 
 in solemn worship ! 
 
 But in the country the Methodists had, as he expresses it, 
 " hot service ; the war against them being everywhere carried 
 on with far more vigour than that against the Spaniards." At 
 Devizes " the whole army of Satan " assaulted the house in which 
 Charles Wesley was preaching. The mayor, for their encourage- 
 ment, went out of the place, Avhile the curate and two gentlemen, 
 dissenters, having wrought them up to a proper pitch, the whole 
 town became a scene of riot, and their lives were in the utmost 
 danger. Charles Wesley expecting instant death " remembered 
 the Roman senators sitting in tlie forum, when the Gauls broke 
 in upon them, but thought it a fitter posture for Christians to be 
 taken on their knees." The rufifians, unable to enter by the door, 
 were already untiling the roof The rest wo tell in his own 
 words : " I said, ' This is the crisis.' In that moment Jesus rebuked 
 the winds and the sea, and there was a gi^eat calm. ^Ve heard 
 not a breath without, and wondered what had become of them. 
 The silence lasted for three quarters of an hour, before any one 
 carae near us, and we continued in mutual exhortation and 
 prayer, looking for deliverance." At length the constable was 
 
WESLEYANS. 379 
 
 sent to offer terms of capitulation ; which were, that they should 
 be safely escorted out of the town, if they would promise never 
 to preach there again. Charles Wesley had all the courage, if 
 not all the energy, of his elder brother. " My answer was, ' I 
 shall promise no such thing ; setting aside my office, I will not 
 give up my birthright as an Englishman, of visiting what place i 
 please in his majesty's dominions.' " Of such visitors the magis- 
 trates werfe glad to be rid upon any terms. " We rode a slow 
 pace up the streets, the whole multitude pouring along on both 
 sides, and attending us with loud acclamations. Such fierceness 
 and diabolical malice I have not before seen in human faces. 
 They ran up to our horses as if they would swallow us, but did 
 not know which was Wesley. We felt great peace and acqui- 
 escence in the honour done us, while the whole town were spec- 
 tators of our march." Similar outrages occurred in Cornwall, in 
 Yorkshire, and at Wednesbury in Staffordshire, where the 
 Methodists were given up for several days to the license of a 
 furious mob. The ' Whitehall Evening Post,' Saturday, February 
 ] 8th, 1 744, informs its readers that, " from a private letter from 
 Staffordshire, we have advice of an insurrection of the people 
 called Methodists, who, upon some pretended insults from the 
 Church party, assembled themselves in a riotous manner, and 
 having committed several outrages, proceeded at last to burn the 
 house of one of their adversaries." " A Christian country !" ex- 
 claims John Wesley, in his journal, " where his majesty's inno- 
 cent and loyal subjects have been so treated for eight months, 
 and are now, by their wanton persecutors, branded as rioters and 
 incendiaries !" 
 
 In the midst of such conflicts wei-e the foundations of 
 Methodism laid. Nor were these the greatest of the perils 
 through which it had to pass. It was beset with dangers from 
 the weakness and follies of some of its allies, and from the deter- 
 mined opposition of resolute and deeply- earn est men, who led 
 public opinion, or swayed the councils of that section of the nation 
 (small indeed it must be confessed), who felt the importance 
 of religion. First of all Wesley had found it necessary to with- 
 draw from his Moravian friends. He had been charmed at the 
 beginning by their simplicity and purity. He was now disgusted 
 with their mysticism, their exclusiveness, and their recent ten- 
 dency to Antinomianism. He, therefore, published a protest 
 
;?80 WESLEYANS. 
 
 against their conduct and principles, and retired with liis society 
 in 17-1() to the Foundry in Moorfields. He and his friends had 
 never been members of the Moravian Church : they now with- 
 drew from rehgious intercourse ; and he began his ministry at the 
 Foundry with seventy-two adherents. A more painful difference, 
 to his own feelings, was that which existed between several 
 members of the Wesley family and himself His elder brother 
 Samuel, now master of the grammar-school at Tivei-tou, was 
 deeply offended by his preaching and conduct. In a letter 
 Amtten to their mother (who w^as now a widow) about this time, 
 lie laments, with great surprise, " that she should countenance 
 this present delusion so far as to be one of Jack's congregation." 
 He objected especially against his doctrine of assurance, and still 
 more to those spiritual impressions, those sudden bursts of agony 
 or joy, which frequently occurred amongst the hearers under the 
 preaching of the early Methodists. " I am heartily sorry," he 
 says, " such alloy should be found amongst such piety." Samuel 
 objected, too, to the doctrine of justification by faith only, as set 
 forth by his two brothers. Hall, a brother-in-law, opposed them 
 with great bitterness ; and his elder sister sent a sneering mes- 
 sage to John, "since he had learned to cast out devils, to cast the 
 devil of poverty out of her pocket." Their foes were those of 
 their own household. 
 
 We have had occasion to remark elsewhere that the bishops 
 were, during the greater part of the last century, more enlight- 
 ened than the clergy. Archbishop Potter gave the two brothers 
 a long interview, heard their statements, commended their zeal, 
 and cautioned them to adhere in their preaching to the great 
 essentials of the Gospel : other matters, he said, must be left to 
 time and the providence of God. For this wise advice John 
 Wesley expressed much gratitude in his latest years. Bishop 
 Gibson of London also treated them with candour, though he did 
 not encourage their irregularities : he cautioned them both against 
 enthusiasm ; and censured Charles, who had not yet thrown off 
 his high-church education, for rebaptizing the infants of dis- 
 senters. From the parochial clergy, wnth few exceptions, they 
 met with determined opposition, or with sconi and rudeness. 
 Other difficulties arose from the French prophets, who raised 
 some disturbance and gained some proselytes in the society. But 
 the most jiainful, or at least the most disastrous, vf the many 
 
WESLEYANS. 381 
 
 conflicts which threatened for a time the existence of the infant 
 cause, was the rupture with Whitfield and the Calvinists. The 
 quarrel was long and violent, and the spirit in which it was con- 
 ducted was not veiy creditable to either party. This remark, 
 however, applies with more force to the inferior combatants than 
 the leaders in the fray. John Wesley always wrote and spoke 
 severely, not to say harshly, on the subject of the Divine decrees. 
 And ther^ was a keenness in his style which was sure to stiug 
 the opponent it might not happen to convince. At the begin- 
 ning of the controversy he published a sermon, in which, after 
 charging the Calvinistic doctrines with folly, impiety, and blas- 
 phemy, he requests that he may be answered, not with railing 
 accusations, but with argument and in the spirit of love. The 
 request, though reasonable, was not likely to be granted ; for the 
 man who rails upon his adversary excites the evil passions which 
 he professes to deprecate. Nor was all the fault on one side- 
 The evil tempers which it elicited on both were deplored at the 
 time by all who were not heated with passion, and the contro- 
 versy remains on record a wretched instance of human infirmity. 
 For a time the world exulted in the suicidal conflict ; the reputa- 
 tion of the leaders suffered, and with it for a while their influence 
 almost disappeared. Whitfield notes with sorrow that his con- 
 gregations on Kennington Common were shrivelled to a handful 
 in consequence of these disputes. But he had a loving heart, 
 and a reverence for John Wesley which nothing could destroy. 
 In his will he left memorials of his aflection " to the two brothers, 
 the Rev. Messrs. John and Charles Wesley, in token of my indis- 
 soluble union with them in heart and Christian afl"ection, not- 
 withstanding our difference in judgment about some particular 
 points of doctrine." John Wesley preached his funeral sermon, 
 in which he spoke of him with the reverence and afl'ection due to 
 so illustrious a name. 
 
 We may here offer a remark upon the theological system which 
 the Wesleys had now adopted. It was evangelical Arminianism ; 
 and this became henceforward, as it still continues to be, the 
 accepted creed of the Methodist societies. The Wesleys fol- 
 lowed Arminius on all the points on which he differed from 
 Calvin. At the same time there were several particulars on 
 which they themselves differed from Arminius, such as the in- 
 stantaneousness of sanctification, and the perfection attainable 
 
^82 WESLEYANS. 
 
 in tliis life. John Wesley, still anxious to continue his union 
 with Whitfield, drew up the following articles of peace. We 
 believe that they represent his settled views upon the subjects in 
 dispute, as he held them to the close of his life, and handed 
 them down to his followers ; only that, with regai'd to the 
 admission contained in the last sentence, as to the necessary final 
 perseverance of any of the elect, his friend and biographer, Mr. 
 Moore, tells us that " he afterwards doubted of this." " Having 
 for some time," says he, " a strong desire to unite with Mr. Whit- 
 field, as far as possible, to cut off needless dispute, I wrote down 
 my sentiments, as plain as I could, in the following terms : — 
 
 " There are three points in debate : 1. Unconditional election. 
 2. Irresistible grace. 3. Final perseverance. 
 
 " With regard to the first, unconditional election, I believe 
 that God, before the foundation of the world, did unconditionally 
 elect certain persons to do certain works, as Paul to preach the 
 Gospel. 
 
 " That he has unconditionally elected some nations to receive 
 peculiar privileges, the Jewish nation in particular. 
 
 " That he has unconditionally elected some nations to hear the 
 gospel, as England and Scotland now, and many others in past 
 ages. 
 
 " That he has unconditionally elected some persons to many 
 peculiar advantages, both with regard to temporal and spiritual 
 things. 
 
 " And I do not deny (though I cannot prove it so), 
 
 " That he has unconditionally elected some persons, thence 
 eminently styled ' the elect,' to eternal glory. 
 
 " But I cannot believe, 
 
 " That all those who are not thus elected to glory must perish 
 everlastingly ; or, 
 
 " That there is one soul on earth who has not, nor ever had, a 
 possibility of escaping eternal damnation. 
 
 " With regard to the second, iiresistible grace, I believe that 
 the grace which brings faith, and thereby salvation into the soul, 
 is irresistible at that moment. 
 
 " That most believers may remember some time when God did 
 irresistibly convince them of sin. 
 
 " That most believers do, at some other times, find God irre- 
 sistilily acting upon their souls. 
 
WESLEYANS. 383 
 
 " Yet I believe that the grace of God, both before and after 
 those moments, may be, and hath been resisted ; and that in 
 general it does not act irresistibly, but we may comply therewith, 
 or may not. 
 
 " And I do not deny, 
 
 " That in those eminently styled ' the elect ' (if such there be), 
 the grace of God is so far irresistible, that they cannot but believe, 
 and be finally saved. 
 
 " But I cannot believe, 
 
 " That all those must be damned in whom it does not thus 
 irresistibly work ; or, 
 
 " That there is one soul on earth who has not, and never had, 
 any other grace than such as does, in fact, increase his damnation, 
 and was designed of God so to do. 
 
 " With regard to the third, final perseverance, I believe that 
 there is a state attainable in this life, from which a man cannot 
 finally fall. 
 
 " That he has attained this who is, according to St. Paul's 
 account, ' a. new creature ;' that is, who can say, ' Old things are 
 passed away ; all things ' in me ' are become new.' 
 
 " And I do not deny, 
 
 " That all those eminently styled ' the elect ' will infallibly 
 persevere to the end." 
 
 The two Wesleys had now formed societies in London, Bristol, 
 Newcastle, and other places. For their guidance a few simple 
 rules were drawn up. " There was only one condition previously 
 required of those who desired admission into these societies — a 
 desire to flee from the wrath to come, to be saved from their 
 sins." They were not therefore a Church, nor at this period 
 were they meant to be so. They were merely an assembly of 
 earnest-minded men, of various communions it might be, who 
 met for mutual edification. But such a constitution could not 
 last, and circumstances soon arose which cemented the original 
 societies into one great connexion, and have since led it to 
 assume the powers and the distinctive title of a Church. 
 
 These rides still remain in force, after the lapse of more than 
 a century ; and the original character and design of Methodism 
 cannot be more clearly or more briefly stated than in the terms 
 in which they are expressed : — 
 
 " 1. In the latter end of the year 1739 eight or ten persons 
 
384 WESLEYANS. 
 
 came to me in London, who appeared to be deeply convinced of 
 sin, and earnestly groaning for redemption. They desired (as did 
 two or three more the next day) that I should spend some time 
 with them in prayer, and advise them how to flee from the \vrath 
 to come, which tliey saw continually hanging over their heads. 
 That we might have more time for this great work, I appointed 
 a day when they might all come together, which, from thencefor- 
 ward, they did every week, viz., on Thursday in the eveuing!. 
 To these, and as many more as desired to join with them (for 
 their number increased daily), I gave those advices from time to 
 time which I judged most needful for them, and we always 
 concluded our meetings with prayer suitable to their several ne- 
 cessities. 
 
 " 2. This was the rise of the United Society, first in London, 
 then in other places. Such a Society is no other than a company 
 of men having the form, and seeking the power of godliness ; 
 united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhorta- 
 tion, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help 
 each other to work out their salvation. 
 
 " 3. That it may the more easily be discerned whether they 
 are indeed working out their own salvation, each society is di- 
 vided into smaller companies, called classes, according to their 
 respective places of abode. There are about twelve persons in 
 every class, one of whom is styled the leader. It is his business, 
 " (1.) To see each person in his class once a week, at 
 least, in order 
 
 " To inquire how their souls prosper ; 
 " To advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as occasion may 
 require ; 
 
 "To receive what they are willing to give towards the 
 support of the Gospel. 
 
 " (2.) To meet the ministers and the stewards of the 
 Society once a week, in order 
 
 " To inform the minister of any that are sick, or of any 
 that walk disorderly, and will not be reproved ; 
 
 " To pay to the stewards what they have received of their 
 several classes in the week preceding ; and 
 
 "To show their account of what each person has con- 
 tributed. 
 " -i. There is one only condition previously reciuired of those 
 
WESLEYANS. 385 
 
 who desire admission iuto those Societies; viz., 'a desire to flee 
 from the wrath to come, and be saved from thei-r sins.' But 
 wherever this is really fixed ia the soul it will be shown by its 
 fruits ; it is, therefore, expected of all who continue therein, that 
 they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, 
 
 ^^ First ; hy doing no liarm, by avoiding evil in every kind, 
 especially such as is generally practised ; such as 
 " The taking the name of God in vain ; 
 " The profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing 
 ordinary work thereon, or by buying and selling ; 
 
 " Drunkenness, buying or selling spirituous liciuors, or 
 drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity ; 
 
 " Fighting, quarrelling, brawling ; brother going to law 
 with brother ; returning evil for evil, or railing for railing ; 
 the using many words in buying or selling ; 
 " The buying or selling uncustomed goods ; 
 " The giving or taking things on usury, viz., unlawful 
 interest ; 
 
 "Uncharitable or unprofitable conversation, particularly 
 speaking evil of magistrates or of ministers ; 
 
 " Doing to others as we would not they should do unto us ; 
 " Doing what we know is not for the glory of God ; as, 
 " The putting on of gold and costly apparel ; 
 " The taking such diversions as cannot be used in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus ; 
 
 " The singing those songs, or reading those books, which 
 do not tend to the knowledge or love of God ; 
 " Softness and needless self-indulgence ; 
 " Laying up treasure upon earth ; 
 
 " Borrowing without a probability of paying, or taking up 
 goods without a probability of paying for them, 
 " 5. It is expected of all who continue in these Societies that 
 they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, 
 
 " Secondly ; hy doing good, by being in every kind merciful 
 after their power, as they have opportunity ; doing good of 
 every possible sort, and, as far as is possible, to all men ; 
 
 "To their bodies, of the ability that God giveth ; by 
 giving food to the hungry, by clothing the naked, by helping 
 or visiting them that are sick, or in prison ; 
 
 " To their souls, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting 
 VOL, II. 2 c 
 
38G WESLEYANS. 
 
 all we have any intercourse with, trampling under foot that 
 enthusiastic doctrine of devils, that ' we are not to do good 
 unless our liearts be free to it ;' 
 
 " By doing good especially to them that are of the house- 
 liold of faith, or groaning so to be ; employing them' pre- 
 ferably to others, buying of one another, helping each other 
 in business; and so much the more, because the world will 
 love its own, and them only ; 
 
 " By all possible diligence and frugality, that the gospel be 
 not blamed ; 
 
 " By running with patience the race that is set before 
 them, denying themselves, and taking up their cross daily ; 
 submitting to bear the reproach of Christ ; to be as the filth 
 and offscouring of the world ; and looking that men should 
 say all manner of evil of them falsely for the Lord's sake. 
 " 6. It is expected of all who desire to continue in these Socie- 
 ties that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, 
 " Thirdly ; by attending upon all the ordinances of God ; 
 such are 
 
 " The public worship of God ; 
 
 " The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded ; 
 " The Supper of the Lord ; 
 " Family and private prayer ; 
 " Searching the Scriptures ; and 
 " Fasting or abstinence. 
 " 7. These are the general rules of our Societies : all which we 
 are taught of God to observe, even in His written Word, the only 
 rule, and the sufficient rule, both of our faith and practice. And 
 all these we know his Spirit writes on every truly-awakened heart. 
 If there be any among us who observe them not, who habitually 
 break any of them, let it be made known unto them that watch 
 over that soul, as they that must give an account. We will ad- 
 monish him of the error of his ways, we will bear with him for 
 a season ; but then, if he repent not, he hath no more place 
 among us. We have delivered our own souls. 
 
 (Signed) " John Wesley. 
 
 " May \st, 1743." " Charles Wesley. 
 
 The peculiarities of the Wesleyan polity now developed them- 
 selves. Lay preachers appeared. Maxfield, a zealous young 
 man, of natural eloquence, was instructed by the elder Wesley to 
 
WESLEYANS. 387 
 
 meet the society in London during his own absence, to pray with 
 them, and to give them such advice as might be needful. But 
 he soon began to preach, and the people crowded to hear him. 
 Wesley returned home displeaseil, quite resolved to rebuke 
 the offender and to put a stop to his irregularities. He was pre- 
 vented by the remonstrances of his mother, and he submitted 
 with reluctance. Maxfield was soon followed in the field by 
 John Nelson, a Yorkshire stonemason, who bad come to London 
 seeking employment — a man whose rude energies, whose 
 strength of understanding, unassisted by human learning, whose 
 athletic frame, and voice of thunder, shook many stout hearts 
 whom Wesley's gentler notes had assailed in vain. A number 
 of lay preachers, under the name of assistants and helpers, were 
 now engaged in the work in various parts of the kingdom. By 
 this time several clergymen had also united in the work. The 
 number in the society was very considerable. There was in con- 
 sequence a general desire for more visible union, and an urgent 
 necessity for some general plan or system. The Wesleys i)ivited 
 the principal leaders in the great movement to assemble in 
 London ; and in June, 1744, the first Conference was held. 
 Thus originated a body which has since exercised at least as 
 great an influence on Christianity as any clerical synod since the 
 general councils of the early Church. Tlie business of this first 
 Conference was comparatively simple and easily despatched. 
 The different jsarts of the kingdom into which Methodism had 
 fought its way, were now divided into circuits, to which certain 
 preachers, who were laymen, were appointed for a given time, and 
 then removed to other circuits. The superintendence of the 
 whole was in the two brothers, but more particularly in the 
 elder. Charles, indeed, never cortlially entered into the scheme 
 of a lay ministry ; and as the preachers became more numerous 
 and more important he grew still more dissatisfied. Wesleyan 
 Methodism, as it afterwards existed, never had his cordial appro- 
 bation. From this time, although he still continued to work 
 affectionately with his brother in many points, John Wesley is to 
 be regarded as the head and leader of the Methodists ; and as 
 such we shall speak of him through the remainder of these pages. 
 The Conference of 1744 proceeded not on a preconceived plan, 
 but, as they say in their minutes, " step by step, as circumstances 
 suggested, and the way opened." The keen sagacity of Wesley 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 WESLEYANS. 
 
 even now foresaw the danger of the ultimate separation of the 
 societies from the Church of England when lie and his coadjutors 
 should be removed. The subject was discussed and the risk 
 boldly confronted. The resolution of the Conference was, " We 
 do, and will do, all we can to prevent those consequences which 
 are supposed to be likely to happen after our death ; but we 
 cannot in good conscience neglect the present opportunity of 
 saving souls while we live, for fear of consequences which may 
 possibly, or probably, happen after we are dead." To this prin- 
 ciple John Wesley adhered, and it is the key to his public 
 conduct ever after. Charles, after some years, less steadily 
 observed it, if indeed he did not abandon it. The interests of 
 Methodism were dear to the elder brother ; the discipline of the 
 Church of England, especially as he advanced in years, was 
 equally dear to Charles. 
 
 A remarkable feature in the economy of Methodism is the 
 distribution of the societies into classes, each governed by its 
 leader. They originated in the division of the society in London, 
 at a very early period, into small sections, each of which was 
 visited weekly by some zealous person appointed to collect sub- 
 scriptions towards the erection of a chapel or preaching-house. 
 Wesley immediately perceived the vast influence which such a 
 system gave to those who conducted it, no less than the una- 
 nimity and compactness which it was likely to produce in the 
 societies themselves. The class system was instituted. It was 
 made a spiritual, and at the same time a confiding and con- 
 fidential, meeting ; it brought the circumstances of each indi- 
 vidual, his spiritual conflicts, his religious progi'ess or declension, 
 under frequent review, or rather it placed it under a constant 
 glare of light. The work assigned to the class-leader, in the first 
 instance, was to see all the members of his class once a-week ; 
 to advise, reprove, or exhort, as occasion might require, and to 
 receive what they were willing to give towards the relief of the 
 poor. At first the leader visited each person at his own house. 
 But as the societies increased, this was not always expeiHent or 
 even practicable : it was agreed that those of each class should 
 meet together once a-week. A class generally consisted of from 
 ten to twenty members ; and eveiy member of the Wesleyan 
 Society is supposed to be a member of one of these classes. 
 An hour, or sometimes two, are spent in religious conversation. 
 
WESLEYANS. 389 
 
 the leader of the class investigating by direct interrogation the 
 state of mind of each member, and concluding with prayer and 
 praise. The leader makes from time to time a formal report of 
 the state of his class, and of each member of it, to the preacher, 
 his superior. The preacher, if necessary, carries it before a 
 tribunal of his brethren ; who again, if occasion should require, 
 lay it before the Conference. Nothing can be conceived more 
 perfect in its way than the discipliue of which the class meeting 
 is the foundation. Every Wesleyan lives from day to day under 
 the inspection of the whole body. For good or evil the power 
 with which it invests the governing body is enormous ; it is such 
 as no other Protestant Church possesses. On the other hand, 
 wisely conducted, its \itility is not to be overlooked. Wesley 
 himself regarded it with peculiar favour. " It can scarce be 
 conceived," he says, " what advantages have been reaped from 
 this little pmdential regulation. Many now happily experienced 
 that Christian fellowship of which they had not so much as an 
 idea before. They began to bear one another's burdens, and 
 naturally to care for each other. As they had daily a more 
 intimate acquaintance with, so they had a more endeared 
 affection for, eacli other. And, speaking the truth in love, they 
 grew up into Him in all things, who is the head, even Christ." 
 Works, vol. viii. p. 25i. 
 
 Thirty years passed away and the Methodist societies steadily 
 increased. They were still subject to constant insults, and some- 
 times to real persecutions. But the work was vigorously taking 
 root. In 174<9, the chapels were vested in trustees ; the number 
 of circuits had increased to twenty-two ; funds for the support 
 of the preachers, and pensions for those worn out in the service, 
 were established ; and the whole economy of Methodism was in 
 operation. In 1765, the circuits in England had increased to 
 twenty-five. In Presbyterian Scotland there were four ; in 
 Wales, two ; and amidst the Roman Catholics in Ireland, eight. 
 And the total number of lay preachers, whose whole time was 
 given up to the work, acting implicitly under Wesley's instruc- 
 tions, had risen to ninety-two. He now made a last effort to 
 induce the pious clergy whom he knew, to join with him in pro- 
 moting the influence of relimon in the land. This was to be 
 done without any sacrifice of principle, " each being still at 
 liberty, as to outward order, to remain quite regular or quite 
 
390 WESLEYANS. 
 
 iiTegular, or partly regular and partly irregular." But as he 
 still intended to retain his lay preachers and his own modes of 
 action, the project failed ; and from this time he seems, though 
 still with reluctance, to have forced himself to contemplate the 
 probability of a secession from the National Church. In 1777 
 Charles Wesley died ; and in the same year Fletcher, vicar of 
 Madeley ; the two pillars on whom the founder of Methodism 
 had chiefly leaned. But the cause was young and buoyant, and 
 then* loss did not stay its growth. Two greater calamities were, 
 the growth of a mid fanaticism in London, in which Maxfield 
 and George Bell rivalled the folly of the French prophets ; and 
 the revival of the Calvinistic controversy, provoked by certain 
 Minutes of a Conference held in 1770, in which, in their zeal 
 against antinomianism, the Methodists seemed to shake the 
 foundation of justification by faith. Wesley explained the 
 Minutes, or rather amended them, to the satisfaction of his 
 opponents, the chief of whom was the Honourable and Reverend 
 Walter Shirley, brother to Lady Huntingdon. But the quarrel 
 never healed ; and the greatest hindrance that Methodism has 
 encountered arose out of this intestine feud. 
 
 The year 1784 is remarkable in the annals of Methodism. 
 The Conference, its supreme ecclesiastical court, was formally 
 constituted by a Deed of Declaration enrolled in the Court of 
 Chancery. This important document is dated the 28th of 
 February 1781«. It is the great charter of Methodism. The 
 genius of Wesley as an ecclesiastical legislator is resplendent in 
 it. To the constitution which it embodies and prescribes, the 
 astonishing vigour, the concentration and therefore the success, 
 of the Wesleyan system, is in a great measure due. On the other 
 hand, to tlie Deed of Declaration are owing the convulsions which 
 have shaken the Wesleyan body to its centre, and which still 
 threaten its prosperity, if not its existence. 
 
