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STATE CHURCHES 
 
 KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MINISTERS. FORMS AND SERVICES 
 OF RELIGION BY SECULAR POWER ; 
 
 ITS INCONSISTENCY WITH THF FREE, IIUMHLINU, SPIRITFM. 
 NATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 
 
 By JOHN ALLEN. 
 
 " JoouB onawerwl. My kiugiiom ix not of this world." — John xviii 3fi 
 
 " Bcholil tho kingdum of God ih within you." — Luke xvil 21 
 
 " Tho kingiloni of Go<l is not mcnt and drink ; Imt riglitoousncfH. and poaoe and Joy in 
 the Holy Ghort.'— RoM. xiv. 17. 
 
 " Brethren, wo are not children of the t>ond-wonian, Imt of tho free. Stand fiwt 
 therefore in the lil>crty wherewith Chri at hath ma de ii» froo, and Iw not ontangle<l again 
 with the yoke of bondo^ " — ^ v- ■ -- . -, ... - 
 
 ^Ky^^ OF ruR «^ 
 
 [UNIVEB.SIT7] 
 
 WTLLI.VM AND FREDERTCK (i. CASH, 
 
 [.srCCK.HSOR.S TO ( IIARLEW tilMMN,] 
 
 ... lilSHOPSiiATE STREET WITIK^I^T. 
 1 «r)3. 
 

 LONDON : 
 rMCirAP.n barkett, phinter, 
 
 MARK I.ANK. 
 
 '-^7^^^^ 
 
Ac. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Having long been painfully impressed Avitli the evils of com- 
 pulsorj' ecclesiastical systems, existing in Britain and in other 
 nations, I have thought it to be a duty to my own countn- in 
 particular, to point out those evils, aud faithfully to plead for 
 such a thorough change in this respect, as is rccpiircd by the 
 great principles of the New Testament, and adapted to promote 
 the highest interests of man. Far from being disposed to write 
 in a strain of bitterness, I have endeavoured to handle the 
 subject dispassionately and impartially, under the conviction 
 that every Christian commimity is entitled to be treated with 
 deference and respect. The present complaint is not against 
 Protestant Episcopacy, or any other religious profession, as 
 such ; but applies to Jill systems for establishing and upholding 
 any religious tenets by the power of the state. It is the prin- 
 ciple of this union and enforcement, — the iuterfcrence of the 
 civil authority in religious matters, and the intrusion of eccle- 
 sia-stical authority into secular matters, with whatever doctrines 
 comiectcd, that will be mainly considered in the following pages. 
 I rejoice in belicNing that many of the ministers and private 
 individuals of the Established Church of England, to which prin- 
 cipally reference is made, arc members of the true universal 
 church of Christ, and children of fJod by adojjtion. And I 
 gladly bear testimony to the moderation, with which the power 
 and prinleges entrusted to that church are in the present day 
 
IV PRKFACE. 
 
 genornlly exorcisod. not\vitlistantlii\ir instances to the contrary ; 
 bnt I fully believe tliat its true spiritual interests and those of 
 the nation at larg:e would be greatly promoted, by a severance 
 of its miion with the state. 
 
 The origin and growth of the compulsory emoluments by which 
 ecclesiastical establishments are usually supported, and of some 
 of those many ceremonial observances which the power of the 
 state has been employed tb enforce, have of necessity come 
 under review ; these points being intimately connected with 
 the alliance between ci\il and religious authority, and clearly 
 showing tlic injurious character of the system, both in the 
 means of its maintenance and in the mode of its operation. 
 
 The great question of religious establishments is too com- 
 monly regarded as chietly of a pecuniary and political nature. 
 Considering such a view of it to be inadequate and far too 
 narrow, I can only say that if, in my apprehension, it had not a 
 nuich wider range, and a very iutluential bearing on the eternal 
 interests ot^ man. the present appeal would not have been made. 
 
 Xo one. who has studied the numerous evidences of public 
 opinion, can suppose that the views here taken are new or un- 
 common ; on the contrary, among the middle classes of society 
 they are general and rapidly progressive ; yet so closely con- 
 nected with the system under notice are men of almost all shades 
 of party in the upper ranks, that it will probably be upheld by 
 them as long as possible, at least for the sake of fsimily or indi- 
 vidual interest, and doubtless in many cases with higher and 
 purer motives. 
 
 Without attempting to draw any odious comparison, it may 
 be asserted that the British and other European nations have so 
 long been accustomed to the dominant yoke of ecclesiastical 
 authority, and the United States of America to the iuhumaji 
 yoke of the slave-mastei*, that however each nation may disdain 
 that sort of thraldom which does not prevail within its own 
 
rKKiA< i:. V 
 
 limits, not one of them cither properly estimates the unjust smcl 
 untenal)l(' eharacter of its own system, or sees in their true 
 and full dimensions the degrading effects of the yoke wliich 
 it tolerates and ui)Uolds. The true welfare of each of these 
 powerful luitions cannot fail to be injuriously affected by the 
 long sufferance of such violations of equity. ]\Iay the day 
 speedily arrive, when tlicy shall look impartially on these respec- 
 tive systems in the true li^ht of the gos[)el, and resolutely 
 apply such effectual remedies, as the great principles of our IkjIv 
 religion clearly })reseribe and afl'ord ! 
 
 Whatever may be the defects of the following pages — and 
 many they arc acknowledged to be — I trust the reader will find 
 nothing in them at variance with the first Christian duty (if 
 charity towards the members of any religious denomination ; 
 my sincere desire having been, while advocating faithfully 
 and without compromise the principles of scriptural truth, ever 
 to be found speaking that "truth in love."^ Although on parts 
 of this Essay, I have been favoured with the sentiments of 
 some of my friends, yet it must be fully understood that 1 am 
 alone responsible for the general contents. I do not lay claim 
 to much learning or deep research, to which a life of active 
 occupation is but ill adapted ; but I have diligently endeavoured, 
 as far as a small share of ability and leisure has permitted, to 
 make a candid use of the materials which lay within reach ; 
 and the labour has been lightened !)y a sincere desire to serve, 
 according to my views, the cause of truth and righteousness. 
 
 Ecclesiastical history abounds with interesting details, on 
 most of the points briefly adverted to in tliese pages — and to 
 those details I would earnestly recommend the reader — but the 
 object liere hivs been to select a few leading features, and to set 
 them forth in a small compass. Had not prejudice and self- 
 interest operated with a large proportion of church historians, 
 ' Eph. iv. 1.5. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 the opposition of an almost continuous series of enlightened 
 reformers to corruption and superstition would doubtless have 
 been much more clearly apparent than is now the case. 
 
 In this age, when unsound principles pertinaciously acted on, 
 and grievances long unredressed, have but recently given bii'th 
 to wide-spread revolutions, overturning ancient political edifices 
 and uprooting the foundations of society in many countries, 
 it is especially necessary, by way of guarding against danger 
 and strengthening just institutions, to remove obvious evils as 
 soon as possible. But indeed purer motives ought to prompt a 
 course of sound constitutional reformation, on questions of vital 
 importance to the highest interests of all our fellow-subjects, 
 and especially of the English Episcopal Church herself, and to 
 eflFect the dissolution of those degrading fetters, which bind her 
 in unholy connection with political authority. 
 
 Firm is my opinion, that the union argued against is the 
 grand defect of the British constitution, that the growing light 
 of the age will assuredly prove, under the Divine Blessing, too 
 strong for its retention, and that it must and will be done 
 away. May those in power deliberate and act wisely, ere it 
 be too late ; and thus be the honourable instruments of good to 
 our beloved country, averting those rash measui'es, which operate 
 not peaceably and lawfully, but with tumult and widely diffused 
 distress, inflicting incalculable injury of various kinds on the 
 nations which resort to them. Christian meekness and moral 
 firmness combined are essential to the right conduct of every 
 real religious reformation. 
 
 Some may possibly think that, on a question so closely con- 
 nected with national policy, too frequent reference is made in 
 these pages to religious considerations and to spiritual and 
 scriptm'al views. But on the other hand, let it be remembered 
 that religion is not a mere theoretical system, but an eminently 
 practical principle, which ought to operate with benign effects 
 
riiKr.vcK. vii 
 
 on all our iustitutioiis. As a matter of moral duty having refer- 
 ence to the higliest interests of man, far more than as one of 
 state policy, I wish respectfully to commend the subject to the 
 earnest and serious reflection of my countrymen. 
 
 One object lias been, by presenting the reader -svith mjxny 
 gleanings from ecclesiastical history under separate heads, to 
 develope tlie rise of several religious opinions and observances 
 upheld by state authority, in order to throw light on their actual 
 features and character. For minute investigations into their 
 inconsistency with the tenor of the New Testament, reference 
 may be had to other works, treating on them at length. 
 
 Some of the following pages will be found to contain a concise 
 compilation of the declarations of various other Christians, and 
 especially of those faithful reformers, who yielded up life itself 
 in support of their conscientious convictions ; and whose clear 
 but neglected testimonies arc adduced, in confirmation of what 
 I believe to be evangelical truth. 
 
 Without entering much into the writings of other recent 
 authors, I have endeavoured plainly to set forth my own 
 views ; with the desire that this imperfect outline of the infrac- 
 tion of great gospel principles may obtain a deliberate and 
 candid consideration, and that the evils pointed out may be 
 calmly but faithfully grappled with, in a manner befitting an 
 enlightened Christian countrv. 
 
 All who mark the gi'oss corruptions, which pervaded the 
 professing Christian Church so extensively in the dark ages, 
 must feel deeply thankful for the greater degree of light and 
 holiness prevaihng in the present day, and some may even be 
 ready to think that it is needless to recall so particularly 
 errors that have to a large extent been renounced. Yet it is 
 necessary to bear in mind, that the corrtiptions of that period 
 arc but partially removed, that while the l)lackcr shades 
 have been obliterated, the evil principle still prevails in many 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 countries,, and that the reformation from the pollutions of the 
 apostacy has scarcely reached, even now, some of the dark places 
 of the earth ; while even in our own favoured land both super- 
 stition and infidelity show themselves to be still alive, and stalk 
 boldly forth. Hence is required a frequent and anxious recur- 
 rence to the pui'e principles of the religion of Christ. 
 
 It is very possible that, in treating on so great a variety of 
 topics, some sentiments may be found to be inadvertently 
 expressed in terms that are equivocal, or open to objections 
 which I have not perceived. Should such be the case, I must 
 request from the reader a favourable construction, and the 
 candid interpretation of one part by the general bearing of the 
 whole. 
 
 Liskeard, Fifth Month 1st, lb53. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 pa(;k. 
 Introduction— Various modes of Union of Church and State I 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 On the Nature of the Kingdom of Christ .... 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Spiritual Influence which rules in Christ's Kingdom, 
 AND THE Secular Power which governs the Kingdoms 
 uF THE World — the essential Difference and Distinction 
 between them 7 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 On the Universal Church of Christ 18 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of Pakticular Christian Churches 23 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Figurative Representations of the Church of Christ in Holy 
 
 Scripture 3<) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Influences exerted in the True Church, or Kingdom of 
 Christ, are those of Love and Truth : nkither Violbnce 
 NOR Insincerity hawing any part in it . 3H 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 The Union of Civil and Eeligious Authority among the 
 Israelites ; the Figurative Nature of the Old Covenant, 
 AND OF the Predictions relating to the New Covenant 
 AND Church of Christ 40 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 On the Evils resulting from the Possession of Worldly Power 
 BY the Professed Ministers of Christ, and on the Duty 
 OF aspiring at a pure Gospel Standard .... 45 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Union of Civil and professedly Spiritual Authority, 
 
 WHETHER through THE USURPATION OF SECULAR PoWER BY 
 
 Ecclesiastics, or through the Interference of the State 
 
 IN Spiritual Matters, the great Cause of Persecutions 56 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Corruption of Religion Promoted by the use of certain 
 
 UNSCRIPTURAL TeRMS AND EXPRESSIONS, AND BY THE MIS- 
 APPLICATION OF OTHERS 65 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 On Christian Worship and Ministry 72 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Ill Effects of unduly exalting one class of Men in the 
 Churches, and one IVIan in each Congregation, contrary 
 to Apostolic Practice 77 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Assumption of the Priestly Character and Office . . 82 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 On Apostolical Succession ; and on the Ministerial power to 
 
 FORGIVE Sin, and to confer Divine Grace ... 92 
 
 CHAPTER XA^ 
 
 The true Ministers of Christ, however circumstanced as to 
 Human Learning or Appointment, and whether Male 
 
 OR FeM^iVLE, are Qu^VLlFIED, CjVLLED AND COMMISSIONED BY 
 
 Himself 101 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 I'AGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Ministers and other Servants of Curist must commend 
 
 THEIR Doctrines by Forbearing Conduct . . .110 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The early Christian Church ; its adoption and union with 
 
 THE State by the Emperor Constantine . . . 113 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Practical Ill-consequences of Pecuniary Endowments on the 
 
 Christian Ministry and Churches 120 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Christian Ministry must be Free ; but those who Preach 
 
 THE Gospel are authorised to Live of the Gospel . 125 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 On Tithes ; their Origin, History and Changes ; the Testi- 
 monies against them, &c 131 
 
 Section 1 — Of Tithes before the coming of Clu-ist . . 131 
 
 „ 2 — The origin and general establishment of Tithes 
 
 among Cliristians ...... 134 
 
 „ 3 — On the estal)lishnient of Tithes in England . . 143 
 
 „ 4 — Chief characteristics of the period in which Tithes 
 
 were introduced and established . . 152 
 
 „ 5 — Founders and various Possessors of Tithes in 
 
 England and "Wales 157 
 
 „ 6 — Other considerations and circumstances relating to 
 
 Ecclesiastical Tithes and Tithe Rent-charge . 165 
 „ 7 — On Impropriate Tithes, &c . . . . 177 
 
 „ 8 — Commutation of Tithes in England, Wales and 
 
 Ireland, into Tithe Rent-charge . .180 
 
 9— On First-fruits and Tenths . . 183 
 
 „ 10 — Queen Anne's Bounty . . . . .183 
 
 „ 11 — Ecclesiastical Commission ..... 185 
 
 „ 12 — Complaints and efforts of Reformers in different 
 
 ages and countries, against Tithes and other 
 
 pecimiary endowments of Ministers . . 186 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 On EccLEsiASTiCtU. Patronage, or the appointment of Ministers, 
 
 Bishops, &c 215 
 
 Section 1 — Introduction 215 
 
 „ 2— On BcneHccs 217 
 
 „ a— On Bi.shf.i>rics 233 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Parochial Rates and minor Charges for Ecclesiastical 
 
 Services 241 
 
 Section 1 — Church Rates 241 
 
 „ 2 — Mortuaries 246 
 
 „ 3— Easter Offerhigs 247 
 
 „ 4 — Surplice Fees 248 
 
 „ 5— Pew Rents 250 
 
 6 — Indirect demands 250 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Extensive Changes inteoduced, with respect to Tithes, Church 
 Property and Patronage, on the Continent or Europe, 
 
 &c. 252 
 
 1 — France. 2 — Belgium 252 
 
 3 — Holland. 4 — Germany 253 
 
 5 — Austria. 6 — Gallicia, Cracow and Russian-Poland . 254 
 
 7 — Sweden, Denmark and Norway. 8 — Russia Projier . 255 
 
 9 — Switzerland. 10 — Italy. 11 — United States of America 256 
 
 12 — British Colonies 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Estimates or the total Annual Revenues of the State Church 
 
 in England and Wales 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 On the Power and Duty of the British Government and 
 
 People, with respect to the Ecclesiastical Establishments 269 
 
 Section 1 — Introductory Remarks ...... 269 
 
 „ 2 —The pecuniaiy part of the question . . . 270 
 
 „ 3 — Existing infringements on complete Religious 
 
 Liberty 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Establishment and Influence of the Papal Power in Britain, 
 
 AND its Consequences 282 
 
 Section 1^ — Introduction of the Papal authority . . . 282 
 
 „ 2 — Extent of Papal Exactions .... 285 
 
 „ 3 — Chief Heads of the Revenue drawn from England 
 
 by the Popes 287 
 
 „ 4 — Ecclesiastical oi- Canon Law .... 290 
 
 „ 5 — Religious Houses, as Abbeys, Monasteries, &c, . 293 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 The Anglican State CnuRcn ; its internal Government, its 
 
 Courts and Officers 299 
 
 Section 1 — General Observations 299 
 
 „• 2 — Brief Histoi-ical Sketch of the Exercise of Eccle- 
 siastical Supremacy by successive Rulers of the 
 
 State 301 
 
 „ 3— The Convocation 309 
 
 „ 4 — Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Courts . . . 314 
 „ 5 — The British Sovereign the Supreme Head on Earth 
 
 of the Anglican Church .... 317 
 
 „ 6 — The Bishops and their Appointment . . . 317 
 
 „ 7 — Priests and Deacons, their Ordination, &c. . 319 
 
 „ " 8 — Deans and Chapters 323 
 
 „ 9— Parish Clerks 325 
 
 „ 10 — Churchwardens, &c. ...... 326 
 
 11 — Dissenters and Papists ..... 327 
 
 „ 12 — Excommimication 330 
 
 „ 13— English Canon Law 331 
 
 „ 14 — Want of Church Discipline 332 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Ireland ; its Churches, and Endowments for Ecclbsiastical 
 
 Purposes 334 
 
 Section 1 — Protestant Episcopal Church Establishment . 334 
 
 „ 2 — The Irish Roman Catholic Church . 340 
 
 „ 3 — MajTiooth College 342 
 
 „ 4 — New Educational Colleges .... 343 
 
 „ 5 — Tlie Regium Donum 343 
 
 „ 6 — General Remarks 346 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 The CnuRCHF^s of Scotland ; their Progress and Constitutions 347 
 
 Section 1 — Presbyterian Discipline 347 
 
 „ 2 — Progress of the Scotch Established Church, ami 
 
 origin of the Secession Churches . . 349 
 
 „ 3— Establishment of the Free Church . . 352 
 
 „ 4 — Revenues of the Established Presbyterian Church 
 
 of Scotland 3.').') 
 
 „ 5 — General Notices 3.'><) 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Constitutions of Anglo-Saxon States and Churches in North 
 
 America 357 
 
 Section 1 — Vii-ginia 3.57 
 
 „ 2 — New England 358 
 
 „ 3— Maryland . 360 
 
 „ 4 — Ehode Island 361 
 
 „ 5 — Carolina 362 
 
 „ 6— The Jerseys 363 
 
 „ 7— New York 364 
 
 „ 8 — Pennsylvania 364 
 
 „ 9 — General Constitution of the United States . 367 
 
 „ 10 — Unrighteous distinction of Colour- . . . 368 
 „ 11 — The several Eeligious Bodies, and their Progress 
 
 after the Revolution > . . . . 369 
 
 „ 12 — The Existing Eeligious Bodies .... 372 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 General Remarks on Church Constitutions and Discipline 373 
 
 Part 1 — On Chu.rch Constitutions 373 
 
 Section 1 — Opinions of the Early Reformers . . . 373 
 
 „ 2 — -Union with the State, or Erastian System . . 374 
 
 „ 3— The Popish or High Church System . . 375 
 
 „ 4 — The Ministerial System 376 
 
 „ 5 — The Popular or Eepresentative System . . 377 
 
 Part 2 — On Chui-ch Discipline 382 
 
 Section 1 — Church Membership 382 
 
 „ 2 — Care of the Poor 384 
 
 „ 3 — On dealing with Delinquents .... 384 
 „ 4^— Necessity of seriousness in conducting the Disci- 
 pline and other affairs of the Church . . 386 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXII, 
 
 The Union of Church and State more directly considered ; 
 
 ITS consequences; objections to it . . . . 388 
 
 Section 1 — Ai-guments for the Union considered . . . 388 
 
 „ 2 — -Working of the Union 394 
 
 „ 3 — Special Objections to the Establishment of any one 
 
 particular Church 396 
 
 „ 4 — Objections to the Endowments of aU Churches . 398 
 „ 5 — Eesponsibility of the Established Church for the 
 
 State, and its dependence thereon , . . 399 
 „ 6 — The State responsible for its Church, and in some 
 
 degi'ee dependent upon it ... . 402 
 „ 7 — Effects pi>oduced by the Union on the character 
 
 and conduct of Dignitaries and Ministers . 403 
 
 „ 8 — Summary of Chief Objections to the Union . 405 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 ( II Al^ER XXXIII. 
 
 The Evils ok ruKstiuMiNc; IIkligious Forms axu Skuvicks itv 
 
 THE State, consequent on its ruoTEcrioN . . . . 4(>7 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 On various Formularies, Rites and Observances, appended to 
 Divine Worship and Service by professed Christians; 
 Historical Sketches and various opinions of them . 418 
 
 Section 1^ — lutrotluctory Remarks 418 
 
 „ 2 — On Liturgies iu general ..... 421 
 „ 3 — On the Roman Liturgy or Mass-book . , 424 
 „ 4 — On the English Episcopal Liturgy, the Presbyte- 
 rian Directory, &c. 4^7 
 
 „ 5 — On Homilies and Lessons ..... 434 
 
 „ 6 — On Creeds and Confessions of Faith . 437 
 
 „ 7 — On Vocal and Instrumental Music in Divine Worsliip 431) 
 
 „ 8 — On Peculiar Priestly Vestments, and the Tonsure 446 
 
 „ 9 — On the seven Sacraments of the Roman and Greek 
 
 churches 451 
 
 1 — On the two Ceremonies styled Sacraments, observed 
 
 by many Protestants ..... 453 
 
 „ 1 1 — On Baptism and Sprinkling with Water . . 459 
 On the Sign of the Cross, 487. On the Baptism 
 
 with the Holy Spirit 488 
 
 Summary of Difterences in Sentiment and Practice, 
 
 with respect to Baptism .... 490 
 
 12^0n the Lord's Supper, Euchari.st or Mass . 491 
 
 Summary of different Sentiments and Practices, 
 with resjiect to the Lord's Supper, Eucharist 
 
 or Mass 51G 
 
 „ 13 — On other matters relating to Divine Worship . 518 
 
 14 — On the Multiplication of Holy Days, Festivals and 
 
 Fasts 522 
 
 15 — On the Hallowing or Conjuring of Water, &c. ; tlie 
 
 Consecration of Building.s, Ciround, &c. . 528 
 
 1 n — The Commencement and Suspension of the Refor- 
 mation ........ 545 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 On Heresies 553 
 
 CHAl^ER XXXVI. 
 Brief Notices of Persecutions infucted by some professino 
 
 Christians on others deemed Heretics, &c. . . 557 
 
 659 
 5(52 
 5(J3 
 564 
 568 
 569 
 
 1 — Early Age.s 
 
 557 
 
 2 — Waldensea, &c. 
 
 .3 — France 
 
 560 
 
 '1 — B(.)hpinia . 
 
 6— Holland . 
 
 563 
 
 6— Italy 
 
 7 — Sj>ain 
 
 564 
 
 8— Englan.l . 
 
 9— Scotlan<l . 
 
 567 
 
 10— Ireland 
 
 11— General Remarks 
 
 568 
 
 1 2— The Crusades 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER I. 
 A Worldly Spirit ix many Christian Churches attaches 
 
 UNDUE IMPORTANCE TO TaLENT AND LEARNING IN MINISTERS, 
 AND INTRODUCES EXTRANEOUS ACCOMPANIMENTS INTO DEVO- 
 TIONAL Exercises 572 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER II. 
 
 The ardent pursuit or large Possession of Wealth, Luxury, and 
 OTHER worldly Attainments and Enjoyments, injurious 
 TO the Spiritual Interests of Individuals and of 
 THE Church 577 
 
IVEESIT 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The union of "Church and State'' is carried out in various 
 modes. 
 
 1st. In the support of one particular church or religious 
 denomination, by the power and wealth of the state ; involving 
 the exclusion from it of all the other churches in a country, 
 and the compulsion of their members to support the favoured 
 one; the rulers of the state being, by virtue of authority, 
 the rulers of that particular church, appointing its oflBcers, 
 and prescribing its discipline and services. Such is the case 
 of the British Episcopal Protestant Church, in England and 
 Wales. 
 
 2ud. If the \icw be extended to the whole of Great Britain, 
 another case presents itself : viz., the support of two established 
 churches by the British Government — one in one district ; and 
 the second, widely differing from it, in the other district, — an 
 Episcopal Church in England and ^^'alos, and a Presbyterian 
 Church in Scotland. While the favours of the state are 
 bestowed on each within its own limits, to these limits they arc 
 strictly confined ; the same profession which is established and 
 prescribed as the orthodox national church in England and 
 Wales, with compulsory powers conferred by the state, being 
 excluded from State favour, and adjudged to lie dissent ur 
 schism in Scotland, and vice versd. 
 
 3rd. The rulers of a state supporting, by its wealtli and 
 power, the officers and services of several or all of the particular 
 churches witliin its torriton' ; and, in consideration of this 
 
 >c 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 support^ exercising a degree of control over their officers^ doc- 
 trine and discipline. Such is the condition of things in France, 
 adopted on the principle of impartiality, instead of an entire 
 withdrawal of state support from all. 
 
 4th. On the other hand, the rulers of one particular church 
 or denomination obtaining the secular authority of a state, and 
 applying its power and wealth to the support of their own 
 ecclesiastical officers, ser\dces and objects; all other churches 
 being persecuted, or excluded from its favour. Such is the case 
 with the E-oman States in Italy. 
 
 In each of these instances, there is a state-enacted union of 
 ci%al and ecclesiastical authority in the same hands, the posses- 
 sion of the one conferring the other. The object of this treatise 
 is, to show the evils of the union, which grew up in the dark 
 ages, in whatever mode it may now exist ; to set forth how it 
 has operated in time past, and how it still operates ; to advocate 
 its total abolition; and to maintain that it is no part of the 
 business of ciAal government to interfere, as such, in ecclesias- 
 tical or religious matters, nor of the rulers of a chtu'ch to inter- 
 fere, as such, in secular matters. Thus no particular church 
 would be specially favoured, nor other chiu'ches oppressed by 
 the state ; but the members of all would stand on equal terms, 
 according to their several merits and capabilities, and the cause 
 of true religion be greatly promoted. 
 
 For want of sufficiently recognising and keeping in view the 
 existence of various Christian churches, mention has often been 
 vaguely made of " the Church " in a general sense ; as though 
 it were one great visible community, embracing all true Chris- 
 tians within the limits of a state, contrary to actual circum- 
 stances in every country ; and hence have arisen unreasonable 
 ideas and false conclusions. 
 
STATE CHURCHES 
 
 KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON TlIK NATTUE OF THE KINGDOM OF rURIST. 
 
 When the Christian dispensation was about to be introduced 
 into the world, its near approach was proclaimed by John the 
 Baptist, tlie immediate forerunner of Christ, in these words, 
 " The kingdom of heaven," or, " the kingdom of God is at 
 hand."^ And our Saviour himself used the same language, at 
 the early periods of his personal ministry. It appears, there- 
 fore, that one great object of his condescending to take luiman 
 nature upon him, was to establish liis own kingdom — the 
 kingdom of God, or of heaven — among mankind. 
 
 This great event had long been expected by the Jews. Tlieir 
 prophets had predicted it from one generation to another : its 
 glorv, and privileges, and permanence had been often pointed out, 
 l)ut the mode of accomphshmcnt was not clearly detincd nor 
 imderstood. When Christ spoke to his disciples of his approach- 
 ing sufferings and death, even one of themselves replied, under 
 the expectation of an outward kingdom, " Be it far from tlice, 
 Lord ; this shall not be unto thee."- And after his crucifixion, 
 being ignorant of the nature of his intentions, they anxiously 
 inquired of him, " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the king- 
 dom to Israel ?"■' As the king of the Jews, he was arraigned 
 ' Matt. iii. -1 ; Mark i. IT.. " Matt. xvi. 2-2. '' Arts i. 
 
 \\ 2 
 
4 THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST SET UP [Chap. 1. 
 
 before Pilate ; and when this governor demanded of him the truth 
 of the charge, he answered, " My kingdom is not of this world : 
 if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants 
 fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews j but now is 
 my kingdom not from hence ; '' and he added, " Thou sayest 
 (truly) that I am a king ; to this end was I born, and for this 
 cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness to the 
 truth ; every one that is of the truth heareth my voice."^ 
 
 These declarations of Jesus Christ evidently show that, though 
 he came to set up a kingdom on earth, yet it was to be of a 
 nature and in a manner totally different from those of the 
 kingdoms of this world. His precepts and his example prove 
 that love to God and love to man were the first laws of his 
 dominion, that it was not to be upheld by violence or deceit, 
 but that his subjects were to be those who listened and were 
 obedient to the truth. The prophet Daniel foretold it in these 
 remarkable terms : — " Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone 
 was cut out of the mountain without hands ; and that it brake 
 in pieces the ii'on, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold ; 
 in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
 kingdom which shall never be destroyed -, and the kingdom shall 
 not be left to other people, for it shall break in pieces and con- 
 sume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.'' 2 
 
 Chi'ist declared, " The kingdom of God cometh not with 
 observation ; neither shall they say, lo here, or, lo there ; for, 
 behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'' 3 His Holy Spirit 
 wliich bears rule there, is not of an outward or tangible nature, 
 but influences and governs the minds, consciences and souls of 
 men." " And when Jesus perceived that they would come, and 
 take him by force, to make him a king, he departed into a 
 mountain alone."* From these and many other like passages, 
 we may conclude that the kingdom of Christ was not to be of 
 a worldly kind, imposing in its appearance, or established by 
 human contrivance or power. The stone was to be cut out of 
 the mountain without hands ; small at first, yet gradually to 
 increase to a great mountain and fill the whole earth. Under 
 another figure of the same import, the kingdom of heaven is 
 described as a " grain of mustard seed, the least of all seeds ; " 
 but growing up to a large tree, till the fowls of the air could 
 
 ' Jotn xviii. 36, 37. ''' Dan. ii. 45. Luke xvii. 20. ' Johu vi. 15. 
 
AND UPHELD WITHOUT VIOLENCE. 5 
 
 lodge in the branches.^ This is true, as well in a general, as in 
 an individual sense. 
 
 As Christ's kingdom Mas not to be set up, so neither was it 
 afterwards to be sustained, by force or fraud ; lunnan wisdom 
 and greatness m ere not to be its pillars, but lowliness and meek- 
 ness ; for he declared, " Except ye become as little children, 
 ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ;"- implying 
 that they could not otherwise be his faithful subjects. When 
 the Samaritans would riot receive him, and some of his dis- 
 ciples inquired whether they should call for fire from heaven 
 to destroy these unbelievers, he meekly replied, " Ye know not 
 what spirit ye are of; for the Son of Man is come, not to 
 destroy men's lives, but to save them."^ Thus he testified that 
 they were not subject to the influence of his meek, holv, and 
 beneficent sovereignty, but ignorant what its nature was, and 
 whose subjects they really were ; for that he came to promote 
 love and truth, to save and not to destroy, even them who 
 opposed him. It may be asserted that the whole tenor of the 
 New Testament is consonant with this view of the character of 
 the kingdom of Christ ; and that, in proportion to tlie purity 
 and faithfulness with which it is upheld, will love, sincerity, and 
 meekness, " peace on earth, good will to men, and glory to 
 God,"^ prevail as its sure tokens and genuine results. Notiiing 
 else can equally promote even the temporal happiness of man- 
 kind. Well, tlierefore, may Cliristians pray : " Thy kingdom 
 come — thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.'" 
 
 It would not be consistent with the purpose of this essay, to 
 enter at length on the nature of Christ's kingdom on earth. 
 Most readers, it is hoped, have glimpses, more or less correct 
 and enlarged, of its holy, spiritual character. The writer how- 
 ever may venture, simjjly and briefly, to give liis own view of 
 it, drawn from the consideration of holy scripture. 
 
 The glorified Head of the universal church, the Redeemer 
 and Saviour of men, who dwelt for a time on earth, and offered 
 himself on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of tlie world, con- 
 descends to visit the nalurally dark hearts of all men by the 
 influences of his holy Grace, Light or Spirit, in greater or less 
 degrees ; reproving them for evil, inciting them to good, eulight- 
 
 ' M.itt. xiii. 31. .12. ' ALitt. xviii. .3. ' Luke i.x. .06, 
 
 « Luke ii. 14. ' Matt. vi. 10. 
 
6 THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. [Chap. 1. 
 
 ening the conscience, and, as yielded to, subduing and purifying 
 the will and aflfections, producing the work of regeneration, 
 calling them to become his subjects, qualifying them for service 
 in his church, and preparing them for heaven : all this being 
 effected, in proportion as man_, whatever may be the variety 
 of his external circumstances, submits to this holy influence ; 
 some, unhappily, rebelling against it, whereby they become less 
 susceptible of its \isitations, and all liable to fall away, through 
 unwatchfulness and disobedience. 
 
 We are assm'ed that "the kingdom of God is witliin,^^^ or 
 of a spiritual character ; also that " it is righteousness, peace, 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost,"^ — essentially holy and peaceful in 
 its character. If we Avould know its establishment, and be 
 sharers in its heavenly benefits, it must be set up in our hearts 
 and rule there, diffusing these benign principles over our inmost 
 thoughts, motives and affections, as well as over our words and 
 actions. If we are ruled by the Spirit of Christ, we shall biing 
 forth its fruits — humility, purity, justice, meekness, long-suffer- 
 ing, peace, temperance, faith, hope, and charity. These will 
 mark oui' conduct, as that of the subjects of Christ^s kingdom; 
 and according as we are defective in any of the Christian vii'tues, 
 so are we rebelling against him, however we may persuade 
 ourselves or others to the contrary. 
 
 ' Luke xvii. 21. * Koin, xiv. 17. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THK SPIRITUAL INFLl'ENCE WHICH RULES IN CHRISt's KINfiDOM, 
 AND THE SECULAR POWER WHICH GOVERNS THE KINGDOMS OF 
 
 THE WORLD THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE AND DISTINCTION 
 
 IJETWEEN THEM. 
 
 The declaration of the Saviour of men that his " kingdom is 
 not of tills world," ' is fraught with deeply important truths. 
 It strikes at the root of all attempts to endow and support 
 spiritual authority with secular power, and to enforce a union 
 between them. Indeed, holy scripture and experience teach us, 
 that these two principles and sources of iiiHuencc are entirely 
 diHercnt and independent of each other — rarely found in large 
 measure in the same iudiWdual or church — but often like the 
 scales of the balance, the one depressed in proportion as the 
 other is lifted up. ^'ain, therefore, are the attempts forcibly 
 and permanently to combine elements so dissimilar, and (jftcu 
 so opposite. 
 
 Under the tiieocracy of the ancient Israelites, the political 
 system was eminently a religious system, and based upon the 
 latter as such. All the rites and observances, the Avorship and 
 the sacrifices, the officiating tribe of the Levites, and the chosen 
 family of the priesthood, the mode of their support, and the 
 extent of their duties, were minutely prescribed in the law given 
 by Moses. There was but one true visible church or mode of 
 religion in the state, and there could be but one. Yet when 
 the kingly power was established, the mouarchs were often 
 rebuked by the prophets of the Lord. Far from being the 
 heads of the church, the kings were sometimes " rejected " * 
 and denounced by its voice, leaguing themselves with idols and 
 the enemies of the living God. 
 
 The old pagan .system of religion was mainly an engine of 
 state; its regiUations and services were therefore committed 
 ' Johu xviii. 3G. ' 1 Sam. xvi. I ; t Kin^si. .3. 
 
