l»^v^v^ks.^¦^¦^d>^v^¦^5K^gw.^»>¦v¦^¦vWl¦^

Gift of
Dr. William C.
1910

ESSAYS [THIRD SERIES]
ON THK
ERRORS OF ROMANISM,

H.WING THEIR

ORIGIN IN HUMAN NATURE.

RICHARD WHATELY, D.D.
ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN ;
1..ATE PRINCIPAL OF ST. ALBAN'S HALL, OXFORD, AND FORMERLY FELLOW
OF ORIEL COLLEGE.

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done,
is that which shall be done : and there is no new thing under the sun." —
Eceles. i. 9.
. . yiyvofieva fie?, (cal del iffSfiera, eas &v 'H ATTH *T2I2 AN-
©PnnnN ?;, fiaXKov 8e kolL iltTvxt^ircpa, Kal rois eYSetri ZiTiWayfiiva, ws
0.V eKaiTTou at fiera^oKal twv ^vvtvxi^v ^cpiffToovrai. — Thucyd. b. iii. ch. 82.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED.
LONDON:
B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET.
1837.

LONDON t
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.
Page
§ 1. Difficulty of rightly estimating the temptations of
those far removed from us  ]
§ 2. Lessons to be learned from the example of the
Church of Rome, p. 5 ; errors of that Church
gradual and imperceptible in their rise  7
§ S. Principal Romish errors ; Superstition, p. 9 ; fond
ness for speculative mysteries, p. 10 ; and for
vicarious service of God, p. 11 ; sanction given
to deceit, p. 12 ; claim to infallibility, p. 13 ;
persecution, p. 1 4 ; confidence in the title of
Catholic  15
§4. Danger of falling into corresponding faults  16
ESSAY I.
OF SUPERSTITION.
§ 1. Apparent strangeness of the transgressions of the
Israelites  21
§ 2. Resemblance between the superstitions of the Israel
ites and of the Romanists, p. 25 ; definition of
Superstition, p. 28 ; false security against it . . 32
§ 3. Mischiefs of Superstition  35
§ 4. Connexion of Superstition vpith profaneness .... 41
§ 5. Occasions of Superstition  46

IV CONTENTS. Page
§ 6. Superstitious belief in miracles, p. 50 ; superstitions
connected with the Eucharist, p. 52 ; with Baptism,
p. 56 ; with Prayer, p. 59 ; with rites of inter
ment  67
§ 7. Cautions to be used against the inroads of Super
stition  70
Note A  76
NoteB  78
ESSAY II.
OF VICARIOUS RELIGION.
§ 1. Character of Christian Mysteries, p. 81 ; natural
tendency to set up two kinds of religion ; for
the priests, and for the people, p. 85 ; speculative
theology of philosophizing divines  87
§ 2. Real origin and progress of priestcraft  94
§ 3. Distinct characters of Hiereus and Presbyteros ... 99
§ 4. Offices of the Jewish and the Pagan Priests .... 102
§ 5. Character and offices of Christian Ministers .... 107
§ 6. Mistakes and misrepresentations arising from con
founding the two offices  112
§ 7. Change of the Christian priesthood in the unre
formed Churches  115
§ 8. Tendency to discountenance the education of the
poor, p. 119; mistakes as to what is meant by
embracing Christianity, p. 122 ; and as to the
relation of Pastors and Flocks  128
§9. Proneness of the People to vicarious religion . ... 129
§ 10. Professional distinctions between Clergy and Laity,
how far desirable  132
§ II. Mistakes as to what is a good ea;a»»pfe  137

CONTENTS. V
ESSAY III.
OF PIOUS FRAUDS.
Page
§ 1. Deceit employed by the Jews against the Christians 141
§ 2. Tendency to justify frauds employed for a good end 147
§ 3. Connexion of this fault with the one treated of in
the foregoing Essay, p. 151 ; self-deceit the final
result  153
§ 4. Difficulty of appreciating the strength of the temp
tations to falsehood in times or countries remote
from our own, p. 154 ; importance of a vivid Ima
gination, in the study of History  156
§ 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  161
§ 6. Illustrations from conceivable cases of temptation to
deceit ; in keeping up the pretension to inspira
tion, p. 164 ; and belief in the divine character of
lots, p. 166 ; in conniving at false grounds for right
belief, p. 168 ; or for right practice, p. 169 ; pre
tended infallibility of our version, p. 172 ; in ad
ministering groundless consolations, &c  174
§ 7. Ultimate inexpediency of fraud  181
ESSAY IV.
OF UNDUE RELIANCE ON HUMAN AUTHORITY.
§ 1. Claim of the Romish Church to infallibility, not
originally the consequence of misinterpretation of
Scripture-texts  182
§ 2. Reasonings and texts of Scripture often called in to
justify practices or opinions previously subsisting 187

VI CONTENTS. Page
§ 3. Natural tendency to appeal to an infallible guide . . 197
§ 4. Presumption in favour of the tenets of the wise and
good, or of the Catholic Church  199
§ 5. Alleged claim of infallibility by Protestant Churches,
p. 204 ; refuted, p. 206 ; ambiguity of the word
" authority," p. 208 ; evil consequences of the
claim to infallibility  209
§ 6. Danger of Protestants on this point, p. 213 ; office of
Churches to supply what the sacred writers pur
posely omitted, p. 214; reasons for the omission 215
§ 7. Arguments in favour of an habitual appeal to human
formularies, p. 220 ; answered, p. 221 ; dangers
of the practice  228
§ 8. Temptations to set up a virtual claim to infallibility 236

ESSAY V.
OF PERSECUTION.
§ 1. Men responsible to God, and to Him alone, for the
rejection of divine truth, p. 243 ; and only in the
next hfe  244
§ 2. Importance of right principles for avoiding the two
errors, of intolerance, and indifference  249
§ 3. Mistakes as to what constitutes the spirit of perse
cution ; which does not consist either in the tenet
that the salvation of heretics is impossible, p. 253 ;
or in maintaining the wrong side, p. 256 ; or in ex
cessive severity, p. 257 ; or in revengeful motives,
p. 258 ; or in punishing opinions, p. 261 ; or in
actual infliction of punishment  263

CONTENTS. Vn
Page'
§ 4. How heretics are to be treated, conformably with the
character of Christ's kingdom, p. 266 ; attempts to
explain away his declarations and precepts . . . 268
§ 5. Scriptural arguments against intolerance, to be pre
ferred for popular use  274
§ 6. Blindness of many reasoners to the abstract argu
ments against it  278
§ 7. Causes of the greater hostility often felt against
infidels and heretics, than against the vicious,
p. 280 ; comparative unfrequency of avowed in
fidelity, p. 282 ; support derived from authority,
shaken, p. 284 ; personal affront to the Christian's
understanding, implied by the infidel, p. 285 ;
suspicion of moral corruption as biassing the
infidel's judgment  286
§ 8. Extent and influence of this hostile feeling .... 287
§ 9. Reasons for believing that anti-christians would be
tempted into persecution, p. 296 ; true Chris
tianity the only effectual security against it . . . 302
§ 10. What things are liable to be falsely regarded as
necessarily implying intolerance ; refusing to ad
mit, in every case, the plea of conscience, p. 303 ;
union of civil with spiritual or ecclesiastical office,
p. 308 ; requisition of a certain religious persua
sion as a condition of personal friendship, or of
any thing to which there existed previously no
claim of right, p. 311; defence against aggres
sion, p. 318 ; which must not however be ex
pected to exempt the sincere Christian from
mortifying opposition  321
Note A  324
Note B. . .  327

Vm CONTENTS. ESSAY VI.
OF TRUST IN NAMES AND PRIVILEGES. Page
§ 1. Disposition of the ancient Jews to rely on their
privileges and titles  331
§ 2. Tendency to the same fault in the primitive Chris
tians  334
§ 3. Exemplification of the universality of this tendency,
from the Romish Church  337
§ 4. Danger of a corresponding nature exists equally
among Protestants  345
§ 5. Recapitulation of the several points in which we may
take warning from the example of the Romanists, 348
§ 6. Cautions to be used in guarding against undue reli
ance on the sanctity of the Titles we bear, and the
Societies we belong to  353
APPENDIX.
[A.j On the application of the term Catholic to desig
nate " a member of the Church of Rome " .... 359
[B.] On " Self-righteousness," and Spiritual-pride, p.
367 ; " Auricular Confession," p. 380 ; impos
sibility of framing such a self-preserving system,
as shall supersede personal vigilance  382

INTRODUCTION.

§ 1. Men are apt, not only in what regards Difficulty of
religion, but in respect of all human concerns, the tempta-
tionsofthuse
to contemplate the faults and follies of a distant far removed
from us.
age or Country, with barren 'wonder, or with
self-congratulating contempt ; while they over
look, because they do not search for, perhaps
equal, and even corresponding, vices and absur
dities 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.
Human 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 —
B

2 Introduction.
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
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 only difficulty is
to apply that judgment to the cases before us.
In contemplating human transactions, the law of
optics is reversed ; we see the most indistinctly

Introduction. 3
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 qualities.
We are even liable to attend so exclusively to
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
ascertained. So also must we on the contrary
learn to judge impartially of our own conduct
b2

4 Introduction.
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 pro
nounce of us.
The errors and the vices, among the rest, the
superstitions, of the Israelites, and again of our
ancestors before the Reformation, 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 prac
tices superstitious ; few are even accustomed
to ask themselves, " Is there not a lie in my
right hand 1" 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 fami
liar to our minds : it should teach us to make
use of the examples of others, not for the

Introduction. 5
nourishment of pride, but for the detection of
our own faults.
We are taught that Satan "transformeth him
self into an angel of hght ;" 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
same Tempter under some new transformation ; —
assuming afresh among ourselves the appearance
of some angel of hght.
§ 2. These reflections are perhaps the more Lessons to
b^ learned
particularly profitable at the present time, on from the
example of
account of the especial attention which has of the churcii
of Rome..
late been directed to the superstitions, and other
errors and corruptions, 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

6 Introduction.
guard against the spirit of Romanism 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-
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 correspond
ing 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
contemplation 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

Introduction. 7
remarked) not so much the effect, as the cause,
of a corrupted religious system.
The peculiar character of Romanism (and
also of the religion of the Greek Church) 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-
designing impostor ; who did indeed most artfully
accommodate that system to man's nature, but
did not wait for the gradual and spontaneous
operations of human nature to produce it. He
reared 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 Corruptions
'¦ •' of Chris-
Romish system, on the contrary, rose insensibly tianty gradual.
like a young plant from the seed, making a pro
gress scarcely perceptible 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 Iseta et fortia surgunt ;
Quippe solo natura subest ;

8 Introduction.
it was the natural offspring of man's frail and cor
rupt character, and it needed no sedulous culture.
No one accordingly can point out any precise
period at which this "mystery of iniquity" —
the system of Romish and Grecian corruptions —
first began, or specify any person who intro
duced 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 ig
norant and depraved people, but connived at,
cherished, consecrated, and successively esta
blished, by a debased and worldly-minded ministry ;
and modified by them just so far as might best
favour the views of their secular 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 designing the entire result. The corruptions
of the unreformed Church were the natural off"-
spring of human passions, not checked and regu
lated 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

Introduction. 9
" 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 supersti-
corruptions (and those of the Greek, and of
several Eastern Churches, do not materially
differ from these) 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
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
Superstition, or at least inseparably con
nected 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

1 0 Introduction.
practice which King Hezekiah so piously and
boldly suppressed.
Specula- II, The desire again of prying into mysteries
live myste- .
ries. 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
another head, (to be mentioned subsequently,)
as springing from a dishonest pursuit of the ex
pedient rather than the true : but it is probable
that the far greater part of such idle tales had
not their origin 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
" Essay IV. First Series,

Introduction. 1 1
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, vicarious
. piety.
as will hereafter be shown, 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,
(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 system of priestcraft; one of the great
features of which is, the change of the very office
of the Christian Priest, Presbyteros, into that of
the Jewish or Pagan Priest, in the other sense of
the word, answering to Hiej-eus. 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
^ In the last of Five Discourses delivered before the
University, and subsequently published.

frauds.

1 2 Introduction.
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.
Pious 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 salu
tary or innocent delusions; whence arose the
sanction given to all the monstrous train of pious
frauds, legendary tales, and lying miracles, for
which the unreformed Churches have been so
justly stigmatized. And as it is notorious that
the ancient lawgivers and philosophers encou
raged (for political purposes) a belief in the
mythological fables which they themselves dis
believed, there can be no doubt that this disposi
tion also is not to be attributed to the Church of
Rome as its cause, but that that Church merely
furnishes one set of instances of its e^c^s; 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..

Introduction. 13
IV. Again, no one perhaps of the errors of the ciaim of
° r r infallibility.
Romish Church has exposed her to greater cen
sure, or has been productive of more mischievous
results, than the claim to infallibility ; — 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 princi
ples of our corrupt nature; — to that indolence in
investigation, indifference about truth," and ready
acquiescence in what i^ put before us, of which
the Greek historian complained long before the
Christian era ; and to that dislike of suspense —
and consequent wilhngness 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
rehgious subjects, is evident, from the appeals of
pretended students in philosophy to the decisions
'^ 'AraXaiwiapoe to'lq ttoWo'iq i] Cw^^i-Q rrje dXrideiac, Kal iirl
™ '(.Totjia fiaKKov Tpiwovrat. Thucyd.

1 4 Introduction.
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, from all danger of indulging this dis
position. There is indeed no danger of their
appealing to the Church of Rome as an infaUible
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.
Spirit of V. One of the heaviest of the charges com
monly brought against the Romish Church may
be added to those already 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 bit
ter spirit shewn by the Nominalists and Realists
in their contests concerning abstruse points of
metaphysics. The Romish system did not pro
perly introduce intolerance, but rather, it was
intolerance that introduced and established the
system of Romanism ; and that (in another part

persecution.

hitroduction. 1 5
of the world) no less successfully called in the
sword for the establishment of Mahometism. So
congenial indeed to " the natural Man" is the
resort to force for the establishment of one sys
tem 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 enter
taining no doubt whatever as to the right, and the
duty, of maintaining religious truth by coercive
means. VI. Another tendency, as conspicuous as confidence
. , , , in titles.
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 Catholics, as they call themselves,''
trust in that name, as denoting their being mem
bers 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 pro
perty, and a safeguard to all her members : even
as the Jews of old " said within themselves. We

•1 See Appendix A, at the end of this volume, on the title
of Catholic.

16 Introduction.
are Abraham's children ;" flattering themselves
that on that ground, however little they might
resemble Abraham 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 spiritually-
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 in
volving a higher responsibility.
Danger of § 4. In tieatiug of all these points, I shall
Protestants. 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
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

Introduction. 1 7
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, I have always
thought had better be waived in theological
works.) I would suggest these reflections as pro
fitable to be kept in view by all, while occupied
with such discussions : how far we are pure from
Romish errors in another shape ; — from what
quarters, and under what disguises, we are liable
to be again assailed by temptations, substan
tially, though not externally, the same with
those which seduced into such accumulated
corruptions our ancestors in the darkest ages of
our Church ; — and how we may best guard
against the spirit of Superstition, (of which, be it
remembered, none, even the most superstitious,
ever suspect themselves) — the spirit of Persecu
tion — the spirit of Insincerity, of Fraud, and of
Indifference to truth, — in short, all those evil

18 Introduction.
propensities 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, 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 cha
racter which that title implies. " He is not a
Jew," says Paul, " who is one outwardly, neither
is that circilmcision which is outward in the
flesh ; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly ;
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
» A pamphlet entitled " an Epistle from the Pope to some
Members of the University of Oxford," contains much valuable
matter in reference to the present subject. Though in an
ironical form, it exhibits sound learning and just reasoning,
combined with a thoroughly Christian spirit; and may be
characterized as an eminently useful " Tract for the times."

Introduction. 19
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 ac
count the apostle's admonition) that as that man
was not, in the sight of God, a Jew, to any
profitable purpose for himself, but rather to
his aggravated condemnation, who was only
outwardly a Jew ; so neither, by parity of rea
soning, is he, in God's sight, a Christian — a
"Catholic Christian"— a " Protestant"— a "Re
formed" 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 depravation of Gospel-
truth, and departure from Gospel-hoKness, as he
censures in his erring brethren.
In the following pages therefore it is my de
sign (as I wish to declare once for all) not to
bestow either censure or commendation on any
individuals as belonging to any particular com
munity, but so far only as they maintain and
exemplify the principles treated of. As far as
any persons, of whatever Church they may be
members, may in practice abandon or modify
c2

20 Introduction.
any errors that have prevailed in their Church,
so far, I would be understood to withdraw or to
qualify, in reference to them, the censure passed
on persons guilty of those errors. And again,
as far as any one may adopt erroneous views or
practices, at variance with the original principles
of his Church, so far, even though he may
retain the original designation, the approbation
bestowed on those principles ceases to be appli
cable to him.

ESSAY I.

SUPERSTITION.

S 1. There are few things probably that ap-
* o ^ J r Transgres-
pear at the first glance more strange to a reader sions of the
"^ ° ° Israelites at
of the Old Testament, than the frequent lapses *¦"' ^'s'"
^ '¦ uiiaccount-
of the Israelites into idolatrous and other su- *'>'^-
perstitious practices; — the encouragement or
connivance often granted to these by such of
the rulers as were by no means altogether desti
tute of piety towards the Lord ; — and the warm
commendations which are accordingly bestowed
on such of their kings as avoided and repressed
these offences. Their Law had been delivered
and its authority maintained with such strik
ingly awful solemnity, and its directions were so
precise and minute, that a strict conformity to
it appears, to us, hardly to amount to a virtue,
and the violation of it, to an almost incredible

22 Superstition. [essay i.
infatuation. It is not without a considerable
mental effort that we can so far transport our
selves 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 in
cense 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 pre
decessors and their subjects could have been so
strangely remiss 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, as so very obvious and impe
rative, that we are hardly disposed to give him

SECT. 1.] Superstition. 23
due praise for fulfilling it. But the more atten
tively we consider the times in which he lived,
and the pecuhar circumstances in which he be
gan his reign — the successor of an idolatrous
prince, and reigning over an idolatrous people —
the higher admiration we shall feel for his ex
emplary obedience to the divine law.
It should be remembered, that not only the seeming
avowed violators of the first Commandment, but He«tfah's
those also, who, though they transgressed the
second, yet professed themselves the worship
pers 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 re
proaches 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 en
dured his putting a stop to the irregular and
unauthorized worship of Jehovah in those high-
places, might yet be scandalized at his venturing

24 Superstition. [essay I'
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 iden
tity indisputable, it would not be contemplated,
by any believer 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 enlightened 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 public gaze ; it had been an occasion
of superstition, and he " brake it in pieces ;"
applying to it at the same time the contemp
tuous appellation of " piece of brass,"* in order
to destroy more completely that reverence which
had degenerated into a sin.
andRoman- § 2- I" ordcT to profit as We may and ought,
pare™""' ^0"^ ^^^ Icssou here presented to us, we must
» " He called it Nehushtan." 2 Kings xviii. 4.

SECT. 2.3 Superstitioti. 25
consider how far it is apphcable to later times :
we must look out for the manifestation among
Christians of a tendency to various errors, —
superstitious worship among the rest, — corre
sponding to those of the Israelites. Many of the
practices of the unreformed churches bear a
strong resemblance to those of the idolatrous
Israelites. In particular, their veneration for
the wood of the supposed true Cross, has a cor
respondence 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 worship 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

26 Superstition. [essay i.
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
prohibited emblems, and with unauthorized and
superstitious rites. Of these two kinds of super
stition, the latter is continually liable, in. prac
tice, 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

SECT. 2.] Superstition. 27
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 likewise.
Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God."
Both injunctions the Israelites frequently vio- second
1 •! 1 Command-
lated ; many of them, while they observed the ment
violated by
first Commandment in abstaining from the wor- some who
observed
ship of Baal and the other gods of the heathen, 'he first.
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

28 Superstition. [essay i.
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)
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.
characterof I would not howevcT bc uudcTstood as con-
tior"" 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 religious feeling ; manifested either in
shewing rehgious 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 religious venera
tion to any object, as that object, though worthy

SECT. 2.] Superstition. 29
of some reverence, does not deserve ; or in the
worship of the true God through the medium of
improper ceremonies or symbols.
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 conceiv
able 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 these are consequently
most decidedly chargeable with that species of
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

30 Superstition. [essay i.
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 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 Command
ment ; 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 practices
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

sect. 2.] Superstition. 31
certain divine intelhgence. The argument there
fore is not so much a vindication of any party
from the charge of idolatry, as, a vindication of
idolatry itself.
It has been said, I believe, by some Protes
tants, respecting the alleged idolatry of adoring
the sacred elements at the Eucharist, " it would
be idolatrous, if / were to join in it :" if this
means, " supposing you to have the same belief
in transubstantiation 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 Protest
ant belief that the consecrated 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 inwardly 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

32 Superstition. [essay i.
under the form of bread,* which he holds to be
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
often done is plain from the preference shewn in
many cases of one image to another,) he is
clearly as much guilty of idolatry as the Israel
ites in worshipping the golden calf and the
brazen serpent : it being thus only, that any one
can practise idolatry.
Danger In making this declaration, however, it is not
from false
security, my objcct either to lead Protestants to exult un
charitably over their erring brethren, or to vin
dicate 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 Israehtes 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
^ See note A, at the end of this Essay.

sect. 2.] Superstition. 33
do so to the Lord your God." Now they pro
bably were disposed to think themselves secure
from the danger of corrupting their own rehgion,
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 particulai
superstitions of the Romanists. The images used
by these last, are not the same with those for
worshipping which the Israelites were conde m ned :
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 suflBcient heed to itself,
or recognizing, as they arise, errors Substantially
the same, though under new shapes.
The superstitions 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

34 Superstition. [essay i.
human heart : they arose successively, gradually,
and imperceptibly ; and were in most instances,
probably, first overlooked, then tolerated, and
then sanctioned, and finally embodied in a system,
of which they are rather to be regarded as the
cause than the effects. 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 cor
ruptions, not the very same indeed 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 abhorrence is indeed
a safeguard ; while at the same time it makes us
the less ready to suspect ourselves of the same
faults, disguised. The vain security thus gene
rated, draws off" our thoughts from self-examina
tion ; 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

sect. 3.J Superstition. 35
then of such corruptions of rehgion as those into
which the Church of Rome has fallen, my
primary object is to excite a spirit not of self-
congratulation and self-confidence, but of self-
distrust and self-examination.
§ 3. With respect to that particular class of t^o'''''"^
' character ot
corruptions now before us — that which comes *" ^"pi"'-
^ stition.
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 Super
stition are, I conceive, much underrated. It is
by many regarded, not as any sin, but as a mere
harmless folly, at the worst; — as, in some in
stances, 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 superstition, to have secured
the essentials of religion ; — as believing and
d2

36 Superstition. [essay i.
practising what is needful towards salvation, and
as only carrying their faith and their practice
unnecessarily and unreasonably to the point
of weak credulity and foohsh 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. " Sup
posing I am in error on this or that point," (a
man may say,) " I am merely doing something
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 : as if it could be safe to manifest
distrust of a skilful physician h'y combining v^'ith
his medicines all the nostrums of all the ignorant
practitioners in the neighbourhood.

