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PROTESTANTISM 7'HE BLESSING
OF BRITAIN,
A
FAST SERMON,
*Reachep is ruz
Catfieutal at HLitijfield,
ON
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1810.
—ºxºgsm--
BY THE
REV. ROBERT NARES,
ARCHDeAgon of staffonn, AND CANoN rest DENTIA ºr
OF LICHFIRLD,
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR, THE AUTHoR,
By Law and Gilbert, St. John's-Square, Clerkenwell;
AND sold By F. & AND J. R.I.VIN Gron, 62, st. PAUL’s church-YARD,
AND J. HATCHARI), 190, riccADILLY.
1810,
TH: U.IVERSITY OF MICHICAN LIBRARIES
tºx
tº 33
... /\! T2 as
"P gº,
*-*
/3 - 3% & 43
[3X
s ) º º
.N 2 3
ro P85
our GRAcious soverEIGN
GEORGE III.
&c. &c. &c. &c.
WITHOUT PRESUMING TO ASK PERMISSION,
BUT
WITH THE UTMOST RESPECT,
VENERATION, DUTY, AND ATTACHMENT,
THIS SERMON
IS INSCRIBED.
A
FAST SERMON,
&c. &c.
-º-3&QGº-
LAMENTATIONS iii. 39, 40, 41,
JWherefore doth a living man complain, a man
jor the punishment of his sins 3
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again
wnto the Lord.
Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto
God in the heavens.
\
THE first verse of this text contains a
solemn address to all. Whatever we may
Thave suffered, or whatever we may expect to
suffer, who is there, even of the best among
us, who can stand forth and say that he has
deserved nothing of the kind 2 How many,
on the contrary, must be conscious, that they
A 3 have
6
have deserved much worse visitations than
they have experienced ' And if the collective
deservings of a nation could be made out,
which perhaps Omniscience alone is able to
ascertain, who shall say, that even as a nation
we have not deserved much heavier judg-
ments than we have ever felt I pretend
not to estimate the truth in this matter. I
would rather take the safer and more hum-
ble conclusion, that, if the Lord visits with
adversity, it is because he sees good reason
so to do ; and that if we are punished, it is,
and can only be, because we ought to be
punished.
Through many successive years we have
now observed these days of humiliation,
and I am willing to hope that these, together
with the extraordinary public events which
have given occasion to them, have produced
a salutary effect. If I am not deceived
by the wish to find it so, there is surely some-
what more of seriousness, more of attention
to the great truths and duties of Religion,
than subsisted among us twenty years past.
It would be strange indeed if it were other-
wise; for hardly does the history of the
world
7
world present such a series of awful events
as have, beneath our observation, been
crowded within that narrow space. The
subversion of great kingdoms, the conver-
sion of republics into kingdoms, the enslaving
of free states, the change of dominion in an-
cient monarchies, the destruction of armies,
the ravaging of cities, the massacre of private
citizens; these, and every possible political
change, have become in our days common
events: so rapidly succeeding each other,
that we wonder rather to see any thing firm
and permanent, than to hear of revolutions,
such as seemed, a few years back, to be
almost beyond the scope of possibility.