 The composition of the Conference is purely ministerial. It 
 is defined to consist of preachers and expounders of God's holy 
 word, commonly called MetJKjdist Preachers. They are in 
 number one hundred, and were originally appointed by the sole 
 authority of John Wesley. As vacancies occur they are ern- 
 powored to fill up their number by election, which is conducted 
 by ballot. Any preacher who has been one year or upwards 
 " in full coiinoxion," is legally fjualified to be elected, but the 
 
WESLEYANS. 391 
 
 choice ill general is taken from the senior members of the con- 
 nexion. The legal Conference, therefore, always consists of one 
 hundred members ; but, in point of fact, all ministers in full 
 connexion may attend the Conference, join in the discussions, and 
 even give their votes. In effect, there are two houses sitting in 
 one chamber. To illustrate this, we may take the case of the 
 election of the president and secretary. According to the deed, 
 the Conference, that is the hundred, " shall choose a president 
 and secretary out of themselves ;" and this continued till the 
 year 1814? ; since which period the privilege of voting in order to 
 such nomination was conceded to all the preachers present who 
 shall have travelled fourteen years and upwards, voting on this, 
 as on all occasions, by ballot ; and the candidates who may have 
 the largest number of votes are to be considered duly nominated. 
 The legal Conference of a hundred are then requested to elect 
 the persons thus nominated by the general body. They may, 
 however, negative their nomination ; if they do so, another nomi- 
 nation immediately takes place ; the result of which, in like 
 manner, is submitted to the decision of the hundred, who are 
 still the legal electors. Upon all other questions every preacher 
 in full connexion, being first deputed by his respective district 
 meeting, is now considered to possess an equal right with the 
 hundred themselves to vote upon every question that may come 
 before them; but this is a pure concession on the part of the 
 hundred. The Conference assembles yearly at one of the great 
 towns in England in succession ; generally in London, Bristol, 
 Leeds, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, or Liverpool, where 
 the societies are most numerous. The duration of the yearly 
 sessions of the Conference, as determined by the deed enrolled 
 in Chancery, shall not be less than five days, nor more than 
 three weeks. Daring the intervals of its sessions, from year to 
 year, the last president and secretary remain in office. And by 
 a law in 1792 it was enacted that the same president should not 
 be eligible for re-election till the term of eight years from the 
 time of his former election. This was done to prevent the 
 assumption of a power which might be dangerous in the hands 
 of one individual ; for during the vacation, as it may be termed, 
 the authority of the president is in many cases absolute. From 
 a " list of reserve," which, by order of the Conference, is left in 
 his hands, he supplies any vacancies in the circuits which may be 
 caused by the death of the preachers. He must sanction any 
 
302 WESLEYANS. 
 
 cliangc of preachers wliicli, by the decision of any inferior courts, 
 it may be deemed necessary to make. He has a right, on the 
 request of a party concerned, to visit any circuit, to inquire into 
 their affairs, with respect to the state of religion and of 
 Methodism, and, in union with the district committee, to redress 
 any existing grievance. He is always ex-officio chairman of the 
 district in which lie is stationed during the year of his presidency. 
 The president is expected to exercise the authority vested in him 
 by determining, in conjunction with the superintendents of the 
 place, where the next Conference shall be held, and naming the 
 preachers who shall officiate in the principal chapels during the 
 Conference. During its sessions the president is invested with 
 the privilege and power of two members in all acts of the Con- 
 ference ; and this continues during his presidency. 
 
 In the legal Conference is vested the absolute right of appoint- 
 ing ministers to all the chapels in the connexion and removing 
 them therefrom, the only limitation being that which is thus 
 expressed: — "The Conference shall not, nor may, nominate or 
 appoint any person to the use and enjoyment of, or to preach 
 and expound God's holy word in, any of the chapels and pre- 
 mises so given or conveyed, or which may be given or conveyed 
 upon the trusts aforesaid, who is not either a member of the 
 Conference, or admitted into connexion with the same, or upon 
 trial as aforesaid ; nor appoint any person for more than three 
 years successivel}'^ to the use and enjoyment of any chapels and 
 premises already given, or to be given or conveyed upon the 
 trusts aforesaid, except ordained ministers of the Church of 
 England." 
 
 These are, no doubt, extraordinary powers ; the justification 
 lies in the necessity of the case. A great number of chapels 
 had sprung up, which, with scarcely an exception, were vested 
 in trustees, the trust invariably stating that the ministers should 
 be appointed by Messrs. John and Cliarles Wesley, or by 
 " the Conference of the people called Methodists," after their 
 •leath. Some of these deeds made no reference to any post- 
 Immous appointment, and the chapels would then have reverted 
 to the trustees ; nor was the Conference at present a body which 
 the law could recognize. The chapels then, on Wesley's decease, 
 would have belonged to the trustees, as patrons, and it was easy 
 to foresee the consequence. Independency was inevitable, if not 
 tlie dissolution of the trusts. The trustees, held together by no 
 
WESLEYANS. 393 
 
 common bond, would have acted as isolated companies. Some of 
 them had already withdrawn from the Society, others were little 
 qualified to judge of the fitness of candidates for the pastoral 
 charge. They had no endowments to give, nor influence to raise 
 contributions for the support of a minister. Several of the 
 trustees had already expressed their intention of appointing 
 whom they should think proper after Mr. Wesley's death. That 
 men, not a few of whom had departed from the Society, and some 
 had been expelled from it, should merely, from their legal autho- 
 rity over the premises, appoint preachers to instruct the flock, 
 was to Wesley a distressing prospect ; and even where they 
 continued members of the Society, and attached to its inte- 
 rests, little could be expected, in a matter of such vital concern, 
 from a body of men, engaged in secular business and often ill- 
 educated. On these grounds it was, as Wesley himself declared, 
 that he transferred all his rights to the Conference. ' ' You see 
 then," he says, in a pamphlet he put forth on the subject, " in 
 all the pains I have taken about this absolutely necessary deed, I 
 have been labouring not for myself (I have no interest therein), 
 but for the whole body of Methodists, in order to fix them upon 
 such a foundation as is likely to stand as long as the sun and 
 moon endure ; that is, if they continue to walk by faith, and to 
 show forth their faith by their works, otherwise I pray God to 
 root out the memorial of them from the earth." 
 
 Such are the secular powers committed to the Conference. Its 
 spiritual authority is still more formidable. The eighth clause of 
 the deed of 178-i runs thus :—" The Conference shall and may 
 expel and put out from being a member thereof, or being in 
 connexion therewith, or being upon trial, any person, member 
 of the Conference, admitted into connexion, or upon trial, for 
 any cause which to the Conference may seem fit or necessary ; 
 and every member of the Conference so expelled and put out 
 shall cease to be a member thereof, to all intents and purposes, 
 as though he were naturally dead." Equally unlimited are their 
 powers of appointment and election. By the ninth clause, 
 " The Conference shall and may admit into connexion with them, 
 or upon trial, any person or persons whom they shall approve, to 
 be preachers and expounders of God's holy word. Tinder the care 
 and direction of the Conference." This clause invests the Con- 
 ference with an absolute and unqualified right to expel from its 
 
894 WESLEYANS. 
 
 communion, and of course from the communion of the Society, 
 for any cause, which, in the serious and dehberate opinion of a 
 majority of its members, may call for such a jjroceeding. The 
 defenders of the Conference afiirm that this power has never 
 been exercised except for one or other of the following causes, 
 immorality of life, unsoundness of doctrine, notorious deficiency 
 of ministerial talents, or flagrant violations of the established 
 discipline of the connexion ; and they add, that to every accused 
 party, whatever may be the natvu'e of the charges preferred 
 aiiainst him, their rules furnish all reasonable facilities for an 
 impartial trial and an unprejudiced defence. It is enacted that 
 no charge brought by one preacher against another shall be heard 
 in the Conference unless previously examined in a district meet- 
 ing, and that all charges shall be previously made known to the 
 person accused, verbally or in writing. An appeal to any civil 
 jurisdiction by any member who may think himself aggrieved 
 by the district meeting, or other inferior courts, is a violation of 
 the established rules of the Society, as well as of the law of the 
 New Testament, and he who takes such a step forfeits his right 
 of appeal to the Conference. 
 
 These rights are vigorously enforced. Every Wesleyan mi- 
 nister is under subjection to the Conference as the supreme 
 tribunal. The minutes of the Conference are the laws of the 
 connexion, and every preacher consents to them. " Act in all 
 things," such are the instructions they contain, " not according 
 to your own will, but as a son in the gospel. As such it is your 
 part to employ your time in the manner we direct ; partly in 
 preaching and visiting from house to house, partly in reading, 
 meditation, and prayer. Above all, if you labour with us in our 
 Lord's vineyard, it is needful you do that part of the work which 
 we advise, at those times and places which we judge most for his 
 glory." — {Large Minutes, p. 18). The authority of the Confer- 
 ence extends alike to every preacher in the connexion. No 
 name however honoured, no length of services, no office, can 
 exempt from its control and jurisdiction. Its stated annual exa- 
 minations respecting ministerial qualifications, character, and 
 fidelity, extend alike to all, and every one is equally under its 
 autliority. 
 
 The constitution of the Wesleyan Conference has been much 
 dihciissed beyond the limits of the Wesleyan body of late years, 
 
WESLEYANS. 395 
 
 and the extravagant eulogies of its admirers have been drowned 
 in piibHc censure. The sulyect will present itself to our notice 
 again upon a later page. We may here observe that one diffi- 
 culty still surrounds the inquiry, though volumes have been 
 written upon it. Was the Conference designed by Wesley for a 
 society of Christian laymen, who should still continue to be 
 members of the Church of England or of other Churches ? Or 
 was it intended as the constitution of a Church ? For, if the 
 former, it may be conceded that the restraints were needful, and 
 that the hardship was by no means great. Expulsion from a 
 Society is a very different thing from expulsion from a Christian 
 Church. The rules by which a body of Christian men, members 
 of another Church, may choose to bind themselves in some 
 common enterprise, may be few or many ; they may be just or 
 arbitrary ; but while the parties consent to them they may 
 still be useful, nay, sufficient for the purpose, though con- 
 fessedly imperfect or capricious ; but Church fellowship is a 
 sacred matter : a body which exercises the right of excommu- 
 nication must act on principles which are both scriptural and 
 clearly defined ; it must exhibit its credentials, showing that 
 the head of the Church has himself empowered it to use the 
 machinery it employs. 
 
 Wesley did not profess to establish a Church, but merely, to 
 use his own favourite words, a Society or a Connexion. He 
 refused to his preachers the title of reverend. He refused to 
 permit them, except in special cases, to administer the Lord's 
 Supper. He charged them, from time to time, with the utmost 
 solemnity, never to forsake the Church of England : and he 
 seized frequent occasions to express, in the most forcible terms, 
 his own affection for it, and these were his sentiments to the last. 
 Writing, in 1781, to Sir Harry Trelawney, he says, "You have 
 need to be thankful on another account likewise ; that is, your 
 prejudices against the Church of England are removing. Having 
 had an opportunity of seeing several of the Churches abroad, 
 and having deeply considered the several sorts of dissenters at 
 home, I am fully convinced that our own Church, with all her 
 blemishes, is nearer the scriptural plan than any other in Europe." 
 — (Moore s Life, ii. 282.) Did he then anticipate and provide 
 for the secession of his followers? were his laws intended to 
 supersede the discipline of the Church, or were they meant only 
 
31)6 WESLEYANS. 
 
 to be auxiliary to it? If we judge by his professions we must 
 arrive at the latter conclusion ; and yet, if we calmly weigh his 
 conduct, we shall perceive that his mind wavered, and that his 
 measures varied as his keen sagacity and foresight, or his tradi- 
 tional reverence for the Church, prevailed. But, on the whole, 
 it appears most probable that the Conference was framed to meet 
 an existing emergency rather than to provide a constitution for a 
 future Church, 
 
 The first Conference, however, witnessed a proceeding which 
 show:s, beyond all question, that on some points of Church go- 
 vernment the mind of Wesley had undergone a change. Several 
 of his preachers had already, in 1770, entered on a mission in 
 America. In 1778 they held their first little conference in Phi- 
 ladelphia, having about a thousand members in the different 
 societies, and six or seven preachers. In 1777 there were forty 
 preachers, and about seven thousand members in the societies, 
 besides many hundreds of negroes. The preachers, Avhen the 
 war broke out with England, generally espoused the cause of the 
 mother-country, and were obliged to fly. Many of them, refus- 
 ing the oaths of allegiance to the states in which they laboured, 
 were fined or imprisoned. The societies in consequence were 
 destitute of the sacraments ; they could neither obtain baptism 
 for their children nor the Lord's Supper for themselves, from 
 Baptist, Independent, or Presbyterian ministers, but on condition 
 of joining their Churches ; and almost all the clergy of the 
 Church of England had left the country. The Methodists of 
 America importuned theii* ministers to form them into a Church, 
 that they might be, at least, no longer deprived of the Christian 
 sacraments. Mr. Asbury, who was at the head of the mission, 
 declining to do so, a majority of the preachers withdrew from him, 
 and consequently from Mr. Wesley, and chose out of their own 
 body three senior brethren to ordain others by the imposition of 
 hands. Asbury and his party refused to acknowledge their 
 orders, which, in fact, were soon afterwards declared invalid by a 
 vote of one of theii* Conferences, and a reunion for a time took 
 place. 
 
 The United States being now independent, Asbury laid these 
 difficulties before Mr. Wesley, by whom they were submitted to 
 the Conference. And now he proceeded another step; he 
 ordained two missionary presbyters, being assisted in the adrai- 
 
WESLEYANS. 397 
 
 nistration of tlie vitc by Dr. Coke and Mr. Creighton, clergymen 
 of the Church of England ; and Dr. Coke himself he ordained 
 superintendent, or bishop, giving him letters of ordination under 
 his own hand and seal, and at the same time a letter, which we 
 subjoin, and which he was instructed to print and circulate in 
 America. 
 
 " To Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbury, and our Brethren in North America. 
 
 " Bristol, Sept. 10, }7Sk 
 " By a very uncommon train of providences, many of the 
 provinces of North America are totally disjoined from their 
 mother country, and erected into independent states. The 
 English Government has no authority over them, either civil or 
 ecclesiastical, any more than over the states in Holland, A civil 
 authority is exercised over them, partly by the Congress, partly 
 by the provincial assemblies. But no one either exercises or 
 claims any ecclesiastical authority at all. In this peculiar situa- 
 tion, some thousands of the inhabitants of these states desire my 
 advice, and, in compliance with their desire, I have drawn up a 
 little sketch. 
 
 " Lord King's account of the primitive Church convinced me, 
 many years ago, that bishops and presbyters are the same order, 
 and consequently have the same right to ordain. For many 
 years I have been importuned, from time to time, to exercise 
 this right, by ordaining part of our travelling preachers. But I 
 have still refused, not only for peace' sake, but because I was 
 determined as little as possible to violate the established order of 
 the national Church to which I belonged. 
 
 " But the case is widely different between England and North 
 America. Here there are bishops who have a legal jurisdiction. 
 In America there are none, neither any parish ministers. So 
 that for some hundred miles together, there is none either to 
 baptize or to administer the Lord's Supper. Here, therefore, 
 my scruples are at an end, and I conceive myself at full liberty ; 
 as I violate no order, and invade no man's right, by appointing 
 and sending labourers into the harvest. 
 
 " I have accordingly appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. Francis 
 Asbury to be joint superintendents over our brethren in North 
 America ; as also Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey, to act 
 as elders among them, by bajotizing and administering tlie 
 
398 WESLEYANS. 
 
 Lord's Supper. And I linve prepared a liturgy, little differing* 
 from that of the Church of England (I think the best-constituted 
 national Church in the world), which I advise all the travelling 
 preachers to use on the Lord's day, in all the congregations, 
 reading the litany only on Wednesdays and Fridays, and praying 
 extempore on all other days. I also advise the elders to admi- 
 nister the Supper of the Lord on every Lord's day. If any one 
 will point out a more rational and scriptural way of feeding and 
 guiding those poor sheep in the wilderness, I will gladly embrace 
 it. At present, I cannot see any better method than that I 
 have taken. It has, indeed, been proposed to desire the English 
 bishops to ordain part of our preachers for America. But to 
 this I object : — 1. I desired the bishop of London to ordain only 
 one, but could not prevail. 2. If they consented, we know the 
 slowness of their proceedings ; but the matter admits of no 
 delay, 3. If they would ordain them now, they would likewise 
 expect to govern them. And how grievously would this 
 entangle us? 4. As our American brethren are now totally 
 disentangled both from the State aud from the English hierarchy, 
 we dare not entangle them again either wnth the one or the 
 other. They are now at full liberty simply to follow the Scrip- 
 tures and the primitive Church. And we judge it best, that 
 they should stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has so 
 strangely made them free. 
 
 "John Wesley." 
 
 Thus an episcopal Methodist Church was founded in America, 
 its orders derived from John Wesley. The proceeding was 
 warmly canvassed at the time, and amongst the Methodists 
 themselves the wisdom, and even the propriety, of the measure 
 was by no means universally allowed. If, said the dissatisfied 
 party, episcopacy be a superior order, the bishop cannot be 
 ordained by a presbyter, for then the less ordains the greater, 
 and all order is inverted. If they be ecjual, Dr. Coke has the 
 same right to ordain Mr. Wesley that Mr. Wesley has to ordain 
 Dr. Coke. The latter objection is thus answered by a zealous 
 follower of Wesley : " If this should be granted, what will it 
 amount to ? As presbyters of the Church, they had, certainly, the 
 same right to ordain ; and if Dr. Coke had been the father of 
 that great work which is called Methodism, he would in that case 
 
WESLEYANS. 399 
 
 have had a right to ordain Mr. Wesley to superintend any part 
 of that work. But Dr. Coke was not the father of that work ; he 
 was still a babe, a son in the Gospel, but remarkable for zeal and 
 activity. His education, rank in life, and station in the esta- 
 blished Church, pointed him out, however, as a proper person to 
 be employed in that new and very delicate situation in which 
 the Methodists were placed by the recent revolution in America 
 The Doctor certainly needed all the authority and influence 
 which Mr. Wesley could give him ; and if he chose to give it to 
 him according to the forms of the Church of England, which he 
 loved, and which is so truly venerable, who has a right to find 
 fault with him ?" — Moore's Life of Wesley. The true anomaly, 
 as candidly stated by Mr. W^atson, in his life of W^esley, was that 
 a clergyman of the Church of England should ordain, in any 
 form, without separating from that Church and formally dis- 
 allowing its authority ; and yet, if its spiritual governors did not 
 choose to censure and disown him, it would be hard, he thinks, 
 to prove that he was under any moral obligation to withdraw 
 from it. The bishops did not institute proceedings against him, 
 and he did not feel that his own conduct was inconsistent with 
 a certain allegiance to the Church. " I firmly believe," he says, 
 some years before to his brother Charles, " that I am a scriptural 
 sTn'ffxoTTos-, as much as any man in England ; for the unin- 
 terrupted succession I know to be a fable, which no man ever 
 did or can prove. But this does in no wise interfere with my 
 remaining in the Church of England ; from Avhich I have no 
 more desire to separate than I had fifty years ago." Charles 
 adhered to the opinion that bishops were a higher order in the 
 Church, and of divine appointment ; and hence he strongly dis- 
 approved of all his brother's ordinations. Charles was then 
 upon the borders of the grave, and the spirit in which the two 
 brothers at length agreed to differ does honour to their prin- 
 ciples. " I walk still," says John to Charles, " by the same rule 
 I have done for between forty and fifty years. 1 do nothing 
 rashly. It is not likely I should. The heyday of my blood 
 is over. If you will go hand in hand with me, do. But do 
 not hinder me, if you will not help. Perhaj^s, if you had kept 
 close to me I might have done better. However, with or with- 
 out help, I creep on. And as I have been hitherto, so I trust 
 I shall always be, your affectionate friend and brother." To 
 this, Charles responded : " I thank you for your intention to 
 
400 WESLEYANS. 
 
 remain my friend Herein iny heart is as your heart. A\'hom 
 God hath joined let not man put asunder. We have taken 
 each other for better for worse, till death us do part ! no — but 
 eternally unite. Therefore, in the love that never faileth, I am 
 your affectionate friend and brother, Charles Wesley." 
 
 John \\''esley was highly displeased when he found that Coke 
 and Asbury assimied the title of bisho]is. He had enjoined the 
 Doctor and his associates, and in the most solemn nicinner, that 
 it should not be taken ; he would have simjjl}' called them 
 superintendents. AVhen he found that they made use of the 
 episcopal style and title, he was greatly hurt, and rebuked them 
 sharply. "I study to be little," he writes to Asbury; "you 
 study to be great. I creejJ ; you strut along. I found a school ; 
 you a college ; nay, and call it after your own names (Cokesbury 
 College, from the names of its founders, Coke and Asbury). 
 One instance of your greatness has given me great concern : how 
 can you, how dare you, suffer 3^ourself to be called bishop ? I 
 shudder, I start at the very thought ! Men may call me a knave 
 or a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content ; but they shall 
 never, by my consent, call me bishop. For my sake, for God's 
 sake, for Christ's sake, put a full end to this ! Let the Presby- 
 terians do what they please, but let the Methodists know their 
 calling better." But the American Episcopal Methodist Church 
 asserted its independence and still retains its title. Its bishops 
 are plain and simple in their manners, they claim no superiority 
 of order, and are distinguished from their brethren only by their 
 office as superintendents, which is regarded as an extension of 
 that of elder or presbyter, but creates no other distinction. Dr. 
 Coke returned to England, and though a bishop in America, he 
 neither used the title nor made pretensions to the office at home. 
 Some time after this, Wesley appointed several of the English 
 preachers, by imposition of hands, to administer the sacraments 
 to the societies in Scotland. But he steadily refused to give 
 this liberty to his preachers in England ; and those who admi- 
 ni.stered the sacraments in Scotland were not jjermitted to per- 
 form the same office in England on their return. Though 
 now satisfied of his power as a presbyter to ordain for such an 
 administration, he refused, not merely, as he said, for the sake of 
 peace, but because he was determined as little as possible to 
 violate the established order of the national Church to which he 
 
WESLEY ANa 401 
 
 belonged. Between the preachers whom he ordained by impo- 
 sition of hands and those, the great majority, who were merely 
 appointed to the ministry by the vote of Conference, he made no 
 distinction. As the father and founder of the connexion, his 
 power was absolute. A few of the preachers received ordination 
 from a Greek bishop then in England ; but Wesley, though he 
 admitted that the Greek was a true bishop, forbade them to 
 administer. He suspended, or dismissed for misconduct, the 
 ordained and unordained alike ; and at length he instructed one 
 of the preachers to baptize and administer the Eucharist in 
 particular circumstances, although he had no other ordination 
 than his being received into full connexion at the Conference 
 like the rest ; and he allowed two others to assist him in admi- 
 nistering the sacrament in Dublm, to the great offence of the 
 Church people there. In short, he can be no longer regarded as 
 a consistent churchman, and his defence of his own conduct is 
 embarrassed with inconsistencies. The ablest of all his apologists, 
 Mr. Watson, admits, " it must be conceded, that, however faithful 
 he was in abiding by his leading principle of making mere 
 adherence to what was called " regular," give place to the higher 
 obligation of doing good, he was sometimes apt, in defending 
 himself, to be too tenacious of appearing perfectly consistent." 
 
 Charles Wesley died at the age of seventy-nine, in 1788, and 
 was borne to the grave, respected by good men of every name, 
 by eight clergymen. His attachment to the Church of England 
 was sincere and ardent ; he had a noble and generous disposition, 
 great zeal, and with it great disinterestedness. His taste was 
 exquisite, and some of his hymns are amongst the best that we 
 possess. He was a satirist, and had he indulged his vein might 
 have stood hisfh amongst authors of that formidable class. His 
 brother's lay-preachers with their occasional airs of consequence 
 were sometimes the subject of his verse, and hence he was by 
 no means a favourite with the elder Methodists, his contempora- 
 ries. He was overshadowed through life by the reputation of his 
 greater brother. Thus Charles Wesley is one of those superior 
 inen whose renown has always been less tlian his deserts. 
 
 John Wesley himself soon followed his brother. He died on the 
 2nd of March, 1791, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. His 
 character has been often drawn by friends and foes. The record 
 of his labours preserved in his own journals, in which too are 
 
 VOL. II. 2 D 
 
402 WESLEY AN S. 
 
 noted down witliout reserve his opinions upon men, and books, 
 and passing occurrences, furnishes one means of investigation. 
 Another is supplied by his known conduct and the actions of his 
 life ; and a third by the opinions of his contemporaries. Judging 
 from all these sources we assign at once to Wesley, besides 
 fervent and apostolic piety, the characteristics of gi'eat natural 
 talents, an energy almost without a parallel, pure disinterested- 
 ness, except that it was tinged with a love of power, and a 
 capacity for government such as only the greatest minds possess. 
 His mental infirmities are too obvious to escape notice. He was 
 credulous as a child whenever some favourite theory required 
 the support or confirmation of a tale of wonder. That his rule 
 was arbitrary perhaps detracts nothing from his merit ; it was 
 the discipline which his societies required ; it was suited to the 
 circumstances and the men he governed. Under any other 
 system early Methodism would have burst its bonds and 
 perished in the infancy of its precocious liberties. His wisdom 
 as a legislator, if estimated by the immediate success of his 
 societies, was very great ; if by the disruptions which have since 
 occurred, and which rend them still, it is more questionable. 
 But here again the question returns upon us, — has the ma- 
 chinery which he set up been employed for the purposes for 
 which he meant it ? or has the discipline which he intended for a 
 Society been made use of for a Church ? If a scheme designed 
 for one purpose is made use of for another, its contriver is not 
 to blame although it fails. Upon this point the elder ^^'^esleyans 
 themselves were never of one mind. Some of the personal 
 friends of Wesley maintaining that the Conference was meant to 
 be a secular body and the preachers laymen; while others 
 claimed for it all the rights and functions of a supreme clerical 
 synod, or general council. With the one party the Methodists 
 were a Society, with the other a Church. 
 