^.^^^riCt^ 
 
 8 THE PAGAN AND CHKISTIAN SYSTEMS. [Chap. .2. 
 
 to the control and exercise of the civil authorities. The chief 
 magistrate of the ancient Romans had always been entrusted 
 with the superintendence of the national religion, and might 
 properly perform its most sacred functions. 
 
 The Christian religion was based on a totally different prin- 
 ciple. Lowly in the estimate of man, Christianity arose from a 
 Divine original, containing a spmtual power above all human 
 authority, and unconnected with it. A degree of this power was 
 committed by its Divine Author to his faithful followers, of what- 
 ever worldly rank or station. Hence, the duties of the prince 
 and of the minister of the gospel — of the rulers of the state and 
 the rulers of the church, became wholly distinct and indepen- 
 dent. The minister and every advanced Christian might be 
 either a prince or a peasant, but must possess spiritual autho- 
 rity. The prince and magistrate, whether religious or irreli- 
 gious, must possess human authority. The necessary connexion 
 between worldly greatness and religious eminence was for ever 
 dissolved. 
 
 Civil government, employing secular measures, is ordained 
 from on high to be wisely administered for civil purposes — to 
 establish and maintain order, justice, and equity — to protect the 
 weak and the poor — to repress violence and oppression — to 
 punish the wicked — to encourage industry and art — to promote 
 knowledge and civilization — to reward and stimulate virtue — to 
 aid the moral elevation and happiness of man. It regards and 
 treats him as a citizen, a member of the social community, 
 bound by implied civil contract to act in union with those 
 around him, for mutual benefit. It takes cognizance of his 
 words and actions, as they relate to others and to the common- 
 wealth. It endeavours to secure for him temporal comforts, 
 acts upon him by external considerations and motives, expecting 
 from him submission to the laws, and a proper quota of personal 
 services, mental exertions, or pecuniary contributions for the 
 good of the state. If he offend against its regulations, he is 
 liable to be punished, either in his person or in his effects, by 
 the authority of the magistrate, for the warning of himself and 
 others, as well as for the protection of the public. Such is the 
 province of civil government — its objects are of a temporal and 
 moral nature — affecting man as a responsible being, endowed 
 with faculties of mind and body ; and in its due administra- 
 
^ 
 
 • CiOVERNMENTS OF TIIK STATK AND OF CIIKIS^^ ^ '^ *s. ' "^ V\* 
 
 tion, it is entitled to respect, submission and co-opMr^itiw. -« t»»J 
 
 Moreover, those in authority must act on the broad ba^ij^^^; 1, ' 
 
 Christian principle, and a comprehensive liberality, with respccT^^^'^^:: 
 
 both to their co-rchgionists and to dissentients, to their own 
 
 subjects and to foreigners, as well as to the various classes of 
 
 society ; not indulging sectarian views, merely selfish motives, 
 
 or narrow retaliatory conduct, but aiming, at every point, to 
 
 carry the spirit and temper of the New Testament into enlarged 
 
 and consistent practice. They must imitate the example of that 
 
 glorious Being — that universal Governor — who " makcth his sun 
 
 to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
 
 just and on the unjust."^ 
 
 In relation to the kingdom of Christ, man is to be viewed as a 
 spiritual agent, an immortal but a fallen being, placed for a time 
 in this world as in a scene of probation, that through faith and 
 righteousness while here, he may, by the aid of divine grace, 
 be prepared for a glorious and an eternal state of existence 
 liereafter. He must be regarded as subject to the authority 
 and government of Christ, his paramount Lord, deriving all 
 good from him, who is ready, by his Holy Spirit, to enlighten, 
 reprove, animate, and direct him — showing him his duty, and 
 requiring his obedience— rpointing out from time to time the 
 evil to be forsaken, and the good to be embraced, and who will 
 judge him accordingly at the last day. The instructions being 
 spiritual, — whether by the immediate, perceptible influences of 
 the Spirit of Truth, or through the medium of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, the preaching of the gospel, or the course of Divine 
 Providence — the considerations and motives arc spiritual also: 
 having reference cliieHy to spiritual obedience and disobedieuce, 
 to heavenly rewards and punishments. At the same time, it 
 must be thankfully acknowledged, as an additional incentive, 
 that " godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of 
 the life that now is, and of that wliich is to come."* 
 
 It is not as a mere moral subject of human governiTJcnt, that 
 every one of us has to consider his position, privileges and 
 responsibilities ; but as a subject of a liigher and infinite autlio- 
 rity — the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, of Him whose 
 kingdom is within us, who looks at the heart with an omniscient 
 eye, and expects its allegiance through the power which he 
 « Matt. V. 4.\ 2 1 Tun. iv. 8. 
 
10 THE SPIRITUAL GOVERNMENT OF CHRIST. [C/lCfp. 2. 
 
 graciously dispenses. While each reiiders uiito Caesar the things 
 which are Csesar's, he must also render unto God the things wliich 
 are God's. One man or people may be situated here on earth 
 under an arbitrary government, and another individual or nation 
 may be in the full enjoyment of liberty; yet their difference 
 in this respect is of little comparative importance. If they are 
 true Christians,, or subjects of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, 
 they will endeavour to look beyond and above the present limited 
 sphere to the heavenly Sovereign — to ascertain his will as theii* 
 first law — and to obey his commands as their chief pleasure. 
 This continued endeavour, accompanied by a lowly sense of their 
 imperfect obedience, and by a trustful reliance on Him who is 
 their only strength and atonement, will render them all, under 
 their diflFerent circumstances, good subjects of their respective 
 governments, conscientiously striving to fill up with faithfulness 
 their respective places in human society. Earthly governruents 
 may be dissolved, powerful empires may change, and ancient 
 dynasties may pass away ; yet they know that He, to whom they 
 owe the highest allegiance, is immutable and eternal ; that He 
 ruleth as their King above all ; and that, as they are faithful to 
 Him, He will be their protector for ever. 
 
 Great is the privilege to be subjects of a well-ordered earthly 
 kingdom, to partake of its benefits, and to enjoy its peace ; but 
 incomparably greater is the privilege to any, in whatever out- 
 ward position, humbly to believe that they are, thi'ough divine 
 grace, subjects of Christ's spiritual kingdom, desiring above all 
 other things to act in obedience to his laws, and to share his 
 protection and favour. The woi'ld, even professors of religion, 
 may frown upon such and despise them ; it may deny them the 
 title of Christians, and render their endeavours to yield allegiance 
 to Christ a cause of persecution and temporal distress ; but if he 
 speak pardon and peace to their souls, if they are permitted to 
 feel the sustaining power of the love of God, bearing witness 
 \rith their spirits that they are his subjects,^ they will be enabled 
 to rejoice in the conviction, that, all imworthy as they are, 
 Christ is truly their Peace-maker and King, and that of his 
 kingdom and peace there shall be no end. 
 
 Even if his heart is not right in the sight of God, man may 
 possibly be an irreproachable subject of human government ; 
 Eom. viii. 16. 
 
GOVEKNMKNT Ol" MAN AM) Ol (IIUIST. ]1 
 
 but if lie is a faithful subject of Christ, he will uot fail to be a 
 j^ood eitizeu-, au excnii)lary uicinber of the secular commuuity. 
 Civil goveruiueut regards him in his social external relations : 
 the government of Christ in his individual spiritual condition. 
 If civil government attempt to consider, to influence, and to 
 regulate the latter, it takes upon itself a charge for which it was 
 not intended, and to Mhich it is unequal ; it exceeds its province, 
 and sooner or later injures what it professes to aid. 
 
 The distinction between the two principles is necessary to be 
 ever kept in view. ]\Iau is the head of human government, and 
 is frail and fallible. Christ is the head in his spiritual kingdom 
 or church, and is all-powerful and all-wise. The laws of the 
 one are external ; those of the other, enforced as they are by 
 holy scripture and the preaching of the gospel, are written on the 
 heart, apprehended and applied through the Holy Spirit. The 
 laws of the one are to be established and maintained by human 
 authority and outward means : those of the other by divine* 
 inward, gentle, and self-persuasive power and convictions. In 
 the latter, the interference of human authority tends to mar the 
 work, and to destroy the spiritual vitality. 
 
 Christ particularly pointed out this distinction, and cautioned 
 his followers against overlooking it, and acting on the spirit and 
 principles of the world. " Ye know that the princes of the 
 gentiles exercise dominion over them ; and they that are great 
 exercise authority upon them : but it shall not be so among 
 you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be yoiu* 
 minister ; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be 
 your servant.'" Consequently the greatness and power of this 
 world have no place, as such, in the kingdom or church of Christ ; 
 on the contrary, they are often disqualifying circumstances and 
 appendages, to be regarded rather with jealousy, as snares and 
 temptations, than as helps in the kingdom of Christ, and in the 
 government of his church. 
 
 We may speak with contidence of secular power, because we 
 understand its nature and workings ; but it becomes us to speak 
 with diffidence and fear, when we treat, with reference to expe- 
 rience, of the character of the kingdom of Christ ; the influence 
 of which is sacred, and not appreciated or luiderstood, l)ut by 
 such a.s feel its authority and submit to its government. While 
 ' Matt. XX. 26. 20. 
 
12 SECULAR AND SPIRITUAL EMINENCE. [Chap. 2. 
 
 man professes to be under its rule, and even persuades himself 
 that he is so ; too often, alas ! through the remaining corruption 
 of the natural heart, he is induced to reject the converting 
 power of divine grace, not knowing what spirit he is of; till, if 
 he pursue this course, he will at last be only awakened from his 
 delusion by the heart-piercing words, " I know you not, depart 
 from me all ye that work iniquity." ^ May we not say, that so 
 pure, so gentle, is the influence of the Spirit of Christ ; so apt 
 to be grieved by our disobedience, to be quenched by our sinful- 
 ness, that though we may begin well, and even run well for a 
 season, yet, without continual watchfulness unto prayer, we are 
 ever in danger of departing from it, losing its life and virtue, 
 yielding to worldly, inferior influences, and embracing, instead 
 of the living reality, an empty shadow. 
 
 Perhaps there is no cause more fertile in producing this 
 injurious eff'ect on individuals, or on professing churches, than 
 the temptations presented by the possession of worldly power 
 and riches, especially when these are held out as rewards for 
 the performance of sacred functions and religious duties. 
 
 "When the church is dressed up in gaudy fortunes," re- 
 marked Bishop Taylor, who had known something of human 
 vicissitiides, " it is no more than she deserves ; yet sometimes 
 it occasions that the devil cheats her of her holiness, and men 
 of the world sacrilegiously cheat her of her riches. And when 
 God hath reduced her to that poverty, He first promised and 
 intended to her, the persecution ceases and sanctity returns, 
 and God curses the sacrilege, and stirs up men's minds to reli- 
 gious donatives, and all is well till she grows rich again." 2 
 
 Humility, meekness, and poverty of spirit are the genial soil 
 of true religion — tokens of the prevalence of Christ's kingdom 
 in the individual and in the church. Worldly greatness, large 
 possessions, and superior authority are in themselves adverse to 
 lowly, teachable and forbearing dispositions ; and, notwith- 
 standing many noble exceptions, tend generally to stunt or 
 eradicate them. In fact, may we not afiirm that the two prin- 
 ciples of secular eminence and spiritual eminence lie in opposite 
 directions ; being in their natures and in their results generally 
 contrary ? Thus om' Lord declared, " How hard is it for them 
 that have, or that trust in, riches, to enter into the kingdom of 
 ' Matt. vii. 2.3, " Life of Christ, i. 6. 
 
ENDOWMENT WITH WOUI.Dl V (iREATNKSS. 13 
 
 (u)(l."i " Whosoever will save liis life sliull lose it ; hut whoso- 
 ever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same 
 shall save it."- " If any man will eomc after me, let him deny 
 himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.'" If then we 
 hold up a crown or a mitre, as the reward of piety, devotion, 
 and the faithful exercise of spiritual gifts, we commit a dangerous 
 mistake : we tempt with mercenary motives to the relincjuish- 
 ment of those which are pure, we offer earthly prizes in opposi- 
 tion to such as are lieavenly, we hand the cup of disease and 
 death to promote health, and vigour. Thus the seed of the 
 kingdom, instead of growing upward toward heaven, refrcslied 
 hy the dew and the shower, enlivened ])y the rays of the Sun 
 of Uighteousness, and bringing forth good fruit a hundred fold, 
 is liable to be choked by briars and thorns, to be withered 
 througli the shallowness or ungratefulness of the soil, or to be 
 devoured by the fo\\ls of the air; and little or no fruit is pro- 
 duced to perfection. 
 
 Vet considering that secular authority, when influenced by 
 true religion and Christian motives, is highly beneficial to man- 
 kind, we cannot wonder that attempts should be made witli 
 the best intentions^ to invest devotion and piety with power 
 and greatness, and to unite the two, though totally uncon- 
 nected in themselves, and independent of each other — the 
 worldly and spiritual authority — in the same persons. Scripture 
 and experience, however, assure us that the endeavour is gene- 
 rally vain. The rulers in the civil state are not qualified by that 
 ofKcc to be rulers in the church; far otherwise. Human weakness 
 defeats the attempt. To endow the humble, devout Christian 
 minister with worldly distinctions and power, is to employ means 
 which are counteractive of humility, of the temper and services of 
 devotion. On tlie other hand, it is not within the limited spliere 
 of mortals, to invest the monarch and the statesman with the 
 mantle of humility, or to breathe into them devout disposi- 
 tions. The ministers and other ofliccrs of a professing Christian 
 church may indeed enjoy outward wealth and authority, 
 through the p.itronage and influence of a state or otherwise; 
 but in proportion as such is the case, experienee giMierally shows 
 that vital godliness is in a state of decay, ami that there is so 
 niueh less of the true charactc r of the ser%ants and the Church 
 ' Mark x. 24. - M.irk viii. .3.5. ' Luke ix. 23. 
 
14 DANGERS OP WORLDLY GREATNESS. [Chap. 2. 
 
 of Christ. Between the true cliurch and the professing churches, 
 there is, alas ! every amount of variety and difference, and the 
 connexion with secular power has liad no small share in pro- 
 ducing the evil. 
 
 The Apostle James said, " Know ye not that the friendship 
 of the world is enmity with God ? Whosoever therefore will be 
 a friend of the world is the enemy of God."^^ Quotations from 
 the New Testament to this effect might be indefinitely multi- 
 plied. 
 
 But, it may be asked, if such is the case, are large possessions 
 and great authority unlawful to' the Christian ? The reply is, 
 that they are at least highly dangerous to the spiritual welfare 
 of the individual, apt to intoxicate the weak head, and to per- 
 vert by their '^ deceitfulness'^'^ the fallible heart ; yet eminently 
 useful, and tending to true honour, when rightly applied, under 
 a due sense of the responsibility of the stewardship. The lan- 
 guage of Christ to the young man who had great possessions 
 was, " Go, sell all that thou hast, &c."^ Are then greatness 
 and power to be confided to the irreligious and profane, and are 
 the humble and pious to be treated with national neglect and 
 contumely ? By no means. They are ever entitled to respect 
 and true honour. Godliness is profitable unto all things, and, 
 without our special provisions, has promise even of the life that 
 now is, as well as of that which is to come. For statesmen and 
 rulers, however, should be chosen men of moral character, 
 enlightened piety, and Christian principle; but rarely should 
 ministers or other ofl&cers of religion be placed in elevated secular 
 stations, lest the truth be perverted, and the consciences of in- 
 dividuals constrained by the influences of the State. And, on 
 the other hand, let none be ministers or rulers of the church 
 on account of any rank or influence in the world; but such 
 only as are believed to be called and qualified by the Lord for 
 the work, distinguished by meekness, humility and devotion, 
 by conformity to the example of Jesus Christ. Let not 
 emperors, princes, or presidents possess, in virtue of such 
 offices, authority or even membership in the chm'ch. The 
 emperor may deny the Clu-istian faith, the prince may become 
 an oppressor, or the president a profligate ; surely, in such cases, 
 they are totally unfit to be the heads of churches of Christ, 
 ' James iv. 4. ' Matt. xiii. 22. ' Matt. xix. 21. 
 
THE ERASTIAX SYSTEM. 15 
 
 aj^aiiist whose spirit tliiT have tlms rcbollpd. On the contrary, 
 they ought not to be sheltered, more than obscure private indi- 
 viduals, from the exercise of church discipline and censures. 
 That the more enlij^hteued and eminent are so much the more 
 responsible, is the impartial Christian principle, without respect 
 of persons. But that any moral delinquents, of whatever rank, 
 should possess authority in spiritual matters, or be tlie arbiters 
 in them, and control the elmreh by the power of the state, is 
 numifcstly most incouf^ruous. Nor, on the other hand, should 
 the pious Christian minister or presbyter be invested for that 
 reason with rank, wealth, and political greatness, so likely to 
 prove detrimental to the sacred character and functions, and to 
 induce motives and considerations of a totally dilfcrcnt nature.^ 
 
 Bright instances have, it is well known, occurred, in which 
 the great aiul powerful of this world have been eminently 
 devout and religious ; and, on the other hand, true Cln-istian 
 ministers and nders in the church have exercised a wholesome 
 and exemplary secular authority ; but these are the rare excep- 
 tions, rather than the usual results. 
 
 The system of the supremacy of the state over the clau'ch, by 
 an union between them, has obtained the name of " Erastianisni," 
 from Erastus, a German writer of the sixteenth century. The 
 pastoral olKce, according to him, was only persuasive; without 
 any disciplinary authority. The privileges of the church were 
 to be open to all — the minister might only dissuade — and the 
 church could not exclude or censure the dis([ualifie(l and vii;ious. 
 He referred the system of church government, and the punisli- 
 ment of all offences and errors, whether civil or religious, to tlu* 
 state and its ofticers, as supreme over the church. The union 
 of chiu'ch and state, as it now exists, in many of the countries 
 of Eiu'ope, though it may not exactly accord with these ^^ewa, 
 is generally termed the Erastian system. 
 
 On the other hand, the invasion of the state and of its powers 
 
 ' A striking instance of the exercise of church discipline, in the case of 
 an Emperor wlin had been piiilty of vindictive cruelty, occurred in the 
 fourth century ; when Theodosiua wa« compelled by Ambrose, bishop of 
 Milan, to make a pulilic acknowledf^niunt of his penitence, before he was 
 admitted to the privileges of the church. The popes fn-quently pronounced 
 the censures of the Church on emperoi-s and kings, but in most of such 
 cases, the ofl'ences were more of a personal than of a religious or moral 
 nature, and the object in view was to maintain the absolute supremacy o( 
 the Papal See.— jViYnrrV Clmrrh Ilistori/. 
 
16 THE PAPAL SYSTEM. WICLIFFE. [Chap. 2. 
 
 by the church is exemplified in the papacy^ where the Pope, 
 the chief officer of the churcli, has become a temporal prince, 
 and rules with secular authority. The papists assert that the 
 two swords, of which the disciples spoke to Christ,i represent 
 the spiritual and temporal power, united in the hands of the 
 Popes, their alleged successors. This notion overlooks the fact, 
 however, that our Lord forbade the use of the outward sword, 
 commanding Peter to put it into the sheath,- and predicting 
 that they who use such weapons should perish by them^ — a 
 prophecy which has been largely fulfilled. Both these systems 
 are at variance with the example and doctrine of Him, who 
 declared himself to be a king, but his kingdom not to be of 
 this world, and who forbade his disciples, as such, to exercise any 
 other than spiritual authority. 
 
 The sentiments advocated in this chapter are by no means new ; 
 but have become the growing conviction of enlightened Christians. 
 
 John Wicliffe, taking a scriptural view of the natui'e of a reli- 
 gious community, and of the spirit of Christ's law, maintained 
 that his church ought to be essentially unlike a kingdom of this 
 world, deriving its strength from the possession of an unworldly 
 spirit, and providing for its temporal wants only by the willing 
 contributions of its members. He declared that the highest 
 authority of the church ought not to have of necessity any 
 temporal dominion — that in all secular matters the ministers 
 of religion should be subject to the magistrates — that wealth was 
 oftener a curse than a blessing to them — that worldliness was in- 
 consistent with the clerical character — and that their strength 
 consisted in obvious, though not ostentatious self-denial. In his 
 day, almost every office of profit or importance in the state and 
 the palace was filled by an ecclesiastic, from that of lord chan- 
 cellor, to the surveyor of the king's buildings, and the superin- 
 tendent of his wardrobe."^ He complained strongly of this, and 
 of the great temporalities of the church ; and the parliament so 
 far united with his views, as to petition the king that eccle- 
 siastics might no longer hold offices of state. The practice con- 
 tinued, however, down to the time of the Reformation, and was 
 encouraged by the court of Rome, whose dependents, if they did 
 not possess the thrones of Europe, often overawed their occu- 
 pants, and virtually ruled both the people and their sovereigns. 
 
 ' Luke xxii. 38. ^ John xviii. 11. 
 
 ^ Matt. xxvi. 52. * Lives of British Reformers. 
 
TESTIMONIES AGAIMST THE UNION. 17 
 
 Among certain conclusions or reformations exhibited to the 
 British Parliament in 1395, one is as follows: " A king and 
 a bishop both in one person, a prelate and a justice in temporal 
 causes, a curate and an ofFicer in worldly oflice, doth make every 
 kingdom out of good order. The temporalty and spiritualty arc 
 two parts of the holy universal church ; therefore, whoso addicteth 
 himself to the one, let him not intermeddle with the other/^ ^ 
 
 William Tyndal, about 1520, remarks on the text, '' Wlioso- 
 ever shall humble himself as a little child, the same is greatest in 
 the kingdom of heaven,'^ — " that is, to be so childlike that thou 
 couldst not heave thyself above thy brother, is the very bearing 
 of rule and being great in Christ's kingdom." ' 
 
 In the time of Henry VIII., the archbishops, prelates and 
 many of the clergy published a work entitled " The Bishops* 
 Book," in which they say : — 
 
 " We think it convenient that all bishops and preachers shall 
 instruct the people committed to their spiritual charge, that 
 Christ did by express words prohibit liis apostles and all their 
 successors, under pretence of authority given them by Ilim, 
 from taking upon them the use of the sword — that is to say, the 
 authority of kings or any civil power in this world. For the 
 kingdom of Christ in his church is spiritual, and not a carnal 
 kingdom of the world. He himself, his apostles and disciples 
 sought to bring all nations from the carnal kingdom of the 
 prince of darkness, to the light of his spiritual kingdom, that 
 he might reign in the hearts of the people by grace, faith, hope 
 and charity. Therefore, Christ did never seek or exercise any 
 worldly dominion, but rather, refusing and fleeing from it, did 
 leave the government of kingdoms, realms and nations to 
 princes and potentates, as he found them ; and commanded also 
 his apostles and disciples to do the same. Whatsoever priest or 
 bishop will arrogate or presume to take upon him any sucli 
 authority, and will pretend the authority of tlic gospel for his 
 defence, he crowneth Christ again with a crown of thorns, 
 traduceth him, and bringeth him forth with his purple robe, to 
 be mocked and scorned by the world." ^ 
 
 * Fox's Acta and Mon. vol. ii. 678. ' Discipline of a Christian Man. 
 
 * Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. ii. 288. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 According to the testimony of scripture, all true Christians — 
 those who are regenerate, who really believe in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and desire to obey his commandments, according to the 
 degree of light afforded them — are subjects of his spiritual 
 kingdom, and members of his universal church, whatever may 
 be their advantages or disadvantages, their reputation or disre- 
 pute among men. Or, to express the same thing in scriptural 
 terms, the members of the true Church of Christ are those 
 everywhere, who have been ''baptized by one spirit into one 
 body;"i who believing in Christ, "abide in^^ him, as the 
 branches in the vine ;2 and " who hear his voice and follow him,"^ 
 as the sheep hear and follow their shepherd. 
 
 Though Christ's church is termed universal, because limited 
 to no one body of men ; yet how small is the number of its 
 real members, as compared with the bulk of mankind, or even 
 with the many who are his professed followers ! And why is 
 this ? but because in acts we too often deny him, whom in 
 words we acknowledge; because our hearts and lives are not 
 subject to the government of his Spirit! 
 
 Notwithstanding the bold assumption of particular denomina- 
 tions or classes, it is our high privilege, if we are true Christians, 
 to believe that " one is our Master, even Christ, and that all 
 we are brethren." * Consoling and humbling is this view of the 
 great spiritual brotherhood — the Universal Church of Christ; 
 consisting even on earth of a " great multitude, which no man 
 can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
 tongues," ° " washed and brought nigh by the blood of Christ," ^ 
 partakers of his grace and redemption. And the nearer they 
 are brought to him, as the common centre and fountain of their 
 faith, righteousness and hope, the nearer also will they assuredly 
 
 ' Cor. xii. 13. ^ John xv. ^ John x. * Matt, xxiii. 8. 
 
 ' Eev. vii. 9. ' Eph. ii, 13 ; Eev. i. 5. 
 
UNITY OF SPIRIT AMIDST DIVERSITY OF rilACTICE. 19 
 
 be brought one to another in liim, and united together in a sense 
 of his heavenly love. Is not this " the holy catholie church," 
 and the true "communion of saints?" 
 
 While each feels a deep conviction of the truth of that view 
 of gospel doctrines which he especially jjrofcsscs, and a lively 
 interest in its wide diffusion, his heart is expanded M'ith love to 
 others, who hold the great truths of our common religion in a 
 devout Christian temper, but who may yet in some respects 
 differ from him, in the mode of apprehending or expressing thcra. 
 He cannot indeed have fellowship with darkness and error, but 
 feels bound to reprove them ; yet he can thankfully unite with 
 that which is truly good, in whomsoever it is found, and can 
 rejoice in its existence and extension. Painfully sensible that 
 he himself is not free from ignorance, frailties and evil, he will 
 be ready to make allowance for defects in others, whose advan- 
 tages may not have been equal to his own; remembering the 
 searching appeal of our Lord, "Let him that is without sin 
 among you cast the first stone." ^ 
 
 So diversified are we in the constitution of our minds, in the 
 measure and nature of our gifts, and in the tendency of educa- 
 tion and experience, that it is not to be expected, in this imper- 
 fect state, even with the same good Spirit for influence and 
 direction, that all men should perceive or feel exactly alike. As 
 there is a pleasing variety in the outward and material system, 
 so doubtless differences were wisely designed in the mental and 
 spiritual constitution, and must in the nature of things exist, for 
 good though hidden purposes. While therefore we hold fast 
 the truth as made known to ourselves, let us regard charitably 
 all the differing results of the present varied organizations, and 
 thankfully accept those means which an all-wise Creator has 
 placed witliin our reach, for the harmony, the happiness, and the 
 benefit of ourselves and of others. 
 
 Even in apostolic times, the views of all the believers did not 
 exactly accord on every point. Some esteemed one day above 
 another, others esteemed every day alike. One believed that he 
 might eat all things, another who was weak restricted himself 
 to herbs. Which of them had authority to determine that his 
 own view alone was right, and that all other views Avcrc wrong ? 
 or to thank God that he was not as otlier men wciC? or to 
 
 ' John viii. 7. 
 
 c2 
 
20 ZEAL AXD CHARITY. [Chap. 3. 
 
 condemn the rest as '^ heretics'' or '^schismatics?" The in- 
 jimction of the Apostle Paul was, that they should not judge 
 or despise one another ; but that " every man " should '^ be fully 
 persuaded in his o"«'n mind."^ 
 
 And, indeed, inconsiderable and occasional differences of 
 sentiment, when allowed to operate rightly, by constraining us 
 to examine more closely our own experience and e^ddences, tend, 
 through the power of divine grace, to strengthen our standing, 
 and to call up some of the finer feelings of the chastened mind, 
 in humiliation of self and in charity towards others. As the 
 various but nicely adjusted physical influences retain the heavenly 
 bodies in beautiful order in the firmament, each occuppng its 
 right position, and pursuing its respective orbit; so may the 
 different states and well-balanced attractions of Christian feehng 
 operate, under the divine blessing, on the humble and obe- 
 dient mind; tending, without compromise or unfaithfulness, 
 to maintain in harmony denominational zeal on the one hand, 
 with a good degree of charity and fellowship towards all who 
 may in some respects differ, on the other ; and preserving alive 
 close attention to individual judgment and duty, amidst general 
 forbearance, moderation and love.- 
 
 To the maintenance of entire religious unity, two elements 
 appear to be essential, — the one, an agreement on the doctrines 
 entertained; and the other, a right frame of mind to uphold 
 them. Full Christian fellowship depends greatly on the amount 
 of both, and is obstructed by a deficiency in either. Even a 
 large degree of orthodoxy may be professed in a pharisaical, self- 
 righteous spirit, and " the truth" may be held, " in unrighte- 
 ousness;"^ while, on the other hand, so great is the divine 
 
 ' Rom. xiv. 5. 
 
 2 The Anglican Church, in her ninth canon, speaks of dissenters in the 
 following strong terms : " Whosoever shall hereafter separate themselves 
 from the communion of saints, as it is approved by the apostles' rules in 
 the Church of England, and combine themselves together in a new brother- 
 hood ; accounting the Chinstians who are conformable to the doctrine, 
 government, rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, to be profane, 
 and unmeet for them to join with in Christian profession ; let them be 
 excommimicated ipsofacto^' &c. This requires no co mm ent, except that, 
 with similar denunciations of ecclesiastical rulera, it is ipso facto obsolete, 
 and ought long ago to have been expunged. 
 
 ' Eom. i. 18. 
 
FAITHFULNESS AND FOUBEARANCE. 21 
 
 condescension^ that^ though the sph-itual C3'c may be but partially 
 opened to the discoveries of divane truth, and may be able only 
 to " see men as trees Malking,"^ yet the heart may be -warmed 
 and expanded ■with the infiuenecs of lieavenly love. Between 
 suehj if they truly love Christ, though they may not see alto- 
 gether alike, there may be a consoling degree of Christian luiity 
 and charity. How many of us, alas, are in this half-enlightened 
 condition, for want of maintaining a larger measure of faith and 
 obedience ! "Well is it for all, in this state of limited appre- 
 hension, in Mhich we see but in part, and know but in part,^ 
 often to remember the vision sent for the instruction of Peter, 
 that zealous Israelite, that he might not judge severely and 
 partially, -svhen the voice came to him from heaven, " What God 
 hath cleansed, that call not thou common."^ AYe shall then 
 be brought to confess with him " that God is no respecter of 
 persons, but tliat, in every nation, he that feareth him and 
 workcth righteousness is acce])ted of him.^' 
 
 The humble believer will desire to bear in mind that all are 
 partakers of divine benevolence and light, that " Christ died for 
 all,"* that " the grace of God has appeared to all men,'''^ and that 
 " to liis ovna. Master every man must stand or fall.'' ^ Thankfully 
 sensible that the requirements from each will be in just propor- 
 tion to the degree of grace and opportunity afforded, he will 
 rejoice in the assurance that the universal church of Christ 
 knows no natural distinction of colour, clime, class, or people; 
 that " God giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; " and 
 that all are invited to be fellow-partakers of life and salvation. 
 If tempted to inquire, " And what shall this man do ?" he 
 will recollect the reprehcnsive answer, " What is that to thee? 
 follow thou me;"'^ and while endeavouring closely to fulfd 
 his own convictions of the truth, he will humbly rejoice to 
 say, " Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ 
 in sincerity." 
 
 The Donatists, in the fourth century, like many later Christians, 
 held tliat the spiritual body of Christ consists of all those scat- 
 tered throughout the world, who actually belong tohiiu through 
 
 1 Mark viii. 24. * 1 Oor. xiii. 9. 3 Acts x. 15. 
 
 4 2 Cor. V. ir.. 6 Titus ii. 11. • Rom. xiv. 4. 
 
 ' John xxi. 22. » Eph. vi. 24. 
 
22. FAITHFULNESS AND FORBEARANCE, [Chap. 3. 
 
 faith and love ; and that this body, by its union with him as 
 the head^ daily grows into a holy temple of God. These they 
 distinguished from such as draw near to him with the lip, but 
 in heart are far from him ; saying that everything depends on 
 the question, to which of these classes every one in heart 
 belongs.^ 
 
 » Neander's Chui'ch History, vol. ii. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF PARTICULAR CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 
 
 Frequent reference is made in tlic New Testament to particular 
 churches or conj^regations, such as " the seven churches of 
 Asia," 1 " the church that is in his liousc/' ^ &c. The inquiry 
 thus naturally arises, "What is a church ? A Christian church 
 is an association of believers in Christ, whether more or less 
 numerous or dispersed, whose hearts have been effectually 
 reached by the power of the Holy Spirit, who endeavour in 
 unison to worship and serve God, and to promote the spiritual 
 good of each other and of those around them, according to a 
 common apprehension of his will ; striving to exalt and extend 
 his kingdom, that he may reign supreme, animating, leading 
 and restraining them by his Holy Spirit, and guiding them into 
 all truth. By subjection to the government of Christ's Si)irit, 
 each individual and eveiy particular church are constituted 
 integral parts of the great church universal, of which Christ is 
 the glorified and ever present Head. AVithout this union with 
 him, they can have no vitality as a spiritual body, however high 
 ill outward profession. But in proportion as they are subject to 
 his divine government, so do they form a pure church, living 
 fruit-bearing branches in the vine Christ Jesus. 
 
 True Christian unity may be pronounced to be no small 
 attainment — not a mere accordance of sentiment on points of 
 doctrine and practice, but a oneness with Christ, and with fellow- 
 believers in him. It is the fulfilment of that for which the 
 Redeemer of men graciously supi)licated : " neither pray I for 
 tlicsc alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through 
 their word ; that they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, 
 and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ! "^ How greatly 
 deficient are Christians generally from tlie experience of this 
 sacred, spiritual oneness, in (Mirist and with each other, througli 
 our own faithlessness and disobedience ! 
 
 1 Rev, i. 4. 2 (^v.l. iv. 1.'). ' John xvii. -20, 21. 
 
24 TAIIIATIONS IN PARTICULAR CHURCHES. [Chap. 4. 
 
 Every Christian is bound to seek for tlie help of the Holy- 
 Spirit to enable him, not only to arrive at a determinate judg- 
 ment on matters of faith and doctrine, but also to make outward 
 declaration of his love to Christ, by becoming a member of such 
 particular church as may most accord with his own convictions ; 
 and to maintain the principles of that church in preference to 
 all others, but with entire charity towards their members. 
 
