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REMARKS
Mr. WAKEFIELD'S ENQUIRY.
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[Price Two SHILLINGS.]
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Director
Fletcher
2-1-51
73384
THOUGHTS
ON
PUBLIC WORSHIP, &c.
THERE are fome practices which have not
been defended becauſe they have never
been attacked. Of this number is Public
or Social Worship. It has been recom-
mended, urged, enforced, but never vindi-
cated. Through worldlinefs, fcepticiſm,
indolence, diffatisfaction with the manner
of conducting it, it has been often neg-
lected; but it is a new thing to hear it
condemned. The pious and the good have
lamented its infufficiency to the reforma-
B
tion
OBH
( 2 )
If
tion of the world, but they were yet to
learn that it was unfriendly to it. Satif-
fied with filent and folitary defertion, thofe
who did not concur in the homage paid by
their fellow-citizens were content to ac-
quiefce in its propriety, and had not hi-
therto affumed the dignity of a fect. A
late pamphlet of Mr. Wakefield's has there-
fore excited the attention of the public,
partly, no doubt, from the known abili-
ties of the author, but ftill more from the
novelty and ſtrangeness of the doctrine.
intended as an apology, no publication can be
more feaſonable, but if meant as an exhor-
tation, or rather a dehortation, it is a la-
bour which many will think, from the
complexion of the times and the tendencies
of increaſing habits, might well have been
fpared. It is an awkward circumſtance for
the apoſtle of fuch a perfuafion, that he
will have many practical difciples whom
he will hardly care to own; and that if he
fucceeds in making profelytes, he muft
take them from the more fober and orderly
part of the community; and clafs them,
as
(3)
as far as this circumſtance affords a diftinc-
tion, along with the uneducated, the pro-
fligate, and the unprincipled. The nega-
tive tenet he inculcates, does not mark his
converts with fufficient preciſion: their
fcrupulofity will be in danger of being con-
founded with the careleffneſs of their neigh-
bours; and it will be always neceffary to
afk, Do you abſtain becauſe you are of this
religion, or becauſe you are of no religion
at all?
It would be unfair, however, to endea-
vour to render Mr. Wakefield's opinions
invidious: they, as well as every other opi-
nion, muft be fubmitted to the teft of ar-
gument; and Public Worſhip, as well as
every other practice, muft ftand on the
bafis of utility and good fenfe, or it muft
not ftand at all: and in the latter cafe, it
is immaterial whether it is left to moulder
like the neglected ruin, or battered down
like the formidable tower.
It will ftand upon this bafis, if it can
be fhewn to be agreeable to our nature,
fanctioned by univerfal practice, coun-
tenanced
B 2
( 4 )
tenanced by revealed religion, and that its
tendencies are favourable to the morals and
manners of mankind.
What is Public Worship? Kneeling
down together while prayers are ſaid of a
certain length and conftruction, and hear-
ing difcourfes made to a ſentence of ſcrip-
ture called a text !-Such might be the de-
finition of an unenlightened perſon, but
fuch would certainly not be Mr. Wake-
field's. The queſtion ought to be agitated
on much larger ground. If thefe practices
are fhewn to be novel, it does not follow
that Public Worſhip is fo, in that extenfive
fenſe which includes all modes and varie-
ties of expreffion. To eſtabliſh its anti-
quity, we must therefore inveſtigate its
nature.
Public Worship is the public expreffion
of homage to the Sovereign of the univerfe.
It is that tribute from men united in fami-
lies, in towns, in communities, which in-
dividually men owe to their Maker. Every
nation has therefore found fome organ by
which to expreſs this homage, fome lan-
guage,
( 5 )
guage, rite, or ſymbol, by which to make
known their religious feelings; but this
organ has not always, nor chiefly been
words. The killing an animal, the throw-
ing a few grains of incenfe into the fire,
the eating bread and drinking wine, are all
in themſelves indifferent actions, and have
apparently little connection with devotion;
yet all of theſe have been uſed as worship,
and are worship when ufed with that in-
tention. The folemn facrifices and anni-
verfary feftivals of the Jews, at which
their capital and their temple were thronged
with votaries from every diftant part of
the kingdom, were fplendid expreffions of
their religious homage. Their worſhip,
indeed, was interwoven with their whole
civil conſtitution; and fo, though in a ſub-
ordinate degree, was that of the Greeks
and Romans, and moſt of the ftates of an-
tiquity. There has never exifted a nation,
at all civilized, which has not had fome
appointed form of fupplication, ſome ſtated
mode of fignifying the dependance we are
under to the fupreme Being, and as a na-
B 3
tion
( 6 )
tion imploring his protection. It is not
pretended that theſe modes were all equally
rational, equally edifying, equally proper
for imitation, equally fuitable for every
ſtate of fociety; they have varied accord-
ing as a nation was more or lefs advanced
in refinement and decorum, more or lefs
addicted to fymbolical expreffion-to vio-
lent gefticulation-and more or lefs con-
verfant with abftract ideas and metaphy-
fical fpeculation. But whether the Deity
is worshipped by ftrewing flowers and
building tabernacles of verdure; by dances
round the altar and the fhouts of a cheerful
people; by offering the first fruits of har-
veſt, and partaking in the ſocial feaſt; by
tones of mufic, interpreted only by the
heart; or by verbal expreffions of gratitude
and adoration-whether the hallelujahs of
affembled multitudes rife together in fo-
lemn chorus; or whether they liften with
compofed and reverential attention to the
voice of one man, appointed by them to be
the organ of their feelings-whether a
number of people meet together like the
Quakers,
( 7 )
Quakers, and each in filence prefers his
mental petition-wherever men together
perform a ftated act as an expreffion of
homage to their Maker, there is the effence
of public worship; and public worſhip has
therefore this mark of being agreeable to
the nature of man, that it has been found
agreeable to the fenfe of mankind in all
ages and nations.
It is, indeed, difficult to imagine that
beings, fenfible of common wants and a
common nature, fhould not join together
in imploring common bleffings; that, prone
as men are in every other circumftance to
affociate together, and communicate the
electric fire of correfpondent feelings, they
ſhould act with unfocial reſerve only where
thoſe intereſts are concerned which are con-
feffedly the moſt important. Such is the
temperament of man, that in every act and
every event he anxiouſly looks around him
to claim the gratulation or fympathy of
his fellows. Religion, fays Mr. Wake-
field, is a perſonal thing; fo is marriage,
fo is the birth of a child, fo is the loſs of a
beloved
B 4
2
( 8 )
If
beloved relative, yet on all theſe occafions
we are strongly impelled to public folemni-
zation, We neither laugh alone, nor weep
alone, why then fhould we pray alone?
None of our feelings are of a more commu-
nicable nature than our religious ones.
devotion really exifts in the heart of each
individual, it is morally impoffible it ſhould
exift there apart and fingle. So many ſe-
parate tapers, burning fo near each other,
in the very nature of things muſt catch,
and ſpread into one common flame. The
reciprocal advantages, which public and
private worſhip poffefs over each other, are
fufficiently obvious to make both defirable.
While the former is more animated, the
latter comes more intimately home to our
own circumſtances and feelings, and allows
our devotion to be more particular and ap-
propriated. To most of the objections
made againſt the one, the other is equally
liable. Superftition can drop her folitary
beads, as well as vociferate the repetition
of a public collect: if fymptoms of weari
nefs and inattention may be obferved in our
churches,
..
!
( 9 )
churches, we have only to look into the
diaries of the moſt pious Chriftians, and
we ſhall find ſtill heavier complaints of the
dulnefs and deadnefs of their ſpiritual
frame: the thoughts may wander in the
cloſet when the door is fhut: folly and
ſelfiſhneſs will ſend up improper petitions
from the cell as well as from the congre-
gation nay Public Worſhip has this great
advantage, that it teaches thofe to pray,
who, not being accuſtomed to think, can-
not of themſelves pray with judgment.
To all, it teaches that we are not to pray
for exclufive advantages, but to confider
ourſelves as members of a community.
Our inmoſt wiſhes learn reftraint while our
petitions are thus directed, and our defires.
by degrees conform themſelves to that ſpirit
of moderation and juftice, without which
we cannot join in the comprehenfive prayer,
that muſt include the joint fupplications of
a numerous affembly.-Public Worſhip has
this further advantage over private, that it
is better fecured againſt languor on one
fide, and enthufiaim on the other. If the
devotional
( 10 )
devotional fentiment has not taken deep
root in his mind, a man will ſcarcely keep
up, in filence and in folitude, an intercourſe
to which he is prompted by no external
appearance, and of which he is reminded
by no circumſtance of time or place. And
if his fenfe of invifible things is ftrong
enough to engage his mind in ſpite of theſe
difadvantages, there is room to fear, left,
by brooding in filence over objects of fuch
indiftinct vaftnefs, his bewildered ideas and
exalted imagination fhould lead him to the
reveries of myſticiſm; an extreme no leſs
to be dreaded than that of indifference.
When Mr., Wakefield, to ftrengthen his ar-
gument for feclufion in our religious exer-
cifes, directs our attention to the mount of
Olives and the garden of Gethsemane, he
fhould recollect that our Saviour fuftained
a character to which we cannot prefume to
afpire; and that, however favourable the
defert and the wilderneſs have been to pro-
phets vifited by extraordinary illuminations,
they cannot be equally fuitable to the re-
gular devotion of ordinary Chriftians.