These then are assuredly times for us to
“ search and try our ways,” and “ to turn
again unto the Lord.” Now, if ever, should
we “lift up our hearts with our hands unto
God in the heavens.” For what assurance
can we have, that we are not also marked
for subversion or change 2 and what means
have we to avert any impending severity of
judgment, more certain than those of prayer
and humble supplication ? It is not for no-
thing, nor for any very trivial cause, when
A 4 the
5
the Lord sends forth his sore judgment,
War, to scourge the nations of the earth,
They therefore do wisely who, at such a time,
assemble to deprecate his wrath, and to pray
that they may not be trodden down of their
enemies; and this wisdom our nation has
always had, of which the present, I might
almost call it anniversary service, is an in-
stance and proof. Whether we do, in all
respects, observe such a fast, on these occa-
sions, as is truly acceptable in his sight, may
admit of a doubt. It may even be suspected
that something either of public ordinance, or
of private resolution, is wanting, to render
these solemnities complete *. In avoiding
the vain ceremonial ordinances of some
Christian fasts, we go perhaps too far into
the opposite extreme of laxness and irregu-
* The deficiency of some general rule or intimation from
our church, on this subject, appears very striking. For want
of something better, the vain and arbitrary distinction between
fish and flesh is frequently resorted to ; while many, in default
of some proper rule, make no distinction at all. Perhaps it
would be best to abstain from all but vegetable food till after
evening service; and then to take a very moderate portion of
the least luxurious and least attractive food that can be
thought of: abstaining from all sports and dissipating amuse-
IX, ChtS.
la rity.
g
larity. But be this as it may, our humilia-
tion is still national and Solemn ; and what-
ever may be the inadvertence or indifference
of individuals, we do publicly confess, as a
people, that we are in the hands of God;
that we deserve his wrath, and have no sure
refuge but in his mercy. The confession is
just and pious, and, I trust, it is not made in
vain. g
It is God alone, as I mentioned before,
who can estimate the merits or demerits of
a nation. If we look abroad for transgres-
sions, we shall find them, alas ! but too mu-
merous, and too conspicuous, not to fill us
with alarm. The only comforting reflection
which can be set in opposition to this view is,
that virtue and piety are not in their own na-
ture equally conspicuous, and therefore may
exist, to agreat extent, without being generally
notorious. Offences against public order, de-
cency, or morality, are easily remarked ; but
innumerable virtues may be practised in se-
crecy and silence, which are never known
among men, but to those who are the imme-
diate objects of them. Therefore, though
there is, but too surely, much evil among
U.S,
10
us, there may be also much more good than
is generally apprehended, to counterbalance
it. Perhaps also it is not the method of Pro-
vidence, in the case of national morals, to
make too scrupulous a balance of good and
evil deeds. Universal depravity would, in-
deed, call down universal ruin; but, in circum-
stances not approaching to that extreme, it is
natural to suppose that certain general marks
may suffice to characterize nations, and to
make them fulfil, or not fulfil, the offices
assigned to them by Providence. Thus,
for instance, the destination of the Jewish
nation was to preserve the worship of the
true God, and to resist idolatry; and these
appear to have been the chief objects re-
garded in their visitations, prosperous or
adverse. Whether they fulfilled, or not,
this peculiar designation, was the grand
question between them and their divine Law-
giver. When they fell into idolatry, they
were punished as a people ; when they were
zealous for God's laws and worship, they
were rewarded. I will grant that their other
virtues and vices had, and would naturally
have, much reference to their religious cha-
racter ;
1
racter; nor was God, as appears by the pro-
phets, - unmindful of their other conduct,
good or evil; but this was still the great and
leading point of trial.
Under the circumstances of the present
times, whatever may be the cause, the fact is
undeniable, that this nation has been won-
derfully preserved. We have lamented the
necessity of war; we have deplored the ca-
lamities and the burdens of it; and these
have certainly been felt to a certain degree.
But what is it that has fallen upon us, in
comparison with that which every neighbour-
ing nation has actually suffered Our suffer-
ings have been chiefly in apprehension,
which, after all, was never realized. At the
beginning of the commotions which unsettled
the continent, we justly feared the contagion
of the principles and crimes which caused
those enormous calamities. More than once
we appeared to be on the very brink of fall-
ing into the same wretchedness; but Provi-
dence still raiscd up such men, and gave
success to such counsels, as warded off
the evil. As years went on, and nation
after nation was swallowed up by one over-
* , whelming
12
whelming Power, in every instance, we
thought for a time that the last blow was
likely to be fatal, and that every evil conse-
quence might be apprehended. Still we re-
mained as we were. Knowing in fact but
little of the war, except from the report and
the expence, to which, enormous as it has
been, our resources have never proved ina-
dequate. Not a hostile foot has been set
upon our shores *, not a distant possession
has been wrested from us, except where ac-
tually surrounded by enemies. In conflicts
of the greatest magnitude by sea, where suc-
cess was most important to us, and where
defeat seemed often, on common calculations,
not improbable, we have been uniformly
blessed with victory; and at present, under
a state of society in Europe such as hardly
any time has witnessed, there seems no rea-
son to say why we should not yet prolong
the contest with success, till we may be
enabled to conclude it with security. w
* The trifling and inconsequential descent upon Ireland
is the only instance in which an enemy has made impres-
sion.
