^ 
 
 '\ 
 
 \ REESE LIBRARY, 
 
 "UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Received 
 
 r882t 
 
 Accessions No. _ A^X^/JjO^ . Shelf No. _ _ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 ■ IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/argumdiscussionsOOnewmrich 
 
DISCUSSIONS AND ARGUMENTS 
 ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
DISCUSSIONS 
 
 ARGUMENTS 
 
 ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS 
 
 JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 
 l\ 
 OP THE ORATORY 
 
 HONORARY FELLOW OF^ TRINiXi. COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 LONDON 
 PICKERING AND CO. 
 
 196, PICCADILLY 
 1878 
 

 ^-Z^/SS 
 
TO 
 
 THE REV. HENRY ARTHUR WOODGATE, B.D, 
 
 RECTOR OF BELBROUGHTON, HONORARY CANON OF 
 WORCESTER. 
 
 My dear Woodgate, 
 
 Half a century and more has passed since you 
 first allowed me to know you familiarly, and to possess 
 your friendship. 
 
 Now, in the last decade of our lives, it is pleasant to 
 me to look back upon those old Oxford days, in which 
 we were together, and, in memory of them, to dedicate 
 to you a Volume, written, for the most part, before the 
 currents of opinion and the course of events carried 
 friends away in various directions, and brought about 
 great changes and bitter separations. 
 
 Those issues of religious inquiry I cannot certainly 
 
 affect to lament, as far as they concern myself: as they 
 
 relate to others, at least it is left to me, by such acts 
 
 as you now allow me, to testify to them that affection 
 
 which time and absence cannot quench, and which is 
 
 the more fresh and buoyant because it is so old. 
 
 I am, my dear Woodgate, 
 
 Your attached and constant friend, 
 
 JOHN HENRY NEWMAN. 
 January 5, 1872. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 This Volume is a fresh contribution, on the part of 
 the Author, towards a uniform Edition of his publica- 
 tions. 
 
 Of the six portions, of which it consists, the first 
 appeared in the British Magazine in the spring of 1836, 
 under the title of " Home Thoughts Abroad." As that 
 title was intended for a series of papers which were 
 never written, and is unsuitable to a single instalment of 
 them, another heading has been selected for it, answering 
 more exactly to the particular subject of which it treats. 
 
 The second and third are the 83rd and 8sth numbers 
 of the "Tracts for the Times," and were published m the 
 Sth volume, in the year 1838. 
 
 The fourth, "The Tamworth Reading Room," was 
 written for the Times newspaper, and appeared in its 
 columns in February 1841, being afterwards published 
 as a pamphlet. The letters, of which it consists, were 
 written off as they were successively called for by the 
 parties who paid the author the compliment of employing 
 him, and are necessarily immethodical as compositions. 
 
vi Advertisement. 
 
 The same may with still more reason be said of the 
 Letters which follow, entitled, " Who's to blame ? '* 
 written in the spring of 1855, for an intimate friend, at 
 that time the editor of the newspaper in which they 
 appeared. 
 
 The Review, which closes the Volume, was published 
 in the Month Magazine of June 1866. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. HOW TO ACCOMPLISH IT i 
 
 II. THE PATRISTICAL IDEA OF ANTICHRIST :— 
 
 1. HIS TIME 44 
 
 2. HIS RELIGION ••••.... 62 
 
 3. HIS CITY 77 
 
 4. HIS PERSECUTION 93 
 
 III. HOLY SCRIPTURE IN ITS RELATION TO THE 
 CATHOLIC CREED:— 
 
 1. DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURE PROOF OF THE 
 
 CATHOLIC CREED IO9 
 
 2. DIFFICULTIES OF LATITUDINARIANISM ; . . I26 
 
 3. STRUCTURE OF THE BIBLE ANTECEDENTLY CON- 
 
 SIDERED 142 
 
 4. STRUCTURE OF THE BIBLE IN MATTER OF FACT . I52 
 
 5. THE IMPRESSION MADE BY THE SCRIPTURE STATE- 
 
 MENTS 170 
 
 6. EXTERNAL DIFFICULTIES OF THE CANON AND THE 
 
 CREED COMPARED I96 
 
 7. INTERNAL DIFFICULTIES OF THE CANON AND THE 
 
 ► CREED COMPARED 2X6 
 
 8. DIFFICULTIES OF JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN FAITH 
 
 COMPARED . . • 236 
 
viii Conteftts, 
 
 IV. THE TAMWORTH READING ROOM :- 
 
 1. SECULAR KNOWLEDGE IN CONTRAST WITH RELIGION 254 
 
 2. NOT THE PRINCIPLE OF MORAL IMPROVEMENT . . 26 1 
 
 3. NOT A DIRECT MEANS OF MORAL IMPROVEMENT . 269 
 
 4. NOT THE ANTECEDENT OF MORAL IMPROVEMENT . 277 
 
 5. NOT A PRINCIPLE OF SOCIAL UNITY .... 283 
 
 6. NOT A PRINCIPLE OF ACTION 292 
 
 7. WITHOUT PERSONAL RELIGION, A TEMPTATION TO 
 
 UNBELIEF ..,••••• 298 
 
 V. WHO'S TO BLAME?— 
 
 1. THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION ON ITS TRIAL I , 306 
 
 2. STATES AND CONSTITUTIONS 3II 
 
 3. CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES AND THEIR VARIETIES . 317 
 
 4. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ATHENIAN . . . 325 
 
 5. THE ENGLISHMAN 331 
 
 6. THE REVERSE OF THE PICTURE 339 
 
 7. ENGLISH JEALOUSY OF LAW COURTS. . . . 345 
 
 8. ENGLISH JEALOUSY OF CHURCH AND ARMY . .353. 
 
 VI. AN INTERNAL ARGUMENT FOR CHRISTIANITY. 363 
 
HOW TO ACCOMPLISH IT* 
 
 WHEN I was at Rome, I fell in with an English 
 acquaintance, whom I had met occasionally in 
 his own county, and when he was on a visit at my own 
 University. I had always felt him a pleasant, as rather 
 engaging companion, and his talent no one could ques- 
 tion ; but his opinions on a variety of political and 
 ecclesiastical subjects were either very unsettled or at 
 least very uncommon. His remarks had often the effect 
 of random talking ; and though he was always ingenious, 
 and often (as far as I was his antagonist) unanswerable, 
 yet he did not advance me, or others, one step towards 
 the conviction that he was right and we were wrong in 
 the matter which happened to be in dispute. Such a 
 personage is no unusual phenomenon in this day, in 
 which every one thinks it a duty to exercise the " sacred 
 right of private judgment;" and when, consequently, 
 there are, as the grammar has it, "quot homines, tofc 
 
 * [The discussion in this Paper is carried on by two speculative Angli- 
 cans, who aim at giving vitality to their Church, the one by unitiniT it to 
 the Roman See, the other by developing a nineteenth-century Anglo- Catho- 
 licism. The narrator sides on the whole with the latter of these.] 
 
 * * T 
 
2 How to accomplish it. 
 
 sententiae;" nor should I have distinguished my good 
 friend from a score of theorists and debaters, producible 
 at a minute's notice in any part of the United Kingdom, 
 except for two reasons — firsts that his theories lay in 
 the different direction from those now in fashion, and 
 were all based upon the principle of " bigotry," (as he, 
 whether seriously or paradoxically, avowed) — next, that 
 he maintained they were not novelties, but as old as the 
 Gospel itself, and possessing as continuous a tradition. 
 Yet, in spite of whatever recommendations he cast about 
 them, tney did not take hold of me. They seemed un- 
 real ; this will best explain what I mean : — unreal^ as if 
 he had raised his structure in the air, an independent, 
 self-sustained pile of buildings, siti simile^ without historr- 
 jal basis or recognized position among things existing, 
 without discoverable relations to the wants, wishes, and 
 opinions of those who were the subjects of his specu- 
 lations. 
 
 We were thrown together at Rome, as we had never 
 been before ; and, getting familiar with him, I began to 
 have some insight into his meaning. . I soon found him 
 to be quite serious in his opmions ; but I did not think 
 him a wit the less chimerical and meteoros than be- 
 fore. However, as he was always entertaining, and could 
 bear a set-down or a laugh easily, from the sweetness 
 and amiableness of his nature, I always liked to hear him 
 talk. Indeed, if the truth must be spoken, I believe, in 
 some degree, he began to poison my mind with his ex- 
 travagances. 
 
 One day I had called at the Prussian Minister's, and 
 found my friend there. We left together. The landing 
 from which the staircase descended looked out over 
 Rome; affording a most striking view of a city which 
 the Christian can never survey without the bitterest, the 
 
How to accomplish it. 3 
 
 most loving, and the most melancholy thoughts. I will 
 not describe the details of the prospect ; they may be 
 found in every book; nothing is so common now as pano- 
 ramic or dioramic descriptions. Suffice it to say, that 
 we were looking out from the Capitol all over the mo- 
 dern city ; and that ancient Rome, being for the most 
 part out of sight, was not suggested to us except as the 
 basis of the history which followed its day. The morn- 
 ing was very clear and still : all the many domes, which 
 gave feature to the view before us, rose gracefully and 
 proudly. We lingered at the window without saying 
 a word. News of public affairs had lately come from 
 England, which had saddened us both, as leading us to 
 forebode the overthrow of all that gives dignity and in- 
 terest to our country, not to touch upon the more serious 
 reflections connected with it. 
 
 My friend began by alluding to a former conversation, 
 m which I had expressed my anticipation, that Rome, as 
 a city, was still destined to bear the manifestation of 
 divine judgments. He said, ** Have you really the heart 
 to say that all this is to be visited and overthrown V 
 His eye glanced at St. Peter's. I was taken by surprise, 
 and for a moment overcome, as well as he ; but the 
 parallel of the Apostles' question in the Gospel soon 
 came to my aid, and I said, by way of answer, " Master, 
 see what manner of stones and what buildings are here !" 
 He smiled ; and we relapsed into our meditative mood. 
 
 At length I said, " Why, surely, as far as one's imagi- 
 nation is concerned, nothing is so hard to conceive as 
 that evil is coming on our own country : fairly as the 
 surface of things still promises, yet you as well as I ex- 
 pect evil. Not long before I came abroad, I was in a 
 retired parish in Berkshire, on a Sunday, and the in- 
 estimable blessings of our present condition, the guilt of 
 
4 How to accomplish it, 
 
 those who are destroying them, and moreover, the diffi- 
 culty of believing they could be lost, came forcibly upon 
 me. When everything looked so calm, regular, and 
 smiling, the church bell going for service, high and low, 
 young and old flocking in, others resting in the porch, 
 and others delaying in the churchyard, as if there were 
 enjoyment in the very cessation of that bodily action 
 which for six days had worried them, (but I need not go 
 on describing what both of us have seen a hundred times,) 
 I said to myself, ' What a heaven on earth is this ! how 
 removed, like an oasis, from the dust and dreariness of 
 the political world ! And is it possible that it depends 
 for its existence on what is without, so as to be dissi- 
 pated and to vanish at once upon the occurrence of certain 
 changes in public affairs ? ' I could not bring myself to 
 believe that the foundations beneath were crumbling 
 away, and that a sudden fall might be expected." 
 
 He replied by one of his occasional flights — '^ If Rome 
 itself, as you say, is not to last, why should the daughter 
 who has severed herself from Rome } The amputated 
 limb dies sooner than the wounded and enfeebled trunk 
 which loses it." 
 
 " Say this anywhere in Rome than on this staircase," I 
 answered. " Come, let us find a more appropriate place 
 for such extravagances ; " and I took him by the arm, 
 and we began to descend. We made for the villa on 
 the Palatine, and in our way thither, and while strolling 
 m its walks, the following discussion took place, which 
 of course I have put together into a more compact shape 
 than it assumed in our actual conversation. 
 
 2. 
 
 " What I mean," said he in continuation, *' is this : that 
 v/e, in England, are severed from the centre of unity, and. 
 
How to accomplish it. 5 
 
 therefore no wonder our Church does not flourish. You 
 may say to me, if you please, that the Church of Rome 
 is corrupt. I know it ; but what then ? If (to use the 
 common saying) there are remedies even worse than the 
 disease they practise on, much more are remedies con- 
 ceivable which are only not as bad, or but a little better. 
 To cut off a limb is anyhow a strange mode of saving ^ 
 it from the influence of some constitutional ailment. 
 Indigestion may cause cramp in the extremities, yet we 
 spare our hands or feet, notwithstanding. I do not wish 
 to press analogies ; yet, surely, there is such a religious 
 fact as the existence of a great Catholic body, union with 
 which is a Christian privilege and duty. Now, we English 
 are separate from it." 
 
 I answered, " I will grant you thus much, — that the 
 present is an unsatisfactory, miserable state of things ; 
 that there is a defect, an evil in existing circumstances, 
 which we should pray and labour to remove ; yet I can 
 grant no more. The Church is founded on a doctrine — 
 the gospel of Truth ; it is a means to an end. Perish 
 the Church Catholic itself, (though, blessed be the pro- 
 mise, this cannot be,) yet let it perish rather than the 
 Truth should fail. Purity of faith is more precious to 
 the Christian than unity itself If Rome has erred 
 grievously in doctrine (and in so thinking we are both 
 of one mind), then is it a duty to separate even from 
 Rome." 
 
 " You allow much more," he replied, '' than most of 
 us ; yet even you, as it seems to me, have not a deep sense 
 enough of the seriousness of our position. Recollect, we 
 did that at the Reformation which is a sin, unless we 
 prove it to be a duty. It was, and is, a very solemn 
 protest. Would the seraph Abdiel have made his re- 
 sistance a triumph and a boast, — spoken of the glorious 
 
6 How to accoijiplish it. 
 
 stand he had made, — or made it a pleasant era in his 
 history? Would he have gone on to praise himself, 
 and say, ' Certainly, I am one among a thousand ; all of 
 them went wrong but I, and they are now in hell, but 
 I am pure and uncorrupt, in consequence of my noble 
 separation from those rebels ' ? Now, certainly, I have 
 heard you glory in an event which at best was but an 
 escape as by fire, — an escape at a great risk and loss, 
 and at the price of a melancholy separation.'* 
 
 I felt he had, as far as the practical question went, 
 the advantage of me. Indeed it must be confessed that 
 we Protestants are so satisfied with intellectual victories 
 in our controversy with Rome as to think little of that 
 charity which " vaunteth not herself, is not pufi'ed up, 
 doth not behave herself unseemly." 
 
 He continued : — '' Do you recollect the notion enter- 
 tained by the primitive Christians concerning Catho- 
 licity } The Church was, in their view, one vast body, 
 founded by the Apostles, and spreading its branches out 
 into all lands, — the channel through which the streams of 
 grace flowed, the mystical vine through which that sap 
 of life circulated, which was the possession of those and 
 those only who were grafted on it. In this Church there 
 can be no division. Pass the axe through it, and one 
 part or the other is cut off from the Apostles. There 
 cannot be two distinct bodies, each claiming descent 
 from the original stem. Indeed, the very word catholic 
 witnesses to this. Two Apostolic bodies there may be 
 without actual contradiction of terms ; but there is neces- 
 sarily but one body Catholic." And then, in illustration 
 of this view, he went on to cite from memory the sub- 
 stance of passages from Cyril and Augustine, which I 
 suspect he had picked up from some Romanist friend at 
 the English College. I have since turned them out in 
 
How to accomplish it. 7 
 
 in their respective authors, and here give them in trans- 
 lation. 
 
 The first extract occurs in ci letter written by Augus- 
 tine to a Donatist bishop : — 
 
 *' I will briefly suggest a question for your consideration. Seeing 
 that at this day we have before our eyes the Church of God, called 
 Catholic, diffused throughout the world, we think we ought not to 
 doubt that herein is a most plain accomplishment of holy prophecy, 
 confirmed as it was by our Lord in the Gospel, and by the Apostles, 
 who, agreeably to the prediction, so extended it. Thus St. Paul 
 preached the Gospel, and founded churches, etc. John also writes to 
 seven Churches, etc With all these churches we, at this day, com- 
 municate, as is plain ; and it is equally plain that you Donatists do 
 not communicate with them. Now, then, I ask you to assign some 
 reason why Christ should ... all at once be pent up in Africa, 
 where you are, or even in the whole of it. For your community, 
 which bears the name of Donatus, evidently is not in all places 
 — that is, catholic, if you say ours is not the Catholic, but nick- 
 name it the Macarian, the rest of Christendom differs from you ; 
 whereas you yourselves must own, what every one who knows you 
 will also testify, that yours is known as the Donatist denomination. 
 Please to tell me, then, how the Church of Christ has vanished from 
 the world, and is found only among you ; whereas our side of the 
 controversy is upheld, without our saying a word, by the plain fact, 
 that we see in it a fulfilment of Scripture prophecy. '^ * 
 
 The next is from one of the same Father's treatises, 
 addressed to a friend : — 
 
 "We must hold fast the Christian religion, and the communion 
 of that Church which is, and is called, Catholic, not only by its 
 members, but even by all its enemies. For, whether they will or 
 no, even heretics themselves, and the children of schism, when they 
 speak, not with their own people, but with strangers, call that Church 
 nothing else but Catholic 1 Indeed they would not be understood, 
 unless they characterized it by that name which it bears throughout 
 the world." f 
 
 * Ep; 49, Ed. Benedict. t ^^ ^'^^^ ^^\.y c. 7, n. 12. 
 
8 How to accomplish it. 
 
 The last was from Cyril's explanation of the doctrine 
 of the One Holy Catholic Church : — 
 
 "Whereas the name {church) is used variously .... as (for 
 instance) it may be apphed to the heresy or persuasion of the 
 Manichees, etc., therefore the creed has carefully committed to thee 
 the confession of the One Holy Catholic Church, in order that thou 
 mayest avoid their odious meetings, and remain always in the Holy 
 Catholic Church, in which thou wast regenerated. And if per- 
 chance thou art a traveller in a strange city, do not simply ask, 
 ^ Where is the house of God 1 ' for the multitude of persuasions 
 attempt to call their hiding-places by that name ; nor simply, 
 • Where is the Church ? ' but, ^ Where is the Catholic Church ? ' 
 for such is the peculiar name of this the holy Mother of us all, who 
 is the spouse of the Only-Begotten Son."* 
 
 3. 
 
 After giving some account of these passages, he con- 
 tinued : *^ Now, I am only contending for the fact that 
 the communion of Rome constitutes the main body of 
 the Church Catholic, and that we are split off from it, 
 and in the condition of the Donatists ; so that every 
 word of Augustine's argument to them, could be applied 
 to us. This, I say, is 2. fact ; and if it be a grave fact, 
 to account for it by saying that they are corrupt is only 
 bringing in a second grave fact. Two such serious facts 
 — that we are separate from the great body of the 
 Church, and that it is corrupt — should, one would think, 
 make us serious ; whereas we behave as if they were 
 plus and minus, and destroyed each other. Or rather, 
 we triumph in the Romanists being corrupt, and we deny 
 they are the great body of Christians, unfairly merging 
 their myriad of churches under the poor title of ''the 
 Church of Rome ;' as if unanimity destroyed the argu- 
 ment from numbers." 
 
 * Cyril Hieros. Catech., xviii. 12. 
 
How to accomplish it. g 
 
 "Stay! not so fast!" I made answer ; '* after all, they 
 are but a part, though a large part, of the Christian 
 world. Is the Greek communion to go for nothing, 
 extending from St. Petersburg to Corinth and Antioch ? 
 or the Armenian churches ? and the English communion 
 which has branched off to India, Australia, the West 
 Indies, the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia ? 
 The true state of the case is this : the condition of the 
 early Church, as Augustine and Cyril describe it, exists 
 no more ; it is to be found nowhere. You may apply, 
 indeed, the terms which they used of it to the present time, 
 and call the Romanists Catholics, as they claim to be ; 
 but this is a fiction and a theory, not the expression of 
 a visible fact. Is it not a mere theory by which the 
 Latin Church can affect to spread itself into Russia ? I 
 suspect, in spite of St. Cyril, you might ask in vain for 
 their churches under the name of Catholic throughout 
 the autocrat's dominions, or in Greece, as well as in 
 England or Scotland. Where is the Catholic Bishop of 
 Winchester or Lincoln ? where the Catholic Church in 
 England as a visible institution ? No more is it such in 
 Scotland ; not to go on to speak of parts of Germany 
 or the new world. All that can be said by way of reply 
 is, that it is a very considerable communion, and vener- 
 able from its consistency and antiquity." 
 
 " That is the point," interrupted my companion ; 
 'Hhey maintain that, such as they are, such they ever 
 have been. They have been from the first ^ the Catho- 
 lics.' The schismatical Greeks, the Nestorians, the 
 Monophysites, and the Protestants have grown up at 
 different times, and on a novel doctrine or foundation." 
 
 " Have a care," I answered, " of diverging to the 
 question of Apostolicity. We are engaged upon the 
 Catholicity of the Latin Church. If we are to speak of 
 
lO How to accomplish it. 
 
 Antiquity, you yourself will be obliged to abandon its 
 cause, for you are as decided ,as myself upon its corrup- 
 tions from primitive simplicity. Foundation we have as 
 apostolical as theirs, (unless you listen to the Nag's-head 
 calumny,) and doctrine much more apostolical. Please 
 to keep to the plain tangible fact, as you expressed it 
 when you began, of the universal or cathohc character 
 of the Roman communion." 
 
 He was silent for a while, so I proceeded. 
 
 *'Let me say a word or two more on the subject I 
 had in hand when you interposed. I was observing 
 that the state of things is certainly altered since Augus- 
 tine's time — that is, in matter of fact, divisions, cross 
 divisions, and complicated disarrangements have taken 
 place in these latter centuries which were unknown in 
 the fifth. We cannot, at once, apply his words as the 
 representatives of things now existing ; they are, in 
 great measure, but the expression of principles to be 
 adopted. May I say something further without shocking 
 you.f* I think dissent and separatism present features 
 unknown to primitive Christianity — so unknown that in 
 its view of the world a place is not provided for them. 
 A state of things has grown up, of which hereditary 
 dissent is an element. All the better feelings of sta- 
 bility, quietness, loyalty, and the like, are in some places 
 enlisted in its favour. In some places, as in Scotland, 
 dissent is the religion of the state and country. I am 
 not supposing that such outlying communities have 
 blessings equal to the Church Catholic ; only, while I 
 condemn them as outlying, I would still contend that 
 they retain so much of privilege, so much of the life and 
 warmth of that spiritual body, from the roots of which 
 they spring, as irregular shoots, as to secure their indivi- 
 dual members from the calamity of being altogether cut 
 
How to accomplish it. Ii 
 
 off from it. In the latter ages of Judaism, the ten tribes, 
 and afterwards the Samaritans, and then the proselytes 
 of the gate, present a parallel, as having a position be- 
 yond the literal scope of the Mosaic law. I shall scruple, 
 therefore, to apply the strong language which Cyprian 
 uses against schismatics to the Scottish presbyterians 
 or to the Lutherans. At least, they have the Scriptures. 
 You understand why I mention this — to show, by an 
 additional illustration, that not every word that the 
 Fathers utter concerning the Church Catholic applies at 
 once to the Church of this day. The early Christians had 
 not the complete canon, nor were books then common, 
 nor could most of them read. Other differences between 
 their Church and our Church might be mentioned ; — for 
 instance, the tradition of the early Church was of an 
 historical character, of the nature of testimony ; and 
 possessed an authority superadded to the Church's pro- 
 per authority as a divine institution. It was a witness, 
 far more perfect in its way, but the same in kind, as the 
 body of ancient writers may be for the genuineness of 
 Caesar's works. It was virtually infallible. Now, how- 
 ever, this accidental authority has long ceased, or, at 
 least, is indefinitely weakened; and to resist it is not 
 so obviously a sin against light. Here, then, is another 
 reason for caution in applying the language of the 
 Fathers concerning schism to our own times, since they 
 did not in their writings curiously separate the Church's 
 intrinsic and permanent authority as divine, from her 
 temporary office of bearing witness to the Apostolic 
 doctrine as to an historical fact." 
 
 "I must take time to think of this," he replied; "mean- 
 while, you at least grant me that the Latin communioi>. 
 is the main portion of Christendom — that participation 
 with it is especially our natural position — and that our 
 
12 How to accomplish it. 
 
 present separation from it is a grievous calamity as such, 
 and, under the circumstances, nothing short of a solemn 
 protest against corruptions in it, of which we dare not 
 partake." 
 
 *' I grant it," said I. 
 
 "And, in consequence, you discard, henceforth and for 
 ever, the following phrases, and the like — ' our glorious 
 emancipation from Rome,' * the noble stand we made 
 against a corrupt church,' ' our enlightened times,' ' the 
 blind and formal papists,' etc. etc." 
 
 " We shall see," I answered — *^ we shall see." 
 
 4. 
 
 We walked some little way in silence ; at length, he 
 said, "I wonder what use you intend to make of the 
 view you just now so eagerly propounded, of the dif- 
 ference of circumstances between the present and the 
 ancient Church. It leads, I suppose, to the justification 
 of some of those ill-starred theories of concession which 
 are at present so numerous } " 
 
 To tell the truth, I did not see my way clearly how 
 far my own view ought to carry me. I saw that, with- 
 out care, it would practically tend to the discarding the 
 precedent of Antiquity altogether, and was not unwilling 
 to have some light thrown by my friend upon the sub- 
 ject ; so I affected, for the moment, a latitudinarianism 
 which I did not feel.* " Certainly," I replied, " it would 
 appear to be our duty to take things as we find them ; 
 not to dream about the past, but to imitate, under 
 changed circumstances, what we cannot fulfil literally. 
 Christianity is intended to meet all forms of society ; it 
 is not cast in the rigid mould of Judaism. Forms are 
 transitory — principles are eternal : the Church of the 
 
 * \yid. Note on ** Essays Critical and Historical," vol. i., p. 287.] 
 
How to accomplish it. 13 
 
 day is but an accidental development and type of the 
 invisible and unchangeable. It will always have the 
 properties of truth ; it will be ever (for instance) essen- 
 tially conservative and aristocratic ; but its policy and 
 measures will ever vary according to the age.. Our 
 Church in the seventeenth centur}-' was inclined to 
 Romanism ; in the nineteenth, it was against Catholic 
 emancipation. The orange ribbon, the emblem of a 
 whig revolution, is now the badge of high tory confeder- 
 ations. Thus, the spirit of the Church is uniform, ever 
 one and the same ; but its relative position and ordi- 
 nances change. At least, all this might be said ; and I 
 should like to see how you would answer it." 
 
 " That is," he interposed, *'you grant that a Jew would 
 have been wrong in philosophizing after the pattern you 
 are setting, and talking of the nature of things, and 
 transitory forms, and eternal truths, though you are pri- 
 vileged to do so 1 '* 
 
 " May we not suppose that the rules of the early 
 Church were expedient then — nay, expedient now — as 
 far as they could conveniently be observed, without con- 
 sidering them absolutely binding?" 
 
 " WilLyou allow," he asked, in reply, "that St. Cyprian 
 would have been in sin had he dispensed with episcopal 
 Ordination, or St. Austin had he recognized the Donatists, 
 or St. Chrysostom had he allowed the deacons to conse- 
 crate the elements t " 
 
 "They would have committed sin," I answered. 
 
 " And in what would that sin have consisted } " 
 
 " I suppose in doing that which they thought to be 
 contrary to the continued usage of the Church." 
 
 "That is," he said, "in doing what they thought con- 
 trary to apostolic usage ? " 
 
 I granted it 
 
14 How to accoinplish it. 
 
 "And, of course," he said, "what they thought to be 
 of apostoHc usage, in such matters, was really such ? " 
 
 I allowed this also. 
 
 " So it seems," he continued, " that they might not, 
 and we may, do things contrary to apostolic usage." 
 
 '' That," I said, " is the very assertion I am making ; 
 outward circumstances being changed, we may alter our 
 rule of conduct." 
 
 He made answer : " I will give you my mind m a 
 parable. Not many days since, I had scrambled into 
 the rubbish yonder, which marks the site of the Apollo 
 library, when I found what would be a treasure in the 
 eyes of all the antiquarians in Europe, but which, to me, 
 has a value of another kind — a MS. vindication of him- 
 self by a Jewish courtier of Herod the Great, for not 
 observing the rites and customs of Judaism. It is well 
 argued throughout. He sets out with owning the divinity 
 of the Mosaic law, its beauty and expediency ; the asso- 
 ciations of reverence and interest cast around it ; the 
 affection it stirs within the mind ; and the abstract de- 
 sirableness of obeying it, * But, after all, I confess,' he 
 continues, ' I do not think its precepts binding at this 
 day, because we are at such a distance from the age of 
 Moses, and all the nations around us, not to say ourselves 
 are changed, though the Law is not* He proceeds to 
 argue that he is not bound to go up to Jerusalem at 
 the Passover, because there are synagogues about the 
 country, which did not exist in the time of Moses ; and, 
 though it is true that purifications may be performed at 
 the Temple, which the synagogues do not allow of, yet, 
 ' after all,' he asks, ' how can we possibly know that the 
 line of priests and Levites has been kept pure } Who 
 can tell what irregularities may not have been introduced 
 into their families during the captivity ? Then, again. 
 
How to accomplish it 15 
 
 what a set of men these said priests are ! Tainted with 
 Pharisaical pride, or rather polluted with pharisaical 
 hypocrisy : especially the high priests : the very office 
 has become altogether secular — very much changed, too, 
 in form and detail from the original institution. What 
 enormities have occurred in the history of the Asmo- 
 neans ! Who can suppose that they have any longer 
 extraordinary gifts, prophecy, or the like, as of old time? 
 Besides, there is a temple at Alexandria now, not to say 
 another at Gerizim. Again, Herod, a man of Edom, is 
 king, and has remodelled the state of things ; for cen- 
 turies we have had secular alliances, and religion is now 
 to be supported by ordinary, not extraordinary, means. 
 From the time that these political changes took place, 
 the rites have been superfluous. Events have proved 
 this. A number of Jews once attempted to keep the 
 Sabbath strictly, when an enemy came who surprised 
 them in consequence, and killed them. They were pious 
 but plainly narrow-minded and extravagant men. In 
 short, since the Captivity, the former system has been 
 superseded.' " 
 
 '' Enough, enough," I interrupted ; " perhaps I have 
 spoken more strongly than I meant as to our liberty of 
 acquiescing in innovations. However, I still must hold 
 that we have no right to judge of others at this day, as 
 we should have judged of them, had all of us lived a 
 thousand years earlier. I do really think, for instance, 
 that in the presbyterianism of Scotland we see a provi- 
 dential phenomenon, the growth of a secondary system 
 unknown to St. Austin — begun, indeed, not without sin, 
 but continued, as regards the many, ignorantly, and 
 compatibly with some portion of true faith : I cannot 
 at once apply to its upholders his language concerning 
 schismatics." 
 
i6 How to acco7nplish it. 
 
 *' Well, perhaps I may grant you this, under explana- 
 tions," he replied, '' if you, indeed, will grant that we, on 
 our part, should deviate in practice from primitive rules 
 as little as we can help — only so much as the sheer 
 necessity of our circumstances obliges us. For instance, 
 no plain necessity can ever oblige us to bury an unbap- 
 tized person ; though a necessity (viz., of climate), may 
 be urged for baptizing by sprinkling, not by immersion. 
 This will serve as an illustration." 
 
 I assented to him, and was glad to have gained a 
 clearer view on this point than I had ever obtained 
 before. I have since seen the principle expressed, in 
 a Tract that has fallen in my way, as follows, the 
 immediate point argued in it being the Apostolical 
 Succession : — 
 
 " Consider the analogy of an absent parent, or dear friend, in 
 another hemisphere. Would not such an one naturally reckon it 
 one sign of sincere attachment, if, when he returned home, he found 
 that in all family questions respect had been shown especially to 
 those in whom he was known to have had most confidence ? . . . 
 If his children and dependents had searched diligently where, and 
 with whom, he had left commissions, and, having fair cause to think 
 they had found such, had scrupulously conformed themselves, as 
 far as they could, to the proceedings of those so trusted by him, 
 would he not think this a better sign than if they had been dexter- 
 ous in devising exceptions, in explaining away the words of trust, 
 and limiting the prerogatives he had conferred?"* 
 
 The principle herein set forth is one which the law 
 manifestly acts upon, as does every prudent statesman 
 or man of business — viz., to go as near as he can to the 
 rules, etc., which come into his hands, when he cannot 
 observe them literally in all respects. But, to continue 
 our conversation. 
 
 * [By Mr. Keble. 
 
How to acco7nplish it. 17 
 
 5. 
 
 My companion went on in his ardent way: "After 
 all, there is no reason why the ancient unity of Christen- 
 dom should not be revived among us, and Rome be 
 again ecclesiastical head of the whole Church." 
 
 " You will," said I, " be much better employed, surely, 
 in speculating upon the means of building up our exist- 
 ing English Church, the Church of Andrewes and Laud, 
 Ken and Butler, than attempting what, even in your 
 own judgment, is an inconsistency. Tell me, can you 
 tolerate the practical idolatry, the virtual worship, of the 
 Virgin and Saints, which is the offence of the Latin 
 Church, and the degradation of moral truth and duty 
 which follows from these } " 
 
 " These are corruptions of the Greek Church also," he 
 answered. 
 
 *' Which only shows,'* said I, " that we are in the posi- 
 tion of Abdiel — one against a many, to take your own 
 comparison. However, this is nothing to the purpose. 
 It is plain, to speak soberly and practically, we never 
 can unite with Rome ; for, even were we disposed to 
 tolerate in its adherents what we could not allow in 
 ourselves, they would not listen to our overtures for a 
 moment, unless we began by agreeing to accept all the 
 doctrinal decrees of Trent, and that about images in the 
 number. No ; surely, the one and only policy remain- 
 ing for us to pursue is, not to look towards Rome, but to 
 build up upon Laud's principles." 
 
 " Here you are theorizing, not I," returned he. 
 " What is the ground of Andrewes and Laud, Stillingfleet 
 and the rest, but a theory which has never been realized? 
 I grant that the position they take in argument is most 
 admirable, nearer much than the Romanist's to that of 
 
1 8 Hovo to accomplish it, 
 
 the primitive Church, and that they defend and develop 
 their pecuHar view most originally and satisfactorily ; 
 still, after all, it is a theory, — a fine-drawn theory, which 
 has never been owned by any body of churchmen, never 
 witnessed in operation in any system. The question is 
 not, how to draw it out, but how to do it. Laud's attempt 
 was so unsuccessful as to prove he was working upon a 
 mere theory. The actual English Church has never 
 adopted it : in spite of the learning of her divines, she 
 has ranked herself among the Protestants, and the doc- 
 trine of the Via Media has slept in libraries. Nay, not 
 only is Anglicanism a theory ; it represents, after all, but 
 an imperfect system ; it implies a return to that inchoate 
 state, in which the Church existed before the era of Con- 
 stantine. It is a substitution of infancy for manhood. 
 Of course it took some time, after its first starting, to 
 get the Ark of Religion into her due course, which was 
 at first somewhat vacillating and indeterminate. The 
 language of theology was confessedly unformed, and we at 
 this day actually adopt the creeds and the canons of the 
 fourth century ; why not, then, the rites and customs also.'^" 
 
 ^' I suppose,'* said I, " no follower of Laud would 
 object to the rites and customs then received." 
 
 "Why, then," he asked, "do not we pay to the See of 
 Rome the deference shown by the Fathers and Councils 
 of that age ? " 
 
 '' Rome is corrupt," I answered. " When she reforms, 
 it will be time enough to think about the share of honour 
 and power belonging to her in the Universal Church. At 
 present, her prerogative is, at least, suspended, and that 
 most justly." 
 
 *' However, what I was showing," continued he, " was 
 that the Anglican principle is scarcely fair, as fastening 
 the Christian upon the very first age of the Gospel for 
 
How to accomplish it, ig 
 
 evidence of all those necessary developments of the 
 elements of Gospel truth, which could not be introduced 
 throughout the Church except gradually. On the other 
 hand, the Anglican system itself is not found complete 
 in those early centuries ; so that the principle is self- 
 destructive. Before there were Christian rulers, there was 
 no doctrine of ^ Church and King,' no union of ^ Church 
 and State,' which we rightly consider to be a development 
 of the Gospel rule. The principle in question, then, is 
 both in itself unfair and unfairly applied, as it is found 
 in our divines. It is also the result of a very shallow 
 philosophy : as if you could possibly prevent the com- 
 pletion of given tendencies, as if Romanism would not 
 be the inevitable result of a realized Anglicanism, were 
 it ever realized.* However, my main objection to it is, 
 that it is not, and never has been, realized. Protestantism 
 is embodied in a system ; so is Popery : but when a 
 man takes up this Via Media, he is a mere doctrinarian 
 — he is wasting his efforts in delineating an invisible 
 phantom ; and he will be judged, and fairly, to be trifling, 
 and bookish, and unfit for the world. He will be set 
 down in the number of those who, in some matter of 
 business, start up to suggest their own little crotchet, and 
 are for ever measuring mountains with a pocket ruler, 
 or improving the planetary courses. The world moves 
 forward in bold and intelligible parties ; it has its roads 
 to the east and north — nay, to points of the compass 
 
 * [**As to the resemblance of the author's opinions to Romanism, — if 
 Popery be a perversion or corruption of the Truth, as we believe, it must, by 
 the very force of the terms, be like that Truth which it counterfeits ; and 
 therefore the fact of a resemblance, as far as it exists, is no proof of any 
 essential approximation in his opinions to Popery. Rather, it would be a 
 serious argument against their primitive character, if to superficial observers 
 they bore no likeness to it. Ultra- Protestantism could never have been 
 silently corrupted into Popery." — Advert, yd vol. Par. Scrm,, Ed, i.] 
 
20 How to accomplish it. 
 
 between them, to the full number of the thirty-two ; 
 but not to more than these. You vmst travel along 
 a ready-made road ; you cannot go right ahead across- 
 country, or, in spite of your abstract correctness, you 
 will be swamped or benighted. When a person calling 
 himself a 'Reformed CathoHc,' or an 'Apostolical Chris- 
 tian,' begins to speak, people say to him, ' What are 
 you } If you are a Catholic, why do you not join the 
 Romanists } If you are ours, why do you not maintain 
 the great Protestant doctrines 1 ' Or, in the words oi 
 Hall of Norwich, addressed, it is said, to Laud : 
 
 ' I would I knew where to find you ; then I could tell how to 
 take direct aims ; whereas now I must pore and coajecture. To- 
 day you are in the tents of the Romanists — to-morrow in ours ; the 
 next day between both — against both. Our adversaries think you 
 ours — we, theirs ; your conscience finds you with both and neither, 
 I flatter you not : this of yours is the worst of all tempers. Heat 
 and cold have their uses — lukewarmness is good for nothing, but to 
 trouble the stomach. ... How long will you halt in this indiffer- 
 ence ? Resolve one way, and know, at last, what you do hold — 
 what you should. Cast off either your wings or your teeth, and, 
 loathing this bat-like nature, be either a bird or a beast.' 
 
 " This was the character of his school down to the 
 Non-jurors, in whom the failure of the experiment was 
 nnally ascertained. The theory sunk then, once and for 
 all." 
 
 " My dear fellow," I made answer, '' I see you are of 
 those who think success and the applause of men every- 
 thing, not bearing to consider, ^rj/, whether a view be 
 true, and then to incur boldly the ' reproach ' of uphold- 
 ing it. Surely, the Truth has in no age been popular, 
 and those who preached it have been thought idiots, and 
 died without visible fruit of their labours." 
 
 He smiled, and was silent, as if in thought. 
 
How to accomplish it. 21 
 
 I continued : " Now listen to me, for I have it in pur- 
 pose to turn your own wordr against yourself, to show 
 that you are the theorist, and I the man of practical 
 sense ; and at the same time to cheer you with the hope, 
 :hat the Anglican principle, though the true one, yet 
 may perchance be destined, even yet, in the designs of 
 Providence, to be expanded and realized in us, the 
 unworthy sons of the great Archbishop. 
 
 As I said these words, I caught a sight of one of 
 the companions of my excursion making towards us, 
 who was well known to the friend with whom I was con- 
 versing. Instead, then, of beginning my harangue 
 upon the prospects of the English Church, I said, 
 " Here comes a friend in need, just in time. I was but 
 going to repeat what I have picked up from him. He 
 is the great theorist, after all, and he will best do justice 
 to his own views himself." 
 
 We went forward to meet him ; and, after some 
 indifferent topics had passed between us, I told him 
 the position in which he had found us, and asked him to 
 take upon himself the exposition of his own speculations. 
 I will pass over all explanations on his part, hesitations, 
 disclaimers of the character I gave of him, and the like, 
 and will take up the conversation when he was fairly 
 implicated in the task which we had imposed upon him. 
 For the future, I will call him Basil, and my first friend 
 Ambrose, to avoid circumlocution. 
 
 '* Nothing seems so chimerical, I confess," said he, " as 
 the notion that the Church temper of the seventeenth 
 century will ever return in England ; nor do I ever ex- 
 pect it wHl, on a large scale. But the great and small in 
 extent are not conditions of moral or religious strength 
 
22 How to accomplish it, 
 
 and dignity. The Holy Land was not larger than Wales. 
 We can afford to give up the greater part of England to 
 the spirit of the age, and yet develop, in a diocese, or a 
 single city, those principles and tendencies of the Caro- 
 line era which have never yet arrived at their just 
 dimensions." 
 
 *' You presuppose, of course, a King like the Martyr, 
 in these anticipations ? " said Ambrose. 
 
 "In speaking of a single diocese, or city," returned 
 the other, " I have obviously implied a system of which 
 political arrangements are not the mainspring. Alas ! we 
 can no longer have such a king. The Monarchy is not 
 constitutionally now what it was then ; nay, the Church, 
 perchance, may not even be allowed the privilege of 
 being loyal in time to come, though obedient and 
 patient it always must be. The principle of national 
 religion is fast getting out of fashion, and we are relasp- 
 ing into the primitive state of Christianity, when men 
 prayed for their rulers, and suffered from them, neither 
 giving nor receiving temporal benefits. The element of 
 high-churchmanship (as that word has commonly been 
 understood) seems about to retreat again into the 
 depths of the Christian temper, and Apostolicity is to 
 be elicited instead, in greater measure. 
 
 ' Tis true, 'tis pity ; pity 'tis, 'tis true.' 
 
 It would be well, indeed, were we allowed to acknowledge 
 the magistrate's divine right to preside over the Church ; 
 but if the State declares it has no divine right over us, 
 what help is there for it 1 We must learn, like Hagar, 
 to subsist by ourselves in the wilderness. Certainly, I 
 never expect the system of Laud to return, but I do 
 expect the due continuation and development of his 
 principles, High-churchmanship — looking at the matter 
 
How to accomplish it. 2^ 
 
 historically — will be regarded as a temporary stage of a 
 course. The (so-called) union of Church and State, as 
 it then existed, has been a wonderful and most gracious 
 phenomenon in Christian history. It is a realization of 
 the Gospel in its highest perfection, when both Caesar 
 and St. Peter know and fulfil their office. I do not ex- 
 pect anything so blessed again. Charles is the King, 
 Laud the prelate, Oxford the sacred city, of this prin- 
 ciple ; just as Rome is the city of Catholicism, and 
 modern Paris of infidelity. I give up high-churchman- 
 ship. But, to return " 
 
 " First, however," interrupted Ambrose, ** I have it in 
 purpose to imprison you in a dilemma, which you must 
 resolve before you can discuss your subject with any 
 ease or convenience. Either you expect this substitu- 
 tion of apostolicity for high-churchmanship at an early 
 or at a distant date. If you say at an early, such keen 
 anticipation of so deplorable a calamity as the un- 
 christianizing of the State savours of disloyalty ; if at a 
 distant, of fanaticism, as if the spirit of the seventeenth 
 century could, on ever so contracted a field, revive 
 centuries hence." 
 
 " I intend," he answered, " neither to be disaffected 
 nor fanatical, and yet shall retain my anticipations. As 
 to the charge of disloyalty, I repel it at once by 
 stating, that I am looking forward to events as yet re- 
 moved from us by centuries. It is no disloyal or craven 
 spirit to suppose that, m the course of generations, 
 changes may occur, when change is the rule of the 
 world, and when, in our own country especially, not one 
 hundred and fifty years perhaps has ever passed without 
 some great constitutional change, or violent revolution. 
 It is no faintness of heart to suppose that the eras of 
 1536, 1649, and 1688 are tokens of other s\ich in store. 
 
24 How to accomplish it. 
 
 We all know that dynasties and governments are, like 
 individuals, mortal ; and to provide against the un- 
 churching of the monarchy, is not more disrespectful 
 to it than to introduce a regency bill beforehand, in the 
 prospect of a minority. The Church alone is eternal ; 
 and, being such, it must, by the very law of its nature, 
 survive its friends, and is bound calmly to anticipate 
 the vicissitudes of its condition. We are consulting for 
 no affair of the day ; we are contemplating our fortunes 
 five centuries to come. We are labouring for the year 
 2500. By that time we may have buried our temporal 
 guardians : their memory we shall always revere and 
 bless ; but the Successors of the Apostles will still have 
 their work — if the world last so long — a work (may be) 
 of greater peril and hardship, but of more honour, than 
 now. 
 
 ''Nor, on the other hand, is it idle to suppose that 
 former principles, long dormant, may, like seed in the 
 earth, spring up at some distant day. History is full of 
 precedents in favour of such an anticipation. At this 
 very time the nation is beginning to reap the full fruits 
 of the perverse anti-ecclesiastical spirit to which the Re- 
 formation on the Continent gave birth. Three centuries 
 and more have not developed it. Again, three centuries 
 and more were necessary for the infant Church to attain 
 her mature and perfect form, and due stature. Atha- 
 nasius, Basil, and Austin are the fully instructed doctors 
 of her doctrine, discipline, and morals.'' 
 
 7. 
 I could not but look at Ambrose, and smile at hearing 
 the argument he had used, before the other came up 
 incidentally made available against himself. Basil 
 continued : 
 
How to accomplish it. 25 
 
 "Again, Hildebrand was the first to bring into use 
 the donations made by Pepin and Charlemagne to the 
 Church; yet these were made between A.D. 750 — 800, and 
 Hildebrand's papacy did not commence till 1086. The 
 interval was a time of weakness, humiliation, guilt, and 
 disgrace to the Church, far exceeding any ecclesiastical 
 scandals in our own country, whether in the century be- 
 fore or after the Caroline era. Gibbon tells us that the 
 Popes of the ninth and tenth centuries were * insulted, 
 imprisoned, and murdered by their tyrants;' that the 
 illegitimate son, grandson, and great grandson of Maro- 
 zia, a woman of profligate character, were seated \x\ St. 
 Peter's chair ; and the second of these was but nineteen 
 when elevated to that spiritual dignity. He renounced 
 the ecclesiastical dress, and abandoned himself to hunt- 
 ing, gaming, drinking, and kindred excesses. This, too, 
 was the season of anti-popes, one of whom actually op- 
 posed Hildebrand himself, and eventually obliged him 
 to retreat to Salerno, where he died. Yet now that 
 celebrated man stands in history as if the very contem- 
 porary and first inheritor of Charlemagne's gifts, and 
 reigns in the Church without the vestige of a rival. So 
 little has time to do with the creations of moral energy, 
 that Guiberto ceases in our associations to have lived 
 with him, or the first Carlovingians to have been before 
 him. He obliterated an interval of three hundred years." 
 
 " You were somewhat too conceding, methinks, when 
 you began," said Ambrose, "if you are not exorbitant 
 now. It is not much more to ask that a king like 
 Charles should ascend the throne, than that a mind like 
 Hildebrand's should be given to the Church." 
 
 "And yet Father Paul, a sagacious man," Basil an- 
 swered, " did look with much anxiety towards the English 
 hierarchy of his day (1617), as likely to develop an 
 
26 How to accomplish it, 
 
 apostolical spirit which even kings could not control, 
 So far, indeed, he was mistaken in his immediate antici- 
 pation, because the English Church was far too loyal to 
 be dangerous to the State ; yet it may chance that, '-^ 
 the course of centuries there is no king to whom to I 
 loyal. His words are these ; — 
 
 'Anglis nimium timeo ; episcoporum magna ilia potestas, lice 
 sub rege, prorsus mihi suspecta est. Ubi vel regem desidem nact 
 fuerint, vel magni spiritus archiepiscopum habuerint, regia authori- 
 tas pessundabitur, et episcopi ad absolutam dominationem aspira- 
 bunt. Ego equum ephippiatum in Anglia videre videor, et ascen- 
 surum propediem equitem antiquum divino/ * 
 
 *' Now, is it not singular that this Church should so 
 close upon these words have developed Laud, a prelate 
 (if any other) aspiring and undaunted ? And again, that 
 within fifty years of him the king actually was in the 
 power of the primate, as the umpire between him and 
 the nation, though Sancroft (as he himself afterwards 
 understood) was not alive to his position, nor equal to 
 the emergency ? These are omens of what may be still 
 to come, inasmuch as they show the political and moral 
 temper, the presiding genius of the Anglican Church, 
 which had produced, at distant intervals, before Laud, 
 prelates as high-minded, though doubtless less enlight- 
 ened and more ambitious. It is not one stroke of for- 
 tune, one political revolution, which can chase the goiius 
 loci from his favourite haunt. Canterbury and Oxford 
 are a match for many Williams of Nassau." 
 
 I here interrupted him to corroborate his last remarks, 
 without pledging myself to approve his mode of con- 
 veying them. I said that " Leslie, one of the last of 
 
 * [I think this is to be found in Sarpi's Letters, a book lent to me by 
 Dr. Routh.J 
 
How to accomplish it. 27 
 
 the line of apostolical divines, had expressed the same 
 opinion concerning the Church at large, in his Case of 
 the Regale and Pontificate. His words are as follows : 
 
 * I say, if the Church would trust to Him more than to the arm 
 of flesh, she need not fear the power of kings. No ; Christ would 
 give her kings, not as heads and spiritual fathers over her, but as 
 nursing fathers, to protect, love, and cherish her, to reverence and 
 to save her, as the Spouse of Christ. Instead of such fathers as 
 she has made kings to be over herself, and of whom she stands in 
 awe, and dare not exert the power Christ has given her, without 
 their good liking, she should then have " children whom she might 
 make princes in all the earth." Kings would become her sons and 
 her servants, instead of being her fathers. 
 
 * My brethren, let me freely speak to you. These promises must 
 be fulfilled, and in this world, for they are spoke of it, and belong 
 not to the state of heaven, but to the condition of the Church in all 
 the earth. All the prophets that have been, since the world began, 
 have spoken of these days ; therefore, they will surely come ; and 
 " though ye have lien among the pots, yet she shall be as the wings 
 of a dove, that is covered with silver, and her feathers Uke gold." ' 
 
 " Having been led to quote from an author who wrote 
 a century since, let me here add the witness of an acute 
 observer of our own century, whose Letters and Remains 
 have been published since the date of the conversation I 
 am relating — Mr. Alexander Knox. The following was 
 written just two centuries after Sarpi's letter : 
 
 * No Church on earth has more intrinsic excellence, [than the 
 English Church,] yet no Church, probably, has less practical influ- 
 ence. Her excellence, then, I conceive, gives ground for confiding 
 that Providence will never abandon her ; but her want of influence 
 would seem no less clearly to indicate, that Divine Wisdom will not 
 always suffer her to go on without measures for her improvement. 
 . . . Shall then the present negligence and insensibility always 
 prevail ? This cannot be ; the rich provision made by the grace 
 and providence of God, for habits of a noble kind, is evidence that 
 
2 8 How to accomplish it. 
 
 those habits shall at length be formed, that men shall arise, fitted, 
 both by inclination and ability, to discover for themselves, and to 
 display to others, whatever yet remains undisclosed, whether in the 
 words or works of God. But if it be asked, how shall fit instru- 
 ments be prepared for this high purpose, it can only be answered, that 
 in the most signal instances times of severe trial have been chosen 
 for divine communications. — Moses, an exile, when God spoke to 
 him from the bush ; Daniel, a captive in Babylon, where he was 
 cheered with those clearest rays of Old Testament prophecy ; St. 
 John, a prisoner in Patmos, where he was caught up into heaven, 
 
 and beheld the apocalyptic vision My persuasion of the 
 
 radical excellence of the Church of England does not suffer me to 
 doubt, that she is to be an illustrious agent in bringing the mystical 
 kingdom of Christ to its ultimate perfection.' " 
 
 8. 
 
 When the conversation had arrived at this point, 
 my friend Ambrose put in a remark. " It must be 
 confessed," he said, "that your triumphant Church will, 
 after all, be very much like what the papal was in its 
 pride of place. The only difference would seem to be, 
 that the Popes deposed kings ; but you, in effect, wait 
 till there are no kings to depose, leaving it to the (so- 
 called) ' radical reformers ' to bring upon themselves the 
 odium of the acts which are to introduce you. Why 
 not, then, avail ourselves of what is ready to our hands 
 in the Church of Rome.? Why attempt, instead, t© 
 form a second-best and spurious Romanism } " 
 
 "Pardon me," I said, in answer, *' Basil thinks the 
 Roman Church corrupt in doctrine. We cannot join a 
 Church, did we wish it ever so much, which does not 
 acknowledge our Orders, refuses us the Cup, demands 
 our acquiescence in image worship, and excommuni- 
 cates us, if we do not receive it and all other decisions of 
 the Tridentine Council. While she insists on this, there 
 must be an impassable line between her and us ; and 
 
How to acco7iiplish it. 29. 
 
 while she claims infallibility, she must insist on what she 
 has once decreed ; and when she abandons that clain 
 she breaks the principle of her own vitality. Thus, we 
 :an never unite with Rome." 
 
 ** This is true and certain," said Basil ; " but even 
 though Rome were as sound in faith as she is notori- 
 ously unsound, our present line would remain the same. 
 What, indeed, might come to pass at a distant era, when 
 monarchies had ceased to be, it would be impertinent to 
 ask ; but, though I have been anticipating the future, we 
 have nothing really to do with the future. Our business 
 is with things as they are. We want to begin at once, 
 and must not, dare not start upon a basis which is not 
 to be realized for some hundred years to come. Of 
 course ; — and to do anything effectually, we must build 
 upon principles and feelings already recognized among 
 us. I grant all this : let us leave the future to itself : 
 we are concerned, not with illusions, (as the French 
 politicians say,) but with things that are. But this holds 
 of other illusions besides those against which you have 
 warned such as me. For what we know, by the time we 
 are without kings Rome may be without a Pope ; and 
 it would be a strange policy to go over to them now, by 
 way of anticipating a distant era, which, for what we 
 know, may, in the event, be preceded by their coming 
 over to us. You have heard of the two brothers in the 
 seventeenth century, papist and puritan, who disputed 
 together and convinced each other. Let us take warn- 
 ing from them. 
 
 ''I repeat, to do anything effectually, certainly we 
 must start upon recognized principles and customs. Any 
 other procedure stamps a person as wrong-headed, ill- 
 judging, or eccentric, and brings upon him the contempt 
 and ridicule of those sensible men by whose opinions 
 
30 How to accomplish it, 
 
 society is necessarily governed. Putting aside the ques- 
 tion of truth and falsehood — which of course is the main 
 consideration — even as aiming at success, we must be 
 aware of the great error of making changes on no more 
 definite basis than their abstract fitness, their alleged 
 scripturalness, their adoption by the ancients. Such 
 changes are rightly called innovations ; those which 
 spring from existing institutions, opinions, or feelings, 
 are called developments, and may be recommended with- 
 out invidiousness as being improvements, I adopt, then, 
 and claim as my own, that position of yours, * that we 
 must take and use what is ready to our hands/ To do 
 otherwise, is to act the doctrinaire, and to provide for 
 simple failure : for instance, if we would enforce observ- 
 ance of the Lord's Day, we must not, at the outset, rest 
 it on any theory (however just) of Church authority, 
 but on the authority of Scripture. If we would oppose 
 the State's interference with the distribution of Church 
 property, we shall succeed, not by urging any doctrine 
 of Church independence, or by citing decrees of General 
 Councils, but by showing the contrariety of that measure 
 to existing constitutional and ecclesiastical precedents 
 among ourselves. Hildebrand found the Church pro- 
 vided with certain existing means of power ; he vindi- 
 cated them, and was rewarded with the success which 
 attends, not on truth as such, but on this prudence and 
 tact in conduct. St. Paul observed the same rule, — 
 whethor preaching at Athens or persuading his country- 
 men. It was the gracious condescension of our Lord 
 Himself, not to substitute Christianity for Judaism by any 
 violent revolution, but to develop Judaism into Christi- 
 anity, as the Jews might bear it. Now, Popery is not here 
 ready to our hands ; on the contrary, we find among us, 
 at this day, an intense fear and hatred of Popery ; and 
 
How to accomplish it. 31 
 
 that, ill-instructed as it confessedly is, still based upon 
 truth. It is mere headstrong folly, then, to advocate 
 the Church of Rome. It is to lose our position as a 
 Church, which never answers to any, whether body or 
 individual. If, indeed, salvation were not in our Church, 
 the case would be altered ; as it is, were Rome as pure 
 in faith as the Church of the Apostles, which she is not, 
 I would not join her, unless those about me did so too, 
 lest I should commit schism. Our business is to take 
 what we have received, and build upon it : to accept, as 
 a legacy from our forefathers, this 'Protestant* spirit 
 which they have bequeathed us, and merely to disengage 
 it from its errors, purify it, and make it something more 
 than a negative principle ; thus only have we a chance 
 of success. All your arguments, then, my dear Ambrose, 
 in favour of Romanism, or rather your regrets on the sub- 
 ject — for you are not able to go so far as to design, or 
 even to hope on the subject — seem to me irrelevant, and 
 recoil upon your own professed principle ; and, instead 
 of persuading others, only lead them to ask the pertinent 
 question, *Why do you stay among us, if you like a 
 foreign religion better t ' " 
 
 The other smiled with an expression which showed 
 that he was at once entertained and as unconvinced 
 as before. For myself, I was not quite pleased with 
 the tone of political expedience which my friend had 
 assumed, though I agreed in his general sentiment ; 
 except, indeed, in his patience towards the word 
 ''Protestant," which is a term as political as were 
 his arguments. 
 
 " You have surely been somewhat carried beyond your 
 own excellent judgment," I said, "by your earnestness 
 in advocating a view. A person who did not know you 
 as well as I do would take such avowals as the offspring 
 
32 How to accomplish it. 
 
 of a Florentine, not an English school. It is certainly 
 safer in so serious a matter to go upon more obvious, 
 more religious grounds than those you have selected ; for 
 I agree with you most entirely in the conclusion you 
 arrive at. I will give you a reason, which has had par- 
 ticular weight with me. Of course, one must not say, 
 ' Whatever is, is right,* in such a sense as to excuse what 
 is wrong, whether committed or permitted, violence or 
 cowardice ; yet, at the same time, it certainly is true, 
 that the external circumstances under which we find our- 
 selves, have a legitimate influence, nay, a sort of claim 
 of deference, upon our conduct. St. Paul says that 
 every one should remain in the place where he finds 
 himself This, so far, at least, applies to our ecclesias- 
 tical position, that, unless where conscience comes in, 
 it is our duty to submit to what we are born under. I 
 do not insist here on the engagements of the clergy to 
 administer the discipline of Christ as the Church and 
 Realm have received the same ; here, I only assert that 
 we find the Church and State united, and must therefore 
 maintain that Union." 
 
 " The said Union," interrupted Ambrose, '' being much 
 like the union of the Israelites with the Egyptians, in 
 the house of bondage." 
 
 "So it may be," I replied, — "but recollect that the 
 chosen people were not allowed to disenthral themselves 
 without an intimation of God's permission. When Moses 
 attempted, of himself, to avenge them, he only got into 
 trial and distress. It was in vain he killed the Egyptian, 
 there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that 
 regarded. Providence always says, ' Stand still, and see 
 the salvation of God.' We must not dare to move, 
 except He bids us. How different was the success of 
 Moses afterwards, when God sent him ! In like manner. 
 
How to accomplish it. 33 
 
 the deliverers of Israel, in the period of the Judges, were, 
 for the most part, expressly commissioned to their office. 
 At another time, 'the Lord delivered Sisera into the 
 hand of a woman/ It is not for us ' to know the times 
 and the seasons which the Father hath put in His own 
 power/ 
 
 " And so, once more, Daniel, though he prayed towards 
 the Temple during his captivity, made no attempt to 
 leave Babylon for his own country, to escape from the 
 mass of idolaters and infidels, scorners and profligates, 
 among whom his lot was cast in this world. We, too, 
 who are in captivity, must bide our timey 
 
 9- 
 
 Here there was a pause in the conversation, as if our 
 minds required rest after sharing in it, or leisure to 
 digest it. We were in the terrace walk overlooking the 
 Trastevere : we stood still, and made such disconnected 
 remarks as the separate buildings and places in the view 
 suggested. At length, the Montorio, where St. Peter 
 was martyred, and some discourse it suggested, recalled us 
 to our former subject, and we began again with fresh life. 
 
 "Hildebrand," said Ambrose, "had a basis to go 
 upon ; and we, in matter of fact, have none. However 
 true your policy may be of our availing ourselves of 
 things existing, I repeat we have no church basis, — we 
 have nothing but certain merely political rights. Hilde- 
 brand had definite powers, though dormant or obsolete. 
 The Exarchate of Ravenna had been formally ceded 
 to the popedom by Pepin, though virtually wrested from 
 it in the interval. The supposed donation of Constan- 
 tine and the Decretals were recognized charters, which 
 churchmen might fall back upon. We have nothing of 
 this kind now." 
 
 *'%)= 3 
 
34 How to accomplish it. 
 
 *• Let us make the most of what we have," returned 
 the other ; " and surely we have enough for our purpose. 
 Let us consider what that purpose is, and what it is we 
 want : our one tangible object is to restore the connexion, 
 at present broken, between bishops and people ; — for in 
 this everything is involved, directly or indirectly, which 
 it is a duty to contend for ; — and to effect this, we want 
 no temporal rights of any sort, as the Popes needed, but 
 merely the recognition of our Church's existing spiritual 
 powers. We are not aiming at any kingdom of this 
 world ; we need no Magna-Chartas or Coronation oaths 
 for the object which we have at heart : we wish to main- 
 tain the faith, and bind men together in love. We are 
 aiming, with this view, at that commanding moral in- 
 fluence which attended the early Church, which made 
 it attractive and persuasive, which manifested itself in a 
 fascination sufficient to elicit out of paganism and draw 
 into itself all that was noblest and best from the mass of 
 mankind, and which created an internal system of such 
 grace, beauty, and majesty, that believers were moulded 
 thereby into martyrs and evangelists. Now let us see 
 what materials we have for a similar spiritual structure, 
 if we keep what, through God's good providence, has 
 descended to us. 
 
 "First, we have the Ordination Service, acknowledg- 
 ing three, and three only, divinely appointed Orders of 
 ministers, implying a Succession, and the bishop's divine 
 commission for continuing it, and assigning to the pres- 
 bytery the power of retaining and remitting sins : these 
 are invaluable, as being essential, possessions. 
 
 "Next, we have the plain statements of the general 
 necessity of the sacraments for salvation, and the strong 
 language of the services appointed for the admiinistra- 
 tion of them. We have Confirmation and Matrimony 
 
How to accomplish it. 35 
 
 recognized as spiritual ordinances. We have forms o\ 
 absolution and blessing. 
 
 " Further, we have the injunction of daily service, and 
 the solemnization of fast and festival days. 
 
 *' Lastly, we have a yearly confession of the desirable- 
 ness of a restoration of the primitive discipline. 
 
 *' On these foundations, properly understood, we may 
 do anything." 
 
 " Still you have not touched upon the real difficulty," 
 interrupted Ambrose. " Hildebrand governed an exist- 
 ing body, and was only employed in vindicating for it 
 certain powers and privileges ; you, on the other hand, 
 have to make the body, before you proceed to strengthen 
 it. The Church in England is not a body now, it has 
 little or no substantiveness ; it has dwindled down to its 
 ministers, who are as much secular functionaries as they 
 are rulers of a Christian people. What reason have you 
 to suppose that the principles you have enumerated will 
 interest an uninstructed, as well as edify an already dis- 
 ciplined, multitude } Still the problem is, How to do it } " 
 
 10. 
 
 When he stopped, Basil looked at me. '^ Cyril," said 
 he, mentioning my name, "has much to say on this 
 argument, and I leave it to him to tell you how to do 
 it." Thus challenged, I began in my turn. 
 
 " I will tell you," I said, " Hildebrand really had to 
 create as well as we. If the Church was not in his time 
 laid prostrate before the world, at least it was incorpo- 
 rated into it — so I am told, at least, by those who have 
 studied the history of his times : the clergy were dissolved 
 'vs\ secular vocations and professions ; a bishop was a 
 powerful baron, the feudal vassal of a temporal prince, 
 of whom he held estates and castles, his Ordination being 
 
36 How to accomplish it. 
 
 virtually an incidental form, necessary at the commence- 
 ment of his occupancy; the inferior clergy were inextri- 
 cably entangled in the fetters of secular alliances, often 
 criminal and scandalous. In planting his lever, which 
 was to break all these irreligious ties, he made the received 
 forms and rules of the Church his fulcrum. If master- 
 minds are ever granted to us, to build us up in faith and 
 unity, they must do the same ; they must take their 
 stand upon that existing basis which B. has just now 
 described, and must be determined never to extravagate 
 from it. They must make that basis their creed and 
 their motive ; they must persevere for many years, in 
 preaching and teaching, before they proceed to act upon 
 their principles, introducing terms and names, and im- 
 pressing members of the Church with the real meaning 
 of the truths which are the animating element of it, and 
 which they already verbally admit. In spite of opposi- 
 tion, they must persevere in insisting on the episcopal 
 system, the apostolical syccession, the ministerial com- 
 mission, the powers of the keys, the duty and desirable- 
 ness of Church discipline, the sacredness of Church rites 
 and ordinances. 
 
 " So far well ; but you will say, how is all this to be 
 made interesting to the people } I answer, that the 
 topics themselves which they are to preach are of that 
 striking and attractive nature which carries with it its own 
 influence. The very notion, that representatives of the 
 Apostles are now on earth, from whose communion we 
 may obtain grace, as the first Christians did from the 
 Apostles, is surely, when admitted, of a most transport- 
 ing and persuasive character ; it will supply the desider- 
 atum which exists in the actual teaching of this day. 
 Clerrymen at present are subject to the painful experi- 
 ence of losing the more religious portion of their flock. 
 
How to acco772plish it, 37 
 
 whom they have tutored and moulded as children, but 
 who, as they come into life, fall away to the dissenters. 
 Why is this ? Because they desire to be stricter than the 
 mass of Churchmen, and the Church gives them no means ; 
 they desire to be governed by sanctions more constrain- 
 ing than those of mere argument, and the Church keeps 
 back those doctrines, which, to the eye of faith, give a 
 reality and substance to religion. He who is told that 
 the Church is the treasure-house of spiritual gifts, comes 
 for a definite privilege ; he who has been taught that it 
 is merely a duty to keep united to the Church, gains 
 nothing, and is tempted to leave it for the meeting- 
 house, which promises him present excitement, if it does 
 nothing more. He who sees Churchmen identified with 
 the world, naturally looks at dissent as a separation from 
 it. The first business, then, of our Hildebrand will be 
 to stop this continual secession to the dissenters, by 
 supplying those doctrines which nature itself, I may 
 say, desiderates in our existing institutions, and which 
 the dissenters attempt to supply. This should be well 
 observed, for it is a remarkable circumstance, that most 
 of the more striking innovations of the present day are 
 awkward and unconscious imitations of the provisions of 
 the old Catholic system. 'Texts for every day m the 
 year' are the substitute for the orderly calendar of 
 Scripture Lessons ; prayer-meetings stand for the daily 
 service ; farewell speeches to missionaries take the place 
 of public Ordinations ; public meetings for religious 
 oratory, the place of the ceremonies and processions 
 of the middle ages ; charitable societies are instead of 
 the strict and enthusiastic Religious Institutions. Men 
 know not of the legitimate Priesthood, and therefore are 
 condemned to hang upon the judgment of individual 
 and self-authorized preachers ; they defraud their chil- 
 
38 How to accomplish it. 
 
 dren of the initiatory sacrament, and therefore are forced 
 to invent a rite of dedication instead of it ; they put up 
 with legends of private Christians, distinguished for an 
 ambiguous or imperfect piety, narrow-minded in faith, 
 and tawdry and discoloured in their holiness, in the 
 place of the men of God, the meek martyrs, the saintly 
 pastors, the wise and winning teachers of the Catholic 
 Church. One of the most striking illustrations of this 
 general remark, is the existing practice and feeling 
 about psalmody : — formerly great part of the public ser- 
 vice was sung ; part of this, as the Te Deum, being an 
 exhibition of the peculiar gospel doctrines. We let this 
 practice go out ; then, feeling the want of singing, we 
 introduce it between the separate portions of the ser- 
 vices. There is no objection to this, so far; it has 
 primitive sanction. But observe, — we have only time for 
 one or two verses, which cannot show the drift and spirit 
 of the Psalm, and are often altogether unintelligible, or 
 grammatically defective. Next, a complaint arises, that 
 no Christian hymns constitute part of the singing ; so, 
 having relinquished the Te Deum, we have recourse to 
 the rhymes of Watts, Newton, and Wesley. Moreover, 
 we sing as slow as if singing were a penitential exercise. 
 Consider how the Easter hymn affects a congregation, 
 and you will see their natural congeniality to musical 
 services of a more animated, quicker, and more continued 
 measure. The dissenters seem to feel this in their adop- 
 tion of objectionable secular tunes, or of religious tunes 
 of a cantabile character; our slow airs seem to answer 
 no purpose, except that of painfully exhausting the 
 breath — they will never allure a congregation to sing. 
 So, again, as to the Services generally; they are scarcely 
 at all adapted to the successive seasons and days of the 
 Christian year : the Bible is rich in materials for illus 
 
How to accomplish it. 39 
 
 trating and solemnizing these as they come ; but we 
 make little use of it Consider how impressive the 
 Easter anthem is, as a substitute for the Venite : why 
 should not such as this be appointed at other Seasons, 
 in the same and other parts of the service ? How few 
 prayers we possess for particular occasions ! Reflect, for 
 instance, upon Jeremy Taylor s prayers and litanies, and 
 I think you will grant that, carefully preserving the 
 Prayer Book's majestic simplicity of style, we might 
 nevertheless profitably make additions to our liturgical 
 services. We have but matins and evensong appointed : 
 what if a clergyman wishes to have prayers in his churcli 
 seven times a day ? 
 
 " I touched just now on the subject of the Religious 
 Institutions of the middle ages. These are imperatively 
 called for to stop the progress of dissent ; indeed, I con- 
 ceive you necessarily must have dissent or monachism 
 in a Christian country; — so make your choice. The 
 more religious will demand some stricter religion than 
 that of the generality of men ; if you do not gratify this 
 desire religiously and soberly, they will gratify it them- 
 selves at the expense of unity. I wish this were better 
 understood than it is. You may build new churches, 
 without stint, in every part of the land, but you will not 
 approximate towards the extinction of Methodism and 
 dissent till you consult for this feeling; till then, the 
 sectaries will deprive you of numbers, and those the 
 best of your flock, whom you can least afford to lose, 
 and who might be the greatest strength and ornament 
 to it. This is an occurrence which happens daily. Say 
 that one out of a number of sisters in a family takes a 
 religious turn ; is not her natural impulse to join either 
 the Wesleyans or the irregulars within our pale } And 
 why ? all because the Church does not provide innocent 
 
40 How to accomplish it, 
 
 outlets for the sober relief of feeling and excitement : 
 she would fain devote herself immediately to God's ser- 
 vice — to prayer, almsgiving, attendance on the sick. 
 You not only decline her services yourself, — you drive 
 her to the dissenters : and why ? all because the Reli- 
 gious Life, though sanctioned by Apostles and illustrated 
 by the early Saints, has before now given scope to 
 moroseness, tyranny, and presumption/' 
 
 II. 
 
 '*I will tell you," interrupted Basil, "an advantage 
 which has often struck me as likely to result from the 
 institution (under sober regulations) of religious Sister- 
 hoods — viz., the education of the female portion of the 
 community vsx Church principles. It is plain we need 
 schools for females : so great is the inconvenience, that 
 persons in the higher ranks contrive to educate their 
 daughters at home, from want of confidence in those 
 schools in which alone they can place them. It is 
 speaking temperately of these to say, that (with honour- 
 able exceptions, of course, such as will be found to every 
 rule) they teach little beyond mere accomplishments, 
 present no antidotes to the frivolity of young minds, and 
 instruct in no definite views of religious truth at all. On 
 the other hand, what an incalculable gain would it be to 
 the Church were the daughters, and future mothers, of 
 England educated in a zealous and affectionate adher- 
 ence to its cause, taught to reverence its authority, and 
 to delight in its ordinances and services ! What, again, if 
 they had instructors, who were invested with even more 
 than the respectability which collegiate foundations gwQ 
 to education in the case of the other sex, instructors 
 placed above the hopes and fears of the Avorld, and 
 impressing the thought of the Church on their pupils* 
 
How to accomplish it. 4 1 
 
 minds, in association with their own refinement and 
 heavenly serenity ! But, alas ! so ingrained are our un- 
 fortunate prejudices on this head, that I fear nothing but 
 serious national afflictions will %\yjt, an opening to the 
 accomplishment of so blessed a design.'* 
 
 " For myself,'* said I, " I confess my hopes do not ex- 
 tend beyond the vision of the rise of this Religious Life 
 among us ; not that even this will have any success, as 
 you well observe, till loss of property turns the thoughts 
 of the clergy and others from this world to the next. 
 As to the rise of a high episcopal system, that is, again 
 to use your notion, a dream of A.D. 2500. We can but 
 desire in our day to keep alive the lamp of truth in the 
 sepulchre of this world till a brighter era : and surely 
 the ancient system I speak of is the providentially de- 
 signed instrument of this work. When Arianism tri- 
 umphed in the sees of the eastern Church, the Associated 
 Brethren of Egypt and Syria were the witnesses pro- 
 phesying in sackcloth against it. So it may be again. 
 When the day of trial comes, we shall be driven from 
 the established system of the Church, from livings and 
 professorships, fellowships and stalls ; we shall (so be it) 
 muster amid dishonour, poverty, and destitution, for 
 higher purposes ; we shall bear to be severed from 
 possessions and connexions of this world ; we shall turn 
 our thoughts to the education of those middle classes, 
 the children of farmers and tradesmen, whom the Church 
 has hitherto neglected ; we shall educate a certain num- 
 ber, for the purpose of transmitting to posterity our 
 principles and our manner of life ; we shall turn our- 
 selves to the wants of the great towns, and attempt to 
 be evangelists in a population almost heathen. 
 
 "Till then, I scarcely expect that anything will be 
 devised of a nature to meet the peculiar evils existing in 
 
42 How to accomplish it. 
 
 a densely peopled city. Benevolent persons hope, by 
 increasing our instruments of usefulness, to relieve them. 
 Doubtless they may so relieve them ; and no charitable 
 effort can fail of a blessing. New churches and lay co- 
 operation will do something ; but, I confess, I think that 
 some instrument different in kind is required for the 
 present emergency: great towns will never be evangelized ; 
 merely by the parochial system. They are beyond the 
 sphere of the parish priest, burdened as he is with the 
 endearments and anxieties of a family, and the secular 
 restraints and engagements of the Establishment. The 
 unstable multitude cannot be influenced and ruled except 
 by uncommon means, by the evident sight of disinte- 
 rested and self-denying love, and elevated firmness. The 
 show of domestic comfort, the decencies of furniture and 
 apparel, the bright hearth and the comfortable table, 
 (good and innocent as they are in their place,) are as 
 ill-suited to the missionary of a town population as to 
 an Apostle. Heathens, and quasi-heathens, (such as 
 the miserable rabble of a large town,) were not converted 
 in the beginning of the Gospel, nor now, as it would 
 appear, by the sight of domestic virtues or domestic 
 comforts in their missionary. Surely Providence has 
 His various means adapted to different ends. I think 
 that Religious Institutions, over and above their intrinsic 
 recommendations, are the legitimate instruments of 
 working upon a populace, just as argument may be 
 accounted the medium of conversion in the case of the 
 educated, or parental authority in the case, of the young. 
 
 12. 
 
 "I have been watching with some interest," said 
 Ambrose, who had been silent all this while, *' how near, 
 with all your protestations against Popery, you would 
 
How to accomplish it, 43 
 
 advance towards it in the course of your speculations. 
 I am now happy to see you will go the full length of 
 what you yourselves seem to admit is considered one of 
 its most remarkable characteristics — monachism." 
 
 ''I know," answered I, "that is at present the popular 
 notion ; but our generation has not yet learned the dis- 
 tinction between Popery and Catholicism. But, be of 
 good heart ; it will learn many things in time." 
 
 The other laughed ; and, the day being now someway 
 advanced into the afternoon, we left the garden, and 
 separated. 
 
 March, 1836. 
 
44 
 
 II. 
 
 ; HE PATRISTICAL IDEA OF ANTICHRIST. 
 IN FOUR LECTURES. 
 
 T' 
 
 The Time of Antichrist. 
 
 ^HE Thessalonian Christians had supposed that the 
 X coming of Christ was near at hand. St. Paui 
 writes to warn them against such an expectation. Not 
 that he discountenances their looking out for our Lord's 
 coming, — the contrary ; but he tells them that a certain 
 event must come before it, and till that was arrived the 
 end would not be. " Let no man deceive you by any 
 means," he says ; "for that Day shall not come, except 
 there come a falling away first." And he proceeds, 
 "and" except first "that man of sin be revealed, the 
 son of perdition." 
 
 As long as the world lasts, this passage of Scripture 
 will be full of reverent interest to Christians. It is their 
 duty ever to be watching for the advent of their Lord, 
 to search for the signs of it in all that happens around 
 them ; and above all to keep in mind this great and 
 awful sign of which St. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians. 
 As our Lord's first coming had its forerunner, so. will the 
 
The Time of Antichrist, 45 
 
 second have its own. The first was "One more than 
 a prophet," the Holy Baptist : the second will be more 
 than an enemy of Christ ; it will be the very image of 
 Satan, the fearful and hateful Antichrist. Of him, as 
 described in prophecy, I propose to speak ; and, in doing 
 so, I shall follow the exclusive guidance of the ancient 
 Fathers of the Church. 
 
 I follow the ancient Fathers, not as thinking that on 
 such a subject they have the weight they possess in the 
 instance of doctrines or ordinances. When they speak 
 of doctrines, they speak of them as being universally 
 held. They are witnesses to the fact of those doctrines 
 having been received, not here or there, but everywhere. 
 We receive those doctrines which they thus teach, not 
 merely because they teach them, but because they bear 
 witness that all Christians everywhere then held them. 
 We take them as honest informants, but not as a sufficient 
 authority in themselves, though they are an authority 
 too. If they were to state these very same doctrines, 
 but say, " These are our opinions : we deduced them 
 from Scripture, and they are true," we might well doubt 
 about receiving them at their hands. We might fairly 
 say, that we had as much right to deduce from Scripture 
 as they had ; that deductions of Scripture were mere 
 opinions ; that if our deductions agreed with theirs, thai 
 would be a happy coincidence, and increase our con- 
 fidence in them ; but if they did not, it could not be 
 helped — we must follow our own light. Doubtless, no 
 man has any right to impose his own deductions upon 
 another, in matters of faith. There is an obvious obliga- 
 tion, indeed, upon the ignorant to submit to those who 
 are better informed ; and there is a fitness in the young 
 submitting implicitly for a time to the teaching of their 
 elders; but, beyond, this one man's opinion is not better 
 
46 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 than another's. But this is not the state of the case as 
 regards the primitive Fathers. They do not speak of 
 their own private opinion ; they do not say, " This is 
 true, because we see it in Scripture "■ — about which there 
 might be differences of judgment — but, "this is true, 
 because in matter of fact it is held, and has ever been 
 held, by all the Churches, down to our times, without 
 interruption, ever since the Apostles : " where the ques- 
 tion is merely one of testimony, viz., whether they had 
 the means of knowing that it had been and w^as so held ; 
 for if it was the belief of so many and independent 
 Churches at once, and that, on the ground of its being 
 from the Apostles, doubtless it cannot but be true and 
 Apostolic. 
 
 This, I say, is the mode in which the Fathers speak as 
 regards doctrine ; but it is otherwise when they interpret 
 prophecy. In this matter there seems to have been no 
 catholic, no formal and distinct, or at least no authorita- 
 tive traditions ; so that when they interpret Scripture 
 they are for the most part giving, and profess to be 
 giving, either their own private opinions, or vague^ float- 
 ing, and merely general anticipations. This is what might 
 have been expected ; for it is not ordinarily the course 
 of Divine Providence to interpret prophecy before the 
 event. What the Apostles disclosed concerning the 
 future, was for the most part disclosed by them in private, 
 to individuals — not committed to writing, not intended 
 for the edifying of the body of Christ, — and was soon 
 lost. Thus, in a few verses after the passage I have 
 quoted, St. Paul says, " Remember ye not, that when 
 I was yet with you, I told you these things } " and he 
 writes by hints and allusions, not speaking out. And 
 it shows how little care was taken to discriminate and 
 authenticate his prophetical intimations, that the Thes- 
 
The Time oj Aiitichrtst. ' 47 
 
 salonians had adopted an opinion, that he had said — . 
 what in fact he had not said — that the Day of Christ 
 was immediately at hand. 
 