SECT. 3.] Superstition. 37
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,
as well as (hereafter) of others, connected with
the spirit of Romanism, I wish to be understood
as not calling for harsh censure on individuals,
but only on off'ences as they are in themselves.
How far the superstition of any individual may
be excusable or blameable in the sight of God,
can be pronounced by Him alone, who alone is
able to estimate each man's strength or weakness,
his opportunities of gaining knowledge, and his
employment or neglect of those opportunities.
But the same may be said of every other offence,
as well as of the one in question. Of Supersti
tion itself in all its various forms and degrees, I
cannot think otherwise than that it is not merely
a folly to be ridiculed, but a mischief to be
dreaded ; and that its tendency is, in most cases,
as far as it extends, destructive of true piety.
The disposition to reverence some superhuman
Power, and in some way or other to endeavour to
recommend ourselves to the favour of that Power,
is (more or less in different individuals) a natural

38 Superstition. [essay i.
and original sentiment of the human mind. The
great Enemy of Man finds it easier in most cases
to misdirect, than to eradicate this. If an exer
cise for this rehgious sentiment can be provided — ^
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

SECT. 3.3 Superstition. 39
applicable 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
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 reh
gion (if I may so speak) is thus converted into its
poison. Our very prayers, for example, and our
perusal of the holy Scriptures, become supersti
tious, in proportion as any one expects them' to.
operate as a charm — attributing efficacy to the

40 Superstition. [essay i.
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,
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 telhng
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
multiphcation of superstitious observances ; — of

SECT. 4.] Superstition. 41
pilgrimages, sprinklings with holy water, vene
ration of rehcs, and the like. And hence the
enormous accumulation of superstitions, which,
in the course of many centuries, gradually arose
in the Romish and Greek Churches.
§ 4. And it is a circumstance not a little Superstition
. . connected
remarkable, that, in many instances at least, with pro
faneness.
Superstition not only does not promote true Re
ligion, 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 testi
mony of an eminently competent witness, as far
at least as one Roman-Catholic country (Spain)
is concerned ; the Author, after having mentioned
the extravagant and absurd superstitions of the
ceremonies which take place 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

42 Superstition. [essay i.
would rouse their zeal 'to the knife,' I cannot
venture to translate the jokes and salhes of wit
that are frequently heard among the Spanish
peasantry upon these sacred topics."'' The hke
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 him 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
¦^ Doblado's Letters from Spain, p. 264.

SECT. 4.] Sujier stition. 43
great measure at least, accounted for, from the
consideration, that as Superstition imposes a yoke
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 combi
nation, (in which the whole force of the ludicrous
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 be
lieve 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 consider
ations) to judges of good taste ; for a great part of the
pleasure aiTorded by wit results from a perception of skill
displayed, and difficulty surmounted.

44 Superstition. [essay i.
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 like manner a patient, who dares not
refuse to swallow a nauseous dose, and to confine
himself to a strict regimen, yet who is both vexed,
and somewhat ashamed, at submitting to the
annoyance, will sometimes take his revenge, as
it were, by abusive ridicule of the 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

SECT. 4. J Superstition. 45
but swallowed ; and on which accordingly the
votary sometimes ventures gladly to revenge
himself. The more nearly therefore in each instance
the superstitions of any corrupted Church ap
proach to, so as to blend themselves with, true
religion, the more do they deteriorate the spirit
of it ; — the more does 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 they
threw off is, to call your attention to this im
portant 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 ten
dency being, as it is, a part of our common
nature, it is for us to guard against the danger

46 Sujierstition. [essay i.
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
our unreformed Church, are, the mischievous
effects of Superstition, and, Man's proneness
to it.
That Superstition does exist, to no inconsi
derable extent, in Protestant countries, which is
what the foregoing reasonings, even indepen
dently of experience, would prepare us to expect,
few, I imagine, would venture to deny ; though
perhaps fev/er still are fully aware of its amount,
or sufficiently on their guard against the danger.
Occasions of § 5. With respcct to the particular points
superstition. *• '^ ¦¦
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 on 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 proposed
hmits. And I am sensible that to advert even

SECT. 5.j Superstition. 47
to a few of these, is likely to be less profitable
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.

48 Superstition. [essay i.
and are only incidentally connected with the
external 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 worst 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 eflficacy 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

sect. 5.] Superstition. 49
vigilant self-examination can secure either human
or divine ordinances from becoming (to him)
superstitious. What has been said may be suflScient 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 exami
nation, 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.

'50 Superstition. [essay i.
the more unenlightened classes, of the parish
ioners. I pledge myself however to state nothing
on the ground of mere conjecture — nothing which
I have not been enabled fully to verify.
False s 6. I. That there exists among Protestants
riiiracles. °
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
with the present subject ; hut it may be worth while to remark,
that, according to the most prevailing usage, "Fanaticism"
implies Superstition, (i. e. " misdirected religious feeling,")
but is not necessarily implied by it. If on very insufhcient
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 a\io 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.

sect. 6.] Supcrstition. 51
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
times 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 i\\e 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."
e2

52 Superstition. [essay i.
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 nulhfied 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 England, whenever he at
tempts to oppose our doctrine !" Too much care
cannot be taken to testify simultaneously against
both of these opposite errors.®
Supersti- II. Again, more Superstition exists than some
tious abuse
of the persons are aware of, in relation to the Eucharist,

Eucharist.

^ See Essay IX. Second Series.

sect. 6.j Superstition. 53
and to the sacred " elements" (as they are still
called'') which are administered in that rite.
This is one instance out of a multitude, in which
Superstition, instead of promoting, as some per
sons vainly imagine, true Religion, evidently
stands in the place of it. 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 Com
munion till they believe 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 dis
tinguish between the two,) consecrated for this
use. They have been known to apply for it to
the minister as an infallible cure for some parti
cular diseases of children : — confidently asserting
(indeed the very existence and continuance of
the superstition forbids us to hope that such
^ 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.

54 Superstition. [essay i.
applications have always been made in vain)
that they have formerly obtained it for that use.
Others have 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

' 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" them.

sect. 6.] Superstition. 55
had never been on any occasion indulged by
those whose office is to repress it.
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
respecting the whole nature and design of the
ceremony, and in no condition then to learn,'' yet
'^ Sometimes without any w'lsh, 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

56 Superstition., [essay I.
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 ?
Supersti- III. Nor has the other sacrament escaped the
tious abuse
of baptism, 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
supposition of his being not insincere : but it is otherwise in
respect of the point of 'knowledge or ignorance ; that the
minister can ascertain ; and if he neglect to do so, (when
there is reasonable ground for doubt,) and to proceed accord
ingly, he is manifestly fostering Superstition.
1 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.

SECT. 6.] Superstition. 57
the most essential, or one of the most essential
parts of the rite : understanding by the terms
"Baptism" or " Christening," the public recep
tion in church, (about which they are frequently
very indifferent,) and knowing private Baptism
by no other appellation 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 bring
ing him up with any kind of religious 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 ordi
nance 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 occasion of fall
ing." 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)

58 Superstition. [essay i.
on their prevalence. The point to which it is
my present object to call attention, is, the super
stition involved in them ; which bears but too
close a resemblance to thotse of the Church of
Rome relative to the same sacrament.
The present instance illustrates but too well
what has been above said respecting the con
nexion between Superstition and Profaneness.
Both exist in a remarkable degree in relation to
the sacrament of Baptism. Few of my readers,
I fear, will need more than to be merely re
minded of the light and irreverent application of
the term "christening," on any occasion of
giving " a name " to any thijig. Now if there
be any thing intrinsically 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 deliberate, and more re
volting 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, formally, and with

sect. 6.] Superstition. 59
obtrusive pomp, " taken in vain," to the secret
scorn and triumph of infidels, and to the dis
grace of a nation calhng itself Christian and
Protestant. 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
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 thoroughly
prepared to become a convert to the first Ana
baptist he meets with.™
IV. It is not perhaps generally known, how Supersti-
1 r( ' • tious
much Superstition prevails in respect of the prayers.
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
"> See Essay IX. Second Series, p. 343—7.

60 Superstition. [essay i.
makes no practical difference to the individual
whether the words he utters are Latin or
Enghsh, so long as they convey no sense to
his mind. Now the practice of reciting un
meaning 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 in
vocations to angels and to the four Evangelists,
(which it is to be hoped are not at all under
stood,) in use at the present day in the devo
tions of some among the more ignorant classes
of professed Protestants. I know that the
caution given in Dr. Hawkins's excellent " Ma
nual for Christians after Confirmation," (ch. v.
§ 1.) that "to repeat the creed is not to pray,"
startled some persons as being manifestly need
less. But the fact bears him out. The practice
is by no means uncommon of reciting the
Apostles' Creed as a portion of prayer. Now
it is manifest that whoever makes such a
mistake, might just as well recite it in Latin
as in English ; since it is plain he cannot un
derstand even the general sense and drift of it.
And it is equally manifest that the case would

SECT. 6.] Superstition. 61
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 what
ever language, of words, however in themselves
appropriate. And this leads me to remark, that the practice
of teaching or allowing very young children to
learn by heart" prayers, psalms, portions of
Scripture, &c. which they are incapable at the
time, of understanding, is one which is very
often superstitious, and almost always leads to
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."
n See note B, at the end of this Essay.
° Query. Do they always teach their children other prayers
also, suitable to their present age ? or do they account them al
together unfit for any communion with God, as children ? This

62 Superstition. [essay i.
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
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 (not merely to say his
prayers, but) really to pray, must be conscious
that a continual effort is requisite to prevent a
form of words with which he is very familiar,
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 difficulty of avoiding it, must be greatly in
creased, if the words have been famiharly learnt
surely is supplying them with a provision of " strong meat,"
which they may hereafter " be able to bear," while they with
hold the necessary immediate nourishment of milk.

SECT. 6.] Superstition. 63
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 collects and
texts, &c. he has been thus learning, and the idea
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 mentioned, 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

64 Superstition. [essay i.
but understand that it is a prayer for some
divine blessing ; (an argument which may
be, 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 understand his prayers, since the nature of
the Being 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. line 35.] 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 be
tween 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

sect. 6.] Superstition. 65
the form which he can best understand, and
which may be subsequently modified and en
larged, as his understanding advances.
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
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, consider on what
grounds they can convict the Romanists of su
perstition 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

66 Superstition. [essay i.
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
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 intelhgence
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

sect. 6.] Superstition. 67
adapted nor designed for children, even those
of such an age as to be fully capable of join
ing in congregational worship, were there a
service suitably composed on purpose for them.
To frame and introduce such a service, would
not, I think, be regarded as a trifling improve
ment, if we could but thoroughly get rid of the
principle of the Romish lip-service. We cannot
too much " take thought for the morrow," in
matters relating to "the kingdom of God and
his righteousness;" now children are emphati
cally 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.
V- There is also a strong tendency to super- superstitions
stition in all that relates to the place and mode connectedwith burial.
of interment of a corpse. Many of ray readers
must have observed, that in a great number of
f2

68 Superstition. [essay i.
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 ancient superstitious 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 neigh
bours, as they were proceeding to public wor
ship. But however this may be, and however
little the origin of any superstition may be known
or remembered, every thing, it is plain, is super
stition, 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 in itself 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

SECT. 6.] Superstition. 69
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
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 likely
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

70 Superstition. [essay i.
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
began immediately to frequent the church, who
had before been in the habit of absenting them
selves.
Cautions to § 7. All thcsc aud numberless other such
aga\'nst supcrstitlons, it was the business of a corrupt
superstition. . , i • i • i i i
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

SECT. 7.] Superstition. 71
shapes. Towards the persons indeed who fall
into this, or any other kind of fault, we cannot
be too tender, or too considerate in making
allowances : but we must guard against that
pretended and spurious charity which is, in
reality, indifference to the fault itself, and care
lessness about purity of religion.
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
these indeed many even of the higher orders, in
point of birth and station, are by no means
wholly exempt ; and they prevail to a much
greater extent than I believe most persons who
have not been much and confidentially con
versant with the lower, and those somewhat
above the lower, ranks, are at all inclined to
suspect. But it is not enough that we dis
countenance these. Nor again, is it enough to
reject and to discourage all such practices as, with
out being necessarily and in themselves super-

72 Superstition. [essay i.
stitious, 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 dispensed with ; such as were
many of those practices of the Romish Church
which our Reformers " brake in pieces," as
Hezekiah did the brazen serpent ; not as origi
nally evil, but as the occasion of Superstition.
All this, I say, is insufficient ; because there are
so many things which we cannot dispense with,
which yet are continually liable to become no
better than superstitious, through the super
stitious character of "the natural man." We
cannot dispense with the Sacraments which
Christ appointed ; — with prayer, both public and
private ; — with the reading of the Scriptures ; —
with instructions from the ministers of the Gos
pel ; — 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 occasions 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

SECT. 7.] Superstition. 73
with the heart, and labouring to gain instruction
in rehgion. The hearing of sermons is very
commonly made an occasion of superstition,
when a merit is attached to the act of hearing
instruction, without labouring to understand,
and profitably apply, that instruction. The
sanctity belonging to the " Church" of Christ,
i. e. to the body of believers who are " the Tem
ple of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in them,"'
is 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 profitable to the soul, as in a superstitious
P 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
of the passages where the word 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."

74 Superstition. [essay i.
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 lifeless body's reposing within its walls. The
Sacraments 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
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 Religion 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 allurements to sin would be of so much

SECT. 7.] Superstition. 75
avail, if this medicine were assiduously applied,
andapplied in unadulterated purity: and heknows
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
eye, while we behold not the beam that is in our
own eye." Our conscience, if we carefully
regulate, and dihgently 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
received from the mouth of the Prophet; " Thou
art the man."

NOTES.

Note A, page 32.
The word " form" was, as most of my readers pro
bably are aware, enoployed by the schoolmen, agree
ably to the then-prevailing philosophy, to comprehend
all the attributes, such as colour, smell, taste, &c. as
well as shape. All these, — the accidents [attributes] of
bread and of wine, — the maintainers of transubstantiation
confess to exist after consecration in that which they
consider as the real literal flesh and blood of Christ.
There is no ground for the objection therefore that the
doctrine (however at variance with reason or with Scrip
ture) is contradicted by the senses. For all that the senses
testify is, the existence of the attributes — the colour,
taste, &c. of bread ; and this is not denied. That what
ever has the appearance and other sensible qualities of
bread, is bread, is a proposition which, however true, is
not attested by the senses ; they only attest the external
existence of those qualities. And it may be added that
however impossible it may be to conceive that one sub
stance can have all the attributes of another, or what is
to be understood by substance independent of attributes,
still it must be admitted that we always regard each

Notes. 11
substance not as being the same thing with its perceptible
qualities, but as that to which those qualities belong.
We consider snow, for instance, not as whiteness and
coldness, but as that to which the qualities of being white
and cold belong. And moreover if any one were a
witness of the miracle of Moses's rod transformed into a
serpent, he would be apt to describe it by saying " that
which you see before you, with the appearance and all
the sensible qualities of a serpent, is in reality Moses's
rod : he threw down his rod, and it was transformed into
a serpent ; and when he takes it up again, it will resume
its proper form." And the same language would be
used in describing the pretended transformations, in the
heathen mythology. It follows therefore that, according
to the established use of language, the advocates of
transubstantiation do not speak correctly ; for the doc
trine, by their own account of it, is, the transformation of
Christ's body into bread; being strictly analogous to the
miracle of Moses's rod.
That the literal interpretation of the words " this is
my body" leaves them still under the necessity of con
sidering one thing as a sign of another — since, as our
Lord Himself declares, " it is the Spirit that quickeneth,"
[giveth life,] " the flesh profiteth nothing," — I have
endeavoured to point out in a note in the preceding
volume. But it is impossible, I think, for any one, judg
ing from Scripture alone, and familiar with its language,
(in which it is so very common to make one thing a sign
of another, and to call it by the same name) to interpret
the passage literally, and to believe that Jesus was

78 Notes.
literally transformed into bread, any more than He was
transformed into a real lamb or into a vine.

Note B, page 61.
" It need hardly be observed how important it is, with
a view to these objects, to abstain carefully from the prac
tice, 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, cate
chisms, 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 inju
dicious. 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 competent to attach a meaning to the words
he utters, would not, if all put together, amount to so
much as would cost him, when 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

Notes. 79
habit of formalism — of repeating words by rote without
attending to their meaning ; a habit which every one con
versant with education knows to be in all subjects 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 super
stition (for such the fact is) of attaching efficacy to the
repetition of a certain form of words, as a charm, inde
pendent 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 : 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 insu
lated 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 encroach on time
that might otherwise be better employed. Chronology,
names of countries, weights and measures, and indeed all

80 Notes.
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 abun
dance of useful employment for it, without resorting to any
that could possibly be detrimental to his future habits,
moral, religious, or intellectual." — London Remew, 'Ho. II.
pp. 412, 413.

ESSAY II.

VICARIOUS RELIGION.

§ 1. The Apostle Paul, in many passages
in his Epistles, characterises the Christian reli
gion" 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 contro
versy, great is the mystery of godliness."
And it is very important to observe, that in characterof Christian
ail the passages (and they are very numerous) mysteries.
in which he applies the word Mystery (fivcn^ptov)
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 imphes indeed that
* For that is evidently the meaning of the expression,
h evtreftcla, which our translators have rendered " Godliness."
" Chap. iii. 16. G

82 Vicarious religion. [essay 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 [in the way to be] lost,
whom the god of this world hath blinded :" and
his own office in " proclaiming the good tidings "°
of this revelation, he describes as " making known
the mystery of the Gospel," " which was kept
secret since the world began, but now is made
manifest." 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
explained — portion of the divine dispensations.
"= This we should always remember is the strict sense of
the phrase utipliacTEiv to %vayyi\iov, which we usually render,
in words which by familiarity have almost lost their original
force, " preaching the Gospel."

sect. 1.] Vicarious religion. 83
And this he does, in manifest allusion to the Pagan
mysteries.
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 {peya pvcTTT^piov) 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,'' Koivavia toO pvcm^piov,
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 godliness " was made accessible, gradually in
deed, in proportion as they were able to bear it,
but universally. To all Christ's disciples it was
" given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
g2

84 Vicarious religion. [essay 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 dwelling 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 themselves.

d Matt. xiii. 11. "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 hecome 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.
^ See Hinds's " Rise and Progress of Christianity.'' Vol.
II. pp. 40—98.

SECT, l.j Vicarious Religion. 85
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 christianmysteries
character should be found (as in fact it is) in the brought lo
resemble
Romish system ; which I have already described '^^ ?"£"»•
as the gradual and (if I may be allowed the
expression) spontaneous corruption of Chris
tianity, 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

86 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
of; viz. to estabhsh 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 sacred
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. 1.] Vicarious religion. 87
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 imphcit
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 Scholastic
philosophy.
profane speculations of many scholastic theolo
gians (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."'
^ See Hampden's Bampton Lectures.

88 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
Specimens of this "philosophy and vain de
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 called 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
8 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. 1.] Vicarious religion. 89
from the disquisitions of many scholastic divines
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, hut
for these express declarations, naturally lead the reader either
to believe in three Gods, or at least to be in doubt on the
question. 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,) pp. 234, 235. and Essay IX.
pp. 277—281. See also Hinds's " Three Temples of the One
God," pp. 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

90 Vicarious religion. [essay 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
attention 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
sons of the Trinity, no doubt,) of whom, as well as of himself,
man was to be both the workmanship and the resemblance."
If the passage here commented on had stood alone in the

SECT. 1.] Vicarious religion. 91
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 com
prehension of things which are confessedly be
yond the reach of the human faculties altogether ;
— 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 matters re
lating to the Deity and revealed by Him, not as
a special secret, to a favoured few, but to all who

Jewish Scriptures, or if the Jews had interpreted it, as this
writer has done, without 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 afterwards broached
by Arius ; — that the supreme God acts in concert " with some
OTHER ADGDST 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.

92 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
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

k Rom. xvi. 25.
* " Teach all nations, baptizing them into (or to) the name
(tie TO ovofjo.) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost :" this is evidently the right rendering of the original
words, and conveys the sense which must have been meant,
m. that the baptized convert was enrolled and enlisted, as it

SECT. 1.] Vicarious religion. 93
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.
So also the doctrine of the Atonement has
often been made the basis of abstruse metaphy
sical disquisitions respecting the mode in which
divine justice was satisfied by the sacrifice of
Christ, considering that act more as to what it
was to God, than what it was to Man.
This kind of mistake has been common in
nearly an equal degree to many different sects
and parties ; which it has greatly contributed
to create and keep up. Trinitarians, Arians,
Sabellians, Nestorians, Socinians, &c. have very
were, into the service of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost. The Vulgate Latin has " in nomine," and our trans
lation, (perhaps from too great reverence for that authority,)
"in the name ;'' which does violence to the original, and intro
duces a different idea, quite inappropriate.

94 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
much agreed in giving metaphysical explanations
of matters left unexplained in Scripture, widely
as they have differed in their respective theories."
Real origin § 2. lu uo poiut pcrhaps has the real origin
craft"^" of the Romish corruptions been more imperfectly
perceived, than in the one now before us — the
setting apart of certain rehgious dogmas — duties
— privileges — in short, certain portions of Chris
tianity, 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
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 them the
" See Logic, Appendix. Article " Person." Also Sermon V.
p. 133.

SECT. 2.] Vicarious religion. dS
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 halftYie 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
priesthood is hereditary ; — if this race had been
distinguished from the people by intellectual
superiority and moral depravity, and if the peo
ple had been sincerely desirous of knowing, and
serving, 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 guid
ance — then indeed there would be ground for
regarding priestcraft 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

96 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
have been mere men, of hke passions with their
brethren ; and though sometimes they might
have, on the whole, a considerable intellectual
superiority, yet it must always have been impos
sible 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 decipiatur."
Such indeed was the case of Aaron, and similar
the defence he offered, for making 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

SECT. 2.] Vicarious religion. 97
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 mysteries of
medicine or of law.
Nothing is more mischievous than an incor
rect 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 be
tween 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, 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. And they are willing ac
cordingly, and desirous, that others should study,
and should understand, the mysterious doctrines
of religion, in their stead — should practise, in
H

98 Vicarious religion. [essay ir.
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 corruption of his nature, his
heart is (except when divinely purified) too
much alienated from God to take delight in
serving Him. Hence, the disposition 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 propensity, by
engrafting successively on its system such prac
tices 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 Christian
minister — the Presbyter — into the sacrificing
priest, the Hiereus, (in Latin, " Sacerdos ;" as

SECT. 3.] Vicarious religion. 99
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 shall beg to be
indulged in making some more particular ob
servations. § 3. " That the English word priest is fre- Distinct
quently employed for the rendering of two of Hiereus
, . andPresby-
different words in Greek, viz. Hiereus, and teres.
Presbyteros, (from the latter of which our
"Presbyter" or "Priest" is derived,) is a cir
cumstance of which no scholar can be ignorant
indeed, but which is not in 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 importance that this
° The passage which follows I have taken the liberty of
extracting, in substance, and nearly in words, from a Dis
course delivered before the University of Oxford, on the 5th
of November, 1821, and published with the second edition of
the Bampton Lectures.
h2

100 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
ambiguity should be carefully and frequently
explained to those who are ignorant of the
original language of the Old Testament.
Our own name for the Ministers of our own
rehgion, 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 :
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,
" Acts xiv. 13.

SECT. 3.] Vicarious religion. 101
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
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
p For it should never be forgotten, that Christianity is the
oflTspring of Judaism, and that all the institutions and regula
tions of the Christian Church emanated from men who had
been brought up as Jews, and who would not have deviated
from what they had been used to, on slight grounds.

102 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
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 religions.
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 Hiereus,) except Christ Jesus ;
of whom indeed all the Levitical Priests were
but types.
Office of § 4. It should next be considered what was the
Jewish and
Pagan uatuTc of that officc which was exercised bv the
Priests. •'
Jewish and by the Pagan Priests ; and which,
according to the Apostles, belonged, after the
establishment of Christ's kingdom, to Him
alone. 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

SECT. 4.] Vicarious religion. 103
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 Israehtes 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
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

104 Vicarious religion. [essay h.
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 hohness 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 hving 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 Israelites 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)
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

SECT. 4.] Vicarious religion. 105
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 rehgion, 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 — supplica
ting 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
abuses introduced into the institutions of the
Pagans, in contradistinction to the absurdities of
iheix 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-

106 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
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 dis
eases, to physicians. Against such notions (as
was before remarked) the Israelites were stu
diously, and not without reason, cautioned.
Jesus the The office of Priest, then, in that sense of the
only Chris- ' '
tian Priest, vvord which L am now considering, viz. as equiva
lent to Hiereus and Sacerdos, being such as has
been described, it follows 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 sacrifice for us, even the sacrifice of
his own blood ; He " ever liveth to make interces
sion 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."