From
( 11 )
{
From the gloom of the cloifter and the
lonelineſs of the cell, have proceeded the
moſt extravagant deviations from nature and
from reafon. Enthuſiaſm is indeed moſt
dangerous in a crowd, but it feldom origi-
nates there. The mind, heated with intenſe
thinking, adopts illufions to which it is
not expofed when its devotion is guided
and bounded by addreffes which are in-
tended to meet the common ſentiments of
a numerous affembly. Religion then ap-
pears with the moſt benignant afpect, is
then leaſt likely to be miſtaken, when the
prefence of our fellow-creatures points out
its connection with the bufineffes of life
and the duties of fociety. Solitary devo-
tion, for worldly minds, is infufficient,
for weak minds it is not profitable, for ar-
dent minds it is not fafe.
We muſt however do that juſtice to the
author of the Enquiry, as to confeſs that he
betrays no difpofition to carry thefe exercifes
to any extreme. On the contrary, ſome of
his expreffions feem to ftrike at the root of
all prayer, properly fo called, as being the
weak
5
( 12 )
weak effort of an infirm and unphilofophical
mind to alter the order of nature and the
decrees of Providence, in which it rather
becomes the wife man to acquiefce with a
manly refignation. Without entering into
a difcuffion, in which, perhaps, we might
mifrepreſent his fentiments; as, in the
greater part of his pamphlet, he has taken
the ground of fcripture, which undoubt-
edly countenances the earneſtneſs, and
almoſt the importunity of petition; it may
be fufficient for the prefent purpoſe to ob-
ferve, that if there exiſts a man who, be-
lieving himſelf to be in the continual pre-
fence of infinite power, directed by infinite
love and tender compaffion to all his crea-
tures-thinking often of this Being, and
habitually referring every difpofition of
events to his providence-feeling himſelf
more conſtantly and intimately connected
with him than with all creation befides→→→→
can in every viciffitude of his life, in fick-
nefs and in forrow, in imminent danger,
anxious uncertainty, defertion or lofs of
friends, and all the trying circumſtances of
humanity
( 13 )
humanity that flesh is heir to; forbear, for
himſelf or for thoſe dearer to him than
himſelf, to put up one petition to the
throne of God-fuch a one may be al-
lowed to ftrike out every petition in the
Lord's Prayer but that comprehenfive one,
thy will be done. If his faith be equally
lively, his devotional feelings equally fer-
vent, his fenfe of dependence upon God
equally felt in his inmoft foul, we dare not
preſume to cenfure the temperance of his
religious addreffes. We refpect the ſub-
dued fobriety of his wifhes, and we do not,
we cannot ſuppoſe him deferted by the
fupreme Being for that modeft forbear-
ance which proceeds from a refignation fo
abfolute and complete. Others, however,
whofe philofophy is not of fo firm a tex-
ture, may plead the example of him who
prayed, though with meek fubmiffion,
that the cup of bitterneſs might pafs from
him; and who, as the moment of fepara-
tion approached, interceded for his friends
and followers with all the anxiety of affec-
tionate tenderneſs. But we will venture
to
( 14 )
to ſay that practically there is no fuch phi-
lofopher. If prayer were not enjoined for
the perfection, it would be permitted to
the weakneſs of our nature. We fhould
be betrayed into it, if we thought it fin,
and pious ejaculations would eſcape our
lips, though we were obliged to preface
them with, God forgive me for praying!
To thoſe who prefs the objection, that
we cannot fee in what manner our prayers
can be anſwered, confiftently with the go-
vernment of the world according to thofe
general laws by which we find, in fact, that
it is governed; it may be fufficient to fay,
that prayer, being made almoſt an inſtinct
of our nature, it cannot be fuppofed but
that, like all other inſtincts, it has its ufe;
that no idea can be less philofophical than
one which implies, that the exiſtence of a
God who governs the world, fhould make
no difference in our conduct; and few
things lefs probable than that the child-like
fubmiffion which bows to the will of a fa-
ther, fhould be exactly fimilar in feature to
the ftubborn patience which bends under
the yoke of neceffity.
It
120
( 15 )
It may be further obferved, that petitions
for temporal advantages, fuch, I mean, as
a fpirit of moderation will allow us to wish
with fufficient ardour to make them the
fubject of our prayers, are not liable to
more objections than petitions for fpiritual
bleffings. In either cafe the weak man
does, and the wife man does not expect a
miracle. That the arrogant, the worldly,
and the licentious, fhould on a fudden, and
without their own ftrenuous endeavours,
be rendered humble, fimple-minded, and
pure of heart, would be as great a violation
of the order of nature in the moral world,
as it would be in the natural world that the
harveſt ſhould ripen without the co-opera-
tion of the hufbaudman, and the flow in-
fluence of the feafons. Indeed, as tem-
poral bleflings are lefs in our power than
difpofitions, and are fometimes entirely out
of it, it ſeems more reafonable of the two
to pray
for the former than for the latter;
and it is remarkable that, in the model
given us in the Lord's Prayer, there is not
a fingle petition for any virtue or good dif-
pofition,
( 16 )
pofition, but there is one for daily bread.
Good difpofitions, particularly a fpirit of re-
fignation, are declared and implied in the
petitions, but they are not prayed for:
events are prayed for, and circumstances
out of our own power, relative to our fpi-
ritual concerns, are prayed for, as, the not
being led into temptation; but there is no
prayer that we may be made holy, meek,
or merciful. Nor is it an objection to pray-
ing for health, that fickneſs may poffibly
turn out a bleffing, fince it is no objection
to the ufing all the means in our power to
get rid of fickneſs, which we do as eagerly
and as unrefervedly as if we had not the
leaft idea that it ever could be falutary.
And we do right; for the advantages of
fickneſs are cafual and adventitious; but
health is in itſelf, and in its natural ten-
dencies, a bleffing devoutly to be wished for.
That no advantage of this nature ought to
be prayed or wifhed for, unqualified with
the deepeſt fubmiffion to the will of God,
is an undoubted truth; and it is a truth
likewiſe univerfally acknowledged by all
rational Chriftians.
It
( 17 )
It cannot be denied, however, that great
referve is neceffary in putting up ſpecific
petitions, eſpecially of a public nature; but
generally the fault lies in our engaging in
wrong purſuits, rather than in imploring
upon our purſuits the favour of heaven.
Humanity is ſhocked to hear prayers for
the ſucceſs of an unjuſt war; but huma-
nity and heaven were then offended when
the war was engaged in; for war is of a na-
ture fufficiently ferious to warrant our pray-
ers to be preferved from the calamities of
it, if we have not voluntarily expofed our-
felves to them. The frivolous nature of moſt
national conteſts appears ftrongly in this
very circumſtance, that petitions from ei-
ther fide have the air of a profanation; but
if in fome ferious conjuncture our country
was ready to be overwhelmed by an ambi-
tious neighbour, as that of the Dutch was
in the time of Louis the Fourteenth,-in
fuch a ſeaſon of calamity, the fterneſt phi-
lofopher would give way to the inſtinctive
dictates of nature, and implore the help
which cometh from on high. The rea-
C
fon
( 18 )
fon why both fides cannot pray with pros
priety, is becauſe both fides cannot act with
juftice.
But fuppofing we were to difcard all pe-
tition as the weak effort of infirm minds to
alter the unbroken chain of events; as the
impatient breathings of craving and reſtleſs
ſpirits, not broken into patient acquiefcence
with the eternal order of Providence-the
nobleſt office of worſhip ſtill remains.
Praife is devotion fit for mighty minds,
The jarring world's agreeing facrifice.
And this is furely of a focial nature.
One clafs of religious duties feparately con
fidered, tends to deprefs the mind, filling
it with ingenuous fhame and wholefome
forrow; and to theſe humiliating feelings
folitude might perhaps be found congenial:
but the fentiments of admiration, love, and
joy, fwell the bofom with emotions which
feek for fellowship and communication.
The flame indeed may be kindled by filent
mufing; but when kindled it muſt infalli-
bly ſpread. The devout heart, penetrated
with
( 19 )
with large and affecting views of the im-
menſity of the works of God, the harmony
of his laws, and the extent of his benefi-
cence, burſts into loud and vocal expref-
fions of praiſe and adoration; and, from a
full and overflowing fenfibility, feeks to
expand itfelf to the utmoft limits of cre-
ation. The mind is forcibly carried out of
itſelf, and, embracing the whole circle of
animated exiſtence, calls on all above,
around, below, to help to bear the burden
of its gratitude. Joy is too brilliant a thing
to be confined within our own bofoms;
it burnishes all nature, and with its vivid
colouring gives a kind of factitious life to
objects without fenfe or motion. There
cannot be a more ftriking proof of the fo-
cial tendency of thefe feelings, than the
ftrong propenfity we have to fuppofe audit-
ors where there are none. When men are
wanting, we addrefs the animal creation;
and, rather than have none to partake our
fentiments, we find fentiment in the mufic
of the birds, the hum of infects, and the
low of kine: nay, we call on rocks and
ftreams
€ 2
!