 That his piety was sincere none will now deny ; and in his 
 private life the graces of the Christian character were displayed in 
 high perfection. He rose early, and frequently preached to large 
 congregations at five in the morning, at which hour he had for 
 many years a stated service in the chai")els in London. No man 
 Avas ever more anxious "to redeem the time." Scarcely a 
 moment of the day was lost. He was methodical and diligent. 
 Sickness and languor he knew only by report, or by his pastoral 
 
WESLEY ANS. 403 
 
 visitations. He was not only the most frequent preacher, but 
 the most voluminous author of his times, although he travelled 
 in general, for half a century, and for the most part on horse- 
 back, four or five thousand miles a year. His attainments as a 
 scholar would alone have entitled him to high respect. In 
 Greek his knowledge was perhaps not inferior in extent or 
 accuracy to that of the best scholars of his age. Latin he wrote 
 and sjjoke with remarkable fluency to the end of his life ; his 
 conversations with Zinzendorf, recorded in his diary, will satisfy 
 the reader at once of his logical and classical ability. At the 
 University he studied Hebrew and Arabic. In Georgia he con- 
 ducted public worship both in French and Italian, and he offered 
 to render the same service to a regiment of Germans at New- 
 castle-on-Tyne during the rebellion of 1745. He was an admir- 
 able disputant, for his style was clear and well arranged, and his 
 arguments transparent. But he wanted courtesy and gentleness. 
 Like Baxter he provoked his opponents by the keenness of his 
 sarcasms, and then, like Baxter, he complained of their want of 
 generosity and candour, and sighed for peace. As a preacher 
 he was by no means so popular as AVhitfield ; but his sermons, 
 less impassioned and less eloquent, were more full of thought. 
 Wesley appeals to the understanding before he assails the con- 
 science. He unfolds the text, analyzes, explains, and defends it, 
 always in a lucid manner, sometimes with learning and critical 
 skill ; and then he proceeds to enforce its lessons on the life and 
 heart. He impressed and instructed thousands who never joined 
 his societies or accepted all his doctrines. His influence was not 
 confined to his own societies ; and he was the chief instrument 
 whom God raised up for the revival of religion in an age when 
 true piety, by the confession of all parties, was almost extinct. 
 
 He had in a rare degree the faculty of selecting fit agents for 
 his work. The elder preachers of his connexion, who shared his 
 early toils and triumphs, were men only less remarkable than 
 their leader. Many of them survived far into the present 
 century, and they are still remembered in the north of Eng- 
 land as venerable men of simple manners, strong sense, and 
 earnest piety. They had seen and observed much : in old age 
 they delighted to recount their perils, and tell, often with the 
 richest humour, of their past adventures. To the children of the 
 family, the visits of these worn-out soldiers of Methodi.sm were 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 WESLEYANS. 
 
 always grateful ; and those who remember them will have con- 
 ceived a higli respect for that master-mind which could choose 
 such asrents, direct their work, and hold them in complete sub- 
 jection. Their reverence for Wesley, — expressed in tones sub- 
 dued and reverential whenever his name was mentioned, — in the 
 repetition of his sayings, the imitation of his manner, the almost 
 childish delight with which each loving word, each token of 
 his affection was repeated, all this bespoke a homage such as men 
 have seldom, in these later ages, paid to their fellow-men. It 
 was such as Ave may supj)ose the disciples of an aj)Ostle paid to 
 their teacher in the primitive Church. 
 
 The death of its founder was a crisis in Methodism. During his 
 life he had exercised more than episcopal authority. He had 
 a power of legislation at the head of the Conference (w^hich had 
 never been known to resist his wall) that was subject to no 
 control. He had been recognised as the spiritual father of the 
 whole community. In all disputes, whether in the body of the 
 preachers or amongst the societies, the final appeal was to him ; 
 and he decided the case according to existing rules, if such were 
 in existence ; if not, upon his own discretion. The Conference 
 assembled at Manchester after his death declare, "that they found 
 themselves utterly inadequate to express their ideas on this awful 
 and affecting event." " Their souls," they say, " do truly moura 
 their gi'eat loss, and they trust they shall give the most sub- 
 stantial proofs of their veneration for the memor}'^ of their most 
 esteemed father and friend, by endeavouring, with great humility 
 and diffidence, to follow and imitate him in doctrine, discipline, 
 and life." If such poignant grief should seem extravagant on 
 the death of an old man of eighty-eight, full of honour and of 
 years, the anxiety at least was real. The Conference, accustomed 
 hitherto to listen with implicit docility to the instnictions of its 
 great dictator, and to register his decrees, felt the depression of a 
 bereaved and desolate child. And in truth its difficulties were 
 formidable. The rights of the trustees, and the demand of the 
 laity to a share in their deliberations, w^ere now stoutly urged, 
 and must be strenuously resisted. Involved in this was the 
 higher question whether Methodism should claim to be a Church, 
 assuming its functions of ordaining ministers, dispen.sing sacra- 
 ments, and administering ecclesiastical discipline ; or Avhether it 
 should contentedly remain, if that indeed were possible, a mere 
 
WESLEYANS. 405 
 
 Society, such as Wesley contemplated m 174-2. Thirdly, the 
 discipline must be, to some extent, remodelled ; and new powers 
 created to supply the want of that wholesome authority which 
 one strong hand had hitherto impressed. It was a task from 
 which the greatest of the canonists might have recoiled. A few 
 plain men, of simple minds, boldly attempted what has proved 
 to be the greatest enterprise in the ecclesiastical history of modern 
 times, and constructed another Church in the heart of Protestant 
 England. They were neither aware of the greatness of the work, 
 nor of the difficulties which would arise out of it. 
 
 The societies were in a state of insubordination. The trustees, 
 on whom Wesley had settled the chapels built through his ex- 
 ertions, threatened a secession, and demanded a seat in the Con- 
 ference. The people clamoured for the sacraments. Those on 
 the contrary who adhered to the Methodism of Wesley's early 
 years, protested against any change. The elements of disorder 
 were thoroughly at work ; and that Methodism did not expire 
 with its founder, and was not buried in his tomb, is owing to the 
 Conference of 1795, It assembled at Manchester, and drew up a 
 Plan of Pacification, by which, for a time, the breach was healed. 
 This Act of Pacification is, in fact, the constitution of the Wes- 
 leyan Chm'ch, and therefore demands a careful and patient con- 
 sideration. It embraces three points : — the position of the laity, 
 and especially of the trustees ; the organization of a Church ; and 
 the institution of such further discipline as the circumstances of 
 the case required. 
 
 As the title imports, it was a compromise ; and this as regards 
 the trustees on the one hand, and the Church of England on the 
 other. The ministry of the word the Conference had always 
 claimed. The administration of the Lord's Supper by the 
 preachers was now sanctioned ; and therefore by this act (accord- 
 ing to the judgment and practice of the reformed Churches) they 
 asserted their claims in the full sense to the ministerial office ; and, 
 in effect, constituted themselves a Church. But the sacrament 
 was to be administered by those only who were authorised by the 
 Conference, and at such times and in such manner only as the 
 Conference should appoint. It was always to be administered 
 according to the form of the Established Church ; but the person 
 who administered had liberty besides to give out hymns, and to 
 use exhortation and extempore prayer. Both the sacraments 
 
406 VVESLEYANS, 
 
 ■were to be given only to members of their own society, or their 
 cliildren. The majority of the Conference at this time, and long 
 afterwards, retained a warm affection to the national Church. 
 " We agree," say they, " that the Lord's Supper be administered 
 among us on Sunday evenings only, except where the majority 
 of the stewards and leaders desire it in church hours, or where it 
 lias already been administered in these hours. Nevertheless, it 
 shall never be administered on those Sundays on which it is 
 administered in the parish church." And, further, whenever 
 Divine service was performed in the chapels in England in church 
 hours, which could only be done by special consent of the Con- 
 ference, the officiating preacher was instructed to read either the 
 service of the Church, or Wesley's abridgment of it, or at least 
 the lessons appointed by the calendar ; but the Conference 
 recommend either the full service or the abridgment. Wesley 
 had himself allowed of service in church hours under certain cir- 
 cumstances, which are thus stated in the minutes of the Conference 
 in 1786. 1. When the minister is a notoriously wicked man. 
 2. When he preaches Arian, or any equally pernicious doctrine. 
 8. When there are not churches in the town sufficient to contain 
 lialf the people. And 4, when there is no church at all within 
 two or three miles. As we have seen, he had also ordained some 
 of his preachers under peculiar circumstances, and authorised 
 their administration of the sacraments ; the Plan of Pacification is 
 therefore to be regarded rather as the development of primitive 
 Methodism than as the establishment of an original constitution. 
 Strange as it may seem, the administration of the sacraments 
 was a concession made by the Conference to the people. The 
 elder preachers, trained in Wesley's sentiments, were far more 
 anxious to extend religion than to form a Church. The warning 
 of their venerable friend against the perils of secession was still 
 ringing in their ears ; and greatly as the change would contribute 
 to their own importance, they proceeded with hesitation, some of 
 them with reluctance. And, after all, " the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper was never to be administered in any chapel except a 
 iiiajority of the trustees of that chapel on the one hand, and the 
 majority of the stewards and leaders as best qualified to give the 
 sense of the people on the other hand, allow of it, and in all cases 
 the consent of the Conference shall Ije fii'st obtained." An addi- 
 tional law was added, thus : " The Conference by no means 
 
WESLEYANS. 407 
 
 wishes to divide any society by the introduotiou of the Lord's 
 Supper ; and therefore, except that a majority of the stewards 
 and leader? who desire the Lords Supper among themselves 
 testify in writing to the Conference that they are persuaded that 
 no separation will be made thereby, they will not allow it." 
 
 The claims of the trustees and lay members of the Society Avere 
 settled in the following manner. It had all along been a funda- 
 mental rule in Methodism that the preachers should travel 
 from place to place, never renoaining more than three years in 
 one circuit, nor (though this was a subsequent arrangement) 
 returning to the same place within eight years. Wesley con- 
 sidered itinerancy to be essential to his success. He pleaded for 
 it the example of the jjrimitive Church and the Saxon bishops, 
 as well as that of the Reformation. " We were not the first 
 itinerant preachers in England. Twelve were appointed by 
 Queen Elizabeth to travel continually, in order to spread true 
 religion through the kingdom, and the office and salary still 
 continue, though their work is little attended to. Be the 
 preacher's talents ever so great, they will, ere long (that is, if 
 fixed to one particular charge), grow dead themselves, and so will 
 most of those that hear them. I know, were I myself to preach 
 one whole year in one place, I should preach both myself and 
 most of my congregation asleep. Nor can I believe it was ever 
 the will of our Lord that any congregation should have one 
 teacher only. We have found by long and constant experience 
 that a frequent change of teachers is best." While he lived, the 
 societies cheerfully acquiesced in the appointments made by Con- 
 ference, that is, by Wesley himself. His wonderful sagacity 
 enabled him, with a precision which no Conference could reach, 
 to single out the fittest instruments for the work in hand, and 
 to suit each chapel with the preacher best suited for the flock. 
 But the trustees were not unnaturally anxious, now that he 
 was gone, to have some share in the selection of theu" own 
 ministers. 
 
 The Plan of Pacification met their solicitations thus. First, it 
 asserted the absolute right of the Conference to appoint, and the 
 inability of the trustees to expel or exclude the preacher so 
 appointed. But, secondly, it called into existence a new court, 
 entitled a district meeting, of which the trustees were members ; 
 and it operated thus : — If the majority of trustees or other officers 
 
408 WESLEYANS. 
 
 believed tliat any preacher, appointed for their circuit, were im- 
 moral, erroneous in doctrine, deficient in abilities, or contumacious 
 of the laws of Methodism, they had atithority to summon the 
 preachers of the district and all the trustees, stewards, and 
 leaders of the circuit, and place the accused upon his trial, Eack 
 member having an equal vote, except the chairman (who was 
 always to be the chairman of the district), to whom, when 
 necessary, a second casting vote was given. If a majority con- 
 demned the accused party, he was at once suspended by the district 
 committee, not only from the chapel in question, but from all 
 public duties ; but only till the next Conference, to whom the 
 case was always to be remitted for final adjudication. 
 
 To the constitution thus sketched out the great majority of the 
 Methodists have ever since adhered. The Plan of Pacification is 
 regarded as indicating the rights and duties both of the clergy 
 and people. From this point of time the Methodists became a 
 Church. Yet, when separation from tlie National Church took 
 place, it assumed, to use the language of Mr. Watson, the mildest 
 form possible, and was deprived of all feelings of hostility ; it 
 did not, in any great degree, result from the principles assumed 
 by Dissenters on the subject of establishments. A considerable 
 number of the Methodists actually continue in communion with 
 the Church of England to this day. All her services and her 
 sacraments may be observed by any member of the Wesleyan 
 society who chooses it ; and they are actually observed by many. 
 Methodism did not rush down, but gently glided into a state of 
 partial division from the Church ; and this, by neither arousing 
 passion nor by exciting discussion on abstract points of Church 
 polity, has left the general feeling of affection to all that is 
 excellent in the establishment unimpaired. Indeed, it is only 
 within the last twenty years that the Wesleyans have begun to 
 speak of themselves as a (Jhurch. Previously, they styled 
 themselves a society or connexion, and much was written, and 
 often with warmth, to prove that neither the Plan of Pacification 
 nor any later act or document, showed a disposition to assert the 
 rights of independent churchmanship. This, however, was a 
 mere strife of words : the Methodists retained the doctrines 
 of the Church of England, but they added a supplementary dis- 
 cipline which was all their own. There was an apparent want of 
 candour in prof'essinir warm attachment to the (Jluu-ch of England, 
 
WESLEYANS. 409 
 
 while her episcopal functions, so far as Methodism was concerned, 
 were superseded by a Presbyterian Conference. This, however, 
 now belongs only to the past. The Wesleyans of the present day 
 assert their independence : " Methodism," they say, " forms a 
 Christian Church complete within itself Convenience and truth 
 alike require that we should be thus designated, rather than by 
 secular and equivocal words, which are not suitable to the exact 
 propriety of language. Connexion is a mercantile expression, 
 community is monastical, society is deceptive, for there are 
 societies political as well as religious. Much less are we a sect, 
 for a sect is the fragment or section of a larger body, to which it 
 always bears some relation. We are nowhere dominant, nowhere 
 in subjection, nowhere a sect, but a Church wherever we exist. 
 
 The Wesleyan community is distinctly, independently, 
 
 and perfectly a Church." — Dr. Rule, On Wesleyan Methodistn 
 considered as a Church. 
 
 Thus was Methodism constituted and settled soon after its 
 founder's death. A few changes have since been made, to which 
 we shall have occasion to refer, but none of them affect its lead- 
 ing principles. We shall now attempt to place at one vieAV 
 before the reader's eye, a general outline of the Methodist Church, 
 directing our attention first to its functionaries and ministers, 
 with their several offices ; secondly, to the constitution of those 
 inferior courts, by which, in submission to the Conference, the 
 whole is governed ; and thirdly, to its modes of worship and 
 religious observances. 
 
 Every Wesleyan in society, being a member of some class, 
 the office of class-leader is one of great importance. Their num- 
 bers alone would give them influence, since they are by far the 
 most numerous officers in the Avliole communion. Besides acting 
 as spiritual advisers to the members of their own classes, they have 
 great influence in the management of the Church. No single 
 person can be received into the Society, to whom they formally 
 object ; nor can an individual be excluded from the Society, in 
 the ordinary course of things, without their concurrence, which is 
 equally necessary when a leader is to be removed from office, or 
 a new one appointed. Their influence and authority are in some 
 respects greater than that of the ministers themselves ; for in 
 addition to that which the letter of the law confers, they have a 
 local influence which the travelling preacher does not possess. 
 The Wesleyan minister, removing every two or three years, sel- 
 
410 WESLEYANS. 
 
 dom acquires locul influenco ; he is admired for his talents or 
 reverenced for his piety, but the affections of the flock are soon 
 transferred to another pastor. Local influence throws its weight 
 into the scale of the leaders, rather than into that of the preachers ; 
 and in them the Conference has sometimes met with its most 
 formidable rivals. Many females are class-leaders, the class con- 
 sisting of their own sex. 
 
 The local preachers are next in order in the ascending scale. 
 They occupy a distinguished position in the Wesleyan constitu- 
 tion. They are laymen, and are so considered, and their ser- 
 vices are perfectly gratuitous. They do not administer the 
 sacraments, nor ofliciate beyond the circuit in which they have 
 received their appointment. In general they are engaged in 
 secular affairs, and aspire to no higher oflice. By means of their 
 exertions, services are performed in remote hamlets or school- 
 rooms, or even in the largest chapels in the absence of the regular 
 preacher ; and with regard to most of them, the esteem of those 
 who benefit by their labours is the only distinction they enjoy. 
 But since no person can be taken into the regular ministry who 
 has not given some proof of his fitness, in the capacity of a local 
 preacher, their body has the honour of fdling up the ministerial 
 ranks ; it is the last step towards the clerical oflice, and a neces- 
 sary preparation for it. During the last thirty years, several 
 academies or colleges have been founded, in which young men 
 of promise are educated for the ministry. This, to some extent, 
 has modified the usage witli respect to local preachers. The 
 students, however, are still disciplined for the work by previous 
 exercises. They are sent out on the Lord's day into the neigh- 
 bouring towns and villages to expound and preach, and are, in 
 fact, while students, a body of local preachers at the same time. 
 
 There are also stewards, treasurers, and trustees. These are 
 all laymen, and take an active jjart in the administration of the 
 temporal affairs of the Cliurch. The stewards receive from the 
 class-leaders every week, the sums of money contributed by their 
 several classes, with an exact account of what amount each 
 person has contributed. Every member of the Society is 
 expected to contribute something, and the money thus raised 
 is expended in the support of the preachers, and of the cause 
 of Methodism in general. The stewards arc ajipointed by the 
 loaders, with the approbation of the superintendent, or senior 
 minister, oj^ the district. Tlio stewards deliver the collections 
 
WESLEYANS. 411 
 
 once in three months to a circuit steward. The circuit stewards 
 are appointed by the leaders of the whole circuit. 
 
 The trustees, as we have shown, can neither appoint nor eject 
 the minister. They manage all the temporal concerns of the 
 chapel, and are the legal guardians of the property. They re- 
 ceive the pew-rents, but they have no personal or private estate 
 in the chapels. These are strictly speaking res sacrm, not the 
 property of any party. Should the Conference at any future 
 time dwindle away, so that not thirty members remain, the 
 chapels, by the deed of 1 784, would revert to the trustees. In 
 the meantime, they hold them upon trust, " to suffer and permit 
 such persons as shall be appointed by the yearly Conference, and 
 no others, to have and enjoy the said premises, therein to preach 
 and expound God's holy word." Many of the chapels are built 
 with borrowed money ; for these loans the trustees are respon- 
 sible, and they receive the rental of the pews as their security. 
 
 The Wesleyan clergy, generally styled in official documents 
 preachers, or travelling preachers, are examined and ordained by 
 the Conference. The candidate must, in the first instance, be 
 recommended from the circuit ia which he has officiated as a 
 local preacher. This recommendation must come from the 
 superintendent, and it cannot be given without the consent of a 
 district meeting, composed of the officers of the Church. If ad- 
 mitted by the Conference, he undergoes a probation or diaconate 
 of four years, during which period he is occupied in the work of 
 the ministry, but he may not administer the sacraments, nor can 
 he be a superintendent. If approved, he is then received into 
 full connexion, and ordained a Presbyter. Before the year 1836, 
 the candidate was admitted or ordained by a simple vote, without 
 the laying on of hands. The Conference then passed the follow- 
 ing resolution : — " The Conference, after mature deliberation, 
 resolves, that the preachers who are this year to be publicly ad- 
 mitted into full connexion, shall be ordained by imposition of 
 hands, that this shall be our standing rule and usage in future 
 years, and that any rule of a contrary nature, which may be in 
 existence, shall be, and is hereby, rescinded." The candidates 
 are ordained by the imposition of the hands of the president, 
 ex-president, and secretary of the Conference for the time being, 
 together with two of the senior ministers present, who are no- 
 minated by the president. 
 
412 WESLEYANS. 
 
 The form made use of by the Conference is contained iu 
 Wesley's abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer, and is 
 entitled, " The Form and Manner of Ordaining of Elders." In 
 this service, the expressions are altered to suit a Presbyterian 
 discipline, and certain additions are made which pledge the can- 
 didate to the peculiar views of Methodism. For example, the 
 president accompanies the imposition of hands with the address 
 used by the bishops in the Church of England, slightly altered, 
 thus : — " Mayest thou receive the Holy Ghost for the office and 
 work of a Christian minister, now committed unto thee by the 
 imposition of our hands. And be thou a faithful dispenser of the 
 Word of God, and of his Holy Sacraments ; in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The president 
 then delivers a Bible to each person so ordained, and addresses 
 him thus : — " Take thou authority to preach the Word of God, 
 and to administer the Holy Sacraments in our congregations." 
 The questions proposed are those of the Ordination Service of the 
 Church of England, with these additions : — " But as you are to 
 exercise your ministry under the direction of the Wesleyan Con- 
 ference, I have further to inquire, whether you have read the 
 first four volumes of Mr. Wesley's Sermons, and his notes on the 
 New Testament ; and whether you believe that the system of 
 doctrine therein contained is in accordance with the Holy Scrip- 
 tures ? I have also to ask you, whether yovi have read the Large 
 Minutes, and believe that the general system of discipline con- 
 tained therein is agreeable to the Holy Scriptures ; and whether 
 you will maintain and enforce it in the societies wliich shall be 
 committed to your charge ?" 
 
 The president may also at his discretion propose the following 
 questions, which the candidates are expected to answer " as in the 
 presence of God." 
 
 " Have you a lively faith in Christ ? Do you enjoy a clear 
 manifestation of the love of God to your soul? Have you 
 constant power over all sin ? Do you expect to be perfected 
 in love in this life ? Do you really desire and earnestly seek it ? 
 Are you resolved to devote yourself wholly to God and to his 
 work ? Do you know the Methodist plan of doctrine and dis- 
 cipline ? Have you read the ' Plain Account of the Methodists X 
 the ' Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion ?' Do you know 
 the rules of the Society, and of the; l)ands ? Are you determined, 
 
WESLEYANS. 413 
 
 by the help of God, to keep them ? Do you take no snuff, to- 
 bacco, or drams ? Have you read and seriously considered the 
 minutes of the Conference ? Especially have you considered 
 the rules of a helper ? and, above all, the first, tenth, and twelfth ? 
 and will you keep them for conscience' sake ? Are you deter- 
 mined to employ all your time in the work of God ? Will you 
 preach every morning and evening when opportunity serves, 
 endeavouring not to speak too long or too loud ? Will you 
 diligently instruct the children where you can ? Will you visit 
 from house to house where it may be done ? Will you recom- 
 mend fasting and prayer both by precept and example ? Are you 
 in debt ?" 
 
 These questions being answered to the satisfaction of the 
 examiners, the president introduces the candidate to the Con- 
 ference, in whose presence he ui)dergoes a further examina- 
 tion. Each preacher is required to give a full and explicit 
 declaration of his faith as to the doctrines taught by Mr. 
 Wesley in his first four volumes of sermons and his Notes 
 upon the New Testament. The president has also discretionary 
 authority to require from each candidate an answer to any 
 question which he may think proper to ask him respecting the 
 doctrines contained in the eight volumes of sermons which Mr. 
 Wesley left in his will to the preachers. Dr. Adam Clarke in his 
 Commentary, published about 1820, denied the eternal sonship 
 of Christ, though at the same time he maintained the doctrine 
 of the Trinity. The Wesleyan body rejected his hypothesis, and 
 by a minute of the Conference of 1827, it is "acknowledged to 
 be the indispensable duty of the president of the Conference for 
 the time being, to examine particularly upon the doctrine of the 
 eternal sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is stated by Mr. 
 Wesley, especially in his notes upon the first chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, every preacher proposed to be admitted 
 into full connexion, and to require an exjjlicit and unreserved 
 declaration of his assent to it, as a truth revealed in the inspired 
 oracles." The candidates, if approved by the Conference, are 
 then brought before the whole congregation assembled for the 
 purpose by public notice. The president explains the nature of 
 the service, describes the previous probation of the candidates, 
 and the result of the examinations to which they have been 
 subjected ; and then calls upon as many of them as time will 
 
414 WESLEYANS. 
 
 permit " to declare for the further satisfaction of the congregation 
 their conversion to God, their present experience of divine things, 
 their conviction of their call of God to the ministry, and their 
 purpose of devoting themselves for the future to the work." The 
 ordination follows on the next day, and in general in the pre- 
 sence of a crowded congregation. 
 
 The preacher thus ordained becomes the minister of a Pres- 
 byterian church. He is stationed by the Conference in whatever 
 circuit they may choose to place him. The junior preacher, or 
 deacon, removes every year. Being now received into full con- 
 nexion (to use the Wesleyan periphrasis) he remains two, or, 
 at the utmost, three years in the same circuit. The Conference 
 then assigns to him another station. The business of appointing 
 several hundred ministers is extremely laborious. A stationing 
 committee, consisting of members of its own body, first prepares a 
 general outline or plan of tlie stations ; the Conference at large 
 revises the schedule laid before it, and finally determines the 
 circuit and the Avork of each individual. Every preacher is ex- 
 pected to yield implicit and cheerful submission ; and to hold 
 himself prepared to labour in any station, at home or abroad, to 
 which the Conference may think proper to ajDpoint him. 
 
 The travelling preachers are held in high esteem. They are 
 the pastors of the Methodist flock, are entirely devoted to the 
 work of the ministry and are released from secular affairs. They 
 are provided with a stipend and a house by the stewards of the 
 circuit in which they labour, upon a scale which generally com- 
 bines domcistic comfort with strict economy. Some circuits are 
 rich, others extremely poor ; and the income of the preacher 
 varies in proportion. Some circuits would scarcely support a 
 minister were they not assisted by the contributions of the more 
 wealthy districts. But all payments are made upon a scale 
 which has the approbation of the Conference. The people cannot 
 deprive the pastor of his stipend. If he be unpopular, the cer- 
 tainty that he will soon be removed prevents the growth of 
 bitterness on both sides ; and the man who is disliked and useless 
 in one post is often respected and successful in another. One 
 feature in the Methodist economy deserves to be imitated in 
 other Churches. A retiring pension is provided for superannuated 
 ministers, and a small provision is made for the widows and 
 young children of those who die in the work. No man is corn- 
 
WESLEYANS, 415 
 
 pelled from hard necessity to inflict on his congregation the 
 feeble services of second childhood. No Methodist preacher 
 looks from his dying bed upon a helpless family, oppressed by 
 those sorrows and forebodings tmder which so many a dissenting 
 minister, and so many a curate, has been crushed ! 
 
 The constitution and powers of the Conference have been 
 explained, and the reader will have formed an idea of the system 
 of Methodism in general. But the details of its machinery are 
 somewhat complicated, and beyond the Wesleyan pale not 
 always understood. We proceed to give an account of those 
 inferior courts or tribunals which connect the Conference, as the 
 supreme authority, with the humblest Methodist ; and by means 
 of which it becomes acquainted with his circumstances and even 
 with his wishes. 
 