SECT. 5.] Vicarious religion. 107
§ 5. As for the Ministers whom He, and his office of
Christian
Apostles, and their successors, appointed, they Ministers.
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 assemblies,
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
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

108 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
might teach pubhcly 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 religion ; — 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 con
sidered as the proper care of the legislator, whose
laws and systems of pubhc 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,
were appointed, in great measure, if not princi
pally, for the express purpose of giving 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.

sect. 5.] Vicarious religion. 109
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 each may resort when a
sufficient maturity of years enables him to un
derstand his wants, and he is inclined to apply
for their relief. For it is not (let it be observed)
through the mediation of an earthly Priest that
we are admitted to offer our supplications before

110 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
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 living 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 extravagantly 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
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

SECT. 5.3 Vicarious religion. Ill
these again are, by [the] Bread and Wine,'') pro
vided they themselves are in a sanctified and right
frame of mind. It is on the personal holiness
of the communicant, — not of the Minister, — that
the efficacy 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 Ambiguityof the term
two orders of men, (both now commonly called in Prfest.
English " Priests," but originally distinguished by
the names of Hiereus and Presbyteros,) 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 compre
hensive 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 ambi
guous when applied to a "tax-gatherer" and an
" innkeeper ;" though " Man," which is a still
more comprehensive term, may be applied to
both without ambiguity ; because, however widely
they differ, it denotes them only so far forth as
* See note on the Eucharist appended to Essay IX, Second
Series.

112 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
they agree ; in short, it is applied to them in the
same sense ; which "Publican" is not. No more
is "Priest," when applied to the "Hiereus" and
the "Presbyteros." At least it must be ad
mitted, that what is most essential to each re
spectively, 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 assem
blies, and of the religious and moral conduct, of
the people, generally ; — (an office corresponding
to that of the Jewish Elders or Presbyters, and
of the "Rulers of Synagogues,") and the ad
ministration 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.
Evil of
thfchrfs*"^ § 6. The confounding together, then, through
'w^lif'th"'^'^'^'^® arafbig'ility of language, two things thus essen-
Pri^'s't!" i^^y distinct, may well be expected to mislead.

SECT. 6.] Vicarious religion. 113
not only such as are ignorant of the distinction,
but all who do not carefully attend to it, and
keep it steadily in view. If we are but careful
not to lose sight of the two meanings of the
word " Priest" — the broad distinction between
Hiereus and Presbyteros — 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 will be, that
Christianity' (I mean Christianity as found in
Scripture, not as perverted by a Church which
claims an authority independent of Scripture)
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 rehgion 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
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
I

114 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
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
slight 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
mysteries 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
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 :"

SECT. 7.3 Vicarious religion. 1 1 5
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, wiU serve as a substitute for a moral
life ; while we declare to them fi:-om 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 his 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. § 7. Great occasion however (as I have said) Corrupt
has been afforded for the enemies of our faith to the Pres-
... . , byter into
blaspheme, by the corruptions which the Romish sacerdos.
and some other Churches have sanctioned, espe-
i2

116 Vicarious religion. [essay n,
cially in what regards the Christian Priesthood.
They have, in fact, in a great degree, trans
formed 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. In the unreformed Churches (and, I regret to
say, some Protestants have gone far towards
adopting similar views) the Priest professes, like
the Jewish, to offer sacrifice (the sacrifice of the
mass) to propitiate God towards himself and his
congregation : 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 in
tended, in commanding us to "pray for one
another." The Romish Priest undertakes to

SECT. 7. J Vicarious religion. 117
reconcile transgressors 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 trans
fer 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 re
verence submit to the dominion of error, instead
of being "made free by the truth," which he
was expressly commissioned to make known ;
thus hiding the " candle under a bushel," which
was designed to " be a light to lighten the
nations." In short, whoever will minutely examine, with
this view, the errors of the Romish Church, will
And 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,

118 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
therefore, 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 regarding a
Christian place of worship as answering to the
Temple — "the House of God" in Jerusalem;
whereas it really corresponds to a Jewish syna
gogue. 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 "lively stones" of God's
House, to the building 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 "Altar."
Part of the same system again was the per
formance of divine service in an unknown
tongue — the concealment of the sacred myste
ries of the Christian faith behind the veil of a
dead language — and the opposition made to the
'' See note to Essay I. § 7- p. 73.

SECT. 8.] Vicarious religion. 119
translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular
languages. § 8. If any one doubts the existence, among Discounte
nance of
Protestants of the present day, of a like prin- education.
ciple, he may find but too convincing a proof of
it in the opposition still made by some, to the
education of the poor ; and by others, to their
receiving education except on condition of their
previously consenting (and this, too, when it is
known that most of them will refuse that con
sent) to do violence to their own mistaken con
science, before they are permitted to become
sufficiently enlightened to understand that mis
take. Surely many of those who profess the
greatest abhorrence of Romish errors, have
never considered that as this denial of the
Scriptures to the people is one of the worst of
them, so, whether the Bible is in Latin or in
English, makes little difference to one who
cannot read ; — and that to refuse to teach them
to read except on condition of their consent
ing to read the Bible in our authorized ver
sion, when they have a conscientious, though
ill-founded, scruple against it, is in reality to

120 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
withhold the Scriptures, under the pretext of
distributing them. Nor do such persons con
sider, 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 rehgion was designed for the great mass of
the people, or merely for a few of the higher
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 Scrip
tures which imply it ; such as the command of
our Lord to " preach the Gospel to every crea
ture," and his apphcation, 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
religion, that we should regard it as suited to all

sect. 8.] Vicarious religion. 121
mankind — as one which all, above the condition
of mere savages, are capable of embracing ; be
cause otherwise it cannot be a true revelation.
For the first founders of it plainly had this
design ; Jesus Christ himself did certainly in
tend 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 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 rehgion 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 behevers 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

122 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
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
understanding of them. And yet they profess
to hold, that the Christian religion was meant to
be embraced by people of all ranks.
Mistake as Whcuce comcs this contradiction ? this in
to what is . /. 1 •
meant by cousisteucy of their practical views with their
embracingchristi- professed behef? It arises, I conceive, from their
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

anity.

sect. 8.] Vicarious religion. 123
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
Church, before the Reformation, we know, used
to forbid, and, as long as it was possible, pre
vented, the Scriptures being translated into the
^ Some are accustomed, inadvertently, to speak of the
practice of keeping the Scriptures in an unknown tongue, as
if it had been introduced by, or had arisen in, some Church ;
forgetting that the Latin Bible of the Romish Church, (like
the Old-Sclavonian of the Russians) is a translation into the
then vernacular tongue, which subsequently became a dead
language. The case is manifestly one of those in which
"Time, the greatest innovator, has insensibly insinuated
alterations."

124 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
popular languages ; and enjoined the people not
to attempt to pry into religious questions for
themselves, but to beheve 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 httle 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 hfe, 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
religion, and to lead a Christian life, who does
indeed fulfil all the Christian commandments,
but not from any Christian principle — from any
' " The servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth," &c.

sect. 8.] Vicarious religion. 125
motives peculiar to the Christian religion— but
for the sake of credit, or health, or prosperity,
in the world, — or from fear of human punish
ment — 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
good will undoubtedly be produced by honest
industry, temperance, friendhness, and good con
duct in general. And it is conceivable therefore,
(I do not say, hkely, but it is certainly con
ceivable) 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 called 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 swal
lowing the medicines prescribed, a step the
nearer to becoming himself a physician."
Every part of the New Testament bears witness
to the truth of what I have been saying. The
apostles do not even allow it to be sufficient,
^ See Arist. Eth. Nic. b. ii. ch. 4. b. vi. ch. 12.

126 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
that a man should believe in Christianity, without
knowing why he beheves it. " Be always ready,"
says the apostle Peter, " 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 believes
the truth ; — he does not believe it because it is
true ; and this is not Christian 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 religion, and to know what that religion is,
but to implant in his mind Christian feelings and
motives — " to grow in grace," as well as " in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" — to be
actuated 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
pattern and his support in this life, and his
eternal rewarder in the next.

sect. 8.] Vicarious religion. 127
Such being then the view which Christ him
self and his apostles took of the Christian
rehgion, 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 all classes, it is plain, that, if they
were not mistaken in their views — in short, if
they really were sent from God — it must be pos
sible, and needful, that all classes should have a
sufficiency of education to enable them to under
stand 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 the 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 pre
cluding the people from reading "the other
Scriptures" also.''
^ I have treated full}' of this question in Essay II. Second Series.

128 Vicarious religion. [essaY it.
The Christian rehgion, 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 hfe, by each man for himself,
in all classes of society. The Christian religion,
as formerly perverted by our Church, 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.
Relation of Pcrhaps the use of the terms " pastor" and
pastor and" " flock," to expTcss 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 interpreta
tion, but themselves to "search the Scriptures

sect. 9.] Vicarious religion. 129
daily, whether those things be so" which he
teaches. The language of Scripture is, (I
believe invariably,) " feed the Jlock of Christ ;"
" feed my sheep," &c.
But the other system makes the people alto
gether 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/cloctrine
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.
§ 9. I repeat, that these, and a whole train Proneness
of the
of similar absurdities, are too gross to have been People to
vicarious
forced upon the behef of men not predisposed religion.
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
coveting the satisfaction of a quiet conscience,
K

1 30 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
at the least possible expense of personal piety
and personal exertion.
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
Vxgdant and tender, conscience; — desirous of secu
rity instead of safety ; — 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 " pro
phesy 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

SECT. 9.] Vicarious religion. 131
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
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 strugghng 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 rehgious know
ledge, the faith — the piety — the prayers — the
hohness 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
k2

132 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
may suitably be occupied, but with which it is
needless, if not even presumptuous and profane,
for the unlearned to concern themselves ; — that
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 pha-
risaical ostentation. Nay, even licentious or
profane 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.
Professional § 10. Mauy thlugs again there are, which,
distinctions . '
between being Considered as in themselves indilFerent, are
Clergy and
Laity. not ueccssarily unsuitable to a Christian as such,
but which are regarded, some 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

SECT. 10.3 Vicarious religion. 133
as to their own conduct, should allow a greater,
or a less, latitude to the clergy, in respect of the
professional strictness of hfe and seriousness of
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 hfe, but the most unbend
ing seriousness of deportment, and abstinence
from almost every kind of amusement, than
many of those who, in their own hves, are the
most unrestrained in the pursuit of amusement,
and who exhibit the greatest degree of frivohty
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 and Greek
Churches ? 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 prayers and piety, and the scrupulous sanctity,
of the priest, as being in some way or other effi
caciously transferred from him to the people. It
seems some consolation to such persons as I am

134 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
alluding to that they have heard sound doctrine
at least, if they have not laid it to heart ; that
they have witnessed and respected a strict and
unblemished 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 undoubted learning and piety,
and enjoy the benefit of his prayers and his
blessing ; though the Holy-water and the Ex
treme-Unction of the Romanists have been laid
aside. They take httle care indeed to keep their
own hghts burning ; but when summoned 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 inquirer, 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

SECT. 10.] Vicarious religion. 135
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
to consider. Of every one the more is required
in proportion as the more is given — in propor
tion 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 neigh
bour, to be occupied upon. Let each class of
men, and each individual man, think chiefly of
improving the talent committed to himself; re
membering, 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 not, it may be said,
be some professional difference in habits of life
between the clergy and the laity ?
There should : for, in the first place, as reli
gious teachers, they may be expected to be more
especially occupied in fitting themselves for that
office ; in quahfying themselves to explain, and

136 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
to enforce on others, the evidences, the doctrines,
and the obligations of religion ; but they are not
to be expected to imderstand 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
dividing (or dispensing, hpOoTopovvres) the word
of the truth."^
And in respect of their general habits of life
and deportment, undoubtedly they should con
sider, that not only of every profession, but of
each age, sex, and condition in life, something
characteristic 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 indifferent, so as to preserve the
y " The truth," rng dXriduae ; i. e. Gospel-truth. See
Sermon 5th on "the Shepherds at Bethlehem."

sect. 11.3 Vicarious religion. 137
decorum of his own peculiar situation, as dis
tinct from another's, without giving needless
offence, or in any other way producing ill effects,
on either side.
§ 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 Mistake as
of the best-intentioned among the ministry, that properly
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 sup
posed to do or to abstain from, merely as a

138 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
clergyman. Whatever things they are which
are supposed to be professionally decorous or in
decorous — whatever is supposed to be suitable
or unsuitable to a clergyman as such, and not
to Christians as Christians — it is plain that 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 peculiar to one profession, and there
fore 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
procure 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 un
thinking, 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

SECT. 11.3 Vicarious religion. 139
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
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-control and
sobriety of conduct, which are required of all
that partake of the christian covenant and chris
tian 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
2 " Absurd as the thought is when expressed in words, man
would be virtuous, be humane, be charitable, hy 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 Essay, 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.

140 Vicarious religion. [essay ii.
unnecessarily multiplying professional distinc
tions ; lest the most unimpeachable conduct
should fail to convey an example, from its being
supposed not designed for imitation.
We cannot indeed be 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."

ESSAY III.

PIOUS FRAUDS.

§ 1. It may be said of almost all the errors ^utyai
against which our reformers protested, that they „? "dWerent
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 con
cerning superhuman mysteries unconnected 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 implicitly follow the direction
of their guide. And this corruption again, though

142 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
it does not directly engender, yet fosters and
increases another; that of maintaining this
spiritual tyranny, by deceit. Those who have
once adopted the system of keeping the vulgar
in partial darkness, will easily reconcile them
selves to the practice of misleading thera, where
it seems needful, by false lights. From a con
viction of the necessity of keeping them in
implicit subjection to their authority, the transi
tion 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
priestcraft. 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.

SECT. 1.3 Piousfrauds. 143
And this is more peculiarly the case, when
those who are passing judgment on any instance
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 was perhaps sincerely held,
by those who sought to support it by deceitful
means. For example, the fraud related to have been Fraud
1 T • 1 1 • p employed
practised by the Jewish rulers in reference to by the Jews
_. - . „ . , respecting
our Lord's resurrection, seems at first sight the resur
rection,
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
a Matt, xxviii. 12, 13.

144 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
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
out the other, it could in no sense be termed a
pious fraud.
And such, I say, undoubtedly was the fraud
we are considering. For the Jewish elders cer
tainly did not believe 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 behef in magic, and in the agency of
demons in subjection to those skilled in the art,
furnished a better evasion than could easily 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
b 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.

SECT. 1.] Piousfrauds. 145
Magician, and one who " deceived the people."
As maintainers therefore of the Mosaic law, in
whose divine authority they were believers, they
beld themselves not only authorized, but bound,
to suppress his rehgion : according to our Lord's
own prophecy, " Whosoever killeth you, will
think that he doeth God service." For the
prevention therefore of the mischief they appre
hended, "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 conse
quence of their rejecting 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,

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
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.

146 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
abstractedly from that, the profligacy of the means
employed. Persuaded as we are that Jesus was
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

SECT. 2.3 Pious frauds. 1 47
regard it with equal detestation, whether employed
in a good or in a bad cause.
§ 2. The tendency to take this indistinct view i>aud em-
ployed for
of things — to contemplate in confused conjunc- supposed
tion a bad end, and wrong means employed to objects.
support it, has doubtless contributed to prevent
Protestants from deriving the benefit they might,
in the way of example and warning, from the
errors of Romanists. In our abhorrence of the
frauds they have so often employed in support of
a corrupt system, we are prone perhaps 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 ourselves, 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 re
marks 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 Protestant Christian may need to be
reminded, that, as he beheves his own religion to
l2

148 Pious frauds. [essay iii.
be true, so do many of the Romanists believe
theirs ; and that though they are in fact erroneous
in this 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 practising 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

SECT. 2.3 Pious frauds. 149
out, may be traced up to the evil propensities of
human nature : and the one now under conside
ration, no less than the rest. The tendency to
aim at a supposed good end by fraudulent means,
is not peculiar to the members 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 spontaneous 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,
encouraged, or connived at, a system of popular
mythology which they disbeheved, with a view
to the public good — for the sake of maintaining
among the vulgar, through fear of the gods, and
expectations of Elysium and Tartarus, a con
formity to those principles of rectitude whose
authority they sincerely acknowledged, though on
grounds totally unconnected with religion. Their

150 Pious frauds. [essay hi.
statesmen deluded and overawed the populace
with prodigies and oracles, not much less than
the Romish 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 departures from truth.
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 reality 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, will often serve a present
turn much better than scrupulous veracity ;

SECT. 3.3 Piousfrauds. 151
though at the expense of tenfold ultimate in
convenience."

§ 3. The tendency then to this partial dis- Connexion
of this
honesty — towards the justification of fraudulent Essay with
the preced-
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 Essay ; the drawing, namely, of an
unduly strong line 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 supe
rior sanctity and knowledge to compensate for
the deficiencies of the other, and to be not only
their spiritual directors, but in some sort their
substitutes 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
° Mrs. Hoare's Hints on Early Education.

152 Pious frauds. [essay hi.
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
naturally followed, that the knowledge of Scrip
ture was considered, first, as unnecessary, and
next, as unfit, for the generality: and it was
equally natural to proceed from the suppression of
knowledge to the toleration, first, and then to the
encouragement and propagation, of superstitious
errors among the multitude. There is^ (as I for
merly 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 improper to
enlighten. Incapable as they were reckoned, and
as they consequently became, of believing in their
rehgion on rational and solid evidence, or of
being kept in the paths of Christian 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.

SECT. 3.] Piousfrauds. 153
How far, in each particular instance, any one. Pious fraud
whether of the Romish or of any other persua- seif-deceit.
sion, who propagates and connives at any error,
may be himself deceived, or may be guilty of
pious /rawc? ,• — 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
will 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

154 Pious frauds. [essay hi.
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
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.''
Difficulty of « 4_ That intermediate state however, between
estimating "
tbus'TfCir complete hypocrisy and complete self-delusion —
forefathers. ^^^ state which givcs risc to what are properly
called pious frauds — is probably much more com
mon than either of the extremes. Those, for
instance, who opposed the Reformation, were
probably most of them neither worldly-minded
hypocrites altogether indifferent about true
religion, nor, on the other hand, sincere be
lievers 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 sub
mit to some injustice, and to connive at some
^ The last stage of corruption, according to Aristotle, (Eth.
Nicom. B. 7.) is this kind of sincerity.

SECT. 4.] Piousfrauds. 155
error, rather than risk, in the attempt to reform
abuses, the overthrow of all religion. They pre
ferred 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
tain the whole of what they only partially be
lieved and approved, and to defend by falsehood
those portions of the fortification which they
perceived 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

156 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
had an interest in the maintenance of abuses, and
introduced their fears for religion 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,
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 reahzed, 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.
a vivid From the earliest down to the latest periods of
tion needed hlstoTy, thcsc causcs impede the full and clear, and
in the study r- i i •
of History, consequcutly profitable, view or the transactions

SECT. 4.J Piousfrauds. 157
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 he had been placed in precisely the
same circumstances, have acted as they did.
The Corinthians, probably, had perused with the
same barren wonder the history of the back
slidings 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 endea
vour 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 imagination (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 know
ledge of the results — to put ourselves completely

158 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
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
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.
Supposed It is worth while here to observe, that one
love of" great cause of this alarm must have been the
general reception of a maxim which, now as well
as formerly, is for the most part admitted even
• See Rhetoric. Part II. Ch. ii. § 2.

innovation.

sect. 4.J Piousfrauds. 159
by men of opposite parties ; viz. that there is so
strong a love of innovation for its own sake in the
human mind, as to attach a character of danger
to every change, though in itself small, and
harmless or beneficial ; lest the excitement thus
given to this supposed propensity, should lead to
an indefinite series of wanton and mischievous
alterations. This is generally admitted, even by
those who on any occasion are the advocates of
some alteration. They usually content them
selves with maintaining that the particular occa
sion is such as to justify our encountering this
danger ; which we are to guard against as well
as we can.
But I greatly doubt the fact. I know of no
event recorded in history that indicates any such
principle in human nature a.s a fondness for
innovation for its own sake, in the customs,
institutions, — in short, in all the serious business
of life. It is only in matters of recreation, — in
fashions of ornamental dress or furniture, —
scenery — sports — books of amusement — spec
tacles — and the like, that novelty and change
constitute a distinct object of pursuit. The mass
of mankind are, in respect of their ordinary

160 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
course of life, wedded to established usages and
institutions, even when these have nothing but
custom to recommend them. When indeed they
are suffering under some evil, or covetous of
some good, they will seek for a change, often
most unwisely and hurtfully ; but it is not a
change, for its own sake, that they desire. Wit
ness the long and obstinate adherence of such
multitudes to Pagan systems of religion.
What we should learn for our own use from
the foregoing view, is, not that the dishonest
artifices of Romanism should stand excused in
our eyes, but that we should estimate aright
their temptations, in order the better to under
stand 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
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
apprehend appear in our eyes — but from the
general inexpediency of fraud — from its intrinsic
turpitude, and from its especial unfitness to be

SECT. 5.3 Pious frauds. 161
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 lively 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.
§ 5. To any one who should be disposed not Division of
frauds into
only to approve of such a vigilant and severe self- negativeand
positive.
examination 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 into the two classes of positive and
negative ; the one, the introduction or propaga
tion of what is false ; the other, the mere tolera
tion of it — the connivance at any kind of mistake
or delusion already existing in men's minds.
M

162 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
Frauds in Agalu, lu auothcr point of view, frauds may

statement

and in jjg regarded, either as having relation, on the
sopliistical D ' o '
argument, quc hand, to fallacious arguments — to false rea
sons 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 sophistical argument' in the
cause of truth, than to the inculcation or tolera
tion (knowingly) 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
indeed, but I did not introduce it ; and it would
unsettle men's minds too much, were I to attempt
to undeceive them."
f I have heard this seriously vindicated in reference to cases
where we are addressing such as will not or cannot estimate
the sound arguments. It is to be regarded, it seems, as a
sort of countervailing fraud ; like that of the man who when
false witnesses were suborned to prove a pretended debt
against him, suborned others to swear that he had paid it.

SECT. 5.J Piousfrauds. 163
To particularize the several points in which
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 insigniflcant — the result
might be, that the argument and remarks in
tended to be illustrated by such instances, (if
supposed to rest on those instances,) might be
regarded 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.
m2

164 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
And yet, if a physician, for instance, were to be
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.

Exempiifi- § 6. Such, howevcr, being the difficulties in
cation by
conceivable the present subject, it will be better perhaps to
cases of
temptation abstain from any statement of matters of fact,
to pious
fraud. and to touch briefly, for illustration's sake, on a
few conceivable cases ; which, whether they ever
actually occurred or not, will be equally intel
ligible, and will equally answer the purpose of
explanation.
Pretended I- For cxamplc, 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
directly 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
sobered, as to perceive, or strongly suspect, their
delusiveness, and so to modify at least his views

inspirauon.

