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 A PULL REVIEW 
 
 OF THE I.ATB -IiBOTUBB \^ 
 
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 Br EEVD. G. M. GEANT, 1^ .A, 
 
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 ON THE 
 
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 BHOfrixa ITS 
 
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 By JOHN G. MARSHALL, Esq. 
 
 HALIFAX, N. S. : 
 
 POINTED BT T. OHAMBERLAIM. 176 ABGTLK BTSBBT. 
 . 1867. 
 
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 The Lecture recently delivered by the Rev. G. M. Grant, 
 before the " Young Men's Christian Association," J.n'Halifax, 
 fans already received from the press several just and appropriate 
 strictures, exposing its extremely erroneous and improper 
 character. If he had contented himself with its ortd delivery, 
 those passing strictures might have been considered sufficient, 
 as in the case of ephemeral compositions generally, when exhibited 
 in that form. But whether from a desire of obtaining the 
 greater notoriety, as the author of apparently new and extra- 
 ordinary sentiments regarding religion; or for the far more 
 censurable purpose of diffusing those sentiments in a more 
 extended and permanent mode, he has embodied the lecture in 
 a pamphlet. I feel it a christian duty, publicly to offer a review 
 of the lecture, and give some pointed remarks, showing its 
 unscriptural character, its general erroneousness as to facts, and 
 its tendenc'y to sanction and promote the cause of the infidelity 
 and profanity now spreading in many christian lands Having, 
 a few years ago, been under the necessity of employing my 
 attention on those ruinous evils, in giving the answers I published 
 to the profane "Essays and Reviews;" and the still more 
 infidel publications of Colenso — of such evil notoriety, — I feel 
 the better qualified, to offer strictures on Mr. Grant's production, 
 and exhibit its true character, both as regards Scriptural 
 truth, and in a literary aspect. It is true, there can be no 
 apprehension that any member of a oburoh, who is well grounded 
 in the essential doctrines of the christian faith, or even uny 
 adult congregational attendant on the services of such church, 
 who has even an inferior knowledge of such doctrines, will be 
 injured by the pernicious sentiments, so plainly and continuously 
 set forth in the pamphlet. But there are many young persons, , 
 
 [^r^:]-^. 
 
 Q^\ 
 

 whose religious principles are, as yet, in soarocly any measure 
 established, who may be injured by the erroneous work, more 
 especially from the literary positions, and other particulars, 
 which belong to several of the writers, whose authority Mr. 
 Grant has produced, in support of ( his views and sentiments. 
 For these persons, therefore, it seems requisite that some 
 otposure of those sentiments — as an antidote to the poison — 
 should be given, in a frrm as likely to be permanent, as the 
 erroneous and pernicious pamphlet itself. 
 
 In regard to the literary character of the work, as to orderly 
 
 arrangement, and especially style of expression, if subjected to 
 
 any thing like close criticism, it must be placed in a very inferior 
 
 rank. This last quality, however, is not altogether the fnult of 
 
 Mr. Grant, but htfs had its orign with some of bis asserted 
 
 reformers, especially Oarlyh, and with others of the same class 
 
 of writers. They are all, doubtless, what are generally called 
 
 educated men, having regularly gone through their collegiate 
 
 courses ; but it would seem, through literary pride, or to make 
 
 their writings appear the more singular, and therefore, noticeable, 
 
 they have framed and adopted a style of expression which is 
 
 odd or unusual, and often, obscure and ambiguous. They 
 
 select words not generally used, even when they have others at 
 
 kandi generally employed, haviug the same meaning, and often, 
 
 more expressive. An instance of this kind of writing, is seen 
 
 in one of the " Essays and Reviews," by a D. D., when on the 
 
 prosecution for its infidel character, a learned counsel justly 
 
 said, that a portion of it :vas a " mere jargon." Mr. Grant 
 
 having given go many acknowledged citations from the writings 
 
 of his Reformers, and it would seem so very much more from 
 
 the same quarters, not acknowledged, especially from Coleridge 
 
 and Carlyle, he has, naturally enough, in pining the moderate 
 
 amduttt of the lecture, which is originaUg and nudlg his owa, 
 
 fallen into the same singular and not at all pure or chaste style 
 
 of expression, and which with readers in general, is not readily 
 
 ni^entood. Already, s<Mne persons have declared, that it ia 
 
quite obscure or unintelligible. It is well that it is of that 
 description, as thereby the production will bo the less likely to 
 be mischievous. On this point I may probably say something 
 more, in the last section or division of this review. 
 
 With some fair and very creditable exceptions, the population 
 of this, our city, cannot, I fear, as yet be properly called of an 
 intellectual character. Certainly, we cannot be said to have 
 attained to a correct and pure standard of appreciation and 
 judgment, as to literary works. Some portions of our press 
 have rather been to blame on this subject. They have too 
 hastily and indiscriminately afforded commendation and laudatory 
 terms, to public lectures and other literary Essays. Nearly 
 each and every one of such performances, has been characterized 
 in some such terms as these: — "A splendid lecture;" "A 
 masterly production ;" "A beautifully arranged, eloquent, and 
 impressive work.'' To say the least, the terms of such pointed 
 approval, have, in several instances, been much misapplied. 
 Perhaps we may be said to be about commencing the establish- 
 ment of a literary standard, as to -style, and therefore it is 
 needful that it should be purely and correctly formed. On 
 reading Mr. Grant's pamphlet, I was reminded of the keen 
 criticism of Macauley, on Robert Montgomery's poem, " Satan." 
 He said it had the same relation to a good poem, that a Turkey 
 carpet has to a beautiful picture. — There are colours in the 
 carpet, which, if properly arranged, would make such a picture ; 
 60 there are words in Mr. Montgomery's work, which, if disposed 
 in their proper places, would make a good poem. If some suoh 
 transposition were made in Mr. Grant's lecture, and some 
 persons he has named, or alluded to, were designated as the real 
 reformers in this century ; and his asserted reformers and their 
 performances, were placed in the opposite quarter, the lecture, 
 instead of being, as . now, of a dangerous and evil tendency, 
 would be of a christian and useful description. But the defective 
 character of the lecture in a literary point of view, is of no 
 importance, when compared with the unscriptural and pernicious 
 
I 
 
 ' 
 
 1., 
 
 ff 
 
 nl 
 
 fentimonts contained in it. These, ^ith tbcir authors, I will 
 now bring under examination, and give appropriate oomments ; 
 and in what I consider regular und suitable order. Mr. Urant, 
 strange to say, repudiates and condemns not only all creeds, 
 bat it would seem system also. Does he not regard the advice 
 of the inspired writer, — •' Prepare thy work without, ond make 
 il fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thine house." 
 In his lecture he has preferred to erect his spiritual or leligiouH 
 habitation on the sand rather than on the rock. 
 
 The following are the beads or divisions under which I intend 
 to review and expose the contents of the pamphlet : — 1. The 
 descriptions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as to 
 religion and morals, largely incorrect. 2. True Character of 
 Mr. Grant's asserted Reformers. 8. Their works, the 
 opposite of reformatory. 4. The real reforms not effected 
 by them but others. 5 The character of the lecture, in relation 
 to scriptural religion, and sound morality. 
 
 To avoid misstatement, and deal with Mr. Grant and his 
 lecture with the utmost fairness, I shall, as I did with my 
 answers to the profane works already mentioned, give verbal 
 extracts from his pamphlet, and then offer comments thereon. 
 On carefully reading the pamphlet, I made marginal notes of 
 objections and answers, and find that there is not a solitary 
 page free of such notes, probably on each of the 82 pages, three 
 or four on an average. To transcribe all the passages so 
 marked, would bo to give nearly the whole pamphlet ; which 
 would extend this answer far beyond its intended limits, and 
 swell it to an unreasonable size. In mercy, therefore, to myself, 
 and to my readers, I shall select and give, under each of the 
 prescribed divisions, the most plain and pointed passages ob> 
 ected to, and then the comments thereon. To this method of 
 answer, no fair complaint can be made. 
 