( 10 )
ftreams and forefts to witnefs and fhare
our emotions. Hence the royal fhepherd,
fojourning in caves and folitary waftes,
calls on the hills to rejoice and the floods
to clap their hands; and the lonely poet,
wandering in the deep receffes of unculti-
vated nature, finds a temple in every fo-
lemn grove, and fwells his chorus of praiſe
with the winds that bow the lofty cedars.
And can he who, not fatisfied with the
wide range of exiftence, calls for the fym-
pathy of the inanimate creation, refuſe to
worthip with his fellow men? Can he
who bids Nature attend," forget
66
to
join every living foul" in the univerfal
hymn? Shall we fuppofe companions in the
ftillneſs of deferts, and fhall we overlook
them amongſt friends and townfmen? It
cannot be! Social worship, for the devout
heart, is not more a duty than it is a real
want.
If Public Worſhip is thus found to be
agreeable to the beſt impulfes of our na-
ture, the pious mind will rejoice to find
it, at leaft, not diſcountenanced by revealed
religion.
3
( 21 )
**
religion. But its friends, in endeavouring
to prove this, muft carry on the argument
under fome diſadvantage, as Mr. Wake-
field, though he lays great ftrefs on the
prefumptive arguments which feem to fa-
your the negative fide of the queſtion, will
not allow the fame force to thoſe which may
be urged on the other fide. The practice of
Chriſt, he tells us, is an authority to which
all believers will bow the knee, a tribunal by
which all our controverfies must be awarded:
yet he gives us notice at the fame time,
that to this authority, if brought againſt
him, he will not bow the knee; and from
this tribunal, if unfriendly to his caufe, he
will appeal; for that prayers and all external
obfervances are beggarly elements, to be laid
afide in the prefent maturity of the Chrif
tian church; and that, even if focial wor-
fhip were an original appendage of the gospel,
the idea of a progreffive Chriftianity would
juſtify us in rejecting it. With this in-
equality of conditions, which it is fufficient
juſt to notice, let us confider the array of
texts which are drawn up against the
C 3
prac
tice
( 22 )
tice in queſtion; and particularly thofe
precepts which, Mr. Wakefield fays, are
evidences that directly and literally prove
Public Worſhip to be unauthorized by Chrif
tianity, and inconfiftent with it, and which
he diſtinguiſhes from thofe which condemn
it merely by inference,
The first of thefe direct evidences is the
injunction, not to worship as the hypo-
crites, who are fond of exhibiting in the
moft public places. "And when thou
prayeft, be not as the hypocrites, for they
love to pray ſtanding in the fynagogues,
and in the corners of the ſtreets, that they
may be ſeen of men; verily I fay unto you,
they have their reward. But thou, when
thou prayeft, enter into thy cloſet, and when
thou hast ſhut thy door, pray to thy Father
who is in fecret." But is it not evident,
that the force of this precept is not aimed
againſt public prayer, but againſt private
prayer performed in public; againſt the
oftentatious diſplay which feeks to diſtin-
guifh us from others, not the genuine
Sympathy which makes us defirous of
4
blending
( 23 )
blending our feelings with theirs? It was
devotion obtruding itſelf in the face of bu-
fineſs, amidſt the ſhow and bustle of the
world. It did not feek for fellowſhip, but
obfervation. It did not want the concur-
rence of men, but to be ſeen by them.
Even in the fynagogue it was filent, foli-
tary, unfocial, and with fullen reſerve and
cold difdain kept itſelf aloof from commu-
nion, and invited only applaufe. The
Pharifee and the Publican both went up to
the temple to worship, but they worship-
ped not together. Certainly the delicate
and modeft nature of fincere piety must
ſhrink from an exhibition like this; and
would not wiſh to have its feelings no-
ticed, but where at the fame time they
may be ſhared.
be fhared. This text therefore feems
to be only a caution refpecting the proper
performance of our cloſet duties.
66
Jefus faith unto her, Woman, be▾
lieve me, the hour cometh when
ye fhall
neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jeru-
falem, worſhip the Father. But the hour
cometh, and now is, when the true wor-
ſhippers
C A
( 24 )
!
fhippers fhall worſhip the Father in fpirit
and in truth, for the Father feeketh fuch
to worſhip him. God is a fpirit." True
it is, the hour is come in which it is
allowed by all rational believers, that the
acceptableness of prayer does not depend on
the facredness of any particular place. The
Jews wanted to be informed of this. They,
naturally enough, were apt to confider
their temple as the habitation of the divine
Being, in the fame manner as a palace is
the habitation of an earthly fovereign, a
place where men may come to make their
court, and bring prefents, and afk favours
in return. Theſe ideas have been done
away by thoſe more honourable notions of
the divine Being which our Saviour and
good men after him have laboured to in-
culcate. We conceive of a church as of a
building, not for God to refide, but for men
to affemble in; for, though God is a fpirit,
men have bodies, and they cannot meet to
do any thing without having fome place to
do it in. Neither in this mountain, nor
yet at Jerufalem, means therefore exclu-
fively,
!
( 25 )
fively, with an idea of any peculiar facred-
nefs, or fuperftitious preference to any
other ſtructure which might be equally
commodious.
With regard to the character of our Sa-
viour himſelf, it is certain he did not al-
ways call upon his difciples to fhare that
more intimate, and, if I may ſay fo, confi-
dential, intercourfe with his heavenly Fa-
ther, which he may be fuppofed to have
been favoured with; and it must be con-
feffed, there is no formal mention made of
any
exerciſes of this kind either with them,
or with the people at large. But his whole
life was a prayer. He, who in his moſt
familiar and convivial moments, was raif-
ing the thoughts of his hearers to God,
and nourishing their piety by occafional in-
struction, could not be fuppofed to leave
them difinclined to the intercourfes of fo-
cial piety. The beautiful commendatory
prayer which he offered up when about to
leave the world, though it was not en-
tirely of the nature of focial prayer, as his
difciples did not join in it, yet, its being
uttered
( 26 )
1
uttered in their prefence, and their being
the object of it, ſeems to place it nearly on
the fame ground. In the very miracle of
the loaves, which Mr. Wakefield has pro-
duced as an inftance of an incident which
might have given rife to public prayer,
and which was fuffered to paſs without it
-in the account of this very miracle
there is a direct precedent for the practice
in queftion; for, looking up to heaven, he
bleſſed before he brake the bread. This,
indeed, appears to have been his conſtant
practice. It certainly does not belong to
private devotion, and is a fpecies of prayer
more apt, perhaps, than any other, to de-
generate into a mere form.
But if we do not find Public Worſhip,
properly fo called, in the life of our Saviour,
it is becauſe we look for it in the wrong
place. It is not to be fought for in his in-
ſtructions, either to the multitude at large,
or to his difciples in their more private con-
verfations. This public worſhip was paid
where the reft of the Jews paid theirs—in
the Temple. He came up, with the con-
courfe
( 27 )
courſe of affembled multitudes, to the
appointed religious feftivals; he eat the
paffover, and affociated with his fellow ci-
tizens, even in thofe rites and that form
of worſhip which he knew was ſo ſoon to
be aboliſhed.
Our Lord feems indeed to have been an
early and regular frequenter of whatever
public worſhip the Jews had among them.
What this was, befides their facrifices and
ceremonial obfervances, Mr. Wakefield is
infinitely better able than the author of
theſe remarks, to collect from the volumes
of Rabbinical learning; but, without going
deeper into their antiquities than what
may be gathered from thofe records of their
hiſtory which are in the hands of every
one, it may be feen that verbal addreffes to
the Divine Being often accompanied the
public expreffions of their thankſgiving,
In their earlieſt times we have the fong of
Mofes, in the burden of which the whole
people, led by Miriam, joined in chorus.
In a more poliſhed age, the fine prayer of
Solomon at the dedication of the temple, a
compofition
( 28 )
compofition which has never been excelled,
comes yet nearer to our ideas of an addrefs
to the Divine Being; and the whole peo-
ple bore a part in the worship by the re-
ipoufe, "for he is good, for his mercy en-
dureth for ever." A ftill more regular fer-
vice is recorded by Nehemiah, when the
people, after their return from the captivity,
entered into that folemn renewal of their
law defcribed with fo much affecting fo-
lemnity. They food and confeffed their fins,
then they read the law, after which the
Levites called upon them to ftand up and
bless the Lord their God; they ftood up ac-
cordingly, and joined in what I fuppofe the
author of the Enquiry would call a pretty
long prayer. And when Ezra bleffed the
Lord, the people answered, Amen, Amen.
All this is fufficiently fimilar not only to
the fpirit, but to the very routine of our
prefent modes of worſhip. If it be faid,
that theſe inftances all arofe from peculiar
and ftriking occafions, it may be anſwered,
that it is not likely any other would be re-
corded; and that the regularity and grace
with
!