SECT. 6.] Piousfrauds. 165
of the subject, as in fact to nullify all the pecu
liarity of the doctrine, which yet many of his
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 inspira
tion. Practice and study cannot improve the im
mediate 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 ;

166 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
and this again is inconsistent with the idea of
inspiration, at least on both occasions.
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 perhaps
originated the separation of his sect or party
from other Christians.
Appeal to Nearly akin to this case is that of a person
the Lot.
who may have been brought up in a rehgious

SECT. 6.] Piousfrauds. 167
system recognizing the religious employment of
lots in the decision of important questions, as a
mode of direct appeal to the Deity, supposed to
be sanctioned by the example of the Apostles ;
[Acts i.] and who may subsequently have be
come convinced that no miraculous interference
is to be looked for on such an occasion. Yet
he finds perhaps that the lot is a convenient
mode, — when it meets with full acceptance, on the
above ground, from the People, — of settling many
questions which might otherwise give occasion
for jealousy, dissension and discontent : such as,
the Pastor to be selected out of several, for a
particular duty, — the site to be preferred for a
church, &c. But this ready acquiescence again,
on which the convenience of the mode depends,
he finds perhaps to arise from the lot being
supposed to have a sacred character. He will
then be very strongly tempted to the pious fraud
of keeping up that persuasion. For, when seek
ing to justify his conduct to his own conscience,
he may plead that the persuasion of the People,
is, in a certain sense, true : since it is true that
all events are under the control of Providence,
and that " all things work together for good to

168 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
them that love God :" keeping out of sight that
it is in a different sense from this that the People
believe the lot to be under the divine control;
and that in their sense, he does not believe it to
be true.
If the casting of lots, after special prayer, be,
in these days, truly an authorized appeal to the
divine will, then, the decision indicated by the
lot is as truly and properly an express divine
command as any of those recorded in Scripture
as revealed miraculously to Moses, or any of
the Prophets and Apostles. Do I then, — the
sincere Christian must ask himself — sincerely
believe, and am I authorized to believe, this to
be the case ? And if not, am I justified in
conniving at the superstitious belief of it in
others ?
False IL Again, let us imagine, for example, such
grounds for '¦
right belief, au iustancc 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
there by the Mosaic deluge, and which afford
him a consolatory proof of the truth of the Old
Testament history ; suppose too he congratulates

SECT. 6.] Piousfrauds. 169
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 mortifying his feelings, but shaking
his faith, by informing him, (supposing the case
such,) that it is fully 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
unsound, 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 False
grounds
be warmly attached to the religious community f"' "ght
practice.
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
circumstance, that the building in which we
assemble for divine service is called a " Church."
No one, who has been much conversant with the

170 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
uneducated part of society, will doubt the pos
sible 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, when there is some text which
may be, or has been, employed to inculcate a
doctrine or duty really pertaining to Christi
anity, though we know that the meaning of the
sacred writer in that place was something dif
ferent ; a temptation is thus presented, to em
ploy, or. to connive at, such a misapplication.
For example, 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" {e7ri<jTr}pl^eov);
should we venture to attempt removing his

SECT. 6.] Pious frauds. 171
conviction from this false basis, and replacing it
on a sound one ?
V. Suppose again, that some one was con- Groundlessconsola-
scientiously desirous of receiving this rite, whom tions.
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 to mind by
it, might there not, in such a case, be a seeming
danger, that if under such circumstances he re
fused 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 would,
moreover, be encouraging that superstitious
notion 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 Sabbiuh.
class to have a deep reverence for the Lord's-

172 Pious frauds. [essay hi.
day, without even knowing that it is the Lords-
day, but from supposing Sunday to be the Seventh
day of the week, and to be kept holy not vvith
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 deceit
fully for Him ?"
Pretended VII. Again, many of the unlearned (even in
of our ' ' ^ what are called the educated classes) have grown
up in the habitual belief of the unerring correct
ness in every part, of our version of the Bible.
And some have never even known that the
Chapters and Verses are not the work of the
Sacred Writers. Now in some minds a degree
of doubt and temporary perplexity might arise
8 See note to Essay V. Second Series. And also "Ad
dress to the People of Dublin, on the Observance of the
Lord's Day.''

translation.

SECT. 6.] Pious frauds. 173
on their being first undeceived on these points :
— on learning that the divisions into Chapters
and Verses were introduced in comparatively late
times, merely for convenience of reference ; and
that in some few instances our translators have
not given the exact sense of the original. And
the apprehension of thus unsettling their minds
(as the phrase is) holds out a temptation to us
to foster or connive at this groundless belief.''
The Pastor who honestly teaches his People
the truth because he dares not tamper with truth,
is ultimately repaid by finding that much of the
prevailing ignorance and confusion of thought
respecting scripture-truth, is removed or pre
vented by setting before men and reminding
them of what is the real state of the fact in
respect of Chapters and Verses. And he will
find too, that such differences as occur in different
versions of Scripture, are so far from generating
a universal distrust of all translations, (which are
the only mode of access to Scripture for the great
mass of mankind) that on the contrary this very
circumstance furnishes the strongest evidence
that the unlearned can have. For when they
h See Address to the Clergy, appended to the Visitation-
Charge, 1836.

174 Pious frauds. [essay iii.
see that different translations, made by persons
not only independent of each other, but often
greatly at variance as to the inferences drawn
from the sacred text, all agreeing (as they do)
in the main, as to the general sense of the
original, they have, in this general agreement
of translators, a good ground — independently of
any confidence in the good faith of any particular
scholar — for being satisfied that they have before
them the substance of what the sacred authors
wrote. But all this is likely not to be perceived before
hand, even by intelhgent men, if they have not
sufficient moral purity to abhor a pious fraud on
its own account.
Belief in VIII. The apparently salutary effect again,
temporal
judgments, produced by the dread of temporal judgments,
such as sickness, want, or calamitous occurrences,
presents a temptation to the encouragement of
such a behef, inconsistent as we know it is with
facts, and foreign from the whole character of
the Christian dispensation ;— a dispensation " the
Author and Finisher" of which was crucified,
and his disciples persecuted. To lead or leave
men to look for the sanctions of such a rehgion
in temporal rewards and punishments, which

SECT. 6.3 Pious frauds. 175
were the appointed sanction of the Mosaic dis
pensation, must be, in those who have any correct
notion of the Gospel-system, a pious fraud ;
alluring them by the specious promise of reform
ing sinners, and deterring from crime, though on
mistaken grounds. The ultimate consequence,
— which is, to produce a general distrust of Pro
vidence, when it is found that pestilences, ship
wrecks, conflagrations, &c. make no distinction
between the pious and the impious — this, and
the corresponding evil results of all pious frauds,
are usually overlooked by those who do not in
purity of heart reverence truth for its own sake.
IX. If, again, we should meet with a case of christian
. burial.
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 in,' might not a danger be apprehended,
of impairing their respect for the ministers of
rehgion 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.

Fall
fort to the

1 76 Pious frauds. [essay ill.
in such a case, to leave undisturbed an error
which he could not charge himself with having
directly introduced ?
se com- X. Once more ; imagine the case of a man
to the °
dying. long hardened in irrehgious 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
minister 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
the feebleness of mind resulting from disease.

SECT. 6.] Pious frauds. Ill
-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 Romanists 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 concerned
— and to the profanation of so celebrating it?
And if, moreover, we suppose some fanatical
teacher to be at hand ready to make confident
promises of salvation if we speak doubtfully, and
to administer the sacred Ordinance if we with
hold 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 them presented to a person who (as
might easily be the case) had no distinct percep-
N

178 ' Pious frauds. [essay hi.
tion of the ultimate dangers of deceit — of the
crowd of errors likely to spring from one — the
necessity of supporting hereafter one fasehood
by another, to infinity — and the liability to bring
truth into discredit by blending it with the un
true ; dangers which are recognized in the popu
lar wisdom of appropriate proverbs. These ill
consequences may very easily be overlooked 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 practi
cally 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. In fact it
is given to him only who pursues truth and virtue
for their own sake, to perceive, afterwards, their
expediency. The rest are blinded to the ill con
sequences of tampering with truth.
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, all of them, total impossibilities, to

SECT. 6.] Pious frauds. 179
illustrate my meaning ; — to shew that our sepa
ration from the Church of Rome does not place
us (nor can we ever be placed in this hfe) 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
reproached. As for the cases above introduced for the sake
of illustration, I must once more protest that the
actual occurrence of them is what I am neither
affirming nor denying. These instances, whether
in point of fact they ever came under my own
knowledge or not, are brought forward here
merely as conceivable suppositions ; and it is not
at all my wish that any one should, by testifying
displeasure, 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,
n2

180 Pious frauds. [essay hi.
and my warnings will be at least harmless, though
unnecessary : "abundans cautela non nocet."
Example of I wiU uotice however one instance, — the only
the Apostles x ii • p • p .p
brought in one I shall mention as a fact, — m proof, if any
to sanction . » ,
fraud. could bc Wanting, of Man s natural proneness to
pious frauds. In a pamphlet (which I purposely
abstain from referring to) written, I grieve to say,
by a Protestant Clergyman, though not, I should
hope, a fair sample of any considerable propor
tion of them, the author is led by the course of
his argument to deny that Paul and the other
Apostles continued to observe the ceremonial
law : and he represents accordingly the whole
transaction related in Acts xxi. 20 — 26, as a
deception, suggested by the Apostles and Elders
at Jerusalem, and adopted by Paul, for the pur
pose of persuading (falsely) the Jewish Christians
that he " walked orderly and kept the Law," and
that " those things whereof they were informed
concerning him " (with perfect truth, according to
this author) " were nothing." He was to make
a show, it seems, of observing the Law, and to
delude the People into the belief that such was
his habit !
Now whether this author really believed his

SECT. 7.3 Piousfrauds. 181
own statement, or made it without believing it,
for the sake of his argument, in either case, he
was giving the greatest possible countenance to
deception ; on the one supposition, by giving it
the sanction of apostohc example ; on the other,
by practising it himself.
§ 7. I will conclude this essay with an ultimate in-
. expediency
earnest recommendation of the study (with a of fraud.
view to our own warning and instruction) of the
various abuses prevailing in the unreformed
Churches — such a study, I mean, as shall go,
not only to ascertain the actual character of the
abuses, but also, to trace their gradual progress
from their first appearance, till they became at
length embodied in the system, and established
as parts of true religion. In many, 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 con
nected. And let it not be lost sight of, that
the fraud by which they sought to support the

182 Piousfrauds. [essay hi.
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 detec
tion of a fraudulent system, has led the far
greater part of the educated classes into secret
but total apostasy froiti Christ. With the in
discriminate 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, lose 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 thinketh
he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

ESSAY IV.
UNDUE RELIANCE ON HUMAN AUTHORITY.
§ 1. The infallibility of the (so called) Catholic Origin of
. - p ''"^ claim to
Church, and the substitution of the decrees of infamwiity.
Popes or of pretended General Councils, for the
Scriptures, as the Christian's rule of faith and
practice, is commonly regarded as the foun
dation 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
foundation, historically considered, (though it is,
logically) of the Romish system ; — that the
Romish hierarchy did not, in point of fact, first

1 84 Undue reliance [essay iv.
estabhsh their supremacy on a perverted inter
pretation of certain texts, and then 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.
Claim not They appeal, as is well known, to our Lord's
originating . • t» , i • i ^
in a misin- expTcssiou respecting Peter s being made the
of Scrip- foundation of his Church ; an expression which
ture. could never by possibility have suggested so
extravagant and indeed unmeaning an interpre
tation as that of a succession of men being each a
foundation :" and they also appeal to the declara
tion,'' " 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 passage in our Lord's dis
courses, the most probable explanation is that
which refers to the language common among
the Jewish Doctors ; who employed the expres-
^ Hinds's History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. i. p. 9.
'' Matth. xvi. 19.

SECT. 1.3 on human authority, 185
sions " to bind," and " to loose," (as may be
seen abundantly in their works respecting tradi
tional 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 establish 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.
•^ See Wotton on the Misna.

186 Undue reliance [essay iv.
Keal It seems no less plain, that to the governors
character"f'cr'T °^ every Society must be entrusted the duty of
authority, chcckiug 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 re-admit 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,
retain, 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

sect. 2.3 on human authority. 187
far as these extend only to things in themselves
indifferent, (such as festival-days, outward cere
monies, and the like) which may and should
vary in different ages and countries, but yet re
quire to be in each instance regulated by some
acknowledged 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 intrinsically 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 allow ; 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 commis
sion by working sensible miracles.

§ 2. Whatever slight differences, however, scripture
, 1 T-k 1 called in
there may be among Protestants as to the pre- to justify
cise sense of these passages, and of all that our existing
practices.
Lord has said on the subject, they all agree in

188 Undue reliance [essay iv.
this; that it will by no means bear the inter
pretation put on it by the Romanists ; who are
commonly supposed, as has been above re
marked, to derive from their mistaken view of
our Lord's expressions in this place, the mon
strous doctrines of the Universal Supremacy of
the Church of Rome, and her infallibility as to
matters of faith. I have said that these doc
trines 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 peculiarities 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 au
thority, these are made to rest ; the reasons
adduced are examined, and, if found insufficient,
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 indefensible,
ought certainly to be abandoned. But it is a

sect. 2.J on human authority. 189
mistake, and a very common, and practically
not unimportant one, to conclude, that the
origin of each tenet or practice is to be found in
those arguments or texts which are 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 reasonings
are exploded, and those texts rightly explained,
aU danger is at end of falling into similar
errors. The fact is, that in a great number of in
stances, and by no means exclusively in ques
tions connected with religion, the erroneous
belief or practice has arisen first, and the theory
has been devised afterwards for its support.
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 frame; and then, assigning, as they often
do, in perfect sincerity, these arguments, as the
cause of their adopting such notions, they mis
direct 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 reality traceable to some deep-seated

190 Undue reliance [essay iv.
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
will be devised in its place. And in the 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.
Effect Not only Romanism, but almost every system
fordus" . of superstition, in order to be rightly understood,
should be (if I may so speak) read backwards.
To take an 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 religious belief, 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 feeling in question : but is it not much
the more probable supposition, that the natural
anxiety about our mortal remains, which has

SECT. 2-3 on human authority. 191
been felt in every age and country, and which
many partake of who are at a loss to explain
and justify it, drove them to imagine and adopt
the theory which gave a rational appearance to
feelings and practices already existing ?
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 having been invented
to serve a purpose. Accordingly it never, I
believe, found its way into the Greek Church ;
though the use of 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

192 Undue reliance [essay iv.
prayers addressed to them, and then listens to
their intercession in behalf of the supphcants.
But the real state of the case, doubtless, is, that
the practice which began gradually in popular
superstition, and was fostered and sanctioned by
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 esta
bhshed, 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
inefficacy of the most cogent reasonings, and the
hearty satisfaction with which the most futile
are often listened to and adopted. Nothing is.

SECT. 2.] on human authority. 193
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.
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 accomplished 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
anxious to find conclusive. Different tempera
ments (sometimes varying with the state of
health of each individual) lead towards these
contrary miscalculations. Each of us probably
has a natural leaning to one or other (often to
both, alternately) of these infirmities — the over
estimate or under-estiraate of the reasons in
favour of a conclusion we wish to find true.

194 Undue reliance [essay iv.
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 evidence ;
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
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 estabhshing 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 tih 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

SECT. 3.] on human authoi'ity. 195
unhesitating assent of all men, for centuries
together, without possessing, in reality, any
weight at all. And yet he is usually regarded
as a pozoerful speaker who is proclaimed as such
by all his hearers, in consequence of their
having all admitted, or being ready to admit,
his conclusion ; and thence, affording, at least,
no proof of his power.
§ 3. It is, on many accounts, of great practical Erroneous
doctrines
importance to trace, as far as we are able, each the cause of
erroneous
error to its real source. If, for instance, we interpreta tions.
supposed the doctrine of Transubstantiation to
be really founded, as the Romanists pretend, and
as, no doubt, many of them sincerely 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 beheve 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-
o2

196 Undue reliance [essay iv.
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
misinterpretation of the text, we shall expect to
remove the error by shewing reasons why the
passage should be understood differently : a very
reasonable expectation, where the doctrine has
sprung from the misinterpretation ; but quite other
wise, where, as in this case, the misinterpretation
has sprung from the doctrine. When there was
a leaning in men's minds towards the reception
of the tenet, they of course looked for the best
confirmation of it (however weak) that Scripture
could be made to afford.
There is no instance, however, that better
exemplifies the operation of this principle, than
the one immediately before us — the Romish doc
trines of the Universal Supremacy, and Infalli
bility, of their Church. If we inquire how the
Romanists came so strangely to mistake the
passages 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

SECT. 3.] on humun authority. 197
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 estabhshed, 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 contrar)^ they
were convinced of this, because they were dis
posed and accustomed so to submit. The
tendency to " teach for doctrines the command
ments of men," and to acquiesce in such teach
ing, is not the effect, but the cause, of their being
taken for the commandments of God.
Unwilling as men may be to submit their j^'^j""'^
actions to an uncontrolled despotism, that indo- i,nerrin° *"
lence 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

198 Undue reliance [essay iv.
assent imphcitly, is (like all our other natural
propensities) nothing intrinsically and essentially
bad, when rightly directed, and duly controlled ;
but, like all the rest, is liable 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 "k priori." That the implicit deference
justly due to Divine authority, should have been
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-

SECT. 4.3 on human authority. 199
eating no less presumptuous rashness, than to
dispute those of the Church of Rome as to mat
ters of faith.

§ 4. As for the local extent of the Roman Presumption in
Pontiff"s jurisdiction, the claim of universal su- favour of the
opinions of
premacy for that particular See, is of course an 'he wise and
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
his own 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
authority * 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
^ An important ambiguity in the word authority will be
presently noticed.

200 Undue reliance [essay iv.
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 authority 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 suc
ceeded in delivering themselves from actual
doubt, though not from reasons for doubt ; and
were lulled into that apathetic tranquillity, 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 charac
terise this indolent uninquiring acquiescence.
They were to receive whatever the Holy Catho
lic Church decreed, or might decree, to be
received ; even though ignorant of what many
of the doctrines were, to which they thus as
sented. " Is it conceivable," they thought, " that the

SECT. 4.] on human authority. 201
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 dan
gerous 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 infallible.
If we consider, in this point of view, the growth
of the doctrine, we 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 likely to take place in the minds of Protest
ants, and should lead to a like result : — that the
supposition, of any error in religious matters be
setting wise, good, pious, learned, humble, and
diligent men, should appear so strange that at
length the strangeness should be regarded as
amounting to impossibility : and when once this

202 Undue reliance [essay iv.
point is reached, the claim to infallibihty is vir
tually set up.
Indefinite It must be admitted, moreover, that the claim
use of the ,.-,.. .
expression of infallibility in the Church, when it is distinctly
Catholic Church, 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 characterised by the homely but expres
sive proverbial metaphor, of "playing fast and
loose." A person is loudly censured perhaps for
taking a different view of some doctrine from
that which, it is assumed, prevailed generally in
the Church (j. 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
presumption" in favour of what has been long ad
mitted 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 presumption is adduced as nearly decisive,
" Elements of Rhetoric, Part I. chap. iii. § 2.

SECT. 4.3 on human authority. 203
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 ad
vocate will reply, that these doctrines are un
scriptural — that human divines are fallible, — and
that we ought to " obey God rather than Man."
Now if we regard 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 to them, or to any set of men, with
an air of decisive triumph, we should be pre
pared to admit their infallibility throughout. It
surely is not fair to make the Church's autho
rity of the highest or the lowest value, according
' What has been " received by all, in every age, and in
every country," is the standard which some profess to abide
by. But to seek for a system of Christian doctrine which
shall fulfil these conditions, is like the search for the universal
medicine. Practically, they limit the term "all" to the or
thodox; i. e. those whose doctrines are true. So that we
must first ascertain what doctrines are true, in order to dis
tinguish the persons by whose judgment we are to be guided
as to the question what doctrines are true !

204 Undue reliance [essay iv.
as it happens to support, or to oppose, our own
conclusions.
Protestants § 5. ludccd, moustrous as the Romish doc-
charged with trine of the infallibility of the Church at first
claiming
infallibility, sight appcars, and widely different as the claim
is usually 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
of all the doctrines founded on that interpreta
tion, the same end is gained : since even the
Church of Rome might have professed to appeal
to Scripture in behalf of all her doctrines, re
taining the power of deciding definitively what

SECT. 5.] on human authority. 205
books should be received as Scripture, and what
is the true sense of each passage. " The dif
ference then," they urge, (I am quoting the
arguments of an author of no mean abihty,)
" 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 charge 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 acknowledge 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,

206 Undue reliance [essay iv.
our Church amply acknowledged by the very act
of reforming.
Answer to gut cvcTy ChuTch must havc certain terms
the charge
ofciaiming of Commuuion, the rejection of which imphes
infallibility. 'J r
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
religious 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
K It is well worth remarking, that our Church has de
nounced the Romanists as erroneous indeed, but not as
heretical. If indeed one brought up in the bosom of our
Church were to preach, for instance, the doctrine of the
sacrifice of the Mass, he would be properly pronounced
heretical ; but we claim no spiritual authority over the
members of other Churches. The Romanists do ; and ac
cordingly denominate us, with perfect consistency, heretics ;
as being properly members, though rebellious members, of
their Church. See Hinds's History, vol. ii. p. 41^ — 45.

SECT. 5.3 on human authority. 207
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 mul
tiply unnecessarily her articles of faith, and
thus narrow too much the terms of her com
munion : 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 this fault would be of a totally
different kind from that of advancing a claim to
infalhbility.

208 Undue reliance [ess4Y iv.
Ambiguity Much of thc coufusiou of thought which has
of the word
authority, ariscu on this subject, is to be traced to the
ambiguity of the word " authority ;" which is
sometimes used, in the primary sense, (corre
sponding 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, maintained, or reported ;
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 of potestas) to signify power, to which we
are absolutely required to submit ; as when we
speak of the " authority" of a Magistrate. The
language of our Article keeps clear of this ambi
guity, 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 ad
vanced by the Church of being an infallible
interpreter of Scripture.

SECT. 5.3 on human authority. 209
The correct statement of the case is this : to
profess certain doctrines, and (which is implied
by so doing) to declare that those doctrines are
true, is, for every Church, allowable, because
unavoidable : 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 unpardonable, nor, in its
results, incurable : while to deny the liability to
error, and to claim, without warrant, the infalli
bility which implies inspiration, is in itself pre
sumptuous impiety, and leads to interminable
corruption. For the difference is no mere theoretical Eviu of the
claim to
nicety, but of most extensive practical import- infaiUbiUty.
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 infallibihty, and the magic edifice
of Papal dominion would crumble into ruins.
That dominion I mean would be ruined which is
exercised over men's conscience on the ground
that the dodtrinal decisions of that Church are
to be, as such, received, and considered infallible,
p

210 Undue reliance [essay iv.
and placed on a par with those of the Apostles.
The Church indeed of Rome might continue to
subsist, and to exercise over its own members
the power that rightfully belongs to any Church.
And that all Christians should belong to one
single ecclesiastical community, the chief governor
of which should reside at Rome, though exces
sively inconvenient, would not necessarily imply
the abandonment of any Christian principle.
But that the governor or governors of any
Church should demand from all Christians ac
quiescence in their determinations because these
emanate from an unerring Church, this is a
claim whose foundation is destroyed by the
admission of fallibility in any one point of faith.
In matters of discipline, indeed, the Romish
Church might introduce reforms, without com
promising the claim to infallibility ; since there
the question is one not of truth, but of expe
diency ; which may vary in each different age
and country. Her regulations however re
specting discipline have been so intertwined
with doctrinal points, that She has generally
dreaded to alter any thing, lest her infallibility
should be called in question. For instance, it

SECT. 5.] on human authority. 211
has never been contended that the adoration of
images and relics is essential to Christianity ;
there would therefore be no inconsistency 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 originally sanction
ing the practice — as to the soundness of the
arguments and decisions by which it was main
tained 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 remarkably
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 dis
placed. 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
(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
p2

212 Undue reliance [essay iv.
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.
The Scriptures thus highly venerated and little
used, are no longer like the bread from heaven
which sustained the Israehtes in the wilderness:
they are no longer the daily shower of manna to
supply their daily wants, but the pot of manna
stored up with reverent care in the Ark, as a
curiosity. And even after the removal or relaxation of
the restrictions on the use of Scripture, the
people, even with the Bible in their hands, are
evidently far less likely to perceive the erro
neousness of any doctrines of their Church, if that
Church does not profess to rest those doctrines

SECT. 6.3 on human authority . 213
on Scripture alone, but on her own independent
and paramount authority. Thousands must
have perceived many Romish tenets to be un
warranted by Scripture, who have yet never
thought of regarding that as ground for calling
them in question. On the other hand, " even
corrupt Churches, provided they do not sup
press 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 Danger of
undue de-
do but acknowledge these principles, exempt ference for
from all danger of any such error as that for thority.
which the Romish Church has now been cen
sured ? By no means. Such might indeed have
been the case, had the claim to infallibility 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
" Hawkins on Tradition, p. 42.