 Yet, though the Fathers do not convey to us the inter- 
 pretation of prophecy with the same certainty as they 
 convey doctrine, yet, in proportion to their agreement, 
 their personal weight, and the prevalence, or again the 
 authoritative character of the opinions they are stating, 
 they are to be read with deference ; for, to say the least, 
 they are as likely to be right as commentators now ; in 
 some respects more so, because the interpretation of pro- 
 phecy has become in these times a matter of controversy 
 and party. And passion and prejudice have so inter- 
 fered with soundness of judgment, that it is difficult to 
 say who is to be trusted to interpret it, or whether a pri- 
 vate Christian may not be as good an expositor as those 
 by whom the office has been assumed. 
 
 Now to turn to the passage in question, which I shall 
 examine by arguments drawn from Scripture, without 
 being solicitous to agree, or to say why I am at issue 
 with modern commentators : " That Day shall not 
 come, except there come a falling away first." Here 
 the sign of the second Advent is said to be a certain fright- 
 ful apostasy, and the manifestation of the man of sin, 
 the son of perdition — that is, as he is commonly called, 
 Antichrist. Our Saviour seems to add, that that sign 
 will immediately precede Him, or that His coming will 
 follow close upon it ; for after speaking of " false pro- 
 phets " and " false Christs," " showing signs and won- 
 ders," "iniquity abounding," and "love waxing cold," 
 and the like, He adds, "When ye shall see all these 
 things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Again 
 
48 The Patristicat Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 He says, "When ye shall see the Abomination of 
 Desolation . . . stand in the holy place . . . then let 
 * them that be in Judea flee into the mountains."* Indeed, 
 St. Paul also implies this, when he says that Anti- 
 christ shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's 
 coming. 
 
 First, then, I say, if Antichrist is to come immediately 
 before Christ, and to be the sign of His coming, it is 
 manifest that Antichrist is not come yet, but is still to 
 be expected ; for, else Christ would have come before now. 
 
 Further, it appears that the time of Antichrist's tyranny 
 will be three years and a half, or, as Scripture expresses 
 it, "a time, and times, and a dividing of time," or ''forty- 
 two months," — which is an additional reason for believ- 
 ing he is not come ; for, if so, he must have come quite 
 lately, his time being altogether so short ; that is, within 
 the last three years, and this we cannot say he has. 
 
 Besides, there are two other circumstances of his 
 appearance, which have not been fulfilled. First, a time 
 of unexampled trouble. " Then shall be great tribu- 
 lation, such as was not from the beginning of the world 
 to this time, no, nor ever shall be ; and except those days 
 should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved."t 
 This has not yet been. Next, the preaching of the 
 Gospel throughout the world — " And this Gospel of the 
 kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness 
 unto all nations, and then shall the end come."J 
 
 2. 
 
 Now it may be objected to this conclusion, that St. 
 Paul says, in the passage before us, that " the mystery 
 of iniquity doth already work,'^ that is, even in his day, as 
 if Antichrist had in fact come even then. But he would 
 
 * Matt. xxiv. l6, 33. f lb. 21, 22. J lb. 14. 
 
The Time of Antichrist, 49 
 
 seem to mean merely this, that in his day there were 
 shadows and forebodings, earnests, and operating ele- 
 ments, of that which was one day to come in its fulness. 
 Just as the types of Christ went before Christ, so the 
 shadows of Antichrist precede him. In truth, every 
 event of this world is a type of those that follow, history 
 proceeding forward as a circle ever enlarging. The 
 days of the Apostles typified the last days : there were 
 false Christs, and risings, and troubles, and persecutions, 
 and the judicial destruction of the Jewish Church. In 
 like manner, every age presents its own picture of those 
 still future events, which, and which alone, are the real ful- 
 filment of the prophecy which stands at the head of all 
 of them. Hence St. John says, " Little children, it is the 
 last time ; and as ye have heard that the Antichrist 
 shall come, even now are there many Antichrists ; 
 whereby we know that it is the last time."* Antichrist 
 was come, and was not come ; it was, and it was not 
 the last time. In the sense m which the Apostles' day 
 might be called the " last time," the end of the world, 
 it was also the time of Antichrist. 
 
 A second objection may be made as follows : St. Paul 
 says, "Now ye know what withholdeth, that he (Anti- 
 christ) might be revealed in his time." Here a something 
 is mentioned as keeping back the manifestation of the 
 enemy of truth. The Apostle proceeds : " He that npw 
 withholdeth, will, until he be taken out of the way." Now 
 this restraining power was in early times considered to be 
 the Roman Empire, but the Roman Empire (it is argued) 
 has long been taken out of the way ; it follows that Anti- 
 christ has long since come. In answer to this objec- 
 tion, I would grant that he "that withholdeth," or 
 "hindereth," means the power of Rome, for all the ancient 
 
 * I John ii. 18. 
 ik 4 
 
50 Tlie Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 writers so speak of it. And I grant that as Rome, 
 according to the prophet Daniel's vision, succeeded 
 Greece, so Antichrist succeeds Rome, and the Second 
 Coming succeeds Antichrist * But it does not hence fol- 
 low that Antichrist is come : for it is not clear fhat the 
 Roman Empire is gone. Far from it : the Roman Em- 
 pire in the view of prophecy, remains even to this day. 
 Rome had a very different fate from the other three mon- 
 sters mentioned by the Prophet, as will be seen by his 
 description of it. *' Behold a fourth beast, dreadful and 
 terrible, and strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron 
 teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the 
 residue with the feet of it : and it was diverse from alt 
 the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns!' -^ These 
 ten horns, an Angel informed him, '' are ten kings that 
 shall rise out of this kingdom" of Rome. As, then, the ten 
 horns belonged to the fourth beast, and were not separate 
 from it, so the kingdoms, into which the Roman Empire 
 was to be divided, are but the continuation and termina- 
 tion of that Empire itself, — which lasts on, and in some 
 ^ense lives in the view of prophecy, however we decide the 
 historical question. Consequently, we have not yet seen 
 the end of the Roman Empire. '' That which with- 
 holdeth " still exists, up to the manifestation of its ten 
 horns ; and till it is removed. Antichrist will not come. 
 And from the midst of those horns he will arise, as the 
 same Prophet informs us : "I considered the horns, and 
 behold, there came up among them another little horn ; 
 . . . and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of 
 a man, and a mouth speaking great things." 
 
 Up to the time, then, w^hen Antichrist shall actually 
 appear, there has been and will be a continual effort to 
 manifest him to the world on the part of the powers 
 
 * Chrysostom in loco. f Dan. vii. 7. 
 
The Time of Antichrist. 51 
 
 of evil. The history of the Church is the history of that 
 long birth. " The mystery of iniquity doth already work," 
 says St. Paul. " Even now there are many Antichrists," * 
 says St. John, — "every spirit that confesseth not that 
 Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God ; and this 
 is that spirit of the Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that 
 it should come, and even now already is it in the world!' '\ 
 It has been at work ever since, from the time of the 
 Apostles, though kept under by him that "withholdeth." 
 At this very time there is a fierce struggle, the spirit of 
 Antichrist attempting to rise, and the political power in 
 those countries which are prophetically Roman, firm and 
 vigorous in repressing it. And in fact, we actually have 
 before our eyes, as our fathers also in the generation 
 before us, a fierce and lawless principle everywhere at 
 work — a spirit of rebellion against God and man, which 
 the powers of government in each country can barely 
 keep under with their greatest efforts. Whether this 
 which we witness be that spirit of Antichrist, J which is 
 one day at length to be let loose, this ambitious spirit, 
 the parent of all heresy, schism, sedition, revolution, and 
 war — whether this be so or not, at least we know from 
 prophecy that the present framework of society and 
 government, as far as it is the representative of Roman 
 powers, is that which withholdeth, and Antichrist is that 
 which will rise when this restraint fails. 
 
 3- 
 It has been more or less implied In the foregoing re- 
 marks, that Antichrist is one man, an individual, not a 
 power or a kingdom. Such surely is the impression left 
 on the mind by the Scripture notices concerning him, 
 after taking fully into account the figurative character 
 
 * I John ii. i8. f lb. iv. 3. % [3 ((c^OyOtos.] 
 
52 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 of prophetical language. Consider these passages to- 
 gether, which describe him, and see whether we must 
 not so conclude. First, the passage in St. Paul's Epistle : 
 *' That day shall not come, except there come a falling 
 away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of 
 perdition, who is the adversary and rival of all that is 
 called God or worshipped ; so that he sitteth as God in 
 the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. . . . 
 Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord 
 shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall 
 destroy with the brightness of His coming .... whose 
 coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and 
 signs and lying wonders.'' 
 
 Next, in the prophet Daniel: "Another shall rise after 
 them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall 
 subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words 
 against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of 
 the Most High, and think to change time and laws : and 
 they shall be given into his hand until a time and times, 
 and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, 
 and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and 
 to destroy it unto the end." Again : "And the king shall 
 do according to his will ; and he shall exalt himself, mag- 
 nify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous 
 things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the 
 indignation be accomplished. . . . Neither shall he re- 
 gard the God of his fathers, nor the Desire of women, nor 
 regard any god ; for he shall magnify himself above all. 
 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces, and 
 a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with 
 gold and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant 
 things." * Let it be observed, that Daniel elsewhere de- 
 scribes other kings, and that the event has shown them 
 
 * Dan. vii., xi. 
 
The Time of Aniichrist. 53 
 
 certainly to be individuals, — for instance, Xerxes, Darius, 
 and Alexander. 
 
 And in like manner St. John : "There was given unto 
 him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies ; 
 and power was given unto him to continue forty and two 
 months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy 
 against God, to blaspheme His Name, and His taber- 
 nacle, and them that dwell m heaven. And it was given 
 unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome 
 them ; and power was %\Y^n him over all kindreds and 
 tongues and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth 
 shall worship him, whose names are not written in the 
 book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
 the world/'t 
 
 Further, that by Antichrist is meant some one person, 
 IS made probable by the anticipations which, as I have 
 said, have already occurred in history, of the fulfilment 
 of the prophecy. Individual men have arisen actually 
 answering in a great measure to the above descriptions ; 
 and this circumstance creates a probability, that the 
 absolute and entire fulfilment which is to come will be 
 in an individual also. The most remarkable of these 
 shadows of the destined scourge appeared before the 
 time of the Apostles, between them and the age of 
 Daniel, viz., the heathen king Antiochus, of whom we 
 read in the books of Maccabees. This instance is the 
 * more to the purpose, because he is actually described, 
 (as we suppose) by Daniel, in another part of his pro- 
 phecy, in terms which seem also to belong to Antichrist, 
 and, as belonging, imply that Antiochus actually was 
 what he seems to be, a type of that more fearful future 
 enemy of the Church. This Antiochus was the savage 
 persecutor of the Jews, in their latter times, as Anti- 
 f Rev. xiiL 
 
54 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 Christ will be of the Christians. A few passages from 
 the Maccabees will show you what he was. St. Paul in 
 the text speaks of an Apostasy, and then of Antichrist as 
 following upon it ; and thus is the future of the Christian 
 Church typified in the past Jewish history. " In those 
 days went there out of Israel wicked men, who persuaded 
 many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the 
 heathen that are round about us : for since we departed 
 from them, we have had much sorrow. So this device 
 pleased them well. Then certain of the people were so 
 forward herein, that they went to the king, who gave 
 them licence to do after the ordinances of the heathen ; 
 whereupon they built a place of exercise at Jerusalem, 
 according to the custom of the heathen ; and made 
 themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, 
 and joined themselves to the heathen, and were sold to 
 do mischief." Here was the Falling away. After this 
 introduction the Enemy of truth appears. " After that 
 Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again, .... 
 and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great 
 multitude, and entered proudly into the sanctuary, and 
 took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light 
 and all the vessels thereof, and the table of the shew- 
 bread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials, and the 
 censers of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and 
 the golden ornaments that were before the temple ; 
 all which he pulled off. And when he had taken all 
 away, he went into his own land, having made a great 
 massacre, and spoken very proudly." After this he set 
 fire to Jerusalem, " and pulled down the houses and 
 walls thereof on every side. . . . Then built they the 
 city of David with a great and strong w»ll, . . . and 
 they put therein a sinful nation, wicked men, and forti- 
 fied themselves therein." Next, " King Antiochus wrote 
 
The Time of Antichrist, 55 
 
 to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, 
 and every one should leave his laws : so all the hea- 
 then agreed according to the commandment of the king. 
 Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his reli- 
 gion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sab- 
 bath." After this he forced these impieties upon the 
 chosen people. All were to be put to death who would 
 not "profane the sabbath and festival days, and pollute 
 the sanctuary and holy people : and set up altars, apd 
 groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine's flesh 
 and unclean beasts," and " leave their children uncircum- 
 cised.'* At length he set up an idol, or, in the words of 
 the history, " the Abomination of Desolation upon the 
 altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities of 
 Juda on every side. . . . And when they had rent m 
 pieces the books of the law which they found, they burnt 
 them with fire." It is added, " Howbeit many in Israel 
 were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat 
 any unclean thing, wherefore they chose rather to die . . . 
 and there was very great wTath upon Israel." * Here we 
 have presented to us some of the lineaments of Antichrist, 
 who will be such, and worse than such, as Antiochus. 
 
 The history of the apostate emperor Julian, who lived 
 between 300 and 400 years after Christ, furnishes us 
 with another approximation to the predicted Antichrist, 
 and an additional reason for thinking he will be one 
 person, not a kingdom, power, or the like. 
 
 And so again does the false prophet Mahomet, who 
 propagated his imposture about 600 years after Christ 
 came. 
 
 Lastly, that Antichrist is one individual man, not a 
 power, — not a mere ethical spirit, or a political system, 
 not a dynasty, or succession of rulers, — was the universal 
 * I Mac. i. 
 
56 The Patristical Idea 0/ Afitichrist. 
 
 tradition of the early Church. " We must say," writes St. 
 Jerome upon Daniel, "what has been handed down to us 
 by all ecclesiastical writers, that, in the end of the world, 
 when the Roman Empire is to be destroyed, there will 
 be ten kings, to divide the Roman territory between 
 them, and that an eleventh will rise up, a small king, 
 who will subdue three of the ten, and thereupon receive 
 the submission of the other seven. It is said that ' the 
 Horn had eyes, as the eyes of a man,' lest we should, as 
 some have thought, suppose him to be the evil spirit, or 
 a demon, whereas he is one man, in whom Satan shall 
 dwell bodily. *And a mouth speaking great things;' 
 for he is the man of sin, the son of perdition, so that he 
 dares to ' sit in the Temple of God, making himself as if 
 God.' ' The beast has been slain, and his carcase has 
 perished ; ' since Antichrist blasphemes in that united 
 Roman Empire, all its kingdoms are at one and the 
 same time to be abolished, and there shall be no earthly 
 kingdom, but the society of the saints, and the coming 
 of the triumphant Son of God." " And Theodoret : 
 " Having spoken of Antiochus Epiphanes, the prophet 
 passes from the figure to the Antitype ; for the Antitype 
 of Antiochus is Antichrist, and the figure of Antichrist 
 is Antiochus. As Antiochus compelled the Jews to act 
 impiously, so the Man of Sin, the son of perdition, will 
 make every effort for the seduction of the pious, by false 
 miracles, and by force, and by persecution. As the Lord 
 says, ' Then will be great tribulation, such as never was 
 from the beginning of the world till this time, nor ever 
 shall be.'"* 
 
 What I have said upon this subject may be summed 
 up as follows : — that the coming of Christ will be 
 immediately preceded by a very awful and unparalleled 
 * Jerom. in Dan. vii ; Theodor. in Dan. xi. 
 
^ The Time of Antichrist. 57 
 
 outbreak of evil, called by St. Paul an Apostasy, a falling 
 away, in the midst of which a certain terrible Man of 
 sin and Child of perdition, the special and singular enemy 
 of Christ, or Antichrist, will appear ; that this will be 
 when revolutions prevail, and the present framework of 
 society breaks to pieces ; and that at present the spirit 
 which he will embody and represent is kept under by 
 "the powers that be," but that on their dissolution, he will 
 rise out of their bosom and knit them together again in 
 his own evil way, under his own rule, to the exclusion of 
 the Church. 
 
 4- 
 
 It would be out of place to say more than this at 
 present. I will but insist on one particular circumstance 
 contained in St. Paul's announcement which I have al- 
 ready in part commented on. 
 
 It is said there will "come a faUing away, and the 
 man of sin will be revealed." In other words, the Man 
 of Sin is born of an Apostasy, or at least comes into 
 power through an apostasy, or is preceded by an apos- 
 tasy, or would not be except for an apostasy. So says 
 the inspired text : now observe, how remarkably the 
 course of Providence, as seen in history, has commented 
 on this prediction. 
 
 First, we have a comment in the instance of Antiochus 
 previous to the actual events contemplated in the pro- 
 phecy. The Israelites, or at least great numbers of 
 them, put off their own sacred religion, a7id then the 
 enemy was allowed to come in. 
 
 Next the apostate emperor Julian, who attempted to 
 overthrow the Church by craft, and introduce paganism 
 back again : it is observable that he was preceded, nay, 
 he was nurtured, by heresy ; by that first great heresy 
 which disturbed the peace and purity of the Church. 
 
58 The Patristical Idea of Anticli: ist. 
 
 About forty years before he became emperor, arose the 
 pestilent Arian heresy which denied that Christ was 
 God. It ate its way among the rulers of the Church 
 like a canker, and what with the treachery of some, and 
 the mistakes of others, at one time it was all but domi 
 nant throughout Christendom. The few holy and faith- 
 ful men, who witnessed for the Truth, cried out, with 
 awe and terror at the apostasy, that Antichrist was com- 
 ing. They called it the " forerunner of Antichrist."* 
 And true, his Shadow came. Julian was educated in 
 the bosom of Arianism by some of its principal up- 
 holders. His tutor was that Eusebius from whom its 
 partizans took their name ; and in due time he fell 
 away to paganism, became a hater and persecutor of the 
 Church, and was cut off before he had reigned out the 
 brief period which will be the real Antichrist's duration. 
 And thirdly, another heresy arose, a heresy in its con- 
 sequences far more lasting and far-spreading ; it was of 
 a twofold character ; with two heads, as I may call them, 
 Nestorianism and Eutychianism, apparently opposed to 
 each other, yet acting towards a common end : it in one 
 way or other denied the truth of Christ's gracious in- 
 carnation, and tended to destroy the faith of Christians 
 not less certainly, though more insidiously, than the 
 heresy of Arius. It spread through the East and through 
 Egypt, corrupting and poisoning those Churches which 
 had once, alas ! been the most flourishing, the earliest 
 abodes and strongholds of revealed truth. Out of this 
 heresy, or at least by means of it, the impostor Ma- 
 homet sprang, and formed his creed. Here is another 
 especial Shadow of Antichrist. 
 
 * TrpoBpofios ' AvTLXplo'Tov. — " Now is the Apostasy ; for men have fallen 
 away from the right faith. This then is the Apostasy, and the enemy must 
 be looked out for." — C}tzI. Catech,^ 15, n. 9. 
 
The Time of A^itichrist, 59 
 
 These instances ^\y^ us this warning. Is the enemy 
 of Christ, and His Church, to arise out of a certain 
 special faUing away from GOD ? And is there no reason 
 to fear that some such Apostasy is gradually preparing, 
 gathering, hastening on m this very day ? For is there 
 not at this very time a special effort giade almost all 
 over the world, that is, every here and there, more or 
 less in sight or out of sight, in this or that place, but 
 most visibly or formidably in its most civilized and 
 powerful parts, an effort to do without Religion ? Is 
 there not an opinion avowed and growing, that a nation 
 has nothing to do with Religion ; that it is merely a 
 matter for each man's own conscience ? — which is all one 
 with saying that we may let the Truth fail from the 
 earth without trying to continue it in and on after our 
 time. Is there not a vigorous and united movement in 
 all countries to cast down the Church of Christ from 
 power and place } Is there not a feverish and ever-busy 
 endeavour to get rid of the necessity of Religion in 
 public transactions } for example, an attempt to get rid 
 of oaths, under a pretence that they are too sacred for 
 affairs of common life, instead of providing that they be 
 taken more reverently and more suitably t an attempt 
 to educate without Religion } — that is, by putting all 
 forms of Religion together, which comes to the same 
 thing ; — an attempt to enforce temperance, and the vir- 
 tues which flow from it, without Religion, by means of 
 Societies which are built on mere principles of utility.'^ 
 an attempt to make expedience, and not truthy the end 
 and the rule of measures of State and the enactments of 
 Law } an attempt to make numbers, and not the Truth, 
 the ground of maintaining, or not maintaining, this or 
 that creed, as if we had any reason whatever in Scripture 
 for thinking that the many will be m the right, and the 
 
6o The Patristical Idea 0/ Aniiehrist, 
 
 few in the wrong ? An attempt to deprive the Bible of 
 its one meaning to the exclusion of others, to make 
 people think that it may have an hundred meanings all 
 equally good, or, in other words, that it has no meaning 
 at all, is a dead letter, and may be put aside ? an at- 
 tempt to supersede Religion altogether, as far as it is 
 external or objective, as far as it is displayed in ordi- 
 nances, or can be expressed by written words,— to con- 
 fine it to our inward feelings, and thus, considering how 
 variable, how evanescent our feelings are, an attempt, in 
 fact, to destroy Religion ? 
 
 Surely, there is at this day a confederacy of evil, 
 marshalling its hosts from all parts of the world, organiz- 
 ing itself, taking its measures, enclosing the Church of 
 Christ as in a net, and preparing the way for a general 
 Apostasy from it. Whether this very Apostasy is to 
 give birth to Antichrist, or whether he is still to be 
 delayed, as he has already been delayed so long, we 
 cannot know ; but at any rate this Apostasy, and all its 
 tokens and instruments, are of the Evil One, and savour 
 of death. Far be \t from any of us to be of those simple 
 ones who are taken in that snare which is circling around 
 us ! Far be it from us to be seduced with the fair 
 promises in which Satan is sure to hide his poison ! Do 
 you think he is so unskilful in his craft, as to ask you 
 openly and plainly to join him in his warfare against the 
 Truth ? No ; he offers you baits to tempt you. He 
 promises you civil liberty ; he promises you equality ; 
 he promises you trade and wealth ; he promises you a 
 remission of taxes ; he promises you reform. This is 
 
 « the way in which he conceals from you the kind of work 
 to which he is putting you ; he tempts you to rail against 
 your rulers and superiors ; he does so himself, and in- 
 
 \ duces you to imitate him ; or he promises you illumina- 
 
The Time of Antichrist. 6i 
 
 tion, — he offers you knowledge, science, philosophy, 
 enlargement of mind. He scoffs at times gone by ; he 
 scoffs at every institution which reveres them. He 
 prompts you what to say, and then listens to you, and 
 praises you, and encourages you. He bids you mount 
 aloft. He shows you how to become as gods. Then he 
 laughs and jokes with you, and gets intimate with you ; 
 he takes your hand, and gets his fingers between yours, 
 and grasps them, and then you are his. 
 
 Shall we Christians allow ourselves to have lot or part 
 in this matter } Shall we, even with our little finger, 
 help on the Mystery of Iniquity which is travailing for 
 birth, and convulsing the earth with its pangs } " O my 
 soul, come not thou into their secret ; unto their assembly, 
 mine honour, be not thou united." * " What fellowship 
 hath righteousness with unrighteousness } and what 
 communion hath light with darkness } Wherefore, 
 come out from among them, and be ye separate," . . . 
 lest you be workers together with God's enemies, 
 and be opening the way for the Man of Sin, the son of 
 perdition. 
 
62 
 
 The Religio7i of Antichrist. 
 
 ST. JOHN tells us that "every spirit that confesseth 
 not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is that 
 spirit of Antichrist, which even now already is in the 
 world. It was the characteristic of Antichrist, that he 
 should openly deny our Lord Jesus Christ to be the 
 Son of God come in the flesh from heaven. So exactly 
 and fully was this description to answer to him, that to 
 deny Christ might be suitably called the spirit of Anti- 
 christ ; and the deniers of Him might be said to have 
 the spirit of Antichrist, to be like Antichrist, to be Anti- 
 christs. The same thing is stated in a former chapter. 
 " Who is the Liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the 
 Christ t he is the Antichrist, that denieth the Father 
 and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same 
 hath not the Father;'** from which words, moreover, 
 it would appear that Antichrist will be led on from re- 
 jecting the Son of God to the rejecting of God alto- 
 gether, either by implication or practically. 
 
 I shall now make some further observations on the 
 characteristic marks of the predicted enemy of the 
 Church ; and, as before, I shall confine myself to the in- 
 terpretations of Scripture given by the early Fathers. 
 
 My reason for doing so is simply this, — that on so 
 dijfficult a subject as unfulfilled prophecy, I really can 
 
 • I John ii. 22, 23, 
 
The Religio7i of Antichrist, 6^ 
 
 have no opinion of my own, nor indeed is it desirable I 
 should have, or at least that I should put it forward in 
 any formal way. The opinion of any one person, even 
 if he were the most fit to form one, could hardly be of 
 any authority, or be worth putting forward by itself; 
 whereas the judgment and views of the early Church 
 claim and attract our special regard, because for what we 
 know they may be in part derived from traditions of the 
 Apostles, and because they are put forward far more 
 consistently and unanimously than those of any other set 
 of teachers. Thus they have at least greater claims on 
 our attention than those of other writers, be their claims 
 little or great ; if they are little, those of others are still 
 less. The only really strong claim which can be made 
 on our belief, is the clear fulfilment of the prophecy. 
 Did we see all the marks of the prophecy satisfactorily 
 answered in the past history of the Church, then we 
 might dispense with authority in the parties setting the 
 proof before us. This condition, however, can hardly 
 be satisfied, because the date of Antichrist comes close 
 upon the coming of Christ in judgment, and therefore 
 the event will not have happened under such circum- 
 stances as to allow of being appealed to. Nor indeed is 
 any history producible which fulfils all the marks of any 
 Antichrist clearly, though some are fulfilled here and 
 there. Nothing then is left us, (if we are to take 
 up any opinion at all, — if we are to profit, as Scripture 
 surely intends, by its warnings concerning the evil 
 which is to come,) but to go by the judgment of the 
 Fathers, whether that be of special authority in this 
 matter or not. To them therefore I have had re- 
 course already, and now shall have recourse again. To 
 continue, then, the subject with the early Fathers as 
 my guides. 
 
64 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 I. 
 
 It seems clear that St. Paul and St. John speak 
 of the same enemy of the Church, from the similarity of 
 their descriptions. They both say, that the spirit itself 
 was already at work in their day. " That spirit of the 
 Antichrist," says St. John, " is now already in the world." 
 " The mystery of iniquity doth already work," says St. 
 Paul. And they both describe the enemy as character- 
 ized by the same especial sin, open infidelity. St. John 
 says, that '* he is the Antichrist that denieth tJte Father 
 and the Son ; " while St. Paul speaks of him in like 
 manner as '' the adversary and rival of all that is called 
 God, or worshipped ;'' that "he sitteth as God in the 
 Temple of God, setting forth himself that he is God." 
 In both these passages, the same blasphemous denial of 
 God and religion is described ; but St. Paul adds, in 
 addition, that he will oppose all existing religion, true or 
 false, " all that is called God, or worshipped." 
 
 Two other passages of Scripture may be adduced, 
 predicting the same reckless impiety ; one from the 
 eleventh chapter of Daniel : " The king shall do accord- 
 ing to his will ; and he shall exalt himself and magnify 
 himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous 
 things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the 
 indignation be accomplished. . . . Neither shall he re- 
 gard the God of his fathers, nor the Desire of women, nor 
 regard any god — for he shall magnify himself above all.'' 
 
 The other passage is faintly marked with any prophetic 
 allusion in itself, except that all our Saviour's sayings 
 have a deep meaning, and the Fathers take this in par- 
 ticular to have such. *' I am come in My Father's 
 Name, and ye receive Me not ; if another shall come hi 
 his own name, him ye will receive." * This they consider 
 
 * John V. 43. 
 
The Religion of Antichrist, 65 
 
 to be a prophetic allusion to Antichrist, whom the Jews 
 were to mistake for the Christ. He is to come " in His 
 own name." Not from God, as even the Son of God 
 came, who if any might have come in the power of His 
 essential divinity, not in God's Name, not with any pre- 
 tence of a mission from Him, but in his own name, by a 
 blasphemous assumption of divine power, thus will 
 Antichrist come. 
 
 To the above passages may be added those which 
 speak generally of the impieties of the last age of the 
 world, impieties which we may believe will usher in and 
 be completed in Antichrist : — 
 
 *' Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be 
 increased. . . . Many shall be purified, and made white, 
 and tried : but the wicked shall do wickedly ; and none 
 of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall 
 understand."* "In the last days perilous times shall 
 come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, 
 covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to 
 parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, 
 trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers 
 of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, 
 lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a 
 form of godliness but denying the power thereof: "f 
 "scoffers walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where 
 is the promise of His coming.? "J " despising govern- 
 ment, presumptuous . . . self-willed, not afraid to speak 
 evil of dignities . . . promising men liberty, while them- 
 selves the servants of corruption : "§ and the like. 
 
 2. 
 
 I just now made mention of the Jews : it may be well 
 
 * Dan. xii. 4, 10. % 2 Pet. iii. 3,- 4. 
 
 f 2 Tim. iii. 2 — 5. § 2 Pet. ii. 10, 19. 
 
 * * C 
 
 * 
 
66 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 then to state what was held in the early Church concern- 
 ing Antichrist's connexion with them. 
 
 Our Lord foretold that many should come in His 
 name, saying, " I am Christ." It was the judicial punish- 
 ment of the Jews, as of all unbelievers in one way or 
 another, that, having rejected the true Christ, they should 
 take up with a false one ; and Antichrist will be the com- 
 plete and perfect seducer, towards whom all who were 
 previous are approximations, according to the words 
 just now quoted, '*If another shall come in his own 
 name, him ye will receive." To the same purport are 
 St. Paul's words after describing Antichrist ; '' whose 
 coming," he says, *'is . . . with all deceivableness of 
 unrighteousness in them that perish, because they 
 received not the love of the Truth, that they might be 
 saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong 
 delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all 
 might be damned who believed not the Truth, but had 
 pleasure in unrighteousness." 
 
 Hence, considering that Antichrist would pretend to 
 be the Messiah, it was of old the received notion that he 
 was to be of Jewish race and to observe the Jewish rites. 
 Further, St. Paul says that Antichrist should " sit in 
 the Temple of God ; " that is, according to the earlier 
 Fathers, in the Jewish Temple. Our Saviour's own 
 words may be taken to support this notion, because He 
 speaks of " the Abomination of Desolation " (which, 
 whatever other meanings it might have, in its fulness 
 denotes Antichrist) "standing in the holy placed Further, 
 the persecution of Christ's witnesses which Antichrist 
 will make, is described by St. John as taking place in 
 Jerusalem. "Their dead bodies shall lie in the street 
 of the great city, (which spiritually is called Sodom and 
 Egypt,) where also our Lord was crucified." 
 
The Religion of Antichrist. 67 
 
 Now here a remark may be made. At first sight, I 
 suppose, we should not consider that there was much 
 evidence from the Sacred Text for Antichrist taking 
 part with the Jews, or having to do with their Temple. 
 It is, then, a very remarkable fact, that the apostate 
 emperor Julian, who was a type and earnest of the great 
 enemy, should, as he did, have taken part with the Jews, 
 and set about building their Temple. Here the history 
 is a sort of comment on the prophecy, and sustains and 
 vindicates those early interpretations of it which I am 
 reviewing. Of course I must be understood to mean, and 
 a memorable circumstance it is, that this belief of the 
 Church that Antichrist should be connected with the 
 Jews, was expressed long before Julian's time, and that 
 we still possess the works in which it is contained. In- 
 fact we have the writings of two Fathers, both Bishops 
 and martyrs of the Church, who lived at least one 
 hundred and fifty years before Julian, and less than one 
 hundred years after St. John. They both distinctly 
 declare Antichrist's connexion with the Jews. 
 
 The first of them, Irenaeus, speaks as follows : " In the 
 Temple which is at Jerusalem the adversary will sit, 
 endeavouring to show himself to be the Christ." 
 
 And the second, Hippolytus : "Antichrist will be he 
 who shall resuscitate the kingdom of the Jews." * 
 
 3. 
 
 Next let us ask, Will Antichrist profess any sort of 
 religion at all } Neither true God nor false god will he 
 worship : so far is clear, and yet something more, and 
 
 * Iren Hser. v. 25. • Hippol. de Antichristo, § 25. St. Cyril of Jeru- 
 salem also speaks of Antichrist building the Jewish Temple ; and he too 
 wrote before Julian's attempt, and (what is remarkable) prophesied it would 
 fail, because of the prophecies 4 — Vide RufF. Hist, i; 37. 
 
68 The jratristicai laea 0/ Ajitichrist, 
 
 that obscure, is told us. Indeed, as far as the prophetic 
 accounts go, they seem at first sight incompatible with 
 each other. Antichrist is to " exalt himself over all 
 that is called God or worshipped." He will set himself 
 forcibly against idols and idolatry, as the early writers 
 agree in declaring. Yet in the book of Daniel we read, 
 "In his estate shall he honour the god of forces ; and a 
 god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with 
 gold and silver, and with precious stones and pleasant 
 things. Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with 
 a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase 
 with glory." * What is meant by the words translated 
 *' god of forces," and afterwards called " a strange god," 
 is quite hidden from us, and probably will be so till the 
 event ; but anyhow some sort of false worship is cer- 
 tainly predicted as the mark of Antichrist, with this 
 prediction the contrary way, that he shall set himself 
 against all idols, as well as against the true God. Now 
 it is not at all extraordinary that there should be this 
 contrariety in the prediction, for we know generally that 
 infidelity leads to superstition, and that the men most 
 reckless in their blasphemy are cowards also as regards 
 the invisible world. They cannot be consistent if they 
 would. But let me notice here a remarkable coincidence, 
 which is contained in the history of that type or shadow 
 of the final apostasy which scared the world some forty 
 or fifty years ago, — a coincidence between actual events 
 and prophecy sufficient to show us that the apparent 
 contradiction in the latter may easily be reconciled, 
 though beforehand we may not see how ; sufficient to 
 remind us that the all-watchful eye, and the all-ordain- 
 ing hand of God is still over the world, and that the 
 seeds, sown in prophecy above two thousand years since, 
 
 * Dan. xi. 38, 39. 
 
The Religio7i of Antichrist, 69 
 
 are not dead, but from time to time, by blade and tender 
 shoot, ^vjQ earnest of the future harvest. Surely the 
 world is impregnated with the elements of preternatural 
 evil, which ever and anon, in unhealthy seasons, give 
 lowering and muttering tokens of the wrath to come ! 
 
 In that great and famous nation over against us, once 
 great for its love of Christ's Church, since memorable for 
 the deeds of blasphemy, which leads me here to mention 
 it, and now, when it should be pitied and prayed for;, 
 made unhappily, in too many respects, our own model — 
 followed when it should be condemned, and admired 
 when it should be excused, — in the Capital of that 
 powerful and celebrated nation, there took place, as we 
 all well know, within the last fifty years, an open apos- 
 tasy from Christianity ; nor from Christianity only, but 
 from every kind of worship which might retain any 
 semblance or pretence of the great truths of religion. 
 Atheism was absolutely professed ; — and yet in spite of 
 this, it seems a contradiction in terms to say it, a certain 
 sort of worship, and that, as the prophet expresses it, 
 "a strange worship," was introduced. Observe what 
 this was. 
 
 I say, they avowed on the one hand Atheism. They 
 prevailed upon a wretched man, whom they had forced 
 upon the Church as an Archbishop, to come before them 
 in public and declare that there was no God, and that 
 what he had hitherto taught was a fable. They wrote 
 up over the burial-places that death was an eternal sleep. 
 They closed the churches, they seized and desecrated 
 the gold and silver plate belonging to them, turning, 
 like Belshazzar, those sacred vessels to the use of their 
 impious revellings ; they formed mock processions, clad 
 in priestly garments, and singing profane hymns. They 
 annulled the divine ordinance of marriage, resolving it 
 
70 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 into a mere civil contract to be made and dissolved 
 at pleasure. These things are but a part of their 
 enormities. 
 
 On the other hand, after having broken away from all 
 restraint as regards God and man, they gave a name to 
 that reprobate state itself into which they had thrown 
 themselves, and exalted it, that very negation of religion, 
 or rather that real and living blasphemy, into a kind of 
 god. They called it Liberty, and they literally wor- 
 shipped it as a divinity. It would almost be incredible, 
 that men who had flung off all religion should be at the 
 pains to assume a new and senseless worship of their 
 own devising, whether in superstition or in mockery, 
 were not events so recent and so notorious. After 
 abjuring our Lord and Saviour, and blasphemously 
 declaring Him to be an impostor, they proceeded to 
 decree, in the public assembly of the nation, the adora- 
 tion of Liberty and Equality as divinities : and they 
 appointed festivals besides in honour of Reason, the 
 Country, the Constitution, and the Virtues. Further, 
 they determined that tutelary gods, even dead men, 
 may be canonized, consecrated, and worshipped ; and 
 they enrolled in the number of these some of the most 
 notorious infidels and profligates of the last century. 
 The remains of the two principal of these were brought 
 in solemn procession into one of their churches, and 
 placed upon the holy altar itself ; incense was offered to 
 them, and the assembled multitude bowed down in wor- 
 ship before one of them — before what remained on earth 
 of an inveterate enemy of Christ. 
 
 Now, I do not mention all this as considering it the 
 fulfilment of the prophecy, nor, again, as if the fulfilment 
 when it comes will be in this precise way, but merely to 
 point out, what the course of events has shown to us in 
 
The Religion of Antichrist, 71 
 
 these latter times, that there <a:r^ways of fulfilling sacred 
 announcements that seem at first sight contradictory, — 
 that men may oppose every existing worship, true and 
 false, and yet take up a worship of their own from pride, 
 wantonness, policy, superstition, fanaticism, or other 
 reasons. 
 
 And further, let it be remarked, that there was a 
 tendency in the infatuated people I have spoken of, to 
 introduce the old Roman democratic worsliip, as if 
 further to show us that Rome, the fourth monster of the 
 prophet's vision, is not dead. They even went so far as 
 to restore the worship of one of the Roman divinities 
 (Ceres) by name, raised a statue to her, and appointed 
 a festival in her honour. This indeed was inconsistent 
 with exalting themselves "above <3://that is called god;" 
 but I mention the particular fact, as I have said, not as 
 throwing light upon the prophecy, but to show that the 
 spirit of old Rome has not passed from the world, though 
 its name is almost extinct. 
 
 Still further, it is startling to observe, that the former 
 Apostate, in the early times, the Emperor Julian, he too 
 was engaged in bringing back Roman Paganism. 
 
 Further still, let it be observed that Antiochus too, 
 the Antichrist before Christ, the persecutor of the Jews, 
 he too signalized himself in forcing the Pagan worship 
 upon them, introducing it even into the Temple. 
 
 We know not what is to come; but this we may safely 
 say, that, improbable as it is that Paganism should ever 
 be publicly restored and enforced by authority for any 
 period, however short, even three years and a half, yet 
 it is far less improbable now than it was fifty years 
 ago, before the event occurred which I have referred to. 
 Who would not have been thought a madman or idiot, 
 before that period, who had conjectured such a porten- 
 
72 The Pairistical Idea of Aiitichrist. 
 
 tous approximation towards Paganism as actually then 
 took place ? 
 
 4. 
 
 Now let us recur to the ancient Fathers, and see 
 whether their further anticipations do not run parallel 
 to the events which have since happened. 
 
 Antichrist, as they considered, will come out of the 
 Roman Empire just upon its destruction ; — that is, the 
 Roman Empire will in its last days divide itself into ten 
 parts, and the Enemy will come up suddenly out of it 
 upon these ten, and subdue three of them, or all of them 
 perhaps, and (as the prophet continues) " shall speak 
 great words against the Most High, and shall wear out 
 the saints of the Most High, and think to change times 
 and laws, and they shall be given into His hand until a 
 time, and times, and the dividing of time."* Now it is very 
 observable, that one of the two early Fathers whom I 
 have already cited, Hippolytus, expressly says that the 
 ten states which will at length appear, though kingdoms, 
 shall also be democracies, I say this is observable, con- 
 sidering the present state of the world, the tendency of 
 things in this day towards democracy, and the instance 
 which has been presented to us of democracy within the 
 last fifty years, in those occurrences in France to which 
 I have already referred. 
 
 Another expectation of the early Church was, that the 
 Roman monster, after remaining torpid for centuries, 
 would wake up at the end of the world, and be restored 
 in all its laws and forms ; and this, too, considering those 
 same recent events to which I have referred, is certainly 
 worth noticing also. The same Father, who anticipates 
 the coming of democracies, expressly deduces from a 
 passage in the xiiith chapter of the Apocalypse, that 
 * Dan. vii. 25. 
 
The Religion of Antichrist:, ^x 
 
 "the system of Augustus, who was founder of the Roman 
 Empire, shall be adopted and established by him (Anti- 
 christ), in order to his own aggrandizement and glory. 
 This is the fourth monster whose head was wounded and 
 healed ; in that the empire was destroyed and came to 
 nought, and was divided into ten diadems. But at this 
 time Antichrist, as being an unscrupulous villain, will 
 heal and restore it ; so that it will be active and vigorous 
 once more through the system which he establishes." "^ 
 
 I will but notice one other expectation falling in with 
 the foregoing notion of the re-establishment of Roman 
 power, entertained by the two Fathers whom I have been 
 quoting ; viz., one concerning the name of Antichrist, as 
 spoken of in the xiiith chapter of the Revelation: "Here 
 is wisdom," says the inspired text ; " let him that hath 
 understanding count his number, for it is the number of 
 a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and 
 six." Both Irenaeus and Hippolytus give a name, the 
 letters of which together in Greek make up this number, 
 characteristic of the position of Antichrist as the head 
 of the Roman Empire in its restored state, viz., the word 
 Latinus, or the Latin king. 
 
 Irenseus speaks as follows : " Expect that the empire 
 will first be divided into ten kings ; then while they are 
 reigning and beginning to settle and aggrandize them- 
 selves, suddenly one will come and claim the kingdom, 
 and frighten them, having a name which contains the 
 predicted number (^6) ; him recognize as the Abomina- 
 tion of Desolation." Then he goes on to mention, to- 
 gether with two other words, the name of Lateinos as 
 answering to the number, and says of it, " This is very 
 probable, since it is the name of the last empire ; — for 
 the Latins " (that is, the Romans) " are now in power." f 
 * Ibid., 27, 49. f He adds, that he hhnself prefers one of the other words. 
 
74 The Patristical laea of Antic nrisf. 
 
 And Hippolytus : " Since . . the wound of the first 
 monster was healed .... and it is plain that the Latins 
 are that empire, therefore he is called the Latin 
 King (Latinus), the name passing from an empire to an 
 individual." * 
 
 Whether this anticipation will be fulfilled or not, we 
 cannot say. I only mention it as showing the belief of 
 the Fathers in the restoration and re-establishment of 
 the Roman Empire, which has certainly since their day 
 been more than once attempted. 
 
 It seems then, on the whole, that, as far as the testi- 
 mony of the early Church goes. Antichrist will be an 
 open blasphemer, opposing himself to every existing 
 worship, true and false, — a persecutor, a patron to the 
 Jews, and a restorer of their worship, and, further, the 
 author of a novel kind of worship. Moreover, he will 
 appear suddenly, at the very end of the Roman Empire, 
 which once was, and now is dormant ; that he will knit 
 it into one, and engraft his Judaism and his new worship 
 (a sort of Paganism, it may be) upon the old discipline 
 of Caesar Augustus ; that in consequence he will earn 
 the title of the Latin or Roman King, as best expressive 
 of his place and character ; lastly, that he will pass 
 away as suddenly as he came. 
 
 5. 
 
 Now concerning this, I repeat, I do not wish to pro- 
 nounce how far the early Church was right or wrong in 
 these anticipations, though events since have seriously 
 tended to strengthen its general interpretations of Scrip- 
 ture prophecy. 
 
 It may be asked, however, What practical use is there 
 in speaking of these things, if they be doubtful } 
 
 * Hippol. de Antichristo, § 50. 
 
The Religion 0/ Antichrist. 75 
 
 I answer, first, that it is not unprofitable to bear in 
 mind that we are still under what may be called a 
 miraculous system. I do not mean to maintain that 
 literal miracles are taking place now every day, but that 
 our present state is a portion of a providential course, 
 which began in miracle, and, at least at the end of the 
 world, if not before, will end in miracle. The particular 
 expectations above detailed may be right or wrong ; 
 yet an Antichrist, whoever and whatever he be, is to 
 come ; marvels are to come ; the old Roman Empire is 
 not extinct ; Satan, if bound, is bound but for a season ; 
 the contest of good and evil is not ended. I repeat it, 
 in the present state of things, when the great object of 
 education is supposed to be the getting rid of things 
 supernatural, when we are bid to laugh and jeer at 
 believing everything we do not see, are told to account 
 for everything by things known and ascertained, and 
 to assay every statement by the touchstone of experi- 
 ence, I must think that this vision of Antichrist, as a 
 supernatural power to come, is a great providential gain, 
 as being a counterpoise to the evil tendencies of the age. 
 
 And next, it must surely be profitable for our thoughts 
 to be sent backward and forward to the beginning and the 
 end of the Gospel times, to the first and the second com- 
 ing of Christ. What we want, is to understand that we 
 are in the place in which the early Christians were, with 
 the same covenant, ministry, sacraments, and duties ; — 
 to realize a state of things long past away ; — to feel that 
 we are in a sinful world, a world lying in wickedness ; 
 to discern our position in it, that we are witnesses in 
 it, that reproach and suffering are our portion, — so that 
 we must not " think it strange " if they come upon us, 
 but a kind of gracious exception if they do not ; to 
 have our hearts awake^ as if we had seen Christ and 
 
76 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist, 
 
 His Apostles, and seen their miracles, — awake to the 
 hope and waiting of His second coming, looking out for 
 it, nay, desiring to see the tokens of it ; thinking often 
 and much of the judgment to come, dwelling on and 
 adequately entering into the thought, that we individually 
 shall be judged. All these surely are acts of true and 
 saving faith ; and this is one substantial use of the Book 
 of Revelation, and other prophetical parts of Scripture, 
 quite distinct from our knowing their real interpretation, 
 viz., to take the veil from our eyes, to lift up the cover- 
 ing which lies over the face of the world, and make us 
 see day by day, as we go in and out, as we get up and 
 lie down, as we labour, and walk, and rest, and recreate 
 ourselves, the Throne of God set up in the midst of us, 
 His majesty and His judgments, His Son's continual 
 intercession for the elect, their trials, and their victory. 
 
77 
 
 3. 
 
 The City of Antichrist. 
 
 THE Angel thus interprets to St. John the vision of 
 the Great Harlot, the enchantress, who seduced 
 the inhabitants of the earth. He says, " The woman 
 which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over 
 the kings of the earth." The city spoken of in these 
 words is evidently Rome, which was then the seat of 
 empire all over the earth, — which was supreme even in 
 Judaea. We hear of the Romans all through the Gospels 
 and Acts. Our Saviour was born when His mother 
 the Blessed Virgin, and Joseph, were brought up to 
 Bethlehem to be taxed by the Roman governor. He 
 was crucified under Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. 
 St. Paul was at various times protected by the circum- 
 stance of his being a Roman citizen ; on the other hand, 
 when he was seized and imprisoned, it was by the Roman 
 governors, and at last he was sent to Rome itself, to the 
 emperor, a^id eventually martyred there, together with 
 St. Peter. Thus the sovereignty of Rome, at the time 
 when Christ and His Apostles preached and wrote, which 
 is a matter of historical notoriety, is forced on our notice 
 in the New Testament itself It is undeniably meant by 
 the Angel when he speaks of "the great city which 
 reigneth over the earth." 
 
 The connexion of Rome with the reign and exploits 
 of Antichrist, is so often brought before us in the con- 
 troversies of this day, that it may be well/ after what I 
 
7 8 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist, 
 
 have already had occasion to say on the subject of the 
 last enemy of the Church, to consider now what Scrip- 
 ture prophecy says concerning Rome; which I shall 
 attempt to do, as before, with the guidance of the early 
 Fathers. 
 
 Now let us observewhat is said concerning Rome, in the 
 passage which the Angel concludes in the words which 
 I have quoted, and what we may deduce from it. 
 
 That great city is described under the image of a 
 woman, cruel, profligate, and impious. She is described 
 as arrayed in all worldly splendour and costliness, in 
 purple and scarlet, in gold and precious stones, and 
 pearls, as shedding and drinking the blood of the saints, 
 till she was drunken with it. Moreover she is called by 
 the name of " Babylon the Great," to signify her power, 
 wealth, profaneness, pride, sensuality, and persecuting 
 spirit, after the pattern of that former enemy of the 
 Church. I need not her^ relate how all this really 
 answered to the character and history of Rome at the 
 time St. John spoke of it. There never was a more 
 ambitious, haughty, hard-hearted, and worldly people 
 than the Romans ; never any, for none else had ever the 
 opportunity, which so persecuted the Church. Christians 
 suffered ten persecutions at their hands, as they are 
 commonly reckoned, and very horrible ones, extending 
 over two hundred and fifty years. The day would fail 
 to go through an account of the tortures they suffered 
 from Rome ; so that the Apostle's description was as 
 signally fulfilled afterwards as a prophecy, as it was 
 accurate at the time as an historical notice. 
 
 This guilty city, represented by St. John as an 
 abandoned woman, is said to be seated on *' a scarlet- 
 
The City of Antichrist. 79 
 
 coloured monster, full of names of blasphemy, having- 
 seven heads and ten horns." Here we are sent back by 
 the prophetic description to the seventh chapter of 
 Daniel, in which the four great empires of the world are 
 shadowed out under the figure of four beasts, a lion, a 
 bear, a leopard, and a nameless monster, "diverse" from 
 the rest, *' dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly;" 
 " and it had ten horns." This surely is the very same 
 beast which St. John saw : the ten horns mark it. Now 
 this fourth beast in Daniel's vision is the Roman Empire; 
 therefore ".the beast," on which the woman sat, is the 
 Roman Empire. And this agrees very accurately with 
 the actual position of things in history ; for Rome, the 
 mistress of the world, might well be said to sit upon, 
 and be carried about triumphantly on that world which 
 she had subdued and tamed, and made her creature. 
 Further, the prophet Daniel explains the ten horns of 
 the monster to be " ten kings that shall arise" out of this 
 Empire ; in which St. John agrees, saying, " The ten 
 horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have 
 received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings 
 one hour with the beast." Moreover in a former vision 
 Daniel speaks of the Empire as destined to be ^'divided," 
 as " partly strong and partly broken."* Further still, 
 this Empire, the beast of burden of the woman, was at 
 length to rise against her and devour her, as some savage 
 animal might turn upon its keeper ; and it was to do 
 this in the time of its divided or multiplied existence. 
 " The ten horns which thou sawest upon him, these shall 
 hate" her, " and shall make her desolate and naked, and 
 shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire." Such was to 
 be the end of the great city. Lastly, three of the kings, 
 perhaps all, are said to be subdued by Antichrist,, who 
 ♦ Dan. iu 41, 42. 
 
8o The Patristical Idea of Aniichrist. 
 
 is to come up suddenly while they are in power ; for 
 such is the course of Daniel's prophecy : " Another shall 
 rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, ^ 
 and he shall subdue three kings, and he shall speak 
 great w^ords against the Most High, and shall wear out 
 the saints of the Most High, and think to change times 
 and laws ; and they shall be given into his hands until a 
 time, times, and the dividing of time." This power, who 
 was to rise upon the kings, is Antichrist ; and I would 
 have you observe how Rome and Antichrist stand to- 
 wards each other in the prophecy. Rome is to fall before 
 Antichrist rises ; for the ten kings are to destroy Rome, 
 and Antichrist is then to appear and supersede the ten 
 kings. As far as we dare judge from the words, this 
 seems clear. First, St. John says, " The ten horns shall 
 hate and devour" the woman; secondly, Daniel says, 
 "'I considered the horns, and behold, there came up 
 among them another little horn," viz.. Antichrist, "before 
 whom" or by whom "there were three of the first horns 
 plucked up by the roots." 
 
 2. 
 
 Now then, let us consider how far these prophecies have 
 been fulfilled, and what seems to remain unfulfilled. 
 
 In the fi^st place, the Roman Empire did break up, as 
 foretold. It divided into a number of separate kingdoms, 
 such as our own, France, and the like ; yet it is difficult 
 to number ten accurately and exactly. Next, though 
 Rome certainly has been desolated in the most fearful 
 and miserable way, yet it has not exactly suffered from 
 ten parts of its former empire, but from barbarians who 
 came down upon it from regions external to it ; and, in 
 the third place, it still exists as a city, whereas it was to 
 be " desolated, devoured, and burned with fire." And, 
 
Tlie City of Antichrist, 8t 
 
 fourthly, there is one point in the description of the 
 ungodly city, which has hardly been fulfilled at all in the 
 case of Rome. She had ''a golden cup in her hand full 
 of abominations," and made "■ the inhabitants of the 
 earth drunk with the wine of her fornication ; " expres- 
 sions which imply surely some seduction or delusion 
 which she was enabled to practise upon the world, and 
 which, I say, has not been fulfilled in the case of that 
 great imperial city upon seven hills of which St. John 
 spake. Here then are points which require some con- 
 sideration. 
 
 I say, the Roman Empire has scarcely yet been divided 
 into ten. The Prophet Daniel is conspicuous among the 
 inspired writers for the clearness and exactness -of his 
 predictions ; so much so, that some unbelievers, over- 
 come by the truth of them, could only take refuge in 
 the unworthy, and, at the same time, unreasonable and 
 untenable supposition, that they were written after the 
 events which they profess, to foretell. But we have had 
 no such exact fulfilment in history of the ten kings ; 
 therefore w^e must suppose that it is yet to come. With 
 this accords the ancient notion, that they were to come 
 at the end of the world, and last for but a short time. 
 Antichrist coming upon them. There have, indeed, 
 been approximations to that number, yet, I conceive, 
 nothing more. Now observe how the actual state of 
 things corresponds to the prophecy, and to the primitive 
 interpretation of it. It is difficult to say whether the 
 Roman Empire is gone or not; in one sense, it is gone, for 
 it is divided into kingdoms ; in another sense, it is not, 
 for the date cannot be assigned at which it came to an 
 end, and much might be said in various ways to show 
 that it may be considered still existing, though in a 
 mutilated and decayed state. But if this be so, and if 
 
 *»* 6 
 
82 Tne Patristical Idea of AnticJirist, 
 
 it IS to end in ten vigorous kings, as Daniel says, then it 
 must one day revive. Now observe, I say, how the pro- 
 phetic description answers to this account of it. *' The 
 wild Beast," that is, the Roman Empire, " the Monster 
 that thou sawest, was and is not, and shall ascend out 
 of the abyss, and go into perdition." Again mention is ; 
 made of " the Monster that was, and is not, and yet is!' ' 
 Again we are expressly told that the ten kings and the 
 Empire shall rise together ; the kings appearing at the 
 time of the monster's resurrection, not during its languid 
 and torpid state. " The ten kings . . . have received 
 no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one 
 hour Wxth the beast." If, then, the Roman Empire is 
 still prostrate, the ten kings have not come ; and if the 
 ten kings have not come, the destined destroyers of the 
 woman, the full judgments upon Rome, have not yet 
 come. 
 
 3. 
 
 Thus the full measure of judgment has not fallen 
 upon Rome ; yet her sufferings, and the sufferings of 
 her Empire, have been very severe. St. Peter seems to 
 predict them, in his First Epistle, as then impending. 
 He seems to imply that our Lord's visitation, which was 
 then just occurring, was no local or momentary venge- 
 ance upon one people or city, but a solemn and extended 
 judgment of the whole earth, though beginning at Jeru- 
 salem. ** The time is come," he says, '* when judgment 
 must begin at the house of God " (at the sacred city) ; 
 " and, if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of 
 them that obey not the Gospel of God } And if the 
 righteous scarcely be saved" (i. e.y the remnant who 
 should go forth of Zion, according to the prophecy, that 
 chosen seed in the Jewish Church which received Christ 
 
The City of Antichrist. 83 
 
 when He came, and took the new name of Christians, 
 and shot forth and grew far and wide into a fresh Church, 
 or, in other words, the elect whom our Saviour speaks 
 of as being involved in all the troubles and judgments 
 of the devoted people, yet safely carried through) ; " ii 
 the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly 
 and the sinner appear," — the inhabitants of the world at 
 large ? ^ 
 
 Here is intimation of the presence of a fearful scourge 
 which was then going over all the ungodly world, be- 
 ginning at apostate Jerusalem, and punishing it. Such 
 was the case : vengeance first fell upon the once holy 
 city, which was destroyed by the Romans : it proceeded 
 next against the executioners themselves.f The empire 
 was disorganized, and broken to pieces by dissensions 
 and insurrections, by plagues, famines, and earthquakes, 
 while countless hosts of barbarians attacked it from the 
 north and east, and portioned it out, and burned and 
 pillaged Rome itself. The judgment, I say, which began 
 at Jerusalem, steadily tracked its way for centuries round 
 and round the world, till at length, with unerring aim, 
 it smote the haughty mistress of the nations herself, the 
 guilty woman seated upon the fourth monster which 
 Daniel saw. I will mention one or two of these fearful 
 inflictions. 
 
 Hosts of barbarians came down upon the civilized 
 world, the Roman empire. One multitude — though 
 multitude is a feeble word to describe them, — invaded 
 France, J which was living in peace and prosperity under 
 the shadow of Rome. They desolated and burned town 
 and country. Seventeen provinces were made a desert. 
 
 * Pet. iv. 17, 18. Vide also Jer. xxv; 28, 29. E^ek. ix. 65 
 
 t Vide Is. xlvii. 5, 6i 
 
 t A.D. 407. Vide Gibbon, Hist. vol. v. chap. 3a 
 
84 The Patrlstical Idea of A^itichrist, 
 
 Eight metropolitan cities were set on fire and destroyed. 
 Multitudes of Christians perished even in the churches. 
 
 The fruitful coast of Africa was the scene of another 
 of these invasions.* The barbarians gave no quarter to 
 any who opposed them. They tortured their captives, 
 of whatever age, rank, and sex, to force them to discover 
 their wealth. They drove away the inhabitants of the 
 cities to the mountains. They ransacked the churches. 
 They destroyed even the fruit-trees, so complete was the 
 desolation. 
 
 Of judgments in the course of nature, I will mention 
 three out of a great number. One, an inundation from 
 the sea in all parts of the Eastern empire. The water 
 overflowed the coast for two miles inland, sweeping av/ay 
 houses and inhabitants along a line of some thousand 
 miles. One great city (Alexandria) lost MX-y thousand 
 persons.f 
 
 The second, a series of earthquakes ; some of which 
 were felt all over the empire. Constantinople was thus 
 shaken above forty days together. At Antioch 250,000 
 persons perished in another. 
 
 And in the third place a plague, which lasted (languish- 
 ing and reviving) through the long period of fifty-two 
 years. In Constantinople, during three months, there 
 died daily 5,000, and at length 10,000 persons. I give 
 these facts from a modern writer, who is neither favour- 
 able to Christianity, nor credulous in matters of histori- 
 cal testimony. In some countries the population was 
 wasted away altogether, and has not recovered to this 
 day.t 
 
 Such were the scourges by which the fourth monster 
 
 * A.D. 430. Vide Gibbon, Hist. vol. vi. chap. 2,'^^ 
 f A.D. 365. Ibid. vol. iv. chap. 26. 
 J A.D. 540. Ibid. vol. vii. chap. 43. 
 
The City of AniichrisL 85 
 
 of DanleFs vision was brought low, "the Lord God's 
 sore judgments, the sword, the famine, and the pesti- 
 lence." * Such was the process by which " that which 
 letteth," (in St. Paul's language) began to be ''taken 
 away ; " though not altogether removed even now. 
 
 And, while the world itself was thus plagued, not less 
 was the offending city which had ruled it. Rome was 
 taken and plundered three several times. The inhabit- 
 ants were murdered, made captives, or obliged to fly all 
 over Italy. The gold and jewels of the queen of the 
 nations, her precious silk and purple, and her works of 
 art, were carried off or destroyed. 
 
 4. 
 These are great and notable events, and certainly form 
 part of the predicted judgment upon Rome ; at the same 
 time they do not adequately fulfil the prophecy, which 
 says expressly, on the one hand, that the ten portions oi 
 the Empire itself which had almost been slain, shall rise 
 up against the city, and '^ make her desolate and burn 
 her with fire," which they have not yet done ; and, on 
 the other hand, that the city shall experience a total 
 destruction, which has not yet befallen her, for she still 
 exists. St. John's words on the latter point are clear and 
 determinate. *' Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen ; 
 and is become the habitation of devils, and the hole of 
 every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful 
 bird ;"t words which would seem to refer us to the curse 
 upon the literal Babylon ; and we know how that curse 
 was fulfilled. The prophet Isaiah had said, that in 
 Babylon " wild beasts of the desert should lie there, and 
 their houses be full of doleful creatures, and owls should 
 dwell there, and satyrs," or devils, "should dance there." % 
 * Ezek. xiv. 21. •)• Rev. xviii. 2. J Isa. xiii. 21. 
 
86 The Pairistical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 And we know that all this has in fact happened to 
 Babylon ; it is a heap of ruins ; no man dwells there ; 
 nay, it is difficult to say even where exactly it was placed, 
 so great is the desolation. Such a desolation St. John 
 seems to predict, concerning the guilty persecuting city 
 we are considering; and in spite of what she has suffered, 
 such a desolation has not come upon her yet. Again, 
 ''she shall be utterly burnt with fire, for strong is the 
 Lord God, who judgeth her." Surely this implies utter 
 destruction, annihilation. Again, '' a mighty Angel took 
 up a stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the 
 sea, saying. Thus with violence, shall that great city 
 Babylon be thrown down, and shall be foicnd no more 
 at ally 
 
 To these passages I would add this reflection. Surely 
 Rome is spoken of in Scripture as a more inveterate 
 enemy of God and His saints even than Babylon, as the 
 great pollution and bane of the earth : if then Babylon 
 has been destroyed wholly, much more, according to all 
 reasonable conjecture, will Rome be destroyed one day. 
 
 It may be farther observed that holy men in the early 
 Church certainly thought that the barbarian invasions 
 were not all that Rome was to receive in the way of 
 vengeance, but that God would one day destroy it by 
 the fury of its elements. " Rome," says Pope Gregory, 
 at a time when a barbarian conqueror had possession 
 of the city, and all things seemed to threaten its de- 
 struction, " Rome shall not be destroyed by the nations, 
 but shall consume away internally, worn out by storms 
 of lightning, whirlwinds, and earthquakes." * In accord- 
 ance with this is the prophecy ascribed to St. Malachi 
 of Armagh, a mediaeval Archbishop (A.D. 1130), which 
 declares, " In the last persecution of the Holy Church, 
 * Greg. Dial. ii. 15. 
 
The City of Antichrist. 87 
 
 Peter of Rome shall be on the throne, who shall feed his 
 flock in many tribulations. When these are past, the 
 city upon seven hills shall be destroyed, and the awful 
 Judge shall judge the people."* 
 
 5. 
 
 This is what may be said on the one side, but after 
 all something may be said on the other ; not indeed 
 to show that the prophecy is already fully accomplished, 
 for it certainly is not, but to show that, granting this, 
 what accomplishment remains to come has reference, not 
 to Rome, but to some other object or objects of divine 
 vengeance. I shall explain my meaning under two heads. 
 
 First, why has Rome not been destroyed hitherto ? 
 how was it that the barbarians left it } Babylon sank 
 under the avenger brought against it — Rome was not • 
 why is this } for if there has been a something to pro- 
 crastinate the vengeance due to Rome hitherto, perad- 
 venture that obstacle may act again and again, and stay 
 the uplifted hand of divine wrath till the end come. 
 The cause of this unexpected respite seems to be simply 
 this, that when the barbarians came down, God had a 
 people in that city. Babylon was a mere prison of the 
 Church ; Rome had received her as a guest. The 
 Church dwelt in Rome, and while her children suffered 
 in the heathen city from the barbarians, so again they 
 were there the life and the salt of that city where they 
 suffered. 
 
 Christians understood this at the time, and availed 
 themselves of their position. They remembered Abra- 
 ham's intercession for Sodom, and the gracious an- 
 nouncement made him, that, had there been ten 
 righteous men therein, it would have been saved. 
 
 * Vide Dr. Burton, Antiq. of Rome, p. 475. 
 
88 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 When the city was worsted, threatened, and at length 
 overthrown, the Pagans had cried out that Christianity 
 was the cause of this. They said they had always 
 flourished under their idols, and that these idols or devils 
 (gods as they called them) were displeased with them 
 for the numbers among them who had been converted to 
 the faith of the Gospel, and had \\\ consequence deserted 
 them, given them over to their enemies, and brought 
 vengeance upon them. On the other hand, they scoffed 
 at the Christians, saying in effect, " Where is now your 
 God 1 Why does He not save you } You are not better 
 off than we;" they said, with the impenitent thief, ''If 
 thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us ; " or with the 
 multitude, " If He be the Son of God, let Him come 
 down from the Cross." This was during the time of one 
 of the most celebrated bishops and doctors of the Church, 
 St. Augustine, and he replied to their challenge. He re- 
 plied to them, and to his brethren also, some of whom 
 were offended and shocked that such calamities should 
 have happened to a city which had become Christian.* 
 He pointed to the cities which had already sinned 
 and been visited, and showed that they had altogether 
 perished, whereas Rome was still preserved. Here, then, 
 he said, was the very fulfilment of the promise of God, 
 announced to Abraham ; — for the sake of the Christians 
 in it, Rome was chastised, not overthrown utterly. 
 
 Historical facts support St. Augustine's view of things. 
 God provided visibly, not only in His secret counsels, that 
 the Church should be the salvation of the city. The fierce 
 conqueror Alaric, who first came against it, exhorted his 
 troops " to respect the Churches of the Apostles St. 
 Peter and St. Paul, as holy and inviolable sanctuaries ; " 
 and he gave orders that a quantity of plate, consecrated 
 
 * August, de Urbis Excidio, vol. vi. p. 622. ed. Ben. et de Civ. Dei, i, I— J. 
 
The City 0/ A?itichrist, 89 
 
 to St. Peter, should be removed into his Church from the 
 place where it had been discovered * 
 
 Again, fifty years afterwards, when Attila was advanc- 
 ing against the city, the Bishop of Rome of the day, St. 
 Leo, formed one of a deputation of three, who went out 
 to meet him, and was successful in arresting his purpose. 
 
 A few years afterwards, Genseric, the most savage of 
 the barbarian conquerors, appeared before the defenceless 
 city. Tiie same fearless pontiff went out to meet him at 
 the he^d of his clergy, and though he did not succeed in 
 saving the city from pillage, yet he gained a promise tha.t 
 the unresisting multitude should be spared, the buildings 
 protected from fire, and the captives from torture. f 
 
 Thus from the Goth, Hun, and Vandal did the Christian 
 Church shield the guilty city in which she dwelt. What 
 a wonderful rule of God's providence is herein displayed 
 which occurs daily ! — the Church sanctifies, yet suffers 
 with, the world, — sharing its sufferings, yet lightening 
 them. In the case before us, she has (if we may humbly 
 say it) suspended, to this day, the vengeance destined 
 to fall upon that city which was drunk with the blood of 
 the martyrs of Jesus. That vengeance has never fallen; it 
 is still suspended ; nor can reason be given why Rome 
 has not fallen under the rule of God's general dealings 
 with His rebellious creatures, and suffered (according to 
 the prophecy) the fulness of God's wrath begun in it, 
 except that a Christian Church is still in that city, sanc- 
 tifying it, interceding for it, saving it. We consider that 
 portion of the Christian Church (alas !) has in process of 
 time become infected with the sins of Rome itself, and 
 has learned to be ambitious and cruel after the fashion of 
 those who possessed the place aforetimes. Yet, if it were 
 what some would make it, if it were as reprobate as 
 
 * Vide Gibbon, Hist. vol. v. chap. 31. f Ibid. vol. vi. chap. 35, 36, 
 
go The Patristical Idea of Antichrist, 
 
 heathen Rome itself, what stays the judgment long ago 
 begun ? why does not the Avenging Arm, which made 
 its first stroke ages since, deal its second and its third, 
 till the city has fallen ? Why is not Rome as Sodom 
 and Gomorrah, if there be no righteous men in it ? 
 
 This then is the first remark I would make as to that 
 fulfilment of the prophecy which is not yet come; perhaps 
 through divine mercy, it may be procrastinated even to 
 the end, and never be fulfilled. Of this we can know 
 nothing one way or the other. 
 
 Secondly, let it be considered, that as Babylon is a 
 type of Rome, and of the world of sin and vanity, so 
 Rome in turn may be a type also, whether of some other 
 city, or of a proud and deceiving world. The woman is 
 said to be Babylon as well as Rome, and as she is some- 
 thing more than Babylon, namely, Rome, so again she 
 may be something more than Rome, which is yet to 
 come. Various great cities in Scripture are made, in 
 their ungodliness and ruin, types of the world itself. 
 Their end is described in figures, which in their fulness 
 apply only to the end of the world ; the sun and moon 
 are said to fall, the earth to quake, and the stars to fall 
 from heaven.* The destruction of Jerusalem in our Lord^s 
 prophecy is associated with the end of all things. As 
 then their ruin prefigures a greater and wider judgment, 
 so the chapters, on which I have been dwelling, may have 
 a further accomplishment, not in Rome, but in the world 
 itself, or some other great city to which we cannot at 
 present apply them, or to all the great cities of the world 
 together, and to the spirit that rules in them, their avari- 
 cious, luxurious, self-dependent, irreligious spirit. And 
 in this sense is already fulfilled a portion of the chapter 
 before us, which does not apply to heathen Rome ; — I 
 * Vide Isaiah xiii. lo, etc 
 
Ine Lity of Antichrist, yi 
 
 mean the description of the woman as making men 
 drunk with her sorceries and delusions ; for such, surely, 
 and nothing else than an intoxication, is that arrogant, 
 ungodly, falsely liberal, and worldly spirit, which great 
 cities make dominant in a country. 
 
 To sum up what I have said. The question asked 
 was, Is it not true (as is commonly said and believed 
 among us) that Rome is mentioned in the Apocalypse, 
 as having especial share in the events which will come 
 at the end of the world by means, or after the time, 
 of Antichrist ? I answer this, that Rome's judgments 
 have come on her in great measure, when her Empire 
 was taken from her ; that her persecutions of the Church 
 have been in great measure avenged, and the Scripture 
 predictions concerning her fulfilled ; that whether or not 
 she shall be further judged depends on two circum- 
 stances, first, whether "the righteous men" in the city 
 who saved her when her judgment first came, will not, 
 through God's great mercy, be allowed to save her still ; 
 next, whether the prophecy relates in its fulness to Rome 
 or to some other object or objects of which Rome is a 
 type. And further, I say, that if it is in the divine 
 counsels that Rome should still be judged, this must be 
 before Antichrist comes, because Antichrist comes upon 
 and destroys the ten kings, and lasts but a short space, 
 but it is the ten kings who are to destroy Rome. On 
 the other hand, so far would seem to be clear, that the 
 prophecy itself has not been fully accomplished, what- 
 ever we decide about Rome's concern in it. The Roman 
 Empire has not yet been divided into ten heads, nor has 
 it yet risen against the woman, whomsoever she stands for, 
 nor has the woman yet received her ultimate judgment. 
 
92 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist, 
 
 We are warned against sharing in her sins and in her 
 punishment ; — against being found, when the end comes, 
 mere children of this world and of its great cities ; with 
 tastes, opinions, habits, such as are found in its cities ; 
 with a heart dependent on human society, and a reason 
 moulded by it ; — against finding ourselves at the last day, 
 before our Judge, v/ith all the low feelings, principles, 
 and aims which the world encourages; with our thoughts 
 wandering (if that be possible then), wandering after 
 vanities ; with thoughts which rise no higher than the 
 consideration of our own comforts, or our gains ; with a 
 haughty contempt for the Church, her ministers, her 
 lowly people ; a love of rank and station, an admiration 
 of the splendour and the fashions of the world, an affec- 
 tation of refinement, a dependence upon our powers of 
 reason, an habitual self-esteem, and an utter ignorance 
 of the number and the heinousness of the sins which lie 
 against us. If we are found thus, when the end comes, 
 where, when the judgment is over, and the saints have 
 gone up to heaven, and there is silence and darkness 
 where all was so full of life and expectation, where shall 
 we find ourselves then ? And what good could the 
 great Babylon do us then, though it were as immortal 
 as we are immortal ourselves ? 
 
93 
 
 The Persecution of Antichrist. 
 
 WE have been so accustomed to hear of the per- 
 secutions of the Church, both from the New 
 Testament and from the history of Christianity, that it 
 is much if we have not at length come to regard the 
 account of them as words of course, to speak of them 
 without understanding what we say, and to receive no 
 practical benefit from having been told of them ; much 
 less are we likely to take them for what they really are, 
 a characteristic mark of Christ* s Church. They are 
 not indeed the necessary lot of the Church, but at least 
 one of her appropriate badges ; so that, on the whole, 
 looking at the course of history, you might set down 
 persecution as one of the peculiarities by which you 
 recognize her. And our Lord seems to intimate how 
 becoming, how natural persecution is to the Church, by 
 placing it among His Beatitudes. " Blessed are they 
 who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is 
 the kingdom of heaven;" giving it the same high and 
 honourable rank in the assemblage of evangelical graces, 
 which the Sabbath holds among the Ten Command- 
 ments, — I mean, as a sort of sign and token of His 
 followers, and, as such, placed in the moral code, though 
 in itself external to it 
 
 He seems to show us this in another way, viz., by in- 
 timating to us the fact, that In persecution the Church 
 begins and in persecution she ends. He left her in perse- 
 
94 The Patristical Idea oj Antze/irisL 
 
 cution, and He will find her in persecution. He recog- 
 nizes her as His own, — He framed, and He will claim 
 her, — as a persecuted Church, bearing His Cross. And 
 that awful relic of Him which He gave her, and which 
 she is found possessed of at the end, she cannot have 
 lost by the way. 
 
 The prophet Daniel, who shadows out for us so many 
 things about the last time, speaks of the great perse- 
 cution yet to come. He says, " There shall be a time of 
 trouble, such as never was, since there was a nation, 
 even to that same time : and at that time thy people 
 shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written 
 in the Book." To these words our Lord seems to refer, 
 in His solemn prophecy before His passion, in which He 
 comprises both series of events, both those which at- 
 tended His first, and those which will attend at His 
 second coming — both persecutions of His Church, the 
 early and the late. He speaks as follows : XLThen shall 
 be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning 
 of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be ; and ex- 
 cept those days should be shortened, there should no 
 flesh be saved ; but for the elect's sake, those days shall 
 be shortened." * 
 
 Now I shall conclude what I have to say about the 
 coming of Antichrist by speaking of the persecution 
 which will attend it. In saying that a persecution will 
 attend it, I do but speak the opinion of the early Church, 
 as I have tried to do all along, and as I shall do ii 
 what follows. 
 
 I. 
 
 First, I will cite some of the principal texts whicl 
 seem to refer to this last persecution. 
 
 • Matt xxiv. 21 22. 
 
The Perseciitio7i of Antichrist. 95 
 
 "Another shall rise after them, and ... he shall 
 speak great words against the Most High, and shall 
 wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to 
 change times and law ; and they shall be given into his 
 hand until a time, times, and the dividing of time:"* 
 that is, three years and a half. 
 
 " They shall pollute the. Sanctuary of strength, and 
 shall take away the Daily Sacrifice, and they shall place 
 the Abomination that maketh desolate, and such as do 
 wickedly against the Covenant shall he corrupt by flat- 
 teries ; but the people that do know their God shall be 
 strong and do exploits. And they that understand 
 among the people, shall instruct many ; yet they shall 
 fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by 
 spoil, many days.'' f 
 
 " Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried ; 
 but the wicked shall do wickedly ; . . . . and from the 
 time that the Daily Sacrifice shall be taken away, and 
 the Abomination that maketh desolate set up, there 
 shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." % 
 
 " Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since 
 the beginning of the world," § and so on, as I just now 
 read it. 
 
 *'And there was given unto him a mouth speaking 
 great things and blasphemies ; and power was given 
 unto him to continue forty and two months. And he 
 opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blas- 
 pheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that 
 dwell vsi heaven : and it was given unto him to make 
 war with the saints, and to overcome them .... and 
 all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose 
 
 * Dan. vii. 24, 25. J Dan. xii. 10, II, 
 
 * "n n. xi. 31 — 3-^. § Matt. xxiv. 21 
 
9^ The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb 
 slain from the foundation of the world ." * 
 
 " I saw an Angel come down from heaven, having the 
 key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand ; 
 and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which 
 is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years 
 .... and after that he must be loosed a little season 
 .... and shall go out to deceive the nations which are 
 in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to 
 gather them together to battle : the number of whom is 
 as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the 
 breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the 
 saints about and the beloved city." f 
 
 These passages were understood by the early Chris- 
 tians to relate to the Persecution which was to come in 
 the last times ; and they seem evidently to bear upon 
 them that meaning. Our Lord's words, indeed, about 
 the fierce trial which was coming, might seem at first 
 sight to refer to the early persecutions, those to which 
 the first Christians were exposed ; and doubtless so they 
 do also : yet, violent as these persecutions were, they were 
 not considered by those very men who suffered them to 
 be the proper fulfilment of the prophecy ; and this surely 
 is itself a strong reason for thinking they were not so. 
 And we are confirmed by parallel passages, such as the 
 words of Daniel quoted just now, which certainly speak 
 of a persecution still future ; if then our Lord used 
 those very words of Daniel, and was speaking of what 
 Daniel spoke of, therefore, whatever partial accomplish- 
 ment His prediction had in the history of the early 
 Church, He surely speaks of nothing short of the last 
 persecution, when His words are viewed in their full 
 scope. He says, ** There shall be great tribulation, such 
 * Rev. xiii. 5—8. f ^^^v. xx. i— -9. 
 
The Persecution of Antichrist. 97 
 
 as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, 
 no, nor ever shall be : and except those days should be 
 shortened, there shall no flesh be saved ; but for the 
 elect's sake those days shall be shortened." And imme- 
 diately after, " There shall arise false Christs and false 
 prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders ; inso- 
 much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very 
 elect." In accordance with this language, Daniel says, 
 " There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was 
 rsince there was a nation, even to that same time : and 
 at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one 
 that shall be found written in the book." One of the 
 passages I quoted from the Revelation says the same, 
 and as strongly : " It was given him to make war with 
 the Saints, and to overcome them .... and all that 
 dwell on the earth shall worship him, Whose names are 
 not written in the book of life ." * 
 
 Let us then apprehend and realize the idea, thus 
 clearly brought before us, that, sheltered as the Church 
 has been from persecution for 1500 years, yet a persecu- 
 tion awaits it, before the end, fiercer and more perilous 
 than any which occurred at its first rise. 
 
 Further, this persecution is to be attended with the 
 cessation of all religious worship. " They shall take away 
 the Daily Sacrifice," — words which the early Fathers in- 
 terpret to mean, that Antichrist will suppress for three 
 years and a half all religious worship. St. Augustine 
 questions whether baptism even will be administered to 
 infants during that season. 
 
 And further we are told : " They shall place the 
 Abomination that maketh desolate " in the Holy Place 
 * Rev. xiii. 7, 8. 
 
 7 
 
9 8 The Patristical Idea of Afitichrist. 
 
 — they shall " set it up : " our Saviour declares the same. 
 What this means we cannot pronounce. In the former 
 fulfilment of this prophecy, it has been the introduction 
 of heathen idols into God's house. 
 
 Moreover the reign of Antichrist will be supported, it 
 would appear, with a display of miracles, such as the 
 magicians of Egypt effected against Moses. On this 
 subject, of course, we wait for a fuller explanation of the 
 prophetical language, such as the event alone can give 
 us. So far, however, is clear, that whether false miracles 
 or not, whether pretended, or the result, as some have 
 conjectured, of discoveries in physical science, they will 
 produce the same effect as if they were real, — viz., the 
 overpowering the imaginations of such as have not the 
 love of God deeply lodged in their hearts, — of all but 
 the elect." Scripture is remarkably precise and con- 
 sistent in this prediction. " Signs and wonders," says 
 our Lord, " insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall 
 deceive the very elect." St. Paul speaks of Antichrist 
 as one " whose coming is after the work of Satan, with 
 all powers and signs, and lying wonders, and with all 
 deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish ; 
 because they received not the love of the Truth, that they 
 might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them 
 strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."* And St. 
 John : " He doeth great wonders, so that He maketh fire 
 come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 
 md deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means 
 of those miracles which He had power to do in the sight 
 of the beast."t 
 
 In these four respects, then, not to look for others, 
 will the last persecution be more awful than any of the 
 earlier ones : in its being in itself fiercer and more hor- 
 
 * 2Thess. ii. 9— ii. f Rev. xiii. 13, 14. 
 
The Persecution of Antichrist. gg 
 
 rible; in its being attended by a cessation of the Ordi- 
 nances of grace, " the Daily Sacrifice ; '* and by an open 
 and blasphemous establishment of infidelity, or some 
 such enormity, in the holiest recesses of the Church ; 
 lastly, in being supported by a profession of working 
 miracles. Well is it for Christians that the days are 
 shortened ! — shortened for the elect's sake, lest they 
 should be overwhelmed, — shortened, as it would seem, 
 to three years and a half. 
 
