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YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

THE

ERRORS OF ROMANISM,

I'H L

ERRORS OF ROMANISM

TKACED TO

THEIR ORIGIN

HUMAN NATURE.

BY
RICHARD AVHATELY, D.D,
PRINCIPAL OF ST. ALBAn's HALL, AND LATE FELLOW OF OBIEL
COLLEGE, OXFORD.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be ; and that
which is done, is that which shall be done : and thei'e is no new
thing under the sun. Eccles. i. 9.
. . . . y/yvfljWSvoBjKSv, Kal aeJ liT^^sva, ecyj av'H ATTH <t)T2l2 ANGPfinXlN
fiiTet{ioXa} Tuv ^uyrv^ta/v ItptffrsJvTcu, Thucyd. b. iii. ch. b2.

LONDON:
B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET,
18.30.

TO
THE REVEREND
JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE, M.A.
OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD.

My dear Friend,
I AM aware that it is a violation of esta
blished forms to take the liberty of dedi
cating this Work to you, without previously
applying for your permission.
The ground on which I petition for
your indulgence, is, my fear that your
modesty might have led you, if not to
withhold your consent altogether, yet to
prohibit me from speaking of you in the
manner I could wish. Not that it is my

vi Dedication.
design to make this Dedication the vehicle
of a formal panegyric ; or to comment
either on that part of your character and
conduct which is before the public, and
which it would be an affront to my readers
to suppose them not to know and admire ;
or again, on the particulars of our private
friendship, in which they have no concern.
But I feel bound to take this occasion of
acknowledging publicly one particular ad
vantage which I have derived from my
intercourse with you : I am indebted to
you for such an insight into the peculi
arities of the Church of Rome, as I could
never have gained, either from any one
who had not been originally, or from any
one who still continued, a member of that
Church. Your intimate acquaintance with
it, has enlarged and cleared the view 1
had long since taken of its system ; as
being the gradual, spontaneous growth of
the human heart ; — as being, what may
lie called, in a certain sense, the Religion

Dedication. vii
of Nature ; viz. such a kind of religion as
" the natural Man" is disposed to frame
for himself.
One who has both been so deeply
versed as yourself in the learning of that
Church, and has also had the opportunities
you have enjoyed, of not merely forming
a judgment of the apparent tendencies of
each part of the system, but observing how
it actually works, and what are the prac
tical results — and who has subsequently
been enabled, under the divine blessing,
to embrace a purer faith — must, unless he
fall far short of you in candour or intelli
gence, be much better qualified than either
a Romanist, or one brought up in our
Church, to estimate the true character of
the two Religions. As, on the one hand,
(like Moses, who was " skilled in all the
learning of the Egyptians,") you may be
reckoned, as far as knowledge is concerned,
an eminent Roman- Catholic Divine, so,
on the other hand, you may, in one point

viii Dedication.
of view, be considered as more eminently
Protestant, than most members of our
Church. For I cannot, of course, be cer
tain, of others, or even of myself, that, if
we had, like you, been educated in the
Romish Church, we should have escaped,
like you, from that spiritual bondage; —
that we might not have either continued
enslaved to her tenets, or have been
plunged irrecoverably into that gulf of
Atheism, to the brink of which She brings
her votaries : which She does, as you
have well pointed out, by sedulously pre
senting as the sole alternative, implicit
devotion to her decrees, or, no religion
at all.
It is, as I have said, impossible to pro
nounce with certainty, of any one bred a
Protestant, that he would have become so,
had he been educated in the Romish sys
tem: but it might safely be pronounced,
that I should not have done so, were I one
of those who stigmatize you as an Apos-

Dedicatio)i. i\
tate, for renouncing and testifying against
the system in which you were brought up.
I should then deserve to be characterised
as Protestant only by the accidents of
Country and Kindred.
You are doubtless familiar however with
the principle long since noticed by the
great Historian of Greece, and ready to
make allowance for its operation, that
" most men are slow to give another
credit for feeling nobler sentiments, and
acting on higher motives, than any that
have ever found a place in their own
breasts*." Posterity nevertheless will, 1
am convinced, do justice to your cha
racter, and appreciate your services,
Hiram qui contudit Hyd/ram,
Comperit invidiam supremo fine domari.
'  erri utteo t^v kauToiJ <^uo"ii/ aKOuot. fJ^^X?' ¦/"? Touds
avexroi ol ettixivoI s'tan Tregi BTsgiov XByofj-ivoi, I; o(TOv av xal
auTOj %x.a<rTOi olrjTat txavo; elvai dgacai ti wv jjjcoucte- tm Se
msgjSoLWovTt aiiraiv ^iovoiivrs;, r/jrj xce) ix7n<rT0ii(riv. Tnucyd.
b. ii. ch. 35.

X Dedication.
You have been led, by the circum
stances in which you were placed, and of
which you have taken due advantage, to
examine different systems carefully, and
to make up your mind on mature delibe
ration. And the same circumstances which
induced you to observe, and enabled you
to estimate, the differences between Rom
anists and Protestants, have also quali
fied you to notice the points of resem
blance in all men ; to recognize in all, of
whatever country or persuasion, the tend
ency towards each of those Romish errors
which you have seen magnified and exag
gerated in that Church ; — to detect the
minutest drop, in the most disguised mix
ture, of those poisons which you have seen
in their rectified and concentrated form,
operating to produce their baneful re
sults. With a view therefore to the particular
object of the present work, it must have
been very much my own fault, if I have

Dedication. xi
not derived from your conversation, the
most valuable suggestions and correc
tions. I only regret that you did not
yourself undertake the task, for which no
one else can be, on the whole, so well
qualified. As it is, I have only to express thus
publicly my sense of the advantages I have
enjoyed, and to beg your favourable ac
ceptance of this dedication of a Work, to
which you will thus have, indirectly, so
much contributed. Should I be enabled,
by placing in a somewhat new light, ques
tions which have been long since copiously
discussed, to awaken the attention even
of a few, whether Romanists or Protest
ants, to the faults, either existing, or likely
to arise, among them, you will, I am sure,
rejoice to have had a share in contributing
to such an effect, and to have your name
connected with a Work which shall have
produced it. At all events, you will, I am
sure, give me credit for good intentions:

xii Dedication.
nor will you, 1 trust, be either surprised
or mortified, if I should have to encounter,
on this occasion especially, (the views set
forth being far from flattering to human
nature,) some of that opposition of various
kinds, and from various quarters, with
which many of my former publications
have been assailed, and from which yours
have not been exempt.
To myself this is not a matter of wonder,
or of dissatisfaction. Not that I have any
wish to excite controversy ; or any inten
tion of ever engaging in it : but he who
endeavours to inculcate any neglected
truths, or to correct any prevailing errors,
must be prepared, if he succeed in attract
ing any share of public attention, to en
counter more or less of opposition. It
would be most extravagant to expect to
convince at once, if at all, every one, or
even many, who before thought differently.
^ If therefore, in such a case, he meet with
no opposition, he may take that as a sign

Dedication. .xiii
either that he has excited no interest at
all, or that he was mistaken as to the state
of the prevailing opinions among others, or
that his own have not been fully under
stood. Opposition does not indeed, of
itself, prove either that he is right, or that
he is wrong : but, at all events, the discus
sion which results, is likely, if conducted
with temper and sincerity, to lead to the
ascertainment of the truth.
And it is worth remarking, that in many
cases the opposition will appear even
greater than it really is. For as the great
majority of those who had before thought
differently from an Author, will, in general,
continue to think so, and of course will be
prepai-ed, at once, loudly to censure him ;
so those, whether many or few, who are
induced to alter, or to doubt, their former
opinion, will seldom be found very forward
to proclaim the change, at least till after
a considerable interval. Even the most
candid and modest, if they are also cau-

xiv Dedication.
tious, will seldom decidedly make up their
minds anew, except slowly and gradually.
Hence it often happens, I believe, that
while men are led, naturally enough, to
estimate the effect produced by any Work,
from the comparative numbers and weight
of those who applaud, and those who cen
sure it, it shall, in fact, have produced little
or no effect on either: those whom it may
have really influenced, in bringing them to
reconsider their former opinions, being
rather disposed, for the most part, to say
little about it.
Such as have maintained notions at
variance with mine, in Christian meekness
and candour, may be assured of my perfect
good-will towards them, and of my earnest
wish that whichever of us is in the right,
may succeed in establishing his conclusions.
As for any who may have assailed, or who
may hereafter assail me, with unchristian
bitterness, or with sophistical misrepre
sentation, much as I of course lament that

Dedication. xv
such weapons should ever be employed at
all, I can truly say, (and I doubt not you
will say the same for yourself,) that I had far
rather see them employed against me, than
on my side. There is also this consola
tory reflection for any one who is so at
tacked : that weak or sophistical arguments
are then the most likely to be resorted to,
when better cannot be found ; — that one
who indulges in invective, affords some kind
of presumption, that he at least can find
no such reasons as are even to himself sa
tisfactory ; — and that misrepresentation is
the natural resource of those who find the
positions they are determined to oppose,
to be such, that if fairly stated, and fully
understood, they could not be overthrovvn.
Such attacks, therefore, tend rather, as far
as they go, to support, than to weaken, in
the judgment of rational inquirers, the
cause against which they are directed.
You may have observed too, that there
are some particular charges often brought.

xvi Dedication.
without [)roof, against an Author, which
are not only unfounded, but are occasioned
by qualities the very reverse of those im
puted. You may have heard a Writer cen
sured as '^ sophistical," precisely because
he is not sophistical ; and as " dogmatical,"
because he is not dogmatical. With a Work
that is really sophistical, the obvious pro
cedure is, either to pass it by with con
tempt, or, if the fallacies seem worth no
ticing, to detect and expose them. But if
men find the arguments opposed to them
to be such, that they cannot prove them
sophistical, it is yet easy (and it is not un
natural) at least to call them so. The
phrase " sophistical arguments," accord
ingly, is often in reality equivalent to,
" such as I would fain answer, but can
not." Not that in such cases the imputa
tion is necessarily insincere, or even ne
cessarily false. One whose reasoning-
powers are not strong, may really suspect,
though he cannot point it out, a latent

Dedia(tio)i. xvii
fallacy in some argument which leads to u
conclusion he objects to; and it may so
happen that his suspicion is right, and that
a fallacy may exist which he has not the
skill to detect. But then, he is not justi
fied in pronouncing the argument sophis
tical, till he is prepared to make good the
charge. A verdict without evidence, must
always be unjust, whether the accused be,
in fact, innocent or guilty.
Dogmatism again, to speak strictly, con
sists in assertions without proof But one
who does really thus dogmatize, you may
have often seen received with more tolera
tion than might have been anticipated.
Those who think with him, often derive
some degree of satisfaction from the con
firmation thus afforded to their opinion,
though not by any fresh argument, yet
by an implied assent to such as have con
vinced themselves: those again who think
differently, feel that the Author has merely
declared his sentiments, and (provided his
b

xviii Dedication.
language be not insolent and overbearing)
has left them in undisturbed possession of
their own. Not so, one who supports his
opinions by cogent reasons: he seems by
so doing to call on them either to refute
the arguments, or to alter their own views.
And however mildly he may express him
self, they are sometimes displeased at the
molestation thus inflicted, by one who is
not content merely to think as he pleases,
leaving others lo do the same, but seems
aiming to compel others (the very word
" cogent," as applied to reasons, seems to
denote this character) to think with him,
whether they like it or not. And this dis
pleasure one may often hear vented in the
application of the title " dogmatical;"
which denotes, when so applied, the exact
reverse of dogmatism ; viz. that the Author
is not satisfied with simply declaring his
own opinions; (which is really dogmatism;)
but, by the reasoning he employs, calls on
others to adopt theiu.

Dedication. xix
I am aware, however, that truth may
be advocated, and by sound arguments, in
a needlessly offensive form. It has always
been my aim to avoid, as far as may be with
out a sinful compromise of truth, every
thing tending to excite hostile feelings,
either within or without the pale of my
own Church. And I cherish a hope, that
I may have done something in the present
Work towards softening the fieelings of the
candid among Romanists and Protestants,
towards each other. I have not indeed
attempted this, by labouring to extenuate
or explain away the erroneousness of the
Romish tenets and practices ; because this
would imply, according to my views, a
sacrifice of truth. But to trace those
errors to the principles of our common
Nature, and, while we strongly censure
the faults themselves, to acknowledge our
own ever-besetting danger of falling into
the like, is, I trust, a more conciliating,
as I am convinced it is a truer, view of the

XX Dedication.
subject, than to cast the whole burden of
blame on a particular Church, and to
exult in our own supposed perfection.
You will recognize in the following
pages a series of Discourses delivered be
fore the University, and the whole or the
greater part of which, you heard. I have
inserted passages in several parts ; but
have made, on the whole, little other
alterations. It would not have been diffi
cult to give the Work more of a sys
tematic form, and to adopt a style more
removed from that which is suited to de
livery: but I was inclined to think, that
such alterations would have had no tend
ency to make the subject better under
stood, and might rather have lessened the
interest of it, I accordingly determined
to print the whole very nearly as it was
delivered. The views I have taken are not anti
cipated in any work I am acquainted with.
Several writers indeed have glanced slightlyj.

Dedication. xxi
incidentally, and partially, at the principle
here attempted to be established, or have
advanced some steps towards it. Bp.
Lavington has compared a part of the Rom
ish errors with those of some modern enthu
siasts ; and Middleton, another part, with
those of the ancient Pagans; but they have
stopped short of the general conclusion to
which my own observations and reflections,
combined with yours, have led me.
I have, however, availed myself, in .seve
ral instances, of the suggestions of various
Writers ; to whom, as far as my memory
would serve, I have made reference. It so
happens, that some of these, including
yourself, are living Authors whom I have
the pleasure of knowing personally : and I
am not sure that I may not, on that ground,
incur censure for citing them with appro
bation ; as if I must unavoidably be biassed
by partial feelings. I would rather, however,
incur the suspicion of such partiality, than
of not daring to do that justice to a friend

xxii Dedication.
which would be due to a stranger. And
it should in fairness be remembered, that
though it is very possible to overrate a
friend, yet, as it is also possible that a
writer of real merit may possess personal
friends, so, it would be hard that this
should necessarily operate to his disad
vantage, by precluding them from bearing
just testimony in his favour.
Once more I intreat you to accept my
apology for the liberty I have taken, and
to believe me,
With deep-felt esteem and veneration,
Your faithful and affectionate Friend,
RICHARD WHATELY.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.
OF SUPERSTITION.
§. 1. Apparent strangeness of the transgressions of the Israelites, 1.
difficulty of rightly estimating the temptations of those far
removed from us, 5.
§. 2. Lessons to be learned from the example of the Church of
Rome, 9. errors of that Church gradual and imperceptible
in their rise, 1 ] .
§ 3. Principal Romish errors; Superstition, 12. fondness for spe
culative mysteries, 13. and for vicarious service of God, 14.
sanction given to deceit, 15. claim to infallibility, 16.
persecution, 17- confidence in the title of Catholic, 18.
§. 4. Danger of falling into corresponding faults, 19.
§. 5. Resemblance between the superstitions of the Israelites and of
the Romanists, 22. definition of Superstition, 26. false
security against it, 30.
§. 6. Mischiefs of Superstition, 33.
§. 7- Connection of Superstition with profaneness, 40.
§. 8. Occasions of Superstition, 45.
§. 9. Superstitious belief in miracles, 49. superstitions connected
with the Eucharist, 51. with Baptism, 65. with Prayer, 58.
with rites of interment, 68.
§. 10. Cautions to be used against the inroads of Superstition, 71-

xxiv Contents.

CHAP II.
OF VICARIOUS RELIGION.
§. 1. Character of Christian Mysteries, 77- natural tendency to
set up two kinds of religion ; for the priests, and for the
people, 80. speculative theology of philosophizing di
vines, 83.
§. 2. Real origin and progress of priestcraft, 89.
§. 3. Distinct characters of Hiereus and Presbyteros, 94.
§. 4. Offices of the Jewish and the Pagan priests, 97-
§, 5. Character and offices of Christian Ministers, 102.
§. 6. Mistakes and misrepresentations arising from confounding the
two offices, 108.
§. 7- Change of the Christian priesthood by the Chm-ch of Rome,
HI.
§. 8. Tendency to discountenance the education of the poor, 114.
mistakes as to what is meant by embracing Christianity, 117-
and as to the relation of Pastors and Flocks, 122.
§. 9. Proneness of the People to vicarious religion, 123.
§. 10. Professional distinctions between Clergy and Laity, how far
desirable, 126.
§. 11. Mistakes as to what is a good example, 131.

CHAP. in.
OF PIOUS FRAUDS.
§• 1. Deceit employed by the Jews against the Christians, 135.
§. 2. Tendency to justify frauds employed for a good end, 141,

Content.^. x\\
§. .1. Connection of this fault with the ono treated of in tlir fure-
going chapter, 145. self-deceit the final result, 117.
§. 4. Difficulty of appreciatinn" the strength of the temptations to
falsehood in times or countries remote from our own, 148.
importance of a vivid Imagination, in the study of History,
151.
§. 5. Division of frauds into negative and positive ; and again, into
falsehood in what is maintained, and in the reasons by which
it is maintained, 152.
§. 6. Illustrations from conceivable cases of temptation to deceit;
in keeping up the pretension to inspli ation, 156. in conniving
at false grounds for right belief, 159. or for right practice,
160. in administering groundless consolations, &;c. 163.
§. 7. Ultimate inexpediency of fraud, 16G.

CHAP. IV
OF UNDUE HELIAXCE OX HUMAN AUTHORITY.
§. 1. Claim of the Romish Church to infallibility, not originally
the consequence of misinterpretation of Scripture-texts, 169.
§. 2. Reasonings and texts of Scripture often called in to justify
practices or opinions previously subsisting, 173.
§. 3. Natural tendency to appeal to an infallible guide, 180.
§. 4. Presumption in favour of the tenets of the Mise and good, or
of the Catholic Church, 184.
§. 5. Alleged claim of infallibility by Protestant Churches, 189.
refuted, 191. ambiguity of the word " authority,'' 193.
§. 6. Evil consequences of the claim to infallibility, 194. danger of
Protestants on this jloint, 197. office of Churches to sup
ply what the sacred writers purposely omitted, 199. reasons
for the omission, 201.

xxvi Contents.
§. 7. Arguments in favour of an habitual appeal to human formu
laries, 203. answered, 204. dangers of the practice, 209.
§. 8. Temptations to set up a virtual claim to infallibility, 213.

CHAP. V.
OF PERSECUTION.
§. 1. Men responsible to God,and to Him alone, for the rejection of
divine truth, 221. and only in the next life, 223.
§. 2. Importance of right principles for avoiding the two errors, of
intolerance, and indifference, 227.
§. 3. Mistakes as to what constitutes the spirit of persecution;
which does not consist either in the tenet that the salva
tion of heretics is impossible, 231. or in maintaining the
wrong side, 236. or in excessive severity, 237. or in re
vengeful motives, 238. or in punishing opinions, 239. or
in actual infliction of punishment, 241.
§. 4. How heretics are to be treated, conformably with the cha
racter of Christ's kingdom, 245. attempts to explain away
his declarations and precepts, 247-
§. 5. Scriptural arguments against intolerance, to be preferred, for
popular use, 251.
§. 6. Blindness of many reasoners to the abstract arguments against
it, 256.
§. 7- Causes of the greater hostility often felt against infidels and
heretics, than against the vicious, 258. comparative unfre-
quency of avowed infidelity, 260. support derived fi'om
authority, shaken, 261. personal aifront to the Christian's
understanding, implied by the infidel, 263. suspicion of
moral corruption as biassing the infidel's judgment, 264.
§. 8. Extent and influence of this hostile feeling, 265.

Contents. xxvii
§. 9. Reasons for believing that anti-christians would be tempted
into persecution, 272. true Christianity the only effectual
security against it, 277.
§. 10. What things are liable to be falsely regarded as necessarily
implying intolerance ; refusing to admit, in every case, the
plea of conscience, 27S. union of civil with spiritual or
ecclesiastical office, 28.'1. requisition of a certain religious
persuasion as a condition of personal friendship, or of any
thing to which there existed previously no claim of right,
286. defence against aggression, 293. which must not
however be expected to exempt the sincere Christian from
mortifying opposition, 295.

CHAP. VL
OF TRUST IN NAMES AND PRIVILEGES.
§. 1. Disposition of the ancient Jews to rely on their privileges and
titles, 299.
§. 2. Tendency to the same fault in the primitive Christians,
302.
§. 3. Exemplification of the universality of this tendency, from the
Romish Church, 305.
§. 4. Danger of a corresponding nature exists equally among Pro
testants, 312.
§. 5. Recapitulation of the several points in which we may take
warning from the example of the Romanists, 315.
§. 6. Cautions to be used in guarding against undue reliance on
the sanctity of the Titles we bear, and the Societies we be
long to, 32 1

xxviii Contents.

APPENDLX.
[A.] On the application of the term Catholic to designate " -.i
member of the Church of Rome," 327.
[B.] On " Self-righteousness," and other kinds of Spiritual-pride,
335. " Auricular Confession," 345. Impossibility of fram
ing such a self-preserving system, as shall supersede per
sonal vigilance, 346.

I'HE
ERRORS OF ROMANISM

'rRACED TO

THEIR ORIGIN

HUMAN NATURE.

CHAP. I.
SUPERSTITION.
§.1. INHERE are few things probably that ap
pear at the first glance more strange to a reader
of the Old Testament, than the frequent lapses of
the Israelites into idolatrous and other supersti
tious practices;— the encouragement or connivance
often granted to these by such of the rulers as
were by no means altogether destitute of piety; —
and the warm commendations which are accord
ingly bestowed on such of their kings as avoided
and repressed these offences. Their Law had
been delivered and its authority maintained with
such strikingly awful solemnity, and its directions
were so precise and minute, that a strict con-
B

2 Superstition. [c.i.w. i.
formity to it appears, to us, hardly to amount to
a virtue, and the violation of it, to an almost in
credible infatuation. It is not without a consi
derable mental effort that we can so far transport
ourselves into the situation of persons living in
so very different a condition of society from our
own, as to estimate duly the nature and the force
of the temptations to which they were exposed,
to make fair allowance for their backslidings,
and to bestow adequate applause on those of
them who adhered stedfastly to the Divine com
mands. The conduct of Hezekiah, for instance, who
" removed the high-places, and brake the images,
and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the
brazen serpent that Moses had made ; (for unto
those days the children of Israel did burn incense
to it;)" is likely perhaps to strike some readers as
so far from being any heroic effort of virtue,. that
the chief wonder is, how his predecessors and
their subjects could have been so strangely re
miss and disobedient, as to leave him so much
to do. Things however being in such a state,
the duty of remedying at once the abuses which
had grown up, is apt to strike us, at first sight,

Sect. 1.] SupCIStition . 3
as so very obvious and imperative, that we are
hardly disposed to give him due praise for ful
filling it. But the more attentively we consider
the times in which he lived, and the peculiar
circumstances in which he began his reign — the
successor of an idolatrous prince, and reigning
over an idolatrous people — the higher admiration
we shall feel for his exemplary obedience to the
divine law.
It should be remembered, that not only the
avowed violators of the first Commandment, but
those also, who, though they transgressed the
second, yet professed themselves the worshippers
of Jehovah exclusively, would be likely to tax
with impiety that unsparing reform of abuses,
which even those former kings, who are described
as " doing that which was right in the sight of
the Lord," had yet not ventured to undertake.
Indeed his enemy Sennacherib reproaches him on
this very ground: " if ye say, We trust in the
Lord our God, is not that he whose high-places
and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away?"
But many, even of those who perhaps endured
his putting a stop to the irregular and unau
thorized worship of Jehovah in those high-places,
B 2

4 Superstition. [Chm-. l.
might yet be scandalized at his venturing to
destroy the brazen serpent ; an emblem framed
originally by Divine command, and which had
been the appointed and supernatural means of a
miraculous deliverance. If such a relic were
even now in existence, and its identity indisput
able, it would not be contemplated, by any be
liever in the Mosaic history, without some degree
of veneration. How much stronger would that
veneration be in the mind of an Israelite, and of
one in that ignorant and semi-barbarous age !
Yet one of these was found sufficiently en
lightened to estimate the evil, and bold enough
to use the effectual remedy. The king is not
content to forbid this idolatrous use of the image,
or even to seclude it carefully from the puhlic
gaze ; it had been an occasion of superstition,
and he " brake it in pieces;" applying to it at
the same time the contemptuous appellation of
"piece of brass*," in order to destroy more
completely that reverence which had degenerated
into a sin.
Men are apt, not only in what regards rehgion,
but in respect of all human concerns, to con-
' " He called it Nehushtan." 2 Kings xviii. 4.

Sect, l] Superstition. .'>
template the faults and follies of a distant age
or country, with barren wonder, or with self-
congratulating contempt ; while they overlook,
because they do not search for, perhaps equal,
and even corresponding, vices and absurdities
in their own conduct. And in this way it is
that the religious, and moral, and political, lessons
which history may be made to furnish, are
utterly lost to the generality of mankind. Hu
man nature is always and every where, in the
most important points, substantially the same ;
circumstantially and externally, men's manners
and conduct are infinitely various, in various
times and regions. If the former were not true —
if it were not for this fundamental agreement —
history could furnish no instruction ; if the latter
were not true — if there were not these apparent
and circumstantial differences — hardly any one
could fail to profit by that instruction. For few
are so dull as not to learn something from the
records of past experience in cases precisely
similar to their own. But as it is, much candour
and- diligence are called for in tracing the analogy
between cases which, at the first glance, seem
very different — in observing the workings of the

6 Superstition. [Chap. i.
same human nature under all its various dis-.
guises — in recognizing, as it were, the same
plant in different stages of its growth, and in all
the varieties resulting from climate and culture,
soil and season.
But to any one who will employ this diligence
and candour, this very dissimilarity of circum
stances renders the history of past times and
distant countries, even the more instructive ;
because it is easier to form an impartial judg
ment concerning them. The difficulty is to apply
that judgment to the cases before us. In con
templating human transactions, the law of optics
is reversed ; we see the most indistinctly the
objects which are close .around us; we view
them through the discoloured medium of our
own prejudices and passions ; the more familiar
we are with them, the less truly do we estimate
their real colours and dimensions. Transactions
and characters the most unconnected with our
selves — the most remote from all that presents
itself in our own times, and at home, appear
before us with all their deformities unveiled, and
display their intrinsic and essential quaMties.
We are even liable to attend so exclusively to

Sect, l] Superstition. 7
this intrinsic and abstract character of remote
events, as to make too little allowance (while in
recent cases we make too much) for the circum
stances in which the agents were placed ; and
thence to regard as instances of almost incredible
folly or depravity, things not fundamentally very
different from what is passing around us.
And as the law of optics is in this case
reversed, our procedure must be reversed ac
cordingly. We judge of the nature of distant
objects, by an examination of those near at hand,
whose similarity to the others we have ascer
tained. So also must we on the contrary learn
to judge impartially of our own conduct and
character, and of the events of our own times,
by finding parallels to these in cases the most
remote and apparently dissimilar ; of which, for
that reason, our views are the most distinct, and
our judgments the most unbiassed ; and then,
conjecturing what a wise and good man, ten
centuries hence, would be likely to pronounce
of MS.
The errors and the vices, among the rest, the
superstitions, of the Israelites and again of our

8 Superstition. [Chap. t
ancestors under the Romish Church, did not,
we may be sure, appear to them in the same
light that they now do to us. No one believes
his own opinions to be erroneous, or his own
practices superstitious ; few are even accustomed
to ask themselves, " Is there not a lie in my
right hand ?" Since therefore our predecessors
did not view their doctrines and practices in the
same light that we do, this should lead us, not
to regard them with contemptuous astonishment
and boastful exultation, but rather, to reflect
that, like them, we also are likely to form a
wrong estimate of what is around us and familiar
to our minds : it should teach us to make use
of the examples of others, not for the nourish
ment of pride, but for the detection of our own
faults. We are taught that Satan " transformeth him
self into an angel of light ;" but he does not use
always and every where the same disguise ; as
soon as one is seen through, he is ready to
assume another ; and it is in vain that we detect
the artifice which has done its work on other
men, unless we are on our guard against the

Sect. '2.] Superstition. 9
same Tempter under some new transformation ; —
assuming afresh among ourselves the appearance
of some angel of light.
§.2. These reflections are perhaps the more
particularly profitable at the present time, on
account of the especial attention which has of
late been directed to the superstitions, and other
errors and enormities, of the Romish Church.
Unless such principles as I have adverted to are
continually present to the mind, the more our
thoughts are, by frequent discussion, turned to
the errors of that Church, and to the probability,
under this or that conjuncture of circumstances,
of proselytes joining that Church, or being gained
over from it, the less shall we be on our guard
against the spirit of popery in the human heart —
against similar faults in some different shapes ;
and the more shall we be apt to deem every
danger of the kind effectually escaped, by simply
keeping out of the pale of that corrupt Church.
It is indeed in all cases profitable to contem
plate the errors of other men, if we do this " not
high-minded but fearful;" — not for the sake of
uncharitable triumph, but with a view to self-

10 Superstition. [Cwap. i.
examination ; even as the Corinthians were ex
horted by their Apostle to draw instruction from
the backslidings of the Israelites, which were
recorded, he says, " for their admonition," to the
intent that they might not fall into corresponding
"sins, and that " he who thought he stood might
take heed lest he fell." In all cases, I say, some
benefit may be derived from such a contempla
tion of the faults of others ; but the errors of the
Romanists, if examined with a view to our own
improvement, will the more effectually furnish
this instruction, inasmuch as those errors more
especially, will be found to be the natural and
spontaneous growth of the human heart ; they
are (as I have elsewhere remarked) not so much
the effect, as the cause, of the Romish system of
religion. The peculiar character of Romanism, in
this respect will be best perceived by contrasting
it with Mahometism ; this latter system was
framed, and introduced, and established, within a
very short space of time, by a deliberately-design
ing impostor ; who did indeed most artfully ac
commodate that system to man's nature, but did
not wait for the gradual and spontaneous opera
tions of human nature to produce it. He reared

Sect. '2.] Superstition. 11
at once the standard of proselytism, and imposed
on his followers a code of doctrines and laws
ready-framed for their reception. The tree which
he planted did indeed find a congenial soil ; but
he planted it at once, with its trunk full-formed
and its branches displayed : the Romish system,
on the contrary, rose insensibly like a young plant
from the seed, making a progress scarcely per
ceptible from year to year, till at length it had
fixed its root deeply in the soil, and spread its
baneful shade far around.
Infecunda quidem, sed laeta et fortia surgunt ;
Quippe solo natura subest ;
it was the natural offspring of man's frail and
corrupt character, and it needed no sedulous
culture. No one accordingly can point out any
precise period at which this " mystery of ini
quity" — the system of Romish corruptions — first
began, or specify any person who introduced it :
no one in fact ever did introduce any such
system : the corruptions crept in one by one ;
originating for the most part with an ignorant
and depraved people, but connived at, cherished,
consecrated, and successively estabhshed, by a
debased and worldly-minded ministry; and modi-

12 Superstition. [Chap. i.
fied by them just so far as might best favour the
views of their profligate ambition. But the
system thus gradually compacted, was not the
deliberate contrivance of any one man or set of
men, adepts in priestcraft, and foreseeing and de
signing the entire result. The corruptions of the
Romish Church were the natural offspring of
human passions, not checked and regulated by
those who ought to have been ministers of the
Gospel, but who, on the contrary, were ever ready
to indulge and encourage men's weakness and
wickedness, provided they could turn it to their
own advantage. The good seed " fell among
thorns ;" which, being fostered by those who
should have been occupied in rooting them out,
not only " sprang up with it," but finally choked
and overpowered it.
§. 3. The character accordingly of the Romish
corruptions is precisely such as the history of
that Church would lead us to anticipate.
I. One of the greatest blemishes, for instance,
in the Church of Rome, is that which I have
already alluded to, superstitious worship ; a fault
which every one must .acknowledge to be the

Sect. 3.] Superstition, 13
spontaneous and every-where-abundant produce
of the corrupt soil of man's heart. The greater
part indeed of the errors of Romanism, which I
shall hereafter notice under separate heads, may
be considered as so many branches of Supersti
tion, or at least inseparably connected with it ;
but there are besides, many superstitions more
strictly so called, with which that system is justly
chargeable ; such as invocation of saints, and
adoration of images and relics ; corresponding to
that idolatrous practice which King Hezekiah so
piously and boldly suppressed.
II. The desire again of prying into mysteries
relative to the invisible world, but which have no
connection with practice, is another characteristic
of human nature, (on which I have elsewhere of
fered some remarks ",) and one to which may be
traced, the immense mass of presumptuous specu
lations about things unrevealed, respecting God
and his designs, and of idle legends of various
kinds respecting wonder-working saints, which
have disgraced the Romish Church. The sanc
tion afforded to these, by persons who did not
themselves believe them, is a fault referable to
'' Essay IV. First Series.

14 Superstition. [Chap. i.
another head, (to be mentioned subsequently,)
as springing from a dishonest pursuit of the expe
dient rather than the true : but it is probable
that the far greater part of such idle tales had
not their orighi in any deep and politic contriv
ance, but in men's natural passion for what is
marvellous, and readiness to cater for that pas
sion in each other ; — in the universal fondness of
the human mind for speculative knowledge re
specting things curious and things hidden, rather
than (what alone^ the Scriptures supply) practical
knowledge respecting things which have a refer
ence to our wants.
Equally natural to man, and closely connected,
as will hereafter be shewn, with the error just
mentioned, is the disposition to trust in vicarious
worship and obedience — the desire and hope of
transferring from one man to another the merit
of good works, and the benefit of devotional
exercises ; so as to enable the mass of the people
to serve God, as it were, by proxy. On this
point I have elsewhere' offered some remarks,
¦¦ In the last of Five Discourses delivered before the
University, and subsequently published.

>;i.(T. 3.] Superstition. 15
(which are expanded and followed up in the pre
sent work,) with a view to shew that it is the
main cause, rather than the consequence, of the
whole Romish system of priestcraft ; one of the
great features of which is, the change of the very
ofiice of the Christian Priest, ng6o-/3uTegoj, into that
of the Jewish or Pagan Priest, in the other sense
of the word, answering to 'Isgsu;. I observed that
the people were very easily deceived in this point,
because they were eagerly craving for deception ; —
that the same disposition had manifested itself
no less strongly among the Pagan nations ; — and
that the same tendency is, and ever will be,
breaking out in one shape or another, among
Protestants, and in every form of religion.
III. No less characteristic of the natural man,
is, a vicious preference of supposed expediency,
to truth ; and a consequent readiness to employ
false reasons for satisfying the minds of the
people; — to connive at, or foster, supposed salutary
or innocent delusions ; whence arose the sanction
given to all the monstrous train of pious frauds,
legendary tales, and lying miracles, for which the
Romish Church has been so justly stigmatized.
And as it is notorious that the ancient lawgivers

16 Superstition. [Chap, l
and philosophers encouraged (for political pur
poses) a belief in the mythological fables which
they themselves (disbelieved, there can be no
doubt that this disposition also is not to be at
tributed to the Church of Rome as its cause, but
that that Church merely furnishes one set of
instances of its effects ; and that consequently an
earnest watchfulness against those effects, is to
be inculcated not merely on such as may be in
danger of being misled into Romanism, but on
every descendant of Adam.
IV. Again, no one perhaps of the errors of the
Romish Church has exposed her to greater cen
sure, or has been productive of more mischievous
results, than the claim to infallibihty ; — the in
vesting, without any sufficient grounds, weak
and fallible men with an attribute of Deity.
Now the ready acquiescence in such an extrava
gant claim (which never could have been main
tained had not men been found thus ready to
acquiesce in it) may easily be traced to the prin
ciples of our corrupt nature ; — to that indolence in
investigation, indifference about truth '', and ready
ATaA«i7r«go; Toi"; 7roX>^oTi i ^i)r))o-i5 t«; «At)()si«;, k«( Itti t«

Sect. 3.] Superstition. 17
acquiescence in what is put before us, of which
the Greek historian complained long before the
Christian era ; and to that dislike of suspense —
and consequent willingness to make a short and
final appeal to some authority which should be
regarded as decisive, with a view to quash dis
putes, and save the labour of inquiry. That such
a disposition is not at least peculiar to the vota
ries of the religion of Rome, or confined even to
reUgious subjects, is evident, from the appeals of
pretended students in philosophy to the decisions
of Pythagoras, and subsequently of Aristotle, as
precluding all further dispute or doubt. It is for
Protestants therefore to remember, that they are
not secured by the mere circumstance of their
being such, ti^om all danger of indulging this dis
position. There is indeed no danger of their
appealing to the Church of Rome as an infallible
authority to put a stop to all discussion ; but
the removal of that particular danger, should only
put us the more on our guard against the same
fault (as it is a fault of our common nature)
breaking out in some new shape.
V. One of the heaviest charges against the
Romish Church may be added to those already

18 Superstition. [Chap. i.
alluded to — the spirit of Persecution ; which is
as far as any of her other enormities from being
peculiar to that Church, or even to the case of
religion : witness, among many other instances,
the furious and bitter spirit shewn by the Nomi
nalists and Realists in their contests concerning
abstruse points of metaphysics. The Romish
system did not properly introduce intolerance,
but rather, it was intolerance that introduced and
established the system of Romanism ; and that
(in another part of the world) no less successfully
called in the sword for the establishment of Ma
hometism. So congenial indeed to " the natural
Man" is the resort to force for the establishment
of one system of doctrines and the suppression of
another, that we find many of the Reformers,
after they had clearly perceived nearly all the
other errors in which they had been brought up,
yet entertaining no doubt whatever as to the
right, and the duty, of maintaining religious truth
by coercive means.
VI. Another tendency, as conspicuous as those
above mentioned in the Romish Church, and,
like its other errors, by no means confined to that
Church, is the confident security with which the

MCI 4.] Superstition. 19
Catholics, as they call themselves, trust in that
name, as denoting their being members of that
sacred body, the only true Church, whose holy
character and title to divine favour they seem to
consider as a kind of common property^ and a
safeguard to all her members : even as the Jews
of old " said within themselves. We are Abraham's
children ;" flattering themselves that on that
ground, however little they might resemble Abra
ham in faith and in works, God would surely never
cast them off. This error is manifestly common
to the Romanists with those who put the same
kind of trust in the name of Protestant or of
Christian, and who regard their connection with
a holy and richly-endowed community, rather as
a substitute for personal holiness, than as a
motive for aiming at a still higher degree of it,
and a privilege involving a higher responsibility.
^.4. In treating of all these points, I shall
adhere to the plan hitherto pursued, viz. of con
templating the errors of the Romanists, not with
a view to our own justification in withdrawing
from their communion ; nor again, for the sake
of guarding against the danger of being seduced
c 2

20 Superstition. [Chap, l
by their arguments, (important as these objects
may be ;) but with a view to what I cannot but
regard as the much greater danger, of falling into
corresponding errors to theirs — of being taken
captive by the same temptations under different
forms — of overlooking, in practice, the important
truth, that the spirit of Romanism is substantially
the spirit of Human Nature.
We are all of us in these days likely to hear and
to read most copious discussions of the tenets and
practices of the Church of Rome. Whatever may
be the views of each of my readers respecting the
political question which has chiefly given rise to
these discussions, (a question which, like all others
of a political character, 1 have always thought had
better be waived in theological works,) I would
suggest these reflections as profitable to be kept
in view by all, while occupied with such discus
sions : how far we are pure from Romish errors
in another shape ; — from what quarters, and
under what disguises, we are liable to be assailed
by temptations, substantially, though not ex
ternally, the same with those which seduced into
all her corruptions the Church of Rome ; and
which gradually changed her bridal purity for

StcT. 4.] Superstition. 21
the accumulated defilements of " the mother of
harlots ;" — and how we may best guard against
the spirit of Superstition, (of which, be it remem
bered, none, even the most superstitious, ever
suspect themselves) — the spirit of Persecution —
the spirit of insincerity, of Fraud, and of indif
ference to truth — in short, all those evil pro
pensities which are fitly characterized in one word
as, the spirit of Romanism. All these dangers,
as they did not begin with the Romish system,
cannot be expected to end with it : they emanate
not from that corrupt Church alone, but from
the corruption of our common nature ; and none
consequently are more open to them, than those
who are disposed to think themselves secured by
merely keeping out of the pale of that Church,
and inveighing against her enormities.
Such a false security indeed is itself one of the
worst of the Romish errors ; that of mistaking names
for things, and trusting in a specious title, without
enquiring how far we possess the character which
that title implies. " He is not a Jew," says
Paul, " who is one outwardly, neither is that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but
he is a Jew who is one inwardly ; and circum-

22 Superstition. [Chap. i.
cision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not
in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of
God." It is for us therefore ever to remember,
for thus only can we turn to account the apo
stle's admonition, that as that man was not, in
the sight of God, a Jew, to any profitable pur
pose for himself, but rather to his aggravated
condemnation, who was only outwardly a Jew;
so neither, by parity of reasoning, is he in God's
sight a Christian — a " Catholic Christian" — a
" Protestant" — a " Reformed" Christian — who is
one outwardly ; but he who is reformed inwardly
— whose heart is Christian — and who protests
not with his lips only, but in his life — " in the
spirit and not in the letter" — against such de
pravation of Gospel-truth, and departure from
Gospel-holiness, as he censures in his erring
brethren, §.5. In treating of superstitious worship, the
point at present more immediately before us, it
is worth remarking, that (as indeed has been
already hinted) many of the Romanist-practices
bear a strong resemblance to those of the idol
atrous Israelites. In particular, their veneration

Sect. 5.] Superstition. 23
for the wood of the supposed true Cross, has a
correspondence approaching to identity, with the
veneration of the Israelites for the brazen serpent
which Hezekiah destroyed ; only that the more
ancient superstition was one degree less irra
tional ; inasmuch as the image was that which
had itself been a more immediate instrument of
a miraculous deliverance ; whereas what typically
corresponds to it in the Christian dispensation,
is (as our Lord himself points out) not the cross
on which He suffered, but the very person of the
suffering Redeemer.
The Romanists, in paying a slavish ¦ worship
(it is their own expression, SouAe/a) not only to
images and relics, but also to saints, are guilty
of both those kinds of superstition, the unsparing
suppression of both of which, constitutes the
distinguished and pecuhar merit of that upright
and zealous prince, Hezekiah. He was not
satisfied, like many other kings, -with putting
down that branch of superstition which involves
the breach of the first Commandment — the setting
up of false gods ; but was equally decisive in
his reprobation of the other branch also — the
worship of the true God by the medium of

24 Superstition. [Chap. l.
prohibited emblems, and with unauthorized and
superstitious rites. Of these two kinds of super
stition, the latter is continually liable, in practice,
to slide into the former, by such insensible
degrees, that it is often hard to decide, in par
ticular cases, where the breach of the second
Commandment ends, and that of the first begins.
The distinction is not however for that reason
useless ; perhaps it is even the more useful on
that very account, and was for that reason pre
served, in those two Commandments; of which
the second serves as a kind of outwork to the
first, to guard against all gradual approaches to
a violation of it — to keep men at a distance from
the danger of infringing the majesty of the jealous
God. Accordingly, besides the numerous warnings
which Moses gives the Israelites against being
seduced into worshipping the false gods of the
nations of Canaan, he also cautions them, not
to imitate in their worship of the Lord, the
superstitious rites used by the heathen in the
service of their deities. They are forbidden to
inquire, " How did these nations serve their
gods?" and to say, " Even so will I do like-

SicT. 5.] Superstition. 25
wise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy
God." Both injunctions the Israelites frequently vio
lated ; many of them, while they observed the
first Commandment in abstaining from the wor
ship of Baal and the other gods of the heathen,
infringing nevertheless the second, by their use
of images : of which we have an instance in the
case of Jeroboam " who made Israel to sin;"
the golden calves which he set up being clearly
designed as emblematical representations of the
true God : for he said, " These be thy gods, O
Israel, which brought thee out of the land of
Egypt." This was emphatically called " the sin
of Jeroboam ;" and the distinction above alluded
to is noticed in the case (to omit numberless
others) of Jehu ; " thus Jehu destroyed Baal
out of Israel : howbeit from the sins of Jero
boam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to
sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to 'wit,
the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that
were in Dan."
And we find also numerous instances (besides
this direct violation of the second Commandment)

26 Superstition. [Chap. i.
of the introduction of unauthorized and super
stitious rites in the worship of the true God.
This two-fold division of Superstition I have
the more strongly dwelt on, both because it
is frequently overlooked, and because inattention
to it is likely to lead to dangerous consequences.
I would not however be understood as con
tending for any arbitrary and unusual signifi
cation of the word ; but I conceive, that by
Superstition is commonly understood, not, as
a popular though superficial writer has defined it,
" an excess of religion," (at least in the ordinary
sense of the word excess,) as if any one could
have too much of true religion, but, any misdirec
tion of rehgious feehng ; manifested either in
shewing religious veneration or regard to objects
which deserve none; i. e. properly speaking,
the worship of false gods ; or, in the assignment
of such a degree, or such a kind of rehgious
veneration to any object, as that object, though
worthy of some reverence, does not deserve;
or in the worship of the true God through
the medium of improper ceremonies or sym
bols.