( 29 )
(29
with which they ſeem to have been per-
formed, indicate a people not unaccustom-
ed to fuch exerciſes. Indeed the Pfalms
of David afford every variety which any
of our prayers do; confeffion, aſcription,
thankſgiving, &c. Thefe, it fhould feem,
were many of them fet to mufic, and fung
with proper refponfes; for even in the
temple, the chief bufinefs of which was
not prayer but facrifice, the Levites and
other fingers, at the time of the morning
and evening facrifice, fung pfalms of praiſe
to God before the altar, and in the conclu-
fion the priests bleffed the people *
it is not probable, that in a later period of
their hiſtory, amidst a greater degree of
refinement and cultivation, they fhould
have contented themfelves with mere ri-
tual obfervances. This at leaſt is evident,
if in the time of our Saviour they had no
worſhip fimilar to ours, he could not mean
by any thing he ſaid to hint a diflike of it;
and if they had, he muſt have fanctioned
the practice by conforming to it.
See Prideaux's Connection, Vol. II.
And
But in-
p. 528.
desd
( 30 )
deed it is acknowledged by moſt, and Mr.
Wakefield ſeems to admit, that after their
return from the Babylonifh captivity, when
their hearts were purified by adverfity and
more attached to their religion, they had
regular and ſtated worſhip in their fyna-
gogues, confiſting of forms of prayer, read-
ing the fcriptures, and expounding. In
the former, we are told, a minifter, called
from his office the angel or messenger of the
church, officiated as the mouth of the con-
gregation; but for the latter part of the
fervice it was uſual to call upon any ſtranger
to take his fhare, who appeared to be fuffi-
ciently qualified to read and expound the
leffons of the day. And hence probably it
was, that our Saviour did not pray in the
fynagogues, though he often taught there,
and interpreted the Scriptures*. Of their
forms of prayer eighteen are given, held to
be of high antiquity and peculiar facred-
nefs; and theſe are in a ftrain not diffimilar
to the Liturgies of more modern times.
In fhort, if we trace the accounts given us
* See Prideaux's Connection, Vol. II. p. 538.
both
( 31 )
both of the plan of the fervice, and of its
prefbyters, minifters, and deacons, it will
be found, that the Chriftian church, in its
correfponding officers, its collects, litanies,
and expofitions, is the legitimate daughter
of the Jewish fynagogue; and we fhall be
led to admire the fingular fate of a nation,
decreed to be at once imitated and defpifed.
Thus much may be fufficient to fay
upon a ſubject which, after all, is purely a
queftion of hiftorical curiofity.
To return to the character of our Savi-
our. His great buſineſs in the world was
inftruction; and this he difpenfed, not in
a fyftematic, but a popular manner; nor yet
in a vague and declamatory ftile, but in a
pointed and appropriated one; not where it
would moſt ſhine, but where it was moſt
wanted. He was the great reformer, the
innovator of his day; and the ftrain of his
energetic eloquence was ftrongly pointed
againſt abuſes of all kinds, and precifely
thoſe points of duty were moſt infifted on
which he found most neglected. Almoft
all his difcourfes are levelled againſt fome
prevailing
( 32 )
prevailing vice of the times, fome faſhioné
able worldly maxim, fome artful glofs of a
well known precept, fome evaſion of an
acknowledged duty. They were delivered
as occafion prompted, and therefore it wast
that they came fo home to men's buſineſs
and bofoms; for he might have delivered
the moſt elaborate lectures on morality,
and religion too, without offending the
Scribes and Pharifees, if he had confined
himſelf to ſyſtem, and not attacked cor-
ruption. We fhall therefore meet with
continual diſappointment if, in the few
fcattered difcourfes, moſt of them too con-
verfations, which are preferved to us of
our Saviour, we expect to find any thing
like a regular code of laws, and ftill lefs a
formulary of rules. He referred to known
laws, and only endeavoured to reſtore the
fpirit of them, and to exalt the motive of
obedience. The great duty of honouring
our parents had probably not found a place
in his inftructions, but to expofe the tradi-
tion which had made it of none effect. It is
therefore a very inconclufive argument
againft
( 33 )
7
againſt a practice either, that we are not
exprefsly enjoined it in the gofpel, or that
the abuſes of it are ftrongly dwelt upon;
and this may ferve for a general anfwer to
Mr. Wakefield's objections built upon the
animated denunciations against thoſe who,
for a pretence, make long prayers, and
who cry, Lord, Lord,-againſt vain repe-
titions-upon the exhortations to worthip
in fpirit and in truth-the declaration that
the Sabbath is made for man, and not
man for the Sabbath-with a thouſand
others in the fame ftrain, with which the.
goſpel undoubtedly abounds. But is the
utility of a practice deftroyed by the abufe
of it, or is it of none, becauſe it is not of
the chief value? Are none of our duties
fubordinate, yet real? or have they all the
proud motto, Aut Cæfar aut nullus.—As to
the idea of a progreſſive Christianity, on
which the author of the Enquiry lays fo
much ftrefs, as no new revelation has been
pretended fubfequent to its original pro-
mulgation, it is difficult to conceive of any
progrefs in it, diftinct from the progrefs of
reafon
D
( 34 )
reaſon and civilization in the different coun-
tries where it may be received. Now I
do not know what right we have to fup-
pofe that the Jews in the time of our Sa-
viour, were fo grofs in their ideas as to
require a mode of worship which deferves
to be ftigmatized with the appellation of
beggarly elements and the twilight of ſuper-
fition. They were probably as different
from their countrymen in the time of the
Judges, as we are from our anceſtors of the
Saxon heptarchy. They had long had
among them most of thofe caufes which
tend to develop the mental powers.
ſyſtem of laws and polity, writers of the
moft diftinguished excellence, commercial
and political intercourfe with other nations;
they had acute and fubtle difputants, and
an acquaintance with different fects of phi-
lofophy; and, under thefe circumſtances, it
is probable that moft of thofe queftions
would be agitated which, at ſimilar periods,
have excrcifed and perplexed the human
faculties. Be that as it may, Mr. Wake-
field, by confidering public worship as a
practice
5
A
( 35 )
practice to be adapted to the exigencies of
the times, evidently abandons the textual
ground, in which narrow path he feemed
hitherto to have trod with fuch fcrupulous
precaution, and places it on the broader
footing of utility. The utility of this prac-
tice therefore comes next to be confidered.
It is an error, which is extremely inci-
dent to minds of a delicate and anxious fen-
fibility, to fuppofe that practices do no
good which do not all the good that might
be expected from them. Let thoſe who,
in a defponding mood, are apt to think
thus of public worship, calculate, if they
can, what would be the confequence if
it were laid aſide. Perhaps it is not eaſy
to eſtimate how much of the manners as
well as the morals-how much of the cul-
tivation as well as the religion of a people
are derived from this very fource. If a
legiflator or philofopher were to undertake
the civilization of a horde of wild favages,
fcattered along the wafte in the drear lone-
linefs of individual exiftence, and averfe to
the faces of each other-if he had formed
D 3
a plan
( 36 )
a plan to gather them together, and give
them a principle of coheſion; he probably
could not take a more effectual method
than by perfuading them to meet together
in one place at regular and ſtated times
and there to join together in a common
act, impofing from its folemnity and endear-
ing from the focial nature of its exerciſes.
If an adventurer were ftranded on fome fo-
reign fhore, and ſhould find the inhabitants
engaged in fuch an act, he might draw
the conclufion, that the bleflings of order,
internal peace, mutual confidence, and a
confiderable degree of information, exifted
there, as furely as the philofopher drew a
fimilar inference from the difcovery of ma-
thematical diagrams traced upon the fand.
And thus, in fact, it was, that in the early
beginnings of fociety, legiflators called in
the affiftance of religious ideas, and with
the charm and melody of folemn hymns,
like thofe of Orpheus or of Linus, gathered
round them the ftupid, incurious barba-
rians, rouſed them to attention and ſoftened
into docility. Agreeably to this train of
thinking,
4.
( 37 )
thinking, our great dramatic moraliſt places
the influences of focial worſhip upon a par
with the facred touches of fympathetic for-
row, and the exhilarating pleaſures of the
hofpitable board, and makes it one of the
features which diſtinguiſh the urbanity of
poliſhed life from the rude and unfeeling
ferocity which belongs to a clan of unprin-
cipled banditti.
If ever you have looked on better days,
If ever been where bells have knolled to church,
If ever fate at any good man's feaſt,
If ever from your eye-lids wiped a tear,
And known what 'tis to pity and be pitied;
Let gentleness your ftrong enforcement be--
For, independent of the peculiar object
of public religious affemblies, many colla-
teral advantages are derived from thein
which the liberal thinker will by no means.
deſpiſe. The recurrence of appointed days of
reft and leiſure, which, but for this purpofe,
would never have been appointed, divides the
weary months of labour and fervitude with
a feparating line of a brighter colour. The
church is a centre of union for neighbours,
friends,
D 3
( 38 )
friends, and townfmen; and it is a reafon-
able and a pleaſing ground of preference in
our attachments, that we have "walked
to the houſe of God in company." Even
the common greetings that pafs between
thoſe who meet there, are hallowed by the
occafion of the meeting, and the ſpirit of
civic urbanity is mingled with a ſtill
ſweeter infuſion of chriftian courteſy. By
the recurrence of this intercourfe, feuds
and animofities are compofed, which inter-
rupted the harmony of friends and acquaint-
ance; and thoſe who avoided to meet be-
cauſe they could not forgive, are led to
forgive, being obliged to meet. Its ef-
fect in humanizing the lower orders of
fociety, and faſhioning their manners to
the order and decorum of civil life, is appa-
rent to every reflecting mind. The poor
who have not formed a habit of attending
here, remain from week to week in their
fordid cells, or iffue thence to places of
licentioufneſs more fordid; while thofe
who affemble with the other inhabitants of
the place, are brought into the frequent
view
( 39 )
!
view of their fuperiors.; their perfons are
known, their appearance noted; the en-
quiring eye of benevolence purſues them to
their humble cottages, and they are not
unfrequently led home from focial worſhip
to the focial meal. If the rich and poor
were but thus brought together regularly
and univerfally, that fingle circumſtance
would be found fufficient to remove the
fqualidneſs of miſery, and the bitterneſs of
want; and poverty would exiſt only as a
fober ſhade in the picture of life, on which
the benevolent eye might reft with a degree
of complacency when fatigued with the
more gaudy colouring of luxury and ſhow.