To
13
To suppose that these blessings have been
conferred upon us for any superior merit
which we possess, would be to entertain a
very presumptuous arrogance ; and if I
attempt to form a conjecture why they should
have been granted to us, I shall do it with
such diffidence, as not by any means to pre-
tend to see with more certainty than others
into the designs and counsels of Providence.
I offer only a conjecture ; but one which, if
we act upon it, can have no other effect but
to keep us steady to our best principles.
Is it not then possible, let me ask, that this
nation has been so singularly preserved, and
if so, is likely still to be preserved, as the
great bulwark of the Protestant faith? This
conjecture is not founded on recent events,
though apparently confirmed by them. In
looking back to our history, I find that
every step of exaltation, by which this nation
has been raised, so far beyond the proportion
of its natural bulk or strength, has been taken
since it became Protestant. The first great
stand was made when an enormous armada
was sent out, blessed by the Pope, and pro-
nounced invincible, to crush us as heretics, and
destroy
14
destroy at once our independence and our
faith. In the sublime and scriptural allusion
of the time, “God blew with his breath, and
they were dispersed “.” Shattered by winds
and waves, they fell a prey to an inferior force,
directed indeed by much skill and valour,
and made a miserable conclusion to their
boasting enterprise. From that time to this,
for more than two hundred years, our pro-
gress has been gradual, but it has been un-
ceasing; till the amount is such as cannot be
contemplated without astonishment. This
island, nothing in bulk compared with many
kingdoms, is spread, by its colonies, its con-
quests, or its traffic, over every quarter of the
globe. It has peopled one large continent,
now become a separate nation, and has laid
the foundation of population in another. It
has established a powerful empire in Asia.
It has been enabled to acquire a prevalence
and dominion by sea, which empowers it to
protect its remotest connections; a dominion
which, we trust, will always be employed for
protection, and never for oppression. But
- * “ Afflavit Deus et dissipantºr." The motto interwoven
in the hangings of the House of Lords. - *
2 - why
15
why have we been permitted to do all this 2
Though there are, I trust, and ever will be,
good points in our national character, I can
see no sufficient reason for all this in our
superior wisdom, virtue, valour, or conduct.
I can see no probable reason, but that which
yet I alledge only as probable : that Provi-
dence thought proper to establish a Pro-
testant power in the world, of sufficient mag-
nitude to counterbalance much of the weight
of less pure and apostolical christianity; and
perhaps to perform some other services, as
yet hidden in the shades of futurity.
Whether this opinion be true or not, God
only can know; but it is one which may
surely be held without offence, and with
some manifest advantages. It ought not to
offend even those whose faith our ancestors
thought it indispensably necessary to reject as
corrupt, if we venture to suppose that God has
approved, what we thought from the first to
be commanded by our duty to Him. It must
be of advantage to us to think so, if it tend
to make us more invincibly firm in all the
good principles in which we have been
brought up.