 TT" 
 
SECTION I. 
 
 DK80RIPTION8 OF THB EIOniEKNTII AND NINKTEENTII OENTURIB0. 
 
 On pago 4, he says, — " Ia all spiritual things, there had 
 hardly been so barren a cent<:vy as the Eighteenth, since the christi- 
 an centuries began." Again, — " But little truth, little heroism, 
 little faith lived and reigned in it." These are grossly incorrect 
 and exaggerated charges. Admitting that there was far from 
 being as much true faith, and christian practice, as there should 
 have been, were they scarcely more general, than in the almost 
 wholly dark, ^nd immoral medieval ages, from the eighth to the 
 sixteenth centuries ? Every true and intelligent ohrifitian 
 knows to the contrary. Again, on p. 6, — " But certainly there 
 was more living faith in the truths of Christianity, during the 
 eighteenth century, at the Vatican, than at any of the head- 
 quarters of Protestantism." This is altogether untrue, and 
 from a Presbyterian minister, who professes the doctrinal faith, 
 then and now held by the Church to which ho belongs, and so 
 directly opposed to the faith held by the Church at the Vatican. 
 Od p. 6, he further says, — " The land of Luther produced a 
 meagre rationalism, that took possession of the schools, though 
 the mystics kept up a protest against the fasbiuiinble Uluminism." 
 This megre, and also infidel rationalism, has had its origin and 
 extension, chiefly, not in the eighteenth, but in the present 
 century, by the German writers — Fici. 9, Kant, SchelUng, 
 Hegel, Strauss, Bunsen, and a number of others. See as proof 
 Pearson's Prize Essay on Infidelity. T aal mystics of the 
 time, were those who supported that " f&ise and fashionable 
 illuminism." P. 9, referring to the English Church Establish- 
 ment, he says, — " It gathered in its tithes, but made no effort 
 of extension, at home or abroad ; blossomed out in no works of 
 faith and charity." This is grossly incorrect, and defamatory. 
 In the eighteenth century, that church had its societies for 
 promoting christian korwledgo, and the propagation of the 
 Gospel in fi ;)ign parts, in full and active operation ; and at 
 
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 home, tbero were Simeon, Cecil, Newton, the two Milners, 
 Charles Wesley, to say nothiijig of John, Fletcher, and very 
 many other pious and devoted men, — some of them bishops, — 
 zealously and actively labouring for the promotion of true 
 seriptural religion, and whose lives, ** blossomed out, in works 
 of faith and charity." In Scotland, also, there were some of 
 the Erskine's, Watts, l)oddridge, and several others of the like 
 character ; and whose faith, and lives, and labours, were similar. 
 As to the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, the former 
 especially, there were, comparatively, more men for the ministry, 
 sound in the faith, turned o<'t from them in the eighteenth 
 oentury, than there have been in the present one, during many 
 late years. On p. 10, be ako exaggerates, and further defames 
 the churches, his own included, by saying, — " The old faith in 
 God, as the liviiig God, had wholly di^d out, or been replaced 
 by a faith in a system, or a catechism." The answer just given 
 to the preceding extract, will precisely and fully serve for the 
 present one, and show its lack of the " essential element." 
 
 P. 11,-^" In proportion as faith in God died out, argu- 
 ments for his existence multiplied. Elaborate arguments were 
 drawn out, with smallest po.<isible results." As fast as one 
 proof was disposed of, another was prepared, with however only 
 one undoubted result, — that Religion was getting altogether 
 destroyed in the contest." The arguments he mentions, were 
 needed, becausa of the writings of the Deists of the day ;'and 
 the like arguments are now nearly as much required. Religion 
 was not •' being destroyed in the contest." The Deists were 
 defeated and silenced ; but in this century, and of late years, 
 have been again rising up, and spreading their heresies. Why 
 have not the writings and other efforts of M|r. Grant's reformers, 
 prevented this, and put down the Deists ? Verily, because 
 they are of the same or similar unscriptural and profane 
 sentiments themselves, especially Carlyle ; and Mr. G., by the 
 strain of h\9 lecture, is helpiiig their cause, though .it miist 
 charitably be presumed, not designedly. As to the formality 
 
 (»/*-'.'-,«»,*^^''r ^ *•■*. J 
 
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 manj 
 
 and sham, and cant, and the immoralities of the eighteenti 
 century, which Coleridge and others of bis class have depicted, 
 and Mr. Grant endorses, unhappily, there has not been very 
 much less of any of them, in the present century, and even at 
 the present day. fiut while those pretended reformers, justly 
 condemned religions and social evils, they did nothing to 
 promote pure scriptural religion ; but, by their writings, have 
 materially contributed to injure it. They did not succeed in 
 lessening the practical evils they denounced, and in promoting 
 morality, because they were not writing and acting from sound, 
 religious principles, but were, more or less, holding those of an 
 opposite description. On p. 12, he writes concerning the 
 dissenters in Scotland, in the eighteenth century, — " They set 
 up their standard, and Socenian°, Romanists, Infidels, gathered 
 around it, — queer allies for the descendants of the Erskine's 
 and the most " true blue" sons of the Covenant." 
 
 This asserted gathering and alliance is utterly untrue, and is 
 a gross libel on those dissenters. He has not mentioned, or 
 alluded to, a single fact, or instance, to give countenance to the 
 slanderous assertion.* On p. 16, he describes the state of 
 society, as to morals and manners, in the same century, and 
 says, — " The moral pestilence about the manufactories, increased 
 with every year ; and bread riots, and reform riots, and swing 
 letters, and blazing hay ricks, and corn stacks, and " Glasgow 
 ThiTggery " and chartist demonstrations, were all so many 
 mutterings indicating a volcanic state." Here he has blundered, 
 and charged the eighteenth century unjustly, for these evils 
 belong to the present century His pretended Reformers, had 
 no infiuence in preventing or limiting them . It does not appear 
 that they even tried to do so, to any considerable extent, if at 
 all, but good evangelical men in the churches, both clerical and 
 lay did the good that was effected, as will be shown in Section 
 4. Such pretended Reformers as Mr. Grant has exhibited, 
 
 1^ The Romanists will not thank hira for placing them in such 
 company. 
 
. \ 
 
 10 
 
 who in fact belong more or less to the sceptical or infidel class, 
 prosecute their evil designs, in two departments or directions. 
 On one hand, declaiming against ministers and members of 
 churches, often falsely ; imagin^n^ faults and evils ; and with 
 virulent railing, exaggerating those which do esist ; and on 
 the other part, by their speeches and writings, openly, or 
 insidiously, spreading their irreligiou" and pernicious sentiments. 
 Such is their vocation universally ; and Carlyle, Coleridge, and 
 Bunsen, some of the same sceptical school, whom Mr. Grant 
 has named with seeming approval, belong to the dangerous and 
 pestiferous class. But on this point of the evils of the 
 eighteenth century, Mr. Grant, like many other such writers, 
 has been inconsistent ; and to a certain extent has contradicted 
 his own positive assertions, that " the old faith in God ns the 
 living God, had wholly died out, or been replaced by a 
 faith in a system or a catechism ; — that in the English Church 
 Establishment, " no works of faith and charity blossomed out " 
 with similar sweeping accusations. In contrariety to all of these 
 assertions, he says on p. 5 ; — " There were wcAing clergy in 
 every part of the country, that feared God, honoured the King, 
 and did their duty in a manful enough way." On p. 6, 
 *' The bulwarks of orthodoxy, appeared intact ; there was good 
 preaching, respectable scholarship, and first rate society in Edin- 
 burgh. He further mentions on page 4 and 5, " The successful 
 labours of Wesley and Whitfield, among the CoUierSj and of 
 the Methodist preachers over broad England," as will be shown 
 by extracts under Sec. 4. He might aLo have mentioned,— 
 Cecil, the two Milner's, the heavenly Fletcher, of Madely, 
 atid numerous others in England ; and Watts, Doddridge, 
 Erskine'p, and very many others in Scotland. Also the exten- 
 sive and wonderful works of revivals and conversions in Wales, 
 under Howcl, Harris, and others. The efforts of tho 3 
 evangelical men, having " living faith," not only produced 
 blossoms, but good and enduring fruit ; and all in the Eigh- 
 teenth Century, he has so sweepingly condemned. In moral 
 