Sirr. 5.] Superstition. '27
This latter branch of superstition is extremely
liable, as I have already remarked, to degenerate
insensibly into the former. The Israelite, e. g.
who was accustomed to worship Jehovah through
the medium of a sensible image, would be very
likely, in time, to transfer a larger and larger
portion of his adoration to the image itself; and
in proportion as he annexed to it any idea of
especial sanctity, he would be, insensibly, more
and more falling into the error of adoring an
image, in the only sense in which it is conceivable
that an image can be adored.
In avowing my conviction that this is the case
with a large proportion of the members of the
Romish Church, and that they are consequently
most decidedly chargeable with the sin of Idolatry,
I am aware that I run counter to the opinions
(I might rather perhaps say to the expressions)
of some enlightened Protestants. But these, I
conceive, are not so much mistaken in their
judgment, as inaccurate in their language. It
is said, e. g. that when the Romanists offer up
their prayers before a crucifix, or before a piece
of bread, they do not design to worship a piece
of wood or a piece of bread, as such, but our Lord

28 Superstition. [Chap. i.
Jesus Christ as represented by the one, and as
actually present in the other. And certainly, if
they intend to direct their worship to the one
true God, they are not guilty of a breach of the
first Commandment; but this does not clear them
of the charge of infringing the second ; they may
be guilty of superstition, though not of every
kind and degree of superstition : and if the prac
tices, I have alluded to, do not constitute that
kind of superstition which is properly called
idolatry, let us be allowed to inquire, what does ?
Will it be said that idolatry consists in worshipping
a piece of wood as such — as a mere piece of
wood? I would ask in reply, Who then ever was,
or can be, guilty of it ? The thing is not only
practically impossible, but is inconceivable, and a
contradiction in terms. The most gross-minded
Israelite that ever offered up his prayers before a
golden calf, implied, by that very act, his belief
that it was something more than a mere piece of
gold, and that there resided in it a certain divine
intelligence. The argument therefore is not so
much a vindication of any party from the charge
of idolatry, as, a vindication of idolatry itself
It has been said, 1 believe, by some Protestants,

Sect. 5.] SupCrStitioU. 29
respecting the alleged idolatry of adoring the
sacred elements at the Eucharist, " it ^uould be
idolatrous, if T were to join in it :" if this means,
" supposing you to have the same belief in transub-
stantiation that the Romanists have," this is only
a circuitous mode of saying that they are idolaters;
but if it means, " were you to join in it, supposing
you to have the Protestant belief that the con
secrated bread is merely bread," the supposition
involves an absurdity and self-contradiction. A
man may indeed feign, and outwardly indicate, in
order to deceive his fellow-man, an adoration of
what he believes to be merely a piece of bread
or of wood ; but that he should really and in
wardly adore, what he believes at the moment to
be no more than mere bread or mere wood , is not
only impossible, but absolutely unmeaning, being
at variance with the very notion of adoration.
If therefore a Romanist adores the true God
under the form of bread % which he holds to be
e For the Romish doctrine is, as Mr. Blanco White has
plainly shewn, not, as they themselves declare, that bread is
transformed into the body of Christ, but that Christ is trans
formed into bread, in the sense which the words according to
invariable usage convey.

30 Superstition. [Chap. i.
the real literal body of Christ, or if, in worship
ping before a crucifix, he attributes a certain
sanctity to the image, as if some divine virtue
were actually present in it, (and that this is done
is plain from the preference shewn of one image
to another,) he is clearly as much guilty of idolatry
as the Israelites in worshipping the golden calf
and the brazen serpent : it being thus only, that
any one can practise idolatry.
In making this declaration, however, it is not
my object either to lead Protestants to exult un
charitably over their erring brethren, or to vindi
cate our own renunciation of their errors ; but
rather to point out the danger which must ever
beset all of us, of falling into similar errors in
another shape, and under other names ; for ten
thousand of the greatest faults in our neighbour
are of less consequence to us, than one, of the
smallest, in ourselves.
The Israelites of old were warned not only to
worship none of the gods of the heathen, but to
copy none of their superstitions; " Ye shall not
do so to the Lord your God." Now they pro
bably were disposed to think themselves secure
from the danger of corrupting their own religion,

Sect. 5,] Superstition. 31
in their deep abhorrence of the religions of those
nations whom the Lord had cast out before them.
The Church of Rome, again, thought itself safe
from superstition, by its rejection of those par
ticular superstitions of which the Israelites and
the Pagans were guilty. And Protestants, again,
are no less disposed to feel the same security,
on account of their abhorrence of the particular
superstitions of the Romanists. The images used
by the Papists are not the same with those for
worshipping which the Israelites were condemned :
and they again doubtless pleaded that the golden
calves and the brazen serpent were not the idols
of the Canaanites ; and thus does each successive
generation censure the faults and follies of the
preceding, without taking sufficient heed to itself,
or recognizing, as they arise, errors substantially
the same, though under new shapes.
The superstitious and the other errors of the
Romanists were, as I have already observed, not
the result of systematic contrivance, but sprung
up spontaneously as the indigenous growth of the
human heart : they arose successively, gradually,
and imperceptibly ; and were in most instances,
probably, first overlooked, then tolerated, and

32 Superstition. [Chap. i.
then sanctioned, and finally embodied in that de
testable system, of which they are rather to be
regarded as the cause than the effect. Since
then, as I have said, corruptions of religion
neither first sprang from Romanism, nor can
be expected to end with it, the tendency to
them being inherent in our common nature;
it is evident that constant watchfulness alone can
preserve us from, not the very same, corruptions
with those of our predecessors, but, similar ones
under some fresh disguise ; and that this danger
is enhanced by the very circumstance which
seems to secure us from it — our abhorrence of
those errors in them. From practices the very
same in name and form with theirs, such abhor
rence is indeed a safeguard ; while at the same
time it makes us the less ready to suspect
ourselves of the faults disguised : the vain
security thus generated, draws off our thoughts
from self-examination; a task for which the mind
is in general least fitted, when it is most occupied
in detecting and exposing the faults of others.
In treating then of such corruptions of religion as
those into which the Church of Rome has fallen,
my primary object is to excite a spirit not of

Sect.«.] Superstition. 33
self-congratulation and self-confidence, but of self-
distrust and self-examination.
§.6. With respect to that particular class of
corruptions now before us, which comes under
the general title of Superstition, it is requisite
(though it is somewhat strange that it should be
so) to premise a remark on the enormity of the
evil in question. The mischiefs of Superstition
are, I conceive, much underrated. It is by many
regarded, not as any sin, but as a mere harmless
foUy, at the worst ; — as, in some instances, an
amiable weakness, or even a salutary delusion.
Its votaries are pitied, as in some cases subjected
to needless and painful restraints, and undergoing
groundless terrors ; — sometimes they are ridiculed
as enslaved to absurd and puerile observances :
but whether pitied or laughed at, superstitious
Christians are often regarded as likely, at least as
not the less likely on account of their supersti
tion, to have secured the essentials of religion ; —
as believing and practising what is needful to
wards salvation, and as only carrying their faith
and their practice unnecessarily and unreason
ably to the point of weak credulity and foolish

34 Superstition. [Chap. i.
scrupulosity. This view of the subject has a
strong tendency to confirm the superstitious, and
even to add to their number. They feel that if
there is any doubt, they are surely on the safe
side. " Supposing I am in error on this or that
point," (a man may say,) "I am merely doing some
thing superfluous ; at the worst I suffer some
temporary inconvenience, and perhaps have to
encounter some ridicule ; but if the error be on
the other side, I risk my salvation by embracing
it ; my present course therefore is evidently the
safest." What force this argument has in the hands of
the Romanists, I need hardly remind my readers.
Of converts to Romanism probably three out of
four, especially of the ignorant and the weak-
minded, have been drawn over, in the first in
stance at least, by the consideration, that that is
the safe side ^
' " The Romanists in general, but more especially those who,
in the midst of doubt, are anxious to save themselves from
the painful step of changing their communion, comfort them
selves with the idea, that after all Roman Catholics are on the
safe .side. If Protestants should be saved, they themselves
have made "assurance double sure:" if Protestantism be
Christianity, Romanists have it all, and a great deal besides.

StcT.6.] Sxiperstition. 35
With the danger however of being seduced
into the pale of the Romish Church, I am not
at present concerned, but with the danger of
Superstition generally. In speaking of that point,
" I know of few absurdities that can be compared to this.
Let me make it clear to you by a familiar example. Suppose
a poor, helpless person is dying of a dreadful complaint. An
eminent physician hears of his distress; calls on him, and
prepares a medicine, which he desires the patient to take,
under a strong injunction to trust in it alone for life. In the
absence of the physician, our patient begins to think on the
prescription, and because it appears to him too simple, mixes
it with every quack medicine that the neighbours recommend.
Having swallowed the whole, he now comforts himself with
the assurance that he is on the safe side. Why? because he
has mistrusted the physician, and divided his confidence be
tween the only man whose skill can save him, and the old
women of the village.
" O foolish Galatians !" (I am irresistibly impelled to ex
claim with St. Paul,) " who hath bewitched you, that ye
should not obey the truth?" O blind and deluded people! how
can you imagine that the eternal life promised to faith in
Christ will be doubly secured by shewing and proving your
mistrust, through the use of the fanciful ways of pleasing God,
invented and set forth by Rome?" Blanco White's Letter to
Converts from Romanism. This excellent little tract is less
known than it deserves.
D 2

36 Superstition. [(
as well as (hereafter) of others, connected
the spirit of Romanism, I wish to be under
as not calling for harsh censure on individual
only on offences as they are in themselves.
far the superstition of any individual m£
excusable or blamable in the sight of God
be pronounced by Him alone, who alone is
to estimate each man's strength or weaknesi
opportunities of gaining knowledge, and his
ployment or neglect of those opportunities.
the same may be said of every other offenc
well as of the one in question. Of Supers!
itself in all its various forms and degrees, I
not think otherwise than that it is not mer
folly to be ridiculed, but a mischief to be drcE
and that its tendency is, in most cases, as fi
it extends, destructive of true piety.
The disposition to reverence some superhi
Power, and in some way or other to endeavoi
recommend ourselves to the favour of that Pc
is (more or less in different individuals) a na
and original sentiment of the human mind.
great Enemy of Man finds it easier in most (
to misdirect, than to eradicate this. If an e
cise for this religious sentiment can be provid<

Sect. 6.] Supcrstition. 37
if this natural craving after divine worship (if I
may so speak) can be satisfied — by the practice
of superstitious ceremonies, true piety will be
much more easily extinguished ; — the conscience
will on this point have been set at rest ; — God's
place in the heart will, as it were, have been pre
occupied by an idol ; and that genuine religion
which consists in a devotedness of the affections
to God, operating in the improvement of the moral
character, will be more effectually shut out, from
the religious feelings of our nature having found
another vent, and exhausted themselves on vani
ties of man's devising.
To illustrate as fully as might be done this
debasing and corrupting tendency of Superstition,
by an examination of the numberless instances
of it which might but too readily be found,
would far exceed my limits, and would be, to
most of my readers, in a great degree unneces
sary. But I cannot omit, in confirmation of what
has been said, one general remark, which is ap
plicable to most of these instances : that one of
the most prevailing characteristics of Superstition,
at least which is found more or less in most
species of it, is, the attributing of some sacred

38 Superstition. [Chap. t.
efficacy to the performance of an outward act,
or the presence of some material object, without
any inward devotion of the heart being required
to accompany it ; — without, in short, any thing
else being needed, except, in some cases, an
undoubting faith in that intrinsic efficacy. The
tendency thus to disjoin religious observances
(i. e. what are intended to be such) from heartfelt
and practical religion, is one of the most besetting
evils of our corrupt nature ; and it is the very
root of most superstitions. Now no one can
fail to perceive how opposite this is to true piety.
Empty forms not only supersede piety by standing
in its place, but gradually alter the habits of the
mind, and render it unfit for the exercise of genuine
pious sentiment. Even the natural food of rehgion
(if I may so speak) is thus converted into its poison.
Our very prayers, for example, and our perusal
of the holy Scriptures, become superstitious, in
proportion as any one expects them to operate
as a charm — attributing efficacy to the mere
words, while his feelings and thoughts are not
occupied in what he is doing.
Every religious ceremony or exercise, however
well calculated, in itself, to improve the heart.

Sect. 6.] Superstition. 39
is liable, as I have said, thus to degenerate into
a mere form, and consequently to become super
stitious ; but in proportion as the outward ob
servances are the more complex and operose, and
the more unmeaning or unintelligible, the more
danger is there of superstitiously attaching a sort
of magical efficacy to the bare outward act, inde
pendent of mental devotion. If, for example,
even our prayers are liable, without constant
watchfulness, to become a superstitious form,
by our " honouring God with our lips, while
our heart is far from Him," this result is almost
unavoidable when the prayers are recited in
an unknown tongue, and with a prescribed num
ber of vain repetitions, crossings, and telling of
beads. And men of a timorous mind, having
once taken up a wrong notion of what religion
consists in, seek a refuge from doubt and anxiety,
a substitute for inward piety, and, too often,
a compensation for an evil life, in an endless
multiplication of superstitious observances ; — of
pilgrimages, sprinklings with holy water, vene
ration of relics, and the hke. And hence the
enormous accumulation of superstitions, which.

40 Superstition. [Chai.. i.
in the course of many centuries, gradually arose
in the Romish and Greek Churches.

§. 7. And it is a circumstance not a little remark
able, that, in many instances at least. Superstition
not only does not promote true Religion, but even
tends to generate Profaneness; and that, not
merely in other points, but even in respect of
the very objects of the superstitious reverence.
In proof of this I can cite the testimony of an
eminently competent witness, as far at least as
one Roman-Cathohc country (Spain) is con
cerned ; the Author, after having mentioned the
extravagant and absurd superstitions of the cere
monies which take pl-ace on Good Friday, adds,
" I have carefully glided over such parts of this
absurd performance as would shock many an
English reader, even in narrative. Yet such
is the strange mixture of superstition and pro
faneness in the people for whose gratification
these scenes are exhibited, that though any at
tempt to expose the indecency of these shows
would rouse their zeal " to the knife,^' I cannot
venture to translate the jokes and saUies of wit

Sect. 7.] SupefStition. 41
that are frequently heard among the Spanish
peasantry upon these sacred topics^." The like
strange mixture is found in other Roman-Catho
lic and also in Pagan countries ; particularly
among the Hindoos, who are described as habi
tually reviling their gods in the grossest terms,
on the occasion of any untoward event.
In this country a large proportion of the super
stition that exists, is connected more or less with
the agency of evil spirits ; and accordingly (in
conformity with the strange principle of our nature
just mentioned) nothing is so common a theme
of profane jests among the vulgar of all ranks,
as the Devil, and every thing relating to that
Being, including the " everlasting fire prepared
for liim and his angels ;" and this, by no means
exclusively, or chiefly, among such as disbelieve
what Scripture says on the subject ; but, on the
contrary, even the most, among those who give
credit to a multitude of legendary tales also, quite
unwarranted by Scripture.
This curious anomaly may perhaps be, in a
great measure at least, accounted for, from the
consideration, that as Superstition imposes a yoke
f Doblado's Letters from Spain, p. 264.

42 Superstition. [Chap. i.
rather of fear than of love, her votaries are glad
to take revenge, as it were, when galled by this
yoke, and to indemnify themselves in some
degree both for the irksomeness of their restraints
and tasks, and also for the degradation, (some
sense of which is always excited by a conscious
ness of slavish dread,) by taking liberties, where-
ever they dare, either in the way of insult or of
playfulness, with the objects of their dread.
And jests on sacred subjects, it is well known,
are, when men are so disposed, the most easily
produced of any ; because the contrast between
a dignified and a low image, exhibited in com
bination, (in which the whole force of the ludi
crous consists,) is in this case the most striking''.
'¦ It is commonly said, that there is no wit in profane
jests ; but it would be hard to frame any definition of wit that
should exclude them. It would be more correct to say, (and
I believe that is what is really meant,) that the practice
displays no great powers of wit, because the subject-matter
renders it so particularly easy ; and that (for the very same
reason) it affords the least gratification (apart from all higher
considerations) to judges of good taste; for a great part of the
pleasure afforded by wit results from a perception of skill
displayed, and difficulty surmounted.

Sect. 7.] SuperstitlOU. 43
But how comes it that they ever do dare, as
we see is the fact, to take these liberties ?
Another characteristic of Superstition will per
haps explain this also. It is, as I have just said,
characteristic of Superstition to enjoin, and to
attribute efficacy to, the mere performance of
some specific outward acts — the use of some
material object, without any loyal affectionate
devotion of heart being required to accompany
such acts, and to pervade the whole life as a
ruling motive. Hence, the rigid observance of
the precise directions given, leaves the votary
secure, at ease in conscience, and at liberty,
as well as in a disposition, to indulge in profane
ness. In hke manner a patient', who dares not
refuse to swallow a nauseous dose and to confine
himself to a strict regimen, yet is both vexed
and somewhat ashamed of submitting to the
annoyance, will sometimes take his revenge, as
it were, by abusive ridicule of his medical at
tendant and his drugs ; knowing that this will
not, so long as he does but take the medicines,
diminish their efficacy. Superstitious observ
ances are a kind of distasteful or disgusting
remedy, which however is to operate if it be

44 Superstition. [Chap. i.
but swallowed ; and on which accordingly the
votary sometimes ventures gladly to revenge
himself. The more ready therefore in any instance the
superstitions of the Romish Church approached
to, and blended themselves with, true religion,
the more did they deteriorate the spirit of it ; —
the more did the poisonous parasite, twining
round the fairest boughs of the good tree, blight
by its noxious neighbourhood the fruits which
that should have borne.
We cannot indeed be too thankful to God,
that by his blessing, our ancestors perceived and
undertook to reform these abuses : but my espe
cial object in now adverting to the errors of
the Romanists is, to call your attention to this
important consideration ; that such a multitude
and variety of superstitions, as troublesome as
they are absurd, never could have been intro
duced by any devices of priestcraft, had there
not been in the human mind that strong natural
tendency to Superstition which has just been
described. And this being the case — this tend
ency being, as it is, a part of our common
nature, it is for us to guard against the danger

Sect. 8.] Superstitiou. 45
in ourselves, instead of exulting in a vain con
fidence that we are exempt and safe from it.
The things we ought to learn, and to learn with
a view to our own profit, from the example of the
Romish Church, are, the mischievous effects of
Superstition, and, Man's proneness to it.
That Superstition does exist, to no inconsider
able extent, in Protestant countries, which is
what the foregoing reasonings, even independ
ently of experience, would prepare us to expect,
few, I imagine, would venture to deny ; though
perhaps fewer still are fully aware of its amount,
or sufiiciently on their guard against the danger.
§. 8. With respect to the particular points
on which Superstition is most to be dreaded,
and towards which, consequently, our vigilance
should be especially directed, I am precluded by
several considerations from entering ou any de
tailed examination.
The enumeration of all, or nearly all, the
superstitions which either actually exist, or are
likely to arise, would far exceed my purposed
hmits. And I am sensible that to advert even
to a few of these, is likely to be less profitable

46 Superstition. [Chap. L
than I could wish; inasmuch as the same remarks
will usually be a superfluous truism to one person,
and a revolting paradox to another. For any
one who practises, or tolerates and approves, any
superstition, is of course not accustomed (at least
should in charity not be presumed to be ac
customed) to consider it as superstition, nor would
be prepared to admit the censure without detailed
argument and calm consideration ; while one who
does regard it as superstitious, has himself already
pronounced that censure.
To this must be added, that in most instances
the very same thing will be superstitious to some
persons, and not to others. The adoration of
saints indeed, or of any other Being besides the
one true God, must be always, and in itself, super
stitious : but in the great majority of instances,
the very same outward rites, and sensible objects,
may be either a help to devotion, or a substitute
for it ; such as sacred music — the repetition of
prayers — the assembling in edifices set apart for
divine worship — the assuming of certain bodily
postures, &c. In all such cases, the religion or
the superstition exist in the mind of the person,
and are only incidentally connected with the ex-

s-icT. 8.] Superstition. 47
ternal objects and observances. Of these last,
the best that can be said of any of them is, that
they are well calculated to cherish feelings of
rational devotion : the icorst that can be said of
any of them is, that they are peculiarly liable to
become superstitious. But even pictures and
images are not in themselves superstitious ; and
accordingly we do not now exclude them from
our houses of worship ; though if we found them
now liable to any of that abuse which has grown
to such an enormous height among the Romanists,
it would be our duty to treat them as Hezekiah
did the brazen serpent, which " he brake in
pieces, because the Israelites burnt incense to it."
And, on the other hand, there is no act or object
connected with divine worship which may not
become superstitious, through the worshipper's
trusting in the efficacy of outward forms, while
his heart is far from God. Our reformers, there
fore, shewed their discretion in their assertion
respecting the Liturgy and forms of Ordination
¦which they drew up, that these " contained
nothing in itself superstitious :" they knew by
sad experience that nothing but the worshipper's
vigilant self-examination can secure either human

48 Superstition. [Chap, l
or divine ordinances from becoming (to him) su
perstitious. What has been said may be sufiicient to shew,
that this vigilant examination and caution against
superstition on each particular point, must be
practised by each person for himself, both with a
view to his own conduct, and that of all those
who may be more especially under his care ; and
that the necessity of this cannot be superseded by
any general description.
Enough also has been said, I trust, to shew
both the. vast importance of this vigilant examin
ation, and also the principles on which it should
be conducted. I will notice however a few, and
only a few, of those practices and notions, to
which, as it seems to me, especial attention
should be directed, as either savouring of Super
stition, or peculiarly liable to lead to it. Several
of my observations, I have no doubt, will appear
utterly superfluous, to many of those among my
readers who have not (not to those who have)
been occupied diligently in the case of a parish,
and in that essential part of it, frequent and con
fidential intercourse with all, and especially 'with
the more unenhghtened classes, of the parish-

Sect. 9.] Supcrstition, 49
ioners. I pledge myself however to state nothing
on the ground of mere conjecture — nothing which
I have not been enabled fully to verify.
^.9. I. That there exists among Protestants
much of that branch of Romish superstition — the
pretension to miraculous powers, or belief in
miraculous occurrences, on slight grounds, no
soberminded person, who is not quite ignorant of
the existing state of things, can doubt'. We
have among us pretenders to inspiration ; some
using that very term, and others virtually im-
' It would not be suitable to my present purpose, to enter
on a minute inquiry into the use of several words connected
¦n-ith the present subject ; but it may be worth while to remark,
that, according to the most prevailing usage, " Fanaticism"
implies Superstition, (i. e. " misdirected religiorus feeling,")
but is not necessarily implied by it. If on very insufficient
grounds I believe another person to be inspired, or any other
miracle to have taken place, I am merely superstitious ; if I
thus believe myself to be inspired, or gifted with miraculous
powers, I am also fanatical.
Enthusiasm seems to be employed as a more comprehensive
term than Fanaticism, both as being sometimes used in a good,
at least, a milder, sense, and also as extending to other things
besides Religion.

50 Superstition. [Chap. i.
plying as much : and we have many who see
special "judgments" or other " interpositions"
of Providence, in almost every remarkable, and
in many of the most ordinary occurrences. Some-
tiiries they apply to these the very term ' ' miracu
lous ;" sometimes they call them, which amounts
to the very same, " providential ;" for though it
is literally true that nothing takes place which is
not, in some sense, providential, it is plain for
that very reason, that whatever is rightly charac
terised as providential, i. e. as more providential
than other events, is properly miraculous ''.
If either Romanists, or any others, will give
sufficient proof of the occurrence of a miracle, they
ought to be listened to : but to pretend to, or to
believe in, any miracle without sufficient proof, is
clearly superstitious, whatever may be the system
such a miracle is adduced to support.
'' I ought in justice to say, that I believe many ephemeral
writers, and careless talkers, occasionally use the words
" providential," and " miraculous," (as well as many others,)
without attaching any precise notion to them. They have
been used to hear the words applied to remarkable occur
rences ; and from mere force of imitation do the same, as if
the words were merely synonymous with " remarkable.'

Sect. 9.] Superstition. 51
Most deeply is it to be regretted, that some
writers, who have argued justly and forcibly
against the error of looking for inspiration or
other miraculous interferences, should have more
than nullified the benefit done, by going on to
explain away all that Scripture teaches respecting
spiritual influence. Besides the danger, that they
may propagate this error by means of the truth
they have mixed up with it, there is also an op
posite evil even much more to be apprehended ;
that the fanatics thus opposed may join with their
opponents in representing the whole doctrine of
grace as inseparably connected with their scheme
of miraculous interferences and sensible in
spiration ; so that the whole must stand or fall
together ; and that they may then triumphantly
urge, " See what •violence one is driven to do to
Scripture, and how much at variance he becomes
with the Church of E>:gland, whenever he at
tempts to oppose our doctrine!" Too much care
cannot be taken to testify simultaneously against
both of these opposite errors.
II. Again, more Superstition exists than some
persons are aware of, in relation to the Eucharist.
and to the sacred " elements" (as they are still
E 2

52 Superstition. [Chap. i.
called ') which are administered in that rite.
Several among the uneducated (and some even
among the higher) classes, and those of them
not least who never partake'", or design to
partake, of the holy Communion ¦ till they be
lieve themselves on the bed of death, have a
strong faith in the efficacy, as a medicine, of
what they call " Sacrament- wine ;" i. e. wine
which either has been, or is designed to be, (for
they know too little of the rite to distinguish be
tween the two,) consecrated for this use. They
have been known to apply for it to the minister
as an infallible cure for some particular diseases
of children : — confidently asserting (indeed the
very existence and continuance of the supersti
tion forbids us to hope that such applications
have always been made in vain) that they have
formerly obtained it for that use. Others have
' Agreeably to the language of the Schoolmen ; who framed
the doctrine of Transubstantiation, as it now stands, so com
pletely from Aristotle's writings, that it never could have
existed in any thing like its present form, had that Philosopher
not been studied.
"' This is one instance out of a multitude, in which Super
stition, instead of promoting, as some persons vainly imagine,
true Religion, stands in the place of it.

Sect. 9.] SupcrstitioU. ,"),')
been known, when attending at the Lord's Table,
to secrete, for the purpose of carrying home, a
portion of the consecrated bread handed to them ;
doubtless with a view to some similar superstitious
use". Others again, above the very poorest
class, have been known to petition for a portion
of the " Sacrament-money," i. e. the alms then
collected, (offering to purchase it for the same sum
in other pieces of money,) to be forged into a ring-
as an infallible cure for fits. This again is a
superstition which could hardly have maintained
its ground, if it had never been on any oc
casion indulged by those whose office is to re
press it.
" I have detected and stopped this practice among those
who are called to consume the remainder of the bread and
wine after the close of the Service. Let me be permitted to
call the attention of officiating ministers to the Rubric, and
to recommend a strict adherence to it, in what relates to this
matter: " if any remain of that which was consecrated, it
shall not be carried out of the church, but the priest and such
other of the communicants as he shall then call unto him,
shall, immediately after the Blessing, reverently eat and drink
the same:" i. e. the communicants (as it must be understood)
remaining in the minister's presence, into which he had
" called" thein.

54 Superstition. [Chap. i.
Too common again, and well known, is the
case of persons who have, during the hours of
health, systematically abstained from communi
cating, and who have pleaded, among other
excuses, with great truth, their ignorance, while
they have refused to listen to the offered instruc
tion — of these same persons when on their death
bed, though conscious of the same ignorance re
specting the whole nature and design of the
ceremony, and in no condition then to learn", yet
' Sometimes without any wish, even then, for previous in
struction ; or, consequently, any notion that the benefit of the
Sacrament is at all dependent on a knowledge of our Religion.
" Do pray, dear Sir, give me the Sacrament first, and then
talk as much as you please," is an answer by which I have
known a sick man perseveringly repel the attempts of the
minister to examine into the state of his mind, and to impart
to him the requisite instruction.
As for the point of sincerity or insincerity, no one of course,
except the Searcher of hearts, can be sure in every instance,
whether an individual is, or is not, in this respect, a fit com
municant : we have only to receive his solemn professions;
and our admitting him on the strength of these, does not,
supposing them to be in fact hypocritical, give any counte
nance to the superstitious belief, that an insincere communi
cant derives benefit from the rite : since we admit him on the
supposition of his being not insincere; but it is otherwise in

Sect. 9.] SupCTStition. 55
earnestly craving the administration of this sacra
ment, and trusting (while their surrounding
friends cherish their confidence) that the words
repeated, and the bodily act of receiving the
bread and wine, will operate as a charm to en
sure salvation, like the " extreme unction" of the
Romanists. Now if this is not a superstitious
abuse of the ordinance, what is ?
III. Nor has the other sacrament escaped the
defilement of Superstition. Not a few there are
who eagerly seek it with as superstitious a rever
ence as that with which they shrink from the
Lord's Supper, and with, if possible, a still more
complete ignorance of its nature. They seem to
regard the giving of a name ¦" to an infant as the
respect of the point of knowledge or ignorance ; that the
minister can ascertain ; and if he neglect to do so, and
to proceed accordingly, he is manifestly fostering Super
stition. P In a parish which had been grossly neglected under a
former incumbent, the rite of Baptism was administered to
several who had grown up without it : among the applicants
was a young woman, who, it came out, had been already
baptized, and who gave as a reason for applying, that she was
dissatisfied with the name that had been given her, and
wished for another.

56 Superstition. [Chap. i.
most essential, or one of the most essential parts of
the rite : understanding by the terms " Baptism"
or " Christening," the public reception in church,
(about which they are frequently very indifferent,)
and knowing private Baptism by no other ajjpella-
tion than "Naming." And many are anxious that
the ceremony should take place (I speak advisedly)
if the child is very ill, in hopes that it may save
his life ; at all events, with strong expectation of
some benefit, while yet they have no thought or
intention of bringing him up with any kind of
rehgious instruction and training; nor indeed have
themselves either any religious knowledge, or any
wish to gain it. To disjoin thus the means of
grace from the fruits of grace — the expected
benefit of the ordinance which admits a member
into the Christian Church, from his care to lead
a Christian life — is to convert a sacrament into
a charm, and to "make the things that should
have been for their health, be unto them an oc
casion of falling." There is no need to expatiate
on the mischievous absurdity of such notions and
such conduct, or (to those at least of my readers
who have been engaged in the care of large
parishes) on their prevalence. The point to

Sect. 9.] Superstition. 57
which it is my present object to call attention, is,
the superstition involved in them; which hears but
too close a resemblance to those of the Church
of Rome relative to the same sacrament i.
Among the many evils to be traced to this
particular superstition, is to be reckoned I think,
in a great degree, the prevalence (among many
of our own Clergy) of a system of doctrine which

¦i The present instance illustrates but too well what has
been above said respecting the connexion between Supersti
tion and Profaneness. Both e.xist in a remarkable degree in
relation to the sacrament of Baptism. Few of my readers,
I fear, will need more than to be merely reminded of the light
and irreverent application of the term " christening," on any
occasion of giving " a name" to any thing. Now if there be
any thing intrinsic.illy reasonable in the third Commandment,
it surely is applicable, in its spirit, not merely to the name of
God, but also to all the terms appropriated to his ordinances ;
in short, to all the language denoting any thing sacred. But
in the present case, there exists a more palpable, more deli-
berate^ and more revolting kind of profaneness, in the solemn
mockery of what is called " christening a ship ;" in which the
sacrament itself, not the mere name of it, is regularly, form
ally, and with obtrusive pomp, " taken in vain," to the secret
scorn and triumph of infidels, and to the disgrace of a nation
calling itself Christian and Protestant.

58 Superstition. [Chap. l.
goes to disjoin completely from " the outward
visible sign of baptism" all " inward spiritual
grace:" and likewise the continuance and in
crease of the Anabaptist-system; which indeed
the doctrine just alluded to tends greatly to
foster. An attentive hearer of one of these
divines, taught to regard his own baptism as
hardly more than an empty form, is throughly
prepared to become a convert to the first Ana
baptist he meets with".
IV. It is not perhaps generally known, how
much Superstition prevails in respect of the
repetition of Prayers. Protestants are accus
tomed to censure, as one of the most flagrant
of Romish corruptions, the use of prayers in
an unknown tongue : and it is plain that it
makes no practical difference to the individual
whether the words he utters are Latin or English,
so long as they convey no sense to his mind.
Now the practice of reciting unmeaning prayers
(unmeaning, that is, to the person using them)
prevails to a greater extent than perhaps many
persons are aware. Many probably do not even
know that there are invocations to angels and
' See Essay IX. second Series, p. 323 — 6.

Sect, fl.j Superstition. 59
to the four Evangelists, (which it is to be hoped
are not at all understood,) in use at the present
day in the devotions of some among the more
ignorant classes of professed Protestants. I
know that the caution given in Dr. Hawkins's
excellent " Manual for Christians after Con
firmation," (ch. V. §. I.) that " to repeat the
creed is not to pray," startled some persons as
being manifestly needless. But the fact bears
him out. The practice is by no means un
common of reciting the Apostle's Creed as a
portion of prayer. Now it is manifest that who
ever makes such a mistake, might just as well
recite it in Latin as in English ; since it is plain
he cannot understand even the general sense
and drift of it. And it is equally manifest that
the case would not be at all altered, if the
formula he recited really were a prayer ; since
it would be an evident superstition to attach
any spiritual virtue to the mere utterance by
rote, in whatever language, of words, however in
themselves appropriate.
And this leads me to remark, that the practice
of teaching or allowing very young children to

60 Superstition. [Chap, l
learn by heart " prayers, psalms, portions of
Scripture, &c. which they are incapable at the

' " It need hardly be observed how important it is, with a
view to these objects, to abstain carefully from the practice,
still too prevalent, though much less so, -we believe, than
formerly, of compelling, or encouraging, or even allowing,
children to learn by rote forms of prayer, catechisms, hymns,
or in short any thing connected with morality and religion,
when they attach no meaning to the words they utter. It is
done on the plea that they will hereafter learn the meaning of
'what they have been thus taught, and will be able to make a
practical use of it. But no attempt at economy of time can
be more injudicious. Let any child whose capacity is so far
matured as to enable him to comprehend an explanation, e. g.
of the Lord's Prayer, have it then put before him for the first
time, and when he is made acquainted with the meaning of
it, set to learn it by heart ; and can any one doubt that
in less than half a day's application he would be able to repeat
it fluently ? And the same would be the case with other forms.
All that is thus learned by rote by a child before he is com
petent to attach a meaning to the words he utters, would not,
if all put together, amount to so much as would cost him, -n'hen
able to understand it, a week's labour to learn perfectly.
Whereas it may cost the toil, often the vain toil, of many
years, to unlearn the habit oi formalism — of repeating words
by rote without attending to their meaning ; a habit which

Slot. 9.] Superstition. 61
time, of understanding, is one which is very
often superstitious, and almost always leads to

every one conversant with education knows to be in all sub
jects most readily acquired by children, and with difficulty
avoided even with the utmost care of the teacher ; but which
such a plan must inevitably tend to generate. It is often
said, and very truly, that it is important to form early habits
of piety; but to train a child in one kind of habit, is not the
most likely way of forming the opposite one : and nothing can
be more contrary to true piety, than the Popish superstition
(for such in fact it is) of attaching efficacy to the repetition of
a certain form of words, as of a charm, independent of the
understanding and of the heart.
" It is also said, with equal truth, that we ought to take
advantage of the facility which children possess of learning
words : but to infer from thence, that Providence designs us
to make such a use (or rather abuse) of this gift as we have
been censuring, is as if we were to take advantage of the
readiness with which a new born babe swallows whatever
is put into its mouth, to dose it with ardent spirits, instead of
wholesome food and necessary medicine. The readiness with
which children learn and remember words, is in truth a most
important advantage if rightly employed; viz if applied to
the acquiring that mass of what may be called arbitrary
knowledge of insulated facts, which can only be learned
by rote, and which is necessary in after life ; when the
acquisition of it would both be more troublesome, and would

62 Superstition. [Cmv. i.
superstition. I say " often" superstitious, be
cause it is not necessarily so. Some teachers
make their children commit these things to
memory, merely as an exercise of memory,
or in order that they may know the words
against the time when they shall become
competent to understand them, without giving
the children any notion, that in repeating these
words they are performing a devotional act*.
There is nothing superstitious in this ; though
I cannot but think it a most injudicious practice,
inasmuch as it involves a great risk of most
encroach on time that might otherwise be better employed.
Chronology, names of countries, weights and measures, and
indeed all the words of any language, are of this description.
If. a child had even ten times the ordinary degree of the
faculty in question, a judicious teacher would find abundance
of useful employment for it, without resorting to any that
could possibly be detrimental to his future habits, moral,
religious, or intellectual." London Review, '^o. II. p. 412,413.
' Query. Do they always teach their children other prayers
also, suitable to their present age ? or do they account thera
altogether unfit for any communion with God, as children?
This surely is supplying them with a provision of " strong
meat," which they may hereafter " be able to bear," while
they withhold the necessary immediate nourishment of milk.

Sect. 9.] Supei'StitioH. 63
serious evils, for the sake of a benefit immeasur
ably minute. To learn the same prayers, &c.
in Latin or in Greek, would be, as an exercise
of the memory, equally good, and in other
respects, much better. For when the learner
was afterwards, at a riper age, presented with
a translation of these words, the sense would
strike him, and would perhaps arouse his atten
tion, and excite his devotional feelings. Every
one who knows what it is to (not merely say his
prayers, but) really pray, must be conscious that
a continual effort is requisite to prevent a form
of words with which he is very famihar, from
sliding over the ear or the tongue, without being
properly attended to, and accompanied by the
heart and the understanding. Now the liability
to this formal repetition of words, and the dif
ficulty of avoiding it, must be greatly increased,
if the words have been famiharly learnt by rote
at a time when the understanding could not
possibly accompany the recitation, from their
being beyond a child's comprehension. Add to
which, that a painful association is thus formed
in the child's mind, between all the cohects and
texts, &c. he has been thus learning, and the idea

64 Superstition. [Chap. i.
of a dull, irksome, uninteresting, and unmeaning
task. Some however find that their children do not
regard such repetitions as a painful, or even an
uninteresting, task, but consider themselves,
though they do not understand what they utter,
as performing an act of devotion. Now this is
precisely the case I have more particularly in
view at present. The other just m,entioned, of
learning the words merely as an exercise of
memory, is likely to lead to superstition ; but
this is itself superstitious. For what do the
Romanists more, than make devotion consist in
repeating a hallowed form of words, with a
general intention indeed of praying, but without
accompanying with the understanding the words
uttered ?
But, it may be replied, a child does under
stand something of what he is saying, if he does
but understand that it is a prayer for some
divine blessing ; (an argument which may he,
and is, urged by the Romanists in behalf of their
Latin prayers ;) while, on the other hand, the
wisest man cannot be said completely to under
stand his prayers, since the nature of the Being

Si(T.9.j Supei'stition. 65
he addresses must be mysterious to him. In
many cases it happens that it is difficult to draw
a precise line in theory, while, in practice, common
sense leads every one to distinguish sufficiently.
It is difficult, for instance, [vid. Hor. Epist. i.
b. ii. fine 35. J to lay down exactly how many
years ago an author must have lived to be called
" ancient ;" — how many grains of corn will make
a heap, &c. &c. But as in other cases, so in
this, men are seldom at a loss to perceive, with
a sufficient approximation to truth for practical
purposes, the distinction between what is, and
what is not, " understood." Whenever a child
is capable (which is generally at a very early age)
of comprehending what prayer is, there must be
some mode of expressing a prayer which will be
intelligible to him ; let this expression be then
adopted ; let him employ the form which he can
best understand, and which may be subsequently
modified and enlarged, as his understanding ad
vances. No doubt, a prayer thus adapted to the ca
pacity of a child must be childish; how can any,
natural, fervent, hearty devotions of a child, be
otherwise than childish ? Is it any disparage-

66 Superstition. [Chap. i.
ment to the devotions of grown men, that they
are human, and not angelic ? Let those who, for
the sake of a form of words intrinsically better,
teach children prayers not adapted to the puerile
understanding — let them, I say, reflect on what
grounds they can convict the Romanists of super
stition on account of their Pater-nosters. If
there be any intrinsic holiness in words which
renders them in themselves acceptable, whether
we worship " in Spirit and in Truth," or not,
then, surely, Latin words may have this efficacy.
But the intrinsic sanctity of the words of the
Lord's prayer, for instance, is the same only as
that of the wood of the True Cross. This was
an instrument of the salvation of mankind when
the Redeemer was offered upon it ; the other is
a means of grace when devoutly offered up " with
the heart and with the understanding also" in
the name of that Redeemer : but the child who
repeats the words by rote is no more benefited
by them, than by carrying about him a piece of
the wood of the cross, And in both cases, posi
tive harm is done instead of benefit, by the mis
direction of religious feeling.
I have heard it urged, that a child would be

Sect. 9.] Supcrstition. 67
accounted a fool, if when sent to school he should
be found unable to repeat the Lord's prayer.
And certainly a child of average inteUigence
would usually be able, before the age supposed,
to comprehend an explanation of that prayer ;
which of course should not be withheld one
moment after it can be understood. But at all
events, it is surely better, when that is the alter
native, that a child should be reckoned a fool,
without being so, than that he should be so, with
out its being detected ; nor can it be doubted
that there is real folly, whether apparent or not,
in superstitiously attributing efficacy to an un
meaning form of words.
It is hardly necessary to observe, that the
whole of the above reasoning applies equally to
the practice of taking little children to church ".
" Our Liturgy however is evidently neither adapted nor
designed for children ; even those of such an age as to be
fully capable of joining in congregational worship, were there
a service suitably composed on purpose for them. To frame
and introduce such a sei-vice, would not, I think, be regarded
as a trifling improvement, if we could but throughly get rid
of the principle of the Romish lip-service. We cannot too
much " take thought for the morrow," in matters relating to
f2

68 Superstition. [Chap. i.
V. There is also a strong tendency to super
stition in all that relates to the place and mode
of interment of a corpse. Many of my readers
must have observed, that in a great numbfcr of
church-yards, the north side is almost entirely
untenanted by graves, through a certain vague
notion of its being " unlucky" to be buried there.
The origin I believe of this feeling is to be found
in the Romish practice of praying for the dead.
The principal entrance to almost all churches
being on the south, one who was interred on
the north, would be the less likely to obtain
the passing prayers of his surviving neighbours,
as they were proceeding to pubhc worship.
But however this may be, and however httle the
" the kingdom of God and his righteousness ;'' now children
are emphatically the Morrow of Society ; and in all that
relates to religious and moral training, they are far the
more important part of it; for we know that if we "train
up a child in the way that he should go, when he is old
he will not depart from it :" while, on the other hand, it is
too often a vain attempt to remedy, by instruction to adults,
the want of this early training. If we would but duly take
care of children, grown people would generally take care of
themselves.