 The fellowship and unity prevailing in the universal church 
 will, by the nature of things, be more intimate and entire in a 
 particular one. Harmony in sentiment and action as well as 
 in profession, ought to prevail, and to form a strong and close 
 link of union between the members. Yet such are the imper- 
 fections of human nature, that even here, under a fair degree 
 of liberty in inquiry and thought, conscientious variations of 
 sentiment often exist on minor points, and call for the continual 
 and wholesome exercise of charity and forbearance. One may 
 view certain passages of scripture in one sense, and another may 
 view them in another sense ; one may esteem certain points of 
 doctrine or practice more highly than another; yet all may cor- 
 dially unite in the same general views. Diversities are doubtless 
 wisely permitted ; and when of moderate extent, and not subver- 
 sive of fundamental principles, need not occasion any breach of 
 concord or general unity ; otherwise many a conscientious indi- 
 ridual would be compelled to become ecclesia per se. To insist 
 on entire identity of opinion on unimportant matters, is an un- 
 reasonable invasion of individual liberty, and tends to oppression 
 and contention. Happy and profitable is that disposition, which 
 delights to dwell on points of agreement more than on those 
 of discordance, and which is preserved in humility, confidence 
 and love ; remembering that all men, by no means excepting 
 ourselves, are fallible, and that Christ is the only Arbiter of 
 conscience, and the final Judge.^ 
 
 The question. What is a true Christian church ? is one of 
 
 ' The 19th Article of the Established Church of England asserts 
 " that the visible Church of Christ is a congi-egation of faithful men, in 
 which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments are duly 
 ministered, according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of 
 necessity are requisite to the same." This definition implies much more 
 than it plainly expresses ; and, when closely considered, is found to be of a 
 very restrictive meaning. Where those rites are not observed, or where 
 
PROSPERITY OF PARTICULAR CHURCHES. 25 
 
 great raonientj and subject to misinterpretation of a highly in- 
 jurious tendency. Some appear to imagine that the ecclesias- 
 tical officers, the ministers and the dignitaries constitute the 
 church ; whereas the Christian church is repeatedly represented 
 in the New Testament, as the whole body of true behevers 
 generally, and of such in each place particularly. The officers 
 and ministers, therefore, are not the church — they may be only a 
 priestly aristocracy ; though for ages they have been accounted 
 the church by many, and have usurped its name, with too mucli 
 of its authority and property. llather they ought to be its 
 agents, servants, and instruments under the divine hand for its 
 benefit. Moreover the riches, the worldly honour and influence 
 of such agents or officers, instead of being proofs of the true 
 prosperity of a church, are too often symptoms of its worldly 
 character, its corruption and decay. 
 
 May it not be asserted that the true evidence of the healthi- 
 ness and prosperity of any particular church is to be found in 
 the self-denial, devotion and Christian conduct of its members, 
 the spiritual qualifications and faithfulness of its ministers, the 
 purity of its faith, and the soundness of its discipline ? in other 
 words, in the pure doctrines professed, and in the good fruits 
 borne, by the society or church, collectively and individually ? 
 Thus will it become a part of the true universal church of 
 Christ — which is the chief object ever to be kept in view. 
 
 ^Icn may establish particular churches of good profession, 
 and endow them richly ; they may procure for them the support 
 of the great and the learned, or the patronage of the state ; but 
 they cannot by these means ensure, or even promote, their spiri- 
 tual character as " the body of Christ," having an immediate 
 union with Ilim, the ever-living Head; nor can they ensure 
 their existence as true churches, sections of Ilis great church 
 universal. Such means will rather tend to lessen the necessary 
 sense of immediate dependence upon Him, and to fix the reli- 
 ance on outward and human supports. "Will not such churches 
 become like " the man that trustcth in man, and makcth flesh 
 his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord ?" Of such 
 
 they are olwerved in a manner different from the legal forms, there of 
 course, according t<> this definition, is no Christian cliureli ; and where 
 the congregation are not faithful, there too, ])C it remembered, is uo 
 visible church of Christ. 
 
26 ILL CONFIDENCE IN SECULAR POWER. [Chap. 4. 
 
 an one it is said, in a spiritual sense, that he " shall be Hke the 
 heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh ; but 
 shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land 
 and not inhabited."^ Better is it for a Christian church to 
 be low, poor, afflicted and despised ; and more likely to drive 
 her to seek the favour of her Lord, than to be exalted on the 
 pinnacle of grandeur, and thus led to forget her spiritual need, 
 her ever-dependent condition. 
 
 Wicliffe declared it to be his opinion, that the idea of the 
 Christian church, gathered exclusively from the New Testament, 
 is not only not represented in the existing state of Christendom, 
 but is opposed by it. He saw that for the clergy to consider 
 and to call themselves the church could not be right, and that 
 they ought not to use s iritual functions to promote temporal 
 ends. He asserted that the Church of Christ consists not of 
 clergy only, nor chiefly, but of all Christians j that lordship and 
 rule are forbidden, ministration and service commanded, in 
 the office of the Christian clergy — their power being simply 
 ministerial.^ 
 
 The Bohemians and other reformers held, in contradiction to 
 the general opinion of their time, that the church was not 
 constituted of the Pope, Cardinals, Archbishops, and clergy, but 
 of all true Christians. But in a conventional sense, when any 
 particular church is spoken of, the term is intended to apply to 
 those who are visibly associated together, by outward profession, 
 in one religious union or society. With this meaning the term 
 is generally used in the present treatise. As, for instance, the 
 Protestant Episcopal church, or established Church of England ; 
 the Wesleyan Church or Connexion, &c., &c. Taken in this 
 sense, a church may be said to be either decaying or flourishing, 
 corrupt or pure. ' 
 
 While some churches are united to the state to their own 
 spiritual injury, others independent of state support may be 
 equally dead, through an union with the spirit of this world 
 in some one or other of its numerous modes of development. 
 Many churches too much resemble great moral machines, 
 contrived by the worldly, covetous, and ambitious, to aggrandise 
 themselves, and to enthral others, under the cloak of a zeal for 
 Christ. How far are such from the spirit and conduct of him, 
 ' Jer. xvii. 6, 6. ^ Gilpin's Life of Wicliffe. 
 
PROSPERITY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. Vt 
 
 who souglit not ill liis own person liunian wealth or glory at 
 the cost of duty, but cast them from him, saying to the 
 tempter, " Get thee behind me Sataii/'^ and thus set a memo- 
 rable example to his spiritual body — the church, to do the same 
 in all ages ! 
 
 It was observed by Montesquieu, that '' the prosperity of reli- 
 gion is diticrent from that of civil government ; '^ and that " the 
 periods of the humiliation and dispersion of the church, the 
 destniction of her temples, and the persecution of her martyrs, 
 are the distinguishing times of her glory : " but that, " On the 
 contrary, when she appears triumphant in the eye of the world, 
 she is generally sinking in adversity." * 
 
 They who are real members of Christ's church, are such as 
 have known the work of regeneration through the baptism of 
 the Holy Spirit, being joined to that living body, of which 
 Christ is the glorified head, their hearts purified by that faith 
 which works by love, their affections redeemed from the 
 world, and set on things above, and their lives bearing witness 
 thereto. 
 
 If such be the conditions of membership in the great 
 Cliristian church, it becomes us all seriously to consider what 
 we know of these experiences in ourselves, and how far we come 
 short of the high standard set before us in the gospel. It is 
 evident that neither our numbers, wealth, talents, learning, in- 
 fluence, nor any other worldly consideration, will be any test of 
 our advancement or standing in this respect. Scripture indeed 
 assures us, that " that which is highly esteemed among men is 
 abomination in the sight of God."-^ But we are all too liable to 
 judge of spiritual things by the fallible reasonings of man, and 
 to exclaim of the divine injunctions .ind judgments, " These are 
 hard sayings, who can bear or hear them ? "* 
 
 To every healthy, well-ordered, Christian church, the author 
 submits that the following external matters are essential : — 
 
 1st. The members of the church at large must have a voice 
 or share, with respect to its management, appointments and 
 profession ; and to them the ultimate appeal must be made in 
 cases of difficulty. 
 
 ' liukc iv. 8. * Do In grjindcur et de la decadence dea Bomains. 
 
 3 Luke ivi. l."*. * John vL 60. 
 
28 ESSENTIALS TO CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. [Chap. 4. 
 
 2nd. Membersliip must be definite ; marking the line between 
 sucb as are members, and others who are only approvers. 
 
 3rd. A system of discipline must be maintained, for the admis- 
 sion of members, and for the separation or reproof of those 
 ■who offend in morals, or who differ in faith or practice. 
 
 4th. A clear exposition or record of doctrine and practice, in 
 harmony with the New Testament, must exist for reference and 
 guidance. 
 
 5th. Periodical assemblies of the church, and not of the 
 ministers only or mainly, must be held for the management 
 of its affairs ; and these assemblies must be religious in their 
 character, with due reference to Christ as the head of every 
 true church, and with a desire to be directed by his Holy Spirit. 
 
 6th. The duty of providing for the wants of the poor members 
 is strongly enforced by the example of the apostolical churches ; 
 but not the practice of pro\iding specially for the ministers. 
 
 The number and variations of particular Protestant churches 
 have long been reproachfully urged against them by Roman 
 Catholics. They form, however, no just ground for real reproach. 
 We do not condemn the variety of colours or forms in a garden, 
 or of foliage in a forest. The energy of mind, and the freedom of 
 judgment, which, in humble dependence on the teachings of 
 Christ by his Spirit, and by his written word, are the element 
 and the glory of Protestantism, naturally lead, through the 
 constitutional infirmity and variety of the human mind, and 
 the difference of circumstances, to diversity of sentiment. Yet 
 this probably is not greater among the reformed than among 
 the Romanist themselves, wherever the mind is not enthralled 
 by spiritual oppression ; and, in fact, it is chiefly caused by the 
 various degrees in which they have severally renounced the errors 
 of Romanism. The discordance and the jealousies, between 
 the various orders of friars and monks, between the Jansenists 
 and the Jesuits, the regular and the secular priests, are probably 
 just as great, other circumstances considered, as among the 
 different sects of the Protestant faith. Better is the freedom of 
 the Reformation with all its consequences, united as most of its 
 possessors are in the great fundamental principles of Christianity, 
 than a constrained and hollow uniformity of profession, teeming 
 with superstition, immorality, and unbelief, among both priests 
 and people. Creeds and confessions of faith, the authority of 
 
TNITY BETWEEN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 29 
 
 kings, popes, and councils, and the strong arm of persecution, 
 can never establish unity of conviction. But ■when the pro- 
 fessors of Christianity, in the various parties, both Catholic and 
 Protestant, partake more largely of the spirit of Christ, and 
 •when their conduct is brought more entirely under its leavening, 
 uniting influence, they must and will be more fully of one heart 
 and of one mind ; minor ditt'ercnces will be merged and swal- 
 lowed up in the love of God, and of one another ; and then will 
 they set to the Jewish, to the ^Mahometan, and to the heathen 
 world, an inviting example, conformable to the pattern of 
 Jesus Clirist. May that blessed period speedily arrive ! 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 FIGURATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN 
 HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
 The pure Christian diurch is represented in Holy Scripture 
 under various striking and teacliing figures ; wliicli, though fami- 
 liar to most readers, are full of deep instruction, and therefore 
 worthy of special consideration. 
 
 The intimate union and communion of the members of the 
 church with Christ, are plainly set forth in that figure, which re- 
 presents the church as his body, united to himself the living Head. 
 " That we henceforth may grow up into him^ in all things^ 
 which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, 
 fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint 
 supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of 
 every part, maketh increase of the body^ unto the edifying of 
 itself in love." ^ " Now ye are the body of Christ, and mem- 
 bers in particular." What do we know of this "effectual 
 working in the measure of every part," preserving health in the 
 body itself and in every member ? 
 
 The close, \ital and necessary connexion with Christ is 
 apparent from the emblem of the vine and the branches. " I 
 am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every 
 branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every 
 branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth 
 more fruit. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot 
 bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the \me ; no more can ye, 
 except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches ; he 
 that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
 fruit ; for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in 
 me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered ; and men 
 gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 
 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit ; so shall 
 1 Eph. iv. 15,16. * 1 Cor. xii. 27. 
 
THE CHURCH RETRESENTED AS A HOUSE. 31 
 
 ye be my disciples." ^ How searching should be our individual 
 exumiujition, 'whether wc are cleansed in spirit, abiding in Christ, 
 and bringing forth the fruits of holuicss ? or M'hether v,c are in 
 a state of alienation and severance from him, polluted, unfruit- 
 ful and withered. And since this latter condition may have 
 come upon us gradually and imperceptibly, the more necessary 
 is such an examination to be frequently made. 
 
 Another impressive metaphor, often used for the true Ciiristian 
 church, is that of a house or building, whose foundation or chief 
 corner stone is Christ. "To whom coming, as unto a living 
 stone, disallowed iudecd of men, but chosen of God and precious, 
 ye also, as lively stones, arc built up a spiritual house, an holy 
 priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God 
 by Jesus Christ." * The same figure is employed by another 
 Apostle : " Now therefore ye are no more strangers and 
 foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house- 
 hold of God ; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles 
 and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone ; 
 in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an 
 holy temple in the Lord ; in whom ye also are builded together 
 for an habitation of God, through the Spirit." ^ 
 
 Tlie contrariety of this corner stone to the notions of the 
 worldly wise biulders or professors, is clearly expressed by Christ 
 and by his apostles, in confirmation of the gi'cat truth which it 
 is the purpose of the present treatise to illustrate — that churches 
 built up by the authority and wisdom of man are in great danger 
 of resting on these as their foundation, and not on Christ the 
 " rock ;" while the building which he sanctifies and upholds is 
 hable to be despised and rejected by men, " Unto them which 
 be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed is made 
 the head of the corner ; and a stone of stumbling, and a rock 
 of offence." * May Chi-ist, the only foundation of the true 
 church, never become an offence to any of us, through our own 
 faithlessness, spiritual pride and disobedience ! 
 
 The church of God, under the former dispensation, was to be 
 found chiefly among the children of Israel, who practised cir- 
 cumcision as an outward sign commanded by him. And of the 
 church under the gospel dispensation, the Apostle Paul thus 
 speaks : " For we are the circumcision, w hich worship God in 
 
 ' John XV. 1—8. * I Peter ii. 4, 5. * Eph. ii. 10, 22. * 1 Pet«r ii. 7, 8. 
 
32 THE CHURCH REPRESENTED AS A FREEBORN CHILD. [Chap. 5. 
 
 the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus^ and have no confidence in 
 the flesh/^i An impressive description is this of the spiritual 
 character and profession of the evangelical church, and very 
 opposite to the sentiment that another outward observance has 
 been set up, in the place of that which is acknowledged to be 
 abrogated. 
 
 Not dissimilar in tendency, is the figure representing the 
 church of Christ as the child of promise, the son of Abraham 
 by Sarah, the free-woman; while the legal dispensation is 
 described as his son by Agar, the bond-woman ; and the two 
 are declared to answer to the two covenants, of the heavenly 
 Jerusalem and of Mount Sinai — the gospel and the law. The 
 former, says the Apostle, ''is free, and is the mother of us all ;" 
 while the latter is still " in bondage with her childi'en," under the 
 elements of the world. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture ? 
 " Cast out the bond-woman and her son, for the son of the 
 bond- woman shall not be heir with the son of the free-woman.'' 
 May Christian professors consider seriously tliis significant 
 language, with the injunction annexed to it : — " So then, 
 brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the 
 free. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ 
 hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of 
 bondage."^ How does the profession of Christianity still groan 
 in many churches, under the yoke of outward rites and obser- 
 vances, deprived of that spiritual freedom which Christ designed 
 to be enjoyed; the son of the bond- woman still diriding the 
 inheritance with the son of the free-woman, and often largely 
 usurping it ! 
 
 One of the most natural and impressive figures employed in 
 the Bible for the universal church of Christ, is that of a chaste 
 virgin or bride, espoused to her husband. The beauty of this 
 metaphor — the sweetness and purity, the love and faithfulness 
 indicated by its characters, reach the heart, and convince the 
 understanding ; pointing out, more clearly than a multitude of 
 laboured arguments, the pure character, the faithful love, and 
 the simple dependence of the true Christian church. 
 
 On the other hand, what an idea does it not convey of the 
 infinite lo\dng-kindness and condescension of the Son of God ! — 
 that he not only loves, " nourishes and cherishes"^ the church, 
 
 * Phil. iii. 3. ' Gal. iv. 22, 31 ; and v. 1. ' Ephes. v. 29. 
 
AS A CHASTE nniDE. ^3 
 
 as a bridegroom docs his bride, but that this love was so tran- 
 scendent, that for her sake when yet afar off he canio down 
 from heaven, took linmanity upon liim in its hnnibler form, and 
 shed his precious blood as a sacrifice for her, that he miglit 
 present lier to himself " a glorious church, not having spot, or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing." ^ 
 
 But there is another point of view, in which this figure 
 is at present principally to be considered ; representing the 
 fact that the Church of Chiist may, and too generally does, 
 depart from the undivided love of him who permits himself to 
 be regarded as her espoused Lord ; and, while professing to be 
 his, commits adultery with the spirit of the world, the prince of 
 the power of the air, his declared enemy. Instead of accepting 
 the love, and obeying the commands, of her rightful Head, she 
 too often listens to the suggestions of the god of this world, 
 gives place to his deceitful pleadings of expediency, honour 
 and enjoyment, and frustrates the gracious designs of Christ ; 
 destroj-ing her own and his children, or delivering them up, 
 under specious pretences, to the arch deceiver. 
 
 Thus through perverted views, with impure motives, and for 
 unworthy objects, the \nsible churches hav« too often connected 
 themselves with the powers of the world ; and for want of faith 
 and love, and of simply waiting and relying upon Christ for 
 guidance, support and protection, liave embraced the aid of 
 human wisdom, of the arm of flesh, the powers of states and 
 nionarchs, yielding to their purposes and using them for their 
 own — so that who can now truly assert that the outward church, 
 under many of her forms, is really the chaste bride of Christ ; 
 that her authority is not in a large degree that of this world ; 
 tliat she is sincerely influenced by his Spirit and love, and not by 
 the spirit and wisdom which arc from beneath ? 
 
 These illustrations lead to the conclusion, that the purity of 
 the church is contaminated and destroyed, if we resort to carnal 
 means of constraint or temptation in order to uphold it. Tliat 
 it is inconsistent with the spiritual nature of the religi(m of 
 Jesus Christ, to accei)t temporal rewards merely for the perfor- 
 mance of sacred duties, and the exercise of ministerial gifts; 
 to enforce the observances or support of any professing Christian 
 church by the power of the state, or to visit with pains, penalties 
 
 ' Eph. V. 27. 
 
 D 
 
34 IMPURITY OF PROFESSING CHURCHES. [Chap. 5. 
 
 or the loss of civil privileges and property, any wlio con- 
 scientiously differ from it. In fact, do not such proceedings 
 clearly show that, instead of the pure and faithful bride of 
 Christ, confiding in the love, and truthfulness and power of her 
 Lord for protection and support, another and a lower character 
 has been more or less adopted, termed in scripture-language the 
 adulteress and the harlot ? ^ 
 
 Every admixture of evil, in whatever shape, doubtless tends 
 towards the same result ; and it is necessary for us all, as indi- 
 viduals, and for every professing church, whether upheld by 
 secular power or not, often to consider seriously which of these 
 spiritual characters belongs to us, or in what degrees both 
 are partaken of. Inconstant, inconsistent man too often yields 
 but a partial and divided allegiance to his sovereign Lord; 
 serving at times or in part " the law of God," and again rebel- 
 ling, and serving " the law of sin." ® But though such a serious 
 consideration is profitable and necessary for all; yet the 
 figure alluded to appears to have been used in scripture, with 
 special reference to the endeavour to connect the holy interests 
 of the spiritual kingdom and Church of Christ with worldly 
 power and influence^ and to uphold and enforce the one by the 
 other ; in positive contradiction to his own solemn declaration, 
 that his kingdom is not of this world, and to the whole tenor 
 of the New Testament. 
 
 In an ancient treatise, which is supposed to have been written 
 by one of the early reformers. Antichrist, Babylon, the mother 
 of harlots, &c., is looked upon, with much reason, not merely 
 as a church, or a succession of persons, but as a false super- 
 stitious system ; perverting the truth by the traditions of men, 
 and the church by the adjuncts of secular power, introducing 
 worldly motives and principles, and destroying the life and 
 essence of true religion. ^ 
 
 On the text, " Arise, shine, for thy light is come," &c.. 
 Archbishop Leighton says:^" What is the shining of the true 
 
 > In accordance with the same figure, the children of Israel are 
 frequently described in the Old Testament (see Exod. xxxiv. 15 ; Ezek. 
 vi. 9 ; Lev. xx. 6,) as " going a whoring after other gods," or " after idols," 
 or " after wizards," and forsaking the only true God, who had been as 
 " a Husband " imto them. 
 
 2 Eom. vii. 22, 23. ^ Fox's Acts and Mon. 
 
THE SHINING OF THE TRUE AND THE FALSE CIIURCII. .3.") 
 
 church ? Dotli not a church shine, when church service is raised 
 from a decent and primitive simphcity, and deeored with pom- 
 pous ceremonies, with rich furniture and jijaiuly vestments ? Is 
 not the church then beautiful ? Yes, indeed ! but all the ques- 
 tion is, whether this be the proper, genuine beauty or no ? — 
 whether this be not strange fire ? Methinks it cannot be l)etter 
 decided than to refer it to St, John, in his book of the llevela- 
 tion. We find there the descriptions of two several women ; 
 the one riding in state, arrayed in purple, decked with gold and 
 precious stones and pearls ; the other in rich attire too, but of 
 another kind — clothed with the sun, and a crown of twelve stars 
 on her head. The other's decorement was all earthly, tliis 
 woman's is all celestial. "What need she borrow light and 
 beauty from precious stones, that is clothed with the sun and 
 crowned with stars ? Now you know which of these two is the 
 spouse of Christ. The truth is, those things seem to deck reli- 
 gion, but they undo it. Observe where they arc most used, 
 and we shall find little or no substance of devotion under them ; 
 as we see in that apostate church of Rome. This painting is 
 dishonourable to Clu'ist's spouse, and besides, it spoils her natural 
 complexion."^ 
 
 1 Leighton'a Sermons. 
 
 d2 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 
 THE INTXUENCES EXERTED IN THE TBUE CHmCH, OR KINGDOM 
 OF CHRIST, ARE THOSE OF LOVE AND TRUTH ; NEITHER VIOLENCE 
 NOR INSINCERITY HAVING ANT PART IN IT. 
 
 The Most High was often termed, tmder tte legal dispensatioii, 
 " the Lord of Hosts" ^ or armies ; bnt the distinguishing cha- 
 racter, bv which he is pleased to reveal himself in the gospel, 
 is that of "our Father in Heaven."- Here he pre-eminently 
 deals with man in love. This was the character of the Saviour^s 
 mission ; and in that love the Father has sent the Comforter or 
 Holy Spirit, in his name, to abide with the church for ever. 
 Christ declared that love is the disposition or test, by which his 
 followers should be known to aU. men;^ and we are assured 
 that, if charity and forbearance do not influence our hearts and 
 actuate our conduct, vain are our pretensions to be his disciples, 
 and our apphcations for forgiveness of sin.* 
 
 No moral principles or commandments, more elevated, more 
 practical, or more benign, were ever promulgated, than those of 
 love to God and love to man. But secular as weD. as doctrinal 
 Christianity is too apt to eat out practical Christianity, by intro- 
 ducing a worldly spirit, opposed to the meekness and self-denial 
 of Christ. 
 
 Pure love is necessarily associated with sincerity and truth- 
 fulness. Its aspirations are from the bottom of the heart; 
 its language is simple and unmasked; its actions are the 
 reflection of the glow which pervades the soul. Deceit no less 
 than violence is abhorrent to this genuine afi^ection. That true 
 love which is full of sincerity shone conspicuously in our holy 
 Redeemer. Under his dispensation, divine truth, which had 
 long been partially developed through types and figures, was 
 clearly unfolded. He declared of himself that he came into the 
 
 1 1 Sam. i. 11. 2 T^tt. vi. 9, &c. 
 
 ' JohB xiii. 35. * Matt, xviii. 35. 
 
CHAUTY AND TBCTH CBARACTERIZE THE CH&ISTlAX. 37 
 
 world to " bear witness to the tmth ; "^ bein^ " the way, the 
 truth, and the life."* On the contrary, the devil is represented 
 as " a murderer from the beginning," — " a liar, and the father 
 of hes.'^* Thus also will the followers of each be distinguished. 
 Charity and sincerity will always animate the true Christian, and 
 shine forth in his devotion and conduct ; while, in whatever 
 degree we are influenced by opposite principles, in the same 
 decree, we may rest assured, we are rebelling against Christ, 
 and serving another lord and master. 
 
 If then any endeavour to sustain that which they believe to be 
 the kingdMn <rf Christ, by employing bribes and motives of self- 
 interest, or by using compulsion ; and thus promote insincerity 
 in religioas profession, for the sake of outward conformity and 
 admita^ or even with a view to uphold the truth itself; it is 
 erident that they adopt means which are inconsiatent with our 
 Lord's benign and truthful system — means held by him in utter 
 ahhotreoce, and incapable oi producing the end professed — ^that 
 of extending the rale of the Prince of Peace in truth and love. 
 But it is to be feared that, besides employing unchristian 
 memxu, and ins»4i^ of npholding the church and kingdom of 
 Christ, thev are p r omo tin g the reign of antichrist, the spirit 
 of deceit and wrath. Rewards or intimidation may produce 
 hypooisf and time-serring, but they can never carry convictaon 
 to the un d nilM iding, or kindle the warmth of genuine devotion 
 m the sooL 
 
 A aenaUe writCT has well remarked, that " men have been 
 ffUji kmg in disoovciing, and even yet seem sc-arctly to have 
 diHOfrered, that trae religion is of too delicate a nature to be 
 eoapeUed bj the coarse implements of human authority and 
 woMSj nDnetiona. Let the lav of the land restrain vice 
 and injnstioe of every kind, as roinoos to the peace and order 
 of aodety, for this is its proper pnmnoe ; but let it not tamper 
 with rrhgioM, bj attempting to eaSane its exerciaes and duties. 
 These, aaless thej be freewiD offeiii^s, are nothing, thej are 
 worse [&an nothing]. Br soch an imnataral alliance and 
 iB-jadged aid, hypocri s y and sopentitioB may indeed be pn>. 
 motod, bet geanne piety never ink to mtSer."* 
 
 -' I esteem/* says Loc^ " the mntnal toleration of Chriitians, 
 
 Joha TyrSL 37. * Jofan xit. €. 
 
 JckM vm. 44. • CmmjMT* Leetm oa ririwiMlirsI HisKiry. 
 
38 PURITY OF MOTIVE ESSENTIAL. [Chap. 6. 
 
 in their different professions of religion, to be characteristic of 
 the true church. For whatever some people boast of the 
 antiquity of places and names, or the pomp of their outward 
 Avorship, others of the reformation of their discipline, all of the 
 orthodoxy of their faith — for every one is orthodox to himself — 
 these things, and all others of this nature, are much ratlier 
 marks of men's striving for power and empire over one another, 
 than of the church of Christ. Let any one have ever so true a 
 claim to all these things ; yet if he be destitute of charity, meek- 
 ness, and goodwill in general towards all mankind, even to those 
 that are not Christians, he is certainly still short of being a true 
 Christian himself.''^ 
 
 Man, in liis fallen, unregenerate state, is dark, corrupt, and 
 prone to evil ; but wdien, through " the manifestation of the 
 spirit, given to every man to profit withal,''^ he is enabled to see 
 and feel the love of God in Jesus Christ, then he is incited to 
 " love him who first loved us/" and to surrender his naturally 
 perverse will to the divine will. Thus he partakes of that " re- 
 demption that is in Christ."* That freedom to choose the good, 
 and to refuse the evil, which was lost through the fall of Adam, 
 is restored, through the mercy of the Redeemer, " the last 
 Adam ; "^ the benefit of that " one offering "^ made for sin is 
 experienced ; and man is raised, through the free gift of God, to 
 a state of spiritual intelligence, and liberty of choice and action > 
 being enabled to " do those things that are pleasing in His 
 sight,"^ and to work out his own salvation f but altogether 
 dependent on the grace of his Saviour for this condition, and 
 constantly liable, as he neglects and forsakes that grace, to fall 
 into evil. Love to God, and the grateful sense of His unmerited 
 mercy, become, through faith, man's accepted and prevailing 
 motives ; and the purity of these motives constitutes, as far as 
 he himself is concerned, the value of all his words and actions 
 in the things of God. 
 
 If we attempt to produce the same apparently good results, 
 through the substitution of other and inferior motives — through 
 the hope of outward rewards or privileges, or the fear of tem- 
 poral privations, either among Christians in general, or in the 
 
 ' Letters on Toleration, ' 1 Cor. xii. 7. ' 1 John iv. 19. 
 
 * Romans iii. 24. ^ 1 Cor. iv. 45. * Heb. x. 14. 
 
 ' John iii. 22. ' Phil. ii. 12. 
 
ILL EFFECTS OF VIOLENCE. 
 
 39 
 
 most sacred departments of the church, wc introduce a nullifying 
 and withering principle, we undermine the groundwork of holi- 
 ness, we destroy its free, pui-e and genuine spring, the love and 
 filial fear of God. No greater injury can we do to the profession 
 of Christianity, than by thus eating out its core, and corrupting 
 its heart. Such injuries soon show themselves in external 
 decay, in symptoms of disease and death; and all these eftccts 
 arc the more serious and aggravated, when the pernicious 
 influences are brought to operate on the ministry of the gospel, 
 the more important functions of tlie Christian church. 
 
 To turn to another branch of the subject. The cause of the 
 Reformation in various parts of Europe was seriously injured by 
 the conduct of its professors, in resorting to arms for their own 
 defence, when persecuted and attacked ; instead of patiently and 
 meekly following the example of our Lord and his apostles. 
 By such a course they forsook the true principles of the 
 Messiah's kingdom, and lowered their own standing into that of 
 political antagonists. Thus relying on the arm of flesh, and on 
 outward weapons, they were soon overcome ; whereas by faith 
 in divine protection, with spiritual armour, and appeals to scrip- 
 ture and to the consciences of their opponents, they would 
 have stood on invincible ground. 
 
 " I ever understood," says William Penn, " that impartial 
 liberty of conscience was the natural right of all men ; and that 
 he that had a rehgion without it, his religion was none of his 
 own. For what is not the religion of a man's choice, is the 
 religion of him that imposes it. So that libci-ty of conscience 
 is the first step to have a religion. Yet I have constantly 
 declared that a bound ought to be set to this liberty, and that 
 morality was the best ; and that as often as that was violated 
 under a pretence of conscience, it Mas fit the civil power should 
 take place.'' Again he says, "nothing has more lessened the 
 credit of any religion, than declining to support itself by its 
 own charity and piety, and taking sanctuary in the arms, rather 
 than the understandings of men. ^'iolences are ill pillars for 
 truth to rest upon."* 
 
 ^ Penn's Letter to Popple. ' Persuasive to Toleratiou. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE UNION OP CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY AMONG THE 
 ISRAELITES : THE FIGURATIVE NATURE OF THE OLD COVENANT, 
 AND OF THE PREDICTIONS RELATING TO THE NEW COVENANT 
 AND CHURCH OP CHRIST. 
 
 It has often been objected, in reference to the subject under 
 consideration, that the ancient Israelites are a memorable 
 example of the union of civil and religious authority, sanctioned 
 by the Most High, and one therefore which we cannot gainsay 
 or question. 
 
 To form a correct judgment on this head however, the extra- 
 ordinary nature of that theocracy or divine government must be 
 considered, in which the Israelites differed from every other 
 people. They were under the explicit teaching and government 
 of God himself, through Moses and the other prophets ; being 
 favoured with the express revelation of the divine will, in a 
 manner unknown to any nation besides. The Lord of Hosts 
 condescended to tabernacle among them, with outward sensible 
 evidences and majesty ; directing their movements ; giving them 
 a law and a priesthood; estabhshing their worship, sacrifices 
 and ordinances ; and making with them a written covenant. 
 
 But the law was designed as ^' the shadow of good things 
 to come,"^ it was " a schoolmaster'^" to conduct to Christ. Its 
 outward covenant and commandments, engraven on stone, were 
 typical of the new and everlasting covenant with all the families 
 of the earth ; of the law to be placed in the mind and wiitten 
 on the heart,^ by an enlarged outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 
 the gospel.^ Moses himself the leader, and Aaron the high 
 priest of the Israelites, were emblems of Christ — the spiritual 
 leader of the Israel of God, and their High Priest for ever, after 
 another and higher order than that of Aaron. And who are 
 the chosen people of God in the present gospel day ? Not one 
 1 Heb. X. 1. 2 Gal. iii. 24. ^ Jer. xxxi. 33. 
 
THE JEWS RESTED IN THE OUTWARD. ^^ !* 41 ^ ^) 
 
 particular nation or visible church; but those without"^tlifcK;,^.*l^^S^ 
 
 tinction, in every nation, who fear him and work righteousness. 
 
 So that now, ''he is not a Jew, who is one outwardly; neither 
 
 is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh ; but he is 
 
 a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the 
 
 lieart, in the spirit and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of 
 
 men but of God.'^^ 
 
 As then the ancient Israelites had an outward government and 
 priesthood, the outward temple, altar and sacrifices, appointed 
 by the iUmighty : so now in the gospel these types and shadows 
 arc fulfilled ; and the spiritual Israel, wherever situated among 
 various nations and sections, are privileged to dwell under His 
 divine and spiritual government, and under the heavenly eternal 
 high-priesthood of Christ; having the heart for their temple 
 and altar, there " to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God 
 through" him.^ In the type, the divine government was outward, 
 or of the nature of this Avorld ; in the antitype, the government 
 or kingdom of Christ is, . according to his own dcclai'ations, 
 " witliin,"3 and " not of this -svorld."^ 
 
 The Jews, we are assured, fell through unbelief in Christ ; for 
 " they stumbled at that stumbling-stone,"'' which is the foun- 
 dation and " the head of the corner,"'' in the gospel building ; 
 and " now is salvation come mito the Gentiles."^ Let us then 
 take a comprehensive riew of our higher and more sjnritual dis- 
 pensation, being the fulfilment of those ancient promises, that 
 Christ should bruise the head of the serpent, that in liim all the 
 nations of the earth should be blessed, and that the Spirit of 
 God should be poured out on all flesh. For want of sufficiently 
 recognising the typical nature of the legal dispensation, and 
 perceiving its end and spiritual fulfilment in the gospel, the 
 professing Christian churches have too generally imitated and 
 perpetuated the outward — rested in the shadow, the form 
 and the letter ; and overlooked their high spiritual privileges. 
 There have been and still are attempts to make a gain of god- 
 liness,® and a monopoly of the Christian ministry ; to set up 
 afresh an outward priesthood ; to re-establish outward temples, 
 altars, sacrifices, offerings, washings, tithes, days, and otlier 
 ritual observances. All these however it is believed, were 
 
 • Rom. Li. 28. * 1 Peter ii. 5. ' j^nke xvii. 21. * John xviii. 36. 
 
 a Rom ix. 32. • Mutt. x.ti. 4± - Rom. xi. 1 1. "» 1 Tim. vi. 5. 
 
42 CHARACTERS OF THE TWO DISPENSATIONS. [Chap. 7. 
 
 designed to be done away in Christ, when he offered up himself 
 on the cross once for all, and declared " it is finished ;"'^ and all 
 of them are to be fulfilled spiritually in the experience of his 
 sincere followers. The candid reader will not, it is hoped, 
 misinterpret this general remark, as implying a disregard of the 
 volume of inspiration, the regular observance of a day of public 
 devotion, the ministry of the gospel, and other outward neces- 
 sary circumstances of divine worship ; since all these must be 
 recognised and valued by every intelligent and conscientious 
 Christian. 
 
 Large, and of vast importance, is the subject here briefly 
 touched on. The general view, which has been taken of the 
 distinguishing characters of the two dispensations, leads to this 
 conclusion — that the outward presence and government of God, 
 vouchsafed anciently to the Israelites, clearly point by analogy 
 to the spiritual dominion of Christ, over " the chosen generation, 
 royal priesthood, holy nation, and peculiar people,^'" whom God 
 secretly acknowledges in this gospel day, as his true universal 
 church, wherever scattered among the various churches and 
 kingdoms of the world. These, however regarded or dis- 
 regarded by man, are still the one living church or body, of 
 which Christ is the glorified Head. 
 