To
16
To those who consider the Christian Reli.
gion as of divine origin, it never can appear
unworthy of the care of Providence to uphold
it in its purest form. Whether the papal OF
the protestant form be the better mode of
professing it, is indeed a question at issue be-
tween the two parties. They certainly are ex-
tremely different. The one appears to us
a religion of forms and ceremonies, of tradi-
tions not proceeding from inspired teachers,
and of positive observances enjoined by au-
thority confessedly, human, yet pretending
to be infallible. The other is a religion of
plain simplicity, going to the inspired writ-
ings alone for its rules, as well as its doc-
trines, and allowing nothing to be binding
on the conscience, which is not there en-
joined, or derived from that source. These
cannot both be true ; and, if we are sincere
protestants, we cannot doubt that our pro-
fession is the right. In that case, though
we would not molest others in their senti-
ments, however opposite, we ought not surely
to be lukewarm in maintaining our own.
We are warranted in believing it to be a
duty of the highest obligation to protect our
* Religion
17
Religion by all honest means. We find it
established by law, secured by the protection
of a throne held expressly by the tenure of
professing and upholding it. It has been
the care of our ancestors, in a long succes-
sion of years, to guard it from all unfair
attacks “. It should be equally our care to
transmit it in the same state of security.
That we have been favoured and protected
by Providence, under this state of things, we
know for certain. How long we should be
so, if we remitted any part of this care, it is
impossible for us to know. But to adhere
to that which we think has been proved to
be right, is an undoubted rule of conscience.
* It appears to be an unfair attack, and to lead to the
possibility of many more, for a party so opposite to the re-
ligion of our laws and government as the Roman Catholics,
to attempt to gain military, naval, judicial, magisterial, and
legislative authority and influence among us. In how many
ways these might be employed to divide, distract, agitate,
and alarm us, if not to subvert the established Protestant
Constitution, it seems unnecessary to detail. But the inter-
pretation-of-the Coronation Oath, which equires of the So-
vereign to prevent such enormous encroachment, is not easy
to be evaded; and it is not among the least of our blessings
to live under a King who prefers his conscience to every
other consideration.
TB If
18
If appearances deceive us not, the contest
is tending more rapidly to a close than a few
years past could have been thought possible.
That power, whose assumed infallibility was
the basis of innumerable errors, has, within
our times, been levelled with the ground ;
humiliated, insulted, and rendered the mere
tool of a corrupt worldly power ; and is now
completely despoiled of all temporal autho-
rity and dominion. Nominally, indeed, the
same system of religion remains, yet it is
plain that, by the removal of many external
restraints, room is made for reason to exert
itself, and for reformation to begin, to pro-
ceed, and to prevail. There cannot, I think,
be a doubt, that after the utter downfall of
the papal church authority, which probably
is not distant, if it may not he said even
now to have arrived, all the superstitions
connected with it will one by one drop off,
and be extinguished. It remains for us to
persevere, in peace and soberness, till the
providence of God shall accomplish that
work for us. It is not for us to do, nor to
interfere in : our business is only to be
steady,
2
19
steady, and protect ourselves, so long as any
dangers shall remain *. º
I grant that the material part of this opi-
nion is founded only on conjecture, as indeed
I distinctly premised before I began to state
it. But on what can we act in this world
except on fairly calculated probabilities 2
Certainties are not given to us. But to
adhere to what they believe to be duty, to
persevere in that which Providence seems to
approve, and to act in all things according to
the best of our judgment, these are the ways
prescribed for men and christians.
In the mean time, if we suffer, we have
no right to complain ; we are men, fallible
men, liable to fall into sin, and to suffer pu-
nishment for it. If in any respect we have
erred, or may err, “let us,” as the prophet
says, “ search and try our ways, and turn
again unto the Lord.” Let us, at times of
* In a part of the British dominions, the religion most
hostile to protestantism as yet prevails, in a considerable
degree of vigour. The proposal of giving unanimity to our
counsels, by introducing this most discordant ingredient into
our legislative bodies, seems, to common minds, so like a
blunder, that it is wonderful how great sagacity and intel-
ligence could have fallen upon it. - -
humi-
gó
humiliation like "this, liſt up not only our
hands, but our hearts, “ to God in the
heavens.” -: * . . . .