 3. 
 
 Much might be said, of course, on each of these four 
 particulars ; but I will confine myself to making one 
 remark on the first of them, the sharpness of the perse- 
 cution. — It is to be worse than any persecution before it. 
 Now, to understand the force of this announcement, we 
 should understand in some degree what those former 
 persecutions were. 
 
 This it is very difficult to do in a few words ; yet a 
 very slight survey of the history of the Church would con- 
 vince us that cruelties more shocking than those which 
 the early Christians suffered from their persecutors, it is 
 very difficult to conceive. St. Paul's words, speaking of 
 the persecutions prior to his time, describes but faintly 
 the trial which came upon the Church in his own day and 
 afterwards. He says of the Jewish saints, "They were 
 tortured, not accepting deliverance" . . . they "had 
 trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea moreover, 
 of bonds and imprisonment : they were stoned, they 
 were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the 
 sword : they wandered about in sheepskins and goat- 
 skins ; being destitute, afflicted, tormented." Such were 
 the trials of the Prophets under the Law, who in a mea- 
 sure anticipated the Gospel, as in creedj so in suffering ; 
 
lOO The Patristical Idea of A^itichrist, 
 
 yet the Gospel suffering was as much sharper as the 
 Gospel creed was fuller than their foretaste of either. 
 
 Let me take, as a single specimen, a portion of a letter, 
 giving an account of some details of one of the perse- 
 cutions in the south of France. It is written by eye- 
 witnesses. 
 
 "... The rage of the populace, governor, and soldiers es- 
 pecially lighted on Sanctus, a deacon -, on Maturus, a late convert ; 
 on Attains, and on Blandina, a slave, through whom Christ showed 
 that the things which are lowly esteemed among men have high 
 account with God. For when we were all in fear, and her own 
 mistress was in agony for her, lest she should be unable to make 
 even one bold confession, from the weakness of her body, Blandina 
 was filled with such strength, that even those who tortured her 
 'oy turns, in every possible way, from morning till evening, were 
 earied and gave it up, confessing she had conquered them. And 
 hey wondered at her remaining still alive, her whole body being 
 mangled and pierced in every part. But that blessed woman^ 
 like a brave combatant, renewed her strength in confessing ; and it 
 was to her a recovery, a rest, and a respite, to say, ' I am a 
 Christian.' . . Sanctus also endured exceedingly all the cruelties 
 of men with a noble patience . . and to all questions would 
 say nothing but * I am a Christian.' When they had nothing left 
 to do to him, they fastened red-hot plates of brass on the tenderest 
 parts of his body. But though his limbs were burning, he remained 
 upright and unshrinking, steadfast in his confession, bathed and 
 strengthened from Heaven with that fountain of living water that 
 springs from the well of Christ. But his body bore witness of what 
 had been done to it, being one entire wound, and deprived of the 
 external form of man." 
 
 After some days they were taken to the shows where 
 the wild beasts were, and went through every torture 
 again, as though they had suffered nothing before. Again 
 they were scourged, forced into the iron chair (which 
 was red hot), dragged about by the beasts, and so came 
 to their end. " But Blandina was hung up upon a cross, 
 and placed to be devoured by the beasts that were turned 
 
The Persecution of Antichrist. loi 
 
 r 
 
 in.'* Afterwards she was scourged ; at last placed in a 
 basket and thrown to a bull, and died under the tossings 
 of the furious animal. But the account is far too long and 
 minute, and too dreadful, to allow of my going through 
 it. I give this merely as a specimen of the sufferings 
 of the early Christians from the malice of the devil. 
 
 As another instance, take again the sufferings which 
 the Arian Vandals inflicted at a later time. Out of four 
 hundred and sixty Bishops in Africa, they sent forty-six 
 out of the country to an unhealthy place, and confined 
 them to hard labour, and three hundred and two to dif- 
 ferent parts of Africa. After an interval of ten years 
 they banished two hundred and twenty more. At another 
 time they tore above four thousand Christians, clergy and 
 laity, from their homes, and marched them across the 
 sands till they died either of fatigue or ill-usage. They 
 lacerated others with scourges, burned them with hot 
 iron, and cut off their limbs,* 
 
 Hear how one of the early Fathers, just when the 
 early persecutions were ceasing, meditates on the pros- 
 pect lying before the Church, looking earnest^' at the 
 events of his own day, m order to discover from them, 
 if he could, whether the predicted evil was coming : 
 
 " There will be a time of affliction, such as never happened since 
 there was a nation upon the earth till that time. The fearful 
 monster, the great serpent, the unconquerable enemy of mankind, 
 ready to devour. . . The Lord knowing the greatness of the enemy, 
 in mercy to the religious, says, ^ Let those that are in Judea flee to 
 the mountains.' However, if any feel within him a strong heart to 
 wrestle with Satan, let him remain, (for I do not despair of the 
 Church's strength of nerve,) let him remain, and let him say, ' Who 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ .'*'... Thanks to God, 
 who hmits the greatness of the affliction to a few days ; *.for the 
 elect's sake those days shall be cut short.' Antichrist shall reign 
 * Gibbon, Hist., chap. 37. 
 
I02 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist, 
 
 only three years and a half, a time, times, and the dividing of 
 times. . . . "Blessed surely he who then shall be a martyr for 
 Christ ! I consider that the martyrs at that season will be greater 
 than all martyrs ; for the former ones wrestled with man only, but 
 these, in the time of Antichrist, will battle with Satan himself per- 
 sonally. Persecuting emperors slaughtered the former ; but they 
 did not pretend to raise the dead, nor make show of signs and 
 wonders : but here there will be the persuasion both of force and of 
 fraud, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Let no one at 
 that day say in his heart, * What could Christ do more than this or 
 that ? by what virtue worketh he these things ? Unless God willed 
 it. He would not have permitted it.' No : the Apostle forewarns 
 you, saying beforehand, * God shall send them a strong delusion,' — 
 not that they may be excused, but condemned — viz., those who 
 believe not in the Truth, that is, the true Christ, but take pleasure 
 in unrighteousness, that is, in Antichrist. . . . Prepare thyself, 
 therefore, O man ! thou hearest the signs of Antichrist ; nor remind 
 only thyself of them, but communicate them liberally to all around 
 thee. If thou hast a child according to the flesh, delay not to in- 
 struct him. If thou art a teacher, prepare also thy spiritual children, 
 lest they take the false for the True. * For the mystery of iniquity 
 doth already work.' I fear the wars of the nations, I fear the 
 divisions among Christians, I fear the hatred among brethren. 
 Enough ; but God forbid that it should be fulfilled in our day. 
 However, ^t us be prepared." — Cyr. Catech. xv. i6, 17. 
 
 I have two remarks to add : first, that it is quite cer- 
 tain, that if such a persecution has been foretold, it has 
 not yet come, and therefore is to come. We may be 
 wrong in thinking that Scripture foretells it, though it 
 has been the common belief, I may say, of all ages ; but 
 if there be a persecution, it is still future. So that every 
 generation of Christians should be on the watch-tower, 
 looking out, — nay, more and more, as time goes on. 
 
 Next, I observe that signs do occur from time to time, 
 not to enable us to fix the day, for that is hidden, but to 
 show us it is coming. The world grows old— the earth 
 
The Persecution of Antichrist, 103 
 
 is crumbling away— the night is far spent — the day is at 
 hand. The shadows begin to move — the old forms of 
 empire, which have lasted ever since our Lord was with 
 us, heave and tremble before our eyes, and nod to theii 
 fall. These it is that keep Him from us — He is behind 
 them. When they go. Antichrist will be released from 
 "that which upholdeth," and after his short but fearful 
 season, Christ will come. 
 
 For instance : one sign is the present state of the 
 Roman Empire, if it may be said to exist, though it 
 does exist ; but it is like a man on his death-bed, who 
 after many throes and pangs at last goes off when you 
 least expect, or perhaps you know not when. You 
 watch the sick man, and you say every day will be the 
 last ; yet day after day goes on — you know not when 
 the end will come — he lingers on — gets better — relapses, 
 — yet you are sure after all he must, die — it is a mere 
 matter of time, you call it a matter of time : so is it 
 with the Old Roman Empire, which now lies so still and 
 helpless. It is not dead, but it is on its death-bed. 
 We suppose indeed that it will not die without some 
 violence even yet, without convulsions. Antichrist is to 
 head it ; yet in another sense it dies to make way for 
 Antichrist, and this latter form of death is surely hasten- 
 ing on, whether it comes sooner or later. It may outlast 
 our time, and the time of our children ; for we are crea- 
 tures of a day, and a generation is hke the striking of a 
 clock ; but it tends to dissolution, and its hours are 
 numbered. 
 
 Again, another anxious sign at the present time is 
 what appears in the approaching destruction of the 
 Mahometan power. This too may outlive our day; still 
 it tends visibly to annihilation, and as it crumbles, per- 
 chance the sands of the world's life are running out. 
 
I04 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 And lastly, not to mention many other tokens which 
 might be observed upon, here is this remarkable one. 
 In one of the passages I just now read from the book of 
 Revelation, it is said that in the last times, and in order 
 to the last persecution, Satan, being loosed from his 
 prison, shall deceive the nations in the extremities of 
 the earth, Gog and Magog, and bring them to battle 
 against the Church. These appellations had been already 
 used by the prophet Ezekiel, who borrows the latter of 
 them from the tenth chapter of Genesis. We read in 
 that chapter, that after the flood the sons of Japheth 
 were '' Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and 
 Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras." Magog is supposed 
 to be the ancestor of the nations in the north, the Tar- 
 tars or Scythians. Whatever then Gog means, which 
 is not known, here is a prophecy that the northern 
 nations should be stirred up against the Church, and 
 be one of the instruments of its suffering. And it 
 is to be observed, that twice since that prophecy was 
 delivered the northern nations have invaded the Church, 
 and both times they have brought with them, or rather 
 (as the text in the Revelation expresses it) they have 
 been deceived into, an Antichristian delusion, — been 
 deceived into it, not invented it. The first irruption was 
 that of the Goths and Vandals in the early times of the 
 Church, and they were deceived into and fought for the 
 Arian heresy. The next was that of the Turks, and 
 they in like manner were deceived into and fought for 
 Mahometanism. Here then history since, as in other 
 instances, is in part a comment upon the prophecy. 
 Now, I do not mean that as to the present time, we see 
 how this is to be accomplished in its fulness, after the 
 pattern of the Shadows which have gone before. But 
 thus much we see — we see that in matter of fact the 
 
The Pe^^secution of Antichrist, 105 
 
 nations of the North are gathering strength, and be- 
 ginning to frown over the seat of the Roman Empire as 
 they never have done since the time when the Turks 
 came down. Here then we have a sign of Antichrist's 
 appearance — I do not say of his instant coming, or his 
 certain coming, for it may after all be but a type o.r 
 shadow of things far future ; still, so far as it goes, it is 
 a preparation, a warning, a call to sober thought — ^just 
 as a cloud in the sky (to use our Lord's instance) warns 
 us about the weather. It is no sure proof that it pre- 
 cedes a storm, but we think it prudent to keep our eye 
 upon it 
 
 5. 
 
 This is what I have to say about the last persecution 
 and its signs. And surely it is profitable to think about 
 it, though we be quite mistaken m the detail. For in- 
 stance, after all perhaps it may not be a persecution of 
 blood and death, but of craft and subtlety only — not of 
 miracles, but of natural wonders and powers of human 
 skill, human acquirements in the hands of the devil. 
 Satan may adopt the more alarming weapons of deceit 
 — he may hide himself — he may attempt to seduce us in 
 little things, and so to move the Church, not all at once, 
 but by little and little from her true position. I do be- 
 lieve he has done much in this way in the course of the 
 last few centuries. I believe he has moved every part 
 of the Church, this way or that way, but some way or 
 other, from " the truth as it is in Jesus,'' from the old faith 
 on which it was built "before the division of the east 
 and west." * It is his policy to split us up and divide 
 us, to dislodge us gradually from off our rock of strength. 
 And if there is to be a persecution, perhaps it will be 
 
 * Vide Bishop Ken*s will. 
 
lo6 The Patristical Idea of Antichrist. 
 
 then ; then, perhaps, when we are all of us in all parts 
 of Christendom so divided, and so reduced, so full of 
 schism, so close upon heresy. When we have cast our- 
 selves upon the world, and depend for protection upon 
 it, and have given up our independence and our strength, 
 then he may burst upon us in fury, as far as God allows 
 him. Then suddenly the Roman Empire may break up, 
 and Antichrist appear as a persecutor, and the barbarous 
 nations around break in. But all these things are in 
 God's hand and God's knowledge, and there let us leave 
 them. 
 
 This alone I will say, in conclusion, as I have already 
 said several times, that such meditations as these may 
 be turned to good account. It will act as a curb upon 
 our self-willed, selfish hearts, to believe that a persecu- 
 tion is in store for the Church, -whether or not it comes 
 in our days. Surely, with this prospect before us, we 
 cannot bear to give ourselves up to thoughts of ease and 
 comfort, of making money, settling well, or rising in the 
 world. Surely, with this prospect before us, we cannot 
 but feel that we are, what all Christians really are in the 
 best estate (nay, rather would wish to be, had they their 
 v/ill, if they be Christians in heart), pilgrims, watchers 
 waiting for the morning, waiting for the light, eagerly 
 straining our eyes for the first dawn of day — looking 
 out for our Lord's coming. His glorious advent, when 
 He will end the reign of sin and wickedness, accomplish 
 the number of His elect, and perfect those who at pre- 
 sent struggle with infirmity, yet in their hearts love and 
 obey Him, 
 
107 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 The above expositions of the teaching of the Fathers 
 on the subject treated, were preached hy the Author 
 in the form of Sermons in Advent, 1835, and are illus- 
 trated by the following remarkable passage in a letter 
 of Bishop Horsley's, written before the beginning of this 
 century ; vide British Magazine^ May, 1834. 
 
 ** The Church of God on earth will be greatly reduced, 
 as we may well imagine, in its apparent numbers, in the 
 times of Antichrist, by the open desertion of the powers 
 of the world. This desertion will begin in a professed 
 indifference to any particular form of Christianity, under 
 the pretence of universal toleration ; which toleration 
 will proceed from no true spirit of charity and forbear- 
 ance, but from a design to undermine Christianity, by 
 multiplying and encouraging sectaries. The pretended 
 toleration will go far beyond a just toleration, even as 
 it regards the different sects of Christians. For govern- 
 ments will pretend an indifference to all, and will give 
 a protection in preference to none. All establishments 
 will be laid aside. From the toleration of the most pes- 
 tilent heresies, they will proceed to the toleration of 
 Mahometanism, Atheism, and at last to a positive per- 
 secution of the truth of Christianity. In these times 
 the Temple of God will be reduced almost to the Holy 
 Place, that is, to the small number of real Christians who 
 worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and regulate 
 their doctrine and their worship, and their whole con- 
 duct, strictly by the word of God. The merely nominal 
 
io8 The Patristical Idea of A^ltichrist. 
 
 Christians will all desert the profession of the truth, 
 when the powers of the world desert it. And this tragi- 
 cal event I take to be typified by the order to St. John 
 to measure the Temple and the Altar, and leave the 
 outer court (national Churches) to be trodden under foot 
 by the Gentiles. The property of the clergy will be 
 pillaged, the public worship insulted and vilified by these 
 deserters of the faith they once professed, who are not 
 called apostates because they never were in earnest in 
 their profession. Their profession was nothing more 
 than a compliance with fashion and public authority. In 
 principle they were always, what they now appear to be, 
 Gentiles. When this general desertion of the faith takes 
 place, then will commence the sackcloth ministry of the 
 witnesses. . . . There will be nothing of splendour in 
 the external appearance of their churches ; they will 
 have no support from governments, no honours, no emolu- 
 ments, no immunities, no authority, but that which no 
 earthly power can take away, which they derived from 
 Him, who commissioned them to be His witnesses.'' — 
 B, M.y vol. v., p. 520. 
 
 Jujie, JS38. 
 
I09 
 
 III. 
 
 HOLY SCRIPTURE IN ITS RELATION TO 
 THE CATHOLIC CREED. 
 
 IN EIGHT LECTURES. 
 
 I. 
 
 Difficulties in the Scripture Proof of the Catholic 
 Creed. 
 
 I PRO POSE in the following Lectures to suggest some 
 thoughts by way of answering an objection, which 
 often presses on the mind of those who are inquiring into 
 the claims of the Church, and the truth of that system of 
 doctrine which she especially represents, and which is at 
 once her trust and her charter. They hear much stress laid 
 upon that Church system of doctrine ; they see much 
 that is beautiful in it, much that is plausible in the proof 
 advanced for it, much which is agreeable to the analogy 
 of nature — which bespeaks the hand of the Creator, 
 and is suitable to the need and expectations of the crea- 
 ture, — much that is deep, much that is large and free, 
 fearless in its course, sure in its stepping, and singularly 
 true, consistent, entire, harmonious, in its adjustments ; 
 but they seem to ask for more rigid proof in behalf of 
 the simple elementary propositions on which it rests ; 
 or, in other words, by way of speaking more clearly, 
 and as a chief illustration of what is meant (though it is 
 
no Scripture aiid the Creed. 
 
 not quite the same thing), let me say, they desire more 
 adequate and explicit Scripture proof oi^ its truth. They 
 find that the proof is rested by us on Scripture, and 
 therefore they require more explicit Scripture proof. 
 They say, " All this that you say about the Church is 
 very specious, and very attractive ; but where is it to be 
 found in the inspired Volume ? " And that it is not 
 found there (that is, I mean not found as fully as it 
 might be), seems to them proved at once by the simple 
 fact, that all persons (I may say all, for the exceptions 
 are very few), — all those who try to form their Creed by 
 Scripture only, fall away from the Church and her doc- 
 trines, and join one or other sect or party, as if showing 
 that, whatever is or is not scriptural, at least the Church, 
 by consent of all men, is not so. 
 
 I am stating no rare or novel objection : it is one which, 
 I suppose, all of us have felt, or perhaps still feel : it is 
 one which, before now (I do not scruple to say), I have 
 much felt myself, and that without being able satisfac- 
 torily to answer : and which I believe to be one of the 
 main difficulties, and (as I think) one of the intended 
 difficulties, which God's providence puts at this day in 
 the path of those who seek Him, for purposes known or 
 unknown, ascertainable or not. Nor am I at all sanguine 
 that I shall be able, in what I have to say, to present 
 anything like a full view of the difficulty itself, even as 
 a phenomenon ; which different minds feel differently, 
 and do not quite recognize as their own when stated by 
 another, and which it is difficult to bring out even ac- 
 cording to one's own idea of it. Much less shall I be 
 able to assign it its due place in that great Catholic 
 system which nevertheless I hold to be true, and in 
 which it is but a difficulty. I do not profess to be about 
 to account for it, to reconcile the mind to it, and to dis- 
 
Difficulties in Scripture Proof of Doctrine. 1 1 1 
 
 miss it as a thing which was in a man's way, but is 
 henceforth behind him ; — yet, subdued as my hopes may 
 be, I have too great confidence in that glorious Creed, 
 which I believe to have been once delivered to the Saints, 
 to wish in any degree to deny the difficulty, or to be 
 unfair to it, to smooth it over, misrepresent it, or defraud 
 it of its due weight and extent. Though I were to grant 
 that "the champions of Israel have not yet rescued this 
 portion of the sacred territory from the Philistine, its 
 usurping occupant, yet was not Jerusalem in the hands 
 of the Jebusites till David's time ? — and shall I, seeing 
 with my eyes and enjoying the land of promise, be over- 
 troubled with one objection, which stands unvanquished 
 (supposing it) ; and, like haughty Haman, count the 
 King's favour as nothing till I have all my own way, 
 and nothing to try me ? In plain terms, I conceive I 
 have otherwise most abundant evidence given me of the 
 divine origin of the Church system of doctrine : how then 
 is that evidence which is given, not given because, though 
 given in Scripture, it might be given more explicitly and 
 fully, and (if I may so say) more consistently ? 
 
 One consideration alone must create an anxiety in 
 entering on the subject I propose. It is this : — Those 
 who commonly urge the objection which is to be con- 
 sidered, viz., the want of adequate Scripture evidence for 
 the Church creed, have, I feel sure, no right to make it ; 
 that is, they are inconsistent in making it ; inasmuch as 
 they cannot consistently find fault with a person who 
 believes more than they do, unless they cease to believe 
 just so much as they do believe. They ought, on their 
 own principles, to doubt or disown much which happily 
 they do not doubt or disown. This then is the direct, 
 appropriate, polemical answer to them, or (as it is called) 
 a7i argnmentimt ad hominem, " Look at home, and say, 
 
112 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 if you can, why you believe this or that, which you do 
 believe : whatever reasons you give for your own belief 
 in one point, this or that article, of your Creed, those 
 parallel reasons we can give for our belief in the articles 
 of our Creed. If you are reasonable in believing the 
 one, we are reasonable in believing the other. Either 
 we are reasonable, or you are not so. You ought not to 
 stand where you are ; you ought to go further one way 
 or the other." Now it is plain that if this be a sound 
 argument against our assailants, it is a most convincing 
 one ; and it is obviously very hard and very unfair if we 
 are to be deprived of the use of it. And yet a cautious 
 mind will ever use it with anxiety ; not that it is not 
 most effective, but because it may be (as it were) too 
 effective : it may drive the parties in question the wrong 
 way, and make things worse instead of better. It only 
 undertakes to show that they are inconsistent in their 
 present opinions ; and from this inconsistency it is plain 
 they can escape, by going further either one way or the 
 other — by adding to their creed, or by giving it up alto- 
 gether. It is then what is familiarly called a kill-or-cure 
 remedy. Certainly it is better to be inconsistent, than 
 to be consistently wrong — to hold some truth amid error, 
 than to hold nothing but error — to believe than to doubt. 
 Yet when I show a man that he is inconsistent, I make 
 him decide whether of the two he loves better, the por- 
 tion of truth or the portion of error, which he already 
 holds. If he loves the truth better, he will abandon the 
 error ; if the error, he will abandon the truth. And this 
 is a fearful and anxious trial to put him under, and one 
 cannot but feel loth to have recourse to it. One feels 
 that perhaps it may be better to keep silence, and to let 
 him, in shallowness and presumption, assail one's own 
 position with impunity, than to retort, however justly, 
 
Difficulties in Scripture Proof of Doctri7ie, 113 
 
 his weapons on himself ; — better for oneself to seem a 
 bigot, than to make him a scoffer/ 
 
 Thus, for instance, a person who denies the Apostolical 
 Succession of the Ministry, because it is not clearly taught 
 in Scripture, ought, I conceive, if consistent, to deny 
 the divinity of the Holy Ghost, which is nowhere literally 
 stated in Scripture. Yet there is something so dreadful 
 in his denying the latter, that one may often feel afraid 
 to show him his inconsistency ; lest, rather than admit 
 the Apostolical Succession, he should consent to deny 
 that the Holy Ghost is God. This is one of the great 
 delicacies of disputing on the subject before us : yet, all 
 things considered, I think, it only avails for the cautious 
 use, not the abandonment, of the argument in question. 
 For it is our plain duty to preach and defend the truth 
 in a straightforward way. Those who . are to stumble 
 must stumble, rather than the heirs of grace should not 
 hear. While we offend and alienate one man, we secure 
 another ; if we drive one man further the wrong way, 
 we drive another further the right way. The cause of 
 truth, the heavenly company of saints, gains on the whole 
 more in one way than in the other. A wavering or 
 shallow mind does perhaps as much harm to others as a 
 mind that is consistent in error, nay, is in no very much 
 better state itself; for if it has not developed into 
 systematic scepticism, merely because it has not had the 
 temptation, its present conscientiousness is not worth 
 much. Whereas he who is at present obeying God 
 under imperfect knowledge has a claim on His Ministers 
 for their doing all in their power towards his obtaining 
 further knowledge. He who admits the doctrine of the 
 Holy Trinity, in spite of feeling its difficulties, whether 
 in itself or in its proof, — who submits to the indirectness 
 of the Scripture evidence as regards that particular 
 
 * * 8 
 
114 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 doctrine, — has a right to be told those other doctrines, 
 such as the ApostoHcal Succession, which are as certainly 
 declared in Scripture, yet not more directly and promi- 
 nently, and which will be as welcome to him, when 
 known, because they are in Scripture, as those which he 
 already knows. It is therefore our duty to do our part, 
 and leave the event to God, begging Him to bless, yet 
 aware that, whenever He visits, He divides. 
 
 In saying this, I by no means would imply that the 
 only argument in behalf of our believing more than the 
 generality of men believe at present, is, that else we 
 ought in consistency to believe less — far from it indeed ; 
 but this argument is the one that comes first, and is the 
 most obvious and the most striking. Nor do I mean to 
 say — far from it ^Iso — that all on whom it is urged, will 
 in fact go one way or the other ; the many will remain 
 pretty much where education and habit have placed them, 
 and at least they will not confess that they are affected 
 by any new argument at all. But of course when one 
 speaks of anxiety about the effect of a certain argument, 
 one speaks of cases in which it will have effect, not of those 
 in which it will not. Where it has effect, I say, that 
 effect may be for good or for evil, and that is an anxious 
 thing. 
 
 I. 
 
 Now then, first, let me state the objection itself, which 
 is to be considered. It may be thrown into one or other 
 of the following forms : that " if Scripture laid such 
 stress, as we do, upon the ordinances of Baptism, Holy 
 Eucharist, Church Union, Ministerial Power, Apostolical 
 Succession, Absolution, and other rites and ceremonies, 
 — upon external, or what is sometimes called formal 
 religion, — it would not in its general tenor make such 
 
Difficulties in Scripture Proof of Doctrine, 1 1 
 
 :> 
 
 merely indirect mention of them ; — that it would speak 
 of them as plainly and frequently as we always speak of 
 them now ; whereas every one must allow that there is 
 next to nothing on the surface of Scripture about them, 
 and very little even under the surface of a satisfactory 
 character." Descending into particulars, we shall have 
 it granted us, perhaps, that Baptism is often mentioned 
 in the Epistles, and its spiritual benefits ; but " its pecu- 
 liarity as the one plenary remission of sin," it will be urged, 
 " is not insisted on with such frequency and earnestness 
 as might be expected — chiefly in one or two passages of 
 one Epistle, and there obscurely" (in Heb. vi. and x.) 
 Again, " the doctrine of Absolution is made to rest on 
 but one or two texts (in Matt. xvi. and John xx.), with 
 little or no practical exemplification of it in the Epistles, 
 where it was to be expected. Why," it may be asked, 
 "are not the Apostles continually urging their converts 
 to rid themselves of sin after Baptism, as best they can, 
 by penance, confession, absolution, satisfaction } Again, 
 why are Christ's ministers nowhere called Priests.^ or, at 
 most, in one or two obscure passages (as in Rom. xv. 16)} 
 Why is not the Lord's Supper expressly said to be a 
 Sacrifice } why is the Lord's Table called an Altar but 
 once or twice (Matt. v. and Heb. xiii.), even granting 
 these passages refer to it t why is consecration of the 
 elements expressly mentioned only in one passage (i Cor. 
 X.) in addition to our Lord's original institution of them.? 
 why is there but once or twice express mention made at 
 all of the Holy Eucharist, all through the Apostolic 
 Epistles, and what there is said, said chiefly in one 
 Epistle ? why is there so little said about Ordination } 
 about the appointment of a Succession of Ministers.? 
 about the visible Church (as in I Tim. iii. 15).? why but 
 one or two passages on the duty of fasting } " 
 
1 1 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 " In short, is not (it may be asked) the state of the 
 evidence for all these doctrines just this — a few striking 
 texts at most, scattered up and down the inspired Volume, 
 or one or two particular passages of one particular Epistle^ 
 or a number of texts which may mean, but need not 
 mean, what they are said by Churchmen to mean, which 
 say something looking like what is needed, but with little 
 strength and point, inadequately and unsatisfactorily ? 
 Why then are we thus to be put off? why is our earnest 
 desire of getting at the truth to be trifled with ? is it 
 conceivable that, if these doctrines were from God, He 
 would not tell us plainly ? why does He make us to 
 doubt ? why does *He keep us in suspense ? ' * — it is im- 
 possible He should do so. Let us, then, have none of 
 these expedients, these makeshift arguments, this patch- 
 work system, these surmises and conjectures, and here a 
 little and there a little, but give us some broad, trust- 
 worthy, masterly view of doctrine, give us some plain in- 
 telligible interpretation of the sacred Volume, such as will 
 approve itself to all educated minds, as being really 
 gained from the text, and not from previous notions 
 which are merely brought to Scripture, and which seek 
 to find a sanction in it. Such a broad comprehensive 
 view of Holy Scripture is most assuredly fatal to the 
 Church doctrines." "But this (it will be urged) is not all ; 
 there are texts in the New Testament actually inconsis- 
 tent with the Church system of teaching. For example, 
 what can be stronger against the sanctity of particular 
 places, nay of any institutions, persons, or rites at all, 
 than our Lord's declaration, that *God is a Spirit, and they 
 that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in 
 truth'? or against the Eucharistic Sacrifice, than St. 
 Paul's contrast in Heb. x. between the Jewish sacrifices 
 
 * John X. 24. 
 
Difficulties of Sci ipture Proof of Doctrine. 117 
 
 and the one Christian Atonement ? or can Baptism really 
 have the gifts which are attributed to it in the Catholic 
 or Church system, considering how St. Paul says, that all 
 rites are done away, and that faith is all in all ? " 
 
 Such is the sort of objection which it is proposed now 
 to consider. 
 
 2. 
 
 My first answer to it is grounded on the argumentum 
 ad hominem of which I have already spoken. That is, 
 I shall show that, if the objection proves anything, it 
 proves too much for the purposes of those who use it ; 
 that it leads to conclusions beyond those to which they 
 would confine it; and if it tells for them, it tells for those 
 whom they would not hesitate to consider heretical or 
 unbelieving. 
 
 Now the argument in question proves too much, first, 
 in this way, that it shows that external religion is not 
 only not important or necessary, but not allowable. If, 
 for instance, when our Saviour said, "Woman, believe 
 Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this 
 mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. . . 
 The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers 
 shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth : for the 
 Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit, 
 and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit 
 and in truth,"* — if He means that the external local 
 worship of the Jews was so to be abolished that no ex- 
 ternal local worship should again be enjoined, that the 
 Gospel worship was but mental, stripped of everything 
 material or sensible, and offered in that simple spirit and 
 truth which exists in heaven, if so, it is plain that all 
 external religion is not only not imperative under the 
 
 * John iv. 21 — 24. 
 
1x8 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 Gospel, but forbidden. This text, if it avails for any 
 thing against Sacraments and Ordinances, avails entirely; 
 it cuts them away root and branch. It says, not that 
 they are unimportant, but that they are not to be, It 
 does not leave them at our option. Any interpretation 
 which gives an opening to their existing, gives so far an 
 opening to their being important. If the command to 
 worship in spirit and truth is consistent with the permis- 
 sion to worship through certain rites, it is consistent with 
 the duty to worship through them. Why are we to have 
 a greater freedom, if I may so speak, than God Himself.^ 
 w^hy are zve to choose what rites we please to worship in, 
 and not He choose them i* — as if spirituality consisted, 
 not in doing without rites altogether, (a notion which at 
 least is intelligible,) but in our forestalling our Lord and 
 Master in the choice of them. Let us take the text to 
 mean that there shall be no external worship at all, if we 
 will (we shall be wrong, but we shall speak fairly and 
 intelligibly) ; but, if there may be times, places, ministers, 
 ordinances of worship, although the text speaks of wor- 
 shipping in spirit and in truth, then, what is there in it to 
 negative the notion of God's having chosen those times 
 places, ministers, and ordinances, so that if we attempt 
 to choose, we shall be committing the very fault of the 
 Jews, who were ever setting up golden calves, planting 
 groves, or consecrating ministers, without authority from 
 God.? 
 
 And what has been observed of this text, holds good 
 of all arguments drawn, whether from the silence of 
 Scripture about, or its supposed positive statements 
 against, the rites and ordinances of the Church. If 
 obscurity of texts, for instance, about the grace of the 
 Eucharist, be taken as a proof that no great benefit 
 is therein given, it is an argument against there being 
 
Difficulties hi Scripture Proof of Doctri^ie, 1 19 
 
 any benefit. On the other hand, when certain passages 
 are once interpreted to refer to it, the emphatic language 
 used in those passages shows that the benefit is not 
 small. We cannot say that the subject is unimportant, 
 without saying that it is not mentioned at all. Either 
 no gift is given in the Eucharist, or a great gift. If only 
 the sixth chapter of St. John, for instance, does allude to 
 it, it shows it is not merely an edifying rite, but an awful 
 communication beyond words. Again, if the phrase, 
 " the communication of the Body of Christ," used by St. 
 Paul, means any gift, it means a great one. You may 
 say, if you will, that it does not mean any gift at all, 
 but means only a representation or figure of the com- 
 munication ; this I call explaining away, but still it is 
 intelligible ; but I do not see how, if it is to be taken 
 literally as a real commttnication of something, it can be 
 other than a communication oi His Body, Again, though 
 the Lord's Table be but twice called an Altar in Scrip- 
 ture, yet, granting that it is meant in those passages, 
 it is there spoken of so solemnly, that it matters not 
 though it be nowhere else spoken of. " We have an Altar, 
 whereof they have no right to eat which serve the taber- 
 nacle." We do not know of the existence of the Ordi- 
 nance except in the knowledge of its importance ; and 
 in corroboration and explanation of this matter of fact, 
 let it be well observed that St. Paul expressly declares 
 that the Jewish rites are ;^^^to be practised because they 
 are 7iot important. 
 
 This is one way in which this argument proves too 
 much ; so that they who for the sake of decency or edi- 
 fication, or from an imaginative turn of mind, delight in 
 Ordinances, yet think they may make them for them- 
 selves, in that those ordinances bring no special blessing 
 with them, such men contradict the Gospel as plainly as 
 
1 20 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 those who attribute a mystical virtue to them, — nay more 
 so ; for if any truth is clear, it is, that such ordinances 
 as are without virtue are abolished by the Gospel, this 
 being St. Paul's very argument against the use of the 
 Jewish rites. 
 
 3. 
 
 Now as to the other point of view in which the argu- 
 ment in question proves too much for the purpose of 
 those who use it : — If it be a good argument against the 
 truth of the Apostolical Succession and similar doctrines, 
 that so little is said about them in Scripture, this is quite 
 as good an argument against nearly all the doctrines 
 which are held by any one who is called a Christian in 
 any sense of the word ; as a few instances will show. 
 
 (i.) First, as to Ordinances and Precepts. There is 
 not a single text in the Bible enjoining infant baptism : 
 the Scripture warrant on which we baptize infants con- 
 sists of inferences carefully made from various texts. 
 How is it that St. Paul does not in his Epistles remind 
 parents of so great a duty, if it is a duty ? 
 
 Again, there is not a single text telling us to keep 
 holy the first day of the week, and that mstead of the 
 seventh. God hallowed the seventh day, yet we now 
 observe the first. Why do we do this } Our Scripture 
 warrant for doing so is such as this : " since the Apostles 
 met on the first day of the week, therefore the first day 
 is to be hallowed ; and since St. Paul says the Sabbath 
 is abolished, therefore the seventh day (which is the 
 Sabbath) is not to be hallowed : " — these are true in- 
 ferences, but very indirect surely. The duty is not on 
 the surface of Scripture. We might infer, — though incor- 
 rectly, still we might infer, — that St. Paul meant that the 
 command in the second chapter of Genesis was repealed, 
 
Difficulties in Scripture Proof of Doctrine, 121 
 
 and that now there is no sacred day at all in the seven, 
 though meetings for prayer on Sunday are right and 
 proper. There is nothing on the surface of Scripture to 
 prove that the sacredness conferred in the beginning on 
 the seventh day now by transference attaches to the first. 
 Again, there is scarcely a text enjoining our going 
 to Church for joint worship. St. Paul happens in one 
 place of his Epistle to the Hebrews, to warn us against 
 forgetting to assemble together for prayer. Our Saviour 
 says that where two or three are gathered together, He 
 is in the midst of them ; yet this alludes in the first in- 
 stance not to public worship, but to Church Councils 
 and censures, quite a distinct subject. And in the Acts 
 • and Epistles we meet with instances or precepts in 
 favour of joint worship; yet there is nothing express to 
 show that it is necessary for all times, — nothing more 
 express than there is to show that in i Cor. vii. St. Paul 
 meant that an unmarried state is better at all times, — 
 nothing which does not need collecting and inferring 
 with minute carefulness from Scripture. The first disci- 
 ples did pray together, and so in like manner the first 
 disciples did not marry. St. Paul tells those who were 
 in a state of distress to pray together so much the more 
 as they see the day approaching — and he says that celi- 
 bacy is **goody<?r the present distress!' The same re- 
 marks might be applied to the question of community 
 of goods. On the other hand, our Lord did not use 
 social prayer : even when with His disciples He prayed 
 by Himself; and His directions in Matt. vi. 2ho\x\, private 
 prayer, with the silence which He observes shout public, 
 might be as plausibly adduced as an argument against 
 public, as the same kind of silence in Scripture concerning 
 turning to the east, or making the sign of the Cross, or 
 concerning commemorations for the dead in Christ, 
 
122 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 accompanied with its warnings against formality and 
 ceremonial abuses, is now commonly urged as an argu- 
 ment against these latter usages. 
 
 Again: — there is no text in the New Testament which 
 enjoins us to "establish" Religion (as the phrase is), or 
 to make it national, and to give the Church certain 
 honour and power; whereas our Lord's words, "My 
 kingdom is not of this world " (John xviii. 36), m.ay be 
 interpreted to discountenance such a proceeding. We 
 consider that it is right to establish the Church on the 
 ground of mere deductions, though of course true ones, 
 from the sacred text ; such as St. Paul's using his rights 
 as a Roman citizen. 
 
 There is no text which allows us to take oaths. The 
 words of our Lord and St. James look plainly the other 
 way. Why then do we take them } We infer that it is 
 allowable to do so, from finding that St. Paul uses such 
 expressions as " I call God for a record upon my soul " — 
 " The things which I write unto you, behold, before God, 
 I lie not " (2 Cor. i. 23; Gal. i. 20) ; these we argue, and 
 rightly, are equivalent to an oath, and a precedent for us. 
 
 Again, considering God has said, " Whoso sheddeth 
 man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," it seems 
 a very singular power which we give to the Civil Magis- 
 trate to take away life. It ought to rest, one might sup- 
 pose, on some very clear permission given in Scripture. 
 Now, on what does it rest } on one or two words of 
 an Apostle casually introduced into Scripture, as far as 
 anything is casual, — on St. Paul's saying in a paren- 
 thesis, " he (the magistrate) beareth not the sword in 
 vain ; " and he is speaking of a heathen magistrate, not 
 of Christian. 
 
 Once more: — On how many texts does the prohibition 
 of polygamy depend, if we set about counting them ? 
 
Difficulties in Scripture Proof of Doctrine, 123 
 
 (2.) So much for ordinances and practices : next, con- 
 sider how Doctrine will stand, if the said rule of interpre- 
 tation is to hold. 
 
 If the Eucharist is never distinctly called a Sacrifice, 
 or Christian Ministers never called Priests, still, let me 
 ask (as I have already done), is the Holy Ghost ever 
 expressly called God in Scripture ? Nowhere ; we 
 infer it from what is said then ; we compare parallel 
 passages. 
 
 If the words Altar, Absolution, or Succession, are not 
 in Scripture (supposing it), neither is the word Trinity. 
 
 Again : how do we know that the New Testament is 
 inspired } does it anywhere declare this of itself .f^ no- 
 where ; how, then, do we know it } we infer it from the cir- 
 cumstance that the very office of the Apostles who wrote 
 it was to publish the Christian Revelation, and from the 
 Old Testament being said by St. Paul to be inspired. 
 
 Again : whence do Protestants derive their common 
 notion, that every one may gain his knowledge of revealed 
 truth from Scripture for himself } 
 
 Again : consider whether the doctrine of the Atone- 
 ment may not be explained away by those who explain 
 away the doctrine of the Eucharist : if the expressions 
 used concerning the latter are merely figurative, so may 
 be those used of the former. 
 
 Again : on how many texts does the doctrine of Origi- 
 nal Sin rest, that is, the doctrine that we are individually 
 born under God's displeasure, in consequence of the sin 
 of Adam ? on one or two. 
 
 Again : how do we prove the doctrine of justification 
 by faith only } it is nowhere declared in Scripture. St. 
 Paul does but speak of justification by faith, not by faith 
 only, and St. James actually denies that it is by faith 
 only. Yet we infer, and truly, that there is a correct 
 
124 Scripture mid the Creed. 
 
 sense in which it is by faith only ; though an Apostle 
 has in so many words said just the contrary. Is any of 
 the special Church doctrines about the power of Abso- 
 lution, the Christian Priesthood, or the danger of sin after 
 Baptism, so disadvantageously circumstanced in point of 
 evidence as this, " articulus/' as Luther called it, ''stantis 
 ut cadentis ecclesiae "? 
 
 On the whole, then, I ask, on how many special or 
 palmary texts do any of the doctrines or rites which we 
 hold depend ? what doctrines or rites would be left to us, 
 if we demanded the clearest and fullest evidence, before 
 we believed anything ? what would the Gospel consist 
 of? would there be any Revelation at all left ? Some all- 
 important doctrines indeed at first sight certainly would 
 remain in the New Testament, such as the divinity of 
 Christ, the unity of God, the supremacy of divine grace, 
 our election in Christ, the resurrection of the body, and 
 eternal life or death to the righteous or sinners ; but little 
 besides. Shall we give up the divinity of the Holy Ghost, 
 original sin, the Atonement, the inspiration of the New 
 Testament, united worship, the Sacraments, and Infant 
 Baptism t Let us do so. Well : — I will venture to say, 
 that then we shall go on to find difficulties as regards 
 those other doctrines, as the divinity of Christ, which 
 at first sight seem to be in Scripture certainly, they are 
 only more clearly there than the others, not so clearly 
 stated as to be secured from specious objections. We 
 shall have difficulties about the vieaning of the word 
 "• everlasting," as applied to punishment, about the com- 
 patibility of divine grace with free-will, about the possi- 
 bility of the resurrection of the body, and about the sense 
 in which Christ is God. The inquirer who rejects a doc- 
 trine which has but one text in its favour, on the ground 
 that if it were important it would have more, may, even 
 
Difficulties in Scriphcre Proof of Doctrine. 125 
 
 in a case when a doctrine is mentioned often, always 
 find occasion to wonder that still it is not mentioned 
 in this or that particular place, where it might be ex- 
 pected. When he is pressed with such a text as St. 
 Thomas's confession, " My Lord and my God," he will 
 ask. But why did our Lord say but seven days before to 
 St. Mary Magdalen, " I ascend to My Father and your 
 Father, to My God and your God " ? When he is pressed 
 with St. Peter's confession, '*Lord, Thou knowest all 
 things, — Thou knowest that I love Thee," he will ask, 
 " But why does Christ say of Himself, that He does not 
 know the last day, and only the Father ? " Indeed, I may 
 truly say, the more arguments there are for a certain 
 doctrine found in Scripture, the more objections will 
 be found against it; so that, on the whole, after all, the 
 Scripture evidence, even for the divinity of Christ, 
 will be found in fact as little able to satisfy the cautious 
 reasoner, when he is fairly engaged to discuss it, as that 
 for Infant Baptism, great as is the difference of strength 
 in the evidence for the one and for the other. And the 
 history of these last centuries bears out this remark. 
 
 I conclude, then, that there must be some fault some- 
 where in this specious argument ; that it does not follow 
 that a doctrine or rite is not divine, because it is not 
 clearly stated in Scripture ; that there are some wise and 
 unknown reasons for doctrines being, as we find them, 
 not clearly stated there. To be sure, I might take the 
 other alternative, and run the full length of scepticism, 
 and openly deny that any doctrine or duty, whatever it 
 is, is divine, which is not stated in Scripture beyond all 
 contradiction and objection. But for many reasons I can- 
 not get myself to do this, as I shall proceed to show. 
 
126 
 
 2. 
 
 T/ie Difficulties of Latitudinarianism. 
 
 NO one, I think, will seriously maintain, that any 
 other definite religious system is laid down in 
 Scripture at all more clearly than the Church system. 
 It may be maintained, and speciously, that the Church 
 system is not there, or that this or that particular doc- 
 trine of some other system seems to be there more 
 plainly than the corresponding Church doctrine ; but 
 that Presbyterianism as a whole, or Independency as a 
 whole, or the religion of Lutherans, Baptists, Wesleyans, 
 or Friends, as a whole, is more clearly laid down in 
 Scripture, and with fewer texts looking the other way — 
 that any of these denominations has less difficulties to 
 encounter than the Creed of the Church, — this I do not 
 think can successfully be maintained. The arguments 
 which are used to prove that the Church system is not 
 in Scripture, may as cogently be used to prove that no 
 system is in Scripture. If silence in Scripture, or ap- 
 parent contrariety, is an argument against ^the Church 
 system, it is an argument against system altogether. 
 No system is on the surface of Scripture ; none, but 
 has at times to account for the silence or the apparent 
 opposition of Scripture as to particular portions of it. 
 
 I. 
 
 This, then, is the choice of conclusions to which we are 
 brought ; — either Christianity contains no definite mes- 
 
The Difficulties of Latitudinarianism, 127 
 
 sage, creed, revelation, system, or whatever other name 
 we give it, nothing which can be made the subject of 
 belief at all ; or, secondly, though there really is a true 
 creed or system in Scripture, still it is not on the surface 
 of Scripture, but contained latent and implicit within it, 
 and to be maintained only by indirect arguments, by 
 comparison of texts, by inferences from what is said 
 plainly, and by overcoming or resigning oneself to 
 difficulties ; — or again, though there is a true creed or 
 system revealed, it is not revealed in Scripture, but must 
 be learned collaterally from other sources. I wish in- 
 quirers to consider this statement steadily. I do not see 
 that it can be disputed ; and if not, it is very important. 
 I repeat it; we have a choice of three conclusions. 
 Either there is no definite religious information given us 
 by Christianity at all, or it is given in Scripture in an 
 indirect and covert way, or it is indeed given, but not in 
 Scripture. The first is the Latitudinarian view which 
 has gained ground in this day ; the second is our own 
 received ground ; the third is the ground of the Roman 
 Church. If then we will not content ourselves with 
 merely probable, or (what we may be disposed to call) 
 insufficient proofs of matters of faith and worship, we 
 •must become either utter Latitudinarians or Roman 
 Catholics. If we will not submit to the notion of the 
 doctrines of the Gospel being hidden under the text of 
 Scripture from the view of the chance reader, we must 
 submit to believe either that there are no doctrines at all 
 in Christianity, or that the doctrines are not in Scripture, 
 but elsewhere, as in Tradition. I know of no other 
 alternative. 
 
 Many men, indeed, will attempt to find a fourth way, 
 thus : they would fain discern one or two doctrines in 
 Scripture clearly, and no more j or some generalized 
 
128 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 form, yet not so much as a body of doctrine of any 
 character. They consider that a certain message, consist- 
 ing of one or two great and simple statements, makes 
 up the whole of the Gospel, and that these are plainly in 
 Scripture ; accordingly, that he who holds and acts upon 
 these is a Christian, and ought to be acknowledged by 
 all to be such, for in holding these he holds all that is 
 necessary. These statements they sometimes call the 
 essentials, the peculiar doctrines, the vital doctrines, 
 the leading idea, the great truths of the Gospel, — and 
 all this sounds very well ; but when we come to realize 
 what is abstractedly so plausible, we are met by this 
 insurmountable difficulty, that no great number of per- 
 sons agree together what are these great truths, simple 
 views, leading ideas, or peculiar doctrines of the Gospel. 
 Some say that the doctrine of the Atonement is the 
 leading idea ; some, the doctrine of spiritual influence ; 
 some, that both together are the peculiar doctrines ; 
 some, that love is all in all; some, that the acknowledg- 
 ment that Jesus. is the Christ; and some, that the resur- 
 rection from the dead ; some, that the announcement of 
 the soul's immortality, is after all the essence of the 
 Gospel, and all that need be believed. 
 
 Moreover, since, as all parties must confess, the Catho-» 
 lie doctrine of the Trinity is not brought out in form 
 upon the surface of Scripture, it follows either that it is 
 not included in the leading idea, or that the leading idea 
 is not on the surface. And if the doctrine of the Trinity 
 is not to be accounted as one of the leading or funda- 
 mental truths of Revelation, the keystone of the mys- 
 terious system is lost ; and, that being lost, mystery will, 
 in matter of fact, be found gradually to fade away from 
 the Creed altogether ; that is, the notion of Christianity 
 as being a revelation of new truths, will gradually fade 
 
Dijjcculties of Latiiudinarianism. I2g 
 
 away, and the Gospel in course of time will be considered 
 scarcely more than the republication of the law of na- 
 ture. This, I think, will be found to be the historical 
 progress and issue of this line of thought. It is but one 
 shape of Latitudinarianism. If we will have it so, that 
 the doctrines of Scripture should be on the surface of 
 Scripture, though I may have my very definite notion 
 what doctrines are on the surface, and you yours, and 
 another his, yet you and he and I, though each of us in 
 appearance competent to judge, though all serious men, 
 earnest, and possessed of due attainments, nevertheless 
 will not agree together what those doctrines are ; so that, 
 practically, what I have said will come about in the end, 
 — that (if we are candid) we shall be forced to allow, 
 that there is no system, no creed, no doctrine at all lucidly 
 and explicitly set forth in Scripture ; and thus we are 
 brought to the result, which I have already pointed out : 
 if we will not seek for revealed truth under the surface 
 of Scripture, we must either give up seeking for it, or 
 must seek for it in Tradition, — we must become Latitu- 
 dinarians or Roman CathoUcs. 
 
 2. 
 
 Now of these alternatives, Romanism or Latitudinari- 
 anism, the latter I do really conceive to be quite out of 
 the question with every serious mind. The Latitudin- 
 arian doctrine is this: that every man's view of Revealed 
 Religion is acceptable to God, if he acts up to it ; that 
 no one view is in itself better than another, or at least 
 that we cannot tell which is the better. All that we 
 have to do then is to act consistently with what we hold, 
 and to value others if they act consistently with wh^t 
 they hold ; that to be consistent constitutes sincerity ; 
 that where there is this evident sincerity, it is no matter 
 
 9 
 
130 Scripture and Ihe Creed. 
 
 whether we profess to be Romanists or Protestants, 
 Catholics or Heretics, Calvinists or Arminians, Angli- 
 cans or Dissenters, High Churchmen or Puritans, Episco- 
 palians or Independents, Wesleyans or Socinians. Such 
 seems to be the doctrine of Latitude. Now, I can 
 conceive such a view of the subject to be maintainable, 
 supposing God had given us no Revelation, — though even 
 then, (by the way,) and were we even left to the light of 
 nature, belief in His existence and moral government 
 would, one should think, at least be necessary to please 
 Him. " He that cometh to God must believe that He 
 is, and that He is a rewarder of them which diligently 
 seek Him." * But however, not to press this point, one 
 may conceive that, before God had actually spoken to 
 us. He might accept as sufficient a sincere acting on 
 religious opinions of whatever kind ; but that, after a 
 Revelation is given, there is nothing to believe, nothing 
 (to use an expressive Scripture word) to ''hold," to "hold 
 fast," that a message comes from God, and contains no 
 subject-matter, or that, containing it (as it must do), it is 
 not important to be received, and is not capable of being 
 learned by any one who takes the proper means of learn- 
 ing it, that there is in it nothing such, that we may de- 
 pend on our impression of it to be the trueimpression, 
 may feel we have really gained something, and continue in 
 one and one only opinion about it, — all this is so extra- 
 vagant, that I really cannot enter into the state of mind 
 of a person maintaining it. I think he is not aware 
 what he is saying. Why should God speak, unless He 
 meant to say something } Why should He say it, unless 
 He meant us to hear.*^ Why should we be made to hear 
 if it mattered not whether we accepted it or no ? What 
 the doctrine is, is another and distinct question ; but 
 * Htb. xi. 6. 
 
Difficulties of Latitudinarianism. 1 3 1 
 
 that there is some doctrine revealed, and that it is re- 
 vealed in order that it may be received, and that it 
 really is revealed, (I mean, not so hidden that it is a 
 mere matter of opinion, a mere chance, what is true and 
 what is not, and that there are a number of opposite 
 modes of holding it, one as good as another, but) that it 
 is plain in one and the same substantial sense to all who 
 sincerely and suitably seek for it, and that God is better 
 pleased when we hold it than when we do not, — all this 
 seems a truism. Again, where it is given us, whether 
 entirely in Scripture, or partly elsewhere, — this too is 
 another and secondary question ; though, if some doc- 
 trine or other is really given, that it must be given some- 
 where, is a proposition which cannot be denied, with- 
 out some eccentricity or confusion of mind, or without 
 some defect in seriousness and candour. I say, first, if 
 there be a Revelation, there must be some essential 
 doctrine proposed by it to our faith; and, if so, the 
 question at once follows, what is it, and how much^ 
 and where ? and we are forthwith involved in researches 
 of some kind or other, somewhere or other ; for the 
 doctrine is not written on the sun. 
 
 For reasons such as the above, I really cannot con- 
 ceive a serious man, who realized what he was speaking 
 about, to be a consistent Latitudinarian. He always will 
 reserve from the general proscription his own favourite 
 doctrine, whatever it is ; and then holding it, he will be 
 at once forced into the difficulty, which is ours also, but 
 which he would fain make ours only and not his, that 
 of stating clearly what this doctrine of his is, and what 
 are those grounds of it, such, as to enable him to take in 
 just so much of dogmatic teaching as he does take in, 
 and nothing more, to hold so much firmly, and to treat 
 all the rest as comparatively unimportant. 
 
132 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 Revelation implies a something revealed, and what is 
 revealed is imperative on our faith, because it is revealed. 
 Revelation implies imperativeness ; it limits in its very 
 notion our liberty of thought, because it limits our liberty 
 of error, for error is one kind of thought. 
 
 If then I am not allowed to hold that Scripture, however 
 implicit in its teaching, is really dogmatic, I shall be led 
 to be, not a Latitudinarian, but a Roman Catholic. You 
 tell me, that " no creed is to be found in Scripture, — 
 therefore, Christianity has no creed." Indeed ! supposing 
 the fact to be as stated (which I do not grant, but sup- 
 posing it), is this the necessary conclusion ? No : there 
 is another. Such an inference indeed as the above is a 
 clever controversial way of settling the matter ; it is 
 the sort of answer which in the schools of disputation or 
 the courts of law may find a place, where men are not 
 in earnest ; but it is an answer without a heart. It is 
 an excuse for indolence, love of quiet, or worldliness. 
 There is another answer. I do not adopt it, I do not 
 see I am driven to it, because I do not allow the pre- 
 misses from which the Latitudinarian argument starts. I 
 do not allow that there is no creed at all contained in 
 Scripture, 'though I grant it is not on the surface. But 
 if there be no divine message, gospel, or creed pro- 
 ducible from Scripture, this would not lead me one inch 
 toward deciding that there was none at all anywhere. 
 No ; it v/ould make me look out of Scripture for it, that 
 is all. If there is a Revelation, there must be a doctrine ; 
 both our reason and our hearts tell us so. If it is not 
 in Scripture, it is somewhere else ; it is to be sought 
 elsewhere. Should the fact so turn out, (which I deny,) 
 that Scripture is so obscure that nothing can be made 
 of it, even when the true interpretation is elsewhere 
 given, so obscure that every person will have his own 
 
Difficulties of Latitudinarianism, 133 
 
 interpretation of it, and no two alike, this would drive 
 me, not into Latitudinarianism, but into Romanism. 
 Yes, and it will drive the multitude of men. It is far 
 more certain that Revelation must contain a message, 
 than that that message must be in Scripture. It is a 
 less violence to one's feelings to say that part of it is 
 revealed elsewhere, than to say that nothing is revealed 
 anywhere. There is an overpowering antecedent im- 
 probability in Almighty God's announcing that He has 
 revealed something, and then revealing nothing ; there 
 is no antecedent improbability in His reveaHng it else- 
 where than in an inspired volume. 
 
 And, I say, the mass of mankind will feel it so. It 
 is very well for educated persons, at their ease, with 
 few cares, or in the joyous time of youth, to argue and 
 *speculate about the impalpableness and versatility of 
 the divine message, its chameleon-like changeableness, its 
 adaptation to each fresh mind it meets ; but when men 
 are conscious of sin, are sorrowful, are weighed down, 
 are desponding, they ask for something to lean on, 
 something external to themselves. It will not do to 
 tell them that whatever they at present hold as true, 
 is enough. They want to be assured that what seems 
 to them true, is true ; they want something to lean on, 
 holier, diviner, more stable than their own minds. They 
 have an instinctive feeling that there is an external, eter- 
 nal truth which is their only stay ; and it mocks them, 
 after being told of a Revelation, to be assured, next, that 
 that Revelation tells us nothing certain, nothing which we 
 do not know without it, nothing distinct from our own 
 impressions concerning it, whatever they may be, — 
 nothing such, as to exist independently of that shape 
 and colour into which our own individual mind happens 
 to throw it. Therefore, practically, those who argue for 
 
134 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 the vague character of the Scripture informations, and 
 the harmlessness of all sorts of religious opinions, do not 
 tend to advance Latitudinarianism one step among the 
 many, — they advance Romanism. That truth, which 
 men are told they cannot find in Scripture, they will 
 seek out of Scripture. They will never believe, they 
 will never be content with, a religion without doctrines. 
 The common sense of mankind decides against it. Re- 
 ligion cannot but be dogmatic ; it ever has been. All 
 religions have had doctrines ; all have professed to carry 
 with them benefits which could be enjoyed only on con- 
 dition of believing the word of a supernatural informant, 
 that is, of embracing some doctrines or other. 
 
 And it is a mere idle sophistical theory, to suppose it 
 can be otherwise. Destroy religion, make men give it up, 
 if you can ; but while it exists, it will profess an insight 
 into the next world, it will profess important information 
 about the next world, it will have points of faith, it will 
 have dogmatism, it will have anathemas. Christianity, 
 therefore, ever will be looked on, by the multitude, what 
 it really is, as a rule of faith as well as of conduct. Men 
 may be Presbyterians, or Baptists, or Lutherans, or Cal- 
 vinists, or Wesleyans ; but something or other they will 
 be ; a creed, a creed necessary to salvation, they will 
 Tiave ; a creed either in Scripture or out of it ; and if in 
 Scripture, I say, it must be, from the nature of the case, 
 only indirectly gained from Scripture. Latitudinarianism, 
 then, is out of the question ; and you have your choice, 
 to be content with inferences from texts i7i Scripture, or 
 with tradition out of Scripture. You cannot get beyond 
 this ; either you must take up with us, (or with some 
 system not at all better off, whether Presbyterianism 
 or Independency, or the like,) or you must go to Rome. 
 Which will you choose } You may not like us ; you 
 
Difficulties of Latitudinarianism. 135 
 
 may be impatient and impetuous ; you may go forward, 
 but back you cannot go. 
 
 3- 
 
 But, further, it can scarcely be denied that Scripture, 
 if it does not furnish, at least speaks of, refers to, takes 
 for granted, sanctions, some certain doctrine or message, 
 as is to be believed in order to salvation ; and which, 
 accordingly, if not found in Scripture, must be sought 
 for out of it. It says, " He who believeth shall be saved, 
 and he who believeth not shall be damned ;'* it speaks 
 of " the doctrine of Christ," of " keeping the faith," of 
 " the faith once delivered to the saints," and of " deliver- 
 ing that which has been received," recounting at the 
 same time some of the articles of the Apostles' Creed. 
 And the case is the same as regards discipline ; rules of 
 worship and order, whether furnished or not, are at least 
 alluded to again and again, under the title of "traditions." 
 Revelation then will be inconsistent with itself, unless it 
 has provided some Creed somewhere. For it declares in 
 Scripture that it has given us a Creed ; therefore some 
 creed exists somewhere, whether in Scripture or out of it. 
 
 Nor is this all ; from the earliest times, so early that 
 there is no assignable origin to it short of the Apostles, 
 one definite system has in fact existed in the Church 
 both of faith and worship, and that in countries far dis- 
 joined from one another, and without an}^ appearance 
 (as far as we can detect) of the existence of any other 
 system anywhere ; and (what is very remarkable) a sys- 
 tem such, that the portion in it which relates to matters 
 of faith (or its theology), accurately fits in and corre- 
 sponds to that which relates to matters of worship and 
 order (or its ceremonial) ; as if they were evidently parts 
 of a whole, and not an accidental assemblage of rites on 
 
136 Scripture and tlie Creed, 
 
 the one hand, and doctrines on the other ; — a system 
 moreover which has existed ever since, and exists at the 
 present day, and in its great features, as in other branches 
 of the Church, so among ourselves ; — a system moreover 
 which at least professes to be quite consistent with, and 
 to appeal and defer to, the written word, and thus in all re- 
 spects accurately answers to that to which Scripture seems 
 to be referring m the notices above cited. Now, is it pos- 
 sible, with this very significant phenomenon standing in 
 the threshold of Christian history, that any sensible man 
 can be of opinion that one creed or worship is as good 
 as another ? St. Paul speaks of one faith, one baptism, 
 one body ; this in itself is a very intelligible hint of his 
 own view of Christianity ; but as if to save his words 
 from misinterpretation, here in history is at once a sort 
 of realization of what he seems to have before his mind. 
 Under these circumstances, what excuse have we for not 
 recognizing, in this system of doctrine and worship exist- 
 ing in history, that very system to which the Apostles 
 refer in Scripture ? They evidently did not in Scripture 
 say out all they had to say ; this is evident on the face 
 of Scripture, evident from what they do say. St. Paul 
 says, " The rest will I set in order when I come." St. 
 John, " I had many things to write, but I will not with 
 ink and pen write unto thee ; but I trust I shall shortly 
 see thee, and we shall speak face to face." This he says 
 in two Epistles. Now supposing, to take the case of 
 profane history, a collection of letters were extant 
 written by the founders or remodellers of the Platonic 
 or Stoic philosophy, and supposing those masters referred 
 in them to their philosophy, and treated of it in some of 
 its parts, yet without drawing it out in an orderly way, 
 and then secondly, supposing there did exist other and 
 more direct historical sources of various kinds, from 
 
Difficulties of Laiitudinarianism. 1 3 7 
 
 which a distinct systematic account of their philosophy 
 might be drawn, that is, one account of it and but one 
 from many witnesses, should we not take it for granted 
 that this was their system, that system of which their 
 letters spoke ? Should not we accept that system con- 
 veyed to us by history with (I will not say merely 
 an antecedent disposition in its favour, but with) a 
 confidence and certainty that it was their system ; and 
 if we found discrepancies between it and their letters, 
 should we at once cast it aside as spurious, or should we 
 not rather try to reconcile the two together, and suspect 
 that we were in fault, that we had made some mistake ; 
 and even if after all we could not reconcile all parts 
 (supposing it), should we not leave the discrepancies as 
 difficulties, and believe in the system notwithstanding ? 
 The Apostles refer to a large existing fact, their system, 
 — "the whole counsel of God"; history informs us of a 
 system, as far as we can tell, contemporaneous with, and 
 claiming to be theirs ; — what other claimant is there ? 
 
 Whether, then, the system of doctrine and worship, 
 referred to but not brought out in Scripture, be really 
 latent there or not, whether our hypothesis be right or 
 the Roman view, at any rate a system there is ; we see 
 it, we have it external to Scripture. There it stands, how- 
 ever we may determine the further question, whether it is 
 also in Scripture. Whether we adopt our Sixth Article 
 or not, we cannot obliterate the fact that a system does 
 substantially exist in history ; all the proofs you may 
 bring of the obscurities or of the unsystematic character 
 of Scripture cannot touch this independent fact ; were 
 Scripture lost to us, that fact, an existing Catholic 
 system, will remain. You have your choice to say that 
 Scripture does or does not agree with it. If you think 
 it actually disagrees with Scripture, then you have your 
 
138 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 choice between concluding either that you are mistaken 
 in so thinkings or that, although this system comes to 
 us as it does, on the same evidence with Scripture, yet 
 it is not divine, while Scripture is. If, however, you 
 consider that it merely teaches things additional to 
 Scripture, then you have no excuse for not admitting 
 it in addition to Scripture. And if it teaches things 
 but indirectly taught in Scripture, then you must admit 
 it as an interpreter or comment upon Scripture. But, 
 whether you say it is an accordant or a discordant 
 witness, whether the supplement, or complement, or in- 
 terpreter of Scripture, there it stands, that consistent 
 harmonious system of faith and worship, as in the 
 beginning; and, if history be allowed any weight in 
 the discussion, it is an effectual refutation of Latitudi- 
 narianism. It is a fact concurring with the common 
 sense of mankind and with their wants. Men want a 
 dogmatic system ; and behold, in the beginning of 
 Christianity, and from the beginning to this day, there 
 it stands. This is so remarkable a coincidence that it 
 will always practically weigh against Latitudinarian views. 
 Infidelity is more intelligible, more honest than they are. 
 Nor does it avail to say, that there were additions 
 made to it in the course of years, or that the feel- 
 ing of a want may have given rise to it ; for what was 
 added after, whatever it was, could not create that to 
 which it was added ; and I say that first of all, before 
 there was a time for the harmonious uniform expansion 
 of a system, for the experience and supply of human 
 wants, for the inroads of innovation, and the growth of 
 corruption, and with all fair allowance for differences of 
 opinions as to how much is primitive, or when and where 
 this or that particular fact is witnessed, or what interpre- 
 tation is to be given to particular passages in historical 
 
Difficulties of Latitudinarianism. 139 
 
 documents, — from the first a system exists. And we 
 have no right to refuse it, merely on the plea that we do 
 not see all the parts of it in Scripture, or that we think 
 ' some parts of it to be inconsistent with Scripture ; for 
 even though some parts were not there, this would not 
 disprove its truth ; and even though some parts seemed 
 contrary to what is there, this appearance might after 
 all be caused simply by our own incompetency to judge 
 of Scripture. 
 
 4. 
 
 But perhaps it may here be urged, that I have proved 
 too much ; that is, it may be asked " If a system of 
 doctrine is so necessary to Revelation, and appears at 
 once in the writings of the Apostles' disciples, as in the 
 Epistles of St. Ignatius, how is it that it is not in the 
 writings of the Apostles themselves ? how does it happen 
 that it does appear in the short Epistles of Ignatius, and 
 does not in the longer Epistles of St. Paul ? so that the 
 tendency of the foregoing argument is to disparage the 
 Apostles' teaching, as showing that it is not adapted, and 
 Ignatius's is adapted, to our wants." But the answer to 
 this is simple : for though the Apostles' writings do not 
 on their surface set forth the Catholic system of doctrine, 
 they certainly do contain (as I have said) a recognition 
 of its existence, and of its principle, and of portions of it. 
 If, then, in spite of this, there is no Apostolic system of 
 faith and worship, all we shall have proved by our argu- 
 ment is, that the Apostles are inconsistent with them- 
 selves ; that they recognize the need of such a system, 
 and do not provide one. How it is they do not draw 
 out a system, while they nevertheless both recognize 
 its principle and witness its existence, has often been 
 discussed, and perhaps I may say something incidentally 
 
I40 Scripture a7id the Creed. 
 
 on the subject hereafter. Here, I do but observe, that 
 on the one side of the question we have the human heart 
 expecting. Scripture sanctioning, history providing, — a 
 coincidence of three witnesses ; and on the other side 
 only this, Scripture not actually providing by itself in 
 form and fulness what it sanctions. 
 
 Lastly, I would observe, that much as Christians have 
 differed in these latter or in former ages, as to what is 
 the true faith and what the true worship and discipline 
 of Christ, yet one and all have held that Christianity is 
 dogmatic and social, that creeds and forms are not to be 
 dispensed with. There has been an uninterrupted main- 
 tenance of this beHef from the beginning of Christianity 
 down to this day, with exceptions so partial or so ephe- 
 meral as not to deserve notice. I conclude, then, either 
 that the notion of forms and creeds, and of unity by 
 means of them, is so natural to the human mind as to 
 be spontaneously produced and cherished in every age ; 
 or that there has been a strong external reason for its 
 having been so cherished, whether in authority, or in 
 argumentative proof, or in the force of tradition. In 
 whatever way we take it, it is a striking evidence in 
 favour of dogmatic religion, and against that unreal 
 form, or rather that mere dream of religion, which pre- 
 tends that modes of thinking and social conduct are all 
 one and all the same in the eyes of God, supposing each 
 of us to be sincere in his own. 
 
 Dismissing, then, Latitudinarianism once for all, as 
 untenable, and taking for granted that there is a system 
 of religion revealed in the Gospel, I come, as I have 
 already stated several times, to one or other of two con- 
 clusions : either that it is not all in Scripture, but part 
 in tradition only, as the Romanists say, — or, as the 
 English Church says, that though it is in tradition, yet 
 
Difficulties of Latiiudinarianism, 141 
 
 it can also be gathered from the communications of 
 Scripture. As to the nondescript system of religion 
 now in fashion, viz., that nothing is to be believed but 
 what is clearly stated in Scripture, that all its own 
 doctrines are clearly there and none other, and that, as 
 to history, it is no matter what history says and what it 
 does not say, except so far as it must of course be used 
 to prove the canonicity of Scripture, this will come 
 before us again and again in the following Lectures. 
 Suffice that it has all the external extravagance of 
 Latitudinarianism without its internal consistency. It 
 is inconsistent because it is morally better: Latitu- 
 dinarianism is consistent because it is intellectually 
 deeper. Both, however, are mere theories in theology, 
 and ought to be discarded by serious men. We must 
 give up our ideal notions, and resign ourselves to facts. 
 We must take things as we find them, as God has given 
 them. We did not make them, we cannot alter them, 
 though we are sometimes tempted to think it very hard 
 that we cannot. We must submit to them, instead of 
 quarrelling with them. We must submit to the indirect- 
 ness of Scripture, unless we think it wiser and better to 
 become Romanists : and we must employ our minds 
 rather (if so be) in accounting for the fact, than in 
 excepting against it 
 
142 
 
 On the Structure of the Bible^ a7itecedently 
 considered. 
 
 ENOUGH perhaps has now been said by way of 
 opening the subject before us. The state of the 
 case I conceive to be as I have said. The structure of 
 Scripture is such, so irregular and immethodical, that 
 either we must hold that the Gospel doctrine or message 
 is not contained in Scripture (and if so, either that there 
 is no message at all given, or that it is given elsewhere, 
 out of Scripture), or, as the alternative, we must hold 
 that it is but indirectly and covertly recorded there, that 
 is, under the surface. Moreover, since the great bulk of 
 professing Christians in this country, whatever their 
 particular denomination may be, do consider, agreeably 
 with the English Church, that there are doctrines re- 
 vealed (though they differ among themselves as to what), 
 and next that they are in Scripture^ they must undergo, 
 and resign themselves to an inconvenience which cer- 
 tainly does attach to our Church, and, as they often 
 suppose, to it alone, that of having t© infer from Scrip- 
 ture, to prove circuitously, to argue at disadvantage, to 
 leave difficulties unsolved, and to appear to the world 
 weak or fanciful reasoners. They must leave off criticising 
 our proofs of our doctrines, because they are not stronger 
 in respect to proof themselves. No matter whether they 
 
Structure of the Bible ^ antecedently considered. 143 
 
 are Lutherans or Calvinists, Wesleyans or Independents, 
 they have to wind their way through obstacles, in and 
 out, avoiding some things and catching at others, like 
 men making their way in a wood, or over broken 
 ground. 
 
 If they believe in consubstantiation with Luther, or 
 in the absolute predestination of individuals, with Calvin, 
 they have very few texts to produce which, in argument, 
 will appear even specious. And still more plainly have 
 these religionists strong texts actually against them, 
 whatever be their sect or persuasion. If they be Lu- 
 therans, they have to encounter St. James's declaration, 
 that "by works a man is justified, and not by faith 
 only ; *' * if Calvinists, God's solemn declaration, that 
 " as He liveth. He willeth not the death of a sinner, but 
 rather that he should live ; " if a Wesleyan, St. Paul's 
 precept to " obey them that have the rule over you, 
 and submit yourselves ; " f i^ Independents, the same 
 Apostle's declaration concerning the Church's being "the 
 pillar and ground of the Truth ; " if Zuinglians, they 
 have to explain how Baptism is not really and in fact 
 connected with regeneration, considering it is always 
 connected with it in Scripture ; if Friends, why they 
 allow women to speak in their assemblies, contrary to 
 St. Paul's plain prohibition ; if Erastians, why they for- 
 get our Saviour's plain declaration, that His kingdom is 
 not of this world ; if maintainers of the ordinary secular 
 Christianity, what they make of the woe denounced 
 against riches, and the praise bestowed on celibacy. 
 Hence, none of these sects and persuasions has any right 
 to ask the question of which they are so fond, " Where 
 in the Bible are the Church doctrines to be found t 
 Wha^ in Scripture, for instance, is Apostolical Succes- 
 • Jascs ii- 24. f Heb. xiii. 7. 
 
144 Scripture a7id the Creed, 
 
 sion, or the Christian Priesthood, or the power of Abso- 
 lution ? " This is with them a favourite mode of deaHng 
 with us ; and I in return ask them, Where are we told 
 that the Bible contains all that is necessary to salvation ? 
 Where are we told that the New Testament is inspired ? 
 Where are we told that justification is by faith only ? 
 Where are we told that every individual who is elected 
 is saved ? Where are we told that we may leave the 
 Church, if we think its ministers do not preach the 
 Gospel ? or, Where are we told that we may make 
 ministers for ourselves ? 
 
 All Protestants, then, in this country, — Churchmen, 
 Presbyterians, Baptists, Arminians, Calvinists, Lutherans, 
 Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, Unitarians, — and 
 whatever other sect claims the Protestant name, all who 
 consider the Bible as the one standard of faith, and 
 much more if they think it the standard of morals and 
 discipHne too, are more or less in this difficulty, — the 
 more so, the larger they consider the contents of Reve- 
 lation to be, and the less, the scantier they consider them ; 
 but they cannot escape from the difficulty altogether, 
 except by falling back into utter scepticism and latitu- 
 dinarianism, or, on the other hand, by going on to 
 Rome. Nor does it rid them of their difficulties, as I 
 have said more than once, to allege, that all points that 
 are incapable of clear Scripture proof are tho: pectdiarities 
 of each sect ; so that if all Protestants were to agree to 
 put out of sight their respective peculiarities, they would 
 then have a Creed set forth distinctly, clearly, and 
 adequately, in Scripture. For take that single instance, 
 which I have referred to in a former Lecture, the doctrine 
 of the Holy Trinity. Is this to be considered as a mere 
 peculiarity or no } Apparently a peculiarity ; for on the 
 one hand it is not held by all Protestants, and next, it 
 
Structure of the Bible, antecedently considered. 145 
 
 is not brought out in form in Scripture. First, the word 
 Trinity is not in Scripture. Next I ask, How many of 
 the verses of the Athanasian Creed are distinctly set 
 down in Scripture ? and further, take particular portions 
 of the doctrine, viz., that Christ is co-eternal with the 
 Father, that the Holy Ghost is God, or that the Holy 
 Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son, and 
 consider the kind of text and the modes of using them, 
 by which the proof is built up. Yet is there a more 
 sacred, a more vital doctrine in the circle of the articles 
 of faith than that of the Holy Trinity.? Let no one then 
 take refuge and comfort in the idea that he will be what 
 is commonly called an orthodox Protestant, — I mean, 
 that he will be just this and no more; that he will admit 
 the doctrine of the Trinity, but not that of the Apostolic 
 Succession, — of the Atonement, but not of the Eucharist, 
 • — of the influences of grace, but not of Baptism. This is 
 an impossible position : it is shutting one eye, and look- 
 ing with the other. Shut both or open both. Deny 
 that there is any necessary doctrine in Scripture, or 
 consent to infer indirectly from Scripture what you at 
 present disbelieve. 
 
 The whole argument, however, depends of course on 
 the certainty of the fact assumed, viz., that Scripture is 
 unsystematic and uncertain in its communications to 
 the extent to which I have supposed it to be. To this 
 point, therefore, I shall, in the Lectures which follow, 
 direct attention. Here, however, I shall confine myself 
 to a brief argument with a view of showing that under 
 the circumstances it must be so. I observe, then, as 
 follows : — 
 
 In what way inspiration is compatible with that per- 
 
 10 
 
I/, 6 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 sonal agency on the part of its instruments, which the 
 composition of the Bible evidences, we know not ; but if 
 anything is certain, it is this, — that, though the Bible is 
 inspired, and therefore, in one sense, written by God, yet 
 very large portions of it, if not far the greater part of it, 
 are written in as free and unconstrained a manner, and 
 (apparently) with as little apparent consciousness of a 
 supernatural dictation or restraint, on the part of His 
 earthly instruments, as if He had had no share in the 
 work. As God rules the will, yet the will is free, — as 
 He rules the course of the world, yet men conduct it, — 
 so He has inspired the Bible, yet men have written it. 
 Whatever else is true about it, this is true, — that we may 
 speak of the history or the mode of its composition, as 
 truly as of that of other books ; we may speak of its 
 writers having an object in view, being influenced by 
 circumstances, being anxious, taking pains, purposely 
 omitting or introducing matters, leaving things incom- 
 plete, or supplying what others had so left. Though 
 the Bible be inspired, it has all such characteristics as 
 might attach to a book uninspired, — the characteristics 
 of dialect and style, the distinct effects of times and 
 places, youth and age, of moral and intellectual character; 
 and I insist on this, lest in what I am going to say, I 
 seem to forget (what I do not forget), that in spite of its 
 human form, it has in it the Spirit and the Mind of God. 
 I observe, then, that Scripture is not one book ; it is a 
 great number of writings, of various persons, living at 
 different times, put together into one, and assuming its 
 existing form as if casually and by accident. It is as if 
 you were to seize the papers or correspondence of lead- 
 ing men in any school of philosophy or science, which 
 were never designed for publication, and bring them out 
 in one volume. You would find probably in the collec- 
 
Structure of the Bible ^ antecedently considered. 147 
 
 tion so resulting many papers begun and not finished ; 
 some parts systematic and didactic, but the greater part 
 made up of hints or of notices which assume first prin- 
 ciples instead of asserting them, or of discussions upon 
 particular points which happened to require their atten- 
 tion. I say the doctrines, the first principles, the rules, 
 the objects of the school, would be taken for granted, 
 alluded to, implied, not directly stated. You would have 
 some trouble to get at them ; you would have many re- 
 petitions, many hiatuses, many things which looked like 
 contradictions ; you would have to work your way 
 through heterogeneous materials, and, after your best 
 efforts, there would be much hopelessly obscure ; and, 
 on the other hand, you might look in vain in such a 
 casual collection for some particular opinions which the 
 writers were known nevertheless to have held, nay to 
 have insisted on. 
 
 Such, I conceive, with limitations presently to be no- 
 ticed, is the structure of the Bible. Parts, indeed, are 
 more regular than others ; parts of the Pentateuch form a 
 regular history. The book of Job is a regular narrative ; 
 some Prophecies are regular, one or two Epistles ; but 
 even these portions are for the most part incorporated 
 in or with writings which are not regular in their form 
 or complete ; and we never can be sure beforehand what 
 we shall find in them, or what we shall not find. They 
 are the writings of men who had already been introduced 
 into a knowledge of the unseen world and the society 
 of Angels, ' and who reported what they had seen 
 and heard ; and they are full of allusions to a system, 
 a course of things, which was ever before their minds, 
 which they felt both too awful and too familiar to them 
 to be described minutely, which we do not know, and 
 which these allusions, such as they are, but partially 
 
148 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 disclose to us. Try to make out the history of Rome 
 from the extant letters of some of its great politicians, 
 and from the fragments of ancient annals, histories, 
 laws, inscriptions, and medals, and you will have some- 
 thing like the state of the case, viewed antecedently, as 
 regards the structure of the Bible, and the task of de- 
 ducing the true system of religion from it. 
 
 This being, as I conceive, really the state of the 
 case in substance, I own it seems to me, judging ante- 
 cedently, very improbable indeed, that it should contain 
 the whole of the Revealed Word of God. I own that in 
 my own mind, at first sight, I am naturally led to look 
 not only there, but elsewhere, for notices of sacred truth ; 
 and I consider that they who say that the Bible does 
 contain the whole Revelation (as I do say myself), that 
 they and I, that we, have what is called the onus pro- 
 bandi, the burden and duty of proving the point, on our 
 side. Till we prove that Scripture does contain the 
 whole Revealed Truth, it is natural, from its prima facie 
 appearance, to suppose that it does not. Why, for in- 
 stance, should a certain number of letters, more or less 
 private, written by St. Paul and others to particular 
 persons or bodies, contain the whole of what the Holy 
 Spirit taught them } We do not look into Scripture for 
 a complete history of the secular matters which it men- 
 tions ; why should we look for a complete account of 
 religious truth .'* You will say that its writers wrote in 
 order to communicate religious truth ; true, but not all 
 religious truth : that is the point. They did not sit 
 down with a design to commit to paper all they had to 
 say on the whole subject, all they could say about the 
 Gospel, " the whole counsel of God " ; but they either 
 wrote to correct some particular error of a particular 
 time or place, or to "stir up the pure minds" of their 
 
Structure of the Bible^ antecedently considered. 149 
 
 brethren, or in answer to questions, or to give direction 
 for conduct, or on indifferent matters. For instance, St. 
 Luke says he wrote his Gospel that Christians might 
 know "the certainty of the things in which they had 
 been instructed." Does this imply he told all that 
 was to be told } Anyhow he did not ; for the other 
 Evangelists add to his narrative. It is then far from 
 being a self-evident truth that Scripture must contain 
 all the revealed counsel of God ; rather, the probability 
 at first sight lies the other way. 
 