 There appears, therefore, to be no valid plea for a union of 
 secular and religious influence among professing Christians, 
 on the ground of such an union having existed in the extra- 
 ordinary case of the ancient Israelites ; the two covenants 
 being widely different, and the authority by which the church 
 of Christ is regulated and governed being manifested, in a direct 
 and heart-reaching manner, through the power of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 An application of the same key will, it is believed, be found 
 sufficient to unlock other difficulties and objections, arising from 
 a literal acceptation and copying of the Old Testament; and 
 will furnish an answer to other arguments, in favour of the 
 union of civil and spiritual authority, which it is the object of 
 this treatise to controvert. 
 
 Thus the ancient prophets, foreseeing future times, and kind- 
 ling with a sense of the glories of the Christian church, describe 
 it in bold figurative terms, as endowed by the Most High with 
 ' John xix. 30. ^ i Peter ii. 9. 
 
GLORIES FORETOLD OF CHRIST. 43 
 
 all the greatness, honour and sovereignty of the world. " They 
 shall bnng thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall 
 be carried upon their shoulders ; and kings shall be thy nursing 
 fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers ; they shall bow 
 down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the 
 dust of thy feet," ^ &c. None can doubt that these predictions 
 have been or will be fulfilled ; but the great question still 
 remains : how are they to be understood ? Are they to be 
 taken literally, as denoting that true Christians, or those who in 
 spirit and temper of mind are lowly, meek, poor, hungry, thirsty 
 and contrite, are to be carried in triumph in the arms and on 
 the shoulders of the people, nursed and caressed by their kings 
 and queens ? &c. What then would become of the humility of 
 the professed followers of Christ ? With respect to both princes 
 and subjects, the predictions are to be fulfilled spiritually. 
 
 But we find the same things, and still greater, predicted with 
 respect to himself; and a consideration of these, and of their 
 mode of fulfilment, may assist us in determining the real mean- 
 ing of such expressions as the foregoing. The Psalmist says, 
 " He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to 
 the ends of the earth ; they that dwell in the wilderness shall 
 bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust ; the kings 
 of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents, the kings of 
 Sheba and Scba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down 
 before him, and all nations shall serve him." 2 And how have 
 these prophecies been verified ? Not in an outward literal sense, 
 with secular authority, honour and glory; but doubtless abeady 
 fulfilled in part, and to be still more so, spiritually but com- 
 pletely. He did not choose outward pomp and triumph, thougl 
 spiritually Lord of lords and King of kings, but " took upon him 
 the fonn of a servant." And thus will it be in some degree with 
 his followers. As such, they will disclaim outward superiority 
 and mastery, in compliance with his commands : " He that 
 is greatest among you shall be your servant ; whosoever shall 
 exalt himself shall be abased, and he that sliall humble himself 
 shall be exalted.''^ "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles 
 exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise 
 authority upon them ; but it shall not be so among you ; 
 but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your 
 
 • Isaiah xlix. 22, 2:$. * Psalm Ixxii. 8—11. » Matt, xxiii. 11, 12. 
 
44 ANCIENT PREDICTIONS SPIRITUALLY FULFILLED. [Chap. 7. 
 
 minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be 
 your servant ; even as the Son of man came not to be minis- 
 tered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
 many.^' * "■ It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master^ 
 and the servant as his Lord/' ^ 
 
 The more carefully we weigh the character of ancient pro- 
 phecy, with respect both to Christ and to his church, and 
 examine the mode in which it is to be understood and fulfilled ; 
 the more clearly we shall perceive that it would be a gross mis- 
 application of those sublime predictions, to interpret them as 
 foretelling worldly riches, power and grandeur, to be the portion 
 of the true, faithful, lowly, long-sufi'ering Church of Christ. 
 The two principles are in their general natures and tendencies 
 diametrically opposite ; " For God hath chosen the foolish things 
 of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the 
 weak things of the world to confound the things which are 
 mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are 
 despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to 
 bring to nought things which are : that no flesh should glory in 
 his presence.^'' ^ And this, generally speaking, will ever remain 
 to be true, although the pride, and rebelHon, and self-love of the 
 human heart may plead to the contrary. 
 
 1 Matt, XX. 25—28. ^ Matt. x. 25. » 1 Cor. i. 27. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 O.V THE EVILS RESULTING FROM THE POSSESSION OF WORLDLY 
 POWER nV THE PROFESSED MINISTERS OF CHRIST; AND ON THE 
 DUTY OF ASPIRING AT A PURE GOSPEL STANDARD. 
 
 The views traced in the preceding pages lead to the conclu- 
 sion, that systems of ecclesiastical polity, introduced and esta- 
 blished by human wisdom and authority, have for the most part 
 but little connexion Mith the upholding of the true church and 
 kingdom of Christ. The craving after power, which originates 
 these systems, and which they tend to gratify, is a disposition 
 of unregenerate nature, utterly opposed to Christian simplicity 
 and lowliness. Its dependence is on " the arm of flesh" ^ and 
 not upon the Lord. 
 
 The author has no desire to judge uncharitably. lie is deal- 
 ing, not with individuals, but with principles, and with the 
 effects which those principles are calculated to produce. If the 
 system is one which holds out to the ministry large pecuniary 
 premiums, or an ascending scale of honours and preferments, 
 stately palaces, and handsome equipages ; if it sets a high value 
 on mere talent and learning, and on connexions with the great 
 and powerful of the earth ; if the controvertist, the sophist, and 
 the politician are rewarded with superior dignities and pro- 
 minent seats ; it will not be surprising that ambition and 
 worldly-mindcdness should obtain the ascendency, and mainly 
 influence the movements; till at length the humility and self- 
 denijil, the forbearance and charity, which arc essential features 
 of the kingdom and servants of the meek and lowly Jesus, are 
 gradually lost or greatly diminished, 
 
 A strong temptation is thus held out to the corrupt heart of 
 
 man, to enter the holy vocation of the ministiy from motives of 
 
 pecuniary interest, vain ambition, and worldly aggrandisement. 
 
 As some men enter the army or the navy, in order to obtain a, 
 
 ' 2 Chron. xxxii. 8. 
 
46 WORLDLY MOTIVES FOR UNDERTAKING THE MINISTRY. [CJiap. 8. 
 
 living and advancement in the world ; so it is to be feared that 
 others are induced to undertake this sacred work, with motives 
 very little if at all more elevated. 
 
 In many large patrician families, the eldest son is educated 
 for the legal profession, that he may be qualified to act with 
 reputation as a country gentleman and magistrate ; a second of 
 resolute character is introduced to the army ; a third to the 
 navy ; and a fourth, selected perhaps as the most dull, grave 
 or timid, is brought up, apparently on the same principles, and 
 with somewhat similar motives, as a minister of religion. How 
 lamentable is the mistake, which gives opportunity for indi- 
 viduals to be thrust into this sacred office, with such motives, 
 but professing themselves called to it by the Holy Ghost ! of 
 whose baptizing, sanctifying virtue on their own hearts, they may 
 have known little or nothing ; and if so, they are utter strangers 
 to the true call to labour for the spiritual good of others, and 
 incompetent to lead them by faith to self-denial and hohness. 
 Does not such a course tend to blind the spiritual eye to the 
 true nature and sacred character of the ministry of the gospel; 
 to cause it to be regarded as on a level with outward sciences 
 and learned professions, and chiefly as a means of advancement 
 in the world; to encourage hardness of heart, presumption, 
 hypocrisy; and, in fact, to turn light into darkness, and to 
 minister to mammon rather than to God ? A strong and truly 
 painful inference ! 
 
 But although such is the dangerous tendency, it does not 
 follow that in all instances it is the actual result. There is, 
 it must be gratefully acknowledged, a holy leavening influence 
 in divine things ; and if the mind, though it may have been 
 much of a stranger thereto, be open to receive that heavenly 
 influence, it may, and in many instances it will, be enlightened, 
 humbled, warmed and purified. Yet, how awful is the con- 
 sideration, that the profession of a divinely-inspired call is too 
 often little better than a lie in t he mouth, a fearful mockery of 
 divine Omniscience ! Prom such a commencement, what ground 
 is there to expect good results in futui'c ? Serious and awful 
 are the consequences, which a wrong entrance on an under, 
 taking so sacred is calculated to produce. Humility and poverty 
 of spirit are in danger of being overlooked or despised. High 
 pretensions and worldly superiority find a ready acceptance 
 
NEGLECTED CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 47 
 
 Impatience, and severity towards those who conscientiously 
 ditter, are naturally induced ; the watchfulness and fear of the 
 Christian are little regarded and inculcated ; while charity and 
 truth too rarely regulate the heart, and govern the conduct. 
 The religious growth and experience of the minister are likely 
 to be behind those of many of the people. It may be better to 
 leave the subject to the serious reflections of the reader, than 
 to enter further on painful residts, too often exemplified in 
 practice ! 
 
 " The ambitious seeking of dignities and prelacies ecclesias- 
 tical," said Bishop Taylor, " is grown the pest of the church : it 
 corrupts the salt itself, extinguishes the light, and gives too 
 apparent evidence to the world, that neither the end is pure, 
 nor the intention sanctified, nor the person innocent."' 
 
 Bishop Jebb made this candid acknowledgment : " The dig- 
 nities, titles and emoluments of our establishments obviously 
 constitute as severe a test of >'irtue, as the mind can well 
 be tried by; and it must be admitted that these objects minister 
 fuel to the bad passions of thousands.'' 
 
 But, alas, for the poor sheep and lambs of the fold in such 
 cases ! Instead of being fed in the green pastures of life, how 
 are they, in many instances, driven out upon the barren and 
 desolate mountains of an empty and a lifeless profession ! 
 Instead of being gathered by the crook of divine love, through 
 a true gospel ministry, into the fold of Christ, how scattered 
 and neglected in the midst of the allurements and dangers 
 of the world ! Not brought to the brook of living water, 
 or to that well w Inch springs up into everlasting life ; but 
 encouraged to drink of muddy and polluted streams, pro- 
 ducing no salutary effects, but tending rather to disease and 
 death. Thus may the prophet's complaint of the pastors of old 
 be renewed : — " "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel ; that feed 
 themselves, but feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not 
 strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, 
 neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have 
 ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye 
 sought that which was lost ; but with force and with cruelty 
 have ye ruled them,"- &c. 
 
 ' Life of Clirist. ' Ezekiel xxxiv. 2—4. 
 
48 MINISTERS NOT TO BEAR RULE. [Chap. 8. 
 
 Can it be supposed that, under such circumstances, figuratively 
 speaking, the seed of the kingdom is really sown, that the 
 church will be built up a spiritual house, that the word of truth 
 will be rightly divided, that the milk of the word and the wine 
 of the kingdom will be administered in purity, and that the 
 union and communion of the soul with the Father of Spirits can 
 be truly promoted ? 
 
 So far from the real spiritual nature of the gospel dispensa- 
 {;ion being understood, and its advancement promoted by such 
 ministers ; and instead of the kingdoms of this world becoming 
 the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ, wherein he may 
 reign with undisputed sway ; perhaps it is not uncharitable to 
 conclude that, even in the professing Christian churches, the 
 great enemy of man's happiness, the prince of darkness and of 
 death, though often unperceived, retains a large share of autho- 
 rity in high places, and successfully spreads his fatal snares and 
 poisoning influence around ! 
 
 An idea seems to prevail in some Christian communities that 
 ministers of the gospel ought, by virtue of their ofiice, to possess 
 the whole ecclesiastical authority, and that they alone have 
 the " power of the keys " to bind and to loose spiritually. Yet 
 if the variety of the several gifts and callings in the church be 
 properly considered, with reference to that divine Source, from 
 which all that are really useful and edifying must proceed^ 
 it will be found that the various living members stand, in some 
 degree, on equal ground, like the members of the body ; all 
 contributing their respective shares, and exercising their sepa- 
 rate functions, for the good of the whole ; unable to subsist in 
 health without one another, but advantageous and necessary 
 each to each. 
 
 That a qualification for the ministry and a call to it should 
 confer the authority to rule over the church, is a notion utterly 
 opposed to the precepts and examples of Christ and his apostles. 
 The very term of minister conveys an idea of service, not 
 of superiority ; and such are in danger of being unfitted for 
 their peculiar spiritual avocation, by undertaking disciplinary 
 control, and by an attempt to govern. All are not called to 
 the ministry, but all are called to perform some spiritual duty, 
 and equally called to holiness and dedication of heart. Those 
 
KKillTS OF I lU U( II-MV'.MUKUS. 49 
 
 who labour faithfully in their particular callings, whether the 
 care of the poor, the discipline of the church, the exercise of 
 judgment, the reproof of the unruly, the dealing with offenders, 
 the encouragement of the weak, or otlier services, may be equally 
 endued with discernment, equally useful in their respective 
 duties, and equally capable of administering the general afl'airs 
 of the church. 
 
 To put such a duty on ministers alone, is, as Dr. Arnold and 
 others have well observed, to take them out of their proper 
 service, or to disqualify them for it ; to sanction the uncvange- 
 lical distinction between " clergy and laity ;" and to perpetuate 
 ecclesiastical usurpation under a new and objectionable form. 
 It is contrary to the example of the apostolic age, when the 
 twelve apostles declined to " leave the word of God and serve 
 tables;'" declaring thfit they would give tliemselves "continually 
 to prayer and to the ministry of the word ;" while the manage- 
 ment and administration of the more seciilar affaii's of the 
 church were committed to seven others, being "men of honest 
 report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom." Though the 
 calling of the apostles was to a different service, yet in what 
 degree could they surpass this general character of Christian 
 excellence ? Surely God hath set the several spiritual members 
 in the body as it hath pleased him ; and the eye cannot say to 
 the hand, " I have no need of thee," nor again, the head to the 
 feet, " I have no need of you,"- but all are useful, and in some 
 respect equal. For "he that is greatest among you," said our 
 Lord, " shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself 
 shall be abased."'^ 
 
 A striking instance of the evils resulting from the body at 
 large having no voice in its own affairs, is afforded by the 
 Anglican church ; where tlie neglect of general moral discipline, 
 the toleration of acknowledged and long continued abuses, 
 and the hopelessness of any remedy imder the present system, 
 plainly show the injurious consequences of leanng the manage- 
 ment too much to the ministers of the church, or rather to the 
 parliament, and not entrusting the members generally with a 
 share of control and responsibility. This deficiency is ill sup- 
 plied by the exercise of secular power by the state, in an unna- 
 tural and anomalous iinion. 
 
 ' Acts vi. i 1 Cor. xii. 21. ' Matt, ixiii. II, 12. 
 
50 VIEWS OF DONATISTS ON CHURCH AND STATE. [Chop. 8, 
 
 With great inconsistencv, while ministers of religion or pro- 
 fessed priests are forbidden by canon law, and deem it deroga- 
 tory to theu' spiritual vocation, to engage in secular affairs, they 
 do not hesitate to degrade that very vocation into a secular 
 possession, and to avail themselves of the power of the state 
 to enforce their authority. The converse of these principles 
 will be deemed by many to be more consistent with primitive 
 Christianity. 
 
 Some of the earliest of those who complained against eccle- 
 siastical corruptions were the Donatists in the East, a large, 
 influential and zealous body of Christians, who inveighed boldly, 
 for several centuries, against the temporal character, which, at 
 that early period, disfigured and weakened the church. To the 
 ambassadors of the Emperor Constans, who, in 348, attempted 
 to restore them to the Catholic church, they replied, " What has 
 the emperor to do with the church?^' A reasonable inquiry, 
 which has received no attention. Another of their questions 
 was, " What have Christians to do with kings, or bishops with 
 the court ?^^ — "The bad spirit which opposes the churches," 
 they said, " is become a much more dangerous enemy in these 
 covert attempts," — referring to the bribes which were offered 
 them by the agent. " Those who, by humbling themselves, 
 might regain the grace of God, he endeavours to make secure, 
 flattering them that they may stdl be Christians, and even 
 bishops, whdst he entices them with princely favours and earthly 
 gifts." Against the arrogance of the professed apostolic sees, 
 they appealed, in support of their own church, to those passages 
 of scripture, where "the little flock of true confessors is dis- 
 tinguished from the great mass of the faithless, or those who 
 belong only in appearance to the kingdom of God."^ 
 
 Most of the Lollards, Puritans and Reformers protested, age 
 after age, against the wealth and secular jurisdiction of the 
 church, and urged its reduction to a state of primitive humility 
 and simplicity. The want of this was the great bm-then which 
 oppressed their consciences. 
 
 In proportion as we duly estimate the unspeakable benefits 
 
 to mankind, arising from the religion of Christ, and from the 
 
 establishment of his kingdom upon earth, we must desire, if we 
 
 would fully realise its blessings, that that kingdom may be 
 
 » Neander's Hist, of Church. 
 
III.MAX POLICY IN DIVINi; TIIINCS. ;") 1 
 
 uphckl ill its simple purity ; that Christ may indeed reign in our 
 hearts and in the workl, and that the happy consequences of his 
 government may be experienced and diffused, without curtail- 
 ment and without adulteration. But it is a frequent and 
 general error, through the prevalence of self-love, to shrink 
 from suflVriug, and therefore to deceive ourselves with the idea, 
 as individuals and as churches, that there is an easier and better 
 road to happiness, a shorter and a less thorny path, than that 
 of faith and of the cross, than the strait gate and the narrow 
 way. 
 
 Human policy and expediency plead strongly that divine 
 things and services must be dignified, and made respectable in 
 the eyes of the world, that appendages of outward honour and 
 enjoyment serve as auxiliaries to the cause of religion, as 
 attractions to devotion. But is not this reasoning practically 
 fallacious ? These specious appendages have a lowering influ- 
 ence, and arc liable to be mistaken for the thing itself, the pro- 
 fessed auxiliaries gi*adually tending to supplant the genuine 
 truth. Christianity, powerful in its simplicity, and great in the 
 midst of its humiliation, needs them not. Our Lord himself 
 was bora in a stable ; his parents and associates were persons of 
 low degree in the estimation of man. He required no aid from 
 human power and glory, nor did he commit his cause to such 
 means, for its introduction and promulgation in the world. 
 As the stone which became a mountain and filled the earth,' was 
 cut out without hands ; as the first temple and the altars of 
 the Lord were raised without the sound of the workman's tool ;* 
 and as God chose, in the beginning of the Christian clnn-ch, 
 " the foolish things of the Morld to confound the wise, and the 
 weak to confound the mighty, and base things, and things 
 which are despised, and things which are not, to bring to nought 
 things that are -^ so even now, Christ's spiritual building is to 
 be erected and maintained, not by creaturely devices, l)ut by 
 faith in his all-powerful word, and by simple obedience to his 
 revealed will. For it remains to be an eternal trutli, that " the 
 foolishness of God is wiser thaii men, and tiie weakness of 
 God is stronger than men."* If we would attempt to erect the 
 spiritual house, to establish the heavenly kingdom, by human 
 
 1 Dan. ii. S"). ' I Kingd vi. 7 ; Exodus xx. 35 ; .Toahna viii. .31. 
 
 • 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. * 1 Cor. i. 2.'). 
 
53 GRATIFICATION OF THE SENSES IN WORSHIP. [Chap. 8. 
 
 contrivance, with worldly policy, and by seeking to build on the 
 one true foundation with " gold, silver, precious stones, wood, 
 hay, stubble;" i Ave shall find in the end that we have attempted 
 an impossibility, and that these are vain materials and^^corrupt 
 elements to rely on, for promoting the glory of God, or the 
 spiritual good of his creatures. Our building will be the very 
 opposite to " the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which the 
 Lord pitched and not man.^' ^ 
 
 Many churches, througli an outward zeal, have adopted 
 the error of connecting the Christian religion with the gratifi- 
 cation of the senses, by an excitement, enthusiasm and 
 ecstacy, which are utterly powerless in producing genuine 
 devotion, in raising the moral, healthy tone of the mind, 
 or in qualifying it to fulfil the duties and grapple with the 
 temptations of life. Christianity is not a religion of imagi- 
 nation or of sensual enjoyment. It is founded upon humble 
 faith and rational conviction, which shed a calm but decisive 
 influence over the mind and the conduct. It is the conversion 
 and renovation of the heart through the power of the Holy 
 Spirit, the sins being blotted out through faith in the Saviour 
 of men. 
 
 In the New Testament the nature of Christ's kingdom is 
 clearly revealed to us. In that kingdom, as has been before 
 observed, his Spirit will ever bear rule, and be the actuating 
 influence ; not in profession and words alone, but in deed and 
 in truth. The fruits of the Spirit will be clearly manifested ; 
 and such, the Apostle Paul tells us, are these, — " love, joy, 
 peace, long-sufli'ering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance.'^ ^ In proportion therefore as these are produced 
 and prevail, through the working of the Holy Spirit, in the 
 same degree is the kingdom of Christ exalted and bearing rule, 
 whether in an individual or in a church. And must it not also 
 be acknowledged, that professing Christians, and those termed 
 Christian churches, generally fall far short of the gospel 
 standard ? 
 
 It is, however, well to remember that, in this state of imper- 
 fection and mixture, man is a very inadequate judge of the 
 amount of good or evil in those around him ; and well is it that 
 their final judgment will not rest with him. In those whom he 
 1 1 Cor. iii. 12. ^ Heb. viii. 2. ^ Gal. v. 22. 
 
THE GOSPEL STANDARD TO BE AIMED AT. 53 
 
 esteems gootl^ there may be external propriety, but inward 
 iinsoundness ; regard to man's estimation, and not singleness of 
 love to God, may be the pervading motive ; mnch of the corrupt 
 nature may yet remain ; the will and lusts may be but partially 
 subdued ; the spiritual enemies may still be potent. While, on 
 the other hand, in those accounted the worldly-minded and the 
 wicked, there may still be some desires after good, some re- 
 deeming qualities; they may have been surrounded Avith greater 
 temptations, and may have struggled with more difficulties than 
 others. There may be, in fact, less ditl'erence between the two 
 classes than we imagine. The one we are assured has cause for 
 deep humiliation and watchfulness; the other may have some 
 ground for hope and encouragement. 
 
 Yet the sense of human imperfection must not be permitted 
 to furnisli an excuse for our own self-love aud self-satisfaction, 
 to make us content with our low attainments, and to prevent us 
 from attempting to make a close approximation to the high 
 standard of truth and perfection. This is a dangerous idea, 
 and one which has been a fertile and fatal source of error, 
 degeneracy and evil. AN'hile we are painfully sensible that man 
 is by nature in a fallen state, we are bound thankfully to 
 remember that Christ came to raise him up out of the fall, and 
 to redeem him from its consequences. It is es.sential to the 
 Christian to keep his eye fixed on the standard, and according 
 to the light and grace vouchsafed, to wage perpetual war with 
 everything that a quickened conscience convinces him is at 
 variance with it. " Faint yet pursuing"^ must be his motto. 
 What was the language of the apostle of old ? " Forgetting the 
 things which arc behind, and reaching forth unto tiiose which 
 are before, I press toward the mark." - Such also, undoubtedly, 
 must be the language of every professing church or community. 
 The standard of truth and righteousness must ever be kept in 
 view ; the mark set up in the gospel must be steadily aimed at ; 
 errors, inconsistencies, blemishes, and hindering things must 
 be faithfully acknowledged, watched against and taken away. 
 
 The removal of one evil opens the way for the removal of 
 others. The spiritual vision becomes cleared by simi)le obe- 
 dience : the eye that is kept single "will be full of light." 3 
 " He that doeth the will of God shall know of the doctrine " » 
 ' .Tiulges viii. 4. * Pliil. iii. i:i. 3 Matt. vi. I'l'. ' .J..|iii vii. 17. 
 
54< PURITY or THE CHRISTIAN STANDARD, [Chap. 8. 
 
 of Christ. Other truths are made manifest, as the first have 
 been embraced in sincerity. But if there is a turning from 
 the bght, a clinging to error, a perseverance in evil after it has 
 been clearly discovered, the vision becomes clouded, the path of 
 truth and duty is questioned and doubted, other roads open 
 before us, and we find ourselves more and more involved in a 
 labyrinth of confusion, danger and darkness. 
 
 Delusive is the idea, which tempts us to be satisfied with en- 
 deavouring to remain stationary in our Christian course. The 
 spiritual traveller who does so wall never arrive at the desired 
 termination of his journey. If he desist from the pursuit of 
 truth, he is in great danger of being drawn into error. Every 
 retrograde step in the narrow way brings him nearer to its broad 
 antipodes, and renders his return more difficult. It is so with 
 individuals, and it is equally so with churches. The tree which 
 is stunted, and makes no progress, will hasten to decay. While 
 therefore life remains, let the pruning-knife be applied to the 
 cankers; let the branches be purged; let the ungenial soil be 
 removed, and the pestiferous blast averted. But if we plead, 
 on the contrary, that these are common evils, long-standing 
 defects ; that it is dangerous to meddle, lest we make bad worse ; 
 and that we must not expect perfection, or good without some 
 alloy ; fearful is our standing, dangerous our temptation ; and, 
 without a great change, awful must be the final result. 
 
 What then is our obvious duty, whether as private persons 
 or as religious communities ? We must in all sincerity seek for 
 heavenly wisdom to enable us to cease from evil; we must 
 narrowly inspect our motives, abstain from self-indulgence, 
 relinquish and put away errors, disregarding apprehended con- 
 sequences. And, on the other hand, in the exercise of faith in 
 Christ, the head of the church, we must implore divine help 
 and guidance, simply embrace the good, act out our principles, 
 pursue the path of truth and righteousness ; and, ever remem- 
 bering that we are weak and foolish, we must keep the eye 
 singly directed to him who is both wisdom and strength ; that 
 thus our whole body may " be full of light, having no part 
 dark :" ^ our path, notwithstanding much cause of mourning 
 and repentance, becoming that of the righteous, and " shining 
 more and more unto the perfect day." 
 
 » Luke xi. 36. - Proverbs iv. 18. 
 
ARNOLD ON A PURE SPIRITUAL STANDARD, 55 
 
 It is with a view to this blessed result, that the writer of these 
 pajjes ventures, in all humility, honesty and good will, and 
 under a sense of great imperfection, to throw before his fellow- 
 countrymen a >'iew of some of the evils, which appear to him 
 most obvious, and most necessary to be corrected, in the politico- 
 religious systems of professed Christian churches ; in order to 
 purge them from their political character, and to promote a 
 higher degree of conformity ^vith the gospel model, of freedom, 
 spirituality, truth and holiness. 
 
 Dr. Arnold, after urging the necessity of aiming at a pure 
 spiritual standard, proceeds thus : — " The ordinary answer to 
 all this consists in mere random charges of enthusiasm and im- 
 practicability, — such doctrines sound well in theory, but will 
 not do in practice. But to what is it that all the improvements 
 in the world are to be ascribed, but to these high and aspii-ing 
 principles ? To what is every corruption, every folly, every 
 existing wickedness imputable, but to the low notions of those 
 who call themselves practical, and who, forming their models 
 from their own practice, and that of others like them, excuse 
 the perpetual grovellings of themselves and of all who listen to 
 them, in the degradation of their actual vileness ? That blessed 
 gospel which these practical men profess to reverence, is full 
 of what they must consider the wildest theories : and the 
 heights to which it strives to raise us, and from which we are 
 ever shrinking backwards, are indeed unattainable by those who 
 love to think them so. But read the prophets, read the apostles, 
 and say if there is any limit to that perfection in virtue and 
 happiness, which they call upon the church of God to thirst 
 after." i 
 
 ' Fragment on the Church. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE UNION OF CIVIL AND PROFESSEDLY SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY, 
 WHETHER THROUGH THE USURPATION OF SECULAR POWER BY 
 ECCLESIASTICS, OR THROUGH THE INTERFERENCE OF THE STATE 
 IN SPIRITUAL MATTERS, THE GREAT CAUSE OF PERSECUTIONS. 
 
 " Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, and set it 
 up in the plain of Dura. Then a herald cried aloud, To you 
 it is commanded, oh people, nations and languages, that at 
 what time ye hear the sound of all kinds of music, ye fall down, 
 and worship the golden image that the king hath set up ; and 
 whoso falleth not down, and worshippeth, shall the same hour 
 be cast into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace." ^ 
 
 This procedure affords a memorable illustration of the abuse 
 of the power of the state, in order to enforce religious con- 
 formity; and it may be taken as a type of all the despotic 
 measures, and violent persecutions on the ground of religion, by 
 Heathen, Jewish and professedly Christian rulers, from that time 
 to the present. Though modern refinement no longer permits 
 the victims to be cast into a fiery furnace, or to be cut in pieces, 
 and their houses to be made a dunghill, yet it cannot prevent 
 the same spirit from occasionally effecting its purpose in a more 
 secret and slow, but scarcely less vindictive manner ; others, 
 hoAvever, are still found bowing down before the golden image. 
 No sooner does secular power become placed at the will, 
 and its arm exerted at the bidding of ecclesiastics, than it is 
 used, to speak generally, as an engine of persecution, for the 
 extirpation of differences of opinion, and for the enforcement of 
 religious uniformity; or, in its mildest form, as an instrument 
 for the exaction of contributions, under the plea of upholding 
 the truth. History, both sacred and profane, abounds with 
 terrible examples of the exercise of this arbitrary interference ; 
 and strongly confirms, bj' its experience, the arguments drawn 
 
 " Dan. iii. 
 
TERRIBLK KKKECTS OF UEMOIOIS INTOLKKANCE. 57 
 
 from abstract principles, and from the doctrines of Scripture, 
 against the entrusting of any Christian churcli, as such, with 
 civil authority. However excellent may be the faith and prac- 
 tice of a church, the possession of this authority has i)een proved 
 to be the most likely means to destroy its real excellence, and 
 to subvert its spiritual character. A temptation is thus pre- 
 sented, to employ positive evil in the promotion of apprehended 
 good — a course which has operated in all ages most injuriously 
 to the cause of true religion. 
 
 There are two great forms of this bondage of Antichrist, 
 remarks a modern writer' — the church absorbing the state, and 
 ^'ioleutly preventing men from worshipping according to their 
 consciences, as in the papac}' — and a state absorbing the church, 
 as in almost every state and church establishment, and compel- 
 ling men to acts of religious profession and worship, when con- 
 science tells them it is all hypocrisy. 
 
 ^Vho, on the one hand, may recount the fines, imprison- 
 ments, banishments, tortures, hangings and burnings, which 
 men in power, while professing to be Christians, have inflicted 
 on their fcUow-men, under grossly erroneous views of the nature 
 of that authority, and of those weapons which Christ committed 
 to his followers I To relate these enormities in detail, would 
 be to transcribe a large portion of ecclesiastical history, and to 
 shock the common sensibilities of our nature. Truly may it be 
 said of the' Anticliristian chmch, under every name, " In her 
 skirts was found the blood of the poor innocents;" and "the 
 blood of prophets, and of saints, that were slain upon the earth."' 
 
 And who, on the other hand, may describe to the full the 
 hypocrisy, the time-serving, the ambition, the avarice, the 
 quenchings of the Spirit, the stiflings of conscience, and all their 
 evil results to the cause of ntal religion, and to the spread of 
 the gospel and kingdom of Christ, which have been fostered by 
 secular interference in diWne things, with threats on the one 
 side and rewards on the other ? 
 
 If a church is a true one, it requires not the aid of luunan 
 might and coercion to maintain and extend it ; but if it is a 
 false one, that aid will be a still more deadly instrument in its 
 hand. Each church believes its own principles to be right and 
 
 ' I>r. L'hecvei's Wandcringn of a rUgi-iin. 
 ' Jeremiah ii. 34 ; Revelatiuus xviii. 24. 
 
58 DIFFERENCES OF RELIGIOUS OPINION. [ChajJ. 9. 
 
 true^ and hence arises a natural and laudable desire that they 
 may be embraced by others. At the same time no means must 
 be employed, for the propagation even of that which is believed 
 to be the truth, except those persuasive appeals to the teach- 
 ings of the Holy Spirit, to the testimony of Scripture, and to 
 the evidences of right reason, which are suited to intelligent and 
 self-responsible beings. Christian humility and charity should 
 cause us ever to bear in mind that we are all fallible; that 
 others may be as nearly right as ourselves, and even more so; 
 that it is not our prerogative to determine for them ; and that 
 the great omniscient Judge, not short-sighted, erring man, will 
 ultimately decide on each of us. 
 
 To believe that none will be approved and saved, but those of 
 our own particular creed, is an im worthy, unscriptural view 
 of the comprehensive nature of redeeming love, and of real 
 Christianity ; wanting nothing but the power, to bring with it 
 constraint and persecution. It is likewise remarkable, but 
 generally true, that correction and punishment have been ap- 
 plied much less vehemently by ecclesiastics to suppress flagrant 
 moral evil, and absolute criminality, than to extirpate diffe- 
 rences in matters of faith, under the terms of heresy and schism ; 
 and that the less important those differences really are, the 
 more fiercely is bigoted zeal bent on their eradication, and the 
 less is the excuse admitted for dissentients. In such cases, 
 where conformity is enforced, the violence done to the free 
 moral agency of the mind is the more revolting to its feelings, 
 and excites the stronger opposition. Free inquiry and reason- 
 able obedience, says one, are alone worthy of Grod^s acceptance ; 
 he spurns the constrained homage of slaves ! 
 
 With respect to religious differences, it may be pleaded that 
 they are proofs of zeal, sincerity, and attachment to truth. 
 Would it be advantageous to the mind and character of man to 
 put them all down ? Would not a spiritual concealment, indo- 
 lence and apathy be more to be dreaded ? The healthful breeze, 
 the antagonistic muscle, the obstinate rock, the variety of mate- 
 rial forms, are all useful in the economy of nature, as their 
 counterparts are in the intellectual and spiritual world. Gene- 
 rous rivalry in attempts to do good, and to advance ourselves 
 and mankind, will be a noble substitute for mutual recrimina- 
 tion and persecution, as well as far more worthy of the zeal and 
 
COMPREHENSIVENESS OF CHllISTIANITY. 59 
 
 energy of Christians. The variations of Protestant churches, 
 wliich papists, silent on their own internal dissensions, delight 
 to recount and to magnify, "will, when viewed in this light, pro- 
 duce no evil ; but rather serve as stimulants in the great practical 
 work of spiritual and social philanthropy, in other words, of 
 true Christianity. But if we condemn and excommunicate each 
 other, we become a more easy prey to eWl. 
 
 " Universal charity," said William Penn, " the assertion of 
 impartial liberty of conscience, and the doing to others as one 
 would be done by, are corner stones and principles with me ; 
 and I am scandalized at all buildings that have them not for 
 their foundations. For religion itself is an empty name with- 
 out them. Let us not flatter ourselves; we can never be the 
 better for our religion, if our neighbour is the worse for it. We 
 are apt to be mighty hot upon speculative errors, and break all 
 bounds in our resentment ; but we let practical errors pass 
 without rebuke, if not without attention."^ 
 
 When Queen Elizabeth commanded Archbishop Grindal to 
 put down the Puritan " prophesyings," he became distressed in 
 conscience, and felt obliged to disobey her orders, urging that it 
 was a great blessing to have plenty of labourers sent into the 
 harvest. Thus he requests, " that when your ^Majesty deals 
 in matters of faith and religion, you would not pronounce so 
 peremptorily as you may do in civil matters ; but remember that 
 in God's cause, his will, and not the will of any earthly creature, 
 is to take place. It is the auti-ehristian voice of the Pope, — 
 ' Sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas.' " He puts her 
 in mind that, though she was a great princess, shew as yet a 
 mortal creature. The enraged queen, however, was not to be 
 influenced by such Christian reasoning, but exercised her prero- 
 gative as head of the church, and by an order from the Star 
 Chamber, without consulting the clergy, sent the primate to his 
 house, sequestering him from his functions for several years. - 
 
 Religious persecution in all ages has pleaded, and even jier- 
 suadcd itself to believe, that its object was the lionour of God 
 and the welfare of man ; as the Saviour foretold, " Whosoever 
 killeth you will think that he doeth God service. "^ Temporal 
 power is a dangerous instrument to be committed to tlie hands 
 
 ' William Teim's letter <•■ W. Pujiple. * NcaiV Purit.ins, vol. i. 
 