Nothing can be more certain, than that
great judgments of the Lord are now in the
earth. In what they will end, he only
knows by whom they are ordained. A few
years will probably show us that issue which
now we cannot reach; even by "conjećture.
But to have prayed fervently to God, to
have humbled ourselves before him, 'to have
lamented our sins, and determined, by the
assistance of his grace, to forsake them, can-
not be otherwise than "favourable 'toº our
Thopes of peace and bliss hereafter, whatever
may be the turn of public affairs; whatever
the termination of our pilgrimage in the
present life. " gº ºf '.
* Now to God, &c.
*
-* * * * * * 3.
FINIs. §
~& ---ºs------º-º: Jº. -E * -*-*
Law and Gilbert, Printers, St. John's-Square, London.'
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
J-awº-
On page 12. “ Knowing, in fact, but little of the War.”
Soon after the writing of this passage, I learnt from a
friend, on undoubted authority, that the amount of our
imports and exports for the first six months of the year
1810 were double to the corresponding period of 1809.
Colonial produce was also rising at that period. The ex-
pences of the War, of which we all complain, certainly
press most upon the middle ranks, of those who are not
in trade. Tradesmen of all descriptions are much more
than indemnified for the taxes they pay, by the price they
put upon their commodities. The poor pay no taxes,
except in the price of some necessaries, and if these become
excessive they are sure to find relief. What may be the
effect of the enemy's late violent decrees, remains to be
seen. But what are the grievances thus felt, putting them
at the utmost, compared with hostile armies in a country,
or the gripe of a foreign tyrant seizing on its very vitals?
z On Page 13.
The following note communicated by a valuable friend
is too important in its contents to be with-held from the
public. I therefore give it in the form in which I re-
ceived it, as part of a letter with which I was favoured
by the writer. *
C It
22
* It gives me great pleasure to find that you have at last
resolved to publish your Fast-Sermon, which I have re-
peatedly read, and read each time with increased satisfac-
tion. It is a sermon at once level to the meanest capacity,
and sufficiently argumentative to attract the attention
of the greatest. The conjecture—“That in the general
wreck of Europe, this nation has been hitherto so sig-
mally preserved, and is likely still to be preserved, as THE
GREAT BULWARK of the PROTESTANT-FAITH"—is ex-
tremely probable; certainly as probable as many of those
which have been thrown out, and very generally re-
ceived, in the interpretation of prophecies relating to the
future fortunes of the Church; and it is a conjecture calcu-
lated, I think, to produce the most salutary effects on the
minds and conduct of Englishmen.
To this conjecture, however, I foresee one objection,
which at first sight appears in some degree plausible; and
you seem to be yourself aware of a torrent of abuse
likely to be poured on you by those literary Journal-
ists, who act as if they were feed to plead the cause of
what is absurdly called Catholic emancipation. To mere
abuse the mens conscia rect? will render you indifferent;
for among those whom a true son of the church would
wish to please, there is not probably one man so totally
unacquainted with the intolerant spirit of modern liberality,
as to suffer himself to be prejudiced against any opinion,
only because it has provoked the resentment of that
spirit.
The objection however to which I allude, deserves to
be fairly stated and anticipated. “ Sweden, Denmark,
Prussia, Holland, and some of the Swiss cantons, are Pro-
testant
23
testant states as well as England; and no nation has, at
any period, had so good a right to be considered as the
bulwark of the Protestant faith, as Sweden had, during
the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, and the first years of his
immediate successor. Yet Sweden, Denmark, Prussia,
Holland and the Swiss Cantons, have all, notwithstanding
their zeal for protestantism, either been already brought,
or are likely to be soon brought under the dominion of
the despot of Europe. Why then, you will be asked,
should we suppose that for the sake of our faith, we have
been preserved hitherto, or are likely to be preserved
longer from the fate, in which have been involved so
many protestant nations as zealous as ourselves?