 3C 
 
11 
 
 iostnictions also, there were in the same Centnry, Johnston, 
 Wilberforce, Glarkson, and many others in England among 
 whom may even be classed Steele and Addison ; whose wri- 
 tings, with some exceptions, were morally instructive and useful. 
 ^Iso Reid, Beattie, and others in Scotland. True, there was 
 very much in that Century, deserving of condemnation, both as 
 to religion, and morals ; but it was far from being as universally 
 irreligious and immoral, as Mr. Grant has described it. If 
 needful it might here be shown, that in reference to the " living 
 faith " Mr. Grant has so often mentioned, and as to infidelity, 
 crime, profligacy, dishonesty, and immoralities in every form, 
 the Eighteenth Century was scarcely, if at all, worse, than is 
 the present one. In reference to the former, the testimonies 
 Mr. Grant himself has given, in its favour, it may be said, in 
 the way of comparison, that if in a secular matter, he produced 
 such a case in a court of law, he would be told by the Judge,— 
 *• why, sir, you have yourself broken it down, and destroyed it, 
 by the evdence you have produced ; you must submit to a 
 
 nonsuit, or have a verdict against you." 
 
 ,:i 
 
 
 !s.;« 
 
 if -A ''.<:■ 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 CnARAOTER OF MR. GRANT S REFORMERi). 
 
 The first sentence of his Lecture reads : — " I mean not 
 politicians, but moral and spiritual Reformers ; not philanthrop- 
 ists, but prophets ; or in other words, poets and thinkers." ^t 
 the outset, Mr. Grant seems to have been in one particular, 
 under some confusion of ideas, in making such a separation, or 
 distinction, between philanthropists and moral reformers. — 
 Every philanthropist, is such a refi)rmer, in a greater or lesser 
 degree. Bnt let this pass, as there are so many ef the like in- 
 stances, on really important points. On page 18, he mentions, 
 Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Carlyle, as being " the leaders in 
 
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 the new Reform •" an^ ti , 
 
 »»■>, high aboTO .11 others I do „ J . ^ P'»"» "■«« 
 
 do^e Ihe work „f giving J; ,." °"'? """ ""'J'' «'»»«. I>«™ 
 "• live .„d mo«^„d\; o' t"'""^. '"""^•'''»"' » "Woh 
 
 « bewildering .„a,,."°^;"!' 'taoaphe™ » b„t one of 
 -„t.. . « 'VJ" '"'' '»°'»''<» "biob close. 
 
 ""b the word, „f ^^^^^ , '» "^ ""st sentence which olos« 
 »If, rto discaM reveald trlh f„ ° '"™"': ■"'• ■■-'"*-« bi». 
 P*«™. .nd for. safeaoripta", 'ot, T''""^ '""'' »» """"^ 
 'f^ those ^maHwords/heJe^nlV^ "^ *""°°eb ; but 
 "«"»», or commnnitjr, Jr even «„ i °°'"°''' "■• «" "l" »-/ 
 
 -pectin, Mr. 0^^ ^^^ - facts and descriptions 
 «f tbc« .i,e„ by ii^^olf. & w r''^''"'^ "" "■"'' 
 P- 27 gives an e«ract from his w,V ^"^''''"^ «"'. and on 
 S»"pturc. that. .. Man dres noH "^' ?'"''■ ■" ""> ""* "l 
 "■e«,oni„g several ^orel/peton 7/. r'' '"°°"" ^"^^ 
 Mobasself-anpport. self^lT ^ ''"™'' ""s for life 
 
 •»d others ofThcIkSpZ' h'"'"™™' "PP^bonsi 2; 
 b«. -.agination gather inlT.;;- T " f ^ P"-io. "bicb 
 «d put forth in . public leclt; J"""' »"'^'°« o^dorsed, 
 »""*r, will sound mrT^"u ? "" '^^''«°°' by* 
 q««inted with the scripture ^?«°' •" "''■•y one .o- 
 <-"« which « „t^„d b ' rC f '/"'^ '" P"" --•'«' bcrT 
 reads thus,-- Man shall nJT '"{"^'^^i i" iWatt. iv. 4' 
 -^;ba. prooe^,, rorhe'rou'^X-'^'r '' ""^ 
 
 7 ■-'' 
 
wato and 
 mold and 
 ace these 
 )ne, have 
 in which^ 
 piece of 
 ould be 
 of their 
 
 one of 
 •Grant 
 
 closes 
 »g him* 
 atmot' 
 
 ; but 
 
 5f any 
 »s, the ' 
 3fthe 
 pture, 
 
 >ti0DS 
 
 most 
 d on 
 
 Is of 
 
 fter 
 
 life, 
 
 )ns, . 
 
 lieb 
 
 ed, ^ 
 
 iO- 
 
 i, 
 
 7 
 e 
 
 it 
 
 which imagination gathers in from afar," tho Scriptures, as Mr.. 
 Grant mast know, enjoin reliance on divine grace ; and 
 cotnmands christians to bo " clothed with humility," not td 
 " resist evil," witb many similar injunctions, prohibiting pride^ 
 and inculcating humility. This extract, given from Wordsworth, 
 viewed as a whole, may truly be termed an irreligious and 
 profane, and merely imaginative, or sentimental rhapsody. On 
 p. 22, Mr. Grant gives the following extract from some quarteif 
 not mentioned, — Wordsworth was " a chimney which consumed 
 its own smoke." Not a very suitable person for a " moral and 
 spiritual reformer." Surely Mr. Grant himself must have beiSn 
 nnder the influence of some kind of midnight smoke, when he . 
 penned such a character of one of his greatest Reformers. Oti 
 p. 24, Mr. Gratit says, — Wordsworth's friends " complained 
 bitterly of the injustice of the public." It seems, then, thftfi 
 tbey did not recognise hkn &s a Kefortner, and that he had not 
 altered them for the better, either as to morals or spirituality. 
 Coleridge, Mr. Grant's next mentioned great Reformer, is 
 described by him as follows : — " The very keystone of Coleridge's 
 philosophy, the distinction between the reason and tho under- 
 standing, is taken en Hoc from Kant." Now, to all persons in 
 literary circles, it is perfectly known, that Kant was one of the 
 most noted characters among the numerous German Rationalists, 
 or rather . speculative and infidel writers of modern times. 
 Pearson, in his* celebrated prize Essay, oii Infidelity, says of 
 him, — " In the wake of this school of philosophy arose the great 
 chief — Immanuel Kant — who greatly modified it." Again,— 
 *' Kant led his followers to a dizzy height, far up in tho regions 
 of air, but there they did not stop." Coleridge, then, another 
 of Mr. Grant's Reformer's, has, by this speculative Kant, been 
 led far up in those airy and dizzy heights. Certainly not the 
 most choice person for a great mordl and religious Reformer ! ! 
 It would seem that Mr. Grant thought it needful to produce 
 some witnesses to give Coleridge a character, not as a mortl 
 and religious Reformer, but as, he says, " relating to his 
 