 ■^ .Tohn xvi. 2. 
 
60 EVILS or CHURCH AND STATE UNIONS. \C1iap. 9. 
 
 of ecclesiastics ; and hence Christian ministers, however endued 
 with grace, are wisely restrained by our Lord from assuming it. 
 " It shall not be so among you, but whosoever of you will be the 
 chiefest shall be servant of all.'^^ Under whatever terms, there- 
 fore, it may be pleaded for, whether of church and state, or of 
 the dominion of grace, the principle is contrary to the law of 
 Christ, whose ministers must use only the weapons which he 
 provides ; and these are " not carnal, but mighty through God 
 to the pulling down of the strongholds '' of error and sin, in the 
 service and warfare of Him whose kingdom is not of this world. 
 The upholding of civil laws and the punishment of crime with 
 outward means, must be left to the civil magistrates, '' for 
 they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very 
 thing.'^' 
 
 Respecting the employment of force, as a means of conversion, 
 the Donatist Petilian says, " Do you think to serve God, when 
 you murder us with your own hands ? You err, you err, if you 
 think so. God has no hangmen for his priests ! Christ, when 
 he died for men, gave us an example of dying, not of killing." 
 And Gaudentius, another of them, remarks, " God has made 
 man free after his own image. How is that which God has 
 given taken away by human arrogance ! What sacrilege ! that 
 man should take away what God has given, and then vainly 
 boast that this is done for God ! What does he think of God, 
 who wishes to defend him by force ? That God cannot revenge 
 his own injuries? The Lord says, ""^My peace I give unto 
 you, not as the world giveth.' The world's peace may be esta- 
 blished b}^ force ; the peace of Christ invites men with healing 
 mildness."^ 
 
 . " Two things there be," says Milton, in his treatise on the civil 
 power, " which have ever wrought much mischief to the church 
 of God, and to the cause of truth — force on one side restraining, 
 and hire on the other side corrupting the teachers/' 
 
 " The same spirit of wrath and bitterness, which in the form 
 of popery burnt the protestants in Queen Mary's days, soon 
 after crept into a better form, and hunted down the puritans in 
 those of Queen Elizabeth. And when Presbytery got into the 
 chair of authority, the same evil genius, dressed in a new 
 cloak of reformation, forged the fetters of a new uniformity, 
 
 ' Mark x. 43, 44. ^ Eoinaiis xiii. 6, ^ Neandor's History. 
 
fiREEK PATRIARCH APPOINTED BY THE SUI.TAN. fil 
 
 and laid the axe to the root of episcopacy. Independency pro- 
 mised better things, and pleaded strongly for liberty of con- 
 science and vmiversal toleration ; and yet when Independents, 
 driven by the rigours of church government out of Old England, 
 got footing and power in the new world, they forgot their suf- 
 ferings and their principles, and then persecuted the Quakers. 
 But these last," says this author, '' though we have seen them 
 with government in their hands, were never known to persecute 
 or molest any for conscience' sake." ^ 
 
 On the one hand, as if to show the folly of the union of 
 church and state, by strange contrast and in full force, the 
 highest Christian ruler of the Greek church is appointed by 
 a Mahomedan prince. This affords a striking example of the 
 corrupting influence of court authority in ecclesiastical affairs ; 
 the appointment being generally bestowed by the Sultan on 
 such ani ndividual, as he expects will either give him the 
 largest pecuniary present, or will prove best suited to his own 
 personal objects. On the other hand, the Church of Rome is an 
 example not less fearful, of the evils arising from the authority 
 of a bishop exercising temporal power ; under which, bigotry 
 and usurpation " grind the faces of the poor," and oppress the 
 springs of enlightened sentiment and action in both civil and 
 religious matters. 
 
 The forced amalgamation of the Lutheran and Calvinistic 
 churches by the King of Prussia, and the creation of a new, 
 united evangelical church, about the year 1830, appears to 
 have been a gratuitous, ill-advised measure of irresponsible 
 authority ; the more offensive, because the work of a Protestant 
 prince, and in opposition to the prevailing feelings of the people. 
 The lamentable effect has been to drive many into popery, 
 and many into infidelity ; while others, who maintained their 
 principles, were compelled to quit theii" native land. No new 
 sect or mode of religion is allowed to be instituted in Prussia, 
 without the special permission of the Sovereign. Such is the 
 thraldom of the conscience in the nineteenth century, and in a 
 Protestant countrj' ! 
 
 The histor}' of Geneva also affords e^•ident proof that, under 
 various professions, the state and the church united are intole- 
 rant. The state oppresses the church, — the church, in her turn, 
 ' Preface to Hartley's Sermons, 1755. 
 
6.2 GERMAN AND ITALIAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES. [Chap. 9. 
 
 tempted by the state, ojipresses those who differ from her ; and 
 so the work goes ou. The demonstration is such that no man 
 can resist its power. Inoculate the church, so to speak, with 
 the state, and the same plague invariably follows. No con- 
 stitution is proof against the virus. The union is adulterous, 
 the progeny evil. To what European nation will not these 
 remarks in some degree apply ? ^ 
 
 Many have been the attempts made at different periods on 
 the continent of Europe, to throw off the yoke of priestly domi- 
 nation. Even under corrupt forms of religion, the struggle may 
 be said to have been continual, between the spirit of darkness 
 and usurpation on the one side, and that of religious light 
 and liberty on the other. The recent efforts to establish a 
 German Catholic Church and an Italian Catholic Church, 
 though mixed with many superstitious notions, and almost 
 crushed for the time, are to be hailed as indications of an 
 important movement among the Romanists themselves, against 
 hierarchical despotism, and as consequences of the educational 
 advance of the age, sooner or later to produce intellectual 
 and spiritual freedom ! 
 
 " Eor three centuries," says one of the Italian reformers, 
 " there has been a struggle for religious reform in Italy ; which 
 has occasioned the sacrifice of many noble victims, burned by 
 the inquisition of Rome, drowned in the Lagoons of Venice, and 
 hungered, poisoned or strangled in the prisons of Naples, of 
 Tuscany, of Piedmont, and of Lombardy." In attempting to 
 found a reformed Italian Church, about the year 1845, he 
 declares, " We profess no other belief than what the Holy 
 Scriptures distinctly and directly authorise, and we repudiate 
 all that in later ages has been added by men. Our worship, 
 therefore, goes back to the practice of primitive Christianity, 
 pure, simple and spiritual, adapted to the requirements and 
 the devotion of the faithful, not bound by laws to any parti- 
 cular form, but varying according to the necessities of times, 
 places and persons." 
 
 The special objects of these movements were, to obtain for 
 
 the people the power of choosing their own ministers, to abolish 
 
 most of the mummery now practised in divine worship, to 
 
 suppress the system of compulsory payments for religious 
 
 ^ Lainff's Notes of a Traveller. 
 
INTERFERENCE OP THE STATE WITH RELIOION. (».'5 
 
 services ; and, above all, to reduce the power of the priests, and 
 to establish a new church luiconncctcd Avith the Pope and the 
 state. Consultations between the Catholics, with a view to the 
 same objects, have of late years been held in the United States 
 of America; and it is not probable that Home will long be per- 
 mitted to retain any important intkience over the independent 
 people of that country. 
 
 There is certainly some truth in the remark, that, where the 
 civil and ecclesiastical power are divided, and vested in separate 
 liands, although both may at times be despotic, they have 
 a tendency to check and counteract each other, and when this 
 effect is produced, to foster a spirit of mutual independence. 
 The worst form of spiritual tyranny is found, where the priestly 
 hand commands also the sceptre of state ; there, in most cases, 
 woe to the asserters of either civil or religious rights ! 
 
 '' Sire," said Bcza to the King of Navarre, " it belongs to the 
 church of God to suffer blows, not to strike them. But at the 
 same time, let it be your pleasure to remember that the church 
 is an anWl that has worn out many a hammer." ^ This is a true 
 saying; but if the an^il itself be ever used as a hammer, the 
 effects are terrific ! 
 
 Sir James Mackintosh observes that the fanatical zeal, even 
 of some protestants, has regarded other protestants, and popery 
 in an especial manner, as offences against God, which it was a 
 Christian duty to extirpate ; while papists, on the other hand, 
 have very generally viewed what they called heresy in the same 
 light. Thus one half of the Christian world imagined itself 
 bound in conscience to destroy the other, for the honour of 
 God ! This is a dark but too true a picture, and a lamentable 
 contrast to the pattern of Christ ! 
 
 The interference of the power of a state in the religious con- 
 cerns of its subjects, is proved by all history, ancient and 
 modem, to be so adverse to the existence of civil and religious 
 liberty, that it may be called the right arm of despotism. And 
 further, if the moral and religious inffucncc of the established 
 clergy over the people be examined in protestant countries, it 
 will be found to be generally diminished in proportion to the 
 extent of that interference. 
 
 " Religious liberty," says a shrewd American, " has never 
 ' Smedley's Historj' of the French Reformation. 
 
64 GREAT REFORMATION OF NINETEENTH CENTURY. [Chtt]). 9. 
 
 yet been fully understood in Europe. Until it is complete, 
 things will never be settled. The muddy fermentation is just 
 working itself clear, but it makes a great disturbance in doing 
 so. The nations have never yet been ready for it. The old 
 bottles would not hold this wine of the new dispensation ; but 
 God is preparing the world for it. It is with the great error — 
 church and state, as with many minor practical errors that have 
 long prevailed; they must be undermined gradually, and the 
 occupants above warned off the ground. The great reformation 
 of the nineteenth century will be, in the opinion of many emi- 
 nent men, the mutual independence of the state and the church. 
 Then, and not before, will the loud voice be heard, ^Babylon 
 the great is fallen, is fallen \' "^ 
 
 ' Cheever's Wanderings of a Pilgrim. Rev. xviii. 2. 
 
CHAPTEK X. 
 
 rilC COKUUI'TION OF KELIOION PROMOTED MY THE USE OF CERTAIN 
 UNSCRirTL'UAL TERMS AND EXPRESSIONS, AND BY THE MlSAPl'LI- 
 CATION Ol' OTHERS. 
 
 In Avacliu^ through the details of the vast ignorance and super- 
 stition dispUiyed in the pages of ecclesiastical history, interesting 
 as they are in many respects, the reader cannot fail to be 
 impressed with the conviction, that, like an overwhelming flood, 
 those evils laid waste at an early period the fair field of Christian 
 truth ; and converted it, for the most part, into a melancholy 
 swamp of error and corruption, lioth Jewish and heathen 
 notions jmd practices of an outward, degrading tendency, per- 
 vaded the church, deformed its spiritual character, and showed 
 themselves at every turn, in the ideas, in the institutions, and 
 therefore in the language, of Christians. The evil was largely 
 insinuated and made permanent, by the invention of new terms 
 and l)y the misa})plication of others, suited cither to a former 
 ilispensation or to low and false views of great gospel principles. 
 The pure, practical, devout character of the Christian had been 
 lost in that of the ignorant, visionary bigot. The humble, 
 disinterested, pious minister was transformed into the proud, 
 grasping, superficial ecclesiastic. Spiritual truths \vere sup- 
 planted by fables ; and the daily moral and religious duties of 
 Christians had degenerated, either into a round of empty and 
 ridicidous absurdities, or into unjust, superstitious alienations of 
 property for the use of the pretended church. Along with such 
 dcbjiscd circumstances and notions, a set of corresponding cor- 
 rupt terms had grown up to indicate them, which tended 
 greatly to foster the evil ; and it became evident that these 
 terms recpiired to be discarded or reformed, as well as the 
 matters that gave ri.se to them, that there might be a return to 
 
 P 
 
66 INTRODUCTION OF THE TERM CLERGY. [Chap. 10. 
 
 " the fotm of sound words" ^ denoting right principles — a work 
 which the Reformation failed to accomplish. 
 
 Many of those enlightened, spiritually-minded men, who 
 strove at various periods to stem the prevailing torrent of super- 
 stition, were strongly impressed with a sense of this necessity, 
 and expressed it hy their words and writings. It was therefore 
 a sound and reasonable, though somewhat bold and startling 
 attempt, on the part of George Fox and the other early Friends, 
 about the middle of the seventeenth century, to reject some of 
 those terms, and that customary application of others, which had 
 originated in degenerate views of Christian truth ; and to endea- 
 vour to establish a pure and simple vocabulary, free from such 
 corruptions, and consistent with the plain and truthful language 
 of our Lord and his apostles in the New Testament. 
 
 The dominion of vain custom or fashion in these and other 
 more fluctuating matters, contrary to the plainness, simplicity 
 and truthfulness of the gospel standard, is a burdensome yoke, 
 oppressive to many single-hearted Christians of difiPerent pro- 
 fessions. Would that they more faithfully followed Him, who 
 declared that his yoke is easy and his burden light ! 
 
 A very early innovation in support of ecclesiastical assumption, 
 was the introduction, in a limited sense, of the term " clergy," 
 which, being derived from a Greek word implying " heritage," 
 is open to special objection in its present restricted application 
 to certain, bodies of ecclesiastics in contradistinction to other 
 ministers, and to the people at large called " the laity.'' The 
 word clergy properly appHes to all the true church. The 
 Levites, having tithes, instead of real estate, assigned them as 
 a provision, were called " God's lot, inheritance or clergy." ^ 
 Yet some of the sacred writers in the Old Testament speak of 
 all the nation as '^ the lot of His inheritance." 3 
 
 In the New Testament, the whole Christian church is termed 
 " the heritage," or clergy, " of God," * as distinguished from the 
 world J and not merely one class in the church as distinguished 
 from all the rest. ' When a Catholic priest receives the tonsure or 
 shaving of the poll, as a rite of ordination, he repeats the words 
 of the psalm, " The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance," &c.'' 
 
 • 2 Tim. i. 13. ^ See the Septuagint Eeadings. 
 
 3 Deut. xxxii. 9 ; Psalm xviii. 9. ■* 1 Peter v. 3. ^ Psalm xvi. 5. 
 
THE TKK.MS PHllvST, SACKAMENT. (J7 
 
 According to the doctrine of the Romish Chiucli, and of sonu- 
 high-church Protestants, " the clergyman" is endowed in his 
 official character with spiritual powers, which elevate him far 
 ahove"the layman." This idea tends to produce other prac- 
 tical notions and eftects, opposed to the right appreciation of 
 the common gospel privileges of believers, as "children and 
 heirs of Clod, and joint-heirs with Christ.'" 
 
 The designation of ''priests" or sacrificers, originally mean- 
 ing presbyters, is often used in the English prayer-book ; but 
 cannot, if truly considered, be appHed solely to a class of men 
 who have no divine authority distinctively to claim it ; since on 
 the one hand, it infers that all true Christians do not possess 
 a right to the character ; and on the other, it tends to derogate 
 from the eternal priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our only 
 Expiator and ^lediator before the Father. How can they be 
 acknowledged as priests, who have, according to our views, no 
 sacrifices to offer for others, however they may encourage such 
 an idea by their rites and terms ? To encourage the use of 
 such appellations by adopting them, would seem to be affording 
 a sanction to error, if not to idolatry. Hence follows the term 
 "altar,'' and also the notion of frequent sacrifices; altogether 
 opposed to the great plan of human redemption, by virtue of 
 the ofi*cring of Jesus Christ "once" for all, "without the gates of 
 Jerusalem." 
 
 There is great reason to fear that the early adoption of the 
 unscriptural term "sacrament " by the Christian cliurch — a term 
 which had been used by the Romans to signify a military oath 
 or covenant — and the application of the word to certain reli- 
 gious rites and observances, tended in no sniidl degree to pro- 
 duce a false estimate of the importance and character of those 
 ceremonies, and to mislead the ignorant and simple-minded. 
 
 The word "yyo//////," applied to the Popes of Rome, was de- 
 rived from the old Roman title of pontifex, or chief priest of the 
 idolatrous worship, and implies in its etymology the maker of a 
 bridge, i. e., between heaven and earth, or a mediator, — an idea 
 very inapplicable to the papal office !- Pontifex maximus, the 
 
 ' Rom. viii. 17, &c. 
 
 • It hna lieen rem.irkefl, with great severity Jinrl some truth, th.-xt tlie 
 title of canxifex more befitted some who liave occupied the papal chair! 
 The assumed term "aervu.s aervonim" seems to savoor of irony ! 
 
 F 2 
 
68 MISAPPLICATION OF THE WORD CHURCH. [Chap. 10. 
 
 title of the heathen Csesars, is still claimed as that of the Chris- 
 tian bishops of Kome ! Gavazzi satirically observes that " the 
 papacy is the ghost of the old Roman empire, and that it picked 
 lip in the dust of paganism the words ' Pontifex maximus,' a 
 fragment of imperial pretensions, turning it to account with 
 other shreds and patches of idolatry." 
 
 Who can avoid admitting, on serious reflection, that the 
 application of the term ^'church" to the buildings used by one 
 denomination of Christians for di^dne worship, though it may 
 be a common figure of speech, is liable to substantial objection ; 
 since it may tend to confuse the ignorant and unwar}^ with 
 superstitious, exclusive notions, and thus pervert the enlarged 
 simple truth ? If applied to the meeting-houses of all denomi- 
 nations, it would be objectionable ; but yet more so is it when 
 confined to those of one religious body, as though that body 
 constituted exclusively the true chiu'ch of Christ. 
 
 The word " church,' ' like " clergy," is often misapplied in 
 another way, by being limited to the body of ecclesiastics, in 
 contradistinction to the members at large. This is especially 
 the case in reference to property and authority, the possession 
 and control of which, though spoken of as belonging to the 
 church, are, in fact, often the sole enjoyment of its ministers 
 and other officers. What definite meaning again is attached to 
 the saying "the church is in danger ?'' Surely it is not that 
 church which is founded on " the Rock of Ages ! " 
 
 That Christians should have borrowed the names of heathen 
 idols, and employed them for their own use, to designate the 
 respective months and days, on which our benighted heathen 
 ancestors worshipped those idols, is a strange inconsistency 
 when fully considered ; however it may be reconciled by long 
 and general custom. The scriptural or numerical names are, 
 not only on this account, but also in point of convenience and 
 brevity, much to be preferred, and are therefore used in many 
 public and mercantile ofiices. The Duhobortzi, a religious sect 
 in Russia, act somewhat on this ^-iew, and give to the days of 
 the week names conveying a religious meaning. Among intem- 
 perate artizans the profane phrase of Saint-Monday is not un- 
 common. In legal documents, the ancient terms are still used — 
 " dies soils," " dies Iwkb," &c. On the same ground, without 
 any desire to be over-scrupulous and hypercritical, objections 
 
SANCTION OF ROMISH SAINTS. 69 
 
 arise to the words Christmas, and Candlemas, and Michaelmas, 
 and Lady-day, and JVhitsuntide, &c., &c. ; which are founded 
 on observances and errors, that most Protestants have long ago 
 discarded. Easter was the name of an imaginary Anglo-Saxon 
 goddess, Avhose festival occurred about the same period of the 
 year as the Jewish passovcr, or the death and resurrection of 
 Christ. The term ought not to have been retained. 
 
 Equally inconsistent is the superstitious prefix Saint, in the 
 mouths of those who have renounced Romanism. What were 
 the true characters of the pretended Saint George, and Saint 
 Martin, and Saint Thomas k Beckett, and of hundreds of 
 others ? Even supposing that we have no evidence that the 
 Romish saints were not good men, the serious question for each 
 of us is, — Am I doing right in sanctioning, by frequent use, the 
 canonization of the justly suspected personages of a false and an 
 idolatrous superstition ? 
 
 " Several of the ancient [pagan] heroes" says an eminent 
 author, Dr. Conyers Middlcton, " were more worthy of venera- 
 tion than some of the modei'n [popish] saints, who have dis- 
 possessed them of their shrines; and I would rather pay divine 
 honours to the founders of empires, than to the founders of 
 monasteries. I believe several of the popish saints to have been 
 wholly fictitious, many more to have spent their lives contemp- 
 tibly, and some of them even wickedly." The almost incredible 
 number of 2r),000 saints are said to be directly recognised by 
 the Roman Catholic Church ! > Well may Protestants protest 
 against such a strange host of tutelary, wonder-working beings ! 
 Tlic image of Peter in the Cathedral at Rome, which is still so 
 liighly venerated that its toe is absurdly kissed by superstitious 
 tliousands, is well known to be the very same statue that 
 anciently represented the pagan deity Jupiter Olympus ! Is 
 not this heathen worship still, under a slight change of forn) 
 and name ? Can it be that such superstitions shall ever receive 
 countenance in England ? 
 
 The adoration paid to the ^ irgin Mary at Rome far exceeds 
 that which is paid to Christ, and is sometimes styled "The 
 Marian idolatry." Where one prayer is oftcrcd to Christ, luni- 
 dreds are said to be offered to the "queen of heaven." " Santa 
 Anna" is styled " the grandmother of God," and to her too 
 ' Eclectic Review, 1852. 
 
70 CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY OF LANGUAGE. \Chap. 10. 
 
 prayers are addressed for the remission of sins. How gross and 
 awful are these idolatrous corruptions ; the perpetuation in fact 
 of the imagined goddesses of heathen Rome ! And then the 
 pretended venerable relics^ — dead men^s bones, decayed garments, 
 rotten wood; falsely characterised, blindly worshipped, palmed 
 as true upon the ignorant and credulous ! May England beware 
 how she encourages such base impositions ! 
 
 Protestant writers on ecclesiastical history, in speaking of the 
 eminent men often unsuitably termed Fathers in the early 
 Christian church, generally omit the title of Saint given them 
 by Roman Catholic authors. Thus Mosheim and Milner speak 
 of Hilary, and Ambrose, and Augustin, &c., while Dupin gives 
 them all the appellation of Saint. How plain and simple, on 
 the contrary, is the language of the writers in the Old and New 
 Testaments ! The word Saint introduced in some versions, 
 before the names of the Evangelists at the head of the pages, 
 iswell known not to be authorized by the ancient manuscripts. 
 If then its use, as a customary title of respect, is not sanctioned 
 in reference to those holy men, who are acknowledged to have 
 been truly saints, surely it is not justifiable in reference to their 
 less holy, or even grossly degenerate successors. 
 
 Would not the same gospel simplicity, if faithfully acted upon, 
 expunge the titles of " reverend,^' now claimed even by dis- 
 senters ; of " right-reverend father in God ;'" and all those desig- 
 nations of bishops, archbishops, &c., which indicate a spiritual 
 position, far from being always attained by such ? ^ 
 
 Other expressions which are open to serious objection, because 
 false in reality and flattering in tendency, might be noticed ; 
 but perhaps it may be said that our practice is of little conse- 
 quence in most of these respects, since there is no danger of our 
 retui'ning to heathen customs. Yet a sanction should not be 
 given to error. And there is still room for apprehension, with 
 respect to a revival of Romish notions, and a renewed ob- 
 servance of saints' days, &c. 
 
 The Almighty declared of old by his prophets : — " I will take 
 away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no 
 more be remembered by their name.^' 2 " Make no mention of 
 
 ^ The word " sir," now applied to kniglits and baronets, was commonly 
 prefixed to tlie name of preachers before the Eeformation. 
 ^ Hosea ii. 17. 
 
CONFUSION IN LANGUAGE. 71 
 
 tlie name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of tliy 
 mouth." " I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory Mill 
 I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." " 
 Of Himself it is truly deelared that " Holy and Reverend is 
 His Name ! " ^ 
 
 What can we say of such ascriptions as " his holiness," " his 
 worship," " his reverence/' " his grace," " his majesty ! " Do 
 they not trench on the divine prerogative? The profanation 
 of names belonging to sacred objects or persons is at times 
 strikingly apparent. Thus we find a vessel called " La Santa 
 Triuidada," or " La Santa Maria," employed in the atrocious 
 act of conveying the heathen children of Africa into hopeless 
 slavery ! 
 
 " Antichrist hath deceived us," complained AYilliam Tyndal, 
 " with unknown and strange terms, to bring us into confusion 
 and superstitious blindness ! " ^ There is much truth in this 
 complaint, and in the position that clear, appropriate, simple 
 terms contribute lai'gely to correct sentiments ; while, ou the 
 other hand, indistinct and misapplied words and phrases tend 
 to encoui'age and fortify error. If we would prevent this result, 
 we must examine and remove, as far as may be, those acces- 
 sories, which have so long contributed to forge its chains. 
 Without desiring to lay unreasonable stress on points of this 
 sort, the author commends the subject to the candid and 
 serious consideration of his fellow-christians. 
 
 ' KxcmIus xxiii. 13. ' Isaiah xlii. 8. 
 
 * P.salm cxi. 9. * Oljedience of a Christiau ^laii. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ON CHBISTIAN WORSHIP AND MINISTRY. 
 
 "When the Saviour of men condescended to converse with the 
 woman of Samaria, and she had said to him, " Our fathers 
 Avorshipped in this mountain ; and ye say that in Jerusalem is 
 the place where men ought to worship/' he made this remark- 
 able answer : " Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye 
 shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship 
 the Father. Ye worship ye know not what : we know what we 
 worship : for Salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, 
 and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father 
 in spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship 
 him. God is a Spirit : and they that worship him, must worship 
 him in spirit and in truth." ' Several points are observable in 
 this important passage. Our Lord twice declared that the 
 Father must be worshipped in spirit and in truth ; yet, unless 
 the words are understood to have had a particular reference, 
 they implied little more than had before been generally acknow- 
 ledged. They must, therefore, be taken in connexion and 
 contrast with what he had previously said; and consequently 
 implying, not in that mountain ignorantly, nor in Jerusalem 
 with knowledge ; but without distinction of place, in spirit and 
 in truth ; not with external, ceremonial performances, as here- 
 tofore in both those places, nor with merely personal homage 
 and service of the lips ; but spiritually and truly, with heartfelt 
 devotion, sincerity and earnestness. Again, he did not pre- 
 scribe any particular rules or modes for the right performance 
 of this sacred duty ; but declared that God is a Spirit, and that 
 therefore devotion must be spiritual ; the mind being truly and 
 fervently occupied in the service. When Christ sent out his 
 twelve disciples, and also the seventy, his commandment, as to 
 their ministry, was simply this : " And as ye go, preach, saying, 
 the kingdom of heaven is at hand ;'' ^ or, " the kingdom of God 
 ' John iv. 20, &c. 2 Matt. x. 7. 
 
WORSHIP DODS NOT CONSIST IN EXTERNA 
 
 is come nigh unto you ;'' • and more privately, " 
 this liousc,"' &c. 
 
 The omission of t'urtlier directions on all these oceasio 
 worthy of especial notice, and leads to the conclusion, that the 
 [)recisc mode of eonductiug divine worship, and of performing 
 devotion, is not prescribed, and is less important than the dis- 
 position and dedication of mind with which it is observed. 
 Yet there is an obvious injunction to be inferred — that, in con- 
 tradistinction to outward rites and performances, it is to be the 
 service of the heart ; the occupation of the mind, rather than 
 that of the hands, the eye, the ear, or the tongue. And it 
 becomes professing Christians generally to consider with serious- 
 ness^ whether a constant round of services of the latter 
 description does not tend to captivate the senses, excite the 
 imagination, and engross the mind ; thus diverting it from that 
 fixedness on heavenly things, and reverent dependence on God, 
 which are necessary to acceptance by Him. 
 
 One chief point, which Tyndal endeavoiu-ed to illustrate 
 through all his works, was tixe essential difFerence between the 
 Old and the New Testaments or covenants. On this head few 
 have had more distinct and pure sentiments. The former dis- 
 pensation he considered as pointing by signs and ceremonies to 
 the latter — a spiritual but sublime simplicity of worship taking 
 the place of outward pomp and splendour. His great object 
 was to bring the soul t)cforc its Creator, to worship Him in 
 spirit and in truth, well kno^ving the blessed result of such a 
 devotional intercourse. 
 
 It is not by their number or continuity alone tluit external 
 services are liable to danger. The great purpose of divine wor- 
 ship and ministry being to promote the honour of God and the 
 instruction and edification of man ; if human wisdom be sought 
 by the minister and the people, instead of the wisdom which is 
 from above, that gi-eat object will be in danger of being defeated, 
 the attention and expectation will be fixed too much on man, 
 and not enough on the Father of spirits. The insulHcioncy of 
 man's unenlightened wisdom to minister in divine things, or 
 even to comprehend tliem, was declared by the Saviour in his 
 impressive address: — " I thank thee, oh Fath(>r, lionl of heaven 
 and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
 prudent, and hast revealed tiieiii unto babes. Even so, Father, 
 ' I.iike X. 1 I. ' Liiki- X. .">. ' Oir.irs ].\ff of Tvmlnl. 
 
74 SIMPLICITY OP THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. [Chap. 11. 
 
 for so it seemed good in thy sight." ^ The early disciples fuUy 
 acknowledged this great truth, and admitted the danger of man 
 in his unregenerate state, though gifted with human wisdom 
 and eloquence, interfering in things beyond his penetration. 
 This apprehension often impressed the Apostle Paul ; and when 
 he declares that Christ sent him to preach the gospel, he adds, 
 " not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be 
 made of none effect; " for, says he, " the preaching of the 
 cross is to them that perish foolishness ; but unto us which are 
 saved it is the poAver of God." Highly important is this view 
 for the consideration of professing Christians, both ministers 
 and hearers ; lest they frustrate the divine pm'poses, lest they 
 encumber divine truth with excrescences which destroy its 
 simplicity and efficiency. 
 
 What are " the two great commandments," on which, 
 according to the highest authority, " hang all the law and the 
 prophets V'^ Not this or that outward observance, not any specific 
 form of worship, or articles of faith, or mode of church govern- 
 ment — all of which are acknowledged to be important objects, and 
 have excited so much contention — but simply the disposition 
 of the mind — love to God and love to man, which can never 
 exist without theii' fruits. One disciple declared that " love is 
 the fulfilling of the law,"^ and another asserted that " he that 
 dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God."^ Far too little consideration 
 has this great principle received in the Christian world. 
 
 The ^' speech and the preaching " of the apostles of our Lord 
 were " in demonstration of the Spirit," and of that " power " 
 which they had known in their own religious experience ; by 
 which also they had been called and qualified for the work. 
 They preached Christ Jesus the Lord, and themselves the 
 servants of the people for Jesus'* sake.* They spoke as the 
 Holy Spirit " gave them utterance ;"'' it was given them from 
 time to time what they should say; and their words, coming 
 from the heart, and being attended with life and power, 
 carried conviction to the souls of the hearers, and produced 
 surprising effects. The case of Peter, when he addressed 
 Cornelius and his companions, is a striking instance of this 
 nature. " And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell 
 on them, as on us at the beginning ; then remembered I the 
 
 ' Luke X. 21. - Matt. xxii. 4A. = Ruin. xiii. 10. « 1 John iv. 16. 
 
 " 1 Cor. ii. 4. '2 Cor. iv. 5. ' Acts ii. 4. 
 
FRllTS Ul' TKLK (iOSl'KL AllMsTKV. 75 
 
 word of the Lord, Jolm indeed baptized with water, but 
 ye sliall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." ^ Here was an 
 instance of true gospel ministry, accompanied with spiritual 
 baptism, fulfilling our Lord's commission, " Go ye therefore 
 and teach, — baptizing," - &c. 
 
 Such, may we not venture to believe, are even now in degree, 
 and would be still more extensively, the blessed effects of all 
 divinely authorised gospel ministry, exercised under the influ- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit, free from covetous, selfish motives, and 
 proceeding from an impulse of religious duty, from a sense of 
 the love of God to the souls of men, from faith in that Saviour 
 who died for them, and from a deep concern for their salvation? 
 Such a ministry would not be a series of formal, scholastic, life- 
 less addresses ; but, coming from the heart, under a lively 
 impression of the aAvful realities involved, we may reverently 
 trust that it would be animated by the love of God and man ; 
 that the Holy Spirit, as humbly waited for, would condescend 
 to give a sense of the states of the hearers, of the nature of the 
 message adapted to their edification ; and to qualify for the per- 
 formance of the work. Thus, we are encouraged to believe, that 
 in different religious denominations, the sinner has often been 
 warned, the dark heart enlightened, the hard one broken, the 
 proud, the unholy, and the wrathful condemned, the fearfid and 
 contrite comforted, and the humble believer confirmed and 
 animated. The gospel has been truly preached, and the bap- 
 tism of the Holy Spirit effectually administered. 
 
 Prayer and thanksgiving would not then consist of languid 
 generalities, or prescribed and commonplace petitions and 
 acknowledgments to the divine Author of all our mercies ; but 
 proceeding from the fresh impulses of the Holy Spirit, being 
 attended l)y a prostrating view of man's uuworthiness and need, 
 with a sense of the condition of particulai* congregations, and 
 of the grace repeatedly vouchsafed, would ascend in fervent, 
 devout, and becoming aspirations, with a sustaining reliance on 
 Christ the great Head of the church; and would, Me may humbly 
 trust, be graciously accepted and answered for his sake. 
 
 There might indeed be less of preaching; the " itching ears"^ 
 might be less gratified; there might be fewer "enticing words"* 
 of man's invention ; not so much of " the wisdom of this 
 
 1 Act-s \i. l.i, Ifi. ' M.itt. xxviii. ID. * 2 Tim. iv. .3. * 1 Cor. ii. 4. 
 
76 DIVINE GUIDANCE OF GOSPEL MINISTERS. [Chap. 11. 
 
 Avorld/^^ of the flowing eloquence, the fascinating music, the 
 studied gestures, the pomp and parade ; the senses and passions 
 might be less excited ; but if there were more of deep, calm, 
 heartfelt, abiding devotion, God would be more glorified, and 
 man, with all his powers and attainments, would abhor himself 
 more completely, and repent in dust and ashes ! Where is the 
 Christian church, in which, as respects both ministers and 
 people, through lively faith in the Lord Jesus, and simple 
 obedience to the teachings of his Spirit, these blessed results 
 may not be more fully brought forth ? 
 
 To make converts to a particular denomination, and to build 
 up a certain theological system, have been too much the objects 
 of Christian ministers; while the full development of the grace of 
 God, and the extended privileges of the gospel, with their exem- 
 plification in practice, has often been overlooked or undervalued. 
 
 " Persons are so earnest,'' remarked a pious German minister, 
 " to say a great deal to God in divine worship, that they do not 
 allow themselves time to hear what he would say to them by his 
 Spirit.'' Would that this were suflficiently considered ! 
 
 " My time," said our Lord himself, " is not yet come, but your 
 time is always ready." ^ And so, it is believed, his ministers will 
 often find it, if they look to him alone for direction. Of the 
 apostles we read that on one occasion, " the Spirit suffered them 
 not" to proceed as they intended, and that "they were forbidden 
 by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia."^ Is there not 
 some similar guidance still to be known by the waiting minister? 
 