The good effect of public worſhip in this
light is remarkably confpicuous in the Sun-
day fchools. Many of the children who
attend, have probably not very clearly
comprehended any religious fyftem; but
the moving and acting under the public
eye, together with a fenfe of duty and mo-
ral obligation, which, however obfcure, al-
ways accompanies the exerciſes of religion,
foon transforms them into a different kind
D 4
of
( 40 )
of beings. They acquire a love of neat-
neſs and regularity; a fenfe of propriety
infinuates itſelf into their young minds, and
produces, inſtead of the fullen and untamed
licentiouſneſs, which at once fhuns and
hates the reftraints of better life, the mo-
deft deference and chaftened demeanour of
thoſe who refpect others becauſe they
refpect themſelves.
Public Worſhip conveys a great deal of
inftruction in an indirect manner. Even
thoſe didactic prayers which run out into the
enurneration of the attributes of the divine
Being, and of the duties of a virtuous life,
though, perhaps, not strictly proper. as
prayer, have their ufe in ftoring the minds
of the generality with ideas on theſe im-
portant fubje&s; and the beauty and fubli-
mity of many of thefe compofitions muft
operate powerfully in lifting the heart to
God, and infpiring it with a love of virtue.
Improper as public prayers may have fome-
times been, private prayers are likely to be
ftill more fo. Whatever contempt Mr.
Wakefield may chooſe to throw on the
official
( 41 )
!
official abilities of thofe who lead the fer-
vice, it will not be denied that they are
generally better informed than thofe who
follow. Men to whom fpiritual ideas are
familiar from reading and ftudy, do not
fufficiently appreciate the advantage which
the illiterate enjoy by the fellowſhip and
communication of fuperior minds, who are
qualified to lead their ideas in the right
track.
Public Worſhip is a means of invigo
rating faith. Though argument be one
means of generating belief, and that on
which all belief muſt ultimately reſt, it is
not the only means, nor, with many
minds, the most efficacious. Practical
faith is greatly affifted by joining in fome
act in which the prefence and perfuafion of
others gives a fort of reality to our percep-
tion of inviſible things. The metaphyfical
reafoner, entangled in the nets of fophiftry,
may involve himſelf in the intricacies of
contradictory fyllogifms till reafon grows
giddy, and ſcarcely able to hold the balance;
but when he acts in prefence of his fellow-
creatures,
( 42 )
}
creatures, his mind refumes its tone and
vigour, and focial devotion gives a colour
and body to the deductions of his reaſon.
Berkeley, probably, never doubted of the
exiſtence of the material world when he
had quitted his clofet. Some minds are
not capable of that firmneſs of deciſion
which embraces truth upon a bare prepon-
deṛancy of argument-fome, through a
timorous and melancholy fpirit, remain al-
ways in a perplexed and doubting ftate, if
they reft merely on the conclufions built
upon their own inveftigation. But every
act in confequence of our faith, ftrengthens
faith. Thefe, when they enter a place of
worſhip, amidſt all the animating accom-
paniments of focial homage, are ſeized
with a happy contagion; flow heſitating
doubts vaniſh in a moment, and give way
to fincere and cordial feeling. Thefe are
not proofs, it is true; but they are helps,
adapted to our nature, neceffary to the ge-
nerality, expedient for all. As for the
multitude, fo unaccustomed are they to
any proceſs of abftruſe reaſoning, and fo
much
( 43 )
$
much do they require the affiftance of
fome object within the grafp of their fenfes,
that it is to be doubted whether they could
be at all perfuaded of the exiſtence of a fpi-
ritual inviſible power, if that exiſtence was
not ſtatedly acknowledged by ſome act
which fhould imprefs the reality of it upon
their minds, by connecting it with places,
perfons, and times.
Let it be obſerved, in the next place, that
Public Worſhip is a civic meeting. The
temple is the only place where human be-
ings, of every rank and fex and age, meet
together for one common purpoſe, and join
together in one common act. Other meet-
ings are either political, or formed for the
purpoſes of fplendor and amuſement; from
both which, in this country, the bulk of in-
habitants are of neceffity excluded. This
is the only place, to enter which nothing
more is neceffary than to be of the fame
fpecies; the only place where man meets
man not only as an equal but a brother;
and where, by contemplating his duties, he
may become fenfible of his rights. So high
and
( 44 )
and haughty is the fpirit of ariftocracy, and
fuch the increaſing pride of the privileged
claffes, that it is to be feared, if men did
not attend at the fame place here, it would
hardly be believed they were meant to go
to the fame place hereafter. It is of fer-
vice to the cauſe of freedom therefore, no
leſs than to that of virtue, that there is
one place where the invidious diftinctions
of wealth and titles are not admitted; where
all are equal, not by making the low, proud,
but by making the great, humble. How
many a man exifts who poffeffes not the
ſmalleſt property in this earth of which
you call him lord; who, from the narrow-
ing spirit of property, is circumfcribed and
hemmed in by the poffeflions of his more
opulent neighbours, till there is ſcarcely an
unoccupied fpot of verdure on which he
can fet his foot to admire the beauties of
nature, or barren mountain on which he
can draw the fresh air without a trefpafs.
The enjoyments of life are for others, the
labours of it for him. He hears thofe of
his clafs fpoken of collectively, as of ma-
chines,
( 45 )
(45
chines, which are to be kept in repair in-
deed, but of which the fole ufe is to raiſe
the happineſs of the higher orders. Where,
but in the temples of religion, fhall he
learn that he is of the fame fpecies? He
hears there (and were it for the first time,
it would be with infinite aſtoniſhment}
that all are confidered as alike ignorant and
to be inftructed; all alike finful and need-
ing forgiveness; all alike bound by the
fame obligations, and animated by the fame
hopes. In the intercourfes of the world
the poor man is feen, but not noticed;
he may be in the prefence of his fuperiors,
but he cannot be in their company.
every other place it would be prefumption
in him to let his voice be heard along with
theirs; here alone they are both raiſed to-
gether, and blended in the full chorus of
praife. In every other place it would be
an offence to be near them, without fhew-
ing in his attitudes and deportment the
conſcious marks of inferiority; here only
he fees the proftrations of the rich as low
as his, and hears them both addreffed to-
In
gether
( 46 )
gether in the majeftic fimplicity of a lan-
guage that knows no adulation. Here
the poor man learns that, in fpite of the
diſtinctions of rank, and the apparent in-
feriority of his condition, all the true goods.
of life, all that men dare petition for when
in the prefence of their Maker-a found
mind, a healthful body, and daily bread,
lie within the ſcope of his own hopes and
endeavours; and that in the large inherit-
ance to come, his expectations are no leſs
ample than theirs. He rifes from his
knees, and feels himſelf a man. He learns
philofophy without its pride, and a fpirit
of liberty without its turbulence. Every
time Social Worthip is celebrated, it in-
cludes a virtual declaration of the rights of
man.
It may be further obferved, that the re-
gular fervices of the church are to us the
more neceffary, as we have laid aſide many
of thofe modes and expreffions which gave
a tincture of religion to our focial inter-
courfe and domeftic manners. The regard
to particular days and ſeaſons is nearly worn
off.
( 47 )
off. The forms of epiftolary correſpond-
ence, and the friendly falutations which,
in the last century, breathed a ſpirit of af-
fectionate piety, are exchanged for the
degrading ceremonial of unmeaning fervi-
lity. The God be with you-God bless
you-If God permit-Heaven have you in
its keeping,-like the graceful Salam, or
falutation of peace among the eaſtern na-
tions, kept up in the mind a fenfe of the
furrounding providence of the Divine Be-
ing, and might, in fome meafure, fuperfede
the neceffity of more formal addreffes;
whereas, in the preſent ſtate of ſociety, a
ftranger might pafs day after day, and week
after week, in the bofom of a Chriftian
country, without fufpecting the faith of its
inhabitants (if Public Worſhip were laid
afide) from any circumftance, unleſs it
were the obfcure, half-pronounced blefling
which is ftill fometimes murmured over
the table.