By many readers this objection to your conjecture
would be deemed plausible; but it derives its plausibility
wholly from the common, though very improper, use of
the words protestant and protestantism. All sects in
Europe, who have renounced the errors of Popery, are,
in common language, called protestants; and the value of
their respective creeds is too often estimated according
to the degree of their opposition to the creed of Pius
IV. The truth however is, that no Churches can with
propriety be called Protestant, but those Lutheran
Churches in Germany, of which the reformers or foun-
ders entered their solemn protest, on the 19th of April,
1529, against the iniquitous decree of the second Diet
of Spire. I never heard that either of the Churches
established in the British empire, the Calvinistic churches
on the Continent, or even the Lutheran Churches of
Sweden and Denmark adhered to that protest; but all
those Churches, as well as the various sects and societies,
C 2 which
24
which are daily springing up in endless succession, are in
this country + called Protestant Churches, and are all
thought to be equally orthodox, and equally entitled to
the divine protection, because they agree in opposing
some of the grossest corruptions of the Church of Rome!
In a word Popery was so long an object of horror among
us, that every religious sect which is not popish is classed
with those churches which first protested against the
tyranny of the Emperor and the Pope; allºwed to share in
the honour which they so dearly purchased; and con-
sidered as entitled to every encouragement, which ought
to be given to them.
That popery deserves to be looked upon with horror R
most readily grant; for her corruptions are many, and even
her tender mercies are cruel. But among those numerous
sects, which in common language, are all classed under
the common genus of protestantism, if I may use such a
term, there are many which have deviated further,
“ from the faith which was once delivered to the saints,”
and from the constitution of that church against which our
blessed Lord promised that “ the gates of hell shall
never prevail,” than even the Church of Rome herself.
We have only to read the Tridentine confession to be
convinced that the Church of Rome retains in purity all
the essential articles of the Christian faith. To these
indeed she has added many others, totally inconsistent with
them: she has erected on a solid foundation a wretched
* It is not so on the Continent. The Calvinists there denominate
themselves the reformed; and I have never heard that the Lutherans of
Sweden and Denmark assume the name of protestants.
8 superstructure.
95
‘superstructure of hay and stubble, and even worse ma-
terials; but as long as she shall rest, as hitherto she has
indisputably rested, on the original foundation, she will
have means within herself, as soon as her eyes shall be
opened, to sweep that rubbish away, and restore the
building to its original symmetry.
Widely different is the case of many of those sects
which call themselves protestants. Our modern Uni-
tarians, who consider Jesus Christ as a mere man and
deny the doctrine of atonement, do not Surely retain all the
articles of the faith, which was once delivered to the saints;
and I really know not by what figure of speech the Quakers
can be considered as constituting any part of the Church
of Christ, as that Church is delineated in the New Testa-.
ment. To the Church which was founded by Christ is
plainly given a species of authority quite distinct from the
authority of the civil magistrate; authority to her minis-
ters to act as the Ambassadors of Christ, and the stewards
of the mysteries of God—to bind and loose, as it is
called in the Gospel;-but it is very difficult—indeed I
think impossible—to conceive from what source or
through what channel the teachers of any one of our more
modern sects derive to themselves this authority. They
laugh, or affect to laugh, at the authority, which we be-
lieve to be derived by ordination, from the Apostles, to
the bishops and priests of our Church; and yet, as either
yourself or some friend of your's has lately observed,—
“It seems very extraordinary and irrational, that the
people at large should suppose themselves authorized to
new model the constitution, and change the governors of
a Society,
26
a society, which was not founded by the people, but by
the Son of God; and of which, by the confession of all
Christians, the Son of God is the Supreme governor, and
the word of God the supreme law! It is still more ex-
traordinary, if possible, that private Christians should
suppose themselves authorized, either by their own will,
or by the election of their brethren, to administer ordi-
mances, which derive their importance, great as it is
declared to be, from positive institution, and of which
the administration was by the divine instituter committed,
not to Christians at large, but to a chosen order sent by
him, as he had been sent by his Father. If there be
not in the Christian Church an order of ministers, who
derive, through the medium of the Apostles, authority
from Christ to act as the Stewards of his mysteries, in the
name of consistency and common sense, let all mysteries
be banished from our creed, and all positive institutions
from our worship; and let Christianity be henceforth taught
as a kind of revealed philosophy—a mere republication of .