 Nevertheless, at least as regards matters of faith, it 
 does (as we in common with all Protestants hold) contain 
 all that is necessary for salvation ; it has been overruled 
 to do so by Him who inspired it. By parallel acts of 
 power, He both secretly inspired the books, and secretly 
 formed them into a perfect rule or canon. I shall not 
 prove what we all admit, but I state it, to prevent mis- 
 apprehension. If asked how we know this to be the 
 case, I answer, that the early Church thought so, and 
 the early Church must have known. And, if this an- 
 swer does not please the inquirer, he may look out for 
 a better as he can. I know of no other. I require no 
 other. For our own Church it is enough, as the Homi- 
 lies show. It is enough that Scripture has been over- 
 ruled to contain the whole Christian faith, and that the 
 early Church so taught, though the form of Scripture at 
 first sight might lead to an opposite conclusion. And 
 this being ance proved, we see in this state of things an 
 analogy to God's providence in other cases. How con- 
 fused is the course of the world, yet it is the working out 
 of a moral system, and is overruled in every point by 
 God's will ! Or, take the structure of the earth ; man 
 kind are placed in fertile and good dwelling-places, with 
 hills and valleys, springs and fruitful fields, with metals 
 
150 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 and marbles, and coal, and other minerals, with seas and 
 forests ; yet this beautiful and fully-furnished surface is 
 the result of (humanly speaking) a series of accidents, of 
 gradual influences and sudden convulsions, of a long his- 
 tory of change and chance. 
 
 3- 
 
 Yet while we admit, or rather maintain, that the Bible 
 is the one standard of faith, there is no reason why we 
 should suppose the overruling hand of God to go further 
 than we are told that it has gone. That He has over- 
 ruled matters so far as to make the apparently casual 
 writings of the Apostles a complete canon of saving faith, 
 is no reason why He should have given them a systematic 
 structure, or a didactic form, or a completeness in their 
 subject-matter. So far as we have no positive proof that 
 the Bible is more than at first sight it seems to be, so far 
 the antecedent probability, which I have been insisting 
 on, tells against its being more. Both the history of its 
 composition and its internal structure are opposed to the 
 notion of its being a complete depository of the Divine 
 Will, unless the early Church says that it is. Now the 
 early Church does not tell us this. It does not seem to 
 have considered that a complete code of morals^ or of 
 OnMX^ government y or of rites, or of discipline, is in Scrip- 
 ture ; and therefore so far the original improbability 
 remains in force. Again, this antecedent improbability 
 tells, even in the case of the doctrines of faith, as far as 
 this, viz., it reconciles us to the necessity of gaining them 
 only indirectly from Scripture, for it is a near thing (if I 
 may so speak) that they are in Scripture at all; the 
 wonder is, that they are all there ; humanly judging, 
 they would not be there but for divine interposition ; 
 and, therefore, since they are there by a sort of accident. 
 
Structure of the Bible ^ antecedently considered, 151 
 
 it is not strange they are there only in an implicit shape, 
 and only indirectly producible thence. Providence effects 
 His greatest ends by apparent accidents. As in respect 
 to this earth, we do not find minerals or plants arranged 
 within it as in a cabinet — as we do not find the ma- 
 terials for building laid out in order, stone, timber, and 
 iron — as metal is found in ore, and timber on the tree, — 
 so we must not be surprised, but think it great gain, if 
 we find revealed doctrines scattered about high and low 
 in Scripture, in places expected and unexpected. It 
 could not be otherwise, the same circumstances being 
 supposed. Supposing fire, water, and certain chemical 
 and electrical agents in free operation, the earth's 
 precious contents could not be found arranged in order 
 and in the light of day without a miracle ; and so with- 
 out a miracle (which we are nowhere told to expect) we 
 could not possibly find in Scripture all sacred truths in 
 their place, each set forth clearly and fully, with its 
 suitable prominence, its varied bearings, its developed 
 meaning, supposing Scripture to be, what it is, the work 
 of various independent minds in various times and 
 places, and under various circumstances. And so much 
 on what might reasonably be expected from the nature 
 of the case. - 
 
152 
 
 Structure of the Bible in matter of fact. 
 
 I HAVE above insisted much upon this point, — that 
 if Scripture contains any religious system at all, it 
 viust contain it covertly, and teach it obscurely, because 
 it is altogether most immethodical and irregular in its 
 structure; and therefore, that the indirectness of the 
 Scripture proofs of the Catholic system is not an objec- 
 tion to its cogency, except as it is an objection to the 
 Scripture proofs of every other form of Christianity ; and 
 accordingly that we must take our choice (Romanism 
 being for the time put aside) between utter Latitudi- 
 narianism and what may be called the Method of Infer- 
 ences. Now this argument depends evidently on the 
 fact, that Scripture is thus unsystematic in its structure 
 — a fact which it would not be necessary to dwell upon, so 
 obvious is it, except that examining into it will be found 
 to give us a much more vivid apprehension of it, 
 and to throw light upon the whole subject of Scrip- 
 ture teaching. Something accordingly, I have just been 
 observing about it from antecedent probability, and now 
 I proceed, at some length, to inquire into the matter of 
 fact 
 
 I shall refer to Scripture as a record both of historical 
 events and of general doctrine, with a view of exhibiting 
 the peculiar character of its structure, the unostentatious, 
 indirect, or covert manner, which it adopts, for whatever 
 
Structure of the Bible in matter of fact. 153 
 
 reason, in its statements of whatever kind. This, I say, 
 will throw light on the subject in hand ; for so it is, as 
 soon as we come to see that anything, which has already 
 attracted our notice in one way, holds good in others, 
 that there is a certain law, according to which it occurs 
 uniformly under various circumstances, we gain a satis- 
 faction from that very coincidence, and seem to find a 
 reason for it in the very circumstance that it does proceed 
 on a rule or law. Even in matters of conduct, with 
 which an external and invariable standard might seem to 
 interfere, the avowal, " It is my way," *' I always do so," 
 is often given and accepted as a satisfactory account of 
 a person's mode of acting. Order implies a principle ; 
 order in God's Written Word implies a principle or design 
 in it. If I show that the Bible is written throughout 
 with this absence of method, I seem to find an order in 
 the very disorder, and hence become reconciled to it in 
 particular instances. That it is inartificial and obscure 
 as regards the relation of facts, has the effect of explain- 
 ing its being obscure in statement of doctrines ; that it is 
 so as regards one set of doctrines, seems naturally to 
 account for its being so as regards another. Thus, the 
 argument from analogy, which starts from the profession 
 of being only of a negative character, ends with being 
 positive^ when drawn out into details ; such being the 
 difference between its abstract pretension and its actual 
 and practical force. 
 
 First I propose to mention some instances of the un- 
 studied and therefore perplexed character of Scripture, 
 as regards its relation oi facts; and to apply them, as 
 I go, to the point under discussion, viz., the objection 
 brought against the Church doctrines from the mode in 
 which they too are stated in Scripture; and I shall begin 
 without further preface. 
 
154 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 I. 
 
 An illustration occurs in the very beginning of the 
 Bible. However we account for it, with which I am not 
 concerned, you will find that the narrative of the Crea- 
 tion, commenced in the first chapter, ends at the third 
 verse of the second chapter ; and then begins a fresh 
 narrative, carrying on the former, but going back a little 
 way. The difference is marked, as is well known, by 
 the use of the word " God " in the former narrative, and 
 of " Lord God " in the latter. According to the former, 
 God is said to create man "in His own image; mate 
 and female created He them" on the sixth day. Ac- 
 cording to the latter, the Lord God created Adam, and 
 placed him in the garden of Edca, to dress and keep it, 
 and gave him the command about the forbidden fruit, 
 and brought the beasts to him ; and afterwards^ on his 
 finding the want of a helpmeet, caused him to sleep, 
 and took one of his ribs, and thence made woman. 
 This is an instance of the unsolicitous freedom and want 
 of system of the sacred narrative. The second account, 
 which is an expansion of the first, is in the letter opposed 
 to it. Now ^supposing the narrative contained in the 
 second chapter was not in Scripture, but was the received 
 Church account of man's creation, it is plain not only 
 would it not be ifiy but it could not even be gathered or 
 proved from the first chapter ; which makes the argu- 
 ment all the stronger. Evidently not a pretence could 
 be made of proving from the first chapter the account 
 of the dressing the garden, the naming the brutes, the 
 sleep, and the creation of Eve from a rib. And most 
 persons in this day would certainly have disbelieved it. 
 Why? Because it wanted authority? No. There 
 would be some sense in such a line of argument, but 
 
Structure of the Bible in matter of fact, 155 
 
 they would not go into the question of authority. 
 Whether or not it had Catholic tradition in its favour, 
 whether Catholic tradition were or were not a sufficient 
 guarantee of its truth, would not even enter into their 
 minds ; they would not go so far, they would disbelieve 
 it at once on two grounds : first, they would say Scrip- 
 ture was silent about it, nay, that it contradicted it, that 
 it spoke of man and woman being created both together 
 on the sixth day ; and, secondly, they would say it was 
 incongruous and highly improbable, and that the account 
 of Adam's rib sounded like an idle tradition. If (I say) 
 they were to set it aside for want of evidence of its 
 truth, that would be a fair ground ; but I repeat, their 
 reason for setting it aside (can it be doubted ?) would be, 
 that it was inconsistent with Scripture in actual statement, 
 and unlike it in tone. But it is in Scripture. It seems 
 then that a statement may seem at variance with a cer- 
 tain passage of Scripture, may bear an improbable 
 exterior, and yet come from God. Is it so strange then, 
 so contrary to the Scripture account of the institution, 
 that the Lord's Supper should also be a Sacrifice, when 
 it is no interference at all with the truth of the first 
 chapter of Genesis, that the second chapter also should 
 be true } No one ever professed to deduce the second 
 chapter from the first : all Anglo-Catholics profess to 
 prove the sacrificial character of the Lord's Supper from 
 Scripture. Thus the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist 
 is not unscriptural, unless the book of Genesis is (what 
 is impossible, God forbid !) self-contradictory. 
 
 Again, take the following account, in the beginning 
 of the fifth chapter of Genesis, and say whether, if this 
 passage only had come down to us, and not the chapters 
 before it, we should not, with our present notions, have 
 utterly disallowed any traditional account of Eve's 
 
156 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 creation, the temptation, the fall, and the history of Cain 
 and Abel : — " This is the book of the generation of 
 Adam. In the day that God created man, in the like- 
 ness of God created He him ; male and female created 
 He them ; and blessed them, and called their name 
 Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam 
 lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his 
 own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth." 
 If the contrast between God's likeness and Adam's 
 image be insisted on as intentional, then I would have 
 it observed, how indirect and concealed that allusion is. 
 
 Again : I believe I am right in saying that we are no- 
 where told in Scripture, certainly not in the Old Testa- 
 ment, that the Serpent that tempted Eve was the Devil. 
 The nearest approach to an intimation of it is the last 
 book of the Bible, where the devil is called " that old 
 serpent." Can we be surprised that other truths are but 
 obscurely conveyed in Scripture, when this hardly escapes 
 (as I may say) omission t 
 
 Again : we have two accounts of Abraham's denying 
 his wife ; also, one instance of Isaac being betrayed into 
 the same weakness. Now supposing we had only one or 
 two of these in Scripture, and the others by tradition, 
 should we not have utterly rejected these others as per- 
 versions and untrustworthy.? On the one hand, we 
 should have said it was inconceivable that two such pas- 
 sages should occur in Abraham's life ; or, on the other, 
 that it was most unlikely that both Abraham and Isaac 
 should have gone to Gerar, in the time of a king of the 
 same name, Abimelech. Yet because St. James says, 
 *' Confess your faults one to anotJieVy' if we read that in 
 the early Church there was an usage of secret confession 
 made to the priest^ we are apt to consider this latter 
 practice, which our Communion Service recognizes, as a 
 
Structure of the Bible in matter of fact, 157 
 
 mere perversion or corruption of the Scripture command, 
 and that the words of St. James are a positive argument 
 against it. 
 
 In Deuteronomy we read that Moses fasted for forty- 
 days in the Mount, twice ; in Exodus only one fast 
 is mentioned. Now supposing Deuteronomy were not 
 Scripture, but merely part of the Prayer Book, should we 
 not say the latter was in this instance evidently mistaken? 
 This is what men do as regards Episcopacy. Deacons 
 are spoken of by St. Paul in his Epistles to Timothy 
 and Titus, and Bishops ; but no third order in direct and 
 express terms. The Church considers that there are 
 two kinds of Bishops, or, as the word signifies, overseers ; 
 those who have the oversight of single parishes, or 
 priests, and those who have the oversight of many 
 together, or what are now specially called Bishops. 
 People say, " Here is a contradiction to Scripture, which 
 speaks of two orders, not of three." Yes, just as real a 
 contradiction, as the chapter in Deuteronomy is a contra- 
 diction of the chapter in Exodus. But this again is to 
 take far lower ground than we need ; for we all contend 
 that the doctrine of Episcopacy, even granting it goes 
 beyond the teaching of some passages of Scripture, yet 
 is in exact accordance with others. 
 
 Again : in the history of Balaam we read, " God came 
 unto Balaam at night, and said unto him. If the men 
 come to call thee, rise up and go with them ; but yet the 
 word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou speak." * 
 Presently we read, '* And God's anger was kindled, because 
 he went ; and the Angel of the Lord stood in the way for 
 an adversary against him." Now supposing the former 
 circumstance (the permission given him to go) was not in 
 Scripture, but was only the received belief of the Church, 
 
 * Numb. xxii. 20. 
 
158 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 would it not be at once rejected by most men as incon- 
 sistent with Scripture ? And supposing a Churchman 
 were to entreat objectors to consider the strong evidence 
 in Catholic tradition for its truth, would not the answer 
 be, " Do not tell us of evidence ; we cannot give you a 
 hearing ; your statement is in plain contradiction to the 
 inspired text, which says that God's anger was kindled. 
 How then can He have told Balaam to go with the men ? 
 The matter stands to reason ; we leave it to the private 
 judgment of any unbiassed person. Sophistry indeed 
 may try to reconcile the tradition with Scripture ; but 
 after all you are unscriptural, and we uphold the pure 
 word of truth without glosses and refinements/' Now, 
 is not this just what is done in matters of doctrine ? 
 Thus, because our Lord represents the Father saying, 
 in the parable of the Prodigal Son, " Bring forth the best 
 robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, and 
 shoes on his feet," * it is argued that this is inconsistent 
 with the Church's usage, even supposing for argument's 
 sake it has no Scripture sanction, of doing penance for 
 sin. 
 
 Again : the book of Deuteronomy,'being a recapitula- 
 tion of the foregoing Books, in an address to the Israelites, 
 is in the position of the Apostolic Epistles. Exodus' 
 Leviticus, and Numbers, being a very orderly and syste- 
 matic account of events, are somewhat in the position of 
 Catholic tradition. Now Deuteronomy differs in some 
 minute points from the former books. For example : \n 
 Exodus, the fourth commandment contains a reference 
 to the creation of the world on the seventh day, as the 
 reason of the institution of the Sabbath : in Deuteronomy, 
 the same commandment refers it to the deliverance of the 
 Israelites out of Egypt on that day. Supposing we had 
 * Luke XV. 22. 
 
Structure of the Bible in matter of fact, 159 
 
 only the latter statement in Scripture, and supposing the 
 former to be only the received doctrine of the Church, 
 would not this former, that is, the statement contained in 
 Exodus, that the Sabbatical rest was in memory of God's 
 resting after the Creation, have seemed at once fanciful 
 and unfounded ? Would it not have been said, " Why 
 do you have recourse to the mysticism of types ? here is 
 a plain intelligible reason for keeping the Sabbath holy, 
 viz., the deliverance from Egypt Be content with this : 
 — besides, your view is grossly carnal and anthropomor- 
 phic. How can Almighty God be said to rest ? And it 
 is unscriptural ; for Christ says, * My Father worketh 
 hitherto, and I work/ " Now is it not a similar pro- 
 cedure to argue, that since the Holy Eucharist is a " com- 
 munication of the body and blood of Christ," therefore it 
 is not also a mysterious representation of His meritorious 
 Sacrifice in the sight of Almighty God ? 
 
 2. 
 
 Let us proceed to the history of the Monarchy, as 
 contained in the Books of Samuel and Kings, and com- 
 pare them with the Chronicles. Out of many instances 
 in point, I will select a few. For instance : — 
 
 In 2 Kings xv. we read of the reign of Azariah, or 
 Uzziah, king of Judah. It is said, " he did that which 
 was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that 
 his father Amaziah had done ; " and then that " the Lord 
 smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of 
 his death ; *' and we are referred for " the rest of the acts 
 of Azariah, and all that he did," to "the book of the 
 Chronicles of the kings of Judah.'' We turn to the 
 Chronicles, and find an account of the cause of the visita- 
 tion which came upon him. " When he was strong, his 
 beart was Hfted up to his destruction ; for he transgressed 
 
1 60 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of 
 the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And 
 Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him four- 
 score priests of the Lord that were valiant men. And they 
 withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It apper- 
 taineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the 
 Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are conse- 
 crated to burn incense : go out of the sanctuary, for thou 
 hast trespassed ; neither shall it be for thine honour from 
 the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer 
 in his hand to burn incense ; and while he was wroth with 
 the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead, before 
 the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the in- 
 cense altar. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the 
 priests, looked upon him, and behold he was leprous in 
 his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence ; yea, 
 himself hasted also to go out because the Lord had 
 smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto 
 the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being 
 a leper." * 
 
 Now nothing can be more natural than this joint 
 narrative. The one is brief, but refers to the other for 
 the details ; and the other gives them. Suppose, then, 
 a captious mind were to dwell upon the remarkable 
 silence of the former narrative, — magnify it as an objec- 
 tion, — and on the other hand should allude to the 
 tendency of the second narrative to uphold the priest- 
 hood, and should attribute it to such a design. Should 
 we think such an argument valid, or merely ingenious, 
 clever, amusing, yet not trustworthy? I suppose the 
 latter; yet this instance is very near a parallel to the 
 case as it stands, between the New Testament and the 
 doctrine of the Church. For instance, after St. Paul 
 * 2 Chron. xxvi. 16—21, 
 
Strudtcre of the Bible in ^natter of fact. i6i 
 
 has declared some plain truths to the Corinthians, he 
 says, " Be ye followers of me : for this cause have I sent 
 unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faith- 
 ful in the Lord, who shall bring you into rerneinbrance of 
 jny ways^ which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere m 
 every Church." * He refers them to an authority beyond 
 and bekide his epistle, — to Timothy, nay to his doctrine 
 as he had taught in every Church. If then we can as- 
 certain, for that I here assume, what was that doctrine 
 taught everywhere in the Church, we have ascertained 
 that to which St. Paul refers us ; and if that doctrine, so 
 ascertained, adds many things in detail to what he has 
 written, develops one thing, and gives a different im- 
 pression of others, it is no more than such a reference 
 might lead us to expect, — it is the very thing he prepares 
 us for. It as little, therefore, contradicts what is written, 
 as the books of Chronicles contradict the books of Kings ; 
 and if it appears to favour the priesthood more than St. 
 Paul does, this is no more than can be objected to the 
 Chronicles compared with the Kings. 
 
 Again, after, not teaching, but reminding them about 
 the Lord's Supper, he adds, " the rest will I set in order 
 when I come." When then we find the Church has 
 always considered that Holy Sacrament to be not only 
 a feast or supper, but in its fulness to contain a sacrifice, 
 and to require a certain liturgical form, how does this 
 contradict the inspired text, which plainly signifies that 
 something else is to come besides what it has said itself.? 
 So far from its being strange that the Church brings out 
 and fills up St. Paul's outline, it would be very strange 
 if it did not. Yet it is not unusual to ascribe these 
 additional details to priestcraft, and without proof to 
 call them corruptions and innovations, in the very spirit 
 ♦ I Cor. iv. 17. 
 
 V II 
 
1 62 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 in which freethinkers have before now attributed the 
 books of Chronicles to the Jewish priests, and accused 
 them of bigotry and intolerance. 
 
 It is remarkable how frequent are the allusions in the 
 Epistles to other Apostolic teaching beyond themselves, 
 that is, besides the written authority. For instance ; in 
 the same chapter, " I praise you, brethren, that ye re- 
 member me in all things, and keep the traditio7is, as I 
 delivered them to you." Again, '' I have also received," 
 or had by tradition, "of the Lord that which also I 
 delivered unto you," that is, which I gave by tradition 
 unto you. This giving and receiving was not in writing. 
 Again, " If any man seem to be contentious, we have nc 
 such custom, neither the churches of God : " he appeals 
 to the received custom of the Church. Again, '* I de- 
 clare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, 
 which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, . . . 
 for I delivered unto you (gave by tradition) first of all 
 that which I also received" (by tradition). Again, 
 " Stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have 
 been taught, whether by word or our epistle."* Such 
 passages prove, as all will grant, that at the time there 
 were means of gaining knowledge distinct from Scripture, 
 and sources of information in addition to it. When, then, 
 we actually do find in the existing Church system of 
 those times, as historically recorded, such additional in- 
 formation, that information may be Apostolic or it may 
 be not ; but however this is, the mere circumstance that 
 it is in addition, is no proof "against its being Apostolic ; 
 that it is extra-scriptural is no proof that it is unscrip- 
 tural, for St. Paul himself tells us in Scripture, that there 
 are truths not in Scripture, and we may as fairly ob- 
 ject to the books of Chronicles, that they are an addition 
 * I Cor. xi. 2, i6, 23 ; 2 v. I — 3 ; i Thess. ii. 15. 
 
Structure of the Bible in matter of fact, 163 
 
 to the books of Kings. In saying this, I am not enter- 
 ing into the question which lies between us and the 
 Romanists, whether these further truths are substantive 
 additions or simply developments, whether in faith or in 
 conduct and discipline. 
 
 Further : the Chronicles pass over David's great sin, 
 and Solomon's fall ; and they insert Manasseh's repent- 
 ance. The account of Manasseh's reign is given at 
 length in the second book of Kings ; it is too long of 
 course to cite, but the following are some of its par- 
 ticulars. Manasseh* "used enchantments and dealt 
 with familiar spirits and wizards;" he "seduced them 
 to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord 
 destroyed before the children of Israel." " Moreover 
 Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had 
 filled Jerusalem from one end to another." Afterwards, 
 when Josiah had made his reforms, the sacred writer 
 adds,t "Notwithstanding the Lord turned from the 
 fierceness of His great wrath, wherewith His anger was 
 kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations 
 that Ma7tasseh had provoked him withal." And again 
 in Jehoiakim's time,J " Surely, at the commandment of 
 the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of 
 His sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that 
 he did ; and also for the innocent blood, that he shed ; 
 for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the 
 Lord would not pardon'' And again in the book of Jere- 
 miah,§ "I will cause them to be removed into all the 
 kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of 
 Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jeru- 
 salem." Who would conjecture, with such passages of 
 Scripture before him, that Manasseh repented before his 
 death, and was forgiven ? but to complete the itlusion (as 
 * 2 Kings xxi. f 2 Kings xrni, 26. % 2 Kings xxiv. 3, 4, ^ Jer. xv, 4. 
 
1 64 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 it may be called), the account of his reign in the book 
 of Kings ends thus : * " Now the rest of the acts of 
 Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, 
 are they not zvritten in the book of the Chro7iicles of the 
 kings of Judah ? " — not a word about his repentance. 
 Might it not then be plausibly argued that the books of 
 Kings precisely limited and defined what the Chronicles 
 were to relate, " the sin that he sinned ; " that this was to 
 be the theme of the history, its outline and ground plan, 
 and that the absolute silence of the books of Kings about 
 his repentance was a cogent, positive argument that he 
 did not repent ? How little do they prepare one for 
 the following most affecting record of him : " When he 
 was in afBiction, he besought the Lord his God, and 
 humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 
 and prayed unto Him. And He was entreated of him, 
 and heard his supplication, and brought him again to 
 Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew 
 that the Lord He was God. . . . And he took away the 
 strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, 
 and the altars that he had built in the mount of the 
 house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out 
 of the city," etc. ..." Now the rest of the acts of 
 Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words 
 of the seers that spake to him in the name of the Lord 
 God of Israel, behold they are written in the book of 
 the kings of Israel. ... So Manasseh slept with his 
 fathers." f If then the books of Kings were the only 
 canonical account, and the book of Chronicles part of the 
 Apocrypha, would not the latter be pronounced an 
 unscriptural record, a legend and a tradition of men, 
 not because the evidence for their truth was insuffi- 
 cient, but on the allegation that they contradicted the 
 
 * 2 Kings xxi. f 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12 — 20. 
 
Slrudure of the Bible in matter of fad. 165 
 
 books of Kings ? — at least, is not this what is done as 
 regards the Church system of doctrine ? as \{ it must be 
 at variance with the New Testament, because it views 
 the Gospel from a somewhat distinct point of view, and 
 in a distinct Hght. 
 
 Again ; the account given of Jehoash in the Kings is 
 as follows : * " Jehoash did that which was right in the 
 sight of the Lord all his days, wherein Jehoiada the 
 priest instructed him," And it ends thus : "His servants 
 arose and made a conspiracy, and slew Joash m the 
 house of Millo : " there is no hint of any great defection 
 or miserable ingratitude on his part, though, as it turns 
 out on referring to Chronicles, the words " all his days, 
 wherein," etc., are significant. In the Chronicles we learn 
 that after good Jehoiada's death, whose wife had saved 
 him from Athaliah, and who preserved for him his 
 throne, he went and served groves and idols, and killed 
 Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, when he was raised up by 
 the Spirit of God to protest Judgments followed, — the 
 Syrians, and then "great diseases," and then assassi- 
 nation. Now, if the apparently simple words, " all the 
 days wherein," etc., are emphatic, why may not our 
 Saviour's words, *' If thou bring thy gifts to the altar,'' 
 be emphatic, or *" If thou wouldst be perfect,' suggest a 
 doctrine which it does not exhibit ? 
 
 3- 
 
 Now let us proceed to the Gospels ; a l^v^ instances 
 must suffice. 
 
 Considering how great a miracle the raising of Lazarus 
 is in itself, and how connected with our Lord's death, 
 how is it that the three first Gospels do not mention it ? 
 They speak of the chief priests taking counsel to put Him 
 
 * 2 Kings xii. 
 
1 66 Scriplure and the Creed, 
 
 to death, but they give no reason ; rather they seem to 
 assign other reasons, — for instance, the parables He 
 spoke against them.* At length St. John mentions the 
 miracle and its consequences. Things important then 
 may be true, though particular inspired documents do 
 not mention them. As the raising of Lazarus is true, 
 though not contained at all in the first three Gospels, so 
 the gift of consecrating the Eucharist may have been 
 committed by Christ to the priesthood, though this 
 is only indirectly stated in any of the four. Will you 
 say I am arguing against our own Church, which says 
 that Scripture " contains all things necessary to be be- 
 lieved to salvation " } Doubtless, Scripture contaiiis all 
 things necessary to be believed ; but there may be things 
 eo7itained in it, which are not on the surface, and things 
 which belong to the ritual and not to belief. Points of 
 faith may lie tmder the surface, points of observance need 
 not be in Scripture at all. The rule for consecrating is 
 a point of ritual ; yet it is indirectly taught in Scripture, 
 though not brought out, when Christ said, "Do this,'* 
 for He spoke to the Apostles who were priests, not to 
 His disciples generally. 
 
 Again : I just now mentioned the apparent repetition 
 in Genesis of the account of Abraham's denying his 
 wife ; a remark which applies to the parallel miracles 
 which occur in the histories of Elijah and Elisha, as the 
 raising of the dead child and the multiplication of the 
 oil. Were only the first of these parallel instances in 
 Scripture, the second in tradition, we should certainly 
 call the second a corruption or distorted account ; and 
 not without some show of reason, till other and better 
 reasons were brought And in like manner, as regards 
 the Gospels, did the account of the feeding of the 4,000 
 
 * Matt. xxi. 45. 
 
Structure of the Bible in matter of fact, 167 
 
 with seven loaves rest on the testimony of Antiquity, 
 most of us would have said, " You see how little you can 
 trust the Fathers ; it was not 4,000 with seven loaves, but 
 5,000 with five." Again, should we not have pronounced 
 that the discourses in Luke vi., xi., and xii., if they came 
 to us through the Fathers, were the same, only in a cor- 
 rupt form, as the Sermon on the Mount in Matt. v. — vii. 
 and as chapter xxiii. ? Nay, we should have seized 
 on Luke xi. 41, " But rather give alms of such things 
 as ye have, and behold all things are clean unto you," 
 as a symptom of incipient Popery, a mystery already 
 working. Yes, our Saviour's own sacred words (I fear 
 too truly) would have been seized on by some of us 
 as the signs of the dawn of Antichrist. This is a most 
 miserable thought. 
 
 Again : St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke say, 
 that Simon of Cyrene bore Christ's cross ; St. John, that 
 Christ Himself bore it Both might be true, and both 
 of course were true. He bore it part of the way, and 
 Simon part. Yet I conceive, did we find it was the 
 tradition of the Church that Simon bore it, we should 
 decide, without going into the evidence, that this was 
 a gloss upon the pure scriptural statement. So, in like 
 manner, even supposing that, when St. Paul says, *'Ye 
 do shew forth the Lord's death till He come," he meant, 
 which I do not grant, by " shew forth," preach, remind 
 each other of, or commemorate among yourselves, and 
 nothing more, (which I repeat I do not grant,) even then 
 it may be that the Holy Eucharist is also a remembrance 
 in God's sight, a pleading before Him the merits of 
 Christ's death, and, so far, a propitiatory offering, even 
 though this view of it were only contained in the im- 
 memorial usage of the Church, and were no point 
 pf necessary faith contained in Scripture. 
 
1 68 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 Again : Judas is represented as hanging himself in 
 St. Matthew, yet in the Acts as falling headlong, and his 
 bowels gushing out. I do not mean to say, of course, 
 that these accounts are irreconcilable even by us ; but 
 they certainly differ from each other : do not they differ 
 as much as the explicit Scripture statement that Confir- 
 mation imparts miraculous gifts, differs from the Church 
 view, not clearly brought out in Scripture, that it is also 
 an ordinary rite conferring ordinary gifts ? 
 
 We know how difficult it is to reconcile the distinct 
 accounts of the occurrences which took place at the 
 Resurrection with each other, and our Lord's appearances 
 to His disciples. For instance : — according- to Matt, 
 xxviii., it might seem that Christ did not appear to His 
 disciples, till He met them on the mountain in Galilee ; 
 but in St. Luke and St. John His first appearance was 
 on the evening of the day of Resurrection. Again : in 
 the Gospel according to St. Mark and St. Luke, the 
 Ascension seems to follow immediately on the Resur- 
 rection ; but in the Acts our Lord is declared to have 
 shown Himself to His disciples for forty days. These 
 forty days are a blank in two Gospels. And in like 
 manner, even though Scripture be considered to be alto- 
 gether silent as to the intermediate state, and to pass 
 from the mention of death to that of the judgment, there 
 is nothing in this circumstance to disprove the Church's 
 doctrine, (if there be other grounds for it,) that there is 
 an intermediate state, and that it has an important place 
 in the scheme of salvation, that in it the souls of the 
 faithful are purified and grow in grace, that they pray 
 for us, and that our prayers benefit them. 
 
 Moreover, there is on the face of the New Testament 
 plain evidence, that often the sacred writers are but 
 referring to the circumstances it relates, as known, and 
 
Structure of the Bible in matter of/act. 169 
 
 not narrating- them. Thus St. Luke, after describing our 
 Lord's consecration of the bread at supper time, adds 
 immediately, ''Likewise also the cup after supper, say- 
 ing,"* etc. ; he does not narrate it in its place ; he does 
 but allude to it as a thing well known, in the way of a note 
 or memorandum. Again : St. Mark, in giving an account 
 of St. John Baptist's martyrdom, says, *' When his dis- 
 ciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and 
 laid it in //^^tomb."t He is evidently speaking of an 
 occurrence, and of a tomb, which were well known to 
 those for whom he wrote. If historical facts be thus 
 merely alluded to, not taught, why may not doctrines 
 also } Here again it will be replied, that Scripture was 
 written to teach doctrine, not history ; but such an an- 
 swer will not hold good for many reasons. First, is it 
 true that the Gospels were not written to teach us the 
 facts of Christ's life } Next, is it true that the account 
 of the institution of the Lord's Supper is a mere abstract 
 historical narrative, and not recorded to direct our prac- 
 tice .'^ Further, where is the proof that Scripture was 
 intended to teach doctrine } This is one of the main 
 points in dispute. But enough in answer to a gratuitous 
 proposition ; and enough indeed in exemplification of 
 the characteristic of Scripture, which I proposed to con- 
 .^ider, 
 
 • Luke xxii. 20. f Mark vi. 29, 
 
I70 
 
 5. 
 
 TJu Lnpression made on the Reader by the Statements 
 of Scripture. 
 
 THE characteristics then, of the narrative portion 
 of Scripture are such as I have described ; it is 
 unsystematic and unstudied ; — from which I would infer, 
 that as Scripture relates facts without aiming at com- 
 pleteness or consistency, so it relates doctrines also ; so 
 that, if it does after all include in its teaching the whole 
 Catholic Creed; (as we of the English Church hold,) this 
 does not happen from any purpose in its writers so to do, 
 but from the overruHng providence of God, overruling just 
 so far as this : to secure a certain result, not a certain 
 mode of attaining it, — not so as to interfere with their 
 free and natural manner of writing, but by imperceptibly 
 guiding it ; in other words, not securing their teaching 
 against indirectness and disorder, but against eventual 
 incompleteness. From which it follows, that we must 
 not be surprised to find in Scripture doctrines of the 
 Gospel, however momentous, nevertheless taught ob- 
 liquely, and capable only of circuitous proof; — such, for 
 instance, as that of the Blessed Trinity, — and, among 
 them, the especial Church doctrines, such as the Aposto- 
 lical Succession, the efficacy of the Holy Eucharist, and 
 the essentials of the Ritual. 
 
 The argument, stated in a few words, stands thus : — 
 Since distinct portions of Scripture itself are apparently 
 inconsistent with one another, yet are not really so, 
 
Impression made by Scriphire Statements, 1 7 . 
 
 therefore it does not follow that Scripture and Catholic 
 doctrine are at variance with each other, even though 
 there may be sometimes a difficulty in adjusting the one 
 with the other. 
 
 Now I propose to go over the ground again in some- 
 what a different way, not confining myself to illustra- 
 tions from Scripture narrative, but taking others from 
 Scripture teaching also, and that with a view of answer- 
 ing another form which the objection is likely to take. 
 
 I. 
 
 The objection then may be put thus : " We are told, 
 it seems, in the Prayer Book, of a certain large and in- 
 fluential portion of doctrine, as constituting one great 
 part of the Christian Revelation, that is, of Sacraments, 
 of Ministers, of Rites, of Observances ; we are told that 
 these are the appointed means through which Christ's 
 gifts are conveyed to us. Now when we turn to Scrip- 
 ture, we see much indeed of those gifts, viz., we read much 
 of what He has done for us, by atoning for our sins, and 
 much of what He does in us, that is, much about holi- 
 ness, faith, peace, love, joy, hope, and obedience ; but of 
 those intermediate provisions of the Revelation coming 
 between Him and us, of which the Church speaks, we 
 read very little. Passages, indeed, are pointed out to us 
 as if containing notices of them, but they are in our 
 judgment singularly deficient and unsatisfactory; and 
 that, either because the meaning assigned to them is 
 not obvious and natural, but (as we think) strained, un- 
 expected, recondite, and at best but possible, or because 
 they are conceived in such plain, unpretending words, 
 that we cannot imagine the writers meant to say any 
 great thing in introducing them. On the other hand, a 
 silence is observed in certain places, where one might 
 
172 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 expect the doctrines in question to be mentioned. 
 Moreover, the general tone of the New Testament is 
 to our apprehension a full disproof of them ; that is, it 
 is moral, rational, elevated, impassioned, but there is 
 nothing of what may be called a sacramental, ecclesias- 
 tical, mysterious tone in it. 
 
 " For instance, let Acts xx. be considered : ' Upon 
 the first day of the week, when the disciples came 
 together to break bread ' — who would imagine, from 
 such a mode of speaking, that this was a solemn, mys- 
 terious rite? The words * break bread' are quite a 
 familiar expression. 
 
 "Or again: ^Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, 
 therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nei- 
 ther with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with 
 the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth/ Here, 
 if the Church system were true, one might have ex- 
 pected that in mentioning * keeping the feast,' a reference 
 would be made to the Eucharist, as being the great feast 
 of Christ's sacrifice; whereas, instead of the notion of 
 any literal feast occuring to the sacred writer, a mental 
 feast is the only one he proceeds to mention ; and the 
 unleavened bread of the Passover, instead of suggest- 
 ing to his mind the sacred elements in the Eucharist, is 
 to him but typical of something moral, 'sincerity and 
 truth.' 
 
 " Or again : * Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
 end of the world.' * This means, we are told, that Christ 
 is with the present Church : for when Christ said ' with 
 you,' He meant with you and your descendants ; and the 
 Church, at present so called, is descended from the Apos- 
 tles and first disciples. How very covert, indirect, and 
 unlikely a meaning ! 
 
 * Matt, xxviii; 20. 
 
Lnpressioii made by Scripture Statements. 173 
 
 " Or, to take another instance : How is it proved that 
 the Lord's Supper is generally necessary to salvation ? 
 By no part of Scripture except the sixth chapter of 
 St. John. Now, suppose that a person denies that this 
 passage belongs to that Sacrament, how shall we prove 
 it } And is it a very strong measure to deny it } Do 
 not many most excellent men now alive deny it } have 
 not many now dead denied it t " 
 
 This is the objection now to be considered, which hes 
 it would seem in this : that after considering what I have 
 been saying about the statement of facts in Scripture, 
 after all allowances on the score of its unstudied character, 
 there is still a serious difficulty remaining, — that the cir- 
 cumstance that its books were written at different times 
 and places, by different persons, without concert, explains 
 indeed much, — explains indeed why there is no system 
 in it, why so much is out of place, why great truths come ' 
 in by-the-bye, nay, would explain why others were left 
 out, were there any such ; but it does not explain the 
 case as it stands, it does not explain why a doctrine is 
 not introduced when there is an actual call for it, why a 
 sacred writer should come close up to it, as it were, and 
 yet pass by it ; why, when he does introduce it, he should 
 mention it so obscurely, as not at all to suggest it to an 
 ordinary reader ; why, in short, the tone and character 
 of his writing should be just contrary to his real meaning. 
 This is the difficulty, — strongly, nay almost extrava- 
 gantly put, but still plausible, — on which I shall now 
 attempt some remarks. 
 
 2. 
 
 Now there are two attributes of the Bible throughout, 
 which, taken together, seem to meet this difficulty, — 
 attributes which, while at first sight in contrast, have 
 
174 Scriphtre and the Creed. 
 
 a sort of necessary connexion, and set off each other- 
 simplicity and depth. Simplicity leads a writer to say 
 things without display ; and depth obliges him to use 
 inadequate words. Scripture then, treating of invisible 
 things, at best must use words less than those things ; 
 and, as if from a feeling that no words can be worthy of 
 them, it does not condescend to use even the strongest 
 that exist, but often takes the plainest. The deeper the 
 thought, the plainer the woid ; the word and thought 
 diverge from each other. Again, it is a property of 
 depth to lead a writer into verbal contradictions ; and 
 it is a property of simplicity not to care to avoid them. 
 Again, when a writer is deep, his half sentences, paren- 
 theses, clauses, nay his words, have a meaning in them 
 independent of the context, and admit of exposition. 
 There is nothing put in for ornament's sake, or for 
 rhetoric ; nothing put in for the mere sake of anything 
 else, but all for its own sake ; all as the expressions and 
 shadows of great things, as seeds of thought, and with 
 corresponding realities. Moreover, when a writer is deep, 
 or again when he is simple, he does not set about ex- 
 hausting his subject in his remarks upon it ; he says so 
 much as is in point, no more ; he does not go out of 
 his way to complete a view or to catch at collateral 
 thoughts ; he has something before him which he aims 
 at, and, while he cannot help including much in his 
 meaning which he does not aim at, he does aim at one 
 thing, not at another. Now to illustrate these remarks, 
 and to apply them. 
 
 One of the most remarkable characteristics of Scrip- 
 ture narrative, which I suppose all readers must have 
 noticed, is the absence of expressions by which the 
 reader can judge whether the events recorded are pre- 
 sented for praise or blame. A plain bare series of facts 
 
Impression made by Scripture Stdtcments. 175 
 
 is drawn out ; and whether for imitation or warning, often 
 cannot be decided except by the context, or by the event, 
 or by our general notions of propriety — often not at all. 
 The bearing and drift of the narrative are not given. 
 
 For instance, when the prophet Isaiah told Ahaz to 
 ask a sign, he said, *' I will not ask, neither will I tempt 
 the Lord." Was this right or wrong ? 
 
 When Elisha said to Joash, " Smite on the ground," 
 the king " smote thrice and stayed." What was the fault 
 of this ? We should not know it was faulty but by the 
 event, viz., that "the man of God was wroth with him, and 
 said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times." * 
 
 What was David's sin in numbering the people .-* Or 
 take the account of Moses striking the rock : *' And 
 Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He com- 
 manded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the 
 congregation together before the rock, and he said unto 
 them, Hear now, ye rebels ; must we fetch you water out 
 of this rock } And Moses lifted up his hand, and with 
 his rod he smote the rock twice : and the water came 
 out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their 
 beasts also."t I really do not think we should have 
 discovered that there was anything wrong in this, but 
 for the comment that follows : " Because ye believed Me 
 not, to sanctify Me," etc. ; though, of course, when we 
 are told, we are able to point out where their fault lay. 
 
 And in that earlier passage in the history of Moses, 
 when his zeal led him to smite the Egyptian, we are 
 entirely left by the sacred narrative to determine for 
 ourselves whether his action was good or bad, or how 
 far one, how far the other. We are left to a comment, 
 the comment of our own judgment, external to the in- 
 spired volume. 
 
 * 2 Kings xiii. i8, 19, f Numb. xx. 9— II. 
 
176 Scriptiire and the Creed. 
 
 Or consider the account of Jeroboam's conduct from 
 first to last in the revolt of the ten tribes ; or that of the 
 old prophet who dwelt in Samaria. Is it not plain that 
 Scripture does not interpret itself? 
 
 Or consider the terms in which an exceeding great 
 impiety of Ahaz and the high priest is spoken of; and 
 say, if we knew not the Mosaic law, or if we were not 
 told in the beginning of the chapter what the character 
 of Ahaz was, whether we should be able to determine, 
 from the narrative itself, whether he was doing a right 
 or a wrong, or an indifferent action. There is no epithet, 
 no turn of sentence, which betrays the divine judgment 
 of his deed. It passes in the Scripture narrative, as in 
 God's daily providence, silently. I allude to the follow- 
 ing passage : " And king Ahaz went to Damascus to 
 meet Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, and saw an altar 
 that was at Damascus : and king Ahaz sent to Urijah 
 the priest the fasliion of the altar, and the pattern of it, 
 according to all the workmanship thereof And Urijah 
 the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz 
 had sent from Damascus : so Urijah the priest made it 
 against king Ahaz came from Damascus. And when 
 the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the 
 altar ; and the king approached to the altar, and 
 offered thereon. And he burned his burnt-offering, and 
 his meat-offering, and poured his drink-offering, and 
 sprinkled the blood of his peace-offerings upon the 
 altar. And he brought also the brasen altar, which 
 was before the Lord, from the fore-front of the house, 
 from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and 
 put it on the north side of the altar. And king Ahaz 
 commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great 
 altar burn the morning burnt-offering . . . and the 
 brasen altar shall be for me tq inquire by. Thus did 
 
Lnpressioii made by Scripture Statevients, 177 
 
 Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz 
 commanded." * 
 
 Or, again, how simple and unadorned is the account 
 of St. John Baptist's martyrdom ! " Herod had laid 
 hold of John, and bound him and put him in prison for 
 Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife ; for John said 
 unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And 
 when he would have put him to death, he feared the 
 multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 
 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter 
 of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod- 
 Whereupon, he promised with an oath, to give her what- 
 soever she would ask. And she, being before instructed 
 of her mother, said. Give me here John Baptist's head 
 in a charger. And the king was sorry : nevertheless for 
 the oath's sake,* and them which sat with him at meat, 
 he commanded it to be given her. And he sent, and 
 beheaded John in the prison. And his head was 
 brought in a charger, and given to the damsel ; and 
 she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came, 
 and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told 
 Jesus." t Not a word of indignation, of lament, or of 
 triumph! Such is the style of Scripture, singularly 
 contrasted to the uninspired style, most beautiful but 
 still human, of the ancient Martyrologies ; for instance, 
 .that of the persecution at Lyons and Vienne. 
 
 St. Paul's journey to* Jerusalem, against the warnings 
 of the prophets, is the last in-stance of this character of 
 Scripture narrative which shall be given. The facts of 
 it are related so nakedly, that there has been room for 
 maintaining that he was wrong in going thither. ^ That 
 he was right would seem certain, from the way in which 
 he speaks of these warnings ; " Behold, I go bound in iJie 
 
 • 2 Kings xvL 10—16. f Matt. xiv. 
 
 12 
 
1 78 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shal 
 befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth ir 
 every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me ; "* 
 and also from Christ's words in the vision : '' Be of good 
 cheer, Paul ; for as thou Jiast testified of Me in Jerusalem/'f 
 etc. Yet though this be abundantly enough to convince 
 us, yet, I confess, the impression conveyed by the warning 
 of the disciples at Tyre saying, " through the Spirit, that 
 he should not go up to Jerusalem," J and by that of 
 Agabus at Csesarea, and, when he got to Jerusalem, by 
 his attempt to soften the Jews by means of a conformity 
 to the Law, and by his strong words, seemingly retracted, 
 to Ananias, and by his cleverly dividing the Jewish council 
 by proclaiming himself a Pharisee, — the impression, I say, 
 conveyed by all this would in itself be (a very false one,) 
 that there was something human in his conduct 
 
 3. 
 
 Thus the style of Scripture is plain and colourless, as 
 regards the relation of facts ; so that we are continually 
 perplexed what to think about them and about the parties 
 concerned in them. They need a comment, — they are 
 evidently but a text/(?r a comment, — they have no com- 
 ment ; and as they stand, may be turned this way or 
 that way, according to the accidental tone of mind in 
 the reader. And often the true comment, when given us 
 in other parts of Scripture, is startHng. I think it start- 
 ling at first sight that Lot, being such as he is repre- 
 sented to be on the whole in the Old Testament, should 
 be called by St. Peter "a just man.*' I think Ehud's 
 assassination of Eglon a startling act, — the praise given 
 to Jael for killing Sisera, startling. It is evident that 
 the letter of the sacred history conveys to the ordinary 
 
 * Acts XX. 22, 23. t lb- xxiii. II. % lb. xxi. 4. 
 
Impression made by Scripture Statements. 179 
 
 reader a very inadequate idea of the facts recorded in it, 
 considered as bodily, substantial, and (as it were) living 
 and breathing transactions. 
 
 Equal simplicity is observed in the relation of great 
 and awful events. For instance, consider the words in 
 which is described the vision of God vouchsafed to the 
 elders of Israel. " Then went up Moses and Aaron, and 
 Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ; 
 and they saw the God of Israel : and there was under 
 1 lis feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and 
 as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And 
 upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not 
 His hand : also they saw God, and did eat and did 
 drink." * Or consider the account of Jacob's wrestling 
 with the Angel. Or the plain, unadorned way in which 
 the conversations, if I may dare use the word, between 
 Almighty God and Moses are recorded, and His 
 gracious laments, purposes of wrath, appeasement, 
 repentance. Or between the Almighty and Satan, in 
 the first chapter of Job. Or how simply and abruptly 
 the narrative runs, "And [the Serpent] said unto the 
 woman . . . and the woman said unto the serpent ; " or, 
 " And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she 
 said to Balaam. . . . and Balaam said unto the ass."f 
 Minds familiarized to supernatural things, minds set upon 
 definite great objects, have no disposition, no time to 
 . indulge in embellishment, or to aim at impressiveness, or 
 I to consult for the weakness or ignorance of the hearer. 
 ' And so in like manner the words in which the celebra- 
 tion of the holy Eucharist is spoken of by St. Luke and 
 St. Paul, viz., *' breaking bread," are very simple : they 
 are applicable to a common meal quite as well as to the 
 Sacrament, and they only do not exclude, they in no 
 
 * Exod. xxiv. 9 — II. f Numb. xxii. 28 — 29. 
 
1 80 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 respect introduce that full and awful meaning which the 
 Church has ever put on them. ''As He sat at meat 
 with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, 
 and gave to them ; and their eyes were opened."* "They 
 continued stedfastly in the breaking of bread, and in 
 prayers." t "The first day of the week, when the 
 disciples came together to break bread. . . . When he 
 therefore was come up again and had broken bread, 
 and eaten, and talked a long while even till break of day, 
 so he departed." J " When he had thus spoken, he took 
 bread, and gave thanks to God in the presence of them 
 all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat."§ 
 *' The bread which we break, is it not the communion 
 of the Body of Christ .^"|| "The Lord Jesus, the same 
 night in which He was betrayed, took bread ; and when 
 He had given thanks. He brake it."1I Now no words 
 can be simpler than these. What is remarkable is the 
 repeated mention of the very same acts in the same 
 order — taking, blessing or giving thanks, and breaking. 
 Certainly the constant use of the word "break" is very 
 remarkable. For instance, in the ship, why should it be 
 said, " And when He had thus spoken. He took bread, 
 and gave thanks ; and when He had broken it, He began 
 to eat," since he alone ate it, and did not divide it among 
 his fellow-passengers } But supposing the passages had 
 been a little less frequent, so as not to attract attention 
 by their similarity, what could be more simple than the 
 words, — what less adapted to force on the mind any 
 high meaning } Yet these simple words, blessings break- 
 ing, eating, giving, have a very high meaning put on 
 them in our Prayer Book, put on them by the Church 
 from the first ; and a person may be tempted to say 
 
 *Luke xxiv. 30, 31. % Acts xx. 7 — ll. || I Cor. x. 16. 
 
 t Acts ii. 42. § lb. xxvii. 35. % lb. xi. 23, 24. 
 
Impression made by Scripture Statefnents. i8i 
 
 that the Church's meaning is not borne out by suck 
 simple words. I ask, are they more bare and colourless 
 than the narrative of many a miraculous transaction in 
 the Old Testament ? 
 
 Such is the plain and (as it were) unconscious way in 
 which great things are recorded in Scripture. However, 
 it may be objected that there is no allusion to Catholic 
 doctrines, even where one would think there must have 
 been, had they been in the inspired writer's mind ; that 
 is, were they part of the Divine Revelation. For in- 
 stance, if Baptism is so indispensable for the evangelical 
 blessings, why do we hear nothing of the baptism of the 
 Apostles ? If Ordinances are so imperative now, why 
 does not our Lord say so, when He says, " Neither in 
 this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, shall ye worship 
 the Father " } That is, the tone of the New Testament 
 is unsacramental ; and the impression it leaves on the 
 mind is not that of a Priesthood and its attendant 
 system. This may be objected : yet I conceive that 
 a series of Scripture parallels to this, as regards other 
 matters, might easily be drawn out, all depending on 
 this principle, and illustrating it in the case before us ; 
 viz., that when the sacred writers were aiming at one 
 thing, they did not go out of their way ever so little to 
 introduce another. The fashion of this day, indeed, is 
 ever to speak about all religious things at once, and 
 never to introduce one, but to introduce all, and never to 
 maintain reserve about any ; and those who are imbued 
 with the spirit which this implies, doubtless will find it 
 difficult to understand how the sacred writers could help 
 speaking of what was very near their subject, when it 
 was not their subject. Still we must submit to facts, 
 which abundantly evidence that they could. This 
 omission of the Sacraments in St. Paul and St. John, sc 
 
1 82 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 far as distinct mention is omitted (for in fact they are fre- 
 quently mentioned), as little proves that those Apostles 
 were not aware and thinking of them, as St. James's 
 Epistle is an evidence that he did not hold the doctrine 
 of the Atonement, which is not there mentioned. Ot 
 consider how many passages there are in the history, in 
 which some circumstance is omitted which one would 
 expect to be inserted. For instance : St. Peter struck 
 off the ear of Malchus when our Lord was seized. St. 
 John gives the names ; St. Matthew and St. Mark re- 
 late the occurrence without the names. This is com- 
 monly explained on the ground that St. John, writing 
 later than his brother Evangelists, and when all parties 
 were dead, might give the names without exposing St. 
 Peter, if indeed he was still alive, to any civil inconve- 
 niences. True, this is an explanation so far ; but what 
 explains their omitting, and St. John omitting, our 
 Lord's miracle in healing the ear, while St. Luke re- 
 lates it } Was not this to deliver a half account 1 is it 
 not what would be called unnatural, if it were a ques- 
 tion, not of history, but of doctrine ? 
 
 4. 
 
 Now let us review cases in which matters of doctrine, 
 or the doctrinal tone of the composition, is in question. 
 Is the tone of Scripture more unfavourable to the doctrine 
 of a Priesthood than it is to the idea of Christianity, such 
 as we have been brought up to regard it, — I mean of an 
 established, endowed, dignified Church ; and, if its esta- 
 blishment is not inconsistent (as it is not) with the New 
 Testament, why should its mysticalness be } Certainly, 
 if anything is plain, it is that Scripture represents the 
 very portion of Christians, one and all, to be tribulatioa. 
 want, contempt, persecution. I do not, — of course not. 
 
Impression made by Scriphtre Statements. 183 
 
 far from it, — I do not say that the actual present state of 
 the Church Catholic and the text of the New Testament, 
 are not reconcilable ; but is it not a fact, that the first 
 impression from Scripture of what the Church should be, 
 is not fulfilled in what we see around us ? 
 
 Again : I suppose another impression which would be 
 left on an unbiassed reader by the New Testament would 
 be, that the world was soon to come to an end. Yet it 
 has not. As, then, we submit to facts in one case, and 
 do not exercise our so-called right of private judgment 
 to quarrel with our own consciousness that we do live, 
 and that the world does still go on, why should we not 
 submit to facts in the other instance ? and if there be 
 good proof that what the Church teaches is true, and is 
 comformable to given texts of Scripture, in spite of this 
 vague impression from its surface to the contrary, why 
 should we not reconcile ourselves to the conclusion that 
 that impression of its being opposed to a Sacramental or 
 Priestly system is a false impression, is private and per- 
 sonal, or peculiar to a particular age, untrustworthy, va 
 fact false, just as the impression of its teaching that the 
 world was soon to come to an end is false, because it has 
 not been fulfilled ? 
 
 Again : I suppose any one reading our Lord's dis- 
 courses, would, with the Apostles, consider that the 
 Gentiles, even if they were to be converted, yet were 
 not to be on a level with the Jews. The impression 
 His words convey is certainly such. But of this more 
 presently. 
 
 Again : it is objected that little is said in the New 
 Testament of the danger of sin after baptism, or of the 
 penitential exercises by which it is to be remedied. 
 Well : supposing it for argument's sake : yet let me ask 
 the previous question. Is there much said in the New 
 
184 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 Testament of the chance of sin after baptism at all ? 
 Are not all Christians described as if in all important 
 respects sinless ? Of course, falling away is spoken of, 
 and excommunication ; but grievous sin has no distinct 
 habitat among those who are " called to be saints " and 
 members of the Church in the Epistles of St. Paul and 
 St. John. Till we examine Scripture on the subject, 
 perhaps we have no adequate notion how little those 
 Apostles contemplate recurring sin in the baptized. The 
 argument then proves too much : for if silence proves 
 anything, it will prove either that Christians who now 
 live do not fall into gross sin, or that those who have so 
 fallen have forfeited their Christianity. 
 
 Again : the first three Gospels contain no declaration 
 of our Lord's divinity, and there are passages which tend 
 at first sight the other way. Now, is there one doctrine 
 more than another the essential and characteristic of a 
 Christian mind t Is it possible that the Evangelists 
 could write any one particle of their records of His 
 life, without having the great and solemn truth stead- 
 fastly before them, that He was their God ? Yet they 
 do not show this. It follows, that truths may be in the 
 mind of the inspired writers, which are not discoverable 
 to ordinary readers in the tone of their composition. I 
 by no means deny that, now we know the doctrine, 
 we can gather proofs of it from the three Gospels in 
 question, and can discern in them a feeling of reverence 
 towards our Lord, which fully implies it ; but no one will 
 say it is on the surface, and such as to strike a reader. 
 I conceive the impression left on an ordinary mind would 
 be, that our Saviour was a superhuman being, intimately 
 possessed of God's confidence, but still a creature ; an 
 impression infinitely removed from the truth as really 
 contained and intended in those Gospels. 
 
Impression made by Scripture Statements, 185 
 
 Again: is the tone of the Epistle of St. James the 
 same as the tone of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians ? 
 or that of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans as that of the 
 same Apostle's Epistle to the Hebrews } Might they 
 not be as plausibly put in opposition with each other, 
 as the Church system is made contrary to Scripture 1 
 
 Again : consider what the texts are from which Cal- 
 vinists are accustomed to argue, viz., such as speak 
 of God's sovereign grace, without happening to make 
 mention of man's responsibility. Thus : " He who has 
 begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day 
 of the Lord Jesus," and, " Who are kept by the power 
 of God through faith unto salvation," are taken as irre- 
 fragable arguments for final perseverance. If mention 
 in Scripture of God's electing mercy need not exclude 
 man's moral freedom, why need the stress laid in Scrip- 
 ture upon faith and love exclude the necessity of sacra- 
 ments as instruments of grace } 
 
 Again : if silence implies denial or ignorance of the 
 things passed over ; if nothing is the sense of Scripture 
 but what is openly declared ; if first impressions are 
 everything, what are we to say to the Book of Canticles, 
 which nowhere hints, (nor Scripture afterwards any- 
 where hints either,) that it has a spiritual meaning 1 
 Either, then, the apparent tone of passages of Scripture 
 is not the real tone, or the Canticles is not a sacred book. 
 
 Again : is not the apparent tone of the Prophecies 
 concerning Christ of a similarly twofold character, as is 
 shown by the Jewish notion that there were to be two 
 Messiahs, one suffering and one triumphant } 
 
 Another illustration which deserves attention, lies in the 
 impression which David's history in the Books of Samuel 
 conveys, compared with that derived from the Chronicles 
 and the Psalms. I am not speaking of verbal discrepan- 
 
^b'6 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 cies or difficulties to be reconciled, — the subject which 
 I have already discussed, — but of the tone of the narra- 
 tive, and the impression thence made upon the reader ; 
 and I think that it must be allowed that the idea which 
 we have of David's character from the one document, is 
 very different from that gained from the other two. In 
 the Books of Samuel we have the picture of a monarch, 
 bold, brave, generous, loyal, accomplished, attractive, and 
 duly attached to the cause, and promoting the establish- 
 ment, of the Mosaic law, but with apparently little per- 
 manent and consistent personal religion; his character 
 is sullied with many sins, and clouded with many sus- 
 picions. But in the First Book of Chronicles, and in 
 the Psalms, we are presented with the picture of a 
 humble, tender, devotional, and deeply spiritual mind, 
 detached from this world, and living on the thought and 
 in the love of God. Is the impression derived from the 
 New Testament more unfavourable to the Church 
 system (admitting that it is unfavourable), than that of 
 the Books of Samuel to David's personal holiness ? 
 
 5. 
 
 I just now reserved the doctrine of the admission of 
 the Gentiles into the Church, for separate consideration ; 
 let us now turn to it. Their call, certainly their equality 
 with the Jews, was but covertly signified in our Lord's 
 teaching. I think it is plainly there signified, though 
 covertly ; but, if covertly, then the state of the evidence 
 for the Catholicity of the Christian Church will lie in the 
 same disadvantage in the Gospels as the state of the 
 evidence for its ritual character in the Epistles ; and 
 we may as well deny that the Church is Gentile, on the 
 ground that our Lord but indirectly teaches it, as that 
 > is sacramental on the ground that His Apostles indi- 
 
Lnpression made by Scripture Slatejuents. 187 
 
 rectly teach it. It is objected that the Church system, 
 the great Episcopal, Priestly, Sacramental system, was 
 an after-thought, a corruption coming upon the sim- 
 plicity of the primitive and Apostolic rehgion. The 
 primitive religion, it is said was more simple. More 
 simple ! Did objectors never hear that there have been 
 unbelievers who have written to prove that Christ's 
 religion was more simple than St. Paul's — that St. Paul's 
 Epistles are a second system coming upon the three Gos- 
 pels and changing their doctrine ? Have we never heard 
 that some have considered the doctrine of our Lord's 
 Divinity to be an addition upon the ''simplicity" of the 
 Gospels } Yes : this has been the belief not only of 
 heretics, as the Socinians, but of infidels, such as the 
 historian Gibbon, who looked at things with less of pre- 
 judice than heretics, as having no point to maintain.- I 
 think it will be found quite as easy to maintain that the 
 Divinity of Christ w^as an after-thought, brought in by 
 the Greek Platonists and other philosophers, upon the 
 simple and primitive creed of the Galilean fishermen, as 
 infidels say, as that the Sacramental system came in 
 from the same source as rationalists say. — But to return 
 to the point before us. Let it be considered whether a 
 very plausible case might not be made out by way of 
 proving that our Blessed Lord did not contemplate the 
 evangelizing of the heathen at all, but that it was an 
 after-thought, when His Apostles began to succeed, and 
 their ambitious hopes to rise. 
 
 If texts from the Gospels are brought to show that 
 it was no after-thought, such as the mustard-seed, or the 
 labourers of the vineyard, which imply the calling and 
 conversion of the Gentiles, and the implication contained 
 in His discourse at Nazareth concerning the miracles of 
 Elijah and Elisha wrought upon Gentiles, and His signi- 
 
1 88 567 iptiire and the Creed, 
 
 ficant acts, such as His complying with the prayer of the 
 Canaanitish woman, and His condescension towards the 
 centurion, and, above all. His final command to go into all 
 the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, " and 
 to go teach all nations, baptizing them ;" still it may be 
 asked, Did not the Apostles hear our Lord, and what 
 w^as their impression from what they heard ? Is it not 
 certain that the Apostles did not gather this command 
 from His teaching ? So far is certain : and it is certain 
 that none of us will deny that nevertheless that command 
 comes from Him. Well then, it is plain, that important 
 things may be in Scripture, yet not brought out : is 
 there then any reason why we should be more clear- 
 sighted as regards another point of doctrine, than the 
 Apostles were as regards this ? I ask this again : Is 
 there any reason that we, who have not heard Christ 
 speak, should have a clearer apprehension of the meaning 
 of His recorded discourses on a given point, than the 
 Apostles who did ? and if it be said that we have now 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit, which the Apostles had not 
 during our Lord's earthly ministry, then I ask again, where 
 is there any promise that we, as individuals, should be 
 brought by His gracious influences into the perfect truth 
 by merely employing ourselves on the text of Scripture 
 by ourselves ? However, so far is plain, that a doctrine 
 which we see to be plainly contained, nay necessarily 
 presupposed, in our Lord's teaching, did not so impress 
 itself on the Apostles. 
 
 These thoughts deserve consideration ; but what I was 
 coming to in particular is this ; I wish you to turn in 
 your mind such texts as the following : " Ye shall be 
 witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea 
 and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth!' 
 An objector would say that " the uttermost part of the 
 
Impression 77iade by Scripture Statements, 189 
 
 earth'' ought to be translated "uttermost part of the 
 land'' — that is, the Holy Land. And he would give this 
 reason to confirm it. " How very unlikely that the 
 whole of the world, except Judaea, should be straitened up 
 into one clause ! Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, mentioned 
 distinctly, and the whole world brought under one 
 word!" And I suppose the Apostles did at the time 
 understand the sentence to mean only the Holy Land. 
 Certainly they did not understand it to imply the abso- 
 lute and immediate call of the Gentiles as mere Gentiles. 
 You will say that such texts as Luke xxiv. 47, are 
 decisive : " that repentance and remission of sins should 
 be preached in His Name among all nations^ beginning 
 at Jerusalem." Far from it ; as men nowadays argue, 
 they would say it was not safe to rely on such texts. 
 Among all nations :" ^^ into ox /<? all nations," this need 
 not mean more than that the Jews in those nations 
 should be converted. The Jews were scattered about in 
 those days ; the Messiah was to collect them together. 
 This text speaks of His doing so, according to the 
 prophecies, wherever they were scattered. To this, the 
 question of the populace relates, " Whither will He go 
 that we shall not find Him } will He go unto the dis- 
 persed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles " * or 
 Greek Jews } And St. John's announcement also, that 
 He died "not for that nation only, but that also He 
 should gather together in one the- children of God that 
 were scattered abroad."t And St. Peter's address '' to 
 the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cap- 
 padocia, Asia, and Bithynia." And especially on the 
 day of Pentecost, when the same Apostle addressed the 
 Jews, devout men dwelling at Jerusalem, out of every 
 nation under heaven."J 
 
 * John vi. 35. f lb. xi. 51. 52. % Acts ii. 5, 
 
I go Scripture a7id the Creed. 
 
 Again : if the words " preach the Gospel to every 
 creature," were insisted on, an objector might say that 
 creature or creation does not mean all men any more 
 than it includes all animals or all Angels, but one part 
 of the creation, the elect, the Jews.* 
 
 Here then are instances of that same concise and 
 indirect mode of stating important doctrine in half 
 sentences, or even words, which is supposed to be an 
 objection to the peculiar Church doctrines only. For 
 instance, it is objected that the sacred truth of the pro- 
 cession of the Holy Ghost from the Father, is only con- 
 tained in the words, " the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth 
 from the Father :"t the equality of the Son to the 
 Father, in the phrase, " who being in the form of God, 
 thought it not robbery to be equal with God," and in the 
 Jews' inference from our Lord's words, " He said that 
 God was His Father, making Himself equal with God."J 
 The doctrine of original sin depends on a few implica- 
 tions such as this, " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
 shall all be made alive." § And in like manner the 
 necessity of the Lord's Supper for salvation, upon the 
 sixth chapter of St. John, in which the subject of Christ's 
 flesh and blood is mentioned, but not a word expressly 
 concerning that Sacrament, which as yet was future. So 
 also, I Cor. x. i6, " The cup of blessing," etc., is almost a 
 parenthesis : and the ministerial power of Absolution 
 depends on our Lord's words to His Apostles, ''Whoseso- 
 ever sins ye remit," || etc. ; and the doctrine of the Chris- 
 tian Altar, upon such words as, '* If thou bring thy gift 
 to the Altar," etc. Now I say all these are paralleled by 
 the mode in which our Lord taught the call of the 
 Gentiles : He said, " Preach the Gospel to every crea- 
 
 * Vide Rom. viii. 19. § i Cor. xv. 22. 
 
 f John XV. 26. II John xx. 23. 
 
 i PhiHp. ii. 6 ; John v. 18. 
 
Impression made by Scripture Statements. 151 
 
 ture." These words need have only meant, " Bring all 
 men to Christianity through Judaism :" make them 
 Jews, that they may enjoy Christ's privileges, which 
 are lodged in Judaism ; teach them those rites and cere- 
 monies, circumcision and the like, which hereto have 
 been dead ordinances, and now are living : and so the 
 Apostles seem to have understood them. Yet they 
 meant much more than this ; that Jews were to have no 
 precedence of the Gentiles, but the one and the other to 
 be on a level. It is quite plain that our Saviour must 
 have had this truth before His mind, if we may so speak, 
 when He said, " Preach to every creature." Yet the 
 words did not on the surface mean all this. As then 
 they meant more than they need have been taken to 
 mean, so the words, " I am with you alway," or, " Re- 
 ceive ye the Holy Ghost," may mean much more than 
 they need mean ; and the early Church may, in God's 
 providence, be as really intended to bring out and settle 
 the meaning of the latter, as St. Peter at Joppa, and St. 
 Paul on his journeys, to bring out the meaning of the 
 former. 
 
 To this there are other parallels. For instance : who 
 would have conceived that the doctrine of the Resur- 
 rection of the Dead lay hid in the words, " I am the God 
 of Abraham," etc. } Why may not the doctrines con- 
 cerning the Church lie hid in repositories which certainly 
 are less recondite } Why may not the Church herself, 
 who is called the pillar and ground of the Truth, be the 
 appointed interpreter of the doctrines about herself.? 
 
 Again : consider how much is contained, and how 
 covertly, in our Saviour's words, "But ye are clean, but 
 not all;" — or in His riding on an ass, and not saying 
 why; or in His saying "Destroy this Temple," when 
 *' He spoke of the Temple of His Body." Let it be 
 
19- Scripiure and the Creed. 
 
 borne in mind, that a figurative, or, what may be called 
 a sacramental style, was the very characteristic of oriental 
 teaching ; so that it would have been a wilful disrespect 
 in any hearer who took the words of a great prophet 
 in their mere literal and outside sense. 
 
 Here, too, the whole subject of prophecy might be 
 brought in. What doctrine is more important than that 
 of the miraculous conception of our Lord ? Yet how is 
 it declared in prophecy t Isaiah said to Ahaz, " Behold, a 
 Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His 
 Name Immanuel." The first meaning of these words 
 seems not at all to allude to Christ, but to an event of 
 the day. The great Gospel doctrine is glanced at (as we 
 may say) through this minor event. 
 
 These remarks surely suffice on this subject, viz., to 
 show that the impression we gain from Scripture need 
 not be any criterion or any measure of its true and full 
 sense ; that solemn and important truths may be silently 
 taken for granted, or alluded to m a half sentence, or 
 spoken of indeed, yet in such unadorned language that we 
 may fancy we see through it, and see nothing ; — pecu- 
 liarities of Scripture which result from what is the peculiar 
 character of its teaching, simplicity and depth. Yet even 
 without taking into account these peculiarities, it is obvi- 
 ous, from what meets us daily in the course of life, how 
 insufficient a test is the surface of any one composition, 
 conversation, or transaction, of the full circle of opinions 
 of its author. How different persons are, when we know 
 them, from what they appeared to us in their writings ! 
 how many opinions do they hold, which we did not ex- 
 pect in them ! how many practices and ways have they, 
 how many peculiarities, how many tastes, which we did 
 
Impressions made by Scripture Statements, 193 
 
 not imagine ! I will give an illustration ; — that great 
 philosopher, Bp. Butler, has written a book, as we know, 
 on the Analogy of Religion. It is distinguished by a 
 grave, profound, and severe style ; and apparently is not 
 the work of a man of lively or susceptible mind. Now 
 we know from his history, that, when Bishop, he put up 
 a Cross in his chapel at Bristol. Could a reader have 
 conjectured this from that work } At first sight would 
 it not have startled one who knew nothing of him but 
 from that work ? I do not ask whether, on consideration, 
 he would not find it fell in with his work ; of course it 
 would, if his philosophy were consistent with itself ; but 
 certainly it is not on the surface of his work. Now 
 might not we say that his work contained the whole of 
 his philosophy, and yet say that the use of the Cross was 
 one of his usages ? In like manner we may say that the 
 Bible is the whole of the Divine Revelation, and yet the 
 use of the Cross a divine usage. 
 
 But this is not all. Some small private books of his 
 are extant, containing a number of every-day matters, 
 such as of course one could not expect to be able to con- 
 jecture from his great work ; I mean, matters of ordinary 
 and almost household life. Yet those who have sQ^n 
 these papers are likely to feel a surprise that they 
 should be Butler's. I do not say that they can give 
 any reason why they should not be so ; but the notion 
 we form of any one whom we have not seen, will ever 
 be in its details very different from the true one. 
 
 Another series of illustrations might be drawn from 
 the writings of the ancients. Those who are acquainted 
 with the Greek historians know well that they, and par- 
 ticularly the gravest and severest of them, relate events 
 so simply, calmly, unostentatiously, that an ordinary 
 reader does not recognize v/hat events are great and 
 
 13 
 
1 94 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 what little ; and on turning to some modern history 
 in which they are commented on, will find to his sur- 
 prise that a battle or a treaty, which was despatched in 
 half a line by the Greek author, is perhaps the turning- 
 point of the whole history, and was certainly known by 
 him to be so. Here is the case of the gospels, with 
 this difference, that they are unsystematic compositions, 
 whereas the Greek historians profess to be methodical. 
 
 Again : instances might easily be given of the silence 
 of contemporary writers, Greek or Roman, as to great 
 events of their time, when they might be expected to 
 notice them ; a silence which has even been objected 
 against the fact of those events having occurred, yet, in 
 the judgment of the mass of well-informed men, without 
 any real cogency. 
 
 Again : as to Greek poetry, philosophy, and oratory, 
 how severe and unexceptionable is it for the most part ; 
 yet how impure and disgraceful was the Greek daily 
 life ! Who shows a more sober and refined majesty 
 than Sophocles } yet to him Pericles addressed the 
 rebuke recorded in the first book of Cicero's Of^ces.* 
 
 7- 
 
 I conclude with two additional remarks. I have been 
 arguing that Scripture is a deep book, and that the pecu- 
 liar doctrines concerning the Church, contained in the 
 Prayer Book, are in its depths. Now let it be remarked 
 in corroboration, first, that the early Church always did 
 consider Scripture to be what I have been arguing that 
 it is from its structure, — viz., a book with very recondite 
 meanings ; this they considered, not merely with refer- 
 ence to its teaching the particular class of doctrines in 
 question, but as regards its entire teaching. They con- 
 
Impressions made by Scripture Statements. 195 
 
 sidered that it was full of mysteries. Therefore, saying 
 that Scripture has deep meanings, is not an hypothesis 
 invented to meet this particular difficulty, that the Church 
 doctrines are not on its surface, but is an acknowledged 
 principle of interpretation independent of it. 
 
 Secondly, it is also certain that the early Church did 
 herself conceal these same Church doctrines. I am not 
 determining whether or not all her writers did io,^r all her 
 teachers, or at all times, but merely that, viewing that 
 early period as a whole, there is on the whole a great 
 secrecy observed in it concerning such doctrines (for 
 instance) as the Trinity and the Eucharist ; that is, the 
 early Church did the very thing which I have been sup- 
 posing Scripture does, — conceal high truths. To suppose 
 that Scripture conceals them, is not an hypothesis in- 
 vented to meet the difficulty arising from the fact that they 
 are not on the surface; for the early Church, independent 
 of that alleged difficulty, did herself in her own teaching 
 conceal them. This is a second very curious coinci- 
 dence. If the early Church had reasons for concealment, 
 it may be that Scripture has the same ; especially if we 
 suppose, — what at the very least is no very improbable 
 idea, — that the system of the early Church is a continua- 
 tion of the system of those inspired men who wrote the 
 New Testament^ 
 
196 
 
 6. 
 
 Exter7ial Difficulties of the Canon and the Catholic 
 Creed, compared, 
 
 I AM now proceeding to a subject which will in some 
 little degree take me beyond the bounds which I 
 had proposed to myself when I began, but which, being 
 closely connected with that subject, and (as I think) 
 important, has a claim on our attention. The argument 
 which has been last engaging us is this : Objection is 
 made to the indirectness of the evidence from Scripture 
 on which the peculiar Church doctrines are proved ; — I 
 have answered, that sacred history is for the most part 
 marked by as much apparent inconsistency, as recorded 
 in one part of Scripture and another, as there is incon- 
 sistency as regards doctrine in the respective informa- 
 tions of Scripture and the Church ; one event being told 
 us here, another there ; so that we have to compare, 
 compile, reconcile, adjust. As then we do not complain 
 of the history being conveyed in distinct, and at times 
 conflicting, documents, so too we have no fair reason for 
 <:omplaining of the obscurities and intricacies under 
 vvhich doctrine is revealed through its two channels. 
 
 I then went on to answer in a similar way the objec- 
 tion, that Scripture was contrary to the teaching of the 
 Church (i.e., to our Prayer Book), not only in specific 
 statements, but in tone ; for I showed that what we call 
 the tone of Scripture, or the impression it makes on the 
 reader, varies so very much according to the reader, 
 
External Difficulties of Canon and Creed, 197 
 
 that little stress can be laid upon it, and that its 
 tone and the impression it makes would tell against a 
 variety of other points undeniably true and firmly held 
 by us, quite as much as against the peculiar Church 
 doctrines. 
 
 In a word, it is as easy to show that Scripture has no 
 contents at all, or next to none, as that it does not con- 
 tain the peculiar Church doctrines — that the objection 
 which is brought against the Apostolical Succession or the 
 Priesthood being in Scripture, tells against the instruction 
 and information conveyed in Scripture generally. But 
 now I am going to a further point, which has been inci- 
 dentally touched on, that this same objection is preju- 
 dicial not only to the Revelation, whatever it is, contained 
 in Scripture, but to the text of Scripture itself, to the 
 books of Scripture, to their canonicity, to their authority. 
 I have said the line of reasoning entered on in this ob- 
 jection may be carried forward, and, if it reaches one 
 point, may be made to reach others also. For, first, if the 
 want of method and verbal consistency in Scripture be 
 an objection to the " teaching of the Prayer Book," it is 
 also an objection equally to what is called *' Orthodox 
 Protestantism." Further, I have shown that it tells also 
 against the trustworthiness of the sacred history, to the 
 statement of facts contained in any part of Scripture, which 
 is in great measure indirect. And now, lastly,! shall show 
 that it is an objection to the Bible itself, both because 
 that Book cannot be a Revelation which contains neither 
 definite doctrine nor unequivocal matter of fact, and next 
 because the evidence, on which its portions are received, is 
 not clearer or fuller than its own evidence for the facts 
 and doctrines which our Article says it " contains." This 
 is the legitimate consequence of the attempt to invalidate 
 the scripturalness of Catholic doctrine, on the allegation 
 
198 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 of Its want of Scripture proof — an invalidating of Scrip- 
 ture itself; this is the conclusion to which both the 
 argument itself, and the temper of mind which belongs 
 to it, will assuredly lead those who use it, at least in the 
 long run. 
 
 There is another objection which is sometimes at- 
 tempted against Church doctrines, which may be met xn 
 the same way. It is sometimes strangely maintained, 
 not only that Scripture does not clearly teach them, but 
 that the Fathers do not clearly teach them ; that nothing 
 can be drawn for certain from the Fathers ; that their 
 evidence leaves matters pretty much as it found them, as 
 being inconsistent with itself, or of doubtful authority. 
 This part of the subject has not yet been considered, 
 and will come into prominence as we proceed with the 
 present argument. 
 
 I purpose, then, now to enlarge on this point ; that is, 
 to show that those who object to Church doctrines, 
 whether from deficiency of Scripture proof or of Patris- 
 tical proof, ought, if they acted consistently on their 
 principles, to object to the canonicity and authority of 
 Scripture; a melancholy truth, if it be a truth; and I 
 fear it is but too true. Too true, I fear, it is in fact, — 
 not only that men ought, if consistent, to proceed from 
 opposing Church doctrine to oppose the authority of 
 Scripture, but that the leaven which at present makes 
 the mind oppose Church doctrine, does set it, or will soon 
 set it, against Scripture. I wish to declare what I think 
 will be found really to be the case, viz., that a battle for 
 the Canon of Scripture is but the next step after a battle 
 for the Creed, — that the Creed comes first in the assault, 
 that is all ; and that if we were not defending the Creed, 
 we should at this moment be defending the Canon. 
 Nay, I would predict as a coming event, that minds are 
 
External Difficulties of Canon and Creed, 199 
 
 to he unsettled as to what is Scripture and what is not ; 
 and I predict it that, as far as the voice of one person in 
 one place can do, I may defeat my own prediction by 
 making it. Now to consider the subject. 
 
 I. 
 
 How do we know that the whole Bible is the word of 
 God ? Happily at present we are content to believe 
 this, because we have been so taught. It is our great 
 blessedness to receive it on faith. A believing spirit is 
 in all cases a more blessed spirit than an unbelieving. 
 The testimony of unbelievers declares it : they often say, 
 "• I wish I could believe ; I should be happier, if I could ; 
 but my reason is unconvinced." And then they go on 
 to speak as if they were in a more exalted, though less 
 happy state of mind. Now I am not here to enter into 
 the question of the grounds on which the duty and 
 blessedness of believing rest ; but I would observe, that 
 Nature certainly does give sentence against scepticism, 
 against doubt, nay, against a habit (I say a habit) of 
 inquiry, against a critical, cold, investigating temper, the 
 temper of what are called shrewd, clear-headed, hard- 
 headed, men, in that, by the confession of all, happiness 
 is attached, not to their temper, but rather to confiding, 
 unreasoning faith. I do not say that inquiry may not 
 under circumstances be a duty, as going into the cold 
 and rain may be a duty, instead of stopping at home, — 
 as serving in war may be a duty ; but it does seem to me 
 preposterous to confess, that free inquiry leads to scep- 
 ticism, and scepticism makes one less happy than faith, 
 and yet, that such free inquiry is a merit. What is right 
 and what is happy cannot m the long run and on a large 
 scale be disjoined. To follow after truth can never be a 
 subject of regret ; free inquiry does lead a man to regret 
 
20O Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 the days of his childlike faith; therefore it is not follow- 
 ing after truth. Those who measure everything by utility, 
 should on their own principles embrace the obedience of 
 faith for its very expedience; and they should cease 
 this kind of seeking, which begins in doubt. 
 