214 Undue reliance [essay iv.
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
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.
Proper And the danger of virtually substituting human
office of a ^ p
Church, 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
' Which cannot perhaps be so well described in our lan
guage, as by the words of the Greek historian, 'tirl rd 'eroifia
fidWov rpirrovTai.

sect. 6.] on human authority. 215
of prayer,*" and no complete form for the ad
ministration of the Christian ordinances, but
have not even left us any systematic 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 systematically teaching, and to the Scrip
tures, that of proving, the Christian doctrines.
And it is a circumstance not a little remarkable. Remark-
that they should all of them have thus abstained sion in
Scripture.
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 religion ; which we may
be sure (had such ever existed) would have been
^ Hinds's History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. ii. pp.
114, 115.
' See Hawkins's Dissertation on Tradition.

216 Undue reliance [essay i v.
carefully transmitted to posterity. This, I say,
must appear to every one, on a little reflection,
something remarkable ; but it strikes me as
literally miraculous. I mean, that the procedure
appears to me dictated by a wisdom more than
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
appointed, in various places, by the Apostles,
and by those whom they commissioned, it seems
(humanly speaking) incredible, 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 indubi
table ; that Impostors would have taken sedulous
care (as Mahomet did) to set forth a complete

sect. 6.] on human authority, 217
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 principles, un
accountable, amounts to a moral demonstration
of the divine origin of our religion. And this
argument, we should observe, is not drawn from
the supposed wisdom of such an appointment : it
holds good equally, however little we may per
ceive 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 impostors,
they must have been inspired ; whether we can
understand, or not, the reasons of the procedure
which the Holy Spirit dictated.
In this case, however, attentive consideration Reasons for
omitting
may explain to us these reasons. God's wisdom Creeds and
Liturgies in
doubtless designed to guard us against a danger. Scripture.
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

218 Undue reliance [essay iv.
in the mind — leaving no room for doubt — fur
nishing no call 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
diligent search — the watchful observation — the
careful deduction — which the Christian Scrip
tures call forth by their obhque, incidental, and
irregular 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
impression : and it is thus accordingly that
Divine wisdom has provided for our wants,
" Curis acuens mortaha 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^
appear an impious presumption ; and yet could
not possibly have been well-adapted for all the
varieties of station, sex, age, intellectual power,
"" Hinds's History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 236.

SECT. 7.3 on human authority. 219
education, taste, and habits of thought. So that
there would have been an almost inevitable
danger that such an authoritative list of credenda
would have been regarded by a large propor
tion of Christians with a blind and unthinking
reverence, which would have excited no influence
on the character. They would have had "a
form of godliness ; but denying the power there
of," the form itself would have remained with
them only as the corpse of departed Religion."
§ 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
operation 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.
" See Essay on Omission, &c. First Series.

S20 Undue reliance [essay iv.
Arguments Aud why, it may be said, should we scruple
in favour of . . _, .
appeal to to do this ? giviHg to ScTipturc the precedence
human
formularies, indeed 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 expo
sition 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
believe that. For in mathematics, for instance,
we are not more certain of the axioms and
elementary propositions, than we are of those
other propositions 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 avowed, even inwardly in
thought, by multitudes who feel and act con
formably to it.

SECT. 7.3 on human authority. 221
One obvious answer which might be given to Answer to
*-' ° the argu-
such reasoning is, that to assign to the deduc- ""ent for
'-' '-' appealing
tions of uninspired men the same perfect cer- '" ';".'"''"
¦• *¦ decisions.
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 infallibility. Believe indeed, we must, in the
truth of our own opinions : nor need it be such
a wavering and hesitating behef, as to leave us
incessantly tormented by uneasy doubts : but if
we censure the Romish Church for declaring her
self not liable to error, we must, for very shame,
confess our own liability to it, not in mere words,
but in practice ; by being ever ready to listen to
argument — ever open to conviction ; — by con
tinually 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 P^ ™'" °^
' ' •' God, that
on the argument drawn from the possibihty of ^j^J^'p'""
our being mistaken ; a danger which of course habituaiT
each one hopes, in each particular case, to have f„''/proo1-.'°

222 Undue reliance [essay iv.
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 habitually 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
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,
" Hinds's History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 118.

SECT. 7.] on human authority. 223
and introducing thera to the knowledge of her
members, as the sole standard of faith — as not
merely the first step and foundation of proof,
like the elementary propositions of matheraatics,
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 au
thorized to set forth for this purpose, (1) Cate
chisms — Homilies — in 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, authorized (3) to
frame Offices for Public-worship and administra
tion 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 em
ployed for instruction; — works of Devotion, for
devotion; — Symbolical works, such as Creeds and
Articles, for their proper purpose, of furnishing a

224 Undue reliance [essay iv
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 Romanisra — 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
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.
Ambiguity We are liable in this case to be misled by the
of the word . p i i
-must." ambiguity of such words as "must," or "ought,"
&c. which sometimes refer to obligation in point
of duty, sometimes to what is implied as a point
of consistency. Thus, it is true in one sense that
a Christian must receive the doctrines taught in
Scripture, — ought to obey the precepts of Scrip
ture, &c. i. e. it is his duty to do so, on the
ground that Scripture teaches it. In another
sense it is true that a member of our Church
ought to hold the opinions expressed in our
Articles, &c. i. e. this is implied by his continuing
a member of that Church. It is not that he is

SECT. 7.] on human authority. 225
right in holding them because he is a member of
the Church which teaches them ; but, in conti
nuing a member of that Church because he holds
them, or, in quitting it if he disbelieves them.
Again, it is not said in the same sense that a
member of our Church ought to assent to her
doctrines, and that he ought to submit to her
regulations in matters intrinsically indifferent.
For in respect of this latter point a Church has
power to prescribe to its members what they
should do ; and it is their duty to comply : but
to attribute such power to a Church in respect
of doctrines, and to make it a duty to any one
to assent to her interpretation of Scripture, is
practically to place her on a level with Scrip
ture. The point of duty is merely to remain
in that Church no longer than our unbiassed
judgment convinces us that her doctrines are
scriptural. So much has this simple and obvious distinc
tion been overlooked or kept out of sight by
some late writers, that it has been even ex
pressly denied that our Church does acknowledge
the right of private judgment; on the ground
that it enjoins the use of the Creeds, and of the
Q

226 Undue reliance [essay iv.
Liturgy and Catechism. Undoubtedly if any
man's private judgment should be that our
Liturgy is unscriptural, he ought not to remain
a member of the Church : but the real question
is, does our Church mean to declare that an
individual has no right to exercise his private
judgment in deciding whether the Liturgy be
scriptural or not, and is bound to receive it
implicitly and without further inquiry, because it
is our Liturgy ? If this be answered in the affir
mative, the grand principle of Protestantism —
the only one that could justify the Reformation
— is abandoned ; and our Reformers must stand
condemned as schismatical heretics.
It might seem superfluous to set forth a prin
ciple which is the very foundation of the Reform
introduced by our own and the other Protestant
churches ; and so distinctly recognized in our
Articles ; which declare the liability to error
not only of Churches but of general Councils,
(Art. 19, 20, and 21,) and disclaim the obliga
tion of receiving anything as divine truth but
what is contained in Scripture or "may be
proved thereby."
But persons are to be found who while they

SECT. 7.] on human authority. 227
assent to such declarations, yet contrive to evade
the force of thera, and stigmatize as heterodox
all appeal to private judgment, except their own
judgment, and that of such as agree with them ;
setting up the claim either to infallibility, or,
with still more presumption, — a right to enforce
on others the decisions of a fallible mind.
This apparently perplexing inconsistency may
be unravelled and explained by asking the ques
tion, — when it has been admitted that the Scrip
tures are the sole unerring standard, and that
we are not obliged to receive any thing that
" cannot be proved from Scripture," — proved
to whom ? A " standard to whom f" If the
Scriptures are the standard to us the Christian
people, and we are bound in conscience to re
ceive only what is thence proved to our convic
tion, then, we are left in possession of the liberty
of private judgment : but if it be meant that we
are to receive whatever is proved to your satis
faction from Scripture, — if Scripture is to be the
standard for you, but your faith is to be the
standard for ours, — then, instead of liberty, you
place on us a double yoke ; you impose two re
strictions instead of one ; both, and each, calling
q2

228 Undue reliance [essay iv.
for a miraculous attestation of your infallibility.
We are required to believe, first, that whatever
you declare is divine truth; and secondly, over
and above this, that it is a truth revealed in
Scripture; and we are to take your word for
both. " Jesus I know ; and Paul I know ; but
who are ye ?"
Caution Whenever therefore we refer, in proof or dis-
any appeal pi"oof of any doctriue, to the Articles or Liturgy,
form'Xies. for iustauce, 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 writ
ings 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 hy 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 mem
bers of our Church : but it is, in truth, only an
" argumentum ad hominem." If any charge is to
be brought personally against an individual, as un
fit to be a member or a minister of the Church,

SECT. 7.] on human authority. 229
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
is in question, "to the Law and to the Testi
mony !" 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
instance, 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 preserve to Scripture
its due dignity and proper office, and avoid the
dangerous and encroaching precedent of substi
tuting human authority for divine.

230 Undue reliance [essay iv.
Danger of FoT it is important to remember, that human
falling into _ . ¦
a habit of formularies, when once the habit is established
appealing
to Man's of making a definitive appeal to them for the
authority. 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 reference ;
and they are purposely and carefully framed, so
as to exclude certain particular interpretations,
which those of a different persuasion have in
troduced. The convenience thence resulting ought to put
us the more on our guard against this encroaching
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

SECT. 7.] on human authority. 231
" 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."
It is urged on the opposite side that it is a
mockery to talk of the right of private judgment
in the unlearned, — that is, the great mass of
mankind, — who have nothing on which to found
an independent judgment of their own, that can
deserve the name ; but being ignorant and gross-
minded — strangers to the original languages of
the Scriptures, and to ecclesiastical history, —
unintellectual, unreflective, and uninformed, —
must either acquiesce in the instructions and
assurances of the learned men who bear rule
over them, or else be " blown about with every
wind of doctrine," without rudder or compass to
direct their course.
The practical result of such principles as these,
experience shews to be such as reason would
have led us to anticipate. The guides to whose
authoritative direction the people are thus left.

232 Undue reliance [essay iv,
soon come to think that they themselves also
may as well be content to follow the guidance of
their predecessors, instead of being at the pains
to " prove all things," by a laborious search into
the Scriptures. They deem it enough to ac
quiesce in the judgment of the ancient Fathers ;
and to ascertain this from the statements of
commentators, and compilers from the Fathers,
— from abridgments of these compilations, — and
ultimately, from brief compendiums framed from
these abridgments ; so that in the end, — and that,
no remote end, — the wise and learned, on whom
the mass of the people are imphcitly to rely,
become wrawise and wralearned, there being no
one to detect their deficiencies ; ignorant of
Scripture, of which they were left to be the
authoritative interpreters, — ignorant of it, in fact,
from that very cause ; — and in short, " blind
leaders of the blind." Their proper office being
to train their less enlightened brethren to " give
an answer to those who ask them a reason of
the hope that is in them," they save themselves
this labour by training them to do without a
reason : and instead of being ready to be con
sulted on any doubts, scruples and difficulties

SECT. 7.] on human authority. 233
that may arise, they consult their own ease by
teaching the people to listen to nothing of the
kind, but to acquiesce implicitly in the authority
of the Church, and forego all exercise of private
judgment. It is remarkable that those who incur such
results, rather than concede the point of the
right of private judgment, are yet compelled,
nevertheless, to leave men to their private judg
ment after all, on deciding the most important
question. For those who, without displaying
the decisive credentials from heaven, of plain
miraculous powers, yet call on us to surrender
our judgment to their guidance, must leave us to
decide, whether well or ill, by our own private
judgment, the momentous questions — first, whe
ther we shall make that surrender to any men's
authority, — and next, whether they, or some
others, shall be thus received as our guides.
The diversities, indeed, and errors to which
private judgment is liable, in all matters not ad
mitting of mathematical demonstration, might
naturally lead some persons, following their own
conjectures, to suppose, that in a divine dispen
sation, a provision is requisite, and therefore to

234 Undue reliance [essay iv.
be expected, for a power of infallibly interpreting
Scripture, and deciding finally all questions that
may arise ; to be permanently established on
earth, in some person or Body, whose authority
should be ascertained and supported by unques
tionable miracles.
But our conjecture as to what is requisite or
reasonable cannot alter facts. So it is, that no
tribunal, possessing these miraculous credentials,
does exist. Private judgment, however incom
petent, must be exercised, well or ill, whether we
will or no ; for even those who are willing to
forego the right of private judgment, and resign
themselves wholly to another's guidance, are
compelled to judge among conflicting claims,
whose guidance it shall be. Whether they decide
to inquire into and compare together the several
appeals to Scripture, — to tradition, — to the au
thority of the ancient Fathers, or of more modern
divines ; — or again, to adopt without inquiry the
religion of their parents; or, lastly, to assent
imphcitly to the dictation of some one who
strenuously asserts his right to their submission,
— in all cases, they do, and must, exercise, for
once at least, their private judgment, (however

SECT. 8.3 on human authority. 235
weakly and wrongly,) in deciding a question noto
riously doubtful, and much controverted.
The right, then, of private judgment in reh
gious matters, being one which God has not
merely given permission that men may exercise,
but made provision that they must, it is for us,
his ministers and stewards, to do our best towards
training our people, especially the younger por
tion of them, to e.xercise their judgment rightly,
and profitably for their eternal interests. In
addition to all other instruction, we must also
warn them of the responsibility that is thus laid
on them ; a responsibility from which we cannot
relieve thera, if we would, and of which they
cannot divest theraselves,
§ 8. It must not, however, be supposed, that
those are exempt from the spirit of the error I
am speaking of, who are the furthest 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

236 Undue reliance [essay iv.
party ; whom they thus invest, virtually and
practically, 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 anything gained by ab
staining from the use of the term infallibility, by
those who believe in the thing.
Tempta- Thosc amoug the clergy who are particularly
Pastor to zealous and sedulous, and particularly successful,
allow him-. . . . ti.- i
self to be IU awakcmng sinners — in enlightening the igno-
idolized. . , . . . , .
rant — in administering consolation to the de
sponding, ought most especially to be on their
guard, and not only not to encourage, but watch
fully to repress in their hearers, this error. " I
depend entirely on Mr. such-a-one ; he is my stay
and 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 feehng evinced, in the case of many a
one who has been recalled from irreligion, or
rescued from despair, through the raeans of some
spiritual guide : a deep-felt, and perhaps com
mendable, gratitude and veneration, degenerate

SECT. 8.] ow human authority. 237
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 bap
tized 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 infalhble guide, he himself, having no such
inspiration, claims accordingly no infallibihty ;
and he must therefore exhort often, and earnestly,
the flock (not his, but Christ's) committed to his
care, instead 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 for
theraselves, as carefully as their circurastances
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

238 Undue reliance [essay iv.
indulging 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 an 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
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

SECT. 8. J on human authority, 239
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 all situations, I put it on the shelf."
The proceeding here described I believe 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 only 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,
so far, virtually, claim infallibility. 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."^
P There are many persons however who seem to be
ashamed of nothing but " inconsistency ;" of which their
dread completely swallows up their dread of error; and,
what is very remarkable, leads them into the worst kind of
inconsistency. — See Rhet. Part ii. ch. 3. § 5.

240 Undue reliance [essay iv.
Openness to " But," they Say, "it is extravagant scepticism
conviction . « i . . . , , i
distinct to bc Certain of nothing ; it is an absurd and a
perpetual wrctchcd thing to have no faith m any thing,
hesitation. _ _
but to be for ever wavering and hesitating." I
need hardly say that this is not what I recom-
raend. 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.
Not indeed to hold himself obhged at once to
abandon his religion if he is unable immediately
to refute every objection ; but to take into
consideration each objection ; calling in the aid
of those qualified to afford it, and considering,
with their assistance, not only how far each
objection is capable of an answer, but also
what is its weight, even if unrefuted, against
such positive proofs as he may have on the
other side, in support of his Faith. It is one
thing to be without Faith, and another thing
to have the Faith of the Apostolical Christian,
who is " always ready to give to every one that
asketh him, a reason of his hope."' If there
1 Not, be it observed, an answer to every objection : for
there may be objections which none can answer, and others

SECT. 8.] on human authority, 241
be any thing virtuous or raanly 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
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 care
ful examination of some question, a confident
expectation that no arguments will be adduced
that will change our opinions ; but this is very
different from a resolution that none ever sh'all^
which the unlearned cannot of themselves be expected at once
to answer, against conclusions which may yet be fairly esta
blished by a preponderance of evidence ; — by positive proofs
that have more force than the objections even if left unan
swered. " There are objections," said Dr. Johnson, " against
a plenum, and objections against a vacuum ; but one of them
must be true."
r This distinction may be illustrated by that between print
ing from movable types and from stereotype plates. The
solid plates perpetuate any error that may have crept in : the
movable types admit readily of any correction that may be
R

242 Undue reliance, S^c, [essay iv.
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
discussion. 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
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.
needed ; but if none be needed, they will give repeated im
pressions with accurate uniformity. They are not movable
in the sense of being loose, and casually shifting ; but only as
being capable of alteration if required and deliberately designed.
The error then which I am censuring may be described as
that of one who does not on\-^ print but stereotype his judgments.

ESSAY V.

persecution.

§ 1. There are several expressions of our Men
1,1 responsible
Lord's which are calculated, and probably were to cod only
for the
designed, to guard against the notion, that a rejection of
divine
rejection of his religion is an off'ence which will truth.
be lightly regarded by the Most High ; — that
the gracious and merciful — the tender and con
descending — character of the Gospel which pro
claimed " 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 ; any
more than for not perceiving the beauties of
some poem, or for not taking in some mathe
matical demonstration. On the contrary, "who
soever," said He, "shall not receive you, nor
hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the
r2

244 Persecution. [essay v.
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."
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 (vpeTs) 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 ques
tion, 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
Sanctions scvcrity of the Mosaic Law. Whereas our Lord,
of the
Gospel, in in the words just cited, warns his hearers, and
the next
world US, through them, that abundant in mercy as
exclusively. the Gospel offers of salvation are, that mercy
is reserved for such as shall accept thera ; and
that as the more glorious rewards, so also the

SECT. l.J Persecution, 245
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
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 per
sist in it, lighter ; on the contrary, 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.

246 Persecution, [essay v.
that though the Lord will not, under the New
any more than under the Old dispensation, per
mit his call to be disobeyed with impunity, the
rewards and punishments which form the sanction
of the Gospel are not (like those under the Law)
temporal prosperity and affliction, but the far
more important blessings and judgments of the
next world ; and that consequently the revela
tion 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 themselves, if God peradven
ture will give them repentance to the acknow
ledgment of the truth."
Origin of The dcsirc, however, of saving men from the
persecution, dreadful dooiii 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
rehgious error, by all possible means. Too
anxious, 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

sect. 1.] Persecution. 247
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
established faith, and to force the stubborn and
unpersuadable into that which appears to be for
their own good, as well as for that of the com
munity, 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 offences on this score, may be
accounted for by the circumstance, that a large
portion of mankind were 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, instead of being
checked on each occasion, were connived at,
sanctified, and successively embodied in that
corrupt system. The pretended successors of
Peter have indeed repeatedly proclaimed their

248 Persecution. [essay v.
own degeneracy, by their palpable disobedience
to the command, to " put up the sword into its
sheath:" but this, as well as the other Romish
errors, has its root in the evil heart of the unre
newed man. Like the 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 venerate, 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
consigned to the secular arm. Jeremy Taylor
advocated almost as a paradoxical novelty, the
doctrine of toleration ; and Locke found it neces
sary, long after, to make a formal and elaborate
defense of it. Nor can this remnant of the spirit

SECT. 2.3 Persecution. 249
of Romanism be so called, in the sense of making
the peculiar system of that Church, properly, the
cause of it ; because we find the same principle
manifested in its full force among the Maho
metans, 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 feelings,
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 Nominalists and the Realists, in the age
preceding the Reformation, present a memorable
and instructive proof, that the operation of these
feelings is not confined to the case of Religion.
§ 2. But natural as these feelings may be, and ^''^"jIpI^^j
strongly as they may tend to produce persecution, s^^i^
a J J J r r ' against per-
it may be thought that, in the present age and Seance*
country at least, it is useless to contemplate a
danger now completely done away ; since per
secution neither exists, nor is likely to arise,
among ourselves.

250 Persecution. [essay v.
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
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
familiar to most of my readers, a false premiss,
according 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 proce
dure, and who see persecution reprobated and
discountenanced by those around them, may be
led by the same principle to regard religious
errors as of little or no importance, and all reli
gious persuasions as equally acceptable in the
sight of God. To abstain, in short, in practice,
from putting down heresies by secular force.

SECT. 2.] Persecution. 251
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 insig
nificant. Moreover, it is also important, with a view to
future contingencies, to be in possession of just
principles on such a subject. When persecution
is not actually raging — when men's minds are
not actually infiamed by the combination of
religious animosity with excitements of a political
character — then is the very time to provide our
selves with such firm-fixed and right principles,
as may avail in time of need ; and to destroy the
roots of those theoretical errors which may lie
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 listened 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
fully, and perhaps justly, conscious, that they
themselves would never, under any circumstances,
be in danger of acting harshly — more especially.

252 Persecution. [essay v.
I say, should such persons be warned of the
importance 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
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 iraportant blessing, that
we may be preserved from hurting others by per
secution.

SECT. 3. J Persecidion. 253
To prove that persecution is unchristian, would Mistakes
as to what
be superfluous ; since the proposition, so stated, persecutionimplies.
would be at once admitted by all. No one calls
himself, or probably thinks himself, a persecutor.
The errors we are hable to on this point, if we
are liable to any, must consist in our reckoning
ourselves secure from this fault as long as we
condemn the 7iame 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. For in propor
tion as persecution is erroneously characterized,
in the same degree must dissuasives from it prove
unavailing. § 3. I. The tenet of the Romanists, that Doctrine of
exclusive
salvation is impossible out of the pale of their salvation.
own Church, has been not unfrequently con
sidered as the necessary basis of all their per
secution. But this view appears to me not only
incorrect, but mischievous in its results. For

254 Persecution. [essay v.
though such a persuasion may be harsh and
bigoted, and may tend to foster a persecuting
principle, the two are by no means either iden
tical or necessarily connected. It is at least
conceivable 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
the possibility of the salvation of those of a dif
ferent persuasion from his own, yet thinking
thera much less likely to attain it — thinking their
case not absolutely hopeless, but highly danger
ous — he may also think himself authorized, and
therefore bound, to preserve or to reclaim men,
from error, by coercive raeans, when no others
will suffice. He may consider governments as
bound to exercise, in all respects, a parental
care over their subjects :* now children are with
held, and if need be, forcibly withheld, by their pa
rents, not only from inevitable destruction, but from
every thing dangerous, or in any respect hurtful.
The persuasion, therefore, of the absolute
necessity of a right faith, however uncharitable it
^ See Note (A), at the end of this Essay.