 The lowest of these is the leaders meeting. The leaders' 
 meetings are composed of the travelling preachers stationed, 
 for the time being, in the circuit ; the stewards for the par- 
 ticular Society to which the meeting is attached ; and all 
 persons, male or female, who are regularly in office as 
 leaders. Wherever there is a chapel, congregation, and Society, 
 a leaders' meeting is essential. Their powers have been en- 
 larged at various periods. They have now a veto upon the 
 admittance of members into the Society : they possess the power 
 of a jury in the trial of accused members. Without their con- 
 sent no leader, no steward, can be appointed to office ; nor can 
 he be removed, except the crime proved against him merits 
 exclusion from the Church, in which case the superintendent, 
 that is the presiding preacher, or presbyter, of the district, may 
 at once depose and expel him. In conjunction with the trustees 
 of the chapel to which their meeting is attached, they determine 
 whether or not the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper shall be 
 there administered ; and the fund for the relief of the poor and 
 afflicted members of the Society is under their control. 
 
 Superior to the leaders' meeting is the quarterly meeting, the 
 chief local or circuit court, though not invested with judicial 
 powers. The constitution of this meeting has never been defined 
 by the Conference. Originally it consisted of the travelling 
 preachers, the stewards, and such other members of the Society 
 as the superintendent, on his own responsibility, invited to 
 attend. Its composition now varies according to local customs, 
 and is therefore loose and undefined. But it is generally under- 
 
416 WESLEYANS. 
 
 stood that only those who hold office in the Society, or are other- 
 wise specially appointed, can take part in its proceedings. Its 
 business is chiefly financial ; it examines and audits the accounts 
 of the stewards. The pecuniary claims upon them are con- 
 sidered, and the method for raising necessary supplies. The 
 Conference has also acknowledged the right of the quarterly 
 meetings exclusively, to petition for preachers ; that is to request 
 the Conference to send such preachers as they themselves have 
 nominated. The Conference engages to give to such petitions 
 that respectful consideration to which they are entitled. They 
 are directed to be carefully read and considered, . first by the 
 stationing committee, and then, if called for, by the Conference. 
 The Conference however does not divide its rights with the 
 quarterly meeting. The petition may be laid aside, and its 
 prayer refused. The practice of petitioning is discouraged by 
 the Conference. It has been found to produce serious incon- 
 venience, and, in several respects, to be detrimental to the in- 
 terests of the people. The wisest of the Wesleyan body complain 
 of the mischievous tendency of a system which keeps the societies 
 in constant agitation, wounds the feelings of the greater number 
 of the preachers, while it caresses, to their hurt, a few popular 
 men ; and is open, in short, to most of the objections which can 
 be urged against a popular election of the pastor, to which it 
 bears a close resemblance. 
 
 The local preachers' meeting is held quarterly. Here the 
 superintendent institutes inquiries into the moral and religious 
 character of the local preachers, their soundness in the faith, and 
 their discharge of the duties of their office ; he examines proba- 
 tioners, and candidates are proposed, but only by himself, and 
 after a private examination. For in all cases it is the sole right 
 and duty of the superintendent to nominate the candidate, 
 whether for admission or probation, or to a place upon the Plan 
 as an accredited local preacher ; the approval or rejection rests 
 with the majority of the meeting. The superintendent cannot 
 place any one upon the Plan " without the approbation of the 
 meeting," and the meeting cannot oblige him to admit any one 
 of whom he disapproves. The local preachers are responsible to 
 their own meeting for every part of their official conduct ; but 
 for all acts affecting their character and standing as members of 
 the Society, they are subject to tlie jurisdiction of the leaders' 
 meetings to which thoy respectively l)elong. Tlicre are but few 
 
WESLEY ANS. 417 
 
 positive laws relating to this class of officers recorded in the 
 minutes. Much of the discipline by which they are governed, 
 and especially that by which they are admitted into office, is 
 determined by common usage. 
 
 There is also a trustees' meetimg, purely secular ; but it is to 
 be observed, that the superintendent is always ex officio the 
 chairman ; and further, in ease of unavoidable absence, he has 
 power under his handwriting to appoint a deputy to preside 
 and exercise all the powers that would vest in him were he 
 present. 
 
 But the district ineeting is, after the Conference itself, the 
 greatest of the Church courts. On the death of John Wesley 
 the three kingdoms were first divided into districts, and the 
 district meeting was immediately created to transact the business 
 of each district during the intervals of the Conference. It was 
 at first a court of appeal to supply the lack of Mr. Wesley's 
 authority in the settlement of disputes and the redress of 
 grievances. There are now five kinds of district meetings, of 
 which, however, the first is by far the most considerable. This 
 is the annual district "tneeting, to which all the preachers of the 
 different circuits within its boundaries are summoned. The 
 two stewards of each circuit and the treasurers of the funds 
 under the control of the Conference are present, but only during 
 the transaction of its financial business ; so rigidly does Methodism 
 guard the rights of her ministers. At these meetings, the lay- 
 men having withdrawn, a searching inquiry is instituted into 
 the character and conduct of every preacher in the district. 
 Each case is taken in succession ; and it is the duty of the super- 
 intendent to ask the following questions " distinctly and succes- 
 sively," as each preacher is submitted to the ordeal : — 1. "Is 
 there any objection to his moral and religious character?" 2. 
 Does he teach and believe in our doctrines ?" 3. " Has he duly 
 observed and enforced our discipline ?" 4 " Has he competent 
 abilities for our itinerant work ?" A separate answer to each of 
 these questions is expected to appear recorded on the minutes. 
 This court, as well as the Conference, has the right to institute 
 any inquiry which it may deem expedient into the moral. 
 Christian, or ministerial conduct of the preachers under their 
 care, though no formal accusation may have been brought 
 against them ; and they have also the authority of deciding 
 
 VOL. II. 2 E 
 
418 WESLEYANS. 
 
 upon them judicially, "as to them may seem most conformable 
 to the rules and usages of our connexion." Any preacher v/ho 
 refuses to submit to the friendly examination of the chairman, 
 and of other brethren, or to take his trial regidarly and formally 
 when required to do so, shall be considered as ipso facto incur- 
 ring the penalty of suspension till the ensuing Conference. The 
 examination of candidates for the ministry is another branch of 
 the duties of the annual district meeting. A series of questions, 
 provided by the Conference for that purpose, is proposed, but 
 these are rather a guide to the chairman than a restraint on his 
 authority. He is required to call upon them for a statement of 
 their spiritual experience, to subject them to a strict and par- 
 ticular examination on the doctrines of Christianity, on their 
 acquaintance with the writings of Mr. Wesley, and the general 
 discipline of the connexion ; and, if satisfied, to admit them upon 
 trial, the final decision being always reserved for the Conference. 
 \ third duty the district meetings discharge is that of transacting 
 the financial business of the district. This is vciy extensive ; it 
 includes the receipt and payment of the yearly collection in 
 support of the cause ; the allowance for claims of deficiency of 
 income for the preachers, their wives and servants, and domestic 
 expenditure ; claims for extraordinary deficiencies arising from 
 sickness, removals, and the like ; the disposal of the fimds for 
 the education of the preachers' children, and the consideration of 
 cases of chapels, applying for relief. Requests are entertained for 
 permission to build, purchase, or enlarge chapels. And lastly, the 
 spiritual affairs of the district are reviewed. In general, the 
 annual sessions of all the districts are closed by reading a com- 
 pendium of the Wesleyan pastors' duties which was drawn up and 
 passed at the Conference of 1820. From this document, which is 
 of considerable length, we cannot refrain from presenting the 
 reader with the following extract : — 
 
 " Let us ourselves remember, and endeavour to impress upon 
 our people, that we, as a body, do not exist for the purposes of 
 party ; and that we are especially bound, by the example of our 
 founder, by the original principle on which our societies are 
 formed, by our constant professions before the world, to avoid a 
 narrow, bigoted, and sectarian spirit, to abstain from needless 
 and unprofitable disputes on minor subjects of theological con- 
 troversy, and, as far as wo innocently can, to ' please all men for 
 
WESLEYANS. 419 
 
 their good unto edification.' Let us, therefore, maintain towards 
 all denominations of Christians, who ' hold the Head,' the kind 
 and catholic spirit of primitive Methodism ; and, according to 
 the noble maxim of our fathers in the Gospel — be the friends of 
 all, the enemies of none." 
 
 There are also special, Jinanckd, mixed, and minor district 
 meetings. These may be considered in the light of committees 
 and sub-committees, with the exception of the mixed meeting, 
 which arose out of the Act of Pacification of 1795. It is remark- 
 able for its concession to the lay-of!icers in a matter of no less 
 importance than the trial of a preacher. If the majority of the 
 trustees, or of the stewards or leaders, believe that a preacher in 
 the circuit is immoral, unsound in doctrine, or even deficient in 
 abilities, or guilty of violating the rules of the Society, they are 
 empowered to form this mixed tribunal. The chairman of the 
 district is the president, and every preacher, trustee, steward, 
 and leader has a voice, the chairman possessing the casting vote. 
 The preacher, if condemned, is silenced. " They shall determine 
 amongst themselves how he may be disposed of till the Con- 
 ference ;" and they have authority to " suspend him from all 
 public duties till the Conference if they shall think proper." 
 Still the mixed district meeting has but a subordinate authority. 
 It is not an independent court, whose decisions may, however, be 
 set aside by the superior tribunal. In its nature it is a temporary 
 or intermediate court, whose sentence in point of time always 
 expires within twelve months. 
 
 It is impossible to close the survey of the institutions of 
 Methodism without being struck with the vast powers which 
 are centred in the Conference itself. Its minutes are the 
 statutes of the Church. Its members are appointed by them- 
 selves. Its deliberations, unless when, by an act of grace, it 
 relaxes something of its caution, are secret. Its authority is 
 absolute. And yet it possesses a strong hold, not upon the fears, 
 but upon the warm affections of a vast proportion of the Methodist 
 societies. It is regarded by them with more than confidence, with 
 veneration, often with something of filial regard. In explanation 
 of so remarkable a fact it must be remembered that the Metho- 
 dist Church consists of voluntary societies : that those who become 
 members of it are members from choice, and that no man dis- 
 satisfied with its economy is comjoelled to remain within its pale 
 
 2 E 2 
 
420 WESLEYANS. 
 
 and offer a grudging support to a system wnich he disapproves ; 
 and that tlie Wesleyan Church is full of intelligence. Where the 
 scriptures are prohibited a corrupt priesthood may compel sub- 
 mission, or extort comjaliance. \\'here general intelligence pre- 
 vails such priestcraft is almost impossible. And, lastly, let it be 
 borne in mind, that the Methodist Conference has no power to 
 exact compulsory support. It has no tithes, no rich endowments, 
 no state provision or patronage, nor any pecuniary resources, but 
 such as it can secure from the voluntary aid of voluntary sup- 
 porters. The supplies of its ministry must be derived from the 
 contributions of a willing people ; and, therefore, can be secured 
 only l)y affectionate zeal and Christian fidelity on the part of its 
 ministers. The security of the Wesleyan Church from the arbi- 
 trary power of its Conference rests, then, upon this basis — that 
 the terms of communion are purely voluntary, and that the sole 
 resources of the clergy are the free-will offerings of the people. 
 Should the Conference attempt at any time to enforce measures 
 oppressive or injurious to the members at large, the Society itself 
 would be, in consequence, dissolved. Such are the reasonings of 
 the Conference and its defenders. 
 
 The religious worship of the Methodists is marked by some 
 features of interest. The public services are either extempore or 
 liturgical, or, not nnfrequeutly, partaking of both characters. In 
 the City Road chapel, the most important erected during the 
 life of Wesley, the liturgy is always read in the forenoon, and for 
 many years this service was performed by a clergyman of the 
 Church of England. A 2:)rayi?r-book is used in many of the 
 greater chapels, but there is no unvarying rule on the subject. 
 The custom is retained which grew up in each, and there are 
 many chapels in which no liturgy is used. A minute of the 
 Conference requires that, if the chapels be open during the hours 
 of divine service in the parish church, the liturgy, " or at least the 
 lessons for the day," be read. The service is that of the Church 
 of England, with some changes and omissions, from a revised 
 liturgy which was prepared by Wesley. Some sentences and 
 entire psalms are omitted from the Psalter, for he did not hesitate 
 to affirm that there were some sentiments in the Psalms of David 
 which no Christian could properly use. Several prayers are 
 omitted, as well as the collects, epistles, and gospels for saint's 
 days. In the offices for the administration of the sacraments, 
 
WESLEYANS. 421 
 
 matrimony, communion of the sick, burial of the dead, and the 
 ordaining of deacons, elders, and superintendents, many changes 
 are introduced. Since the death of the founder, the Wesleyan 
 Church has adopted twenty-five articles in the place of the 
 thirty-nine, and based upon them. The rite of confirmation 
 is not in use, though it is no unusual thing for the children of 
 Wesleyan parents to be sent for confirmation to the bishop of 
 the diocese.. 
 
 Singing forms a considerable part of public worship : scarcely a 
 religious meeting, public, social, or private, is held, which does 
 not begin or close with psalmody. The hymn-book was prepared 
 by John Wesley, the most valuable jDart of it being the con- 
 tribution of his brother Charles. A hymn or two of real sublimity 
 were written by John Olivers, one of the first Methodist 
 preachers. John Wesley added several of his own : most of the 
 remainder are borrowed from Watts and Doddridge. The hymn- 
 book, though not a standard of doctrine, is reverenced as a 
 depository of scriptural truth and sound Methodism. It is 
 guarded with care, and published by the Conference alone. " Our 
 hymn-book," says Dr. Rule, " is more copious beyond comparison, 
 and more evangelical and devotional, than any collection of Avhich 
 traces have been left from Christian antiquity, and may safely be 
 left to comparison with any similar collection yet published." 
 Where organs have been introduced, the Conference by a minute 
 requires, that they shall be so used as not to overpower con- 
 gregational singing, but only to assist it ; and they add some 
 excellent advice : " Let no pieces, as they are called, in which 
 recitatives by single men, solos by single women, fuguing (or dif- 
 ferent words sung by different voices at the same time), are 
 introduced, be sung in our chapels. Let the original simple, 
 grave, and devotional style be carefully preserved ; which instead 
 of drawing the attention to singing and the singers, is so ad- 
 mirably calculated to draw off the attention from both, and raise 
 the soul to God only." 
 
 Membership is necessary as a condition of stated admission to 
 the Lord's Supper; and membership implies being placed under a 
 leader in a class. It is the duty of the preacher to examine Gach 
 member every three months, and to give him a ticket, bearing 
 his name and a text of Scripture, which entitles the holder to 
 the privileges of nionibership during the ensuing quarter. 
 
422 WESLEYANS. 
 
 Besides the class meeting, the members are encouraged to meet 
 in bands. These were instituted by Wesley, and by him highly 
 valued ; these appear to be voluntary social meetings, consisting 
 of membei-s of the Society. The original rules drawn up by the 
 hand of Wesley contain some wise instructions : — 
 
 " You are supposed to have the faith that overcometh the 
 world. To you, therefore, it is not grievous — 
 
 " I. Carefully to abstain from doing evil : in particular — 
 " Neither to buy nor sell anything at all on the Lord's day. 
 " To taste no spirituous liquor, no dram of any kind, un- 
 less prescribed by a physician. 
 " To be at a word, both buying and selling, 
 " To pawn nothing, no, not to save life. 
 " Not to mention the fault of any behind his back, and to 
 
 stop those short that do. 
 "To wear no needless ornaments, such as rings, ear-rings, 
 
 necklaces, lace, ruffles. 
 " To use no needless self-indulgence, such as taking snuff 
 or tobacco, unless prescribed by a physician. 
 " II. Zealously to maintain good works : in particular — 
 
 " To give alms of such things as you possess, and that to the 
 
 uttermost of your power. 
 "To reprove all that sin in your sight, and in love, and 
 
 meekness, and wisdom. 
 " To be patterns of all diligence and frugality, of self-denial, 
 and taking up the cross daily." 
 Love-feasts, in imitation of the pi'imitive Church, are held fre- 
 quently : none but members are admitted except by permission 
 of the preacher. The minister presides, and the time is spent in 
 devotional exercises. Wesley states, that in order to increase, in 
 the classes he had formed, a gi'ateful sense of all Gods mercies, 
 he desired that they should meet together once a quarter " that," 
 said he, " we might eat bread together, as the ancient Christians 
 did, with gladness and singleness of heart. At these love-feasts, 
 so we termed them, retaining the name, as well as the thing 
 which was in use from the beginning, our food is only a little 
 plain cake and water; but we seldom return from them without 
 being fed, not only with the meat that pei'ishes, but with that 
 which endureth to everlasting life." Wesley copied the love 
 feast from the Moravians, and they fiom the primitive Church 
 
WESLEYANS. 423 
 
 A description, by Tertullian, of one of these festivals, about the 
 end of the second century, has been quoted as no unapt descrip- 
 tion of the Methodist love-feast. " Our supper shows its cha- 
 racter by its name, for it is called a'ya.7rf\^ which signifies kind- 
 ness. Nothing that is trifling or immodest is permitted, nor do 
 we take our places until prayer has been offered up to God. 
 Those who are hungry eat till they are satisfied ; they drink only 
 what is necessary ; they are not oppressed with feasting, but are 
 still able, through the night, to remember that God is to be 
 adored. They speak like persons who know that God is listening. 
 Having washed their hands, any one who pleases recites from 
 Scripture, or gives an address, and we sing praise to God. The 
 feast closes as it began, with prayer." — Ayolog. c. 39. 
 
 The watch-night is also defended by the practice of primitive 
 antiquity. Its introduction, too, at first was casual. A century 
 ago, a few Methodists in the neighbourhood of Bristol, probably 
 in very humble life, being surrounded daily by the jDrofane, met 
 together at night to spend some time in prayer and praise, with- 
 out interruption. The singularity of the proceeding w^as offensive 
 to some, and in others it roused suspicion. Wesley did not 
 hastily condemn their conduct. He thought he perceived a 
 resemblance in the practice to the nocturnal assemblies of the 
 primitive Christians ; but to remove every occasion of offence, he 
 made these vigils public instead of private. Placing himself at 
 the head of his people, in this as in every other movement, he 
 continued for some time to hold watch-night services monthly at 
 Bristol, London, and Newcastle. Just as in the first ages, the 
 love-feast from its name, and the vigil or watch-night from its. 
 hour, were represented as the orgies of dissolute fanatics ; and 
 these charges were sometimes repeated by those, from whom at 
 least a better acquaintance with Church history might have been 
 expected. " You charge me," says Wesley, addressing an Irish 
 clergyman, " with holding midnight assemblies. Sir, did you 
 never see the word ' vigil ' in your Common Prayer-Book ? Do 
 you know what it means ? If not, permit me to tell you that it 
 was customary with the ancient Christians to spend whole nights 
 in prayer, and that these nights were termed vigilise or vigils. 
 Therefore, for spending a part of some nights in this manner, in 
 public and solemn prayer, we have not only the authority of our 
 own national Church, but of the universal Church, in the earliest 
 
424 WESLEYANS. 
 
 ages." The watch-nights are chiefly held on the eve of the new 
 year. Several hours are spent in prayer and exhortation, and 
 the meeting is closed with praise as the new year is ushered in. 
 A " covenant service " is also held at the opening of the year ; 
 when each member solemnly pledges himself to fresh devotion to 
 the service of God. There is a quarterly fast, which all members 
 of the Society are enjoined to keep. Wesley, in his instructions 
 to the preachers, urges most impressively the duty of observing a 
 rigid fast every Friday. 
 
 We now resume our history. The pacification of 1795 satis- 
 fied the moderate party, as they were termed, who formed the 
 great bulk of the Society. But it was an age of the wildest 
 jDolitical excitement. During the period of those disputes by 
 which the JVJethodists were agitated, the French revolution was 
 raging in its fury, and the Methodist body was not free from the 
 contagion. There was now a party in the connexion whose views 
 extended far beyond the horizon which bounded the aspirations 
 of either of the Wesleys. They are described by the elder 
 Methodists as young men who had been introduced into life, and 
 formed their opinions in that state of things which the French 
 revolution introduced ; they would not only enjoy liberty them- 
 selves, but force it upon others. The Conference had deter- 
 mined that the Lord's Supper should be administered only iu 
 those chajjels where a majority of the Society, as represented by 
 the trustees, demanded it. With this restriction they were dis- 
 pleased ; a contest followed, and the constitution of the Conference 
 now provoked their attention. In a word, they insisted on the 
 introduction of lay delegates, and this on the ground of fitness and 
 expedienc3^ Inspired with something of that enthusiasm respect- 
 ing the rights of the people which had so generally seized the 
 nation, they contended that the people ought to be represented 
 iu the Conference, and have a share in making the laws by which 
 they were controlled. The Conference resisted the proposal ; and 
 the first of those secessions took place which have returned from 
 time to time, paralyzing the societies in the hour of their 
 greatest vigour, and threatening the very being of the Methodist 
 Church. 
 
 Of the first secession, Mr. Kilham, a member of the Conference, 
 was the leader. Dissatisfied with the Plan of Pacification, he 
 l)ublished a tract on the " Progress of Liberty " with respect to 
 
WESLEYANS. 425 
 
 Church government, soon after the Conference of 1795, For this 
 he was arraigned before a district meeting at Newcastle in the 
 following February. The fire spread. The author of a pamphlet 
 printed by one of his party at Bristol in 1796, gives quotations 
 from nearly fifty pamphlets and circular letters, in favour of the 
 change. Mr. Kilham was dismissed from tlie Society at the Con- 
 ference of 1796, and the whole connexion was for some time in a 
 state of violent agitation. The Kilhamites issued an address at 
 Newcastlej maintaining, as their first position, that " according to 
 the present rules of Conference, the Methodist preachers ruled 
 their people without consulting them." The dissatisfaction spread 
 far and wide; it flew from Newcastle to Manchester, where a 
 considerable number of trustees, leaders, and members were 
 expelled from the Society by the local court, a special district 
 meeting. When the Conference met in 1797, the question of 
 admitting lay-delegates was formally discussed, and the following 
 resolution stands upon its minutes : — " The Conference, having 
 maturely considered the subject, are thoroughly persuaded, with 
 many of our Societies whose letters have been read in full Con- 
 ference, that they cannot admit any but regular tiavelling 
 preachers into their body, either in the Conference or in district 
 meetings, and preserve the system of Methodism entire ; par- 
 ticularly the itinerant plan, which they are determined to 
 support." 
 
 The decision was the signal of disruption. Kilham and his 
 friends retired, and formed " the New Connexion ;" a body which 
 has ever since taken its stand amongst the most respectable, 
 zealous, and orthodox of the smaller Churches of the Noncon- 
 formists ; its history is presented to the reader in a separate 
 article. Those who feel no disposition to be elated with the 
 disasters of Methodism, may be forgiven if they hesitate in ex- 
 pressing their approbation of the firmness, so much applauded by 
 high Wesleyans, of this Conference of 1797. Their apologists 
 contend that " the refusal was not dictated by the love of power, 
 but by the stern conviction that they could not act otherwise, 
 without violating the pastoral trust reposed in them as Christ's 
 ministers." But we are not aware of any pastoral trust imposed 
 by Christ, which would exclude the laity from a seat in Convo- 
 cation, or a vote in Conference. " They felt," it is said, " they 
 could not introduce laymen into theii own body, or even into the 
 
426 WESLEYANS. 
 
 district meetings, consistently with a due regard to tlie purity of 
 their doctrines and ministry, the preservation of the itinerancy, 
 and the real Avelfare and Hberty of the people at large." These 
 are the statements of Dr. Beecham, late President of the Con- 
 ference, and its able apologist, The turbident state of the 
 societies at the lime, may jierhaps justify this disparagement of 
 the laity ; but we should be sorry to admit, as a general principle, 
 that purity of doctrine is exclusively confined in any Protestant 
 Church to the safe keeping of its clergy, or even that the real 
 welfare and religious liberty of their brethren would be unsafe 
 if the laity were allowed a voice in the supreme courts of 
 legislation. It is contended further, " that the admission of 
 lay-delegates Avould have destroyed the Conference, which was 
 nothing, but as it was defined and invested with power by the 
 Deed of Declaration. So that a Conference admitting lay- 
 delegates would have had no legal existence ; and no other body 
 could have performed its prescribed functions." But these con- 
 sequences Avere not inevitable. In this, as in most cases, where 
 conflicting claims are to be adjusted, mutual concessions might 
 have been made. There were many subjects, for instance, in 
 which lay-delegates might have been admitted into the Con- 
 ference, both to speak and vote, without affecting the validity of 
 the Deed of Declaration. Indeed, we cannot perceive what pos- 
 sible danger could have arisen from their presence, even in num- 
 bers equal to those of the preachers, so long as an absolute veto 
 was still lodged, as it must have been, in the upper house, or 
 original Conference of one hundred. 
 
 With more force, it is contended, that if the concession had been 
 made, a disruption on the one side or the other would still have 
 taken place. For the Conference did not stand alone. It was 
 not the whole of the connexion which was asking for the admis- 
 sion of lay-delegates into the Conference. Many of the societies 
 regarded the question in the same light as the Conference itself. 
 In the midst of the popular outcry for religious liberty, the same 
 alarms were felt by Methodists, jealous of their existing institu- 
 tions, which, at the same period, inflamed the eloquence of Burke, 
 in his apprehensions for the safety of the constitution of the State 
 itself. And they felt they owed it to themsehes, to the cause of 
 God, and to the Conference, to avow their sentiments in such a 
 crisis, and In sujipoit iho Conference by the assurance of their 
 
WESLEYANS. 427 
 
 attachment to it. They went still further, and declared their 
 conviction that Methodism was safer in the hands of the Con- 
 ference as then constituted, than if lay-delegates should, un- 
 happily, be admitted to a place either in the Conference or the 
 district meetings. 
 
 Some concessions of importance the Conference made. With 
 reference to financial and other secular matters, more authority 
 was given, to the quarterly and district meetings. Till Wesley's 
 death, the yearly collections of the Society had been paid over 
 to the Conference, and by them divided among the preachers, 
 and spent on other legitimate objects. The Conference of 1791 
 published their accounts in a brief statement, which occupies 
 seven lines ; so little had the Society hitherto interfered in 
 matters of expenditure or finance. On the death of Wesley, the 
 district meetings were empowered to receive and pay certain funds, 
 particularly the preachers' stipends, remitting a statement of 
 their financial proceedings, together with the balance of their 
 receipts, to the Conference. This power was now extended to 
 the quarterly meetings ; and the Conference undertook to 
 publish a full account of its receipts and expenditure in such a 
 form tliat every circuit might satisfy itself, by comparing its own 
 accounts with those of the Conference, that no collusion had been 
 practised. Another regulation provi^les that ail other temporal 
 business shall originate in the quarterly meetings. The conces- 
 sions which relate to discipline were still more important. The 
 leaders' meetings had a veto on the admission of new members 
 by the superintendent, when they chose to exercise it. And 
 with regard to the expulsion of delinquents, the superintendent, 
 who had hitherto exercised this formidable power without con- 
 trol, was now instructed not to proceed to extremities until the 
 leaders were consulted, " and the crime proved to their satisfac- 
 tion." The leaders and stewards were for the future to be 
 appointed and removed, not by the superintendent alone, but in 
 conjunction witli the leaders' meeting. 
 