 I say, then, that never to have been troubled with a 
 doubt about the truth of what has been taught us, is the 
 happiest state of mind ; and if any one says, that to 
 maintain this is to admit that heretics ought to remain 
 heretics, and pagans pagans, I deny it. For I have not 
 said that it is a happy thing never to add to what you 
 have learned, but not happier to take away. Now true 
 religion is the summit and perfection of false religions : 
 it combines in one whatever there is of good and true, 
 severally remaining in each. And in like manner the 
 Catholic Creed is for the most part the combination of 
 separate truths which heretics have divided among them- 
 selves, and err in dividing. So that, in matter of fact, if 
 a religious mind were educated in and sincerely attached 
 to some form of heathenism or heresy, and then were 
 brought under the light of truth, it would be drawn off 
 from error into the truth, not by losing what it had, but 
 by gaining what it had not, — not by being unclothed, 
 but by being " clothed upon," " that mortality may be 
 swallowed up of life." That same principle of faith 
 which attaches it to its original human teaching, would 
 attach it to the truth ; and that portion of its original 
 teaching which was to be cast off as absolutely false, 
 would not be directly rejected, but indirectly rejected 
 in the reception of the truth which is its opposite. True 
 conversion is ever of a positive, not a negative character. 
 And in like manner, if Romanists are to be won over to 
 a more primitive idea of the Church, it is by our enlarg- 
 ing and insisting on those doctrines of the Gospel, which 
 
External Difficulties of Cafion and Creed, 20 1 
 
 they observe, and we have forgotten, not by ridicule or 
 scoffing. 
 
 All this is a digression : but before returning to my 
 subject, I will just add, that it must not be supposed 
 from my expressing such sentiments, that I have any 
 fear of argument for the cause of Christian truth, as 
 if reason were dangerous to it, as if it could not stand 
 before a scrutinizing inquiry. Nothing is more out of 
 place, though it is too common, than such a charge 
 against the defenders of Church doctrines. They may 
 be right or they may be wrong in their arguments, but 
 argue they do ; they are ready to argue ; they believe 
 they have reason on their side ; but they remind others, 
 they remind themselves, that though argument on the 
 whole will but advance the cause of truth, though so far 
 from dreading it, they are conscious it is a great weapon 
 in their hands ; yet that, after all, if a man does nothing 
 more than argue, if he has nothing deeper at bottom, if 
 he does not seek God by some truer means, by obedi- 
 ence, by faith prior to demonstration, he will either not 
 attain truth, or attain a shallow, unreal view of it, and 
 have a weak grasp of it. Reason will prepare for the 
 reception, will spread the news, and secure the outward 
 recognition of the truth ; but in all we do we ought to 
 seek edification, not mere knowledge. Now to return. 
 
 I say, it is our blessedness, if we have no doubts about 
 the Canon of Scripture, as it is our blessedness to have 
 no doubts about the Catholic Creed. And this is at 
 present actually our blessedness as regards the Canon ; 
 we have no doubts. Even those persons who unhappily 
 have doubts about the Church system, have no doubts 
 about the Canon, — by a happy inconsistency, / say. 
 They ought to have doubts on their principles ; this I 
 shall now show, in the confidence that their belief in the 
 
202 Scripture aiid the Creed, 
 
 Canon is so much stronger than their disbelief of the 
 Church system, that if they must change their position, 
 they will rather go on and believe the Church system, 
 than go back to disbelieve the Canon. 
 
 2. 
 
 Now there are two chief heads of objection made against 
 the Catholic or Church system of doctrine and worship, — 
 external and internal. It is said, on the one hand, to be 
 uncertain, not only what is in Scripture, but what is in 
 Antiquity, and what not ; for the early Fathers, it is 
 objected, who are supposed to convey the information, 
 contradict each other ; and the most valuable and volu- 
 minous of them did not live till two or three hundred 
 years after St. John's death, while the earlier records are 
 scanty ; and moreover that their view of doctrine was 
 from the first corrupted from assignable external sources, 
 pagan, philosophical, or Jewish. And on the other hand, 
 the system itself may be accused of being contrary to 
 reason and incredible. Here I shall consider the former 
 of these two objections. 
 
 Objectors, then, speak thus : " We are far from deny- 
 ing," they say, "that there is truth and value in the 
 ancient Catholic system, as reported by the Fathers ; 
 but we deny that it is unmixed truth. We consider it is 
 truth and error mixed together : we do not see why the 
 system of doctrine must be taken together as a whole, 
 so that if one part is true, all is true. We consider that 
 we have a right to take it piecemeal, and examine each 
 part by itself; that so far as it is true, it is true not as 
 belonging to the ancient system, but for other reasons, 
 as being agreeable to our reason, or to our understand- 
 ing of Scripture, not because stated by the Fathers ; 
 and, after all, the Church system in question (that is, 
 
External Difficulties of Canon ii7id Creed. 203 
 
 such doctrines as the mystical power of the Sacraments, 
 the power of the keys, the grace of Ordination, the gifts 
 of the Church, and the ApostoHcal Succession), has very 
 little really primitive authority. The Fathers whose works 
 we have, not only ought to be of an earlier date, in order to 
 be of authority, but they contradict each other ; they de- 
 clare what is incredible and absurd, and what can reason- 
 ably be ascribed to Platonism, or Judaism, or Paganism." 
 Be it so : well, how will the same captious spirit treat 
 the sacred Canon ? in just the same way. It will begin 
 thus : — " These many writings are put together in one 
 book ; what makes them one } who put them together ? 
 the printer. The books of Scripture have been printed 
 together for many centuries. But that does not make 
 them one; what authority had those who put them to- 
 gether to do so ? what authority to put just so many 
 books, neither more nor less .^ when were they first so 
 put together? on what authority do we leave out the 
 Wisdom or the Son of Sirach, and insert the book of 
 Esther ? Catalogues certainly are given of these books 
 in early times : but not exactly the same books are 
 enumerated in all. The language of St. Austin is 
 favourable to the admission of the Apocrypha.* The 
 Latin Church anciently left out the Epistle to the He- 
 brews, and the Eastern Church left out the book of 
 Revelation. This so-called Canon did not exist at ear- 
 liest till the fourth century, between two and three 
 hundred years after St. John's death. Let us then see 
 into the matter with our own eyes. Why should not we 
 be as good judges as the Church of the fourth century, 
 on whose authority we receive it t Why should one 
 book be divine, because another is } " This is what ob- 
 jectors would say. Now to follow them into particulars 
 * De Doctr. Christ., ii- 13; 
 
204 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 as far as the first head ; viz., as to the evidence itself, 
 which is offered in behalf of the divinity and inspiration 
 of the separate books. 
 
 For instance ; the first Father who expressly men- 
 tions Commemorations for the Dead in Christ (such as 
 we still have in substance at the end of the prayer for 
 the Church Militant, where it was happily restored in 
 1662, having been omitted a century earlier), is Tertul- 
 lian, about a hundred years after St. John's death. 
 This, it is said, is not authority early enough to prove 
 that that Ordinance is Apostolical, though succeeding 
 Fathers, Origen, St. Cyprian, Eusebius, St. Cyril of 
 Jerusalem, etc., bear witness to it ever so strongly. 
 " Errors might have crept in by that time ; mistakes 
 might have been made ; Tertullian is but one man, and 
 confessedly not sound in many of his opinions ; we 
 ought to have clearer and more decisive evidence." 
 Well, supposing it : suppose Tertullian, a hundred years 
 after St. John, is the first that mentions it, yet Tertullian 
 is also the first who refers to St. Paul's Epistle to Phile- 
 mon, and even he without quoting or naming it. He is 
 followed by two writers ; one of Rome, Caius, whose 
 work is not extant, but is referred to by Eusebius, who, 
 speaking of thirteen Epistles of St. Paul, and as excluding 
 the Hebrews, by implication includes that to Philemon ; 
 and the other, Origen, who quotes the fourteenth verse 
 of the Epistle, and elsewhere speaks oi fourteen Epistles 
 of St. Paul. Next, at the end of the third century, 
 follows Eusebius. Further, St. Jerome observes, that in 
 his time some persons doubted whether it was St. Paul's 
 (just as Aerius about that time questioned the Com- 
 memorations for the Dead), or at least whether it was 
 canonical, and that from internal evidence ; to which he 
 opposes the general consent of external testimony as a 
 
External Difficulties of Canon and Creed, 205 
 
 sufficient answer. Now, I ask, why do we receive the 
 Epistle to Philemon as St. Paul's, and not the Com- 
 memorations for the faithful departed as Apostolical 
 also 1 Ever after indeed the date of St. Jerome, the 
 Epistle to Philemon was accounted St. Paul's, and so 
 too ever after the same date the Commemorations I 
 have spoken of are acknowledged on all hands to have 
 been observed as a religious duty, down to three hun- 
 dred years ago. If it be said that from historical records 
 we have good reasons for thinking that the Epistle of St. 
 Paul to Philemon, with his other Epistles, was read from 
 time immemorial in Church, which is a witness indepen- 
 dent of particular testimonies in the Fathers, I answer, 
 no evidence can be more satisfactory and conclusive to a 
 well-judging mind ; but then it is a moral evidence, rest- 
 ing on very little formal and producible proof; and 
 quite as much evidence can be given for the solemn 
 Commemorations of the Dead in the Holy Eucharist 
 which I speak of. They too were in use in the Church 
 from time immemorial. Persons, then, who have the 
 heart to give up and annul the Ordinance, will not, if 
 they are consistent, scruple much at the Epistle. If in 
 the sixteenth century the innovators on religion had 
 struck the Epistle to Philemon out of Scripture, they 
 would have had just as much right to do it as to abolish 
 these Commemorations ; and those who wished to defend 
 such innovation as regards the Epistle to Philemon, 
 would have had just as much to say in its behalf as those 
 had who put an end to the Commemorations. 
 
 If it be said they found nothing on the subject of such 
 Commemorations in Scripture, even granting this for ar- 
 gument's sake, yet I wonder where they found in Scrip- 
 ture that the Epistle to Philemon was written by St. 
 Paul, except indeed in the Epistle itself. Nowhere ; yet 
 
20b Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 they kept the one, they abolished the other — as far, that 
 is, as human tyranny could abolish it. Let us be thank- 
 ful that they did not also say, '' The Epistle to Philemon 
 is of a private nature, and has no marks of inspiration 
 about it. It is not mentioned by name or quoted by 
 any writer till Origen, who flourished at a time when 
 mistakes had begun, in the third century, and who 
 actually thinks St. Barnabas wrote the Epistle which 
 goes under his name ; and he too, after all, just men- 
 tions it once, but not as inspired or canonical, and also 
 just happens to speak elsewhere of St. Paul's fourteen 
 Epistles. In the beginning of the fourth century, Euse- 
 bius, without anywhere naming this Epistle," (as far as 
 I can discover,) ** also speaks of fourteen Epistles, and 
 speaks of a writer one hundred years earlier, who in like 
 manner enumerated thirteen besides the Hebrews. All 
 this is very unsatisfactory. We will have nothing but 
 the pure word of God ; we will only admit what has the 
 clearest proof. It is impossible that God should require 
 us to believe a book to come from Him without authen- 
 ticating it with the highest and most cogent evidence." 
 
 Again : the early Church with one voice testifies in 
 favour of Episcopacy, as an ordinance especially pleas- 
 ing to God. Ignatius, the very disciple of the Apostles, 
 speaks in the clearest and strongest terms ; and those 
 who follow fully corroborate his statements for three or 
 four hundred years. And besides this, we know the fact, 
 that a succession of Bishops from the Apostles did exist 
 in all the Churches all that time. At the end of that 
 time, one Father, St. Jerome, in writing controversially, 
 had some strong expressions against the divine origin of 
 the ordinance. And this is all that can be said in favour 
 of any other regimen. Now, on the other hand, what is 
 the case as regards the Epistle to the Hebrews ? Though 
 
External Difficitlties of Cano7i and Creed, 207 
 
 received in the East, it was not received in the Latin 
 Churches, till that same St. Jerome's time. .St. Irenaeus 
 either does not affirm or actually denies that it is St. 
 Paul's. Tertullian ascribes it to St. Barnabas. Caius ex- 
 cluded it from his Hst. St. Hippolytus does not receive it. 
 St. Cyprian is silent about it. It is doubtful whether St. 
 Optatus received it. Now, that this important Epistle 
 is part of the inspired word of God, there is no doubt. 
 But why.-^ Because the testimony of the fourth and 
 fifth centuries, when Christians were at leisure to ex- 
 amine the question thoroughly, is altogether in its favour. 
 I know of no other reason, and I consider this to be 
 quite sufficient : but with what consistency do persons 
 receive this Epistle as inspired, yet deny that Episcopacy 
 is a divinely ordained means of grace t 
 
 Again : the Epistles to the Thessalonians are quoted 
 by six writers in the first two hundred years from St. 
 John's death ; first, at the end of the first hundred, by 
 three Fathers, Irenaeus, Clement, and Tertullian ; and 
 are by implication acknowledged in the lost work of 
 Caius, at the same time, and are in Origen's Hst some 
 years after. On the other hand, the Lord's table is 
 always called an Altar, and is called a Table only in one 
 single passage of a single Father, during the first three 
 centurias. It is called Altar in four out of the seven 
 Epistles of St. Ignatius. It is called Altar by St. Clemen" 
 of Rome, by St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, St. Cyprian, Origen, 
 Eusebius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory 
 Nazianzen, St. Optatus, St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, 
 and St. Austin.* It is once called Table by St. Diony- 
 
 * It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the sense of the word Altar {dva-ia- 
 (TTiqpLoif) in some of these passages has been contested ; as it has been con- 
 tested whether the Fathers' works are genuine, or the Books of Scripture 
 genuine, or its text free from interpolations. There is no one spot in the 
 
2o8 • Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 sius of Alexandria. (Johnson's U. S., vol. i., p. 306.) I 
 do not know on what ground we admit the Epistles to 
 the Thessalonians to be the writing of St. Paul, yet deny 
 that the use of Altars is Apostolic. 
 
 Again : that the Eucharist is a Sacrifice is declared or 
 implied by St. Clement of Rome, St. Paul's companion, 
 by St. Justin, by St. Irenaeus, by Tertullian, by St. 
 Cyprian, and others. On the other hand, the Acts of 
 the Apostles are perhaps alluded to by St. Polycarp, but 
 are first distinctly noticed by St. Irenseus, then by three 
 writers who came soon after (St. Clement of Alexandria, 
 Tertullian, and the Letter from the Church of Lyons), 
 and then not till the end of the two hundred years from 
 St. John's death. Which has the best evidence, the Book 
 of Acts, or the doctrine of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.? 
 
 Again : much stress, as I have said, is laid by objectors 
 on the fact that there is so little evidence concerning 
 Catholic doctrine in the very first years of Christianity. 
 Now, how does this objection stand, as regards the Canon 
 of the New Testament 1 The New Testament consists o'* 
 twenty-seven books in all, though of varying import- 
 ance. Of these, fourteen are not mentioned at all till 
 from eighty to one hundred years after St. John's death, 
 in which number are the Acts, the Second to the Co- 
 rinthians, the Galatians, the Colossians, the Two to the 
 
 territory of theology but has been the scene of a battle. Anything has been 
 ventured and believed in the heat of controversy ; but the ultimate appeal 
 in such cases is the common sense of mankind. Ignatius says, " Be diligent 
 to use one Eucharist, for there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 one cup for the union of His Blood ; one Altar, as one Bishop, together 
 with the Presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants ." — Ad Phil. 4. Would 
 it have entered into any one's mind, were it not for the necessities of his 
 theory, to take Eucharist, Flesh, Cup, Blood, Bishop, Presbytery, Deacon, 
 in their ecclesiastical meaning, as belonging to the Visible Church, and the 
 one word Altar figuratively ? 
 
External Difficulties of Canon and Creed. 209 
 
 Thessalonians, and St. James. Of the other thirteen, 
 five, viz., St. John's Gospel, the Philippians, the First of 
 Timothy, the Hebrews, and the First of John, are quoted 
 but by one writer during the same period. Lastly, St. 
 Irenaeus, at the close of the second century, quotes all 
 the books of the New Testament but five, and deservedly 
 stands very high as a witness. Now, why may not so 
 learned and holy a man, and so close on the Apostles, 
 stand also as a witness of some doctrines which he takes 
 for granted, as the invisible but real Presence in the 
 Holy Eucharist, the use of Catholic tradition in ascer- 
 taining revealed truth, and the powers committed to the 
 Church 1 
 
 If men then will indulge that eclectic spirit which 
 chooses part and rejects part of the primitive Church 
 system, I do not see what is to keep them from choosing 
 part and rejecting part of the Canon of Scripture. 
 
 3. 
 
 There are books, which, great sin as it would be m 
 us to reject, I think any candid person would grant are 
 presented to us under circumstances less promising than 
 those which attend upon the Church doctrines. Take, 
 for instance, the Book of Esther. This book is not 
 quoted once in the New Testament. It was not admitted 
 as canonical by two considerable Fathers, Melito and 
 Gregory Nazianzen. It contains no prophecy ; it has 
 nothing on the surface to distinguish it from a mere 
 ordinary history ; nay, it has no mark on the surface of 
 its even being a religious history. Not once does it 
 mention the name of God or Lord, or any other name 
 by which the God of Israel is designated. Again, when 
 we inspect its contents, it cannot be denied that there are 
 things in it which at first sight startle us, and make de- 
 
 \ 14 
 
210 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 mands on our faith. Why then do we receive it ? Be- 
 cause we have good reason from tradition to believe it to 
 be one of those which our Lord intended, when He spoke 
 of " the prophets." * 
 
 In like manner the Book of Ecclesiastes contains no 
 prophecy, is referred to in no part of the New Testament, 
 and contains passages which at first sight are startling. 
 Again : that most sacred Book, called the Song of Songs, 
 or Canticles, is a continued type from beginning to end. 
 Nowhere in Scripture, as I have already observed, are 
 we told that it is a type ; nowhere is it hinted that it is 
 not to be understood literally. Yet it is only as having 
 a deeper and hidden sense, that we are accustomed to 
 see a religious purpose in it. Moreover, it is not quoted 
 or alluded to once all through the New Testament. It 
 contains no prophecies. Why do we consider it divine } 
 For the same reason ; because tradition informs us that 
 in our Saviour's time it was included under the title of 
 ** the Psalms " : and our Saviour, in St. Luke's Gospel, 
 refers to "the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms!' 
 
 Objections as plausible, though different, might be 
 urged against the Epistles of St. James, St. Jude, the 
 Second of St. Peter, the Second and Third of St. John, 
 and the Book of Revelation. 
 
 Again : we are told that the doctrine of the mystical 
 ef^cacy of the Sacraments comes from the Platonic 
 philosophers, the ritual from the Pagans, and the Church 
 polity from the Jews. So they do ; that is, in a sense 
 in which much more also comes from the same sources. 
 Traces also of the doctrines of the Trinity, Incarnation, 
 and Atonement, may be found among heathens, Jews, 
 and philosophers ; for the Almighty scattered through the 
 world, before His Son came, vestiges and gleams of His 
 * Luke xxiv. 44. 
 
External Difficulties of Canon and Creed, 211 
 
 true Religion, and collected all the separated rays 
 together, when He set Him on His holy hill to rule the 
 day, and the Church, as the moon, to govern the night. 
 In the sense in which the doctrine of the Trinity is 
 Platonic, doubtless the doctrine of mysteries generally is 
 Platonic also. But this by the way. What I have here 
 to notice is, that the same supposed objection can be 
 and has been made against the books of Scripture too 
 viz., that they borrow from external sources. Unbelievers 
 have accused Moses of borrowing his law from the 
 Egyptians or other Pagans ; and elaborate comparisons 
 have been instituted, on the part of believers also, by 
 way of proving it ; though even if proved, and so far as 
 proved, it would show nothing more than this, — that God, 
 who gave His law to Israel absolutely and openly, had 
 already given some portions of it to the heathen. 
 
 Again : an infidel historian accuses St. John of bor- 
 rowing the doctrine of the Eternal Logos or Word from 
 the Alexandrian Platonists. 
 
 Again : a theory has been advocated, — by whom I 
 will not say, — to the effect that the doctrine of apostate 
 angels, Satan and his hosts, was a Babylonian tenet, 
 introduced into the Old Testament after the Jews' return 
 from the Captivity ; that no allusion is made to Satan, 
 as the head of the malignant angels, and as having set 
 up a kingdom for himself against God, in any book 
 written before the Captivity ; from which circumstance 
 it may easily be made to follow, that those books of the 
 Old Testament which were written after the Captivity 
 are not plenarily inspired, and not to be trusted as ca- 
 nonical. Now, I own I am not at all solicitous to deny 
 that this doctrine of an apostate Angel and his host was 
 gained from Babylon : it might still be divine, neverthe- 
 less. God who made the prophet's ass speak, and there- 
 
212 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 by instructed the prophet, might instruct His Church by 
 means of heathen Babylon. 
 
 In Hke manner, is no lesson intended to be conveyed to 
 us by the remarkable words of the governor of the feast, 
 upon the miracle of the water changed to wine ? " Every 
 man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when 
 men have well drunk, then that which is worse ; but Thou 
 hast kept the good wine until now." * Yet at first sight 
 they have not a very serious meaning. It does not there- 
 fore seem to me difficult, nay, nor even unlikely, that the 
 prophets of Israel should, in the course of God's provi- 
 dence, have gained new truths from the heathen, among 
 whom those truths lay corrupted. The Church of God in 
 every age has been, as it were, on visitation through the 
 earth, surveying, judging, sifting, selecting, and refining 
 all matters of thoughts and practice; detecting what was 
 precious amid what is ruined and refuse, and putting her 
 seal upon it. There is no reason, then, why Daniel and 
 Zechariah should not have been taught by the instru- 
 mentality of the Chaldeans. However, this is insisted on, 
 and as i-f to the disparagement of the Jewish Dispensation 
 by some persons ; and under the notion that its system 
 was not only enlarged but altered at the era of the Cap- 
 tivity. And I certainly think it may be insisted on as 
 plausibly as pagan customs are brought to illustrate and 
 thereby to invalidate the ordinances of the Catholic 
 Church ; though the proper explanation in the two cases 
 is not exactly the same. 
 
 The objection I have mentioned is applied, in the 
 quarter to which I allude, to the Books of Chronicles. 
 These, it has already been observed, have before now 
 been ascribed by sceptics to (what is called) priestly in- 
 fluence : here then is a second exceptional influence, a 
 
 * John ii. lo. 
 
External Difficulties of Canon and Creed, 213 
 
 second superstition. In the Second Book of Samuel it 
 is said, "the anger of the Lord was kindled against 
 Israel : and He moved David against them to say, Go, 
 number Israel and Judah."* On the other hand, in 
 Chronicles it is said, " Satan stood up against Israel, and 
 provoked David to number Israel."t On this a writer, 
 not of the English Church, says, " The author of the 
 Book of Chronicles . . . availing himself of the learn- 
 ing which he had acquired in the East, and influenced by 
 a suitable tenderness for the harmony of the Divine 
 Attributes, refers the act of temptation to the malignity 
 of the evil principle." You see in this way a blow is 
 also struck against the more ancient parts of the Old 
 Testament, as well as the more modern. The books 
 written before the Captivity are represented, as the whole 
 discussion would show, as containing a ruder, simpler, 
 less artificial theology ; those after the Captivity, a more 
 learned and refined : God's inspiration is excluded in 
 both cases. 
 
 The same consideration has been applied to determine 
 the date and importance of the Book of Job, which has 
 been considered, from various circumstances, external 
 and internal, not to contain a real history, but an Eastern 
 story. 
 
 But enough has been said on this part of the subject. 
 
 4. 
 
 It seems, then, that the objections which can be made 
 to the evidence for the Church doctrines are such as also 
 lie against the Canon of Scripture ; so that if they avail 
 against the one, they avail against both. If they avail 
 against both, we are brought to this strange conclusion, 
 that God has given us a Revelation, yet has revealed 
 
 * 2 Sa:n. xxxiv. I. f I Chron. xxi. I. 
 
214 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 nothing, — that at great cost, and with much preparation, 
 He has miraculously declared His will, that multitudes 
 have accordingly considered they possessed it, yet that, 
 after all. He has said nothing so clearly as to recommend 
 itself as His to a cautious mind ; that nothing is so re- 
 vealed as to be an essential part of the Revelation 
 nothing plain enough to act upon, nothing so certain 
 that we dare assert that the contrary is very much less 
 certain. 
 
 Such a conclusion is a practical refutation of the ob- 
 jection which leads to it. It surely cannot be meant 
 that we should be undecided all our days. We were 
 made for action, and for right action, — for thought, and 
 for true thought. Let us live while we live.; let us be 
 alive and doing ; let us act on what we have, since we 
 have not what we wish. Let us believe what we do not 
 see and know. Let us forestall knowledge by faith. 
 Let us maintain before we have demonstrated. This 
 seeming paradox is the secret of happiness. Why should 
 we be unwilling to go by faith } We do all things in 
 this world by faith in the word of others. By faith only 
 we know our position in the world, our circumstances, 
 our rights and privileges, our fortunes, our parents, our 
 brothers and sisters, our age, our mortality. Why should 
 Religion be an exception ? Why should we be unwilling 
 to use for heavenly objects what we daily use for earthly t 
 Why will we not discern, what it is so much our interest 
 to discern, that trust, in the first instance, in what Provi- 
 dence sets before us in religious matters, is His will and 
 our duty ; that thus it is He leads us into all truth, not 
 by doubting, but by believing ; that thus He speaks to 
 us, by the instrumentality of what seems accidental ; 
 that He sanctifies what He sets before us, shallow or 
 weak as it may be in itself, for His high purposes ; that 
 
External Difficulties of Canon and Creed. 2 1 5 
 
 most systems have enough of truth in them, to make 
 it better for us, when we have no choice besides, and 
 cannot discriminate, to begin by taking all (that is not 
 plainly immoral) than by rejecting all ; that He will not 
 deceive us if we thus trust in Him. Though the received 
 system of religion in which we are born were as unsafe 
 as the sea when St. Peter began to walk on it, yet " be 
 not afraid." He who could make St. Peter walk the 
 waves, could make even a corrupt or defective creed a 
 mode and way of leading us into truth, even were ours 
 such ; much more can He teach us by the witness of the 
 Church Catholic. It is far more probable that her wit- 
 ness should be true, whether about the Canon or the 
 Creed, than that God should have left us without any 
 /vitness at all. 
 
2l6 
 
 7. 
 
 Inter7ial Difficulties of the Canon a7id the Catholic 
 Creed^ compared. 
 
 I SHALL now finish the subject I have commenced, 
 the parallel between the objections adducible against 
 the Catholic system, and those against the Canon of 
 Scripture. It will be easily understood, that I am not 
 attempting any formal and full discussion of the subject, 
 but offering under various general heads such sugges- 
 tions as may be followed out by those who will. The 
 objections to the evidence for the Canon have been 
 noticed ; now let us consider objections that may be 
 made to its contents. 
 
 Perhaps the main objection taken to the Church sys- 
 tem, is the disKke which men feel of its doctrines. 
 They call them the work of priestcraft, and in that word 
 is summed up all that they hate in them. Priestcraft is 
 the art of gaining power over men by appeals to their 
 consciences ; its instrument is mystery ; its subject- 
 matter, superstitious feeling. '' Now the Church doc- 
 trines," it is urged, "invest a certain number of in- 
 different things with a new and extraordinary power, 
 beyond sense, beyond reason, beyond nature, a power 
 over the soul ; and they put the exclusive possessions 
 and use of the things thus distinguished into the hands 
 of the Clergy. Such, for instance, is the Creed ; some 
 
Internal Difficulties of- Canon and Creed, ii^j 
 
 mysterious benefit is supposed to result from holding it, 
 even though with but a partial comprehension, and the 
 Clergy are practically its sole expounders. Such still 
 more are the Sacraments, which the Clergy only ad- 
 minister, and which are supposed to effect some super- 
 natural change in the soul, and to convey some super- 
 natural gift." This then is the antecedent exception 
 taken against the Catholic doctrines, that they are mys- 
 terious, tending to superstition, and to dependence on a 
 particular set of men. And this object is urged, not 
 merely as a reason for demanding fair proof of what is 
 advanced, but as a reason for refusing to listen to any 
 proof whatever, as if it fairly created an insurmountable 
 presumption against the said doctrines. 
 
 Now I say, in like manner, were it not for our happy 
 reverence for the Canon of Scripture, we should take 
 like exception to many things in Scripture ; and, since 
 we do not, neither ought we, consistently, to take this 
 exception to the Catholic system ; but if we do take 
 such grounds against that system, there is nothing but 
 the strength of habit, good feeling, and our Lord's con- 
 trolling grace, to keep us from using them against Scrip- 
 ture also. This I shall now attempt to show, and with, 
 that view, shall cite various passages in Scripture which, 
 to most men of this generation, will appear at first sight 
 strange, superstitious, incredible, and extreme. If then, 
 in spite of these. Scripture is nevertheless from God, so 
 again, in spite of similar apparent difficulties, the Catholic 
 system may be from Him also ; and what the argument 
 comes to is this, that the minds of none of us are in such 
 a true state, as to warrant us in judging peremptorily in 
 every case what is from God and what is not. We 
 shrink from the utterances of His providence with ofience, 
 as if they were not His, in consequence of our inward 
 
2 1 8 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 ears being attuned to false harmonies. Now for some 
 instances of what I mean. 
 
 2. 
 
 1. I conceive, were we not used to the Scripture nar- 
 rative, that we should be startled at the accounts there 
 given us of demoniacs. — For instance: "And He asked 
 him, What is thy name } And He answered, My na7ne 
 is Legion, for we are many."* — Again, consider the pas- 
 sage, " When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he 
 walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth 
 none," f etc. ; and in like manner, the account of the 
 damsel who was " possessed of a spirit of divination," or 
 " Python," that is, of a heathen god, in Acts xvi. ; and 
 in connexion with this, St. Paul's assertion " that the 
 things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils 
 and not to God,"J and this as being so literally true that 
 he deduces a practical conclusion from it, " I would not 
 that ye should have fellowship with devils." But, as 
 regards this instance, we are not at all driven to conjec- 
 ture, but we know it is really the case, that they who 
 allow themselves to treat the inspired text freely, do 
 at once explain away, or refuse to admit its accounts of 
 this mysterious interference of evil spirits in the afTairs 
 of men. Let those then see to it, who call the Fathers 
 credulous for recording similar narratives. If they find 
 fault with the evidence, that is an intelligible objection ; 
 but the common way with objectors is at once and be- 
 fore examination to charge on the narrators of such 
 accounts childish superstition and credulity. 
 
 2. If we were not used to the narrative, I conceive we 
 should be very unwilling to receive the account of the 
 serpent speaking to Eve, or its being inhabited by an 
 
 * Mark v. 9. t Matt. xii. 43. \ i Cor. x. 20. 
 
Internal Difficulties of Canon and Creed, 219 
 
 evil spirit ; or, again, of the devils being sent into the 
 swine. We should scoff at such narratives, as fanciful 
 and extravagant. Let us only suppose that, instead of 
 being found in Scripture, they were found in some legend 
 of the middle ages ; should we merely ask for evidence, 
 or simply assume that there was none ? Should we 
 think that it was a case for evidence one way or the 
 other ? Should we not rather say, " This is intrinsically 
 incredible? — it supersedes the necessity of examining 
 into evidence, it decides the case.'* Should we allow the 
 strangeness of the narrative merely to act as suspending 
 our belief, and throwing the burden of proof on the 
 other side, or should we not rather suffer it to settle the 
 question for us ? Again, should we have felt less distrust 
 in the history of Balaam's ass speaking ? Should we 
 have been reconciled to the account of the Holy Ghost 
 appearing in a bodily shape, and that apparently the 
 shape of an irrational animal, a dove ? And, again, 
 though we might bear the figure of calling our Saviour 
 a lamb, if it occurred once, as if to show that He was the 
 antitype of the Jewish sacrifices, yet, unless we were 
 used to it, would there not be something repugnant to 
 our present habits of mind in calling again and again 
 our Saviour by the name of a brute animal ? Unless we 
 were used to it, I conceive it would hurt and offend us 
 much to read of " glory and honour " being ascribed to 
 Him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb, as 
 being a sort of idolatry, or at least an unadvised way of 
 speaking. It seems to do too much honour to an inferior 
 creature, and to dishonour Christ. You will see this, by 
 trying to substitute any other animal, however mild and 
 gentle. It is said that one difficulty in translating the 
 New Testament into some of the oriental languages 
 actually is this, that the word in them for Lamb does not 
 
2 20 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 carry with it the associations which it does in languages 
 which have had their birth in Christianity. Now we 
 have a remarkable parallel to this in the impression pro- 
 duced by another figure, which was in use in primitive 
 times, when expressed in our own language. The an- 
 cients formed an acrostic upon our Lord's Greek titles 
 as the Son of God, the Saviour of men, and in conse- 
 quence called Him from the first letters XyQvq, or " fish.'' 
 Hear how a late English writer speaks of it. "ThiL 
 contemptible and disgusting quibble originated in certain 
 verses of one of the pseudo-sibyls. ... I know of no 
 figure which so revoltingly degrades the person of the 
 Son of God." Such as this is the nature of the com- 
 ment made in the farther east on the sacred image of 
 the Lamb. 
 
 But without reference to such peculiar associations, 
 which vary with place and person, there is in the light 
 of reason a strangeness, perhaps, in God's allowing 
 material symbols of Himself at all ; and, again, a 
 greater strangeness in His vouchsafing to take a brute 
 animal as the name of His Son, and bidding us ascribe 
 praise to it. Now it does not matter whether we take 
 all these instances separate or together. Separate, they 
 are strange enough ; put them together, you have a law 
 of God's dealings, which accounts indeed for each sepa- 
 rate instance, yet does not make it less strange that the 
 brute creation should have so ck)se a connexion with 
 God's spiritual and heavenly kingdom. Here, moreover, 
 it is in place to make mention of the "four beasts'* 
 spoken of in the Apocalypse as being before God's 
 throne. Translate the word " living thing," as you may 
 do, yet the circumstance is not less startling. They 
 were respectively like a lion, calf, man, and eagle. To 
 this may be added the figure of the Cherubim in the 
 
Internal Difficulties of Canon and Creed. 221 
 
 Jewish law, which is said to have been a symbol made 
 up of limbs of the same animals. Is it not strange that 
 Angels should be represented under brute images ? 
 Consider, then, if God has thus made use of brutes in His 
 supernatural acts and in His teaching, as real instruments 
 and as symbols of spiritual things, what is there strange 
 antecedently in supposing He makes use of the inani- 
 mate creation also ? If Balaam's ass instructed Balaam, 
 what is there fairly to startle us in the Church's doctrine, 
 that the water of Baptism cleanses from sin, that eating 
 the consecrated Bread is eating His Body, or that oil 
 may be blessed for spiritual purposes, as is still done in 
 our Church in the case of a coronation ? Of this I feel 
 sure, that those who consider the doctrines of the Church 
 incredible, will soon, if they turn their thoughts steadily 
 that way, feel a difficulty in the serpent that tempted 
 Eve, and the ass that admonished Balaam. 
 
 3. 
 
 3. We cannot, it seems, believe that water applied to 
 the body really is God's instrument in cleansing the soul 
 from sin ; do we believe that, at Bethesda, an Angel 
 gave the pool a miraculous power ? What God has 
 done once. He may do again ; that is, there is no ante- 
 cedent improbability in His connecting real personal 
 benefits to us with arbitrary outward means. Again, 
 what should we say, unless we were familarized with it, to 
 the story of Naaman bathing seven times in the Jordan? 
 or rather to the whole system of mystical signs : — the 
 tree which Moses cast into the waters to sweeten them ; 
 Elisha's throwing meal into the pot of poisonous herbs ; 
 and our Saviour's breathing, making clay, and the like ? 
 Indeed, is not the whole of the Bible, Old and New 
 Testament, engaged in a system of outward signs with 
 
222 Scriptu7x and the Creed, 
 
 hidden realities under them, which in iie Church's 
 teaching is only continued ? Is it not certain, then, that 
 those who stumble at the latter as incredible, will 
 stumble at the former too, as soon as they learn just so 
 much irreverence as to originate objections as well as to 
 be susceptible of them ? I cannot doubt that, unless we 
 were used to the Sacraments, we should be objecting, 
 not only to the notion of their conveying virtue, but to 
 their observance altogether, viewed as mere badges and 
 memorials. They would be called Oriental, suited to 
 a people of warm imagination, suited to the religion of 
 other times, but too symbolical, poetical, or (as some 
 might presume to say) theatrical for us ; as if there 
 were something far more plain, solid, sensible, practical, 
 and edifying in a sermon, or an open profession, or a 
 prayer. 
 
 4. Consider the accounts of virtue going out of our 
 I-ord, and that, in the case of the woman with the issue 
 of blood, as it were by a natural law, without a distinct 
 application on His part ; — of all who touched the hem 
 of His garment being made whole ; and further, of 
 handkerchiefs and aprons being impregnated with healing 
 virtue by touching St. Paul's body, and of St. Peter's 
 shadow being earnestly sought out, — in the age when 
 religion was purest, and the Church's condition most like 
 a heaven upon earth. Can we hope that these passages 
 tvill not afford matter of objection to the mind, when 
 once it has brought itself steadily to scrutinize the evi- 
 dence for the inspiration of the Gospels and Acts } Will 
 it not be obvious to say, " St. Luke was not an Apostle ; 
 and I do not believe this account of the handkerchiefs 
 and aprons, though I believe the Book of Acts as a whole." 
 Next, when the mind gets bolder, it will address itself to 
 the consideration of the account of the woman with the 
 
Internal Difficulties of Canon and Creed. 223 
 
 issue of blood. Now it is not wonderful that she, poor 
 ignorant woman (as men speak), in deplorable ignorance 
 of spiritual religion (alas ! that words should be so mis- 
 used), dark, and superstitious, — it is not wonderful, I say, 
 that she should expect a virtue from touching our Lord's 
 garment ; but that she should obtain it by raeans of this 
 opus operatum of merely touching, and again that He 
 should even commend her faith, will be judged impossible. 
 The notion of virtue going out of Him will be considered 
 as Jewish, pagan, or philosophical. 
 
 Yes ; the outline of the story will be believed, — the 
 main fact, the leading idea, — not the details. Indeed, if 
 persons have already thought it inherently incredible 
 :hat the hands of Bishop or priest should impart a power, 
 or grace, or privilege, if they have learned to call it 
 profane, and (as they speak) blasphemous to teach this 
 with the early Church, how can it be less so, to consider 
 that God gave virtue to a handkerchief, or apron, or 
 garment, though our Lord's } What was it, after all, but 
 a mere earthly substance, made of vegetable or animal 
 material } How was it more holy because He wore it t 
 He was holy, not /// it did not gain holiness by being 
 near Him. Nay : do they not already lay this down as 
 a general principle, that, to s».\ppose He diffuses from 
 His Person heavenly virtue, is a superstition ? do not 
 they, on this ground, object to the Catholic doctrine of 
 the Eucharist ; and on what other ground do they deny 
 that the Blessed Virgin, whom all but heretics have ever 
 called the Mother of God, was most holy in soul and 
 body, from her ineffable proximity to God ? He who 
 gave to the perishing and senseless substances of wool 
 or cotton that grace of which it was capable, should 
 not He rather communicate of His higher spiritual 
 perfections to her in whose bosom He lay, or to those 
 
224 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 who now possess Him through the Sacramental means 
 He has appointed ? 
 
 5. I conceive that, if men indulge themselves in critf-^ 
 cizing, they will begin to be offended at the passage in 
 the Apocalyse, which speaks of the "number of the 
 beast." Indeed, it is probable that they will reject that 
 book of Scripture altogether, not sympathizing with the 
 severe tone of doctrine which runs through it. Again : 
 there is something very surprising in the importance 
 attached to the Name of God and Christ in Scripture. 
 The Name of Jesus is said to work cures and frighten 
 away devils. I anticipate that this doctrine will become 
 a stone of stumbling to those who set themselves to in- 
 quire into the trustworthiness of the separate parts of 
 Scripture. For instance, the narrative of St. Peter's 
 cure of the impotent man, in the early chapters of the 
 Acts : — first, " Silver and gold," he says, " have I none ; 
 but such as I have, give I thee ; In the Name of Jesus 
 Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Then, " And 
 His Name, through faith in His Name, hath made this 
 man strong." Then the question " By what power, or by 
 what name, have ye done this } " Then the answer, ''By 
 the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth . . . even by it 
 doth this man now stand here before you whole . . . 
 there is none other name under heaven given among men 
 whereby we must be saved." Then the threat, that the 
 Apostles should not " speak at all, nor teach in the Name 
 of Jesus." Lastly, their prayer that God would grant 
 *' that signs and wonders might be done by the Name of 
 His Holy Child Jesus." In connexion with which must 
 be considered, St. Paul's declaration, "that at the Name 
 of Jesus every knee should bow." * Again : I conceive 
 that the circumstances of the visitation of the Blessed 
 
 • Acts lii 4- Phil. ii. la 
 
Internal Difficulties of Canon and Creed. 225 
 
 Virgin to Elizabeth would startle us considerably if 
 we lost our faith in Scripture. Again : can we doubt 
 that the account of Christ's ascending into heaven will 
 not be received by the science of this age, when it is 
 carefully considered what is implied in it? Where is 
 heaven ? Beyond all the stars ? . If so, it would take 
 years for any natural body to get there. We say, that 
 with God all things are possible. But this age, wise in 
 its own eyes, has already decided the contrary, in main- 
 taining, as it does, that He who virtually annihilated the 
 distance between earth and heaven, on His Son's ascen- 
 sion, cannot annihilate it in the celebration of the Holy 
 Communion, so as to make us present with Him, though 
 He be on God's right hand in heaven. 
 
 4. 
 
 6. Further, unless we were used to the passage, I cannot 
 but think that we should stumble greatly at the account 
 of our Lord's temptation by Satan. Putting aside other 
 considerations, dwell awhile on the thought of Satan 
 showing '* all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of 
 time." * What is meant by this } How did he show 
 all, and in a moment } and if by a mere illusion, why 
 from the top of a high mountain } 
 
 Or again : consider the account of our Saviour's 
 bidding St. Peter catch a fish in order to find money 
 in it, to pay tribute with. What should we say if this 
 narrative occurred in the Apocr^^pha t Should we not 
 speak of it as an evident fiction 1 and are we likely to do 
 less, whenever we have arrived at a proper pitch of unscru- 
 pulousness, and what is nowadays called critical acumen, 
 in analyzing and disposing of what we have hitherto re- 
 ceived as divine ? Again : I conceive that the blood and 
 * Luke ivi 5: 
 
226 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 water which issued from our Saviour's side, particularly 
 taken with the remarkable comment upon it in St. John's 
 Epistle, would be disbelieved, if men were but consistent 
 in their belief and disbelief. The miracle would have 
 been likened to many which occur in Martyrologies, and 
 the inspired comment would have been called obscure 
 and fanciful, as on a par with various doctrinal interpre- 
 tations in the Fathers, which carry forsooth their own 
 condemnation with them. Again : the occurrence men- 
 tioned by St. John, "Then came there a voice from 
 heaven, saying, I have both glorified it (My Name), and 
 will glorify it again. The people, therefore, that stood 
 by, and heard it, said that it thundered ; others said, 
 An Angel spake to him : " * this, I conceive, would soon 
 be looked upon as suspicious, did men once begin to 
 examine the claims of the Canon upon our faith. 
 
 Or again : to refer to the Old Testament. I conceive 
 that the history of the Deluge, the ark, and its inhabit- 
 ants, will appear to men of modern tempers more and 
 more incredible, the longer and more minutely it is 
 dwelt upon. Or, again, the narrative of Jonah and the 
 whale. Once more, the following narrative will surely 
 be condemned also, as bearing on its face evident marks 
 of being legendary : "And the sons of the prophets said 
 unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with 
 thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto 
 Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us 
 make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he an- 
 swered. Go ye. And one said. Be content, I pray thee, 
 and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. 
 So he went with them. And when they came to Jor- 
 dan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling a 
 beam, the axe-head fell into the water ; and he cried. 
 
 * 2 John xii. 28, 29. 
 
Internal Difficulties of Ccuion and Creed, 2 2"j 
 
 and said, Alas, master ! for it was borrowed. And the 
 man of God said. Where fell it ? And he showed him 
 the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in 
 thither j and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, 
 Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took 
 it."* 
 
 5. 
 7. Having mentioned Elisha, I am led to say a word 
 or two upon his character. Men of this age are full 
 of their dread of priestcraft and priestly ambition ; and 
 they speak and feel as if the very circumstance of a per- 
 son claiming obedience upon a divine authority was 
 priestcraft and full of evil. They speak as if it was 
 against the religious rights of man (for some such rights 
 are supposed to be possessed by sinners, even by those 
 who disown the doctrine of the political rights of man), 
 as if it were essentially an usurpation for one man to 
 claim spiritual power over another. They do not ask 
 for the voucher of his claim, for his commission, but 
 think the claim absurd. They so speak, that any one 
 who heard them, without knowing the Bible, would think 
 that Almighty God had never '* given such power unto 
 men." Now, what would such persons say to Elisha's 
 character and conduct 1 Let me recount some few pas- 
 sages in his history, in the Second Book of Kings, and 
 let us bear in mind what has been already observed of 
 the character of the Books of Chronicles. When the little 
 children out of Bethel mocked him, "he cursed them 
 in the name of the Lord."t This was his first act after 
 entering on his office. Again : Jehoram, the son of 
 Ahab, put away Baal, and walked not in the sins of his 
 .father and his mother ; but because he did not put away 
 * 2 Kings vi. I — 7, f 2 Kings iL 23. 
 
2 28 Scripture a7id the Creed, 
 
 the false worship of Jeroboam, but kept to his calves, 
 his self-appointed priests, altars, and holy days, which he 
 probably thought a little sin, when he was in distress, 
 and called upon Elisha, Elisha said, "What have I to 
 do with thee ? Get thee to the prophets of thy father, 
 and to the prophets of thy mother : " * and went on to 
 say, that, but for the presence of good Jehoshaphat, " I 
 would not look toward thee nor see thee." This was 
 taking (what would now be called) a high tone. Again : 
 the Shunammite was a great woman; he was poor. She 
 got her husband's leave to furnish a " little chamber " 
 for him, not in royal style, but as for a poor minister 
 of God. It had "a bed and a table and a stool and 
 a candlestick," and when he came that way he availed 
 himself of it. The world would think that she was the 
 patron, and he ought to be humble, and to know his 
 place. But observe his language on one occasion of 
 his lodging there. He said to his servant, '' Call this 
 Shunammite." When she came, she, the mistress of the 
 house, " stood before him." He did not speak to her, but 
 bade his servant speak, and then she retired ; then he 
 held a consultation with his servant, and then he called 
 her again, and she " stood in the door ; " then he pro- 
 mised her a son. Again : Naaman was angered that 
 Elisha did not show him due respect : he only sent him 
 a message, and bade him wash and be clean. After- 
 wards we find the prophet interposing in political matters 
 in Israel and Syria. 
 
 Now, it is not to the purpose to account for all this, 
 by saying he worked miracles. Are miracles necessary 
 for being a minister of God 1 Are miracles the only way 
 in which a claim can be recognized } Is a man the 
 higher minister, the more miracles he does } Are we to 
 *Ib. iii. 13. 
 
Internal Difficulties of Canon and Creed, 229 
 
 honour only those who minister temporal miracles, and 
 to be content to eat and be filled with the loaves and 
 fishes ? Are there no higher miracles than visible ones ? 
 John the Baptist did no miracles, yet he too claimed, and 
 gained, the obedience of the Jews. Miracles prove a man 
 to be God's minister ; they do not make him God's min- 
 ister. No matter how a man is proved to come from 
 God, \i he is known to come from God. If Christ is 
 with His ministers, according to His promise, even to 
 the end of the world, so that he that despiseth them 
 despiseth Him, then, though they do no miracles, they 
 are in office as great as Elisha. And if Baptism be the 
 cleansing and quickening of the dead soul, to say nothing 
 of the Lord's Supper, they do work miracles. If God's 
 ministers are then only to be honoured when we see 
 that they work miracles, where is place for faith } Are 
 we not under a dispensation of faith, not of sight } Was 
 EHsha great because he was seen to work miracles, or 
 because he could, and did, work them. Is God's minister 
 a proud priest now, for acting as if he came from God, if 
 he does come from Him } Yet men of this generation, 
 without inquiring into his claims, would most undoubtedly 
 call him impostor and tyrant, proud, arrogant, profane, 
 and Antichristian, nay, Antichrist himself, if he, a Chris- 
 tian minister, assume one-tenth part of Elisha's state. 
 Yes, Antichrist ; — " If they have called the Master of 
 the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call 
 them of His household 1 " * 
 
 8. St. John the Baptist's character, I am persuaded, 
 would startle most people, if they were not used to 
 Scripture ; and when men begin to doubt about the in- 
 tegrity of Scripture, it will be turned against the authen- 
 ticity or the authority of the particular passages which 
 * Matt. X. 25. 
 
230 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 relate to it. Let us realize to ourselves a man living on 
 locusts and wild honey, and with a hair shirt on, bound 
 by a leathern girdle. Our Lord indeed bids us avoid 
 outward show, and therefore the ostentation of such 
 austerity would be wrong now, of course ; but what is 
 there to show that the thing itself would be wrong, if 
 a person were moved to do it } Does not our Saviour 
 expressly say, with reference to the austerities of St. 
 John's disciples, that after His departure His own disci- 
 ples shall resemble them, — " then shall they fast " ? Yet, 
 I suppose, most persons would cry out now against the 
 very semblance of the Baptist's life ; and why t Those 
 who gave a reason would perhaps call it Jewish. Yet 
 what had St. John to do with the Jews, whose religion 
 was one, not of austerity, but of joyousness and feasting, 
 and that by divine permission } Surely the same feeling 
 which would make men condemn an austere life now, if 
 individuals attempted it, which makes them, when they 
 read of such instances in the early Church, condemn 
 it, would lead the same parties to condemn it in St. 
 John, were they not bound by religious considerations ; 
 and, therefore, I say, if ever the time comes that men 
 begin to inquire into the divinity of the separate parts 
 of Scripture, as they do now scrutinize the separate parts 
 of the Church system, they will no longer be able to 
 acquiesce in St. John's character and conduct as simply 
 right and religious. 
 
 6. ' 
 
 9. Lastly, I will mention together a number of doc- 
 trinal passages, which, though in Scripture, they who 
 deny that the Fathers contain the pure Gospel, hardly 
 would consider parts of it, if they were but consistent in 
 their free speculations. Such are St. Paul's spiritualizing 
 
Internal Difficulties of Canon and Creed, 231 
 
 the history of Sarah and Hagar ; his statement of the 
 fire trying every man's work in the day of judgment; 
 his declaring that women must have their heads covered 
 in church, " because of the Angels ; " his charging 
 Timothy " before the elect Angels ; " his calling the 
 Church " the pillar and ground of the Truth ; " the tone 
 of his observations on celibacy, which certainly, if written 
 by any of the Fathers, would in this day have been cited 
 in proof of " the mystery of iniquity" (by which they 
 mean Romanism) " already working" in an early age ; 
 St. John's remarkable agreement of tone with him in a 
 passage in the Apocalypse, not to say our Lord's ; our 
 Lord's account of the sin against the Holy Ghost, viewed 
 in connexion with St. Paul's warning against falling 
 away, after being enlightened, and St. John's notice of 
 a sin which is unto death — (this would be considered 
 opposed to the free grace of the Gospel) ; our Lord's 
 strong words about the arduousness of a rich man's get- 
 ting to heaven ; what He says about binding and loos- 
 ing ; about a certain kind of evil spirit going out only by 
 fasting and prayer ; His command to turn the left cheek 
 to him who smites the right ; St. Peter's saying that we 
 are partakers of a divine nature ; and what he says 
 about Christ's going and preaching to the spirits in 
 prison ; St. Matthew's account of the star which guided 
 the wise men to Bethlehem ; St. Paul's statement, that 
 a woman is saved through childbearing : St. John's 
 directions how to treat those who hold not " the doctrine 
 of Christ ; " — these and a multitude of other passages 
 would be adduced, not to prove that Christianity <vas 
 not true, or that Christ was not the Son of God, or the 
 Bible not inspired, or not on the whole genuine and 
 authentic, but that every part of it was not equally 
 divine ; that portions, books, particularly of the Old 
 
2^2 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 Testament, were not so ; that we must use our own 
 judgment. Nay, as time went on, perhaps it would be 
 said that the Old Testament altogether was not inspired, 
 only the New — nay, perhaps only parts of the New, not 
 certain books which were for a time doubted in some 
 ancient Churches, or not the Gospels according to St. 
 Mark and St. Luke, nor the Acts, because not the 
 writing of Apostles, or not St. Paul's reasonings, only his 
 conclusions. Next, it would be said, that no reliance 
 can safely be placed on single texts ; and so men would 
 proceed, giving up first one thing, then another, till it 
 would become a question what they gained of any kind, 
 what they considered they gained, from Christianity as a 
 definite revelation or a direct benefit. They would come 
 to consider its publication mainly as an historical event 
 occurring eighteen hundred years since, which modified 
 or altered the course of human thought and society, and 
 thereby altered what would otherwise have been our 
 state ; as something infused into an existing mass, and 
 influencing us in the improved tone of the institutions 
 in which we find ourselves, rather than as independent, 
 substantive, and one, specially divine in its origin, and 
 directly acting upon us. 
 
 This is what the Age is coming to, and I wish it ob- 
 served. We know it denies the existence of the Church 
 as a divine institution : it denies that Christianity has 
 been cast into any particular social mould. Well : but 
 this, I say, is not all ; it is rapidly tending to deny the 
 existence of any system of Christianity either ; any creed, 
 doctrine, philosophy, or by whatever other name we de- 
 signate it. Hitherto it has been usual, indeed, to give 
 up the Church, and to speak only of the covenant, reli- 
 gion, creed, matter, or system of the Gospel ; to consider 
 the Gospel as a sort of literature or philosophy, open for 
 
Internal Difficulties of Canon afid Creed, 233 
 
 all to take and appropriate, not confined to any set of 
 men, yet still a real, existing system of religion. This 
 has been the approved line of opinion in our part of the 
 world for the last hundred and fifty years ; but now a » 
 further step is about to be taken. The view henceforth 
 is to be, that Christianity does not exist in documents, 
 any more than in institutions ; in other words, the Bible 
 will be given up as well as the Church. It will be said 
 that the benefit which Christianity has done to the 
 world, and which its Divine Author meant it should do, 
 was to give an impulse to society, to infuse a spirit, to 
 direct, control, purify, enlighten the mass of human 
 thought and action, but not to be a separate and definite 
 something, whether doctrine or association, existing ob- 
 jectively, integral, and with an identity, and for ever, 
 and with a claim upon our homage and obedience. And 
 all this fearfully coincides with the symptoms in other 
 directions of the spread of a Pantheistic spirit, that is, the 
 religion of beauty, imagination, and philosophy, without 
 constraint moral or intellectual, a religion speculative and 
 self-indulgent. Pantheism, indeed, is the great deceit 
 which awaits the Age to come. 
 
 7. 
 Let us then look carefully, lest we fall in with the evil 
 tendencies of the times in which our lot is cast. God has 
 revealed Himself to us that we might believe : surely 
 His Revelation is something great and important. He 
 who made it, meant it to be a blessing even to the end 
 of the world : this is true, if any part of Scripture is true. 
 From beginning to end. Scripture implies that God has 
 spoken, and that it is right, our duty, our interest, our 
 safety to beUeve. Whether, then, we have in our hands 
 the means of exactly proving this or that part of Scrip- 
 
234 Scriptuye and the Creed. 
 
 ture to be genuine or not, whether we have in our hands 
 the complete proofs of all the Church doctrines, we are 
 more sure that hearty belief in something is our duty, 
 than that it is not our duty to believe those doctrines 
 and that Scripture as we have received them. If our 
 choice lies between accepting all and rejecting all, which 
 I consider it does when persons are consistent, no man 
 can hesitate which alternative is to be taken. 
 
 So far then every one of us may say, — Our Heavenly 
 Father gave the world a Revelation in Christ ; we are 
 baptized into His Name. He wills us to believe, be- 
 cause He has given us a Revelation. He who wills us 
 to believe must have given us an object to believe. 
 Whether I can prove this or that part to my satisfaction, 
 yet, since I can prove all in a certain way, and cannot 
 separate part from part satisfactorily, I cannot be wrong 
 in taking the whole. I am sure that, if there be error, 
 which I have yet to learn, it must be, not in principles, 
 but in mere matters of detail. If there be corruption or 
 human addition in what comes to me, it must be in little 
 matters, not in great. On the whole, I cannot but have 
 God's Revelation, and that, in what I see before me, 
 with whatever incidental errors. I am sure, on the other 
 hand, that the way which the Age follows cannot be right, 
 for it tends to destroy Revelation altogether. Whether 
 this or that doctrine, this or that book of Scripture is 
 fully provable or not, that line of objection to it cannot 
 be right, which, when pursued, destroys Church, Creed, 
 Bible altogether, — which obliterates the very Name of 
 Christ from the world. It is then God's will, under 
 my circumstances, that I should believe what, in the 
 way of Providence, He has put before me to believe. 
 God will not deceive me. I can trust Him. Either 
 every part of the system is pure truth, or, if this or that 
 
Internal Difficulties of Canon and Creed. 235 
 
 be an addition, He will (I humbly trust and believe) 
 make such addition harmless to my soul, if I thus throw 
 myself on His mercy with a free and confiding spirit. 
 Doubt is misery and sin, but belief has received Christ's 
 blessing. 
 
 This is the reflection which I recommend to all, so far 
 as they have not the means of examining the Evidences 
 for the Church, Creed, and Canon of Scripture ; but I 
 must not be supposed to imply, because I have so put 
 the matter, that those who have the means, will not find 
 abundant evidence for the divinity of all three. 
 
33^ 
 
 8. 
 
 Difficulties of yewish and of Christian Faith 
 compared. 
 
 I HAVE been engaged for some time in showing 
 that the Canon of Scripture rests on no other 
 foundation than the CathoHc doctrines ; that those who 
 dispute the latter should, if they were consistent, — will, 
 when they learn to be consistent, — dispute the former ; 
 that in both cases we believe, mainly, because the 
 Church of the fourth and fifth centuries unanimously 
 believed, and that we have at this moment to» defend our 
 belief in the CathoHc doctrines merely because they 
 come first, are the first object of attack ; and that if we 
 were not defending our belief in them, we should at this 
 very time be defending our belief in the Canon. Let no 
 one then hope for peace in this day ; let no one attempt 
 to purchase it by concession ; — vain indeed would be 
 that concession. Give up the Catholic doctrines, and 
 what do you gain } an attack upon the Canon, with (to 
 say the least) the same disadvantages on your part, or 
 rather, in fact, with much greater ; for the circumstance 
 that you have already given up the Doctrines as if 
 insufficiently evidenced in primitive times, will be an 
 urgent call on you, in consistency, to give up the Canon 
 too. And besides, the Church doctrines may also be 
 proved from Scripture, but no one can say that the 
 Canon of Scripture itself can be proved from Scripture 
 to be a Canon; no one can say, that Scripture anywhere 
 
Difficulties of yewish and Christian Faith. 237 
 
 enumerates all the books of which it is composed, and 
 puts its seal upon them ever so indirectly, even if it 
 might allowably bear witness to itself. 
 
 But here, before proceeding to make some reflections 
 on the state of the case, I will make one explanation, 
 and notice one objection. 
 
 In the first place, then, I must explain myself, when 
 I say that we depend for the Canon and Creed upon the 
 fourth and fifth centuries. We depend upon them thus : 
 As to Scripture, former centuries certainly do not speak 
 distinctly, frequently, or unanimously, except of some 
 chief books, as the Gospels : but still we see in them, 
 as we believe, an ever-growing tendency and approxima- 
 tion to that full agreement which we find in the fifth. 
 The testimony given at the latter date is the limit to 
 which all that has been before given converges. For in- 
 stance, it is commonly said, Exceptio probat regulam ; 
 when we have reason to think, that a writer or an age 
 would have witnessed so and so, but for this or that, and 
 this or that were mere accidents of his position, then he 
 or it may be said to tend towards such testimony. In 
 this way the first centuries tend towards the fifth. View- 
 ing the matter as one of moral evidence, we seem to see in 
 the testimony of the fifth the very testimony which every 
 preceding century gave, accidents excepted, such as the 
 present loss of documents once extant, or the then exist- 
 ing misconceptions, which want of intercourse between the 
 Churches occasioned. The fifth century acts as a com- 
 ment on the obscure text of the centuries before it, and 
 brings out a meaning which, with the help of that com- 
 ment, any candid person sees really to belong to them. 
 
 And in the same way as regards the Catholic Creed, 
 
238 Scripture and the Creed, 
 
 though there is not so much to explain and account for. 
 Not so much, for no one, I suppose, will deny that in the 
 Fathers of the fourth century it is as fully developed, and 
 as unanimously adopted, as it is in the fifth century ; 
 and, again, there had been no considerable doubts about 
 any of its doctrines previously, as there were about the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews or the Apocalypse : or if any, 
 they were started by individuals, as Origen's about 
 eternal punishment, not by Churches,-— or they were 
 at once condemned by the general Church, as in the 
 case of heresies, — or they were not about any primary 
 doctrine, for instance, the Incarnation or Atonement ; and 
 all this, in spite of that want of free intercourse which did 
 occasion doubts about portions of the Canon. Yet, in both 
 cases, we have at first an inequality of evidence as regards 
 the constituent parts of what was afterwards universally 
 received as a whole, — the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, 
 for instance, and, on the other hand, the four Gospels 
 being generally witnessed from the first ; but certain other 
 doctrines, (as the necessity of infant baptism,) being at 
 first rather practised and assumed, than insisted on, 
 and certain books, (as the Epistle to the Hebrews and 
 the Apocalypse,) doubted, or not admitted, in particular 
 countries. And as the unanimity of the fifth century as 
 regards the Canon, clears up and overcomes all previous 
 differences, so the abundance of the fourth as to the 
 Creed interprets, develops, and combines all that is 
 recondite or partial, in previous centuries, as to doctrine, 
 acting in a parallel way as a comment, not, indeed, as in 
 the case of the Canon, upon a perplexed and disordered, 
 but upon a concise text. In both cases, the after cen- 
 turies contain but the termination and summing up o: 
 the testimony of the foregoing. 
 
Difficulties of Jeimsh and Christian Faith, z^^ 
 
 2. 
 
 So much as to the explanation which I proposed to 
 give ; the objection I have to notice is this. It is said, 
 that the Fathers might indeed bear witness to a docu- 
 ment such as the books of Scripture are, and yet not be 
 good witnesses to a doctrine, which is, after all, but an 
 opinion. A document or book is something external to 
 the mind ; it is an object that any one can point at, and 
 if a person about two or three hundred years after 
 Christ, said, '' This book of the New Testament has 
 been accounted sacred ever since it was written," we 
 could be as sure of what he said, as we are at the present 
 day, that the particular church we now use was built at 
 a certain date, or that the date in the title-page of a cer- 
 tain printed book is trustworthy. On the other hand, it 
 is urged, a doctrine does not exist, except in the mind of 
 this or that person, it is not a thing you can point at, it 
 is not a something which two persons see at once, — it is 
 an opinion ; and every one has his own opinion. I have 
 an opinion, you have an opinion ; — if on comparing notes 
 we think we agree, we call it the same opinion, but it 
 is not the same really, only called the same, because 
 similar ; and, in fact, probably no two such opinions 
 really do coincide in all points. Every one describes 
 and colours from his own mind. No one then can bear 
 witness to a doctrine being ancient. Strictly speaking, 
 that which he contemplates, witnesses, speaks about, 
 began with himself; it is a birth of his own mind. He 
 may, indeed, have caught it from another, but it is not 
 the same as another man's doctrine, unless one flame is 
 the same as a second kindled from it ; and as flame 
 communicated from spirit to sulphur, from sulphur to 
 wood, from wood to coal, from coal to charcoal, burn.?, 
 variously, so, true as it may be that certain doctrines 
 
2 4-0 Scripture a7id the Creed. 
 
 originated in the Apostles, it does not follow that the 
 particular form in which we possess them, originated 
 with the Apostles also. Such is the objection ; that the 
 \ Fathers, if honest men, may be credible witnesses of 
 facts, but not, however honest, witnesses to doctrines. 
 It admits of many answers : — I will mention two. 
 I. It does not rescue the Canon from the difficulties 
 of its own evidence, which is its professed object ; for it 
 is undeniable that there are books of Scripture, which 
 in the first centuries particular Fathers, nay, particular 
 Churches did not receive. What is the good of con- 
 trasting testimony to facts with testimony to opinions, 
 when we have not in the case of the Canon that clear 
 testimony to the facts in dispute, which the objection 
 supposes } Lower, as you will, the evidence for the 
 Creed ; you do nothing thereby towards raising the evi- 
 dence for the Canon. The first Fathers, in the midst of 
 the persecutions, had not, as I have said, time and op- 
 portunity to ascertain always what was inspired and 
 what was not ; and, since nothing but an agreement of 
 many, of different countries, will prove to us what the 
 Canon is, we must betake ourselves of necessity to the 
 fourth and fifth centuries, to those centuries which did 
 hold those very doctrines, which, it seems, are to be re- 
 jected as superstitions and corruptions. But if the Church 
 then was in that miserable state of superstition, which be- 
 lief in those doctrines is supposed to imply, then I must 
 contend, that blind bigotry and ignorance were not fit 
 judges of what was inspired and what was not. I will not 
 trust the judgment of a worldly-minded partizan, or a 
 crafty hypocrite, or a credulous fanatic in this matter. 
 Unless then you allow those centuries to be tolerably 
 tree from doctrinal corruptions, I conceive, you cannot 
 use them as witnesses of the canonicity of the Old and 
 
Dijfficulties of j^ewish and Christia7i Faith. 241 
 
 New Testament, as we now have them ; but, if you do con- 
 sider the fourth and fifth centuries enlightened enough 
 to decide on the Canon, then I want to know why you 
 call them not enlightened in point of doctrine. The 
 only reason commonly given is, that their Christianity 
 contains many notions and many usages and rites not in 
 Scripture, and which, because not in Scripture, are to be 
 considered, it seems, as if against Scripture. But this 
 surely is no sound argument, unless it is true also that 
 the canonicity itself of the Old and New Testament, not 
 being declared in Scripture, is therefore unscriptural. I 
 consider then that the man, whether we call him cautious 
 or sceptical, who quarrels with the testimony for Catholic 
 doctrine, because a doctrine is a mere opinion, and not 
 an objective fact, ought also in consistency to quarrel 
 with the testimony for the Canon, as being that of an 
 age which is superstitious as a teacher and uncritical as 
 a judge. 
 
 2. But again : the doctrines of the Church are after all 
 not mere matters of opinion ; they were not in early 
 times mere ideas in the mind to which no one could 
 appeal, each individual having his own, but they were 
 external facts, quite as much as the books of Scripture ; 
 — how so ? Because they were embodied in rites and 
 ceremonies. A usage, custom, or monument, has the 
 same kind of identity, is in the same sense common pro- 
 perty, and admits of a common appeal, as a book. 
 When a writer appeals to the custom of the Sign of the 
 Cross, or the Baptism of infants, or the Sacrifice or the 
 Consecration of the Eucharist, or Episcopal Ordina- 
 tion, he is not speaking of an opinion in his mind, but 
 of something external to it, and is as trustworthy as 
 when he says that the Acts of the Apostles is written by 
 St Luke. Now such usages are symbols of common. 
 
2^2 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 not individual opinions, and more or less involve the 
 doctrines they symbolize. Is it not implied, for instance, 
 in the fact of priests only consecrating the Eucharist, that 
 it is a gift which others have not ? in the Eucharist being 
 offered to God, that it is an offering ? in penance being 
 exacted of offenders, that it is right to impose it ? in 
 children being exorcised, that they are by nature chil- 
 dren of wrath, and inhabited by Satan ? On the other 
 hand, when the Fathers witness to the inspiration of 
 Scripture, they are surely as much witnessing to a mere 
 doctrine, — not to the book itself, but to an opinion, — as 
 when they bear witness to the grace of Baptism. 
 
 Again, the Creed is a document the same in kind as 
 Scripture, though its wording be not fixed and invariable, 
 or its language. It admits of being appealed to, and is 
 appealed to by the early Fathers, as Scripture is. If 
 Scripture was written by the Apostles, (as it is,) because 
 the Fathers say so, why was not the Creed taught 
 by the Apostles, because the Fathers say so? The 
 Creed is no opinion in the mind, but a form of words 
 pronounced many times a day, at every baptism, at 
 every communion, by every member of the Church : — 
 is it not common property as much as Scripture } 
 
 Once more ; if Church doctrine is but a hazy opinion, 
 how is it there can be such a thing at all as Catholic 
 consent about it ? If, in spite of its being subjective to 
 the mind, Europe, Asia, and Africa could agree together 
 in doctrine in the fourth and fifth centuries (to say 
 nothing of earher times), why should its subjective 
 character be an antecedent objection to a similar agree- 
 ment in it between the fourth century and the first ? 
 And does not this agreement show that we are able to 
 tell when we agree together, and when we do not ? Is 
 it a mere accident, and perhaps a mistake, that Chris- 
 
Difficulties of Jewish and Christian Faith, 243 
 
 tians then thought that they agreed together in opinion, 
 and we now think that we do not agree ? 
 
 Granting, then, that external facts can be discriminated 
 in a way in which opinions cannot be, yet the Church 
 doctrines are not mere opinions, but ordinances : and 
 though the books of Scripture themselves are an 
 external fact, yet they are not all of them witnessed by 
 all writers till a late age, and their canonicity and in- 
 spiration are but doctrines, not facts, and open to the 
 objections, whatever they are, to which doctrines lie 
 open. 
 
 3. 
 
 And now, having said as much as is necessary on 
 these subjects, I will make some remarks on the state of 
 the case as I have represented it, and thus shall bring 
 to an end the train of thought upon which I have been 
 engaged. Let us suppose it proved, then, as I consider 
 it has been proved, that many difficulties are connected 
 with the evidence for the Canon, that we might have 
 clearer evidence for it than we have ; and again, let us 
 grant that there are many difficulties connected with 
 the evidence for the Church doctrines, that they might 
 be more clearly contained in Scripture, nay, in the ex- 
 tant writings of the first three centuries, than they are. 
 This being assumed, I observe as follows : — 
 
 I. There is something very arresting and impressive 
 in the fact, that there should be these difficulties attend- 
 ing those two great instruments of religious truth which 
 we possess. We are all of us taught from the Bible and 
 from the Creed or Prayer Book : it is from these that we 
 get our knowledge of God. We are sure they contain a doc- 
 trine which is from Him. We are sure of it ; but how do 
 we know it ? We are sure the doctrine is from Him, and 
 
244 Scripture a7id the Creed, 
 
 (I hesitate not to say) by a supernatural divinely inspired 
 assurance; hut kow do we know the doctrine is from Him ? 
 When we go to inquire into the reasons in argument, 
 we find that the Creed or Prayer Book with its various 
 doctrines rests for its authority upon the Bible, and that 
 they might be more clearly stated in the Bible than 
 they are ; and that the Bible, with its various books, 
 rests for its authority on ancient testimony, and that its 
 books might have been more largely and strongly attested 
 than they are. I say, there is something very subduing 
 to a Christian in this remarkable coincidence, which can- 
 not be accidental. We have reason to believe that God, 
 our Maker and Governor, has spoken to us by Revela- 
 tion ; yet why has He not spoken more distinctly } He 
 has given us doctrines which are but obscurely gathered 
 from Scripture, and a Scripture which is but obscurely 
 gathered from history. It is not a single fact, but a 
 double fact ; it is a coincidence. We have two inform- 
 ants, and both leave room, if we choose, for doubt. 
 God's ways surely are not as our ways. 
 
 2. This is the first reflection which rises in the mind 
 on the state of the case. The second is this : that, most 
 remarkable it is, the Jews were left in the same uncer- 
 tainty about Christ, in which we are about His doctrine. 
 The precept, " Search the Scriptures,'' and the com- 
 mendation of the Berceans, who " searched the Scriptures 
 daily," surely implies that divine truth was not on the 
 surface of the Old Testament. We do not search for 
 things which are before us, but for what we have lost or 
 have to find. The whole system of the prophecies left 
 the Jews (even after Christ came) where we are — in un- 
 certainty. The Sun of Righteousness did not at once 
 clear up the mists from the Prophetic Word. It was a 
 dark saying to the many, after He came, as well as 
 
Difficulties of Jewish and Christian Faith. 245 
 
 before. It is not to be denied that there were and are 
 many real difficulties in the way of the Jews admitting 
 that Jesus Christ is their Messiah. The Old Testament 
 certainly does speak of the Messiah as a temporal 
 monarch, and a conqueror of this world. We are accus- 
 tomed to say that the prophecies must be taken 
 spiritually ; and rightly do we say so. True : yet does 
 not this look like an evasion, to a Jew ? Is it not much 
 more like an evasion, though it be not, than to say (what 
 the Church does say and rightly) that rites remain, 
 though Jewish rites are done away, because our rites are 
 not Jewish, but spiritual, gifted with the Spirit, channels 
 of grace ? The Old Testament certainly spoke as if, 
 when the Church expanded into all nations, still those 
 nations were to be inferior to the Jews, even \i ad- 
 mitted into the Church ; and so St. Peter understood it 
 till he had the vision. Yet when the Jews complained, 
 instead of being soothed and consoled, they were met 
 with language such as this : " Friend, I do thee no 
 wrong. ... Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will 
 with Mine own ? Is thine eye evil because I am good ? " 
 And, " Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest 
 against God t Shall the thing formed say to Him that 
 formed it. Why hast Thou made me thus ? " * 
 
 Again ; why were the Jews discarded from God's 
 election ? for keeping to their Law. Why, this was the 
 very thing they were told to do, the very thing which, \i 
 not done, was to be their ruin. Consider Moses' words : 
 " If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law 
 that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear 
 this glorious and fearful Name, The Lord thy God ; 
 then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and 
 the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of 
 
 * Matt. XX. 13 — 15. Rom. ix. 20. 
 
246 Scripture and ihe Creed. 
 
 long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long con- 
 tinuance." * Might they not, or rather did they not, 
 bring passages like this as an irrefragable argument 
 against Christianity, that they were told to ^w^ up their 
 Law, that Law which was the charter of their religious 
 prosperity ? Might not their case seem a hard one, 
 judging by the surface of things, and without refer- 
 ence to " the hidden man of the heart " ? We know 
 how to answer this objection ; we say, Christianity lay 
 beneath the letter ; that the letter slew those who for 
 whatever cause went by it ; that when Christ came, 
 He shed a light on the sacred text and brought out its 
 secret meaning. Now, is not this just the case I have 
 been stating, as regards CathoHc doctrines, or rather a 
 more difficult case } The doctrines of the Church are 
 not hidden so deep in the New Testament, as the Gospel 
 doctrines are hidden in the Old ; but they are hidden ; 
 and I am persuaded that were men but consistent, who 
 oppose the Church doctrines as being unscriptural, they 
 would vindicate the Jews for rejecting the Gospel. 
 
 Much might be said on this subject : I will but add, 
 by way of specimen, how such interpretations as our 
 Lord's of " I am the God of Abraham," etc., would, 
 were we not accustomed to them, startle and offend rea- 
 soning men. Is it not much further from the literal 
 force of the words, than the doctrine of the Apostolical 
 Succession is from the words, *' I am with you alway, 
 even unto the end of the world " 1 In the one case we 
 argue, " Therefore, the Apostles are in one sense now on 
 earth, because Christ says ^ with you ahvay ; ' '' in the 
 other, Christ Himself argues, " therefore in one sense the 
 bodies of the patriarchs are still alive ; for God calls 
 Himself '/>4^^> God/ " We say, " therefore the Apostles 
 • Deut. xxviii. 58, 59. 
 
Difficulties of Jewish and CJiristiaji Faiili, 247 
 
 live in their successors." Christ implies, " therefore the 
 body never died, and therefore it will rise again." His own 
 divine mouth hereby shows us that doctrines may be in 
 Scripture, though they require a multitude of links to 
 draw them thence. It must be added that the Sadducees 
 did profess (what they would call) a plain and simple 
 creed ; they recurred to Moses and went by Moses, and 
 rejected all additions to what was on the surface of 
 Moses' writings, and thus they rejected what really was 
 in the mind of Moses, though not on his lips. They 
 denied the Resurrection ; they had no idea that it was 
 contained in the books of Moses. 
 
 Here, then, is another singular instance of the same 
 procedure on the part of Divine Providence. That Gos- 
 pel which was to be "the glory of His people Israel,"* 
 was a stumblingblock to them, as for other reasons, so 
 especially because it was not on the surface of the Old 
 Testament. And all the compassion (if I may use the 
 word) that they received from the Apostles in their per- 
 plexity was, " because they knew Him not, nor yet the 
 voice of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day, 
 they have fulfilled them in condemning Him."t Or 
 again : " Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the 
 prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, 
 and say. Hearing, ye shall hear, and shall not under- 
 stand," J etc. Or when the Apostles are mildest: "I 
 have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 
 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ 
 for my brethren, my kinsman according to the flesh ; " 
 or " I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, 
 but not according to knowledge." § Moreover, it is 
 -observable that the record of their anxiety is preserved 
 
 * Luke ii. 32. % lb. xxviii. 25, 26. 
 
 t Acts xiii. 37. § Rom. ix. 2, 3 : x. 2, 
 
248 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 to us ; an anxiety which many of us would call just ana 
 rational, many would pity, but which the inspired writers 
 treat with a sort of indignation and severity. '' Then 
 came the Jews round about Him, and said unto Him, 
 How long dost Thou make us to doubt?"* or more 
 literally, '' How long dost Thou keep our soul in sus- 
 pense ? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly!' Christ 
 answers by referring to His works, and by declaring that 
 His sheep do hear and know Him, and follow Him. If 
 any one will seriously consider the intercourse between 
 our Lord and the Pharisees, he will see that, not denying 
 their immorality and miserable pride, still they had 
 just reason to complain (as men now speak) that '' the 
 Gospel was not preached to them," — that the Truth was 
 not placed before them clearly, and fully, and uncom- 
 promisingly, and intelligibly, and logically, — that they 
 were bid to believe on weak arguments and fanciful de- 
 ductions. 
 
 This then, I say, is certainly a most striking coincidence 
 in addition. Whatever perplexity any of us may feel 
 about the evidence of Scripture or the evidence of Church 
 dod;rine, we see that such perplexity is represented in 
 Scripture as the lot of the Jews too ; and this circum- 
 stance, while it shows that it is a sort of law of God's 
 providence, and thereby affords an additional evidence of 
 the truth of the Revealed System by showing its harmony, 
 also serves to quiet and console, and moreover to awe 
 and warn us. Doubt and difficulty, as regards evidence, 
 seems our lot ; the simple question is, What is our duty 
 under it ? Difficulty is our lot, as far as we take on our- 
 selves to inquire ; the multitude are not able to inquire, 
 and so escape the trial ; but when men inquire, this trial 
 at once comes upon them. And surely we may use the 
 * John X. 24. 
 
Difficulties oj Jewish and Christian Faith, 249 
 
 parable of the Talents to discover what our duty is under 
 the trial. Do not those who refuse to go by the hints 
 and probable meaning of Scripture hide their talent in a 
 napkin ? and will they be excused ? 
 
 3. Now in connexion with what has been said, observe 
 the singular coincidence, or rather appositeness, of what 
 Scripture enjoins, as to the duty of going by faith in 
 rehgious matters. The difficulties which exist in the 
 evidence give a deep meaning to that characteristic 
 enunciation. Scripture is quite aware of those difficulties. 
 Objections can be brought against its own inspiration, 
 its canonicity, against revealed doctrines, as in the case 
 of the Jews against the Messiahship of Jesus Christ. It 
 knows them all : it has provided against them, by 
 recognizing them. It says, " Believe," because it knows 
 that, unless we believe, there is no means of our arriving 
 at a knowledge of divine things. If we will doubt, that 
 is, if we will not allow evidence to be sufficient which 
 merely results, considered in its details, in a balance 
 preponderating on the side of Revelation ; if we will deter- 
 mine that no evidence is enough to prove revealed doc- 
 trine but what is simply overpowering ; if we will not go 
 by evidence in which there are (so to say) a dozen chances 
 for Revelation and only two against it, we cannot be 
 Christians ; we shall miss Christ either in His inspired 
 Scriptures, or in His doctrines, or in His ordinances. 
 
 4. 
 
 To conclude : our difficulty and its religious solution 
 are contained in the sixth chapter of St. John. After 
 our Lord had declared what all who heard seemed to feel 
 to be a hard doctrine, some in surprise and offence left 
 Him. Our Lord said to the Twelve most tenderly, 
 *' Will ye also go away } " St. Peter promptly answered. 
 