I' 1 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ! t 
 
 reltgioas pbilosophy ;" and a list of thdtn is given on p. 20. 
 The first is Wordsworth, already described ; then follows Arnold, 
 John S. Mill, Maurice Wilson, DeQaincy, Irving, and three or 
 four others belonging to the same sceptical class, with one excep- 
 tion. As to Irving, though an eloquent orator, he was a mystical 
 and visionary character, who believed in the supposed gift of 
 tongues, a knowledge of the choughts and words and deeds of 
 others, though at a distance, with other delusions, by which, 
 some years ago, very many were led astray, both from religion 
 and reason. Maurice, is notoriously unsound in the christian 
 faith, and indeed, is considered as one of the chief founders, or 
 masters, of the speculative and unscriptural school of the 
 present day. Poor DeQuincy, it is said, indulged freely in 
 Opium, a sure way of inducing mental and morbid speculations, 
 and impairing reason and judgment. Of Maurice, one of the 
 witnesses, Mr. Grant himself says : — " who educated as a 
 Unitarian, and 'or the Bar, turned aside from everything else, 
 to proclaim to classes whom perhaps no other man could have 
 reached, Jesus Christ, as the representative ideal cf humanity 
 and the head of all human society." Is this all whiqh Mr. 
 Grant preaches concerning the Saviour ? Obseivo, there is 
 nothing here as to the divinity of our Lord, his atonement, his 
 teaching, or miracles, '■or any other qualities or acts, showing 
 bis divine character. For that style of preaching, by Maurice, 
 Mr. Grant says : — " Coleridge more than any other, was to be 
 thanked." Every sound christian will say, was to he condemn- 
 ed. Hear further, Mr. Grant's own description of Coleridge, 
 one of his great heroic moral and spiritual Retormers, given on p. 
 23 ; — " Coleridge, weak, sinning, craving for sympathy, tossed 
 from billow to billow ; and not finding a port, till life was draw- 
 ing to a close." This fully shows his incapacity for being a 
 moral and spiritual Reformer, and requires no other remark. 
 Mr. Grant, on page 23, further says of him ; — " Coleridge 
 always tried to combine in his writings, two things ; — immediate 
 popularity and profit, with new truth, deep truth, abstract truth, 
 
m 
 
 and alwajs failed." Surely a man who always fa'ils in his 
 efforts, can never be called a Reformer. On the same page, 
 Mr. Grant sums up the characters of two of the three of his 
 great Beformers, as follows : — Wordsworth, — " his soul was 
 like a star and dwelt apart." This is given as borrowed. A 
 star does not " dwell apart " but gives light, and extended and 
 cheering iniluence. Again, and which is Mr. Grant's own com- 
 position ; — " Coleridge had read everything, and observed little. 
 Wordsworth had read almost nothing ; but nothing in nature 
 had escaped his observation. The one, irresolute, never up to 
 time, never finishing anything, shuffliig and corkscrewy in his 
 gait, never able to decide, which side of the garden wall be 
 should take. The other, strong and confident in himself, and in 
 truth." Was Mr. Grant personally acquainted witb these tW( 
 gentlemen, and thus acquired these very special particulars con- 
 cerning them ; or did be fall asleep, while composing his lec> 
 turc, and dream them all, in the smoke of the midnight hour, o> 
 did he borrow them. Most probably the latter, though no 
 acknowledged, but given as his own. Those pas^sagcs, wit! 
 many others similarly borrowed, show the lecture, as a lilerarj 
 performance, to be little else than a piece of patdhwork ; and s«' 
 badly put together, as to destroy itself. Again, I may say, tha' 
 the counsel for a plaintiff in a court, on producing such evi' 
 dence, would be told, — Sir, you have destroyed your own case, 
 and must submit to a nonsuit. What a wonderful brace of re- 
 formers Mr. Grant has produced ? Surely, in literature, at 
 least, if Mr. Grant is authority, miracles have not yet ceased. 
 
 In one of my answers to the profane Essays and Reviews 
 there are some passages regarding Coleridge which I will here 
 transcribe in substance as further showing his character in 
 reference to his being a spiritual reformer. In the memoir of 
 Carey there is the following extract from the writings of Cole- 
 ridge : — *• Of prophecies in the sense of prognostication, I 
 utterly deny that there is any instance delivered by one uf the 
 illustrious Diadoche, whom the Jewish Church comprised in the 
 
16 
 
 1^0" I believe ole h«o/^ ^/STf C^™' "» exception 
 
 to.ons deaie, ib^ prophedn '^ "°°' °°'"P°«" of poetiTl 
 Nobody would bav/J'Sotr'" "^ "'»'"■«'<' "/Th r 
 
 r/bjrrtr --cs/1^- ^^»o^« 
 
 o*ers .uisetuent ,o the BTbvlfr,: """* *"■■»' ''"-%. and 
 «" ■"'Pbed oon,poritio.,. Tbf ^ ™«'''"«^- But. bey are 
 ^'. w« evidently compold S^ '" ''"'*"• V i/v^ 
 5*0 «».ari, the,ef„„, bTcrieridr'"*' " ''^' "•»« oaptiZ 
 Po^od .t. is f^^a coateLtib e '^' f *" ""'■* '"'™8 »^ 
 woe, or a design U, imfJl^lCt T'''^'' "^'^'^ 'S^ 
 •to and useful work entitJd ."t^^',^''"''''"'- ^^be 
 caaraoter of Coleridge is given ,. ^ u^''"'" *« Allowing 
 M g.ft«, he wanted the ^Z Zj'^ '" •■" S^"' ■•-'oU^ 
 
 Steady wort. He wanted Mo th"! '^•/"'J '»'' -o liking fot 
 
 ^nd th h. ., „^ to the ^„ f ,^ « ^0 . 
 
 t 7 7"^ "-^ 'bo b^in-wo^'f ?b ^" rf" ""' "l""™" to 
 p '""'*<'"■ «»"raed to av,h!!,7 „ ""^ ""We Sonthe, ; while 
 ^o-Wisn. u, Ws disoiptsSt d ""• '" *'=°'^» ^-S 
 'be honest work going f„rwarfj?„ ''l";™"''"'?'"""^. »w.n 
 «»ote of London: ^^1 ■""■ '''°'' "'"i'lst the din H 
 -^« a. bis co^n-andXr^t: '" ^ouou^^CJS- 
 of fnends, ,nd with the iS •?'°'"''« '» '""'f^ tbe eh^,' 
 
 "■ b* Wo, fr«B which m4a 
 
\7 
 
 n exception, 
 «Jm to have 
 and prof^uie 
 
 as opposed 
 
 prophecies, 
 e fulfilled; 
 0; of tlieir 
 Jible, and 
 a moment 
 poetical 
 of them. 
 
 hundred 
 
 ccording 
 ere cc^. 
 
 and by 
 ^9, and 
 they are 
 its very 
 »pti?ity 
 'gcom- 
 
 ignoir- 
 
 In the 
 
 owing 
 
 teJIeo- ; 
 
 'gibr 
 
 ance, 
 
 sn to 
 
 rhile 
 
 cen- 
 
 pon 
 
 uid 
 
 loy. 
 
 ity 
 
 ret 
 
 ^a 
 
 day-labourer would bave Bhrunk." Verily, a most eminent 
 moral reformer ! But Mr. Grant deals in opposites. Here I 
 may close with those two of Mr. Grant's "mural and spiritual 
 Reformers." Now for Oarlylo, the greatest of the great trio, 
 as Mr. Grant seems to think. And first let us hear what Mr. 
 Grant himself has given concerning him. On p. 80 he says : — 
 " What Oarlyle's exact political or religious creed may be, I 
 shall not attempt to define. He has not set it forth himself, in 
 so many distinct propositions, and it would be somewhat difficult 
 to do so." It would, indeed, be difficult as to religion, for be 
 had none consistent with Scrip^ire trtith or reason. On p. 81, 
 he gives the following remarks by Garlyle : — " The true 
 Medieval church is now to be found only in literary men : they 
 alone discharge its functions. It is they, who as Editors of 
 Newspapers and Reviews ; writers of articles, tracts, and books, 
 are constantly " administering the discipline of the Churcb." 
 And then, Mr. Grant adds the following, as if his own, but iti 
 charity it may bo hoped, is also borrowed :— " If a clergyman, 
 or any one else, would now wield an authority beyond the 
 personal and official, he roust rise above the mere drill and pipe 
 clay of his profession ; be must become a literary man." 
 