Sect. 9.] SuperstitioH. 69
origin of any superstition may be known or re
membered, every thing, it is plain, is super
stitious, and of the most mischievous class, which
goes to connect the repose of the soul with any
thing that takes place after a man's death. And
continual watchfulness is requisite to prevent
superstitions of this kind from being engrafted
on the practice of interring the dead in church
yards, and performing the funeral-service over
them. Nothing can be more proper than to
choose such an occasion for the performance of
devotional duties ; — and to set aside a spot of
ground for the decent interment of the dead ; —
nothing more natural and blameless, than the
¦wish that our mortal remains should repose by
the side of our friends and relatives : but the best
things are liable to abuse ; and the more sedu
lously, in most places, the Pastor studies the
habitual sentiments of his flock, the less will he
be disposed to regard as superfluous an especial
watchfulness on this particular point ; — a constant
care to check the superstitious idea, that either
the consecrated ground, (whether within or with
out the church,) or the funeral-service, have any

70 Superstition. [Chap. i.
thing to do with the individual's future destiny.
And the more care and diligence is requisite for
the detection of these and similar superstitions,
inasmuch as those enslaved to them are often
ashamed of them, and consequently disposed to
conceal their real sentiments ; especially from
any one whom they perceive to be not disposed
to sympathize with them. The exercise of this
vigilance, accordingly, by any one who had not
heretofore deemed it needful, would be very Ukely
to bring to his knowledge much that would sur
prise him. I have known, for instance, a person,
in speaking of a deceased neighbour, whose cha
racter had been irreligious and profligate, remark,
how great a comfort it was to hear the words of
the funeral-service read over her, " because,
poor woman, she had been such a bad liver."
I have heard of an instance again, of a super
stition, probably before unsuspected, being ac
cidentally brought to hght, by the minister's
having forbidden a particular corpse to be
brought into the church, because the person
had never frequented it when alive : the con
sequence of which was, that many old people

Sect. 10.] Supcrstition. 71
began immediately to frequent the church, who
had before been in the habit of absenting them
selves. §. 10. All these and numberless other such
superstitions, it was the business of the Romish
priesthood, not to introduce indeed, but to en
courage and maintain, inasmuch as they almost
all tend to increase the influence and wealth
of the Hierarchy : let it be the Protestant-Pas
tor's business, not only to abstain from conniving
at or favouring any thing of the kind, but (re
membering that the original source of superstition
is not in the Church of Rome, but in the heart
of Man) to be ever on the watch against its
inroads from various quarters, and in various
shapes. It is evidently not enough to avoid and dis
countenance every thing that is in itself super
stitious ; — such as (in addition to several of the
things just mentioned) the consulting of pretended
witches and soothsayers — faith in dreams and
omens, and in lucky and unlucky days ; with
many superstitions of the same character ; from
which many even of the higher orders, in point

72 Superstition. [Chap. l
of birth and station, are by no means wholly
exempt, but which prevail to a much greater
extent than I believe most persons who have not
been much and confidentially conversant with
the lower, and those somewhat above the lower,
ranks, are at all inclined to suspect. Nor again,
is it enough to reject and to discourage all such
practices as, without being necessarily and in
themselves superstitious, are, either generally,
or at any particular time and place, peculiarly
liable to be abused to a superstitious purpose,
while they may, without any great loss, be dis
pensed with ; such as were many of those prac
tices of the Romish Church which our Reformers
" brake in pieces," as Hezekiah did the brazen
serpent ; not as originally evil, but as the oc
casion of Superstition. All this, I say, is in
sufficient ; because there are so many things
which we cannot dispense with, which yet are
continually liable to become no better than
superstitious, through the superstitious character
of " the natural man." We cannot dispense ¦with
the Sacraments which Christ appointed ; — with
prayer, both public and private ; — with the read
ing of the Scriptures ; — with instructions from

Sect. 10.] Superstition . 73
the ministers of the Gospel ; — with buildings and
days set apart, either wholly or partly, for these
purposes. Yet these, and every thing else of
this kind, are perpetually liable to be abused, and
indeed I fear perpetually are abused, into occa
sions of Superstition. Our prayers and our
study of Scripture are, as I have above remarked,
superstitious, when we trust in the efficacy
of the words, without earnestly praying with
the heart, and labouring to gain instruction in
rehgion : the hearing of sermons is very com
monly made an occasion of superstition, when
a merit is attached to the act of hearing instruc
tion, without labouring to understand, and pro
fitably apply, that instruction. The sanctity
belonging to the " Church" of Christ, i. e. to
the body of believers who are " the Temple of
the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in them"," is
" It is strange, and it is unfortunate, that so many should
have not only overlooked the application of the term " Tem
ple," by the Apostles, invariably to Christians collectively,
never to the individual Christian, but should have even
asserted the contrary, on the strength of one text, (1 Cor. vi.
19.) which according to all fair rules of interpretation exhibits
(especially in the original Greek) the same sense as the rest

74 Superstition. [Chap. i.
commonly transferred to the building in which a
congregation assembles ; while the veneration
for that building is shewn not so much in an
earnest endeavour that the prayers offered up,
and the instructions given there, may be profit
able to the soul, as in a superstitious feeling of
satisfaction on the supposed merit of having, in
bodily presence, frequented it during life, with
perhaps a hope of future security, from the life
less body's reposing within its walls. The Sa
craments again, as I have said, become super
stitious to those who deeply venerate, and trust
in, the " outward visible sign," without thinking
of any inward spiritual efforts after the inward
spiritual grace. And yet, all these, and many
other such occasions of Superstition, (for such
they doubtless are often made,) are what we
cannot dispense with. The more vigilance there
fore must we use in our own case, and inculcate

of the passages where the 'B'ord occurs. The Apostle must
have had some meaning in his constant adherence to a form of
speech by no means obvious ; and that meaning, whatever it
is, we are not likely to take in, if we do not attend to his lan
guage. See Hinds's " Three Temples of the One God."

snj. 10.] Superstition. 75
upon others, in guarding against the inroads of
Superstition. In no point we may be assured is our spiritual
Enemy more vigilant : he is ever ready, not
merely to tempt us with the unmixed poison
of known sin, but to corrupt even our food, and
to taint even our medicine, with the venom of
his falsehood. For Rehgion is the medicine of
the soul ; it is the designed and appropriate
preventive and remedy for the evils of our na
ture ; the subtle Tempter well knows that no
other aUurements to sin would be of so much
avail, if this medicine were assiduously applied,
and applied in unadulterated purity : and he knows
that Superstition is the specific poison which
may be the most easily blended with true Religion,
and which will the most completely destroy its
efficacy. It is for us then to take heed that the " light
which is in us be not darkness" — that our Re
ligion be kept pure from the noxious admixture
of Superstition : and it is for us to observe the
errors of others, with a view to our own correction
and to our own preservation ; instead of con
templating " the mote that is in our brother's

76 Superstition. [Cuap. i.
eye, while we behold not the beam that is in our
own eye." Our conscience, if we carefully re
gulate, and diligently consult it, will be ready,
after we have seen and condemned (which is no
hard task) the faults of our neighbour, to furnish
us (where there is need) with that salutary admo
nition, which the self-blinded King of Israel re
ceived from the mouth of the Prophet; " Thou
art the man."

CHAPTER II.
vicarious religion.

^. \. IHE Apostle Paul, in many passages
in his Epistles, characterises the Christian re
ligion" as containing " Mysteries," that is, truths
not discoverable by human reason, but made
known by Divine revelation : as, for instance,
in his first Epistle to Timothy ^, " without con
troversy great is the mystery of godliness."
And it is very important to observe, that in
all the passages (and they are very numerous)
in which he applies the word Mystery (jw-uo-T^giov)
to the Christian faith, or to any part of it, the
circumstance to which he is directing the reader's
attention is, not the concealment, but the dis
closure, of the mystery. He implies indeed that
" For thar is evidently the meaning of the expression,
I) iviri/3usc, which our translators have rendered " Godliness."
" Chap. iii. 16,

78 Vica7~ious religion. [Chap. ii.
the truths so described were formerly unknown,
and could not be known by man's unaided
powers ; but he speaks of them as now at length
laid open, by the gracious dispensation of Pro
vidence ; as no longer concealed, except from
those who wilfully shut their eyes against the
light of divine revelation : "if our Gospel is hid,
it is hid to them that are lost, whom the god of
this world hath blinded :" and his own office in
" proclaiming the good tidings ''" of this reve
lation, he describes as " making known the mys
tery of the Gospel," " which was kept secret
since the world began, but now is made mani-
fest." Not that the Apostle meant to imply but that
after all, the nature and designs of the Most
High must be by us very imperfectly under
stood ; but the circumstance to which he is espe
cially calling attention is, not the unrevealed, but
the revealed — not the unintelligible, but the ex
plained — portion of the divine dispensations.
" This we should always remember is the strict sense of
the phrase xTt^va-c-itv to EiJayyiAiof, which we usually render, in
words which by familiarity have almost lost their original
force, " preaching the Gospel."

Sect. 1.] Vicarious religion. 79
And this he does, in manifest allusion to the
mysteries of the ancient pagan religions ; with
which, in this respect, he contrasts Christianity ;
inasmuch as in this last there was not, as among
the Pagans, a distinction between the initiated
and the uninitiated ; — a revelation to some of the
worshippers, of certain holy secrets, from which
the rest were excluded ; nor great mysteries and
lesser mysteries, (as the Eleusinian,) in which dif
ferent persons were initiated ; but, on the con
trary, the " great" mysteries of the Christian
faith (loceya f^ucrTijgiov) were made known, as far as
it is expedient and possible for man to know
them, to all alike, whether Jew or Gentile, who
were but willing to embrace the truth : and ' ' to
know the fellowship" (i. e. the common partici
pation) " of the mystery," xoivujvi'a roS /xuo-T^giou, was
offered to all. There was not one system of
religion for a certain favoured few, and another,
for the mass of believers; but the great " mystery
of godhness" was made accessible, gradually in
deed, in proportion as they were able to bear it,
but universally. To aU Christ's disciples it was
" given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of

80 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
heaven'' ;" there was " one Lord, one faith, one
baptism," and (though with diversity of gifts)
one and the same Spirit, sanctifying the Church,
and dweUing in all its members.
The opposite system to this — that of recog
nizing different degrees of access to the Deity,
and of keeping certain sacred rites and holy
secrets confined to a few, and set apart from the
multitude — is one of the most remarkable charac
teristics of natural religion ; by which expression
I mean, not what is commonly, though impro
perly, so called ; but, such a religious system
as men naturally fall into, when left to them
selves.

¦' Matt. xiii. II. "To you it is given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom," &c. An objection has been raised from this
passage, because it is said that the others, viz. those who
'were not disciples, were not admitted to the same advantage.
But why did they not become disciples? If Jesus had rested
his claims on the apparent reasonableness of what He taught,
it would have been most unfair to require men to join Him
before they fully understood it : but his claim rested on the
" mighty works," which afforded sufficient proof of his coming
from God.

Sect. 1.] Vicarious religion. 81
The case of the Eleusinian mysteries, above
alluded to, is only one instance out of many.
Indeed I believe there is hardly any system of
Paganism with which we are acquainted, that
has not some articles of faith — some religious
rites — some kind of pretended theological know
ledge — confined, either to the priests, or to some
privileged Order of men, and from which the
great body of worshippers is either excluded, or
at least exempted.
It might be expected therefore that this
character should be found (as in fact it is) in the
Romish system ; which I have already described
as the gradual and (if I may be allowed the ex
pression) spontaneous corruption of Christianity,
by the natural unrestrained workings of the
human mind.
Men readily perceived, what indeed is very
true, that those who have leisure and abilities
beyond what falls to the lot of the generality,
are enabled, and may be expected, to acquire
a larger share of learning, generally, and, among
the rest, of theological learning : while the proper
object of this theological learning (under such a
system as that of Christianity) is often lost sight

82 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
of; viz. to establish the authority, and ascertain
and explain the meaning, of the sacred writings.
And again, men readily perceived, that there are
many points connected with religion which are
in a great degree beyond their comprehension ;
without accurately distinguishing which are so,
from their own deficiency in learning, and which,
from being beyond the reach of the human
faculties. The learned, on the other hand, or such as
aspired to that character, felt, of course, the
natural love of distinction the more gratified, in
proportion as their studies were supposed to be
directed to points the most abstruse and re
condite — to some knowledge respecting things
divine, beyond the understanding, and too sa
cred for the inquiries, of ordinary men.
At the same time, the natural inquisitiveness
of the human mind after speculative knowledge,
especially on the most exalted subjects, having
led theologians to overlook the practical cha
racter of the Christian revelation, and to indulge
in presumptuous disquisitions as to the intrinsic
nature of the Deity, this circumstance could not
but contribute still more to set apart a certain

Sect, l] Vicarious religion. 83
portion of (supposed) divine knowledge as un
necessary, and unfit, for vulgar contemplation.
Mysterious doctrines unconnected with Christian
practice, at least with such practice as was re
quired from the great mass of Christians, it was
sufficient that they should assent to with implicit
faith, without attempting to examine the proofs
of such matters — to understand the doctrines
themselves — or even to know what they were :
" I do not presume, nor am able, to comprehend
the Mysteries of the Faith, but leave them to my
spiritual guides ; — I believe all that the Holy
Catholic Church receives ;" — such was the lan
guage — such the easy and compendious confes
sion of faith — which resulted from the indolence —
the spiritual carelessness — the weakness, and the
dishonest ambition, of human nature.
The unprofitable, absurd, presumptuous, and
profane speculations of scholastic theologians
(not all of them members of the Romish Church)
which are extant, afford a melancholy specimen
of the fruits of this mistake as to the Christian
Mysteries — this " corruption from the simplicity
that is in Christ."
Specimens of this " philosophy and vain de-
g2

84 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
ceit" — such as are to be found in various dis
sertations on what are called the mysterious
doctrines of the Christian faith — such as I cannot
bring myself to transcribe, and cannot even
think of without shuddering — it may be some
times a profitable though a painful task to peruse,
in order to estimate duly, as a warning and ad
monition to ourselves, the effects of misapplied
learning and misdirected ingenuity. To select
one instance out of many, no point in these
systems of speculative theology has so much
exercised the perverted powers of divines of this
stamp, as the mystery of the Trinity''; or as they
might with more propriety have caUed it, the
mystery of the divine Unity : for though in itself
the doctrine so sedulously inculcated throughout
the Scriptures that there is but One God, seems
to present no revolting difficulty, yet, on rising
from the disquisitions of many scholastic divines
' The selection of this particular doctrine by way of illus
tration was suggested by the circumstance, that the Discourse,
of which the following pages contain the substance, was de
livered before the University on Trinity-Sunday. I have
retained the passage, because I can think of no other instance
that better illustrates what has been said.

Sect, l] Victtrious religion. 85
on the inherent distinctions of the three Divine
Persons, a candid reader cannot but feel that
they have made the Unity of God the great and
difficult mystery'; and have in fact so nearly
' It is however important to remark, that though the
Unity of the Deity is not in itself a doctrine of very mys
terious difficulty, it is one which is the more earnestly dwelt
on in Scripture, besides other reasons, for one resulting from the
tone of the Scriptures themselves. For they would, but for
these express declarations, naturally lead the reader either to
believe in three Gods, or at least to be in doubt on the ques
tion. The doctrine of the Trinity is not so much declared as
a distinct article of faith, as it is implied by the whole history
recorded, and views every where taken, in Scripture, of God's
threefold manifestation of Himself; which are such as would
present to our minds nothing inconsistent with the agency of
three Divine Beings acting in concert, were it not that such
sedulous care is taken to assure us of the numerical Unity of
the God thus manifested to us; — that in the Son " dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead," &c. &c. See Essay vii.
(Second Series,) p. 234, 235. and Essay ix. p. 277—281.
See also Hinds's " Three Temples of the One God," p. 129,
132. for a most luminous view of this important subject.
The reader is also referred to the Articles " One," and
" Person," in the Appendix to the " Elements of Logic." It
has been doubted whether there is any foundation for the
suspicion I have there expressed, that the language of some

86 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
explained it away, and so bewildered the minds
of their disciples, as to drive them to withdraw

divines has a leaning towards Tritheism. The following ex
tract will at once explain my meaning, and prove, I conceive,
satisfactorily, that my apprehensions are not altogether ground
less. It is taken from a work of considerable merit, and
which has obtained not only much popularity, but also a
peculiarly high description of patronage. Several of my
readers will perhaps recognize the passage ; but I purposely
avoid naming the book, because it is not my object to dis
cuss the merits of this or that individual work, but to call at
tention to the notions which are afloat in the world, generally;
and I am so far from designing to particularize the work
in question, as containing any thing novel, peculiar, likely
to be generally offensive, and at variance with prevailing
opinions, that my meaning is the very reverse.
" When the great Creator had finished the rest of his
works, wanting another creature to rule them all, and as their
Priest, to adore him in their name, he said, ' Let us make
man in our own image, after our likeness.' In the creation of
other things all is done with the tone of command, or with a
mere volition. ' Let there be light; let there be a firma
ment ; let the earth bring forth so and so.' But when man
is to be made — a creature who is to be endued with reason
and intelligence — the very image of the Maker — he uses an
expression which indicates deliberation and counsel ; he con
sults with some other august Beings, (the two remaining Per-

Se^t. l] Vicarious religion. 87
their thoughts habitually and deliberately from
every thing connected with the subject '¦^ ; as the
only mode left for the unlearned to keep clear
of error. Yet it might have occurred, one would
have thought, to both parties, that learning
cannot advance one man beyond another in the
comprehension of things which are confessedly
beyond the reach of the human faculties alto
gether ; — that in total darkness, or in respect
of objects beyond our horizon, the clearest and
the dimmest sight are on a level ; — and that of
sons of the Trinity, no doubt,) of whom, as well as of himself,
man was to be both the workmanship and the resemblance."
If this passage had stood alone in the Jewish Scriptures, or
if the J.ews had interpreted it, as this writer has done, with
out any reference to the other passages of Scripture which
serve to qualify and guard it, they would doubtless (as the
above extract seems to shew) have adopted nearly the same
hypothesis as was long afterward broached by Arius ; — that
the supreme God acts in concert " with some other august
Beings !"
^ I am enabled to state this as no mere conjecture or sus
picion, but as a matter of fact coming within my own ex
perience ; I mean, in respect of sundry individual cases ; and
it is individual cases only that come within the province of
experience.

88 Vicarious religion. [Chap. u.
matters relating to the Deity and revealed by
Him, not as a special secret, to a favoured few,
but to all who would hear his voice, and which
cannot be discovered any otherwise than through
this revelation — of these, none need know less,
and none can know more, than the Almighty has
thus revealed.
The nature of God as He is in Himself, can
never be comprehended by the wisest of us his
creatures ; but the doctrine of the Trinity, and
the rest of the mysteries of the Gospel, as far as
they relate to us, since He has thought fit to
reveal these to us in the Gospel, every Christian
is allowed, and is bound, to learn from that Reve
lation " of the mystery which was secret from
the beginning of the world, but now is made mani
fest ''." And the doctrine of the Trinity, (which
is perhaps the oftenest of any treated as a specu
lative truth about which none but learned divines
need trouble themselves,) as it is a summary of
that faith into' which we are baptized, and the
'' Rom. xvi. 25.
' " Teach all nations, baptizing them into the name (eJj t»
•^vofix) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost :'
this is evidently the right rendering of the original words,

Sicr. 2.] Vicarious religion. 89
key-stone of the Christian system, ought to be
set forth continually and universally, as the sup
port of every part of the building of the Christian
faith, and the Christian life : reference should
be made to it, not merely on some stated solemn
occasions, as to an abstruse tenet to be assented
to, and then laid aside, but perpetually, as to a
practical doctrine, connected with every other
point of religious belief and conduct.
§. 2. In no point perhaps has the real origin
of the Romish corruptions been more imperfectly
perceived, than in the one now before us — the
setting apart of certain religious dogmas — duties —
privileges — in short, certain portions of Christi
anity, as confined to a distinct class of men, and
in which the laity were either not allowed or
not required to have a share. We are accustomed
and conveys the sense which must have been meant, viz. that
the baptized convert was enrolled and enlisted, as it were,
into the service of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Vulgate Latin has " in nomine," and our translation,
(perhaps from too great reverence for that authority,) " in the
name;" which does violence to the original, and introduces a
different idea, quite inappropriate.

90 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
to hear much of priestcraft — of the subtle arts of
designing men, who imposed on the simplicity of
an ignorant people, and persuaded them to believe
that they, the priests, alone understood the na
ture of the Deity — the proper mode in which to
propitiate Him — and the mysterious doctrines to
which the others were to give their implicit
assent ; and the poor deluded people are repre
sented as prevailed on against their better judg
ment, by the sophistry, and promises, and threats,
of these crafty impostors, to make t?iem the
keepers of their consciences — their mediators,
and substitutes in the service of God, and their
despotic spiritual rulers.
There is undoubtedly much truth in such a
representation ; but it leaves on the mind an
erroneous impression, because it is (at the ut
most) only half the truth.
If indeed in any country, priests had been
Beings of a different species — or a distinct Caste,
as in some of the Pagan nations where the priest
hood is hereditary ; — if this race had been dis
tinguished from the people by intellectual su
periority and moral depravity, and if the people
had been sincerely desirous of knowing, and serv-

Sect. '2.] Vicavious rcUgion. 91
ing, and obeying God for themselves, but had
been persuaded by these demons in human form-
that this was impossible, and that the laity must
trust them to perform what was requisite, in their
stead, and submit implicitly to their guidance — then
indeed there would be ground for regarding priest
craft as altogether the work of the priests, and in no
degree, of the people. But we should remember,
that in every age and country, (even where they
were, as the Romish priests were not, a distinct
Caste,) priests must have been mere men, of like
passions with their brethren ; and though some
times they might have, on the whole, a consider
able intellectual superiority, yet it must always
have been impossible to delude men into the
reception of such gross absurdities, if they had
not found in them a readiness — nay, a craving —
for delusion. The reply which is recorded of a
Romish priest, is, (not in the sight of God indeed,
but) as far as regards any complaint on the part of
the laity, a satisfactory defence ; when taxed with
some of the monstrous impostures of his Church,
his answer was, " Populus vult decipi, et deci-
piatur." Such indeed was the case of Aaron,
and similar the defence he offered, for making

92 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
the Israelites an image, at their desire. Let it
not be forgotten, that the first recorded instance
of departure from purity of worship, as estabhshed
by the revelation to the Israehtes, was forced on
the priest by the people.
The truth is, mankind have an innate pro
pensity, as to other errors, so, to that of endea
vouring to serve God by proxy ; — to commit to
some distinct order of men the care of their
religious concerns, in the same manner as they
confide the care of their bodily health to the
physician, and of their legal transactions to
the lawyer ; deeming it sufficient to follow
implicitly their directions, without attempting
themselves to become acquainted with the mys
teries of medicine or of law''. Even thus are

'' Nothing is more mischievous than an incorrect analogy
that is constantly before us, and familiar to our minds. Like
a distorted mirror in the apartment we inhabit, it produces,
not an insulated or occasional error, but a deep-seated and
habitual false impression. Now nothing can be more familiar
than the seeming analogy between the several professions.
Men may rather be said habitually to feel, than distinctly to
maintain, (indeed the falsehood would be easily detected in a
formal assertion,) that as the soldier is in respect of military,

Sect. 2.] Victtrious religion. 93
they willing and desirous that others should
study, and should understand, the mysterious
doctrines of religion in their stead — should
practise, in their stead, some more exalted
kind of piety and of virtue — and should offer
prayers and sacrifices on their behalf, both in
their hfetime and after their death. For man,
except when unusually depraved, retains enough
of the image of his Maker, to have a natural
reverence for religion, and a desire that God
should be worshipped ; but, through the corrup
tion of his nature, his heart is (except when di
vinely purified) too much alienated from God to
take dehght in serving Him. Hence, the dispo
sition men have ever shewn, to substitute the
devotion of the Priest for their own ; — to leave
the duties of piety in his hands — and to let him
serve God in their stead. This disposition is not
so much the consequence, as itself the origin, of
priestcraft. The Romish hierarchy did but take
advantage from time to time of this natural pro
pensity, by engrafting successively on its system
and the sailor, in respect of naval, affairs, and the physician,
in respect of remedies for bodily disease, and the lawyer, in
legal matters, so is the clergyman in respect of religion.

94 Vicarious religion. [Chap. n.
such practices and points of doctrine as favoured
it, and which were naturally converted into a
source of profit and influence to the priesthood.
Hence the gradual transformation of the Chris
tian minister — the Presbyter — into the sacrific
ing priest, the Hiereus, (in Latin, " Sacerdos ;"
as the Romanists call theirs,) of the Jewish and
Pagan religions. This last is an error of which
no inconsiderable remains are to be traced in the
minds of Protestants, and on which, as it appears
to me to be very important, I shaU beg to be
indulged in making some more particular ob
servations. §. 3. ' That the English word priest is frequently
employed for the rendering of two different words
in Greek, viz. 'Isgeuj, and n§e<r^6TBgos, (from the
latter of which our " Presbyter" or " Priest" is
derived,) is a circumstance of which no scholar
can be ignorant indeed, but which is not in
' The passage which follows I have taken the liberty of
e.xtracting, in substance, and nearly in words, from a Discourse
delivered before the University of Oxford, on the 5th of Nov.
1821, and published with the second edition of the Bampton
Lectures.

Sect. ,3.] Vicarious rcUgio)!. 95
general sufficiently attended to : for it is not the
same thing to be merely acquainted with the
ambiguity of a word, and to be practically aware
of it, and watchful of the consequences connected
with it. And it is, I conceive, of no small im
portance that this ambiguity should be carefully
and frequently explained to those who are igno
rant of the original language of the Old Testament.
Our own name for the Ministers of our own
religion, we naturally apply to the Ministers (in
whatever sense) of any other religion ; but the
two words which have thus come to be translated
" Priest," seem by no means to be used synony
mously. The Priests, both of the Jews and of
Pagan nations '" , constantly bear, in the sacred
writers, the title of Hiereus; which title they
never apply to any of the Christian Ministers
ordained by the Apostles. These are called by
the title of Episcopos, (literally Superintendant ;
whence our English word " Bishop;") Presbyteros,
hterally Elder, and so rendered by our trans
lators, probably to avoid the ambiguity just
alluded to ; though the very word ' ' Presbyter"
or " Priest," is but a corruption of that name :
¦" Acts xiv. 13.

96 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
and — Diaconos, literally " Minister;" from which
our word Deacon is but slightly altered.
These titles, from their original vague and
general signification, became gradually not only
restricted in great measure to Christian Ministers,
but also more precisely distinguished from each
other than at first they had been ; so as to be
appropriated respectively to the different orders
of those Ministers, instead of being applied indis
criminately. But no mention is made, by the
sacred writers, of any such office being esta
blished by the Apostles, as that of " Priest" in
the other sense, viz. Hiereus; — Priest, in short,
such as we find mentioned, under that name, in
Scripture. Now this alone would surely be a strong pre
sumption that they regarded the two offices as
essentially distinct; for they must have been per
fectly familiar with the name ; and had they in
tended to institute the same office, or one very
similar to it, we cannot but suppose they would
have employed that name". The mere circum-
" For it should never be forgotten, that Christianity is the
offspring of Judaism, and that all the institutions and regula
tions of the Christian Church emanated from men who had

SscT. 4.] Vicarious religion. 97
stance that the Christian religion is very different
from all others, would, of itself, have been no
reason against this ; for the difference is infinite
between the divinely-instituted religion of the
Jews, and the idolatrous superstitions of the
heathen ; and yet, from similarity of office, the
word Hiereus is applied by the sacred writers to
the Ministers of both rehgious.
The difference of names, then, is, in such a
case as this, a matter of no trifling importance,
but would, even of itself, lead us to infer a dif
ference of things, and to conclude that the Apostles
regarded their religion as having no Priest at
all, (in the sense of 'Isgsb;,) except Christ Jesus,
of whom indeed all the Levitical Priests were but
types. ^.4. It should next be considered what was the
nature of that office which was exercised by the
Jewish and by the Pagan Priests ; and which,
according to the Apostle, belonged, after the
estabhshment of Christ's kingdom, to Him
alone.
been brought up as Jews, and who would not have deviated
- from what they had been used to, on slight grounds
H

98 Vicarious religion. [Chap, il
The Priests of the Israelites were appointed by
the Almighty himself for the express purpose of
offering sacrifices, in the name and on the behalf
of the people ; they alone were allowed to make
oblations and burn incense before the Lord : it
was through them that the people were to ap
proach Him, that their service might be accept
able : a very great portion of the Jewish religion
consisted in the performance of certain ceremonial
rites, most of which could only be duly performed
by the Priests, or through their mediation and
assistance ; they were to make intercession and
atonement for offenders ; they, in short, were the
mediators between God and man.
It is true the Israelites were a sacred nation,
and are called in Scripture a " kingdom of
Priests ;" but it is plain that this is not to be
understood as admitting them all indiscriminately
to the exercise of the sacred offices just men
tioned ; since the most tremendous punishments
were denounced (of whose infliction examples are
recorded) against any who, not being of the seed
of Aaron, presumed to take upon them to burn
incense and make oblations.
But it was requisite to impress on the minds

Sect. 4.] Vicarious religion. 99
of the Israelites that they were not to entertain
the notion (which appears to have been not un
common among the heathen) that religion was
the exclusive concern of the Priests : they, on
the contrary, were required to worship God
themselves — to conform to his ordinances — to keep
themselves pure from all defilement, moral or
ceremonial — and to practise all their duties out
of reverence to God, their Lawgiver and King ;
they were, in short, to be Priests in piety of
heart and holiness of life. And in the same
sense Peter calls Christians " a royal Priesthood;"
and John, in the Apocalypse, speaks of them as
" Kings and Priests;" evidently meaning that
they were dedicated to Christ, and were bound
to offer up themselves as a living sacrifice devoted
to Him. For it is most important to observe,
that when the title of Priest is applied to Chris
tians, it is applied to all of them.
There may have been another intention also in
calling the Israehtes a kingdom of Priests ; viz.
to point out that the mysteries of their religion
(which among the Pagans were in general kept
secret among the Priests, or some select number
whom these admitted to the knowledge of them)
H 2

100 Vicarious religion. [Chap.il
were revealed, as far as they were revealed at all,
to the whole of this favoured nation. Many parts
indeed of the Mosaic institutions were but im
perfectly understood by any, as to their object
and signification ; but nothing seems to have
been imparted to the Priests which was withheld
from the people. This very striking distinction
is remarked by Josephus, who observes, that
such religious mysteries as, among the heathen,
were concealed by the Priests, were imparted to
the whole Jewish nation.
That there was, however, a distinct order of
Priests, properly so called, set apart for a peculiar
purpose, is undeniable and undisputed.
Among the Pagans, whose institutions appear
to have been, in great measure, corrupt imitations
of those of the patriarchal religion, we find, as
before. Priests, who were principally, if not ex
clusively, the offerers of sacrifices, in behalf of
the State and of individuals — intercessors — sup
plicating and making atonement for others —
mediators between Man and the object of his
worship. This peculiarity of office was even carried to
the length of an abuse : (I speak now of the

Sbct. 4.] Vicarious religion. 101
abuses introduced into the institutions of the
Pagans, in contradistinction to the absurdities of
their faith:) there seems to have been (as has
been already hinted) a strong tendency to regard
all religion as exclusively the concern of the
Priests ; — that they were to be the sole deposi
taries of the mysteries of things sacred ; — that
a high degree of holiness of life and devotion
were required of them alone ; — that they were to
be religious, as it were, instead of the people ; —
and that men had only to shew due respect to
the Priests, and leave to them the service of the
Deity ; just as they commit the defence of the
state to soldiers, and the cure of their diseases,
to physicians. Against such notions (as was
before remarked) the Israelites were studiously,
and not without reason, cautioned.
The office of Priest, then, in that sense of the
word which I am now considering, viz. as equi
valent to Hiereus, being such as has been de
scribed, it foUows that, in our religion, the only
Priest, in that sense, is Jesus Christ himself; to
whom consequently, and to whom alone, under
the Gospel, the title is applied by the inspired
writers. He alone has offered up an atoning

102 Vicarious religion. [Ciap. ii.
sacrifice for us, even the sacrifice of his own blood;
He ' ' ever liveth to make intercession for us ;" He
is the " one Mediator between God and man;"
" through Him we have access to the Father;" and
" no man cometh unto the Father but by Him."
§. 5. As for the Ministers whom He, and
his Apostles, and their successors, appointed, they
are completely distinct from Priests in the former
sense, in office, as well as in name. Of this
office one principal part is, that it belongs to
them (not exclusively indeed, but principally and
especially) to preach the Gospel — to maintain
order and decency in their religious assembhes,
and Christian discipline, generally — to instruct,
exhort, admonish, and spiritually govern, Christ's
flock. His command was, to " go and teach all
nations ;" — to " preach the Gospel to every
creature :" and these Christian Ministers are
called in the Epistle to the Hebrews, " those that
bear rule over them, and watch for their souls,
as they that must give an account." Now it is
worthy of remark, that the office I am at present
speaking of made no part of the especial duties
of a Priest, in the other sense, such as those of

Sect. 5.] f7c«r/ous rcligiou. 103
the Jews, and of the Pagans. Among the
former, it was not so much the family of Aaron.
as the whole tribe of Levi, that seem to have
been set aside for the purpose of teaching the
Law : and even to these it was so far from being
in any degree confined, that persons of any tribe
might teach publicly in the synagogues on the
Sabbath day ; as was done by our Lord himself,
who was of the tribe of Judah ; and by Paul, of
the tribe of Benjamin, without any objection being-
raised : whereas an intrusion into the Priest's
office would have been vehemently resented.
And as for the Pagan Priests, their business
was rather to conceal, than to explain, the
mysteries of their rehgion ; — to keep the people
in darkness, than to enlighten them. Accord
ingly, the moral improvement of the people, among
the ancients, seems to have been considered as
the proper care of the legislator, whose laws and
systems of public education generally had this
object in view. To these, and to the public
disputations of philosophers, but by no means to
the Priests of their religion, they appear to have
looked for instruction in their duty.
That the Christian Ministry, on the contrary.

104 Vicarious religion. [Chap. k.
were appointed, in great measure, if not princi
pally, for the express purpose of gi^ving religious
instruction and admonition, is clearly proved
both by the practice of the Apostles themselves,
and by Paul's directions to Timothy and to
Titus. Another, and that a peculiar and exclusive
office of the Christian Ministers, at least accord
ing to the practice of most Churches, is, the
administration of the sacraments of Baptism and
of the Lord's Supper. But this administration
does not at all assimilate the Christian Priesthood
to the Pagan or the Jewish. The former of
these rites is, in the first place, an admission
into the visible Church ; and therefore very
suitably received at the hands of those whose
especial business is to instruct and examine those
who are candidates for Baptism, as adults, or
who have been baptized in their infancy ; and
in the second place, it is an admission to a par
ticipation in the gifts of the Spirit ; without
which the Church itself, and the formal admission
into it, would be an empty mockery. The
treasury, as it were, of divine grace is then
thrown open, to which we may resort when a

Sect. 5.] Vicorious religion. 105
sufficient maturity of years enables us to under
stand our wants, and we are inclined to apply
for their relief It is not, let it be observed,
through the mediation of an earthly Priest that
we are admitted to offer our supphcations before
God's mercy-seat ; we are authorized, by virtue
of this sacred rite, to appear, as it were, in his
presence, ourselves, needing no intercessor with
the Father, but his Son Jesus Christ, both God
and man. " Having therefore," says Paul,
" boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood
of Jesus, by a new and hving way, which he
hath consecrated for us, and having an High
Priest over the house of God, let us draw near
with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and
our bodies washed with pure water."
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper, again,
is not, as the Romanists impiously pretend, a
fresh sacrifice, but manifestly a celebration of the
one already made ; and the rite seems plainly
to have been ordained for the express purpose
(among others) of fixing our minds on the great
and single oblation of himself, made by the only
High Priest, once for all ; — that great High Priest

106 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
who has no earthly successor. And all the com
municants are alike partakers, spiritually, of the
body and blood of Christ, (i. e. of the Spirit of
Christ, represented by his Flesh and Blood, as
these again are, by the Bread and Wine",) provided
they themselves are in a sanctified and right frame
of mind. It is on the personal hohness of the
communicant, not of the Minister, that the effi
cacy of this Sacrament depends ; he, so far from
offering any sacrifice himself, refers them to the
sacrifice already made by another.
Such being then the respective offices of these
two orders of men, (both now commonly called in
English " Priests," but originally distinguished by
the names of 'isgeu; and Upsa-fiuTsgog,) we may assert,
that the word in question is ambiguous ; denoting,
when thus applied to both, two things, essentially
distinct. It is not merely a comprehensive term,
embracing two species under one class, but rather
an equivocal term, applied, in different senses,
to two things of different classes. Thus the
word Publican, for instance, is ambiguous when
applied to a " tax-gatherer" and an " innkeeper;"
" See note on the Eucharist appended to Essay viii. Second
Series.

Sect. A.]

Vicarious religion. 107

though " Man," which is a stiU more comprehen
sive term, may be applied to both without am
biguity ; because, however widely they differ, it
denotes them only so far forth as they agree ;
in short, it is apphed to them in the same sense;
which " Publican" is not. No more is " Priest,"
when applied to the "Hiereus" and the "Pres
byteros." At least it must be admitted, that what
is most essential to each respectively, is wanting
in the other. The essential characteristic of the
Jewish Priests, was, (not their being Ministers
of religion ; for that, in a certain sense, all the
Levites were ; but) their offering sacrifices, and
making atonement and intercession for the people :
whereas of the Christian Minister the especial
office is religious instruction, regulation of the
religious assembhes, and of the religious and moral
conduct, of the people, generally ; (an office cor
responding to that of the Jewish Elders or Pres
byters, and of the " Rulers of Synagogues,") and
the administration of rites totally different in
their nature from the offering of sacrifices ; —
totally precluding the idea of his making himself
the mediator between God and man.

108 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
^. 6. The confounding together, then, through
the ambiguity of language, two things thus es
sentially distinct, may well be expected to mis
lead, not only such as are ignorant of the dis
tinction, but all who do not carefully attend to it,
and keep it steadily in view. If we are but care
ful not to lose sight of the two meanings of the
word " Priest" — the broad distinction between
'Ispsv; and Hgsa-^urepo; — we shall run no risk of
being either seduced or silenced by all the
idle clamours that are afloat about priestcraft.
Our readiest and shortest answer wiU be, that ,
Christianity (I mean Christianity as found in
Scripture, not as perverted by the Romish Church,
which claims an authority independent of Scrip
ture) has no priestcraft, for this simple reason,
that it has (in that sense of the word in which our
opponents employ it) no Priest on earth.
And it is worthy of remark how striking a
peculiarity this is in our religion ; there being
probably no religion in the world, certainly none
that has ever prevailed among the more cele
brated nations, which has not Priests in the
same sense in which the Levitical Priests and

Sect. 6.] V^icarious religion. 109
those of the ancient Greeks and Romans are so
called. Now every peculiarity of our religion
is worth noticing, with a view to the confirmation
of our faith, even though it may not at first sight
strike us as a distinguishing excellence : for that
our religion should differ from all others, in points
in which they all agree, is a presumption at
least that it is not drawn from the same origin.
And the presumption is the stronger, inasmuch
as the difference I have been speaking of is not
shght or verbal, but real and essential. The
Priesthood of Pagan nations, and that of our
own, are not merely unlike, but, in the most
essential points, even opposite. They offer sacri
fices for the people ; we refer them to a sacrifice
made by another; they profess to be the media
tors through whom the Deity is to be addressed ;
we teach them to look to a heavenly Mediator,
and in his name boldly to approach God's mercy-
seat themselves: they study to conceal the mys
teries of religion; we labour to make them
known: they have, for the most part, hidden
sacred books, which none but a chosen few may
look into; we teach and exhort men to study
the word of God themselves : they strive to keep

110 Vicarious religion. [Chap.il
the people in darkness, and to stifle inquiry; we
make it our business to enlighten them ; urging
them to " search the Scriptures" — to " prove
all things — and to hold fast that which is right:"
they practise the duties of their religion instead
of the people; we instruct and admonish all to
practise them for themselves. And it may be
added, that they in general teach, that a devoted
confidence in them and obedience to their com
mands, will serve as a substitute for a moral
life ; while we declare to them from Scripture,
that it is in vain to call Jesus Lord, if they " do
not the things which He says."
Now if the Jews be justly condemned, who
crucified our Lord between two thieves — thus
studiously " numbering with the transgressors"
of the vilest kind, the only man who never
transgressed — it is awful to think what account
those will have to render at the last day, who
labour to vilify this religion, by confounding it
with the grossest systems of human imposture
and superstition, in those very points in which
the two are not only different, but absolutely
contrasted.

Sect. 7.] Vicurious religion. 1 1 1
§. 7. Great occasion however (as I have said)
has been afforded for the enemies of our faith to
blaspheme, by the corruptions which the Romish
Church has sanctioned, especially in what regards
the Christian Priesthood. She has, in fact, in
a great degree, transformed the Presbyter —
the Priest of the Gospel dispensation — into the
Hiereus, or Levitical Priest: thus derogating
from the honour of the one great High Priest,
and altering some of the most characteristic
features of his religion, into something more like
Judaism or Paganism than Christianity.
The Romish Priest professes, like the Jewish,
to offer sacrifice (the sacrifice of the mass) to
propitiate God towards himself and his congre
gation: the efficacy of that sacrifice is made to
depend on sincerity and rectitude of intention,
not in the communicants themselves, but in the
Priest; he, assuming the character of a mediator
and intercessor, prays, not with, but for, the
people, in a tongue unknown to them, and in
an inaudible voice: the whole style and character
of the service being evidently far different from
what the Apostle must have intended, in com
manding us to " pray for one another." The

112 Vicarous religion. [Cbap. n.
Romish Priest undertakes to reconcile transgres
sors with the Almighty, by prescribing penances,
to be performed by them, in order to obtain his
absolution ; and, profanely copying our only
High Priest, pretends to transfer to them his own
merits, or those of the saints. He, like a Pagan,
rather than a Jewish, Priest, keeps hidden from
the people the volume of their faith, that they
may with ignorant reverence submit to the
dominion of error, instead of being " made free
by the truth," which he was expressly com
missioned to make known ; thus hiding the
" candle under a bushel," which was designed to
" be a hght to lighten the nations."
In short, whoever will minutely examine, with
this view, the errors of the Romish Church, will
find that a very large and important portion of
them may be comprehended under this one
general censure, that they have destroyed the
true character of the Christian Priesthood ; sub
stituting for it, in great measure, what cannot
be called a Priesthood, except in a different sense
of the word. They have, in short, gone far
towards changing the office of Presbyter into
that of Hiereus. Against that Church, there-

Sl<t. 7.] Vicarious religion. 113
fore, the charge of priestcraft may but too justly
be brought.
A natural consequence of this error, indeed,
properly speaking, a part of it, is that further
approach to Judaism, the error of regcirding a
Christian place of worship as answering to the
Temple — " the House of God" in Jerusalem ;
whereas it really corresponds to a Jewish synagogue.
And thus the reverence due to the real Temple of
the Lord now subsisting among us and within us
(" ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost which
dwelleth in you") is transferred from the people —
the " hvely stones" of God's House, to the build
ing in which they assemble''. On the same
principle, the Table used for the celebration of
the Eucharist is often called, (consistently, by
Romanists, but inconsistently, by Protestants,) the
" Ahar." Part of the same system again was the per
formance of divine service in an unknown tongue
— the concealment of the sacred mysteries of the
Christian faith behind the veil of a dead lan
guage — and the opposition made to the transla-
'' See Hinds's Three Temples of the One God.
I

114 Vicarious religion. [Chap.ii.
tion of the Scriptures into the vernacular lan
guages. ^.8. If any one doubts the existence, among
Protestants of the present day, of a like principle,
he may find but too convincing a proof of it in
the opposition still made by some, to the edu
cation of the poor. Surely many of those who
profess the greatest abhorrence of Romish errors,
have never considered that this denial of the
Scriptures to the people is one of the worst of
them ; and that whether the Bible is in Latin or in
English, makes little difference to one who cannot
read. Nor do such persons consider, that it was
(if I may so speak) the great boast of the Founder
of our Faith, that " to the poor the Gospel was
preached :" so that if his religion be not really
calculated for these, his pretensions must have
been unfounded.' The very truth of his divine
mission is at issue on this question.
And yet if it were asked of any one, Romanist
or Protestant, who professes to acknowledge the
divine origin of the Christian religion, whether
that religion was designed for the great mass of
the people, or merely for a few of the higher

Sect. 8.] Vicauous religion. 1 1 5
classes, he would be sure to answer, that it was
intended for all mankind. And in proof of this,
he might cite numerous passages of the Scriptures
which imply it ; such as the command of our
Lord to " preach the Gospel to every creature,"
and his application, just above noticed, of the
prophecy, " to the poor the Gospel is preached."
And he would represent it (and justly) as a point
of the highest importance, as I have said, towards
our belief in the Christian rehgion, that we
should regard it as suited to all mankind — as one
which all, above the condition of mere savages,
are capable of embracing ; because otherwise it
cannot be a true revelation. For the first founders
of it plainly had this design ; Jesus Christ him
self did certainly intend his religion for high and
low, rich and poor ; and therefore if it be not
one which the lower ranks of society are capable
of embracing. He, the founder of it, must have
been mistaken in his calculation — must have
been ignorant either of the character of his own
religion, or of the nature of man ; which would
of course imply that He could not have been
divinely inspired. The systems of Aristotle or
Plato, of Newton or Locke, may, conceivably, be
I 2

116 Vicarious religion. [CnAP, ii.
very true, although the mass of mankind cannot
comprehend them, because they were never in
tended for the mass of mankind : but the Chris
tian religion was; and therefore it cannot really
be a divine revelation, unless it be such as men
in general can understand and embrace.
And yet, though such would be the answer
which almost all believers would give, in words,
if such a question were put, there are, as I have
said, not a few who, in practice, give a contrary
answer. I mean, that they act as if the Christian
religion were not designed for the lower orders,
but only for a small portion of mankind. For
this those do, who, under the pretence that the
labouring classes " need not be profound theo
logians," consider it unnecessary, or even mis
chievous, to give them such an education as may
enable them to study for themselves the Scrip
tures, and the explanations needful for the un
derstanding of them. And yet they profess to
hold, that the Christian religion was meant to be
embraced by people of all ranks.
Whence comes this contradiction ? this in
consistency of their practical views with their
professed belief? It arises, I conceive, from their

Sect. 6.] Vicurious religion. 1 1 7
not considering what the Christian religion is,
and what is meant by embracing it. When they
say that they beheve it to be designed for the
mass of the people, and yet that these need not,
or should not, be educated, what they mean is
this : that it is possible for a man without any
education, to be sober, honest, industrious, con
tented, &c., and that sobriety, honesty, and the
rest, are Christian virtues; and that, consequently,
a man may be a good practical Christian without
any education. What they mean, in short, by a
man's being a good Christian, is his doing those
things which are enjoined to Christians, and ab
staining from those things which are forbidden.
To know on what grounds the Christian religion
is to be believed, to understand any thing of its
doctrines — to adopt or to comprehend any Chris
tian motives and principles of conduct — all this
they conceive to be unnecessary, except for the
clergy and the higher classes, as long as a man's
conduct is but right. Now this is in fact, as I
have said, the Romish system ; which is so natural
to man, that under one shape or another, it is
continually springing up under new names. The
Romish Church, we know, used to forbid, and, as

118 Vicarious religion. [Chai>. ii.
long as it was possible, prevented, the Scriptures
being translated into the popular languages ; and
enjoined the people not to attempt to pry into
rehgious questions for themselves, but to believe
implicitly and in the lump, all that the holy
Church believed, and to do whatever their priests
enjoined them, without making any inquiries;
and this, they declared, was the way to be good
Christians. Now to waive the question how far any one
is likely to lead a moral life who knows little or
nothing about his religion — let it be supposed
that a man is leading such a life ; still I contend
that it cannot be said to be a Christian life, if it
does not spring from Christian principles. The
brute-animals conform to the design of their
Maker, and act in a manner suitable to the nature
with which He has endued them : but it would
sound strange to say that they are religious.
Why not ? because they have no knowledge or
notion of a God, but fulfil his designs without
intending and without knowing it. And no more
can a man be said to embrace the Christian re
ligion, and to lead a Christian life, who does in
deed fulfil all the Christian commandments, but

Sect. 8.] Vicarious 1-eligion. 1 1 9
not from any Christian principle — from any
motives peculiar to the Christian religion — but
for the sake of credit, or health, or prosperity,
in the world, or from fear of human punishment —
or from deference to the authority of the Priest,
or of some other person whom he looks up to,
or from any other such motive. Worldly goods
will undoubtedly be produced by honest industry,
temperance, friendliness, and good conduct in
general. And it is conceivable therefore, (I do
not say hkely,) but it is certainly conceivable, that
a man might conduct himself practically as a
Christian should do, merely for the sake of these
worldly advantages, and not from any Christian
principle. But in that case his could no more
be cahed a Christian life, than that of a brute-
animal, or than the movements of a machine.
The patient who has been cured of his disease,
by strictly conforming to the directions of a skilful
physician, is not, by swallowing the medicines
prescribed, a step the nearer to becoming himself
a physician'. Every part of the New Testament bears witness
'' See Arist. Eth. Nic. b. ii. ch. 4. b. vi. ch. 12.