 The calling of one may be to a field of labour in one direction, 
 that of another to a different field in another direction. Thus, 
 " he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the 
 circumcision, the same was mighty " in Paul " toward the Gen- 
 tiles.''* And the same would doubtless work effectually and prove 
 himself mighty in his ministers of this day, if their faith and 
 dependence were fixed on him, and on the teachings of his Spirit 
 — not on themselves, or on other men. His gracious promise 
 was to be with his people " always, unto the end of the world. ''^ 
 How utterly opposed to this state of dependence on a present 
 Lord, is the conversion of the sacred oflfice into a species of local 
 property, a means of pecuniary profit and advancement ! " 
 
 • 1 Cor. ii. 6. ' John vii. 6. ^ Acts xvi. 6, 7. 
 
 ^ Gal. ii. 8. Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 
CHAPTER XTI. 
 
 II.L EFFECTS OF UNDILY EXALTING ONE CLASS OF MEN IN THE 
 CHURCHES, AND ONE MAN IN EACH CONGREGATION, CONTRARY 
 TO APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 
 
 The provision of endowments on a graduated scale, as the 
 liire or reward of ministerial services in the Christian church, 
 obWously tends to offer prizes to worldly-mindedness, cupidity 
 and anibitiuu ; and to open Avide to those evil dispositions a 
 door which should ever be closed against them. The admin- 
 istration of holy things, being a sacred trust of unspeakable 
 importance to the eternal interests of man, requires to be 
 occupied and maintained Avith purity, spirituality and disin- 
 terestedness ; otherwise its essential character is lost, and it 
 becomes corrupted and heartless. 
 
 If the motives of men, for undertaking the function of the 
 ministry, are desired to be simply those of true religious concern 
 and duty, care must be taken not to induce others of a seculai" 
 and an inferior character ; lest there be brought into the charge 
 of the things of God a class of men, who, however advanced in 
 human learning, neither appreciate nor understand them ; but 
 whose main purpose is to satisfy a vain ambition, to earn their 
 maintenance by such means, and to make a gain of godliness. ^ 
 Standing apart from the people, and separated from them by a 
 marked line of distinction unsupported by the New Testament, 
 such ministers too often assume to themselves, as a professedly 
 sacred body, a character of exclusive superiority in ])rivilege, 
 knowledge and power ; thus gi-eatly lessening their own influ- 
 ence and usefulness; while many of the despised, poor and 
 ignorant, in the estimation of this world, have a clearer insight 
 into religious trutii and oiiligation, and are better qualified, 
 through more full submission to the power of Divine Grace, to 
 
 ' 1 Tim. vi. r, 
 
78 THE JEWISH LEVITES AND PRIESTS. [CIuip. 12. 
 
 understand the real nature of the Messiah*'s kingdom^ and to 
 advance it in the hearts of men. 
 
 There was indeed among the Israelites^ under the dispensation 
 of the laWj one particular tribe^ set apart for the services of 
 the temple and of holy things, and having no inheritance 
 in the land; God having promised them that he himself 
 would be their inheritance.^ And of this tribe one family 
 was chosen for the priesthood. But under the gospel, this 
 distinction was abolished, with the other legal separations and 
 ceremonials established by Moses ; which were but types and 
 shadows, and only introductory, imperfect and temporary ; 
 designed to prepare and discipline the minds of men for the 
 spiritual dispensation of Christ, and for the more clear and full 
 revelation of evangelical truth : the commandment or law being 
 disannulled, on account of its " weakness and unprofitableness.^' ~ 
 Yet so prone is the human mind to desire external forms, 
 tangible rites, and objects of sense, and to rest in them, rather 
 than in the spiritual substance and life of religion, that many 
 Judaizing notions and practices were early introduced into the 
 profession of Christianity contrary to its genuine spirit ; and even 
 now many of the Christian churches are not, it is to be feared, 
 sufficiently alive to the formal and unprofitable character of 
 some of those observances, which they retain and venerate. 
 
 But although the dispensation of the law has been fulfilled, 
 and the appointment of a certain priestly tribe abrogated, by the 
 coming and sacrifice of Christ, and by the general gift to man- 
 kind of a larger measure of the Holy Spirit, by which all true 
 Christians are made, in a certain sense, " priests unto God ;" 
 yet we are assured that special gifts are bestowed on individual 
 members, by the glorified Head of the Church, " for the per- 
 fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifi- 
 cation of the body.^^ ^ His especial call, and the qualification 
 by the Holy Spirit, are consequently the essential authority 
 to undertake the sacred charge of the gospel ministry. This 
 view indeed, although it seems to be suffered to operate but 
 little in practice, is generally admitted in theory by the various 
 Christian churches, as highly conducive to the true interests of 
 religion and of mankind at large. 
 
 To tlie carrying it into effect a great obstruction is presented, 
 > .Tosh. xiii. .33. ^ Heb. vii. 18. 3 Eph. iv. 12. 
 
WORSHIP or PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS. 79 
 
 by the restriction of the office of minister to one fixed and paid 
 individual in each congregation ; who lias obtained, by educa- 
 tion and by jjurchase, certain human quaHfications of learning, 
 initiation and appointment. This restriction, too, is imposed, 
 however much the minds of others present, whether recognised 
 us ministers or not, may be impressed through tlie power of the 
 Holy Spirit, with " the burthen of the word of the Lord,"i and 
 with a secret but sensible call to declare it then and there to the 
 people. 
 
 The practice of the early Christian church was widely different ; 
 divine worship being then much more of an individual exercise 
 and act ; and each one being engaged before the Lord for 
 himself and for herself, according to the variety of gifts and 
 duties then recognised and fulfilled'. Thus Paul, in \iTiting to 
 the saints, or to the church at large in Corinth, besides alluding 
 to miraculous powers, recommends them to " desire spiritual 
 gifts ; " but especially that they " may prophesy," or minister ; 
 speaking ''to edification, exhortation, and comfort,"- with the 
 spirit and with the understanding. " If anything," says he, 
 " be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his 
 peace : for ye may all proplicsy (or minister) one by one ; that 
 all may learn, and all may be comforted."^ It is obvious that, 
 for this purpose, no settled routine of closely successive services 
 in divine worship could have been suitable. Time must have 
 been allowed for individual retirement of spirit, and a right 
 preparation for se^^'ice ; as the sense of religious duty might 
 press on the minds of any. There must have been opi)ortunity 
 for inwardly receiving and pondering sjnritual truth, as well 
 as for hearing the verbal declaration of it. The attention of 
 the assembled church not being fixed only on one individual ; 
 each would feci bound to regJird Christ as the great si)iritu:il 
 teacher, to prostrate his soul before God, to receive instruction, 
 and to consider seriously with himself whether anything were 
 given to him for the assembly. 
 
 The more extended distribution of ministerial qualification 
 and duty, is fully recognised by the apostles in several of their 
 jiddresses to the early believers : thus we read, " exhort one 
 another daily, while it is called to-day;"* " able also to adrao- 
 
 ' Zech. ix. 1. * I Cor. xiv. 1, 3. M Cor. xiv. 30, 31. * Heb. iii. 13. 
 
80 EVILS OF RELYING ON ONE FIXED MINISTER. [Ckuj}. 12. 
 
 nish one another ; "^ — confess your faults one to another, and 
 pray /or one another, that ye may be liealed."" The temptation 
 to act ou sordid and unworthy motives not being presented^ it 
 may be presumed that those of a high and sacred character 
 alone prompted to the performance of the duty ; and that if any 
 man ministered^ he felt bound to do so, " of the ability which 
 God giveth/'^ that He in all things, and not man, might be 
 glorified ! Acknowledged pastors, ministers and teachers there 
 doubtless were ; and such we may trust will ever be continued, 
 to the edification and comfort of the church. Yet was not the 
 limit drawn so closely, as to preclude any individual Avorshipper 
 from an opportunity to deliver to the people any exhortation, 
 which, under the influence of the love of God, such an one 
 might feel commissioned to declare ; " all things " being " done 
 decently and in order."* 
 
 Where a congregation assemble for the avowed purpose of 
 hearing what the appointed minister may deliver, relying on 
 him for spiritual direction, and depending on his ministrations, 
 they are in great danger of neglecting the exercise of those 
 spiritual faculties which God has entrusted to each, and leaving 
 to be performed by another that worship and service, which 
 every one must offer in the temple of his own heart, as unto the 
 Lord, and not before men. The people, with such restricted 
 views of their own spiritual responsibility, are liable to be much 
 more engrossed with the preacher's performance, his eloquence 
 and learning, than with the serious duty which they themselves 
 have to perform individually. And if, through any unforeseen 
 circumstance, no minister attends, then the opportunity for 
 devotion is considered to be wholly lost. 
 
 The essence of the Christian church may be said to rest upon 
 this — not that one man should be the chosen and pre-eminent 
 organ of the Holy Spirit for the leading of the whole — but 
 that all, each according to his peculiar standing, and to the 
 gifts committed to him, should work together, fulfilling their 
 several parts, for the promotion of the Christian life and the 
 common oljject. The edification of the church was, in its pri- 
 mitive days, the work of all. As some were more particularly 
 required for leading and ruling, so the Christian life developed 
 ' Eom. XV. 14. " James v. 16. ^ 1 Pet. iv. 11. M Cor. xiv. 40. 
 
COMMUNITY OF SPIUITUAL OIFTS. 81 
 
 itself according to the constitutional peculiarities of individuals ; 
 and there resulted in the members of the church the respective 
 gifts or qualifications of government, of helping, of teaching, 
 without constraint on the free development of life in the whole 
 church ; " standing fast in one spirit, with one mind striving 
 together for the faitli of the gospel."' 
 
 ' Neander, aud 1 Cor. xiv. 3. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ASSUMPTION OF THE PRIESTLY CHARACTER AND OFFICE. 
 
 The birth of our Lord is generally understood to have taken 
 place about seventy-three years before Jerusalem was destroyed; 
 and, during that period^ the Christian religion was introduced 
 and planted in Palestine^ Asia Minor, and many of the cities 
 of Greece ; as well as in Rome and elsewhere. Christ had dis- 
 tinctly foretold the destruction of Jerusalem^ which occurred 
 about thirty-seven years after his crucifixion ; and the believers, 
 acting on his cautions, generally quitted the city and preserved 
 their lives. The Jews who did not perish in the siege, were 
 scattered abroad in Judea and in other countries. Having lost 
 their Levites and priests, together with their sacred temple, and 
 the ancient accompaniments of their divine worship ; they were 
 left in distress and ruin, both temporal and spiritual — the just 
 consequences of denying and crucifying their King and Saviour. 
 
 The old heathen deities had also lost much of that reverence 
 which had formerly been paid to them. The ancient oracles, 
 for the most part, had disappeared ; the idolatrous worship was 
 neglected, and the priests found their occupation failing them. 
 The alarm was not confined to the silversmiths of Ephesus, who 
 made shrines for Diana, but spread widely both then and since, 
 " This our craft is in danger to be set at nought, and the temple 
 of the great goddess to be despised ; — by which craft we have 
 our wealth/^ 1 
 
 The people at large, both Jews and heathens, had been 
 accustomed to outward pomp and pageantry in religion ; sensible 
 objects and external performances had been associated with their 
 worship, and had gratified their senses. Although no parallel 
 is to be drawn between the Jewish and heathen devotions — the 
 one being pure and appointed by God, and the other being gross 
 and abominable idolatry^ — nor are the two to be esteemed in 
 1 Acts xix. 25, 27. ^ 1 Peter iv. 3. 
 
JEWISH AND HFATHKN WOULD. 83 
 
 any respect equal ; yet on the professors of both a clearer day 
 had begun to dawn ; and many of their serious and inquiring 
 men were enabled, by the visions of ancient prophecy, and by 
 the clearer revelations of opening Christianity, to look through 
 llieir ceremonials — so various and so widely different in their 
 origin, character and diWnc acceptance — " to the end of that 
 which was to be abolished." ^ They saw and felt that something 
 better and more substantial was in store for mankind, thouirh 
 many knew not what it was. At length the system of pagan ido- 
 hitry in those countries experienced a dowufal; while Judaism 
 had at a somewhat earlier period iost its divine sanction ; the 
 law of Moses being fulfilled and consummated in the gospel of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Christian religion was distinguished by great simplicity 
 and lowliness, by its high-toned morality, by its heart-search- 
 ing, spiritual character, and by its freedom from ceremonial 
 observances. The gospel of Christ, and of salvation tlu'ough 
 faith in him, was offered to the acceptance of all, whether Jews 
 or Gentiles, learned or ignorant, bond or free; having been 
 especially preached to the poor. The wise heathen philosophers, 
 as well as the self-righteous Israelites, generally looked upon it 
 with contempt ; " Christ crucified was to the Jews a stumbling- 
 block, find to the Greeks foolishness." 2 The former had already 
 put Christ to death, and now both of them persecuted his 
 followers. Christianity had little that was inviting to their 
 natural pride and ancient prejudices. But "the common people" 
 accepted it "gladly ;" 3 numerous local churches being formed, 
 and many thousands gathered to the faith, both in Judca and in 
 other countries. 
 
 Frequent were the cautions given by the apostles, that the 
 believers should not throw off the pure and spiritual character 
 of their early profession, and entangle themselves again with 
 the yoke of bondage.* The Apostle Paul especially expressed 
 his fear, "lest, as the servient beguiled Eve through his subtlety, 
 so their minds should be eorrupted from the simplicity that is 
 in Christ."' He saw that already were arising "false prophets, 
 deceitful workers, transforming themselves into tlie aposth-s of 
 Christ,"^ bringing the believers into bondage and makiug a gain 
 
 ' 2 Cor. iii. 13. t 1 Cor. i. 23. ' Mark xii. 37. 
 
 * Gal. /)-/.«(»» ; Acts xv. 10. » 2 Cor. xi. 3. " 2 Cor. xi. 13. 
 
 «2 
 
84 EFFECTS OF AVARICE AND SUPERSTITION. [Chap. 13. 
 
 of them. These corrupters soon increased in the church; for 
 as its numbers multiplied, and the profession became honourable, 
 designing men, both Jews and heathens, adopted the Christian 
 name from insincere and selfish motives. 
 
 Covetousness in some, and superstition in others, excited a 
 great and restless desire to discover some points in the new 
 and spreading religion, which might be rendered a means of 
 affording emolument and of feeding ambition, as well as of 
 gratifying the senses and the common partiality for bodily 
 exercises. In the simple outhnes of Christianity drawn by its 
 divine Author, and further filled up and exemplified by his 
 apostles, as well as in the more dubious field of tradition, 
 ground was earnestly sought, on which to build up outward 
 rites; to establish something of an imposing external nature, 
 which might be substituted for the ancient ceremonies, in 
 accordance with the popular prejudices; and which might, at 
 the same time, be constituted a means of lucrative occupation 
 for the ministers of the new faith. Hence arose multiplied 
 superstitions and ceremonies, as the church became gradually 
 more corrupt. 
 
 " A principle," says Neander, " again sprang forth, akin to 
 the Old Testament position — a new making outward of the 
 kingdom of God. Religion became in fact a system of pa- 
 ganized Christianity :"i and in some countries, imder certain 
 professions, it still remains too much so. 
 
 But farther, the primitive ministers were numerous, and 
 generally poor and illiterate ; many of them however were 
 powerful in word and doctrine, and possessed great influence 
 with the people. Were all to be permitted to exercise the 
 ministry, who professed a concern to do so ? Might not some 
 limits be set to the number of these ? Were there no proper 
 distinctions to be observed with respect to them, as in the cases 
 of the Levites and priests of old ? Such an exclusiveness would 
 more fully promote the designs of the self-interested and 
 covetous, and keep out those whose simplicity and unaspiring 
 views stood in the way of ambition. Christ had spoken of 
 giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter, and also to 
 the other disciples. He had spoken of binding and loosing, of 
 forgiving and retaining sins; but could this power be uuderstood 
 ' Neander's History of the Church, 1st Period, 2ud Sect. 
 
A .MKDIAIOKI.VI. CLASS. ^5 
 
 to be conferred upon all, who might thenceforth believe throii"h 
 the nmustry of the apostles ? Assumptions like these apjjcar to 
 liHve led to the setting up of restrictive claims of spiritual 
 eminence and superiority, on behalf of Peter and his pretended 
 successors, which he himself had never entertained for a mo- 
 ment. Hence arose popes, and priests, and numberless other 
 ecclesiastical orders, of high spiritual pretensions; and a 
 politico-spiritual hierarchy was gradually established. 
 
 As a part of these worldly views and to extend them still 
 further, an erroneous system of a Christian priesthood, in imita- 
 tion of that of the Jews, was insidiously introduced into the 
 apostatizing church. Certain ceremonies, not possessing moral 
 weight or effect, were inculcated, as necessary to salvation; and 
 a certain class of men put themselves forward as priests to 
 perform them. Not endued in many cases with real moral 
 superiority, they professed to be too holy to take anv part in 
 temporal concerns, and claimed the property and contributions 
 of the church, with the support of secular authority ; assuming 
 to themselves the sole right by inheritance or succession, to 
 perform those ceremonies, and to exercise the priesthood — 
 the oifice of mediation between man and his great Creator. 
 
 " The universal priestly character of believers, grounded in 
 the common and immediate relation of all to Christ as the 
 source of the divine life, was repressed ; the idea being again 
 introduced of a particular mediatory priesthood, attached to a 
 distinct order.''* Bingham, quoting the writings of Origen, 
 Cyprian, Tertullian and others, asserts that it was in the thirrl 
 century that the distinction of clergy and laity became gencr.illy 
 recognised, and that it was evidently derived from the Jewisli 
 church. Origen objected to the ministrations of laymen in the 
 presence of bishops, but was answered by an appeal to the 
 frequent practice of the church even at that period.^ The limita- 
 tion of the e.Kcrcise of the ministry' was however gradually 
 gaining ground. 
 
 Fearfully erroneous was this re-introduction of the priestly 
 character, and closely connected with that worldly spirit which 
 had overrun the church, bringing into it pecuniary ondowincnts, 
 great revenues, and secular power. Had its offuers and ministers 
 retained their pristine poverty and lowlines.s so rank a weed 
 > Ne:in<lcrV Church History, 1st Pcri<KJ, Sect. 2. ' EusebiuM, v. 19. 
 
86 IMITATION OF JEWISH PRIESTHOOD. [Chap. 13. 
 
 would not have grown on the soil. But the wealth and privi- 
 leges which had been heaped upon the church, and which it had 
 to bestow, became a prize that tempted the covetous and 
 worldly-minded from all quarters. 
 
 The Jewish high priests were types of Christ, who was made 
 our High Priest for ever ; " not after the law of a carnal com- 
 mandment, but after the power of an endless life.^-'^ And in the 
 gospel day, true believers are described as " a spiritual house, a 
 holy priesthood ; to oflFer up spu'itual sacrifices, acceptable to 
 God by him.'^^ The Christian church needs not therefore a 
 human successor to the Jewish High priest, a man-appointed 
 priesthood, or an outwEU'd altar or offerings. Jesus Christ, the 
 Son of God, fulfilled the law, with its various types and em- 
 blematic ceremonies ; offering himself once for all, for the sins 
 of the whole world, in fulfilment and abrogation of ancient 
 sacrifices ; and to him all true Christians are graciously invited 
 to come freely, as to their great and only High Priest, Mediator 
 and Intercessor with the Father. 
 
 " The advancement of God's kingdom,^' says Neander, " the 
 diffusion of Christianity, and the good of each particular com- 
 munity, were not designed to be the duty of one select class of 
 Christians alone, but the most immediate concern of each in- 
 dividual. Every one, from the position assigned him by the 
 invisible Head of the chm'ch, was to co-operate in promoting 
 this object, by the special gifts which God had bestowed on him 
 — gifts grounded in his peculiar nature, but that nature renewed 
 and ennobled by the Holy Spirit. There was no distinction of 
 spiritual and secular ; but all were to be animated by the Spirit 
 of God, and not by the spirit of the world. ''^ 
 
 To the injury of the cause of Christianity, the unevangehcal 
 notion of a separate priesthood has been permitted to prevail in 
 several of the professing churches. Insensible to their own high 
 privileges, and not enough estimating Christ in his mediatorial 
 character, as a high priest for ever over the house of God, by 
 whom each mdividual believer is graciously permitted to have 
 access to the Father in heaven; many Christian communities 
 have permitted a few men to usurp their spiritual rights and call- 
 ing, and to profess to perform their individual devotional duties ; 
 thus raising a barrier between themselves and their Maker, and 
 
 1 Heb. vii. 16. M Peter ii. 5. ^ Neander 's Church History. 
 
NARROW VIEWS OF CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGES. 87 
 
 setting up an unscriptural' priestly class, who interposed tluir 
 own ministrations and superstitions performances, on the plea 
 that they were essential to the acceptance and salvation of every 
 one. And thongh light has here and there broken throngh and 
 exposed its fallacy, yet as a notion productive of unconcern 
 and deadness in the mass, and of forwardness and presumption 
 in the few, it requires, even now, to be held up to serious and 
 prayerful consideration, both publicly and privately. 
 
 The unsound, narrow view of the position and qualifica- 
 tion of the Ciiristian ministry, which desired to perpetuate 
 its own superiority, constituted only part of the evil. It 
 had the injurious effect of taking religion out of the hands 
 and minds of the people at large, and causing them to look 
 with blind reliance on the ecclesiastics, as the sole appointed 
 agents of access to God, and of participation in his spiritual 
 or even temporal blessings. " The laity^^ thought themselves 
 excluded from even reading the sacred volume, and their 
 teachers generally encouraged the idea.^ This restriction 
 of the use of the Scriptures began in the seventh century in 
 the east ; and the Latins speedily adopted the same precaution 
 for preserving the unity of the church, and for concealing 
 its degeneracy and abuses.- Religion was deemed to be an 
 object chiefly for priests, monks and friars ; it lost its practical, 
 diffusive character, its healthful connexion with the daily 
 affairs of life ; and was deemed to consist of a rouiul of 
 superstitious devotional services, which the priests or clergy 
 alone must perform, in order to give them acceptance ; and of 
 dedicating property to the use of these ecclesiastics, or fulfilling 
 their arbitraiy commands. Justice, mercy and truth in com- 
 mon concerns were little estimated or greatly neglected ; and 
 religion, as it was called, merged into superstition and error, 
 gross credidity of imposture, and blind sidjmission to idolatry. 
 
 In fully admitting the priesthood of Christ, we are bound 
 seriously to consider whether wc are enough sensible of our own 
 gospel prinlegcs, of reconciliation and immediate access to God 
 through him ; and whether we are making a right use and appli- 
 cation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and its sanctifying grace 
 bestowed upon each : whether we idlow it to purify our motives, 
 to elevate our thoughts and desires to heavenly things, to season 
 ' Milner, Ninth Century, chaj). ii. ' WndrUngton's History. 
 
88 FALSE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN CLERGY AND LAITY. [GhajJ. 13. 
 
 our tempers and conversation, to extend its influence over oui- 
 daily habits and pursuits ; leading us to sympatliize with the 
 distressed, to keep ourselves unspotted from the world ; and 
 " whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do/^ ^ to do all with 
 an eye to the permission and glory of God. Is not this practical 
 religion, as distinguished from a formal, lifeless profession ? 
 
 The PauHcians, a spmtually-minded people of Thrace and 
 Asia Minor, who flourished in the eighth and following centuries, 
 accounted the distinct Christian priesthood, founded on that of 
 the Old Testament, among the corruptions of the evangehcal 
 element. They recognised it as belonging to the peculiar essence 
 of Christianity, that it aimed to establish a higher fellowship of 
 life among men of all ranks and classes, tolerating no such dis- 
 tinctions as the existing ones between the clergy or priests and 
 the laity. Those among them who administered offices in the 
 church, were looked upon as the other members, and were not 
 distinguished from them by dress or any outward marks. ^ 
 These people are very favourably mentioned by Protestant his- 
 torians. The Waldenses, a few centuries later, held many of the 
 same Christian sentiments. 
 
 Many of the early Enghsh reformers maintained that every 
 real Christian, although he be a layman, is nevertheless a true 
 priest ; and that every such layman may teach and preach the 
 gospel together with those who are appointed to do so. They 
 asserted that the calling of God was the necessary qualification, 
 and not the appointment by man.^ 
 
 William Dell, an enlightened minister of the University of 
 Cambridge, writing about 1646, declared as follows : — " The 
 clergy or ecclesiastical men have all along, under the reign of 
 Antichrist, distinguished themselves from other Christians, 
 whom they called the laity ; and have made up a kingdom 
 among themselves, separate from the lay, calling themselves by 
 the name of the church, and reckoning other Christians but as 
 common or unclean. Whereas in the true' church of Christ 
 there is no distinction nor difterence of persons — no clergy and 
 laity, no ecclesiastical and temporal : but they are all, as Peter 
 describes them, " a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,'^ &c. 
 All Christians, through the baptism of the Spirit, are made 
 
 ' 1 Cor. X. 31. 2 Neander's Church History, 4tli Period, 3rd Sec, 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Men. 
 
DELI. VNi) MILTON ON THE ClIllISTl.VX MIMsTKV. SI) 
 
 priests alike unto God, and every one hutli right and power to 
 speak the word ; and tlie ministers have no right at all to this 
 olHcc, bnt by the consent of the church. Thus presbyters and 
 bishops — or, which is all one, ciders and overseers — differ nothing 
 trora other Christians, except in the office of the word. But 
 Antichrist hath cast out the simplicity of Christian people, 
 dividing the church into clergy and laity, distinguishing the 
 clergy by their habit from other Christians, that they may ap- 
 pear holier and another order. This hath proved a seminary of 
 implacable discord and heart-burning in the church. For here- 
 upon the clergy have made themselves lords of the laity, have 
 hated and opposed them ; and all this to the making void 
 Christian brotherhood and communion.'' ^ 
 
 On the same subject, Milton thus strongly expresses himself: 
 — " In the first evangelic times — and it were happy for Christen- 
 dom if it were so again — ministers of the gospel were nothing 
 else distinguished from other Christians, but by their spiritual 
 knowledge and sanctity of life; for which the church elected 
 them to be her teachers and overseers; though not thereby to 
 separate them from whatever calling she found them following 
 besides, as the example of St. Paul declares, and the first times 
 of Christianity. When once they aftcctcd to be called a clergy, 
 and became, as it were, a peculiar tribe of Levites, a party, 
 a distinct order in the commonwealth, bred up for divines in 
 l)aljbling schools, and fed at the public cost, good for nothing 
 else but what was good for nothing, they soon grew idle ; that 
 idleness, with fulness of bread, begat pride and j)erpetual conten- 
 tion with their feeders, the despised laity, through all ages ever 
 since ; to the perverting of religion and the disturbance of all 
 Christendom. And. we may confidently conclude it never will 
 be otherwise, while they are thus upheld, undepending on the 
 church, on which alone they anciently depended." 
 
 "The old idea of hierarchy," says a modern Italian, awaking 
 out of the dreams of Romanism, "faded from my mind, and 
 that of commiuiity of spiritual gifts and privileges occupied its 
 [)laee." And again he says, " The priests in ancient times did 
 not foim a caste; but were merely the heads of families that 
 were the most respected, and were chosen by tin; peoph', on 
 account of their wisdom or piety, to the ollice of minister or 
 ' Way of i>c.icc ami uuity in the church. 
 
90 ARNOLD ON THE CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD. [Chap. 13. 
 
 elder. To raise the spirit of Christianity, we must combat the 
 idolatry of mere forms ; and to purify religion, which has be- 
 come corrupted by priests, we must oppose everything that 
 comes under the head of priestcraft — The priesthood is that 
 which divides, opposes, denounces and excommunicates." 
 
 " The religion of the gospel," says Archbishop Whately, " is 
 a religion without priest, altar, sacrifice or temple ; all which it 
 distinctly excluded." 
 
 The views of Dr. Arnold on what he termed *' the heresy of 
 the Christian priesthood," were clear and decided. " I believe,'^ 
 said he, " that there is in the Christian church neither priest- 
 hood nor divine succession of governors ; and that, freed from 
 these notions, it is divested of all unchristian and tyrannical 
 power.'' ^ "The grand characteristic of the Christian church 
 is the co-operation of society, through the several faculties and 
 qualities of its members, for the attainment of the highest 
 moral good of all. The life of the church may be injured by 
 an extreme predominance of the activity of some members, by 
 which the others are necessarily rendered less active."' ^ 
 
 He remarks that, '' If the notion be spread, that out of a 
 given number of men some are required to be holier than the 
 rest, the effect is, according to a well-known fact in our moral 
 nature, that you do not by this means raise the standard of 
 holiness for the few, but you lower it for the many.'' " This," 
 he contends, " has happened in the case of oaths ; for men, 
 inculcating that perjury was a much worse sin than falsehood, 
 have by no means promoted the cause of truth, but the 
 contrary. They have led people to think perjury to be no Avorse 
 than they ought to think falsehood." ^ 
 
 " The assumption on which a priesthood proceeds, is the per- 
 petual superiority, in a rehgious point of \dew, of some men over 
 others ; so that the inferior require the mediation of the superior 
 before they can offer to God any acceptable worship. Here is 
 the difference between a ministry and a priesthood ; that while a 
 minister of rehgion labours to destroy his own superiority over 
 his neighbom-s, by commimicating to them aU his knowledge, a 
 priest wishes his superiority to be perpetual, and therefore keeps 
 his knowledge to himself; certain doctrines or mysteries are 
 
 1 Lectures on Modern History. ^ A Fragment on the Church. 
 3 Eleventh Sermon. 
 
ARNOLD ON THK CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD. 91 
 
 held in reserve, in order to secure to the superiority of the 
 priest a perpetual duration. 
 
 " A priesthood may bo grounded on a superiority either of 
 knowledge or of raee ; and it assumes in both cases that the 
 superiority is perpetual. The man who is superior says to his 
 neighbours, " I must pray to God for you ; for you know not 
 how to pray for yom-sclves : I must perform the rites of religion 
 for you ; for you know not how to perform them properly." 
 But then comes the natural answer, which the minister of reli- 
 gion so gladly welcomes, but which the priest dreads and 
 evades : " Teach us to pray also, teach us how to Morship God 
 acceptably." The priest repels this request, by saying, " it is 
 not right to communicate these mysteries to the vulgar !"i 
 
 How contrary is this to the comprehensive and compassionate 
 disposition of our Lord, who preached the gospel especially to 
 the poor, and pronounced a woe upon some, because they had 
 taken away the key of knowledge, entering not in themselves, 
 and hindering those who entered ! 
 
 ' Appendix to Eleventh Seimon. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ON APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION, AND ON THE MINISTERIAL POWER TO 
 FORGIVE SIN AND TO CONFER DIVINE GRACE. 
 
 It must be acknowledged to be somewhat difficult to treat the 
 subject of divine right and apostolical succession with mild 
 reprehension. Of all the assumptions of ecclesiastics, this is 
 one of the most gross, vain, and presumptuous. Therefore, 
 though partially alluded to under other heads, a distinct and 
 more particular notice seems to be required. Had there been 
 no endowments, no secular power and privileges, to foster and 
 support such an arrogant notion, it would doubtless have long 
 since been exploded. These appear to be the secret causes, which 
 through many and great changes have given it encouragement 
 and perpetuity. 
 
 The ground assumed for the claim is this, — that our Lord 
 declared, with respect to Peter, " On this rock will I build my 
 church ; "^ that he appointed Peter to be the head and bishop 
 of his church, commanding him to feed his sheep and lambs ;" 
 that to him and the other apostles, as well as to those whom he 
 or they should appoint as bishops and ministers, and to their 
 personal successors in these offices, he gave the keys of his 
 church, and of the kingdom of heaven, to bind and to loose, to 
 forgive and to retain sin, &c., &c. It is also pretended that this 
 authority has been, from the time of Peter, and still is, handed 
 down from one person, and from one generation to another, by 
 the laying on of hands. 
 
 Surely every unprejudiced, candid reader of the New Testa- 
 ment, will have no hesitation in deciding on the groundlessness 
 of this claim to primacy on behalf of Peter, zealous and warm- 
 hearted as he was. He himself and Isaiah declared Christ alone 
 to be a " precious corner-stone, a sure foundation."^ James 
 seems rather than Peter to have uudertakcu to pronounce the 
 ' Matt. xvi. 18. ^ John xxi. 15, 16. ^ Isaiah xxviii. 16 ; 1 Peter ii. 6. 
 
ARROOANT ASSUMPTIONS. 93 
 
 juflgmcTit of the church,^ and John was the disciple more espe- 
 cially beloved and favoured by his Lord. The bishops of the 
 cluirch of Alexandria and others claimed to be successors of 
 Mark, vindicating their authority as equal to that derived from 
 Peter ; and the patriarch of the Copts still maintains it. But 
 indeed neither of the apostles assumed power over the rest ; on 
 the contrary, Peter exhorted the elders not to be " as lords over (,' 
 God's heritage, but as ensamples to the flock/'' showing himself I 
 to be the true follower of Ilim who " was meek and lowly in 
 heart," and who was among his disciples " as one that scrvcth."^ 
 
 It is evident that an mibroken line of apostolical succession, 
 if it exist at all, must have come down through the Romish 
 clnn'ch, through many unholy bishops and no less unholy popes. 
 Men of false principles and wicked lives, and rival popes who 
 anathematized each other, must have constituted base links in 
 this monstrous chain. But history is far from pro\nng any such 
 continuity ; and even if this were fully proved, the idea would 
 tend to confirm the spiritual usurpation and arrogance of the 
 Roman pontiffs, and their many unworthy ecclesiastical appoint- 
 ments. In fact, the idea virtually implies that true faith and per- 
 sonal holiness are not necessary qualifications of a real successor 
 of the apostles ; but that the outward touch of a man, holy or 
 unholy, faithful or unfaithful, is the great requisite to constitute 
 a Christian minister, and to convey the true spiritual authority 
 from one generation to another.* 
 
 To describe thus briefly this doctrine, which may be deno- 
 minated the essence of priestcraft, will be sufficient to con- 
 vince most minds of its entire opposition to the truth of the 
 gospel of Clirist. " Gregoi*)- the Great," in the sixth century, 
 
 ' Acts XV. 13. » 1 Peter v. 3. » Matt. xi. 29 ; Luke xxii. 27. 
 
 * Raroniua, the Boman Catholic historian, confesses that in a succession ) 
 of fifty pope.'<, not one pious or virtuous man sat in the chair ; that tliere 
 were no popes for some years together, and at other times two or three at 
 once ; anil that there were upwards of twenty schisms, one of which con- ' 
 tinned fifty years, the popes of Home and Avignon excommunicating each , 
 other.— JVcata Puritans. ' 
 
 The Italian priests profess that the confessional ia the place wliere the 
 exercise of the power of the keys to bind or to loose sin goes on. Tliey 
 parade them hanging at their mystic girdles and turn them gravely, 
 too often finding the imposition a profitable one, and locking, rather tlian 
 unlocking, the way to the heavenly kingdom. 
 