 The whole of these retnarks are absurd, as well as contrary 
 to scriptural, or any other kind of religion. Such Editors and 
 Reviewers, are not so presumptuous as Carlyle and Mr. Grant. 
 They do not assume, or pretend to administer, " the discipline 
 of the Church." What does Mr. Grant mean by the "mere 
 drill and pipe-clay " of a clergyman. From the terms of tbe 
 passage, it would appear to mean, the teaching of scriptural 
 truth, and performing other miuisterial duties. And all this, 
 from one of the sacred profession I But it is not surprising, 
 when -^ look at the following sentences on the same page : — 
 " Beneficient woik, then, has Thomas Garlyle done. I own 
 my indebtedness to bim. I thank God for him," Where are 
 the fruits of his works, as to the promotion of true religion and 
 morality ? None whatever, but many such fruits as contributed 
 
r 
 
 ''i. 
 
 18 
 
 to injare botli. For <rbae do.. M, n 
 ■"•m.to have no cre«. or'^ »« 1^""' '™"'' "«' '«««'»n« 
 Bntaio, aince tho da,a „f eh„ p^"^?^ '""?. '"» thero been in 
 
 •of tho e,is.i»g „h„„j,, ■ ?"'™ "o-W "quare wi,h ,b.t„f J 
 identify faUbwUh any ;;>'»-•" -en learn, .h,"^ 
 
 of .1. pe^ecution, .„J of*".?,': Si '^ m' ??" ^'•"-•«*. 
 ■»ean by a '• robuat faith." jli ^^'f "^ees Mr. G™„, 
 •tandard, no certain objeot, or ollT ." ^'^ ™ "^^d 
 «ouW aee™ ao. aa he »o po i.i«i; del„t '"/^^™« ' I' 
 creeds and aystema. How then „ l "^ •«>''imoe all 
 « miniater in . Ohn.b. X I".' Tl" f •» J-- -d beeo J 
 ereod ? Doea he not profesa and ut ""P""' '"^ Ending 
 oonfeaaion „f feuh, anS h^poi , ," ' '" """ P^^^ deflnef 
 binding theological ..a„d.ri°„r;tf^, T/' ""'' '«"°S«»''y 
 ocoadona, if „ot „orc, be h dl": i?:"*',. »" >h^ atatj 
 the most solemn eiroumatancea aTii^- . '' P"*«. "nder 
 standards, and a faithful adhernce ^1 '" ""\' ""^ "°'' "■<«• 
 ha mind concerning them „„d .» ^'"' " '^ '»» "'"ged 
 »d principlea._aa f e bad 'a r bt ^ d'o""':' 'V^'^" *^ ' 
 .nd hoae.,y, ,„ ,„;, ,b„, miniad . J"cr''V"«'','' '» «"">»" 
 the evil eiample of some olthl ?."''' ""' "^ i-it"'' 
 Kerfews," and of Colenso .„! t ""'"r "' ^ ^^^« and 
 the emoluments of a Church "T '"' "''° "« drawing 
 and openly opposing its do^irLs """*"'• "■"■'" '•»Jing 
 
 On p. 29, Hfr. Grant gives , 'i;„^ c 
 eacbing, i„ the foUowinratd o hfr f- T°""^ *" '^"'^'«'a 
 
M 
 
 ft He." As the oonolasion of these aad similar sajings and 
 teachings of Carlyle, Mr. Grant says : — ** There's infidelity for 
 you. It 16 the gospel of work, the gospel of reality, the gospel 
 that there is a right and a wrong ; and that the difforenoe 
 between the two is absolute. It is a faith that was not picked 
 up at second-hand, but worked out in his own forge, for the 
 covering oi his soul's nakedness ; evi^ry bolt, and every rivet in 
 it, tried and tested." All these latter remarks are given by Mr. 
 Grant as his own, though probably, and as it will be charitable 
 to hope, borrowed literally from Carlyle. Now, it may be 
 asked, where are we divinely required to seek and obtain that 
 eternal truth f Expressly in ihe Scriptures, and there only. 
 But neither Carlyle or Mr. Grant make the slightest reference 
 to those inspired and infallible sources and standards. Indeed, 
 Mr. Grant has not, in any part of his lecture, made the least 
 reference to those feacred records, as standards for religious faith 
 and practice. According to Carlyie's and Mr. Grant's doctrines, 
 the Scriptures should be entirely set aside, and each and every 
 person seek for religious and moral truth in his own way, and 
 fix his own standard. But would this answer for the religion 
 of any country, or could there be any such institution as a 
 church ? To attempt to form one with such materials, would, 
 indeed, be like btriving to make a rops of sand. Do such 
 notions and teachings agree with Bible truth, and the Scriptural 
 Christianity, of which Mr. Grant professes to be a minister? 
 Now, I think I have shown enough from Mr. Grant himself to 
 condemn his greatest hero, as not being a great spiritual or 
 religious reformer. As to his being a moral one, some facts 
 and remarks to the contrary, will be given in the next Section. 
 But much more, and authentic evidence, can be given to tht 
 same effect, concerning Carlyle's sentiments* and teachings, as 
 to scriptural and spiritual truth. Pearson's highly valued and 
 prize Essay, on infidelity, previously mentioned, contains the 
 following passages concerning Carlyle : — la oh. 2, on Panthe- 
 ism : — " We know that he has said in his life of John Sterling ; 
 
20 
 
 — * Adieu Ohoroh, thy road is that way, mine is this : in 
 God's nftmo, — adieu.' " We know that he does worship in 
 " the groat oathcdral of iramenuity.'' Much more oonvinoing 
 proofs to the same effoct, might be produced, hut surely, enough, 
 and more than enough, has now been given, to prove that Car- 
 lyle was at the utmost distance from being a spiritual reformer. 
 Yet, Mr. Grant has sot him forth as the first jof his three great 
 heroes, and promoters of spirituality, in the present century.— 
 In the course of the lecture, Mr. Grant has mentioned, .Tith at 
 least implied approval, the well-known infidel writers ; — Kaot, 
 Sbhelling, Hczol, Strauss, Fiehte, and Bunsen. 
 
 In the following Ecction the character of the works of Mr. 
 Grant's Reformers will be shown. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 \ 
 
 THKIR WOBKS XHB OPPOSITE Of BEroUMATORT. 
 
 Several of the extracts and remarks contained in the preced- 
 ing section, show, that in reference to scriptural religion, and 
 spirituality, the writings and labours of Carlyle, were tainted 
 with infidelity, and tended to produce that fruit. Mi. Grant 
 himself, baa helped to show the same, in the following passages 
 in his lecture. In the year that Coleridge died, he took up his 
 abode in Chelsea ; and ever since be has exercised the influence 
 over the most earnest young minds of the day, that Coleridge 
 had wielded for eighteen years previous. The erroneous teachings 
 of Coleridge regarding religion and morals ; and several dis- 
 oreditable particulars in his character, have been given in the 
 previous section, to which the reader is referred. Pearson, the 
 author of the Evangelical Alliance prize Essay, previously meu- 
 tioned, after giving a rather long extract from one of Coleridge's 
 works, says of it ; — " No doubt this will be hailed by many of 
 the listeners and readers of Emerson, Parker, and Carlyle."— 
 
ai 
 
 8 this : io 
 
 worship in 
 
 oonvinoing 
 
 ly, enough, 
 
 that Cap 
 
 1 reformer. 
 :hree great 
 Jentury.' — 
 id, ,Tith at 
 
 ;— Kaot, 
 
 Its of Mr, 
 
 ir ■ 
 
 e preoed- 
 ;ion, and 
 ) tainted 
 1. Grant 
 passages 
 ^ up bis 
 nfluence 
 oleridge 
 )aching» 
 )ral dis- 
 in the 
 ion, the 
 ly men- 
 ridge's 
 lany of 
 le."— 
 