250 Scriptitre and the Creed. 
 
 No : but observe on what ground he put it : " Lord, to 
 whom shall we go ? " He did not bring forward evi- 
 dences of our Lord's mission, though he knew of such. 
 He knew of such in abundance, in the miracles which 
 our Lord wrought : but, still, questions might be 
 raised about the so-called miracles of others, such as 
 of Simon the sorcerer, or of vagabond Jews, or about the 
 force of the evidence from miracles itself This was not 
 the evidence on which he rested personally, but this, — that 
 if Christ were not to be trusted, there was nothing in the 
 world to be trusted ; and this was a conclusion repugnant 
 both to his reason and to his heart. He had within him 
 ideas of greatness and goodness, holiness and eternity, 
 — he had a love of them — he had an instinctive hope 
 and longing after their possession. Nothing could con- 
 vince him that this unknown good was a dream. Divine 
 life, eternal life was the object which his soul, as far 
 as it had learned to realize and express its wishes, 
 supremely longed for. In Christ he found what he 
 wanted. He says, " Lord, to whom shall we go 1 " 
 implying he must go somewhere. Christ had asked, 
 " Will ye also go away ? " He only asked about Peter s 
 ItdiYmg Himself ; but in Peter's thought to leave Him 
 was to go somewhere else. He only thought of leaving 
 Him by taking another god. That negative state of 
 neither believing nor disbelieving, neither acting this way 
 nor that, which is so much in esteem now, did not occur 
 to his mind as possible. The fervent Apostle ignored 
 the existence of scepticism. With him, his course was 
 at best but a choice of difftciilties — of difficulties perhaps, 
 but still a choice. He knew of no course without a 
 choice, — choice he must make. Somewhither he must 
 go : whither else t If Christ could deceive him, to whom 
 should he go } Christ's ways might be dark, His words 
 
Difficulties of Jewish and Christian Faith. 251 
 
 often perplexing, but still he found in Him what he found 
 nowhere else, — amid difficulties, a realization of his 
 inward longings. " Thou hast the words of eternal life." 
 
 So far he saw. He might have misgivings at times ; 
 he might have permanent and in themselves insuperable 
 objections ; still, in spite of such objections, in spite 
 of the assaults of unbelief, on the whole, he saw that 
 in Christ which was positive, real, and satisfying. He 
 saw it nowhere else. "Thou," he says, "hast the 
 words of eternal life ; and we have believed and have 
 known that thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living 
 God." As if he said, "We will stand by what we 
 believed and knew yesterday, — what we believed and 
 knew the day before. A sudden gust of new doctrines, 
 a sudden inroad of new perplexities, shall not unsettle 
 us. We have believed, we have known : we cannot 
 collect together all the evidence, but this is the abiding 
 deep conviction of our minds. We feel that it is better, 
 safer, truer, pleasanter, more blessed to cling to Thy feet, 
 O merciful Saviour, than to leave Thee. Thou canst 
 not deceive us : it is impossible. We will hope in Thee 
 against hope, and believe in Thee against doubt, and 
 obey Thee in spite of gloom." 
 
 Now what are the feelings I have described but the 
 love of Christ ? Thus love is the parent of faith.* We 
 
 * [To say that "love is the parent of faith" is true, if by "love" is 
 meant, not evangelical charity, the theological virtue, but that desire for the 
 knowledge and drawing towards the service of our Maker, which precedes 
 religious conversion. Such is the main outline, personally and historically, 
 of the inward acceptance of Revelation on the part of individuals, and does 
 not at all exclude, but actually requires, the exercise of Reason, and the 
 presence of grounds for believing, as an incidental and necessary part of the 
 process. The preliminary, called in the text "love," but more exactly, 
 a "pia affectio," or " bona voluntas, " does not stand in antagonism or in 
 contrast to Reason, but is a sovereign condition without which Reason cannot 
 be brought to bear upon the great work in hand. — Vid. Univ. Serm. xii., 20.] 
 
252 Scripture and the Creed. 
 
 believe in things we see not from love of them : if we 
 did not love, we should not believe. Faith is reliance on 
 the word of another ; the word of another is in itself a 
 faint evidence compared with that of sight or reason. 
 It is influential only when we cannot do without it. We 
 cannot do without it when it is our informant about 
 things which we cannot do without. Things we cannot 
 do without, are things which we desire. They who feel 
 they cannot do without the next world, go by faith (not 
 that sight would not be better), but because they have no 
 other means of knowledge to go by. " To whom shall 
 they go } " If they will not believe the word preached 
 to them, what other access have they to the next world ? 
 Love of God led St. Peter to follow Christ, and love of 
 Christ leads men now to love and follow the Church, as 
 His representative and voice. 
 
 Let us then say, If we give up the Gospel, as we have 
 received it in the Church, to whom shall we go ? -It has 
 the words of eternal life in it : where else are they to be 
 found ? Is there any other Religion to choose but that of 
 the Church } Shall we go to Mahometanism or Pagan- 
 ism ? But we may seek some heresy or sect : true, we 
 may ; but why are they more sure ? are they not a part, 
 while the Church is the whole ? Why is the part true, if 
 the whole is not ? Why is not that evidence trustworthy 
 for the whole, which is trustworthy for a part ? Sectaries 
 commonly give up the Church doctrines, and go by the 
 Church's Bible ; but if the doctrines cannot be proved 
 true, neither can the Bible ; they stand or fall together. 
 If we begin, we must soon make an end. On what con- 
 sistent principle can I give up part and keep the rest ? 
 No : I see a work before me, which professes to be the 
 work of that God whose being and attributes I feel with- 
 in me to be real. Why should not this great sight be, — 
 
Difficulties of yewish and Christian Faith. 253 
 
 what it professes to be — His presence ? Why should not 
 ,he Church be divine ? The burden of proof surely is on 
 the other side. I will accept her doctrines, and her rites, 
 and her Bible, — not one, and not the other, but all, — till 
 I have clear proof, which is an impossibility, that she is 
 mistaken. It is, I feel, God's will that I should do so ; 
 and besides, I love all that belong to her, — I love her 
 Bible, her doctrines, her rites, and therefore I believe. 
 
 September^ 1838. 
 
254 
 
 IV, 
 
 THE TAMWORTH READING ROOM. 
 
 (Addressed to the Editor of the Times. By Catholicus, ) 
 I. 
 
 Secular Knowledge in contrast with Religion. 
 
 Sir, — Sir Robert Peel's position in the country, and 
 his high character, render it impossible that his words 
 and deeds should be other than public property. This 
 alone would furnish an apology for my calling the atten- 
 tion of your readers to the startling language, which 
 many of them doubtless have already observed, in the 
 Address which this most excellent and distinguished man 
 has lately delivered upon the establishment of a Library 
 and Reading-room at Tamworth ; but he has superseded 
 the need of apology altogether, by proceeding to present 
 it to the public in the form of a pamphlet. His speech, 
 then, becomes important, both from the name and the 
 express act of its author. At the same time, I must 
 allow that he has not published it in the fulness in which 
 it was spoken. Still it seems to me right and fair, or 
 rather imperative, to animadvert upon it as it has 
 appeared in your columns, since in that shape it will 
 have the widest circulation. A public man must not 
 claim to harangue the whole world in newspapers, and 
 then to offer his second thoughts to such as choose to 
 buy them at a bookseller's. 
 
Secular Knowledge not Religion 255 
 
 I shall surprise no one who has carefully read Sir 
 Robert's Address, and perhaps all who have not, by- 
 stating my conviction, that, did a person take it up 
 without looking at the heading, he would to a certainty 
 set it down as a production of the years 1827 and 1828, 
 — the scene Gower Street, the speaker Mr. Brougham or 
 Dr. Lushington, and the occasion, the laying the first 
 stone, or the inauguration, of the then-called London 
 University. I profess myself quite unable to draw any 
 satisfactory line of difference between the Gower Street 
 and the Tamworth Exhibition, except, of course, that 
 Sir Robert's personal religious feeling breaks out in his 
 Address across his assumed philosophy. I say assumed, 
 I might say affected ; — for I think too well of him to 
 believe it genuine. 
 
 On the occasion in question, Sir Robert gave expres- 
 sion to a theory of morals and religion, which of course, 
 in a popular speech, was not put out in a very dogmatic 
 form, but which, when analyzed and fitted together, 
 reads somewhat as follows : — 
 
 Human nature, he seems to say, if left to itself, 
 becomes sensual and degraded. Uneducated men live 
 in the indulgence of their passions ; or, if they are merely 
 taught to read, they dissipate and debase their minds 
 by trifling or vicious publications. Education is the 
 cultivation of the intellect and heart, and Useful Know- 
 ledge is the great instrument of education. It is the 
 parent of virtue, the nurse of religion ; it exalts man to 
 his highest perfection, and is the sufficient scope of his 
 most earnest exertions. 
 
 Physical and moral science rouses, transports, exalts, 
 enlarges, tranquillizes, and satisfies the mind. Its at- 
 tractiveness obtains a hold over us ; the excitement 
 attending it supersedes grosser excitements ; it makes 
 
256 The Tamworth Reading Room. 
 
 us know our duty, and thereby enables us to do it ; by 
 taking the mind off itself, it destroys anxiety ; and by 
 providing objects of admiration, it soothes and subdues 
 us. 
 
 And, in addition, it is a kind of neutral ground, on 
 which men of every shade of politics and religion may 
 meet together, disabuse each other of their prejudices, 
 form intimacies, and secure co-operation. 
 
 This, it is almost needless to say, is the very theory, 
 expressed temperately, on which Mr. Brougham once 
 expatiated in the Glasgow and London Universities. 
 Sir R. Peel, indeed, has spoken with somewhat of his 
 characteristic moderation ; but for his closeness in sen- 
 timent to the Brougham of other days, a few parallels 
 from their respective Discourses will be a sufficient 
 voucher. 
 
 For instance, Mr. Brougham, in his Discourses upon 
 Science, and in his Pursuit of Knowledge under Diffi- 
 culties,* wrote about the "pure delight" of physical 
 knowledge, of its " pure gratification,'' of its " tendency 
 to purify and elevate man's nature," of its "elevating 
 and refining it," of its " giving a dignity and importance 
 to the enjoyment of life." Sir Robert, pursuing the 
 idea, shows us its importance even in death, observing, 
 that physical knowledge supplied the thoughts from 
 which "a great experimentalist professed in his last 
 illness to derive some pleasure and some consolation, 
 when most other sources of consolation and pleasure 
 were closed to him." 
 
 Mr. Brougham talked much and eloquently of " the 
 sweetness of knowledge," and ''the charms of philosophy/' 
 of students "smitten with the love of knowledge," of 
 
 * [This latter work is wrongly ascribed to Lord Brougham in this passage. 
 It is, however, of the Brougham school.] 
 
Secular K^iowledge not Religion, 257 
 
 ** wooing truth with the unwearied ardour of a lover^' of 
 ** keen and overpowering emotion^ of ecstasy y' of " the 
 absorbing /^i-i-/^/^ of knowledge/' of "the strength of the 
 passion, and the exquisite pleasure of its gratification!' 
 And Sir Robert, in less glowing language, but even in a 
 more tender strain than Mr. Brougham, exclaims, " If I 
 can only persuade you to enter upon that delightful 
 path, I am sanguine enough to believe that there will 
 be opened to you gradual charms and temptations which 
 will induce you to persevere." 
 
 Mr. Brougham naturally went on to enlarge upon 
 " bold and successful adventures in the pursuit ; — such, 
 perhaps, as in the story of Paris and Helen, or Hero 
 and Leander ; " of " daring ambition in its course to 
 greatness,'* of " enterprising spirits," and their " brilliant 
 feats," of "adventurers of the world of intellect," and 
 of "the illustrious vanquishers of fortune." And Sir 
 Robert, not to be outdone, echoes back "aspirations for 
 knowledge and distinction," "simple determination of 
 overcoming difficulties," " premiums on skill and intel- 
 ligence," " mental activity," " steamboats and railroads," 
 "producer and consumer," "spirit of inquiry afloat;" 
 and at length he breaks out into almost conventical 
 eloquence, crying, " Every new^spaper teems with notices 
 of publications written upon popular principles, detailing 
 all the recent discoveries of science, and their connexion 
 with improvements in arts and manufactures. Let me 
 earnestly entreat you not to neglect the opportunity which 
 we are now willing to afford you ! // will not be our 
 fault if the ample page of knowledge, rich with the spoils 
 of time, is not unrolled to you I We tell you',' etc., etc. 
 
 Mr. Brougham pronounces that a man by "learning 
 truths wholly new to him," and by "satisfying himself of 
 the grounds on which known truths rest," "will enjoy 
 
 V 17 
 
The Tamworth Reading' Room 
 
 s 
 
 a proud conscious7tess of having, by his own exertions 
 become a wiser, and therefore a more exalted creature." 
 Sir Robert runs abreast of this great sentiment. He 
 tells us, in words which he adopts as his own, that a 
 man "in becoming wiser will become better:'' he will 
 "rise at 07tce in the scale of intellectual and moral 
 existence, and by being accustomed to such contem- 
 plations, he will feel the moral dignity of his natur^ 
 exaltedy 
 
 Mr. Brougham, on his inauguration at Glasgow, spoke 
 to the ingenuous youth assembled on the occasion, of 
 " the benefactors of mankind, when they rest from their 
 pious labours, looking down upon the blessings with 
 which their toils and sufferings have clothed the scene 
 of their former existence ; " and in his Discourse upon 
 Science declared it to be " no mean reward of our labour 
 to become acquainted with the prodigious genius of 
 those who have almost exalted the nature of man 
 above his destined sphere ; " and who " hold a station 
 apart, rising over all the great teachers of mankind, and 
 spoken of reverently, as if Newton and La Place were 
 not the names of mortal men." Sir Robert cannot, of 
 course, equal this sublime flight ; but he succeeds in 
 calling Newton and others " those mighty spirits which 
 have made the greatest (though imperfect) advances 
 towards the understanding of 'the Divine Nature and 
 Power/ " 
 
 Mr. Brougham talked at Glasgow about putting to 
 flight the " evil spirits of tyranny and persecution which 
 haunted the long night now gone down the sky," and 
 about men " no longer suffering themselves to be 
 led blindfold in ignorance ; " and in his Pursuit of 
 Knowledge he speaks of Pascal having, "under the 
 influence of certain religious views, during a period of 
 
Secular Kiiow ledge not Religion, 259 
 
 depression^ conceived scientific pursuits " to be little 
 better than abuse of his time and faculties." Sir Robert, 
 fainter in tone, but true to the key, warns his hearers, — 
 '' Do not be deceived by the sneers that you hear against 
 knowledge, which are uttered by men who want to 
 depress you y and keep you depressed to the level of their 
 own contented ignorance!' 
 
 Mr. Brougham laid down at Glasgow the infidel 
 principle, or, as he styles it, "the great truth," which 
 *' has gone forth to all the ends of the earth, that man 
 shall no more render account to man for his belief, over 
 which he has himself no control." And Dr. Lushington 
 applied it in Gower Street to the College then and there 
 rising, by asking, '* Will any one argue for establishing 
 a monopoly to be enjoyed by the few who are of one 
 denomination of the Christian Church only } " And he 
 went on to speak of the association and union of all 
 without exclusion or restriction, of "friendships cementing 
 the bond of charity, and softening the asperities which 
 ignorance and separation hdLYQ^ost^vQdl' Long may it be 
 before Sir Robert Peel professes the great principle itself! 
 even though, as the following passages show, he is 
 inconsistent enough to think highly of its application 
 in the culture of the mind. He speaks, for instance, of 
 " this preliminary and fundamental rule, that no works 
 of controversial divinity shall enter into the library 
 , (applause)," — of " the institution being open to all per- 
 sons of all descriptions, without reference to political 
 opinions, or religious creed^' — and of " an edifice in which 
 men of all political opinions and all religious feelings 
 may unite in the furtherance of knowledge, without the 
 asperities of party feeling." Now, that British society 
 should consist of persons of different religions, is this a 
 positive standing evil, to be endured at best as unavoid- 
 
26o The Tamwcrth Reading Room. 
 
 able, or a topic of exultation ? Of exultation, answers 
 Sir Robert ; the greater differences the better, the more 
 the merrier. So we must interpret his tone. 
 
 It is reserved for few to witness the triumph of their 
 own opinions ; much less to witness it in the instance 
 of their own direct and personal opponents. Whether 
 the Lord Brougham of this day feels all that satisfaction 
 and inward peace which he attributes to success of what- 
 ever kind in intellectual efforts, it is not for me to 
 decide ; but that he has achieved, to speak in his own 
 style, a mighty victory, and is leading in chains behind 
 his chariot-wheels, a great captive, is a fact beyond 
 question. 
 
 Such is the reward in 1841 for unpopularity in 1827. 
 
 What, however, is a boast to Lord Brougham, is in 
 the same proportion a slur upon the fair fame of Sir 
 Robert Peel, at least in the judgment of those who have 
 hitherto thought well of him. Were there no other 
 reason against the doctrine propounded in the Address 
 which has been the subject of these remarks, (but I hope 
 to be allowed an opportunity of assigning others,) its 
 parentage would be a grave primd facie difficulty in 
 receiving it. It is, indeed, most melancholy to see so 
 sober and experienced a man practising the antics of 
 one of the wildest performers of this wild age; and 
 taking off the tone, manner, and gestures of the versatile 
 ex-Chancellor, with a versatility almost equal to his own. 
 
 Yet let him be assured that the task of rivalling such 
 a man is hopeless, as well as unprofitable. No one 
 can equal the great sophist. Lord Brougham is inimi- 
 table in his own line. 
 
26l 
 
 Secular Knowledge not the Principle of Moral 
 Improvement, 
 
 A DISTINGUISHED Conservative statesman tells us from 
 the town-hall of Tamworththat "in becoming wiser a man 
 will become better ; " meaning by wiser more conversant 
 with the facts and theories of physical science ; and that 
 such a man will " rise at once in the scale of intellectual 
 and moral existence." "That," he adds, "is my belief" 
 He avows, also, that the fortunate individual whom he is 
 describing, by being "accustomed to such contempla- 
 tions, will feel the moral dignity of his nature exalted!' 
 He speaks also of physical knowledge as " being the 
 means of useful occupation and rational recreation ; " of 
 " the pleasures of knowledge " superseding " the indulg- 
 ence of sensual appetite," and of its "contributing to 
 the intellectual and moral improvement of the commu- 
 nity." Accordingly, he very consistently wishes it to be 
 set before " the female as well as the male portion of 
 the population ; " otherwise, as he truly observes, " great 
 injustice would be done to the well-educated and virtuous 
 women " of the place. They are to " have equal power 
 and equal influence with others." It will be difficult to 
 exhaust the reflections which rise m the mind on reading 
 avowals of this nature. 
 
 The first question which obviously suggests itself is 
 how these wonderful moral effects are to be wrought 
 under the instrumentality of the physical sciences. Can 
 
262 The Ta77iworth Readinpi Room. 
 
 i> 
 
 the process be analyzed and drawn out, or does it act 
 like a dose or a charm which comes into general use 
 empirically ? Does Sir Robert Peel mean to say, that 
 whatever be the occult reasons for the result, so it is ; 
 you have but to drench the popular mind with physics, 
 and moral and religious advancement follows on the 
 whole, in spite of individual failures ? Yet where has 
 the experiment been tried on so large a scale as to 
 justify such anticipations ? Or rather, does he mean, 
 that, from the nature of the case, he who is imbued with 
 science and literature, unless adverse influences inter- 
 fere, cannot but be a better man ? It is natural and 
 becoming to seek for some clear idea of the meaning 
 of so dark an oracle. To know is one thing, to do is 
 another ; the two things are altogether distinct. A man 
 knows he should get up in the morning, — he lies a-bed ; 
 he knows he should not lose his temper, yet he cannot 
 keep it. A labouring man knows he should not go to 
 the ale-house, and his wife knows she should not filch 
 when she goes out charing ; but, nevertheless, in these 
 cases, the consciousness of a duty is not all one with the 
 performance of it. There are, then, large families of 
 instances, to say the least, in which men may become 
 wiser, without becoming better ; what, then, is the 
 meaning of this great maxim in the mouth of its pro- 
 mulgators } 
 
 Mr. Bentham would answer, that the knowledge which 
 carries virtue along with it, is the knowledge how to take 
 care of number one — a clear appreciation of what is 
 pleasurable, what painful, and what promotes the one 
 and prevents the other. An uneducated man is ever 
 mistaking his own interest, and standing in the way of 
 his own true enjoyments. Useful Knowledge is that 
 which tends to make us more useful to ourselves ; — a 
 
Nor the Principle of Moral hnprovement. 263 
 
 most definite and intelligible account of the matter, and 
 needing no explanation. But it would be a great 
 injustice, both to Lord Brougham and to Sir Robert, 
 to suppose, when they talk of Knowledge being Virtue, 
 that they are Benthamizing. Bentham had not a spark 
 of poetry in him ; on the contrary, there is much of high 
 aspiration, generous sentiment, and impassioned feeling 
 in the tone of Lord Brougham and Sir Robert. They 
 speak of knowledge as something '^ pulchrum," fair and 
 glorious, exalted above the range of ordinary humanity, 
 and so little connected with the personal interest of its 
 votaries, that, though Sir Robert does obiter talk of 
 improved modes of draining, and the chemical properties 
 of manure, yet he must not be supposed to come short 
 of the lofty enthusiasm of Lord Brougham, who expressly 
 panegyrizes certain ancient philosophers who gave up 
 riches, retired into solitude, or embraced a life of travel, 
 smit with a sacred curiosity about physical or mathema- 
 tical truth. 
 
 Here Mr. Bentham, did it fall to him to offer a criticism, 
 doubtless would take leave to inquire whether such 
 language was anything better than a fine set of words 
 " signifying nothing,*' — flowers of rhetoric, which bloom, 
 smell sweet, and die. But it is impossible to suspect so 
 grave and practical a man as Sir Robert Peel of using 
 words literally without any meaning at all ; and though 
 I think at best they have not a very profound meaning, 
 yet, such as it is, we ought to attempt to draw it out. 
 
 Now, without using exact theological language, we 
 may surely take it for granted, from the experience of 
 facts, that the human mind is at best in a very unformed 
 or disordered state ; passions and conscience, likings and 
 reason, conflicting, — might rising against right, with the 
 prospect of things getting worse. Under these circum- 
 
264 The Tainworth Reading Room. 
 
 stances, what is it that the School of philosophy in which 
 Sir Robert has enrolled himself proposes to accomplish ? 
 Not a victory of the mind over itself — not the supremacy 
 of the law — not the reduction of the rebels — not the 
 unity of our complex nature — not an harmonizing of the 
 chaos — but the mere lulling of the passions to rest by 
 turning the course of thought ; not a change of character, 
 but a mere removal of temptation. This should be 
 carefully observed. When a husband is gloomy, or an 
 old woman peevish and fretful, those who are about them 
 do all they can to keep dangerous topics and causes of 
 offence out of the way, and think themselves lucky, if, 
 by such skilful management, they get through the day 
 without an outbreak. When a child cries, the nurserymaid 
 dances it about, or points to the pretty black horses out 
 of window, or shows how ashamed poll-parrot or poor puss 
 must be of its tantarums. Such is the sort of prescrip- 
 tion which Sir Robert Peel offers to the good people of 
 Tamworth. He makes no pretence of subduing the 
 giant nature, in which we were born, of smiting the loins 
 of the domestic enemies of our peace, of overthrowing 
 passion and fortifying reason ; he does but offer to bribe 
 the foe for the nonce with gifts which will avail for that 
 purpose just so long as they will avail, and no longer. 
 
 This was mainly the philosophy of the great Tully, 
 except when it pleased him to speak as a disciple of the 
 Porch. Cicero handed the recipe to Brougham, and 
 Brougham has passed it on to Peel. If w^e examine the 
 old Roman's meaning in ^' O philosophia, vitce dux,' it was 
 neither more nor less than this ; — that, while we were 
 thinking of philosophy, we were not thinking of anything 
 else ; we did not feel grief, or anxiety, or passion, or 
 ambition, or hatred all that time, and the only point was 
 to keep thinking of it. How to keep thinking of it was 
 
.Nor the Principle of Moral hnprovement. 265 
 
 extra artem. If a man was in grief, he was to be amused ; 
 if disappointed, to be excited; if in a rage, to be soothed ; 
 if in love, to be roused to the pursuit of glory. No 
 inward change was contemplated, but a change of exter- 
 nal objects ; as if we were all White Ladies or Undines, 
 our moral life being one of impulse and emotion, not 
 subjected to laws, not consisting in habits, not capable 
 of growth. When Cicero was outwitted by Caesar, he 
 solaced himself with Plato ; when he lost his daughter, 
 he wrote a treatise on Consolation. Such, too, was the 
 philosophy of that Lydian city, mentioned by the his- 
 torian, who in a famine played at dice to stay their 
 stomachs. 
 
 And such is the rule of life advocated by Lore 
 Brougham ; and though, of course, he protests that know- 
 ledge " must invigorate the mind as well as entertain it, 
 and refine and elevate the character, while it gives listless- 
 ness and weariness their most agreeable excitement and 
 relaxation," yet his notions of vigour and elevation, when 
 analyzed, will be found to resolve themselves into a mere 
 preternatural excitement under the influence of some 
 stimulating object, or the peace which is attained by 
 there being nothing to quarrel with. He speaks of phi- 
 losophers leaving the care of their estates, or declining 
 public honours, from the greater desirableness of Know- 
 ledge ; envies the shelter enjoyed in the University of 
 Glasgow from the noise and bustle of the world ; and, 
 apropos of Pascal and Cowper, " so mighty," says he, " is 
 the power of intellectual occupation, to make the heart 
 forget, for the timey its most prevailing griefs, and to 
 change its deepest gloom to sunshine." 
 
 Whether Sir Robert Peel meant all this, which others 
 before him have meant, it is impossible to say ; but I will 
 be bound, if he did not mean this, he meant nothing 
 
266 The Ta7nworth Readincr Roo7n 
 
 t> 
 
 else, and his words will certainly insinuate this meaning, 
 wherever a reader is not content to go without any 
 meaning at all. They will countenance, with his high 
 authority, what in one form or other is a chief error of 
 the day, in very distinct schools of opinion, — that our 
 true excellence comes not from within, but from without ; 
 not wrought out through personal struggles and suffer- 
 ings, but following upon a passive exposure to influences 
 over which we have no control. They will countenance 
 the theory that diversion is the instrument of improve- 
 ment, and excitement the condition of right action ; and 
 whereas diversions cease to be diversions if they are con- 
 stant, and excitements by their very nature have a crisis 
 and run through a course, they will tend to make novelty 
 ever in request, and will set the great teachers of morals 
 upon the incessant search after stimulants and sedatives, 
 by which unruly nature may, jpro re natd, be kept in 
 order. ^ 
 
 Hence, be it observed. Lord Brougham, in the last 
 quoted sentence, tells us, with much accuracy of state- 
 ment, that " intellectual occupation made the heart " of 
 Pascal or Cowper ^^ for tJie time forget its griefs.'' He 
 frankly offers us a philosophy of expedients : he show5 
 us how to live by medicine. Digestive pills half an hour 
 before dinner, and a posset at bedtime at the best ; and 
 at the worst, dram-drinking and opium, — the very remedy 
 against broken hearts, or remorse of conscience, which is 
 in request among the many, in gin-palaces not intellectual. 
 
 And if these remedies be but of temporary effect at 
 the utmost, more commonly they will have no effect at 
 all. Strong liquors, indeed, do for a time succeed in their 
 object; but who was ever consoled in real trouble by 
 the small beer of literature or science } '' Sir," said 
 Rasselas, to the philosopher who had lost his daughter, 
 
Nor the Principle of Moral Lnprovement. 267 
 
 '^ mortality is an event by which a wise man can never 
 be surprised." "Young man," answered the mourner, 
 " you speak like one that hath never felt the pangs of 
 separation. What comfort can truth or reason afford 
 me ? of what effect are they now but to tell me that my 
 daughter will not be restored ?" Or who was ever made 
 more humble or more benevolent by being told, as the 
 same practical moralist words it, " to concur with the 
 great and unchangeable scheme of universal felicity, and 
 co-operate with the general dispensation and tendency 
 of the present system of things" ? Or who was made to 
 do any secret act of self-denial, or was steeled against 
 pain, or peril, by all the lore of the infidel La Place, or 
 those other " mighty spirits " which Lord Brougham and 
 Sir Robert eulogize ? Or when was a choleric tempera- 
 ment ever brought under by a scientific King Canute 
 planting his professor's chair before the rising waves ? 
 And as to the " keen " and " ecstatic " pleasures which 
 Lord Brougham, not to say Sir Robert, ascribes to in- 
 tellectual pursuit and conquest, I cannot help thinking 
 that in that line they will find themselves outbid in the 
 market by gratifications much closer at hand, and on a 
 level with the meanest capacity. Sir Robert makes it a 
 boast that women are to be members of his institution ; 
 it is hardly necessary to remind so accomplished a 
 classic, that Aspasia and other learned ladies in Greece 
 are no very encouraging precedents in favour of the 
 purifying effects of science. But the strangest and most 
 painful topic which he urges, is one which Lord Brougham 
 has had the good taste altogether to avoid, — the power, 
 not of religion, but of scientific knowledge, on a death- 
 bed ; a subject which Sir Robert treats in language 
 which it is far better to believe is mere oratory than is 
 said in earnest. 
 
c68 The Tamworth Reading Room. 
 
 Such is this new art of living, offered to the labouring 
 classes, — we will say, for instance, in a severe winter, 
 snow on the ground, glass falling, bread rising, coal at 
 2od. the cwt, and no work. 
 
 It does not require many words, then, to determine 
 that, taking human nature as it is actually found, and 
 assuming that there is an Art of life, to say that it con- 
 sists, or in any essential manner is placed, in the cultiva- 
 tion of Knowledge, that the mind is changed by a dis- 
 covery, or saved by a diversion, and can thus be amused 
 into immortality, — that grief, anger, cowardice, self- 
 conceit, pride, or passion, can be subdued by an ex- 
 amination of shells or grasses, or inhaling of gases, or 
 chipping of rocks, or calculating the longitude, is the 
 veriest of pretences which sophist or mountebank ever 
 professed to a gaping auditory. If virtue be a mastery 
 over the mind, if its end be action, if its perfection be 
 inward order, harmony, and peace, we must seek it in 
 graver and holier places than in Libraries and Readinp*- 
 rooms 
 
269 
 
 Secular Knowledge not a direct Means of Movin. 
 Improvement. 
 
 There are two Schools of philosophy, in high esteem, 
 at this day, as at other times, neither of them accepting- 
 Christian principles as the guide of life, yet both of them 
 unhappily patronized by many whom it would be the 
 worst and most cruel uncharitableness to suspect of un- 
 belief Mr. Bentham is the master of the one ; and Sir 
 Robert Peel is a disciple of the other. 
 
 Mr. Bentham*s system has nothing ideal about it ; he 
 is a stern realist, and he limits his realism to things which 
 he can see, hear, taste, touch, and handle. He does not 
 acknowledge the existence of anything which he cannot 
 ascertain for himself. Exist it may nevertheless, but 
 till it makes itself felt, to him it exists not ; till it comes 
 down right before him, and he is very short-sighted, it 
 is not recognized by him as having a co-existence with 
 himself, any more than the Emperor of China is received 
 into the European family of Kings. With him a being 
 out of sight is a being simply out of mind ; nay, he 
 does not allow the traces or glimpses of facts to have any 
 claim on his regard, but with him to have a little and 
 not much, is to have nothing at all. With him to speak 
 truth is to be ready with a definition, and to imagine, to 
 guess, to doubt, or to falter, is much the same as to lie. 
 What opinion will such an iron thinker entertain of 
 Cicero's "glory," or Lord Brougham's "truth," or Sir 
 
270 The Tamworth Reading Roo7n, 
 
 Robert's "scientific consolations," and all those other 
 airy nothings which are my proper subject of remark, 
 and which I have in view when, by way of contrast, I 
 make mention of the philosophy of Bentham ? And yet 
 the doctrine of the three eminent orators, whom I have 
 ventured to criticise, has in it much that is far nobler than 
 Benthamism ; their misfortune being, not that they look 
 for an excellence above the beaten path of life, but that 
 whereas Christianity has told us what that excellence is, 
 Cicero lived before it was given to the world, and Lord 
 Brougham and Sir Robert Peel prefer his involuntary 
 error to their own inherited truth. Surely, there is 
 something unearthly and superhuman in spite of Ben- 
 tham ; but it is not glory, or knowledge, or any abstract 
 idea of virtue, but great and good tidings which need* 
 not here be particularly mentioned, and the pity is, 
 that these Christian statesmen cannot be content with 
 what is divine without as a supplement hankering after 
 what was heathen. 
 
 Now, independent of all other considerations, the 
 great difference, in a practical light, between the object 
 of Christianity and of heathen belief, is this — that glory, 
 science, knowledge, and whatever other fine names we use, 
 never healed a wounded heart, nor changed a sinful one ; 
 but the Divine Word is with power. The ideas which 
 Christianity brings before us are in themselves full of 
 influence, and they are attended with a supernatural gift 
 over and above themselves, in order to meet the special 
 exigencies of our nature. Knowledge is not '' power," 
 nor is glory "the first and only fair; " but "Grace," or 
 the '' Word," by whichever name we call it, has been 
 from the first a quickening, renovating, organizing prin- 
 ciple. It has new created the individual, and transferred 
 and knit him into a social body, composed of members 
 
Nor a direct Means of Moral Improve77unt. 271 
 
 each similarly created. It has cleansed man of his moral 
 diseases, raised him to hope and energy, given him to pro- 
 pagate a brotherhood among his fellows, and to found 
 a family or rather a kingdom of saints all over the earth ; 
 — it introduced a new force into the world, and the im- 
 pulse which it gave continues in its original vigour down 
 to this day. Each one of us has lit his lamp from his 
 neighbour, or received it from his fathers, and the lights 
 thus transmitted are at this time as strong and as clear 
 as if 1800 years had not passed since the kindling of the 
 sacred flame. What has glory or knowledge been able 
 to do like this } Can it raise the dead } can it create 
 a polity.'* can it do more than testify man's need and 
 typify God's remedy? 
 
 And yet, in spite of this, when we have an instrument 
 given us, capable of changing the whole man, great 
 orators and statesmen are busy, forsooth, with their 
 heathen charms and nostrums, their sedatives, correc- 
 tives, or restoratives ; as preposterously as if we were to 
 build our men-of-war, or conduct our iron-works, on the 
 principles approved in Cicero's day. The utmost that 
 Lord Brougham seems to propose to himself in the edu- 
 cation of the mind, is to keep out bad thoughts by means 
 of good — a great object, doubtless, but not so great in 
 philosophical conception, as is the destruction of the 
 bad in Christian fact. " If it can be a pleasure," he 
 says, in his Discourse upon the Objects and Advan- 
 tages of Science, "if it can be a pleasure to gratify 
 curiosity, to know what we were ignorant of, to have 
 our feelings of wonder called forth, how pure a delight 
 of this very kind does natural science hold out to its 
 students ! How wonderful are the laws that regulate 
 the motions of fluids ! Is there anything in all the 
 idle books of tales and horrors, more truly astonish- 
 
272 The Tamworth Reading Room. 
 
 ing that the fact, that a few pounds of water may, by 
 mere pressure, without any machinery, by merely being 
 placed in one particular way, produce very irresistible 
 force ? What can be more strange, than that an ounce 
 weight should balance hundreds of pounds by the in- 
 tervention of a few bars of thin iron ? Can anything sur- 
 prise us more than to find that the colour white is a 
 mixture of all others ? that water should be chiefly com- 
 posed of an inflammable substance ? Akin to this 
 pleasure of contemplating new and extraordinary truths 
 is the gratification of a more learned curiosity ^ by tracing 
 resemblances and relations between things which to com- 
 mon apprehension seem widely different," etc., etc. And 
 in the same way Sir Robert tells us even of a devout 
 curiosity. In all cases curiosity is the means, diversion 
 of mind the highest end ; and though of course I will 
 not assert that Lord Brougham, and certainly not that 
 Sir Robert Peel, denies any higher kind of morality, 
 yet when the former rises above Benthamism, in which 
 he often indulges, into what may be called Broughamism 
 proper, he commonly grasps at nothing more real and 
 substantial than these Ciceronian ethics. 
 
 In morals, as in physics, the stream cannot rise higher 
 than its source. Christianity raises men from earth, for 
 it comes from heaven ; but human morality creeps, 
 struts, or frets upon the earth's level, without wings to 
 rise. The Knowledge School does not contemplate rais- 
 ing man above himself; it merely aims at disposing of 
 his existing powers and tastes, as is most convenient, or 
 is practicable under circumstances. It finds him, like the 
 victims of the French Tyrant, doubled up in a cage in 
 which he can neither lie, stand, sit, nor kneel, and its 
 highest desire is to find an attitude in which his unrest 
 may be least. Or it finds him like some musical instru- 
 
Nor a direct Means of Moral Improvement, 273 
 
 ment, of great power and compass, but imperfect ; from 
 its very structure some keys must ever be out of tune, 
 and its object, when ambition is highest, is to throw the 
 fault of its nature where least it will be observed. It leaves 
 man where it found him — man, and not an Angel — a 
 sinner, not a Saint ; but it tries to make him look as 
 much like what he is not as ever it can. The poor in- 
 dulge in low pleasures ; they use bad language, swear 
 loudly and recklessly, laugh at coarse jests, and are rude 
 and boorish. Sir Robert would open on them a wider 
 range of thought and more intellectual objects, by teaching 
 them science ; but what warrant will he give us that, if 
 his object could be achieved, what they would gain in 
 decency they would not lose in natural humility and 
 faith } If so, he has exchanged a gross fault for a more 
 subtle one. " Temperance topics '* stop drinking ; let 
 us suppose it ; but will much be gained, if those who 
 give up spirits take to opium t Naturam expellas furcd^ 
 iamen usque recurret, is at least a heathen truth, and 
 universities and libraries which recur to heathenism may 
 reclaim it from the heathen for their motto. 
 
 Nay, everywhere, so far as human nature remains 
 hardly or partially Christianized, the heathen law remains 
 in force ; as is felt in a measure even in the most reli- 
 gious places and societies. Even there, where Christi- 
 anity has power, the venom of the old Adam is not 
 subdued. Those who have to do with our Colleges give 
 us their experience, that in the case of the young com- 
 mitted to their care, external discipline may change the 
 fashionable excess, but cannot allay the principle of sin- 
 ning. Stop cigars, they will take to drinking parties ; 
 stop drinking, they gamble ; stop gambling, and a worse 
 license follows. You do not get rid of vice by human 
 expedients ; you can but use them according to circum-, 
 
 V 18 
 
274 The Tamworth Reading Room. 
 
 stances, and in their place, as making the best of a bad 
 matter. You must go to a higher source for renovation 
 of the heart and of the will. You do but play a sort of 
 " hunt the slipper " with the fault of our nature, till you 
 go to Christianity. 
 
 I say, you must use human methods in their place, and 
 there they are useful ; but they are worse than useless out 
 of their place. I have no fanatical wish to deny to any 
 whatever subject of thought or method of reason a place 
 altogether, if it chooses to claim it, in the cultivation of 
 the mind. Mr. Bentham may despise verse-making, or 
 Mr. Dugald Stewart logic, but the great and true maxim 
 is to sacrifice none — to combine, and therefore to adjust, 
 all. All cannot be first, and therefore each has its place, 
 and the problem is to find it. It is at least not a lighter 
 mistake to make what is secondary first, than to leave 
 it out altogether. Here then it is that the Knowledge 
 Society, Gower Street College, Tamworth Reading-room, 
 Lord Brougham and Sir Robert Peel, are all so deplor- 
 ably mistaken. Christianity, and nothing short of it, 
 must be made the element and principle of all education. 
 Where it has been laid as the first stone, and acknow- 
 ledged as the governing spirit, it will take up into itself, 
 assimilate, and give a character to literature and science. 
 Where Revealed Truth has given the aim and direction 
 to Knowledge, Knowledge of all kinds will minister to 
 Revealed Truth. The evidences of Religion, natural 
 theology, metaphysics, — or, again, poetry, history, and 
 the classics, — or physics and mathematics, may all be 
 grafted into the mind of a Christian, and give and take 
 by the grafting. But if in education we begin with 
 nature before grace, with evidences before faith, with 
 science before conscience, with poetry before practice, 
 we shall be doing much the same as if we were to 
 
Nor a direct Means of Moral Improvement, 275 
 
 indulge the appetites and passions, and turn a deaf ear 
 to the reason. In each case we misplace what in its 
 place is a divine gift. If we attempt to effect a moral 
 improvement by means of poetry, we shall but mature 
 into a mawkish, frivolous, and fastidious sentimentalism ; 
 — if by means of argument, into a dry, unamiable long- 
 headedness; — if by good society, into a polished outside, 
 with hoUowness within, in which vice has lost its gross- 
 ness, and perhaps increased its malignity; — if by experi- 
 mental science, into an uppish, supercilious temper, 
 much inchned to scepticism. But reverse the order of 
 things : put Faith first and Knowledge second ; let the 
 University minister to the Church, and then classical 
 poetry becomes the type of Gospel truth, and physical 
 science a comment on Genesis or Job, and Aristotle 
 changes into Butler, and Arcesilas into Berkeley.* 
 
 Far from recognizing this principle, the teachers of the 
 Knowledge School would educate from Natural Theology 
 up to Christianity, and would amend the heart through 
 literature and philosophy. Lord Brougham, as if faith 
 came from science, gives out that " henceforth nothing 
 shall prevail over us to praise or to blame any one for " 
 his belief, " which he can no more change than he can 
 the hue of his skin, or the height of his stature." And 
 Sir Robert, whose profession and life give the lie to his 
 philosophy, founds a library into which "no works of 
 controversial divinity shall enter,'* that is, no Christian 
 doctrine at all ; and he tells us that *' an increased saga- 
 city will make men not merely believe in the cold 
 doctrines of Natural Religion, but that it will so prepare 
 
 * [On the supremacy of each science in its own field of thought, 
 and the encroachments upon it of other sciences, vide the author's 
 " University Education," Disc. 3, 2nd ed., and " University Sub- 
 jects," Nos, 6, 7, and 10.] 
 
276 The Tamworth Reading Room. 
 
 and temper the spirit and understanding that they will be 
 better qualified to comprehend the great scheme of human 
 redemption^ And again, Lord Brougham considers that 
 " the pleasures of science tend not only to make our lives 
 more agreeable, but better;" and Sir Robert responds, 
 that " he entertains the hope that there will be the means 
 afforded of useful occupation and rational recreation; that 
 men will prefer the pleasures of knowledge above the 
 indulgence of sensual appetite, and that there is a 
 prospect of contributing to the intellectual and moral 
 improvement of the neighbourhood." 
 
 Can the nineteenth century produce no more robust 
 and creative philosophy than this ? 
 
277 
 
 Secular Knowledge 7iot the Antecedent of Moral 
 Improvement. 
 
 Human nature wants recasting, but Lord Brougham 
 is all for tinkering it He does not despair of making 
 something of it yet He is not, indeed, of those who 
 think that reason, passion, and whatever else is in us, are 
 made right and tight by the principle of self-interest. 
 He understands that something more is necessary for 
 man's happiness than self-love ; he feels that man has 
 affections and aspirations which Bentham does not take 
 account of, and he looks about for their legitimate 
 objects. Christianity has provided these; but, un- 
 happily, he passes them by. He libels them with the 
 name of dogmatism, and conjures up instead the 
 phantoms of Glory and Knowledge ; idola theatric as his 
 famous predecessor calls them. " There are idols,'* says 
 Lord Bacon, "which have got into the human mind, 
 from the different tenets of philosophers, and the per- 
 verted laws of demonstration. And these we denomi- 
 nate idols of the theatre ; because all the philosophies 
 that have been hitherto invented or received, are but so 
 many stage plays, written or acted, as having shown 
 nothing but fictitious and theatrical worlds. Idols of 
 the theatre, or theories, are many, and will probably 
 grow much more numerous ; for if men had not, through 
 * ^.any ages, been prepossessed with religion and tlzeology, 
 
278 The Tamworth Reading Room. 
 
 and if civil governments^ but particularly monarchies/' 
 (and, I suppose, their ministers, counsellors, functionaries, 
 inclusive,) *' had not been averse to innovations of this kind, 
 though but intended, so as to make it dangerou? and 
 prejudicial to the private fortunes of such as take the 
 bent of innovating, not only by depriving them oi 
 advantages, but also of exposing them to contempt 
 and hatred, there would doubtless have been nmnerous 
 other sects of philosophies and theories, introduced, of kin 
 to those that in great variety formerly flourished among 
 the Greeks. And these theatrical fables have this in 
 common with dramatic pieces, that the fictitious narrative 
 is neater, more elegant and pleasing, than the true 
 history." 
 
 I suppose we may readily grant that the science of 
 the day is attended by more lively interest, and issues in 
 more entertaining knowledge, than the study of the New 
 Testament. Accordingly, Lord Brougham fixes upon 
 such science as the great desideratum of human nature, 
 and puts aside faith under the nickname of opinion. I 
 wish Sir Robert Peel had not fallen into the snare, in- 
 sulting doctrine by giving it the name of " controversial 
 divinity." 
 
 However, it will be said that Sir Robert, in spite of 
 such forms of speech, differs essentially from Lord 
 Brougham : for he goes on, in the latter part of the 
 Address which has occasioned these remarks, to speak 
 of Science as leading to Christianity. " I can never 
 think it possible," he says, "that a m.ind can be so 
 constituted, that after being familiarized with the great 
 truth of observing in every object of contemplation that 
 nature presents the manifest proofs of a Divine Intel- 
 ligence, if you range even from the organization of the 
 meanest weed you trample upon, or of the insect that 
 
Nor the Antecedent of Moral Improvement. 279 
 
 lives but for an hour, up to the magnificent structure of 
 the heavens, and the still more wonderful phenomena of 
 the soul, reason, and conscience of man ; I cannot believe 
 that any man, accustomed to such contemplations, can 
 return from them with any other feelings than those of 
 enlarged conceptions of the Divine Power, and greater 
 reverence for the name of the Almighty Creator of the 
 universe." A long and complicated sentence, and no 
 unfitting emblem of the demonstration it promises. It 
 sets before us a process and deduction. Depend on it, it 
 is not so safe a road and so expeditious a journey from 
 premiss and conclusion as Sir Robert anticipates. The 
 way is long, and there are not a few half-way houses 
 and traveller's rests along it ; and who is to warrant that 
 the members of the Reading-room and Library will 
 go steadily on to the goal he would set before them ? 
 And when at length they come to " Christianity," pray 
 how do the roads lay between it and '* controversial 
 divinity"? Or, grant the Tamworth readers to begin 
 with " Christianity" as well as science, the same question 
 suggests itself, What is Christianity ? Universal bene- 
 volence? Exalted morality? Supremacy of law? 
 Conservatism ? An age of light ? An age of reason ? — 
 Which of them all ? 
 
 Most cheerfully do I render to so religious a man as 
 Sir Robert Peel the justice of disclaiming any insinua- 
 tion on my part, that he has any intention at all to put 
 aside Religion ; yet his words either mean nothing, or 
 they do, both on their surface, and when carried into 
 effect, mean something very irreligious. 
 
 And now for one plain proof of this. 
 
 It is certain, then, that the multitude of men have 
 neither time nor capacity for attending to many subjects. 
 If they attend to one, they will not attend to the other ; 
 
2 8o The Tamworth Reading Roo77t 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 if they give their leisure and curiosity to this world, they 
 will have none left for the next. We cannot be every- 
 thing ; as the poet says, " non omnia possumus omnesr 
 We must make up our minds to be ignorant of much, if 
 we would know anything. And we must make our choice 
 between risking Science, and risking Religion. Sir Robert 
 indeed says, " Do not believe that you have not time 
 for rational recreation. It is the idle man who wants 
 time for everything.'' However, this seems to me 
 rhetoric ; and what I have said to be the matter of fact, 
 for the truth of which I appeal, not to argument, but to 
 the proper judges of facts, — common sense and practical 
 experience ; and if they pronounce it to be a fact, then 
 Sir Robert Peel, little as he means it, does unite with 
 Lord Brougham in taking from Christianity what he 
 gives to Science. 
 
 I will make this fair offer to both of them. Every 
 member of the Church Established shall be eligible 
 to the Tamworth Library on one condition — that he 
 brings from the "public minister of religion," to use Sir 
 Robert's phrase, a ticket in witness of his proficiency in 
 Christian knowledge. We will have no " controversial 
 divinity " in the Library, but a little out of it. If the 
 gentlemen of the Knowledge School will but agree to 
 teach town and country Religion first, they shall have a 
 carte blanche from me to teach anything or everything 
 else second. Not a word has been uttered or intended 
 in these Letters against Science; I would treat it, as 
 they do not treat " controversial divinity," with respect 
 and gratitude. They caricature doctrine under the 
 name of controversy. I do- not nickname science in- 
 fidelity. I call it by their own name, " useful and 
 entertaining knowledge;*' and I call doctrine "Christian 
 knowledge:" and, as thinking Christianity something 
 
Nor the Antecedent of Moral Lnprovement. 281 
 
 more than useful and entertaining, I want faith to come 
 first, and utility and amusement to follow. 
 
 That persons indeed are found in all classes, high and 
 low, busy and idle, capable of proceeding from sacred to 
 profane knowledge, is undeniable ; and it is desirable 
 they should do so. It is desirable that talent for 
 particular departments in literature and science should 
 be fostered and turned to account, wherever it is 
 found. But what has this to do with this general 
 canvass of " all persons of all descriptions without refer- 
 ence to religious creed, who shall have attained the 
 age of fourteen " } Why soHcit " the working classes, 
 without distinction of party, political opinion, or religious 
 profession ; *' that is, whether they have heard of a God 
 or no ? Whence these cries rising on our ears, of " Let 
 me entreat you!" "Neglect not the opportunity!" 
 " It will not be our fault ! " " Here is an access for you!" 
 very like the tones of a street preacher, or the cad of an 
 omnibus, — little worthy of a great statesman and a 
 religious philosopher ? 
 
 However, the Tamworth Reading-room admits of one 
 restriction, which is not a little curious, and has no very 
 liberal sound. It seems that, all ^^ virtuous women" 
 may be members of the Library ; that "great injustice 
 would be done to the well-educated and virtuous women 
 of the town and neighbourhood " had they been excluded. 
 A very emphatic silence is maintained about women not 
 virtuous. What does this mean } Does it mean to 
 exclude them, while bad men are admitted } Is this 
 accident, or design, sinister and insidious, against a 
 portion of the community } What has virtue to do with 
 a Reading-room } It is to make its members virtuous ; 
 it is to " exalt the moral dignity of their nature ; " it is 
 to provide "charms and temptations" to allure them 
 
282 The Tamworth Reading^ Room. 
 
 ^> 
 
 from sensuality and riot. To whom but to the vicious 
 ought Sir Robert to d^'scourse about *' opportunities," 
 and " access," and " moral improvement ; " and who else 
 would prove a fitter experiment, and a more glorious 
 triumph, of scientific influences ? And yet he shuts out 
 all but the well-educated and virtuous. 
 
 Alas, that bigotry should have left the mark of its hoof 
 on the great " fundamental principle of the Tamworth 
 Institution " ! Sir Robert Peel is bound in consistency 
 to attempt its obliteration. But if that is impossible, as 
 many will anticipate, why, O why, while he is about it, 
 why will he not give us just a little more of it } Cannot 
 we prevail on him to modify his principle, and to admit 
 into his library none but ** well-educated and virtuous " 
 men"! 
 
583 
 
 5. 
 
 Secular Knowledge not a Principle of Social U7iity. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel proposes to establish a Library which 
 " shall be open to all persons of all descriptions, without 
 reference to political opinions or to religious creed." He 
 invites those who are concerned in manufactories, or 
 who have many workmen, " without distinction of party, 
 political opinions, or religious profession." He promises 
 that "in the selection of subjects for public lectures 
 everything calculated to excite religious or political 
 animosity shall be excluded." Nor is any "discussion 
 on matters connected with religion, politics, or local 
 party differences" to be permitted in the reading-room. 
 And he congratulates himself that he has "laid the 
 foundation of an edifice in which men of all political 
 opinions and of all religious feelings may unite in fur- 
 therance of Knowledge, without the asperities of " party 
 feeling." In these statements religious difference are made 
 synonymous with "party feeling ;" and, whereas the tree 
 is "known by its fruit," their characteristic symptoms 
 are felicitously described as "asperities," and "animosi- 
 ties." And, in order to teach us more precisely what 
 these differences are worth, they are compared to differ- 
 ences between Whig and Tory — nay, even to ''local 
 party differences ; " such, I suppose, as about a munici- 
 pal election, or a hole-and-corner meeting, or a parish 
 job, or a bill in Parliament for a railway. 
 
 But, to give him the advantage of the more honour- 
 
284 The Tamworth Reading Room. 
 
 able parallel of the two, are religious principles to be put 
 upon a level even with political ? Is it as bad to be a 
 republican as an unbeliever ? Is it as magnanimous to 
 humour a scoffer as to spare an opponent in the House ? 
 Is a difference about the Reform Bill all one with a 
 difference about the Creed ? Is it as polluting to hear 
 arguments for Lord Melbourne as to hear a scoff against 
 the Apostles ? To a statesman, indeed, like Sir Robert, 
 to abandon one's party is a far greater sacrifice than to 
 unparliamentary men ; and it would be uncandid to 
 doubt that he is rather magnifying politics than degrad- 
 ing Religion in throwing them together ; but still, when 
 he advocates concessions in theology and politics, he 
 must be plainly told to make presents of things that 
 belong to him, nor seek to be generous with other 
 people's substance. There are entails in more matters 
 than parks and old places. He made his politics for 
 himself, but Another made theology. 
 
 Christianity is faith, faith implies a doctrine, a doctrine 
 propositions, propositions yes or no, yes or no differences. 
 Differences, then, are the natural attendants on Christi- 
 anity, and you cannot have Christianity, and not have 
 differences. When, then, Sir Robert Peel calls such 
 differences points of "party feeling," what is this but to 
 insult Christianity t Yet so cautious, so correct a man, 
 cannot have made such a sacrifice for nothing ; nor does 
 he long leave us in doubt what is his inducement. He 
 tells us that his great aim is the peace and good order of 
 the community, and the easy working of the national 
 machine. With this in view, any price is cheap, every- 
 thing is marketable ; all impediments are a nuisance. 
 He does not undo for undoing's sake; he gains more 
 than an equivalent. It is a mistake, too, to say that he 
 considers all differences of opinion as equal in import- 
 
Nor a Principle of Social Unity. 285 
 
 ance ; no, they are only equally in the way. He only 
 compares them together where they are comparable, — 
 in their common inconvenience to a minister of State. 
 They may be as little homogeneous as chalk is to 
 cheese, or Macedon to Monmouth, but they agree in 
 interfering with social harmony; and, since that har- 
 mony is the first of goods and the end of life, what is 
 left us but to discard all that disunites us, and to culti- 
 vate all that may amalgamate ? 
 
 Could Sir Robert have set a more remarkable example 
 of self-sacrifice than in thus becoming the disciple of his 
 political foe, accepting from Lord Brougham his new 
 principle of combination, rejecting Faith for the fulcrum 
 of Society, and proceeding to rest it upon Knowledge ? 
 
 " I cannot help thinking," he exclaims at Tamworth, 
 " that by bringing together in an institution of this kind 
 intelligent men of all classes and conditions of life, by 
 uniting together, in the committee of this institution, the 
 gentleman of ancient family and great landed posses- 
 sions with the skilful mechanic and artificer of good 
 character, I cannot help believing that we are harmoniz- 
 ing the gradations of society, and binding men together 
 by a new bond, which will have more than ordinary 
 strength on account of the object which unites us." The 
 old bond, he seems to say, was Religion ; Lord Brougham^s 
 is Knowledge. Faith, once the soul of social union, is 
 now but the spirit of division. Not a single doctrine but is 
 " controversial divinity ; " not an abstraction can be ima- 
 gined (could abstractions constrain), not a comprehen- 
 sion projected (could comprehensions connect), but will 
 leave out one or other portion or element of the social 
 fabric. We must abandon Religion, if we aspire to be 
 statesmen. Once, indeed, it was a living power, kindling 
 \ hearts, leavening them with one idea, moulding them on 
 
286 The Tamworth Readijig Room. 
 
 one model, developing them into one polity. Ere now 
 it has been the life of morality : it has given birth to 
 heroes ; it has wielded empire. But another age has 
 come in, and Faith is effete ; let us submit to what we 
 cannot change ; let us not hang over our dead, but bury 
 it out of sight. Seek we out some young and vigorous 
 principle, rich in sap, and fierce in life, to give form to 
 elements which are fast resolving into their inorganic 
 chaos ; and where shall we find such a principle but in 
 Knowledge ? 
 
 Accordingly, though Sir Robert somewhat chivalrously 
 battles for the appointment upon the Book Committee of 
 what he calls two " public ministers of religion, holding 
 prominent and responsible offices, endowed by the State,'* 
 and that ex officioy yet he is untrue to his new principle 
 only in appearance : for he couples his concession with 
 explanations, restrictions, and safeguards quite sufficient 
 to prevent old Faith becoming insurgent against young 
 Knowledge. First he takes his Vicar and Curate as 
 *' conversant with literary subjects and with literary 
 works," and then as having duties " immediately con- 
 nected with the moral condition and improvement '* of 
 the place. Further he admits " it is perfectly right to 
 h^ jealous of all power held by such a tenure:" and he 
 insists on the "fundamental" condition that these sacred 
 functionaries shall permit no doctrinal works to be in- 
 troduced or lectures to be delivered. Lastly, he reserves 
 in the general body the power of withdrawing this in- 
 dulgence " if the existing checks be not sufficient, and 
 the power be abused'^' — abused, that is, by the vicar 
 and curate ; also he desires to secure Knowledge from 
 being perverted to ^^ evil or immoral purposes" — such 
 perversion of course, if attempted, being the natural 
 
Nor a Principle of Social Unity, 287 
 
 antithesis, or pendant, to the vicar's contraband intro- 
 troduction of the doctrines of Faith. 
 
 Lord Brougham will make all this clearer to us. A 
 work of high interest and varied information, to which 
 I have already referred, is attributed to him, and at 
 least is of his school, and in which the ingenious author, 
 whoever he is, shows how Knowledge can do for Society 
 what has hitherto been supposed the prerogative of Faith. 
 As to Faith and its preachers, he had already compli- 
 mented them at Glasgow, as "the evil spirits of tyranny 
 and persecution," and had bid them good morning as 
 the scared and dazzled creatures of the '* long night now 
 gone down the sky.*' 
 
 "The great truth," he proclaimed in language borrowed 
 from the records of faith (for after parsons no men quote 
 Scripture more familiarly than Liberals and Whigs), has 
 finally gone forth to all the ends of the earth, that man 
 shall no more render account to man for his belief, over 
 which he has himself no control. Henceforth nothing 
 shall prevail on us to praise or to blame any one for that 
 which he can no more change than he can the hue of 
 his skin or the height of his stature." And then he or 
 his scholar proceeds to his new Vitce Sanctoru7n, or, as 
 he calls it, "Illustrations of the Pursuit of Knowledge ;" 
 and, whereas the badge of Christian saintliness is con- 
 flict, he writes of the " Pursuit of Knowledge under diffi- 
 culties ;'' and, whereas this Knowledge is to stand in the 
 place of Religion, he assumes a hortatory tone, a species 
 of eloquence in which decidedly he has no rival but Sir 
 Robert. " Knowledge," he says, " is happiness, as well 
 as power and virtue;" and he demands "the dedication 
 of our faculties" to it. ''The struggle,'' he gravely 
 observes, which its disciple "has to wage may be a 
 
288 The Tamworth Readin^r Room 
 
 <b 
 
 protracted, but it ought not to be a cheerless one : for, if 
 he do not relax his exertions^ every movement he makes is 
 necessarily a step forward ^ if not towards that distinction 
 which intellectual attainments sometimes confer, at least 
 to that mward satisfaction and enjoyment vjhich. is always 
 their reward. No one stands in the way of another, or 
 can deprive him of any part of his chance, we should 
 rather say of his certainty, of success ; on the contrary, 
 they are all fellow-workers y and may materially help each 
 other forward.'* And he enumerates in various places 
 the virtues which adorn the children of Knowledge — 
 ardour united to humility, childlike alacrity, teachable- 
 ness, truthfulness, patience, concentration of attention, 
 husbandry of time, self-denial, self-command, and 
 heroism. 
 
 Faith, viewed in its history through past ages, presents 
 us with the fulfilment of one great idea in particular — 
 that, namely, of an aristocracy of exalted spirits, drawn 
 together out of all countries, ranks, and ages, raised 
 above the condition of humanity, specimens of the capa- 
 bilities of our race, incentives to rivalry and patterns for 
 imitation. This Christian idea Lord Brougham has 
 borrowed for his new Pantheon, which is equally various 
 in all attributes and appendages of mind, with this one 
 characteristic in all its specimens, — the pursuit of Know- 
 ledge. Some of his worthies are low born, others of 
 high degree ; some are in Europe, others in the Anti- 
 podes ; som.e in the dark ages, others in the ages of 
 light ; some exercise a voluntary, others an involuntary 
 toil ; some give up riches, and others gain them ; some 
 are fixtures, and others adventure much ; some are pro- 
 fligate, and others ascetic ; and some are believers, and 
 others are infidels. 
 
 Alfred, severely good and Christian, takes his place in 
 
Nor a Principle of Social Unity. 289 
 
 this new hagiology beside the gay and graceful Lorenzo 
 de Medicis ; for did not the one " import civilization into 
 England,'* and was not the other "the wealthy and 
 munificent patron of all the liberal arts " ? Edward VI. 
 and Haroun al Raschid, Dr. Johnson and Dr. Franklin, 
 Newton and Protagoras, Pascal and Julian the Apostate, 
 Joseph Milner and Lord Byron, Cromwell and Ovid, 
 Bayle and Boyle, Adrian pope and Adrian emperor, 
 Lady Jane Grey and Madame Roland, — human beings 
 who agreed in nothing but in their humanity and in their 
 love of Knowledge, are all admitted by this writer to 
 one beatification, in proof of the Catholic character of 
 his substitute for Faith. 
 
 The persecuting Marcus is a " good and enlightened 
 emperor," and a "delightful" spectacle, when "mixing in 
 the religious processions and ceremonies" of Athens, 
 " re-building and re-endowing the schools," whence St. 
 Paul was driven in derision. The royal Alphery, on 
 the contrary, "preferred his humble parsonage" to the 
 throne of the Czars. West was " nurtured among the 
 quiet and gentle affections of a Quaker family." Kirke 
 White's "feelings became ardently devotional, and he 
 determined to give up his life to the preaching of Chris- 
 tianity." Roger Bacon was "a brother of the Franciscan 
 Order, at that time the great support and ornament of 
 both Universities." Belzoni seized "the opportunity" of 
 Bonaparte's arrival in Italy to "throw off his monastic 
 habit," " its idleness and obscurity," and to engage himself 
 as a performer at Astley's. Duval, " a very able anti- 
 quarian of the last century," began his studies as a peasant 
 boy, and finished them in a Jesuits' College. Mr. Davy, 
 "having written a system of divinity," effected the 
 printing of it in thirteen years *' with a press of his own 
 construction/* and the assistance of his female servant, 
 
 19 
 
290 The Ta7}iworth Reading Room. 
 
 working off page by page for twenty-six volumes 8vo, of 
 nearly 500 pages each. Raleigh, in spite of ''immoderate 
 ambition," was " one of the very chief glories of an age 
 crowded with towering spirits." 
 
 Nothing comes amiss to this author ; saints and 
 sinners, the precious and the vile, are torn from their 
 proper homes and recklessly thrown together under the 
 category of Knowledge. 'Tis a pity he did not extend 
 his view, as Christianity has done, to beings out of sight 
 of man. Milton could have helped him to some angelic 
 personages, as patrons and guardians of his intellectual 
 temple, who of old time, before faith had birth, 
 
 " Apart sat on a hill retired 
 In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high 
 Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, 
 Passion and apathy, and glory, and shame, — 
 Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.^' 
 
 And, indeed, he does make some guesses that way, 
 speaking most catholically of being " admitted to a 
 fellowship with those loftier minds " who " by universal 
 consent held a station aparty' and are *' spoken of rever- 
 entlj/y' as if their names were not those ''of mortal men;'* 
 and he speaks of these " benefactors of mankind, when 
 they rest from their pious labours, looking down " upon 
 the blessings with which their " toils and sufferings have 
 clothed the scene of their former existence." 
 
 Such is the oratory which has fascinated Sir Robert ; 
 yet we must recollect that in the year 1832, even the 
 venerable Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
 herself, catching its sound, and hearing something about 
 sublimity, and universality, and brotherhood, and effort, 
 and felicity, was beguiled into an admission of this 
 singularly irreligious work into the list of publications 
 
Nor a Principle of Social Unity, 291 
 
 which she had delegated to a Committee to select in 
 usum laicorum. 
 
 That a Venerable Society should be caught by the 
 vision of a Church Catholic is not wonderful ; but what 
 could possess philosophers and statesmen to dazzle her 
 with it, but man*s need of some such support, and the 
 divine excellence and sovereign virtue of that which 
 Faith once created i 
 
292 
 
 Secular Knowledge not a Principle of Action. 
 
 People say to me, that it is but a dream to suppose 
 that Christianity should regain the organic power in 
 human society which once it possessed. I cannot help 
 that ; I never said it could. I am not a politician ; I 
 am proposing no measures, but exposing a fallacy, and 
 resisting a pretence. Let Benthamism reign, if men have 
 no aspirations ; but do not tell them to be romantic, 
 and then solace them with glory ; do not attempt by 
 philosophy what once was done by religion. The 
 ascendency of Faith may be impracticable, but the 
 reign of Knowledge is incomprehensible. The problem 
 for statesmen of this age is how to educate the masses, 
 and literature and science cannot give the solution. 
 
 Not so deems Sir Robert Peel ; his firm belief and 
 hope is, " that an increased sagacity will administer to 
 an exalted faith ; that it will make men not merely 
 believe in the cold doctrines of Natural Religion, but that 
 it will so prepare and temper the spirit and understand- 
 ing, that they will be better qualified to comprehend the 
 great scheme of human redemption." He certainly 
 thinks that scientific pursuits have some considerable 
 power of impressing religion upon the mind of the mul- 
 titude. I think not, and will now say why. 
 
 Science gives us the grounds or premisses from which 
 religious truths are to be inferred ; but it does not set about 
 inferring them, much less does it reach the inference; — that 
 
Nor a Principle of Action. 293 
 
 is not its province. It brings before us phenomena, and it 
 leaves us, if we will, to call them works of design, wisdom, 
 or benevolence ; and further still, if we will, to proceed 
 to confess an Intelligent Creator. We have to take its 
 facts, and to give them a meaning, and to draw our own 
 conclusions from them. First comes Knowledge, then 
 a' view, then reasoning, and then belief. This is why- 
 Science has so little of a religious tendency ; deductions 
 have no power of persuasion. The heart is commonly- 
 reached, not through the reason, but through the imagi- 
 nation, by means of direct impressions, by the testimony 
 of facts and events, by history, by description. Persons 
 influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds 
 inflame us. Many a man will live and die upon a 
 dogma : no man will be a martyr for a conclusion. A 
 .conclusion is but an opinion ; it is not a thing which £$•, 
 but which we are " certain about ; " and it has often been 
 observed, that we never say we are certain without 
 implying that we doubt To say that a thing must be, 
 is to admit that it may not be. No one, I say, will die 
 for his own calculations ; he dies for realities. This is 
 why a literary religion is so little to be depended upon ; 
 it looks well in fair weather, but its doctrines are opinions, 
 and, when called to sufl*er for them, it slips them between 
 its folios, or burns them at its hearth. And this again is 
 the secret of the distrust and raillery with which moral- 
 ists haye been so commonly visited. They say and do 
 not Why 1 Because they are contemplating the fitness 
 of things, and they live by the square, when they should 
 be realizing their high maxims in the concrete. Now Sir 
 Robert thinks better of natural history, chemistry, and 
 astronomy, than of such ethics ; but they too, what are 
 they more than divinity in posse f He protests against 
 " controversial divinity : " is inferential much better ? 
 
294 The Tamworth Reading Room. 
 
 I have no confidence, then, in philosophers who 
 cannot help being religious, and are Christians by im- 
 plication. They sit at home, and reach forward to 
 distances which astonish us ; but they hit without grasp- 
 ing, and are sometimes as confident about shadows as 
 about realities. They have worked out by a calculation 
 the lie of a country which they never saw, and mapped 
 it by means of a gazetteer; and Hke blind men, though 
 they can put a stranger on his way, they cannot walk 
 straight themselves, and do not feel it quite their business 
 to walk at all. 
 
 Logic makes but a sorry rhetoric with the multitude ; 
 first shoot round corners, and you may not despair of 
 converting by a syllogism. Tell men to gain notions of 
 a Creator from His works, and, if they were to set about 
 it (which nobody does), they would be jaded and wearied 
 by the labyrinth they were tracing. Their minds would 
 be gorged and surfeited by the logical operation. Logi- 
 cians are more set upon concluding rightly, than on right 
 conclusions. They cannot see the end for the process. 
 Few men have that power of mind which may hold fast 
 and firmly a variety of thoughts. We ridicule *' men of 
 one idea ; " but a great many of us are born to be such, 
 dnd we should be happier if we knew it. To most men 
 argument makes the point in hand only more doubtful, 
 and considerably less impressive. After all, man is not 
 3, reasoning animal ; he is a seeing, feeling, contemplating, 
 acting animal. He is influenced by what is direct and 
 precise. It is very well to freshen our impressions and 
 convictions from physics, but to create them we must go 
 elsewhere. Sir Robert Peel " never can think it possible 
 that a mind can be so constituted, that, after being 
 familiarized with the wonderful discoveries which have 
 been made in every part of experimental science, it can 
 
Nor a Principle of Action. 295 
 
 retire from such contemplations without more enlarged 
 conceptions of God's providence, and a higher reverence 
 for His name." If he speaks of religious minds, he 
 perpetrates a truism ; \i of irreligious, he insinuates a 
 paradox. 
 
 Life is not long enough for a religion of inferences ; we 
 shall never have done beginning, if we determine to begin 
 with proof We shall ever be laying our foundations ; 
 we shall turn theology into evidences, and divines into 
 textuaries. We shall never get at our first principles. 
 Resolve to believe nothing, and you must prove your 
 proofs and analyze your elements, sinking further ,and 
 further, and finding " in the lowest depth a lower deep," 
 till you come to the broad bosom of scepticism. I would 
 rather be bound to defend the reasonableness of assuming 
 that Christianity is true, than to demonstrate a moral 
 governance from the physical world. Life is for action. 
 If we insist on proofs for everything, we shall never 
 come to action : to act you must assume, and that 
 assumption is faith. 
 
 Let no one suppose that in saying this I am maintain- 
 ing that all proofs are equally difficult, and all proposi- 
 tions equally debatable. Some assumptions are greater 
 than others, and some doctrines involve postulates larger 
 than others, and more numerous. I only say that im- 
 pressions lead to action, and that reasonings lead from 
 it. Knowledge of premisses, and inferences upon them, 
 — this is not to live. It is very well as a matter of liberal 
 curiosity and of philosophy to analyze our modes of 
 thought ; but let this come second, and when there is 
 leisure for it, and then our examinations will in many 
 ways even be subservient to action. But if we commence 
 with scientific knowledge and argumentative proof, or 
 iay any great stress upon it as the basis of personal 
 
296 The Tamworth Reading Room, 
 
 Christianity, or attempt to make man moral and religious 
 by Libraries and Museums, let us in consistency take 
 chemists for our cooks, and mineralogists for our masons. 
 Now I wish to state all this as matter of fact, to be 
 judged by the candid testimony of any persons whatever. 
 Why we are so constituted that Faith, not Knowledge 
 or Argument, is our principle of action, is a question 
 with which I have nothing to do ; but I think it is a fact, 
 and if it be such, we must resign ourselves to.it as best 
 we may, unless we take refuge in the intolerable paradox, 
 that the mass of men are created for nothing, and are 
 meant to leave life as they entered it. So well has this 
 practically been understood in all ages of the world, that 
 no Religion has yet been a Religion of physics or of phi- 
 losophy. It has ever been synonymous with Revelation. 
 It never has been a deduction from what we know : it 
 has ever been an assertion of what we are to believe. It 
 has never lived in a conclusion ; it has never been a 
 message, or a history, or a vision. No legislator or priest 
 ever dreamed of educating our moral nature by science 
 or by argument. There is no difference here between 
 true Religions and pretended. Moses was instructed, not 
 to reason from the creation, but to work miracles. 
 Christianity is a history supernatural, and almost scenic: 
 it tells us what its Author is, by telling us what He has 
 done. I have no wish at all to speak otherwise than 
 respectfully of conscientious Dissenters, but I have 
 heard it said by those who were not their enemies, and 
 who had known much of their preaching, that they had 
 often heard narrow-minded and bigoted clergymen, and 
 often Dissenting ministers of a far more intellectual cast; 
 but that Dissenting teaching came to nothing, — ^that it 
 was dissipated in thoughts which had no point, and 
 inquiries which converged to no centre, that it ended as 
 
Nor a Principle of Action. 297 
 
 it began, and sent away its hearers as it found them ; — 
 whereas the instruction in the Church, with all its defects 
 and mistakes, comes to some end, for it started from 
 some beginning. Such is the difference between the 
 dogmatism of faith and the speculations of logic. 
 
 Lord Brougham himself, as we have already seen, has 
 recognized the force of this principle. He has not left 
 his philosophical religion to argument; he has committed 
 it to the keeping of the imagination. Why should he 
 depict a great republic of letters, and an intellectual 
 Pantheon, but that he feels that instances and patterns, 
 not logical reasonings, are the living conclusions which 
 alone have a hold over the affections, or can form the 
 character ? 
 
298 
 
 7. 
 
 Secular Knowledge without Personal Religion tends 
 to Unbelief. 
 
 When Sir Robert Peel assures us from the Town-hall at 
 Tamworth that physical science must lead to religion, it 
 is no bad compHment to him to say that he is unreal. 
 He speaks of what he knows nothing about. To a 
 religious man like him, Science has ever suggested 
 religious thoughts ; he colours the phenomena of physics 
 with the hues of his own mind, and mistakes an inter- 
 pretation for a deduction. " I am sanguine enough to 
 beheve,'' he says, " that that superior sagacity which is 
 most conversant with the course and constitution of 
 Nature will be first to turn a deaf ear to objections and 
 presumptions against Revealed Religion, and to acknow- 
 ledge the complete harmony of the Christian Dispensation 
 with all that Reason, assisted by Revelation, tells us of 
 the course and constitution of Nature." Now, considering 
 that we are all of us educated as Christians from infancy, 
 it is not easy to decide at this day whether Science 
 creates Faith, or only confirms it ; but we have this 
 remarkable fact in the history of heathen Greece against 
 the former supposition, that her most eminent empiri- 
 cal philosophers were atheists, and that it was their 
 atheism which was the cause of their eminence. " The 
 natural philosophies of Democritus and others," says 
 Lord Bacon, " tvho allow no God or mind in the frame of 
 things, but attribute the structure of the uui verse to 
 
But a Temptation to Unbelief. 299 
 
 infinite essays and trials of nature, or what they call 
 fate or fortune, and assigned the causes of particular 
 things to the necessity of matter, without any intermixture 
 of final causes, seem, as far as we can judge from the 
 remains of their philosophy, much more solid, and to have 
 gone deeper into nature, with regard to physical causes, 
 than the philosophies of Aristotle or Plato: and this only 
 because they never meddled with final causes, which the 
 others were perpetually inculcating." 
 
 Lord Bacon gives us both the fact and the reason for 
 it Physical philosophers are ever inquiring whence 
 things are, not why ; referring them to nature, not to 
 mind ; and thus they tend to make a system a substitute 
 for a God. Each pursuit or calling has its own dangers, 
 and each numbers among its professors men who rise 
 superior to them. As the soldier is tempted to dissi- 
 pation, and the merchant to acquisitiveness, and the 
 lawyer to the sophistical, and the statesman to the expe- 
 dient, and the country clergyman to ease and comfort, 
 yet there are good clergymen, statesmen, lawyers, mer- 
 chants, and soldiers, notwithstanding ; so there are 
 religious experimentalists, though physics, taken by 
 themselves, tend to infidelity ; but to have recourse to 
 physics to make men religious is like recommending a 
 canonry as a cure for the gout, or giving a youngster a 
 commission as a penance for irregularities. 
 
 The whole framework of Nature is confessedly a tissue 
 of antecedents and consequents ; we may refer all things 
 forwards to design, or backwards on a physical cause. 
 La Place is said to have considered he had a formula 
 which solved all the motions of the solar system ; shall 
 we say that those motions came from this formula or 
 from a Divine Fiat ? Shall we have recourse for our 
 theory to physics or to theology ? Shall we assume 
 
300 The Tamworth Reading Room, 
 
 Matter and its necessary properties to be eternal, or 
 Mind with its divine attributes ? Does the sun shine to 
 warm the earth, or is the earth warmed because the sun 
 shines ? The one hypothesis will solve the phenomena 
 as well as the other. Say not it is but a puzzle in ar- 
 gument, and that no one ever felt it in fact. So far 
 from it, I believe that the study of Nature, when re- 
 ligious feeling is away, leads the mind, rightly or 
 wrongly, to acquiesce in the atheistic theory, as the 
 simplest and easiest. It is but parallel to that tendency 
 in anatomical studies, which no one will deny, to solve 
 all the phenomena of the human frame into material 
 elements and powers, and to dispense with the soul. 
 To those who are conscious of matter, but not conscious 
 of mind, it seems more rational to refer all things to one 
 origin, such as they know, than to assume the existence 
 of a second origin such as they know not. It is Reli- 
 gion, then, which suggests to Science its true conclusions ; 
 the facts come from Knowledge, but the principles come 
 of Faith.* 
 
 There are two ways, then, of reading Nature — as a 
 machine and as a work. If we come to it with the 
 assumption that it is a creation, we shall study it with 
 awe ; if assuming it to be a system, with mere curiosity. 
 Sir Robert does not make this distinction. He sub- 
 scribes to the belief that the man " accustomed to such 
 contemplations, struck with awe by the manifold proofs 
 of infinite power and infinite wisdom, will yield more 
 ready and hearty assent — yes, the assent of the heart, 
 and not only of the understanding, to the pious ex- 
 
 * [This is too absolute, if it is to be taken to mean that the legitimate, 
 and what may be called the objective, conclusion from the fact of Nature 
 viewed in the concrete is not in favour of the being and providence of God. 
 —F/^** Essay on Assent/' pp.336, 345,369, and "Univ. Serm."p. 194.] 
 
But a Temptation to Unbelief. 301 
 
 clamation, *0 Lord, how glorious are Thy works!'" 
 He considers that greater insight into Nature will lead 
 a man to say, " How great and wise is the Creator, who 
 has done this ! " True : but it is possible that his 
 thoughts may take the form of " How clever is the 
 creature who has discovered it ! " and self-conceit may 
 stand proxy for adoration. This is no idle apprehension. 
 Sir Robert himself, religious as he is, gives cause for it ; 
 for the first reflection that rises in his mind, as expressed 
 in the above passage, before his notice of Divine Power 
 and Wisdom, is, that "the man accustomed to such 
 contemplations will feel the moral dignity of his nature 
 exalted'' But Lord Brougham speaks out. "The 
 delight," he says, "is inexpressible oi being able to follow, 
 as it were, with our eyes, the marvellous works of the 
 Great Architect of Nature." And more clearly still : 
 " One of the most gratifying treats which science affords 
 us is the knowledge of the extraordinary powers with 
 which the human mind is endowed. No man, until he 
 has studied philosophy, can have a just idea of the great 
 things for which Providence has fitted his understanding, 
 the extraordinary disproportion which there is between 
 his natural strength and the powers of his mind, and the 
 force which he derives from these powers. When we 
 survey the marvellous truths of astronomy, we are first 
 of all lost in the feeling of immense space, and of the 
 comparative insignificance of this globe and its inhabit- 
 ants. But there soon arises a sense of gratification and 
 of new wonder at perceiving how so insignificant a 
 creature has been able to reach such a knowledge of the 
 unbounded system of the universe." So, this is the 
 religion we are to gain from the study of Nature ; how 
 miserable ! The god we attain is our own mind ; our 
 veneration is even professedly the worship of self. 
 
302 The Tamworth Readifig Room. 
 
 The truth is that the system of Nature is just as much 
 connected with Rehgion, where minds are not religious, 
 as a watch or a steam-carriage. The material world, 
 indeed, is infinitely more wonderful than any human 
 contrivance ; but wonder is not religion, or we should 
 be worshipping our railroads. What the physical crea- 
 tion presents to us in itself is a piece of machinery, and 
 when men speak of a Divine Intelligence as its Author, 
 this god of theirs is not the Living and True, unless the 
 spring is the god of a watch, or steam the creator of the 
 engine. Their idol, taken at advantage (though it is 
 not an idol, for they do not worship it), is the animating 
 principle of a vast and complicated system ; it is sub- 
 jected to laws, and it is connatural and co-extensive with 
 matter. Well does Lord Brougham call it " the great 
 architect of nature ; " it is an instinct, or a soul of the 
 world, or a vital power ; it is not the Almighty God.* 
 
 It is observable that Lord Brougham does not allude 
 to any relation as existing between his god and ourselves. 
 He is filled with awe, it seems, at the powers of the 
 human mind, as displayed in their analysis of the vast 
 creation. Is not this a fitting time to say a word about 
 gratitude towards Him who gave them } Not a syllable. 
 What we gain from his contemplation of Nature is 
 "a gratifying treat," the knowledge of the " great things 
 for which Providence has fitted man's understanding ; " 
 our admiration terminates in man ; it passes on to no 
 prototype, t I am not quarrelling with his result as illogical 
 or unfair ; it is but consistent with the principles with 
 which he started. Take the system of Nature by itself, 
 detached from the axioms of Religion, and I am willing 
 to confess — nay, I have been expressly urging — that it 
 
 * \Vide "University Education," Disc. I (and Ed.)] 
 f \vide **Essays," vol. i. p. 37, etc.] 
 