120 Vicarious religion. [Chap. n.
to the truth of what I have been saying. The
apostles do not even allow it to be sufficient,
that a man should believe in Christianity, without
knowing 2f;/i?/ he believes it. " Be always ready,"
says the apostle Paul, " to give a reason for the
hope that is in you." Indeed it is plain, that
if any one believes any thing without any reason,
but merely because some one has told him to
do so, even if that which he believes be the
truth, yet it is only by chance that he beUeves
the truth ; — he does not believe it because it is
true; and this is not faith, but blind credulity.
Now " without faith it is impossible to please
God." And, according to the apostles, the
Christian is required not only to believe in his
rehgion, and to know what that religion is, but to
implant in his mind Christian feelings and mo
tives — " to grow in grace," as well as " in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" — to be ac
tuated by gratitude and love for Christ, who
died for his sins — by an earnest desire to prove
that love by copying his example — by obeying
his commands — by being led by his Spirit ; and,
at every step he takes, " looking unto Jesus
the Author and Finisher of our faith," as his

Sect. 8.] Vicarious rcUgion. 121
pattern and his support iij this life, and his
eternal rewarder in the next.
Such being then the view which Christ himself
and his apostles took of the Christian religion,
which religion he evidently meant to be " preached
to every creature," and considered as one which
might be, and should be, embraced by men of
aU classes, it is plain, that, if they were not
mistaken in their views — in short, if they really
were sent from God — it is possible and needful
that all classes should have a sufficiency of edu
cation to enable them to understand what their
religion is, and why it should be received, and
how it is to be acted upon.
It is but a slight modification of the same
Romanist-principle to propose that the poor should
indeed be taught to read, and should have \\\e four
Evangelists put into their hands, but that all, except
learned divines, should be discouraged as much as
possible from the perusal of the Apostolic Epistles,
lest they should " wrest these to their own
destruction ;" a pretext which was urged with
equal reason, and perhaps with more consistency,
by the Romanists, for precluding the people from
reading " the other Scriptures" also''.
*¦ I have treated fully of this question in Essay ii. SecondSerics.

122 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
The Christian religion, as represented in Scrip
ture, is one that is to be believed on rational
conviction, and studied, and felt, and brought
into the practice of life, by each man for himself,
in all classes of society. The Christian religion,
as perverted by the Church of Rome, and as
human nature is always tending to pervert it,
is in fact two religions ; one for the initiated few,
and one for the mass of the people, who are
to follow implicitly the guidance of the others,
trusting to their vicarious wisdom, and piety, and
learning, believing and practising just as much as
these permit and require.
Perhaps the use of the terms " pastor" and
" flock," to express the relation between the
minister and his congregation, may have led
the incautious to form insensibly a notion of
some more close analogy than really subsists.
He cannot too often or too earnestly warn the
people, that they are not properly his flock, but
Christ's; he is only an Assistant and Servant
of the " Chief Shepherd;" and must not only
refer at every step to Scripture, but also warn
his hearers not - to take upon trust his inter
pretation, but themselves to " search the Scrip
tures daily, whether those things be so" which

Sect. 9.] Vicarious religion. 1 23
he teaches. The language of Scripture is, (I
believe invariably,) " feed the fiock of Christ;"
" feed my sheep," &c.
But the Romish system makes the people
altogether the priest's flock, by exalting him into
the Mediator between them and God. Hence
sprung the doctrine of the necessity of Confession
to a priest, and of the efficacy of the Penance
he may enjoin, and the Absolution he bestows —
hence the Celibacy of the Clergy, as of an Order
of men of peculiar sanctity. Hence the doctrine
of works of Supererogation, and of the supposed
transferableness from one man to another of the
merit of such extraordinary holiness as is not
required of Christians in general.
4. 9. I repeat, that these, and a whole train
of similar absurdities, are too gross to have been
forced upon the behef of men not predisposed
to receive them: — predisposed, I mean, not by
mere intellectual weakness, but by a moral per
versity combined with it ; — by a heart alienated
from God, yet fearful of his displeasure, and covet
ing the satisfaction of a quiet conscience at the
least possible expence of personal piety and per
sonal exertion.

124 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
In all ages and countries, man, through the
disposition he inherits from our first parents, is
more desirous of a quiet and approving, than
of a vigilant and tender, conscience ; — studious
to escape the thought of spiritual danger, more
than the danger itself; and to induce, at any
price, some one to assure him confidently that
he is safe — to " prophesy unto him smooth
things," and to " speak peace," even " when
there is no peace."
Inexcusable indeed, in the sight of God, are
those who encourage and take advantage of such
a delusion ; but the people have little right to
complain of them. To many of them one might
say, " you have had what you sought ; you were
not seeking in sincerity to know and to please
God ; if you had been, you would have perceived
the vanity of attempting to substitute the piety
and good works of a sinful fellow-mortal for your
own ; you would have perceived the extravagance
of imagining that you could purchase happiness
or relief in a future state, by hiring a priest to
say masses for your soul : what you sought for
in reality, was the repose of your soul in this
life ; a security from the disturbances of con
science, and from a sense of personal respon-

Sect. 9.] Vicarious religion. 125
sibility : these false comforts are what in reality
your heart was set on ; and these alone are what
you have purchased."
If such then be the natural propensity of the
human mind, we must expect that it will always,
and every where, be struggling to shew itself, not
only when encouraged, but when not carefully
watched and repressed, by the ministry.
I might appeal to any one who has had, and
has made use of, the requisite experience, whether
he has not continually met with more or less of
this tendency to substitute the religious knowledge,
the faith — the piety — the prayers — the holiness
and purity, of the Minister, for that of the
Layman. How many are there that regard the study of
the Scriptures, and the endeavour to understand
them, as a professional pursuit, very becoming to
a clergyman, but of which little or nothing is
required of the laity ; — that speak of all the
peculiar doctrines of Christianity under the title
of " theological mysteries," with which the clergy
may suitably be occupied, but with which it is
needless, if not even presumptuous and profane,
for the unlearned to concern themselves ; — that

126 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii,
regard the practice of family-devotions as very
proper in the house of a clergyman, but in any
other, as uncalled for, or even savouring of phari-
saical ostentation. Nay, even licentious or pro
fane discourse, intemperance and debauchery, or
devotedness to frivolous amusements, we often
hear characterised as " unbecoming a clergyman,"
in a sort of tone which implies the speaker's
feeling to be, that they are unbecoming merely to
a clergyman, not, to a Christian.
§. 10. Many things again there are, which,
being considered as in themselves indifferent, are
not necessarily unsuitable to a Christian as such,
but of which some are regarded by a greater, and
some by a smaller number, as professionally un-
suited to a Minister of religion. Now it might
perhaps have been expected, that the views, as to
this point, of different persons among the laity,
should correspond respectively with the different
views they take of their own obligations; I mean,
that those who are the less, or the more, scrupulous
as to their own conduct, should allow a greater, or
a less, latitude to the clergy in respect of the pro
fessional strictness of life and seriousness of

Stcr. 10.] Vicarious religion. 127
demeanour required of them. But experience
shews that this is very often the reverse of the
fact. None are more rigid in exacting of clergy
men not only purity of life, but the most un
bending seriousness of deportment, and abstinence
from almost every kind of amusement, than
many of those, who, in their own lives, are the
most unrestrained in the pursuit of amusement,
and who exhibit the greatest degree of frivolity
or of worldliness in their pursuits — of levity in
their conversation, and of inattention to religious
subjects. Does not this imply a lurking tendency
to that very error which has been openly sanc
tioned and established in the Romish Church ?
the error of thinking to serve God by a deputy
and representative ; — of substituting respect for
religion and its ministers, for personal religion ; —
and regarding the learning and faith, the prayer
and piety, and the scrupulous sanctity, of the
priest, as being in some way or other efficaciously
transferred from him to the people. It seems
some consolation to such persons as I am alluding
to that they have heard sound doctrine at least,
if they have not laid it to heart ; that they have
ivitnessed and respected a strict and unblemished

128 Vicarious religion. [Chap. ii.
life, and a serious deportment, though they have
not copied it ; and that on their death-bed they
will be enabled to send for a minister of un
doubted learning and piety, and enjoy the benefit
of his prayers and his blessing, though the holy
water and the Extreme-Unction of the Romanists
have been laid aside. They take little care indeed
to keep their own lights burning ; but when sum
moned to meet their Lord, they will have one to
whom they may apply in their extremity, saying,
" Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going
out." All indeed, who are in any degree under such
a delusion as I am describing, are not subject to
it in the same degree ; but attentive observation
will convince every candid enquirer, that in this,
as well as in other points, mankind are naturally
and generally Romanists in heart ; — predisposed,
by the tendencies of their original disposition,
to errors substantially the same with those which
are embodied in the Romish system.
But are not, it may be urged, ignorance of
religion and unchristian conduct, much more
censurable in the ministers of religion than in
others ? The answer is, that this is a point for them

Sect. U!.] Vicurious religion. 129
to consider. Of every one the more is required
in proportion as the more is given — in proportion
as his opportunities may have been greater, and
his temptations less, than his neighbour's ; but
this is a matter for him, not for his neighbour,
to be occupied upon. Let each class of men,
and each individual man, think chiefly of im
proving the talent committed to himself; remem
bering, that even the mote in his own eye, is
more his concern than the beam that is in his
brother's. It is for the clergy to meditate on
their own peculiar and deep responsibility : it
is for the laity to consider, not how much more
is expected of others, but how much, of them
selves. But again, should there, it may be said, be
no professional difference in habits of life between
the clergy and the laity ?
There should: for, in the first place, as religious
teachers, they may be expected to be more espe
cially occupied in fitting themselves for that
office ; in qualifying themselves to explain, and to
enforce on others, the evidences, the doctrines,
and the obligations of religion ; but they are not
K

130 Vicarious religion. [Chap, ii,
to be expected to understand more of things
surpassing human reason, than God has made
known by revelation, or to be the depositaries of
certain mysterious speculative doctrines; but
" stewards of the mysteries of God," rightly di
viding or dispensing (ogSoTo/xoi5i/T6j) the word of
truth." And in respect of their general habits of Ufa
and deportment, undoubtedly they should con
sider, that not only of every profession, but of each
age, sex, and condition in life, something charac
teristic is fairly expected in regard to matters
in themselves indifferent. The same things are
not decorous or indecorous, in a magistrate, and
a private person — in a young, and an old man, in
those of the higher, and of the lower, orders of
society, in a man, and in a woman, or in persons
of different professions. And each man's own
discretion must determine how he is to conduct
himself in respect of things intrinsically indif
ferent, so as to preserve the decorum of his own
peculiar situation, as distinct from another's, with
out giving needless offence, or in any other way
producing ill effects, on either side.

suT. IL] J^icarious religion. 131
§.11. For there are dangers on both sides;
and with one brief remark on a danger not un-
frequently overlooked, I will dismiss the present
subject. It is I believe sometimes supposed by some
of the best-intentioned among the ministry, that
there is little or no danger except on the side of
laxity ; — that excessive scrupulosity in respect of
matters in themselves indifferent can, at the worst,
only be unnecessary. Of course it will not be
expected that I should enter into particulars, or
attempt to draw the line in each case that may
occur : but the remark to which I would invite
attention is, that as it is confessedly one great
part of a clergyman's duty to set a good ex
ample, so, it is self-evident that his example
can have no influence — (except on his brother-
ministers) — no chance of being imitated by
the People, in respect of any thing which he
is supposed to do or to abstain from, merely
as a clergyman. Whatever things they are
which are supposed to be professionally decorous
or indecorous — whatever is supposed to be suit
able or unsuitable to a clergyman as such, and
not to Christians as Christians — it is plain that
k2

132 Vicarious religion. [Chap.il
no strictness, on the part of the clergy, in these
points, can have the least tendency to induce a
corresponding strictness in the laity. I am not
saying that there are no points of this nature ; —
that there should be nothing peculiar belonging to
the clergy ; but merely that in these points they
are setting no example to the people ; — that that in
short is not an example, which is supposed pe
culiar to one profession, and therefore not meant
to be imitated in others. I admit that a life
of great strictness in such points, may give
great satisfaction — may be admired — may pro
cure respect for the individual, and so far, may
even give weight to what he says on other points ;
nay, it may be even called by the unthinking
exemplary; but it is plain, that, so far as it is
regarded as professional, it never can be exemplary,
except to the clergy themselves.
And the more there is of this professional dis
tinction, the greater will be the danger, and the
more sedulously must it be guarded against, of
the people's falling into the error of regarding
other things also as pertaining to the Christian
Minister alone, which in fact pertain to the
Christian : the longer the list is of things for-

Sect. 11.] Victtrious rcUgion. 133
bidden or enjoined to the clergy and not to the
laity, the greater the risk of their adding to
the list that Christian knowledge, that Christian
spirit and temper, and that Christian self-con
trol and sobriety of conduct, which are required
of all that partake of the Christian covenant and
Christian hopes''.
Not only therefore must the clergy be blame
less in the performance of their duties, but they
must carefully distinguish which of them are
their duties as Christians, and which, merely as
ministers; and with that view they must avoid
unnecessarily multiplying professional distinc
tions ; lest the most unimpeachable conduct
should fail to convey an example, from its being
supposed not designed for imitation.
' " Absurd as the thought is when expressed in words,
man would be virtuous, be humane, be charitable, by proxy,
&c." Letter to Mr. Peel, on Pauperism, p. 19.
How far I am indebted to this work for the first suggestion
of many of the principles I have endeavoured to develop in
the present chapter, is more than I can distinctly pronounce :
especially as the Author is one who has more or less con
tributed, directly or indirectly, to the formation of nearly
all my opinions on the most important points.

134 Vicarous religion. [Chap. ii.
We cannot indeed he too learned in " the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," and in the
knowledge of " all the counsel of God," or too
scrupulous in our conformity to his will : but
then only can we be " pure from the blood of all
men," if we " set before them all the counsel of
God" — make known to them " the mystery of
the Gospel," and their " fellowship in that
mystery" — and lead them to apply practically
their religious knowledge, and to be " followers
of us, even as we are of Christ Jesus."

CHAPTER in.
PIOVS FRAUDS.

^. \. It may be said of almost all the Romish
errors, that they not only have their common
source in man's frail nature, but also are so
intimately connected together, that they will
generally be found, if not directly to generate,
yet mutually to foster and promote, one another.
For example, the disposition already noticed, to
speculate concerning superhuman mysteries un
connected with practice, though it does not alone
produce, yet favours and encourages, the error of
reserving one portion of faith and piety for a
superior initiated class, and making their religion
a vicarious substitute for that of the people, who
are to trust in and imphcitly follow the direction
of their guide. And this corruption again, though
it does not directly engender, yet fosters and
increases another ; that of maintaining this

136 Pious frauds. [Chap. hi.
spiritual -tyranny, by deceit. Those who have
once adopted the system of keeping the vulgar
in partial darkness, will easily reconcile themselves
to the practice of misleading them, where it seems
needful, by false lights. From a conviction of
the necessity of keeping them in implicit subjec
tion to their authority, the transition is easy to
the maintenance of that authority, by what are
regarded as salutary delusions.
It is not however to any deliberate scheme of
an ambitious hierarchy that this branch of priest
craft owes its origin ; nor is it indeed properly
priestcvaft. The tendency to resort to deceit for
the compassing of any end whatever that seems
hardly attainable by honest means, and not least,
if it be supposed a good end, is inherent, if any
fault be inherent, in our corrupt nature. And in
each age and country instances occur of this
offence, such as perhaps in a different age and
country appear so monstrous as to be hardly
credible, from the difficulty of estimating aright
the pecuhar circumstances which in each instance
constituted the temptation.
And this is more peculiarly the case, when
those who are passing judgment on any instance

Si.<i. 1.] Pious frauds. 137
of fraud, chance to regard that 'as a bad end
which the authors of the fraud pursued as a good
one ; — when they are convinced of the falsity of
the conclusion, which ¦vs'as perhaps sincerely held,
by those who sought to support it by deceitful
means. For example, the fraud related to have
been practised by the Jewish rulers in reference
to our Lord's resurrection, seems at first sight
almost to surpass the limits of human impu
dence and wickedness in imposture. " And when
they were assembled with the elders, they gave
large money unto the soldiers, saying. Say ye,
His disciples came by night and stole Him away
while we slept\" But let it be remembered, that
the deceit here recorded, must certainly be re
ferred to the class of what are called, " Pious
Frauds :" those, namely, which any one employs
and justifies to himself, as conducing, according
to his ¦view, to the defence or promotion of true
religion. There is in such conduct a union of
sincerity and insincerity — of conscientiousness in
respect of the end, and unscrupulous dishonesty
as to the means : for without the one of these
ingredients there could be no fraud ; and with-
" Matt, xxviii. 12, 13.

138 Pious frauds. [Chap. in.
out the other, it could in no sense be termed a
pious fraud.
And such, 1 say, undoubtedly was the fraud
we are considering. For the Jewish elders cer
tainly did not beheve in Jesus as the Messiah,
though they could not deny his superhuman
powers. There is hardly any evidence which a
man may not bring himself to resist, if it come,
not before, but after, he has fully made up his
mind. But in the present instance the esta
blished belief in magic, and the agency of demons
in subjection to those skilled in the art, furnished
a better evasion than could be devised among us,
of the force of the evidence offered. And being
predetermined by their own view of the ancient
prophecies, to reject the claim of Jesus, they
pronounced Him (as the unbelieving Jews do at
this day'') to be a powerful Magician, and one
'' A book is now extant and well known among the Jews,
which gives this account of Him : and it furnishes a striking
confirmation of the statement of the Evangelists ; viz. that the
unbelieving Jews of his days did admit his miraculous powers.
For the book must have been compiled from traditions afloat
in the nation ; and it is utterly inconceivable that, if those
who were contemporary with our Lord, and on the spot, had

Sect. 1.] Pious frauds. 139
who " deceived the people." As maintainors
therefore of the Mosaic law, in whose divine
authority they were believers, they held them
selves not only authorized, but bound, to suppress
his rehgion : according to our Lord's own pro
phecy, "Whosoever kiheth you, will think that
he doeth God service." For the prevention
therefore of the mischief they apprehended, " lest
all men should believe in Him, and the Romans
should come, and take away their place and
nation," (an event which, it is remarkable, did
actually take place in consequence of their re
jecting Him, and trusting to false Christs,) they
scrupled not to resort to falsehood, to weaken
the effect of his miracles.
The benefit derivable from such an example
as this is apt to be lost to us, from our dwelling
exclusively on the badness of the object these
men pursued ; and not enough considering, ab
stractedly from that, the profligacy of the means
employed. Persuaded as we are that Jesus was

denied the fact of the miracles, any tradition should after
wards have sprung up, admitting the miracles, and accounting
for them by the hypothesis of Magic.

140 Pious frauds. [Chap. in.
the true Messiah, we are apt, in contemplating
the perversity of those who closed their eyes
against the evidence of this, to blend in our
minds, that sin, with the other, which is quite
distinct — the fraud with which Christianity was
opposed ; — to mix up, and connect in our
thoughts, as they were connected in fact, the
rejection of the Son of God, and the falsification
of the evidence of his resurrection ; — and, in
short, almost to forget that if Jesus had been
indeed a deceiver, that would not have justified
the employment of deceit to maintain God's cause
against Him.
In proportion as feelings of this kind prevail,
the benefit of such an example to ourselves is
destroyed. Our abhorrence of their sin has no
tendency to fortify us against temptation ; —
against that temptation, I mean, in the very
nature of which it is implied that the end pro
posed is sincerely believed to be good. Whether
this belief chance to be correct or not, a just
estimate of the heinousness of what is properly
denominated pious fraud, would lead us to re
gard it with equal detestation, whether employed
in a good or in a bad cause.

,^ht. 2.] Pious frauds. 141
^.2. The tendency to take this indistinct view
of things — to contemplate in confused conjunc
tion a bad end, and wrong means employed to
support it, has doubtless contributed to prevent
Protestants from deri\dng the benefit they might,
in the way of example and warning, from the
errors of the Romanists. In our abhorrence of
the frauds they have so often employed in sup
port of their corrupt system, we are prone per
haps to forget, or at least not sufficiently to
consider, that it is not the corruptness of the
system that makes the frauds detestable ; and
that the same sin may no less easily beset our
selves, and will be no less offensive to God,
however sound may be our own system of faith.
With a view to keep this more steadily before
the mind, I have limited my remarks to the
subject of what are called pious frauds, because
it is against these alone that we have need to be
put on our guard, It would be vain to admonish
an unbelieving hypocrite : but a sincere Pro
testant Christian may need to be reminded, that
as he believes his own religion to be true, so
do many of the Romanists beheve theirs ; and
that though they are in fact erroneous in this

142 Pious frauds. [Chap. IlL
belief, it is not that erroneousness that either leads
them to resort to pious frauds, or exposes them
to just censure for so doing ; nor consequently,
can the correctness of his own faith secure him
from the danger, or extenuate the guilt, of prac
tising a like deceit.
I have dwelt thus earnestly on a truth which,
though perpetually overlooked in practice, is
self-evident the moment it is stated, because
the mistake opposed to it is closely connected
with, or rather is a part of, that which it has
been my principal object throughout the present
work to counteract ; — the mistake, I mean, of
referring various errors of Romanism to the
Romish Church, as their source — of representing
that system as the cause of those corruptions
which in fact produced it, and which have their
origin in our common nature : and hence of
regarding what are emphatically called, the
errors of Romanism, as peculiar to that Church,
and into which, consequently, Protestants are in
no danger of falling. But all of them, as I
have already endeavoured in some instances to
point out, may be traced up to the evil pro
pensities of human nature : and the one now

Sect. '2.] Piousfrauds. 143
under consideration, no less than the rest. The
tendency to aim at a supposed godd end by
fraudulent rneans, is not peculiar to the mem
bers of the Romish Church ; — it is not peculiar
to those who are mistaken in their belief as to
what is a good end ; — it is not peculiar to any
sect, age, or country ; — it is not peculiar to any
subject-matter, religious or secular, but is the spon
taneous growth of the corrupt soil of man's heart.
Protestants, however, are apt to forget this :
and it is often needful to remind them, and only
to remind them, (for detailed proof is unneces
sary,) that frauds of this kind are every where,
and always have been, prevalent ; — that the hea
then legislators and philosophers, for instance, en
couraged, or connived at, a system of popular my
thology which they disbelieved, with a view to the
pubhc good — for the sake of maintaining among
the vulgar, through fear of the gods, and expecta
tions of Elysium and Tartarus, a conformity to
those principles of rectitude whose authority they
sincerely acknowledged, though on grounds totally
unconnected with religion. Their statesmen de
luded and overawed the populace with prodigies
and oracles, not much less than the Romish

144 Piousfrauds. [Chap. in.
priesthood. Nor has the Greek Church, or the
other Eastern Churches, always independent as
they have been of the Church of Rome, and
generally hostile to her, fallen much short of
her in this and indeed in most of her other
abominations. The temptation indeed to deceive, either posi
tively or negatively, i. e. either by introducing,
or by tolerating error, is one of the strongest that
assail our frail nature, in cases where the con
science is soothed by our having in view what we
believe to be a good end, and where that end
seems hardly attainable but by fraudulent means.
For the path of falsehood, though in reahty
slippery and dangerous, will often be the most
obvious, and seemingly the shortest. Accordingly
nothing is more common, among the indolent and
thoughtless, when entrusted with the management
of children, than to resort to this compendious
way of controlling them ; for the employment of
deceit with those who are so easily deceived, wiU
often serve a present turn much better than scru
pulous veracity ; though at the expence of tenfold
ultimate inconvenience ".
" Mrs. Hoare's Hints on Early Education.

Sect. 3.] Piousfruuds. 145
§. 3. The tendency then to this partial dis
honesty — towards the justification of fraudulent
means by the supposed goodness of the object —
being so deeply rooted in man's nature, found
its way, of course, along with the other corrup
tions incident to humanity, into the Romish
Church. .And it was fostered by those other
corruptions ; especially, as has been already re
marked, by that one which was treated of in the
preceding chapter; the drawing, namely, of an
unduly strong fine of separation between the
priesthood and the laity; so as to constitute almost
two distinct kinds of Christianity for the two
classes, whereof the one were by some superior
sanctity and knowledge to compensate for the
deficiencies of the other, and to be not only their
spiritual directors, but in some sort their substi
tutes in the service of the Deity.
When it was understood that the Monastic
Orders, and the clergy, in general, were to be
regarded as persons initiated into certain sacred
mysteries, withheld from the vulgar — as pro
fessing a certain distinct and superior description
of Christianity — and as guides whom the great
mass of Christians were to trust imphcitly, it

146 Piousfrauds. [CnAP. in.
naturally followed, that the knowledge of Scripture
was considered, first, as unnecessary, and next,
as unfit, for the generality : and it was equally
natural to proceed from the suppression of know
ledge to the toleration first, and then to the
encouragement and propagation, of superstitious
errors among the multitude. There is (as I
formerly observed) a craving in ignorant minds
after the delusions of superstition : and this it
was thought reasonable to indulge, in the case of
those whom it was supposed impossible or im
proper to enlighten. Incapable as they were
reckoned, and as they consequently became, of
believing in their religion on rational and solid
evidence, or of being kept in the paths of Chris
tian duty by the highest and purest Christian
principles, it seemed necessary to let their faith
and their practice strike root, as it were, in the
artificial soil of idle legends about miracles
wrought by holy relics, and at the intercession
of saints — in the virtues of holy water. Extreme
Unction, and the like.
How far, in each particular instance, any one,
whether of the Romish or of any other persua
sion, who propagates and connives at any error.

Sec. 3.] Piousfrauds. 147
may be hin^self deceived, or may be guilty of
pious fraud; — and how far his fraud, if it be
such, may be properly a pious fraud, i. e. de
signed to promote what he sincerely believes to
be a good end, or, on the other hand, may be
carried on from interested or ambitious views —
all this can of course be thoroughly known to
none but the Searcher of hearts. It is highly
probable, however, that most of these persons have
begun in wilful deceit, and advanced more and
more towards superstitious belief. Indeed it is
matter of common remark, that those who have
long repeated a falsehood, often bring themselves
at length to credit it. The very curse sent on
those who do not love the truth, is that of " a
strong delusion that they should believe a lie."
And thus, in the present instance, when any one
is eagerly bent on the pursuit of a certain end, he
win commonly succeed in persuading himself in
time, first, that it is a pious and good end — then,
that it is justifiable to promote it by tolerating or
inculcating what is false — and lastly, that that
very falsehood is truth. Many a one, it is to be
feared, gives himself credit for being conscientious,
who is so indeed in one sense of the word, but in
L 2

148 Piousfrauds. [Chap. in,
this sense only, not that he is, properly speaking,
led by his conscience, but that he himself leads
his conscience ; — that he has persevered in what
is wrong, till he has at length convinced himself
that it is right.
§.4. That intermediate state however, between
complete hypocrisy and complete self-delusion —
that state which gives rise to what are properly
called pious frauds — is probably much more com
mon than either of the extremes. Those, for in
stance , w ho opposed th e Reform ation , were probably
most of them neither worldly-minded hypocrites al
together indifferent about true religion, nor, on the
other hand, sincere believers in the justice of all
the claims of the Romish see which they supported,
and in the truth of all the Romish doctrines which
they maintained ; but men who were content to
submit to some injustice, and to connive at some
error, rather than risk, in the attempt to reform
abuses, the overthrow of all religion. They pre-
ierred an edifice, which, though not faultless, they
considered highly serviceable, to the apprehended
alternative of a heap of ruins. And accordingly
they made up their minds to profess and main-

StcT. 4.] Pious frauds. 149
tain the whole of what they only partially be
lieved and approved, and to defend by falsehood
those portions of the fortification which they per
ceived were left open by truth.
We of this day are perhaps not disposed to do
justice to many of the actors in those times.
We know by experience, that the Reformation did
not lead to the universal destruction of religion ;
and we know that most of the confusion and other
evils which did result, and of which the effects
are not yet done away, are attributable to the
obstinacy with which the others persisted in
maintaining every abuse, and the discredit they
brought on religion in general, by the employ
ment of falsehood and subterfuge in her defence.
We are apt to suppose, therefore, that the appre
hensions which the event did not realize, must
have been either utterly extravagant and childish,
or else altogether feigned, by men, who in reality
had an interest in the maintenance of abuses, and
introduced their fears for rehgion as a mere pre
text. For in studying history, those portions of
it especially which are to us the most interesting,
which are precisely those in which the results are
before our eyes and familiar to us from childhood,

150 Pious frauds. [Chap. hi.
this very circumstance is apt to make us unfair
judges of the actors, and thus to prevent us from
profiting as we might, by their examples. We are
apt, I mean, to forget, how probable many things
might appear, which we know did not take place;
and to regard as perfectly chimerical, expectations
which we know were not realized, but which,
had we lived in those times, we should doubtless
ourselves have entertained ; and to imagine that
there was no danger of those evils which were in
fact escaped. We are apt also to make too little
allowance for prejudices and associations of ideas,
which no longer exist precisely in the same form,
among ourselves, but which are perhaps not more
at variance with right reason than others with
which ourselves are infected.
From the earliest down to the latest periods of
history, these causes impede the full and clear, and
consequently profitable, view of the transactions
related. In respect of the very earliest of all hu
man transactions, it is matter of common remark
how prone many are to regard with mingled won
der, contempt, and indignation, the transgression
of our first parents ; as if they were not a fair sample
of the human race ; — as if any of us would not, if

Sect. 4.] PioUS fruuds. 151
he had been placed in precisely the same circum
stances, have acted as they did. The Corinthians,
probably, had perused with the same barren wonder
the history of the backslidings of the Israelites ;
and needed that Paul should remind them, that
these things were written for their example and
admonition. And all, in almost every portion of
history, they read, have need of a corresponding
warning, to endeavour to fancy themselves the
persons they read of, that they may recognize in
the accounts of past times, the portraiture of their
own. It is by a strong effort of a vivid imagin
ation (a faculty whose importance in the study
of history, is seldom thought of) that we can
so far transport ourselves in idea, to the
period, for instance, of the Reformation, or to
any period anterior to it, as to forget for the
moment all our actual knowledge of the results —
to put ourselves completely in the place of the
persons living in those times, and to enter fully
into all their feelings.
In proportion as we succeed in this effort, we
shall feel more and more strongly how awfully
alarming must have been the first struggles of
opposition to the existing system — how total a

152 Piousfrauds. [tH*r. iii.
subversion of all religion, and dissolution of all
the ties of social order, the first innovations must
have appeared to threaten ; and how little most
men must have been able to foresee or conjecture
at what point the tendency to change, if per
mitted to proceed, could be expected to stop.
And we shall then, I think, cease to wonder, that
the frailty of our common nature should have
led conscientious men (conscientious, I mean, as
far as regards the goodness, in their opinion, of
the end proposed) to use without scruple almost
any means, whether of force or fraud, to maintain
the existing system, and to avert what appeared
to them such frightful dangers.
§.5. What we should learn for our own use
from such a view is, not that the dishonest artifices
of Romanism should stand excused in our eyes,
but that we should estimate aright their tempt
ations, in order the better to understand our
own — that we should consider human nature as
not having been then, in so excessive a degree
as we are apt to fancy, worse than it is now ; —
and that we should condemn their frauds, not
as employed to support a bad system, and to

Sect. 5.J Pious frauds. 153
avert imaginary evils — since to them, perhaps,
the system appeared as good as our own does
to us, and the evils as real as any that we ap
prehend appear in our eyes — but from the ge
neral inexpediency of fraud — from its intrinsic
turpitude, and from its especial unfitness to be
employed in a sacred cause. Considerations,
such as these, will set us upon a more painful,
but more profitable, task, than that of judging
our ancestors and our erring brethren — the task
of examining our own conduct, with a watchful
suspicion of the corruption of our own nature,
and a hvely consciousness of our liability to
like temptations with those to which others have
yielded. The erroneousness of their views, and
the soundness of our own, as to the end proposed,
does not lessen to us the danger, or the evil,
of promoting that end by means inconsistent with
perfect integrity.
To any one who should be disposed not only to
approve of such a vigilant and severe self-examin
ation as has been recommended, but also earnestly
and systematically to put it in practice, it may be
worth while to suggest the remark, that what
may be suitably called pious frauds, fall naturally

154 Piousfrauds. [Cuav. in.
into the two classes of positive and negative ; the
one, the introduction or propagation of what is
false ; the other, the mere toleration of it — the
connivance at any kind of mistake or delusion
already existing in men's minds. Again, in an
other point of view, frauds may be regarded,
either as having relation, on the one hand, to
fallacious arguments — to false reasons for right
conclusions — or, on the other hand, to false
doctrines and erroneous practices, when such are
taught or connived at. I have suggested both of
these two divisions, as having a reference to
practice ; because in practice it is found that the
temptation is stronger (because less alarming to
the conscience) to the use of false reasons and so
phistical afgument in the cause of truth, than to the
inculcation or toleration of erroneous doctrine ;
and again, that there is, for the same reason, a
stronger temptation to negative than to positive
fraud ; the conscience being easily soothed by
the reflection, " this or that is a false notion in
deed, but I did not introduce it ; and it would
unsettle men's minds too much, were I to attempt
to undeceive them."
To particularize the several points in which

Sect, o.] Piousfrauds. 155
we of the present day are especially open to
temptations of the description I have alluded to,
would be a task of much difficulty and delicacy.
For if a few cases were selected and dwelt on,
(and more than a very few it would be impossible
to discuss within any reasonable limits,) some
might suppose that it was to these particular
cases the whole argument had been directed ;
and might join issue, as it were, on the question,
whether these were such as to bear out that argu
ment : and if something brought forward as an
instance of an error, should chance to be such, as
by some was sincerely believed — by others had
never been heard of — and by others again was
regarded as perfectly insignificant — the result
might be, that the argument and remarks in
tended to be illustrated by such instances, (if sup
posed to rest on those instances,) might be re
garded by some as frivolous, or as unsound.
Such at least is the mistake which is not unfre-
quently made in many subjects; an instance
brought forward in illustration of any general
remarks or arguments, being not unfrequently
regarded as the basis on which the whole depends.
And yet, if a physician, for instance, were to be

156 Piousfrauds. [Chap. in.
found mistaken in assigning some particular dis
order to this or that patient, it would be thought
strange to infer from this that no such disorder ever
existed. §. 6. Such, however, being the difficulties in the
present subject, it will be better perhaps to abstain
from any statement of matters of fact, and to touch
briefly, for illustration's sake, on a few conceivable
cases ; which, whether they ever actually occurred
or not, will be equally intelligible, and will equally
answer the purpose of explanation.
I. For example, it is well known, that there
are sects and other parties of Christians, of whose
system it forms a part to believe in immediate,
sensible, inspiration — that the preachers are di
rectly and perceptibly moved to speak by the
Holy Spirit, and utter what He suggests. Now
suppose any one, brought up in these principles,
and originally perhaps a sincere believer in his
own inspiration, becoming afterwards so far so
bered, as to perceive, or strongly suspect, their
delusiveness, and so to modify, at least, his views
of the subject, as in fact to nullify all the pecu
liarity of the doctrine, which yet many of his

Sht. ().] Piousfrauds. 157
hearers, he knows, hold in its full extent ; must
he not be strongly tempted to keep up what will
probably seem to him so salutary a delusion ?
Such a case as this I cannot think to be even of
rare occurrence. For a man of sound judgment,
and of a reflective turn, must, one would think,
have it forced on his attention, that he speaks
better after long practice, than when a novice —
better on a subject he has been used to preach on,
than on a comparatively new one — and better with
premeditation, than on a sudden ; and all this, as
is plain both from the nature of the case, and from
Scripture, is inconsistent with inspiration. Prac
tice and study cannot improve the immediate
suggestions of the Holy Ghost ; and the apostles
were on that ground expressly forbidden to " take
thought beforehand what they should say, or to
premeditate ; because it should be given them in
the same hour what they should say." Again,
he will perhaps see cause to alter his views of
some passages of Scripture he may have referred
to, or in other points to modify some of the
opinions he may have expressed ; and this again
is inconsistent with the idea of inspiration, at
least on both occasions.

158 Pious frauds. [CnAP. in.
Yet with these views of his own preaching, as
not really and properly inspired and infallible, he
is convinced that he is inculcating the great and
important truths of Christianity — that he is con
sequently, in a certain sense, under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, from whom all good things
must proceed — and that his preaching is of great
benefit to his hearers ; who yet would cease to
attend to it, were he distinctly to declare to them
his own real sentiments. In such a case, he
must be very strongly tempted to commit the
pious fraud of conniving at a belief which he does
not himself sincerely hold ; consoling perhaps his
conscience with the reflection, that when he pro
fesses to be moved by the Spirit, he says what
he is convinced is true, though not true in the
sense in which most of his hearers understand it; —
not true in the sense which constitutes that very
peculiarity of doctrine wherein originated the
separation of his sect from other Christians.
II. Again, let us imagine, for example, such
an instance as this ; that an uneducated person
describes to us his satisfaction at having met
with a stratum of marine shells on the top of a
hill, which he concludes to have been deposited

SicT. 6.] Pious frauds. 159
there by the Mosaic deluge, and which aftbrd
him a consolatory proof of the truth of the Old
Testament history ; suppose too he congratulates
himself on having satisfied, by this argument, the
minds of some sceptics among his own class :
what would be our duty, and what would be our
conduct, in such a case? to run the apparent risk
of not only mortifj'ing his feelings, but shaking
his faith, by informing him, (supposing the case
such,) that it is fuUy ascertained that this deposit
could not have taken place by the action of such
a deluge as Moses describes ? or to leave him in
full reliance on an argument, which, though un
sound, leads him to a true conclusion? This,
which is a case conceivably occurring in a Pro
testant country, seems to me an exact parallel
to a multitude of those in which the Romanists
practise the negative pious fraud of leaving men
under what they suppose a useful delusion.
III. Again, suppose the case of one who should
be warmly attached to the religious community
of which we are members, in opposition to
sectaries, and a regular frequenter of our public
worship, in consequence of the mention he finds
in Scripture of the Church, together with the

160 Piousfrauds. [Chai, in,
circumstance, that the building in which we as
semble for divine service is called a " Church."
No one, who has been much conversant with the
uneducated part of society, will doubt the possible
existence, at least, of such confusion of thought,
though he may not have actually met with
it. Now this again is an instance of a just
conclusion and right practice founded on a futile
reason. Is it not conceivable, that some who
would be ashamed to employ such an argument
themselves, might yet be tempted to leave it un
contradicted, from a doubt of being able to sub
stitute a sound one, which should be, to that
individual, equally satisfactory ?
IV. Again, let us imagine a case of some one
desirous to receive, and induce others to receive,
the rite of Confirmation, from supposing it alluded
to, and enjoined, in the passage of Scripture which
describes an apostle as going through a certain
region " confirming the Churches" (sTrio-njgi'^cov) ;
should we venture to attempt removing his convic
tion from this false basis, and replacing it on a
sound one ?
V. Suppose again, that some one was consci
entiously desirous of receiving this rite, whom

Sect. 6.] PiOUS frouds. Kil
the minister could not bring to comprehend the
nature of it, or to understand any thing of the
baptismal covenant which is renewed before the
Christian congregation, and recalled by it, might
there not, in such a case, be a seeming danger ;
that if under such circumstances he refused to
sign a recommendation to the Bishop, there
might grow up a neglect of the ordinance of
Confirmation ? while, on the other hand, he
would know that his signature would be under
stood to testify the existence of such fitness on
the part of the candidate as in fact was wanting ;
and that consequently he would be virtually
setting his hand to a falsehood ; and w^ould,
moreover, be encouraging that superstitious no
tion of some mystical virtue in a rite of which
the recipient did not understand the meaning.
Now such a case as this, I think, will hardly be
considered as inconceivable, or even improbable.
VI. Suppose, again, an individual of the same
class to have a deep reverence for the Lord's-
day, without even knowing that it is the Lord's-
day, but from supposing Sunday to be the Seventh
day of the week, and to be kept holy not with

162 Piousfrauds. [Cmap. iiL
any reference to our Lord's resurrection, but solely
in memory of the close of the Creation : there
would be, on the one hand, the apparent danger
of unsettling his mind, and diminishing his just
reverence, by letting him know that it is the
First day of the week, and is commemorative of
the Resurrection; and, on the other hand, there
would be the negative pious fraud of leaving his
mistake untouched. " Will ye," says Job,
" speak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for
Him?" VII. If, again, we should meet with a case of
Christians having a deep reverence for all the
rites and circumstances of Christian burial,
founded on a persuasion that the souls of those
whose bodies are interred in consecrated ground,
after the performance of the funeral service, are
in a more safe state than they would otherwise
have been ', might not a danger be apprehended,
of impairing their respect for the ministers of
religion and the services of the Church, by in
culcating the groundlessness of that persuasion ?
And might not therefore a minister be tempted,
^ See Chap. I.

Sect. 6.] Pious frauds. 163
in such a case, to leave undisturbed an error
which he could not charge himself with having
directly introduced ?
VIII. Once more ; imagine the case of a man
long hardened in irreligious carelessness or gross
vices, conscience-stricken on his death-bed, pro
fessing sincere repentance, and earnestly wishing
for, and seeming to implore, a positive assurance
from the minister of his acceptance with God,
and his eternal happiness in the next world ; —
a -wish in which the relatives and friends around
him should strongly join : and suppose the min
ister to be one who could not satisfy his own
mind that he had any authority in Scripture for
speaking positively in such a case ; would he not
be exposed to a temptation of feigning a confi
dence he did not feel, for the sake of smoothing the
death-bed of one for whom nothing else could be
done, and administering comfort to the afflicted
survivors ?
And if a person so situated were anxious to
receive the Eucharist, though he were (suppose)
from ignorance respecting religion, and long
continuance in careless or depraved habits, com
bined with the distractions of bodily pain, and
M 2

164 Pious frauds. [Chap. iil
the feebleness of mind resulting from disease,
utterly incapable of being made to understand
the nature of Christian Repentance, or the doc
trine of Christian Redemption, or the right use
of that Sacrament which he craved for as a kind
of magical charm ; (with the same kind of super
stitious confidence which the Papists place in
their Extreme-Unction ;) would not the minister
be tempted to shut his eyes to the unfitness of
such a candidate — to the consequent nullity of
the Ordinance, as far as that recipient is con
cerned — and to the profanation of so celebrating
it ? And if, moreover, we suppose some fana
tical teacher to be at hand ready to make con
fident promises of salvation if we speak doubt
fully, and to administer the sacred Ordinance if
we withhold it — and that he would in that case
win many converts, while we should incur odium,
as wanting in charity; we must admit that, in
such a case as here supposed, the temptation
would be very strong, to any but a devoted
lover of truth, to connive at error, as the less
of the evils before him. And the temptation
would be much the stronger both in this and
in the other supposed cases, if we imagine

Slct. ().] l*ious frauds. 165
them presented to a person who (as might
easily be the case) had no distinct perception
of the ultimate dangers of deceit — of the crowd
of errors likely to spring from one — the ne-
cessitv of supporting hereafter one falsehood
bv another, to infinity — and the liability to
bring truth into discredit by blending it with
the untrue ; dangers which are recognized in
the popular wisdom of appropriate proverbs.
These ill consequences may very easily be over
looked in each particular instance : for though
it is a just maxim that falsehood is inexpedient
in the long run, it is a maxim which it requires
no small experience and reach of thought fully
and practically to comprehend, and readily to
apply : the only safe guide for the great mass
of mankind, is the abhorrence of falsehood for its
own sake, without looking to its consequences.
Numberless other like instances might be ima
gined, of, at least conceivable, occurrence in a
Protestant country ; but those which have been
mentioned will be sufficient, if they are admitted
to be not, aU of them, total impossibilities, to
illustrate my meaning ; — to shew that our se
paration from the Church of Rome does not place

166 Pious frauds. [Chap. in.
us (nor can we ever be placed in this life)
in a situation which exempts us from all danger
of falling into corruptions — among the rest, the
justification of pious frauds — substantially similar
to those with which that Church is so justly re
proached. As for the cases introduced for the sake of
illustration, I must once more protest that they
do not profess to be actual facts, but merely
conceivable suppositions ; and it is not at all
my wish that any one should, by testifying dis
pleasure, as against a personal charge, fix on
himself the censure brought against a hypo
thetical case. Indeed I would most gladly be
convinced that these and all similar suppositions
are not only not agreeable to fact, but are even
impossible, and the dangers I apprehend, wholly
imaginary. If this be so.
Why then, my taxing, like a wildgoose, flies
Unclaimed of any man,
and my warnings will be at least harmless, though
unnecessary : " abundans cautela non nocet."
§.7. I will conclude this chapter with an
earnest recommendation of the study (with a

St>T. 7.] Piousfrauds. 167
view to our own warning and instruction) of the
various abuses prevailing in the Romish Church —
such a study, I mean, as shall go, not only to
ascertain their actual character, but also, to trace
their gradual progress from their first appearance,
tin they became at length embodied in the
svstem, and established as parts of true religion.
In manv, if not in most instances, they began
(as I have formerly observed) with the people ;
and were at first, many of them, only connived
at by the clergy ; who dreaded to oppose, or
to reform, or to acknowledge, errors, lest they
should shake the whole system of faith with
which they were connected. And let it not be
lost sight of, that the fraud by which they sought
to support the system — the " wall daubed with
untempered mortar," with which they thought to
buttress up the edifice — has always tended to
its decay. Not only did it give rise to a hostile
separation among Christian Churches, but, in
countries which have continued under the papal
sway, the abhorrence and contempt excited by
the detection of a fraudulent system, has led
the far greater part of the educated classes into
secret but total apostasy from Christ. With the

168 Pious frauds. [Chap. iil
indiscriminate rashness which is universally so
common, they have confusedly blended together
in their minds, Christianity, and its corruptions ;
and having in so many instances detected fraud
with absolute certainty, they think it not worth
while to inquire further ; but take for granted,
that all the Church teaches, is one tissue of
imposture and superstition throughout.
Let not Protestants, then. Ipse the benefit of
this lesson ; " neither let us tempt God, as some
of them also tempted ;" for " all these things
happened unto them for examples, and are written"
(if we will but so read them) " for our admonition.
Wherefore let him that thin.keth he standeth, take
heed lest he fah."