 This hIiows Pearson's 'iisapproval of it, as contrary to scriptural 
 truth. And to this disapproval, and to the whole Essay, the 
 Evangelical Alliance, composed of the great body of true chris- 
 tians of all denominations in tlio United Kingdom, and other 
 Countries, has given its express approval, and awarded its offer- 
 ed prize, as the host Essay toiulered on the proposed subject. 
 Poargon in Part 2. Ch. 2. of his Essay, has written of Curlylo : 
 — •• Ho tells as that religion is no Morrison's Pill from without, 
 but a clearing of the Inner Light, or moral conscience ; a re- 
 awakening of our ownsclves from within. The world has looked 
 to the revelation without, but it was when ' its beard was not 
 grown as now.' " And with a sneer at the old churches, and the 
 old creeds, he says ; — " What the light of your mind, which is the 
 direct inspiration of the Almighty, pronounces, incredible, — 
 that in God's name leave uncrcdited ; at your peril do not try 
 believing that." On this Mr. Pearson says ; — *' Where such 
 talk as this is indulged in, the law and the testimony are very 
 little valued. His hero worship is just a kind of intellectual 
 pantheism." Again, in p. 2, ch. 2, Pearson writes, — *' The 
 writings of Coleridge, Carlyle, and others, who have drunk deep 
 at the German originals, have done much to diffuse among us 
 the German philosophy Carlyle, and the men cf his school, 
 seem to have a greater love for earnestness, than . for plain 
 gospel truths. They are disposed to follow the philosophers of 
 Germany, in making religion a creation from within ; not a 
 matter received from without ; and to be in danger of including 
 among the shams they cry out against, the experimental and 
 historical evidences of Christianity." '• Of our own home 
 produce, we have not a few works of note, through which runs, 
 either broadly or stealthily, a vein of inGdel philosophy. Some 
 of them must be assigned to the idealistic, and others of them 
 to the sensational school. Mr. Carlyle, whose inuflence on 
 thinking minds of a peculiar cast, is perhaps greater than that of 
 any living writer, is the acknowledged chief of the former. 
 
 >> 
 
.. i 
 
 u 
 
 22 
 
 Surely, all these extracts will abundantly prove, that so far 
 M'om the writings, and other teachings of Coleridge and Carlyle, 
 especially the latter, being reformatory, as to Scriptural 
 religion^ and tending to the promotion of morality, they are o 
 the directly opposite character. As to Wordsworth, though, in 
 his writings, very far from being so regardless and unsound as to 
 Scriptural truth, yet he does not seem to have been as careful as 
 he might have been, in placing religion on that only sure and safe 
 foundation. Consequently, his writings and other labours, are 
 but slightly, if at all reformatory, as to Scriptural Christianity. 
 
 His perverted and fnlse wording and meaning, already given 
 of the text in Math. iv. 4, as to man living " by bread alone," 
 proves that he had not that respect and reverence for Scriptural 
 truth, and reliance upon it, which he should have possessed. 
 As to the writings and other doings of those asserted reformers 
 of tbo present century, effecting any leform, either as to religion 
 or morals, where are the Jacts and proofs of it. There are 
 none. Did they found, or assist to found, any of the Bible, 
 Missionary, and the various other truly christian Societies of the 
 age ; or Sunday or ragged schools, or other Reformatory Tnsti" 
 tutions, or Temperance, or other benevolent or moral Societies, 
 or Institutions ? They did nothing of the kind, but left all 
 these really reformatory and good works, to be accomplished by 
 the truly christian people, whom, as already shown, they 
 ridiculed, slandered and abused. That the real reforms, both 
 n raligion, and morals, were effected by those christian people, 
 will now be shown. 
 
 ■; ••• "■•'; ! . . 
 
 -<vv, i 
 
X 
 
 k:-- 
 
 28 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 THE REAL REFORMERS OF THE NINETEENTH OENTURT. 
 
 This Section may be very readily filled up, chiefly because as 
 in the previous pages it has been seen that Mr. Grant himself 
 has furnished such matter, as will largely serve to show, that 
 the reforms in religion and morality in the jpresent century, 
 were not effected by any of the reformers named by him ; but 
 through the instrumentality of persons of a totally different 
 character from theirs. On p. 16, treating of the present cen- 
 tury, be says : — " It may be called a Church and School 
 building, — Cathedral restoring, — asylum founding century ; an 
 age of Societies, and agencies and institutes ; — of Bible Socie- 
 ties, — Missionary Societies, — Orphanages, — Reformatories, — 
 and the Shoe-Black Brigades; of Sisters of Mercy, — and 
 Christian Brothers, — Colporteurs, — and Bible Women ; — of 
 Church Congresses, — Sunday Schools, — and Young Men's 
 'Christian Associations." Again, on p. 17, he writes : — " Over 
 broad England, many an obscure Methodist local preacher, not 
 with canting whine, but with earnest voice, ' in dusty lane and 
 crowded street,' in deep, dark pits, where the choke damp, and 
 the fire damp, lurked ; and on barren wolds, called on the 
 living God ; by whom their hearts had been touched, and whom 
 they knew by the name of Saviour. And in Scotland, many a 
 priestrlike father, on Saturday night, and on every night, brought 
 out the ' big ha bible,' and many learned true wisdom, from 
 Boston's fourfold state, and perhaps some even from the con- 
 fession of Faith." Now, in these passages the lecturer has 
 certainly given more truth, than in nearly all the rest of his 
 lecture. But here the important question is, who were the 
 nstruments or agents of effecting these blessed reforms ? Mr. 
 Grant has not dured to say that any of them were su^^e^/ec?, 
 commenced or assisted, by his three great heroes, — Wordsworth 
 Coleridge and Carlyle ; or any of the like fraternity, for he 
 very well knows the reverse. They did not found, or help to 
 
mrmr- j frn if 
 
 ^•^■^ 
 
 u 
 
 establish any of those numerous excellent Societies and Instltu 
 tions he has named, in the first part of the foregoing extracts. 
 Nor did they, in any way help to qualify and send out, those 
 earnest Methodist preachers, " over Broad England " or help to 
 instruct and form the pious character of those " priest-like, 
 Bible-reading and worshipping fathers in Scotland." They had 
 no inelination, or heart for any such excellent r/orks. They 
 were busily engaged in a totally opposite way. Their ypcation, 
 in regard to religion, was, to vilify all ministers and chur«obes, 
 charging them with hypocrisy and cant ; and endeavouring to 
 lessen their influence ; and also that of the good men engaged in 
 those works of religion and charity, and impede or limit their sue- 
 cess. Those persons who contributed of their means, and labourd 
 to establish and support those excellent institutions ; and to send 
 out those Methodist preachers, and instruct and learn those 
 priest-like fathers, were ministers and members of those churches 
 so abused by those opponents ; and generally defamed by Mr. 
 Grant himstlf. There were many such faithful ministers and 
 members in England ; and also many in Scotland, among whom 
 may be named, Chalmers, Guthrie, Begg, and some, if not 
 many, in his own church, which, in his lecture, he has helped 
 to defame. But the most extraordinary part of" the first pt the 
 extracts : here commented on, is Mr. : Grant's remark, as to 
 learning msdom, "even from the confession of faith." 
 What! is it barely possible to get true wa&dom or instruction, 
 from the confession of faith .^ Hear, and mark this, all 
 ye Presbyterians, especially ye of the old Kirk, or national 
 Church; most especially will it not sound most strange and 
 alarming, to you of St Matthew's, as coming from your pastor, 
 who has not merely on one, but on severai solemn occasions, 
 professed his unqualified and firm adherence to every clause 
 and particular of that confession. 
 