94 REsuL-is OF APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. [Chap. 14. 
 
 appears to have been the first who asserted the claim. That it 
 arose with many other assumptions, among mercenary and 
 superstitious ecclesiastics, in the night of the apostacy, and that 
 popish priests upheld it under the reign of the man of sin for 
 their own selfish ends, is not surprising ; but that it should have 
 been permitted to survive the Reformation, and should even 
 now be maintained by many episcopal protestants as of divine 
 authority, is passing strange ! Arrogance shows itself indeed 
 under many forms, but perhaps in none so extravagantly as 
 in .this, claiming its right to be nursed in the lap of peculiar 
 privileges with exclusive temporalities. A strong proof is afforded 
 by it, that the Reformation in some quarters has hitherto been 
 very incomplete ; and that that which is professedly the Lord^s 
 house, is still, to some extent, not only " a place of merchan- 
 dise,^' ' but a seat of lamentable bigotry and assumption ! 
 
 " A priestly power," says Dr. Arnold, " is claimed for Christian 
 ministers on two grounds — first, it is said that their adminis- 
 tration is essential to the sacraments ; and secondly, that they 
 have a certain power of the keys — an expression in itself suffi- 
 ciently vague, and which exists under a convenient mysticism. 
 Both these notions, when developed, are too unchristian to 
 bear the light." ' 
 
 The idea of apostolical succession, found among the members 
 of some few bodies of Christians, naturally tends to elevate them 
 far above all the rest in their own estimation ; and if consistently 
 carried out, to degrade other Christian churches to a still lower 
 rank. It implies that the ministers of the former are the only 
 authorized instructors and leaders of the people ; that their 
 services alone being acknoAvledged and blessed by the great 
 Head of the Church, are efficacious to the health of the soul : 
 while others, as they maintain, are mere pretenders and false 
 teachers, running without being sent, " blind leaders of the 
 blind." 3 It takes away the honour due to Christ, the living 
 head of the church, and the only author of the spiritual qualifi- 
 cation of its officers ; setting up instead a false, antichristian 
 system of the mediation of a priestly caste between God and the 
 people, and arrogating to a few an excessive claim to authority 
 in divine things. The Judaizing doctrine of sacerdotal as well 
 as of sacramental efficacy, admitted in the dark ages, and fit only 
 
 ' John ii. 16. " Appendix to Eleventh Sermon. ' Matt. xv. 14 . 
 
DEBATES ON SUCCESSION TO THE APOSTLES. 95 
 
 for them, tends to lay waste the doctrine of justification by faith, 
 the foundations of truth and holiness, the great principles of the 
 gospel of Christ. 
 
 The first English Reformers considered that bishops and 
 presbyters are the same, and that there are only two orders of 
 church olficcrs of divine appointment, viz., bishops and deacons. 
 Dr. Bancroft, in 1588, was one of the first who maintained that 
 the bishops of England were a distinct order from priests or 
 deacons, and had, by divine right, authority over them and the 
 church. Great controversy followed, and the assumption has 
 ever since been supported by an influential party .^ The Papists 
 very naturally deny to the Church of England all such preten- 
 sions, on account of its alleged schismatic separation from the 
 " mother church." The claim of the Romish church to apostolic 
 succession and authority, groundless though it be, is evidently 
 more direct than that of any Protestants. Indeed how can any 
 Protestants deny the authority of Rome, who through her 
 profess to derive their own ? 
 
 In the reigns of James and Charles I., great stress began to 
 be laid on the di\'ine right of bishops, and on their uninterrupted 
 succession from the apostle Peter, through the church of Rome: 
 the idea being often broached, " no bishop, no king :" though 
 the two authorities sometimes acted in direct hostihty towards 
 one another. " Miserable were we," says Dr. Pocklington, " if 
 he that now sits Archbishop of Canterbury could not dciive liis 
 succession from St. Austin, St. Austin from St. Gregory, and 
 St. Gregory from St. Peter." 2 From that period to the present 
 it lias been recognised as an avowed claim of the Anglican 
 church, and has obtained consideration and weight among many 
 of its members. The Scotch presbyterians have never acknow- 
 Icdged it. During the Commonwealth, the chain of episcopal 
 succession was very nearly broken, most of the old bishops 
 having died, and there being no regular means of appointing 
 new ones, which caused great anxiety to those who depended 
 on an uninterrupted line.-* But the king, the deans and chapters 
 were restored in time to relieve the difficulty. 
 
 The number of professing Christians is hoped to be but siuall, 
 who really entertain such narrow views, unworthy of the 
 largeness and freencss of the grace of God, and of the comprc- 
 ' Neal's Puritans. ' Ibitl, vol. ii. » Ibid, vol. iv. 
 
96 WHO ARE THE SUCCESSORS TO THE APOSTLES? [Chap. 14. 
 
 hensive blessings of the gospel of Christ, and even most of 
 those who do so, if they candidly consider the subject in its 
 several bearings and consequences, must shrink from the idea 
 with abhorrence. To all who have been in doubt upon it, 
 these remarks are submitted with seriousness and good will, in 
 the earnest desire that they may consider the question with 
 candour, and that the Spirit of Christ may lead them to per- 
 ceive and altogether to renounce the fallacy. 
 
 May we not presume that Christ committed spiritual power 
 and authority to his apostles, not merely as men, but only so 
 long as they should continue faithful to him. If he sanctioned 
 the principles of transmission, it must be of that which they had, 
 and not of that which they had not ; and how soon did even 
 Peter, one of the twelve, that small number selected by our 
 Lord himself, deny his divine Master, and fall into evil for a 
 season ? while Judas, another of them, apostatized so far as to 
 betray him, and was pronounced to be " a devil." Let those, 
 then, who plead for apostolical succession, and let all other 
 ministers likewise, consider seriously to which of the apostles 
 they are the true successors : whether to those who, notwith- 
 standing many faintings and mis-steppings, retained their 
 integrity ; or to him who preferred the " silver " to Christ, 
 and " betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss." i Surely none 
 can imagine for a moment that Judas retained any degree of 
 spiritual authority, while thus committing or contriving sin; 
 yet to him, as far as appears, equally with the others, had the 
 words been addressed, " Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall 
 be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall 
 be loosed in heaven," 2 &c. If then Judas by transgression fell, 
 and lost his spiritual functions, they also who partake of the 
 spirit of Judas, who fall from the true faith, and deny their Lord 
 in life or doctrine, may be pronounced, while they continue in 
 this state, to possess no religious authority whatever in his 
 church. They may indeed be successors of Iscariot ; but of Peter 
 in his zeal for Christ, or of the disciple whom Jesus loved, they 
 neither follow the pattern nor possess the holy privileges. Even 
 if they have prophesied and done many wonderful works in 
 his name, the sentence still is " depart from me ye that work 
 iniquity."^ Their hearts not being " right in the sight of God,'' 
 1 Luke xxii. 48. ^ Matt, xviii. 18. 3 Matt. vii. 23. 
 
THK APOSTOLIC Sl'IKIT Till' Turi: srrcr.s>l()N . 1)7 
 
 tlic\ liavr '' iicitluT part nor lot iu the niattci,"' wliatt'vcM" may 
 he tlu'ir prctiMisions. 
 
 All claimants to religious authority, through an imaginary 
 patent of lineal inheritance, may well he instructed by the 
 example of the Jews, to whom John tiie JJaptist said, " Think 
 not to say within yourselves, \Vc have Abraham to our father ; 
 for I say nnto you that God is able of these stones to raise up 
 children unto Abraham."- Christ also declared to them, " If ye 
 were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.""' 
 How can any now imagine, through a somewhat similar error, 
 that they can possibly be the true successors of the Apostles, 
 or possess any of their authority, wliilc strangers to their evan- 
 gelical s[)irit, and not bringing forth the genuine fruits of the 
 pure and holy religion of Christ? Not having the faith, they 
 cannot be the children of Abraham. 
 
 Let all therefore lay asitle this idle, flimsy figment of divine 
 right and apostolical succession, and sineerel}" inquire who arc 
 tlic true successors of the faithful apostles. Arc they not all 
 those, who, having experienced a death unto sin and a new 
 birth unto holiness, and being endued by Christ with spiritual 
 gifts for the ministry, exercise the same with purity of motive 
 and singleness of eye, as unto the Lord and not unto men — w ho 
 humbly endeavour, through the help of his Spirit, that their 
 lives and principles may be conformed to the standard of the 
 gospel; holding fast true faith and charity, bringing forth the 
 fruits of the Spirit, and knowing a reconciliation to God through 
 Christ ? To substitute, for the experience of these necessary 
 qualifications, the bare imposition of human liands, or to esteem 
 it essential, is surely to derogate from the divine law of immut- 
 able righteousness, and to debase the character of the Christian 
 ministry ! 
 
 Anogancc and exclusiveness are not confined, however, to 
 the assertors of apostolical succession, but are to be found in 
 most, if not in all churches. " We are right and you arc wrong," 
 is too apt to be confidently maintained by professors, in words 
 or conduct, and in a spirit which has little resemblance to the 
 humility and gentleness of Christ. That they themselves arc 
 wrong, at least in the disposition of mind, whatev(>r may be 
 their theoretical system, is but too apparent. 
 
 ' Act-< viii. 21. ■* ^^.•^tt. iii. 9. •'' John viii. 3S». 
 
 U 
 
98 LOCKE AND OTHERS ON APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. [Chap. 14. 
 
 Enlightened Christians in different ages, and especially the 
 English Reformers, have generally contended against the notion 
 of apostohcal succession, as a mere imposition. 
 
 Wicliffe says, " He that folio vveth Peter the nighest in good 
 living is next to him in succession. You talk of Peter, but I 
 see none of you that foUoweth his lowly manners, nor indeed 
 the manners of his successors till the time of Sylvester.^^^ 
 
 Walter Brute, another English Reformer and learned man of 
 the fourteenth century, asserted that " Christ alone is the head 
 of the church, giving power and virtue to the members ; that 
 no especial authority to bind and to loose was given to Peter 
 beyond the other disciples, and that the idea of apostolical 
 succession was a popish invention.^^^ 
 
 Very similar is the language of the illustrious Lord Cobham, 
 about 1414, expressed in his usually strong terms: " He that 
 followeth Peter most rightly in pure living, is next unto him 
 in succession ; but your lordly order esteemeth not the lowly 
 behaviour of poor Peter, whatsoever ye prate of him. Neither 
 care ye greatly for the humble manners of them that succeeded 
 him, till the time of Sylvester, which for the more part were 
 martyrs. Ye can let all their good conditions go by you, and 
 not hurt yourselves with them at all. All the world knoweth 
 this well enough, and yet ye can make boast of Peter. "^ 
 
 " Some may object," says John Locke, " that no society can 
 be a true church, unless it have a bishop or presbyter, with 
 ruling authority dei'ived from the very Apostles, and continued 
 down to the present time by an uninterrupted succession. To 
 these I answer, let them show me the edict by which Christ has 
 imposed that law upon his church. And let not any man think 
 me impertinent, if, in a thing of this consequence, I require that 
 the terms of that edict be very express and positive. For the 
 promise he has made us, that wheresoever two or three are 
 gathered together in his name, he will be in the midst of them, 
 seems to imply the contrary. Whether such an assembly want 
 anything necessary to a true church, pray do you consider : 
 certain I am that nothing can tliere be wanting to the salvation 
 of souls, which is sufficient to our purpose. I consent that these 
 men, who lay so much stress on continued succession, have a 
 ruler of their church established by such long series as they 
 
 ' Gilpin's Life of Wicliffe. ' Fox's Acts and Mon , vol. i. ' lUd. 
 
POWER OK rm; ki;ys. «)9 
 
 deem uecessarv ; prondcd I may have liberty at the same time 
 to join that society, iu which I am persuaded tliosc thinj^s arc to 
 he found, which arc necessary to the salvation of my soul." ' 
 
 " I am fully satisfied," remarks Bishop Iloadley, " that till a 
 consummate stujjidity be established and spread over the land, 
 nothing tends so much to destroy all respect to the clergy, as 
 the demand of more than can be due to them ; and nothing has 
 so effectually thrown contempt upon a regular succession of the 
 ministry, as the calling no succession regular, but what was 
 [held to be] uninterrupted, and the making the eternal salva- 
 tion of Christians to depend upon that uninterrupted succes- 
 sion ; of which the most learned must have the least assurance, 
 and the unlearned can have no notion but through ignorance 
 and credulity." " 
 
 "The power of the keys," says Gavazzi very truly in 1851, 
 '• has been too often used to imprison both body and mind; too 
 rarely to unlock the mental and corporeal energies of man." 
 
 " We must at once get rid," says another Italian reformer, 
 " of the notion of the Protestant bishops respecting apostolical 
 succession, and all its presumed rights and privileges. Except 
 aa it may bcai' on this, the question between the episcopal 
 and presbyterian forms of ehui'ch government is altogether 
 secondary." 
 
 The ministerial or instrumental power claimed by man, to 
 confer divine grace and to pardon sin, is so important, that 
 it demands further consideration. Christians have believed in 
 most if not in all ages, that to some holy men, and especially to 
 ministers of the gospel, Christ has given authority, in certain 
 circumstances, to declare forgiveness of sins, as well as to dispense 
 spiritual grace, or in other words, to " minister the Spirit," •'' 
 or bestow " the gift of the Holy Ghost." * This instrumental 
 authority, sometimes termed the power of I he keys,^ is spoken of 
 in tlie New Testament as both promised and exercised, and is 
 implied in many of the addresses of our Lord to his disciples." 
 
 The ministry of the word, the laying on of hands, and other 
 religious services, are alluded to in Scripture as outward means 
 employed in these sjjiritual operations ; which also are often 
 wrought immediately through the Holy Spirit. Man is alwayn 
 
 ' Letters on Toleration. ' Howe's Episcopacy. *Gal. iii. 6 
 
 4 Acta viii. 18. * Matt. xvi. 10. " Matt, xviii. 19 ; John xx. 23. 
 
 u 2 
 
100 EPISCOPAL ORDINATION. [Chap. 14. 
 
 represented as the mere instrument — God as the great con- 
 descending Agent. Without his Holy Spirit, man is dark and 
 powerless ; he knows nothing and can do nothing in divine 
 things. This Spirit alone is his light and strength^ and if he abide 
 not under its influence, if he be not believing, holy, watchful, 
 he has "neither part nor lot in the matter.'' Money or power 
 cannot procure it, talents or learning cannot command it, nor 
 can any performance of liis fellow -men supply his own deficiency. 
 
 It is the belief of many persons in some Christian commu. 
 nities, both papists and protestants — and their acknowledged 
 formularies of doctrine support the belief — that their bishops 
 and ministers alone, being rightly ordained, possess this power ; 
 that it has been handed down to them from one generation to 
 another ; that it is still transmitted indelibly through the impo- 
 sition of hands and prayer ; and that even faith and holiness are 
 not absolutely necessary. By the administration of one rite, the 
 ministers assert that they are empowered to plant the seeds of 
 divine grace even in infants ; to take away that original sin which 
 they believe to exist ; and to make them, by a spiritual birth, 
 new creatures, partakers of a fresh life, children of God, and 
 inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. Through another rite, their 
 bishops undertake to confirm and strengthen this life. By a 
 third, the ministers profess to renew it, in those few persons 
 who receive the ceremony. And finally, by another, forgiveness 
 of sins is assumed to be imparted to the dying. 
 
 This great spiritual authorit}'- is, according to the views of 
 many, exerted by such ministers or priests in the use of the 
 prescribed rites under all circumstances, except those of mortal 
 sin or unworthiness in the recipients ; ' while, according to 
 the views of others, the result is nullified by moral impediments 
 on either side. The authority is claimed as one, Avhich men 
 ordained or appointed by others acquire a divine right to exer- 
 cise ; and which they may use or not : the consequences being, 
 the imparting of spiritual life to the people, or the withholding 
 of it from them, and therefore intimately afi*ecting their eternal 
 salvation. If such an authority be possessed by any body or 
 succession of men, it must be pronounced to be an extraordinary 
 endowment ! 
 
 Other Christians however believe — and the author avows 
 ' Twenty-sixtli Article, Anglican Chiu'ch. 
 
AUTHORITY OF CHRISTIAN MINISTERS. 101 
 
 liimself to be one of these — that although man, through the aid 
 of divine grace, may often promote the edification of those 
 around liini, yet the spiritual life and eternal salvation of eacli 
 individual are necessarily depondent, not on the will and perfor- 
 mances of any of his fellow being?;, nor on the reception of 
 particular ccrenionics ; but on true individual faith in Christ, 
 as the Saviour of the world; this faith necessarily producing 
 obedience to his divine grace, which has appeared to all men, 
 teaching them to forsake sin and to live in holiness. They 
 believe that Cluist died for all men, as an atonement for 
 the sins of all, and that this grace or Holy Spirit visits all 
 immediately, so that all are made responsible and left without 
 excuse; but that often it is imparted and more powerfully 
 impi'essed through the instrumentality of true ministers of 
 Christ, and of other holy persons possessing the spirit of the 
 apostles ; that such are enabled, as his humble dependent ser- 
 vants, not in tlieir own wills, ])ut in submission to the divine 
 will, to speak and act in demonstration of the spirit and of 
 power, ami to communicate the same to others who receive their 
 ministrations with believing hearts, as well as to comfort them 
 in the hope of divine forgiveness : but that these holy instru- 
 ments and Christian ministers, if they abide not in Christ, if 
 they depart from the faith and hope of the gospel, whatever their 
 former experiences or outward succession, become spiritually 
 dead, losing all true authority in the church, as well as their 
 own hope of salvation. Tiie scriptures testify that any living 
 power, which such are permitted to possess, dwells only in them- 
 selves " as in eartlien vessels," and not by any personal or 
 othcial adherence; so that all such excellency and treasure 
 must be confessed to be of the Lord and not of man. 
 
 Now it may be fairly asked. In which of these two classes 
 of doctrine is there presumption or fanaticism, danger of 
 spiritual pride, or inconsistency with the New Testament, and 
 with the gi-eat fundamental doctrines of the iusufhcicncy and 
 worthlessness of merely luiman and external qualifications, and 
 of the necessity of living faith and personal holiness? Can any 
 man safely presume on having obtained, by purchase or through 
 a mere ceremony or succession, an absolute and indcleasiblc 
 right for life, either in himself, or as the minister of Christ, to 
 forgive sin and to confer divine grace ? Or rather should not all 
 
102 PRESUMPTION OF MINISTERS. [Chap. 14. 
 
 men^ however highly and spiritually gifted by God, or however 
 ordained or honoured by man, always remember that, through 
 unbelief or hardness of heart, they may lose their spiritual life 
 and vii-tue, and may themselves be cast away ? 
 
 Is not the presumption which has been spoken of, unless it 
 can be excused on the ground of unwilling ignorance, a strong- 
 proof in itself that such have not that Spirit or grace, which they 
 so vainly claim to themselves an exclusive authority to confer ? 
 Fearful are the consequences to any religious community, whose 
 ministers and other influential persons forget their entire 
 dependence from day to day on the great spiritual Head of the 
 church, and presume on a supposed divine right, an imaginary 
 apostolic succession, and an external ceremony ! 
 
 W'c can scarcely suppose such presumption to be exceeded, 
 except in another case of superstitious priests, who claim to them- 
 selves a startling power, by a certain process of consecration, to 
 create the Deity himself under the form of bread and wine, and 
 to present him to the people for adoration. Well may Mahome- 
 dans and Heathens be shocked with these profane pretensions 
 on the part of Christian ministers ! Those who have become 
 involved in such flagrant errors, have strong claims on the com- 
 passionate interest of their fellow-Christians, while the errors 
 themselves are judged and condemned. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THK TULi: MINISTKHS Ol" CllKlST, IIOWEVEK CIRCUMSTANCED AS 
 TO HUMAN LKAUNIXG OR APPOINTMENT, AND WHETHER MALE 
 OR FEMALE, ARE QUALIFIED, CALLED AND COMMISSIONED BY 
 HIMSELF. 
 
 Our Lord assiu'cd the Jews that he came that tliey might " liave 
 life, and that they miglit have it more abimdantly."' The 
 Apostle Paul also declared of him that " when he ascended up 
 on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men ; and 
 he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, 
 and some pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, 
 for the -work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 
 Christ."^ Again he says, " Now there are diversities of gifts, 
 but the same Spirit : for to one is given by the Spirit the 
 w ord of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same 
 Spirit, to another faith l)y the same Spirit, to another the gifts 
 of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, 
 to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another 
 (livers kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues ; 
 Init all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing 
 to every man severally as he will."'^ 
 
 These imd many other passages of the New Testament show 
 what the call to the ministry and the qualification for it were, in 
 the jirimitive Christian church ; cxhil)iting a pattern to after ages 
 of those spiritual preliminaries, which remain to be necessary 
 to the present day. All true ministerial ability must still be 
 derived, through the Holy Spirit, from the great Head of the 
 universal church, and this constitutes the absolute suilicicncy of 
 such a qualification, without certificates of human learning or 
 formalities of appointment by man. Doubtless learning is very 
 good and useful, when rightly estimated and employed ; and 
 the approbation of fellow-believers is desirable, expedient, and 
 I .lohu X. U>. = Eph. iv. 8, 11, 12. 3 1 CW. xii. 4— 11. 
 
104 QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE MINISTRY. [Chap. 15. 
 
 entitled to deference and respect : but still these are matters 
 comparatively of second importance ; a divine call and quali- 
 fication, or the absence of them, being the first consideration — 
 the grand distinction between the true ministry and the false, 
 the living and the lifeless, the edifying and the unprofitable ; 
 which it is of the greatest moment ever to keep in view. The 
 highest human learning and exaltation, if not possessed and ex- 
 ercised under divine influence, produce self-esteem and depend- 
 ence, and frustrate, instead of promoting, the great work of 
 true, efficacious gospel ministry. " That which is born of the 
 flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 
 " For what man knoweth the things of a man^ save the spirit of 
 man which is in him ? Even so the things of God knoweth 
 no man, but the Spirit of God.^'^ 
 
 Unless the soul be enlightened from on high ; unless the call 
 of the Divine Master summon, and the influence of his Holy 
 Spirit from time to time accompany and prepare for labour 
 in the spiritual harvest of the world, vain will be intellectual 
 talents and learning for this great work. Professors may educate 
 and appoint, dignitaries may lay on their hands, or popular 
 assemblies may elect and applaud ; but all this will be only 
 solemn mockery, unless the great Head of the church choose 
 and send forth, and the unction from the Holy One — the di\ane 
 anointing for the work — prepare and attend the minister. 
 Where these are wanting, the language will still be applicable, 
 " Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves 
 about with 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.^^^ Awful is the warning contained 
 in the declaration of Christ : " Many will say to me in that 
 day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in 
 thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful 
 works ? And then Avill I profess unto them, I never knew you ; 
 depart from me ye that work iniquity !"* 
 
 " The meek ministers of Christ," says Wicliff'e, " have, by a 
 special gift of God, knowledge and mind to preach the gospel ; 
 neither is it lawful for a bishop or any other man to let or 
 hinder them, lest thereby they should let the word of God, that 
 it have not free course." " Priests," said he, " may best go 
 
 iJohniii. 6. MCor. ii. 11. ' Jsa. i. 11. ^ Matt. vii. 22, 23. 
 
MOTIVKS FOK Tin: MINISTRY. 105 
 
 iind dwell among the people, without challenging of men, wlioie 
 tlu'v may most profit, and in convenable time come and go, 
 after stirring of the Holy Ghost, and not be bound by sinful 
 men's jiwisdietion from the better doing. "^ 
 
 Robert AVimblcdon, a zealous minister, in a discourse deli- 
 vered in 13S9, on the text, "Tjie kingdom of heaven is like to a 
 householder," inquires thus of each of the priests: — " How hast 
 thou entered? Friend, how enteredst thou hither? AVho 
 hrovight thee into this oflice ? — truth or simony, God or the 
 devil, grace or money, the tlesh or the Spirit ? Give the reckon- 
 ing, if thou canst. If thou canst not, I rede [or advise] that 
 thou tarry to learn, for perhaps one night thou shalt be called. 
 Hast thou entered by calling, or by thy own procuring ? for that 
 thou wouldst travail in God's gospel, or that thou wouldst be 
 richly arrayed ? Answer now to thine own conscience, as thou 
 wouldst answer to God.'" 
 
 Without presuming to pass judgment on individuals, or on 
 religious communities — for to their own master they must stand 
 or fall -the author desires to plead only for such ministry, 
 under whatever denomination or circumstances it maybe found, 
 as proceeds from a divine call, and is exercised mider the fresh 
 sense of that duty or "necessity,"^ which the apostle Paul felt 
 to be laid upon him to preach the gospel. By whatever instru- 
 menls and under whatever circumstances this living gospel 
 ministry is exercised, l.e desires its encouragement, and humbly 
 rejoices in greeting it with the salutation of " God speed !" 
 
 Though not essential to the main question, the qualification 
 and call of Christian women for the work of the gospel ministry, 
 and their exercise of such a vocation, are closely connected with 
 the subject. In the Old Testament, as well as in the New, 
 instances are recorded, of eminent females who were largely 
 endued with spiritual gifts, and who exercised them publicly 
 for the good of others. Such were ^Miriam, Deborah and 
 Huldah ; Elizabeth, Mary and Anna; with others "whose 
 names are" declared to be "in the book of life."* 
 
 Among the blessings predicted in early ;iges of the world, to 
 be bestowed upon the Christian church, a larger and more 
 general diflfusion of tlic gifts of the Holy Spirit appears to have 
 
 ' (Jiliiiu'.s Life — "Why luaiiy priests have no benelia*.s." 
 
 ' Fox's Acta and Mon. vol. i. • l Cor. \x. 16. * ThU. iv 3. 
 
106 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY OF WOMEN [Chap. 15- 
 
 been prominent. And on the day of Pentecost, we find the 
 Apostle Peter thus testifying to the fulfilment of one of these 
 predictions, " This is that which was spoken by the prophet 
 Joel, It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will 
 poui" out of my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your 
 daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, 
 and your old men shall dream dreams ; and on my servants, 
 and on my handmaidens^ I will pour out in those days of my 
 Spirit, and they shall prophesy."^ The expression of "the 
 last days " clearly refers to the gospel dispensation, which is to 
 continue to the end of time, — being the one everlasting cove- 
 nant between God and his people. Thus the prophet Isaiah 
 declares, "This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, My 
 Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy 
 mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth 
 of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the 
 Lord, from henceforth and for ever.'^^ 
 
 The visitations and gifts of the Holy Spirit, though often 
 difterent in measure and in character, being extended through 
 the gospel day to the various classes, ages and sexes ; and 
 " male and female, bond and free " being " all one m Christ 
 Jesus," ^ it clearly follows that women, as well as men, may be 
 rightly called to the sacred work of the ministry. Such was 
 the case in the apostolic age; and Paul, while he forbade women 
 to talk, converse or ask questions in the church, gave directions 
 with respect to the covering of the head when they were engaged 
 in prayer, and in prophecy or ministry.^ Several instances 
 are also referred to by the sacred writers, of women who " pro- 
 phesied," and by the same apostle, of others who "laboured 
 with" him "in the gospel ;"5 so that we cannot doubt that, in 
 that pure period of the Christian church, this practice was fully 
 recognised and encouraged ; and that it is a pattern to be fol- 
 lowed in the present day by such as receive the needful qualifi- 
 cation by the Holy Spirit. This question demands the deep 
 and serious consideration of professing Christians. 
 
 Through the prohibition of the exercise of this spiritual gift 
 by females, much loss has evidently been sustained by the 
 Christian churches, in respect both to public and social minis- 
 
 ' Acts ii. 16—18. ' Isaiah lix. 21. 3 Gal, iii. 38. 
 
 * 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35 ; xi. 4, 5. ' Acts xxi. 9 ; Phil, i^ . 3. 
 
MINISTRY OF WOMEN SUPPORTED HY MANY. 107 
 
 trutions, and to the religious character and weight of the sex. 
 No good reason exists for supposing that their calling to this 
 dignified service was, like the power to work miracles, limited to 
 tiie first age of the church ; for if all are one in Christ Jesus, 
 why should we set bounds to the gifts and calling of God, and 
 thus at once exclude from the public work of evangelization one 
 lialf of his rational creatures ? Many of them He has endued in a 
 remarkable manner, from age to age, with ability and willingness 
 to speak well of the name of Christ ; and with great persuasive- 
 ness, authority and effect to advocate his holy cause. This too 
 has been accomplished, without subtracting any portion from 
 that true modesty which is the great ornament of woman ; on 
 the contrary, it has tended to an elevation and benignity of 
 character, both graceful and eminently useful to religious and 
 civil society. 
 
 That these views prevailed before the general breaking forth 
 of the Reformation, is proved by many witnesses. The jNIon- 
 tanists had been noted at an early period for allowing this 
 liberty, and it is said to have been common among the sects 
 termed heretics,' constituting probably one of the grounds of 
 this degrading appellation. Pope Martyn, in 1440, issued a 
 general order, that all suspected persons should be examined, 
 whether they believed it " lawful for any lay persons, whether 
 men or women, to preach the gospel :'^ " thus showing the pre- 
 valence of such a sentiment. 
 
 Among many by whom it was held, John Lambert, an English 
 reformer, being asked at his examination in 1538 the same 
 (piestion, answered thus : — "In my opinion it is meet for none 
 to preach openly the word of God, except they be chosen and 
 elect thereto, either by God, or solemnly by men, or both. Yet 
 1 say that, in time of great necessity, lay people, both men and 
 women, may preach ; as the apostle speaks in writing to tlic 
 Corinthians, of women praying and prophesying. To this accords 
 the prophesy of Joel, " I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,"'* 
 ice. TIjus also did Anna tlie prophetess and the A iigin ^lary 
 give thanks unto (iod." ^ 
 
 Hanger, a Norwegian reformer of very spiritual news, to- 
 wards the close of the last century, maintained that all who felt 
 
 ' Bingham's Christ an .fUitiquitie.-i.xiv. 4, .*). " Vdx'h Actwand M"ii. v<.l. i. 
 
 ' Il.i.l. vf.l. 2. 
 
108 DEACONESSES OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. [ChajJ. 15. 
 
 an inward call, including women, were entitled to preach. • The 
 Duhobortzi, a numerous body of Christians in Russia, act on the 
 same opinion, and allow the ministry of females, asking, as a 
 reason for it, whether women have not enlightened understand- 
 ings as well as men." 
 
 George Benson, Bishop Pearse, John Locke, and Adam 
 Clarke, in their notes on the first Epistle to the Corinthians^ 
 all maintain that the call of women to public prayer and to 
 the ministry of the word is clearly deducible from the Apostle 
 Paul's remarks, in the eleventh and fourteenth chapters. In 
 the ancient Jewish synagogues, the hearers were allowed to 
 ask questions for information ; but the adoption of this practice 
 by females in the Christian church was forbidden by the 
 apostle, as tending to confusion.^ 
 
 The Deaconesses of the ancient church were recognised as 
 a distinct spiritual class; and whether their example have 
 any bearing or not on the present subject, they may with 
 propriety be referred to here. They were sometimes called 
 "widows," being usually chosen from such ; at other times they 
 were known as "^^ female elders or presbyters." None were 
 admitted as deaconesses, in some churches, under forty years of 
 age; in others," fifty or sixty was the age prescribed. Phebe, 
 mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans, chap, xvi., as " a servant 
 or deacon of the church (in the old translation, ' a minister of the 
 congregation') at Cenchrea,'^ is considered by some to have been 
 of this number ; and they appear to have existed as a class from 
 the Apostolic age. They were looked upon as the female part 
 of the clergy, and were appointed or ordained in the same 
 manner as men, by the imposition of hands. The prayer used 
 on the occasion, and quoted in that ancient work, the feigned 
 Apostolic Constitutions, concludes thus — "Look down also 
 upon this thy handmaid, and bestow on her the Holy Ghost, 
 that she may worthily perform the work committed to her, to 
 thy honour and to the glory of Christ." They were not 
 permitted to officiate as priests, except among some of the 
 Montanists. Indeed great jealousy evidently prevailed, lest 
 they should trench on the privileges and duties of the male 
 officers of the church. An ancient writer terms their service 
 
 1 Forrester's Norway. ^ Piukertoii's Greek Church. 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mou., vol. ii. 
 
DEVOTEDNESS OF CHRISTIAN FEMALES. 109 
 
 the " private ministry of the word." It was chiefly confined to 
 their own sex, whom they assisted in the rite of water baptism, 
 ill administering unction, and in previously catechising and 
 instructing female converts. They also visited women who 
 were sick or distressed, ministered to the wants of the prisoners 
 and martyrs, attended the women's gate of the places of worship, 
 and generally presided over their own sex. AVJien exaggerated 
 notions of the dignity of the clerical order began to prevail, 
 offence was taken against the practice of ordaining deaconesses. 
 They subsisted, however, in the Greek church till the latter 
 end of the twelfth century, but in the Latin churches were 
 generally discontinued at earlier periods.' 
 
 Numerous instances of eminent Clmstian women, in different 
 ages and countries, might be adduced both from inspired and 
 imiusj)ired history, in proof of the value of their sernces in the 
 cause of Christ. Many females of various denominations, some 
 with the pen, and others with hallowed lips, have pleaded " for 
 the faith once delivered to the saints," - and the successful result 
 of their devoteduess lias shown that their labours have not been 
 in vain in the Lord. Not less than fifty-five faithful and devoted 
 women are recorded to have been burned in the reign of Queen 
 jNIary, being about one-fifth of the whole number, who preferred 
 Christian principle to life itself. The pious wives of missionaries 
 have often rendered valuable services to the infant churches in 
 heatlien lands, and contributed largely to build them up in the 
 faith of the gosj)el. 
 
 Rehgious females might, it is believed, with great advantage 
 be encouraged to take a more active part in the disseiiiination of 
 gospel truths, both at home and abroad, as the Lord may in- 
 fluence their hearts, and qualify them for the work. How much 
 more consistent with Christian duty ai'c engagements of this 
 kind, and duties of active benevolence, than seclusion in pro- 
 fessedly religious liouses, there to languish and pine away in 
 unnatural celil)acy and listlessness, or than the waste of their 
 time and energies in frivolous dissipation ! For every talent 
 which the great Head of the church has bestowed on each, 
 whetlier male or female, as well as for every impediment thrown 
 in the way of its right occupation, lie will surely require an 
 account hereafter ! 
 
 ' Neander'g History. Bingham's Christian Antiquities. • Jude iii. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE MINISTERS AND OTHER SERVANTS OF CHRIST MUST COM- 
 MEND THEIR DOCTRINES BY FORBEARING CONDUCT. 
 
 There is no truth more conspicuous in tlie New Testament, 
 than that Christianity is a religion of the heart and of the life, 
 not merely of the tongue. If the practice set forth the beauty 
 and purity of Christian principles, the voice will add its echo 
 with a full effect ; without the former, it can only prove, even 
 in its highest powers, " as the sounding brass or the tinkling 
 cymbal.'^ i The true ministers of Christ may be pronounced to 
 be those, who, having experienced a call through the Holy 
 Spirit, illustrate and commend, both by conduct and by lan- 
 guage, the pure and heavenly gospel of their divine Master ; 
 endeavouring in humility, charity and faithfulness, to fulfil the 
 sacred trust. They must daily cherish the influence of the 
 Holy Spirit as their guide '^ into all truth," " and suffer it to be 
 the governing principle of their lives ; not on the one hand, 
 holding " the truth in unrighteousness," ^ making a good pro- 
 fession of sound doctrine, but dishonouring it in practice ; nor 
 on the other, content with a moral life, while error of faith 
 deadness of affection, or unsound extreme notions operate like 
 a canker in the heart. Man may often feel incompetent to 
 judge of the call ; but the e\idences or fruits, both as to ministry 
 and general conduct, being of a more obvious and palpable 
 nature, may be within the reach of his spiritual perceptions. 
 