CHAPTER IV.
UNDUE RELIANCE ON HUMAN AUTHORITY.

§.1. The infalhbmty of the (so cahed)
Catholic Church, and the substitution of the de
crees of Popes or of pretended General Councils,
for the Scriptures, as the Christian's rule of faith
and practice, is commonly regarded as the found
ation of the whole Romish system. And it is so,
in this sense, that if it be once admitted, all the
rest must follow : if the power of " binding and
loosing" belong to the Church of Rome in the
extent claimed by her, we have only to ascertain
what are her decisions, and to comply with them
implicitly. But I am convinced that this is not the found
ation, historically considered, of the Romish sys
tem ; — that the Romish hierarchy did not, in
point of fact, first estabhsh their supremacy on a
perverted interpretation of certain texts, and then

170 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
employ the power thus acquired to introduce
abuses; but resorted, as occasions led them, to
such passages of Scripture as might be wrested to
justify the prevailing or growing abuses, and to
buttress up the edifice already in great measure
reared. They appeal, as is well known, to our Lord's
expression respecting Peter's being made the
foundation of his Church ; an expression which
could never by possibility have suggested so ex
travagant and indeed unmeaning an interpretation
as that of a succession of men being each a found
ation": and they also appeal to the declaration'',
" Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven," as conferring
on the Church of Rome the supreme power She
claims. Of this and the other corresponding pas
sage in our Lord's discourses, the most probable
explanation is that which refers to the language
common among the Jewish Doctors ; who em
ployed the expressions " to bind," and " to loose,"
(as may be seen abundantly in their works re-
' Hinds's History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. i. p. 9.
'' Matth. xvi. 19.

Sect. 1.] OH huniau authority. 171
specting traditional regulations now extant ') in the
sense of enacting and abrogating ; — establishing
any rule or ordinance, so as to make it obligatory
or binding — or, on the other, abolishing, or for
bearing to enact, some rule, and leaving men
exempt — released — loosed — from the observance
of it. Our Lord's declaration, therefore, will
amount to this ; — that the governors in each
branch of the Church which He founded — of the
Kingdom appointed to his disciples — with whom,
and consequently with their successors. He pro
mised to be always even unto the end of the
world — that these governors should have power
to make regulations for the good government of
that society — to admit or refuse admission into
it — and to estabhsh such rules as they might
think suitable, for the edification of its members,
and their decorous worship of God : and that
such regulations of Christ's servants on earth,
should be ratified and sanctioned by the authority
of their unseen and spiritual Master — should be
bound in heaven by Him.
It seems no less plain, that to the governors
of every Society must be entrusted the duty of
" See Wotton on the Misna.

172 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
checking such disorderly and scandalous conduct
in its members, as goes to interfere with the pur
poses of its institution, by reprimand or other
penalties, and ultimately, in extreme cases, by
expulsion : and they must be empowered to remit
such penalties, or to readmit an expelled member,
on his testifying contrition, and making satisfac
tory promises of good behaviour. And this is
admitted by most Protestants to be the force of
that declaration, " whosesoever sins ye remit, they
are remitted, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they
are retained :" not as if fallible men had power
to judge of the sincerity of any one's contrition ; —
or even if they had, could presume to claim the
divine privilege of forgiving sins as against God ; —
but that they have power to inflict or remit the
penalties of Church-censure, and to exclude, re
tain, or re-admit, as far as outward privileges are
concerned, any member of their own branch of
the visible Church.
As for the regulations respecting the conduct
of members of that Society, which they have
power to enact or abrogate, it is obvious, that, as
far as these extend only to things in themselves
indifferent, (such as festival-days, outward cere-

Sect. 2.] On humau authority. 173
monies, and the like) which may and should vary
in different ages and countries, but yet require
to be in each instance regulated by some acknow
ledged authority — as far, I say, as this exercise of
power is confined to matters not in themselves
essential, it may be (and must be, supposing
inspiration withdrawn) entrusted to uninspired
men. But, on the other hand, the promulgating
of such articles of faith and rules of conduct as
are intrinsicaUy necessary, and make part of the
terms of salvation — that this office — the binding
and loosing in respect of things essential — can be
left in the hands of none but inspired men, all
must aUow ; and we should add, in the hands of
men who (like the Apostles) give proof of their
inspiration, and produce the credentials of their
divine commission by working sensible miracles.
§. 2. Whatever slight differences, however,
there may be among Protestants as to the precise
sense of these passages, and of all that our Lord
has said on the subject, they all agree in this ;
that it will by no means bear the interpretation
put on it by the Romanists ; who are commonly
supposed, as has been above remarked, to derive

174 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
from their mistaken view of our Lord's expressions
in this place, the monstrous doctrines of the Uni
versal Supremacy of the Church of Rome, and
her infallibility as to matters of faith. I have
said that these doctrines are supposed to be thus
derived, because there is good reason to think
that such is not really the case ; and that in this
point, as in most of those connected with the pe
culiarities of Romanism, the mistake is usually
committed of confounding cause and effect.
When there is any question about any of the
doctrines or practices which characterise that
Church, it is natural, and it is common, to
inquire on what rational arguments or on what
Scriptural authority these are made to rest ; the
reasons adduced are examined, and, if found insuf
ficient, the point is considered as settled : and so
it is, as far as regards those particular doctrines
or practices, when judged of by an intelligent
and unbiassed inquirer. That which is inde
fensible, ought certainly to be abandoned. But
it is a mistake, and a very common, and prac
tically not unimportant one, to conclude, that
the origin of each tenet or practice is to be
found in those arguments or texts which are

sict. ¦:.] on human authoriti/. 175
urged in support of it ; — that they furnish the
cause, on the removal of which the effects will
cease of course — and that when once those rea
sonings are exploded, and those texts rightly
explained, all danger is at end of falling into
similar errors. The fact is, that in a great
number of instances, and by no means exclusively
in questions connected with religion, the erro
neous belief or practice has arisen first, and the
theory has been derived afterwards for its sup
port. Into whatever opinions or conduct men
are led by any human propensities, they seek
to defend and justify these by the best arguments
they can devise; and then, assigning, as they
often do, in perfect sincerity, these arguments,
as the cause of their adopting such notions, they
misdirect the course of our inquiry. And thus
the chance (however small it may be at any
rate) of rectifying their errors, is diminished.
For if these be in reahty traceable to some deep-
seated principle of our nature, as soon as ever
one false foundation on which they have been
placed is removed, another will be substituted :
as soon as one theory is proved untenable, a new
one wiU be devised in its place. And in the

176 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
mean time, we ourselves are liable to be lulled
into a false security against errors, whose real
origin is to be sought in the universal propensities
of human nature.
Not only Romanism, but almost every system
of superstition, in order to be rightly understood,
should be (if I may so speak) read backwards.
To take am instance, in illustration of what has
been said, from the Mythological system of the
Ancients ; if we inquire why the rites of sepulture
were regarded by them as of such vast import
ance, we are told, that, according to their system
of rehgious behef, the souls of those whose bodies
were unburied were doomed to wander discon
solate on the banks of the river Styx. Such a
tenet, supposing it previously established, was
undoubtedly well-calculated to produce or in
crease the feeliiig in question : but is it not much
the more probable supposition, that the natural
anxiety about our mortal remains, which has
been felt in every age and country, and which
those who partake of it are at a loss to explain
and justify, drove them to imagine and adopt the
theory which gave a rational appearance to feel
ings and practices already existing ?

Sect. '2.] on humun authority . 177
Again, if the Romanists are urged to defend
and explain their practice of praying for the
souls of the departed, they refer us to the doc
trines of their Church respecting Purgatory. But
it is not really the doctrine of Purgatory which
led to prayers for the dead ; on the contrary,
it is doubtless the practice of praying for the
dead that gave rise to that doctrine ; a doctrine
which manifestly savours of ha'ving been invented
to serve a purpose. Accordingly it never, I
believe, found its way into the Greek Church,
though prayers for the dead (difficult as it is
to justify such a practice on other grounds) has
long prevailed in that Church no less than in the
Romish. If, again, we call on the Romanists to justify
their invocation of saints, which seems to confer
on these the divine attribute of omnipresence,
they tell us that the Almighty miraculously
reveals to the glorified saints in heaven the
prayers addressed to them, and then hstens to
their intercession in behalf of the supplicants.
But the real state of the case, doubtless, is, that
the practice which began gradually in popular
superstition, and was fostered and sanctioned by

178 Undue reliance [Chap, iv.
the mingled weakness and corruption of the
priesthood, was afterwards supported by a theory
too unfounded and too extravagantly absurd to
have ever obtained a general reception, had it
not come in aid of a practice already established,
and which could be defended on no better grounds.
And the same principle will apply to the
greater part of the Romish errors ; the cause
assigned for each of them will in general be found
to be in reality its effect ; — the arguments by
which it is supported — to have gained currency
from men's partiality for the conclusion. It is
thus that we must explain, what is at first sight
so great a paradox, the vast difference of effect
apparently produced in minds of no contemptible
powers, by the same arguments ; — the frequent
in efficacy of the most cogent reasonings, and the
hearty satisfaction with which the most futile
are often listened to and adopted. Nothing is,
in general, easier than to convince one who is
prepared and desirous to be convinced ; or to gain
any one's full approbation of arguments tending
to a conclusion he has already adopted ; or to
refute triumphantly in his eyes, any objections
brought against what he is unwilling to doubt.

>ECT. 2.] on human authority. 1 79
An argument which shall have made one convert,
or even settled one really doubting mind, though
it is not of course necessarily a sound argument,
will have accomphshed more than one which
receives the unhesitating assent and loud ap
plause of thousands who had already embraced,
or were predisposed to embrace, the conclusion.
I am aware that there is in some minds an
opposite tendency, to excessive doubt in cases
where their wishes are strong ; — a morbid dis
trust of evidence which they are especially anx
ious to find conclusive. Different temperaments
(sometimes varying with the state of health of
each individual) lead towards these contrary mis
calculations. Each of us probably has a natural
leaning to one or other (often to both, alternately)
of these infirmities — the over-estimate or under
estimate of the reasons in favour of a conclusion
we wish to find true. The difficulty is, not to
fly from one extreme to the other, but to avoid
both, and to give an unbiassed verdict according
to the e^vidence; preserving the indifference of
the judgment, even in cases where the will cannot,
and indeed should not, be indifferent.
Obvious, however, as these principles must
N 2

180 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
appear, it is not at all uncommon to lose sight
of them ; it is not uncommon to hear wonder
expressed at the supposed weakness of under
standing of those who assent to arguments utterly
invalid, but to which they have in fact never
applied their minds. And it is much more
common to hear some course of argument con
fidently proclaimed as triumphant and decisive
in establishing or refuting some doctrine, merely
on the ground of its being approved by those
predisposed to assent to it. Whether, in fact,
it be such or not, it is impossible we can fully
estimate its weight till we have seen it tried
in an even balance, or against a preponderating
scale ; — till we have seen how it is received
by the indifferent, or the adverse. For through
the operation of the principle I have been
speaking of, arguments have commanded the
unhesitating assent of all men, for centuries to
gether, without possessing, in reality, any weight
at all.
§. 3. It is, on many accounts, of great practical
importance to trace, as far as we are able, each
error to its real source. If, for instance, we sup-

Slci.3.] on human authority. LSI
posed the doctrine of Transubstantiation to be
reahy founded, as the Romanists pretend, and as,
no doubt, many of them sinccrelv believe, on the
words " this is my body," we might set this
down as an instance in which the language of
Scripture rashly interpreted has led to error.
Doubtless there are such instances ; but I can
never believe that this is one of them ; viz. that
men really were led by the words in question to
believe in Transubstantiation ; for besides the
intrinsic improbability of such an error having
so arisen, we have the additional proof, that the
passage was before the eyes of the whole Chris
tian world for ten centuries before the doctrine
was thought of. And again, if we suppose the
doctrine to have, in fact, arisen from the mis
interpretation of the text, we shall expect to re
move the error by shewing reasons whereby
the passage should be understood differently :
a very reasonable expectation, where the doc
trine has sprung from the misinterpretation; but
quite otherwise, where, as in this case, the mis
interpretation has sprung from the doctrine. When
there was a leaning in men's minds towards
the reception of the tenet, they of course looked

182 Undue reliance [Chap. i\'.
for the best confirmation of it that Scripture
would afford.
There is no instance, however, that better ex
emplifies the operation of this principle, than the
one immediately before us — the Romish doctrines
of the Universal Supremacy, and Infallibility, of
their Church. If we inquire how the Ro
manists came so strangely to mistake the pas
sages of Scripture to which they appeal, we shall
be utterly bewildered in conjecture, unless we
read backwards the lesson imprinted on their
minds, and seek for the true cause in the natural
predisposition to look out for, and implicitly
trust, an infallible guide, and to find a refuge
from doubts and dissensions, in the unquestioned
and unlimited authority of the Church. This
indeed had been gradually established, and vested
in the Romish See, before it was distinctly
claimed. Men did not submit to the authority,
because they were convinced it was of divine
origin and infallible ; but, on the contrary, they
were convinced of this, because they were dis
posed so to submit. The tendency to " teach
for doctrines the commandments of men," and
to acquiesce in such teaching, is not the effect ^

Sect. 3.] On human authoriti/. 183
but the cause, of their being taken for the com
mandments of God.
Unwilling as men may be to submit their
actions to an uncontrolled despotism, that in
dolence of mind which the Greek historian re
marks as making them " averse to take trouble
in the investigation of truth, and willing rather
to acquiesce in what is ready-decided for them,"
has, in all ages, and on all subjects, disposed
multitudes to save themselves this trouble, and
escape at the same time the uneasiness of doubt
ing, by an implicit submission to some revered
authority. The disposition indeed to submit and
assent implicitly, is (like all our other natural
propensities) nothing intrinsically and essentially
bad, when rightly directed, and duly controlled;
but, hke all the rest, is hable to misdirection and
excess. Whatever is satisfactorily proved to
come from God, is entitled to our submissive
assent ; and whatever there is of what He has
revealed to us, that surpasses human compre
hension, has a claim to be received on his autho
rity alone, without vain attempts to explain or to
prove it " a priori." That the imphcit deference
justly due to Divine authority, should have been

18-4 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
often unduly extended to human, is what we
might, from the infirmity of our nature, have
even antecedently conjectured ; and no one can
suppose that this misdirected and excessive vene
ration originated in the Church of Rome, or is
even confined to the case of religion, who recol
lects that the decisive appeal of the Pythagoreans
to the " ipse dixit" of their master, was even
proverbial among .the ancients : and that at a
later period, the authority of Aristotle on philo
sophical questions, was for many ages regarded
as no less decisive. To question his decisions
on these matters, was long considered as indi
cating no less presumptuous rashness, than to dis
pute those of the Church of Rome as to matters
of faith.§.4. As for the local extent of the Roman
Pontiff's jurisdiction, the claim of universal su
premacy for that particular See, is of course an
error of the Romanists as Romanists ; for though
the same encroaching and ambitious disposition
may exist in others as in the Romish hierarchy,
it must of course, wherever it exists, lead each
to extend the dominion and exalt the power, of

SicT. 4.] on human authority. 185
his ou'n Church, State, Empire, or School, over
others. But the tendency to claim or to pay
undue deference to the authority of uninspired
men, is an error of the Romanists not as
Romanists, but as human Beings. The degree
of respect generally paid and justly due to the
authoritv'' of the wise — the virtuous — the learned
— the majority — which amounts to a presumption,
more or less strong, of what they have main
tained — a presumption which demands a careful
examination of the reasons on both sides, before
we decide against them — this respect was gradu
ally heightened into a blind acquiescence, which
forbad men even to seek for reasons at all. The
morbid dread of uncertainty, perplexity, and dis
sension, led them to preclude all doubts as to the
sense of Scripture, by a decisive authority; an au
thority which they pretend to rest on a text whose
sense is in itself doubtful ' ; and thus to save, as
it were, the ship from being tossed by winds and
waves, by casting anchor on an object which was
itself floating. But they succeeded in dehvering
'¦ An important ambiguity in the word authority will be
presently noticed.
' See Blanco White's " Evidence against Catholicism."

186 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
themselves from actual doubt, though not from
reasons for doubt ; and were lulled into that apa
thetic tranquiUity, which is the natural result of
compulsory cessation of discussion. " Seeing
then that these things cannot be spoken against,
ye ought to be quiet," is an expression which
may be used to characterize this indolent un-
inquiring acquiescence. They were to receive
whatever the Holy Cathohc Church decreed, or
might decree, to be received ; even though igno
rant of what many of the doctrines were, to which
they thus assented.
" Is it conceivable," they thought, " that the
great body of the Church, including all its go
vernors, for whose preservation in the right way
so many thousands of pious Christians have been
always daily offering up their prayers, and with
whom Christ promised to be, always, even unto
the end — is it conceivable, that all these should
have been for ages together in gross and dangerous
error on important points ? No, surely," they
said to themselves and to each other, " this is
impossible ; it could never have been permitted."
Now if this is not possible, the Church must be
infahible.

Sect. 4.] On humoH authority. 187
If we consider, in this point of view, the growth
of the doctrine, w^e shall no longer think it so
strange as at first sight it appears, that such a
claim should have arisen. Nor (which is more
important for our purpose) shall we think it in
credible, that a similar course of reasoning should
be hkely to take place in the minds of Protest
ants, and should lead to a hke result : — that the
supposition, of any error in religious matters be
setting wise, good, pious, learned, humble, and
diUgent men, should appear so strange, that at
length the strangeness should be regarded as
amounting to impossibility: and when once this
point is reached, the claim to infallibility is vir
tually set up.
It must be admitted, moreover, that the claim
of infalhbUity in the Church, when it is distinctly
avowed, is at least more consistent — perhaps, I
may say, more honest — than the sort of appeal
which is sometimes made by Protestants to the
authority of the " Universal Church," and which
may be characterized by the homely though ex
pressive proverbial metaphor, of "playing fast and
loose." A person is loudly censured perhaps for
taking a different view of some doctrine from that

188 Undue reliance [Cimp. iv.
which, it is assumed, prevailed generally in the
Church (i. e. the great mass of Christians) for
many ages ; the writers, termed " the Fathers,"
are appealed to ; and it is represented as incon
ceivable, that the great Body of the Christian
world should have long been in error on such and
such a point. And, no doubt, there is a presump
tion ' in favour of what has been long admitted by
the majority ; stronger arguments are called for
against it, than if it were something novel, or
the opinion only of a few. But when this pre
sumption is adduced as nearly decisive, and it is
then urged, on the other side, as it consistently
may be, that the great majority, both in the
Eastern and Western Churches, are, and have
been for many centuries, and were, at the very
time referred to, worshippers of relics, and of the
Virgin, &c. the same Protestant advocate will
reply, that these doctrines are unscriptural — that
human divines are fallible, and that we ought to
" obey God rather than man." Now if we re
gard the " Fathers" as men subject to human
infirmity, and teaching truth mixed with error,
we ought to appeal to them as such : if we appeal
' Elements of Rhetoric, part i. chap. iii. §. 2.

StLf. .5.] on human authority. 189
to them, or to any set of men, with an air of
decisive triumph, we should be prepared to admit
their infallibility throughout. It surely is not
fair to make the Church's authority of the
highest or the lowest value, according as it
happens to support, or to oppose, our own con
clusions. §. 5. Indeed, monstrous as the Romish doctrine
of the infallibility of the Church at first sight
appears, and widely different as the claim is
usuaUy regarded from any that have ever been
advanced by Protestants, there have not been
wanting persons who (in consequence perhaps of
the prevalence of the practice just noticed) have
represented the Romish Church as differing little
in this point from our own, and indeed every
other. "It is true," (they say,) " the Church
of England disclaims the right of requiring assent
to any article of faith which may not be proved
by Scripture : but then if she claims the right
of deciding without appeal what doctrines are
Scriptural, and requires of all her members the
admission, not only of the authority of Scripture,
but of her interpretation of it, and an admission

1 90 Undue reliance [Cuap. iv.
of all the doctrines founded on that interpretation,
the same end is gained : since even the Church
"of Rome might have professed to appeal to Scrip
ture in behalf of all her doctrines, retaining the
power of deciding definitively what books should
be received as Scripture, and what is the true
sense of each passage. " The difference then,"
they urge, (I am quoting the arguments of an
author of no mean ability,) " between the two
Churches, amounts only to this ; that the one
cannot err, and the other never does; the one
is infallible, and the other always in the right."
For though it is declared that other Churches
have erred, and not denied that our own may,
it is never admitted that ours (as constituted
at the Reformation) has fallen into any error.
This change of advancing a virtual claim to
infallibility, though specious at the first glance,
melts away before a close examination ; for, in
fact, the claim of our Church is no other than even
every individual, without any arrogance, advances,
and cannot but advance, in his own behalf
Whoever professes to hold any doctrine, implies
by that very expression his conviction of its truth.
For an individual (and a Church no less) to ac-

stci.i.] on human authority. 191
knowledge the erroneousness of his present tenets,
would be a contradiction in terms. And the
erroneousness of many of her former tenets,
during our subjection to the Papal sway, our
Church amply acknowledged by the very act of
reforming. But every Church must have certain terms
of Communion, the rejection of which implies
exclusion from that Communion ; since .the very
idea of a religious Society is incompatible with
a fundamental discrepancy of religious persua
sion. And since such discrepancies may, and
do, exist among those who agree in admitting
the supreme authority of Scripture, it is plain
that this admission cannot be of itself a sufficient
bond of union. Our Church, therefore, (as every
rehgious Society must do, either avowedly or
¦virtually,) fixed on certain doctrines as necessary
to be admitted by those who should be members
of it ; not denouncing as heretics ' the members

' It is well worth remarking, that our Church has de
nounced the Romanists as erroneous indeed, but not as
heretical. If oue brought up in the bosom of our Church
were to preach, for instance, the doctrine of the sacrifice

192 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
of other Churches who might hold different doc
trines ; but of course not admitting her own
to be erroneous ; which would be saying in the
same breath that they are not her own. An
individual indeed will often have not made up
his mind as to this or that question ; and will
often express doubts as to some opinion which
he is rather inclined to adopt : but for a Church
to make a declaration of doubt, would be absurd.
In whatever points our Reformers felt themselves
undecided, and in whatever, though themselves
convinced, they thought it unnecessary to re
quire general assent — on such points they would
of course say nothing. Whatever they set forth,
they could not but set forth, as, in their judgment,
both true, and essential.
It is possible, indeed, for a Church to multiply
unnecessarily her articles of faith, and thus
of the Mass, he would be properly pronounced as heretical ;
but we claim no spiritual authority over the members of other
Churches. The Romanists do ; and accordingly denominate
us, with perfect consistency, heretics ; as being properly
members, though febellious members, of their Church. See
Blanco White's Evidence against Catholicism, p. 118. and
Hinds's History, vol. ii. p. 41 — 45.

Sect. 5.] OU humun uuthority. 193
narrow too much the terras of her communion :
but if in any case this fault were committed, and
even if we suppose many of the doctrines so laid
down to be fundamentally erroneous, still tliis
fault would be of a totaUy different kind from
that of advancing a claim to infallibility "'.
In short, to profess certain doctrines, and

'" Much of the confusion of thought which has arisen on
this subject, is to be traced to the ambiguity of the word
" authority ;" which is sometimes used, in the primary sense,
(corresponding with auctoritas.) to signify the weight assigned
to the example or opinion of those who, in any point, are
likely to be competent judges, and which raises a presumption
in favour of what they have done or maintained ; as when we
appeal to the " authority" of some Historian or Philosopher :
but sometimes again, and that not unfrequently, it is used (in the
sense oi potestas) to signify power, to which we are absolutely
bound to submit ; as when we speak of the authority of a
Magistrate. The language of our Article keeps clear of this
ambiguity, in the statement, that " the Church has power to
ordain rites and ceremonies," (not at variance with God's
Word,) " and has authority in controversies of faith." But
still, the use of the word Authority in the sense of power is so
common, that it has, I have no doubt, aided in producing the
impression, that a claim is advanced by the Church of being an
infallible interpreter of Scripture. O

194 Undue reliance [Cuap. iv.
(which is implied by so doing) to declare that
those doctrines are true, is, for every Church,
allowable, because inevitable ; to err in any of
those doctrines, or in the mode of setting them
forth, as long as there is a readiness to correct
any thing that shall be proved at variance with
Scripture or with reason, is nothing unpardon
able, nor, in its results, incurable : while to deny
the liability to error, and to claim, without
warrant, the infallibility which implies inspiration,
is in itself presumptuous impiety, and leads to
interminable corruption.
For the difference is no mere theoretical
nicety, but of most extensive practical import
ance. The claim to exemption from all error,
shuts the door against reform. The smallest
change in any article of faith, would break the
talisman of infallibility, and the magic edifice
of Papal dominion would crumble into ruins.
In matters of discipline, indeed, the Romish
Church might introduce reforms, without com
promising her claim ; since there the question
is one not of truth, but of expediency; which may
vary in each different age and country. But
her regulations respecting discipline have been

Sect. 5.] OU humun authority . 195
so intertwined with doctrinal points, that She
has generaUy dreaded to alter any thing, lest her
infalhbihty should be called in question. For
instance, it has never been contended that the
adoration of images and relics is essential to
Christianity ; there would therefore be no in
consistency on the part of the Romish Church
in remedying that abuse : but it has been thought
probably (and not without reason) that to do so
might raise suspicions as to the wisdom of ori
ginally sanctioning the practice — as to the sound
ness of the arguments and decisions by which
it was maintained against Protestants — and as
to the truth of the miraculous legends connected
with it ; and the upholders of the Romish system
have accordingly always dreaded (as was re
markably exemplified not long since in respect of
some efforts towards such an amelioration, made
in Germany) to touch a single stone of their
infirm fabric, lest another, and another, should
be displaced. For those who are conscious, or
who at all suspect, (whether with or without
good reason,) that great part of the system they
are maintaining is thoroughly unsound, are natu
rally led to regard the beginning of reformation
o 2

196 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
(even as Solomon says of the beginning of strife)
as "like the letting out of water;" when once
commenced they know not to what it may
proceed, or how it can be stopped. And thus it
is that the claim to infallibility burdens the Church
of Rome with a load of long-accumulated errors
and abuses, to which many probably of her ad
herents are by no means blind, but of which they
know not how to relieve her.
To this evil must be added, that the claim of
an infallibility independent of Scripture, naturally
tends towards the result which in fact took place,
the prohibition of translations, and the discourage
ment of the study of the Scriptures, as needless,
and unsafe, for the mass of the Christian laity.
And even after the removal or relaxation of this
restriction, the people, even with the Bible in
their hands, are evidently far less likely to per
ceive the erroneousness of any doctrines of their
Church, if that Church does not profess to rest
those doctrines on Scripture alone, but on her
own independent and paramount authority. Thou
sands must have perceived many Romish tenets
to be unwarranted by Scripture, who have yet
never thought of regarding that as ground for

SicT. 6.] on human authority. 197
caUing them in question. On the other hand,
" even corrupt Churches, provided they do not
suppress the Scriptures, or disallow them as the
only rule of faith, may still afford to many of
their members the means of correcting their
errors, and ascertaining the essential truths of
Christianity"." §. 6. But are Protestants then, as long as they
do but acknowledge these principles, exempt
from all danger of any such error as thai for
which the Romish Church has now been cen
sured ? By no means. Such might indeed have
been the case, had the claim to infalhbihty for
the decisions of the Church, and the comparative
disregard of Scripture, been the cause, instead of
being, as in truth it was, the effect, of the tendency
to pay undue deference to human authority.
The real cause of that tendency is to be sought
in the principles of our common nature ; — in the
disposition to carry almost to idolatry the vene
ration due to the wise, and good, and great ; — in
the dislike of doubt and of troublesome investiga-
" Hawkins on Tradition, p. 42,

198 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
tion — the dread of perplexity and disagreement —
and the desire of having difficult questions finally
settled, and brought into the form of dogmas
ready-prepared for acceptance in a mass. While
this disposition " continues to form a part of our
nature, we can never, but by continual self-
distrust, be safe from its effects. And the danger
of virtually substituting human authority for
divine, is the greater, from the necessity which
exists of making use of human expositions of
Scripture ; not only for the purpose, above alluded
to, of providing a Symbol, Test, or Creed, (such
as our thirty-nine Articles,) in order to ascertain
a sufficient agreement in members of the same
religious Community, but also for the purposes of
public worship, and of catechetical instruction.
For the sacred writers have not only transmitted
only one short form of prayer '', and no complete
form for the administration of the Christian ordi
nances, but have not even left us any systematic
° Which cannot perhaps be so well described in our lan
guage, as by the words of the Greek historian, Ijtj ra hoifiM
^ Hinds's History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 114,
115.

Sect. 6.] On humau authoriti/. 199
course of instruction in the Christian doctrines.
These, they have left to be collected from Histories
and Epistles, evidently addressed to Christians —
to persons who had already been regularly in
structed (catechized as the word is in the original)
in the principles of the faith : thus '', leaving, as it
should seem, to the Church the office of sys-
tematicaUy teaching, and to the Scriptures, that of
proving, the Christian doctrines.
And it is a circumstance not a little remarkable,
that they should aU of them have thus abstained
from committing to writing (what they must
have been in the habit of employing orally) a
Catechism or course of elementary instruction in
Christianity, consisting of a regular series of un
questionable Canons of doctrine — Articles of faith
duly explained and developed — in short, a com
pendium of the Christian rehgion ; which we may
be sure (had such ever existed) would have been
carefuUy transmitted to posterity. This, I say,
must appear to every one, on a little reflexion,
something remarkable ; but it strikes me as
UteraUy miraculous. I mean, that the procedure
appears to me dictated by a wisdom more than
H See Hawkins's Dissertation ou Tiadition.

200 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
human ; and that the Apostles and their imme
diate followers must have been supernaturally
withheld from taking a course which would
naturally appear to them the most expedient.
Considering how very great must have been the
total number of all the Elders and Catechists ap
pointed, in various places, by the Apostles, and by
those whom they commissioned, it seems hardly
credible, that no one of these should have thought
of doing what must have seemed so obvious, as to
write, under the superintendence and correction
of the Apostles, some such manual for the use of
his hearers : as was in fact done, repeatedly, in
subsequent ages, (i. e. after, as we hold, the age of
inspiration was past,) in all the Churches where
any activity existed. Thus much, at least, appears
to me indubitable ; that Impostors would have
taken sedulous care (as Mahomet did) to set forth
a complete course of instructions in their Faith ;
and that Enthusiasts would never have failed,
some of them at least, to fall into the same plan ;
so that an omission which is, on all human prin
ciples, unaccountable, amounts to a moral de
monstration of the divine origin of our religion.
And this argument, we should observe, is not

Sect. 6.] OH humau authority. 201
drawn from the supposed wisdom of such an ap
pointment : it holds good equally, however httle
we may perceive the expediency of the course
actually pursued ; for that which cannot have
come from Man, must have come from God. If
the Apostles were neither enthusiasts nor im
postors, they must have been inspired; whether
we can understand, or not, the reasons of the pro
cedure which the Holy Spirit dictated.
In this case, however, attentive consideration
may explain to us these reasons. God's wisdom
doubtless designed to guard us against a danger,
which I think no human wisdom would have
foreseen — the danger of indolently assenting to,
and committing to memory, a " form of sound
words ;" which would in a short time have be
come no more than a form of words ; — received
with passive reverence, and scrupulously retained
in the mind — lea'ving no room for doubt — fur
nishing no caU for vigilant investigation — afford
ing no stimulus to the attention, and making no
vivid impression on the heart. It is only when
the understanding is kept on the stretch by the
dihgent search — the watchful observation — the
careful deduction — which the Christian Scriptures

202 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
call forth, by their oblique, incidental, and irre
gular mode of conveying the knowledge of
Christian doctrines — it is then only, that the
Feelings, and the Moral portion of our nature, are
kept so awake as to receive the requisite im
pression : and it is thus accordingly that Divine
wisdom has provided for our wants, " Curis acuens
mortalia corda."
It should be observed also, that a single sys
tematic course of instruction, carrying with it
divine authority, would have superseded the
framing of any others — nay, would have made
even the alteration of a single word of what
would, on this supposition, have been Scripture S
appear an impious presumption ; and yet could
not possibly have been well-adapted for all
the varieties of station, sex, age, intellectual
power, education, taste, and habits of thought.
So that there would have been an almost inevi
table danger, that such an authoritative list of
credenda would have been regarded by a large
proportion of Christians with a blind and un
thinking reverence, which would have excited no
influence on the character ; they would have had
' Hinds's History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 236.

Sbct. 7.] on human authority. 203
" a form of godhness; but denying the power
thereof," the form itself would have remained
with them only as the corpse of departed Re
hgion. ^. 7. Such then being the care with which
God's providence has guarded against leading us
into this temptation, it behoves us to be careful
that we lead not ourselves into temptation, nor
yield to those which the natural propensities of
the human heart present. For, through the opera
tion of those principles which I have so earnestly,
and perhaps too copiously, dwelt on, we are
always under more or less temptation to exalt
some human exposition of the faith to a practical
equality with the Scriptures, by devoting to that
our chief attention, and making to it our habitual
appeal. And why, it may be said, should we scruple to
do this? giving to Scripture the precedence in
deed in point of dignity, as the foundation on
which the other is built, but regarding the super
structure as no less firm than the foundation on
which it is fairly built ? " I am fully convinced,"
a man may say, " that such and such an exposi-

204 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
tion conveys the genuine doctrines of the Scrip
tures : in which case it must be no less true than
they ; and may therefore, by those who receive
it, be no less confidently appealed to. Supposing
us fully to believe its truth, it answers to us the
purpose of Scripture : since we can but fully be
lieve that. For in mathematics, for instance, we
are not more certain of the axioms and elementary
propositions, than we are of those other propo
sitions which are proved from them : nor is there
any need to go back at every step to those first
theorems which are the foundation of the whole."
The principle which I have here stated, as
favourably as I am able, is one which, I believe,
is often not distinctly stated, even inwardly in
thought, by multitudes who feel and act conform
ably to it.
One obvious answer which might be given to
such reasoning is, that to assign to the deduc
tions of uninspired men the same perfect cer
tainty as belongs to mathematical demonstrations,
and to repose the same entire confidence in their
expositions of Scripture, as in Scripture itself, is
manifestly to confer on those men the attribute
of infahibility. Believe indeed, we must, in the

s^cT.7.J oil human authority. 205
truth of our own opinions : nor need it be such a
wavering and hesitating belief, as to leave us
incessantly tormented by uneasy doubts : but if
we censure the Romish Church for declaring her
self not hable to error, we must, for very shame,
confess our cwn habihty to it, not in mere words,
but in practice ; by being ever ready to listen to
argument — ever open to conviction ; — by conti-
nuaUy appealing and referring at every step " to
the Law and to the Testimony" — by continually
tracing up the stream of religious knowledge to
the pure fountain-head — the living waters of the
Scriptures. There is no need, however, to dwell exclusively
on the argument drawn from the possibility of
our being mistaken ; a danger which of course
each one hopes, in each particular case, to have
escaped. There is one decisive argument, per
fectly simple, and accessible to every under
standing, and especially acceptable to a pious
mind, against employing any human statement
of doctrines in place of Scripture, as the standard
to be habituaUy appealed to : it is not the will of
God that this should be done. For if it had been
his design, that there should be any such regular

206 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
System of doctrine for habitual reference, and
from which there should be, in ordinary practice,
no appeal, He would surely have enjoined, or at
least permitted, (and the permission would have
been sufficient to insure the same result,) the
framing of some such confession of Faith or Cate
chism, by his inspired servants themselves ; since
such a system would fully have answered the
purpose in -question, with the great additional
advantage, that it must have commanded the
assent of all who acknowledge the Christian
Scriptures. No Church, therefore, is empowered to do that,
which God for wise reasons evidently designed
should not be done. He has left to the Church
the office of preserving ' the Scriptures, and intro
ducing them to the knowledge of her members,
as the sole standard of faith — as not merely the
first step and foundation of proof, like the ele
mentary propositions of mathematics, but as the
only source of proof; and He has left her also the
office of teaching the Christian doctrines from the
Scriptures. A Church is authorized to set forth
for this purpose, 1. Catechisms — Homilies — in
' Hinds's History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 118.

Sect. 7.] OH human authority. 207
short, whatever may be needful for systematic
elementary teaching : it is authorized again, 2. to
draw up Creeds as a test or symbol to preserve
uniformity of faith in her members : and it is
also, 3. authorized to frame Offices for Public-
worship and administration of the Sacraments.
But all these human compositions must be kept
to their own proper uses. However wisely
framed they may be — however confident, and
justly confident, we may feel, of their truth and
scriptural character — we must never put them
in the place of Scripture, by making them
the standard of habitual appeal. Works of
Christian-instruction should be employed for
instruction; — works of Devotion, for devotion; —
Symbohcal works, such as Creeds and Articles,
for their proper purpose of furnishing a test
of any person's fitness to be acknowledged a
member, or a minister, of our Church. But
never, if we would in deed and in spirit avoid
the errors of Romanism — never should we appeal
to Creeds, Liturgies, or Catechisms, for the
proof of any doctrine, or the refutation of any
error. Never must we admit as decisive such
a syllogism as this: " the doctrines of our Church

208 Undue reliance [Cuap. iv.
are Scriptural ; this is a doctrine of our Church ;
therefore, &c. :" I mean, this must never be
admitted, without immediately proceeding to the
proof of the first premiss. And whenever we
refer, in proof or disproof of any doctrine, to
the Articles or Liturgy, for instance, we not only
should not appeal to them alone, but we should
also carefully point out that we refer to them
not as the authorized formularies of a Church,
but simply as the writings of able and pious men,
which would be deserving of attention, supposing
them to be merely private sermons, &c. To
refer to them as backed by the Church's sanction,
adds to them no legitimate force in respect of
the abstract truth of any position. Such an
appeal may indeed, in practice, be decisive, (and
justly so,) as far as regards members of our
Church: but it is, in truth, only an " argu-
mentum ad hominem." If any charge is to be
brought personally against an individual, as unfit
to be a member or minister of the Church, the
appeal is naturally, and rightly, made to her
formularies composed for this very purpose:
but when the question is not about a person, but
a doctrine — when the abstract truth of any tenet

Sk,t. 7.] on human authority. 209
is in question, " to the Law and to the Testi-
monv !" It savours of the spirit of Romanism
to refer for the proof or disproof of doctrines,
solely, or chiefly, to any, the most justly vene
rated, human authority — to any thing but the
inspired word of God. For if any one proves
any thing from our Articles or Liturgy, for
instcuice, either he could have proved it from
Scripture, or he could not : if he could not, he
is impeaching either the Scriptural character of
the Church's doctrines, or his own knowledge
of the Scriptural basis on which they rest : if
he could have proved it from Scripture, that is
the course he should have taken : not only
because he would thus have proved his point
both to those who receive our Articles, and also
to those who dissent from them ; but also,
because it is thus, and thus only, we can pre
serve to Scripture its due dignity and proper
office, and avoid the dangerous and encroaching
precedent of substituting human authority for
divine. For it is important to remember, that human
formularies, when once the habit is established
of making a definitive appeal to them for the

210 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
proof of any disputed point, have a tendency
not only to rival, but to supersede. Scripture.
They are usually drawn up in a more compact
and regular form, such as to facilitate refer
ence ; and they are purposely and carefully
framed, so as to exclude certain particular inter
pretations, which those of a different persua
sion have introduced'.

' It is on this ground, I believe, that the masters of several
of our charity-schools are enjoined to confine themselves
entirely to the printed questions drawn up for their use,
and to give the children no explanations of their own. The
consequence is, that neither master nor pupils are trained
to exercise their minds in developing the sense of Scripture,
but merely to exercise the memory in reciting words by
rote. It is urged, that the master might fall into errors;
and that though the framers of the printed questions and
answers do not distinctly claim infallibility, t'neir deliberate
decisions are at least less liable to error than the views which
might be taken by a number of comparatively unlearned men,
and are less liable to be misunderstood than Scripture itself.
The same reasoning would, if fairly followed up, lead to the
substitution of Homilies drawn up by authority, for all other
preaching; and, ultimately, to the confinement of the Scrip
tures themselves to a set of authorized interpreters. How
easily one may be on the high road to Romanism without

Sni. 7.] on human authority. 211
The convenience thence resulting ought to put
us the more on our guard against this encroaching

suspecting it! No doubt the Romanists are right in maintain
ing that .'scripture is liable to be wrested by " the unlearned
and unstable, to their own destruction;" and that it is possible
to draw up forms so precise and svsteinatic, as to be less liable
to misinterpretation, and expressly guarded against particular
errors which have been founded on particular misinterpreta
tions of Scripture : and all this ended in their " taking away
the key of knowledge, neither entering in themselves, nor
suffering others to enter in." But even had they (which is
inconceivable, considering nhat human nature is) embalmed
no doctrinal errors in this s\stem, they would still, as has
been already remarked, have substituted a cold, lifeless,
formal orthodoxy of profession, for active, vital, heartfelt
religion. Our Church, accordingly, knowing that the at
tempt to exclude the possibility of error, leads to the suppres
sion of practically-operating Scriptural truth, braved the risk
of such errors as might from time to time arise, by suffering
the people to study the Scriptures, and the ministers to
expound them, according to the best of their judgment ; not
confining to the Homilies any except such pastors as might be
judged incompetent to preach; and enjoining the Bishops to
give all diligence in selecting learned and discreet persons for
the Ministry.
And it would surely be the most consistent with these
principles to select carefully the best qualified masters — to be
p 2

212 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
character of human compositions. More trouble
some indeed may be the diligent search of the
Scriptures than a compendious appeal to esta
blished formularies ; but God has appointed that
this labour shall be the Christian's lot, and shall
bring with it amply its own reward. The care,
and diligence, and patient thought, and watchful
observation required in drawing for ourselves the
Christian-truths from the pure spring-head, will
be repaid by our having, through divine grace,
"those truths ultimately fixed in the heart as well
as in the understanding ; — we shall not only
" read," but " mark, learn, and inwardly digest
them," so that the heavenly nourishment will
enter into our whole frame, and make us not
merely sound theologians, but, what is much
more, sincere Christians and good men, truly
" wise unto salvation, through faith which is in
Christ Jesus."

diligent in giving each of them individually the best in
structions, and to superintend watchfully their instruction of
their scholars, than to preclude them (as is in fact done,
on the plan just alluded to) from giving them any instruction
at all.