 On p. 17, Mr. Grant writes: — "If women were found 
 labouring, harnessed in the mines, or slowly starved as serap> 
 streBses; if^ children were used as brooms to sweep ohimnies 
 
85 
 
 with, or sent to the factories when they ubonld have been in 
 nursuries ; a cry has been raised and heard ; new laws haye 
 been made, labour has been regulated, education and emigration 
 encouraged. The ' song of the shirt,' and the ' cry of the 
 human,' thrilled through all England. If there were Com 
 Laws, there were also Ebenezer Elliott's Corn Law Rhymes." 
 True, all these benevolent efforts were made, and these excellent 
 reforms accomplished ; but not by his three great Reformers, or 
 either of them ; or any of their class ; but almost entirely by 
 pious and zealous men in the churches. Mr. Grant's two 
 Reformers of the poetical class, did not compose and send forth, 
 the "song," and the "rhymes," or utter the "cry," he has 
 specified ; but others^ of kind hearts and benevolent feelings. 
 Yet, without the slightest fact or proof, mentioned, or alluded to, 
 by Mr. Grant, to show that his -asserted Reformers originated or 
 assisted any of those good works, and with the full knowledge 
 that they were commenced and promoted by others, — on p. 18, 
 he names Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Carlylo as the " leaders 
 in the new Reform, as he calls it ; and mentions Arnold and 
 Tennyson, as occupying places, " scarcely lower." 
 
 With reference to logical reasoning, all which Mr. Grant has 
 given, as to the Reform, and its authors, or agents, is of a most 
 extraordinary character ; and quite opposite to collegiate instruc- 
 tion. Every person who has any knowledge of connected rea. 
 soning, and the relation between positions, and the arguments 
 and conclusions thereon, is well aware, that, of necessity, there 
 ought to be oli these points, a correspondence and harmony. 
 Mr. Grant is an A.M. ; and doubtless in going through his 
 college course, received some instruction in logic. But, surely, 
 he must have nearly forgotten it all, for he has, in this lecture, 
 violated or repudiated all logical rule. He has named certain 
 spiritual and moral Reformers, — some of them poets, — set forth 
 many reforms, and then shown, that these were effected, not at 
 all by his asserted Reformers, but all by other persons, — " Me- 
 thodist preachers,"—" pious and priesMike fathers,"^-" Corn 
 
M 
 
 law " advocates, and others. His positions, proofs, and con- 
 elusions are all at variance. 
 
 Mr. Grant may fairly be advised to go through another Logi* 
 cal course. 
 
 As leading persons of the present generation, zealous and 
 active in effecting religious good, in various forms, he might 
 and should havj9 mentioned, several in all the orthodox, or evan- 
 gelical denominations, both in England, Ireland, and Scotland ; 
 including especially, — Chalmers, Guthrie and others in Scot* 
 land, some of them in his own Church ; and Spurgoon with 
 others in England. 
 
 As moral Reformers, he might readily have found, and 
 named, many in each section of the United Kingdom, a.^ espe 
 cially zealous and active in prompting the various modes an 
 forms of moral benefit. Among such Reformers, he shoulc. 
 certainly have mentioned, some of the principal advocates and 
 friends of the great and truly excellent Temperance Reform ; 
 and the first and greatest among them, the zealous and most 
 benevolent Theobald Mathew ; whose untiring advocacy of the 
 good cause, was crowned with such wonderfully successful and 
 beneficial results. 
 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 CUiRACTER OF THE LECTURE, IN RELATION TO SCRIPTURAL 
 RELiaiON AND MORALITY. 
 
 To every scripturally enlightened person, many of the 
 extracts from Mr. Grant's lecture, given under the previous 
 sections, will be perfectly sufficient to show, that he does not 
 make the Scriptures, the means of religious instruction and 
 moral reform. In no {.age or sentence of his lecture, has he 
 named, or even referred to, that sacred source, for effecting such 
 excellent purposes. On the contrary, the Reformers he has 
 named, are partly, by his own showing, and notoriously known 
 
to be, men tainted with unscriptural sentiments, and notions ; 
 and more or less repudiating, and rejecting the sacred oracles, 
 as the foundation and guide, as to religious principle, and faith, 
 and practice. Their guide on these points is avowedly the 
 Consciences or " inward light," as they call it, which they hold, 
 suflBciently serves for each person ; and by which ho ought 
 to establish, and regulate, all his religiqus and moral feelings 
 and sentiments, and his whole deportment. This is what is 
 called •• natural religion," if, indeed, it can properly be called 
 religion. On p. 15, Mr. Grant, remarking on ^aith, says: — 
 •' If it be faith in articles or a system, the sooner they are thrust 
 into tha back-ground, and faith in the living God take their 
 place, the better. If faith be not that blessed, inexorable light 
 of Heaven, vouchsafed unto you, by which, at your peril, you 
 are to walk, what is it? A luxury carefully prepared and 
 labelled, to be kept securely for your private delectation. 
 What a pity such a hon-hon should be stolen from you !" Mr. 
 I Grr.nf seems to have a great antipathy to all articles, and 
 
 systems of faith in religion, and would have every doctrine, and 
 other matter, or particular, relating to it, quite fluctuating and 
 unsettled ; and that all of them should, with every individual, 
 be in subordination to his "inner light;" and be regulated* 
 from time to time, by that alone. This does, indeed, ^m 
 passing strange in a Presbyterian minister, a " son of the old 
 covenant." There is not, in the foregoing extract, a word, 
 mentioning or alluding to the Scriptures. What is that 
 *' blessed inexorable light of Heaven," on which he thinks faith 
 should be founded and exercised ? From the language of the 
 extract, and all he has written on the point, it must be concluded, 
 that he means that same " inner light/* or conscience ; and on 
 that alone. If this faculty had been sufficient, the continued 
 roll of divine Scripture revelation, need not, and would not have 
 been given. According to the ideas and writings of at least two 
 of Mr. Grant's great Reformers, an4 of others of their class* 
 and as it would seem k.^ his own also, that revelation is, in part, 
 
28 
 
 or altogether, superjluous. That " inner light " they place so 
 high and so greatly extol, is, like every other faculty and power 
 of the soul, very dim and imperfect, as to truth and righteous- 
 ness ; and is very readily blinded, perverted, and depraved. 
 And, unhappily, the instances in proof, have been multitudinous, 
 in all ages and countries ; and very many even in the present 
 day, and in christian lands, who discard the Scriptures, and 
 proceed, as to religion and morality, only by other flickering 
 and uncertain " inner lights." Of these it may truly and 
 deploringly be said, in the language of the prophets of old ; — 
 " Behold all ye that kindle a fire ; that compass yourselves 
 about \vi|,h sparks : walk in the light of your fire, and in the 
 sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye, have of mine hand ; 
 ye shall lie down in sorrow." 
 
 Divine revelation says, concerning religious instruction and 
 guidance, " io the law and to the testimony if they speak not 
 according to this word, it is because there is no light in them ;" 
 — " thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my 
 path j" — " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God ; and 
 is profitable for doctrine, for reproof^ for correction, for instruction 
 in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly 
 furnished unto all good works'" Not a word here about the 
 '* ipner light," for a rule and a guide. In the two last sen- 
 tences of the foregoing extract, Mr. Grant has tried to be witty, 
 or humorous, even on such a solemn and vital subject. What 
 is the " bon hon " he has mentioned ? — the Soriptures, or the- 
 articles, or a system, which he hps so scornfully denounced and 
 condemned ? His reforming unbelievers in the Scriptural 
 faith and authority, with their numerous infidel companions, 
 have been, and still are doing the r utmost, to steal from the 
 weak and unwary, both the Scriptures, and every system of 
 faith in revealed truth, and I fearlessly say, Mr. Grant's lecture 
 is adapted to assist in promoting the infidel cnterprize. In 
 treating of system, Mr. Grant is not a little inconsistent. On 
 p. 19, he first depreciates or condemns system, and says :— 
 