SECT. 3.3 Persecution. 255
may be, does not necessarily lead to persecution ;
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 raen 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 liberality and christian charity con
sist in a carelessness about truth, and indifference
as to all religious persuasions.
II. Nor again does persecution consist in Essential,
. . n ^"*^ non-
attaching undue importance to minor points of essential
points.
doctrine, and overlooking the.distinction between
essential and non-essential points of Christian
faith. The distinction is indeed one that ought
to be attended to ; but it is nothing to the
present purpose. A man who denounces as the
most pernicious heterodoxy, any, the most minute
departure in any point from his own opinions, or
his own phraseology, is indeed chargeable with
narrow-minded bigotry, but not with a perse
cuting spirit, if he abhors the employment of
any coercive measures against opponents, and
respects hberty of conscience. On the other

256 Persecution. [essay v.
hand, a man would be a persecutor, however
tolerant as to many points, who should insist on
the right of secular coercion in respect of essen
tials ; or even of any one point of faith. It is
well known that men have differed as to what is
and is not essential, not much less than as to what
is or is not true. An infallible judgment is re
quired equally for the decision of either question :
and even if we possessed this infallibility, we
should still have no comraission to compel others
to acquiesce in our decisions.
It is not, in short, the narrowing or the enlarg
ing of the bounds of orthodoxy that constitutes the
presence or the absence of persecution. A nar
rower or a wider room is equally a prison, if a
raan is forced to remain confined in it.
Force HI. AnothcT mistake as to the real character
directed
against of persccutiou is that of regarding it as consisting
in the employraent of violent means against the
truth; — as implying that the persecution 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, censnre persecution,
as such, but rather religious error. They can no
more be said to object to persecution than a man

¦SECT, 3.] Persecution. 257
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 whom 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 supported by it. And it may be
added, that, on this principle, the censure of per
secution 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 that of truth. All dissuasives from persecu
tion must pass by men " as the idle wind which
they 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.
IV. Again, persecution is sometimes charac- Excessive
... . . punishment.
terized as consisting m the excessive seventy —
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
s

258 Persecution. [essay v.
which it is designed to remedy, when no lighter
penalty will suffice. Now the loss of men's im
mortal souls was, justly, regarded by the Roman
ists 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 penal
ties at all, all alike, whether light or heavy, must
be regarded as equally of the nature of persecu
tion and cruelty, however unequal in amount.
To burn a thousand heretics, is not more truly
persecution — though it is a greater persecution,
than to fine a single one.* It is not the degree
of suffering, 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.
Revenge V. NoT, again, is it correct to characterise
"^"^'persecution as consisting in the infliction of
punishment for the gratification of revenge or
'' The Greek language avoids much ambiguity by the use
of ttXuov koX 'iXarrov for "greater and less in amount," and
juaXXoi' Koi riTTov for " more and less in quality."

SECT. 3.] Persecution. 259
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 perse
cution must be as ineffectual as it is in truth
incorrect : for few will even think, and no one
will admit, that he is actuated by revengeful
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
s2

260 Persecution. [essay v.
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 beheve
Cranmer cruel and revengeful ? Yet he sanc
tioned the cutting off of heretics by the secular
arm, from a sincere, though erroneous, sense of
duty.
Designed VI. NoT again is persecution characterised by
punish
ment, the infliction of punishment designedly, and as
a punishment, i. e. with a view to deter others
by the example, in contradistinction from the
incidental evil inflicted on any one by removing
or confining him, in order to preserve others
from the contamination of heresy ; in the same
manner as men infected with the plague are
(without any thought of punishing them) shut up
within an hospital. But any pain or evil inflicted
for rehgious errors as such, is equally persecution,
whether designed as a punishment or not : other
wise indeed, the most sweeping persecutions, —
such as the expulsion of the Huguenots from
France, — might be justified on the plea that the
sufferings of the individuals were an undesigned

SECT. 3.3 Persecution. 261
and unavoidable concomitant of a measure of
preservation from the spread of religious error.
VII. Sometimes, again, the mistake is com- Penalty for
. . holding
mitted ot characterising persecution as consisting opinions.
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
existence 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 thing in existence, or even in imagi
nation, 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 penal
ties, the preaching of any doctrines Vi^e 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

262 Persecution. [essay v.
true religion, we must be authorized, and bound,
to employ what will often appear the only effec
tual means towards our object by compelling
men to renounce those erroneous 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 means or not.
All punishment — all denunciation of punishment
— in short, all compulsion and restraint — must
be either a duty, or a sin. The Civil magistrate
may say, " I have power to release thee, and
power to condemn thee ;" but he cannot have a
right to do whichever he will.
Propaga- And lu the present instance, it is impossible to
tion of , 1. r¥» 1
opinions draw a line to any effectual purpose between for-
niay be _ ^
held a duty, 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 raerely 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

SECT. 3.3 Persecution. 263
not surely impossible, or even unlikely, that
others also may think theraselves bound in con
science to teach, at least, their farailies and their
friends, what they conceive to be essential truths.
VIII. Lastly, it is important to observe, that inflicted
penalty.
though the word persecution itself does neces
sarily 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
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.

264 Persecution. [essay v
We never hear therefore of persecution in those
countries where no resistance is made to religious
coercion. The fetters gall those only who strug
gle 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.
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 countries 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.

SECT. 3, J Persecution. 265
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 reality 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
of religious persecution, but the sanction of
secular compulsion and restriction — not the
actual infliction, but the enactment, of secular
penalties. For the infliction (in any case) of the
punishment denounced, is an accidental circum
stance ; 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

266 Persecution. [essay v.
means, in case of resistance or disobedience ; in
any case therefore where the one would be wrong,
the other cannot possibly be right. °
Expulsion § 4. The ultimate penalty accordingly, in this
the ultimate
penalty, worfd, wlth which the Author of our Religion
thought fit to sanction it, was (with the exception
« 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) of going to law for the recovery of their rights.
If one of these has a sum awarded to him, whether in the
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, provided
the threat proved successful ; the latter plea might be urged
in behalf of one who should hire an unscrupulous assassin to
dispatch his enemy.

SECT, 4,] Persecution, 267
of a few cases of miraculous interference) the
exclusion of the offender from the religious com
munity which he had scandalized :* " if he refuse
to hear the Church, let him be unto you as a
heathen man and as a publican ;" if he would not
listen when repeatedly admonished, he was to be
removed from the Society. And it is worthy of
being 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 there
fore to retain the right of coercion over all who
have been baptized, even by such as She ac
counts heretics, the Romanists affect to regard
them as truly merabers, though rebellious sub
jects, of the Catholic Church. In literal and
direct opposition 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."
^ For an able development of this principle, see Hinds's
History of the Rise of Christianity, vol. i. p. 327—336.

268 Persecution. [essay v.
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 manifest itself only in vehement
and persevering persuasion.
This, which the advocates of coercion cannot
deny, they are driven to explain away, by 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 Au
gustine, a favourite authority with the Roman
ists as well as with many Protestants) " that
prophecy was not yet fulfilled, Be wise now
therefore, O ye kings ; be learned, ye that are
judges of the earth ; serve the Lord with fear."
The rulers of the earth, he adds, were at that
time opposed to the Gospel ; and therefore it
was that the secular arm was not called in
against the Church's enemies,
khildmn But they might be asked, in reply,— if in-
wo'rid."'" deed such an argument be worth a reply, —

SECT. 4,3 Persecution. 269
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
all idea of resistance, would at once have esta
blished his rehgion, without any need of a resort
to actual persecution. Or, if for any hidden
reasons, the time was not yet come for confer
ring 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 thera 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

270 Persecution. [essay v,
do so ; — He would have fully justified the sus
picion which probably was entertained by raany
of the heathen magistrates, that the Christians
and their Master did, notwithstanding their pro
fessions, secretly meditate the establishment of
a kingdom supported by secular force ; and that
though they disavowed this principle, and ab
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
prevailing 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

SECT. 4.j Persecution, 271
spiritual, in the sense of its having 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 followers not
only worldly power and splendour, but also
the spiritual blessings of a future state, besides.
They did indeed expect the Messiah to reign
over thera for ever in bodily person : but the
main part of their expectation would have been
fulfilled, had He merely founded a temporal
kingdom, and delegated (as the Lord did of old,
to the Kings) his power, to his anointed, in
whom his Spirit should dwell. Jesus accord
ingly, to mark his opposition to this expectation
of the Jews, not only claimed spiritual dominion,
but renounced temporal : He declared not merely
that his kingdom is of the next world, but that
it is not of this world.
Indeed it must be evident to any one, on a
moment's reflection, that the mere claiming or
disclaiming of any dominion beyond the Grave,
would have been, at that time, and with refer-

272 Persecution. [essay v.
ence to the trial then going on, utterly imper
tinent and foreign to the question. He was on
trial for high treason ; — for a design to subvert,
or in some way interfere with, the established
Government. The plea urged in support of
this charge was, " Whosoever maketh himself a
King speaketh against Csesar." Whether there
fore He claimed or not, and whether justly or
not, the disposal of rewards and punishments in
another life, was nothing to the purpose. He
was required to plead guilty or not-guilty to the
charge against him. The question was, whether
He did or did not, claim, or design to claim, by
Himself or his disciples, any kind of Secular
Empire. He distinctly c??*claimed it. Let those
who maintain that He meant to reserve the
right of authorizing temporal coercion in behalf
of his religion, prove if they can that He was
not justly put to death !
Christ a I have known persons who, loth to abandon
Hemeait the claim of secular control in religion, try to
his disciples i-n-. i
to mono- evade the difficulty by explaining our Lord's
polize civil
power. meaning to have been, that He did not claim
any secular power for Christians as such, beyond
what was claimed by all others in behalf of

SECT. 4.] Persecution. 273
their own respective religions ; all having, it is
said, a natural right to establish a national reli
gion, and exclude from political privileges those
who do not conforra to it : as was done in the
ancient Grecian States, where slaves. Helots,
and others were precluded, by being of a dif
ferent race from the dominant party, from par
ticipating in the same religious rites, and were
consequently debarred from the rights of citizen
ship. Had this been our Lord's meaning. He
would have been bound in sincerity to have said
plainly that his Kingdom was not more of this
world than the other religions established in the
world ; which avowedly were connected with
political domination ; and that his servants
would not fight for Him, till they should be
come strong enough ; — till they should become,
in each country, a majority, not necessarily of
the whole population, (for the citizens of
each of the Grecian States were generally very
far from that) but of the politically dominant
party ; and that then they would forcibly ex
clude all but Christians from the rights of
citizenship. Now this, it is evident, would have been to

274 Persecution. [essay y.
plead guilty to the charge brought against
Him.^ All 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
instructions afforded by the Evangelists and
Apostles appear to me not only sufficient to
settle all questions relating to the subject of per
secution, but also (to the generahty of mankind)
better adapted for that purpose than any argu
ments which human reason could supply.

Scripture- § 5. For I am convinced, after much obser-
argument against vation and reflection on the subject, that in all
persecutionthe most discusslous, whether with professed Romanists, or
popular. " I have treated more fully of this part of the subject in
the Volume of " Charges and Tracts" lately published, p. 482.
^ " Quicquid recipitur, ad modum recipientis recipitur," is
an ancient medical aphorism, capable of a wide application.

SECT. 5.] Persecution. 275
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
conviction, but of moderate intellectual powers.
Other arguments have often been unanswerably
urged^ against persecution, drawn from its ulti
mate inexpediency — 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 insincerity, to weaken the evidence
in favour of a religion so supported. For, the
argument from authority — the confirmation any
one's faith receives 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 prohi
bition, under secular penalties, of any arguments
against a religion, impairs more or less, in pro
portion as it is enforced, another and more
e Bishop Taylor and Locke have almost exhausted the argu
ments on this subject.
t2

276 Persecution. [essay v.
iraportant branch of evidence, the defiance of
contradiction ; through the mediura of which
most of the other evidences of Christianity pre
sent themselves to the minds of the generality ;
who could not possibly examine, in detail, for
themselves, 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 convic
tion, that if there were any flaw in the evidence,
it would be detected and proclaimed.'' Force
accordingly, together with Fraud, the two great
engines for the support of the Papal dominion,
have almost annihilated sincere belief in Christi
anity 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
superhuman wisdom manifested in the Gospel
scheme. For, men of that age and condition of
^ See note B, at the end of this Essay,

SECT, 5,j Persecution. 211
life, and of the Jewish nation more especially,
would never have been led by mere human
sagacity to reject and prohibit all temporal co
ercion, and seek to propagate and maintain their
rehgion by no force but that of gentle persua
sion. And even in the present day, I cannot but
think that such arguments as I have adverted
to, are not likely to be comprehended in their
full force, by men of narrow or uncultivated
understanding. And therefore 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 undiscoverable by human
reason, but yet not so discoverable 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 inexpe
diency and whose intrinsic turpitude, some, even
of the humble and sincere among his followers,
might have failed to discover for themselves.
As for the prejudiced and the wilful, they are
not likely to learn the truth either from Scripture

278 Persecution. [essay v.
or from reason :' but the plainest Christian, who
has indeed " the Spirit of Christ," and not that
of Antichrist, may learn the will of his Master
both by his teaching and from his pattern ; and
may be made " wise unto salvation," by be
coming a follower of Him who was " meek and
lowly in spirit," — who " did no violence, neither
was guile found in his mouth," and who " came
not to destroy men's lives, but to save."
Abstract § 6. How blind even an intelligent man may
absurdity of
persecution be to the abstract arguments against persecution,
overlooked. is strikingly illustrated by a slip which the acute
and powerful Bp. Warburton has made, in treat
ing of toleration. He would have all men al
lowed liberty to worship God in their own way ;
but Atheists, he says, should be banished from
every Civil Government, because they are "in
capable of giving security for their behaviour in
community ; and their principles directly over
throw the very foundation on which it is built.'"'
This great man overlooked the obvious circum
stance, that, by a kind of perverse inconsistency,
' " Remedia non agunt in cadaver."
^ Alliance between Church and State, b. iii.

SECT. 6.] Persecution. 279
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 recoraraends established,
make no difficulty of denying their infidelity,
and professing any thing whatever that might be
proposed to them ; those again, if there be any
such, who were too honest to save themselves
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 Comraunity 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 like error results, practically, in some in
stances, 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

280 Persecution. [essay v.
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
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, though perhaps possible,
not likely he would have hesitated to support it
by a false profession of his behef 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.

Hostihty § 7. The feeling which tends to foster the
against . . «
infidels and Spirit of pcrsecution, and to blind ,us to the
heretics. reasons opposed to it — that feeling of hostility
^ See an able pamphlet entitled " Remarks on Oaths, &c,"
published by Hatchard, 1826.

SECT. 7.] Persecution. 281
which naturally arises in our breasts against
such as reject our Faith, or our own views of
it — in short, algainst Infidels and Heretics'" —
is chiefly remarkable from the circumstance of
its being usually 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
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 his religion is compatible with
immorality, or else that he professes it for form's
sake only, and secretly disbelieves it ; by which
raeans he casts a doubt on the sincerity of the
professions of others, and thus weakens the
evidence their example would have afforded.
And as far as the individual is concerned, the
irrehgious, or profligate, or worldly - minded
™ The strongest term of detestation perhaps of all that can
be applied to a man, — the term " Miscreant" — affords in its
etymology (jms-believer) a curious instance of this.

282 Persecution. [essay v.
Christian, is surely more chargeable with im
piety than the unbeliever. An Atheist might,
conceivably at least, have loved and obeyed his
Saviour, if he could have been convinced of his
divine raission : at any rate, he is not living in
habitual defiance of a God whom he acknow
ledges. 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.
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 Agapae or love-feasts :) and to " cut off"
(excomraunicate) those who " offend " {i. e. scan
dalize) the Society.
Immorality How comcs it, thcu, that men's feelings for
more com
mon than the most part take an opposite direction ? 1 . One

SECT. 7.3 Persecution. 283
obvious cause, as far as we of the present day avowed
infidelity.
are concerned, is, that avowed infidelity 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 raen
did not then profess Christianity as a matter of
course, and had in general to encounter some
hardships and inconveniences on account of
their profession, an utter disregard of their reli
gion, or a life utterly at variance with it, must
have been much less coraraon among the primi
tive Christians than among ourselves : while, on
the other hand, they were living in the midst of
unbelievers, 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

284 Persecution. [essay v.
with than avowed anti-christians ; and they are
the objects accordingly, in general, of feelings
less hostile than the others ; yet still, in many
instances, of greater hostility than is usually felt
towards those who lead an unchristian life.
moft"4inst '^- Another cause, which has the same tend-
goToIha°ke ^'^^y ^i*^ the foregoing, is, that every one who
faith.™" 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 point, from authority — frora feeling that
others think with them. I suspect there are
few, whose acquiescence even in the conclusions
of Euclid, is entirely unmixed with this feeling.
In matters which admit of less intrinsic certainty,
it is of course a larger ingredient in that com
pound 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 evidence, and
to acquiesce in what is generally received,
" In truth, the existence of infidelity supplies one im
portant branch of evidence, — See Note B at the end of this
Essay.

SECT. 7.] Persecution. 285
without submitting to the toil of seeking for
other reasons.
Now any one who rejects our tenets, goes so
far towards shaking this confidence, and disturb
ing this indolent tranquillity. 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
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 raust wish
to disbelieve.
III. Add to this, that one who is opposed Supposed
contempt of
to our faith, however courteous his outward infidels for
believers.
demeanour may be, and however hberal his real
disposition, cannot, we feel, but inwardly look
down upon us, as weak and credulous, or pre
judiced and bigoted to error, or in some way
opposed to right reason ; and these sentiments

286 Persecution. [essay v.
we feel as personally cffronting to us. On the
other hand, he who, adhering to an orthodox
Christian faith, lives 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 demeanour, but by the very character
of their respective opinions.
Immorality IV. Lastly, it will oftcu Tcally happen, and
supposed to '' ,/ I I
be implied often again be supposed, and sometimes perhaps
deiity. pretended, that a man's rejection of Christianity
is, in fact, a step beyond his disobedience to it ; —
that he has proceeded from leading an irrehgious
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.
° Sincerity accordingly, — not that kind which consists in
the exercise of an unbiassed judgment, — but, the unfeigned
persuasion that wrong is right, and truth falsehood — is de
scribed by the great moralist of antiquity as the last stage of
corruption ; that of the aKokaaroQ.

SECT, 8.3 Persecution. 287
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
irrehgious or vicious Christians. I am convinced,
however, that the other causes enumerated,
operate not less powerfully towards the same
result. And if such be indeed the natural feel
ings 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 frequency history bears such ample
testimony.

§ 8. That much of that kind of feeling does ContrastbBtWGCn tllB
exist, which 1 have been endeavouring to account tenderness
• -n T 1 • 1 m . t ^*^^ moral
for, observation will, I think, sufficiently prove, and seventy
towards
And indeed it will often be found, that the very doctrinalfaults.
persons whose requisitions in respect of ortho
doxy are the most rigid — who go to the greatest
extreme in narrowing the pale of it — who make

288 Persecution. [essay v,
the least allowance for minute differences of
opinion — and are the most bitter against all who
do not agree with thera ; are the very same who
go the greatest lengths of indulgence in respect
of moral requisitions — shew the greatest extreme
of tenderness towards those whose conduct is a
scandal to Christianity— and seem as if they
would have utterly disapproved the system of
disciphne, in respect of moral delinquents, 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 Commination-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 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 theraselves its eneraies," The temerity
of this wish, we have been told, " would be such

SECT. 8,] Persecution. 289
as to make us shudder, if it came from the hps
of an enthusiast," No doubt more of the effect
produced on some minds, depends on the ques
tion, 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 restored; 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
fi'ora the Society, till they should so submit and
give satisfactory assurance 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
portion of society permanently cut off" frora 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
incestuous Corinthian, who was to be " perma
nently" cut off as long as he should persist in
his sin and impenitence :) that they would cease

290 Persecution. [essay v.
to frequent the assemblies of the faithful — would
never hear the word of doctrine or exhortation —
would have shut theraselves out frora the ap
pointed means of grace, and would be pubhcly
and solemnly pledged to unbelief: that their
hearts would be sealed against the voice of the
Church, and they would be fixed to their life's
end among the desperate adversaries of their
Redeemer. 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 Hea,ven 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
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

SECT. 8.] Persecution, 291
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 reclairaed, 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
unchristian 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
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 the primitive Christians
may perhaps have been mistaken ; and I am far
from denying that there is much show of reason
u2

292 Persecution. [essay v.
in what raay be urged on both sides. But what
is to my present purpose to remark 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 like a proportionate tenderness
towards differences of opinion. On the contrary,
they are usually 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 coincide with their own.
If such arguments as those just alluded to were
urged on behalf of those they denounce as
heterodox — if any thing approaching to the same
forbearance as they recomraend in the case of
immoral Christians, were proposed to be ex
tended 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

SECT. 8.3 Persecution. 293
think we should hear a loud clamour against
latitudinarian laxity and dangerous liberalism.
I am not of course contending that there may
not be, either a defect, or an excess, of strictness,
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, — that
those are in the one point the most scrupulous
in straining off* the gnat, who, in the other, are
the most ready to swallow the camel, — this con
firms what has been above said of the tendency
in our nature towards a more hostile feeling
against such as oppose or disavow our religion,
than against those who disobey and scandalize it.
And as this tendency is altogether natural,
so it is, as raight have been expected, eminently
Romish. Never was there a more prevailing
laxity of Christian morals, even among the very
governors of the Church of Rome, and never was
such corruption raore lightly thought of by her

294 Persecution. [essay v.
zealots, than at the very periods when She was
occupied in suppressing heresy with the most
unrelenting 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
which we regard with abhorrence in others, we
must seek that safety in self-distrust — in a vigilant
suspicion of the human heart.
Supposed And those, it may be added, are the most
bility of likely to be wanting in such self-distrust, and
men's being /. n • i • i i •
inconsist- consequcutly to tall into the practical adoption
ently right. . . , , , • i i
of persecutmg-prmciples, at variance with the
true spirit of Protestantism, who are the most
vehement in their disbelief of all tolerant senti-
raents coming from a Roman-catholic, and the
P " Epanchons nos coeurs sur la piete de Louis ; poussons
jusqu'au ciel nos acclamations , , . , Vous avez extermine
les heretiques ; c'est le digne ouvrage de votre regne ; e'en est
le propre caractere." — Bossuet.

SECT. 8.3 Persecution. 295
most ready to stigmatize them at once as mere
hypocrisy ; on the ground that theological works
containing persecuting dogmas (which by the
bye is the case with Bishop Jewell's and other
Protestant works) are retained and sanctioned
by Romanist divines. They cannot therefore, it
is urged, consistently disavow persecuting-prin-
ciples, without renouncing their allegiance to
their Church. But however true this may be,
do men never act inconsistently with their princi
ples ? And since we see every day how many
men will in practice depart from their principles
for the worse, it cannot surely be quite impos
sible that they should sometimes depart from
them for th^ better. Now those who overlook
the proneness of mankind to inconsistency are,
as I have said, the most likely to be lulled them
selves into a false security. Confident that a
Roman-catholic must always be, at least in heart,
a persecutor, because he belongs to a Church
which has sanctioned persecution, and which
cannot acknowledge an error, he is likely to be
equally confident that he himself is in no danger
of being a persecutor, because that is at variance
with Protestant-principles. But the Roman-

296 Persecution. [essay v..
catholic reveres, it seems, the authority of such
and such books, which inculcate persecution :
and does not he and every professed Christian,
revere the authority of the New Testament ? and
can any persecuting dogmas be more distinctly
and strongly expressed than the exhortations of
Jesus and his Apostles, to peace, gentleness,.
forgiveness, rendering of good for evil, and
abstinence from all employment of the sword
in his cause ? The professed Christian, who
persecutes, must, at any rate, be as inconsistent
as it is possible to be, with the principles he ac
knowledges. The fact is, that the disposition of the heart will
always in practice predominate either for the
better or the worse, over the professed creed ;
which men will always continue somehow or other
to explain away (before they formally renounce
it) when at variance with their habitual temper.
Without the sedulous cultivation of a Christian
spirit, no doctrinal system can afford any security
against the natural tendency to persecution.