Sect. 8.] on humuH authority. 213
^. 8. It must not, however, be supposed, that
those are exempt from the spirit of the error I
am speaking of, who are the I'urthest removed
from paying undue deference to the authorized
formularies of a Church. Many such persons on
the contrary are particularly addicted " jurare
in verba magistri" — to adopt blindly, and main
tain in defiance of argument, whatever they are
taught by some favourite preacher, author, or
party; whom they thus invest, virtually and
practicaUy, with infallibility. There is no benefit
in an emancipation from the shackles of Rome
to men who set up a Pope of their own making,
or merely substitute an unerring Party, for an
unerring Church ; nor is any thing gained by ab
staining from the use of the term infallibility, by
those who believe in the thing.
Those among the clergy who are particularly
zealous and sedulous, and particularly successful,
in awakening sinners — in enlightening the igno
rant — in administering consolation to the de
sponding, ought most especiahy to be on their
guard, not only not to encourage but watchfuUy to
repress in their hearers this error. " I depend
entirely on Mr. such-a-one ; he is my stay and

2 14 Undue reliance [Chap. iv.
my hope ; I feel that I should be lost without
him ; I am sure every thing he says is right, and
that I am quite safe under his guidance:" — this
is the sort of language often heard, and this the
kind of feeling evinced, in the case of many a
one who has been recalled from irreligion, or
rescued from despair, through the means of some
spiritual guide : a deep-felt, and perhaps com
mendable, gratitude and veneration, degenerate
into a kind of idolatry ; and they at length come
to exalt him into their mediator, intercessor, and
divine oracle. This throws a most flattering
temptation in his way; which he must be the
more vigilant in opposing. He must not only
be ever ready to adopt the apostle Paul's cau
tions, " Sirs, why do ye these things? we our
selves also are men of like passions with you :"
"Every one of you saith, I am of Paul," &c. " Was
Paul crucified for you ? or were ye baptized into
the name of Paul?" — 'but more than this, he must
also warn his hearers, that whereas Paul, having been
instructed by divine revelation, was an infallible
guide, he himself, having no such inspiration,
claims accordingly no infallibility ; and he must
therefore exhort often, and earnestly, the flock

SEci.b.i on human authoriti/. 215
(not his, but Christ's) committed to his care, in
stead of pinning their faith to his bare word, to
exercise their own minds — -to weigh well the
reasons he lays before them — and to study tor
themselves, as carefully as their circumstances
will permit, the Scriptures which he is endeavour
ing to expound to them.
Still stronger to some minds is the temptation
to become, each man a Pope to himself, by in
dulging the habit of making his decisions on
some points like " the law of the Medes and
Persians, which altereth not," and of enrolling
them as it were in a certain code, which is thence
forward not to be open to discussion. Such per
sons make up their minds perhaps on few points,
and with cautious deliberation ; but having once
adopted an opinion, will listen afterwards to no
arguments against it. " I have long adopted"
(says a respectable and amiable writer) " an expe
dient which I have found of singular service.
I have a shelf in my study for tried authors ; and
one in my mind for tried principles and cha
racters. When ao author has stood a thorough
examination, and will bear to be taken as a guide,
I put him on a shelf. When I have fully made

216 Undue reliance [Chap.iv.
up my mind on a principle, I put it on the shelf.
A hundred subtle objections may be brought
against this principle ; I may meet with some of
them perhaps ; but my principle is on the shelf
Generally I may be able to recall the reasons
which weighed with me to put it there; but if
not, I am not to be sent out to sea again. Time
was when I saw through and detected all the
subtleties that could be brought against it. /
have past evidence of having been fully convinced ;
and there on the shelf it shall lie. When I have
turned over a character on all sides, and seen it
through and through in aU situations, I put it on
the shelf" The proceeding here described I be
lieve to be adopted by not a few, though there
are not probably many who would so frankly
avow it. Yet such persons perhaps censure
the Romanists for claiming infallibility for their
Church ; a claim not implying a pretension to
universal knowledge, but to an exemption from
the possibility of mistake as to the points we do
pronounce upon ; which points accordingly are
no more to be discussed, nor any objections
against them to have a hearing. Whoever
therefore in this way decides on any point, does.

Skct. 8.] on human authority. 217
so far, virtually, claim infalhbility. Indeed if he
did not — if he still admitted that he might pos
sibly be mistaken on the point on which never
theless he ¦would bear no discussion, this, it is
plain, would aggravate the fault.
" But," they say, " it is extravagant scepticism
to be certain of nothing ; it is an absurd and a
wretched thing to have no faith in any thing,
but to be for ever wavering and hesitating." I
need hardly say that this is not what I recom
mend. The lover of truth need not be always in
actual doubt on every point ; but he must be
always open to conviction — always ready to hear
and to meet fairly, any seriously- urged objections.
It is one thing to be without Faith, and another
thing to have the Faith of the Apostolical Chris
tian, who is " always ready to give to every one
that asketh him, a reason of his hope." If there
be any thing virtuous or manly in any faith,
it must be in that which defies impugners —
which courts investigation ; not in that which
rests on our resolution to shut our ears. If our
confidence, for instance, in a friend's integrity is
accompanied with a determination to hear no
objections to his conduct, it surely is not so

218 Undue reliance [('ha!. iv.
creditable to him, as if it rested on a defiance
of accusations, and a readiness to hear all that
could be said, though with a full expectation
that all censure would be refuted. For we may
very reasonably, on many occasions, feel, after a
careful examination of some question, a con
fident expectation that no arguments will be ad
duced that will change our opinions ; but this
is very different from a resolution that none ever
shall. Yet nothing is more common than to hear a
person say, in the course of some discussion,
"Nothing shall ever convince me" . . . . "Then hold
your peace !" would be a fair reply, even before
he had finished his sentence ; "if you are not
open to conviction, you are not qualified for dis
cussion. The more confident you are, on just
grounds, of being in the right, the more fearlessly
ready should you be, to hear all that can be
urged on the other side." I am aware that this
is, in many cases, no more than a form of speech
adopted from imitation : but considering how
prone we are by nature to the fault in question,
I cannot but think it important that even our
language should be carefully guarded, so as never

St,r.9.] on human authority. 219
to express, what we should never allow ourselves
to feel, that firm confidence in the authority of
Man (whether the decision be another's or our own)
in matters wherein he is liable to err, which is due
only to the unerring God.

CHAPTER V
PERSECUTION.

§.1. 1 HERE are several expressions of our
Lord's which are calculated, and probably were
designed, to guard against the notion, that a re
jection of his religion is an offence which will be
hghtly regarded by the Most High ; — that the
gracious and merciful — the tender and condescend
ing — character of the Gospel which proclaimed
" peace, and good-will towards men," is to be
considered as implying that men are left to accept
the offer or not, according to their own tastes and
fancies, and have no heavy judgments to dread
in case of their not embracing it. On the con
trary, " whosoever," said He, " shaU not receive
you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake
off the dust under your feet for a testimony
against them ; verily I say unto you, it shall be
more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, in the
day of judgment, than for that city."

222 Persecution. [Chap. v.
It was perhaps the more needful to guard
against such a mistake as I have alluded to,
on account of his having shortly before rebuked
his disciples for proposing to call down fire from
heaven on a Samaritan village which had refused
to receive Him; saying, " Ye know not what
manner of spirit ye are of; for the Son of man
is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save."
That this prohibition and this declaration of his,
might possibly have been so interpreted by his
disciples as to lead to the mistake in question,
we may infer from the tone in which, even as
it is, some Christian writers have spoken of the
passage, as if designed to contrast the milder
and gentler character of the Gospel, with the se
verity of the Mosaic Law. Whereas our Lord,
in the words just cited, warns his hearers, and
us, through them, that abundant in mercy as
the Gospel offers of salvation are, that mercy
is reserved for such as shall accept them ; and
that as the more glorious rewards, so also the
more fearful judgments, of a Future Life, are held
out in place of the temporal sanctions of the
old dispensation. It is as if He had said, " Think
not that because I came not to destroy the

¦<Eri. I.J Persecution. 223
lives of the ungodly by temporal judgments,
as Elias did, therefore the sin of these men
is less, or the judgments reserved for them,
if they persist in it, lighter; on the con
trary, as greater miracles have been wrought
among the men of this generation, and not
temporal but eternal blessings offered them, so,
a proportionate punishment in the next world,
though they may escape in this, awaits the
impenitent : I forbad you to call down fire from
heaven on those who have rejected me ; though
Sodom would have repented if the mighty works
had been done in it which have been done in
these cities, and Sodom was destroyed by fire
from heaven : verily I say unto you, it shall be
more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment,
than for them."
The natural inference from the two passages
I have alluded to, compared with each other,
and with several more in the New Testament
connected with them, would plainly seem to be,
that though the Lord will not, under the New
any more than under the Old dispensation, per
mit his cah to be disobeyed with impunity, the re
wards and punishments which form the sanction of

224 Persecution.

[Chap. V.

the Gospel are not (like those under the Law)
temporal prosperity and affliction, but the far
more important goods and evils of a future life ;
and that consequently the revelation of Christ
cannot, consistently with its character, be either
propagated or maintained by the sword or the
fires of persecution, or by any compulsory means;
but requires us to be " gentle unto all men, in
meekness instructing them that oppose them
selves, if God peradventure will give them re
pentance to the acknowledgment of the truth."
The desire, however, of saving men from the
dreadful doom in the next world, denounced on
those " who do not obey the truth," has often
been a reason, and oftener perhaps a plea, for
seeking to enforce a right faith, and to put down
religious error, by all possible means. Too anx
ious, we cannot be, for the salvation of men's
souls — for the diffusion and for the purity of
the Christian religion — so long as we seek to
compass these objects by the gentle force of per
suasive argument and winning example : but
when these methods fail, or even when it is
apprehended that they may fail, the endeavour
to prevent, by restraint, deviations from the esta-

St^i. 1.] Persecution. 225
blished faith, and to force the stubborn and un
persuadable into that which appears to be both
for their own good, and for that of the commu
nity, is perfectly natural and conformable to the
character of man.
The Romish Church, which has so long and
so loudly been stigmatized as a persecuting
Church, is indeed deeply stained with this guilt,
but cannot with any reason be reckoned the
originating cause of it. The vast and black
catalogue of her oft'ences on this score, may be
accounted for by the circumstance, that a large
portion of mankind w'ere for many ages members
of that Church ; and that in this, as well as in
numerous other points formerly noticed, the evil
propensities of man's nature were, instead of
being checked on each occasion, connived at,
sanctified, and successively embodied in that
corrupt system. The pretended successor of
Peter does indeed proclaim his own degeneracy,
by his palpable disobedience to the command, to
" put up his sword into its sheath;" but this, as
well as the other Romish errors, has its root in
the evil heart of the unrenewed man. Like the
Q

226 Persecution. [Cuap. v.
rest, it neither began with Romanism, nor can
reasonably be expected to end with it.
In respect of the point now before us, this
should seem to be more especially evident : for
none complain more loudly of persecution than
the Romanists themselves ; who adore, to this
day, the relics of the martyrs to Pagan perse
cution. And it is but too well known, that the
Reformers, when they had detected and renounced
the other Romish errors, had not, either in prin
ciple or in practice, divested themselves of this ".
Even in respect of the persecutions directed
against themselves, they seem to have joined
issue rather on the question whether they were
heretics, than whether heretics ought to be con
signed to the secular arm. Nor can this remnant
of the spirit of Romanism be so called, in the
sense of making the pecuhar system of that
Church, properly, the cause of it ; because we
find the same principle manifested in its full force

^ Jeremy Taylor advocated almost as a paradoxical novelty,
the doctrine of toleration ; and Locke found it necessary long
after to make a formal and elaborate defence of it.

Sect. -2.] PcrseCUtioU. 'I'll
among the Mahometans, who cannot in any way
be regarded as deriving it from Romanism.
It is derivable rather from the character of
" the natural man ;" — from the natural feehngs,
of resentment against opponents — of love of con
trol — and of a desire to promote apparent good,
and repress whatever seems fraught with mis
chief, by any means that present themselves as
effectual. The bitter contests between the sects
of the Nominahsts and the Realists, in the age
preceding the Reformation, present a memorable
and instructive proof, that the operation of these
feehngs is not confined to the case of Rehgion.
§.2. But natural as these feelings may be, and
strongly as they may tend to produce persecution, it
may be thought that, in the present age and country
at least, it is useless to contemplate a danger now
completely done away; since persecution neither
exists, nor is hkely to arise, among ourselves.
It is however important — not perhaps less im
portant now than formerly — to lay down correct
principles on this point, and to keep clear of a
theoretical error, though it may not lead now to
the same kind of practical evils with those which
q2

228 Persecution.

[Chap. V.

formerly sprung from it. For it usually happens,
that a false principle will lead to two different evil
results. To use a language which will be fami
liar to most of my readers, a false premiss, ac
cording as it is combined with this, or with that,
true one, will lead to two different false conclu
sions. Thus, if the principle be admitted, that
any important religious errors ought to be forcibly
suppressed, this may lead either to persecution
on the one side, or to latitudinarian indifference
on the other. Some may be led to justify the
suppression of heresies by the civil sword ; and
others, whose feelings revolt at such a procedure,
and who see persecution reprobated and discoun
tenanced by those around them, may be led by
the same principle to regard religious errors as of
little or no importance, and all religious persua
sions as equally acceptable in the sight of God.
To abstain, in short, in practice, from putting
down heresies by secular force, if we at the same
time maintain the right to do so, in the case of
pernicious error, is in fact to sanction those heresies
as harmless and insignificant.
Moreover, it is also important, with a view to
future contingencies, to be in possession of just

Svrr. i.] Tersecution. 229
in'inciples on such a subject. When pcrseiution
is not actuallv raging — when men's minds arc
not actually inflamed by the combination of re
ligious animosity with excitements of a political
character — then is the very time to provide our
selves with such firm-fixed and right princii)les,
as may avail in time of need, and to destroy the
roots of those theoretical errors which may he
torpid, yet ready to vegetate as soon as the
season is favourable to them. For when party-
spirit and all angry passions are raging, the voice
of calm reason is not likely to be hstened to.
When the storm is in its fury, it may be too late
to drop the anchor.
And especially persons of the mildest dispo
sition, and most forbearing benevolence, who are
fuUy, and perhaps justly, conscious, that they
themselves would never, under any circumstances,
be in danger of acting harshly — more especially,
I say, should such persons be warned of the im
portance of tolerant principles, and cautioned to
be on their guard against inculcating, or favouring,
such doctrines as may, by being consistently
followed up, lead others into persecution. For
such a person is of course not likely to distrust

230 Persecution. [Chap. v.
himself on this point ; from feeling confident that
cruel severity is not his own besetting sin ; and
therefore may be in the more danger of promul
gating principles, which others will act upon in a
manner that would be revolting to himself He
may have been preparing a poisonous potion,
which others will administer. The sword which
he has unconsciously forged and sharpened, may
be wielded with unsparing vigour by sterner
hands. And it should be remembered, that, however
comparatively mild the character of the present
age may be, if contrasted with those that are past,
we still think it worth while to pray that we,
God's "servants, may be hurt by no persecutions;"
let us never therefore forget to add mentally a
petition for the far more important blessing, that
we may be preserved from hurting others by per
secution. To prove that persecution is unchristian, would
be superfluous ; since the proposition, so stated,
would be at once admitted by all. No one calls
himself, or probably thinks himself, a persecutor.
The errors we are liable to on this point, if we
are liable to any, must consist in our reckoning

Sect. 3.] Persecution. 2.31
ourselves secure from this fault as long as we
condemn the name of it, and reprobate the
Romanists for being guilty of it, while at the
same time we have a false or indistinct notion of
what it is that constitutes the spirit of perse
cution. I shall therefore chiefly confine myself to a
brief notice of the mistakes as to this point which
appear to be the most prevalent.
§. 3. I. The tenet of the Romanists, that sal
vation is absolutely impossible out of the pale of
their own Church, has been not unfrequently
considered as the necessary basis of all their
persecution. But this view appears to me not
only incorrect, but mischievous in its results.
For though such a persuasion may be harsh and
bigotted, and may tend to foster a persecuting
principle, the two are by no means either iden
tical or necessarily connected. It is at least con
ceivable that a man may believe a conformity to
his own faith to be absolutely indispensable to
salvation, and yet may hold, as part of that faith,
the unlawfulness of employing coercion in its
cause. On the other hand, a man may beheve

232 Persecution.

[i'HM-. V

the possibility of the salvation of those of a dif
ferent persuasion from his own, yet may think
them much less likely to attain it ; he may think
their case not absolutely hopeless, but highly
dangerous ; and he may also think himself au
thorized, and therefore bound, to preserve or to
reclaim men from error, by coercive means, when
no others will suffice. He may consider govern
ments as bound to exercise, in all respects, a
parental care over their subjects'^: now children

i> Grotius, speaking of the establishment of the reformed
Religion by the States of Holland, says, " Recepta publics
disciplina quae Genevse, et inPalitinatu Germaniae, passimque
alibi, docebatur : hoc tamen interest, quod ejusdem religionis
alii, diversas minus tolerant: Quippe, non in hoc tantum or-
dinatas a Deo Civitates ac Magistratus dictantes ut a Cor-
poribus et Possessionibus injuriae abessent, sed ut quo more.
Ipse jussisset, eo, in commune coleretur ; cujus officii negli-
gentes, multos, poenam aliorum impietati debitam, in se accer-
cisse. Contra, istse nationes," &c. The Dutch States regarded
the maintaining of a false religion, as a sin only, not a crime ;
(according to the distinction so ably drawn by Bp. Warburton ;)
and consequently as not coming within the province of the
civil magistrate : while others, misled probably, as men so
often and so easily are, by the circumstance that in very many
cases the same act will be both a sin and a crime, confounded

stt, 3.J Persecution. 233
are withheld, and if need be, Ibrcibly withheld, by
their parents, not only from inevitable destruction,
but from every thing dangerous, or in any respect
the two together ; and regarding it the duty of the magistrate,
as entrusted with the care of his subjects' good, generally,
to enforce eveiy thing conducive to what seemed to him their
good, concluded that the toleration of religious-error would be
as unjustifiable as the toleration of theft. Yet all this does
not imply their conviction of the absolute impossibility of sal
vation to one infected with religious-error.
Some of my readers may perhaps imagine, that these
notions, though prevalent two centuries and a half ago, have
been long since obsolete among Protestants. But the follow
ing passages, breathing the same spirit, are extracted from a
work which received the sanction of a large and influential
body of Protestants vithin the present century. " Man is a
compounded Being, not more impelled to seek his temporal
advantage, than bound to pursue his eternal interests. Must
not the State look to him in both conditions ; and as far
as possible assist its individual members in the attainment of
both ? Is not the Sovereign to rule for the greatest good of the
whole? .Andean he leave out any part of that which con
stitutes their greatest good ? Is he not again bound by the
duty which he owes to God, so to govern his people as to
enable them best to obey the will of the great common
Sovereign of all? Must he not then secure for his subjects the
best aids of Religion?" (On this principle 1 cannot conceive
how the Sovereign can be justified in affording toleration

234 Persecution. [Chap. v.
hurtful. The persuasion, therefore, of the absolute
necessity of a right faith, however uncharitable it
may be, does not necessarily lead to persecution ;
to any, that he thinks, religious errors, or in abstaining from
suppressing them by the sword, if milder means fail ; even as
he would theft, or murder.) " In truth, every separation of di
vine and human things is a rejection of Providence." (The
precept of" Render unto Caesar the things that be Csesar's, and
unto God the things that be God's," seems rather at variance
with this.) " I should not have dvi'elt so long upon so plain
a proposition as that which affirms it to be the duty of the
Sovereign to provide a true religion for his people," (this
must imply, conformably with the foregoing principles, the
prohibition of all false ones,) " but that, strange as it may
appear, it is a maxim which hangs but loosely on the minds
of many in the present day."
Whether the writer really meant to adopt the conclusion
which inevitably follows from his principles, or whether he
was merely designing to advocate what is commonly under
stood by " an established religion," I do not presume, nor
is it important, to determine. Certainly the fallacy of proving
too much, is one of those which are the most apt to slip in
unperceived. It is remarkable, however, that he proceeds to
censure, not merely the enemies of a religious establishment,
but also some of " those who admit the lawfulness and
necessity of an establishment ;" including, particularly, War-
burton ; whom he describes as " feeling no concern for the
truth of the religion which he calls to his aid," and as repre-

StcT. 3.] Persecution. '.^35
nor does the absence of that persuasion preclude
persecution. And the notion is, as I have said,
not only erroneous, but practically mischievous ;
because it naturally tends to make men regard
with suspicion, as leaning to intolerance, every one
who sets a high value on a right faith, regard
ing religious error as an important evil ; and to
suppose that liberahty and christian charity con

senting that there is " no difference between false and true
religion in their influence on Society !" This is the inference
drawn from Warburton's just and undeniable remark, that in
discussing questions respecting the establishment of a religion
by the civil magistrate, we must vjaive the question as to the
truth of each, because each will of course regard his own
as the true one, and there is no appeal to any authority on
earth to decide between the different Sovereigns. Whether
Warburton's views are correct or not, (which it is not my
present object to inquire,) so gross a misrepresentation of him
is neither fair nor wise.
But the writer from whomi have made these extracts might,
consistently, (and this is the point which is important to my
present view,) hold the possibility of salvation of one, whose
religious persuasion differed from his own : how he could,
consistently, admit of toleration, I cannot conceive. And
what I am now occupied in pointing out is, the non-con
nexion of these two things, which are so often confounded.

236 Persecution. [Cmr. v.
sist in a carelessness about truth, and indifference
as to all religious persuasions.
II. Another mistake as to the real character
of persecution is that of regarding it as con
sisting in the employment of violent means
against the truth ; — as implying that the perse
cution must be on the wrong side. Those who
take this view of the subject (as the Romanists
seem always to have done) do not, in fact, cen
sure persecution, as such, but rather religious
error. They can no more be said to object to
persecution, than a man could be called an enemy
to Laws because he condemns what he thinks
inexpedient laws, while he advocates such as
he considers wiser. If the persecutors of w^hom
they complain are doing only what would be
right, supposing the doctrines they enforce were
true, it is not properly the violence employed
that is complained of, but the false doctrines sup
ported by it. And it may be added, that, on
this principle, the censure of persecution must
be no less practically vain, than it is in itself
incorrect ; since no one will believe, or at least
acknowledge, his own persuasion to be wrong,
and the cause to which he is opposed to be

:i.j

Pej-secution. 237

that of truth. All dissuasives from persecution
must pass by men " as the idle wind which
thev regard not," if the word be used in such
a sense, that no one will, or conceivably can,
apply these dissuasives to his own case.
III. Again, persecution is sometimes charac
terized as consisting in the excessive severity —
the cruelty — of the punishments inflicted, and
of the coercive means employed. But in cases
where any secular punishment may allowably
be inflicted, it can hardly be said that any can
be excessive which is not as great an evil as
that which it is designed to remedy, when no
lighter penalty will suffice. Now the loss of
men's immortal souls was, justly, regarded by
the Romanists as a greater evil than the most
cruel death of a heretic : and they were not
perhaps mistaken in thinking, that such severity
as effectually puts a stop to the offence, is, in
the end, even the more humane procedure. On
the other hand, where we have no right to inflict
secular penalties at all, all alike, whether hght
or heavy, must be regarded as equally of the
nature of persecution and cruelty, however un
equal in amount. It is not the degree of suffer-

238 Persecution. [Chap. v.
ing, but the just or wrongful infliction, that
characterises each punishment. Persecution is
not wrong because it is cruel ; but it is cruel
because it is wrong.
IV. Nor, again, is it correct to characterise
persecution as consisting in the infliction of
punishment for the gratification of revenge or
malice: according to which view, two individuals
might deserve, the one praise, and the other
censure, while adopting the very same measures,
the one from a benevolent wish to deter of
fenders, the other, from the impulse of angry
passion, and from a bloodthirsty disposition.
And it is certainly true that such an act as
the prosecution of a robber, e. g. may spring
from a sinful desire of revenge: but as in that
case we do not condemn the act as in itself
unjustifiable, though we censure the agent, so,
those who hold the principle just mentioned, do
not, in fact, disapprove of persecution at all,
but only of revengeful motives for it. And any
censure they may profess to bestow on persecu
tion must be as ineffectual as it is in truth in
correct : for few will even think, and no one
will admit, that he is actuated by revengeful

Sect. 3.] PcrsCCUtioU. 239
motives. In the bloodiest periods of the In
quisition, the professed object was always the
preservation of men's souls, by the prevention
of heretical infection. Nor are such professions
necessarily hypocritical. A man of the most
humane and benevolent character may be led,
by a mistaken sense of duty, arising from error
of judgment, to sanction the most dreadful se
verities, which he regards as the only effectual
check to a greater evil, such as he thinks himself
bound to repress at all events. What candid
(or even uncandid) student of history can believe
Cranmer cruel and revengeful ? Yet he sanctioned
the cutting off of heretics by the secular arm,
from a sincere, though erroneous, sense of duty.
V. Sometimes, again, the mistake is com
mitted of characterising persecution as consisting
in punishing men for their religious opinions;
while punishment, for propagating their errors, is
justified. But this is in fact to explain away the very exist
ence of persecution ; since no man can be punished
for opinions which he keeps secret within his own
bosom. All persecution, if there be any such

240 Persecution. [Chap. v.
thing in existence, or even in imagination, must
be either for publishing opinions supposed to be
erroneous, or for refusing to renounce them, and
to subscribe to the creed imposed. Will it be
said then, that we are authorized to prohibit, and
to prevent by penalties, the preaching of any doc
trines we may deem erroneous, though it would
involve the guilt of persecution to compel any
one to abjure those doctrines, and to assent to
ours ? Surely this is drawing a distinction where
there is no essential difference. If it is our right
and our duty, to prevent by forcible means the
spread of certain doctrines, and to maintain what
we believe to be true religion, we must be au
thorized, and bound, to employ what will often
appear the only effectual means towards our ob
ject, by compelling men to renounce those erro
neous doctrines, and to profess that religion ; or
else, at least, to quit the country. For we should
remember, that it never can, in any case, be left
to our choice, whether we will employ coercive
It means or not. All punishment — all denunciation
of punishment — in short, all compulsion and re
straint — must be either a duty, or a sin. The Civil

s,.ct. 3.] Persecution. 241
magistrate may say, " 1 have power to release
thee, and power to condemn thee;" but he cannot
have a right to do whichever he will.
And in the present instance, it is impossible to
draw a hne to any effectual purpose between for
bidding a man to propagate his religion, and
compelling him to abjure it, on the ground that
the one does, and the other does not, offer vio
lence to his conscience ; which was perhaps the
distinction set up by the Jewish Elders, when
they were content merely to " charge the Apo
stles not to preach in the name of Jesus." Peter
and John replied, that they could not but " de
clare what they had seen and heard ;" and it is
not surely impossible, or even unlikely, that
others also may think themselves bound in con
science to teach, at least, their families and their
friends, what they conceive to be essential truths.
VI. Lastly, it is important to observe, that
though persecution itself does necessarily imply the
actual infliction of some penalty, we must by no
means infer, that where nothing of the kind takes
place, the spirit and principle of persecution is
absent. On the contrary, wherever this principle is

242 Persecution. [Cum:\.
the most vigorously and effectually acted on,
there will be the least actual persecution, because
there will be the least occasion for it For it
should be remembered, that no one wishes to
persecute. Penal laws against heretics, as those
against robbers, or incendiaries, are not devised
for the purpose of crowding the jails, and multi
plying the number of criminals sentenced, but
are designed to prevent the offences against which
they are directed ; and the laws are considered
as then most effectual, when the terror of the
penalties they denounce so operates in deterring
offenders, that there is seldom any need to inflict
the penalties themselves.
We never hear therefore of persecution in
those countries where no resistance is made to
religious coercion. The fetters gall those only
who struggle against them. Accordingly, where
the tyranny of the Inquisition reigns triumphant,
there are no punishments for religious offences.
No tree is withered by the frost of the polar
regions, or by the scorching winds of the Arabian
deserts ; because none can exist in those regions.
And no Protestant is now brought to the stake in
Spain , because, there, persecution has done its work.

Slct. 3.]

Persecution. 243

Hence the fallacious argument, for I cannot
but regard it as such, which is often employed
against persecution, on the ground that it does
not answer its purpose of suppressing dissent.
It is evident that actual persecution, when it does
accomplish its object, must soon cease. The
fire will go out of itself, when it has fairly
consumed its fuel. The more effectually the
Inquisition operates, the less it will have to do.
There are accordingly few Roman-Catholic coun
tries in which some attempts at reformation have
not been suppressed by a vigorous, early, and
steady resort to secular force ; or in which such
attempts are not prevented by the apprehension
of it.
We must not therefore judge of the existence,
or of the extent, of a persecuting spirit, in any
case, by the amount of sufferings actually under
gone; (else we shall suppose it to exist least
where in reahty it is in the greatest force ;) but
by the penalties denounced — in short, the degree
of coercion that exists in religious matters. And
in our own conduct, the rock of which we must
steer clear, if we would preserve the true course
of Christian meekness, is, not the actual practice
r2

244 Persecution. [Chap. v.
of religious persecution, but the sanction of
secular compulsion and restriction — not the ac
tual infliction, but the enactment of secular penal
ties. For the infliction (in any case) of the punish
ment denounced, is an accidental circumstance ;
and it is never the object of the legislator's will,
but depends in part on the persons suffering; and
if the law is just, the penalty by which it is
sanctioned ought to be inflicted on any trans
gressor of that law. And on the other hand,
consequently, if the case be such that the inflic
tion of the punishment would be persecution, the
law ought not to be sanctioned by the denounce
ment of that punishment. A compulsory enact
ment necessarily implies the resort to forcible
means, in case of resistance or disobedience; in
any case therefore where the one would be wrong,
the other cannot possibly be right ".
" Accordingly, I have always been at a loss to understand
how Christians, of those Sects which interpret literally the
injunction to turn the cheek to the smiter, and which regard
all employment of force as unlawful, can reconcile to their
principles the practice (about which they have, I believe, no
scruple) oi going to law for the recovery of their rights.
If one of these has a sum awarded to him, whether in the

Sur. +.] Peisccution. 245
§.4. The ultimate penalty accordingly, in this
world, with which the Author of our Religion
thought fit to sanction it, was (with the exce[)tion
of a few cases of miraculous interference) the
exclusion of the offender from the religious com-
mmiity which he had scandalized'': "if he refuse
to hear the Church, let him be unto you as a
heathen man and as a pubhcan:" if he would not
hsten ¦when repeatedly admonished, he was to be

shape of damages, or otherwise, he must be aware that the
defendant would, in most instances, refuse to pay it, but that
he is compelled ; i. e. knows that if he refused payment, his
goods would be forcibly seized by the officers of justice,
and that an attempt to resist or evade such seizure would be
punished by imprisonment or otherwise.
Do they then satisfy their conscience by the plea, that no
force is actually used; the apprehension of it being sufficient?
or do they plead, that at any rate the force would not be
exercised by themselves, but by the officers, who are of a dif
ferent persuasion ? The former of these principles might be
used to justify a man's sending an incendiary-letter, pro
vided the threat proved successful ; the latter plea might be
urged in behalf of one who should hire an unscrupulous as
sassin to dispatch his enemy.
" For an able development of this principle, see Hinds's
History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. i. p. 327—336.

246 Persecution. [Chap. y.
removed from the Society. And it is worthy of be
ing remarked, that the Romish Church itself claims
no right to punish those who do not belong to
that Society: a " heathen man" does not come
under her jurisdiction. In order therefore to
retain the right of coercion over all who have
been baptized, even by such as She accounts
heretics, the Romanists affect to regard them as
truly members, though rebellious subjects, of
the Catholic Church. In literal and direct op
position to our Lord's words, though censuring
them for "refusing to hear the Church," they
yet will not regard them in the light of ' ' heathen
men ^"
The language of the Apostle Paul corresponds
with his Master's : " a man that is an heretic,
after the first and second admonition, reject." But
no personal ¦violence — no secular penalty whatever,
is denounced against heretics and schismatics —
' ' heathen men and publicans . ' ' The whole of the
New Testament breathes a spirit of earnestness
indeed in the cause of truth, and zeal against
religious error ; but of such a zeal as was to
' Blanco V.'hite's Evidence against Catholicism, p. 118.

Slct. 4.] Persccution. 247
manifest itself only in vehement and pei'sexciing
persuasion. This, which the Romanists cannot deny, they
are driven to explain away, b\' saying, that the
Apostles and other early Christians were unable
to compel men to a conformity to the true faith;
they abstained from the use of secular force,
because (I cite the words of Augustine, a fa
vourite authority with the Romanists) " that
prophecy was not yet fulfilled. Be wise now there
fore, O ye kings; be learned, ye that are judges
of the earth ; serve the Lord ¦with fear." The
rulers of the earth, he adds, w^ere at that time
opposed to the Gospel ; and therefore it was that
the secular arm was not called in against the
Church's enemies.
But the Romanists might be asked in reply,
if indeed such an argument be worth a reply,
why the Apostles had not this power. Surely
their Master could have bestowed it; — He unto
whom " all power was given, in heaven and in
earth:" — He who declared that the Father was
ready to send him ' ' more than twelve legions of
angels;" whose force, as it would have destroyed
aU idea of resistance, would at once have esta-

248 Persecution. [Chap. v.
blished his religion, without any need of a resort
to actual persecution. Or, if for any hidden
reasons, the time was not yet come for conferring
on his disciples that coercive power which was
to be afterwards justifiably employed in his
cause, we might expect that He would have given
notice to them of the change of system which
was to take place. But had He designed any
such change, his declaration to Pilate would
have been little else than an equivocation worthy
of the school of the very Jesuits. Had He
declared that " his kingdom was not of this
world," meaning, that though such was the case,
then. He meant it to be supported by secular
force hereafter, and consequently to become a
kingdom of this world; — and that his servants
were not allowed to fight in his cause; with the
mental reservation, that they were hereafter to
do SO; — He would have fully justified the suspicion
which probably was entertained by many of the
heathen magistrates, that the Christians and
their Master did, notwithstanding their pro
fessions, secretly meditate the estabhshment of
a kingdom supported by secular force; and that
though they disavowed this principle, and ah-

St. ..1.) Persecution. 240
stained from all violent methods, this was only
a mask assumed during the weakness of their
infant power, which they would (according to
the principle which Augustine avows) throw
aside as soon as they should have obtained suffi
cient strength.
But the very idea is blasphemous, of attribut
ing such a subterfuge to Him who " came into
the world that He might bear witness of the
truth." The immediate occasion indeed of our
Lord's making this declaration to Pilate, was his
desire to do away the expectation so strongly
prevahing both among Jews and Gentiles, of
a temporal Messiah about to establish a trium
phant kingdom: but no occasion would have led
Him to make the declaration, had it not been
true: and it would not have been true, had He
meant no more than that his kingdom was
spiritual, in the sense of its ha^ving dominion
over the souls of men, and holding out the
glories and the judgments of the other world;
for this was what the infidel Jews expected, and
expect to this day ; they look for a kingdom
both of this world and also of the next; — for a
Messiah who shall bestow on his foUowers not

250 Persecution. [Chap. v.
only worldly power and splendour, but also the
spiritual blessings of a future state, besides. They
did indeed expect the Messiah to reign over
them for ever in bodily person: but the main
part of their expectation would have been ful
filled, had He merely founded a temporal king
dom, and delegated (as the Lord did of old,
to the Kings) his power, to his anointed, in whom
his Spirit should dwell. Jesus accordingly not
only claimed spiritual dominion, but renounced
temporal: He declared not merely that his king
dom is of the next world, but that it is not of this
world. AU the declarations, however — all the direct
and indirect teaching — of Scripture, is unavailing
to the uncandid inquirer, who seeks in these
books, not a guide for his conduct, but a justifi
cation of it ; and who is bent on making the
word of God, where it does not suit his views,
' ' of none effect, by the tradition" of a supposed
infallible Church, or by the subtleties of strained
interpretations'^. But to a candid mind the
' " Qiiicquid recipitur, ad modum recipientis recipitur,"
is an ancient medical aphorism, capable of a wide application.

Sect. .5.] Pt'rseCUtioU. 251
instructions afforded by the Evangelists and
Apostles appear to me not only sufficient to
settle all questions relating to the subject of
persecution, but also (to the generality of man
kind) better adapted for that purpose than any
arguments wliich human reason could supply.
^.5. For I am convinced, after much observa
tion and reflection on the subject, that in all dis
cussions, whether with professed Romanists, or
with others, in spirit, Romanists, who advocate
such principles as lead to persecution, the argu
ments drawn from Scripture are to be preferred
for popular use, as best calculated to satisfy those
who are of a Christian spirit, and open to convic
tion, but of moderate intellectual powers. Other
arguments have often been unanswerably urged '¦^
against persecution, drawn from its ultimate in
expediency — from its liability to be employed
against the truth, as well as for it. It has been
condemned again with equally good reason — from
its tendency to produce hypocrisy and covert
atheism, and, by creating a general suspicion of
^ Bishop Taylor and Locke have almost exhausted the argu
ments on this subject.

252 Persecution. [Chap. v.
insincerity, to weaken the evidence in favour of
a religion so supported. For the argument from
authority — the confirmation any one's faith re
ceives from the belief of others, is destroyed, when
a compulsory profession leaves it doubtful in each
case whether those others are sincere believers or
not. And the prohibition, under secular penalties,
of any arguments against a religion, does away with
another and more important branch of evidence,
the defiance of contradiction; through the medium of
which most of the other evidences of Christianity
present themselves to the minds of the generality ;
who could not possibly examine, in detail, for them
selves, any great part (no one could, the whole)
of the proofs of each of the historical facts on
which our religion rests ; but whose confidence
rests, and justly rests, on the conviction, that if
there were any flaw in the evidence, it would be
detected and proclaimed''. Force accordingly,
*¦ " Christians must generally, it would seem, believe in Christ,
because their spiritual rulers do, and reject the infidel's views,
because these people are pronounced accursed. Nay, the sup
position of the clergy themselves having the qualification, and
the opportunity to go through the process of proof, is only a
supposition. They often want either or both, and it is im-

StLi. o.] Persecution. 253
together ¦with Fraud, the two great engines for the
support of the Papal dominion, have almost anni-

possible that it should not be so. i he labour of a life is
scarcely sufficient to examine for one's self one branch alone
of such evidence. For the greater part, few men, however
learned, have satisfied themselves by going through the proof.
They have admitted the main assertions, because proved by
others. " And is this conviction then reasonable ? Is it more than the
adoption of truth on the authority of another? It is. The
principle on which all these assertions are received, is not that
they have been made by this or that credible individual or body
of persons, who have gone through the proof — this may have
its weight with the critical and learned — but the main principle
adopted by all, intelligible by all, and reasonable in itself, is,
that these assertions are set forth, bearing on their face a
challenge of refutation. The assertions are like witnesses
placed in a box to be confronted. Scepticism, infidelity, and
scoffing, form the very groundwork of our faith. As long as
these are known to exist and to assail it, so long are we sure
that any untenable assertion may and will be refuted. The
benefit accruing to Christianity in this respect from the occa
sional success of those who have found flaws in the several
parts of evidence is invaluable. We believe what is not dis
proved, most reasonably, because we know that there are those
abroad who are doing their utmost to disprove it. We believe
the witness, not because we know him and esteem him, but

254 Persecution. [Chap. v.
hilated sincere belief in Christianity among the
educated classes, throughout a great portion of
Europe. Such arguments, I say, as these, are sound
indeed, and, to an enlarged and philosophical
mind — one capable of taking a comprehensive
view of human affairs and of human nature — they
are perfectly convincing. And they afford to
such a mind, a pleasing confirmation of the super
human wdsdom manifested in the Gospel scheme.
For, men of that age and condition of life, and of
the Jewish nation more especially, would never
have been led by mere human sagacity to reject
and prohibit all temporal coercion, and seek to
propagate and maintain their religion by no force
but that of gentle persuasion. And even in the
present day, I cannot but think that such argu
ments as I have adverted to, are not likely to be
comprehended in their full force, by men of nar
row or uncultivated understanding. And there-
because he is confronted, cross-examined, suspected, and as
sailed by arts fair and unfair. It is not his authority, but
the reasonableness of the case. It becomes conviction well
grounded, and not assent to man's words." London Review,
No. II. p. 361, 362.

Sui.5.] Persecution. 255
fore it is, I conceive, that our great Master has
graciously provided, in his holy Word, a support
for the weak, and a guide for the dim-sighted,
among his faithful followers ; — that He has been
pleased to reveal what is, not indeed undis-
coverable by human reason, but yet not so dis
coverable as to be capable of being made clear
to the mass of mankind ; — that He has prohibited,
both by the precepts and the example of Himself
and his Apostles, that persecuting spirit whose
inexpediency and whose intrinsic turpitude, some,
even of the humble and sincere among his fol
lowers, might have failed to discover for them
selves. As for the prejudiced and the wilful,
they are not hkely to learn the truth either from
Scripture or from reason'' : but the plainest Chris
tian, who has indeed " the Spirit of Christ," and
not that of the Papal Antichrist, may learn the
¦wiU of his Master both by his teaching and from
his pattern ; and may be made ' ' wise unto salva
tion," by becoming a follower of Him who was
" meek and lowly in spirit," — ¦who " did no vio
lence, neither was guile found in his mouth," and
who "came not to destroy men's lives, but to save."
I" " Remedia non agunt in cadaver."

256 Persecution. [Chap. v.
^.6. How blind even an intelligent man may
be to the abstract arguments against persecution,
is strikingly illustrated by a slip which the acute
and powerful Bp. Warburton has made, in treating
of toleration. He would have all men allowed
liberty to worship God in their own way ; but
Atheists, he says, should be banished from every
civil government, because they are " incapable
of giving security for their behaviour in commu
nity ; and their principles directly overthrow the
very foundation on which it is built'." This
great man overlooked the seemingly obvious cir
cumstance, that, by a kind of perverse incon
sistency, his remedy would operate precisely in
those cases where his reason for it did not hold
good, and would be almost sure to fail in the
very cases it was designed to meet. Such
Atheists as were, conformably to his supposition,
utterly unprincipled and unscrupulous, would of
course, were the system he recommends esta
blished, make no difficulty of denying their infi
delity, and professing any thing whatever that
might be proposed to them ; those again, if there
be any such, who were too honest to save them-
' Alliance between Church and State, b. iii.

Sect. 6.] PeTsecution. 257
selves from punishment by falsehood, would be
the very persons to suffer the penalty. So that
those to whom his description applies, as being
such that the Community could have " no se
curity" for their good behaviour, would remain in
the Community" ; and the sentence of exile de
signed for them, would fall on those, exclusively,
to whom the description did not apply.
A hke error results, practicaUy, in some
instances, from our laws relative to oaths. I
have seen a case recorded, of a tradesman suing
a customer for a debt, which the other denied ;
he produced his books, and was about to make
oath in the usual form, of the correctness of
the entry; when the other party objected that
he was an Atheist, and therefore was not entitled
to take an oath: on being questioned, he ad
mitted this ; and the case was dismissed. The
magistrates could not have acted otherwise, as
the law stands ; but surely the law should be
altered when it operates, as in this instance, to
defeat its own object''. The very purpose of
' See an able pamphlet entitled " Remarks on Oaths, &c."
published by Hatchard, 1S26.

258 Persecution. [Cuap. v.
an oath is to obtain some security of a man's
speaking the truth: now in this case, if the
tradesman had been so unscrupulous as to make
a false charge, it is not likely he would have
hesitated to support it by a false profession
of his belief in religion. The best ground that
could have been afforded for trusting to his
veracity, was his refusing to utter a falsehood
for the sake of establishing his claim ; and it
was for this very reason, in fact, that his claim
was disallowed.
^. 7. The feeling which tends to foster the
spirit of persecution, and to blind us to the
reasons opposed to it — that feeling of hostility
which naturally arises in our breasts against
such as reject our Faith, or our own views
of it — in short, against Infidels and Heretics —
is chiefly remarkable from the circumstance of
its being usuaUy so much stronger, than our
indignation against those who, professing our
religion, disgrace it by an unchristian life, or
even by an avowed disregard of religion. It
should seem at the first glance, as if the very
reverse of this were the more reasonably to be

Sirr. 7.] Persecution. 259
expected. For, as far as the Cause itself is con
cerned, he surely injures it more who brings
discredit on it, than he who openly opposes it.
The professing Christian implies, by a sinful
life, either that liis rehgion is compatible with
immorahty, or else that he professes it for
form's sake only, and secretly disbelieves it ;
by which means he casts a doubt on the sin
cerity of the professions of others, and thus
weakens the evidence their example would have
afforded. And as far as the individual is con
cerned, the irreligious, or profligate, or worldly-
minded Christian, is surely more chargeable
mth impiety than the unbeliever. An Atheist
might, conceivably at least, have loved and
obeyed his Saviour, if he could have been con
vinced of his divine mission : at any rate, he
is not living in habitual defiance of a God whom
he acknowledges. If two men receive each a
letter from his father, and one of them, on very
insufficient grounds, rejects it as a forgery, he
is not surely more undutiful than the other, who,
recognising it as a genuine letter from his father,
puts it away carefully, and utterly disregards all
the injunctions it contains.
s2

260 Persecution. [Cham. v.
The apostle Paul accordingly enjoins his con
verts to withdraw themselves, not from all inter
course with unbelievers, but from any man of
their own Society, that " walketh disorderly;" —
" if any one that is called a brother" bring a
scandal on the Church by living in known sin,
" with such an one not even to eat:" (i. e. at
the Agapse or love-feasts :) and to " cut off"
(excommunicate) those who " offend" (i. e. scan
dalize) the Society.
How comes it, then, that men's feelings for
the most part take an opposite direction? 1. One
obvious cause, as far as we of the present day
are concerned, is, that avowed infidehty is com
paratively rare. We are so much accustomed,
unhappily, to the case of Christians leading an
unchristian life, while the open rejection of the
Faith is an exception to the general rule, that in
respect of the one, our feelings are blunted by
familiarity, while the comparative unfrequency of
the other fault, makes it the more shocking.
It is evident, that with the early Christians the
case must have been reversed. Since men did
not then profess Christianity as a matter of
course, and had in general to encounter some

Sect. 7.] Pcrsecution. 261
hardships and inconveniences on account of
their profession, an utter disregard of their re
hgion, or a life utterly at variance with it, must
have been much less common among the primi
tive Christians than among ourselves: while, on
the other hand, they were living in the midst
of unbehevers, and were themselves the exception
to the general rule.
It is also evident, that the reason given does
not apply, at least ¦with equal force, to the case
of persons holding a different form of Chris
tianity. These are much more frequently met
with than avowed anti-christians ; and they
are the objects accordingly, in general, of feelings
less hostfle than the others; yet still, in many
uistances, of greater hostihty than is usually
felt towards those who lead an unchristian life.
II. Another cause, which has the same tend
ency with the foregoing, is, that every one
who rejects the whole, or any part, of our Faith,
diminishes, so far, the confirmation which all
men are disposed to derive, more or less, on
every pouat, from authority — from feeling that
others think with them. I suspect there are
few, whose acquiescence even in the conclusions

262 Persecution. [Chap. v.
of Euclid, is entirely unmixed with this feeeling.
In matters which admit of less intrinsic cer
tainty, it is of course a larger ingredient in that
compound of evidence on which belief rests'.
And in proportion as each man is the worse
qualified for reasoning, or the more averse to
the trouble of it, he will be the more disposed
to content himself with this description of evi
dence, and to acquiesce in what is generally
received, without submitting to the toil of seek
ing for other reasons.
Now any one who rejects our tenets, goes so
far towards shaking this confidence, and disturb
ing this indolent tranquUhty; he drives us to
take the trouble of thinking — of supporting our
conclusions by argument — of contemplating and
answering objections — and of making our opi
nions assume the attitude rather of frontier-towns,
carefully fortified and watchfully garrisoned, than
of secure and peaceful inland-districts. And
hence we are naturally led to feel some indigna-

' In truth, as has been already observed, (in note h, §. 5.
p. 252 — 254.) the existence of infidelity supplies one im
portant branch of evidence.