 !vN 
 
so 
 
 
 of 
 ure 
 
 In 
 On 
 
 ' .'•■ 
 
 " I cannot find iniich system in any of the Ilebreiir prophetSi 
 I fear they would fare ill, were they now living, if they pre- 
 sented themselves to a Bilshop, to be examined, or applied to a 
 Presbytery for a licence." But immediately after he writes :— 
 " System ! it is a good thing, a necessary thing. Every man 
 must throw the truths that are credible to him, into somd 
 shape, or system, else his mind will be a mere chaos." Now, 
 here is a wide field for comment, and yut I must endeavour to 
 be as brief as possible. First, I will ask, has Mr. Grant ever 
 been before a Presbytery or Syn -d, and professed a belief in 
 a system, and solemnly and fully adopted it ? It must be pre* 
 sdmed that he has gone through that ordeal ; and made that 
 profession, clearly and fully, or he would not have attained to 
 his present position. On the same page, he says : " Systems 
 of faith according to the essential law of God, must be sloughed 
 oflT; and kept, not as shackles on faith, but as suggestive 
 historical documents ; as landmarks, showing whither and how 
 high the tide of life, in our forefathers, had flowed." Here, 
 are not merely the " blossoms " but the matured jruit% of the 
 ratk>nalistic, and infidel teachings of the German writers already 
 mentioned ; and of Carlyle and others of the same school in 
 England arid elsewhere ; and unhappily, Mr. Grant has par- 
 taken of those noxious and destructive fruits, and, by his 
 lecture, is recommending them to the *' Young Men's Christian 
 Association" and to the Churches, and the public generally. 
 According to this pernicious doctrine, there never could be 
 anything like system in religion. It would, as Mr. Grant's 
 language evidently means, be one thing to-day, and another 
 to-morrow j ever shifting, and changing, according to the 
 generally received opinions of the day ; or what is called the 
 •• spirit of the age." But all this is not new. It has always 
 been more or less the case, through the blindness of the human 
 understanding, and pride of the heart. We are told in Scrip- 
 ture of such persons ; and their unhappy fate, if they continue 
 n their fatal errors. They are described there, as, — '* always 
 
JL.ilLyiJ'-."'^ 
 
 nm 
 
 80 
 
 learning, and never able to come to the knowlodgo of the 
 truth ;" — '* Curried about with every wind of doctrine ;"— 
 " Clouds without water ;"— " Carried about of winds ;" — 
 " *vandering stars, to whom is rosorvol the blaokness of dark- 
 ness for ever." Those Gorman infidel writers and Carlyle, 
 evidently belong to the class hero described. Lot Mr. Orant 
 beware of any longer reading, or imbibing, their unscriptural 
 and pernicious sentiments, lest ho become ensnared and involved 
 in " the depths of Satan ;",--'the quicksands of infidelity, regard' 
 ing the truth, and the exclusive and binding authority of divine 
 revelation. 
 
 He says " I cannot find much of system in any of the He* 
 brew prophets." Perhaps this may be owing to a want of 
 discernment in Mr. Grant, or lack of diligent searching to dis- 
 cover it. System, as one definition of it, is the same as orderly 
 arrangement of the parts or particulars of any subject. Now. 
 the infinitely wise Creator, has manifested in all his works, the 
 very perfection of order, everything being in number, weight, 
 a^d measure, and every other particular, and in all their rela- 
 tions, in the most perfect consistency and harmony. Is it, then, 
 probable, that this infinitely wise Being, observing such peMect 
 order in all His works and doing!?, would inspire His servants, 
 to frame and reveal a system of truth, defective as to orderly . 
 arrangement ? If Mr. Grant means, that there is not in any of 
 the prophetical books, a regular continuous statement, or list, of 
 doctrinal and preceptive articles, forming a cr^ed for faith and 
 practice, certainly, there is none. Infinite wisdom did not see 
 it to be suitable and proper. But, if Mr. Grant will look care- 
 fully through a few of the earliest chapters of the two largest of 
 the prophetical books, he will discover, that there is the most 
 eysteraatic or orderly arrangements ; — in first specifying the sins 
 of the people ; next exhortations to repentance and turning from 
 tbera ; then, warnings and declarations of punishment, if a per- 
 sistence in evil ; next, promises of mercy and forgiveness if sin 
 is abandoned ; and lastly, promises of spiritual and temporal 
 
 i 
 
 p 
 
 ti 
 
ai 
 
 i ,■■ 
 
 blessings. The like may be found in other prcpfaotical books. 
 If Mr. Grant will look into the sablime and deeply affecting 
 threnodies, contained in the last chapter of the sorrowing Jere 
 miah's book of Lamentations, he will see a graduated, and 
 orderly rull of a£9ictioDS, from the lesser to those of the most 
 agonizing descriptions ; and closing with the deep distresses of 
 the whole nation. The most perfect system, or orderly arrange* 
 ment may be_ seen in our Lord's Serm n on the Mount ; and 
 throughout the Epistles, as to doctrines and duties, and on other 
 points, more especially in the Epistle to the Romans, and that to 
 the Hebrews. On page 19, 1 see that Mr. Grint bas, in a note, 
 referred i and with plainly implied approval, to the recent work, 
 called " Ecce Homo ; " which for its insidiously unscriptural 
 and profane character, is condemned by all evangelical and true 
 christians. 
 
 On page 24, Mr. Grant, after, giving an extract from a writ- 
 ing of JefFry, the Scotch critic, says, as his own ; — * Tho vul- 
 garity was frightful ; equal almost to that of the Bible." This, 
 alone, would justly expose the lecture, to the charge of pro- 
 fanity. 
 
 Further, on p. 28, Mr. Grant writes :■— " Action, therefore, 
 and not thought, is the final object of man, tho highest reality 
 of thought, and the safest, if not the only safe standard of truth." 
 This extract, thus sanctioned by Mr. Grant, is from a work by 
 Bunsen, one of the chief German Rationalists, or rather infideh, 
 as to Divine Revelation. It seems from these passages of the 
 lecture, that Mr. Grant thinks action — but he does not say of 
 what kind, or to what subjects directed — is better than the 
 inspired Scriptures, as a standard of truth. The ahaurdity and 
 profanity of the combined remarks, in the passage, are about 
 equal. 
 
 Several other most objectionable passages of the lecture might 
 be given, and appropriate comments oflfored ; but the reader's 
 patience, and religious feeling, must have already been seriously 
 tried by the extracts from the lecture which have been given. 
 
88 
 
 Tliose introdttood have quito 8ii£Bciedtly shown the lecture to b^ 
 of a character, rather belonging to the school of raticnaliBm and 
 infidelity, already described, than conformable to Soriptunl 
 truth and authority ; and tending to establish and promote the 
 principles and practice of pure morality. On this last point, 
 the lecture is, in accordance with the following strange and 
 incongruous passage, addressed to young men, in a sermon by 
 Mr. Grant, published in the last year : — " follow your nature, 
 and Christ will give to each seed his own body." The advioe 
 here given, as to following your own nature, is quite consistent 
 with that doctrine of Mormonism, which allows a score or two of 
 wives, but it will not answer for Christianity. It will also 
 accord with nearly all other forms of sensuality and an infinite 
 variety of follies and vanities, and even of offences, fur. which 
 the law of the land cannot, or does not, lay hold of the offender. 
 In coming to a conclusion I must express my sincere regret, 
 that from a sense of christian duty, I have been constrained to 
 oomment in the pointed but only just manner I have done, on 
 this most objectionable and improper lecture ; especially as 
 being the production of a Minister of religion. Among many 
 other powers and influences in the present day, adverse to the 
 interest, and promotion of pure Christianity, nationalism and 
 infidelity as to Scriptural truth and authority, hold prominent 
 places. This lecture is, I believe, the first instance of those 
 ruinous evils, being openly published in this Province. It is 
 well, therefore, that they should at their introduction, be as 
 publicly opposed and refuted ; and a compliance be afforded t6 
 the Scriptural and christian duty to reprove " gainsay ers," 
 boldly display a "banner for the truth" and "earnestly 
 contend fur the faith which was once delivered to the Saints." 
 
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