 The secession of the Kilhamites, however, seemed rather to 
 relieve Methodism than to impede its triumphs. For thirty years 
 after the death of Wesley it pursued one unbounded course of 
 marvellous success. Persecution had died away, or, if feebly 
 offered, was of service to the cause, raising up friends, promoting 
 inquiry, and stimulating zeal. When Wesley died, the immbei 
 
428 WESLEYANS. 
 
 in connexion with hiui was eighty thousand, including America 
 and the West Indies. Within ten years the societies had in- 
 creased in Great Britain alone more than forty thousand. 
 In twenty years the increase was more than a hundred 
 thousand. 
 
 In the year ]811, a bill was brought into the House of Lords 
 professedly to amend the Act of Toleration, but in fact to repeal 
 its most important and beneficial provisions. Had it passed, and 
 been rigidly enforced, it might have effected the entire subversion 
 of the Wesleyan ministry. This unwise attempt not only failed 
 but recoiled. The Methodists learned their political strength. 
 More compact, more united, more energetic than any Protestant 
 communion, the sense of danger, and the stronger sense of insult, 
 roused them to exertion. In the face of their remonstrances and 
 petitions, in which they were joined by all the friends of religious 
 liberty, the bill was hastily withdrawn ; and it is the last attempt 
 at coercion in matters of religion that the British Parliament has 
 witnessed. The Wesleyan body have never combined to use 
 their power for the service of any party, or the attainment of any 
 selfish objects. Their political influence has been nobly em- 
 ployed in the service of mankind ; — for the suppression of the 
 slave-trade, in 1806 ; for the right of introducing missions into 
 India, in 1813 ; for the emancipation of the slaves in the West 
 Indies, in 1 833. 
 
 At the Conference of 1813, Dr. Coke, then in the sixty-seventh 
 year of his age, expressed an earnest desire to proceed to the 
 East Indies, for the purpose of establishing a mission there. 
 Eighteen times had he crossed the Atlantic for missionar}^ ob- 
 jects ; yet his ardour was unabated. He sailed, accompanied by 
 seven missionaries, and died upon the voyage. After Wesley 
 himself, no man connected with the Methodists ever contributed 
 more to extend the blessings of Christianity amongst mankind. 
 The mission, notwithstanding his death, was opened at Ceylon ; 
 and Dr. Coke's departure from England and his sudden death, 
 which it was feared might prejudice the missionary work, had, in 
 fact, the contrary effect. The connexion had almost entirely relied 
 on his personal exertions, both in directing the operations of the 
 missions in the West Indies and Canada, and in providing the 
 moans of their sujiport. The preachers and people now awoke 
 from their supineness ; a mi.-^sionary society w;is formed in con- 
 
WESLEYANS. 429 
 
 nexion with the Conference, and the missions soon prospered 
 beyond all former example. 
 
 The Methodists' societies continued steadily to increase till 
 1827- At length, the trivial cause of so many bitter conflicts 
 between Churchmen and Puritans in days past, the intioduction 
 of an organ, opened the waters of strife. The trustees of a 
 chapel at Leeds wished to introduce instrumental music, and 
 made application to the district meeting for permission. The 
 district meeting refused ; for the old Methodists regarded instru- 
 mental music as injurious to spiritual worship. The trustees 
 made their appeal to the Conference, who saw fit to grant their 
 request. Hereupon the organ was forgotten, and the bi'oad 
 question was discussed, whether the Conference possessed the 
 right to interfere in such a case and overrule the decision of a 
 district meeting. It was a struggle for independence on the part 
 of the latter, and, as it soon appeared, on the jDart of many of 
 the Methodists, who seceded from the main body, protesting 
 against what they termed the oppression of the Conference. 
 They insisted that the Conference violated its own law in re- 
 ceiving an appeal against the district meeting on the subject of 
 the organ. The Conference party replied that wherever there 
 is a right to make laws, there is a right to receive appeals as 
 inherent ; and that it was monstrous to suppose that a Methodist, 
 or body of Methodists, however aggrieved by the decisions of a 
 district meeting, had no redress. Some sharp invectives were 
 not spared by the Conference against those who, professing to be 
 the friends of liberty, would have made the local courts despotic. 
 There was a law of Conference on the subject, but it was some- 
 what vaguely worded, and both sides claimed its shelter. It was 
 this : " We think that in some of the larger chapels, where some 
 instrumental music may be deemed expedient in order to guide 
 the congTegational singing, organs may be allowed by special 
 consent of the Conference ; but every application for such con- 
 sent shall be first made at the district meeting ; and if it obtain 
 their sanction, shall be then referred to a committee at the 
 Conference, who shall report their opinion as to the propriety of 
 acceding to the request, and also as to the restrictions with which 
 the permission to erect an organ ought, in that particular case, to 
 be accompanied." 
 
 The Conference asserted its rights, but at the same time in- 
 
430 WESLEYANS. 
 
 structed the preachers "to invite back, and to receive witli perfect 
 obhvion of the past, those who liad been so led away by the arts 
 of disaffected men ;" but a secession bad taken place which could 
 not thus be recalled. 
 
 A more serious i-upture followed in the case of Dr. Warren, in 
 1835. Here, again, the cause of the quarrel was insignificant. 
 The Conference had resolved to open a Theological Institution for 
 tlie education of their future ministers. On the details of the 
 question ditferences of opinion arose, and angry pamplilets were 
 t;xcluuiged. Dr. Warren, an eminent minister, was the leader in 
 tiie contest on the side which opposed the measures of the Con- 
 ference ; he was in consequence suspended by the Manchester 
 district meeting. Against this suspension he appealed to tlie 
 Court of Chancery. The events which followed are important in 
 Wesleyan history, not only for the extraordinary interest which 
 they occasioned at the time, but still more for their consequences, 
 which are still unfolding themselves. 
 
 The district meeting requested Dr. Newton, another eminent 
 minister, to undertake the duties of superintendent of the circuit 
 in Dr. Warren's place ; and the object of this application to the 
 Court of Chancery was to obtain an injunction against Dr. Newton 
 and the trustees of the Oldham-street chapel in Manchester, all 
 of whom concurred in his exclusion from their pulpit ; and against 
 those trustees of another Wesleyan chapel in Manchester who also 
 approved of the suspension and of Dr. Newton's ministry in that 
 place ; for two or three of the trustees of the latter chapel made 
 common cause with Dr. Warren, and joined with him in apply- 
 ing to the court for his restoration to the exercise of his minis- 
 terial functions. The case excited the deepest interest ; the most 
 eminent counsel were employed on each side, and the judgment of 
 the Vice-Chancellor, and afterwards that of the Lord Chancellor, 
 into whose court it was removed, were elaborate and prepared 
 with the greatest care ; but the Vice-Chancellor refused the in- 
 junction, and his judgment was affirmed by the liigher court. 
 " I am of opinion," said the Lord Chancellor, " not only that the 
 district meeting had the power to suspend, but I am- of opinion 
 tliat they acted legally — I am not cnlled upon to .say more. 
 Whether they acted wisely, discreetly, temperately, or harsldy, 
 these are matters with which I have no concern, and upon which 
 I desire now to ox[)ress no opinion." The Lord CliancoUor con- 
 
WESLEYANS. 431 
 
 eluded with an expression of his great regret at the existence of 
 the dissensions which had given rise to the jjroceedings ; and he 
 added, " From what I have heard, and from what I may say I 
 know, of the charaqter of Dr. Warren, of his learning, of his 
 piety, of his talents, and of his good conduct, which have been 
 stated on one side and not even attempted to be contradicted on 
 the other — taking all these things into consideration, I must 
 express i)iy regret that he should have been the sufferer, I will 
 not say the victim, but the sufferer in these proceedings." Dr. 
 Warren was permitted to be heard in the next Conference in his 
 own defence, although it was thought he had forfeited his right 
 of appeal to that tribunal. In justice to the C<mference, we 
 should willingly have quoted at large the grounds of their deci- 
 sion ; but they are mixed up with personal charges and recrimina- 
 tions which ought to be forgotten. Dr. Warren was expelled, 
 and the sentiments of the Conference may be gathered from the 
 following resolution : — 
 
 " While the Conference cannot but express their utter abhor- 
 rence of the principle that a minister, while professedly in union 
 with our bod}'', may appeal from the regular and constitutional 
 jurisdictions of his own connexion to the civil courts, as tending 
 to a violation of the laws of the New Testament, a breach of 
 faith with his brethren in the ministry, and a fearful disregard of 
 consequences to the cause of Christ, they feel called upon to re- 
 cord their fervent gratitude to the great Head of the Church for 
 the gracious interpositions of His providence in the recent deci- 
 sions of his Majesty's High Court of Chancery, to refuse the 
 injunction applied for by Dr. Warren, with a view to set aside 
 the authority of the special meetings of the district committee 
 held in his case in Manchester. They feel especially called upon 
 to acknowledge the hand of God in these decisions, as confirm- 
 ing the validity of Mr. Wesley's Deed of Declaration ; securing to 
 the preachers appointed by the Conference the inalienable occu- 
 pation of our pulpits; recognising the pastoral supervision and 
 authority of the Conference as the supreme tribunal of Me- 
 thodism, through the medium of its district committees, and 
 affording the ample security of British law to the general eco- 
 nomy of Wesleyan Methodism." 
 
 The association formed by Dr. Warren soon contained many 
 thousand members. Tt was the third great secession which the 
 
43i WESLEY ANS, 
 
 Wesleyan body had experienced, but still it seemed for the 
 present scarcely to affect its strength. Dr. Warren .soon after- 
 wards took orders in the Church of England, and the association, 
 deprived of its leader, made no great progress. 
 
 On the other hand the Conference party pursued their tri- 
 vunphs. The year 1839 was celebrated as the centenary of 
 Methodism. A century had passed since the Wesleys and their 
 companion Whitfield began their out-door ministry on commons 
 and at the corners of the streets. It was, as John Wesley had 
 recorded in his journal, "a sudden expedient, a thing submitted 
 to rather than chosen, and therefore submitted to, because he 
 thought even preaching thus better than not preaching at all." 
 A hundred years had silently glided by, and the fruits of his 
 self-devotion, and that of a few others his partners in disgrace 
 and glory, were apparent to the world, in the general reformation 
 of morals and in the diffusion of tljat religious truth which, when 
 Wesley and his companions begun their field preaching, was 
 all but unknown. The number in the societies which he had 
 raised is a very imperfect te.st of the influence he had exerted ; 
 and yet measured even by this standard, few indeed are the 
 men who, whether for good or evil, have so deeply influenced 
 mankind. There were now in England alone 3,000 chapels, 
 besides a vast number of other places, in which the Wesleyan 
 ministry was conducted. In some of the towns the chapels 
 were of very large dimensions ; in Leeds alone they contained 
 3,000 free sittings for the poor. The members of the Wes- 
 leyan Church in Great Britain were 296,801. The ministers 
 were 1,019; the local preachers not fewer than 4,000. The 
 Sunday-schools were upwards of 3,300 ; in those, 59,000 teachers 
 gratuitously taught 341,000 children. Ireland contained 49 
 circuits and 18 mission stations; in which 160 preachers 
 laboured amongst 26,000 members of society. In Canada there 
 were 47 districts, exclusive of 47 missionary stations ; and the 
 members of the society were 14,000. Fifteen hundred red men 
 had abandoned savage life, and were regular members of the 
 Wesleyan Church ; and but for the ministry of its preachers, 
 many thousands of the British settlers wovdd have been entirely 
 destitute of the ordinances of Christianity. The missions em- 
 ployed,, in different parts of the world, above 300 accredited 
 ministers, besides local preachers and assistants, having under 
 
WESLEYANS. 433 
 
 their care, iuchuliug children and a(hdts, more than 180,000 
 souls. The missionaries preached the Gospel in more than 
 twenty languages, to some of the remotest nations of the earth. 
 For the support of this vast enterprise the Wesleyan societies, 
 assisted by the liberality of the Christian public, raised, in the 
 year 1837, the sum of 83,648?. IDs. Qd. 
 
 In America, the seed planted by Coke and Asbury had borne 
 fruit abundantly. The Methodist Episcopal Church outnum- 
 bered the connexion in Great Britain, The societies, scattered 
 over an immense tract of country, were placed under the care ot 
 28 conferences, and superintended by six bishops. There were 
 3,106 itinerant ministers; 216 who were superannuated; and 
 5,792 local preachers. The private members amounted to 
 686,519 ; of whom 605,212 were whites ; 79,236 were coloured ; 
 and 2,101 were Indians. The Methodist Episcopal Church had 
 a prosperous mission at Liberia, on the African coast, and 
 another at Texas ; it had six collegiate institutions, and one 
 university. Four of these are west of the Alleghany Mountains, 
 in the great valley of Mississippi, and its tributary waters, and 
 three are in the Atlantic states. All of them possess the power 
 of conferring academic degrees. 
 
 The jubilee year closed a long succession of triumphs, and a 
 long season of comparative repose. The surface of Methodism 
 was unruffled, and the enthusiasm of her children had suffered 
 no abatement. It was proposed to erect in memory of the 
 festival a centenary hall in London, at an expense of 40,000/., to 
 build a missionary ship, to found a theological college, to release 
 the schools and chapels of the connexion from debt, and to pro- 
 vide an additional fund for sick and aged ministers. For all 
 these purposes 80,000?. were asked, and more than twice that 
 sum was cheerfully subscribed : the jubilee fund amounted to 
 215,000/. The year of jubilee closed, as it began, amidst general 
 congratulations and devouter thanksgivings. 
 
 But appearances were seldom more fallacious. The expulsions 
 at Leeds, and the affair of Dr. Warren, rankled in many hearts. 
 The impression had already gone abroad amongst the societies, 
 that the people as represented in the leaders' meetings and the 
 quarterly meetings were deprived of that influence which the 
 Pacification of 179.5 conceded to them ; that they were governed 
 absolutely by the Conference, and thai the Conference itself was 
 VOL. II. 2 F 
 
434 WESLEYANS. 
 
 governed by a cli<jue. At length those murnmrs found expres- 
 sion, and the " Fly-Sheets " appeared. The first was published 
 in 184'4, the second in 1846, the third and fourth in 1847 and 
 1848. These tracts were evidently written either by members 
 of the Conference, or by those to whom its secret proceedings 
 were revealed. They are anonymous. " Printed by order of 
 the corresponding committee for detecting, €'xposing, and cor- 
 recting abuses. London, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool, Man- 
 chester, Birmingham, Leeds, Hull, Ghisgow." Their manner 
 is coarse and personal ; individuals are singled out by name for 
 ridicule, and overwhelmed with insult. They remind us of the 
 Mar-prelate pamphlets of the early Puritans in the reign of 
 Elizabeth ; and they may be described, in the words of the pro- 
 clamation in which those libels were denounced, as " drawn up 
 in railing sort, and beyond the bounds of all good humanity." 
 The charges they contain are such as, if true, indicate a state of 
 society on the verge of dissolution from the pride, selfishness, 
 and rapacity of its rulers. It is not, however, the Wesleyan 
 system, but the administration of it, they arraign. There is no 
 cry for constitutional change, but only for a better administration. 
 If the charges were untrue, the annoyance to individuals was the 
 sole injury they could inflict, and the parties assailed might have 
 trusted their reputation to the safe custody of public opinion. 
 Nor would it have been beneath the dignity of the Conference 
 to have amended whatever might have been amiss, even at the 
 suggestion of the unknown and scurrilous authors of the Fly- 
 Sheets. If their attacks were of importance it was because the 
 impression was stealing abroad that the machine worked heavily, 
 — that Methodism had settled on the lees, — that it was growing 
 indolent and luxurious. 
 
 The Conference addressed itself, not to the investigation of the 
 alleged abuses, but to the punishment of the supposed offenders. 
 In addressing the Conference on the subject during their session 
 of 1 849, the president said, " that a secret irresponsible body had 
 risen up which interfered with the just rights of the Conference, 
 which reflected on its acts and appointments, and which endea- 
 voured in various instances to render those acts and appointments 
 null and void. The Conference was bearded by this secret and 
 irresponsible power ; he had a full conviction the time was come 
 when this evil should bo dealt with and offc^ctually corrected . 
 
WESLEYANS. 435 
 
 It retarded thorn iu their great work ; it was an evil they must 
 tolerate no longer, lest they should be partakers of other men's 
 sins." The Conference proceeded in the exercise, as it declared, 
 of its undoubted right to " put a brotherly question " to several of 
 its members who were suspected of having written the Fly-Sheets, 
 or having a guilty knowledge of their authors. The question, as 
 stated by the accused, was couched in these words: — "Are you 
 the author of the Fly-Sheets ? answer the question, ' Yes ' or ' No,' 
 without any prevarication." Mr. Everett, to whom the question 
 was first proposed, positively and peremptorily refused to answer ; 
 expressing, says the Conference, his refusal, " in terms and in a 
 tone justly offensive." He was expelled. Two other ministers, 
 Messrs. Dunn and Griffiths, also declined to answer the interro- 
 gations, which in their case extended to the " Wesleyan Times " 
 and " Wesleyan Banner," two obnoxious papers, as well as the 
 Fly-Sheets. Nor would they "pledge themselves to abstain from 
 taking part directly or indirectly in any agitating proceedings 
 which might be pursued by others ;" they, too, were in conse- 
 quence expelled, with only one dissentient voice. Two other 
 ministers were censured and degraded from the office of superin- 
 tendent, but not expelled ; and the business was closed v/ith a 
 solemn declaration, to which the preachers, with a few exceptions, 
 affixed their names, expressing their " indignation and abhorrence 
 at the anonymous attacks made upon their brethren in the Fly- 
 Sheets." A protestation was added " that they had never inten- 
 tionally communicated with the authors of those publications with 
 a view to afford information or assistance ;" nor would they "allow 
 these wicked slanders to detract from the esteem and confidence 
 they felt for those against whom such attacks had been directed." 
 The Conference appears to have thought that with these strong 
 measures their difficulties were at an end. In their annual 
 address they congratulate the societies on a large accession of 
 numbers, both at home and abroad. Their " sessions," they say, 
 " bad been blessed with more than ordinary influences from 
 above. Some painful circumstances had indeed occurred, but 
 the hoary age and active zeal of this body have combined in 
 maintaining our righteous economy. Forbearance and tenderness 
 have been shown to the utmost limit that allegiance to our 
 common cause permits ; but freedom of mutual ministerial in- 
 quiry must be maintained, or we must consent to the abandou- 
 
 2 f2 
 
436 WESLEYANS. 
 
 ment of all our distinctive clisci])liiie ;" and for a time their 
 anticipations seemed to be crowned with success. At the Confer- 
 ence of 1850, held in London, another minister, Mr. Bromley, 
 was exi)elled, " having countenanced the unrighteous agitation 
 which was still carried on," With this exception the yearly 
 address declares that harmony and peace pervaded the sittings of 
 the Conference. Nine thousand members had been added to 
 the Society, and twenty thousand more had been received on 
 trial. Many memorials had been received, which are answered* 
 in general, by the declaration that the Conference would adhere 
 to the true principles of Methodism, and maintain the sacred 
 trust reposed in them by the venerable Wesley. But now the 
 petitioners were by no means satisfied. Before the Conference 
 met, upwards of four hundred gentlemen had assembled in 
 London as delegates from the connexion in various parts of tlio 
 kingdom, ''to confer as to the best means of arresting the further 
 progress of an agitation which threatened Methodism," as they 
 already saw, "with utter ruin." They had laid their complaints 
 before the president, who refused, however, to receive them. 
 They now appealed to the Conference ; and when it met, peti- 
 tions bearing upwards of fifty thousand signatures, praying for a 
 redress of various grievances, or the concession of additional 
 rights, were laid before it by the delegates. Of course, general 
 declarations of a determination to adhere to the principles of 
 W^esleyan Methodism were far from satisfactory to the petitioners. 
 On the other hand, the Conference still sought to dissipate the 
 storm by expelling all who were suspected of disloyalty. The 
 work of excision now began in earnest ; nearly every individual 
 wlio had attended the delegates' meeting was expelled ; whole 
 classes were cut off at a stroke, and even societies disappeared : 
 the entire connexion became a scene of turmoil and disaster. 
 The disputes an-ested a large share of public attention ; and the 
 London daily press suspended its discussion of political affairs to 
 discuss the affairs of Methodism. A private quarrel, if such it 
 were, never engaged so much of the national concern. 
 
 The Conference met at Newcastle in 1851, still resolved to 
 conquer by severity. Dr. Beaumont, a minister of high standing 
 and great eloquence, was degraded from the office of superinten- 
 dfnt, for having shown his sympathy, in various ways, with the 
 excluded ministers. The delegates again as.sembled, and re- 
 
WESLEYANS. 437 
 
 quested an interview with the Conference, or at least with a 
 committee to be appointed by it, in order to confer on the general 
 state of the connexion ; but they were an " unauthorized body," 
 and their petition was again declined. A number of memorials, 
 however, were presented, and the Conference appointed a com- 
 mittee of fifty-four of its own members " to examine the sugges- 
 tions contained in them, and to report on the same :" and the pre- 
 sident was' authorised, if he saw fit, to invite a number of suitable 
 laymen, not, it is true, to assist the committee in its inquiries, but 
 " to confer with them on the results to which they had attained." 
 Still the appointment of this committee was regarded as a token 
 for good, aud hopes were entertained throughout the Societies 
 that peace might be restored. During the year the Societies had 
 suffered in Great Britain alone, as reported at the Conference, a loss 
 of fifty-six thousand members. But the Conference was still 
 resolved, as they said in their annual address, " to hold the pas- 
 toral crook with steady and unfaltering hand." Of the seceders, 
 they say, that " they had yielded to the arts of a few misleaders ;" 
 and, with regard to the agitators or reformers, they express their 
 deep concern " that a system of wicked agitation, unparalleled in 
 the history of the modern Church, should have been regarded with 
 a moment's tolerance by any who have enjoyed the privileges of 
 our Church communion." The high tone which the Conference 
 assumed towards their opponents was scarcely charitable. " Cer- 
 tain agitators have abused the measure of confidence that they had 
 been allowed to wield. Their plans have been altogether alien from 
 the temper of our holy Christianity. They have transgressed the 
 New Testament law, and involved themselves in the dishonour, 
 hitherto unexampled among us, of attempting to force us into com- 
 pliances which they know that our conscience condemns." " These 
 men have excluded themselves from our confidence, but not from 
 our pitying charity and our prayers. We beg you, dear brethren, 
 to join us in interceding that God may give them repentance, and 
 that the fearful sin of destroying precious souls may not be laid 
 to their charge in the great day. Whatever plans may yet be 
 framed to oppose and irritate you, let your love be invincible." 
 Such language, as applied to the fifty-six thousand expelled and 
 alienated members was severe, if not unjust ; though it might 
 accurately describe the spirit of the authors of the Fly-Sheets The 
 air of pious condescension was felt to be insulting to men who* 
 
438 WESLEYANS. 
 
 had suffered in resisting what they still believed to be ecclesiasti- 
 cal oppression. In the dominant party a gentler spirit would at 
 least have been more likely to heal the breach. 
 
 In December, 1851, a meeting of officers and members of the 
 Society assembled from various parts of the kingdom in the town- 
 hall of Birmingham to confer " on the present disastrous state of 
 Methodism." It drew up a declaration, remarkable at least for 
 its moderation, which Avas immediately signed by ujjwards of 
 seven hundred trustees, leaders, and local preachers ; and it places 
 the demands of the Society at large, as opposed to the Conference, 
 in so clear a light that we transfer it to our pages. 
 
 " 1. That we regard the dissensions and afflictions of our con- 
 nexion with extreme grief and anxiety, and do most ardently 
 desire that the harmony and happiness that once distinguished 
 the body may be restored. 
 
 " 2. That in our calm and deliberate judgment, our existing 
 disasters are mainly attributable to the great changes that have 
 been made in our connexioual polity, during the last thirty years, 
 by which the balance of power in the connexion has been 
 deranged : many important functions committed to the local 
 courts by the ' Constitution of Methodism,' as settled by the 
 regulations of 1795 and 1797, haAdng been resumed by the 
 Conference. 
 
 " 3. That while Ave acknowledge the divine institution of the 
 Christian ministry, and the responsibility of ministers to their 
 Lord and Master, we do conscientiously believe that their claim 
 to an exclusive government of the Church by virtue of lights 
 inherent in their office, is destitute of a scriptural basis, and 
 repugnant to the spirit and letter of our constitution, the records 
 of the Conference during the early years of the present century, 
 and the known usages of our elder and larger societies in every 
 part of the kingdom. 
 
 " 4. That for the restoration of peace and confidence, we deem 
 it necessary that membership in Methodism be held inviolable 
 until the vote of the leaders' meeting be taken, not only on 
 questions of fact, but also on the points of criminality and 
 jyeiialty. 
 
 " 5. That it is also necessary that the same principle be applied 
 to the official position of local officers. 
 * " (i. That the disciplinary authority of our local courts, under 
 
WESLEYANS. 439 
 
 the presidency of their superintendents, should be subject only to 
 a mixed court of appeal. 
 
 " 7. That lay injiuence, in connexional committees, would be 
 far more satisfactory, if subject to lai/ election, instead of minis- 
 terial nomination. 
 
 " 8. That quarterly meetings should be free from restriction in 
 memorialising Conference on connexional matters, 
 
 " 9. That as many of those persons who are now in a position 
 of hostility to the authorities of the connexion have been severed 
 from us, or have left us under strongly exciting and irritating 
 circumstances, we venture to express our earnest hope, that 
 Christian generosity and kindness, rather than harshness and 
 repulsiveness, will be cherished and manifested towards any of 
 them desiring to be again united to us in Church fellowship. 
 
 " 10. That the rules of the connexion should be simplified, 
 and published in as commodious a form as possible, ' for the 
 benefit and convenience of all classes in the body.' 
 