Let it therefore be confidered, when the
length and abſtracted nature of our public
prayers is objected to, that we have no-
thing to take their place. If our attention
Was
( 48 )
was excited by proceffions, garlands, altars,
and facrifices, and every action of our lives
intermixed with fome religious rite, theſe
expreffions of our homage might be more
readily diſpenſed with; but in reality, te-
dious as Mr. Wakefield may think long
prayers, they fuit better with the gravity
of the national difpofition and the philofo-
phic turn of our ideas, than any ſubſtitute
which could be fuggefted by the moſt claſ-
fic tafte. Our prayers are become long,
becauſe our ceremonies are ſhort.
If we may fuppofe thefe views of the
fubject to have eſtabliſhed the general uti-
lity of Public Worſhip, a queſtion ftill arifes,
Is the obligation to it univerfal? Is attend-
ance on its exerciſes to be expected from
thoſe whofe own minds are temples more
hallowed than any they can enter; and
whoſe knowledge and cultivation render it
probable, that in every popular fervice they
will meet with much to object to, and lit-
tle to intereſt a taſte rendered faftidious by
critical accuracy and elegant refinement?
Without prefuming to condemn the con-
duct of thoſe who are in every reſpect fo
competent
( 49 )
competent to form their own plans ac-
cording to their own judgment, I would
mention fome confiderations which, even
to them, may preſent it in a light not un-
worthy their attention. It is, in the firſt
place, an act of homage, and as fuch equally
incumbent on all. It is a profeffion of
faith, lefs dubious even than the perform-
ance of moral duties, which may proceed
from a well directed prudence, or the har-
mony of a happy temperament. It is
right and proper that Religion fhould have
the honour of thoſe who are calculated to
do her honour. It is likewiſe uſeful for a
pious man to be connected with pious peo-
ple as fuch. Various affociations are form-
ed upon the ground of fomething which
men wish to improve or to enjoy in com-
mon. Literary men affociate, mufical men
affociate, political men affociate together;
and as there is a great deal of the commerce
of the world in which it would be impoffi-
ble to introduce religion, there ought by
way of balance to be fome fociety of which
that is the ground and principle; other-
E
wife,
( 50 )
wife, from the very nature of our connec
tions with each other, we fhall find reli-
gion lefs in our thoughts than almoſt any
thing elfe in which we have an intereft,
and infenfibly it will wafte and die away
for mere want of aliment. But the at-
tendance of men of literature and knows
ledge is perhaps moft important from its
effect upon others. The unenlightened
worſhip with moſt pleaſure, where thoſe
worſhip whofe opinions they reſpect. A
religion that is left for the vulgar will not
long fatisfy even them. There is harſh-
nefs in faying to the bulk of mankind,
Stand aſide, we are wifer than you. There
is harſhneſs in ſaying, Our affections can-
not move in concert; what edifies you dif-
gufts us; we cannot feel in common, even
where we have a common intereft. In the
intercourſes of life, the man of urbanity
makes a thoufand facrifices to the conci-
liating fpirit of courteſy, and the ſcience
of attentions. The exerciſes of devotion,
Mr. Wakefield fays, are wearifome. Sup-
pofe they were fo, how many meetings do
3
We
( 51 )
we frequent, to how many converſations
do we liften with benevolent attention,
where our own pleaſure and our own im-
provement are not the objects to which our
time is given up? He who knows much,
muſt expect to be often prefent where he
can learn nothing. While others are re-
ceiving information, he is practiſing a vir-
tue. He, who in common life has learned
to mix a regard to the feelings and opinions
of others with the purfuit of his own gra-
tifications, will bear, in the fpirit of love
and charity, the inftruction which to him
is unneceffary, the amplification which to
him is tirefome, the deficiencies of me-
thod or of elocution, to which his ear and
his judgment are acutely fenfible; the im-
perfections, in fhort, of men or of focieties
inferior to himſelf in tafte or knowledge;-as
in converfation he bears with the communi-
cative overflowings of felf-importance, the
repetition of the well known tale, and the
recurrence of the numerous, burdenfome
forms of civilized fociety.
It becomes us well to confider what
E 2
would
J
( 52 )
would be the confequence, if the defertion
of men of ſuperior ſenſe ſhould become ge-
neral in our affemblies. Not the abolition
of public worship; it is a practice too
deeply rooted in the very propenfities of
our nature; but this would be the confe-
quence, that it would be thrown into the
hands of profeffional men on the one hand,
and of uninformed men on the other. By
the one it would be corrupted, it would be
debaſed by the other. Let the friends of
moderation and good fenfe confider whe-
ther it is defirable, whether it is even ſafe,
to withdraw from the public the powerful
influence of their tafte, knowledge, and
liberality. Let them confider whether
they are prepared to take the confequences
of trufting in the hands of any clergy, fo
powerful an engine as that of public wor-
ſhip and inftruction, without the falutary
check of their prefence who are beſt able
to diftinguiſh truth from falfehood, to de-
tect unwarrantable pretenfions, and to keep
within tolerable bounds the wanderings of
fanaticifm. Attentive to the figns of the
times,
( 53 )
times, they will have remarked, on the one
hand, a difpofition to give into deception,
greater than might naturally have been
prefumed of this age, which we compli-
ment with the epithet of enlightened.
Empiric extravagancies have been adopted,
which violate every fober and confiftent
idea of the laws of nature, and new fects
have ſprung up diftinguiſhed by the wildeſt
reveries of viſionary credulity. On the
other, they will have obferved indications
of a defire to diſcourage the freedom of in-
veftigation, to thicken the veil of myſtery,
and to revive every obfolete pretenfion of
prieſtly power, which, in the moft ignorant
periods, the haughtieft churchman has ever
dared to affume. They will have read
with aſtoniſhment an official exhortation
to the inferior clergy-it was not fulmi-
nated from the Vatican, it was not dragged
to light from the mould and ruft of remote
ages-It was delivered by an English divine
of the eighteenth century, brilliant in parts
and high in place: he knew it was to meet
the notice and encounter the criticifm of an
E 3
enlightened
( 54 )
enlightened and philofophic people, and he
has not fcrupled to tell them-that good
works of a heretic are fin; and that ſuch a
one may go to hell with his load of moral
merit on his back. He has not fcrupled to
rank the first philofopher of this king-
dom, and the man in it perhaps of all others
moſt actively folicitous for the fpread of
what he at leaft believes to be genuine
Chriſtianity, with infidels and atheiſts; and
thus by obvious inference has pioufly con-
figned him to the fame doom. He has re-
vived claims and opinions which have upon
their heads whole centuries of oblivion and
contempt; and by flandering Morality, has
thought to exalt Religion.-Reflecting on
theſe things, they will confider whether
the man of judgment does not defert the
poft affigned him by Providence, when he
withdraws from popular affemblies both
the countenance of his example and the
impofing awe of his prefence; they will
conceive themfelves as inveſted with the
high commiffion to take care nequid ref
publica detrimenti capiat; they will confi-
der
( 55 )
der themſelves as the falt of the earth, the
leaven of the lump, not to be fecluded in
ſeparate parcels, but to be mingled in the
whole mafs, diffufing through it their own
ſpirit and favour.
The author of the Enquiry chooſes to
expatiate, it is not difficult to do it, on the
diſcordant variety of the different modes of
worship practifed amongſt men, and con-
cludes it with characterizing this alarming
fchifm by the compariſon of the poet :
One likes the pheafant's wing, and one the leg;
The vulgar boil, the learned roaft an egg.
But might we not venture to' afk,-
Where, pray, is the harm of all this? un-
leſs indeed I will not allow my neighbour
to boil his egg becauſe I roaft mine. Eggs
are good and nutritious food either way;
and in the manner of dreffing them, fancy
and tafte, nay caprice, if you will, may
fairly be confulted. If I prefer the leg of
a pheafant, and my neighbour finds it dry,
let each take what he likes. It would be
a conclufion fingularly abfurd that eggs
E 4
and
pheafants
( 56 )
pheasants were not to be eaten. All the
harm is in having but one table for gueſts
of every deſcription; and yet even there,
were I at a public ordinary, good in other
reſpects, I would rather conform my tafte
in fome meaſure to that of my neighbour,
than be reduced to the melancholy necef-
fity of eating my morfel by myſelf alone.
The Diffenters cannot be fuppoſed to
paſs over in filence Mr. Wakefield's ftric-
tures upon the manner in which they have
choſen to conduct their public and focial
worship. They are furpriſed and ſorry to
find themſelves treated with fuch a mix-
ture of bitterneſs and levity by a man
whofe abilities they refpect, and whom
they have fhewn themſelves ready to em-
brace as a brother. They have their pre-
judices, they acknowledge-and he per-
haps has his. Many forms and obferv-
ances may to them be dear and venerable,
through the force of early habit and affo-
ciation, which to a ſtranger in their Ifrael
may appear uncouth, unneceffary, or even
marked with a fhade of ridicule. They
pity
( 57 )
pity Mr. Wakefield's peculiar and infulated
fituation. Separating through the pureft
motives from one church, he has not
found another with which he is inclined
to affociate; divided by difference of opi-
nions from one clafs of Chriftians, and by
diffonance of tafte from another, he finds
the tranfition too violent from the college
to the conventicle; he worſhips alone be-
cauſe he ftands alone; and is, naturally
perhaps, led to undervalue that fellow fhip
which has been loft to him between his
early predilections and his later opinions.