what is called natural religion *!”
That these observations, by whomsoever made, are per-
fectly just has been too fully proved by the fate of the
Protestant States in Germany. All the Lutheran
Churches, except those of Sweden, and perhaps Den-
mark, though they retained the forms of episcopacy,
snapped the Episcopal succession asunder at the Re-
formation; and taught very loose doctrines respecting the
constitution and authority of the Church of Christ,
* British Critic, Vol. xxxvi, p. 361.
representing
27
representing its constitution as something which might be
changed at pleasure, and the authority of its Doctors * to
minister in holy things, as derived wholly from the people.
The consequences were exactly such as the writer above-
cited has shown to flow naturally from such principles.
The people could have no particular attachment to the con-
stitution of the Church, of which they were members, be-
cause they were taught to consider that constitution as having
in it nothing divine. The doctrine of consubstantiation
taught by the Lutheran churches + is at least as incredible
as any thing to be found in the creed of Pope Pius, and
naturally might lead, though I believe it has no where actu-
ally led, to the idolatrous worship of the Host. But in an
age of science, if any church be considered as having no
other authority than such as is conferred by charter
on a society of philosophers; and if that church teach at
the same time incredible doctrines; what can follow but
lukewarmness, under the name of liberality, among the
great body of the people, and a species of Christianity
differing little from mere Deism, among the more enlight-
ened few :
This was accordingly the state of many of the Lutheran
churches in Germany at the breaking out of the French
revolution. Herder, and others of their most celebrated
divines, represented some of the most important doctrines
* This is the designation given by the Lutheran historian Mosheim to
the Clergy.
t Docentur homimes—in haec communiome were et substantialiter.
adesse Christum, et ver; exhiberi Sumentibus corpus et sangwinem Christi.
Saxon; Confess: de Caena Domini,
of
28
of revelation, upon which indeed the whole system of
Christianity rests, as mere allegories; lowered as much as
possible, if they did not explain away, the inspiration of
Scripture; and introduced such modes of interpreting
that sacred volume, as rendered it of no real authority.
The gradual progress of those principles had led the rich
and the great to wallow in every sensual indulgence, re-
gardless of the fate which was impending over their
country; “to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good
things of this life as their portion,” because they looked
for “ no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom,
in the grave whither they were going.” But the apathy
of the great, the infidelity of the Clergy, and the luke-
warmness of the people, produced in Germany—what
they will produce every where else—a thirst for innovation
and untried experiments, both in civil and ecclesiastical
polity; and when the republican armies of France first
invaded that country, instead of being opposed by the
people in a mass, they were received by many of them
with open arms. es
Had the great powers of Germany been at that period
true to themselves; had papists and protestants, putting
their trust in God, cordially united against their common
enemy, and adhered to the union like Men and Christians;
neither Holland nor Switzerland would have been con-
quered, nor Sweden nor Denmark brought now under
the yoke of the tyrant. But the faith of the Germans
had deviated far from that which was once delivered to
the saints; the Churches of the protestants stood not on
the same foundation with that church against which the
gates of hell are not to prevail; and the morals of the
middling
29
middling and higher orders of the people had become ex-
ceedingly corrupt. Is it then fanaticism or presumption
to believe, that “ God sent on those people strong
delusion, that they should believe a lye; that they all
might be condemned * who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness?” Surely not; for such a
fate is expressly denounced by an inspired Apostle ºf on
another people, whose faith and practice seem to have
been very similar.