 "11. That no new rule, adopted by the Conference, should 
 be obligatory upon the societies until sanctioned by a majority 
 of the quarterly meetings ; the sense of each circuit on such rule 
 to be taken at the June quarterly meeting. 
 
 " 12. That, looking to the fact of many persons having left 
 our Societies in distress and despair, consequent of their having 
 lost all hope of a satisfactory adjustment of our connexional diffi- 
 culties, and it having been further ascertained that others are 
 contemplating the same step, we deem it the imperative duty of 
 all who desire the prosperity of our connexion, to unite in pro- 
 moting reconcihation between hostile parties, with a view to the 
 restoration of peace and harmony." 
 
 The agitation still continued when the Conference met at 
 Sheffield in 1852. Another secession had taken place during 
 the year, and 20,946 members had retired or been excluded. 
 In two years the Societies had lost 77,000 members ; but the 
 Conference persisted in the course on which it had embarked, 
 still resolved to subdue rather than to conciliate. The mediation 
 movement had now assumed a formidable character. The 
 " declarationists " exceeded 2,000, and they were principally 
 Wesleyan officers. " From an intense desire," they said, " for 
 the recovery of peace to the afflicted connexion," a committee 
 assembled in Sheffield during the sessions of the Conference, for 
 
410 WESLEYANS. 
 
 the purpose of presenting the Declaration, and in respectful terms 
 they prayed that a deputation of their body might be received 
 and heard. Tlie Conference, somewhat haughtily, declined ; 
 refusino- to recognize a body unknown to the Wesleyan constitu- 
 tion, and in a long reply indulged in severe remarks upon the 
 motives and conduct of the " moderation party." It did not tend 
 to soothe the prevailing discontent that the president, in the use 
 of his discretionary power, had invited 745 lay brethren to meet 
 the Committee of 54 appointed by the previous Conference, 
 carefullv exckiding every individual whose name was attached 
 to the Birmingham declaration. And it seemed a bitter mockery 
 to be told in the annual address of the Conference, " that 
 amidst the freest possible discussion, the utmost unanimity had 
 prevailed : a oneness of purpose and feeling which overpowered 
 all differences of opinion, and, to an extent that has been rarely 
 witnessed in the history of our connexion, united all minds and 
 hearts in one harmonious conclusion." Yet upon the whole the 
 Conference spoke in a gentler tone, and relaxed something of its 
 peremptory manner, " We are inclined" they say, " to cherish 
 the belief that what was capable of being done in the way of 
 formal rule and order to consolidate our union has now been 
 accomplished." Again ; " our general economy and discipline 
 are in our confirmed judgment such as cannot with any reason- 
 able prospect of advantage, be veri/ materially modified." 
 These sentences refer to the recommendations of the Committee 
 of fifty-four and their assessors. Some changes had been made 
 in consequence of their report : quarterly meetings were defined ; 
 provision was made for permitting an appeal to the quarterly 
 meeting for the rehearing of an accused party who might be 
 dissatisfied with the verdict of a leaders' meeting. A few other 
 changes were made, by which the Conference believed " that all 
 pretext for factious agitation was entirely precluded." Their 
 opponents viewed them in a very different light, and spoke of 
 them as a mere mockery of justice. 
 
 It is the nature of such unhappy divisions to grow wider as 
 they continue. The Mediation Committee issued another protest 
 in December 1852, in which they express a firm determination 
 to stand by each other, and to protect and console any membt^r 
 of the connexion who may, without moral guilt, become the 
 victim of ministerial persecution. " We cannot admit," they 
 
WESLEYANS. 441 
 
 say, " the right of itinerant ministers to excommuuicate mem 
 1)ers without the sanction of the Church or of its local officers ; 
 nor to depose officers mthout the sanction of their peers. We 
 cannot admit the right of either ministers, pastors, or others, 
 to select whom they please for special conference on matters 
 upon which all are equally concerned. We cannot admit the 
 right of any class of men to fetter all other classes in the Church, 
 for the prevention of a free and honest expression of opinion on 
 matters of Church polity and discipline, put forth in a peaceaVjle 
 and godly manner." In 1853, the Conference had to lament 
 a further loss of more than 10,000 Methodists. But it 
 refused to entertain the protest of the Mediation Committee ; 
 which still, however, persists in its endeavours to accomplish a 
 reunion of the Wesleyan Societies upon a basis which a single 
 sentence in their address to the President of the Conference 
 renders sufficiently plain. " Only consent to become Protestant 
 in your pastoral claims on the questions of ' the Divine right of 
 the Pastorate,' and all other matters will be easily adjusted. 
 But while you resolutely maintain lordship over God's heritage, 
 the root of the evil remains, so that sorrow and contention are 
 inevitable, and so too are future disruptions." 
 
 The Wesleyan Reformers pursue their object independently 
 of the ]\Iediation Committee, and are the advocates of stronger 
 measures. When the breach began they would probably have 
 been satisfied with a few concessions, and with a more equal dis- 
 tribution of the honours and posts of influence at the disposal of 
 the Conference. They now maintain principles which, if carried 
 into effect, would remodel the Wesleyan coustitution. They 
 maintain that the admission of members into the Church, the 
 exercise of discipline upon them, and their exclusion from the 
 Church, are rights vested solely in the hands of Church members, 
 to be exercised by them, either directly or representatively.; and 
 that it is the right of all members to be present at all meetings 
 for the transaction of the general business of the Church. This, 
 of course, requires that the Conference should be remodelled and 
 lay representatives introduced. They contend, fmlher, that the 
 nomination and election of all office-bearers is the inalienable 
 right of the Church; and that all the local courts should be 
 iudependent of the Conference, and their decisions final. The 
 reformers are a powerful and active party, the more formidable 
 
442 WESLEYANS. 
 
 })ecause they refuse to be shaken otf. Their aim is not to 
 cstabhsh another off shoot of Methodism, but to regenerate the 
 ancient body. They regard themselves as Wesleyan Methodists ; 
 and one of the dcmamls in their declaration of principles is 
 " the restoration of all preachers, officers, and members who 
 have been expelled in consequence of the recent proceedings of 
 the Conference as essential to the future peace and prosperity 
 of the connexion." At present, they maintain, the people's 
 rights are little more than a name, since every Church ofllicer in 
 Methodism is virtually selected, nominated, and appointed by 
 the superintendent preacher and by him alone. They add that 
 any layman, whether office-bearer or member, presuming to in- 
 terfere with the superintendent's prerogative, would peril his con- 
 nexion with the Society. If not expelled, his independence would 
 be crushed. Such are the allegations of the Wesleyan Reformers. 
 
 The total loss of the Wesleyan Societies in Great Britain in 
 consequence of these dissensions is little short of one hundred 
 thousand members — nearly one-third of the whole community. 
 
 Still the Conference, and a large and powerful body of 
 more than two hundred thousand Methodists who adhere to 
 it, maintain that the rule it exercises is salutary and wise ; in 
 accordance with the provisions of the poll-deed, and the higher 
 sanctions of the Gospel. The claims of the ministry on the im- 
 plicit obedience of the people were stated by the Conference of 
 1835 and its organs in the strongest terms : — 
 
 "Christ has empowered the ministers oi the Gospel to govern 
 or regidate the Church by salutary discipline ; he has committed 
 to them the keys of the Church : in every section of the Church 
 of Christ, the i^astor must hear the keys, or he is not the pastor 
 of Clirist's own making ; it is for the ministers of Cluist, the 
 pastors of the Church, to reprove, rebuke with all authority, 
 admonish, warn, and finally, when they judge necessary, to reject 
 offenders from Church communion." 
 
 "Jesus Christ has not einj)owered the Church to interfere 
 with the minister in the use of the keys.^' 
 
 " The ministry makes the Church, rather than the Clim"ch the 
 ministry." 
 
 " Everything Hows from this source. Humanly speaking, the 
 ministry is the centre of light and potvcr : all things grow out 
 of it." 
 
WESLEYANS. 443 
 
 " The minister of Christ is your judge as God's minister, and 
 you are not to judge him." 
 
 But even amongst VVesleyans of the Conference school these 
 dogmas are not implicitly received. The Conference of 1850 
 declares, with respect to the exercise of discipline on members of 
 the Society, through the medium of leaders' meetings, " that it 
 cannot transfer, either altogether or in part, to other hands than 
 those of the ministers the ultimate determination of that sentence, 
 without sinning against its own convictions of solemn duty, and 
 abandoning a right essentially connected with the obligations of 
 the pastorate with which they are intrusted." Yet Dr. Dixon, a 
 late president, strongly condemns the power of excommunication 
 as exercised by the Conference. " I affirm," he is reported to 
 have said, "that our rule stands alone in Protestantism. No 
 Church in Protestantism, except ours, gives the power of excision 
 to the minister. We stand alone !" And thus the best and 
 wisest of the Wesleyan ministers have always spoken. That 
 able divme, Richard Watson, in his " Theological Institutes," far 
 from teaching that the people may not judge the pastor, asserts 
 that " the rule which 1'orbids Christians to eat, that is, to commu- 
 nicate at the Lord's table with an immoral brother, holds good of 
 course when that brother is a pastor. Thus pastors were put 
 (by the apostles) under the influence of the public opinion of the 
 Churches, and the remedy of separating from them, in manifest 
 defections of doctrine and morals, was afforded to the sound 
 members of a Church, should no power exist, able or inclined to 
 silence the offending pastor and his party." — Vol. iii., p. 260. 
 From the writings of Dr. Adam Clarke, and of his acknowledged 
 guide and teacher, Wesley himself, we might readily extract many 
 pages to show that such views of absolute priestly authority 
 were held in great dislike. The hypothesis that the Conference 
 as a clerical body, is authorised by Christ to govern absolutely, 
 is, to our apprehension, contrary both to the spirit and the insti- 
 tutions of the New Testament. 
 
 With greater force the Conference argues, that its constitution 
 being settled and defined by law, it has not the power to alter, 
 even were it able to amend, it. By the poll-deed it acquired its 
 Jegal existence ; were it to violate its charter that legal existence 
 would cease. It is only the Conference, as enrolled in Chancery, 
 that has any legal power over the trustees of the many thousand 
 
i44 WESLEYANS. 
 
 chapels of the Methodists. It is only as thus constituted that it 
 has a rit'"ht to govern the societies. If the Conference were 
 "reformed," a state of anarchy and chaos would return, and 
 Methodism would perish. The Society is a voluntary one, and 
 those who do not approve of its management are always at liberty 
 to retire ; and it is a violation of the law of the New Testament, 
 a sin against God, to remain in it for the avowed purjDose of 
 aoitation. These are the points which are now in controversy 
 between the Conference and the various sections of remonstrants 
 and reformers. They involve, it will be seen, a legal question of 
 the utmost importance, as well as many considerations of a moral 
 kind ; on all of which, even amongst those most competent to 
 judge, great diversity of oiDinion exists. 
 
 Viewinc the whole question dispassionately, the reader will 
 perhaps arrive at this conclusion : the Conference, as originally 
 constituted, was suited for the emergency which called it into 
 existence ; and the future historian of religion in Great Britain 
 wall acknowledge that the regeneration of these kingdoms, and 
 especially the elevation of the labouring classes from a state of 
 brutish degradation, was in no small measure to be ascribed to its 
 exertions. An institution which accomplished a work, apparently 
 so hopeless, in effect so wonderful, as this, ought not to be men- 
 tioned without respect. The force and detcrmmation of the 
 English character perhaps never displayed itself more genially 
 than in the Methodist Conference in its earlier days. That a 
 band of men born, with a few exceptions, in humble life ; with 
 few advantages from education, and none from patronage ; with 
 no encouragement even from that public opinion under which so 
 many a patriot has taken refuge from the storm ; assisted only 
 by a people whom their own exertions had, in many cases, re- 
 trieved from vice and its attendant poverty ; without an effort to 
 enrich themselves, though controlling unchecked the expenditure 
 of thousands : that such a body, trusting only to the help of God 
 and its own indomitable energies, should have established its 
 representatives in the remotest regions of the globe, and won the 
 enthusiastic homage of myriads of willing subjects from amongst 
 every race of men, these are deeds which must ever claim for the 
 Wesleyan Conference the respect, if not the admiration, of the 
 whole catholic (Jhurch. 
 
 But an iustilutiou liuit lives upon its own traditions cannot long 
 
WESLEYANS. 445 
 
 survive. Whatever retains perennial vigour possesses a flexibility, 
 a power of accommodation, wiiicli fits it for every change, and 
 enables it, by a marvellous alchemy, to present itself anew, from 
 age to age, in the vigour and beauty of its early youth. This 
 rare endowment the Wesleyan Conference seems to want. Its 
 weakness is that in which its admii'ers ha,ve supposed its strength 
 to lie. It is rigid and inflexible ; around it everything changes ; 
 within everything remains unaltered. The societies which Wesley 
 formed consisted, when the first Conference was held, of the poor 
 and illiterate. These classes now compose but a small proportion 
 of tlic Wesleyan Church. Its societies consist of men of infor- 
 mation and great intelligence ; but the same regimen, with a few 
 unimportant changes, is applied to both. It is attempted to 
 govern the educated citizens and tradesmen of the nineteenth 
 century as the rude colliers of Kingswood and Newcastle were 
 governed a hundred years ago. The result can scarcely be un- 
 certain. If it be true that the Conference cannot change, the 
 triumphs of early Methodism have passed away. Wealthy, 
 respectable, and, within her little circle, safe and even prosperous 
 she may be ; but those evangelical ovations, those splendid 
 achievements for religion and for God, which adorn her past 
 history, will disappear from her future annals. An absolute 
 clergy has never yet conducted a Protestant Church to a long 
 career of spiritual successes ; invariably the laity have become 
 indifferent and the clergy secular. Those who regard the un- 
 happy contest of the Wesleyans from a distance, are, in some 
 respects, better judges than themselves of the perils which the 
 combatants, too much heated on both sides, are apt to overlook- 
 The feeling of English Christians towards them is at present 
 one of sorrow and anxiety ; for good men, acquainted with the 
 subject, are afraid that the calamities of Methodism will prove 
 in their consequences a misfortune to the universal Church. 
 
 Our history would not bo complete if the literature of Me- 
 thodism were forgotten. It has this peculiarity, that it is under 
 the special keeping of the Church. Wesleyan literature is 
 a component part of Methodism. It is under the control of the 
 Conference, and yields a considerable revenue, which is dedicated 
 to the general cause. 
 
 Wesley was himself a voluminous writer. While he revived 
 the spirit of religion in these lands, he was amongst the foremost 
 
446 WESLEYANS. 
 
 to diffuse usutul information of every kind, and to smooth the 
 path of knowledge to the middle and lower ranks of society. No 
 man can charge his memory with the narrow fanaticism that 
 pleads for ignorance as the mother of devotion. Besides books 
 on religious subjects, he published many small and cheap treatises 
 on various branches of science ; plain and excellent grammars of 
 the dead languages ; expurgated editions of the classic authors ; 
 histories, civil and ecclesiastical ; and numerous abridgments of 
 impoitant works. Thus, in an age when readers were few, litera- 
 ture was almost forced upon the Methodists. Amongst his prin- 
 cipal -writings are, his Translation of the New Testament, with 
 Explanatory Notes ; his Journals, in six volumes, duodecimo ; his 
 Sermons, in nine ; his ' Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion ;' 
 his ' Defence of the Doctrine of Original Sin,' in answer to Dr. 
 Taylor, of Norwich ; his ' Answers ' to Mr. Church, and Bishops 
 Lavington and Warburton ; and his ' Predestination calmly con- 
 sidered ;' besides many smaller tracts on various important sub- 
 jects. His works were published by himself, in thirty-two 
 volumes, duodecimo, in the year 1771. In addition to these, he 
 published upwards of a hundred and twenty works, mostly 
 abridged from other authors. At a very early period the distri- 
 bution of religious tracts suggested itself to his active and ener- 
 ofetic mind, and ho wrote a considerable number. To circulate 
 these and other %vi-itings which he approved amongst the Societies, 
 he set up a printing-office and shop of his own. This was the 
 origin of the Book -room or (conference-office. The concern was 
 managed by a book steward, who was accountable to Mr. Wesley, 
 and on his death the property and management passed into the 
 hands of the Conference by a provision in his will. The office of 
 book-steward is one of importance. He is appointed by the Con- 
 ference from amongst themselves ; and his duties are, with the 
 assistance of a committee which is also chosen by the Conference, 
 to manage the bookselling department on behalf of the Wesleyan 
 body. The profits, which are considerable, belong to the Society, 
 and are appropriated to the different funds. The book-steward 
 lays a financial statement quarterly before the committee, and 
 annually before the Conference. Besides the book-steward, the 
 Cunference appoints an editor and assistant-editor, who are 
 also members of their own body, and whose appointment is 
 from year to year. Their business is to see that the standard 
 
WESLEYANS. 447 
 
 works belonging to the book-room, particularly those by Wesley 
 and Fletcher, together witli the hymn-book in common use, be 
 correctly printed from time to time. And the Wesleyan Metho- 
 dist Magazine is especially confided to them. Tliis is now, with 
 one exception, the oldest specimen of our periodical literature. 
 It originated with Wesley himself, under the title of the Ar- 
 minian Magazine. 
 
 The publications of the book -room are sold by the preachers 
 in their circuits, and have at least a semi-official character. A 
 minute of Conference expressly commands "that no preacher 
 shall sell at our chapels, or publish from our pulpits, any books 
 but such as are sent from the book-room." The book-room com- 
 mittee may purchase the copyright of any manuscript or printed 
 work, having first carefully and impartially examined it, on behalf 
 of the Conference. 
 
 Of the works thus published, the greater proportion, being in- 
 tended for the Wesleyan Societies, wear something of a sectarian 
 garb to the eye of a general reader. But even here the Wesleyan 
 press has no reason to flinch from a comparison with the religious 
 literature either of Churchmen or Dissenters. Until lately, it has 
 made no pretensions to learning in the high sense ; but for a 
 masculine breadth of understanding, for a powerful simplicity, 
 and for that deep earnestness which insures respect, it has been 
 noted ever since the days of Wesley, who first stamped it with 
 these noble features. The tawdry, sentimental style of theology 
 has not often passed the rough ordeal of the book-room com- 
 mittee. 
 
 One work has issued from the Conference press which seems 
 already to have vindicated its claims to be received into our stan- 
 dard literature. We speak, of course, of the ' Theological Insti- 
 tutes of Richard Watson.' The title is ambitious, but the work 
 justifies it. ' Calvin's Institutes' are a system of Christian theology 
 on the principles of Saint Augustine. Watson, with equal tena- 
 city, defends the scheme of Arminius. No human writing ever 
 produced, or, from the nature of things, ever can again produce, 
 such an impression upon the religious faith of Europe as the 
 great work of Calvin ; and it was a bold attempt in a Methodist 
 preacher to invite comparison, where anything short of great 
 success must have been a childish failure. Yet Watson's confi- 
 dence in his own powers was not misplaced. His work is of 
 
■148 WESLEYAXS. 
 
 sterling value ; and, hail he been less anxious to enforce a system, 
 and to defend the peculiarities of Wesleyan doctrine and polity, it 
 could scarcely fail to be universally admired. 
 
 No Wesleyan writer has obtained so much of the public attention 
 as Dr. Adam Clarke. His ' Commentary on the Holy Scriptures' 
 is too well known, and the judgment of the public has beeu too 
 long expressed, to allow us in these pages to discuss the question 
 of its merits. It is very unequal ; some parts, especially the Pen- 
 tateuch and some of the historical books of the Old Testament, 
 are laboured with great care. Others ai'e dismissed with a degree 
 of haste approaching levity. Still the interest which always belongs 
 to the workings of an honest mind, acute and original, accom- 
 panies the work on every page, and explains its popularity. In 
 justice to the Wesleyan creed let it be remaxked that this work 
 is not published by the Conference, nor has their sanction. We 
 have already mentioned that Dr. Adam Clarke's view of the 
 sonship of Christ is rejected by the Confei'ence. There are otter 
 fanciful opinions, — as, for instance, that our first parents were 
 tempted by Satan under the form of a monkey, and that Judas, 
 the traitor, died a penitent, — to which Dr. Clarke has gained^ we 
 believe, but few converts amongst any class of his readers. 
 
 A number of sects have arisen from the parent stem of ancient 
 Methodism. It 'is scarcely necessary to describe them, since 
 their doctrines are those of the old Methodists, and in Church 
 government there is no essential difference except in the intro- 
 duction of laymen into their conferences. Of the New Connexion 
 we shall speak separately. 
 
 1. The Primitive Methodists appeared about the year 1810. 
 A few of the preachers, smitten with the American revivals, 
 introduced camp meetings, as they were termed, in their circuits. 
 These the Conference condemned : " even supposing," they said 
 in their Minutes in 1807, " that such meetings are to be allowed 
 in America, they are highly improper in England, and we disclaim 
 all connexion with them." A schism followed ; and just as the 
 old society were called Methodists tlie secc<lers obtained the . 
 name of Ranters. Their conference is composed of one-third 
 travelling preachers and two-thirds laymen ; namely, local 
 preachers, class leaders, and circuit stewai'ds. They have several 
 missions in foreign parts ; and in England and Wales about one 
 huiiihvd thousand members. 
 
WESLEYANy. 449 
 
 2. The Bryanites, or Bible Christians, separated in 18-15. 
 under WilHain O' Bryan, a AVesloyan local preacher. They 
 have assumed the name of Bible Christians. They differ little 
 in points of doctrine from other Methodists. Their conference is 
 composed of an equal number of ministers and laymen. They, 
 as well as the Primitive Methodists, allow of female preachers. 
 Their aim, too, appears to be to restore Methodism to its primi- 
 tive simplicity. There are thirteen thousand members in society. 
 
 3. The Wesleyan Methodist Association arose in consequence 
 of the disputes which followed the expulsion of Dr. Warren. It 
 has not assumed the title of a Church, and would probably fall 
 back into the old connexion were its grievances removed. On 
 all those points on which it was dissatisfied with the Conference 
 it has established within itself an amended system of Church 
 government. Its annual assembly admits the laity as represen- 
 tatives, and their number is regulated by that of their con- 
 stituents : circuits with less than five hundred members sending 
 one ; less than a thousand, two ; and more than a thousand, 
 three, delegates. The annual assembly admits or censures and 
 excludes preachers, and has the direction of the funds. But 
 each circuit governs itself by its local courts, without any inter- 
 ference as to the manasfement of its internal affairs. According 
 to the returns of the late census, it has three hundred and 
 twenty-nine chapels in England and Wales ; ninety itinerant 
 preachers ; a thousand local preachers ; and more than nineteen 
 thousand members in society. 
 
 4. The Wesleyan Methodist reformers do not wish to be 
 regarded as a separate Church, or even an independent con- 
 nexion ; they consider themselves as having been illegally ex- 
 pelled, in consequence of the quarrel which originated in the 
 matter of the Fly-Sheets. They occupy the same position with 
 regard to the old Methodists which the old Methodists themselves 
 occupied, a hundred years ago, with regard to the Church of 
 England ; professing and sincerely entertaining a high regard 
 for a communion by which they are cast out; while they them- 
 selves, on the other hand, are setting at nought its discipline in 
 some important particulars. Of the hundred thousand members 
 lost to the old Wesleyans, about one-half, or fifty-two thousand, 
 have joined the reformers. They are at present led by the 
 expelled preachers, assistcxl by no fewer than two thousand eigiit 
 
 VOL. II. 2 G 
 
450 WESLEYAN METHODIST NEW CONNEXION. 
 
 hundred lay preachers. Their efforts are still directed to the 
 reform of the old connexion, and their future history must 
 depend in a great measure upon the success or failure of the 
 agitation in which they are now engaged. 
 
 The authorities consulted in the foregoing article are — Moore's Life of 
 Wesley ; H. Watson's Life of Wesley ; Wesley's Journals ; Tfie Centenai-y of 
 Wesleyan Methodism, by Thomas Jackson, President of the Conference ; A 
 Compendium of the Laws and licyulations of Wesleyan Methoilism, by Ed- 
 mund Grindrod ; The Constitution and Discipline of Wesleyan Methodism, by 
 Qeorge Turner ; Wesleyan Methodism as the System of a Christian Church, by 
 the liev. William B. liule, D.D. ; An Essay on the Constitution of Wesleyan 
 Methodism, hy John Beecham, D.I)., Ex-president of the Conference ; The 
 Ministry and Polity of the Christian Church in relation to the 2>'i'iucijjles pro- 
 fessed by the Wesleyan Methodists, by the Bev. Alfred Barrett. All the above- 
 mentioned are published at the Conference Office, and have an official, or semi- 
 official, character. 
 
 The recent disputes in the Wesleyan Connexion have been investigated in 
 the following publications , — The Fly Sheets, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 ; Minutes of 
 the Conference, 1849 to 1853 ; Methodism Past and Pvese?;^ (sanctioned by the 
 Mediation Committee) ,- Declaration of Wesleyan Methodist Officers and Mem- 
 bers on the State of the Connexion, Birmingham, 1851 and 1852 ; Address of 
 the Mediation Committee, Birminyliam, 1852 ; The Church which stands alone 
 in Protestantism ; and various other Tracts and Papers issued by the Reform 
 Association, Exeter Hall, London. Priestly Despotism ramj)ant in the Wes- 
 leyan Conference ; A Letter to the Bight Hon. Lord John Bussell, M.P., 
 London, 1853 ; Correspondence between the Bev. Qeorge Osborne and Apsley 
 Pellatt, Esq., M.P., London, 1854. These have been replied to, from time to 
 time, on behalf of the Conference, in the Watchman newspaper, Tlte Wesleyan 
 Methodist Magazine, and in Grindrod's Compendium, and similar treatises. 
 
 TX7ESLEYAN METHODIST NEW CONNEXION.— The 
 Rev. Alexander Kilham was the founder of the New Con- 
 nexion, which originated in 1797, soon after the death of Wesley. 
 Kilham, a zealous and effective preacher amongst the Methodists, 
 was born at Epworth, in Lincolnshire, the birthplace of the 
 Wesleys, in 1762. His followers complain that neither their 
 cause nor their leader's character have had justice done to them. 
 " From legal penalties," they say, " we have been happily exempt ; 
 but for many years the tongue of slander was seldom silent, and 
 the pen of bitter sarcasm was employed against us by our more 
 powerful opponents. The times, too, were unpropitious to us ; 
 public opinion was not ripe to estimate ovu- principles, and scarcely 
 
WESLEY AN METIJODIST NEW CONNEXION. 451 
 
 to give credit to our motives." The men who make this appeal 
 are certainly entitled to a hearing. 
 