But a Temptation to Unbelief. 303 
 
 does not force us to take it for more than a system ; but 
 why, then, persist in calling the study of it religious, 
 when it can be treated, and is treated, thus atheistically ? 
 Say that Religion hallows the study, not that the study 
 is a true ground of Religion. The essence of Religion 
 is the idea of a Moral Governor, and a particular Pro- 
 vidence ; now let me ask, is the doctrine of moral govern- 
 ance and a particular providence conveyed to us through 
 the physical sciences at all ? Would they be physical 
 sciences if they treated of morals ? Can physics teach 
 moral matters without ceasing to be physics ? But are 
 not virtue and vice, and responsibility, and reward and 
 punishment, anything else than moral matters, and are 
 they not of the essence of Religion ? In what depart- 
 ment, then, of physics are they to be found ? Can 
 the problems and principles they involve be expressed 
 in the differential calculus ? Is the galvanic battery 
 a whit more akin to conscience and will, than the 
 mechanical powers ? What we seek is what concerns 
 us, the traces of a Moral Governor ; even religious minds 
 cannot discern these in the physical sciences ; astronomy 
 witnesses divine power, and physics divine skill ; and all 
 of them divine beneficence ; but which teaches of divine 
 holiness, truth, justice, or mercy? Is that much of a 
 Religion which is silent about duty, sin, and its remedies ? 
 Was there ever a Religion which was without the idea 
 of an expiation ? 
 
 Sir Robert Peel tells us, that physical science im- 
 parts " pleasure and consolation " on a death-bed. Lord 
 Brougham confines himself to the "gratifying treat;" 
 but Sir Robert ventures to speak of " consolation/' Now, 
 if we are on trial in this life, and if death be the time 
 when our account is gathered in, is it at all serious or 
 real to be talking of "consoling" ourselves at such a time 
 
304 The Tamworth Reading Room, 
 
 vith scientific subjects ? Are these topics to suggest to 
 IS the thought of the Creator or not ? If not, are they 
 )etter than story books, to beguile the mind from what 
 lies before it ? But, if they are to speak of Him, can a 
 dying man find rest in the mere notion of his Creator, 
 when he knows Him also so awfully as His Moral 
 Governor and his Judge ? Meditate indeed on the 
 wonders of Nature on a death-bed ! Rather stay your 
 hunger with corn grown in Jupiter, and warm yourself 
 by the Moon. 
 
 But enough on this most painful portion of Sir Robert's 
 Address. As I am coming to an end, I suppose I ought 
 to sum up in a few words what I have been saying. I 
 consider, then, that intrinsically excellent and noble as 
 are scientific pursuits, and worthy of a place in a liberal 
 education, and fruitful in temporal benefits to the com- 
 munity, still they are not, and cannot be, the instru- 
 ment oi din ethical training; that physics do not supply 
 a basis, but only materials for' religious sentiment; that 
 knowledge does but occupy, does not form the mind ; that 
 apprehension of the unseen is the only known principle 
 capable of subduing moral evil, educating the multitude, 
 and organizing society ; and that, whereas man is born 
 for action, action flows not from inferences, but from 
 impressions, — not from reasonings, but from Faith. 
 
 That Sir Robert would deny these propositions I am 
 far from contending ; I do not even contend that he has 
 asserted the contrary at Tamworth. It matters little to 
 me whether he spoke boldly and intelligibly, as the 
 newspapers represent, or guarded his strong sayings with 
 the contradictory matter with which they are interca- 
 lated in his own report. In either case the drift and the 
 effect of his Address are the same. He has given his 
 respected name to a sophistical School, and condescended 
 
But a Temptation to Unbelief. 305 
 
 to mimic the gestures and tones of Lord Brougham. 
 How melancholy is it that a man of such exemplary life, 
 such cultivated tastes, such political distinction, such 
 Parliamentary tact, and such varied experience, should 
 have so little confidence m himself, so little faith in his 
 own principles, so little hope of sympathy in others, so 
 little heart for a great venture, so little of romantic aspi- 
 ration, and of firm resolve, and stern dutifulness to the 
 Unseen ! How sad that he who might have had the 
 affections of many, should have thought, in a day like 
 this, that a Statesman's praise lay in preserving the mean, 
 not in aiming at the high ; that to be safe was his first 
 merit, and to kindle enthusiasm his most disgraceful 
 blunder ! How pitiable that such a man should not 
 have understood that a body without a soul has no life, 
 and a political party without an idea, no unity 1 
 
 February^ 1841. 
 
 V TO 
 
3o6 
 
 v; 
 
 WHO^S TO BLAME? 
 
 {Addressed to the Editor ^The Catholic Standard. By Catholicus.) 
 
 I. 
 
 The British Constitution on its Trial, 
 
 Sir, — I have been much shocked, as I suppose has been 
 the case with most of your readers, at the weekly extracts 
 you have made from the correspondents of the daily 
 prints, descriptive of the state of the British army in 
 the Crimea ; and a conviction has been steadily growing, 
 or rather has been formed, in my mind, which the run- 
 ning comments of the Press continually strengthen, that 
 we must go very deep indeed to get at the root of the 
 evil, which lies, not in the men in authority, nor in sys- 
 tems of administration simply in themselves, but in 
 nothing short of the British Constitution itself. I do 
 not expect I shall get others to agree with me m this 
 conclusion at once ; I do not ask you, Mr. Editor, to 
 assent to it, but to be patient with me, if, in order to do 
 justice to my own ideas on the subject, I ask for a long 
 hearing — if I even ask to be diffuse, roundabout, dis- 
 cursive, nay, perhaps, prosy, in support of what, at first 
 sight, readers may call my paradox, — for I have no 
 chance of establishing it in any other way. 
 
Our Constitution on its Trial. 307 
 
 Nor have I embraced it with any satisfaction to my 
 feelings, certainly not to my Catholic feelings. Indeed, 1 
 have a decided view that Catholicism is safer and more 
 free under a constitutional regime, such as our own, than 
 under any other. I have no wish for " reforms " ; and 
 should be sorry to create in the minds of your readers 
 any sentiment favourable either to democracy or to 
 absolutism. I have no liking for the tyranny whether 
 of autocrat or mob ; no taste for being whirled off to 
 Siberia, or tarred and feathered in the far West, by the 
 enemies of my religion. May I live and die under the 
 mild sway of a polity which certainly represses and dilutes 
 the blind fanaticism of a certain portion of my country- 
 men, — a fanaticism which, except for it, would sweep 
 us off these broad lands, and lodge us, with little delay 
 or compunction, in the German Sea ! Still, we cannot 
 alter facts ; and, if the British Constitution is admirably 
 adapted for peace, but not for war, which is the proposi- 
 tion I shall support, and which seems dawning on the 
 public mind, there is a lesson contained in that circum- 
 stance which demands our attention. The lesson is this 
 — that we were not wise to go to war, if we could possibly 
 have avoided it, at a time when, by a lucky accident, the 
 Duke of Wellington had gained for the nation a military 
 prestige which it had little chance of preserving ; and 
 the sooner we know our capabilities and our true mission 
 among the nations of the earth, and get back into a state 
 of peace, in which we are really and truly great, the 
 better for us. 
 
 It is not that I am doubting the heroic bravery and 
 
 , fortitude of the British soldier. I am not speaking of 
 
 the individual soldier, whose great qualities I revere 
 
 I and marvel at, and whom I have been following with my 
 
 anxieties and prayers ever since he set out on his foreign 
 
308 Who's to Blame ? 
 
 campaign. I am as little concerned here with the valour 
 of our soldiers, as with the bigotry of our middle class ; 
 with the heights of Inkerman, as with the depths of 
 Exeter Hall. I am to speak of our Constitution and of 
 Constitutional Government ; and I say that this said 
 Constitutional Government of ours shows to extreme 
 advantage in a state of peace, but not so in a state of 
 war ; and that it cannot be otherwise from the nature of 
 things. Surely it is not paradoxical to say as much as 
 this ; for no one in this world can secure all things at 
 once, but in every human work there is a maximum of 
 good, short of the best possible. The wonder and the 
 paradox rather would be, if the institutions of England 
 were equally admirable for all contingencies, for war as 
 well as for peace. Certainly martial law and constitutional 
 freedom, the soldier s bayonet and the staff of the police- 
 man, belong to antagonistic classes of ideas, and are not 
 likely to co-operate happily with each other. 
 
 Nor, again, do I therefore say that we must never go 
 to war, or that we shall always get the worst off, if we do. 
 I only mean, it is not our strong point. I suppose, if 
 we had no fowling-pieces, we might still manage, like 
 Philoctetes, to knock off our game with bow and arrows. 
 There are always ways of doing things, where there is 
 the will. I am not denying that, with great exertion, 
 we are able to hoist up our complex Constitution, to 
 ease it into position, and fire it off with uncommon 
 effect ; but to do so is a most inconvenient, expensive, 
 tedious process ; it takes much time, much money, many 
 men, and many lives. We ought in consequence to 
 think twice before we set it to work for a purpose for 
 which it was never made ; and this I think we did not 
 do a year ago. We hardly thought once about the 
 matter. With intense self-conceit, we despised our foe. 
 
Our Constitution on its Trial. 309 
 
 We treated him as we treated the Pope four years be- 
 fore, and we have caught it. The Times put out feelers, 
 this time last year, as to the possibility of the British 
 Lion being persuaded into a more good-humoured, as 
 well as a more prudent course ; but that sagacious jour- 
 nal was soon obliged to draw them in again, and to 
 swim down the stream with the boldest. For the said 
 Lion was bent on puffing the Muscovite into space with 
 the mere breath of his growl ; and it did not occur to 
 him at the moment, that perhaps it was his own wisdom, 
 and not the Muscovite's merely, to let well alone, and to 
 live upon the capital which a great military genius had 
 made for him in the last war. And so, without reflection, 
 the Lion did what, I am firmly persuaded, neither the 
 Duke nor Sir Robert Peel would have let him do, had 
 they been alive. He believed those counsellors who 
 had the madness to tell him that it was a little war 
 
 , which he was beginning, and he stood rampant forthwith 
 both in the Baltic and in the Black Sea. 
 
 But there is a further view of the matter, and it sug- 
 gests another unpleasant consideration. No one likes to 
 
 , use a cumbrous, clumsy instrument ; and, if at war we 
 are, and with institutions not fitted for war, it is just 
 possible we may alter our institutions, under the im- 
 mediate pressure, in order to make them work easier for 
 the object of war ; and then what becomes of King, 
 
 I Lords, and Commons ? There are abundant symptoms, 
 on all sides of us, of the presence of a strong temptation to 
 some such temerarious proceeding. Any one, then, who, 
 like myself, is thankful that he is born under the British 
 Constitution, — any Catholic who dreads the knout and 
 the tar-barrel, will, for that very reason, look with great 
 jealousy on a state of things which not only doubles 
 prices and taxes, but which may bring about a sudden 
 
3IO Who's to Blame? 
 
 infringement and an irreparable injury of that remarkable 
 polity, which the world never saw before, or elsewhere, and 
 which it is so pleasant to live under. I do not mean to say 
 that anything serious will be sensibly experienced in our 
 time, at least in the time of those who are gliding rapidly 
 along to the evening of life ; but it would be no consola- 
 tion to me to be told that the Constitution will last my 
 day, if I know that the next generation, whom I am watch- 
 ing as they come into active life, would fall under a form 
 of government less favourable to the Church. And I do not 
 think that the Catholics of England, who have shown no 
 little exultation at the war, would gain much by rescu- 
 ing Turkey from the Russo-Greeks, if, after planting Pro- 
 testant Liberalism there instead, they found on looking 
 homeward that despotism or democracy had mounted 
 in these islands on the ruins of the aristocracy. 
 
 However, it is not my business to prophesy, but tc 
 attempt to lay down principles, which I hope to be al- 
 lowed to do in my next letter. 
 
3IJ 
 
 2. 
 
 States and Constitutions* 
 
 The proposition I have undertaken to maintain is this : 
 — That the British Constitution is made for a state of 
 peace, and not for a state of war ; and that war tries it 
 in the same way, to use a homely illustration, that it tries 
 a spoon to use it for a knife, or a scythe or hay-fork to 
 make it do the work of a spade. I expressed myself thus 
 generally, in order to give to those who should do me 
 the honour of reading me the most expeditious insight 
 into the view which I wished to set before them. But, 
 if I must speak accurately, my meaning is this, — that, 
 whereas a Nation has two aspects, internal and external, 
 one as regards its own members, and one as regards 
 foreigners, and whereas its government has two duties, 
 one towards its subjects, and one towards its allies or 
 enemies, the British State is great in its home department, 
 which is its primary object, foreign affairs being its 
 secondary ; while France or Russia, Prussia or Austria, 
 contemplates in the first place foreign affairs, and is great 
 in their management, and makes the home department 
 only its second object. And further, that, if England be 
 great abroad, as she is, it is not so much the State, as 
 the People or Nation, which is the cause of her being 
 great, and that not by means but in spite of the Con- 
 stitution, or, if by means of it in any measure, clumsily so 
 and circuitously; on the other hand, that, if foreign powers 
 are ever great in the management of their own people, 
 
312 Who's to Blame 7 
 
 and make men of them, this they do in spite of their 
 polity, and rather by the accidental qualifications of the 
 individual ruler ; or if by their polity, still with incon- 
 venience and effort. Other explanations I may add to 
 the above as I proceed, but this is sufficient for the 
 present. 
 
 Now I hope you will have patience with me, if I begin 
 by setting down what I mean by a State, and by a Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 First of all, it is plain that every one has a power of his 
 own to act this way or that, as he pleases. And, as not 
 one or two, but every one has it, it is equally plain, that, 
 if all exercised it to the full, at least the stronger part of 
 mankind would always be in conflict with each other, 
 and no one would enjoy the benefit of it ; so that it is 
 the interest of every one to give up some portion of his 
 birth-freedom in this or that direction, in order to secure 
 more freedom on the whole ; exchanging a freedom which 
 is now large and now narrow, according as the accidents 
 of his conflicts with others are more or less favourable to 
 himself, for a certain definite range of freedom prescribed 
 and guaranteed by settled engagements or laws. In 
 other words, Society is necessary for the well-being of 
 human nature. The result, aimed at and effected by 
 these mutual arrangements, is called a State or Standing; 
 that is, in contrast with the appearance presented by a 
 people before and apart from such arrangements, which 
 is not a standing, but a chronic condition of commotion 
 and disorder. 
 
 And next, as this State or settlement of a people, is 
 brought about by mutual arrangements, that is, by laws 
 or rules, there is need, from the nature of the case, of 
 some power over and above the People itself to maintain 
 and enforce them. This living guardian of the laws is 
 
states and Constitutions. 313 
 
 called the Government, and a governing power is thus 
 involved in the very notion of Society. Let the Govern- 
 ment be suspended, and at once the State is threatened 
 with dissolution, which at best is only a matter of time. 
 
 A lively illustration in point is furnished us by a clas- 
 sical historian. When the great Assyrian Empire broke 
 ip, a time of anarchy succeeded ; and, little as its late 
 subjects liked its sway, they liked its absence less. The 
 listorian thus proceeds : " There was a wise man among 
 :he Medes, called Deioces. This Deioces, aspiring to be 
 yrant, did thus. He was already a man of reputation 
 n his own country, and he now, more than ever, practised 
 ustice. The Medes, accordingly, in his neighbourhood, 
 seeing his ways, made him their umpire in disputes. He, 
 on the other hand, having empire in his eye, was upright 
 and just. As he proceeded thus, the dwellers in other 
 towns, who had suffered from unjust decisions, were glad 
 to go to him and to plead their causes, till at length they 
 went to no one else. Deioces now had the matter in his 
 own hands. Accordingly he would no longer proceed to 
 the judgment-seat; for it was not worth his while, he 
 said, to neglect his private affairs for the sake of the 
 affairs of others. When rapine and lawlessness returned, 
 his friends said, 'We must appoint a king over us;* and 
 then they debated who it should be, and Deioces was 
 praised by every one. So they made him their king ; 
 and he, upon this, bade them to build him a house 
 worthy of his kingly power, and protect him with 
 guards ; and the Medes did so." 
 
 Now I have quoted this passage from history, 
 because it carries us a step further in our investigation. 
 It is for the good of the many that the one man, 
 Deioces, is set up ; but who is to keep him in his 
 proper work ? He puts down all little tyrants, but 
 
314 Who's to Blame? 
 
 what IS to hinder his becoming a greater tyrant than 
 them all ? This was actually the case ; first the Assyrian 
 tyranny, then anarchy, then the tyranny of Deioces. 
 Thus the unfortunate masses oscillate between two op- 
 posite evils, — that of having no governor, and that of 
 having too much of one ; and which is the lesser of the 
 two ? This was the dilemma which beset the Horse m 
 the fable. He was in feud with the Stag, by whose horns 
 he was driven from his pasture. The Man promised him 
 an easy victory, if he would let him mount him. On his 
 assenting, the Man bridled him, and vaulted on him, and 
 pursued and killed his enemy ; but, this done, he would 
 not get off him. Now, then, the Horse was even worse 
 off than before, because he had a master to serve, instead 
 of a foe to combat. 
 
 Here then is the problem : the social state is necessary 
 for man, but it seems to contain in itself the elements 
 of its own undoing. It requires a power to enforce the 
 laws, and to rule the unruly ; but what law is to control 
 that power, and to rule the ruler } According to the 
 common adage, " Quis custodiat ipsos custodes } " Who 
 is to hinder the governor dispensing with the law in his 
 own favour ? History shows us that this problem is as 
 ordinary as it is perplexing. 
 
 The expedient, by which the State is kept in statu 
 and its ruler is ruled, is called its Constitution ; and this 
 has next to be explained. Now a Constitution really is 
 not a mere code of laws, as is plain at once ; for the 
 very problem is how to confine power within the law, and 
 in order to the maintenance of law. The ruling power 
 can, and may, overturn law and law-makers, as Cromwell 
 did, by the same sword with which he protects them. 
 Acts of Parliament, Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, the 
 Reform Bill, none of these are the British Constitution,. 
 
States and Constitutions. 315 
 
 What then is conveyed in that word ? I would answer 
 as follows : — 
 
 As individuals have characters of their own, so have 
 races. Most men have their strong and their weak 
 points, and points neither good nor bad, but idiosyn- 
 cratic. And so of races : one is brave and sensitive of its 
 honour ; another romantic; another industrious, or long- 
 headed, or religious. One is barbarous, another civilized. 
 Moreover, growing out of these varieties or idiosyncrasies, 
 and corresponding to them, will be found in these several 
 races, and proper to each, a certain assemblage of beliefs, 
 convictions, rules, usages, traditions, proverbs, and prin- 
 ciples; some political, some social, some moral; and these 
 tending to some definite form of government and modus 
 Vivendi, or polity, as their natural scope. And this being 
 the case, when a given race has that polity which is in- 
 tended for it by nature, it is in the same state of repose 
 and contentment which an individual enjoys who has the 
 food, or the comforts, the stimulants, sedatives, or resto- 
 ratives, which are suited to his diathesis and hisneed. This 
 then is the Constitution of a State : securing, as it does, the 
 national unity by at once strengthening and controlling 
 its governing power. It is something more than law ; it 
 is the embodiment of special ideas, ideas perhaps which 
 have been held by a race for ages, which are of imme- 
 morial usage, which have fixed themselves in its inner- 
 most heart, which are in its eyes sacred to it, and have 
 practically the force of eternal truths, whether they be 
 such or not. These ideas are sometimes trivial, and, at 
 first sight, even absurd : sometimes they are supersti- 
 tious, sometimes they are great or beautiful ; but to those 
 to whom they belong they are first principles, watch- 
 words, common property, natural ties, a cause to fight 
 for, an occasion of self-sacrifice. They are the expres- 
 
3i6 Who's to Blame? 
 
 sions of some or other sentiment, — of loyalty, of order, of 
 duty, of honour, of faith, of justice, of glory. They are 
 the creative and conservative influences of Society ; they 
 erect nations into States, and invest States with Constitu- 
 tions. They inspire and sway, as well as restrain, the 
 ruler of a people, for he himself is but one of that people 
 to which they belong. 
 
317 
 
 Constitutional Principles a7id their Varieties. 
 
 It is a common saying that political power is founded 
 on opinion; this is true, if the word "opinion" be 
 understood in the widest sense of which it is capable. 
 A State depends and rests, not simply on force of arms, 
 not on logic, not on anything short of the sentiment and 
 will of those who are governed. This doctrine does not 
 imply instability and change as inherent characteristics 
 of a body politic. Since no one can put off his opinions 
 in a moment, or by willing it, since those opinions 
 may be instincts, principles, beliefs, convictions, since 
 they may be self-evident, since they may be religious 
 truths, it may be easily understood how a national polity, 
 as being the creation and development of a multitude of 
 men having all the same opinions, may stand of itself, 
 and be most firmly established, and may be practically 
 secure against reverse. And thus it is that countries 
 become settled, with a definite form of social union, and 
 an ascendancy of law and order ; not as if that particular 
 settlement, union, form, order, and law were self-sanc- 
 tioned and self-supported, but because it is founded in 
 the national mind, and maintained by the force of a 
 living tradition. This, then, is what I mean by a State ; 
 and, being the production and outcome of a people, it 
 is necessarily for the good of the people, and it has two 
 main elements, power and liberty, — for without power 
 there is no protection, and without liberty there is 
 
3i8 W/io's to Bla7ne? 
 
 nothing to protect. The seat of power is the Govern- 
 ment ; the seat of Hberty is the Constitution. 
 
 You will say that this implies that every State must 
 have a Constitution ; so I think it has, in the sense in 
 which I have explained the word. As the governing power 
 may be feeble and unready, so the check upon its arbitrary 
 exercise may be partial and uncertain ; it may be rude, 
 circuitous, abrupt, or violent ; it need not be scientifically 
 recognized and defined ; but there never has been, there 
 never can be, in any political body, an instance of unmiti- 
 gated absolutism. Human nature does not allow of it. 
 In pure despotisms, the practical limitation of the ruler s 
 power lies in his personal fears, in the use of the dagger 
 or the bowstring. These expedients have been brought 
 into exercise before now, both by our foes, the Russians, 
 and, still more so, by our friends, the Turks. Nay, when 
 the present war began, some of our self-made politicians 
 put forward the pleasant suggestion that the Czar's 
 assassination at the hands of his subjects, maddened by 
 taxes and blockades, was a possible path to the triumph 
 of the allies. 
 
 Such is the lawless remedy which nature finds for a 
 lawless tyranny ; and no one will deny that such a 
 savage justice is national in certain states of Society, and 
 has a traditional authority, and may in a certain sense 
 be called Constitutional. As society becomes civilized, 
 the checks on arbitrary power assume a form in ac- 
 cordance with a more cultivated morality. We have 
 one curious specimen of a Constitutional principle, pre- 
 served to us in the Medo-Persian Empire. It was a 
 wholesome and subtle provision, adopting the semblance 
 of an abject servility suitable to the idea of a despotism, 
 which proclaimed the judgment of the despot infallible, 
 and his word irrevocable. Alexander felt what it was 
 
Varieties of Constitutional Principles. 319 
 
 to do irrevocable acts in the physical order, when, in 
 the plenitude of his sovereignty, he actually killed his 
 friend in the banquet ; and, as to the vulgar multitude, 
 this same natural result, the remedy or penalty of reck- 
 less power, is expressed in the unpolite proverb, ** Give 
 a rogue rope enough, and he will hang himself." With 
 a parallel significance, then, it was made a sacred prin- 
 ciple among the Medo-Persians, which awed and sobered 
 the monarch himself, from its surpassing inconvenience, 
 that what he once had uttered had the force of fate. It 
 was the punishment of his greatness, that, when Darius 
 would have saved the prophet Daniel from the opera- 
 tion of a law, which the king had been flattered into 
 promulgating, he could not do so. 
 
 A similar check upon the tyranny of power, assuming 
 the character of veneration and homage, is the form and 
 etiquette which is so commonly thrown round a monarch. 
 By irresistible custom, a ceremonial more or less stringent 
 has been made almost to enter into his essential idea, 
 for we know majesty without its externals is a jest ; and, 
 while to lay it aside is to relinquish the discriminating 
 badge which is his claim upon the homage of his subjects, 
 to observe it is to surrender himself manicled and fettered 
 into their hands. It is said a king of Spain was roasted 
 to death because the proper official was not found in 
 time to wheel away his royal person from the fire. If 
 etiquette hindered him from saving his own life, etiquette 
 might also interpose an obstacle to his taking the Hfe of 
 another. If it was so necessary for Sancho Panza, 
 governor of Barataria, to eat his dinner with the sanction 
 of the court physician on every dish, other great function- 
 aries of State might possibly be conditions of other in- 
 dulgences on his part which were less reasonable and 
 less imperative. As for our own most gracious Sovereign, 
 
320 Who's to Blame? 
 
 she is honoured with the Constitutional prerogative that 
 ''the king can do no wrong;" that is, he can do no 
 political act of his own mere will at all. 
 
 It is, then, no paradox to say that every State has in 
 some sense a Constitution ; that is, a set of traditions, 
 depending, not on formal enactment, but on national 
 acceptance, in one way or other restrictive of the ruler s 
 power ; though in one country more scientifically de- 
 veloped than another, or more distinctly recognized, or 
 more skilfully and fully adapted to their end. There is a 
 sort of analogy between the political and the physical sense 
 of the word. A man of good constitution is one who 
 has something more than life, — viz., a bodily soundness, 
 organic and functional, which will bring him safely through 
 hardships, or illnesses, or dissipations. On the other hand> 
 no one is altogether without a constitution : to say he 
 has nothing to fall back upon, when his health is tried, is 
 almost to pronounce that his life is an accident, and that 
 he may at any moment be carried off. And, in like 
 manner, that must be pronounced no State, but a mere 
 fortuitous collection of individuals, which has no unity 
 stronger than despotism, or deeper than law. 
 
 I am not sure how far it bears upon the main proposi- 
 tion to which these remarks are meant to conduct us, 
 but at least it will illustrate the general subject, if I ask 
 your leave to specify, as regards the depository of political 
 power, four Constitutional principles, distinct in kind 
 from each other, which, among other parallel ones, have 
 had an historical existence. If they must have names 
 given them, they may be called respectively the principles 
 of co-ordination, subordination, delegation, and participa- 
 tion. 
 
 I. As all political power implies unity, the word co- 
 ordination may seem inconsistent with its essential idea : 
 
Variety of Constitutional Priticiples. 321 
 
 and yet there is a state of society, in which the limita- 
 tion of despotism is by the voice of the people so un- 
 equivocally committed to an external authority, that we 
 must speak of it as the Constitution of such a State, in 
 spite of the seeming anomaly. Such is the recognition 
 of the authority of Religion, as existing in its own sub- 
 stantive institutions, external to the strictly political 
 framework, which even in pagan countries has been at 
 times successfully used to curb the extravagances of 
 absolute power. Putting paganism aside, we find in the 
 history both of Israel and of Judah the tyranny of kings 
 brought within due limits by the priests and prophets, 
 as by legitimate and self-independent authorities. The 
 same has been the case in Christian times. The Church 
 is essentially a popular institution, defending the cause 
 and encouraging the talents of the lower classes, and 
 interposing an external barrier in favour of high or low 
 against the ambition and the rapacity of the temporal 
 power. " If the Christian Church had not existed," says 
 M. Guizot, " the whole world would have been abandoned 
 to unmitigated material force." However, as the cor- 
 rective principle is in this instance external to the State^ 
 though having its root internally in national opinion, it 
 cannot, except improperly, be termed Constitutional. 
 
 2. Next I come to the principle of sitbordination, which 
 has been commonly found in young, semi-barbarous 
 states both in Europe and Asia, and has attained its 
 most perfect form in what is called the Feudal System. 
 It has had a military origin ; and, after the pattern of an 
 army, is carried out in an hierarchy of chiefs, one under 
 the other, each of whom in consequence had direct juris- 
 diction only over a few. First came the suzerain^ or lord 
 paramount, who had the allegiance of a certain number 
 of princes, dukes, counts, or even kings. These were his 
 
 * ♦ ox 
 
322 ■ W/io's to Blavie? 
 
 feudatories, — that is, they owed him certain military- 
 services, and held their respective territories of him. 
 Their vassals, in turn, were the barons, each under his 
 own prince or duke, and owing him a similar service. 
 Under the barons were the soldiers, each settled down 
 on his own portion of land, with the peasants of the soil 
 as his serfs, and with similar feudal duties to his own 
 baron. A system like this furnished a most perfect 
 expedient against absolutism. Power was distributed 
 among manly persons, without confusion or the chance 
 of collision ; and, while the paucity of vassals under one 
 and the same rule gave less scope to tyrannical excesses, 
 it created an effective public opinion, which is stronger 
 when the relation between governor and governed is 
 most intimate. Moreover, if any one were disposed to 
 play the tyrant, there were several distinct parties in a 
 condition to unite against him ; the barons and lower 
 class against the king, the king and the lower classs 
 against the barons. The barbarities of the middle ages 
 have been associated in men's minds with this system ; 
 but, whatever they were, they surely took place in spite 
 of it, not through it, — ^just as the anti-Catholic virulence 
 of the present race of Englishmen is mitigated, not 
 caused, by the British Constitution. 
 
 3. By the principle of delegation^ I mean that accord- 
 ing to which power is committed for a certain time 
 to individuals, with a commensurate responsibility, 
 to be met whenever that time has expired. Thus 
 the Roman Dictator, elected on great emergencies, was 
 autocrat during the term of his rule. Thus a com- 
 mander of an army has unfettered powers to do what 
 he will, while his command continues ; or the captain 
 of a ship ; but afterwards his acts are open to inquiry, 
 and, if so be, to animadversion. There are great 
 
Variety of Constitutmial Principles. 323 
 
 advantages to a system like this ; it is the mode of 
 bringing out great men, and of working great measures. 
 You choose the fittest man for each department ; you 
 frankly trust him, you heap powers upon him, you 
 generously support him with your authority, you let him 
 have his own way, you let him do his best. Afterwards 
 you review his proceedings ; you reward or censure him-j. 
 Such, again, in fact, is with us the liberty of the press, 
 censorship being simply unconstitutional, and the courts 
 of law, the remedy against seditious, libellous, or de- 
 moralizing publications. Here, too, your advantage is 
 great ; you form public opinion, and you ascertain the 
 national mind. 
 
 4. The very opposite to this is the principle of par- 
 ticipation. It is that by which a People would leave 
 nothing to its rulers, but has itself, or by its immediate 
 instruments, a concurrent part in everything that is done. 
 Acting on the notion that no one is to be trusted, even 
 for a time, and that every act of its officials is to be 
 jealously watched, it never commits power without 
 embarrassing its exercise. Instead of making a venture 
 for the transcendent, it keeps fast by a safe mediocrity. 
 It rather trusts a dozen persons than one to do its work. 
 This is the great principle of boards and officers, engaged 
 in checking each other, with a second apparatus to check 
 the first apparatus, and other functionaries to keep an 
 eye on both of them, — Tom helping Jack, and Jack 
 waiting for Bill, till the end is lost in the means. Such 
 seems to have been the principle of the military duties 
 performed by the Aulic Council in Germany, which 
 virtually co-operated with Napoleon va his victories in 
 that country. Such is the great principle of committees 
 of taste, which have covered this fair land with architec- 
 tural monstrosities. And as being closely aUied to the 
 
324 Whos to Blame ? 
 
 principle of comprehension and compromise (a principle, 
 necessary indeed, in some shape, but admitting of ruinous 
 excess), it has had an influence on our national action 
 in matters more serious than architecture or sculpture. 
 And it has told directly upon our political efficiency. 
 
325 
 
 Characteristics of the Aihefiians. 
 
 Now at length I am drawing near the subject which 
 I have undertaken to treat, though Athens is both in 
 leagues and in centuries a great way off England after 
 all. But first to recapitulate : — a State or polity im- 
 plies two things, Power on the one hand, Liberty on the 
 other; a Rule and a Constitution. Power, when freely 
 developed, results in contralization ; Liberty in self- 
 government. The two principles are in antagonism from 
 their very nature ; so far forth as you have rule, you have 
 not liberty ; so far forth as you have liberty, you have not 
 rule. If a People gives up nothing at all, it remains a 
 mere People, and does not rise to be a State. If it 
 gives up everything, it could not be worse off, though it 
 gave up nothing. Accordingly, it always must giv^ up 
 something ; it never can give up everything ; and in 
 every case the problem to be decided is, what is the 
 most advisable compromise, what point is the maximum 
 of at once protection and independence. 
 
 Those political institutions are the best which subtract 
 as little as possible from a people's natural independence 
 as the price of their protection. The stronger you make 
 the Ruler, the more he can do for you, but the more 
 he also can do against you; the weaker you make him, 
 the less he can do against you, but the less also he can do 
 for you. The Man promised to kill the Stag ; but he fairly 
 owned that he must be first allowed to mount the Horse. 
 
326 Who's to Blame? 
 
 Put a sword into the Ruler s hands, it is at his option to 
 use or not use it against you ; reclaim it, and who is to 
 use it for you ? Thus, if States are free, they are feeble; if 
 they are vigorous, they are high-handed. I am not speak- 
 ing of a nation or a people, but of a State as such ; and 
 I say, the more a State secures to itself of rule and cen- 
 tralization, the more it can do for its subjects externally; 
 and the more it grants to them of Hberty and self- 
 government, the less it can do against them internally : 
 and thus a despotic government is the best for war, and 
 a popular government the best for peace. 
 
 Now this may seem a paradox so far as this ; — that 
 I have said a State cannot be at once free and strong, 
 whereas the combination of these advantages is the 
 very boast which we make about our island in one of 
 our national songs, which runs, — 
 
 " Britannia, rtde the waves ! 
 Britons never shall be slavesP 
 
 I acknowledge the force of this authority ; but I must re- 
 call the reader's attention to the distinction which I have 
 just been making between a Nation and a State. Britons 
 are free, considered as a State; they are strong, considered 
 as a Nation ; — and, as a good deal depends on this distinc- 
 tion, I will illustrate it, before I come to the considera- 
 tion of our own country, by the instance of that ancient 
 and famous people whose name I have prefixed to this 
 portion of my inquiry, — a people who, in most respects, 
 are as unlike us, as beauty is unlike utility, but who are in 
 this respect, strange to say, not dissimilar to the Briton. 
 So pure a democracy was Athens, that, if any of its 
 citizens was eminent, he might be banished by the rest 
 for this simple offence of greatness. Self-government 
 was developed there in the fullest measure, as if provi- 
 
The Athenians, 327 
 
 slon was not at all needed against any foe. Nor indeed, 
 in the earlier period of Athens, was it required ; for the 
 poverty of the soil, and the extent of seaboard as its 
 boundary, secured it against both the cupidity and the 
 successful enterprise of invaders. The chief object, 
 then, of its polity was the maintenance of internal order ; 
 but even in this respect soHcitude was superfluous, ac- 
 cording to its citizens themselves, who were accustomed 
 to boast that they were attracted, one and all, in one and 
 the same way, and moulded into a body politic, by an 
 innate perception of the beautiful and true, and that the 
 genius and cultivation of mind, which were their charac- 
 teristics, served them better for the observance of the 
 rules of good fellowship and for carrying on the inter- 
 course of life, than the most stringent laws and the best 
 appointed officers of police. 
 
 Here then was the extreme of self-government carried 
 out ; and the State was intensely free. That in propor- 
 tion to that internal freedom was its weakness in its ex- 
 ternal relations, its uncertainty, caprice, injustice, and 
 untrustworthiness, history, I think, abundantly shows. 
 It may be thought unfair to appeal to the age of 
 Philip and Demosthenes, when no Greek State could 
 oppose a mihtary organization worthy of such a foe as 
 Macedon ; but at no anterior period had it shown a 
 vigour and perseverance similar to the political force of 
 the barbaric monarchy, which extinguished its liber- 
 ties. It was simply unable to defend and perpetuate 
 that democratical license which it so inordinately prized. 
 
 Had Athens then no influence on the world outside 
 of it, because its political influence was so baseless and 
 fluctuating? Has she gained no conquests, exercised 
 no rule, affected no changes, left no traces of herself 
 upon the nations ? On the contrary, never was country 
 
328 Whos to Blaine"} 
 
 able to do so much ; never has country so impressed its 
 image upon the history of the world, except always 
 that similarly small strip of land in Syria. And more- 
 over, — for this I wish to insist upon, rather than merely 
 concede, — this influence of hers was in consequence, 
 though not by means, of her democratical regime. That 
 democratical polity formed a People, who could do what 
 democracy itself could not do. Feeble all together, the 
 Athenians were superlatively energetic one by one. It 
 was their very keenness of intellect individually which 
 made them collectively so inefficient. This point of 
 character, insisted on both by friendly and hostile ora- 
 tors in the pages of her great historian, is a feature in 
 which Athens resembles England. Englishmen, indeed, 
 do not go to work with the grace and poetry which, if 
 Pericles is to be believed, characterized an Athenian ; 
 but Athens may boast of her children as having the 
 self-reliance, the spirit, and the unflagging industry of 
 the individual Englishman. 
 
 It was this individualism which was the secret of the 
 powder of Athens in her day, and remains as the instru- 
 ment of her influence now. What was her trade, or her 
 colonies, or her literature, but private, not public achiev- 
 ments, the triumph, not of State policy, but of personal 
 effort } Rome sent out her colonies, as Russia now, 
 with political foresight ; modern Europe has its State 
 Universities, its Royal Academies, its periodical scientific 
 Associations ; it was otherwise with Athens. There, 
 great things were done by citizens working m. their pri- 
 vate capacity ; working, it must be added, not so much 
 from patriotism as for their personal advantage; or, if 
 with patriotism, still with Httle chance of State encourage- 
 ment or reward. Socrates, the greatest of her moralists, 
 and since his day one of her chief glories, lived unrecog- 
 
The Athenians. . 329 
 
 nized and unrewarded, and died under a judicial sentence.. 
 Xenophon conducted his memorable retreat across Asia 
 Minor, not as an Athenian, but as the mercenary or 
 volunteer of a Persian Prince. Miltiades was of a family 
 of adventurers, who by their private energy had founded 
 a colony, and secured a lordship in the Chersonese ; and 
 he met his death while prosecuting his private interests 
 with his country's vessels. Themistocles had a double 
 drift, patriotic and traitorous, in the very acts by which 
 he secured to the Greeks the victory of Salamis, having 
 in mind that those acts should profit him at the Persian 
 court, if they did not turn to his account at home. Perhaps 
 we are not so accurately informed of what took place at 
 Rome, when Hannibal threatened the city; but certainly 
 Rome presents us with the picture of a strong State at 
 that crisis, whereas, in the parallel trial, the Athens of 
 Miltiades and Themistocles shows like the clever, dash- 
 ing population of a large town. 
 
 We have another sample of the genius of .her citizens 
 in their conduct at Pylos. Neither they, nor their 
 officers, would obey the orders of the elder Demos- 
 thenes, who was sent out to direct the movements of 
 the fleet. In vain did he urge them to fortify the place; 
 they did nothing; till, the bad weather detaining them 
 on shore, and inaction becoming tedious, suddenly they 
 fell upon the work with a will ; and, having neither tools 
 nor carriages, hunted up stones where they could find 
 them ready in the soil, made clay do the office of mortar, 
 carried the materials on their backs, supporting them 
 with their clasped hands, and thus finished the necessary 
 works in the course of a few days. 
 
 By this personal enterprise and daring the Athenians 
 were distinguished from the rest of Greece. " They are 
 fond of change," say their Corinthian opponents in the 
 
330 Pf7/o's to Blame? 
 
 Lacedemonian Council ; "quick to plan and to perform, 
 venturing beyond their power, hazarding beyond their 
 judgment, and always sanguine in whatever difficulties. 
 They are alert, while you, O Lacedemonians, dawdle ; 
 and they love locomotion, while you are especially a 
 home-people. They think to gain a point, even when 
 they withdraw ; but with you, even to advance is to 
 surrender what you have attained. When they defeat 
 their foe, they rush on ; when they are beaten, they 
 hardly fall back. What they plan and do not follow 
 up, they deem an actual loss ; what they set about 
 and gain, they count a mere instalment of the future ; 
 what they attempt and fail in here, in anticipation they 
 make up for there. Such is their labour and their risk 
 from youth to age ; no men enjoy so little what they 
 have, for they are always getting, and their best holi- 
 day is to do a stroke of needful work ; and it is a 
 misfortune to them to have to undergo, not the toil of 
 business, but the listlessness of repose." 
 
 I do not mean to say that I trace the Englishman in 
 every clause of this passage ; but he is so far portrayed 
 in it as a whole, as to suggest to us that perhaps he 
 too, as well as the Athenian, has that inward spring of 
 restless independence, which makes a State weak, and 
 a Nation great. 
 
331 
 
 Parallel Characteristics of Englishmen. 
 
 I HOPE I have now made it clear, that, in saying that a 
 free State will not be strong, I am far indeed from say- 
 ing that a People with what is called a free Constitution 
 will not be active, powerful, influential, and successful. 
 I am only saying that it will do its great deeds, not 
 through the medium of its government, or politically^ 
 but through the medium of its individual members, or 
 nationally. Self-government, which is another name for 
 political weakness, may really be the means or the 
 token of national greatness. Athens, as a State, was 
 wanting in the elements of integrity, firmness, and con- 
 sistency; but perhaps that political deficiency was the 
 very condition and a result of her intellectual activity. 
 
 I will allow more than this readily. Not only in cases 
 such as that of Athens, is the State's loss the Nation's 
 gain, but further, most of those very functions which in 
 despotisms are undertaken by the State may be per- 
 formed in free countries by the Nation. For instance, 
 roads, the posts, railways, bridges, aqueducts, and the 
 like, in absolute monarchies, are governmental matters ; 
 but they may be left to private energy, where self- 
 government prevails. Letter-carriage indeed involves 
 an extent of system and a punctuality in work, which is 
 too much for any combination of individuals ; but the 
 care of Religion, which is a governmental work in Russia, 
 and partly so in England, is left to private competition 
 
332 W/ids to Blaine? 
 
 in the United States. Education, in like manner, is 
 sometimes provided by the State, sometimes left to 
 religious denominations, sometimes to private zeal and 
 charity. The Fine Arts sometimes depend on the 
 patronage of Court or Government ; sometimes are 
 given in charge to Academies; sometimes to committees 
 or vestries. 
 
 I do not say that a Nation will manage all these 
 departments equally well, or so well as a despotic 
 government ; and some departments it will not be able 
 to manage at all. Did I think it could manage all, I 
 should have "nothing to write about. I am distinctly 
 maintaining that the war department it cannot manage; 
 that is my very point. It cannot conduct a war ; but 
 not from any fault in the nation, or with any resulting 
 disparagement to popular governments and Constitu- 
 tional States, but merely because we cannot have all 
 things at once in this world, however big we are, and 
 because, in the nature of things, one thing cannot be 
 another. I do not say that a Constitutional State never 
 must risk war, never must engage in war, never will 
 conquer in war ; but that its strong point lies in the other 
 direction. If we would see what liberty, independence, 
 self-government, a popular Constitution, can do, we must 
 look to times of tranquillity. In peace a self-governing 
 nation is prosperous in itself, and influential in the wide 
 w^orld. Its special works, the sciences, the useful arts, 
 Hterature, the interests of knowledge generally, material 
 comfort, the means and appliances of a happy life, thrive 
 especially in peace. And thus such a nation spreads 
 abroad, and subdues the world, and reigns in the admi- 
 ration and gratitude and deference of men, by the use 
 of w^eapons which war shivers to pieces. Alas ! that 
 mortals do not know themselves, and will not (ac- 
 
The Englishman. 333 
 
 cording to the proverb) cut their coat according to their 
 cloth ! " Optat ephippia bos!' John Bull, like other free, 
 self-governing nations, would undertake a little war just 
 now, as if it were \\\s forte, — as great lawyers have cared 
 for nothing but a reputation for dancing gracefully, and 
 literary men have bought a complex coat-of-arms at the 
 Heralds' College. Why will we not content to be hu- 
 man ? why not content with the well-grounded conscious- 
 ness that no polity in the world is so wonderful, so good 
 to its subjects, so favourable to individual energy, so 
 pleasant to live under, as our own ? I do not say, why 
 will we go to war? but, why will we not think twice 
 first ? why do we not ascertain our actual position, our 
 strength, our weakness, before we do so ? 
 
 For centuries upon centuries England has been, like 
 Attica, a secluded land ; so remote from the highway of 
 the world, so protected from the flood of Eastern and 
 Northern barbarism, that her children have grown into 
 a magnanimous contempt of external danger. They 
 have had "a cheap defence" in the stormy sea which 
 surrounds them ; and, from time immemorial, they have 
 had such skill in weathering it, that their wooden walls, 
 to use the Athenian term, became a second rampart 
 against the foe, whom wind and water did not over- 
 whelm. So secure have they felt in those defences, that 
 they have habitually neglected others ; so that, in spite 
 of their valour, when a foe once gained the shore, be he 
 Dane, or Norman, or Dutch, he was encountered by no 
 sustained action or organized resistance, and became 
 their king. These, however, were rare occurrences, and 
 made no lasting impression ; they were not sufficient to 
 divert them from pursuing, or to thwart them \x\ attain- 
 ing, the amplest measures of liberty. Whom had the 
 people to fear ? not even their ships, which could not, 
 
334 Whos to Blame? 
 
 like military, become a paid force encircling a tyrant, 
 and securing him against their resistance. 
 
 To these outward circumstances of England, determin- 
 ing the direction of its political growth, must be added 
 the character of the people themselves. There are 
 races to whom consanguinity itself is not concord and 
 unanimity, but the reverse. They fight v/^th each other, 
 for lack of better company. Imaginative, fierce, vindic- 
 tive, with their clans, their pedigrees, and their feuds, 
 snorting war, spurning trade or tillage, the old High- 
 landers, if placed on the broad plains of England, would 
 have in time run through their national existence, and 
 died the death of the sons of CEdipus. But, if you wish 
 to see the sketch of a veritable Englishman in strong 
 relief, refresh your recollection of Walter Scott's " Two 
 Drovers." He is indeed rough, surly, a bully and a 
 bigot ; these are his weak points : but if ever there was 
 a generous, good, tender heart, it beats within his breast. 
 Most placable, he forgives and forgets : forgets, not only 
 the wrongs he has received, but the insults he has in- 
 flicted. Such he is commonly ; for doubtless there are 
 times and circumstances in his dealings with foreigners in 
 which, whether when in despair or from pride, he becomes 
 truculent and simply hateful ; but at home his bark is 
 worse than his bite. He has qualities, excellent for 
 the purposes of neighbourhood and intercourse ; — and he 
 has, besides, a shrewd sense, and a sobriety of judg- 
 ment, and a practical logic, which passion does not 
 cloud, and which makes him understand that good- 
 fellowship is not only commendable, but expedient 
 too. And he has within him a spring of energy, per- 
 tcnacity, and perseverance, which makes him as busy 
 and effective in a colony as he is companionable at home. 
 Some races do not move at all ; others are ever jostling 
 
The English7nan. 335 
 
 against each other ; the Englishman is ever stirring, yet 
 never treads too hard upon his fellow-countryman's toes. 
 He does his work neatly, silently, in his own place ; he 
 looks to himself, and can take care of himself; and he 
 has that instinctive veneration for the law, that he can 
 worship it even in the abstract, and thus is fitted to go 
 shares with others all around him in that political 
 sovereignity, which other races are obliged to concen- 
 trate in one ruler. 
 
 There was a time when England was divided into 
 seven principalities, formed out of the wild warriors 
 whom the elder race had called in to their own exter- 
 mination. What . would have been the history of 
 those kingdoms if the invaders had been Highlanders 
 instead of Saxons } But the Saxon Heptarchy went 
 on, without any very desperate wars of kingdom with 
 kingdom, pretty much as the nation goes on now. In- 
 deed, I much question, supposing Englishmen rose one 
 morning and found themselves in a Heptarchy again, 
 whether its seven portions would not jog on together, 
 much as they do now under Queen Victoria, the union 
 in both cases depending, not so much on the government 
 and the governed, but on the people, viewed in them- 
 selves, to whom peaceableness, justice, and non-inter- 
 ference are natural. 
 
 It is an invaluable national quality to be keen, yet to 
 be fair to others ; to be inquisitive, acquisitive, enter- 
 prising, aspiring, progressive, without encroaching upon 
 his next neighbour's right to be the same. Such a 
 people hardly need a Ruler, as being mainly free from 
 the infirmities which make a ruler necessary. Law. 
 like medicine, is only called for to assist nature ; and, 
 when nature does so much for a people, the wisest policy 
 is, as far as possible, to leave them to themselves. This, 
 
336 W/to's to Blame'} 
 
 then, is the science of government with English States- 
 men, to leave the people alone ; a free action, a clear 
 stage, and they will do the rest for themselves. The 
 more a Ruler meddles, the less he succeeds ; the less he 
 initiates, the more he accompHshes ; his duty is that of 
 overseeing, facilitating, encouraging, guiding, interposing 
 on emergencies. Some races are like children, and 
 require a despot to nurse, and feed, and dress them, to 
 give them pocket money, and take them out for airings. 
 Others, more manly, prefer to be rid of the trouble of 
 their affairs, and use their Ruler as their mere manager 
 and man of business. Now an Englishman likes to take 
 his own matters into his own hands. He stands on his 
 own ground, and does as much work as half a dozen men 
 of certain other races. He can join too with others, and 
 has a turn for organizing, but he insists on its being volun- 
 tary. He is jealous of no one, except kings and govern- 
 ments, and offensive to no one except their partisans 
 and creatures. 
 
 This, then, is the people for private enterprise; and 
 of private enterprise alone have ^I been speaking all 
 along. What a place is London in its extent, its com- 
 plexity, its myriads of dwellings, its subterraneous works ! 
 It is the production, for the most part, of individual 
 enterprise. Waterloo Bridge was the greatest architec- 
 tural achievement of the generation before this ; it was 
 built by shares. New regions, with streets of palaces 
 and shops innumerable, each shop a sort of shrine or 
 temple of this or that trade, and each a treasure-house 
 of its own merchandize, grow silently into existence, the 
 creation of private spirit and speculation. The gigantic 
 system of railroads rises and asks for its legal status : 
 prudent statesmen decide that it must be left to private 
 companies, t^ the exclusion of Government. Trade is t(? 
 
The Eiiglishjfian. 337 
 
 be encouraged : the best encouragement is, that it should 
 be free. A famine threatens ; one thing must be avoided, 
 — any meddling on the part of Government with the 
 export and import of provisions. 
 
 Emigration is in vogue : out go swarms of colonists, 
 not, as in ancient times, from the Prytaneum, under 
 State guidance and with religious rites, but each by 
 himself, and at his own arbitrary and sudden will. The 
 ship is wrecked ; the passengers are cast upon a rock, — 
 or make the hazard of a raft. In the extremest peril, in 
 the most delicate and most anxious of operations, every 
 one seems to find his place, as if by magic, and does his 
 work, and subserves the rest with coolness, cheerfulness, 
 gentleness, and without a master. Or they have a fair 
 passage, and gain their new country ; each takes his 
 allotted place there, and works in it in his own way. 
 Each acts irrespectively of the rest, takes care of number 
 one, with a kind word and deed for his neighbour, but 
 still as fully understanding that he must depend for 
 his own welfare on himself Pass a few years, and a 
 town has risen on the desert beach, and houses of busi- 
 ness are extending their connexions and influence up the 
 country. At length, a company of merchants make the 
 place their homestead, and they protect themselves from 
 their enemies with a fort. They need a better defence than 
 they have provided, for a numerous host is advancing 
 upon them, and they are likely to be driven into the 
 sea. Suddenly a youth, the castaway of his family, 
 half-clerk, half-soldier, puts himself at the head of a few 
 troops, defends posts, gains battles, and ends in founding 
 a mighty empire over the graves of Mahmood and 
 Aurungzebe. 
 
 It is the deed of one man ; and so, wherever we go 
 all over the earth, it is the solitary Briton, the London 
 
 4f 22 
 
OJ^ 
 
 Whos to Blame? 
 
 agent, or the Milordos, who is walking restlessly about, 
 abusing the natives, and raising a colossus, or setting 
 the Thames on fire, in the East or the West. He is on 
 the top of the Andes, or in a diving-bell in the Pacific, 
 or taking notes at Timbuctoo, or grubbing at the Pyra- 
 mids, or scouring over the Pampas, or acting as prime 
 minister to the king of Dahomey, or smoking the pipe 
 of friendship with the Red Indians, or hutting at the Pole. 
 No one can say beforehand what will come of these various 
 specimens of the independent, self-governing, self-reHant 
 Englishman. Sometimes failure, sometimes openings 
 for trade, scientific discoveries, or political aggrandize- 
 ments. His country and his government have the gain ; 
 but it is he who is the instrument of it, and not political 
 organization, centralization, systematic plans, authorita- 
 tive acts. The polity of England is what it was before, — 
 the Government weak, the Nation strong, — strong in the 
 strength of its multitudinous enterprise, which gives to 
 its Government a position in the world, which that 
 Government could not claim for itself by any prowess or 
 device of its own. 
 
339 
 
 6. 
 
 Reverse of the Picture. 
 
 The social union promises two great and contrary 
 advantages, Protection and Liberty, — such protection as 
 shall not interfere with liberty, and such liberty as shall 
 not interfere with protection. How much a given nation 
 can secure of the one, and how much of the other, 
 depends on its peculiar circumstances. As there are 
 small frontier territories, which find it their interest to 
 throw themselves into the hands of some great neigh- 
 bour, sacrificing their liberties as the price of purchasing 
 safety from barbarians or rivals, so there are othe? 
 countries which, in the absence of external danger, have 
 abandoned themselves to the secure indulgence of 
 freedom, to the jealous exercise of self-government, and 
 to the scientific formation of a Constitution. And as, 
 when liberty has to be surrendered for protection, the 
 Horse must not be surprised if the Man whips or spurs 
 him, so, when protection is neglected for the sake of 
 liberty, he must not be surprised if he suffers from the 
 horns of the Stag. 
 
 Protected by the sea, and gifted with a rare energy, 
 self-possession, and imperturbability, the English people 
 have been able to carry out self-government to its limits, 
 and to absorb into its constitutional action many of those 
 functions which are necessary for the protection of any 
 country, and commonly belong to the Executive ; and, 
 triumphing in their marvellous success, th^- have thought 
 
340 Who's to Blame ? 
 
 no task too hard for them, and have from time to time 
 attempted more than even England could accomplish. 
 Such a crisis has come upon us now, and the Constitu- 
 tion has not been equal to the occasion. For a year past 
 we have been conducting a great war on our Consti- 
 tutional 7'outiney and have not succeeded in it. If we 
 continue that rotUme, we shall have more failures, with 
 France or Russia (whichever you please) to profit by it : 
 — if we change it, v/e change what after all is Constitu- 
 tional. It is this dilemma which makes me wish for 
 peace, — or else some Deus k machindy some one greater 
 even than Wellington, to carry us through. We cannot 
 depend upon Constitutional routine. 
 
 People abuse routine, and say that all the mischief 
 which happens is the fault of routine ; — but can they get 
 out of routine, without getting out of the Constitution ? 
 That is the question. The fault of a routine Executive, 
 I suppose, is not that the Executive always goes on in 
 one way, — else, system is in fault, — but that it goes on 
 in a bad way, or on a bad system. We must either 
 change the system, then, — our Constitutional system ; or 
 not find fault with its routine, which is according to it. 
 The present Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry, for 
 instance, is either a function and instrument of the routine 
 system, — and therefore is making bad worse, — or is not, 
 — and then perhaps it is only the beginning of an 
 infringement of the Constitution. There may be Consti- 
 tutional failures which have no Constitutional remedies, 
 unwilling as we may be to allow it. They may be 
 necessarily incidental to a free self-governing people. 
 
 The Executive of a nation is the same all over the 
 world, being, in other words, the administration of the 
 nation's affairs ; it differs in different countries, not in its 
 nature and office, nor in its ends, acts, or functions, but 
 
Reverse of the Picture. 341 
 
 in its characteristics, as being prompt, direct, efifective, 
 or the contrary, — as being strong or feeble. If it 
 pursues its ends earnestly, performs its acts vigorously, , 
 and discharges its functions successfully, then it is a 
 strong Executive ; if otherwise, it is feeble. Now, it is 
 obvious, the more it is concentrated, that is, the fewer are 
 its springs, and the simpler its mechanism, the stronger it 
 is, because it has least friction and loss of power ; on 
 the other hand, the more numerous and widely dispersed 
 its centres of action are, and the more complex and cir- 
 cuitous their inter-action, the more feeble it is. It is 
 strongest, then, when it is lodged in one man out of the 
 whole nation ; it is feeblest, when it is lodged, by par- 
 ticipation or conjointly, in every man in it. How can 
 we help what is self-evident ? If the English people 
 lodge power in the many, not in the few, what wonder 
 that its operation is roundabout, clumsy, slow, inter- 
 mittent, and disappointing } And what is the good of 
 finding fault with the routine, if it is after all the principle 
 of the routine^ or the system, or the Constitution, which 
 causes the hitch } You cannot eat your cake and have 
 it ; you cannot be at once a self-governing nation and 
 have a strong government. Recollect Wellington's 
 question in opposition to the Reform Bill, " How is the 
 King s Government to be carried on ? " We are beginning 
 to experience its full meaning. 
 
 A people so alive, so curious, so busy as the English, 
 will be a power in themselves, independently of political 
 arrangements ; and will be on that very ground jealous uf 
 a rival, impatient of a master, and strong enough to cope 
 with the one and to withstand the other. A government 
 is their natural foe ; they cannot do without it altogether, 
 but they will have of it as little as they can. They will 
 forbid the concentration of power; they will multiply its 
 
342 Who's to Blame? 
 
 seats, complicate its acts, and make it safe by making it 
 inefficient. They will take care that it is the worst- 
 worked of all the many organizations which are found in 
 their country. As despotisms keep their subjects in 
 ignorance, lest they should rebel, so will a free people 
 maim and cripple their government, lest it should 
 tyrannize. 
 
 This is human nature ; the more powerful a man is, 
 the more jealous is he of other powers. Little men endure 
 little men ; but great men aim at a solitary grandeur. 
 The English nation is intensely conscious of itself ; it has 
 seen, inspected, recognized, appreciated, and warranted 
 itself. It has erected itself into a personality, under the 
 style and title of John Bull. Most neighbourly is he when 
 let alone ; but irritable, when commanded or coerced. 
 He wishes to form his cwi? judgment in all matters, and 
 to have everything proved to him ; he dislikes the 
 thought of generously placing his interests in the hands 
 of others, he grudges to give up what he cannot really 
 keep himself, and stickles for being at least a sleeping 
 partner in transactions which are beyond him. He pays 
 his people for their work, and is as proud of them, if they 
 do it well, as a rich man of his tall footmen. 
 
 Policy might teach him a different course. If you 
 want your work done well, which you cannot do your- 
 self, find the best man, put it into his hand, and trust 
 him implicitly. An Englishman is too sensible not to 
 understand this in private matters ; but in matters of 
 State he is afraid of such a policy. He prefers the 
 system of checks and counter-checks, the division of 
 power, the imperative concurrence of disconnected 
 officials, and his own supervision and revision, — the 
 method of hitches, cross-purposes, collisions, dead- 
 locks, to the experiment of treating his public servants 
 
Reverse of the Picture, 343 
 
 as gentlemen. I am not quarelling with what is inevitable 
 in his system of self-government ; I only say that he 
 cannot expect his work done in the best style, if this is 
 his mode of providing for it. Duplicate functionaries do 
 but merge responsibility ; and a jealous master is paid 
 with formal, heartless service. Do your footmen love 
 you across the gulf which you have fixed between them 
 and you t and can you expect your store-keepers and 
 harbour-masters at Balaklava not to serve you by rule 
 and precedent, not to be rigid in their interpretation of 
 your orders, and to commit themselves as little as they 
 can, when you show no belief in their zeal, and have no 
 mercy on their failures } 
 
 England, surely, is the paradise of little men, and the 
 purgatory of great ones. May I never be a Minister of 
 State or a Field-Marshal ! I'd be an individual, self-re- 
 specting Briton, in my own private castle, with the Times 
 to see the world by, and pen and paper to scribble off 
 withal to some public print, and set the world right. 
 Public men are only my employes ; I use them as I think 
 tit, and turn them off without warning. Aberdeen, 
 Gladstone, Sidney Herbert, Newcastle, what are they 
 muttering about services and ingratitude } were they not 
 paid } hadn't they their regular quarter-day } Raglan, 
 Burgoyne, Dundas, — I cannot recollect all the fellows' 
 names, — can they merit aught } can they be profitable 
 to me their lord and master } And so, having no ten- 
 derness or respect for their persons, their antecedents, 
 or their age, — not caring that in fact they are serving 
 me with all their strength, not asking whether, if they 
 manage ill, it be not, perchance, because they are in the 
 fetters of Constitutional red tape, which have weighed 
 on their hearts and deadened their energies, till the 
 hazard of failure and the fear of censure have quenched 
 
344 Who's to Blame ? 
 
 the spirit of daring, I think it becoming and generous, — 
 during, not after their work, not when it is ended, but in 
 the very agony of conflict, — to institute a formal process 
 of inquiry into their demerits, not secret, not indulgent to 
 their sense of honour, but in the hearing of all Europe, and 
 amid the scorn of the world, — hitting down, knocking 
 over, my workhouse apprentices, in order that they 
 may get up again, and do my matters for me better. 
 
 How far these ways of managing a crisis can be amended 
 in a self-governing Nation, it is most difficult to say. They 
 are doubly deplorable, as being both unjust and impolitic. 
 They are kind, neither to ourselves, nor to our public 
 servants ; and they so unpleasantly remind one of cer- 
 tain passages of Athenian history, as to suggest that 
 perhaps they must ever more or less exist, except where 
 a despotism, by simply extinguishing liberty, effectually 
 prevents its abuse, 
 
345 
 
 7. 
 
 English Jealousy of Law Courts. 
 
 People account for the mismanagement existing in the 
 department of the military service, on the ground that 
 war is a novelty in this generation, and that it will be 
 corrected after the successive failures of a few years. This 
 doubtless has something to do with our failure, but it is 
 not a full explanation of it ; else, there would be no mis- 
 managements in time of peace. But, if mismanagements 
 exist in peace as well as in war, then we may conclude 
 that they are some defect in our talent for organization ; 
 a defect, the more unaccountable, because Englishmen are 
 far from wanting in this faculty, as is shown by the great 
 undertakings of our master builders and civil engineers. 
 Yet all the time that private men have been directing 
 matters and men on a large scale to definite ends, there has 
 been a general feeling in the community that a govern- 
 ment proceeding is a blunder or a job. From the Irish 
 famines of 1822 to that of 1845 and following years, I 
 think I recollect instances in point, though I have got no 
 "ist to produce. As to the latter occasion, it is commonly 
 said that to this day the Irish will not believe, in spite 
 of the many millions voted to them by Parliament, that 
 their population has not been deliberately murdered by 
 the Government. This was a far larger instance of mis- 
 management than that which the present Parliamentary 
 Committee will bring to light. How then shall we ac- 
 count for the phenomenon of the incapable Executive of 
 
346 Who's to Blame ? 
 
 a capable people better than by saying, that, for the 
 very reason the people is capable, its Executive is in- 
 capable, as I have been urging all along ? It is true, 
 there are public departments of acknowledged efficiency, 
 as the Post Office and the PoHce ; but these only show 
 what the Executive could be, if the Nation gave it fair j 
 play. i 
 
 And thus I might end my remarks on the subject, ^ 
 which have already been discursive and excursive, be- 
 yond the patience of most readers ; and yet I think it 
 worth while, Mr. Editor, to try it a little more, if I gain 
 your consent to my doing so. For I have not yet 
 brought out so clearly as I wish, the relation of the Nation 
 to the Executive, as it exists in this corner of the earth. 
 
 The functions of the Executive are such as police, 
 judicature, religion, education, finance, foreign trans- 
 actions, war. The acts of the Executive are such as the 
 appointment, instruction, supervision, punishment, and 
 removal of its functionaries. The end of the Executive 
 is to perform those functions by means of those acts with 
 despatch and success ; that is, so to appoint, instruct, 
 superintend, arid support its functionaries, as effectually 
 to protect person and property, to dispense justice, to 
 uphold religion, to provide for the country's expenses, 
 to promote and extend its trade, to maintain its place in 
 the political world, and to make it victorious and for- 
 midable. These things, and such as these, are the end, — 
 the direct, intelligible end, — of the Executive ; and to 
 secure their accomplishment, and to secure men to 
 accomplish them, one would suppose would be the one 
 and only object of all Executive government; but it is 
 not the only object of the English. 
 
 A very few words will explain what I mean. John, 
 Duke of Marlborough, obtained for the town of Witney 
 
English yealoiisy of Law Loicrts. 347 
 
 a monopoly of blanket-making : accordingly, I believe, 
 Witney at one time supplied the whole nation with 
 blankets of such size and quality as the men of Witney 
 chose. Looking at this as a national act, one would say, 
 that the object of the nation was, not to provide itself 
 with best blankets, but with Witney blankets ; and, did 
 a foreigner object that the blankets were not good, he 
 would speak beside the mark, and be open to the retort, 
 " Nobody said they were good ; what we maintain is 
 that they come from Witney." Now, applying this illustra- 
 tion to our present circumstances, I humbly submit that, 
 though the end of every Executive, as such, is to do its 
 work well, cheaply, and promptly, yet, were the French 
 in the Crimea to judge us by this principle, and to 
 marvel at our choosing neither means or men in accord- 
 ance with it, they would be simply criticising what they 
 did not understand. The Nation's object never was that 
 the Executive should be worked in the best possible way, 
 but that the Nation should work it. It is altogether a 
 family concern on a very large scale : the Executive is 
 more or less in commission, and the commission is the 
 Nation itself It vests in itself, as represented by its 
 different classes, in perpetuity, the prerogative of jobbing 
 the Executive. Nor is this so absurd as it seems : — the 
 Nation has two ends in view, quite distinct from the 
 proper end of the Executive itself ; — first, that the 
 Government should not do too much, and next, that 
 itself should have a real share in the Government. The 
 balance of power, which has been the mainspring of our 
 foreign politics, is the problem of our home affairs also. 
 The great State Commission must be distributed in 
 shares, m correspondence with the respective pretensions 
 of its various expectants. Some States are cemented 
 by loyalty, others by religion ; but ours by self-interest, in 
 
348 Whos to Blame ? 
 
 a large sense of the word. Each element of the political 
 structure demands its special retainer; and power is 
 committed, not to the highest capacity, but to the largest 
 possible constituency. The general public, the constitu- 
 ency, the press, the aristocracy, the capital of the country, 
 the mercantile interest, the Crown, the Court, the great 
 Constitutional parties. Whig and Tory, the great religious 
 parties, Church and Dissent, the country gentlemen, the 
 professions — all must have their part and their proportion 
 in the administration. Such is the will of the Nation, 
 which had rather that its institutions should be firm and 
 stable, than that they should be effective. 
 
 But the Sovereign, perhaps it will be said, is the source 
 of all jurisdiction in the English body political, as Tudor 
 monarchs asserted, and Constitutional lawyers have 
 handed down to us ; — ^^yes, as the Merovingian king, not 
 the Mayor of the Palace, was ruler of France, and as the 
 Great Mogul, not the Company, is the supreme power in 
 Hindostan. Could Victoria resume at her will that 
 power which the Tudors exercised, but which slipped out 
 of the hands of the Stuarts ? The Pope, too, leaves his 
 jurisdiction in the hands of numberless subordinate autho- 
 rities, patriarchs, metropolitans, bishops, sacred congre- 
 gations, religious orders ; he, however, can, if he pleases, 
 recall what he has given, and sometimes, in fact, he does 
 put them all aside. I think it would astonish the public 
 if, to take a parallel case, our gracious Sovereign, motu 
 propriOy were to resume the management of the Crown 
 lands, or re-distribute the dioceses without an Act of 
 Parliament. Let us dismiss from our minds the fictions 
 of antiquarians ; the British people divide among them- 
 selves the executive powers of the Crown : — and now to 
 give some illustrations in point. 
 
 The end of the Judicature is justice. The functionaries 
 
English Jealousy of Law Courts. 349 
 
 are commonly a jury, made up of men, not specially pre- 
 pared for their occasional office, but chosen for it as repre- 
 sentatives of a class, and performing it under the direction 
 of a properly educated and experienced dignitary, called 
 by courtesy the Judge. When I was young, I recollect 
 being shocked at hearing an eminent man inveigh against 
 this time-honoured institution, as if absurdly unfitted to 
 promote the ends of the Law. He was answered by an 
 able lawyer, who has since occupied the judicial bench ; 
 and he, instead of denying that precise allegation, argued 
 that the institution had a beneficial political effect on the 
 classes who were liable to serve as jurymen, as associating 
 them with the- established order of things, and investing 
 them with salutary responsibilities. There is a good 
 deal in this reason : — a still more plausible defence, I 
 think, may be found in the consideration of the inexpe- 
 diency of suffering the tradition of Law to flow separate 
 from that of popular feeling, whereas there ought to be 
 a continual influx of the national mind into the judicial 
 conscience; and, unless there was this careful adjustment 
 between law and politics, the standards of right and 
 wrong, set up at Westminster, would diverge from those 
 received by the community at large, and the Nation 
 might some day find itself condenined and baffled by its 
 own supreme oracle of truth. This would be gravely 
 inconvenient ; accordingly, as the Star Chamber recog- 
 nized the royal decisions as precedents in law, and 
 formed a tradition of the Court, so it is imperative, in our 
 better state of things, that Public Opinion should give 
 the law to Law, and should rule those questions which 
 directly bear upon any matter of national concern. By 
 the expedient, then, of a Jury, the good of the country is 
 made to take the lead of private interest ; for better far is 
 it that injustice should be done to a pack of individuals, 
 
350 TVMs to Blame ? 
 
 than that the maxims of the Nation should at any time 
 incur the animadversion of its own paid officials, and a 
 deadlock in State matters should be the result of so un- 
 fortunate an antagonism. 
 
 What makes me think that this is the real meaning of 
 a jury, is what has lately taken place in a parallel way in 
 the Committee of Privy Council on the baptismal con- 
 troversy. My lords refused to go into the question of 
 the truth of the doctrine in dispute, or into the meaning 
 of the language used in the Prayer Book ; they merely 
 asserted that a certain neutral reading of that language, by 
 which it would bear contrary senses, was more congenial 
 with the existing and traditional sentiments of the English 
 people. They felt profoundly that it would never do to 
 have the Church of the Nation at variance in opinion 
 with the Nation itself. In other words, neither does 
 English law seek justice, nor English religion seek truth, 
 as ultimate and simple ends, but such a justice and such 
 a truth as may not be inconsistent with the interests of 
 large conservatism. 
 
 Again, I have been told by an eminent lawyer, that, 
 in another ecclesiastical dispute which came before the 
 Queen's Bench, a Chief Justice, now no more, rather 
 than commit the Court to an unpopular decision, reversed 
 the precedents of several centuries. No one could 
 suspect that upright Judge of cowardice, time-serving, 
 or party prejudice. The circumstances explained the 
 act. Those precedents were out of keeping with the 
 present national mind, which must be the perpetual 
 standard and authoritative interpreter of the law ; and, 
 as the Minister for Foreign Affairs instructs the Queen's 
 representative at a Congress, what to think and say, so 
 it is the Nation's right to impose upon the Judges the 
 duty of expounding certain points of law in a sense 
 
English Jealousy of Lavo Courts. 351 
 
 agreeable to its high and mighty self. Accordingly the 
 Chief Justice's decision on the occasion inquestion resulted 
 in giving the public (as Lord John Russell expressed it 
 as regards the Baptismal question) " great satisfaction." 
 For satisfaction, peace, liberty, conservative interests, 
 were the supreme end of the law, and not mere raw 
 justice, as such. It is another illustration of the same 
 spirit, though it does not strictly fall under our subject, 
 that, at the public meeting held to thank that earnest and 
 energetic man, Mr. Maurice, for the particular complexion 
 of one portion of his theology, a speaker congratulated 
 him on having, in questioning or denying eternal punish- 
 ment, given (not a more correct, but) a " more genial '* 
 interpretation to the declarations of Holy Scripture. 
 
 Much, again, might be said upon the Constitutional 
 rights of wealth, as tending to the weakening of the 
 Executive. Wealth does not indeed purchase the higher 
 appointments in the Law, but it can purchase situations, 
 not only in the clerical, but in the military and civil 
 services, and in the legislature. It is difficult to draw 
 the line between such recognized transactions, and what 
 is invidiously called corruption. As to parliamentary 
 matters, I can easily understand the danger of that mode 
 of proceeding, which I have called Constitutional, being 
 carried too far. I can do justice to the feeling which, on 
 a late occasion, if I recollect rightly, caused a will to be 
 set aside, which provided for the purchase of a peerage. 
 We must, of course, draw the line somewhere ; but if 
 you take your stand on principle, as it is the fashion to 
 do, then I cannot go along with you, and have never 
 been able to see the specific wickedness (where oaths 
 are not broken or evaded) of buying a seat in Parliament, 
 as contrasted with the purchase of an eligible incumbency. 
 It must not be forgotten, that, from the time of Sir 
 
35 2 Wilds to Bla7ne ? 
 
 Robert Walpole, bribes, to use an uncivil word, have 
 been necessary to our Constitutional regime ; — visions of 
 a higher but impracticable system having died away 
 with Bolingbroke's " Patriot King." 
 
 This is but one instance of what is seen in so many 
 various ways, that our Executive is on principle sub- 
 ordinate to class interests ; we consider it better that it 
 should work badly, than work to the inconvenience and 
 danger of our national liberties. Such is self-govern- 
 ment. Ideal standards, generous motives, pure principles, 
 precise aims, scientific methods, must be excluded, and 
 national utihty must be the rule of administration. It is 
 not a high system, but no human system is such. The 
 knout and the tar-barrel aforementioned are not more 
 defensible modes of proceeding, and are less pleasant 
 than ours. Under ours, the individual is consulted for 
 far more carefully than under despotism or democracy. 
 Injustice is the exception ; a free and easy mode of 
 living is the rule. It is a venal regime ; qtte voulez-vous f 
 improvement may make things worse. It succeeds in 
 making things pleasant at home ; whether it succeeds 
 in war is another question. 
 
353 
 
 V\^ OF THE ^^ \ 
 
 (UNIVERSITY: 
 
 Jiiiglish yealoiisy of Church and Army\ 
 
 In spite of the administrative weakness, characteristic 
 of the English Constitution, from its defects in organiza- 
 tion, from the interference of traditional principles and 
 extraneous influences in its working, and from the cor- 
 ruption and jobbing incident to it, still so vast are its 
 benefits in the security which it offers to person and 
 property, in the freedom of speech, locomotion, and 
 action, in the religious toleration, and in the general 
 tranquillity and comfort, which go with it ; and again, so 
 numerous and various are the material and mechanical 
 advantages which the energy of the people has associated 
 with it, that, I suppose, England is, in a political and 
 national point of view, the best country to live in in the 
 world. It has not the chmate, it has not the faith, it has 
 not the grace and sweetness, the festive cheerfulness, the 
 moral radiance, of some foreign cities and people ; but 
 nowhere else surely can you have so much your own 
 way, nowhere can you find ready to your hand so many 
 of your wants and wishes. Take things as a whole, and 
 the Executive and Nation work well, viewed in their 
 results. What is it to the average Englishman that a 
 jury sometimes gives an unjust verdict, that seats in 
 Parliament are virtually bought, that the prizes of the 
 Establishment are attained by interest, not merit, that 
 political parties and great families monopolize the go- 
 vernment, and share among themselves its places and 
 
 V 23 
 
354 Who' s to Blame ? 
 
 appointments, or that the public press is every now and 
 then both cowardly and tyrannical, — what is all this com- 
 pared with the upshot of the whole national and political 
 system ? 
 
 Look at things as a philosopher, and you will learn 
 resignation, or rather thankful content, by perceiving 
 that they all so hang together, that on the whole you 
 cannot make them much better, nor can gain much more 
 without losing much. No idea or principle of political 
 society includes in its operation all conceivable good, or 
 excludes all evil ; that is the best form of society which 
 has most of the good, and least of the bad. In the 
 English ideal, the Nation is the centre, — "TEtat c'est 
 moi : " and everything else is dependent and subser- 
 vient. We are carried back in our thoughts to the fable 
 of Menenius Agrippa, though with a changed adaptation. 
 The Nation is the sacred seat of vital heat and nourish- 
 ment, the original element, and the first principle, and 
 the number one of the State framework, and in its various 
 members we find, not what is most effective or exquisite 
 of its kind, but accessories compatible with the supremacy 
 of that digestive and nutritive apparatus. The whole 
 body politic is in unity: "cujus participatio ejus in id 
 ipsum." The kingly office does not gWQ scope for the 
 best of conceivable kings, but for the chief of a self- 
 governing people ; the ministers of state, the members of 
 Parliament, the judges, are not intended to be perfect in 
 their own kind respectively, but national statesmen, 
 councillors and lawyers ; the bishops and commanders 
 of the forces, the squires and the justices of the peace, be- 
 long to a Constitutional clergy, soldiery, and magistracy. 
 I will not say that nothing admits of improvement, or 
 what is called " reform," in such a society ; I will not 
 attempt to determine the Hmits of improvement; still 
 
E7iglish Jealousy of Church a7id Army. 355 
 
 a limit there is, and things must remain in substance 
 what they are, or "Old England" will cease to be. Let 
 us be merciful to ourselves; as in our own persons, 
 one by one, we consult for our particular constitution 
 of mind and body, and avoid efforts and aims, modes of 
 exercise and diet, which are unsuitable to it, so in like 
 manner those who appreciate the British Constitution 
 aright will show their satisfaction at what it does well, 
 resignation as to what it cannot do, and prudence in 
 steering clear of those problems which are difficult or 
 dangerous in respect to it. Such men will not make it 
 dance on its lame leg. They will not go to war, if they 
 can help it, for the conduct of war is not among its chef- 
 d'oeuvreSy as I now, for positively the last time, will explain. 
 
 Material force is the ultima ratio of political society 
 everywhere. Arms alone can keep the peace; and, as 
 all other professions are reducible to system and rule, 
 there is of course a science and an art of war. This 
 art is learned like other arts by study and practice ; it 
 supposes the existence of expounders and instructors, 
 an experimental process, a circulation of ideas, a tradi- 
 tionary teaching, and an aggregation of members, — in a 
 word, a school. Continuity, establishment, organization, 
 are necessary to the idea of a school and a craft. In 
 other words, if war be an art, and not a matter of hap- 
 hazard and pell-mell fighting, as under the walls of Troy, 
 it requires what is appropriately called a standing army, 
 that is, an army which has a status. Unless we are in a 
 happy valley, or on a sea-protected island, we must have 
 a standing army, or we are open to hostile attack. 
 
 But, when you have got your standing army, how are 
 you to keep it from taking the wrong side, and turning 
 upon you. like elephants in Eastern fights, instead of 
 
356 W/io's la Blame ? 
 
 repelling your foe ? Thus it was that the Pretorians, 
 the Gothic mercenaries, the medieval Turks, and later 
 Janizzaries, became the masters and upsetters of the 
 Emperors, Caliphs, and Sultans who employed them. 
 This formidable difficulty has been fatal to the military 
 profession in popular governments, who in alarm have 
 thrown the national defence upon the Nation, aided, as it 
 might happen, by foreign mercenaries paid by the job. 
 In such governments, the war department has not been 
 the science of arms, but a political institution. An army 
 has been raised for the occasion from off the estates and 
 homesteads of the land, being soldiers of the soil, as 
 rude as they were patriotic. When a danger threatened, 
 they were summoned from plough or farm-yard, formed 
 into a force, marched against the enemy, with whatever 
 success in combat, and then marched home again. Which 
 of the two would be the greater, — the inconvenience or 
 the insufficiency of such a mode of waging war ^ Thus 
 we have got round again to the original dilemma of the 
 Horse, the Stag, and the Man; the Horse destined to feel 
 at his flanks the Man's spurs, or the Stag's horns, — a Stand- 
 ing Army, or no profession of arms. In this difficulty, 
 we must strike a balance and a compromise, and then get 
 on as well as we can with a conditional Standing Army 
 and a smattering in military science. Such has been 
 the course adopted by England ; and her insular situa- 
 tion, hitherto impregnable, has asked for nothing more. 
 