But in what respects are we more worthy of the divine
protection than the protestants of Germany? I trust, in many
respects. Our faith seems to be more scriptural than that
of the Calvinists, who have in their creed incorporated with
the truths of the Gospel metaphysical dogmas derived, as
they appear to me, from the schools of heathen philoso-
phy; or than the faith of the Lutherans, which is in-
cumbered with the absurdity of consubstantiation? The
constitution of our Church is unquestionably primitive;
and her Episcopal succession, having suffered no such in-
terruption at the Reformation, as happened to every other
reformed church, those of Sweden and perhaps Denmark
excepted, the authority of her clergy—that pure and
spiritual authority by which they act as ambassadors of
Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, is derived
from the only source, whence such authority can be de-
rived; so that her whole fabric rests on “ the foundation
of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
the chief corner stone.” These indisputable facts are of
* Kpºrt, adjudged to punishment.
* 2 Thess, ii. 11, 12.
ID - themselves
30
themselves sufficient to prove that the civil power, with
which such a Church is incorporated, is fitter than any
other protestant power to be established by Providence
“ to counterbalance, as you express it, much of the
weight of less pure and apostolical Christianity;” but how
long the British Empire will continue worthy of this pre-
eminence God only knows.
Our apostolical Church is assailed both by open enemies
and by pretended friends. While the rational Christian,
on the one hand, labours to bring Christianity down to the
level of natural religion or deism, and of course to divest
the Church of every kind of authority which she derives
from her divine founder; the methodist, on the other,
contends with much zeal and apparent piety, that doc-
trines, and doctrines alone, constitute the Church, and
that forms of ecclesiastical government and the ordination
of the clergy are circumstances of very little importance!
To repel with success these attacks from opposite quarters,
it seems to be the duty of the regular clergy to state to
those committed to their pastoral care, and to explain in
terms level to the meanest capacity, the origin of the
Church; the objects for which she was founded; the au-
thority, of her clergy, especially the bishops; the source
of that authority; and the only channel through which it
can be derived. Were this done generally, and done with
judgment, methodism, and almost every other species of
dissent, would be arrested in their progress; the people
would perceive the great superiority of the Church of
England to most other churches now in the world; and
they would not think of deserting a ministry so easily
proved to be of divine institution, to follow teachers who
arº.
8
31
are unseat. But we are prevented from doing this
by the dread of a nick-name! we should certainly be
called by the sons of liberality and famaticism, HIGH
CHURCHMEN and BIGOTs. But if to escape such
obloquy as this—if it be indeed obloquy—we “ shun
to declare any part of the counsel of God,” what account
shall we be able to render of our stewardship, at the day
pf judgment?”
- I am, your's, &c.
On page 19. “ Dangers shall remain.”
That many of those who support Catholic power and
influence, as it would more properly be called than Catho-
lic emancipation, do it with the purest motives, I have no
doubt; and particularly with a desire to unite all parties.
But my firm persuasion is, on the contrary, that the great-
est possible D is UNION would be occasioned by it. When
every zealous protestant in the United Kingdom should see
even the protestant succession to the Crown almost brought
into danger, their present quietness would soon be changed
to the most anxious agitation; and fear and distrust would
extend to every corner of the empire. -
It is also a material question, if we give way to the Esta-
blishment of what we consider as idolatry, in one part of
the Kingdom, how far the whole nation might thereby be
involved in the guilt and punishment of idolatry. See this
argument very strongly urged by the Rev. E. W. Whitaker,
in a Sermon preached on his Majesty's Accession, in the
year 1807, printed for Rivingtons.—I say establishment,
because to that point it is very evident that the efforts of
the Romanists, in one part of these dominions, are now
rapidly tending.
Printed by Law and Gilbert, St. John's Square, London,
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