 Kilhain preached in days when the preacher's life was often in 
 jeopardy. He had his full share of hardships and marvellous 
 escapes : at length, being threatened with imprisonment if he 
 persisted in preaching in a town in Yorkshire, he sheltered him- 
 self beneath the Toleration Act, and professing to be, what in 
 fact he was, a Dissenter, he obtained a licence, which placed him 
 beyond the reach of his opponents. Wesley, in general, did not 
 allow his preachers to take out a licence as dissenting ministers ; 
 they were not, he said, Dissenters, nor were they even ministers 
 within the meaning of the Act. Yet the principles of Methodism 
 embraced all denominations in its earlier days, and a Dissenter, 
 as such, was not disqualified from joining the Vv^esleyan ranks. 
 Kilham, however, had obtained his licence to preach as a Dis- 
 senter before he was accepted by Wesley as a preacher in full 
 connexion, or appointed to a circuit by the Conference. On the 
 death of Wesley commotions immediately began. Kilham, and 
 the comparatively few who at present entertained his sentiments, 
 were not prevented by their respect for the founder of Methodism 
 from questioning the wisdom of his conduct in the constitution 
 which he gave to his societies. They complained that the com- 
 munity of which he was the head was designed by him never to 
 assume the proper character and position of a Church, but to 
 exist as a peculiar organization within the pale of the Establish- 
 ment, and to act as an auxiliary to it. Hence the members, in 
 their united capacity, were called Societies, not Churches ; the 
 preachers not ministers, but helpers or lay-preachers ; and in the 
 appellation given to other officers, such as stewards and leaders, 
 care was taken to adopt no designation which could possibly 
 indicate for the Methodist body the j3rerogatives of a Church. 
 Both the names and the functions proper to a Church were to be 
 regarded as the exclusive right of the Establishment, and were, 
 therefore, rigidly withheld from the Methodist conmumity. In 
 conformity to this policy, preaching was forbidden during the 
 hours of Church service ; the preachers were neither to receive 
 ordination, nor to assume the right of administering the sacra- 
 ments of baptism and the Lord's Svipper. These privileges were 
 to be sought for by the people at the hands, not of their own 
 pastors, but of Church ministers, and conformity to this regula- 
 
 2 (5 2 
 
452 WESLEYAN METHODIST NEW CONNEXION. 
 
 tion was regarded by them as a practical repudiation of dissent 
 and a mark of adherence to the Established Church. Kilham 
 Avas of opinion, too, that Wesley had erred in shoA\ang too great 
 a tenacity of arbitrary power, and still more in transfemng his 
 own absolute authority to the preachers, especially to the hundred, 
 who composed the annual Conference, and were the sole legisla- 
 tors and governors of the body, to the exclusion of laymen. 
 The discussion of these questions agitated the whole connexion 
 for several years, and various parties were formed, some contend- 
 ing for a strict adherence to the Church of England ; some 
 anxious that no changes should be made ; while some would have 
 restrained the powers of the Conference, and others would have 
 erected Methodism, as it stood, into a Church. Kilham was at 
 the head of another class, who went still further than the rest ; 
 he contended for two objects at once, an entire separation from 
 the Church, including the formation of Methodism into a distinct 
 and independent community, and also such a remodelling of its 
 constitution as would give the laity a full share in the adminis- 
 tration and government of the body. Not to repeat the history 
 of a dispute through Avhich we have already travelled, Kilham, 
 after being censured by the Conference of 1791, was finally ex- 
 pelled at the Conference of 1796. His offence was a pamphlet, 
 entitled " The Progi'ess of Liberty," in which he lays down the 
 outlines of a constitution which he " proposed to the considera- 
 tion of the people called Methodists." The outline embraces the 
 principles adopted by the New Connexion as the elements of 
 their constitution. It contains the following particulars : — 
 
 First. That instead of the preachers having the sole power to 
 admit and expel members, these acts should be done with the 
 consent of the people or their representatives. 
 
 Second. That the members should have a voice in choosing 
 their oa\ti leaders. 
 
 Third. That local preachers, instead of being appointed by the 
 circuit preacher, should be examined and approved by the 
 leaders' and quarterly meetings ; and with the latter meeting 
 also should rest the power of receiving and dismissing them. 
 
 Fourth. That as it was impossible to allow the people to ap- 
 point their own ministei^s, on account of the itinerant plan, yet 
 the quarterly meetings should have a voice in recommending 
 preachers to travel. 
 
WESLEYAN METHODIST NEW CONNEXION. 453 
 
 Fifth. That lay -delegates, appointed by the quarterly meetings, 
 should attend the district meetings. 
 
 And lastly, he proposes, with submission to the preachers and 
 the connexion at largo, to appoint one or two lay delegates from 
 every district meeting, to attend the Conference. 
 
 Kilham did not immediately join another community, or set 
 up his own standard ; he even discouraged the project of his 
 more zealous friends to raise a subscription, in order to meet the 
 expenses should a separation occur as well as to encourage such 
 preachers as might be disposed to join them. He still hoped 
 that a division might be avoided, but whatever might be the 
 issue, " he would hold out no golden bait to allure others." The 
 Conference was held at Leeds, in 1 797, and the reformers made 
 their last effort. Delegates from different places had been sent 
 to remonstrate and petition. It was suggested to the delegates 
 that one condition should be the restoration of Kilham to the 
 ministry, but, with great singleness of heart, he insisted that no 
 treaty, in reference to himself, should embarrass their negocia- 
 tions with the Conference. The delegates or deputation then 
 submitted three different propositions. The first was, that two 
 or more lay representatives from each district meeting should be 
 admitted into Conference, to co-operate with the preachers in 
 transacting the general business of the connexion. This was 
 rejected by the Conference. The second proposition submitted 
 was, that representatives might be admitted into the district 
 meetings, to vmite with the ministers in the general business of 
 each district respectively. This proposition also the Conference 
 rejected. The third measure proposed by the delegates was, that 
 representatives should be sent from the different circuits to the 
 place where the Conference was held, but to meet in an apart- 
 ment by themselves, and thus constitute a second house of 
 legislature, somewhat like the House of Commons ; and that no 
 new law or alteration should be rendered valid unless approved 
 by this lay convention. Such a method of transacting business 
 would, no doubt, have involved inconveniences ; but more favour- 
 able measures being rejected, the delegates had recom-se to this 
 final plan, in order to secure the peace of the connexion and 
 prevent a division. This proposition was, however, rejected by 
 the Conference. The concessions actually made have been 
 already stated in our history of the older Wesleyans. 
 
454 WESLEYAX METHODIST NEW CONNEXION. 
 
 Kilham and three preachers — Thom, Everfield, and Cum- 
 mings — v.'ho of their o^^^l free will left the Conference and caat in 
 their lot with him, now felt themselves at liberty to organize a 
 distinct denomination. On the 9th of August, 1797, these 
 brethren, with a number of delegates, met in Ebenezer Chapel, 
 at Leeds, which they had purchased from the Baptists, and here 
 a constitution was prepared, and a secession Church formed in 
 accordance with the principles which Mr. Kilham had advocated. 
 The New Connexion sprang into existence with about five thou- 
 sand members. Twelve circuits were immediately formed, the 
 centres of which were the large manufacturing towns in the north 
 of England. South of the Trent they had not yet obtained a foot- 
 ing. Kilham, the founder of the New Connexion, died, exhausted 
 with hard service, on the 20th of December, 1798, aged thirty- 
 six. In zeal and diligence, and in active courage, he was perhaps 
 not inferior to Wesley himself, whom he reverenced as his guide 
 and teacher. What his capacity might have been as a ruler in 
 the Church his premature death does not enable us to judge- 
 The stone which covers his remains in the chapel-yard at Not- 
 tingham, describes his character as he appeared to those who 
 knew him well. The greatness of his mind is not to be estimated 
 by the sphere in which he moved. It may be that Kilham 
 possessed all the energy of Luther without his grossness ; at 
 least his friends, it is evident, looked upon liim with no ordinary 
 feelings of respect. The inscription we transcribe : — 
 
 " To the memory of Alexander Kilham, minister of the gospel. 
 A faithful servant in the vineyard of Christ. A zealous defender 
 of the rights of the people against attempts to force on them a 
 priestly domination. Deserted by many of his friends, he lived 
 to see the cause flourish in which he died a martyr. In promo- 
 ting the glory of God, and the happiness of his brethren, he 
 counted nothing too dear a sacriiice. In this pursuit, ease and 
 indulgence were despised by him. His last hours were peaceful 
 and triumphant ; unembittered by a moment's repentance for 
 having opposed corruption in the Church, he blessed God that he 
 had made him instrumental in doing it, and only regretted that he 
 had not done it more faithfully. Committing his soul to his 
 Redeemer, he took his flight to a better world December 20th, 
 1798, aged 36." 
 
 The ecclesiastical constitution established by Kilham and his 
 
WESLEY AN METHODIST NEW CONNEXION. 455 
 
 friends was intended to give that power to the laity which the 
 Conference of the old connexion denied to them. With this 
 view their Conference is constituted upon the representative 
 system. Each circuit elects at the previous quarterly meeting 
 one preacher and one layman, its representatives ; or, should 
 the circuit be too poor to bear the expences of two representatives, 
 then a preacher and a layman alternately. Connexional office- 
 bearers are also members of Conference ; namely, the treasurers 
 of the various funds, the secretary and treasurer of the missions, 
 and the steward and treasurer of the book-room. The trustees 
 of chapels are allowed a representative when their legal rights 
 are concerned. From the representatives thus chosen the Con- 
 ference appoints its guardian representatives ; of whom the 
 presence of six is necessary to render the constitution legally 
 complete. Thus the Conference consists of ministers, lay repre- 
 sentatives, and guardian representatives. The last Conference, 
 held at Sheffield in 1855, consisted of sixty-nine representatives, 
 lay and clerical, five treasurers and secretaries, ten guardian 
 representatives, and two delegates from the Irish Conference. 
 
 The history of the New Connexion during its existence of more 
 than half a century, has not been chequered by those occurrences, 
 whether disastrous or otherwise, which claim a conspicvious place 
 in history. Nor has it been marked with any extraordinary 
 success. A small society exists in Ireland, which contains about 
 seven hundred members. In Canada, which is divided into seven 
 districts, there are seven thousand four hundred members. At 
 home the New Connexion numbers sixteen thousand eight hundred 
 members. The late schisms in the old connexion have not, to 
 any perceptible extent, increased the new one. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact in the history of Methodism that every 
 secession of importance has retained the doctrines and ordinances 
 of the old connexion, differing solely from it on the question of 
 Church polity. Each in succession has organized a system of lay 
 representation in its Conference. Thus the Methodist New 
 Connexion is to be regarded as the eldest of a number of inde- 
 pendent Methodist Churches, amongst all of whom in doctrine 
 there is a perfect agreement, and in discipline scarcely a shade of 
 difference. These secessions have not been confined to Europe- 
 In America two ruptures have taken place. The "Protestant 
 Methodists " were cast out from the Episcopal connexion in 
 
456 WKiSLEYAN .AIETIIODIST KE\V CONNEXION. 
 
 1828, and the " Weslevan Methodist Church" seceded, on the 
 ground of slavery, in 1842. The former contains fifty-five 
 thousand, the hitter sixteen thousand members. Were all these 
 secessions, abroad and at home, consolidated into one denomina- 
 tion, they woiild form a powerful Wesleyan free Church, num- 
 bering at least to a hundred and fifty thousand members. It 
 seems probable that such an union will be attempted, for there 
 is a kindly feeling to each other amongst aU the seceders. If it 
 should be carried into effect a powerful community will be 
 formed wliich may hereafter produce upon the world at large 
 impressions perhaps as deep, and not less important than those 
 which Wesley and his followers impressed in the last century 
 upon Great Britain. 
 
 The New Connexion publishes a magazine, of which between 
 three and four thousand copies are circulated. This is a respect- 
 able journal. It contains occasional essays in theology and general 
 literature, which would do no discredit to the pages of some of 
 our periodicals of much higher pretensions. And as the work of 
 self-educated men it will be read, by more favoured students, at 
 once with interest and with candour. It also publishes a " Juve- 
 nile Instructor," monthly, and a weekly newspaper, the " Metho- 
 dist Pilot," of both of which the sale is considerable. It is not a 
 wealthy body, although within a few years past it has subscribed 
 3(5,000/. for reducing the debts on chapels, which has placed the 
 connexion in this respect in easy circumstances. Its preachers, 
 engaged in constant labours amongst the poorer classes, have not 
 aspired to literary honours ; nor has it imitated the older con- 
 nexion in erecting colleges and theological institutions. 
 
 Life of Rev. Alexander Kilham; by T. Blackivell. Metho- 
 dist Reform and its Originator ; by William Cooke. General 
 Rules of the Methodist Neiv Connexion ; London, 185-i, Min- 
 'utes of the Conference of the Methodist Neiu Connexion, com- 
 jwsed of Ministers and Lay Representatives, lield at Sheffield, 
 1855. The Methodist Neiv Connexion Magazine. Repoii of 
 the New Connexions Missionary Society to Ireland and 
 Canada, 1855. 
 
[ 457 ] 
 
 POSTSCEIPT. 
 
 Vol. i. p. 41. — The case of the stone altar, introduced at St. 
 Sepulchre's church, Cambridge, by the Camden Society, was 
 carried, not as stated above, before the archdeacon, but before 
 the chancellor of the diocese, in the form of an application 
 for a Faculty to confirm the alterations made by the Camden 
 Society, against Avhich Mr. Faulkner, the incumbent, had ob- 
 jected. The Faculty was granted ; upon which the incumbent 
 appealed to the Court of Arches, where the judge, Sir Herbert 
 Jenner Fust, cancelled that part of the Faculty which had sanc- 
 tioned the stone altar and the credence table. 
 
 The Right Honourable Stephen Lushington, D. C. L., &c., by 
 a judgment delivered in the Consistory Court of the Bishop of 
 London, December 5, 1855, in the case of Westerton and others 
 against Liddell and others, has again decided against the legality 
 of stone altars and credence tables, and has ordered their re- 
 moval from the churches of St. Barnabas and St. Paul's Knights - 
 bridge, together with a brazen rood screen from the former 
 church and other ornaments. 
 
 Vol. ii. pp. 44 and 45, for "articles of 1695," read " 1595 " 
 twice. 
 
[ 459 J 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A'Beckett, Thomas, i. 15, 194. 
 Aberdeen, Lord, condemns the conduct of 
 
 the General Assembly, i. 355. 
 Abuna, or patriarch of Abyssinia, i. 1, 5. 
 Abyssinia, Church of, when planted, i. 1. 
 
 visited by the Jesuits, i. 3. 
 
 ■ visited by Bruce, Salt, and others, 
 
 1.7. 
 
 present state of, i. 9. 
 
 Act of Uniformity of 1559, i. 236 ; ii. 129. 
 
 of 16G2, i. 279, 446. 
 
 Act of Toleration, i. 293 ; ii. 17. 
 
 Adam, Thomas, the Quaker prophet, i. 431. 
 
 Adrian, Pope, summons the Council of 
 Trent, ii. 192. 
 
 Aistulphus assaults the city of Kome, ii. 153. 
 
 Alban, Saint, i. 170. 
 
 Albigenses, their history, i. 1 1 ; ii. 365. 
 
 crushed by the Inquisition, i. 18. 
 
 Alexander VI., Pope, ii. 187. 
 
 Alexandria, Patriarch of, i. 1 , 3, 63, 1 48. 
 
 Amalric, founder of the Beghards, or 
 Beguins, i. 97. 
 
 America, Episcopal Church of, i. 19. 
 
 ■ its General Convention, &c., i. 23. 
 
 its present condition, i. 28. 
 
 American Episcopal Methodist Church, ii. 
 388. 
 
 Anabaptists, see Baptists. 
 
 Anne, Queen, accession of, i. 303 ; ii. 312. 
 
 Anglo-Catholics, rise of the party, i. 30. 
 
 their principles, i. 32. 
 
 their history, i. 37. 
 
 Ausdm holds his synod at Winchester, i. 
 192. 
 
 Antinomians, English, history of, i. 55. 
 
 Ariaos, history of, i. 57. 
 
 Arius, his life and doctrines, i, 57. 
 
 Armenia, Church of, i. 62. 
 
 its doctrines, i. 64. 
 
 Armenian Catholic Church, i. 65. 
 
 Arminians, history of, i. 66. 
 
 Calvinistic or Quinquarticular Con- 
 troversy, i. 67. 
 
 Arminians, their contests and sufferings, 
 
 i. 70. 
 Arminianism in the Church of England 
 
 i. 74, 259, 262. 
 
 in the Church of Rome, i. 75. 
 
 in the Methodist Churches, ii. 381. 
 
 Arminius, his life, i. 66. 
 
 his sentiments as stated by himself, 
 
 i. 69. 
 Arnold, Dr., i. 326. 
 Articles, the Thirty-nine, i. 242. 
 the Lambeth, i. 253. 
 
 Articles, Lords of the, ii. 268. 
 Assembly, Westminster, ii. 109, 276. 
 Assembly, General, of Scotland, its consti- 
 tution, ii. 255. 
 
 of the Free Church formed, i. 367. 
 
 Auchterarder Case, the, i. 348. 
 
 carried to the House of Lords, i. 350. 
 
 Augustine monks, ii. 176. 
 Auto-da-Ffe, cruelty of, ii. 180. 
 
 Bache, Rev. S., ii. 358. 
 Bands, Methodist, ii. 412. 
 Bangorian Controversy, i. 306. 
 Baptists or Anabaptists, why so called, i. 77. 
 points in which they differ from 
 
 other Churches, i. 78. 
 
 German, under Miinzer, i. 79. 
 
 English, in the sixteenth century, 
 
 i. 81. 
 
 their recent history, i. 83. 
 
 their general literature, i. 85. 
 
 in America, i. 86. 
 
 Seventh-day, i. 87. 
 
 Free-Will, i. 88. 
 
 Scotch, i. 88. 
 
 Negro congregation, i. 88. 
 
 Baptismal Regeneration, how defined, i. 34. 
 
 Barby, Synod at, ii. 115. 
 
 Barclay, Robert, an eminent Quaker, i. 
 
 447, 451. 
 
 his " Apology," i. 448. 
 
 Barnveldte died on the Scaffold, i. 73. 
 
4()0 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Baronius, Cardinal, ii. 158. 
 
 Barrow, a Brownist Minister, executed, i. 
 
 129. 
 Baxter disputes at the Savoy Coufereuce, 
 
 &c., i. 278; ii. 116. 
 
 edc, Venerable, i. 177. 
 Beecham, Dr., ii. 416. 
 Behmen, or Bohm, founder of the Beh- 
 
 menites, i. 89. 
 Belimeuites, history of, i. 89. 
 
 now extinct, i. 91. 
 
 Ik-Lsham, Mr., ii. 21,, 351. 
 
 Benedictines, their Order founded, ii. 147. 
 
 Kules of, ii. 149. 
 
 Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, ii. 51. 
 
 Berlin, Synod at, i. 145. 
 
 Bernard, Saint, i. 12, 14. 
 
 Beypoporchins, a Russian sect, ii. 232. 
 
 Blackheath, Wesley preaches upon, ii. 377. 
 
 Blair, Dr., his w-ritings, ii. 286. 
 
 Blan >rata, the friend of Socinus, ii. 337. 
 
 Bockhold, King of the Miinzer Baptists, i.80. 
 
 Boniface, a Briton by birth, ii. 152. 
 
 Boni homines or Cathari, i. 13. 
 
 Bonner, Bishop, i. 228, 233. 
 
 Book of Sports, i. 208. 
 
 Book-room, Wesleyan, ii. 447. 
 
 Boston, Unitarianism there, ii. 354. 
 
 Brethren of the Free Spirit, i. 96. 
 
 their morals assailed, i. 98. 
 
 become extinct, i. 100. 
 
 Brethren, Plymouth, their first appearance, 
 
 i. 91. 
 
 their principles, i. 92. 
 
 Brethren, United, or Moravians, their 
 
 origin, i. 100. 
 
 their early history, i. 101. 
 
 since 1700, i. 111. 
 
 • their constitution, i. 119. 
 
 Brownists, the, an English sect, i. 123. 
 
 their persecutions, i. 126. 
 
 emigration, i. 130. 
 
 Browns, the, expelled from America, i. 20. 
 Bucer, Martin, i. 12.5, 135, 225. 
 Buchanan, Claudius, Dr., his labours in 
 
 India, ii., 100. 
 Burnet, Bishop, i. 214; ii. 279, 282. 
 Bute, Marquis of, i. 359. 
 Butler, Bishop, his "Analogy," i. 312. 
 
 Calixtu-s, his followers called 8yncretists> 
 ii. so. 
 
 I Calvin, John, i. 132, 137 ; ii. 77, 339. 
 
 Calvinists, their origin and history, i. 132. 
 
 I their doctrines, i. 138. 
 
 , in Germanj', i. 143. 
 
 1 Calvinistic Methodists, ii, 4. 
 
 Cameron, Uichard, i. 150. 
 
 Camcronians, si;e Covenanters. 
 
 Camisards, War of, i. 411, 414. 
 
 Canterbury Book, the, i. 172. 
 
 Cardinals, College of, ii. 168. 
 
 Carmelites, origin of, ii. 176. 
 
 Cartwright, John, the Puritan leader, i. 131. 
 
 Catholic Armenian Cliurch, i. 65. 
 
 Catholicos, the, Armenian primate, i. 65. 
 
 Catholics, see Roman Catholics. 
 
 Cecilianus the Donatist, i. 163. 
 
 Chaldeans, or Roman Nestorians, ii. 107. 
 
 Charles I., ii. 136. 
 
 Charles V., edict against the Anabaptists, 
 i. 80. 
 
 Charles II., persecution of the Quakers, 
 i. 445. 
 
 Charles IX., accession and death, i. 385, 401. 
 
 Charles the Great, i. 155 ; ii. loO. 
 
 Chalmers, Dr., i. 346, 347, 348, 354; ii. 
 3.59, 360, 367, 371. 
 
 Clarke, Dr. Adam, ii. 448. 
 
 Coke, Dr., ordained bishop by Weslej', 
 ii. 387. 
 
 Conference, Wesleyan, ii. 374, 394, 409. 
 
 New Connexion, ii. 450. 
 
 Confession of Helvetia, i. 135. 
 
 of Faith, Knox's, ii. 251. 
 
 Congregationalists, ii. 9. 
 Convention, diocesan, of America, i. 25. 
 Conventicle Act, i. 442; ii. 3u4. 
 Convocation of 1562 completes the Refor- 
 mation, i. 239, 242. 
 
 of 1717 dissolved, i. 307. 
 
 its constitution and powers, i. 309. 
 
 Coptic Church, i. 1, 148. 
 Covenant, the National, i. 152 ; ii. 271. 
 Covenanters, their origin, i. 150. 
 their sufferings, i. 154. 
 
 Cranmer, Archbishop, i. 211, 219, 233. 
 Cyril, the rival of Nestorius, ii. 95. 
 
 Dauphine, Albigenses numerous in, i. 15. 
 
 David, Enii)eror of Abyssinia, i. 3. 
 
 David Beaton, Cardinal of St. Andrews, 
 
 ii. 240, 241, 245. 
 n^'vila the bistoiian. i. :v.i\. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 4(il 
 
 Decome, Church at, in Abyssinia, i. 4. 
 Delegates, lay, excluded from the Methodist 
 
 Conference, ii. 413, 442. 
 
 in the New Connexion, ii. 450. 
 
 Discipline, First Book of, ii. 252, 255. 
 
 Second Book of, ii. 263. 
 
 District Meetings, Methodist, ii. 407, 417, 
 
 419. 
 Doceta>, a sect of the Gnostics, i. 162. 
 Doddridge, Dr., his writings, ii. 20. 
 Dodwell, his opinions on Baptism, i. .305. 
 Dominic founds the Order of Dominicans, 
 
 ii. 148, 174. 
 Donatists, a faction rather than a sect, 
 
 i. 162. 
 
 their history, i. 163. 
 
 Dort, Synod of, i. 71, 259. 
 
 Diibourge, Anne, strangled and burnt at 
 
 Paris, i. 385. 
 Dunlop, Mr., drew up the Claim of Right, 
 
 i. 357. 
 Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, i. 
 
 183, 184. 
 
 Ebionites, a branch of the Gnostics, i. 485. 
 
 Edict of Nantes, i. 402. 
 
 • revocation of, i. 408. 
 
 I'lducation, state of, in the reign of James I., 
 i. 262. 
 
 Edward VI., liturgical reform in his reign, 
 i. 225. 
 
 Egyptian or Coptic Church, i. 148. 
 
 Elders, form and manner of ordaining Me- 
 thodist, ii. 402. 
 
 Election of popes, how conducted, ii. 169. 
 
 Elizabeth, accession of, i. 235. 
 
 England, Church of, i. 169. 
 
 under the Romans, i. 170. 
 
 under the Anglo-Saxons, i. 174. 
 
 at the Conquest, i. 188. 
 
 Beckett — the Constitutions of Cla- 
 
 readon, i. 195. 
 
 dawn of the Reformation, i. 202. 
 
 accession of Henry VIII., i. 210. 
 
 declared head of the Church, 
 
 i. 212. 
 
 dissolves religious houses. 
 
 i. 216. 
 
 state of the Church at his 
 
 death, i. 220. 
 
 Edward VI. — the Reformation ad- 
 vances, i. 223. 
 
 England, Church of— death of Edward VI, 
 
 — the Martyrs, i. 230. 
 death of Mary, and accession of 
 
 Elizabeth, i. 235. 
 
 progress of the Reformation, i, 239. 
 
 the I'uritans, i. 248. 
 
 accession of James, i. 255. 
 
 Laud — the Arminians, i. 260. 
 
 troubles in Church and State, i, 265. 
 
 the Church overthrown, i. 276. 
 
 restored with Charles II., i. 277. 
 
 ■ the Savoy Conference, i. 280. 
 
 the Seven Bishops imprisoned, i. 292. 
 
 Commission of 1687, i. 294. 
 
 Queen Anne — the Convocation, i. 
 
 299. 
 
 state of religion in England, i. 312.> 
 the Feathers' Tavern Association 
 
 i. 314. 
 
 later history, i. 322. 
 
 Ephesus, Council of, ii. 96. 
 Episcopalian government attempted in Scot- 
 land, i. 302. 
 Erastians, ii. 109. 
 Eusebius of Csesarea, i. 58. 
 of Nicomedia, i. 58, 480. 
 