Antichris- § 9. FoT it is to Humau Nature we must trace,
tians would , , , . , , , -i i • i
persecute, both this, and many other of those evils, which

SECT. 9. J Persecution. 297
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 predomhiant party, would persecute religion.
For, nearly the same causes, or others correspond
ing to thera, 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
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 in
sincere in their professed abhorrence of persecu
tion. As no one wishes to persecute, so, they

298 Persecution. [essay v.
probably do not anticipate (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 measures for promoting education and
circulating books calculated to enlighten the
people, the whole system of religious belief would,
gradually but speedily, die away, and be regarded
in the same light 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 counte
nance of government.
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

SECT. 9.] Persecution. 299
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
Apostles, the duty of submission even 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

300 Persecution. [essay v.
to assail with tumultuous insult and outrage, the
Christians ; who would in consequence be repre
sented by their eneraies as occasioning these
turaults, especially if, as is likely, 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 religion,
still it would be evident, that a revival and re
newed diffusion of Christianity, such as they were
furthering, must, after it should reach a certain
point, endanger 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 improve-
raent, as the fruitful source of civil dissensions,
and as involving disaffection to the then-existing
government, they would see a necessity for
actively interfering, with a view, (not indeed,
like religious-persecutors, to the salvation of
souls, but) to the secular welfare of their sub
jects, and the security and prosperity of the civil

SECT. 9.3 Persecution. 301
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 assembhes of
Christians. The Christians would then, in viola
tion of the law, circulate Bibles clandestinely,
and hold their assemblies in cellars, and on se
questered 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 description of the
state of things when the Christian Churches
were spreading in the midst of Heathenism.
And yet I have only been following up the con
jectures, which no one (believing in Christianity)
could fail to form, who was but tolerably ac
quainted 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
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
9 See Motto.

302 Persecution, [essay v.
some principle which is able to purify, to renovate,
to convert that nature; in short, to "create
Christianity THE NEW MAN.'"^ Christianity, often as its name
antidote to has bccn blazoned on the banners of the per-
pcrsecution. _,,.., , . i
secutor — Christianity, truly understood, as re
presented in the writings of its Founders, and
honestly applied, 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
departure from the general principle. Whereas
the plainest Christian, when he has once ascer
tained, as he easily raay, if he honestly consult
the Scriptures, what the will of God is, in this
point, will walk boldly forward in the path of his
¦duty, though he raay not see at every turn whither
it is leading hira ; and with full faith in the divine
' Eph. iv. 24,

SECT, 9.J Persecidion. 303
wisdom, will be ready, in pious confidence, to
leave events in the hands of Providence.

§ 10. I will conclude this Essay with a brief what things
do not ne-
notice of some mistakes as to the real character ^ssariiy
imply a per-
of persecution, on the opposite side to those secuting
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. Having already (§ 3.) spoken of the
mistakes as to what Persecution implies, it is ne
cessary to mention the mistake as to what implies
Persecution, I. There is not necessarily any thing of the violence to
.1 •! o conscience.
character of persecution in doing violence to
a man's conscience. Though at the first glance
this may be a starthng 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 the /a/se pleas which

304 Persecution. [essay v,
would doubtless be set up, when it was once
understood that all 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 Ministry. 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 raore hires the minister than
he does his landlord.' But still, as is well
known, the collection of tithes has been com
plained of as persecution. On much better
grounds might the same persons scruple to pay
taxes; (which they know are employed, among
^ I have known a striking ' instance of the confiision of
thought resulting from inaccuracy of language on this point.
A farmer declared to a friend of mine, that he would 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"

SECT, 10,] Persecution. 305
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
wives and families, when these would not adopt
their peculiar tenets.' 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
the Community, should interfere in those cases
' Fact.

306 Persecution. [essay v.
(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
religious system may be made out to affect in
some way the peace and well-being of the Com
munity. There is, I believe, no religion existing,
respecting which I have not seen an elaborate
proof that it leads to mischievous consequences
in practice, and that its professors are either
likely 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 limita
tion above suggested, there would be an opening
left for the forcible suppression, or for the forcible
establishment, by the Civil Magistrate, of any
religion whatever.
" 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
principle be laid down that shall not leave him
an opening to call in, whenever he is so
" " Render unto Caesar the things that be Csesar's, and
unto God the things that be God's."

SECT. 10.] Persecution. 307
disposed, 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 inclined to do so, 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
that he who is responsible only to God, has no
responsibility at all.
x2

308 Persecution. [essay v.
Secular and II. Although, howevcT, such is, OU Christian
ecclesiasti cal offices principles, the limitation of the Civil Magistrate's
combined. 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 political 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 imphes
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 individual 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
fixed general regulation, still he would be exer
cising, in respect of the same individuals, two

SECT, 10,3 Persecution. 309
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 Baronies, others Principalities, annexed to
their Sees ; and the Bishop of Rome in par
ticular 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
all things that in any way pertain 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,
are two distinct faults ; the latter of which is so
far from being necessarily connected with the

310 Persecution. [essay v.
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 religion 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
of each country or period. What we are at pre
sent concerned with is, merely to determine what

SECT. 10,3 Persecution. 311
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 withhold
ing on
of persecution in a man's requiring his servants, religious
grounds
or his tenants, or the tradesmen he deals with, any thing
to which a
or all that associate with hira, to be pious cha- ™^n ^^^
no previous
racters, or to be of his own religious persuasion "^'si't-
or practice, even down to the minutest particu
lars : I mean, of course, supposing him not to
disappoint any expectations that may reasonably
have been formed ; for reasonable expectation
is a ground of equitable right. This is so evi
dent, that it would not have needed being
mentioned, but that we are so liable to have our
thoughts insensibly led astray by language.'" We
hear, for instance, of a man's being compelled to
adopt this or that form of religion, 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 compulsion, since it
interferes with no man's natural, or previously
^ Elements of Logic, chap. iii. § 5.

312 Persecution. [essay v.
existing, rights;'' and that to prohibit such a
procedure would 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 ilhberality ; 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 still 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 are designed. A man is said to be com-
y 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, I cannot
see why the principle should not have been recognized, and
acted upon uniformly.
" See above, § 3, subsect, I, of this Essay,

SECT, 10.] Persecution. 313
pelled to subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles, if
he would hold a Church-hving, 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 charac
ter 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 a share, is a manifest anomaly and incon-
* See Appendix to Elements of Logic ; article " Necessary."

314 Persecution. [essay v.
sistency ; though one which raay 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 intolerant spirit, that, on the
contrary, as long as they confine themselves to
matters exclusively religious, they would justly
regard the interference 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 practice it lead to the most
important or the most trifling results ; — whether,
for instance, a majority of the Assembly which
governs a particular Church, be of a different
persuasion, or whether one single Roman-Catho
lic or Dissenter have a voice in the election of a
member of that Assembly.''
b 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
— less hostile to our Church — than the Romanists ; still the

SECT. 10.3 Persecution. 315
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
sembly, which alone exercises the right of legis
lating for the Church, in all matters, is also

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 re;flecting 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 ' the 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.

316 Persecution. [essay v.
the suprerae legislating-body in secular concerns;
does it not savour of intolerance to exclude, by
a test-law, frora such an Assembly, or frora
electing 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 v/ho is not disquahfied 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 diffl-
culties in the case. It is as if a man should put
in an equitable claim to a house, some parts of
which are confessedly none of his ; or to a piece
of land, on which there are buildings erected, to

SECT. 10.3 Persecution. 317
which he has no right. The problem, to keep
clear of both of these opposite anomalies, 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
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
^ It ought to be mentioned, in justice to Sir 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 each 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.

318 Persecution. [essay v.
out in what relation that question stands to the
subject of the present chapter.^
Self-defense. IV. Lastly, thcro 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
hgious meetings, insult, libel, or any other such
molestation, from those of an adverse party.
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 has not, for that reason,
'^ 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
consisted the anomaly, which alone it is for my present
purpose 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 matter in hand.

SECT. 10.3 Persecution. 319
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-
defense, but to take what will seem the effectual
step, of putting down altogether the hostile party.
To guard against overstepping the proper hne
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
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
will teach their own application, or supersede the
exercise of practical good sense, cautious delibe-'
ration, and Christian candour.

320 Persecution. [essay v.
Danger of It may be worth while, however, to observe,
mistaking , . , . •.. • i i.
our own IU couclusion, how important it is always to
GoTr °' keep in mind, that the Cross which our Master
and his Apostles bore so raeekly, 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, implies, 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
to feel greater indignation at such conduct, than
at the equal affront offered to God by those who
acknowledge his claim, while in their hves they
habitually disregard it, to their love, gratitude,
veneration, and obedience. But yet, as every
one who insults us on account of our rehgion.

SECT. 10.] Persecution. 321
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 called the Christian
World, shall have becorae ranch 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,
though it is his duty not wantonly to provoke
obloquy and opposition, by any indiscreet or
violent conduct, yet raust not expect always to
escape such mortifications; and he should be
prepared so to meet them, as to shew how far
V

322 Persecution. [essay v.
beyond "the praise of raen" he prizes the ap
probation of Him " who seeth in secret."
Patient Still, cascs may undoubtedly occur, in which
endurance thesafeside.it wiU bc our right and our duty to use raeans
for protecting ourselves or others, against law
less aggression. No rule, as I have said, can be
laid down, which will supersede the exercise of
a sound and unbiassed judgraent, 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, raust 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.^ On this principle, we should always, in
respect of any matters connected with our reli
gion, be more willing to have it asked, why we
do not, than why we do, resort to the aid of the
Civil power. ' Arist. Eth. b. ii. ch. 9.

SECT. 10.] Persecution. 323
And even when we have fully determined what
procedure is in itself right, we must be still
watchful over our own heart, subjecting our
motives 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.

y2

NOTES.

Note A, page 254.
^Grotius, speaking of the establishment of the reformed
Religion by the States of Holland, says, " Recepta pub-
lice disciplina quae Geneva, et in Palitinatu Germanise,
passimque alibi, docebatur: hoc tamen interest, quod
ejusdem religionis alii, diversas minus tolerant : Quippe,
non in hoc tantum ordinatas a Deo Civitates ac Magis
tratus dictantes ut a Corporibus et Possessionibus injuriae
abessent, sed ut quo more. Ipse jussisset, eo, in commune
coleretur; cujus officii negligentes, multos, poenam
aliorum impietati debitam, in se accercisse. Contra,
istae nationes," &c. The Dutch States regarded the
maintaining of a false religion, as a sin only, not a orime ;
(according to the distinction so ably drawn by Bishop
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 cir
cumstance that in very many cases the same act will be
both a sin and a crime, confounded the two together;
and regarding it the duty of the magistrate, as entrusted
with the care of his subjects' good, generally, to enforce

Notes. 325
every 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 impos-
sibiliti/ of salvation 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 following passages, breathing the same spirit, are
extracted from a work which received the sanction of a
large and influential body of Protestants within the pre
sent 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?
And can he leave out any part of that which constitutes
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 sub
jects the best aids of Religion?" (On this principle I
cannot conceive how the Sovereign can be justified in
affording toleration 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 divine and
human things is a rejection of Providence," (The pre
cept of " Render unto Caesar the things that be Caesar's,

326 Notes.
and unto God the things that be God's," seems rather at
variance with this,) " I should not have dwelt so long
upon so plain a proposition as that which afiirms it to be
the duty of the Sovereign to provide a true religion for
his people," (this must imply, conformably with the fore
going principles, the prohibition of aW 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 conclu
sion which inevitably follows from his principles, or
whether he was merely designing to advocate what is
commonly understood 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, Warburton ;
whom he describes as " feeling no concern for the truth
of the religion which he calls to his aid," and as repre
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 esta
blishment of a religion by the civil magistrate, we must
waive the question as to the truth of each, because each
man '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

Notes. 327
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 whom I 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-connexion of these two things, which are so
often confounded. Note B, pages 276, 284.
" Christians must generally, it would seem, believe in
Christ, because their spiritual rulers do, and reject the infi
del's views, because these people are pronounced accursed.
Nay, the supposition 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 impossible that it should not
be so. The 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

328 Notes.
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 occasional success of those who
have found flaws in the several parts of evidence is in
valuable. We believe what is not disproved, 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 because he is confronted, cross-examined, suspected,
and assailed by arts fair and unfair. It is not his autho
rity, but the reasonableness of the case. It becomes
conviction well grounded, and not assent to man's
words," — London Review," No. II. pp. 361, 362.
And so likewise, on other subjects also, a well-grounded
belief may be based on premises whose truth we have
not and could not have ascertained for ourselves, by per
sonal investigation ; and which again we do not take on
» Published by Saunders and Ottley, 1829. Another periodical
has since appeared under the same title, but perfectly distinct in
everything else.

Notes. 329
trust from the testimony of those whom we have chosen
to follow implicitly, but which we believe on uncontra
dicted testimony, inasmuch as the statements in question
are open to every one's investigation, and would, we are
sure, be impugned by many, if they were at all doubtful.
The distance of the earth, for instance, from the sun, is
believed, and believed on good grounds, by many who
are incompetent to make the requisite observations and
calculations for themselves ; not on the bare authority of
certain astronomers, but on the tacit confirmation of this
by all the rest ; many of whom would, we are sure, be
glad to be able to rectify, if they could, any error into
which their rivals in the pursuit of scientific fame might
have fallen.
It is important however to observe that although
secular interference tends to impair, more or less, this
evidence, yet most of the points which are thus, and thus
only, capable of being verified by the mass of mankind,
are of such a description as to admit of being freely dis
cussed (as in fact they have been) even in Countries
where an avowed attack on Christianity would be pro
hibited (and that prohibition enforced) by the law. For
instance, the existence and antiquity of certain Greek,
Latin, and Hebrew manuscripts — the fidelity of trans
lations — the testimonies of ancient Pagan and Christian
writers — the existence of various monuments, &c. are
points necessarily involved in the discussion of the ex
ternal evidences of Christianity: and yet few of the
educated, and none of the uneducated classes, ever saw
an ancient Greek manuscript, or could read it if they

330 Notes.
did : few can attest from their own personal knowledge
even the existence of such a city as Jerusalem. Never
theless men are fully justified in believing matters of this
kind, on the testimony of those who have made the
investigation, when no one has attempted to deny them.
For, except perhaps where some arbitrary tribunal exists
for the licensing of books, such as a Star-chamber or
Inquisition, every one is fully at liberty to question the
genuineness of any particular manuscript, or the fidelity
of any particular translation, &c. even though the laws
should prohibit the denial, generally, of the truth of the
Christian religion.
Still, the existence of any such laws, does, as I have
said, tend, as far as they are enforced, or can be repre
sented as likely to be enforced, to take away something
from the influence of this most important branch of evi
dence. And the existing state of things, in this country,
in reference to those laws, is such as a judicious advocate
of Christianity must lament, and an insidious opponent
ought to rejoice in secretly, while he publicly complains
of it ; for it does in fact enable him, with a very mode
rate exercise of caution, to urge, in substance, all he has
to say against our religion, and, at the same time, to hint
that he could say much more, if the law would allow
him ; and that Christians dare not run the hazard of a
perfectly free discussion.

ESSAY VI,

TRUST IN NAMES AND PRIVILEGES,

§ 1, Mankind 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 necessarily implying some
superior benefit to the possessor.
How strongly this tendency operated among Trust of the
ancient
the Jews of old, we have ample proof in the Jews in
their title.
Bible. Even under the Old dispensation we may
gather frora the writings of the prophets, that, in
spite of their nuraberless backslidings, they still
flattered themselves that, as the Lord's chosen

332 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
and peculiar people, and as having amoiig 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,
indeed, 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

SECT, l,j Trust in names and privileges. 333
you, that God is able of these stones to raise up
children unto Abraham." The Apostle Paul in
hke 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
circumcision nor uncircumcision profiteth any
thing, but a new creature ;" and that the be
lieving 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 cere
monial 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

334 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi,
of being under the Law, independently of the
observance of it ; or of any but the ceremonial
parts of it ; as if a certain degree, at least, of
divine favour was secured by the mere circum
stance of having received by Revelation the
divine comraands, even though they were not
careful to obey thera. The greater part of the
early portion of the Epistle to the Roraans is
taken up in corabating this strange delusion : he
assures thera 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 dishonouring God, by breaking
the Law in which they made their boast, so
notoriously, that the name of God was "blas
phemed among the Gentiles through thera,"

Warnings § 2, A like cTroT sBcms to have prevailed no
given to
the early less amoHg the early Christians generally, in
Christians
of a like respect of the pride and vain-confidence with
danger. which they regarded their privileges as Christians,
The Apostle warns them in the same Epistle, that
as the natural branch («'. e. the Israehtes after the

SECT. 2.3 Tru.it ill names and privileges. 3.'?5
flesh) had been broken off, and they grafted in,
so, a like severity was to be expected by them
also, as God had exercised towards the disobe
dient 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 con
fidence in their peculiar privileges, and neglectful
of the peculiar responsibility 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
addressing, and cautions them by the same
example, " how the Lord after having saved the
" Essay III. Second Series.

336 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards
destroyed them that believed not."
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 merabers 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 pecuhar 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 at least
some superior degree of divine favour is reserved

SECT. 3.] Trust in names a7id privileges. 337
for them as " true believers," beyond what can
be expected even by the best of those who are
strangers to the Koran : while the Author of our
faith, on the contrary, 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 Exemplifi
cation of the
the example of the Romanists, and even of the universality
of the ten-
Mahometans, we must waive, for the time, all dency to
trust in
questions concerning the unsoundness of their '"les.
tenets, and confine our view to the danger which
is coraraon to raen of all persuasions, whether
essentially correct, or contarainated 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

338 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
expecting to be saved by their privileges, rather
than by the use made of them. And if the
Romanists were following in their system of
doctrine and discipline, not the dictates of weak
or wicked men, but those of a truly infallible
Apostle, this would not alone secure them frora
the very error which the Apostles themselves
found perpetually springing up among their con
verts, even in their own lifetime ; the tendency
to substitute the means of grace for the fruits of
grace ; — the proud confidence of belonging 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 connexion with
a highly-endowed Society.
It is true that the Romish Church has erred in
many essential points ; but nothing probably has

SECT. 3.] Trust in names and privileges. 339
raore contributed to lead her into those errors
than reliance on Naraes and Privileges. Spiritual
advantages which are real, and titles which are
not misapplied, may be made subjects of pre
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 naturally 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 reliance on their
intrinsic efficacy, without an endeavour to ira-
prove thera; — the land which was fertile, becoraes
a desert, through a confident trust that it will
ensure wealth to the possessor, while he neglects
to till it.
A familiar illustration 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
quirement of learning ; and, to others, sorae
degree of presumption that he has used his
advantages. How many accordingly pride them
selves on being merabers of such a Society, and
z2

340 Trust in names and privileges. [Essay vi.
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.
All this has been strikingly illustrated in the
progressive history of the Church of Rome.
She was 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

SECT. 3.] Trust in natnes a7id privileges. 341
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
by Christ, which are strictly called the Sacra
ments, and public joint worship, itself of a sacra
mental character ;" — they had learned to despise
and abhor the superstitious offerings, purifica
tions, 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
them just reason for rejoicing (but for rejoicing
in trembling gratitude, and not with careless
pride) in the dehverance 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,
thera ; 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
'' Hinds's Rise and Progress of Christianity.

342 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
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 Cathohc — of the Church of God — and
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 becorae an harlot ?"
They ended in overlaying Christianity, one by
one, with the very errors and superstitions (in

SECT. 3.3 Trust in names and privileges. 343
substance) frora 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
chief adoration to deified mortals : the Scriptures
were secluded from the people under the veil of
an unknown tongue," 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 effect;" their sacra
ments became superstitious charms ; their public
worship a kind of magic incantation muttered in
a dead language ; and Christian holiness of life
was coramuted for holy water — for fantastic
penances, pilgriraages, araulets, pecuniary dona
tions, and a whole train of superstitious observ
ances, worthy of Paganism in its worst forms.
" How is the faithful city becorae an harlot !"
They trusted in Privileges and Names, till the
privileges were lost, and the names became an
empty sound. But still they are as proud of
" A language, be it remembered, which gradually became
obsolete : for no Church ever introduced the use of an un
known tongue, it its prayers, or recital of Scripture.

344 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
thera as ever. They distinguish themselves by
the title of Catholics,** merabers of the True
Church — adherents to the ancient faith : nay,
even Christians is a title by which on the Con
tinent they sometimes distinguish themselves
from those heretics,* as they term them, who
chiefiy differ from themselves in trusting in Christ
as the One Mediator, instead of a host of pre
tended saints. And the further the Church of
Rome departed frora the pure character of a
Christian Church, the more boldly did its gover
nors assert their claim to supremacy over every
other Church. Such monstrous corruptions
could never have been introduced into any
Church by the arts of a worldly and ambitious
hierarchy, had not the individual merabers of it
been lulled into a false security, by boastfully
conteraplating their Christian privileges, instead
of dwelling on the additional responsibihty these
privileges create ; by priding theraselves on
* See note A in the Appendix.
'^ Those in the neighbourhood of the Vaudois, in particular,
distinguish themselves from the members of that pure and
ancient Church, by the distinguishing appellation of Chris
tians.

SECT. 4.3 Tf'ust in names and privileges. 345
names, without bestowing a watchful attention
on the things those names denote.

§ 4. The warning of the Apostle, in his Epistle Danger of
. Protestants.
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
Church of Rome were lost on the succeeding
generations of that Church : shall they be also
lost on us 1 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 dehverance, as you
are liable to do, on yours : they felt confident

346 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
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
substantially 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 bewildered by the false
hght of a delusive superstition : if God spared
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."
Ancient xhc cxamplcs which are adduced from the
examples ^
.the most 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

instructive.

SECT. 4.] Trust in names and privileges. 347
faults of others, because those to which we are
liable are not the same in name, and in all the
accorapanying circumstances. Yet this very
difference (and hence it is that such examples
are the more instructive) proves that they were
not copied, the one from the other, but originate
in a common and deep-seated source. And it
would enable us to draw the more instruction
from such examples, if we would but remember
that man's nature is always, and every where,
substantially the same ; because we view with
a raore impartial eye such errors as do not pre
cisely resemble what prevail among ourselves.
For these reasons, the backslidings of the Israel
ites 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 thera ; disposed, as they pro
bably were, to rest in their high privileges as
God's People, even as the Israelites did of old ;
and to think, like them, their deliverance com
plete, and their attainment of the promised
inheritance secure, without watchfulness against
the trials that awaited them.

348 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
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
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.
Recapitula- § 5. lu puTsuiug this vicw, I took occasiou to
tion of the
work. illustrate the general principle, by touching briefly
on some of the particular points in which faults,
essentially the same with those of the Roraanists,
have beset, and will ever beset, the rest of raan-
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

SECT, 5,] Trust in names and privileges. 349
one to follow up for hiraself 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 raust perceive the necessity of
conteraplating, as in a rairror, this portraiture of
his own infirraities, and of not merely abjuring,
once for all, the errors he censures in another,
but guarding against them with incessant vigi
lance. The raore secure any one feels against
his liability to errors, to which in fact he is liable,
the greater raust be his real danger of falhng into
them. In pointing out, accordingly, several particular Dangerof
classes of- faults to which Protestants are hable, rity.
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 hkely to feel, in our renun
ciation of the Papal dominion, against the errors
of Romanism. I could not therefore, I thought.