If, however, the Diffenters are not fo hap-
py as to gain his
allowed to urge
their claims
affection, they muſt be
their claims upon his
efteem. They with him to reflect, that
neither his claffical knowledge, nor his
critical acumen, nor his acknowledged ta-
lents, fet him fo high in the eſteem of
good men, as that integrity which he
poffeffes in common with thoſe whom he
defpifes; they believe further confidera-
tion would fuggeft to him, that it were
more candid to pafs over thofe peculiari-
ties
( 58 )
ties which have originated in a delicate
confcience and the fervour of devotion;
and they cannot help afking, Whether they
had reafon to expect the feverity of farcaf-
tic ridicule from him, whoſe beſt praiſe it
is that he has imitated their virtues and
fhared their facrifices?
The Diffenters, however, do not make
it their boaſt that they have nothing to re-
form. They have, perhaps, always been
more confpicuous for principle than for
tafte; their practices are founded upon a
prevalence of religious fervour, an animą-
tion and warmth of piety, which, if it not
longer exifts, it is vain to fimulate. But
what they do make their boaſt is, that they
acknowledge no principle which forbids
them to reform; that they have no leave to
afk of Biſhops, Synods, or Parliaments, in
order to lay aſide forms which have become
vapid. They are open to conviction; they
are ready to receive with thankfulneſs
every fober and liberal remark which may
affift them to improve their religious ad-
dreffes, and model them to the temper of
the
( 59 )
the public mind. But, with regard to thoſe
practices of fuperabundant devotion which
have drawn down upon them the indig-
nation of the critic, it is the opinion of
thoſe who beft know the Diffenters of the
preſent day, that they might have been
fuffered to fall quietly of themſelves: they
are fupported by no authority, defrayed by
no impoft. If they make long prayers, it
is at the expence only of their own breath
and fpirits; no widows' houſes are devour-
ed by it. If the prefent generation yawn
and lumber over the exerciſes which their
fathers attended with pious alacrity, the
fons will of courfe learn to fhorten them.
If the difpofition of their public fervices
wants animation, as perhaps it does, the
filent pews will be deferted one by one,
and they will be obliged to feek ſome
other mode of engaging the attention of
their audience. But modes and forms af-
fect not the effence of Public Worſhip;
that may be performed with a form or
without one; by words alone, or by fym-
bolical expreffions, combined with or ſepa-
rated
( 60 )
rated from inftruction; with or without
the affiſtance of a particular order appoint-
ed to officiate in leading the devotions: it
may be celebrated one day in feven, or in
eight, or in ten in many of thefe parti-
culars a certain deference fhould be had to
the fentiments of that fociety with which,
upon the whole, we think it beft to con-
nect ourſelves, and as times and manners
change, theſe circumſtances will vary; but
the root of the practice is too ſtrongly in-
terwoven with the texture of the human
frame ever to be abandoned. While man
has wants, he will pray; while he is fenfi-
ble of bleffings, he will offer praife; while
he has common wants and common bleff-
ings, he will pray and praiſe in company
with his fellows; and while he feels him-
felf a focial being, he will not be perſuaded
to lay afide Social Worſhip.
It muft, however, be acknowledged, that,
in order to give Public Worſhip all the grace
and efficacy of which it is fufceptible, much
alteration is neceflary. It is neceffary here,
as in every other concern, that timely re-
formation
L
( 61 )
formation ſhould prevent neglect. Much
might be done by judgment, taſte, and a
devotional ſpirit united, to improve the plan
of our religious affemblies. Should a ge-
nius ariſe amongst us qualified for fuch
a taſk, and in circumftances favourable to
his being liftened to, he would probably
remark firſt, on the conftruction of our
churches, fo ill adapted are a great part of
them to the purpoſes either of hearing or
feeing. He would reprobate thofe little
gloomy folitary cells, planned by the ſpirit
of aristocracy, which deform the building
no less to the eye of tafte than to the eye
of benevolence, and infulating each family
within its feparate incloſure, favour at once
the pride of rank and the lazineſs of in-
dulgence. He might chooſe for theſe
ſtructures fomething of the amphitheatrical
form, where the minifter, on a raiſed plat-
form, ſhould be beheld with eaſe by the
whole wave of people, at once bending to-
gether in deep humiliation, or fpreading
forth their hands in the earnestnefs of pe-
tition. It would certainly be found defir-
able
( 62 )
able that the people ſhould themſelves have
a large hare in the performance of the fer-
vice, as the intermixture of their voices
would both introduce more variety and
greater animation; provided pains were ta-
ken by proper teaching to enable them to
bear their part with a decorum and pro-
priety, which, it muſt be confeffed, we do
hot fee at prefent amongſt thoſe whofe
public fervices poffefs the advantage of re-
fponfes.
The explaining, and teaching
them to recite, fuch hymns and collects as
it might be thought proper they ſhould bear
a part in, would form a pleafing and ufe-
ful branch of the inftruction of young peo-
ple, and of the lower claffes; it would give
them an intereft in the public fervice, and
might fill up agreeably a vacant hour either
on the Sunday or on fome other leiſure day,
efpecially if they were likewife regularly
inſtructed in finging for the fame purpoſe.
As we have never feen, perhaps we can
hardly conceive, the effect which the unit-
ed voices of a whole congregation, all in
the lively expreffion of one feeling, would
have
( 63 )
have upon the mind. We ſhould then per-
ceive not only that we were doing the fame
thing in the fame place, but that we were
doing it with one accord. The deep filence
of liſtening expectation, the burst of united
praiſes, the folemn paufes that invite re-
Яection, the varied tones of humiliation;
gratitude, or perfuafion, would fwell and
melt the heart by turns; nor would there
be any reaſon to guard againſt the wander-
ing eye, when every object it refted on
muft forcibly recall it to the duties of the
place.—Poffibly it might be found expedi-
ent to feparate worſhip from instruction ;
the learned teacher from the leader of the
public devotions, in whom voice, and po-
pular talents, might perhaps be allowed to
fuperfede a more deep and critical acquaint-
ance with the doctrines of theology. One
confequence, at leaſt, would follow fuch a
feparation, that inſtruction would be given
more fyftematically.Nothing that is
taught at all is taught in fo vague and de-
fultory a manner as the doctrines of re-
ligion. A congregation may attend for
years
( 64 )
years, even a good preacher, and never hear
the evidences of either natural or revealed
religion regularly explained to them: they
may attend for years, and never hear a con-
nected ſyſtem of moral duties extending to
the different fituations and relations of life:
they may attend for years, and not even
gain any clear idea of the hiſtory and chro-
nology of the Old and New Teſtament,
which are read to them every Sunday.
They will hear abundance of excellent
doctrine, and will often feel their hearts.
warmed and their minds edified; but their
ideas upon theſe fubjects will be confufed
and imperfect, becauſe they are treated on
in a manner fo totally different from every
thing elſe which bears the name of inftruc-
tion. This is probably owing, in a great
meaſure, to the cuftom of prefixing to every
pulpit diſcourſe a fentence, taken indifcri-
minately from any part of the Scriptures,
under the name of a text, which at firſt
implying an expofition, was afterwards
uſed to ſuggeſt a ſubject, and is now, by
degrees, dwindling into a motto.—Still,
however,
( 65 )
however, the cuſtom fubfifts; and while
it ſerves to fuperfede a more methodical
courſe of inftruction, tends to keep up in
the minds of the generality of hearers a
very fuperftitious idea, not now entertain-
ed, it is to be preſumed, by the generality
of thoſe who teach, of the equal facredness
and importance of every part of ſo mifcel-
laneous a collection.
If theſe infulated difcourfes, of which
each is complete in itſelf, and therefore
can have but little compaſs, were digeſted
into a regular plan of lectures, fupported
by a courſe of reading, to which the au-
dience might be directed, it would have the
further advantage of roufing the inattentive
and reftraining the rambling hearer by the
intereft which would be created by ſuch a
connected ſeries of information. They would
occupy a larger ſpace in the mind, they would
more frequently be the fubject of recollec-
tion and meditation; there would be a fear
of miffing one link in fuch a chain of truths,
and the more intelligent part of a congre-
gation might find a ufeful and intereſting
F
employment
( 66 )
employment in affifting the teacher in the
inſtruction of thofe who were not able to
comprehend inftruction with the fame fa-
cility as themſelves. When fuch a courſe
of inftruction had been delivered, it would
not be expected that difcourfes, into which
men of genius and learning had digeſted
their beſt thoughts, fhould be thrown by,
or brought forward again, as it were, by
tealth; but they would be regularly and
avowedly repeated at proper intervals. It
is ufual upon the continent for a fet of fer-
mons to be delivered in feveral churches,
each of which has its officiating minifter
for the ſtated public worship; and thus a
whole diſtrict partakes the advantage of
the labours of a man eminent for compofi-
tion. Perhaps it might be defirable to join
to religious information fome inſtruction in
the laws of our country, which are, or
ought to be, founded upon morals; and
which, by a ſtrange folecifm, are obliga-
tory upon all, and ſcarcely promulgated,
much leſs explained.-Many ideas will of-
fer themfelves to a thinking man, who
wishes
( 67 )
wiſhes not to aboliſh, but to improve the
Public Worſhip of his country. Theſe
are only hints, offered with diffidence and
reſpect, to thoſe who are able to judge of
and carry them into effect.