Stci.7.] Persecution. 263
tion against the causer of this disturbance. On
the contrary, one who adheres to the belief of
our religion, while it condemns his own life, is,
in fact, bearing strong testimony in our favour,
by admitting what, it should seem, he must wish
to disbelieve.
111. Add to this, that one who is opposed
to our Faith, however courteous his outward
demeanour may be, and however liberal his real
disposition, cannot, we feel, but inwardly look
down upon us, as weak and credulous, or pre
judiced and bigotted to error, or in some way
opposed to right reason ; and these sentiments
we feel as personally affronting to us. On the
other hand, he who, adhering to an orthodox
Christian faith, hves a life at variance with it,
seems to acknowledge his own inferiority to those
whose conduct is such as, by his own shewing,
his ought to be. The one in short seems to
scorn, and the other to honour, us, not by their
external demeanor, but by the very character
of their respective opinions.
IV. Lastly, it will often really happen, and
often again be supposed, and sometimes perhaps
pretended, that a man's rejection of Christianity

264 Persecution. [Chap. v.
is, in fact, a step beyond his disobedience to it; —
that he has proceeded from leading an irreligious
life to the adoption of irreligious principles ; and
set himself against the Gospel because he found
the Gospel against him. In this case it may
be urged, with truth, that he is deserving of
heavier censure than the Christian who leads
an ill life, because he includes both characters.
Whatever we may suspect however, I know not
that we are authorized to impute these motives
to any one without actual proof
This last is, of course, the reason which, of
all that have been mentioned, would be in general
the most readily avowed, (and often in perfect
sincerity,) to account for the greater indignation
felt against Infidels and Heretics, than against
irreligious or vicious Christians. I am con
vinced, however, that the other causes enume
rated, operate not less powerfully towards the
same result. And if such be indeed the natural
feelings of the human heart, it behoves us to
be ever on our guard against their excess, and
against being led by them into those practical
faults, to whose freouency history bears such
ample testimony.

Sect. B.] Persecution 265
§. 8. That much of that kind of feeling does
exist, which I have been endeavouring to ac
count for, observation will, I think, sufficiently
prove. And indeed it will often be found, that
the very persons whose requisitions in respect of
orthodoxy are the most rigid — who go to the
greatest extreme in narrowing the pale of it —
who make the least allowance for minute differ
ences of opinion — and are the most bitter against
all who do not agree with them ; are the very
same who go the greatest lengths of indulgence
in respect of moral requisitions — shew the great
est extreme of tenderness towards those whose
conduct is a scandal to Christianity — and seem
as if they would have utterly disapproved the
system of discipline, in respect of moral delin
quents, which prevailed in the primitive Churches.
I have seen accordingly severe censure bestowed
on a sermon of a pious and able writer, in which
he ventures to utter a wish, (far short, by the
way, of that contained in our Church's Com-
mination-service,) that those who are Christians
only in name and profession — " who have no
clear knowledge of what a Christian ought to be —
would either take one side or the other ; that

266 Persecution.

[Chap. V.

they would either be the servants of Christ in
earnest, or renounce Him openly, and say that
they have nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth,
or his salvation. Happy indeed," he adds,
" would it be for the Church of Christ, if all its
false friends would declare themselves its ene
mies." The temerity of this wish, we have been
told, would be such as to make us shudder, if it
came from the lips of an enthusiast. No doubt
more of the effect produced on some minds, de
pends on the question, who it is that says any
thing, than on what it is that is said : for the
framers of our Services have been so temerarious
as to express an earnest wish, that the " godly
discipline of the primitive Church" might be re
stored, under which those who had scandalized
their brethren were put to open penance, or, as
every one knows, in the event of their refusing
to make submission, or of their not reforming
their lives, were excluded from the Society, till
they should so submit and give satisfactory as
surance of their repentance.
We have been told, however, that in the event
of even a voluntary secession on the part of" the
false friends of Christ," there would be a vast

StcT. 8.] Persecution. 267
portion of society permanently cut off' from the
ordinances and institutions of Christianity : (that
is, I presume, as permanently as the unbelieving
Jews and Gentiles, who might choose to make
their own unbelief " permanent ;" or as the in
cestuous Corinthian, who was to be " perma
nently" cut off as long as he should persist in
his sin and impenitence :) that they would cease
to frequent the assemblies of the faithful — would
never hear the word of doctrine or exhortation —
would have shut themselves out from the ap
pointed means of grace, and would be publicly
and solemnly pledged to unbelief: that their
hearts would be sealed against the voice of the
Church, and they would be fixed to their hfe's
end among the desperate adversaries of their Re
deemer. The existing condition of things, it is
admitted, is discouraging enough ; but it is a
state, it is contended, of millennial bliss, com
pared with what would follow, if Heaven were to
listen to the wishes of this preacher : i.e. com
pared with the actual state of things in the times
of the primitive Churches. It is urged, that
now the unfaithful and double-minded Christian
is perpetually and closely confronted with the

268 Persecution. [Chap. v.
principle he professes : the offices and ministra
tions of religion are loudly and incessantly appeal
ing to the vows he has made, &c. &c.
All this may be very true ; nor am I under
taking to prove, that the primitive Churches were
not injudiciously strict in their discipline ; or
that our Reformers were not unwise for wishing
its restoration ; or that it was not a disadvantage
to those Churches, that such as were strangers
to Christian faith and practice, were not mem
bers of them as a matter of course, but remained
avowed unbelievers till they were disposed deli
berately and in earnest to embrace Christianity.
The early Christians probably thought, that the
ungodly or vicious were not the less, but the
more, likely to be reclaimed, by the loud warning
as to their dangerous state, which would be forced
on their minds by their exclusion from the visible
Church : that when not merely told from the
pulpit, that the Sacraments and other means of
grace are of no benefit to such as lead an un
christian life, but impressed with this truth by
the actual refusal of these Ordinances, they
would be the less liable to that common super
stition of regarding these means of grace as a

Skt. 8.]

Persecution. 269

charm, and of flattering themselves that, if not
in a safe state, they are at least in a safer state, by
virtue of their going to church, and of being
confessedly Christians, though they do not (as
one may often hear people say) profess to be
" Saints." In all this however they may perhaps have
been mistaken ; and I am far from denying that
there is much shew of reason in what may be
urged on both sides. But what is to my present
purpose to remcirk is, that those who are thus
anxious to retain within the pale of the Church
such professing Christians as lead a careless or
immoral life, are not found, as some perhaps might
have antecedently expected, to feel any thing hke
a proportionate tenderness towards differences of
opinion. On the contrary, they are usuaUy the
foremost in exaggerating into fatal heresy the
smallest shade of variation from their own views
of orthodoxy; and the loudest in urging all those,
openly and at once to separate from the Church,
whose notions do not appear minutely to coin
cide with their own. If such arguments as those
just alluded to were urged on behalf of those

270 Persecution. [Cuap. v.
they denounce as heterodox — if any thing ap
proaching to the same forbearance as they re
commend in the case of immoral Christians,
were proposed to be extended to such as have
not quite made up their minds as to this or that
doctrine, or have taken such a view of any points
as appears incorrect in the eyes of others who lay
claim to preeminent orthodoxy — were such a plea,
I say, to be urged, almost in the very same
words, I cannot but think we should hear a loud
clamour against latitudinarian laxity and danger
ous liberalism.
I am not of course contending that there may
not be, either a defect, or an excess, of strict
ness, in the requisitions either of an orthodox
faith, or of a blameless life: it requires a discreet
judgment, to decide, in each particular case,
under either class, the precise amount of the
departure from the right road. But the circum
stance to which I wish to call attention is,
that since those who are the most lax on the
one side, are the most rigid on the other, this
confirms what has been above said of the tend
ency in our nature towards a more hostile feel-

Sect. 8.] Persecutlou. 271
ing against such as oppose or disa\ow our re
hgion, than against those who disobey and scan-
dahze it.
And as this tendency is altogether natural,
so it is, as might have been expected, eminently
Romish. Never was there a more prevailing-
laxity of Christian morals, even among the verj^
governors of the Church of Rome, and never was
such corruption more lightly thought of by her
zealots, than at the very periods when She was
occupied in suppressing heresy with the most un
relenting rigour. Louis the Fourteenth, who,
during nearly his whole life, was setting his sub
jects the example of living in open Adultery, was
applauded to the skies by a Christian preacher,
for his piety in having burned, gibbetted, racked,
or driven into exile, hundreds of thousands of his
Protestant subjects "'.
If we would be really safe from the danger of
committing faults of a like character with those

'" " Epanchons non coeurs sur la pifete de Louis ; poussons
jusqu'au ciel nos acclamations .... Vous avez exterminu
les heretiques ; c'est le digne ouvrage de votre regne ; e'en est
le propre caractere." Bossuet-

272 Persecution. [Chap. v.
which we regard with abhorrence in others, we
must seek that safety in self-distrust — in a vigilant
suspicion of the human heart.
§.9. For it is to Human Nature we must trace,
both this, and many other of those evils, which
each man is usually disposed to attribute to the
particular system he is opposed to. As the Pro
testant is often inclined to look no further than
to Romanism for the origin of persecution, so is
the Infidel, to regard Christianity as the chief
cause of it. But both are mistaken. I am con
vinced that Atheists, should they ever become
the predominant party, would persecute religion.
For nearly the same causes, or others correspond
ing to them, would exist, which have been just
mentioned as generating especial hostility towards
those who differ in faith from ourselves. The
Atheists would feel themselves to be regarded by
the Christians, not indeed as weak and credulous,
but as perverse and profane : their confidence
again in their own persuasion would be as likely
to be shaken by the Christian, as the Christian's,
by them : all the human passions, in short, and
all the views of political expediency, which have

Stcr. 9.] Persecution. 273
ever tempted the Christian to persecute, would
have a corresponding operation with them. Not
that I conceive most of them to have, themselves,
any suspicion of this, or to be insincere in their
professed abhorrence of persecution. As no one
¦wishes to persecute, so they probably do not an
ticipate (under the above-mentioned supposition)
such a state of things as would seem to call for
coercive measures. They imagine, probably,
that when they had deprived Christian ministers
of endowments, had publicly proclaimed the
falsity of the Christian faith, and had taken mea
sures for promoting education and circulating
books calculated to enlighten the people, the
whole system of religious belief would, gradually
but speedUy, die away, and be regarded in the
same hght with tales of fairies. Such doubtless
was the notion of some, whom I have known to
express regret that Buonaparte did not employ
the power he possessed in conferring so great a
benefit on Society as he might have done, " by
abolishing Christianity." They were thinking,
probably, of no more active measures than the
withholding of the support and countenance of
government.

274 Persecution. [Chai'. ^.
In such expectations, every one who believes
in Christianity must feel confident that they
would be deceived. At first indeed appearances
probably would be such as to promise favourably
to their views. For most of those who profess
Christianity, merely for fashion's sake, or in
compliance with the laws of their country, would
soon fall away, and would be followed by many
of such as wanted firmness to support ridicule,
or the disfavour of those in power. But after a
time, the progress of irreligion would be found to
have come to a stand. When the plants "on
the stony ground" had been all scorched up,
those " on the good soil" would be found still
flourishing. Sincere Christians would remain
firm ; and some probably would be roused to
exert themselves even with increased zeal ; and
some apostates would be reclaimed. Complaints
would then be raised, that Christian preachers
decried, as profane and mischievous, the works
put forth by authority ; and that they represented
the rulers as aliens from God, and men whose
example should be shunned. Those indeed who
had imbibed the true spirit of the Gospel, would
not fail to inculcate, after the example of the

•^ui !'] Persecution. 275
Apostles, the duty of submission e\'en to unchris
tian magistrates : but it is not unlikely that some
would even take a contrary course, and would
thus help to bring the imputation of sedition on
Christian preaching universally. The rabble,
again, would be likely occasionally to assail with
tumultuous insult and outrage, the Christians ;
who would in consequence be represented by
their enemies as occasioning these tumults ; espe
cially if as is hkely , some among them did not
submit patiently to such usage, or even partly
provoked it by indiscretion. And however free
the generality of the Christians might be from
any just suspicion of a design to resort to lawless
violence in the cause of their rehgion, stiU it would
be e^vident, that a re^vival and renewed diffusion
of Christianity, such as they were furthering,
must, after it should reach a certain point, en
danger the continuance of power in the hands
then wielding it ; and that such a change of
rulers would put a stop to the plans which had
been commenced for the amelioration of Society.
Representing then, and regarding, Christianity as
the great obstacle to improvement, as the fruitful
source of civil dissensions, and as involving disaffec-
t2

276 Persecution. [Chap. v.
tion to the then-existing government, they would
see a necessity for actively interfering, with a view
(not indeed, like religious-persecutors, to the sal
vation of souls, but) to the secular welfare of their
subjects, and the security and prosperity of the civil
community. They would feel themselves accord
ingly (to say nothing of any angry passions that
might intrude) bound in duty to prohibit the books,
the preaching, and the assemblies of Christians.
The Christians would then, in violation of the
law, circulate Bibles clandestinely, and hold their
assemblies in cellars and on sequestered heaths.
Coercion would of course become necessary to
repress these (as they would then be) illegal acts.
And next .... but I need not proceed any further;
for I find I have been giving almost an exact de
scription of the state of things when the Christian
Churches were spreading in the midst of Heathen
ism. And yet 1 have only been following up the
conjectures, which no one (believing in Chris
tianity) could fail to form, who was but tolerably
acquainted with Human Nature. For " such
transactions," says the great historian of Greece,
" take place, and always will take place, (though
varied in form, and in degree of violence, by cir-

Sw'1.9,] Persecution. '277
cumstances,) as long as Human Nature remains
the same"." Never can we be secured from the
recurrence of the like, but by the implantation of
some principle which is able to purify, to renovate,
to convert that nature ; in short, to " create
THE NEW MAN "." Christianity, often as its name
has been blazoned on the banners of the perse
cutor — Christianity, truly understood, as repre
sented in the writings of its Founders, and ho
nestly apphed, furnishes a preventive, the only
permanently effectual preventive, of the spirit of
persecution. For, as with fraudulent, so it is
also with coercive, measures employed in matters
pertaining to religion ; we must not expect that
the generality will be so far-sighted, as always
to perceive their ultimate inexpediency in each
particular case that may occur ; they will be
tempted to regard the peculiar circumstances of
this or that emergency as constituting an ex
ception to the general rule, and calling for a de
parture from the general principle. Whereas
the plainest Christian, when he has once ascer
tained, as he easily may, if he honestly consult
the Scriptures, what the will of God is, in this
" See Motto. " Eph. iv. 24.

278 Persecution. [Cn.ir. v.
point, wiU walk boldly forward in the path of his
duty, though he may not see at every turn whither
it is leading him ; and with fuU faith in the divine
wisdom, wUl be ready, in pious confidence, to
leave events in the hands of Providence.

$. 10. I wiU conclude this chapter with a brief
notice of some mistakes as to the real character
of persecution, on the opposite side to those
formerly mentioned. For as some may be in
danger of unconsciously countenancing perse
cution by narrowing too much their notion of
what it consists in, so others, on the contrary,
by forming too wide a notion of it, may incur the
opposite danger of comprehending under the head
of persecution what does not properly deserve the
title. I. There is not necessarily any thing of the
character of persecution in doing violence to
a man's conscience. Though at the first glance
this may be a startling paradox, it is evident
on a moment's reflection, that to admit, at once,
and universally, the plea of conscience, would
lead to the subversion of the whole fabric of
society. To say nothing of i\\e false pleas which

Sect, lo.j Persecution. 279
would doubtless be set up, when it was once
understood that aU were to be admitted, there
would be no limit to the possible aberrations of
even the sincerely-conscientious. Some secta
rians have a conscientious scruple against paying
tithes, on the ground that they disapprove of
a hired ^linistry. Not that according to the
strict use of language the Pastors of our Church
are hired at all ; nor are the tithes paid by the
farmer, since they only pass through his hands,
allowance having been made for them in his
rent ; and he no more hires the minister than
he does his landlord p. But still, as is well
known, the coUection of tithes has been com
plained of as persecution. On much better
grounds might the same persons scruple to pay
¦" I have known a striking instance of the confusion of
thought resulting from inaccuracy of language on this point.
A farmer declared to a friend of mine, that he woidd not
attend the ministry of paid preachers, but would listen to
them only if they should go forth like the seventy disciples
" without scrip or purse," &c. He did not recollect that in that
case he would have to maintain the preachers, who are now
supported by endowments. The disciples were directed,
wherever they went, to " eat and drink such things as were
set before them ; for the labourer is worthy of his hire."

280 Persecution. [Chap. V,
taxes; (which they know are employed, among
other purposes, for the keeping up of a military
establishment;) since these really are paid, out
of what was before (which the tenth sheaf never
was) the payer's own property.
Some enthusiasts again, in the present day,
have made it a religious duty to desert their
W'ives and families, when these would not adopt
their peculiar tenets i. Others, such as the
ancient German Anabaptists, under the pretence
that Christian men's goods are common, might
incite their followers to a general plunder of
those who had property, that the spoil might
be thrown into a common stock. And some
wild Millenarians, like the fifth-monarchy-men,
might feel themselves bound in conscience to
overthrow all governments, as the necessary pre
paration for the temporal reign of Christ on
earth. In short, there is no saying at what
point the plea of conscience, if once admitted
without further question, would stop. The only
possible principle on which we must draw the
line, is, that the Civil Magistrate, to whom is
committed the care of the temporal welfare of
"I Fact.

SicT. lo.j Persecution. 281
the Community, should interfere in those cases
(and in those only) in which the persons or pro
perty of the citizens are directly and confessedly
concerned'. I say " directly," and " confess
edly," because remotely, and by inference, every
rehgious system may be made out to affect in
some way the peace and well-being of the Com
munity. There is, I believe, no rehgion existing,
respecting which 1 have not seen an elaborate
proof that it leads to mischievous consequences
in practice, and that its professors are either
Ukely to be, or, consistently with their principles,
ought to be, the worse citizens ; and again, I
have seen the direct contrary inferred respecting
every one of them. So that without the limit
ation above suggested, there would be an opening
left for the forcible suppression, or for the forcible
estabhshment, by the Civil iVIagistrate, of any
rehgion w^hatever.
" But is the Civil Magistrate," it may be said,
" to determine what are the cases, that call for
his interference ? And if so, how can any prin-

' " Render unto Caesar the things that be Caesar's, and
unto God the things that be God's."

282 Persecution. [Chap. v.
ciple be laid down that shall not leave him an
opening to call in, whenever he is so dis
posed, the aid of the civil sword?" Certainly
this is not possible. Coercive power must be
entrusted to somebody ; nor can those to whom
it is entrusted be withheld from abusing it,
if they are inchned to do, by any rule that can
be laid down. It is notorious, that the Scriptures
furnish none such ; nor is it possible, from the
nature of things, that they should. He who
has the power, and the will, to do wrong, will
never be at a loss for a plea to justify himself,
even though he should be driven to maintain
(like the wolf in the fable) that a stream flows
upwards. But my object was, not to lay down
a rule that should preclude (which is impossible)
one who is seeking an evasion, from finding
any ; but to point out the principle which should
govern the conscience of an upright magistrate :
viz. to protect, by coercive measures if necessary,
the peace, the lives, and the property of his
subjects, and to abstain from all coercion in
matters purely religious. But many persons are
apt to conclude, that whatever is left to a man's
discretion, is left to his arbitrary caprice; and

StcT. 10.] Persecution. 283
that he who is responsible only to God, has no
responsibility at all.
II. Although, however, such is, on Christian
principles, the limitation of the Civil Magistrate's
authority, there is no reason why the individual
holding such an office should not also be a mem
ber, or an officer, of a Christian Church, pro
vided he is careful not to blend together the
characters of a pohtical and a religious com
munity. Coercive means cannot suitably be
employed for the propagation or the maintenance
of Christianity ; but there is nothing that, neces
sarily, goes to secularize the kingdom which is
" not of this world," or that necessarily implies
the spirit of intolerance, in the possession, or
in the exercise, of coercive power for other pur
poses, even by a Christian Pastor. Only there
is the more call for care and discreet judgment
in cases where the same indi-vidual has to ex
ercise distinct functions, and especially if he is
thus made to stand in two or more different
relations to the same men. Such, for instance,
is the case where the Rector of a parish is also a
Justice of the Peace. Even if he were so not by
an accidental appointment, but by virtue of some

284 Persecution. [Chap. v.
fixed general regulation, still he would be exer
cising, in respect of the same individuals, two
distinct offices, regulated by different principles,
and concerned with distinct kinds of subject-
matter. In the same manner, if a military officer
should chance to be also a magistrate, this would
not imply his blending together the principles of
martial law and of common and statute-law.
So also some kings or other chief-magistrates
hold also ecclesiastical supremacy ; some bishops
have a share in the secular legislature : others
have principalities annexed to their Sees ; and
the Bishop of Rome in particular has long been
a considerable temporal sovereign.
With respect to that Church, it is worth re
marking, that the persecution and the other
enormities with which it has been justly charged,
have led many of those who have renounced it,
to blend together confusedly in their thoughts
every thing that in any way pertains to it.
Whereas in truth, many parts of the Romish
system, even such as are in themselves utterly
indefensible, have no necessary connexion with
each other, or with Rome. Her usurped Su
premacy, for instance, and her false Doctrines,

Sect. 10.] Persecutiou. 285
are two distinct faults ; the latter of which is so
far from being necessarily connected with the
Church of Rome, that She scarcely differs at all
in doctrine from the Greek Church.
And with respect to the point now before us,
let it be supposed, (and the supposition, however
unlikely to be realized, is perfectly conceivable,)
that the Pope had, in respect of his Diocese, pro
ceeded on Christian principles, and in respect of
his Principality, had protected the civil rights of
his subjects, leaving every one to exercise his
own rehgion without molestation, as long as the
temporal peace and security of the community
remained undisturbed : — if, I say, he had always
acted thus, as two distinct persons, it cannot be
maintained, that this state of things would have
introduced any thing approaching to a perse
cuting spirit — any thing savouring of that secular
coercion which amounts to intolerance, and is at
variance with the character of Christ's kingdom.
The question then respecting such a union, of
civil office with spiritual or ecclesiastical office,
in the same individual, becomes one of mere
expediency ; and one which of course will vary
in its complexion, according to the circumstances

286 Persecution. [Chap. v.
of each country or period. What we are at pre
sent concerned with is, merely to determine what
does or does not involve the principle of perse
cution ; i. e. the employment or the denounce
ment of coercion in matters of religion.
III. There is nothing, necessarily, of the spirit
of persecution in a man's requiring his servants,
or his tenants, or the tradesmen he deals with, or
all that associate with him, to be pious charac
ters, or to be of his own religious persuasion or
practice, even down to the minutest particulars '.
This is so evident, that it would not have needed
being mentioned, but that we are so liable to
have our thoughts insensibly led astray by lan
guage ^ We hear, for instance, of a man's being
compelled to adopt this or that form of rehgion,
as a condition of being in such-a-one's service,
or of obtaining a renewal of a lease ; and we
are thence liable to forget, what is plain as soon
as we reflect on it, that this is not absolute com
pulsion, since it interferes with no man's natural,
' I mean, of course, supposing him not to disappoint any
expectations that may reasonably have been formed ; for rea
sonable expectation is a ground of equitable right.
' Elements of Logic, chap. iii. §. 5.

Sect. 10.] Pcrsecution. 2S7
ov previously existing, rights*; and that to prohibit
such a procedure icould be an interference with
the right of the other "to do what he will with
his own." Such a mode of conduct, as I have
been alluding to, might indeed be carried to such
a length, as justly to incur the censure of indis
cretion — of bigotry — of iUiberality ; it might be
such as even to indicate in the individual a dis
position" which would lead him to persecute if
he had the power ; but stiU it would not in itself
involve the principle of persecution.
The same reasoning will apply to the case of
the exclusion from certain endowments of one not
belonging to the Church for whose benefit they

' I cannot but think, however, that there is ground of com
plaint when a man cannot obtain his rights, whether those to
which all men are entitled by nature, or those of the citizens
of his particular community, without either taking some oath,
or going through some other religious ceremony, against which
he has a conscientious scruple. A special indulgence has
been granted to the Quakers in respect of oaths and the mar
riage-service; but if this was reasonable in principle,! cannot
see why the principle should not have been recognized, and
acted upon uniformly .
° See above, §. 3. subsect. I. of this chapter.

288 Persecution. [Chap. v.
are designed. A man is said to be compelled to
subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles, if he would
hold a Church-living, or a Fellowship : he is
compelled to be a Presbyterian, if he would hold
the office of Minister at a Presbyterian chapel,
&c. So also in order to obtain a Degree, he
must have kept certain academical terms, and
must undergo an examination in certain pre
scribed branches of learning ; nay, in order to
hold a Scholarship on some particular founda
tions, he must be a native of a certain district ;
and if he would retain his situation, he must
remain unmarried. It is evident, on a moment's
reflection, that though we use in such cases the
words " must," " obliged," " forced," &c. all this
has nothing to do with absolute coercion ".
On the same principle it may be maintained,
that there is nothing, necessarily, of the cha
racter of intolerance, in precluding those who are
not members of a particular Church from having
any share in legislating for that Church, in re
spect of matters of a purely spiritual or ecclesi
astical character : indeed to admit them to such
• .See Appendix to Elements of Logic; article " Necessary."

Se.t. io.| Persecution. 289
a share, is a manifest anomaly and inconsistency,
though one which may sometimes be in practice
unavoidable or insignificant. That none but
Quakers, for instance, or Methodists, have a
voice in the general Assemblies of Quakers, or
of Methodists, respectively, is so far from being
at all to be complained of as savouring of an in
tolerant spirit, that, on the contrary, as long as
they confine themselves to matters exclusively
rehgious, they would justly regard the inter
ference of those not belonging to their sect, as a
violation of the principle of toleration. And the
anomaly is in itself just as real, whether in prac
tice it lead to the most important or the most
trifling results ; — whether, for instance, a ma
jority of the Assembly which governs a particular
Church, be of a different persuasion, or whether
one single Roman-Cathohc or Dissenter have a
voice in the election of a member of that As
sembly ''.
' Some are apt to express themselves as if the anomaly
consisted merely in members of the Church of Rome legislat
ing for a Protestant Church. Suppose that some particular
description of Protestants, or, if you will, that all Protestants,
are more pure in their faith — less dangerous in their principles
U

290 Persecution. [Chap. V.
But then, it may be said, if it so happen (as is
the case among us in practice, though not by
original appointment, according to the theory of
the constitution, and early usage ^) that the As-

— less hostile to our Church — than the Romanists; still the
question remains the same, what has any man to do with the
regulations of a Church he does not belong to ?
But some persons are even accustomed to speak of " the
Protestant religion," and even of " the Protestant Church,"
without reflecting whether there are any such things, or whe
ther they are employing words without any distinct meaning.
Dr. Hawkins, I am happy to find, has forestalled me in
part of this remark. " The term ' Protestant,' when it de
notes a member of one of the Western Churches who is free
from Romish error, is merely a term of convenience. It
may be employed perhaps with little regard to history or
etymology; but it answers its intended purpose, and it does
no harm. Not so, such a phrase as ' tho Protestant religion.'
The very expression, whenever it is not evidently synonymous
with ' the religion of the Protestant Church of England,' im
plies inattention to the fact, that there is no one religion
common to Protestants as contradistinguished from the Ro
manists; and it tends to throw a veil over another important
fact, that the creeds of certain Protestant sects are far more
remote than that of the Church of Rome from the truth of the
Gospel." Sermon preached at Maldon, p. 6.
" See Field's work on Church Government.

Slot. 10.] Persecution. 291
senibiy, which alone exercises the right of legis
lating for the Church, in all matters, is also the
supreme legislating-body in secular concerns ;
does it not savour of intolerance to exclude, by
a test-law, from such an Assembly, or from voting
for those who are to sit in it, men otherwise
qualified? Granted that they have nothing to
do with the internal regulations of a Church to
which they do not belong ; the same cannot be
said of the taxes imposed, and the laws enacted,
by that same Assembly. In despotic countries,
indeed, the people have nothing to do with the
taxes, but to pay them, or with the laws, but to
submit to them : but in a free country, it cannot
be maintained, that to preclude from all share in
legislating, or in appointing legislators, in secular
matters, one who is not disqualified in respect of
that particular branch of business, does not de
prive him of any of his rights, or that it is not
as great an anomaly as to admit him to interfere
in Church matters in respect of which he is dis
qualified. Such are, in the abstract, the conflicting diffi-
cukies in the case. It is as if a man should put
in an equitable claim to a house, some parts of
u 2

292 Persecution. [Chap. v.
which are confessedly none of his ; or to a piece
of land, on which there are buildings erected, to
which he has no right. The problem, to keep
clear of both of these opposite anomahes, has
not, I think, yet been solved"; nor has it, I
think, hitherto been generally contemplated with
sufficient clearness and steadiness to allow of a
fair trial, whether it can be solved or not: though
about thirty years ago steps began to be taken

^ It ought to be mentioned, in justice to Mr. Wilmot Horton,
that he is one of the few persons who have seen and fairly
met the difficulty. I cannot but think indeed, that, according
to his scheme, (see " Protestant Securities,") other difficulties
would have arisen, in the practical adjustment of the ques
tions as to eaeh measure, whether it concerned the Church
only, or affected also the property and civil rights of the Com
munity. Still, he seems to have fixed on the right principle ;
which might, I should think, by some contrivance or other,
have been adapted to practice. At least the main objection
usually alleged against his proposal, that it would constitute
in fact two legislative assemblies for two distinct branches of
legislation, has always appeared to me its chief recommend
ation. The distribution of the several offices among the several
Ministers of State, viz. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary
for the Home Department — for Foreign Affairs, &c. is open to
the same objection.

Sect. 10.] Persecution. 293
with a view to the practical adjustment of the
difficulties. My object in touching upon the
question at present is no more than, (confining
myself to the proper topics of this work,) to point
out in what relation that question stands to the
subject of the present chapter '".
IV. Lastly, there is nothing, necessarily, of
intolerance, in protecting, by coercive means if
needful, the professors of any religion, against
violence or plunder, disturbance to their re
Ugious meetings, insult, libel, or any other such
molestation, from those of an adverse party.
^ I have alluded merely to the grant to Roman-Catholics
of the elective franchise, and to the suspension of the operation
of the test-law for excluding Dissenters, because in these con
sisted the anomaly, which alone it is for my present pur
pose to treat of. As for the greater or less political danger of
any of the measures subsequently proposed or adopted, it
would be foreign to the purpose of the present work to enter
on the discussion of these, or any other, political questions.
Whether it were a safer course to leave the test-law dormant,
or formally to repeal it — to confine the Roman-Catholic electors
to the choice of a Protestant representative, or to leave them
at liberty to elect one of their own persuasion — these, and all
such questions of political expediency, I pass by as not pro
perly connected with the m;itt,er in hand.

294 Persecution. [Chap. v.
Such protection is so far from being at variance
with the principles above laid down, that it is
an application of them. It is not persecution,
but the prevention of persecution. For lawless
and irregular outrage is not, for that reason, the
less of the character of persecution ; and the
unauthorized cruelties of the people were, we
may be sure, among the severest trials the early
Christians had to undergo. And yet there are
some persons who are ready to denounce as per
secuting, every system which does not leave
them at liberty to persecute others.
It must not be forgotten, however, that when
the religion, in behalf of which the Civil Ma
gistrate has been driven to interfere, happens
to be his own, he will be strongly tempted not to
stop short at measures of mere immediate self-
defence, but to take what will seem the effectual
step, of putting down altogether the hostile
party. To guard against overstepping the proper line
of procedure in this matter, and also to decide
on what occasions the appeal to the interference
of the Civil power is not only justifiable, but
expedient also, are points which must, in each

Sect. 10.] Persecution. 295
particular instance, be left to the head and the
heart of each individual. General principles
may be sketched out ; but there can be none that
wiU teach their own apphcation, or supersede the
exercise of practical good sense, cautious delibe
ration, and Christian candour.
It may be worth while, however, to observe,
in conclusion, how important it is always to
keep in mind, that the Cross which our Master
and his Apostles bore so meekly, our proud
nature strongly impels us to refuse, whenever we
can, by any means whatsoever, avoid it. We are
tempted, to admire at a distance, while we revolt
at the thought of copying, their patience under
calumny and derision, and every kind of provo
cation. And, what is more, this pride of the
human heart is apt to disguise itself to our
conscience under the appearance of piety ; we
are in danger, I mean, of regarding as zeal for
God's honour, what is perhaps, in truth, rather,
zeal for our own honour. He who does but
reject our faith, imphes, as I have observed
above, something affronting to ourselves ; much
. more, if he slander and insult us for maintaining
it : and it is from this cause that we are prone

296 Persecution. [Chap. v.
to feel greater indignation at such conduct, than
at the equal affront offered to God by those who
acknowledge his claim, while in their lives they
habitually disregard it, to their love, gratitude,
veneration, and obedience. But yet, as every
one who insults us on account of our religion,
does by so doing insult that rehgion itself, we are
likely to flatter ourselves that this last is the sole
ground of our indignation; when in fact, perhaps,
our personal feelings have a great share in it.
But we must not expect, till the Church
militant is exchanged for the Church triumphant,
that Christ's devoted followers will have no Cross
to bear, or that they will encounter no opposition
or molestation from his enemies. At least, till
the World, even what is caUed the Christian
World, shall have become much more imbued
with the spirit of Christianity than it ever has
been yet, our Lord's warnings to his disciples
must be regarded as in some degree applicable
to US: "If the World hate you, ye know that
it hated Me before it hated you . . . because ye
are not of the World, therefore the World hateth
you." The Christian who is steady and un
shrinking, and active in his Master's cause.

Seoi. 10.] Persecution. 297
though it is his duty not wantonly to provoke
obloquy and opposition, by any indiscreet or
violent conduct, yet must not expect always to
escape such mortifications ; and he should be
prepared so to meet them, as to shew how far
beyond " the praise of men" he prizes the ap
probation of Him " who seeth in secret."
Still, cases may undoubtedly occur, in which
it will be our right and our duty to use means
for protecting ourselves or others, against lawless
aggression. No rule, as I have said, can be laid
down, which will supersede the exercise of a
sound and unbiassed judgment, for deciding in
each particular instance whether it is allowable
and advisable to call in the aid of the secular arm
for the protection of the professors of religion.
The right medium, says the great Master of
ancient moralists, must be fixed in each parti
cular instance by each man's discretion : but he
proceeds to give the best general caution that
can be supplied ; ¦viz. to lean always towards
the safer side ; ever avoiding the more sedulously
the worse extreme, and regarding that as the
worse, to which we are by nature the more prone'-
' Arist. Eth. b. ii. ch. 9.

298 Persecution. [Chap. v-
On this principle we should always, in respect
of any matters connected with our religion, be
more willing to have it asked, why we do not,-
than why we do, resort to the aid of the Civil
power. And even when we have fully determined what
procedure is in itself right, we must be still
watchful over our own heart, subjecting our mo
tives to the severest scrutiny, and taking care
that we do not inwardly applaud and sanctify
in our own eyes, as a virtuous jealousy for God's
glory, what may be in reality chiefly a regard for
our own credit, and a tenderness for our own
ease and comfort.

CHAPTER VI.
TRUST IN NAMES AND PRI\'ILEGES.

§. I. JVIANKIND have a natural tendency to
pride themselves on the advantages they enjoy —
on the privileges they possess — on the titles they
bear as badges of those privileges — and especially
on their being members of any Society or class
endowed with such privileges. And they are
disposed not only to feel a pride and satisfaction
in possessing such advantages, but also carelessly
to put their trust in these, independently of the
use made of them, as necessarUy implying some
superior benefit to the possessor.
How strongly this tendency operated among
the Jews of old, we have ample proof in the
Bible. Even under the Old dispensation we may
gather from the writings of the prophets, that, in
spite of their numberless backshdings, they stUl
flattered themselves that, as the Lord's chosen and

300 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi.
peculiar people, and as having among them the
only Temple of the true God, He would not
execute on them the judgments He had denounced.
And when their captivity and the destruction of
their temple had undeceived them in this point,
they still clung to the hope of the promised
Messiah to arise from among them, and who
should " restore all things." In this hope, in
deed, they were not erroneous ; but their error
was, in trusting that they should surely be par
takers of the promised benefits, by virtue of their
privilege as Abraham's children, of the stock of
his chosen descendant Judah, whatever might
be their own conduct ; and that no such change
of dispensation could take place as should put
even the least deserving Jew below, or even on a
level with, the best of the unclean and despised
race of the Gentiles.
Accordingly, John the Baptist takes occasion
to warn them on this head at the opening of his
ministry ; " Now is the axe laid to the root of
the tree : every tree therefore that bringeth not
forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the
fire. And think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our father ; for I say unto

SccT. 1.] Trust in names and privileges. 301
you, that God is able of these stones to raise up
children unto Abraham." The Apostle Paul in
like manner is compelled incessantly to warn the
Jewish behevers, that " there is no difference"
between the Jewish and the Greek Christian,
inasmuch as "all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God;" — that there is " neither Jew
nor Greek — neither Barbarian, Scythian, bond, or
free ;" and that " in Christ Jesus neither circum
cision nor uncircumcision profit eth any thing,
but a new creature;" and that the believing
Gentiles are adopted as equally God's children,
and heirs of his promises, no less than the natural
descendants of Abraham.
Nor is he merely warning Christians that God
is " no respecter of persons," (as it had been first
revealed to Peter,) and that " in every nation he
that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is
accepted of Him" — not only are the workers of
righteousness cautioned against supposing that the
Jews by nature, or the adherents to the ceremonial
Law, were to obtain a higher share of divine
favour; but, what may seem more strange, the
Apostle finds it necessary to guard them against
the error of trusting in the circumstance of being

302 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi.
under the Law, independently of the observance
of it; as if a certain degree, at least, of divine
favour was secured by the mere circumstance of
having received by Revelation the divine com
mands, even though they were not careful to obey
them. The greater part of the early portion of
the Epistle to the Romans is taken up in com
bating this strange delusion : he assures them,
that " not the hearers of the Law are just before
God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified :"
" behold," says he, " thou art called a Jew, and
restest in the Law, and makest thy boast of God;"
and yet these same persons he speaks of as dis
honouring God, by breaking the Law in which
they made their boast, so notoriously, that the
name of God was " blasphemed among the
Gentiles through them."
§. 2. A like error seems to have prevailed no
less among the early Christians generally, in
respect of the pride and vain-confidence with
which they regarded their privileges as Christians,
The Apostle warns them in the same Epistle, that
as the natural branch (i. e. the Israelites after the
flesh) had been broken off, and they grafted in,

Sect.':] Trust iu uunies and privileges. 303
so, a like severity was to be expected by them
also, as God had exercised tow^ards the disobedient
among his favoured people of old, if, instead of
making the best use of his mercies, they were
high-minded — puffed up, i. e. with boastful confi
dence in their peculiar privileges, and neglectful
of the peculiar responsibihty these imposed. " If
God," he admonishes them, " spared not the
natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not
thee." And in the same tone he warns the
Corinthians not to rely in security on their being
God's elect people, from the example of the
Israelites, who were also, all of them, " God's
elect %" yet of whom one whole generation were
cut off, by various judgments, in the wilderness, for
their disobedience : the history of these things, he
says, was "written for our admonition; where
fore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall." And the Apostle Jude again seems
to apprehend the same danger for those he is ad
dressing, and cautions them by the same example,
" how the Lord after having saved the people out
of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them
that believed not." ^ Essay iii. Second Series.