 Every sovereign State will naturally feel a jealousy of 
 the semblance of dSiimperimn m imperio ; though not every 
 State is in a condition to give expression to it. England 
 has indulged that jealousy to the full, and has assumed a 
 bearing towards the military profession much the same 
 as she shows towards the ecclesiastical. There is indeed 
 a close analogy between these two powers, both in them- 
 
English Jealousy of Church and Army, 357 
 
 selves and in their relation to the State ; and, in order 
 to explain the position of the army in England, I can- 
 not do better than refer to the position which in this 
 country has been assigned to the Church. The Church 
 and the Army are respectively the instruments of moral 
 and material force ; and are real powers in their own 
 respective fields of operation. They necessarily have 
 common sympathies, and an intense esprit de corps. 
 They are in consequence the strongest supports or the 
 most formidable opponents of the State to which they 
 belong, and require to be subjected, beyond any mistake, 
 to its sovereignty. In England, sensitively suspicious 
 of combination and system, three precautions have been 
 taken in dealing with the soldier and the parson, — (I 
 hope I may be famiUar without offence), — precautions 
 borrowed from the necessary treatment of wild animals, 
 — (i) to tie him up, (2) to pare his claws, and (3) to keep 
 him low ; then he will be both safe and useful ; — the 
 result is a National Church, and a Constitutional Army. 
 
 I. In the first place, we tie both parson and soldier up, 
 by forbidding each to form one large organization. We 
 prohibit an organized religion and an organized force. 
 Instead of one corporation m religion, we only allow of 
 a multitude of small ones, as chapters and rectories, 
 while we ignore the Establishment as a whole, deny it 
 any legal status, and recognize the Dissenting bodies. 
 For Universities we substitute Colleges, with rival inte- 
 rests, that the intellect may not be too strong for us, as 
 is the case with some other countries ; we freely multiply 
 local schools, for they have no political significance. 
 And, in like manner, we are willing to perfect the dis- 
 cipline and appointment of regiments, but we instinc- 
 tively recoil from the idea of an Army. We toast indeed 
 *' The Army," but as an abstraction, as we used to drink to 
 
3:8 Who's to Blame? 
 
 ''The Church/' before the present substitution of "The 
 Clergy of all denominations/* which has much more of 
 reality in it. Moreover, while, we have a real reason 
 for sending our troops all over the world, shifting them 
 about, using them for garrison duty, and for the defence 
 of dependencies, we are thereby able also to divide and 
 to hide them from each other. Nor is this all : if any or- 
 ganization requires a directing mind at the head of it, it 
 is an army ; but, faithful to our Constitutional instincts, 
 we have committed its command, ex abundanti catttela, 
 to as many, I believe, as five independent boards, whose 
 concurrence is necessary for a practical result. Nay, as 
 late occurrences have shown, we have thought it a lesser 
 evil, that our troops should be starved in the Crimea for 
 want of the proper officer to land the stores, and that 
 clothing and fuel shall oscillate to and fro between 
 Balaklava and Malta, than that there should be the 
 chance of the smallest opening for the introduction into 
 our political system of a power formidable to nationalism. 
 Thus we tie up both parson and soldier. 
 
 2. Next, in all great systems and agencies of any 
 kind, there are certain accessories, absolutely necessary 
 for their efficiency, yet hardly included in their essential 
 idea. Such, to take a very small matter, is the use of 
 the bag in making a pudding. Material edifices are no 
 part of religion ; but you cannot have religious services 
 without them; nor can you move field-pieces without 
 horses, nor get together horses without markets and trans- 
 ports. The greater part of these supplemental articles the 
 English Constitution denies to its religious Establishment 
 altogether, and to its Army, when not on active service. 
 Fabrics of worship it encourages ; but it gives no coun- 
 tenance to such ecclesiastical belongings as the ritual and 
 ceremonial of religion, synods, religious orders, sisters of 
 
English jealousy of Church and Army, 359 
 
 charity, missions, and the like, necessary instruments of 
 Christian faith, which zealous Churchmen, in times of 
 spiritual danger, decay, or promise, make vain endea- 
 vours to restore. And such in military matters are the 
 commissariat, transport, and medical departments, which 
 are jealously suppressed in time of peace, and hastily 
 and grudgingly restored on the commencement of hos- 
 tilities. The Constitutional spirit allows to the troops 
 arms and ammunition, as it allows to the clergy Ordina- 
 tion and two sacraments, neither being really dangerous, 
 while the supplements, which I have spoken of, are 
 withheld. Thus it cuts their claws. 
 
 3. And lastly, it keeps them low. Though lawyers 
 are educated for the law, and physicians for medicine, 
 it is felt among us to be dangerous to the Constitution to 
 have real education either in the clerical or military pro- 
 fession. Neither theology nor the science of war is 
 compatible with a national regime. Military and naval 
 science is, in the ordinary Englishman's notion, the 
 bayonet and the broadside. Religious knowledge comes 
 by nature; and so far is true, that Anglican divines 
 thump away in exhortation or in controversy, with a 
 manliness, good sense, and good will as thoroughly John 
 Bullish as the stubbornness of the Guards at Inkerman. 
 Not that they are forbidden to cultivate theology in pri- 
 vate as a personal accomplishment, but that they must 
 not bring too much of it into the pulpit, for then they 
 become " extreme men,'' Calvinists or Papists, as it may 
 be. A general good education, a public school, and a 
 knowledge of the classics, make a parson ; and he is 
 chosen for a benefice or a dignity, not on any abstract 
 ground of merit, but by the great officers of State, by 
 members of the aristocracy, and by country gentlemen, 
 or their nominees, men who by their position are a suffi- 
 
36o Who's to Blame? 
 
 dent guarantee that the nation will continually flow into 
 the Establishment, and give it its own colour. And so 
 of the army ; it is not so many days ago that a gentle- 
 man in office assured the House of Commons (if he was 
 correctly reported) that the best officers were those who 
 had a University education ; 'and I doubt not it is far 
 better for the troops to be disciplined and commanded 
 by good scholars than by incapables and dunces. But in 
 each department professional education is eschewed, and 
 it is thought enough for the functionary to be a gentle- 
 man. A clergyman is the " resident gentleman " in his 
 parish ; and no soldier must rise from the ranks, because 
 he is not " company for gentlemen." 
 
 Let no man call this satire, for it is most seriously 
 said ; nor have I intentionally coloured any one sentence 
 in the parallel which I have been drawing out ; nor do I 
 speak as grumbling at things as they are ; — I merely 
 want to look facts in the face. I have been exposing 
 what I consider the weak side of our Constitution, not 
 exactly because I want it altered, but because people 
 should not consider it the strong side. I think it a 
 necessary weakness ; I do not see how it can be satisfac- 
 torily set right without dangerous innovations. We 
 cannot in this world have all things as we should like to 
 have them. Not that we should not try for the best, but 
 we should be quite sure that we do not, like the dog in the 
 fable, lose what we have, in attempting what we cannot 
 have. Not that I deny that, even with a Constitution 
 adapted for peace, British energy and pluck may not, as 
 it has done before, win a battle, or carry through a war. 
 But after all, reforms are but the first steps in revolution, 
 as medicine is often a diluted poison. Enthusiasts have 
 from time to time thought otherwise. There was Dr. 
 Whately in 1826, who maintained that the Establishment 
 
English Jealousy of Church and Army. 3C>i 
 
 \vas in degrading servitude, that it had a dog's collar 
 round its neck, that the position of Bishops was intoler- 
 able, and that it was imperative to throw off State control, 
 keeping the endowments* And there is the Times 
 newspaper in 1855, which would re-organize the Army, 
 and put it on a scientific basis, satisfactory indeed to the 
 military critic, startling to the Constitutional politician. 
 
 Mr. Macaulay gives us a warning from history. ** The 
 Constitution of England," he says, " was only one of a 
 large family. In the fifteenth century, the government 
 of Castile seems to have been as free as that of our own 
 country. That of Arragon was, beyond all question, 
 more so even than France ; the States-General alone 
 could impose taxes. Sweden and Denmark had Con- 
 stitutions of a different description. Let us overleap 
 two or three hundred years, and contemplate Europe at 
 the commencement of the eighteenth century. Every 
 free Constitution, save one, had gone down. That of 
 England had weathered the danger, and was riding in full 
 security. What, then, made us to differ } The progress 
 of civilization introduced a great change. War became a 
 science, and, as a necessary consequence, a trade. The 
 great body of the people grew every day more reluctant 
 to undergo the inconvenience of military service, and 
 thought it better to pay others for undergoing them. 
 That physical force which in the dark ages had belonged 
 to the nobles and the commons, and had, far more than 
 any charter or any assembly, been the safeguard of their 
 privileges, was transferred entire to the king. The great 
 mass of the population, destitute of all military discipline 
 and organization, ceased to exercise any influence by 
 force on political transactions. Thus absolute monarchy 
 
 * [I am informed that Dr. Whately never acknowledged the work here 
 referred to as his o^vn.] 
 
362 WMs to Blame ? 
 
 was established on the Continent; England escaped, but 
 she escaped very narrowly. If Charles had played the 
 part of Gustavus Adolphus, if he had carried on a popular 
 war for the defence of the Protestant cause in Germany, 
 if he had gratified the national pride by a series of 
 victories, if he had formed an army of 40,000 or 50,000 
 devoted soldiers, we do not see what chance the nation 
 would have had of escaping from despotism/' 
 
 These are very different times ; but, however steady 
 and self-righting is John Bull, however elastic his step, 
 and vigorous his arm, I do not see how the strongest and 
 healthiest build can overcome difficulties which lie in the 
 very nature of things. 
 
 And now, however circuitously, I have answered my 
 question, '* Who's to blame for the untoward events in 
 the Crimea ? " They are to blame, the ignorant, intem- 
 perate public, who clamour for an unwise war, and then, 
 when it turns out otherwise than they expected, instead 
 of acknowledging their fault, proceed to beat their zealous 
 servants in the midst of the fight for not doing impossi- 
 bilities. 
 
 March, 1855. 
 
363 
 
 VI. 
 
 AN INTERNAL ARGUMENT FOR 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 THE word " remarkable " has been so hacked of late 
 in theological criticism — nearly as much so as 
 *' earnest " and " thoughtful " — that we do not like to 
 apply it without an apology to the instance of a recent 
 work, called "Ecce Homo," which we propose now to 
 bring before the reader. In truth, it presents itself as 
 a very convenient epithet, whenever we do not like to 
 commit ourselves to any definite judgment on any subject 
 before us, and prefer to spread over it a broad neutral 
 tint to painting it distinctly white, red, or black. A man, 
 or his work, or his deed, is " remarkable" when he pro- 
 duces an effect ; be he effective for good or for evil, for truth 
 or for falsehood — a point which, as far as that expression 
 goes, we by adopting it, leave it for others or for the 
 future to determine. Accordingly it is just the word to 
 use in the instance of a Volume in which what is trite 
 and what is novel, what is striking and what is startling, 
 what is sound and what is untrustworthy, what is deep 
 and what is shallow, are so mixed up together, or at 
 least so vaguely suggested, or so perplexingly confessed, 
 — which has so much of occasional force and circumam- 
 bient glitter, of pretence and of seriousness, — as to make 
 it impossible either with a good conscience to praise it, or 
 without harshness and unfairness to condemn. Such a 
 book is at least likely to be effective, whatever else it is or 
 
364 All internal Argument 
 
 is not ; it may be safely called remarkable ; and therefore 
 we apply the epithet ''remarkable" to this Ecce Homo. 
 
 It is remarkable, then, on account of the sensation 
 which it has made in religious circles. In the course of 
 a few months it has reached a third edition, though it is 
 a fair-sized octavo, and not an over-cheap one. And it 
 has received the praise of critics and reviewers of very 
 distinct shades of opinion. Such a reception must be 
 owing either to the book itself, or to the circumstances 
 of the day in which it has appeared, or to both of these 
 causes together. Or, as seems to be the case, the needs 
 of the day have become a call for some such work ; and 
 the work, on its appearance, has been thankfully wel- 
 comed, on account of its professed object, by those whose 
 needs called for it. The author includes himself in the 
 number of these ; and while providing for his own wants 
 he has ministered to theirs. This is what we especially 
 mean by calling his book " remarkable." It deserves 
 remark, because it has excited it. 
 
 I. 
 
 Disputants may maintain, if they please, that religious 
 doubt is our natural, our normal state ; that to cherish 
 doubts is our duty ; that to complain of them is impa- 
 tience ; that to dread them is cowardice ; that to over- 
 come them is inveracity ; that it is even a happy state, 
 a state of calm philosophic enjoyment, to be conscious 
 of them ; — but after all, unavoidable or not, such a state 
 is not natural, and not happy, if the voice of mankind is 
 to decide the question. English minds, in particular, 
 have too much of a religious temper in them, as a natural 
 gift, to acquiesce for any long time in positive, active 
 doubt. For doubt and devotion are incompatible 
 with each other; every doubt, be it greater or less, 
 
for Christianity. 305 
 
 stronger or weaker, involuntary as well as voluntary, acts 
 upon devotion, so far forth, as water sprinkled, or dashed, 
 or poured out upon a flame. Real and proper doubt 
 kills faith, and devotion with it ; and even involuntary 
 or half-deliberate doubt, though it does not actually kill 
 faith, goes far to kill devotion ; and religion without de- 
 votion is little better than a burden, and soon becomes a 
 superstition. Since, then, this is a day of objection and 
 of doubt about the intellectual basis of Revealed Truth, 
 it follows that there is a great deal of secret discomfort 
 and distress in the religious portion of the community, 
 the result of that general curiosity in speculation and 
 inquiry which has been the growth among us of the last 
 twenty or thirty years. 
 
 The people of this country, being Protestants, appeal 
 to Scripture, when a religious question arises, as their 
 ultimate informant and decisive authority in all such 
 matters ; but who is to decide for them the previous 
 question, that Scripture is really such an authority } 
 When, then, as at this time, its divine authority is the 
 very point to be determined, that is, the character and 
 extent of its inspiration and its component parts, then they 
 find themselves at sea, without the means of directing 
 their course. Doubting about the authority of Scrip- 
 ture, they doubt about its substantial truth ; doubting 
 about its truth, they have doubts concerning the Object 
 which it sets before their faith, about the historical ac- 
 curacy and objective reality of the picture which it pre- 
 sents to us of our Lord. We are not speaking of wilful 
 doubting, but of those painful misgivings, greater or less, 
 to which we have already referred. Religious Protest- 
 ants, when they think calmly on the subject, can hardly 
 conceal from themselves that they have a house without 
 logical foundations, which contrives indeed for the Dre- 
 
366 All iJtternal Argument 
 
 sent to stand, but which may go any day, — and where 
 are they then ? 
 
 Of course Catholics will bid them receive the canon 
 of Scripture on the authority of the Church, in the spirit 
 of St. Augustine's well-known words : *' I should not 
 believe the Gospel, were I not moved by the authority 
 of the Catholic Church." But who, they ask, is to be 
 voucher in turn for the Church, and for St. Augustine. '* — is 
 it not as difficult to prove the authority of the Church 
 and her doctors as the authority of the Scriptures } We 
 Catholics answer, and with reason, in the negative ; but, 
 since they cannot be brought to agree with us here, what 
 argumentative ground is open to them ? Thus they seem 
 drifting, slowly perhaps, but surely, in the direction of 
 scepticism, 
 
 2. 
 
 It is under these circumstances that they are invited, 
 in the Volume of which we have spoken, to betake them- 
 selves to the contemplation of our Lord's character, as 
 it is recorded by the Evangelists, as carrying with it 
 its own evidence, dispensing with extrinsic proof, and 
 claiming authoritatively by itself the faith and devotion 
 of all to whom it is presented. Such an argument, of 
 course, is as old as Christianity itself ; the young man 
 in the Gospel calls our Lord " Good Master," and St. 
 Peter introduces Him to the first Gentile converts as one 
 who " went about doing good ; " and in these last times 
 we can refer to the testimony even of unbelievers in be- 
 half of an argument which is as simple as it is constrain- 
 ing. " Si la vie et la mort de Socrate sont d'un sage," 
 says Rousseau, "la vie et la mort de Jesus sont d'un 
 Dieu." And he clenches the argument by observing, 
 that were the picture a mere conception of the sacred 
 
for Christianity, 367 
 
 writers, "I'inventeur en serait plus etonnant que le heros.'* 
 The force of this argument lies in its directness ; it comes 
 to the point at once, and concentrates in itself evidence, 
 doctrine, and devotion. In theological language, it is the 
 motivum credibilitatis^ the objectum materiale, and \h!t for- 
 mate, all in one ; it unites human reason and supernatural 
 faith in one complex act ; and it comes home to all men, 
 educated and ignorant, young and old. And it is the 
 point to which, after all and in fact, all religious minds 
 tend, and in which they ultimately rest, even if they do 
 not start from it. Without an intimate apprehension of 
 the personal character of our Saviour, what professes to 
 be faith is little more than an act of ratiocination. If 
 faith is to live, it must love ; it must lovingly live in the 
 Author of faith as a true and living Being, i7i Deo vivo et 
 vero ; according to the saying of the Samaritans to their 
 townswoman : " We now believe, not for thy saying, for 
 we ourselves have heard Him." Many doctrines may 
 be held implicitly ; but to see Him as if intuitively is 
 the very promise and gift of Him who is the object of 
 the intuition. We are constrained to believe when it is 
 He that speaks to us about Himself. 
 
 Such undeniably is the characteristic of divine faith 
 viewed in itself: but here we are concerned, not simply 
 with faith, but with its logical antecedents; and the 
 question returns on which we have already touched, as a 
 difficulty with Protestants, — how can our Lord's Life, as 
 recorded in the Gospels, be a logical ground of faith, 
 unless we set out with assuming the truth of those 
 Gospels; that is, without assuming, as proved, the original 
 matter of doubt t And Protestant apologists, it may be 
 urged — Paley, for instance — show their sense of this 
 difficulty when they place the argument drawn from our 
 Lord's character only among the auxiliary Evidences of 
 
368 An iiikmal Argument 
 
 Christianity. Now the following answer may fairly be 
 made to this objection ; nor need we grudge Protestants 
 the use of it, for, as will appear in the sequel, it proves 
 too much for their purpose, as being an argument for the 
 divinity not only of Christ's mission, but of that of His 
 Church also. However, we say this by the way. 
 
 It may be maintained then, that, making as large an 
 allowance as the most sceptical mind, when pressed to 
 state its demands in full, would desire, we are at least 
 safe in asserting that the books of the New Testament, 
 taken as a whole, were existing about the middle of the 
 second century, and were then received by Christians, or 
 were in the way of being received, and nothing else but 
 they were received, as the authoritative record of the 
 origin and rise of their Religion. In that first age they 
 were the only account of the mode in which Christianity 
 was introduced to the world. Internal as well as exter- 
 nal evidence sanctions us in so speaking. Four Gospels, 
 the book of the Acts of the Apostles, various Apostolic 
 WTitings, made up then, as now, our sacred books. 
 Whether there was a book more or less, say even an 
 important book, does not affect the general character of 
 the Religion as those books set it forth. Omit one or 
 other of the Gospels, and three or four Epistles, and the 
 outline and nature of its objects and its teaching remain 
 what they were before the omission. The moral pecu- 
 liarities, in particular, of its Founder are, on the whole, 
 identical, whether we learn them from St. Matthew, 
 St. John, St. Peter, or St. Paul. He is not in one book 
 a Socrates, in another a Zeno, and in a third an Epicurus. 
 Much less is the religion changed or obscured by the 
 loss of particular chapters or verses, or even by inac- 
 curacy in fact, or by error in opinion, (supposing per 
 impossibile such a charge could be made good^) in parti- 
 
for Christianity. 369 
 
 cular portions of a book. For argument's sake, suppose 
 that the three first Gospels are an accidental collection 
 of traditions or legends, for which no one is responsible, 
 and in which Christians had faith because there was 
 nothing else to put faith in. This is the limit to which 
 extreme scepticism can proceed, and we are willing to 
 commence our argument by granting it. Still, starting 
 at this disadvantage, we should be prepared to argue, that 
 if, in spite of this, and after all, there be shadowed out 
 in these anonymous and fortuitous documents a Teacher 
 sui generis, distinct, consistent, and original, then does 
 that picture, thus accidentally resulting, for the very 
 reason of its accidental composition, only become more 
 marvellous ; then is He an historical fact, and again a 
 supernatural or divine fact ; — historical from the consis- 
 tency of the representation, and because the time cannot 
 be assigned when it was not received as a reality ; and 
 supernatural, in proportion as the qualities with which 
 He is invested in those writings are incompatible with 
 what it is reasonable or possible to ascribe to human 
 nature viewed simply in itself Let these writings be as 
 open to criticism, whether as to their origin or their text, 
 as sceptics can maintain ; nevertheless the representation 
 in question is there, and forces upon the mind a convic- 
 tion that it records a fact, and a superhuman fact, just 
 as the reflection of an object in a stream remains in 
 its general form, however rapid the current, and however 
 many the ripples, and is a sure warrant to us of the 
 presence of the object on the bank, though that object 
 be out of sight 
 
 3. 
 Such, we conceive, though stated in our own words, 13 
 the argument drawn out in the pages before us, or rather 
 *** 24 
 
3 70 -^^ internal Argument 
 
 such is the ground on which the argument is raised ; 
 and the interest which it has excited Hes, not in its 
 novelty, but in the particular mode in which it is brought 
 before the reader, in the originality and precision of 
 certain strokes by which is traced out for us the outline 
 of the Divine Teacher. These strokes are not always 
 correct ; they are sometimes gratuitous, sometimes 
 derogatory to their object ; but they are always deter- 
 minate ; and, being such, they present an old argument 
 before us with a certain freshness, which, because it is 
 old, is necessary for its being effective. 
 
 We do not wonder at all, then, at the sensation which 
 the Volume is said to have caused at Oxford, and 
 among Anglicans of the Oxford school, after the weari- 
 some doubt and disquiet of the last ten years; for it has 
 opened the prospect of a successful issue of inquiries in 
 an all-important province of thought, where there seemed 
 to be no thoroughfare. Distinct as are the liberal and 
 Catholicizing parties in the Anglican Church both in 
 their principles and their policy, it must not be supposed 
 that they are also as distinct in the members that compose 
 them. No line of demarcation can be drawn between 
 the one collection of men and the other, in fact ; for no 
 two minds are altogether alike; and individually, Angli- 
 cans have each his own shade of opinion, and belong 
 partly to this school, partly to that. Or rather, there is 
 a large body of men who are neither the one nor the 
 other ; they cannot be called an intermediate party, for 
 they have no discriminating watchwords ; they range 
 from those who are almost Catholic to those who are 
 almost Liberals. They are not Liberals, because they 
 do not glory in a state of doubt ; they cannot profess to 
 be " Anglo-Catholics," because they are not prepared to 
 give an internal assent to all that is put forth by the 
 
for Christianity. 371 
 
 Church as truth of revelation. These are the men who, 
 if they could, would unite old ideas with new ; who can- 
 not %\y^ up tradition, yet are loth to shut the door to 
 progress ; who look for a more exact adjustment of faith 
 with reason than has hitherto been attained ; who love 
 the conclusions of Catholic theology better than the 
 proofs, and the methods of modern thought better than 
 its results ; and who, in the present wide unsettlement 
 of religious opinion, believe indeed, or wish to believe, 
 Scripture and orthodox doctrine, taken as a whole, and 
 cannot get themselves to avow any deliberate dissent 
 from any part of either, but still, not knowing how to 
 defend their belief with logical exactness, or at least 
 feeling that there are large unsatisfied objections lying 
 against parts of it, or having misgivings lest there should 
 be such, acquiesce in what is called a practical belief, 
 that is, accept revealed truths, only because such accept- 
 ance of them is the safest course, because they are pro- 
 bable, and because to hold them in consequence is a duty, 
 not as if they felt absolutely certain, though^ they will 
 not allow themselves to be actually in doubt. Such is 
 about the description to be given of them as a class ; 
 though, as we have said, they so materially differ from 
 each other, that no general account of them will apply 
 strictly to any individual in their body. 
 
 Now, it is to this large class which we have been de- 
 scribing that such a work as that before us, in spite of the 
 serious errors which they will not be slow to. recognize 
 in it, comes as a friend in need. They do not . stumble 
 at the author's inconsistencies or shortcomings ; they 
 are arrested by his professed purpose, and are profoundly 
 moved by his successful hits (as they may ^be-iCalrled) 
 towards fulfilling it. Remarks on the Gospel : history, 
 such as Paley's, they feel to be casual and superficiaj ; 
 
3 7 - -^^ internal Argument 
 
 such as Rousseau's to be vague and declamatory ; they 
 wish to justify with their intellect all that they believe 
 with their heart; they cannot separate their ideas ot 
 religion from its revealed Object ; but they have an 
 aching dissatisfaction within them, that they should be 
 apprehending Him so feebly, when they should fain (as 
 it were) see and touch Him as well as hear. When, then, 
 they have logical grounds presented to them for holding 
 that the recorded picture of our Lord is its own evidence, 
 that it carries with it its own reality and authority, that 
 His " revelatio *' is " revelata " in the very act of being 
 a " revelatio," it is as if He Himself said to them, as He 
 once said to His disciples, ** It is I, be not afraid ; " and 
 the clouds at once clear off, and the waters subside, and 
 the land is gained for which they are looking out. 
 
 The author before us, then, has the merit of promising 
 what, if he could fulfil it, would entitle him to the gra- 
 titude of thousands. We do not say, we are very fai 
 from thinking that he has actually accomplished so high 
 an enterprise, though he seems to be ambitious enough 
 to hope that he has not come far short of it. He some- 
 where calls his book a treatise ; he would have done 
 better to call it an essay ; nor need he have been ashamed 
 of a word which Locke has used in his work on the Hu- 
 man Understanding. Before concluding, we shall take 
 occasion to express our serious sense, how very much his 
 execution falls below his purpose ; but certainly it is a 
 great purpose which he sets before him, and for that he 
 is to be praised. And there is at least this singular merit 
 in his performance, as he has given it to the public, that 
 he is clear-sighted and fair enough to view our Lord's 
 work in its true light, as including in it the establishment 
 of a visible Kingdom or Church. In proportion, then, as 
 we shall presently find it our duty to pass some severe 
 
for Christianity. . 373 
 
 remarks upon his Volume, as it comes before us, so do we 
 feel bound, before doing so, to give some specimens of it 
 m that point of view in which we consider it really to 
 subserve the cause of Revealed Truth. And in the sketch 
 which we are now about to give of the first steps of his 
 investigation, we must not be understood to make him 
 responsible for the language in which we shall exhibit 
 them to our readers, and which will unavoidably involve 
 our own corrections of his argument, and our own 
 colouring. 
 
 4 
 
 Among a people, then, accustomed by the most sacred 
 traditions of their Religion to a belief in the appearance, 
 from time to time, of divine messengers for their instruc- 
 tion and reformation, and to the expectation of One such 
 messenger still to come, the last and greatest of all, who 
 should also be their king and deliverer as well as their 
 teacher, suddenly is found, after a long break in the suc- 
 cession, and a period of national degradation, a prophet 
 of the old stamp, in one of the deserts of the country 
 — John, the son of Zachary. He announces the pro- 
 mised kingdom as close at hand, calls his countrymen 
 to repentance, and institutes a rite symbolical of it. 
 The people seem disposed to take him for the destined 
 Saviour ; but, instead, he points out to them a private 
 person in the crowd which is flocking about him ; and 
 henceforth the interest which his own preaching has ex- 
 cited centres in that Other. Thus our Lord is introduced 
 to the notice of His countrymen. 
 
 Thus brought before the world. He opens His mission. 
 What is the first impression it makes upon us t Admi- 
 ration of its singular simplicity and directness, both as to 
 object and work. Such of course ought to be its charac- 
 
374 ^^ internal Argument 
 
 ter, if it was to be the fulfilment of the ancient, long- 
 expected promise ; and such it was, as our Lord pro- 
 claimed it. Other men, who do a work, do not at once 
 set about it as their object ; they make several failures ; 
 they are led on to it by circumstances ; they miscalcu- 
 late their powers ; or they are drifted from the first in a 
 difi"erent direction from that which they had chosen ; they 
 do most where they are expected to do least. But our 
 Lord said and did. " He formed one plan and executed 
 it"(p. i8). 
 
 In the next place, what was that plan } Let us con- 
 sider the force of the words in which, as the Baptist before 
 Him, He introduced His ministry : " The kingdom of 
 God is at hand." What was meant by the kingdom of 
 God 1 " The conception was no new one, but familiar to 
 every Jew" (p. 19). At the first formation of the nation 
 and state of the Israelites, the Almighty had been their 
 King ; when a line of earthly kings was introduced, then 
 God spoke by the prophets. The existence of the 
 theocracy was the very constitution and boast of Israel, 
 as limited monarchy, liberty, and equality are the boast 
 respectively of certain modern nations. Moreover, the 
 Gospel proclamation ran, " " Pcenitentiam agite ; for the 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand : " here again was another 
 and recognized token of a theophany ; for the mission of 
 a prophet, as we have said above, was commonly a call to 
 reformation and expiation of sin. 
 
 A divine mission, then, was a falling back upon the 
 original covenant between God and His people ; but 
 again, while it was an event of old and familiar occur- 
 rence, it ever had carried with it in its past instances 
 something new in connexion with the circumstances 
 under which it took place. The prophets were ac- 
 customed to give interpretations, or to introduce modifi- 
 
for Christianity. 375 
 
 cations of the letter of the Law, to add to Its conditions 
 and to enlarge its application. It was to be expected, 
 then, that now, when the new Prophet to whom the 
 Baptist pointed, opened His commission, He too, m like 
 manner, would be found to be engaged in a restoration, 
 but in a restoration which should be a religious advance; 
 ind that the more, if He really was the special, final 
 Prophet of the theocracy, to whom all former prophets 
 had looked forward, and in whom their long and august 
 line was to be summed up and perfected. In proportion 
 as His work was to be more signal, so would His new 
 revelations be wider and more wonderful. 
 
 Did our Lord fulfil these expectations ? Yes ; there 
 was this peculiarity in His mission, that He came, not 
 only as one of the prophets in the kingdom of God, but 
 as the King Himself of that kingdom. Thus His mission 
 involves the most exact return to the original polity of 
 Israel, which the appointment of Saul had disarranged, 
 while it recognizes also the line of Prophets, and infuses 
 a new spirit into the Law. Throughout His ministry our 
 Lord claimed and received the title of King, which no 
 prophet ever had done before. On His birth, the wise 
 men came to worship "the King of the Jews." "Thou 
 art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel," cried 
 Nathaniel after His baptism ; and on His cross the 
 charge recorded against Him was that He professed to 
 be " King of the Jews." " During His whole public life," 
 says the author, " He is distinguished from the other 
 prominent characters of Jewish history by His unbounded 
 personal pretensions. He claims expressly the character 
 of that Divine Messiah for which the ancient prophets had 
 directed the nation to look." — P. 25. 
 
 He is, then, a King, as well as a Prophet ; but is He 
 as one of the old heroic kings, David or Solomon .^ Had 
 
376 An internal Argument 
 
 such been His pretension, He had not, in His own words, 
 ''discerned the signs of the times." It would have been 
 a false step in Him, into which other would-be champions 
 of Israel, before and after Him, actually fell, and in 
 consequence failed. But here this young Prophet is 
 from the first distinct, decided, and original. His con- 
 temporaries, indeed, the wisest, the most experienced, 
 were wedded to the notion of a revival of the barbaric 
 kingdom. "Their heads were full of the languid dreams 
 of commentators, the unpracticable pedantries of men 
 w^ho live in the past" (p. 27). But He gave to the old 
 prophetic promises an interpretation which they could 
 undeniably bear, but which they did not immediately 
 suggest.; which we can maintain to be true, while we 
 can deny them to be imperative. He had His own 
 prompt, definite conception of the restored theocracy ; 
 it was His own, and not another's ; it was suited to the 
 new age ; it was triumphantly carried out in the event. 
 
 In what, then, did He consider His royalty to con- 
 sist .^ First, what was it not } It did not consist in the 
 ordinary functions of royalty ; it did not prevent His 
 payment of tribute to Caesar ; it did not make Him a 
 judge in questions of criminal or of civil law, in a ques- 
 tion of adultery, or in the adjudication of an inheritance ; 
 nor did it give Him the command of armies. Then 
 perhaps, after all, it was but a figurative royalty, as when 
 the Eridanus is called "fluviorum rex," or Aristotle 
 *' the prince of philosophers." No ; it was not a figura- 
 tive royalty either. To call oneself a king, without 
 being one, is playing with edged tools — as in the story 
 of the innkeeper's son, who was put to death for calling 
 himself *'heir to the crcv/n." Christ certainly knew 
 
for Christianity. 2>n 
 
 what He was saying. "He had provoked the accusation 
 of rebellion against the Roman government : He must 
 have known that the language He used would be inter- 
 preted so. Was there then nothing substantial in the 
 royalty He claimed ? Did He die for a metaphor ? " 
 (p. 28.) He meant what He said, and therefore His 
 kingdom was literal and real ; it was visible ; but what 
 were its visible prerogatives, if they were not those in 
 which earthly royalty commonly consists ? In truth, He 
 passed by the lesser powers of royalty to claim the 
 higher. He" claimed certain divine and transcendent 
 functions of the original theocracy, which had been in 
 abeyance since that theocracy had been infringed, which 
 even to David had not been delegated, which had never 
 been exercised except by the Almighty. God had 
 created, first the people, next the state, which He deigned 
 to govern. " The origin of other nations is lost in anti- 
 quity" (p. 33) ; but "this people," runs the sacred word, 
 "have I formed for Myself." And " He who first called 
 the nation did for it the second work of a king : He 
 gave it a law " (p. 34). Now it is very striking to observe 
 that these two incommunicable attributes of divine 
 royalty, as exemplified in the history of the Israelites, 
 are the very two which our Lord assumed. He was the 
 Maker and the Lawgiver of His subjects. He said in 
 the commencement of His ministry, ''Follow Me ; " and 
 He added, and I will make you" — you in turn — "fishers 
 of men." And the next we read of Him is, that His 
 disciples came to Him on the Mount, and He opened 
 His mouth and taught them. And so again, at the end 
 of it, " Go ye, make disciples of all nations, teaching \h^m.r 
 "Thus the very works for which the [Jewish] nation 
 chiefly hymned their Jehovah, He undertook in His 
 name to do. He undertook to be the Father of an ever- 
 
37^ -^*^ internal Argument 
 
 lasting state, and the Legislator of a world-wide society" 
 (P- 3^) \ that is, showing Himself, according to the 
 prophetic announcement, to be ^^Admirabilis^ consiliariuSy 
 pater ftituri sceculi, pri7tceps pacis!' 
 
 To these two claims He added a third : first, He chooses 
 the subjects of His kingdom ; next. He gives them a 
 law; but thirdly, He judges them — ^judges them in a 
 far truer and fuller sense than in the old kingdom even 
 the Almighty judged His people. The God of Israel 
 ordained national rewards and punishments for national 
 obedience or transgression; He did not judge His 
 subjects one by one ; but our Lord takes upon Himself 
 the supreme and final judgment of every one of His 
 subjects, not to speak of the whole human race (though, 
 from the nature of the case, this function cannot belong 
 to His present visible kingdom). " He considered, in 
 short, heaven and hell to be in His hand " (p. 40). 
 
 We shall mention one further function of the new King 
 and His new kingdom : its benefits are even bound up 
 with the maintenance of this law of political unity. ''To 
 organize a society, and to bind the members of it together 
 by the closest ties, were the business of His life. For 
 this reason it was that He called men away from their 
 homes, imposed upon some a wandering life, upon others 
 the sacrifice of their property, and endeavoured by all 
 means to divorce them from their former connexions, 
 in order that they might find a new home in the Church. 
 For this reason He instituted a solemn initiation, and 
 for this reason He refused absolutely to any one a dis- 
 pensation from it. For this reason, too . . . He esta- 
 blished a common feast, which was through all ages to 
 remind Christians of their indissoluble union " (p. 92). 
 But ctd bono is a visible kingdom, when the great end of 
 our Lord's ministry is moral advancement and prepara- 
 
for Christianity. 379 
 
 tion for a future state? It is easy to understand, for 
 instance, how a sermon may benefit, or personal example, 
 or religious friends, or household piety. We can learn 
 to imitate a saint or a martyr, we can cherish a lesson, 
 we can study a treatise, we can obey a rule ; but what 
 is the definite advantage to a preacher or a moralist of 
 an external organization, of a visible kingdom ? Yet 
 Christ says, "Seek y^ first the kingdom of God," as well 
 as " His justice." Socrates wished to improve man, but 
 he laid no stress on their acting in concert in order to 
 secure that improvement ; on the contrary, the Christian 
 law is political, as certainly as it is moral. 
 
 Why is this } It arises out of the intimate relation 
 between Him and His subjects, which, in bringing them 
 all to Him as their common Father, necessarily brings 
 them to each other. Our Lord says, " Where two or 
 three are gathered together in My name, I am in the 
 midst of them." Fellowship between His followers is 
 made a distinct object and duty, because it is a means, 
 according to the provisions of His system, by which in 
 some special way they are brought near to Him. This 
 is declared, still more strikingly than in the text we have 
 just quoted, in the parable of the Vine and its Branches, 
 and in that (if it is to be called a parable) of the Bread 
 of Life. The almighty King of Israel was ever, indeed, 
 invisibly present in the glory above the Ark, but He did 
 not manifest Himself there or anywhere else as a present 
 cause of spiritual strength to His people ; but the new 
 King is not only ever present, but to every one of His 
 subjects individually is He a first element and perennial 
 source of life. He is not onl)^ the head of His kingdom, 
 but also its animating principle and its centre of power. 
 The author whom we are reviewing does not quite reach 
 the great doctrine here suggested, but he goes near it 
 
380 An internal Argument 
 
 in the following passage : " Some men have appeared 
 who have been *as levers to uplift the earth and roll it in 
 another course/ Homer by creating literature, Socrates 
 by creating science, Caesar by carrying civilization inland 
 from the shores of the Mediterranean, Newton by starting 
 science upon a career of steady progress, may be said to 
 have attained this eminence. But these men gave a single 
 impact like that which is conceived to have first set the 
 planets in motion. Christ claims to be a perpetual 
 attractive power, like the sun, which determines their 
 orbit. They contributed to men some discovery, and 
 passed away ; Christ's discovery is Himself. To hu- 
 manity struggling with its passions and its destiny He 
 says. Cling to Me ; — cling ever closer to Me. If we 
 believe St. John, He represented Himself as the Light 
 of the world, as the Shepherd of the souls of men, as" the 
 Way to immortality, as the Vine or Life-tree of hu- 
 manity" (p. 177). He ends this beautiful passage, of 
 which we have quoted as much as our limits allow, by 
 saying that "He instructed His followers to hope for life 
 from feeding on His Body and Blood." 
 
 6 
 
 O si sic omnia! Is it not hard, that, after following 
 with pleasure a train of thought so calculated to warm 
 all Christian hearts, and to create in them both admira- 
 tion and sympathy for the writer, we must end our notice 
 of him in a different tone, and express as much dissent 
 from him and as serious blame of him as we have hither- 
 to been showing satisfaction with his object, his inten- 
 tion, and the general outline of his argument } But so it 
 is. In what remains to be said we are obliged to speak 
 of his work in terms so sharp that they may seem to be 
 out of keeping with what has gone before. With what- 
 
for Christianity. 381 
 
 ever abruptness, we must suddenly shift the scene, and 
 manifest our disapprobation of portions of his book as 
 plainly as we have shown an interest in it. We have 
 praised it in various points of view. It has stirred the 
 hearts of many ; it has recognized a need, and gone in 
 the right direction for supplying it. It serves as a token, 
 and a hopeful token, of what is going on in the minds of 
 numbers of men external to the Church. It is so far a 
 good book, and, we trust, will work for good. Especially 
 as we have seen, is it interesting to the Catholic, as ac- 
 knowledging the visible Church to be our Lord's own 
 creation, as the direct fruit of His teaching, and the 
 destined instrument of His purposes. We do not know 
 how to speak in an unfriendly tone of an author who has 
 done so much as this ; but at the same time, when we 
 come to examine his argument in its details, and study 
 his chapters one by one, we find, in spite of, and 
 mixed up with, what is true and original, and even put- 
 ting aside his patent theological errors, so much bad logic, 
 so much of rash and gratuitous assumption, so much of 
 half-digested thought, that we are obliged to conclude 
 that it would have been much wiser in him, instead of 
 publishing what he seems to confess, or rather to pro- 
 claim, to be the jottings of his first researches upon 
 sacred territory, to have waited till he had carefully tra- 
 versed and surveyed and mapped the whole of it. We 
 now proceed to give a few instances of the faults of which 
 ^we complain. 
 
 His opening remarks will serve as an illustration. In 
 p. 41 he says, "We have not rested upon single passages, 
 nor drawn from the fourth Gospel^ This, we suppose, 
 must be his reason for ignoring the passage in Luke 
 ii. 49 : " Did you not know that I must be about My 
 Father's business ? " for he directly contradicts it, by 
 
382 An internal Argument 
 
 gratuitously imagining that our Lord came for St John's 
 baptism with the same intention as the penitents around 
 Him ; and that, in spite of His own words, which we 
 suppose are to be taken as another "single passage," 
 "So it becometh us to fulfil all justice" (Matt. iii. 15). 
 It must be on this principle of ignoring single passages 
 such as these, even though they admit of combination, 
 that he goes on to say of our Lord, that " in the agita- 
 tion of mind caused by His baptism, and by the Baptist's 
 designation of Him as the future Prophet, He retired 
 into the wilderness," and there " He matured the plan of 
 action which we see Him executing from the moment of 
 His return into society " (p. 9) ; and that not till then 
 was He "conscious of miraculous power" (p. 12). This 
 neglect of the sacred text, we repeat, must be allowed 
 him, we suppose, under cover of his acting out his rule 
 of abstaining from single passages and from the fourth 
 Gospel. Let us allow it ; but at least he ought to 
 adduce passages, single or many, for what he actually 
 does assert. He must not be allowed arbitrarily to add 
 to the history, as well as cautiously to take from it. 
 Where, then, we ask, did he learn that our Lord's baptism 
 caused Him " agitation of mind," that He " matured 
 His plan of action in the wilderness," and that He then 
 first was " conscious of miraculous power " } 
 
 But again : it seems he is not to refer to " single pas- 
 sages or the fourth Gospel ; " yet, wonderful to say, he 
 actually does open his formal discussion of the sacred 
 history by referring to a passage from that very Gospel, 
 — nay, to a particular text, which is not to be called 
 " single," only because it is not so much a single text, 
 but an unfair half text, and half a text such, that, had 
 he taken the whole of it, he would have been obliged to 
 admit that the part which he puts aside just runs counter 
 
for Christianity. 383 
 
 to his interpretation of the part which he recognizes. 
 The words are these, as they stand in the Protestant 
 version : " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away 
 the sin of the world." Now, it is impossible to deny 
 that " which taketh away," etc., fixes and limits the sense 
 of "the Lamb of God;" but our author notices the 
 latter half of the sentence, only in order to put aside 
 the light which it throws upon the former half; and 
 instead of the Baptist's own interpretation of the title 
 which he gives to our Lord, he substitutes another, 
 radically different, which he selects for himself out of 
 one of the Psalms. He explains " the Lamb " by the 
 well-known image, which represents the Almighty as a 
 shepherd and His earthly servants as sheep — innocent, 
 safe, and happy under His protection. " The Baptist's 
 opinion of Christ's character, then," he says, " is summed 
 up for us in the title he gives Him — the Lamb of God, 
 taking away the sins of the world. There seems to be, 
 in the last part of this description, an allusion to the 
 usages of the Jewish sacrificial system ; and, in order 
 to explain it fully, it would be necessary to anticipate 
 much which will come more conveniently later in this 
 treatise. But when we remember that the Baptist's 
 mind was doubtless full of imagery drawn from the Old 
 Testament, and that the conception of a lamb of God 
 makes the subject of one of the most striking of the 
 Psalms, we shall perceive zvhat he meant to cojivey by this 
 phrase'' (pp. 5, 6). This is like saying, to take a parallel 
 instance, "Isaiah declares, 'Mine eyes have seen the King, 
 the Lord of hosts ;' buty considering that doubtless the 
 prophet was well acquainted with the first and second 
 books of Samuel, and that Saul, David, and Solomon 
 are the three great kings there represented, we shall 
 easily perceive that, by ' seeing the King,' he meant to 
 
384 A^^ inter7ial Argument 
 
 say that he saw Uzziah, king of Judah, in the last year 
 of whose reign he had the vision. As to the phrase 
 ' the Lord of hosts/ which seems to refer to the Almighty, 
 we will consider its meaning by-and-by : " — but, in truth, 
 it is difficult to invent a paralogism, in its gratuitous 
 inconsecutiveness parallel to his own. 
 
 7- 
 
 We must own that, with every wish to be fair to this 
 author, we never recovered from the perplexity of mind 
 which this passage, in the very threshold of his book, 
 inflicted on us. It needed not the various passages 
 which follow it in the work, constructed on the same 
 argumentative model, to prove to us that he was not 
 only an incognito^ but an enigma. "Ergo/' is the symbol 
 of the logician : — what is the scientific method of a writer 
 whose symbols, profusely scattered through his pages 
 are "probably,'* "it must be," "doubtless/' "on this 
 hypothesis," " we may suppose," and " it is natural to 
 think," and that at the very time that he pointedly 
 discards the comments of school theologians t Is it 
 possible that he can mean us to set aside, in his own 
 favour, the glosses of all that went before him, and to ex- 
 change our old lamps for his new ones t Men have been 
 at fault, when trying to determine whether he was an 
 orthodox believer on his road to liberalism, or a liberal 
 on his road to orthodoxy : this doubtless may be to 
 some a perplexity ; but our own difficulty is, whether 
 he comes to us as an investigator or rather as a prophet, 
 as one unequal or superior to the art of reasoning. 
 Undoubtedly he is an able man ; but what can he 
 possibly mean by startling us with such eccentricities 
 of argumentation as are quite familiar with him t 
 Addison somewhere bids his readers bear in mind. 
 
for Christianity. 385 
 
 that if he is ever especially dull, he always has a 
 special reason for being so ; and it is difficult to 
 reconcile one's imagination to the supposition that this 
 anonymous writer, with so much religious thought as 
 he certainly evidences, is without some recondite reason 
 for seeming so inconsequent, and does not move by some 
 deep subterraneous process of investigation, which, if 
 once brought to light, would clear him of the imputation 
 of castle-building. 
 
 There is always a danger of misconceiving an author 
 who has no antecedents by which we may measure him. 
 Taking his work as it lies, we can but wish that he had 
 kept his imagination under control ; and that he had 
 more of the hard head of a lawyer, and the patience of 
 a philosopher. He writes like a man who cannot keep 
 from telling the world his first thoughts, especially if 
 they are clever or graceful ; he has come for the first 
 time upon a strange world, and his remarks upon it are 
 too often obvious rather than striking, and crude ratiier 
 than fresh. What can be more paradoxical than to 
 interpret our Lord's words to Nicodemus, *' Unless a man 
 be born again," etc., of the necessity of external reli- 
 gion, and as a lesson to him to profess his faith openly 
 and not to visit Him in secret } (p. ?>6), What can be 
 more pretentious, not to say vulgar, than his paraphrase 
 of St. John's passage about the woman taken in adul- 
 tery } " In His burning embarrassment and confusion," 
 , he says, " He stooped down so as to hide His face. . . . 
 They had a glimpse perhaps of the glowing blush upon 
 His face," etc. (p. 104.) 
 
 We should be very sorry to use a severe word con- 
 cerning an honest inquirer after truth, as we believe this 
 anonymous writer to be ; and we will confess that 
 Catholics, kindly as they may wish to feel towards him, 
 
 25 
 
386 An internal Argument 
 
 are scarcely even able, from their very position, to give 
 his work the enthusiastic reception which it has received 
 from some other critics. The reason is plain; those alone 
 can speak of it from a full heart, who feel a need, and 
 recognize in it a supply of that need. We are not in the 
 number of such ; for they who have found, have no need 
 to seek. Far be it from us to use language savouring of 
 the leaven of the Pharisees. We are not assuming a 
 high place, because we thus speak, or boasting of our 
 security. Catholics are both deeper and shallower than 
 Protestants ; but in neither case have they any call for 
 a treatise such as this Ecce Homo. If they live to the 
 world and the flesh, then the faith which they profess, 
 though it is true and distinct, is dead; and their certainty 
 about religious truth, however firm and unclouded, is but 
 shallow in its character, and flippant in its manifestations. 
 And in proportion as they are worldly and sensual, will 
 they be flippant and shallow.* But their faith is as inde- 
 lible as the pigment which colours the skin, even though 
 it is skin-deep. This class of Catholics is not likely to 
 take interest m a pictorial Ecce Homo, On the other 
 hand, where the heart is alive with divine love, faith is as 
 deep as it is vigorous and joyous ; and, as far as Catho- 
 lics are in this condition, they will feel no drawing to- 
 wards a work which is after all but an arbitrary and 
 unsatisfactory dissection of the Object of their devotion. 
 Faith, be it deep or shallow, does not need Evidences. 
 That individual Catholics may be harassed with doubts, 
 particularly in a day like this, we are not denying ; but, 
 viewed as a body. Catholics, from their religious condi- 
 tion, are either too deep or too shallow to sufl*er from 
 those elementary difficulties, or that distress of mind, 
 
 * [On this whole subject, vide "Difficulties felt by Anglicans," etc., 
 Lecture IX.] 
 
for Christia7iity, 387 
 
 and need of argument, which serious Protestants so often 
 experience. 
 
 We confess, then, as Catholics, to some unavoidable 
 absence of cordial feeling in following the remarks of 
 this author, though not to any want of real sympathy ; 
 and we seem to be justified in our indisposition by his 
 manifest want of sympathy with us. If we feel distant 
 towards him, his own language about Catholicity, and 
 (what may be called) old Christianity, seems to show 
 that that distance is one of fact, one of mental position, 
 not any fault in ourselves. Is it not undeniable, that the 
 very life of personal religion among Catholics lies in a 
 knowledge of the Gospels } It is the character and con- 
 duct of our Lord, His words. His deeds, His sufferings, 
 His work, which are the very food of our devotion and 
 rule of our life. "Behold the Man," which this author 
 feels to be an object novel enough to write a book about, 
 has been the contemplation of Catholics from the first 
 age when St. Paul said, " The life that I now live in the 
 flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved 
 me, and delivered Himself for me." As the Psalms 
 have ever been the manual of our prayer, so have the 
 Gospels been the subject-matter of our meditation. In 
 these latter times especially, since St. Ignatius, they hav( 
 been divided into portions, and arranged in a scientific 
 order, not unlike that which the Psalms have received 
 in the Breviary. To contemplate our Lord in His person 
 and His history is with us the exercise of every retreat, 
 and the devotion of every morning. All this is cer- 
 tainly simple matter of fact; but the writer we are re- 
 viewing lives and thinks at so great a distance from us, 
 as not to be cognizant of what is so patent and so noto- 
 rious a truth. He seems to imagine that the faith of 
 a Catholic is the mere profession of a formula. He 
 
388 An internal Argume7it 
 
 deems it important to disclaim, in the outset of his 
 work, all reference to the theology of the Church. He 
 eschews with much preciseness, as something almost 
 profane, the dogmatism of former ages. He wishes "to 
 trace " our Lord's " biography from point to point, and 
 accept those conclusions — not which Church doctors or 
 even Apostles have sealed with their authority — but 
 which the facts themselves, cdtically weighed, appear to 
 warrant." — (Preface.) Now, what Catholics, what Church 
 doctors, as well as Apostles, have ever lived on, is not any 
 number of theological canons or decrees, but, we repeat, 
 the Christ Himself, as He is represented in concrete 
 existence in the Gospels.* Theological determinations 
 about our Lord are far more of the nature of landmarks 
 or buoys to guide a discursive mind in its reasonings, 
 than to assist a devotional mind in its worship. Com- 
 mon sense, for instance, tells us what is meant by the 
 words, '' My Lord and my God ; " and a religious man, 
 upon his knees, requires no commentator ; but against 
 irreligious speculators, Arius or Nestorius, a denunciation 
 has been passed, in Ecumenical Council, when " science 
 falsely so-called " encroached upon devotion. Has not 
 this been insisted on by all dogmatic Christians over and 
 over again } Is it not a representation as absolutely 
 true as it is trite } We had fancied that Protestants 
 generally allowed the touching beauty of Catholic hymns 
 and meditations ; and after all is there not That in all 
 Catholic churches which goes beyond any written devo- 
 tion, whatever its force or its pathos } Do we not be- 
 lieve in a Presence in the sacred Tabernacle, not as a 
 form of words, or as a notion, but as an Object as real 
 as we are real 1 And if before that Presence we need 
 neither profession of faith nor even manual of devotion, 
 
 * \yide ** Essay on Assent," ch. iv. and v.] 
 
for Christianity, 389 
 
 what appetite can we have for the teaching of a writer 
 who not only exalts his first thoughts about our Lord 
 into professional lectures, but implies that the Catholic 
 Church has never known how to point Him out to her 
 children ? 
 
 8. 
 
 It may be objected, that we are making too much 
 of so accidental a slight as is contained in his allusion to 
 " Church doctors," especially as he mentions Apostles in 
 connexion with them ; but it would be affectation not 
 to recognize in other places of his book an undercurrent 
 of antagonism to us, of which the passage already quoted 
 is but a first indication. Of course he has quite as much 
 right as another to take up an anti-Catholic position, if 
 he will ; but we understand him to be putting forth an 
 investigation, not a polemical argument : and if, instead of 
 keeping his eyes directed towards his own proper subject, 
 he looks to the right or left, hitting at those who view 
 things differently from himself, he is damaging the ethical 
 force of a composition which claims to be, and mainly is, 
 a serious and manly search after religious truth. Why 
 cannot he let us alone } Of course he cannot avoid see- 
 ing that the lines of his own investigation diverge from 
 those drawn by others ; but he will have enough to do 
 m defending himself, without making others the object 
 of his attack. He is virtually opposing Voltaire, Strauss, 
 Renan, Calvin, Wesley, Chalmers, Erskine, and a host of 
 other writers, but he does not denounce them ; why then 
 does he single out, misrepresent, and anathematize a 
 a main principle of Catholic orthodoxy. It is as if he 
 could not keep his hand off us, when we crossed his path. 
 We are alluding to the following magisterial passage : 
 
 *' If He (our Lord) meant anything by His constant 
 
3 go An i7iter7ial Argument 
 
 denunciation of hypocrites, there is nothing which He 
 could have visited with sterner censure than that short mt 
 to belief which many persons take, when, overwhelmed 
 with difficulties which beset their minds, and afraid of 
 damnation, they siiddenly resolve to strive no longer, but, 
 giving their minds a holiday, to rest content with saying 
 that they believe, and acting as if they did. A melan- 
 choly end of Christianity indeed ! Can there be such a 
 disfranchised pauper class among the citizens of the New 
 Jerusalem ? " (p. 79). 
 
 He adds shortly afterwards : 
 
 " Assuredly, those who represent Christ as presenting 
 to man an abtruse theology, and saying to them peremp- 
 torily, ^ Believe or be damned,' have the coarsest con- 
 ception of the Saviour of the world " (p. 80). 
 
 Thus he delivers himself: Believe or be damned is 
 so detestable a doctrine, that if any man denies that it is 
 detestable, I pronounce him to be a hypocrite; to be with- 
 out any true knowledge of the Saviour of the world ; to 
 be the object of His sternest censure ; and to have no part 
 or place in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, the eter- 
 nal Heaven above. — Pretty well for a virtuous hater of 
 dogmatism ! We hope we shall show less dictatorial 
 arrogance than his in the answer which we intend to 
 make to him. 
 
 Whether or not there are persons such as he de- 
 scribes. Catholics, or, Protestant converts to Catholicism, 
 — men who profess a faith which they do not believe, 
 under the notion that they shall be eternally damned if 
 they do not profess it without believing, — we really do 
 not know — we never met with such ; but since facts do 
 not concern us here so much as principles, let us, for 
 argument's sake, grant that there are such men. Our 
 author believes they are not only '' many," but enough 
 
for Christianity. 391 
 
 to form a " class ; ** and he considers that they act in 
 this preposterous manner under the sanction, and in ac- 
 cordance with the teaching, of the reHgious bodies to 
 which they belong. Especially there is a marked allu- 
 sion in his words to the Athanasian Creed and the 
 Catholic Church. Now we answer him thus : 
 
 It is his charge against the teachers of dogma that 
 they impose on men as a duty, instead of believing, 
 to '* act as if they did " believe : — now in fact this is the 
 very kind of profession which, if it is all that a candidate 
 has to offer, absolutely shuts him out from admission 
 into Catholic communion. We suppose, that by belief 
 of a thing this writer understands an inward conviction of 
 its truth ; — this being supposed, we plainly say that no 
 priest is at liberty to receive a man into the Church who 
 has not a real internal belief, and cannot say from his 
 heart, that the things taught by the Church are true. 
 On the other hand, as we have said above, it is the very 
 characteristic of the profession of faith made by numbers 
 of educated Protestants, and it is the utmost extent to 
 which they are able to go in believing, to hold, not that 
 Christian doctrine is certainly true, but that it has such 
 a semblance of truth, it has such considerable marks of 
 probability upon it, that it is their duty to accept and 
 act upon it as if it were true beyond all question or 
 doubt : and they justify themselves, and with much 
 reason, by the authority of Bishop Butler. Undoubtedly, 
 a religious man will be led to go as far as this, if he 
 cannot go farther ; but unless he can go farther, he is no 
 catechumen of the Catholi6 Church. We wish all men to 
 believe that her creed is true ; but till they do so believe, 
 we do not wish, we have no permission, to make them 
 her members. Such a faith as this author speaks of to 
 condemn — (our books call it '' practical z^x\X\m^^ ") — does 
 
3Q2 An internal ArgU7nent 
 
 not rise to the level of the sine qua non, which is the con- 
 dition prescribed for becoming a Catholic. Unless a 
 a convert so believes that he can sincerely say, " After 
 all, in spite of all difficulties, objections, obscurities, 
 mysteries, the creed of the Church undoubtedly comes 
 from God, and is true, because He who gave it is the 
 Truth,'* such a man, though he be outwardly received 
 into her fold, will receive no grace from the sacraments, 
 no sanctification in baptism, no pardon in penance, no life 
 in communion. We are more consistently dogmatic than 
 this author imagines ; we do not enforce a principle 
 by halves ; if our doctrine is true, it must be received as 
 such ; if a man cannot so receive it, he must wait till 
 he can. It would be better, indeed, if he now believed ; 
 but since he does not as yet, to wait is the best he can 
 do under the circumstances. If we said anything else 
 than this, certainly we should be, as the author thinks 
 we are, encouraging hypocrisy. Nor let him turn round 
 on us and say that by thus proceeding we are laying a 
 burden on souls, and blocking up the entrance into that 
 fold which was intended for all men, by imposing hard 
 conditions on candidates for admission ; for, as we shall 
 now show, we have already implied a great principle, 
 which is an answer to this objection, and which the 
 Gospels exhibit and sanction, but which he absolutely 
 ignores. 
 
 9. 
 
 Let us avail ourselves of his own quotation. The 
 Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God." Again he 
 says, " This is the Son of God." " Two of his disciples 
 heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." They be- 
 lieved John to be " a man sent from God " to teach 
 them, and therefore they believed his word to be true. 
 
for Christia7iity. 393 
 
 We suppose it was not hypocrisy in them to believe in 
 his word ; rather they would have been guilty of gross 
 inconsistency or hypocrisy, had they professed to be- 
 lieve that he was a divine messenger, and yet had refused 
 to take his word concerning the Stranger whom he pointed 
 out to their veneration. It would have been "saying 
 that they believed," and not " acting as if they did ; '* 
 which at least is not better than saying and acting. 
 Now was not the announcement which John made to 
 them " a short cut to belief" t and what the harm of it ^ 
 They believed that our Lord was the promised Prophet, 
 without making direct inquiry about Him, without a new 
 inquiry, on the ground of a previous inquiry into the 
 claims of John himself to be accounted a messenger 
 from God. They had already accepted it as truth that 
 John was a prophet ; but again, what a prophet said 
 must be true ; else he would not be a prophet ; now, 
 John said that our Lord was the Lamb of God ; this, 
 then, certainly was a sacred truth. 
 
 Now it might happen, that they knew exactly and for 
 certain what the Baptist meant in calling our Lord " a 
 Lamb ; " in that case they would believe Him to be that 
 which they knew the figurative word meant, as used by 
 the Baptist. But, as our author reminds us, the word has 
 different senses ; and though the Baptist explained his 
 own sense of it on the first occasion of using it, by add- 
 ing " that taketh away the sin of the world," yet when 
 he spoke to the two disciples he did not thus explain it. 
 Now let us suppose that they went off, taking the word 
 each in his own sense, the one understanding by it a 
 sacrificial lamb, the other a lamb of the fold ; and let us 
 suppose that, as they were on their way to our Lord's 
 home, they became aware of this difference between their 
 several impressions, and disputed with each other which 
 
394 -^^ internal Argument 
 
 was the right interpretation. It is clear that they would 
 agree so far as this, viz., that, in saying that the proposi- 
 tion was true, they meant that it was true in that sense 
 in which the Baptist spoke it, whatever that was ; more- 
 over, if it be worth noticing, they did after all even agree, 
 in some vague way, about the meaning of the word, 
 understanding that it denoted some high characteristic, 
 or office, or ministry. Anyhow, it was absolutely true, 
 they would say, that our Lord was a Lamb, whatever it 
 meant ; the word conveyed a great and momentous fact, 
 and if they did not know what that fact was, the Baptist 
 did, and they would accept it in its one right sense, as 
 soon as he or our Lord told them what that was. 
 
 Again, as to that other title which the Baptist gave 
 our Lord, " the Son of God," it admitted of half a dozen 
 meanings. Wisdom was *' the only begotten ; "^ the 
 Angels were the sons of God ; Adam was a son of God ; 
 the descendants of Seth were sons of God ; Solomon was 
 a son of God ; and so is " the just man." In which of 
 these senses, or in what sense, was our Lord the Son of 
 God ? St. Peter, as the after-history shows us, knew, but 
 there were those who did not know ; the centurion who 
 attended the crucifixion did not know, and yet he con- 
 fessed that our Lord was the Son of God. He knew 
 that our Lord had been condemned by the Jews for 
 calling Himself the Son of God, and therefore he cried 
 out, on seeing the miracles which attended his death, 
 " Indeed this was the Son of God." His words evidently 
 imply, " I do not know precisely what He meant by so 
 calling Himself; but this I do know, — what He said He 
 was, that He is; whatever He meant, I believe Him; I 
 believe that His word about Himself is true, though I 
 cannot prove it to be so, though I do not even understand 
 it ; I believe His word, for I believe Him^' 
 
for Christianity. 395 
 
 Now to return to the accusation which has led to these 
 remarks. Our author says that certain persons are 
 hypocrites, because they '' take a short cut to beUef, 
 suddenly resolving to strive no longer, but to rest con- 
 tent with saying they believe." Does he mean by " a 
 short cut," believing on the word of another } As far as 
 we see, he can mean nothing else ; yet how can he really 
 mean this and mean to blame this, with the Gospels before 
 him ? He cannot mean it, if he pays any deference to 
 the Gospels, because the very staple of the sacred narra- 
 tive, from beginning to end, is a call on all men to believe 
 what is not proved to them, merely on the warrant of 
 divine messengers ; because the very form of our Lord's 
 teaching is to substitute authority for argument ; because 
 the very principle of His grave earnestness, the very key 
 to His regenerative mission, is the intimate connexion 
 of faith with salvation. Faith is not simply trust in His 
 legislation, as the writer says ; it is definitely trust in 
 His word, whether that word be about heavenly things 
 or earthly ; whether it is spoken by His own mouth, 
 or through His ministers. The Angel who announced 
 the Baptist's birth, said, " Thou chalt be dumb, because 
 thou believest not my words." The Baptist's mother 
 said of Mary, '' Blessed is she that believed." The Bap- 
 tist himself said, " He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son shall 
 not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." 
 Our Lord, in turn said to Nicodemus, " We speak 
 that we do know, and ye receive not our witness ; 
 he that believeth not is condemned already, because he 
 hath not believed in the Name of the Only-begotten Son 
 of God." To the Jews, *' He that heareth My word, and 
 beHeveth on Him that sent Me, shall not come into con- 
 demnation." To the Capharnaites, '* He that believeth 
 
396 An internal Argitment 
 
 on Me hath everlasting life.'* To St. Thomas, " Blessed 
 are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." 
 And to the Apostles, " Preach the Gospel to every crea- 
 ture ; he that believeth not shall be damned." 
 
 How is it possible to deny that our Lord, both in the 
 text and in the context of these and other passages, made 
 faith in a message, on the warrant of the messenger, to 
 be a condition of salvation, and enforced it by the great 
 grant of power which He emphatically conferred on His 
 representatives 1 '' Whosoever shall not receive you," 
 He says, " nor hear your words, when ye depart, shake 
 off the dust of your feet." " It is not ye that speak, but the 
 Spirit of your Father." " He that heareth you, heareth 
 Me ; he that despiseth you, despiseth Me ; and he that 
 despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent me." " I pray 
 for them that shall believe on Me through their word." 
 '' Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and 
 whose sins ye retain, they are retained." "Whatsoever ye 
 shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." " I will give 
 unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and what 
 soever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, 
 and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed 
 in heaven." These characteristic and critical announce- 
 ments have no place in this author's gospel ; and let it 
 be understood, that we are not asking why he does not 
 determine the exact doctrines contained in them — for 
 that is a question which he has reserved (if we under- 
 stand him) for a future Volume — but why he does not 
 ^•ecognize the principle they involve — for that is a matter 
 which falls within his present subject. 
 
 10 
 
 It IS not well to exhibit some sides of Christianity, r.Tvi 
 not others ; this we think is the main fault of the author 
 
for Christianity. 397 
 
 we have been reviewing. It does not pay to be eclectic 
 in so serious a matter of fact. He does not overlook, 
 he boldly confesses, that a visible organized Church was 
 a main part of our Lord's plan for the regeneration of 
 mankind. " As with Socrates," he says, " argument is 
 everything, and personal authority nothing ; so with 
 Christ, personal authority is all in all, and argument 
 altogether unemployed " (p. 94). Our Lord rested His 
 teaching, not on the concurrence and testimony of His 
 hearers, but on His own authority. He imposed upon 
 them the declarations of a Divine Voice. Why does this 
 author stop short in the delineation of principles which 
 he has so admirably begun } Why does he denounce 
 "short cuts," as a mental disfranchisement, when no 
 cut can be shorter that to " believe and be saved " } 
 Why does he denounce religious fear as hypocritical, 
 when it is written, " He that believeth not shall be 
 damned " } Why does He call it dishonest in a 
 man to sacrifice his own judgment to the word of 
 God, when, unless he did so, he would be avowing that 
 the Creator knew less than the creature } Let him re- 
 collect that no two thinkers, philosophers, writers, ever 
 did, ever will agree, in all things with each other. No 
 system of opinions, ever given to the world, approved it- 
 self in all its parts to the reason of any one individual 
 by whom it was mastered. No revelation then is con- 
 ceivable, which does not involve, almost in its very idea 
 as being something new, a collision with the human intel- 
 lect, and demands accordingly, if it is to be accepted, a 
 sacrifice of private judgment on the part of those to whom 
 it IS addressed. If a revelation be necessary, then also in 
 consequence is that sacrifice necessary. One man will 
 have to make a sacrifice in one respect, another in an- 
 other, all men in some. 
 
398 A71 internal Argument for Christianity, 
 
 We say, then, to men of the day. Take Christianity, 
 or leave it ; do not practise upon it ; to do so is as un- 
 philosophical as it is dangerous. Do not attempt to halve 
 a spiritual unit. You are apt to call it a dishonesty in us 
 to refuse to follow out our reasonings, when faith stands 
 in the way ; is there no intellectual dishonesty in your- 
 selves } First, your very accusation of us is dishonest ; 
 for you keep in the background the circumstance, of 
 which you are well aware, that such a refusal on our 
 part to back Reason against Faith, is the necessary con- 
 sequence of our accepting an authoritative Revelation ; 
 and next you profess to accept that Revelation your- 
 selves, whilst you dishonestly pick and choose, and take 
 as much or as little of it as you please. You either ac- 
 cept Christianity, or you do not : if you do. do not garble 
 and patch it ; if you do not, suffer others to submit to 
 it ungarbled. 
 
399 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abdiel, the faithful seraph, 5. 
 
 Abraham, his intercession for Sodom, 87; his denial of his wife, 156. 
 
 Adam and Eve, creation of, 154. 
 
 Agabus, 178. 
 
 Ahaz, refuses to ask a sign, 175 ; builds an altar after a heathen pattern, 176 
 
 Alaric, 88. 
 
 Alexander, 53. 
 
 Alexandria, temple at, 15. 
 
 Alfred, King, 288. 
 
 Alphery, 289. 
 
 Ambrose, St., 24. 
 
 Andrews, 17. 
 
 Antichrist, Patristical Idea of, 44. 
 
 Antiochus, 53, 71. 
 
 Apocrypha, the, 203, 225. 
 
 Apollo Library, site of, 14. 
 
 Apostolical Succession, 113. 
 
 Arcesilas, 275. 
 
 Arianism, 41. 
 
 Aristotle, 275, 293, 376. 
 
 Asmoneans, the, 15. 
 
 Aspasia, 267. 
 
 Athanasian Creed, 145, 391. 
 
 Athanasius, St., 24. 
 
 Athenians, characteristics of the, 235. 
 
 Athens, 326. 
 
 Attila, 89, 
 
 Augustine, St., his letter to a Donatist bishop, 7, vid. also 1 3 ; quoted, 88 ; 
 
 on the Apocrypha, 203 ; his well-known dictum, 366. 
 Augustus, 73. 
 Azariah, 159. 
 
 Babylon, fall of, 87. 
 
 Bacon, Lord; on Idola, 277 ; on the Ancient Philosophies, 298. 
 
 Bacon, Roger, 289. 
 
 Balaam, history of, 157, 179, 219, 221. 
 
 Baptism, 115. 
 
400 Index. 
 
 Basil, St., 24. 
 
 Belshazzar, 69. 
 
 Belzoni, 289. 
 
 Bentham, Jeremy, on Useful Knowledge, 262; no poetry in him, 263 ; hi? 
 
 philosophy, 270. 
 Benthamism, 272. 
 Berkeley, Bishop, 275. 
 Berkshire, a retired parish in, 3-4. 
 Beiceans, commendation of the, 244. 
 Bethesda, pool of, 221. 
 Bible, two attributes of the, 173. 
 Blandina, martyrdom of, 100. 
 Bolingbroke's Patriot King, 352. 
 Brougham, Lord, 255 ; a work wrongly ascribed to him, 256 ; his inaugural 
 
 speech at Glasgow, 258. 
 Broughamism, 272. 
 Butler, Bishop, his Analogy of Religion characterized, 193 ; puts up a cross 
 
 in his chapel at Bristol, ib. ; 275, 391. 
 Burton, Dr., Antiquities of Rojne, quoted, 87. 
 
 Ccesar, works of, 11 ; civilizes France, 380. 
 
 (Jams, lost work of, 204, 207. 
 
 (.jalv'in, his doctrine of Predestination, 143. 
 
 C'alvinists, their pet texts, 185. 
 
 Canticles, Book of, 185, 210. 
 
 Catholicus, Letters of, to *' The Times," 254 ; to the " Catholic Standard," 
 
 306. 
 Charlemagne, his gifts to the Church, 25. 
 Charles the First, 22, 23. 
 Chiistianity, Primitive, 10 ; not cast in the rigid mould of Judaism, 12; 
 
 not a violent revolution, 30. 
 Chrysostom, wSt., 13, 50. 
 
 Cicero's Offices, 194 ; on Philosophy, 264; his Treatise on Consolation, 265. 
 Clive, Lord, career of, 337. 
 Confirmation, 34. 
 Constantine, 33. 
 Cowper, 265. 
 Creed, necessity of a, 135. 
 
 Cyprian, against schismatics, IT ; on Episcopal Ordination, 13, 204. 
 Cyril, St., on the One Holy Catholic Church, 8 ; quoted, 58, 102. 
 
 Daniel, captivity of, 33 ; his prophecy of Antichrist, 52 ; his explanation ot 
 the ten horns, 79 ; on the great persecution, 94 3 taught by the Chal- 
 deans, 212. 
 
 Darius, 53. 
 
 David, 175 ; history of differently viewed, 185. 
 
 Davy, 289. 
 
 Deioces, 313. 
 
 Democritus, 298- 
 
 Demosthenes, the elder. 329. 
 
 Difficulties in Scripture proof of doctrine, 109. 
 
Index. 401 
 
 Dionysius, St., of Alexandria, 208. 
 
 Dissenters, their unconscious imitations of the provisions of the old Catholic 
 
 system, 37. 
 Donatists, the, 13. 
 Duval, 289. 
 
 Easter hymn, the, 38. 
 
 Ecce Homo, 363. 
 
 Ecclesiastes, Book of, 210. 
 
 Ehud, his assassination of Ep^lon, 178, 
 
 Elijah and Elisha, 166, 187. 
 
 Elisha, character and conduct of, 227. 
 
 England, the paradise of little men, and the purgatory of great Oiics, 343. 
 
 Eridanus, the, 376. 
 
 Esther, Book of, 209. 
 
 Eucharist, the, 118, 179. ^ 
 
 Eusebius, 58, 204, 206. 
 
 Exeter Hall, depths of, 308, 
 
 Genesis, Book of, 155. 
 
 Genseric, 89. 
 
 Gerizim, temple at, 15, 
 
 Gibbon, on the Popes of the ninth and tenth centuries, 25 ; on the invasion 
 
 of the Roman provinces by the barbarians, 83, 84 ; quoted, 89, lOi ; 
 
 on the Divinity of Christ, 187. 
 Gog and Magog, 104. 
 
 Gregory, Pope, on the destruction of Rome, 86. 
 Guiberto, 25. 
 Guizot, M., quoted 321. 
 Gustavus Adolphus, 362. 
 
 Hagar, 22. 
 
 Hall, Bishop of Norwich, quoted, 20. 
 
 Haman, ill. 
 
 Hannibal, 329. 
 
 Herod, a Jewish courtier of, 14 ; and St. John Baptist, 177. 
 
 Hildebrand, Pope, 25, 33, 35. 
 
 Hippolylus, quoted, 67, 74, 207. 
 
 Holy Scripture in its relation to the Catholic Creed, 109. 
 
 Homer, created literature, 380. 
 
 Horsley, Bishop, on the Times of Antichrist, 107. 
 
 Jacob, his wrestle with the angel, 179. 
 
 Jael and wSisera, 1 78. 
 
 Jehoash, reign of, 165, 175. 
 
 Jerome, St., on Daniel, quoted, 56 ; on St. PauFs Epistle to Piiilemon, 204. 
 
 Jewish Temple, the, 66. 
 
 Ignatius, St., Epistles of, 139 ; on the Eucharist, 208. 
 
 Irenseus, St., quoted, 67, 73, 207, 209. 
 
 Judas, manner of his death, 168. 
 
402 Index. 
 
 Julian, Emperor, 55, 57, 67, 71, 289. ^ 
 
 Jastification by Faith, 123. 
 
 Keble, John, on the Apostolical Succession, 16. 
 
 Ken, Bishop, 17, his will quoted, 105. 
 
 Knox, Alexander, his Letters mid Re77iains quoted, 27. 
 
 La Place, 258, 267, 299. 
 Lateinos and the number 666, — 73. 
 Latitude, doctrine of, 129. 
 Latitudinarianism, difficulties of, 126. 
 Laud, Archbishop, 17, 18. 
 Lazarus, the raising of, 165. 
 Leo, St., and Attila, 89. 
 
 Leslie, his Case of the Regale and Pontificate, quoted, 27. 
 Locke on the Human Understanding, 372. 
 London, 336. 
 I^orenzo de Medicis, 289. 
 Lushington, Dr., 255, 259. 
 
 Luther, on Justification by Faith, 124 ; liis doctrine of Consubstaritiation, 
 143- 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, on the Constitution of England, 361. 
 
 Mahomet, 55, 58. 
 
 Mahometan power, approaching destruction of, 103. 
 
 Malachi, St., of Armagh, on tlie destruction of Rome, S j. 
 
 Malchus, 182. 
 
 Manasseli, reign of, 163. 
 
 Marcus Antoninus, 289. 
 
 Marozia, 25. • 
 
 Matrimony, 34. 
 
 Maurice, F. D., on Eternal Punishment, 351. 
 
 Melito, on the Canonicity of the Book of Esther, 209, 
 
 Menenius Agrippa, fable of, 354. 
 
 Miltiades, 329. 
 
 Milton's Paradise Lost, quoted, 290. 
 
 Montorio, the, 33. 
 
 Mosaic law, the, divinity and beauty of, 14. 
 
 Moses, his attempts to avenge the Israelites, 32 ; his periods of fast in the 
 Mount, 157 ; his striking the rock, 175, and smiting the iLgyptian, ib.; 
 his vision of God, 179 ; accused of borrowing his law from the Egyp- 
 tians, 211. 
 
 Naaman, 221, 228. 
 
 Nazianzen, Gregory, on the Canonicity of the Book of Esther, 209. 
 
 Newton's hymns, 38. 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, 258, 380. 
 
 Oaths, lawfulness of, 122. 
 CEdipus, sons of, 334. 
 Orange ribbon, the, 13. 
 
Lidex, 403 
 
 Ordination Service, the, 34. , . ■, o 
 
 Origen, on the Epistles of St. Paul, 204, 206; on Eternal Punishment, 238. 
 
 Original Sin, 123. 
 
 Orthodox Protestantism, 197. 
 
 Oxford, 23. 
 
 Palatine, the, 4 
 
 Paley's Evidences, 367, 371. 
 
 Pantheism, the great deceit of the future, ^33. 
 
 Paris, modem, the city of infidelity, 23. 
 
 Pascal, 258. 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, his Address on the Establishment of the Tamworth 
 
 Reading Room, 254. 
 Pepin, donations of, to the Church, 25, 33. 
 Pericles, his rebuke to Sophocles 194 ; on the Athenians, 328. 
 Philemon, St. Paul's Epistle to, 204. 
 Philoctetes, 308. 
 Plato, 299. 
 Polygamy, 122. 
 
 ** Protestant," exception to the word, 31. * 
 
 Prytaneum, the, 337. 
 Punishment of Death, 122. 
 Python, 218. 
 
 Rasselas and Imlac, 266. 
 
 Roman Empire, the, 49 ; fall of, 80. 
 
 Rome, city of, described, 2, 3 ; the city of Catholicism, 23. 
 
 Rousseau, on Socrates and Jesus, 366, 372. 
 
 Sabbath, the, 120. 
 
 Sancho Panza, 319. , 
 
 Sancroft, Archbishop, 26. 
 
 Sarpi, Father Paul, his Letters quoted, 26. 
 
 Satan, 211. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, his Two Drovers^ 334. 
 
 Scripture and the Creed, 109. 
 
 Seth, birth of, 156. 
 
 Shakespeare, quoted, 22. 
 
 Simon of Cyrene, 167. 
 
 Sisera, 33- . . 
 
 Sisterhoods, Religious, 40. 
 
 Socrates, 328, 366, 379, 380, 397. 
 
 Sophocles, 194. 
 
 Stewart, Dugald, 274. 
 
 Tamworth Reading Room, 254. 
 
 Taylor, Jeremy, his Prayers and Litanies, 39. 
 
 TertuUian, mentions Prayers for the -Dead, 204. 
 
 Themistocles, 329. 
 
 Theodoret, on Daniel, quoted, 56. 
 
 Thessalonians, the, 44 ; epistles to.- 207. 
 
404 Index. 
 
 Timothy, 161. 
 
 Trastevere, the, 33. 
 
 Trent, Council of, 28. 
 
 Trinity, not mentioned in Scripture, 123. 
 
 Turks, the, 104. 
 
 Urijah the priest and Ahaz, 176. 
 Uzziah, 159. 
 
 Walpole, Sir Robert, 352. 
 
 Waterloo Bridge, 336. 
 
 Watts, 38. 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, 307. 
 
 Wesley's hymns, 38. 
 
 Whately, Archbishop, on the Establishment, 361. 
 
 White, Henry- Kirke, 289, 
 
 Witney blankets, 347, 
 
 Xenophon, 329, 
 Xerxes, 53. 
 
 Zechariah, 212. • 
 
 Zeno, 368. 
 
 Zuinglians, dilemma of, in regard to Baptism, 143. 
 
\ ft »l". * 
 
 l.,_./ 
 
 VI 
 
 14 DAY USE ^ J 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORKOWED |J| 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 is due on the last date 
 on the date to which r 
 Renewed books are subject to i 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 1 ms DooK. ^jjj^.jj renewed. 
 
 .^K^X ,re subiect to immediate recall. 
 
 -^m 
 
 REC'D LD 
 
 C E NT ON 11 1 — 
 
 ircrBERKECEr-l 
 
 n-. 
 
 l^^k^IJ^kltY LOAN 
 
 iimu-. 
 
 in"'/! 
 
 -tmt V. OH CAL TT-., bbKK: 
 
 *^K:rD 
 
 "^t^^"^^ otc'' 
 
 LD 2lA-60w-4,'64 
 (E4555slO)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
'4IKS^ 
 
 ^^^■9^k.^i^^BBB * 
 
 ^■BMIi^l 
 
 Hs 
 
 MK| 
 
 YB 22157 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 Kfn vBB^P^^^I 
 
 K 
 
 
 \ \ ^^*lr b^^BB 
 
 ^SV I 
 
 A^^yflHHI 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 [►^^E/.r<^ Ifflj 
 
 :A/3?' 
 
 ga^M 
 
 W^mM 
 
 '^ jSm 
 
 ^^^yy^ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 ^^.^ 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 *.':Jii^L ^ 
 
fiiiii