Above all, it would be defirable to fepa-
rate from religion that idea of gloom which
in this country has but too generally ac-
companied it. The fact cannot be denied ;
the cauſe muſt be fought, partly in our
national character, which I am afraid is not
haturally either very cheerful or very focial,
and which we ſhall do well to meliorate by
every poffible attention to our habits of
life;—and partly to the colour of our reli-
gious fyftems. No one who embraces the
common idea of future torments, together
with the doctrine of election and reproba-
tion, the infufficiency of virtue to eſcape
the wrath of God, and the ftrange ab-
furdity which, it fhould feem, through
fimilarity of found alone has been admitted
as an axiom, that fins committed againſt
an Infinite Being do therefore deſerve in-
finite puniſhment-no one, I will venture
F 2
to
( 68 )
to affert, can believe fuch tenets, and have
them often in his thoughts, and yet be
cheerful. Whence a fyftem has ariſen fo
incompatible with that juftice and benevo-
lence, which in the difcourfes of our Sa-
viour are reprefented as the moſt effential
attributes of the Divine Being, is not eaſy
to trace. It is probable, however, that
power, being the most prominent feature
in our conceptions of the Creator, and that
of which we fee the moft ftriking image
here on earth (there being a greater por-
tion of uncontrouled power than of un-
mixed wifdom or goodness to be found
amongſt human beings), the Deity would
naturally be likened to an abfolute mo-
narch :—and moſt abſolute monarchs hav-
ing been tyrants, jealous of their fovereign-
ty, averſe to freedom of inveſtigation, order-
ing affairs, not with a view to the happi-
nefs of their fubjects, but to the advance-
ment of their own glory; not to be ap-
proached but with rich gifts and offerings;
beftowing favours, not in proportion to
merit, but from the pure influence of ca-
price
V
( 69 )
price and blind partiality; to thofe who have
offended them fevere, and unforgiving, ex-
cept induced to pardon by the importunate
interceffion of fome favourite; confining
their enemies, when they had overcome
them, after a conteft, in deep, dark dun-
geons under ground, or putting them to
death in the prolonged mifery of excruci-
ating tortures-theſe features of human
depravity have been moft faithfully tranf-
ferred to the Supreme Being; and men
have imaged to themfelves how a Nero or
a Domitian would have acted, if, from the
extent of their dominion there had been no
eſcape, and to the duration of it no period.
Theſe ideas of the vulgar belief, terri-
ble, but as yet vague and undefined, paffed
into the ſpeculations of the ſchoolmen, by
whom they were combined with the me-
taphyfical idea of eternity, arranged in
fpecific propofitions, fixed in creeds, and
elaborated into fyftems, till at length they
have been fublimed into all the tremendous
horrors of the Calvinistic faith. Thefe
doctrines, it is true, among thinking peo-
ple,
F 3
( 70 )
ple, are lofing ground; but there is ftill
apparent, in that clafs called ferious Chrif-
tians, a tenderneſs in expofing them; a
fort of leaning towards them, as in walk-
ing over a precipice one fhould lean to the
fafeſt fide; an idea that they are, if not
true, at leaſt good to be believed, and that
a falutary error is better than a dangerous
truth. But that error can neither be fa-
lutary nor harmleſs, which attributes to
the Deity injuftice and cruelty; and that
religion muſt have the worst of tendencies,
which renders it dangerous for man to imi-
tate the being whom he worſhips. Let
thoſe who hold fuch tenets confider, that
the inviſible Creator has no name, and is
identified only by his character; and they
will tremble to think what being they are
worſhipping, when they invoke a power ca-
pable of producing exiſtence, in order to
continue it in never ending torments. The
God of the Affembly's Catechifm is not the
fame God with the deity of Thomfon's
Seafons, and of Hutchefon's Ethics. Uni-
ty of character in what we adore, is much
[
more
( 71 )
more effential than unity of perfon. We
often boaſt, and with reaſon, of the purity
of our religion, as oppoſed to the groffneſs
of the theology of the Greeks and Ro-
mans; but we ſhould remember, that cru-
elty is as much worſe than licentiouſneſs,
as a Moloch is worſe than a fatyr.-When
will Chriftians permit themſelves to believe
that the fame conduct which gains them
the approbation of good men here, will fe-
cure the favour of heaven hereafter? When
will they ceaſe making their court to their
Maker by the ſame ſervile debaſement and
affectation of lowlinefs by which the vain
potentates of the earth are flattered? When
a harmleſs and well meaning man, in the
exaggerated, figures of theological rhetoric,
calls himſelf the vileft of finners, it is in
preciſely the fame ſpirit of falſe humility in
which the courtier ufes degrading and dif-
qualifying expreffions, when he ſpeaks of
himſelf in his adulatory addreſſes to his ſo-
vereign. When a good man draws near
the cloſe of a life, not free indeed from
faults, but pure from crime, a life ſpent
F 4
in
( 72 )
in the habitual exercife of all thofe virtues
which adorn and dignify human nature,
and in the uniform approach to that per-
fection, which is confeffedly unattainable
in this imperfect ftate,-when a man-
perhaps like Dr. Price, whofe name will
be ever pronounced with affectionate ve-
neration and deep regard by all the friends
of philofophy, virtue, and mankind, - is
about to refign his foul into the hands of
his Maker, he ought to do it, not only
with a reliance on his mercy, but his juf-
tice; a generous confidence and pious re-
fignation fhould be blended in his deport-
ment. It does not become him to pay the
blafphemous homage of deprecating the
wrath of God, when he ought to throw
himſelf into the arms of his love.
not to think that virtue is one thing here,
and another in heaven; or that he on whom
bleffings and eulogiums are ready to burft
from all honeft tongues, can be an object
of puniſhment with him who is infinitely
more benevolent than any of his creatures.
He is
Theſe remarks may be thought foreign
tq
( 73 )
1
to the fubject in queſtion; but in fact they
are not fo. Public Worſhip will be tinctured
with gloom, while our ideas of its object
are darkened by fuperftition; it will be in-
fected with hypocrify, while its profeſſions
and tenets run counter to the genuine, un-
perverted moral fenfe of mankind; it will
not meet the countenance of philofophers
fo long as we are obliged to unlearn our
ethics, in order to learn divinity. Let it
be confidered that thefe opinions greatly
favour immorality. The doctrine that all
are vile, and equally merit a ftate of pu-
niſhment, is an idea as confolatory to the
profligate, as it is humiliating to the faint;
and that is one reafon why it has always
been a favourite doctrine. The indecent
confidence of a Dodd, and the debafing ter-
rors of a Johnſon, or of more blameleſs men
And admitted, as I truft I fhall be, to the realms of
• blifs before you, I fhall hail your arrival there with
transport, and rejoice to acknowledge that you was
my comforter, my advocate, and my friend.'
Letter from Dr. Dodd to Dr. Johnſon. See
Bofwell's Life of Johnfon, Vol. II. p. 140.
3
than.
( 74 )
than he, fpring from one and the fame
fource. It prevents the genuine workings
of real penitence, by enjoining confeffions
of imaginary demerit; it quenches reli-
gious gratitude, becauſe conceiving only of
two ftates of retribution, both in the ex-
treme, and feeling that our crimes, what-
ever they may be, cannot have deferved
the one, we are not fufficiently thankful
for the profpect of the other, which wel
look upon as only a neceffary alternative:
Laftly, it diffolves the connection between
religion and common life, by introducing
a ſet of phraſes and a ftandard of moral
feeling, totally different from thofe ideas
of praiſe and blame, merit and demerit,
upon which we do and must act in our
commerce with our fellow creatures.
There are periods in which the human
mind ſeems to flumber, but this is not one
of them. A keen fpirit of reſearch is now
abroad, and demands reform. Perhaps in
none of the nations of Europe will their
articles of faith, or their church eſtabliſh-
ments, or their modes of worſhip, be able
to
1
( 75 )
to maintain their ground for many years in
exactly the fame pofition in which they
ſtand at prefent. Religion and manners re-
ciprocally act upon one another. As reli-
gion, well understood, is a most powerful
agent
in meliorating and ſoftening our man-
ners; fo, on the other hand, manners, as
they advance in cultivation, tend to cor-
rect and refine our religion. Thus, to a
nation in any degree acquainted with the
focial feelings, human facrifices, and fan-
guinary rites, could never long appear obli-
gatory.
The mild fpirit of Chriſtianity
has, no doubt, had its influence in foften-
ing the ferocity of the Gothic times; and
the increaſing humanity of the preſent pe-
riod will, in its turn, produce jufter ideas
of Christianity, and diffuſe through the fo-
lemnities of our worship, the celebration
of our fabbaths, and every obfervance con-
nected with religion, that air of amenity
and fweetnefs, which is the offspring of
literature, and the peaceful intercourfes of
fociety. The age which has demolished
dungeons, rejected torture, and given fo
fair
( 26 )
fair a profpect of aboliſhing the iniquity of
the flave trade, cannot long retain among
its articles of Belief the gloomy perplexities
of Calvinifm, and the heart-withering per-
fpective of cruel and never-ending punish-
ments.
A
!
FINIS.
"
Written by Mrs. BARBAULD,
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