350 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
more properly conclude this treatise, than by ob
serving, that this very false security is itself one
of the most fatal of those errors ; — that we are in
fact imitating the Romanists, if we securely exult
in our separation from thera : — if we trust in the
name of Protestant, as they do in that of Cathohc ;
and look back, with proud satisfaction, on our
emancipation from their corrupt system, without
also looking forward, to guard vigilantly against
the 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-con
gratulation is more agreeable than self-examin
ation. But with a view to our own practical
improveraent, 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

SECT, 5,3 Trust in names and privileges. 351
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 profit
by the example before him.
The errors which, with these views, I selected Superstition, vica-
for consideration, as being among the most pro- ".o"s '^.i>-
c <^ <¦ gion, pious
minent, and usually regarded as most character- f"^^"*^^' ^'=-
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
life 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
' See Appendix B.

352 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
deference to Human Authority ; as, in other
points, so especially, in forgetting the legitimate
use of creeds, catechisms, liturgies, and other
such compositions set forth by any Church, and
intruding them gradually into the place of Scrip
ture, by habitually appealing to them (where the
appeal ought always to be made to the records
of inspiration) in proof of any doctrine that is in
question : which practice I pointed out as not
originally the consequence, but the cause, of the
claim to inspiration and infallibility set up by
the Church :^ 5. Lastly, I remarked, that Into
lerance, or the spirit of Persecution, i. e. the
disposition to enforce 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-
8 See Essay VI. First Series,

SECT. 6.3 Trust in names and pririleges. 353
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
nature ; — if they build their security on their
being out of the pale of that corrupt Church,
and neglect to guard against the spirit of those
corruptions, while they exult in the Name of
Protestants, This careless reliance on Titles
and Privileges, is, as I have in this Essay been
endeavouring to shew, itself one of the most
mischievous of the Romish errors, and which
has mainly contributed to favour the intro
duction of the rest.
§ 6. In what way then, it may 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 mul
titudes who exult in the title of Christian — of
Protestant — of Churchman — and in their be
longing to a Society endowed with such high
privileges ? There are : and would to God the
description, thus far, were even more universally
applicable than it is ; for in these things we
A A

354 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
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 divine favour, to possess
thera — do all of these reflect on the superior
responsibility which is thus imposed on them?
Do none of them (in feelings 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
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 ?
Titles which NoT is it to the uamcs of Christian and of
Protestantsateindangei Protestant alouc, that these cautions will apply:
of trusting
to. every title which we claim that implies any

SECT. 6,] Trust in 7iames and privileges. 355
peculiar advantage, involves a corresponding
responsibihty ; and a corresponding danger, if
we forget that responsibility. Does any one
consider himself entitled to the name of Church
man — of Orthodox — of Evangehcal — of a serious
Christian? — 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.
Some members of the Romish Church, not Trust in the
membership
satisfied with merely belonging to that Church, of a society.
and with the title of Catholics, have enrolled
themselves in certain subordinate Societies, (or
Rehgious Orders as they are called,) enlisting
themselves under the banner of sorae founder,
of supposed superior sanctity. I am not now
inquiring 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 religious Com
munities whatever) of that evil which has so noto
riously attended the Religious Societies of the
aa2

356 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
Romish Church : — the evil, I mean, of consider
ing the mutual connexion of the members of such
Societies as a kind of partnership ; in which each
member may hope to derive some benefit at least,
from 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
been brought to acknowledge it. The desire
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 thera, to the case of Members of a Religious
Society. And this danger, being, as I have said,
one which necessarily besets every religious

SECT. 6.] Trust in names and privileges. 357
Society, 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 all, is to be
made, through the intercession of the one Medi
ator and Redeemer, whose Spirit sanctifies his
heart, acceptable before God. The pious labours
of others can do nothing for any raan, 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,'

358 Trust in names and privileges, [essay vi.
has not " departed from iniquity ;" — who " hear-
eth his words, and doeth thera not ;" — whos^ 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
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.]
The title of Cat/ioUcs, the Romanists claim, and apply
to themselves, not merely as belonging to thera, (and it
is not denied that they are a branch, though in some
respects a corrupt one, of the Universal or Catholic
Church,) but as distinctive, 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, ivhen it
shall have become common, to be complained of as re
proachful ; or that they will ever acquiesce in any appel
lation which does not imply a reproach to ourselves. Even

360 Appendix.
the apparently neutral designation of " Members of the
Church of Rome," is one which we must not too confi
dently expect them to adopt or acquiesce in ; nor is it
unlikely that they may complain of it as reproachful,
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 con
stituting any distinct Church, but as actually merabers,
though schismatical and revolted merabers^ — subjects, de
jure, though rebellious subjects — of their Church. A
name therefore which implies, 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 true 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 ail other Christians. The title
of Catholic, when used as distinctive, implies the exclu
sion of all others from the character of loyal merabers of
the Society which Christ founded — of " the holy Catholic
Church, the Communion of Saints," as it is expressed and
explained in the Apostles' 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 baptize;

Appcndi.r. 361
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 con
vinced 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 himself. The
title of Antipaedobaptist is to be sure somewhat 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 our 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 compliance with a custom, which however
general, and perhaps harmless, I cannot but regard as
objectionable,"^ I am myself a Catholic, and a Baptist, and a Unitarian ;
and, 1 trust, both Orthodox and Evangelical : but I will
never assume any of these titles as terms of distinction
frora such as do not professedly differ from me on the
several points which are in question respectively.
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 something
disgraceful in the opinion of the party to whom it is applied.

a Note to Bishop Copleston's Sermon at the re-opening of
Abergavenny Church.

362 Appendix.
Thus, Heretic (in its ordinary, not perhaps in its etymo
logical 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 applied, 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 Protestants,
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 Romanists, 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 institution.
' It was not from a love of contending about words,
still less frora any reluctance to give every possible satis
faction to the Roraish priesthood, that I persisted in
refusing the unqualified term " Catholic" to thera and
their Church. The use which they make of it, when it
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

Appendi.v. 363
the God of truth, either in solemn worship or in private
devotion, they are forced each of them to repeat, / be
lieve in THE Catholic Church, and yet, if I ask any
of them the question, are you a Catholic? he is
sure to answer me. No ! I am a Protestant ! ! — Was
there ever a more glaring instance of inconsistency and
self-condemnation araong 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 theraselves to
limit the practical use of the terra 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 1 would censure more strongly than
a wanton offence given to the feelings of others, on
account of a sincere difference in religious opinion.
Yet I cannot carry this principle so far as to abstain
from calling the merabers of that Church who refuse to
join in our reforraation of its errors, by some appel
lation which marks their adherence to its communion,
and their subraission to its authority. Papist appears
to me the most correct designation, ben^ause the differ-

364 Appendix.
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 under
stood 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 raore than mere submission to Papal
supremacy ; it implies the adoption of an erroneous
system, and submission to an usurped authority."
It implies no such thing. That indeed is my opinion
respecting the Roraish system ; but the word does not
denote that. The difference is practically very great
and iraportant, between a word which itself eapresses
error or wrong, and a word which denotes sorae thing
which the speaker believes to be erroneous or wrong,
*> Bishop. Copleston's Sermon at Abergavenny, pp. 23, 24.

Appendix. 3G5
One person, for instance, may think a democracy the
best form of government, and another raay think it the
worst ; the one will consequently have the most pleasing,
the other the most odious, associations with the term
Deraocrat; but the word itself is not used by them in
two different senses ; it expresses siraply, an " advocate
for deraocracy ;" and it is not, in itself, either a term
of honour or of reproach. On the other hand, "patriot"
and " traitor" iraply, respectively, honour and dis
honour, in their very signification.
Inattention to this obvious distinction leads to endless
confusion of thought and practical perplexity. Tf every
term is to be reckoned reproachful, ichich is associated, in
the mind of him u-ho uses it, with some odious or con
temptible idea, then, the title o/'CATHOLIC tcill 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 opinion,
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
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 iraply Mahoraet's being
either a false or a true prophet; and they accordingly
do not regard it as a reproachful title.
But the term Christian woidd be reproachful if
applied by one Mahometan to another; because it ex-

366 Appendix.
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 appellation, 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 hira who does, profess that
principle. But we are told, that the terra 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 us. To call theraselves, distinc
tively Catholics, is (as they at least are well aware,
v/hat€ver we may be) to call us heretics. Let them be
admonished, that when they except against the name of
Papist, and assurae that of Catholics, declaiming at the
same time against the cruelty of using reproachful lan
guage — let them be admonished, that the censure applies,
not to us, but to theraselves.
If each Body of religionists is to choose its own
appellation, (which all have a right to do, if any have
such a right) and insist on the exclusive eraployment of it,
the Mahometans, we know, will require that they should
be distinguished by the title of " true-believers,"

Appendi.v. 367
And let it not be thought that this is a trifling " ques
tion 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 controversy, of
suffering to pass unnoticed and to become established,
such terms as beg the question, and virtually iraply a
decision on one side. I remeraber to have met with a
Romanist, (by no means bigoted) of the middle class of
society, with whom I had a good deal of discussion of the
points wherein we differed. What seemed to dwell raost
on his mind was, the inconsistency, as he deemed it, of
our professing belief in " the Holy Catholic 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 foreraost one which I
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 f but what they
"= 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.
The term is sometimes defended on the ground that it means
" Self-justification." I do not wish to dwell strongly on verbal ques
tions : but it certainly is no vindication of a word, to shew that it has
a meaning which might have been properly and precisely expressed
by a different word.

368 Appendix.
mean is, a trust in the merit of good-works, as sufficient
to earn eternal happiness, and as entitling a raan to that,
as a just reward.
The Roraish 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."'^
d The error which is perhaps the commonest among Protestants,
on this point, is that of forgetting that the "works" by which the
Pharisees sovight " to establish their own righteousness which was of
the Law,'' were, not the performance of moral duties, but ceremonial
observances ; which, in fact, they were accustomed to regard as a
substitute for "the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy,
and faith." (Matt, xxiii. 23.) So far from resting their justification
on the strict morality of their lives, we find them not only repeatedly
censured by our Lord for their gross immorality, but spoken of by
Paul (Rom. ii. 17, 24,) as bringing a scandal on their religion in
the eyes of the Gentiles, by their notorious Violations of their moral
law. (See Matt, xxiii. 14, 27.)
To found a claim to immortal happiness on the ground of morality
of life, would have been indeed an error, but a far different one from
theirs, who trusted in their compliance with the ceremonial law.

Appendix. 369
That part of their theory which is the most objection
able on this score, is the doctrine, that from the pains of
Purgatory, Christ has not redeemed us, but we are 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 the use of the words "merit," and "reward,"
as by the iraportance attached to the actual performance
of a vast multitude of specific works, many of them ar
bitrarily prescribed, such as abstinence frora particular
meats on particular daj's, — repetition of "Ave Marys"
and " Pater-nosters" — pilgriraages— 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 advancing

An error, very nearly the same, had crept in among us to a vast
extent, before the Reformation. " Good works " had come to signify,
principally, if not exclusively, pilgrimages, fasts, genuflections, and
ceremonial observances ot various kinds ; and hence our Reformers
used much the same language as the Apostle Paul, with the same
meaning, and on a like occasion.
Both were, indeed, well aware that virtuous actions can never
give a man a claim to the Christian promises, independently of Chris
tian faith ; and also that the best actions — in themselves the best —
are not acceptable in God's sight (indeed are not even morally virtuous
at all) independently of the principle from which they spring. But it
is a notorious fact, that it was not by virtuous actions — what are
usually so called — that the Judaizing Christians, and the later cor
rupters of Christianity, sought to justify themselves, but by ceremonial
observances. I! B

370 Appendix.
in the performance of something intrinsically capable of
forwarding our salvation.
It is worth remarking that the great heathen moralist,
who understood raore 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 raind of the agent is the principal point ; virtuous
actions being only the means, though the necessary raeans,
of making him, and oi proving him to be, (what is to be
the ultimate object sought after,) an habitually good «ms»,^
But it is an easier task for Man, 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.''
In strictness of language, the terms virtuous and
vicious do not belong to any action, but to the disposi
tion of the agent ; since it is plain that the very same act
may be either a virtuous, or a sinful, or a morally indif
ferent act, according to the motive from which it pro
ceeded. So far therefore from any good works being
intrinsically meritorious, there are none that can be even in
trinsically virtuous. To be acceptable in God's sight they
must be " the fruits of the Spirit ;" — the fruits of the
branches which grow on the true Vine, without whom
" we can do nothing ;" and it is surely both safer and

e See Arist. Eth. b. ii.
f See Essays V. and VIII. Second Series.

Ajypendix. 371
more scriptural, to teach raen this, adding, from the same
authority, that every unfruitful branch will be cut off,
and that he only who " doeth the will of his heavenly
Father" shall "enter into his kingdom," than to state
broadly and without modification that nothing a man can
do has any tendency to forward his salvation, and to
represent him as altogether passive in the great work.
Such language, I am aware, may be, and is, so explained
as not to countenance an immoral or a negligent life : but
it is wantonly incurring a risk, to use, in conveying
Christian doctrines, language more liable to misappre
hension than that of Scripture, or to apply to moral
duties the expressions used by the Apostles when they
were speaking of ceremonial observances,
I have often had occasion however to observe, that
(not only in religious matters, but in others also) each
Party, School, or Sect, are disposed to prize the raore
highly their own peculiar phraseology, and to attach the
more importance to it, in proportion as it is obscurely
technical, enigmatical, and, as an instrument of thought,
cumbrous and inconvenient. For, these qualities cause •
it to mark the more strongly the distinction (and man is
by nature prone to delight in any kind of distinction)
between the adept and the uninitiated, — between one
who does, and who does not, belong to their own school.
They feel thence the more strongly their supposed
superiority over another, who will often be palpably at a
loss to understand their meaning : and taking for granted
(as is commonly done) that one not familiar with the
language in which they have been accustomed to express
B B 2

372 Appendix.
their tenets, is utterly ignorant of the tenets themselves,
they look down on him with exulting pity and scorn as
not knowing the Gospel, — as a carnal man, (in a state of
natural blindness,) by whom the things of God cannot be
comprehended. Just so, some nations of savages, it is
said, are found to regard as greatly their inferiors the
European Missionaries whom they find ignorant of their
language, or speaking it incorrectly.
There is moreover a peculiar kind of gratification, —
furnished by the employment of numerous uncouth tech
nical phrases, from the conscious exercise of ingenuity,
in wielding skilfully a curabrous instrument, — in main
taining successfully a revolting paradox, which perhaps
after all is only a verbal paradox ; — and in so explaining
as to keep clear of mischievous consequences, some
dogma which has thus been made to appear at first sight
very dangerous ; and which perhaps may often in practice
prove so ; though it raay have been, when stated in plain
language, perfectly harmless, and perfectly well known,
I cannot but think the error just described is imputable
to sorae of those writers who are accustomed to employ
the most profusely the terra " self-righteous," as descrip
tive of those who relying on the raerit of the good deeds
they have perforraed or expect to perforra, " trust in
theraselves that they are righteous" and that they are,
or shall be, justified before God by their own works, and
authorised to claim reward as fairly earned from Him.
The doctrinal error indeed may be held by a man who
having a similar belief, generally, may be, individually,
doubtful or perhaps desponding, as to his own present

Ajipenduv. 373
condition, from consciousness of his own deficiency in
those good works which he conceives necessary to esta
blish a claira to heavenly happiness. But a person of
this latter description is raore likely than not, either to
become convinced of the unsoundness of the doctrine of
self-justification altogether, or to turn away his mind
altogether frora religious thoughts which will have be
corae a source of wretchedness, or, lastly, to satisfy hira
self that his virtues, or (raore frequently) his cereraonial
observances, do at length justify hira before God. The
raost usual result therefore, by far, of the erroneous
doctrine above described, is that species of spiritual
pride which consists in an arrogant claim founded on
the performance of certain good works.
It is a great mistake however (and it is to this I am
especially directing the reader's attention at present) to
imagine that Protestants, even those who are the for
wardest in condemning this particular kind of Spiritual-
Pride, which is connected with what they call " self-
righteousness," are therefore exerapt frora the danger of
Spiritual-Pride altogether. On the contrary, one raay
find but too plain symptoms of the same disease, even in
some who the most abhor and conderan all reliance on
the raerit of good works. For Pride is too natural an
inmate of the human heart to be effectually excluded by
being raerely " at one entrance quite shut out." There
are some, as I have above remarked,^ who substitute an
unerring Party for an unerring Church, or renounce the
shackles of Papal infallibility, as it were in a spirit of
8 See Essay IV.

374 Appendix.
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 himself the
chief of sinners — proclaiming his own righteousness 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 hiraself of the righteous works performed by Christ''- — ¦
and acknowledging that he has received every thing frora
God's free and unmerited bounty ; and thence fully trust
ing that he raust 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. Now on this ground we raay con
ceive the Pharisee in the Parable to have congratulated
himself on his humility as well as his other virtues;
since he exclairas, in pious gratitude, " God, I 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 acknowledging,
(«!* 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
ii See Essay VI. Second Series.

AppendiJL'. 375
who abhors the very name of "merit" as applied to hira
self or to other men, will have renounced boasting, only
. in words, and will be full of the raost overweening con
fidence in his own gifls and graces. For there is a striking
resemblance between the Roraanist and the fanatical
Pietist, in their each craving after, (though from different
quarters,) and each in consequence flattering hiraself as
having attained, some such definite and certain assurance,
the one firom his Church, the other from his feelino's, as
may finally supersede hesitation and self-distrust' — destroy
the true nature and value of faith — and deprive the pre
sent 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 proclaira himself 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 his help sought and granted, the clearest intel
lectual 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 dis
dain. 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 infal-
i See Essay VI. First Series, § 9.
^ See Essay IX. Second Series.

376 Appendix.
libility. 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 conviction, and to shew that he makes
allowance for this difference : if he does reckon himself,
properly, inspired, he ought at least not to censure the
Romish Church for the presuraptuous arrogance of her
claim, but honestly to join issue on the question, whether
he, or they, are justified in such a claim : a claim which,
it appears to me, can only be established by the perform
ance of sensible miracles.
And I cannot but think the Romanists have the
advantage in point of consistency over many modern
fanatics ; inasmuch as their Church does acknowledge
the reasonableness of such an appeal, and claim mira
culous powers. But one raay 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, conforra to their phraseology in expressing
them ; — and they look down with the same pharisaical
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

Appendix. 311
these with such objections as they are at a loss to answer,
they will in general boldly and prompdy resort to the
cheap expedient of pronouncing hira incapable of com
prehending the subject, from being in an unregenerate
state : for " the natural man receiveth 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 raerit whatsoever for their own good works,
and pretending only to the character of the peculiarly-
favoured and inspired people of God, they flatter thera
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 confident of being
wholly free from it, I may expect therefore that in pro
portion as the view I have taken may be a just one, it
will be the more likely to give offence. The suggestion
of a possibility of being self-deceived in respect of the
virtue of humility will startle and shock each person the
more, the raore fully convinced he is in his own mind

378 Appendix.
that he does possess that virtue : and the less he really
possesses it, he will be of course the more resentful and
impatient of admonition.
If such be, as I fear it is, but too true a picture of the
language and tone of feeling which may not unfrequently
be met with, even among those who not only condemn
the arrogance of the Romish plea of merit, but are sedu
lous in warning Protestants against the like sin, this
furnishes a strong, and afflicting, and awful instance of a
delusion by which our spiritual enemy can obtrude upon
us some vice, dressed 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 raore successful in raaking
(apparent) converts, than when he is unconsciously flat
tering the evil propensities of raan's corrupt nature, while
he appears to repress them, " It is sometimes consi
dered 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 religious, 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 en-

Appendix. 379
couraged, 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 likely to be popular,
and less likely to be profitable, than to act the part of the
Stoic philosopher to Damasippus; (Hor. Sat. iii. b, 2.)
who assured him that he need not feel any sharae at his
own follies, at least as compared with those of other
men,™ since all except the true wise-mann were equally
foolish and insane," though in various ways ; and that he
had only to enroll himself in this privileged and enlight
ened philosophical Sect, adopt the maxims of his new
schoo 1, and immediately look down with disdain on
those he had been accustomed to look up to with a mix
ture of reverence, envy, despair, and dislike.*
1 Sumner, Apostolical Preaching, p. 133.
™ ..... . hoc te
Credo modo insanum ; nihilo ut sapientior ille
Qui te deridet. Sat. iii. b. ii. 1. 51.
n . . Hsec populos, htec magnos formula reges,
Excepto sapiente, tenet. 1. 45.
o It should be remembered, that the equality of all faults was a
favourite doctrine of the Stoics.
P  unde ego mira
Descripsi docilis prascepta hEec, tempore quo me
Solatus jussit sapientem pascere barbam,
Atque a Fabricio non tristem ponte reverti. 1. 34.
q . .... amico
Arma dedit, posthac ne compellarer inultus. 1. 297.

380 Appendix.
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 forras and names, of human nature in
all ages and countries.
It ever raust 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 by daily perseverance,
than to leap at once to a secure eminence, frora 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 mortification.
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 impatient
indolence, to the jealousy, and to the pride, of the huraan
heart.

To the topics I have touched on in the course of this
Work, I raight have added, besides raany others, some
allusion to the re-introduction araong some Protestants of
Auricular Confession, though so far raodified 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, may be diminished. That good
as well as evil — beneficial as well as pernicious effects —

Appendix. 38 1
have been produced by auricular Confession, I have not
a doubt. And this perhaps has had its share in the wide
diffusion, long continuance, and partial restoration of the
practice. But the chief cause is, I ara 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 confession to a fellow-creature. The
Romish system has taken advantage of this, by misinter
preting the scriptural recommendation, to "confess our
sins one to another," (the Apostle does not say " to the
Minister," or to the Church) 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 ara convinced
does evil ten tiraes oftener, and of ten thousand tiraes
greater magnitude, than good : nor can I but regard it
as, practically, one of the very worst parts of Romanism,
Indeed, ray 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 have good ground to believe,
respecting its effects.
Of course, when there is any particular act in which
we are conscious of having wronged our neighbour, it is
our duty then to confess to hira that we have wronged
him, and to ask his forgiveness. This is a real point of
Christian humility ; and a great trial of it it is ; far more
than the most highflown general lamentation over the sin
fulness of our nature.
And again, when we are consulting some confidential
adviser, as to any part of our conduct, we are right (sup-

382 Appendix.
posing him worthy of being an adviser at all) in opening
our hearts to him, and confessing the faults and infirmi
ties which we are consulting him how to shake off and
counteract. And in giving advice also to a friend, we
may have occasion to supply him with a useful warning,
by freely confessing to him the snares in which we have
been entangled.
But except in these cases, confessions of sin had better
be made to God only ; and to Him they should be made
with perfect sincerity. For, though there is no danger
of our deceiving Him, there is great danger of our de
ceiving ourselves.''

Enough however has been said on several points, and
perhaps more than enough for minds disposed to follow
up a principle in its several applications, to shew the
necessity of unceasing vigilance, and, not indeed of
often-repeated thorough reformations, (which are always
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 Churches, with their
long-accumulated load of abuses ; and of those who are
' Charge, 1836, (pp. 43, 44.)

Appendi.v. 3S3
fully satisfied with the system of sorae reformed Church ;
and again of those who advocate further reform, from the
most extravagant, to the most moderate ; and an error,
lastly, coraraon to political, and academical, as well as to
ecclesiastical matters. The error I mean is that of con
ceiving a system, — whether 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 common to men of the most opposite views. Some
attribute this character to the Church of Rorae as founded
by the Apostles ; or to some Protestant Church, as re
formed by Luther or Calvin ; resigning themselves to
tranquil security against all but external dangers, and
apprehending none but sudden and violent innovations ;
forgetful of the wise remark of Bacon, that " Time is the
greatest innovator ; though his changes creep in so quietly
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

s " Novator maximus, Tempus . quod novationes ita insi-
nuat ut sensus fallant."

384 Apjiendix.
beset by the same truly chimerical hope, in human affairs,
which has misled so many speculators in Mechanics;
the vain expectation of attaining the PERPETUAL
MOTION,

THE END.

R. CLAY, PRINTER, EnEAD-STREET-HILL.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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