 Farnovians, an Arian sect, ii. 340, 342. 
 Faustus Socinus, founder of the Sociuiansj 
 
 ii. 341, 343. 
 Feathers' Tavern Association, i. 314, 317. 
 Fell, Margaret, intercedes for the Quakers? 
 
 i. 441. 
 Field imprisoned, ii. 133. 
 Flysheets, the, ii. 434. 
 Fox, George, the Quaker, i. 225, 420, 447. 
 Franciscans, Order of, ii. 176, 177. 
 Frederic the Great, i. 144. 
 Elector of Saxony supports Luther 
 
 ii. 70. 
 Fredericstadt built by the Arminians, i. 73. 
 Free Church of Scotland, i. 336. 
 
 its origin, i. 364. 
 
 General Assembly, i. 369. 
 
 • present condition, i. 380. 
 
 French Protestant Church, i. 374. 
 
 its long afflictions, i. 376. 
 
 the religious wars, i. 388. 
 
 murder of Coligny, i. 395. 
 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew, i. 39.^. 
 
 formation of the League, i. 401. 
 
 edict of Nantes, i. 402. 
 
462 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 French Protestant Church— Louis XIV. a 
 persecutor, i. 407. 
 
 the Caniisards, i. 411. 
 
 present state of, i. 417. 
 
 Friends, Society of, or Quakers, their ori- 
 gin, i. 420. 
 
 sufferings and labours of Fox, i. 421. 
 
 Cromwell's kindness to, i. 429. 
 
 . persecutions of, in America, i. 434. 
 
 their history at home, i. 439. 
 
 Peun colonizes a tract of land in 
 
 America, i. 448. 
 
 recent discords in, i. 4,52. 
 
 present condition of, i. 455. 
 
 constitution of, i. 456. 
 
 Fuller, Andrew, a Baptist minister, i. 78. 
 
 Gali.ican Church, its relations with Rome, 
 ii. 205. 
 
 its four propositions, ii. 206, 
 
 Gama, Vasco de, ii. 99. 
 
 Gardiner, Bishop, imprisoned, i. 228, 232. 
 
 Garnac, Ikttle of, i. 390. 
 
 Gataker, Dr., opposes the Antinomians, 
 i. 56. 
 
 Gaunt, John of, protects Wickliffe, i. 206. 
 
 Georgia, Church of, i. 476. 
 
 German Anabaptists in England, i. 81. 
 
 Glass, John, secedes, ii. 296. 
 
 Gnostics, the, their history, i. 479. 
 
 Goodwin, John, the Arminian leader, ii. 1 3. 
 
 Goodwin, Thomas, ii. 15. 
 
 Gorhani controversy, i. 42. 
 
 Grand Committee of Accommodation, ii. U. 
 
 Gratian arranges the Roman Canon Law, 
 ii. 182. 
 
 Greek Church, history of, i 460. 
 
 in Poland, i. 471. 
 
 sects arising from, i. 476. 
 
 doctrines of, i. 478. 
 
 Greenwood executed, i. 129. 
 
 Gregory the Great, Pope, i. 53; ii. 144, 146. 
 
 VII., Pope, ii. 165. 
 
 Grindal, Archbishop, opposed to the Puri- 
 tans, i. 237, 238; ii. 133. 
 
 Hall, Robert, Baptist minister, i. 56, 78. 
 Henderson, Commissioner to Charles L, ii. 
 
 274. 
 Henry II., i. 15, 194. 
 
 VIII., i. 211, 216, 220. 
 
 IV. of Navarre, i. 401, 406. 
 
 Henry, Matthew, the commentator, ii. 19. 
 Herrnhut, the Moravian town, i. 112. 
 Hicks, Elias, leader of the Hicksites, i. 452, 
 
 454. 
 Ilildebrand, a Monk of Cluny, ii. 161. 
 
 Pope Gregory VII., ii. 162. 
 
 Hoadley, Dr., Jiangorian Controversy, i. 
 
 299. 
 Homilies, Book of, i. 221. 
 Hooker, Richard, his "Ecclesiastical 
 
 Polity," i. 251. 
 Hooper, Bishop and Martyr, i. 231 ; ii. 123. 
 Horsley, Dr., i. 314; ii. 352. 
 Howell Harris, coadjutor of Wesley, ii. 377. 
 Huguenots, i. 375. 
 
 IIuss, John, burnt at Constance, i. 185. 
 Huntingdon's, Lady, Connexion, ii. 1. 
 
 her first ministers ordained, ii. 7. 
 
 progress and decline, ii. 8. 
 
 Hymn Book, Wesleyan Methodist, ii. 411. 
 
 Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, 
 
 ii. 196. 
 Ina, King, his laws, i. 176. 
 Independents, the, ii. 9. 
 
 at the Westminster Assembly, ii. 11. 
 
 history since the Restoration, ii. 16. 
 
 their literature, ii. 24. 
 
 Indulgences, ii. 190. 
 
 Innocent III., Pope, i. 15, 17; ii. 173, 200. 
 
 Inquisition, the, erected, ii. 174, 177. 
 
 introduced into Italy, ii. 181. 
 
 Spain, ii. 186. 
 
 '' Institutio Christians Religionis," i, 133. 
 Ireland, Church of, ii. 25. 
 
 its submission to Rome, ii. 26, 
 
 at the Reformation, ii. 34. 
 
 Archbisliop Ussher, ii. 43. 
 
 Articles of 1615, ii. 44. 
 
 the Act of Union, ii. 51. 
 
 present state of, ii. 52. 
 
 Irvingites, the (Catholic Apostolic Church), 
 
 ii. 54. 
 
 founded by Edward Irving, ii. 56. 
 
 miraculous gifts, ii. 58. 
 
 Irving deposed by the Scotch 
 
 Church, ii. 61. 
 Church in Newman-street opened, 
 
 ii. 61. 
 
 death of Mr. Irving, ii. 62. 
 
 creed of, and form of government, 
 
 ii. 66. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 463 
 
 James I., his accession to the throne of 
 England, i. 255 ; ii. 266. 
 
 ■ death, i. 261. 
 
 II., his Declaration of Indulgence, 
 
 i. 290; ii. 262. 
 
 Jansenists, the, ii. 207, 209. 
 
 Japanese Converts, ii. 203. 
 
 Jeremiah It., patriarch of Constantinople, 
 ii. 221, 225. 
 
 Jerome of Prague, ii. 185. 
 
 Jesuits, their constitution, ii. 199, 210. 
 
 Jewell's Apology for the Church of Eng- 
 land, ii. 239. 
 
 Job, first patriarch of Moscow, ii, 221. 
 
 John, King of England, i. 200. 
 
 II., of Portugal, i. 2. 
 
 XXII., Pope, a French cardinal, ii. 
 
 183. 
 
 Jubilee, Papal, ii. 190. 
 
 Wesleyau, ii. 432. 
 
 Julian, Emperor, i. 166. 
 
 Justinian, Emperor, ii. 144. 
 
 Karn recalled from Rome, i. 235. 
 
 Kelso, Scotch and English annies at, ii. 275. 
 
 Kenyon College, America, i. 29. 
 
 Khlisti, or Flagellants, a Russian sect, ii. 
 
 231. 
 Kilham, founder of the Wesleyan New 
 
 Connexion, ii. 414, 450. 
 King, Dr., ii. 238. 
 Kioff, abode of the Russian patriarchs, i. 466; 
 
 ii. 220. 
 Knights Templars, ii. 180. 
 Knox, John, ii. 129, 246, 250, 261. 
 
 Lajibeth Articles, Whitgift's, i. 253. 
 
 Laufrauc, i. 189. 
 
 Languedoc, i. 11, 12, 15. 
 
 I^angham, Archbishop, ii. 365. 
 
 Latimei", upon Benefices, i. 229. 
 
 Laud, Archbishop, i. 74, 262, 270, 274; 
 
 ii. 139. 
 Leaders' meeting, ii. 405. 
 Lectureships, i. 267. 
 Leddra, the Quaker, i. 438. 
 Leigh ton, Archbishop, ii. 299, 301, 309. 
 Leo X., his pontificate, ii. 189. 
 Leo, the Isaurian, forbids Image Worship, 
 
 ii. 153. 
 Leslie assassinates Cardinal Beaton, ii. 244. 
 
 Lethendy and Mamoch, cases of, i. 351. 
 Lismore, Bishop of, ii. 30. 
 Liturgy, the, reviewed, i. 237. 
 
 of the Scotch bishops, i. 268. 
 
 Llorente', his history of the Inquisition, 
 
 ii. 179. 
 Lollards, i. 209 ; ii. 365. 
 of Kyle, ii. 239. 
 
 Louis XIV., i. 405. 
 
 Philippe, i. 417; ii. 214. 
 
 Napoleon, i. 418. 
 
 Love-feasts, Moravian, i. 121. 
 
 Wesleyan, ii. 412. 
 
 described by Tertullian, ii. 413, 
 
 Loyola, Ignatius, ii. 196. 
 
 Lucar, Cyril, Patriarch, i,473, 474; ii. 68, 
 
 108, 192. 
 Luther, Martin, i. 134. 
 Lutherans, history of, ii. 68. 
 
 protest at Spires, ii. 74. 
 
 religious war, ii. 76. 
 
 confession and forms, ii. 77. 
 
 recent history, ii. 80. 
 
 present state in Denmark and 
 
 Sweden, ii. 82. 
 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, i. 218. 
 
 Malachy O'Morgair, Archbishop of Ar- 
 magh, ii. 26. 
 
 Malakanes, a Russian sect, ii. 234. 
 
 Manichseans, i. 11, 14. 
 
 Martin Marprelate Tracts, i. 131. 
 
 Martinists, a Russian sect, ii. 233. 
 
 Martyr, Peter, i. 239, 386 ; ii. 126. 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, deposed, ii. 259. 
 
 De Medicis, i. 405. 
 
 Queen of England, her bigotry, 
 
 i. 230. 
 
 Massacre of the Huguenots, i. 392, 394. 
 
 Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse, ii. 79. 
 
 Mendicant Friars, ii. 174. 
 
 Methodists (see Wesleyans), ii. 379. 
 
 Monophysite or Monothelite, i. 63. 
 
 Moravians {see Brethren, United), i. 103. 
 
 banished from Moravia, i. 107. 
 
 persecuted by Charles V., i. 109. 
 
 slandered by Dr. Maclean, i. 115. 
 
 protected in England, i. 117. 
 
 constitution of the Church, i. 119. 
 
 ceremonial of, i. 121 ; ii. 379. 
 
 missionary enterprise of, i. 122. 
 
 Morelstschiki, a Russian sect, ii. 231. 
 
4G4 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mormonites, or Latter-day Saints, ii. 83. 
 
 Joseph Sniitli their founder, ii. 84. 
 
 the J3ook of Mormon, ii. 85. 
 
 progress of the imposture, ii. 8G. 
 
 Smith murdered, ii. 88. 
 
 Brigham Young succeeds him, 
 
 ii. 89. 
 
 ■ emigration to the Salt Lake, ii. 90. 
 
 doctrines, ii. 92. 
 
 numbers of the sect, ii. 94. 
 
 Munzer, the Anabaptist leader, executed, 
 
 i. 79. 
 Murray, Regent, ii. 260. 
 
 Nadvoo, a Mormon settlement, ii. 88. 
 Naylor, James, persecuted, i. 433. 
 Nazianzen, his sentiments, &c., ii. 361. 
 Nestorians, their origin and history, i. 477; 
 ii. 95. 
 
 patriarch, ii. 102. 
 
 religion, ii. 103. 
 
 present condition, ii. 104. 
 
 Nestorius condemned, A. p. 430, ii. 95. 
 
 Newman, Dr., his secession, i. 40. 
 
 Newport, Treaty of, ii. 275. 
 
 Newton, hkhop, i. 312. 
 
 New York, episcopal college in, i. 28. 
 
 Nice, Council of, ii. 141. 
 
 Nicholas, Emperor, ii. 227. 
 
 Ninians', Saint, Cathedral, Perth, ii. 319. 
 
 Nitschman, a Moravian bishop, ii. 373. 
 
 Nonconformists, i. 288, 442. 
 
 Nonintrusionists, i. 347, 356, 363. 
 
 Nonjurors, history of, i. 297 ; ii. 310. 
 
 their divisions, ii. 315. 
 
 become extinct, ii. 317. 
 
 Novatian, a Roman presbyter, ii. 142. 
 Novatians, an independent Church, ii. 142. 
 
 Oakley, Mr., his secession to Rome, i. 41. 
 
 Oden, abbot of Cluny, a reformer, ii. 161. 
 
 Olgar, Queen, converted, ii. 218. 
 
 introduces the Gospel into Russia, 
 
 ii. 218. 
 
 Organs, dispute concerning, ii. 421. 
 
 Origen, his opinions, ii. 359, 361. 
 
 Oroomiah, plains of, ii. 101. 
 
 Oswy decides against the British Church, 
 i. 175. 
 
 Otho the Great deposes Pope John XIL, 
 ii. 161. 
 
 Ovicdo. a Jesuit missionary, excommuni- 
 cates the wliole Abyssinian Church, i. 4. 
 
 Pacification, Plan of, ii. 395, 414. 
 
 Paley, Archdeacon, i. 316 
 
 Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, i. 239, 
 
 245; ii. 130. 
 Parkhui-st, Bishop, i. 237, 238. 
 Pascal, i. 175; ii. 167, 207. 
 Paul, Father, historian of the Council of 
 
 Trent, ii. 188, 195. 
 IIL constitutes the order of Jesuits, 
 
 ii. 196. 
 Paul's. St., Knightsbridge, i. 47. 
 Paulicians, the, ii. 304. 
 Patrick, Saint, ii. 25. 
 Patronage in Scotland, i. 339. 
 Act restoring, i. 341. 
 
 Pavannes burnt alive, i. 378. 
 Peel, Sir Robert, i. 362. 
 Penn, William, i. 434, 443, 448. 
 Pennsylvania colonized, i. 448. 
 Penry, his sufferings, i. 131. 
 Peter the Great, ii. 223, 224, 227. 
 Philippons, a Russian sect, ii. 232. 
 Pius VI., Pope, imprisoned, ii. 211. 
 
 VII., Pope, crowns Napoleon, ii. 
 
 212. 
 Poplicani (the Albigenses so caHed), i. 13. 
 Portuguese, i. 4, 5. 
 Potter, Archbishop, ii. 380. 
 Preachers, local, ii. 400. 
 Meetings, ii. 406. 
 
 Presbyterians, history of, ii. 109. 
 
 establish their Church in England, 
 
 ii. 114. 
 
 at the Restoration, ii. 117. 
 
 unite with the Independents, ii. 1 18. 
 
 their decline, ii. 120. 
 
 in the United States, ii. 123 
 
 Ministers ejected, ii. 303. 
 
 Prester John, ii. 97. 
 Priestley, Dr., ii. 349. 
 Propaganda Society founded, ii. 202. 
 Protestant Cliurch, Froncli, history of, i. 
 374, 382. 
 
 Huguenots, why so called, i. 375. 
 
 Prussian Church, i. 146. 
 Puritans, history of, ii. 123. 
 
 subjects in dispute, ii. 127. 
 
 Bishop Sandys' description of, ii. 
 
 131. 
 
 under James I., ii. 135. 
 under Ciuirles I., ii. 136. 
 doctrinal, ii. l.'>7. 
 
• INDEX. 
 
 465 
 
 Puritans, literature of, ii. 139. 
 Pusey, Dr., i. 32, 39. ' 
 
 Quakers {see Friends), i. 420. 
 Quarterly Meetings, Methodist, ii, 405. 
 Quesnal, a priest of the Oratoire, i. 75. 
 
 RaCow, College at, ii. 345. 
 
 Raid of Ruthven, ii. 265. 
 
 Rascoluics, a Russian sect, ii. 222, 229. 
 
 Ratisbon, Diet at, ii. 76. 
 
 K'aymoud VI., i. 15, 17. 
 
 Ueformation, as it now stands, i. 237. 
 
 Reformers, their difficulties, i. 248. 
 
 Revolution of 1688, i. 298. 
 
 Relief Church, ii. 295. 
 
 Relly, James, an Universalist, ii. 366. 
 
 Robinson, of New England, i. 130, 
 
 of Cambridge, i. 83. 
 
 Roman Catholic Relief Bill, ii. 214. 
 Rome, Church of, ii. 140. 
 
 early history, ii. 144. , 
 
 the monastic system, ii. 147, 
 
 in the dark ages, ii. 155. 
 
 Hildebrand, ii. 161. 
 
 — the Dominicans, ii. 174. 
 
 the Inquisition, ii. 178. 
 
 the Canon law, ii. 182. 
 
 the progress of heresy, ii. 184. 
 
 — 7-^ the pontificate of Leo. X., ii. 189. 
 decrees of the Council of Trent, ii. 
 
 194. 
 
 the Jesuits, ii. 198. 
 
 subsequent history, ii. 201. 
 
 during the present century, ii. 212. 
 
 Rough, John, ii. 246. 
 
 Rudd, bishop of St. David's, i. 257. 
 
 Russia, Church of, ii. 217. 
 
 a branch of the Greek Church, ii. 
 
 218. 
 
 ■ becomes independent in 1 593, ii. 222. 
 
 • under Peter the Great, ii. 225. 
 
 its recent history, ii. 227. 
 
 religious sects, ii. 229. 
 
 Sacheverel, i. 300. 
 
 Sacraments, doctrine of, Calvin's, i. 136. 
 
 Church of England, i. 240, 
 
 Council of Trent, ii. 194. 
 
 Sale, his death in prison, i. 440. 
 Salt, Mr., i. 8. 
 
 Suiters' Hall meeting, ii. 120. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Samosata, Paulicians of, ii. 364. 
 
 Sampson, dean of Christ Church, ii. 130. 
 
 Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, im- 
 prisoned, i. 292, 
 
 heads the non-jurors, i. 296. 
 
 Sancerre, siege of, i, 400. 
 
 Sandeman, Robert, secedes, ii. 297. 
 
 Sandys, ii. 131. 
 
 Saracens, i. 1. 
 
 Sautre, William, martyr, i. 207. 
 
 Savoy Conference, i. 277, 281. 
 
 Confession, ii. 119. 
 
 Saxony, penal laws enacted against the 
 Baptists in Saxony, i. 79. 
 
 Schomberg, Duke, a Huguenot, i. 413. 
 
 Scotch Episcopal Church, history of, ii. 298. 
 
 its first bishops consecrated, ii. 299. 
 
 presbyterian ministers ejected, ii. 
 
 303. 
 
 subsequent troubles in Scotland, ii. 
 
 304. 
 
 since the Revolution, 1688, ii. 310. 
 
 discipline and doctrine of, ii. 317. , 
 
 Scotland, Church of, its history, ii. 235. 
 
 the reformation in, ii. 239. 
 
 John Knox appears, ii. 242. 
 
 his Church government Presby- 
 terian, ii. 252. 
 
 under James I., ii. 262, 
 
 Episcopacy restored, ii. 270. 
 
 subsequent troubles, ii. 271. 
 
 — — - under William III., ii. 280. 
 
 internal disseosjons, ii. 284, 
 
 recent history, ii. 289. 
 
 various secessions from, ii. 290. 
 
 Seabury, Bishop, consecrated, i. 22. 
 
 Sendimir, Compact of, i. 101. 
 
 Sens, slaughter of the Huguenots at, i. 388. 
 
 Servetus, i. 140; ii, 337, 339. 
 
 Shakers (American), history of, ii. 320. 
 
 Sharp, Archbishop, ii. 299. 
 
 assassinated, i. 159; ii. 310. 
 
 Sheldon, Archbishop, his party, i. 282 ; ii. 
 
 299. 
 Simeon, the Abuna, killed, i. 5. 
 Simon Magus, a Gnostic, i. 479. 
 Simony in the Church of Rome, ii. 163. 
 Sisters of Mercy, i. 46. 
 Skopti, a Russian sect, ii. 230. 
 Smalcald, League of, ii. 75. 
 Smith, Joseph, founder of the Mormon sect, 
 
 ii. 83, 87. 
 
 2 II 
 
466 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Smith, Dr. Pye, ii. 121. 
 
 Societies, religious, formed in the Church of 
 
 Euglaud, i. 32U. 
 
 Sociuianism in Poland, ii. 345. 
 
 Sociuus Kaustus, ii. 341. 
 
 LsDlius, iL 336, 343. 
 
 South, Dr., i. 284. 
 
 Spa-fields Chapel opened, ii. 7. 
 
 Spain divided into four Christian king- 
 doms, ii. 180. 
 
 Spangeuberg, Bishop, Moravian, i. 116. 
 
 Spauheim, i. 97. 
 
 Spener, leader of the Pietists, ii. 80. 
 
 Spires, Diet of, ii. 73. 
 
 Stanley, Mrs., or Ann Lee, the Shaker 
 leader, ii. 320. 
 
 Star Chamber, i. 272. 
 
 States-General called together, i. 385. 
 
 Strauss, Dr., his Lebeu Jesu, i. 141. 
 
 Superintendents, Scotch, appointed by 
 Knox, ii. 252, 283. 
 
 Wesleyan, ordained by Wesley, 
 
 ii. 386. 
 
 Swedenborg, Emanuel, ii. 325. 
 
 ■ his writings and opinions, ii. 327. 
 
 Swedenborgians, or New Jerusalem Church, 
 ii. 324. 
 
 doctrines of, ii. 335. 
 
 Swift, Dean, ii. 50. 
 
 Tables, the, a Provisional Government in 
 
 Scotland, ii. 272. 
 Taborites or Hussites, i. 102. 
 Taylor, Jeremy, Dr., ii. 49. 
 Tecla, George, Abyssinian emperor, hanged, 
 
 i. 6. 
 Telonarii, the Albigenses so called, i. 13. 
 Terenti, a Russian enthusiast, ii. 234. 
 Tetzel, the Dominican friar, ii. 69, 191. 
 Theodosius the Younger, Emperor, i. 464. 
 Thorn, Dr., of Liverpool, ii. 368. 
 Tillotson, Archbishop, i. 286. 
 Toleration, Act of, i. 293. 
 Torquemada the Inquisitor, ii. 186. 
 Torry, Dr., titular Bishop of St. Andrews, 
 
 ii. 319. 
 Toulouse, slaughter of the Protestants at, 
 
 i. 399. 
 Tracts, the Oxford, i. 31. 
 Tractariau controversy, i. 37. 
 Tradition, doctrine of, i. 36. 
 Trevecca, College at, ii. 4. 
 
 Unitauians, liistory of, ii. 336. 
 
 theological system of, ii. 355. 
 
 literature of, ii. 356. 
 
 institutions of, ii. 358. 
 
 Universalists, their doctrine, ii. 358. 
 
 early history of, ii. 358. 
 
 the Paulicians, ii. 364. 
 
 recent history, ii. 366. 
 
 present condition, ii. 368. 
 
 American, ii. 369. 
 
 Urban IL and Clement, counter popes 
 
 ii. 167. 
 Urban VL and Clement, counter popes, 
 
 ii. 183. 
 
 Vane, Sir Harry, ii. 110. 
 Vaudois (see Albigenses), i. 11. 
 Vestments, controversy upon, i. 128. 
 Virginia Colony chartered, i. 19. 
 Vladimir, a Russian prince, ii. 218. 
 Voluntary System, the, i. 373. 
 Vorstius, an Anninian leader, i. 73. 
 
 Wakefield, Gilbert, i. 315. 
 
 Waldenses (see Albigenses and French 
 Protestant Church). 
 
 Ward's ideal of a Christian Church, i. 4 1 . 
 
 Warren, Dr., his contest with the Confer- 
 ence, ii. 430. 
 
 Watch-night, Wesleyan, ii. 413. 
 
 Watson, Bishop, i. 316. 
 
 , Richard, ii. 391, 447. 
 
 Watts, Dr. Isaac, ii. 19. 
 
 Welsh, Dr., i. 364. 
 
 Wesley, John (see Wesleyan Methox>- 
 ISTS), ii. 370. 
 
 ■, Charles (see ditto,) ii. 370. 
 
 Wesleyans, or Wesleyan Methodists, their 
 rise, ii. 370. 
 
 John and Charles Wesley, ii. 371. 
 
 i , their doctrinal views, &c., ii. 
 
 374. 
 
 Societies founded, ii. 383. 
 
 death of the Wesleys, ii. 391. 
 
 constitution of the Wesleyan 
 
 Church, ii. 398. 
 great power of the Conference, ii. 
 
 419. 
 
 religious worship, ii. 420. 
 
 disruptions occur, ii. 425, 429, 430. 
 
 jubilee in 1839, ii. 4.32. 
 
 " the Fly-Sheets," and consequent 
 
 dissensions, ii. 434. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 467 
 
 Wesleyaus, present state and prospects of, 
 
 ii. 442. 
 
 Sects, ii. 448. 
 
 Wesleyan Methodist New Connexion, ii. 
 
 450. 
 
 its principles, ii. 452. 
 
 its Conference, ii. 455. 
 
 its literature, ii. 456. 
 
 Westminster Confession, ii. 277. 
 
 Assembly, ii. 9. 
 
 Whitfield, George, i. .313; ii. 3, 21, 381. 
 Whitgift, Archbishop, his Articles, i. 253, 
 
 255; ii. 45, 133. 
 Wickliffe, John, i. 203. 
 Wilberforce, Archdeacon, on the Eucharist, 
 
 i. 46, 48. 
 Williams, Roger, an American Baptist, i. 
 
 86. 
 William the Conqueror, i. 188. 
 William, Prince of Orange, i. 293; ii. 310, 
 Wiseman, Dr., ii. 172, 215. 
 
 Wishart, ii. 241, 243, 306. 
 Worms, Diet of, ii. 71, 76. 
 
 Xavieb, Francis, his mission to Japan, ii 
 
 201. 
 canonized, ii. 203. 
 
 Yates, James, his vindication of Unitarian- 
 ism, ii. 355. 
 
 York, Duke of, abjured the Protestant re- 
 ligion, ii. 288. 
 
 Zeyya Mar, a Nestorian bishop, ii. 108. 
 Zinzendorf, Count, Moravian bishop, i 
 
 112. 
 Zisca, a leader of the Bohemians, i. 102. 
 Zuingle opposes Luther on the sacrament, 
 
 i. 135, 137. 
 Zurich, Socinus settles at, i. 140 ; ii. 336 
 insurrection at, i. 149. 
 
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