30 f Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi.
And as, in the first ages of Christianity, Chris
tians were likely to feel this proud confidence
in that title, as distinguished from unbelieving
Jews and Pagans, so, the same feeling was likely
afterwards to shew itself, in another form, among
those who were characterized as orthodox and
catholic Christians, in contradistinction from He
retics, whose tenets had been condemned by the
general voice of the Christian Churches. How
strongly this feeling prevailed, and still prevails,
in the members of the Romish Church, every one is
well aware : but the circumstance to which I wish
to direct attention is, in conformity with the views
already taken in the present work, that such a
feeling is not peculiar to Romanists as such, but
originates in our common nature, and conse
quently is one from which no one who partakes
of that nature can be exempt, without perpetual
watchfulness. The Mahometans, as is well known,
partake largely of this spirit ; and even those of
them who are habitual transgressors of their law,
still flatter themselves that some superior degree
of divine favour is reserved for them as " true be
lievers," beyond w^hat can be expected by the
best of those who are strangers to the Koran :

Sect. 3.] Trust iu names and privileges. 305
while the Author of our faith, on the contrar\',
teaches us that He will reject as utter strangers
to Him those who are ready to make their boast
in his Name, and to plead that they have even
" done many mighty works in that Name .¦" and
the knowledge of his Gospel He represents as
bringing aggravated condemnation to such as do
not live a Christian life ; since " the servant who
knew his Lord's will, and did it not, shall be
beaten with many stripes."
§. 3. In order to profit as we may do by the
example of the Romanists, and even of the Ma
hometans, we must waive, for the time, all ques
tions concerning the unsoundness of their tenets,
and confine our view to the danger which is com
mon to men of all persuasions, whether essentially
correct, or contaminated with more or less of error.
If Mahomet had been a true Prophet, as Moses
was, this would not have secured his followers
from the fault into which the disciples of Moses
did in fact fall ; viz. that of expecting to be saved
by their privileges, rather than by the use made
of them. And if the Romanists were foUowing in
their system of doctrine and discipline, not the
X

306 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi.
dictates of weak or wicked men, but those of a
truly infallible Apostle, this would not alone secure
them from the very error which the Apostles
themselves found perpetually springing up among
their converts, even in their own lifetime ; the
tendency to substitute the means of grace for the
fruits of grace ;— -the proud confidence of belong
ing to a certain holy Community, Church, Sect,
or party, which must secure an especial share of
divine favour to every member of it.
If, on the contrary, we dwell on the groundless
ness of the claim of the Romish Church to be the
only true and Catholic Church, and on the doc
trinal errors into which that Church has fallen,
we shall of course be likely to flatter ourselves, as
Protestants are apt to do, that our abhorrence of
that Church exempts us from all danger of vainly
trusting in a Name, and in our connection with a
highly- endowed Society.
It is true that the Romish Church has erred in
many essential points ; but nothing probably has
more contributed to lead her into those errors
than reliance on Names and Privileges. Spiritual
advantages which are real, and titles which are
not misapphed, may be made subjects of pre-

Sect. 3.] Trust in names and privileges. 307
sumptuous boast, and may thus lead to indolent
security with respect to personal exertion ; this
is usually the first error men fall into : the
second naturaUy springs out of this carelessness ;
the name, that is, survives the thing signified ; —
the advantages are actually lost, either wholly
or in part, through a confident rehance on their
intrinsic efficacy, without an endeavour to im
prove them ; — the land Avhich was fertile, becomes
a desert, through a confident trust that it wUl
ensure wealth to the possessor, while he neglects
to tiU it.
A famihar iUustration of the tendency I have
been speaking of, is afforded by the parallel case
of Academical institutions. To be a member of
a learned Body, is regarded as an honour ; it
affords to the individual, facilities for the ac-
qukement of learning; and, to others, some
degree of presumption that he has used his ad-'
vantages. How many accordingly pride them
selves on being members of such a Society, and
on the Title which denotes this, while they think
little of acquiring the learning and using the
advantages, which alone give to the Name, and
to the Society, their value.
x 2

.308 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap, vi.
All this has been strikingly illustrated in the
progressive history of the Church of Rome.
She w^as built by Apostles on Jesus Christ, the
only true foundation ; she was left by them with
sound doctrines and pure Christian worship ;
her members were cautioned by them not to be
" high-minded, but fear;" not to rely on the
divine favour as a reason for relaxing personal
exertions, but as an encouragement to make
them ; or to exult in their deliverance from
heathen superstition, and their adoption in place
of the disobedient, to be the people — the chosen
people — of God, but to take warning from the
example of his mercy combined with severity.
But they were seduced from humble vigilance
into a proud and careless reliance on the great
ness of their privileges, till they even lost the
talent which they had neglected to employ. What
was their condition at the close of the Apostles'
ministry ? They had renounced idolatry ; — they
worshipped the true God ; — they had the sacred
Scriptures, the words of eternal life, in their
hands for private study, and in their ears, at
their religious meetings ; — they had the means
of grace among them, the Ordinances appointed

.s-ect. 3.] Ti'ust in names and privileges. 309
by Christ, which are strictly called the Sacra
ments, and pubhc joint worship, itself of a sacra
mental character; — they had learned to despise
and abhor the superstitious ofterings, purifications,
and other ceremonies of the heathen, and had
been taught to trust in the atonement of Christ
alone, and to seek for acceptance before God,
by being " led by his Spirit." All these were
real and inestimable privileges, and gave thera
just reason for rejoicing (but for rejoicing in
trembhng gratitude, and not with careless pride)
in the deliverance that had been wrought for
them — in their happy condition as contrasted
with that of their Pagan neighbours.
But their exultation in these advantages led
them first to neglect, and in the end to lose,
them ; their vain confidence in names, led them
first to forget, and afterwards to forfeit, the things
which the names denoted. Their minds were
fixed on what was past — on what had been
done for them, and withdrawn from a vigilant
attention to the future — from diligence on their
part to " make their calling and election sure."
Confident in the titles of Christian — of Ortho
dox — of Catholic — of the Church of God — and

310 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi.
careless of living " as becometh saints," they
trusted that no deadly error could creep into
so holy a Community, and adopted, one by one,
the very errors (under new names) of the Pa
ganism which had been renounced ; thanking
God, like the Pharisee, that they were "not as
other men are," they became gradually like their
heathen ancestors, with the aggravation of having
sinned against light, and abused their peculiar
advantages ; and their confidence all the while
increasing along with their carelessness and cor
ruption, when their " gold was become dross,"
they boasted more than ever of their wealth,
and in the midst of their grossest errors insisted
on complete infallibility. And to what did all
this at length bring them? How far did they
ultimately depart from their primitive purity ?
" How did the faithful city become an harlot?"
They ended in overlaying Christianity, one by
one, with the very errors and superstitions (in
substance) from which the first Christians exulted
in being delivered.
Idolatry of the grossest kind was gradually
restored : the worshippers of the one true God
manifested in Christ Jesus, paid, practically, their

Sect. 3.] Trust in uamcs and privileges. 311
chief adoration to deified mortals : the Scriptures
were secluded from the people under the veil of
an unknown tongue ^i, and their interpretation
fettered and their authority superseded, even with
the learned, by a mass of traditions which made
the word of God of none eftect ; their sacraments
became superstitious charms ; their public wor
ship a kind of magic incantation muttered in a
dead language ; and Christian holiness of life
was commuted for holy water — for fantastic
penances, pilgrimages, amulets, pecuniary dona
tions, and a whole train of superstitious observ
ances, worthy of Paganism in its worst forms.
" How is the faithful city become an harlot !"
They trusted in Pri'vileges and Names, till the
privileges were lost, and the names became an
empty sound. But still they are as proud of
them as ever. They distinguish themselves by
the title of Cathohcs'' , members of the True
Church — adherents to the ancient faith : nay,
even Christians is a title by which on the Con-
' A language, be it remembered, which gradually became
obsolete: for no Church ever introduced the use of an un
known tongue, in its prayers, or recital of Scripture.
'' See note [A] in the Appendix.

312 Trust in names and privileges. [('hap. vi,
tinent they distinguish themselves from those
heretics "^^j as they term them, who chiefly differ
from themselves in trusting in Christ as the One
Mediator, instead of a host of pretended saints.
Such monstrous corruptions could never have
been introduced into any Church by the arts
of a worldly and ambitious hierarchy, had not
the individual members of it been lulled into a
false security, by boastfully contemplating their
Christian privileges, instead of dwelling on the
additional responsibility these privileges create;
by priding themselves on names, without bestow
ing a watchful attention on the things those
names denote.
§. 4. The warning of the Apostle, in his Epistle
to this very Church, they neglected, and imitated
the very example by which he warned them —
that of the presumptuous and disobedient Jews
of old. The admonitions, I say, of Paul to the

° Those in the neighbourhood of the Vandois, in particular,
distinguish themselves from the members of that pure and
ancient Church, by the distinguishing appellation of Chris
tians.

SuT. i] Trust in names and privileges. 313
Church of Rome were lost on the succeeding
generations of that Church : shall they be also
lost on us ? Or shall we say that Protestants
have no need of them, because we do not trust
in the title of Catholic, or in being members
of an infallible Church ; — because we have pro
tested against the usurpations of that Church,
and have renounced her corruptions ? The Apo
stle might reply to us, if he lived in these days,
" Be not high-minded, but fear : those whom
I then addressed were in the very same situation
as you : they were the reformed — the Protest
ants of their day ; they had been delivered from
Jewish and Pagan infidelity, as you have been
from Romish corruptions of Christianity ; they
prided themselves on that deliverance, as you
are liable to do, on yours : they felt confident
that they were in no danger of precisely the same
errors as those of the infidel-Jews and heathen
idolaters, and they incorporated into Christianity
substantiaUy the same errors, under different
names ; they have fallen from their first faith ;
and are left with the candle of God's word dark
ened, and their minds bewUdered by the false
light of a delusive superstition : if God spared

314 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi.
not this branch, take heed lest He also spare
not thee : behold, therefore, the goodness and
the severity of God ; on them which fell, se
verity ; but toward thee, goodness, if thou con
tinue in his goodness ; otherwise thou also shalt
be cut off."
The examples which are adduced from the
cases of those in different ages and countries
from our own, are apt to lose their instructive
force, from the very circumstance which ought
to make them the more instructive ; viz. that
there will always be some, if not essential, yet
circumstantial, difference between the temptations
which arise, and the errors which prevail, among
different sets of men. Hence, we are apt to lose
sight of the substantial agreement between two
cases, and to derive no profit from the recorded
faults of others, because those to which we are
liable are not the same in name, and in all the
accompanying circumstances. Yet this very dif
ference proves that they were not copied, the
one from the other, but originate in a common
and deep-seated source ; it would enable us
to draw the more instruction from such ex
amples, if we would but remember that man's

Sect. 4.] Tvust iu naincs and privilei/es. 315
nature is always, and every where, substantially
the same ; because we view with a more im
partial eye such errors as do not precisely re
semble what prevail among ourselves. For these
reasons, the backslidings of the Israelites in
the wilderness, for instance, are so earnestly set
forth by the Apostle, for the instruction of the
Corinthians, as being an example likely to be over
looked by them, and especially profitable to be
contemplated by them; disposed, as they probably
were, to rest in their high privileges as God's peo
ple, even as the Israelites did of old, and to think,
like them, their deliverance complete, and their
attainment of the promised inheritance secure,
without watchfulness against the trials that
awaited them.
It is with this view, accordingly, that I have
attempted, in the present work, to point out what
instructive lessons may be drawn from the errors
of our brethren of the Romish Church. For
when once it is clearly perceived, that her cor
ruptions are such as human nature is prone to —
that they are rather the cause, than the effect,
of the system of that Church — and that conse
quently, those out of her pale are not therefore

316 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi.
safe from similar corruptions — we are then the
more likely to guard watchfully against those
faults, whose deformity we have seen fully dis
played in another.
§.5. In pursuing this view, I took occasion to
illustrate the general principle, by touching briefly
on some of the particular points in which faults,
essentially the same with those of the Romanists,
have beset, and will ever beset, the rest of man
kind also, in proportion as their vigilance against
them is remitted : but to enumerate and dwell on
all these points, would not only have led to too
long a discussion, but would hardly have been
needful. For when once the general principle is
embraced, it is easy, and it is also best, for every
one to follow up for himself the several applica
tions of it, and to pursue the train of thought
thus suggested. Nor should this be done once
for all, in a single discussion, but, practically,
throughout the whole of his Christian life : since
if it be fully understood that the system of Ro
manism, so far as it disagrees with true Chris
tianity, is in fact a transcript of man's frail
nature, every one must perceive the necessity of

Sect. 5.] Trust in uamcs and privileges. 317
contemplating, as in a mirror, this portraiture of
his own infirmities, and of not merely abjuring,
once for all, the errors he censures in another,
but guarding against them with incessant vigi
lance. The more secure any one feels against
his habihty to errors, to which in fact he is liable,
the greater must be his real danger of falling into
them. In pointing out, accordingly, several particular
classes of faults to which Protestants are liable,
and which are substantially the same as they
condemn in the Romanists, I have repeatedly
dwelt on that aggravation of the danger, the
false security we are likely to feel, in our renun
ciation of the Papal dominion, against the errors
of Romanism. I cannot therefore more properly
conclude this treatise, than by observing, that
this ven,' false security is itself one of the most
fatal of those errors ; — that we are in fact imitat
ing the Romanists, if we securely exult in our
separation from them : — if w^e trust in the name
of Protestant, as they do in that of Catholic; and
look back, with proud satisfaction, on our eman
cipation from their corrupt system, without also
looking forward, to guard vigilantly against the

318 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi.
like corruptions ; even as they triumphed in their
abandonment of Pagan superstitions, while they
forgot that Paganism itself was the offspring of
the self-deceiving heart of man, in which the
same corruptions, if not watchfully repressed, will
be continually springing up afresh.
A more acceptable subject, perhaps, I might
easily have found, in exposing the enormities of
the Church of Rome, and panegyrizing the com
parative purity of our own ; inasmuch as self-
congratulation is more agreeable than self-examin
ation. But with a view to our own practical
improvement, there can be no doubt which is the
more profitable. The Apostle's warning, "be not
high-minded, but fear," was not likely to be so
gratifying to the Church of Rome, to which it
was addressed, as unmixed praise and congratu
lation ; but it would have saved them, had they
continued duly to attend to it, from the evils
which it denounced.
Let the Protestant then consider their fall as
recorded " for his admonition :" and let him pro
fit by the example before him.
The errors which, with these views, I selected
for consideration, as being among the most pro-

Sect. 5.] Trust in namcs and privileges. 319
minent, and usually regarded as most character
istic, of the Romish Church'', but which I have
endeavoured to trace to our common Nature, are,
1 . Superstition ; considered as consisting, not
in this or that particular mode of worship, but
in misdirected religious veneration, generally :
2. the tendency towards what may be called a
vicarious service of God ; a proneness to convert
the Christian Minister into a Priest in the other
sense of the word, and to substitute his sanctity of
Ufe and devotion, for those of the people : 3. the
toleration of what are called "pious frauds;"
either in the sacrifice of truth to supposed expe
diency, or in the propagation of what is believed
to be the truth, by dishonest artifice : 4. an undue
deference to Human Authority; as, in other points,
so especially in forgetting the legitimate use of
creeds, catechisms, liturgies, and other such com
positions set forth by any Church, and intruding
them gradually into the place of Scripture, by
habitually appealing to them (where the appeal
ought always to be made to the records of inspira
tion) in proof of any doctrine that is in question :
which practice I pointed out as not originally the
'• See Appendix [B.]

320 Trust in names and privileges. [Ckap. vl
consequence, but the cause, of the claim to in
spiration and infallibility set up by the Church :
5. Lastly, I remarked, that Intolerance, or the
spirit of Persecution, i. e. the disposition to en
force by secular coercion, not, this or that system
of religion, but, one's own, whatever it may be,
is a fault inherent in human nature, and to which
consequently all mankind are liable, however
strongly they may reprobate (as, e. g. the Romish
Church has always done) persecution, or any form
of compulsion, exercised on themselves '=.
From these then, and all other Romish errors,
Protestants cannot, as such, be exempt ; and
they are in the greater danger of them in pro
portion to their abhorrence of them as existing
in that Church, if they regard them as properly
the offspring of Romanism, and not of human na
ture ; — if they build their security on their being
out of the pale of that corrupt Church, and neg
lect to guard against the spirit of those corrup
tions, while they exult in the Name of Protestants.
This careless reliance on Titles and Privileges, is,
as I have in this chapter been endeavouring to
shew, itself one of the most mischievous of the
' See Appendix [B.]

Ssi.T.6.] Trust in names and privileges. 321
Romish errors, and which has mainly contributed
to favour the introduction of the rest.

§. 6. In what way then, it mav be asked,
are we to apply practically what has been said,
in guarding against this particular error? Let
any one (I would reply) but look around him,
and look ¦within his own heart. Are there not
multitudes w^ho exult in the title of Christian —
of Protestant — of Churchman — and in their
belonging to a Society endowed with such high
pri^vileges ? There are : and would God the de
scription, thus far, were even more universally
apphcable than it is ; for in these things we
ought to rejoice, even much more than we do.
But do all who congratulate themselves on these
advantages, and on these names, and who regard
it, if not as some sort of merit, at least, as a
sure pledge of some di^vine favour, to possess
them — do all of these reflect on the superior
responsibihty which is thus imposed on them?
Do none of them (in feehngs and in conduct
at least, though not in express avowal) cherish
a hope of being saved by their privileges, rather
than by the use made of them ? Do they reflect

322 Ti'ust in names and privileges. [(.Hap. vi.
on those privileges as aggravating their con
demnation if they do not rightly use them; or
do they exult in their admittance to the wedding-
feast, forgetful that the guest who " had not put
on the wedding-garment," was cast " into outer
darkness ?" Do they regard the names of Chris
tian and of Protestant as a reproach to those
who bear them, if they are not " led by the Spirit
of Christ" — if they do not in their heart and
life, as well as with their lips, protest against the
faults which they condemn in the Romanists ?
Nor is it to the names of Christian and of
Protestant alone, that these cautions will apply :
every title which we claim that implies any pe
culiar advantage, involves a corresponding re
sponsibility ; and a corresponding danger, if we
forget that responsibihty. Does any one con
sider himself entitled to the name of Church
man — of Orthodox — of Evangelical? — let him
remember, that there is a perpetual danger of
his relying, in proud security on these titles —
of trusting, not so much to his endeavours after
personal holiness, as to the sanctity of the
society, sect, or party, with which he is thus
connected.

sucT. I).] Trust in names and privileges. 323
Some members of the Romish Church, not
satisfied with merely belonging to that Church,
and with the title of Catholics, have enrolled
themselves in certain subordinate Societies, (or
Rehgious Orders as they are called,) enhsting
themselves under the banner of some founder, of
supposed superior sanctitv. I am not now en
quiring into the peculiar errors and superstitions
actually connected with these institutions : had
they been exempt from every thing of this kind,
there would still have been a danger (which, in
fact, must exist, more or less, in all rehgious Com
munities whatever) of that evil which has so
notoriously attended the Rehgious Societies of the
Romish Church : — the evil, I mean, of consider
ing the mutual connection of the members of such
Societies as a kind of partnership ; in which each
member may hope to derive some benefit at least,
fi'om the piety and purity of the whole Body.
This absurdity — the supposed transfer of the
merits of one sinful mortal to the account of
another — has indeed never been distinctly avowed
except in the Church of Rome : but the tendency
towards such a feeling must have been inherent
in the Human Heart, or men never could have
Y 2

324 Trust in names and privileges. [Chap. vi,
been brought to acknowledge it. The danger
of it, is, as I have said, inherent in the very
nature of a religious Community. As, in a
Partnership, the neglect of one man may often
be in some degree remedied by the diligence of
others ; and as, in an Army, the soldier who
does not himself fight bravely, may sometimes,
through the valour of his comrades and the skill
of his general, be made partaker of the benefits,
and sometimes even of the glory, of a victory;
so, men are apt to transfer views thus famihar to
them, to the case of Members of a Religious
Society. And this danger, being, as I have said,
one which necessarily besets every religious So
ciety, can never be escaped except by incessant
vigilance. For Christianity is essentially a social
Religion. We are " every one members one of
another ;" and the Author of our Faith has de
creed, that Christians are to further their own
salvation, by labouring jointly to forward the sal
vation of each other. But it is by the personal
faith and holiness of each individual Christian,
that each individual Christian, after aU, is to be
made, through the intercession of the one Medi
ator and Redeemer, whose Spirit sanctifies his

Sect. 6.] Trust ill numes and privileges. 325
heart, acceptable before God. The pious labours
of others can do nothing for any man, unless
they lead him to labour in like manner for
himself Richly endowed indeed is the Church of Christ
with the means of Grace — with privileges and ad
vantages of inestimable value ; but if we fail to
use these means, and to avail ourselves of these
privileges, they will but increase our condemna
tion. The name of Christian — of Reformed, of
Protestant Christian — instead of saving, will
condemn, as doubly inexcusable, on the great
day, when the secrets of men's hearts shall be dis
closed, him, who, " naming the name of Christ,"
has not " departed from iniquity;" — who " hear-
eth his words, and doeth them not ;" — whose life
and heart are not " reformed" — and who exults
over the errors of the Romish Church, while he
supinely overlooks those evil propensities of our
common nature, from which they took their rise.
" For he is not a Jew," (nor, by parity of reason
ing, a Christian — an Orthodox, or an Evangelical
Christian — a Reformed, or a Protestant Chris
tian,) " who is one outwardly, neither is that

326 Trust in, names and privileges. [C'n.n- vi.
circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but
he is a Jew, who is one inwardly ; and circum
cision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not
in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of
God."

APPENDIX.

[A.]
1 HE title of Catholics, the Romanists claim, and apply
to themselves, not merely as belonging to them, (and it
is not denied that they are a branch, though a corrupt
one, of the Universal or Catholic Church,) but as dis
tinctive, and peculiar to the members of the Church of
Rome. And Protestants have usually, in language,
conceded this claim. But, I think, that in so doing,
they manifest too exclusively the harmlessness of the
dove, and leave the wisdom of the serpent entirely with
their opponents. It is urged, that these are offended
at being called Papists; considering that as a term of
reproach, from its being used only by their adversaries.
That I may not seem to seek a quarrel, I have generally
avoided that name : but let us not be so weak as to
imagine, that " Romanist," or any other title by which
they can be, properly, designated, will ever fail, when it
shall have hecome common, to be complained of as re
proachful ; or that they will ever acr|uiescc in any ap-

328 Appendix.
pellation which does not imply a reproach to ourselves.
Even the apparently neutral designation of " IMembers
of the Church of Rome," is one which we must not too
confidently expect them to adopt or acquiesce in; nor
is it unlikely that they may complain of it as reproach
ful, should it ever become their customary appellation
among Protestants. For it implies, that there are other
Churches, properly called Churches, besides the Church
of Rome. We indeed are content to be designated as
Members of the Church of England ; and we regard
them as belonging to a distinct Church, over which,
though we censure it as corrupt, we claim no supremacy;
but they do not take a corresponding view of us : they
do not regard us as constituting any distinct Church,
but as actually members, though schismatical and re
volted members — subjects, de jure, though rebellious
subjects — of their Church. A name therefore which im
plies, that there are other Churches distinct from theirs,
contradicts one of their fundamental tenets ; viz. that
they, and they only, are faithful members of the one
^rue Church. And this tenet they have embodied in
the appellation they have chosen for themselves ; which
consequently implies, as I have said, a reproach to all
other Christians. The title of Catholic, when used as
distinctive, imphes the exclusion of all others from the
character of loyal members of the Society which Christ
founded — of " the holy Catholic Church, the Com
munion of Saints," as it is expressed and explained in

Appendix. 329
the .\postlcs" Creed : it implies, in short, that all others
are heretics or schismatics.
This is no uncommon device. There is a sect who call
themselves " Baptists," i.e. persons who baptise; thus
implying that no others are really baptized, and that
infant-baptism is null and void. This is their distinctive
tenet; which they are perfectly right in professing, if
convinced of its truth : but it is an absurdity for any
one who differs from them to give them this title, which
palpably begs the question at issue, and condemns him
self. The title of Antipaedobaptist is to be sure some
what cumbrous ; but awkwardness of expression, or
even circumlocution, is preferable to error and absurdity.
" The same caution might well be extended to the use
of the word Unitarian, as the title of a sect ; for the
term properly expresses a fundamental doctrine which
the Church holds. Socinian appears to me a better
appellation. But this too I would avoid, if it gave
serious offence ; at the same time, being careful to make
it known that the word Unitarian is employed in com
pliance with a custom, which however general, and per
haps harmless, I cannot but regard as objectionable '-"
That the term Papist is a term of reproach, (though
I do not insist on its being employed,) I can never
admit. A " term of reproach" is one which implies
' Note to Bishop Copleston's Sermon at the re-opening of Aber
gavenny Church.

330 Appendix.
¦something disgraceful in the opinion of the party to
ichom it is applied. Thus, Heretic (in its ordinary, not
perhaps in its etymological, sense) implies the holding of
some erroneous tenet ; it is, consequently, a reproachful
term. But Papist implies simply one who acknowledges
the authority of the Pope : and those to whom it is ap
plied, do, openly, acknowledge his authority.
" Considering the tendency of words''' (says a writer
whom I am proud to appeal to) " to influence opinions,
I hold the right use of this word Catholic to be
of essential importance. The controversial writers of
the Church of Rome never fail to take advantage of the
want of caution in this respect observable among Pro
testants. Of this a strong example is given in a recent
publication, which affords a gratifying proof of the
strength of our cause, and of the weakness of the Roman
ists, whenever they are respectively brought to the test of
Scripture and of reason. I allude to the correspondence
between the Clergy of Blackburn and the Principal and
other members of the Roman Catholic establishment at
Stonyhurst. From this interesting publication I cannot
do better than extract the following passage in one of
Mr. Whittaker's letters to the Principal of that insti
tution. ' It was not from a love of contending about words,
still less from any reluctance to give every possible satis
faction to the Romish priesthood, that I persisted in
refusing the unqualified term " Catholic" to them and

Appendix. 331
their Church. The use which they make of it, when il
is conceded to them, cannot be unknown to you. Dr.
Milner, in his End of Religious Controversy, (Letter
XXV.) says of our Church, ¦' Every time they address
the God of truth, either in solemn -worship or in private
devotion, they are forced each of them to repeat, I be-
liei-e in the Catholic Church, and yet, if I ask any
of them the question, nre yoa a C.vtholic ? he is
sure^to answer me, Xo ! I am a Puotestant ! ! — Was
there ever a more glaring instance of inconsistency and
self-condemnation among rational beings?" — "But,"
says' one of the Blackburn Secular Priests to me,
" where is the man that can or will accuse you of acting
inconsistently with your religious principles," supposing
me to concede this appellation to their Church and its
members exclusively .' I refer him for his answer to Dr.
Milner, with whom I entirely agree, that a more glaring
instance of inconsistency and self-condemnation " cannot
well exist among rational beings," than that exhibited by
Protestants, who confess before God that they believe in
His Holy Catholic Church, and allow themselves to
limit the practical use of the term to the Church of
Rome.' — Correspondence, Sj-c. published at Blackburn,
1829, p. 14.
" There is nothing I abhor more than religious per
secution—nothing I would censure more strongly than
a wanton offence given to the feelings of others, on
account of a sincere difference in religious opinion.

332 Appendix.
Yet I cannot carry this principle so far as to abstain
from calling the members of that Church who refuse to
join in our reformation of its errors, by some appel
lation which marks their adherence to its communion,
and their submission to its authority. Papist appears
to me the most correct designation, because the differ
ences in doctrine are often ingeniously softened down and
even explained away by the more enlightened Roman
Catholics, but I never met with one who did not hold
that spiritual submission to the bishop of Rome in some
sense or other was indispensable. The word Papist,
however, is understood by them as a reproach. Let us
then, in Christian charity, forbear to use it. But some
phrase indicative of their connexion with Rome, and of
their dependence upon the authority of that see, whether
Romish, or Romanist, or Roman Catholic, I hold to be
not only allowable, but highly expedient, and even
necessary : and heartily do I wish that all Protestants
would form themselves to a habit of thus speaking, both
in public and private : for it then would never be un
derstood as a personal affront, but as a serious and firm
resolution not to compliment away an important point,
in which our feelings and our honour are at least as
much concerned as theirs ''."
" Yes but" (I have heard it answered) " the term
Papist implies more than mere submission to Papal
supremacy ; it implies the adoption of an erroneous
>> Bp. Copleston's Sermon at Abergavenny, p. 23, 2-1.

Appendix. 333
system and submission to an usurped authority."
It implies no such thing. That indeed is my opinion
respecting the Romish system ; but the word does not
denote that. The difference is practically very great
and important, between a word which itself expresses
error or icrong, and a word wliicli denotes some th'ing
which the speaker believes to be erroneous or wrong.
One person, for instance, may think a democracy the
best form of government, and another may think it the
worst ; the one will consequently have the most pleasing,
the other the most odious, associations with the term
Democrat ; but the word itself is not used by them in
two different senses ; it expresses simply, an " advocate
for democracy ;" and it is not, in itself, either a term
of honour or of reproach. On the other hand, " patriot"
and " traitor" imply, respectively, honour and dis-
lionour, in their very signification.
Inattention to this obvious distinction leads to endless
confusion of thought and practical perplexity. If every
term is to be reckoned reproachful, which is associated
in the mind of him who uses it with some odious or
contemptible idea, then, the title of Catholic will itself
be such, when applied by Protestants to designate the
Church of Rome. Every term, in short, will be a term
of reproach when used by one who disapproves the opi
nion, system, or party, implied by it. The Mahometans
associate with the title of Christian every thing that is
hateful or despicable; shall we then complain or be

334 Appendix.
ashamed of being called Christians ? " God forbid that
we should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ." Mahometan, again, is a title which recalls to
the Christian the idea of " disciple of an impostor ;"
but the title itself does not imply Mahomet's being
either a false or a true prophet ; and they accordingly
do not regard it as a reproachful title.
But the term Christian would be reproachful if
applied by one Mahometan to another ; because it ex
presses something which that other holds in abhorrence.
So also the title of Mahometan would be a reproach if
applied to a Christian ; and Papist, again, for the same
reason, is a term of reproach, if applied to one who
professes himself a Protestant. An apjiellation, in short,
is or is not reproachful, according to the professed
tenets, not of him who applies it, but of him to whom it
is applied. To be called a Papist, (i. e. " one who
admits the Pope's authority,") is a reproach to him
who does not, and none to him who does, profess that
principle. But we ai-e told, that the term is used by none but
the adversaries of the Romanists, and therefore they have
a right to complain of it. At this rate they may make
any title they will, a term of reproach, by simply re
fusing to apply it to themselves. And we may be
assured they will do so with every title which does not
imply a reproach to ns. To call themselves, dis
tinctively Catholics, is (as they at least are well aware,

Appendix. 335
whatever we may be) to call as iieretics. Let them be
admonished, that when they except against the name of
Papists, and assume that of Catholics, declaiming at the
same time against the cruelty of using reproachful
language — let them be admonished, that the censure
apphes, not to us, but to themselves.
And let it not be thought that this is a trifling
" question of words and names :" it was a wise maxim,
laid down and skilfully acted on by some of the leaders
of the French Revolution, that " names are things."
Great is the practical effect in all debate and contro
versy, of suffering to pass unnoticed and to become esta
blished, such terms as beg the question, and virtually
imply a decision on one side. I remember to have met
with a Romanist (by no means bigoted) of the middle
class of society, with whom I had a good deal of dis
cussion of the points wherein we differed. \Vhat seemed
to dwell most on his mind was, the inconsistency, as he
deemed it, of our professing belief in " the Holy Ca
tholic Church;" when "yours," he said, " is not the
Catholic Church."

[B.]
Different persons will, of course, be chiefly struck by
different faults, among those charged on the Romanists.
Many, for instance, would place foremost one which I

336 Appendix.
have not noticed under a distinct head, and to which
they give the title of " self-righteousness." The word
does not perhaps savour of the purest English'^; but
what they mean is, a confident trust in the merit of our
own good-works, as sufficient to earn eternal happiness,
and as entitling us to that as a just reward.
The Romish Church, however, has not in reality ever
set this forth as one of her distinct tenets. If any one
will consult, what is of decisive authority in that Church,
the decrees of the Council of Trent, he will perceive,
that though they may perhaps have made an injudicious
use of the word " merit," the abstract question between
them and others (not Antinomians) is chiefly verbal.
For they admit, and solemnly declare, that nothing we
can do can be acceptable before God except for the sake
of Jesus Christ ; and that we are unable to perform
good works except by his Spirit working in us : so that
what is called a Christian's righteousness, is, at the same
time, the righteousness of Christ, although the Scrip
tures promise, repeatedly and plainly, that it will, through
his goodness, not " lose its reward."
That part of their theory which is the most objection
able on this score, is the doctrine, that from the pains of
= According to the analogy of the other similar compounds in
our language, such as " self-love," " self-condemnation," self-
tormentor," &c. " self-righteousness" should signify, upright
dealing in respect of one's self.

Appendix. 337
Purgatory, Christ has not redeemed us, but we arc to be
rescued either by Penances done in this life, or by
Masses offered in our behalf after our death.
But I do think, that, in practice, the Romish system
tends to foster the error in question ; not so much, how
ever, by tlie use of the words "merit," and "reward,'
as by the importance attached to the actual performance
of avast multitude of specific works, many of them ar
bitrarily prescribed, such as abstinence from particular
meats on particular days, repetition of " Ave Marys"
and " Pater-nosters" — pilgrimages — crossings, &c. which
have a manifest tendency to absorb the attention in the
act itself — to draw off the mind from the endeavour
after inward purity — and to create the feeling so con
genial to our Nature, that we have been so far advanc
ing in the performance of something intrinsically capa"
ble of forwarding our salvation.
It is worth remarking, that the great heathen moralist,
who understood more of the character of Christian virtue
than many Christians do, dwells strongly on the prin
ciple, that while, in the Arts, the thing produced is
what we chiefly look to, in moral action, on the contrary,
the frame of mind of the agent is the principal point ;
virtuous actions being only the means, though the ne
cessary means, of making him, and of proving him to be,
(what is to be the ultimate object sought after,) an
habitually good man ''. But it is an easier task for Man,
J See Arist. Eth. b. li.
z

338 Appendix.
such as he is by nature, to conform his outward actions
to a certain precisely-fixed rule, and to applaud himself
for that conformity, than, by incessant vigilance and
self-examination, to rectify and regulate the inward
character '.
It is a great mistake, however, to imagine, that Pro
testants, even those who are the forwardest in con
demning this particular kind of Spiritual-Pride, called
by them " self-righteousness," are therefore exempt from
the danger of Spiritual-Pride altogether. On the con
trary, one may find but too plain symptoms of the same
disease, even in some who the most abhor and condemn all
reliance on the merit of good works. For Pride is too na
tural an inmate of the human heart to be effectually ex
cluded by being merely " at one entrance quite shut out."
There are some, as I have above remarked f, who substi
tute an unerring Party for an unerring Church, or re
nounce the shackles of Papal infallibility, as it were in
a spirit of rivalry, that they may become, each, a Pope
to himself. And these will commonly be found to have
merely changed the form, not the substance, of Spiritual-
Pride. One may sometimes hear a man professing him
self the chief of sinners — proclaiming his own righteous
ness to be filthy rags — calling himself a brand plucked
out of the burning — resting his confidence of salvation
wholly on the Atonement of his Redeemer, and on the
imputation to himself of the righteous works performed
= See Essays V. and VIII. Second Series. f Chap. IV.

Appendix. 3.3!'
by Christ^ — and acknowledging that he ha.s rectived
every thing from God's free and unmerited bounty ;
and thence fully trusting that ho must have completely
attained Christian humility ; at least, as far as he does
completely adhere to his profession, that whatever he
possesses is due to the free grace of God. On this
ground we may conceive the Pharisee in the Parable to
have congratulated himself on his humility as well as his
other virtues ; since be exclaims, in pious gratitude,
'¦ God,/ thank Thee, that I am not as other men are!"
But the Pharisee, it will be answered, rested on his good
works — his scrupulous fasting, and paying of tithes.
Is there then no other conceivable Spiritual-Pride than
precisely that of the Pharisees.'' no other subject of
excessive self-confidence and self-congratulation .'' If
there be, it is evident that we cannot, any more than the
Pharisee, be exempted from the danger, by merely ac
knowledging, (as he did) that all we have is the gift of
God. And in fact, it may too often be found, that a
Christian, who renounces the Romish tenets respecting
good works, and who abhors the very name of " merit" as
applied to himself or to other men, will have renounced
boasting, only in words, and will be full of the most
overweening confidence in his own gifts and graces.
For there is a striking resemblance between the Ro
manist and the fanatical Pietist, in their each craving
after, (though from different quarters,) and each in
i See Essay VI. Second Series.
z 2

34U Appendix.
consequence flattering himself as having attained, some
such definite and certain assurance, the one from his
Church, the other from his feelings, as may finally
supersede hesitation and self-distrust — destroy the true
nature and value of faith — and deprive the present
Life of its character as a state of discipline. As the
one accordingly relies in proud security on his unerring
Church, so the other will proclaim him.self enlightened
throughout, as to the whole Gospel-scheme, by the
divine Spirit ; and so far he is right, that the aid of
the Holy Spirit is promised us to " help our infirmities,"
and that without this help sought and granted, the
clearest intellectual powers will leave a man bewildered,
or ill-satisfied. But he who honestly avails himself of
this promise, and is truly " led by the Spirit," will be
filled, with gratitude indeed for the past, and with
cheering hope for the future, but with no arrogant self-
confidence, or uncharitable disdain. Without entering
into any minute discussion (for which this is not the
place*-') of the different kinds and degrees of spiritual
assistance, it is evident that all such enlightening of the
mind, either is, or is not, of such a character as to amount
to inspiration, and imply infallibility. If in any case
a man is convinced that he has not any claim to this,
he ought, in some way or other, to manifest that con
viction, and to shew that he makes allowance for this
difference : if he does reckon himself, properly, inspired,
5 See Essay IX. Second Series.

Appendiv. 34 1
he ought at least not to censure the Homish Church for
the presumptuous arrogance of her claim, but honestly to
join issue on the question, whether they or he arc Justified
in such a claim: a question which, it appears to me, can
only be settled bv the performance of sensible miracles.
And I cannot but think the Romanists have the
advantage in point of consistency over many modern
fanatics, inasmuch as their Chm-ch does acknowledge
the reasonableness of such an appeal, and claim mira
culous powers. But one may find in some Protestants,
while they pretend to no such powers, and abjure all
arrogant assumption, a decided pretension, if not always
expressed in words, at least implied in the whole tenor
of their language, to inspiration, properly so called.
They state their own views of religion with no less
oracular dogmatism than the Romanists ; — they bestow
no less unhesitating and unsparing censure on all who
do not coincide in these views, or who do not, to the
minutest tittle, conform to their phraseology in express
ing them ; — and they look down with the same pha-
risaical and self-sufficient contempt on every one who
does not adopt the notions which they (as they often
express themselves) have been taught by the Spirit of
God. And if any one remains unconvinced by their
arguments, or by their assertions instead of argument,
or if he meet these with such objections as they are
at a loss to answer, they will in general boldly and
promptly resort to the cheap expedient of pronouncing

342 Appendix.
him incapable of comprehending the subject, from being
in an unregenerate state : for " the natural man re-
ceiveth not the things that are of God ;" and such, they
conclude at once, must be the condition of any one
who disallows, or, still more, who refutes, their opinions,
which they are sure are the " things of God." Any,
the slightest, departure from the standard of their (as
it might be called, in analogy to their own phraseology)
" Self-Infallibility," is regarded by them as a decisive
proof of entire spiritual blindness.
But still, inasmuch as they abhor " self-righteousness."
claiming no merit whatsoever for their own good works,
and pretending only to the character of the peculiarly-
favoured and inspired people of God, they flatter them
selves that they are quite safe from spiritual-pride ; and
thus they complete their presumptuous confidence, by
adding to the list of their other perfections, the perfect
attainment of genuine Christian Humility. Being utter
strangers to self-distrust and humble vigilance, they
feel, for this very reason, the more secure against any
deficiency of these ; and the very completeness of their
spiritual-pride, makes them the more completely con
fident of being wholly free from it.
If such be, as I fear it is, but too true a picture of the
language and tone of feeling which may not unfre
quently be met with, even among those who not only
condemn the arrogance of the Romish plea of merit,
but are sedulous in warning Protestants against the like

Appendix. 343
sin, this furnishes a strong, and afflicting, and awful
instance of a delusion by whicli our spiritual enemy can
obtrude upon us some vice, dressotl up in the very garb
of the opposite virtue, even at the very time when we
are occupied in the most vehement reprobation of it :
while we are, in one point, scrupulous to" strain off the
gnat," and in another, ready to " swallow the camel."
Never will the sin of spiritual-pride more easily beset
us, than under the guise of a self-abhorring humility.
And never will the preacher be more successful in mak
ing (apparent) converts, than when he is unconsciously
flattering the evil propensities of man's corrupt nature,
while he appears to repress them. " It is sometimes
considered as a proof of the advantage to be obtained
from the habit which I am here presuming to discourage,
that such preaching generally proves attractive to the
lower classes. This, however, may be accounted for,
without furnishing any justification of the practice.
For, first, the lower classes, unless they are truly re
hgious, usually are gross sinners, and, therefore, are
neither surprised nor shocked at being supposed so
themselves, and at the same time feel a sort of pleasure
which need not be encouraged, when they hear their
superiors brought down to the same level : and, secondly,
it seems to furnish them with a sort of excuse for their
sins, to find that they are so universal, and so much to be
expected of human nature \" Nothing indeed is more
b Sumner, Apostolical Preaching, p. 133.

344 Appendix.
hkely to be popular, and less likely to be profitable,
than to act the part of the Stoic philosopher to Dama-
sippus; (Hor. Sat. iii. b. 2.) who assured him that he
need not feel any shame at his own follies, at least as
compared with those of other men ', since all except the
true wise-men'' were equally foolish and insane', though
in various ways; and that he had only to enroll himself
in this privileged and enlightened philosophical Sect, adopt
the maxims of his new school"", and immediately look down
with disdain on those he had been accustomed to look up
to with a mixture of reverence, envy, despair, and dislike".
The whole of this admirable Satire is well worth a
re-perusal, with a view to the present subject, for the
sake of the light it throws on the substantial identity,
under the most different forms and names, of human
nature in all ages and countries.
' . . . hoc te
Credo mode insanum ; nihilo ut sapientior ille
Qui te dei'idet. Sat. iii. b. ii. 1. 51.
^ . Haec populos, haec magnos formula reges,
Excepto sapiente, tenet. 1. 45.
1 It should be remembered, that the equality of all faults was a
favourite doctrine of the Stoics.
¦" . . . unde ego mira
Descripsi docllis prfecepta hjec, tempore quo me
Solatus jussit sapientem pascere barbam,
Atque a Fabricio non tristem ponte reverti. 1. 34.
* ... amico
Anna dedit, posthac nc compellarer inultus. 1. 297-

Appendix. 3-15
It ever must have been, and ever -will be, a far more
irksome task to Human Nature, to drink, drop by drop,
the medicine, so bitter to the " Natural Man," of self-
abasement, than to get rid of the potion in a single
draught ; — to weed out, one by one, deep-rooted habits,
and gradually to retrace his steps bv daily perseverance,
than to leap at once to a secure eminence, from which
he may look back, in the exultation of superiority, on
those whose greater forwardness in the Christian course
he had been used to regard with almost hopeless morti
fication. Well therefore may we expect, that those who are
not sedulously on their guard, will be often seduced by
a temptation which addresses itself at once to the im
patient indolence, to the jealousy, and to the pride, of
the human heart.

To the topics I have touched on in the course of this
Work, I might have added, besides many others, some
allusion to the re-introduction among some Protestants
of Auricular Confession, though so far modified as
not to be made to a priest ; by which alteration, I
conceive, both the good, in some instances, and the
evil, in many more, of the Romish practice, is dimi
nished. That good as well as evil — beneficial as well
as pernicious effects — have been produced by auri
cular Confession, I have not a doubt. And this perhaps

346 Appendix.
has had its share in the wide diffusion, long continuance,
and partial restoration of the practice. But the chief
cause is, I am convinced, (as in the case of the other
Romish practices,) that there is a natural craving in
mankind for this unburdening of the conscience, by con
fession to a fellow-creature. The Romish system has
taken advantage of this, by misinterpreting the scrip
tural recommendation, to " confess our sins one to
another," as a requisition of a regular and complete
periodical Confession, making a portion of Christian
discipline. And the practice so established, whether
with Romanists or Protestants, I am convinced does
evil ten times oftener, and of ten thousand times greater
magnitude, than good : nor can I but regard it as, prac
tically, one of the very worst parts of Romanism. In
deed, my chief reason for not dwelling on it further is,
that I could not, with propriety, exhibit it in its true
colours, or describe what I not only believe, but, I may
say, know °, respecting its effects.

Enough however has been said on several points, and
perhaps more than enough for minds disposed to follow
up a principle in its several apphcations, to shew the
necessity of unceasing vigilance, and, not indeed of
often-repeated thorough reformations, (which are always
° See Dedication.

Appendix. 347
attended with more or less evil,) but, of such perpetual
revision, renovation, purification, and progressive im
provement, in every system, as shall supersede the neces
sity of great changes ; such constant attention to keep
every thing, as it were, in good repair, that there shall
be no need of totally pulling down and rebuilding.
But there is an error common to many of those who
in other respects vary infinitely in their views; to many,
both of the adherents of the unreformed Romish Church,
with its long-accumulated load of abuses ; and of those
who are fully satisfied with the system of some reformed
Church ; and again of those who advocate further re
form, from the most extravagant, to the most mode
rate. The error, I mean, of conceiving a system, whe
ther actually existing, or ideal, so framed, as to keep
itself in good order ; — one that either is, or may be, so
wisely constituted as to remain perfect, or as near as is
possible to perfection, without any call for incessantly-
watchful care on our part. This error, I say, is com
mon to men of the most opposite views. Some attribute
this character to the Church of Rome, as founded by
the Apostles; or to some Protestant Church, as reformed
by Luther or Calvin ; resigning themselves to tranquil
security against all but external dangers, and appre
hending none but sudden and violent innovations ; for
getful of the wise remark of Bacon, that " Time is the
greatest innovator; though his changes creep in so quietly

348 Appendix.
as to escape notice'." Others, on the contrary, see num
berless defects, real or imaginary, in these Churches, and
wish for a total, or for a partial, change : still flattering
themselves, like their opponents, that a system once
established on their principles, will continue, without
further care or vigilance, to answer all its purposes for
ever ; — in short, that the machine will go right, if un
disturbed, without ever needing to be regulated, or to
be wound up. Never let it be forgotten then, that we
are beset by the same truly chimerical hope, in human
affairs, which has misled so many speculators in Me
chanics ; the vain expectation of attaining the PER
PETUAL MOTION.
p " Novator maximus, Tempus .... quod novationes ita insi-
nuat ut sensus fallant."

THE END.

DAXTER, PRINTER, OXFOlU).

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Translated from the German, with Additions, by the Rev.
JOHN KENRICK, M.A. Second Edition, corrected
and enlarged. Bvo. 10s. fid.
 " Far superior to any existing Grammar that we know
.... To indiscriminate eulogy we are always averse ; but this is a pro
duction which cannot be too strongly recommended." — Monthly Reoiew,
December, 1824.
An Abridgment of ZUMPT'S LATIN GRAMMAR
for the use of Schools. By the Rev. JOH N KEN RICK,
M.A. 12mo 3s.
EXERCISES on LATIN SYNTAX, adapted to
ZUMPT'S Grammar. By the Rev. JOHN KENRICK,
M.A. Bvo. 5s

Books printed for B . Felloices.
A KEY to EXERCISES adapted to ZUMPT'S
GRAMMAR. By the Rev. JOHN KENRICK, M.A.
Second Edition. Bvo. 5s.
WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA, the
North- West of the United States, and the Antilles. With
original INSTRUCTIONS for PRESERVING BIRDS
for Cabinets of Natural History. By CHARLES WA-
TERTON, Esq. Second Edition. Bvo. 10s.
" Every page of his (Mr. W.'s) book breathes such a spirit of kindness
and benevolence, of undisturbed good humour and singleness of heart, that
we know nothing to compare with if, except the httle volume of that prince
of piscators, the amiable Izaac Walton. .. . His book we may safely pronounce
to be full, not of amusement only, but of curious and useful information re
garding the natural history of the equinoctial regions of South America."—
Quarterly Review, No, 66. — See also the Edinburgh Review, No. 86.
The LAWS of the CUSTOMS, compiled by direction
of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury,
and published by the appointment and under the sanction
of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs; with
Notes and Indexes. By J. D. HUME, Esq. Controller of
His Majesty's Customs in the Port of London. Bvo. 11. 3s.

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