 The means employed by the servants of Jesus Christ, whether 
 in the ministry or in other stations, in order to promote his 
 kingdom, are and must be of a spiritual, uncompromising, yet 
 convincing nature, full of humility and love, like those which he 
 himself employed when he walked among men. Their " weapons 
 are not carnal, but mighty through God." 4 They will be found 
 
 ' 1 Cor. xiii. 1. ^ John xxi. 13. ^ j^qj-^ j ^g^ i ^ q^^, ^ 4 
 
DEVOTEDNESS OP CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES. Ill 
 
 endeavouring " in meekness to instruct ' those who are in tlie 
 spirit of opposition ;^ appealing to their reason and conscience, 
 to the testimony of Holy Scripture, and to the witness for God 
 in the heart. They will maintain a large degree of .candour and 
 forbearance, with zeal and firmness. They will seek not their 
 own, l)ut the things which are Jesus Christ's,'- and in the spirit 
 and dispositions which he displayed. 
 
 The New Testament abounds with illustrations of these prin- 
 ciples, evinced in the perfect pattern of our Lord, and in the lives 
 and precepts of his apostles. Disclaiming every idea of force and 
 compulsion, Jesus, the Lamb of God, laid down his life for the 
 sake of fallen, guilty man. Though Lord of all, he came in the 
 form of a servant, but as the Prince of Peace, to conquer through 
 suffering, to reign spiritually through temporal humiliation, and 
 to set an example to his followers, that the cross faithfully borne 
 is the prelude to the glorious crown. They gave evidences of 
 the same unobtrusive, self-denying spirit, and were content to 
 suffer all things that they might obtain a more glorious in- 
 heritance, and extend the kingdom of their Lord and Master. 
 Paul made a solemn appeal to the Ephesian ciders, that he had 
 " coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel ; "^ that the labour 
 of liis hands had provided for the necessities of liiraself and his 
 companions ; and that he sought not the earthly substance of his 
 hearers, but the salvation of their souls. " The servant of the 
 Lord must not strive," said he, " but be gentle towards all 
 men." The apostles conducted themselves, " not as lords over 
 God's heritage, but as examples to the flock ;"* not as " having 
 dominion over their faith," but, being filled with humility 
 forbearance and charity, as " helpers of their joy."^ 
 
 In vain will ministers of this day profess to be their true 
 successors, unless inheriting their holy, humble aiul gentle 
 temper of mind ; stedfast in the faith, but influencing by meek 
 persuasion, " commending themselves to every man's conscience 
 in the sight of God,"" and acting on the principle that tlie 
 " wrath of man worketh not His righteousness."" This would 
 keep down all ecclesiastical usurpation over the people, whetiier 
 in established or in voluntary churches, and produce a healtliful 
 community of interest and action. The professed ministers of 
 
 ' 2 Tim. ii. 25. ^ Phil. ii. ' Acts xx. ' 1 P.'ter v. .-J. 
 
 ■2 Cor. i. 24. * 2 Cor. iv. ' James i. 20. 
 
112 NECESSITY OF FORBEARANCE. [Chap. 16. 
 
 Christ are bound often to consider what is the nature of the 
 influence, which by example, as well as by doctrine, they are 
 really commending to the people. Whether they are, like the 
 apostles of old " ministering the spirit," " the gospel of God,"- 
 or " grace to the hearers,"^ both publicly and privately ; or 
 whether, on the other hand, through their own worldly-minded- 
 ness, they are ministering to the self-love, the pride and the 
 other evil tendencies of the unregenerate heart. 
 
 The necessity of forbearance, and the evils of a contrary spirit, 
 are clearly set forth by Locke. In one of his letters on tolera- 
 tion, he says, '' This duty requires from ecclesiastics that they 
 deprive not other men, which are not of their church and faith, 
 either of liberty or any part of their worldly goods, on account 
 of diflference in religion. It is not enough for them to abstain 
 from violence and rapine and all manner of persecution. He 
 that pretends to be a successor of the apostles, and takes upon 
 him the office of teaching, is obliged also to admonish his 
 hearers of the duties of peace and goodwill towards all men, 
 and dibgently to endeavour to allay and temper all that heat 
 and unreasonable averseness of mind, which any man's fiery 
 zeal for his own sect or which the craft of others has kindled 
 against " those who differ. 
 
 How greatly are the labours of faithful missionaries frustrated 
 among the heathen by the ill conduct towards them of professing 
 Christians, both nationally and individually ! In vain do we 
 attempt to convert them to a religion, the general fruits of 
 which, in their experience, are pride, avarice and oppression ! 
 One war nullifies in the sight of a whole nation the effects of all 
 the Bible and missionary institutions. The Christian who leads 
 a holy beneficent life among them is an effective missionary, 
 whether he preach or be silent ; for nothing wins so powerfully 
 as consistency, kindness and disinterestedness ! 
 
 • Gal. iii, 5. =Eom. xv. 16. 3 Ephes. iv. 29. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH ; ITS ADOPTION AND UNION WITH 
 THE STATE BY THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE. 
 
 The primitive Christians, having been called out of the spirit 
 and motives of the worid, were a distinct and separate people, 
 neither possessing nor striving to obtain secidar support. On 
 the contrary, they were exposed to the hostility of those around 
 them, and were outwardly defenceless, if the lloman emperors 
 or governors chose to persecute them. Their reliance was on a 
 power and a wisdom superior to those of man ; and believing that 
 "tlie friendship of the world" was "enmity with God," ' they 
 carefully withstood and rejected its influence, in submission to 
 the restraining Spirit of Christ. 
 
 The apostles and early ministers went forth teaching, and 
 preaching the kingdom of God. They disclaimed dominion over 
 the faith one of {mother, and the craft of woridly policy; publish- 
 ing the gospel freely, and not ashamed to provide by labour for 
 their own necessities ; yet, when occasions required, feeling at 
 liberty to accept the bounty of thcii- feUow believers, and to 
 appeal to their gratitude and generosity : " If we have sown 
 unto you spiritual tilings, is it a great thing if we shall reap your 
 carnal things ?" - Primitive Christianity was propagated, not by 
 the arm of temporal power, nor by the aid of wealth or human 
 learning, but by the virtue of the Holy Spirit directing and 
 blessing the instrumentality of those humble and faithful men. 
 They considered religion as a personal concern between each 
 man and his maker, a matter of individual judgment, faith and 
 conscience, which excluded all coercive interference of others. 
 They were instructed to use the girdle of truth, the breastplate 
 of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and 
 the sword of the Spirit.^ The doctrine of compulsion was, as 
 .Jameaiv. 4. MCor. ix. 11. « Eph. vi. 14. 
 
114 EARLY DECLENSION OF THE CHURCH. [Chap. 17. 
 
 a means of promoting pure and undefiled religion^ wholly un- 
 known to them, and belonged to another, a lower and a worldly 
 system. 
 
 At the same time strong intimations were given by the apostles, 
 of the corruptions which should afterwards arise in the church. 
 Thus Paul tells the elders of Ephesus, " I know that after my 
 departure grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing 
 the flock." ^ And to others Peter predicts, '' Through covetous- 
 ness, they shall with feigned words make merchandise of you. "2 
 
 The primitive believers acknowledged no man to be head of 
 the church. Christ himself, the stone rejected by the builders 
 of this world, was the foundation and headstone of their spiritual 
 house ; neither established nor cemented by worldly authority 
 and considerations, it was founded on a basis more stable than 
 that of human policy or power, and its objects were far superior 
 to those of political or civil institutions. 
 
 Great were the persecutions which the early Christians suf- 
 fered from several of the Roman emperors. These however 
 could not totally suppress the truth, though they tended to 
 check its apparent progress. " The blood of the martyrs " 
 proved indeed, in various ages, " the seed of the church ;" 
 so adapted is the influence of adversity to lay low the natural 
 pride of man, and to foster the growth of vital religion. The 
 favour and pri-^dleges granted to the Christians by other em- 
 perors, though hailed thankfully as a great relief to their 
 temporal condition, did not prove equally conducive to their 
 advancement in humility, faith and holiness. 
 
 Very soon after the times of the apostles, the declension, 
 which had been foretold, began gradually to creep in; the 
 ministers and bishops usurped the authority which the church 
 at large had been accustomed to exercise; superstition took the 
 place of true devotion ; and the profession of Christianity became 
 by degrees gi'eatly debased, both in faith and practice. Jewish 
 notions on the one hand, and those of various sects of heathen 
 philosophy on the other, obtained a strong hold, and led to cor- 
 ruptions and divisions. Vain traditions, fabulous stories and 
 pretended miracles found a ready acceptance, and at length the 
 holiest offices were mostly filled with ignorant, designing, 
 and covetous ecclesiastics. The people, " having itching ears, 
 ' Acts XX. 29. "^ 2 Peter ii. 3. 
 
constantine's favour to the church. 115 
 
 heaped to themselves teachers,"i who gradually exchanged the 
 simplicity and lowliness of the carpenter and the fisherman for 
 the pretensions of tlie Robbies, or the oratory and casuistry of 
 the philosophers, and arrogated to themselves independence and 
 lordship. 
 
 Constantino the Great obtained the full possession of the throne 
 in the year 324; and his measures have proved, in many respects, 
 more injurious to the cause of Christianity than those of any 
 emperor that preceded him. He gave early indications of a 
 desire to protect and favour the Christians, which, after their 
 many severe afflictions, they naturally accepted in the most 
 grateful manner ; and for a time he granted to all his subjects, 
 Avhcther Cliristians or heathens, the full possession of rehgious 
 liberty. At length, embracing the profession of the newreligion, 
 he became extremely zealous in his endeavours to promote it. 
 With this object in view, he lost sight of the liberality which he 
 had before evinced ; and being impressed with the folly, super- 
 stition and impiety of heathenism, he employed at first earnest 
 exhortations, and afterwards all the force of his imperial autho- 
 rity, to induce his subjects to forsake the ancient worship and 
 to adopt the Christian faith. He greatly encouraged the 
 augmentation of the chui'ch revenues, and enacted a law, that 
 any one might bequeath what part of his goods he pleased to 
 the holy catholic church. Through the avarice of the clergy, 
 this laAv soon led to great abuses, and many poor heii's were 
 defrauded of their just rights. Constantino also settled upon 
 the ministers a standing annual allowance out of the public 
 treasury, and is said to have allotted to them a regular supply of 
 corn from the granaries of the state in each city.^ 
 
 Thus Christianity was established as the religion of the 
 empire, about the year 328 ; and its profession acquired all the 
 protection and advantages which secular power could bestow ; 
 furnishing to after ages an example of the union of political 
 and religious authority, which they have been but too ready to 
 imitate, and which constitutes the main subject considered in 
 this treatise.^ 
 
 Bishop Newton remarks, that " Constantino's protection and 
 favour of the Christian church contributed little to the spiritual 
 
 ' 2 Tim. iv. 3. * Bingham's Christian Antiquities. 
 
 ' Ecclesiastical Historians generally. 
 
 i2 
 
116 IMPERIAL FAVOUR PROVES INJURIOUS. [Ckop. 17. 
 
 graces and virtues of Christians, though it added much to theii' 
 temporal prosperity. It enlarged their revenues, and increased 
 their endowments, but proved the fatal means of corrupting the 
 doctrine and relaxing the discipline of the church. It was 
 attended with this peculiar disadvantage, that many clave to 
 them with flatteries, becoming Christians for the sake of the 
 loaves and the fishes, and pretending to be of that religion, only 
 because it was the religion of the emperor. Eusebius,^ who was 
 a contemporary writer, reckons that one of the reigning vices of 
 the time was the dissimulation and hypocrisy of men, fraudu- 
 lently entering into the church and borrowing the name of 
 Christians Avithout the reality.^^^ 
 
 "The Christian church had at first," says D'Aubigne, "like 
 the azure river, a separate existence, a development of her own, 
 and she was then comparatively pure. But, in the beginning 
 of the fourth century, the half-pagan state became united to her, 
 and this junction immediately threw into the heavenly blue of 
 the church those muddy waters which deform her beauty. If 
 you give political society a power over her, the evil becomes 
 alarming. She will thenceforth have two principles of develop- 
 ment, and be subjected to two contrary influences. How can 
 such a society prosper ?"- 
 
 Persecution by the power of the state quickly followed this 
 union as a natural consequence, and was still in its character 
 and efi'ects an evil engine ; though now it was professed, through 
 mistaken views, to be used in favour of Christianity, while 
 formerly it had been avowedly employed as a means of sup- 
 pressing it. The zeal of Constantine on behalf of his newly 
 adopted faith increased with years, and he issued several severe 
 edicts for the forcible demolition of heathen altars, and for the 
 prevention of their sacrifices and devotions. On the other hand, 
 embracing with earnestness the superstitious notions and rites 
 introduced into the church, he established or sanctioned various 
 forms in public worship. Next, he proceeded to extirpate error 
 and heresy, commanding all his subjects, who withdrew and 
 worshipped separately, on pain of the destruction of their places 
 for religious meeting and the confiscation of their property, to 
 return to the authorised modes. These intolerant and unchristian 
 
 ■ Life of Constantine, iv. 54. * Dissertation 17, part ii. 
 
 ' England, Scotland and Ireland. 
 
HILARY AND ATIIANA8IUS REMONSTRATE. 117 
 
 acts were among the first fruits of that unhallowed union, by 
 which an emperor, whose claim to the possession of true cliris- 
 tianity is very doubtful, became, nevertheless, the ostensible 
 head of the church. Its bishops and ministers had already, 
 during the preceding period, gradually encroached on the privi- 
 leges and functions of the members at large, creating themselves 
 so many spii-itual lords. The infusion of the influence and 
 wealth of the state, while it flattered and strengthened this 
 ecclesiastical usiu-pation, proved the introduction of a new and 
 foreign principle, incompatible with the spiritual genius of 
 Christianity, and combating for lordship over the mind and 
 conscience of the professing church. 
 
 Most of tlie historians of Coustantine pass high encomiums on 
 his many Christian wtues, because he honoured their profession 
 of religion ^vith worldly power and privileges, advanced certain 
 individuals to great distinction, and favom-ed the ptu-ticular 
 views which they entertained. 
 
 There were however in that church many strong and fear- 
 less voices, that declared plainly to the succeeding emperor that 
 whilst he was endeavouring by outward power to further Chris- 
 tianity, he was injuring rather than aiding it— voices which set 
 forth to the pscudo-christian ruler, who was confounding poli- 
 tical with Christian \'iews, the principles of freedom of conscience 
 and of faith, as they had been held by the first advocates of 
 Christianity. Thus Hilaiy exclaimed, " With the gold of the 
 state thou cloggest the sanctuary of God, obtruding upon Him 
 what has been torn from the temples, or obtained by confisca- 
 tion, or exacted by fines." Athanasius well remarked of the 
 apphcation of force to rehgion, " It is a proof tliat they liave no 
 confidence in their own faith, if they apply compulsion and 
 constrain men against their will ; thus Satan, because there is 
 no truth in him, breaks in with axe and sword, where he finds 
 admission. But the Saviour is so mild, that he tridy teaches 
 thus, " If any man will follow me," " he who toill be my 
 disciple," &c., compcUing no one to wliom he comes, but knocking 
 at the door of the soul, and saying, " open to me my sister." 
 Jesus Christ compelled no one, when he pathetically said to his 
 disciples, " Will yc also go away ?" i 
 
 No circumstance in the ecclesiastical proceedings of those 
 ' Neander's History, vol. ii. 
 
118 rOXSTANTlNK THK UFAD OF THE ClURCH. [CflOp.lT . 
 
 ai^?s appears to have been more injurious, than this viuiou of 
 temporal aud spiritual power, iu its insidious ctfccts on the 
 profession of the Christian religiou, from that time downward. 
 The history of those effeets, during the reign of Constantinc 
 alone, aft'ords a memorable example of the fatal consequences of 
 this attempted union : and may be appealed to as a fair instance 
 of its legitimate fruits. The expression, though a strong one, is 
 used by some writers, that " Coustautine claimed and exercised 
 the power, aud thus usurped the throne aud the prerogative, of 
 G\)d." He frequently asserted that the care of the church was 
 committed to him from heaven ; and the obsequious conduct of 
 most of the bishops and ministers proves that they believed or 
 at least encouraged the assertion. Thus persecuting and auti- 
 christian practices weiv introduced. The ecclesiastics, already 
 secularised iu spirit and aspiring to worldly pre-eminence, 
 eagerly sought his esteem aud favour ; bartering their religious 
 independence and conscientious integrity for the honours and 
 privileges which imperial greatness could bestow ; while the 
 idolativus priests flocked to the standard of the cross, equally 
 e;u'nest to share iu the othces and favours of the new profession. 
 
 Coustautiuc found the church au independent body ; he re- 
 ceived it into strict alliance with the state, constituting himself 
 its director and guardian, and combining in his own person 
 the highest ecclesiastical with the highest einl authority.^ As 
 head of the church he became the judge of heresy ; being the 
 first who summoned geuenU ecclesiastical councils aiul presided 
 iu them ; he issued edict*, aud published rescripts — ^^uot, as for- 
 merly, to assiuv his subjects of religious liberty and impartial 
 protection, but to denounce difl'crcuces of religious opinion, aud 
 to threaten with severe punishments those who did not accord 
 with his own \"icws of orthodoxy. 
 
 •'Chiistituiity hanug become the state religion," saysNcaudcr, 
 " the clergy received the same favour from Coustautine, as the 
 heathen priests had formerly enjoyed, aud he decreed that they 
 should be exempted fi-om all burdens of the state. The con- 
 sequence was, that many, without any inwiu'd call or qualifi- 
 cation for the office, were onlaincd as clergy, merely to procure 
 this exemption ; by which meaiis the worst of men came to 
 exeivise the holiest othees." * 
 
 ' Waddiuglon's History. « History of Chmxh, vol. ii. 
 
CBN8URE8 OK CON8TANT1NK. Ill) 
 
 The injury thus inflicted oji the cause of Christianity, wim 
 in ail after aj^(* well characterized by Lord Cohham, a British 
 iiobleiiian illustrious as an ardent reformer, who united a 
 hi<;h spirit and uncommon parts and acquirements, with an 
 authority and dignity which showed him to be the great man, 
 under all his alHictions. Having spoken at his examination 
 of the " venom " which Ijad been infused into the church, he 
 was desired to exjdain the expression^ " I mean by it," said 
 he, " the wealth of the church ! Wlicn tlic church was first 
 cndowinl, as an author of your own pathetically expresses it, 
 an angel in the air cried out, * Woe ! woe ! woe ! This day 
 is venom shed into the cliurch of God !' Since that time, 
 instead of laying down their lives for religion, as in the early 
 ages, the bishops of Rome have been engaged in a constant 
 scene of persecution, or in cursing, murdering, or fighting with 
 cacli oth(!r." i 
 
 The circumstance liere alluded to is noticed by some historians. 
 The same sentiment and mode of expression in reference to 
 Constantine, were adopted by several of the early reformers, who 
 looked on him as the chief or first corrupter of the purity and 
 simplicity of the church. Thus, a Polish hymn, written about 
 1450 in honour of AVicliftc, has these words, " Sylvester, the 
 first Pope, derived his power from the dnigon Constantine, and 
 diffused his venom over all the churches." ^ 
 
 Constantine died in the year 33G, having enjoyed great 
 honour ; and his memory was highly eulogized by prelates and 
 historians whom he had advanced to dignity. 
 
 The professing Christian church had now acquired a large 
 degree of secular greatness ; but it is only too apparent that it 
 had sacrificed, in a still larger degree, its genuine character and 
 spiritual vitality. It may indeed be asserted, that true religion, 
 finding little place amid the honours and luxuries of courts and 
 palaces, retreated unperceived from contact and union with 
 worldly grandeur, into the wilderness, the humble recesses of 
 private life, and the retreats of unprivileged devotion ; leaving 
 a large proportion (if nominal Chri.stians wilfully blinded as 
 to tlieir own condition and loss. 
 
 ' Uiluiu'h Life of Lord Cobham. * Reformation iu Euroix?. 
 
 t 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PRACTICAL ILL CONSEQUENCES OF PECUNIARY ENDOWMENTS ON 
 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY AND CHURCHES. 
 
 An endowment for Christian ministers, if it be of moderate 
 amount, may appear on first consideration to be a harmless 
 thing, and even productive of advantage, by rendering them 
 respectable, capable of acts of charity, and independent of their 
 heai'crs. But, besides the objection to all pecuniary compensa- 
 tion — which will be considered in another chapter — a ministerial 
 endowment, however small, is attended with this obvious and 
 serious evil : — that it tends to convert the exercise of a spiritual 
 gift, duty and calling, into a property, to be bought or sold, by 
 simoniacal bargain and transfer, in some degi'ee like lands or 
 goods. Instead of a sacred Christian requirement, a religious 
 exercise to be undertaken from pure and disinterested motives, 
 the ministry of the gospel thus becomes a coveted source of 
 ascertained income. Through the operation of the system of 
 patronage, every such office is vested in a certain individual or 
 body, and constitutes a negotiable property, to be obtained by 
 favour or influence with the great, and converted into a means 
 of livelihood and personal aggrandisement. By the admission 
 of the endowment principle, — by the first inlet of the specious 
 provision, however small in extent, — the most holy office in the 
 Lord's house is rendered venal, and its piire spiritual character 
 is in danger of being lost. Thus the ministry, becoming a system 
 of buying and sellhig, may be, and too often is, adulterated 
 and polluted. Hence also originate constrained obedience 
 and compulsory payments ; and the resort to the ai-m of civil 
 power, to uphold the claims of the church. 
 
 The spirit of Judas deeply insinuates itself into the keepers 
 of the bag, originally provided for the poor of the flock. For 
 it must be borne carefully in mind, that the great and only 
 pui-posc which the primitive Christian church luul in view, in 
 
ILL EFFECTS OF ENDOWMENTS GENERALLY. 121 
 
 accepting the donations of its members, was to provide for the 
 necessities of the poor. These, and not the ministers, were the 
 objects of its endowments and care : poverty and not service was 
 the recommendation to its bounty. If any ministers were re- 
 lieved, it was not because they were such, but because they 
 wanted other means of support ; and it was commanded that " if 
 any would not work, neither should they eat." But this great 
 original purpose of charity was gradually invaded and lost sight 
 of. The ecclesiastics robbed the poor and pampered themselves 
 with the spoil— a wrong which the reformation hitherto has not 
 fully repaired, by restoring the property to its original objects. 
 There is even some reason to fear that it has aggravated this 
 part of the enl, by breaking up the religious houses, whose chief 
 redeeming feature, in the midst of great error, was their hospi- 
 tality and attention to the indigent ; the care of these not being 
 provided for by the reformed churches. 
 
 Wicliffe considered ministerial endowments to be the root 
 of all the corruption among the clergy. He often lamented the 
 luxury they occasioned, and used to wish that the church was 
 reduced to its pristine poverty and innocence. He said of the 
 monks and friars of his day, that they made property of ghostly 
 goods, where no property may be ; and professed to have no 
 property in worldly goods, where alone property is lawful.^ He 
 asserted that "there is no greater heretic or Antichrist than 
 that clerk, wliich teacheththat it is lawful for priests and Levites 
 of the law of grace to be endued with temporal possessions." 
 
 The evil of endowments consists chiefly in their application to 
 the pecuniary support of the 7ni,mtry. For promoting education 
 for rcHeving the indigent, and for other charitable objects their 
 aid is often vahiable. But if they once become settled or applied 
 as mmistcnal stipends, the mischief is incalculable, by tlieir con- 
 version into a species of property, encouraging tlie* simoniacal 
 exchange of so much money for so much spiritual service • than 
 which no one corruption is more full of danger to the well-being 
 of a church and its ministers. Even for charitable objects endow- 
 ments are very liable to be abused and misapplied, to demoralize 
 the receivers, to discourage the exertions of private bountv and 
 to render some of the finest offices of humanity cold and .infecljng 
 acts. A lively and watchful interest is often best maintained, in 
 ' Myers' aud GUpin'a Lives. 
 
122 STILL MORE INJURIOUS TO THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. [Ghap.lS. 
 
 objects which appeal to spontaneous benevolence alone, and which 
 are conducted from time to time, according to the changing 
 requirements of human society and affairs. Abundant are the 
 examples which might be adduced, to show that even well re- 
 gulated endowments may be subjected to restrictions and rules 
 suited to one time, which may in another generation be found 
 very ill adapted to the altered necessities of the people, and thus 
 be cramped and impaired in usefulness. 
 
 Smith in his "Wealth of Nations," prosecutes an inquiry, 
 whether the public endowments, even for schools and colleges, 
 have contributed, in general, to promote the end of their in- 
 stitution ; whether they have encouraged the diligence and im- 
 proved the abilities of the teachers ; Avhether they have directed 
 the course of education towards more useful objects ? To this 
 inquiiy he thinks it not difficult to give at least a probable 
 answer, and that answer is decidedly in the negative, as proved 
 by investigating the effects observable.^ 
 
 If this be true as respects foundations for educational or 
 charitable piu'poses, how much more powerfully are the same 
 evils likely to arise from endowments for spiritual services ! 
 What corruption of motives, what coldness of heart, what defi- 
 ciency of zeal, what laxity of attention, what inertness and pride 
 are in danger of being thus introduced, to the degradation of 
 the ministerial character, the loss of the spiritual efficiency, and 
 the incalculable injury of religion. Do not the command and 
 the promise apply to richly endowed churches, as well as to the 
 rich young man formerly ? " Sell all that thou hast, and give 
 to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and 
 come follow me.'^^ 
 
 But, apart from all considerations of expediency, and on in- 
 comparably higher ground, the Christian chiu'ches have the 
 plain instructions and example of our Lord and his Apostles 
 for their guide in this matter, if they hsten, without prejudice 
 and covetousness, to their wholesome, simple teaching. The 
 whole tenor and spirit of the New Testament are utterly 
 opposed to the system, which makes the ministry of the gospel 
 a trade to live by. 
 
 " The clergy of an established and well endowed religion," 
 says Smith, " frequently become men of learning and eloquence, 
 I Book V. chap. 1. * Matt. xix. 21. 
 
TESTIMONIES AGAINST MINISTERIAL ENDOWMENTS. 123 
 
 but they are apt gradually to lose the qualities, whicli gave them 
 autliority and influence with the people, and they have coni- 
 inonly no other rcsoiu'cc on an emergency, than to call upon 
 the civil magistrate to persecute, destroy or drive out their 
 adversaries/'^ 
 
 The objection to endowments would still exist in full force, if 
 the ministers of all the diff'erent denominations partook of them. 
 The evil in fact would be only increased. AYhere would such a 
 course terminate ? Shall we endow the Catholic priest, the 
 Unitarian minister, the Jewish rabbi, as is done in some con- 
 tinental countries, and to some extent in the British colonies ? 
 Or on the contrary, ought we not to withhold state endowments 
 altogether, and leave what may be required for their own min- 
 isters and services, to the spontaneous eflbrts of the respective 
 churches ? 
 
 \'ery plainly does Milton answer those, who contended that, 
 if endowments should be abolished, the light of the gospel would 
 soon be extinguished. " Most of all,'' says he, " are they to be 
 shamed, who cry out with the distinct voice of notorious hire- 
 lings, ' If ye settle not our maintenance by law, farewell the 
 gospel ! ' Than which nothing can be uttered more false, more 
 ignominious, and, I may say, more blasphemous against our 
 Sa^-iour ; who hath promised, without this condition, both his 
 Holy Spirit and his own presence with his church to the world's 
 end/' ' 
 
 " No sooner," says a modern writer, " did riches and honours, 
 Satan's last and most prevailing temptations, flow in upon the 
 church, than Christianity began to wear another aspect ; the 
 hitherto inflexible spirit of its professors gradually softened into 
 a conformity to tins world, and Christian simplicity gave way 
 to earthly policy. Henceforward was to be seen great striving 
 among ecclesiastics for the highest dignities and richest prefer- 
 ments, and much contention about j)reccdcncy and jurisdiction. 
 The disciple now wanted to be above his master, and the servant 
 above his Lord. Nay, Christ's pretended vicar began to aspire 
 at supreme sovereignty over princes, and to set the foot of 
 church power upon the neck of royalty. 
 
 " Under the declension of Christianity in sjiirit and jiowcr, 
 the outward visible church, conscious that the Divine prc- 
 ' lkM)k V. ohap. 1. » ('ousideratioUH on HirtiliugH. 
 
124! RICHES CORRUPT THE CHURCH. [Chap. 18, 
 
 sence was departed from her, and that she was no longer in 
 general that pure, chaste, heavenly spouse of Christ, all glorious 
 in gifts as before, began to deck herself in all the painted and 
 pompous ornaments of a glistening outside worship. Magnificent 
 temples, with much imagery and sculpture, were erected and 
 beautified with all that man's art and device could project and 
 execute. Costly vestments, gilded furniture, crosses of gold and 
 silver decorated with precious stones, stately wax candles, &c., 
 were introduced ; as well to feed the pride of man, as to make a 
 sanctimonious show and supply the want of the true riches." ^ 
 
 The especial attention of the reader is invited to the corrupt 
 consequences, naturally flowing from the admission of this one 
 specious principle of endowments, more subversive perhaps of 
 true Christianity, than any of the other errors which invaded 
 the church during the dark ages ; the confident hope must never- 
 theless be cherished that, through the divine blessing on clear 
 manifestations of the truth, and on enlightened Christian efforts, 
 this reproach and stumbhng block will yet be rolled away from 
 the threshold of Christendom. 
 ' From preface to Sermons, &c., by T. Hartley, Northamptonshire, 1755. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY MUST BE FREE; BUT THOSE WHO PREACH 
 THE GOSPEL ARE AUTHORISED TO LIVE OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 When out Lord sent forth his disciples to proclaim the glad 
 tidings of salvation, among the few commands which he is re- 
 corded to have given them, none is more prominent than this : 
 " Freely (or gratuitously) ye have received, freely (or gratui- 
 tously) give"^ or communicate. So that whether they preached 
 the gospel, or healed the sick, or cleansed lepers, or cast out 
 devils, or raised the dead, they were to do all without charge or 
 pecuniar}- contract. 
 
 But he also commanded them to pronde neither money, nor 
 victuals, nor change of garments ; declaring that " the labourer 
 is worthy of his meat or hire."^ If it should be objected, from 
 the use of this term, that Christ encouraged a hired or hirehng 
 ministry, it may be remembered that the words immediately 
 preceding sufficiently explain his meaning, — " Eating and drink- 
 ing such things as they ffive."^ These expressions and the con- 
 text plainly show the spontaneous return, which alone he per- 
 mitted to be accepted ; while, in another place, he describes the 
 emolument and the great object of the service to be of a very 
 different nature. — " He that rcapcth receiveth wages and gather- 
 eth fruit unto life eternal."* 
 
 Those who received " spiritual things " from the gospel mes- 
 sengers, were exhorted not to be backward in supplying them 
 with "carnal things," on the same principle as the Gentiles 
 were urged to supply the " wants of the poor saints at Jerusa- 
 lem ;" not as a fixed impost to satisfy covetousucss, but, " as a 
 matter of bounty " to relieve all real " necessities." Our Lord's 
 declaration, that he sent forth his messengers "as sheep in the 
 midst of wolves," plainly inculcates the disposition suited to the 
 work ; for though they were to be " wise as serpents," yet they 
 
 • Matt. X. 8. 2 Mfttt. X. 10 ; Luke x. 7. ^ Luke x. 7. * .John iv. 36. 
 
126 DISINTERESTEDNESS OP THE APOSTLES^ MISSION. [Chap. 19- 
 
 were at the same time commanded to be "harmless as doves/" 
 If any should refuse to receive or to hear them^ they were merely 
 to shake off the dust of their feet^ and to state that they did so 
 as a testimony against such. He gave them no authority to 
 arrest or to prosecute, to compel or to levy ; but if they should 
 be persecuted in one city, they were to flee into another. 
 
 The apostle Paul declared it to be an ordinance of the Lord, 
 " that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel ;"2 
 yet he declined the exercise of " this power/' and did not disdain 
 to travel on foot, and to labour with his hands for the support 
 of himself and his coadjutors, assuring the Corinthians that he 
 sought not theirs but them.^ The elders of Ephesus he exhorted 
 that ''so labouring they ought to support the weak, and to 
 remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that it is more blessed 
 to give than to receive."^ From these and other passages 
 in the New Testament, it may be fairly presumed that Christ 
 established a free (or gratuitous) ministry, — one which should 
 not be entered into for the sake of pecuniary emolument, or 
 exercised as a trade or lucrative profession, but wholly removed 
 from such motives, and to be undertaken from higher and 
 purer considerations; yet with a provision for support when 
 needed, which might permit even the poor to engage in it, when 
 called thereto, and suffice for all, while performing the duty. 
 Thus the Christian church would be free from the reproach 
 pronounced by divine authority, even on that of the ancient 
 Israelites where remuneration was allowed : " The heads thereof 
 judge for reward, and the priests teach for hire, and the prophets 
 divine for money : yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say. 
 Is not the Lord among us ? none evil can come upon us."^ 
 
 In the book of Acts is recorded a remarkable instance of one, 
 who desired to partake of the spiritual power possessed by the 
 apostles, and ofifered them money for that purpose, probably 
 with the intention to exercise the qualification as a means of 
 pecuniary profit. But strong and decisive was the rebuke 
 addressed to him by Peter, for entertaining an idea so inconsis- 
 tent with the whole tenor of the gospel : " Thy money perish 
 with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may 
 be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in 
 
 ' Matt. X. 16. 2 1 Cor. ix. 14. 3 2 Cor. xii. 14. 
 
 4 Acts XX. 35. ^ Micali iii. 11. 
 
COVETOUS MOTIVES FORBIDDEN TO MINISTERS. 127 
 
 this matter, for thy heart is not right in the siglit of God. 
 Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if 
 perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee. For I 
 perceive that thou ai't in the gall of bitterness and in the bond 
 of iniquity !"^ 
 
 What can be more clear than this instance of the utter 
 contrariety, in the judgment of the apostle, between the com- 
 munication of the gifts of tlie Spirit on the one hand, and the 
 endeavour on the other to make a gain by such means, to con- 
 vert them into a source of Uvcliliood and emolument ? Though 
 this circumstance is often spoken of, yet the lesson which it 
 conveys is too httle regarded by the professors and ministers of 
 Christianity, and not suftered to operate as an awful warning 
 against every such motive and practice ; so that there is still 
 danger lest the language again go forth, you have " neither part 
 nor lot in the matter.^' How eai'nest was the apostle Paul, that 
 they who fill the sacred offices in the church should " not be 
 covetous," or "greedy of filthy lucre;" but "sober, just, holy, 
 temperate," and that believers generally, having food and rai- 
 ment, should be therewith content !"- To bring the people 
 into bondage, to devour them, to take of them, he denounced as 
 signs of "false apostles, deceitful workers !"3 
 
 From the foregoing, and other passages to the same effect, 
 it may be plainly infen-ed that the ministry must be under- 
 taken only from a sense of religious duty, and a Cliristian 
 concern for the salvation of the sovds of men. " Necessity is 
 laid upon me," said the apostle to the Gentiles, "yea, woe is 
 unto me if I preach not the gospel ;"* and further, " When it 
 pleased God, who called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in 
 me, tliat I might preach him among the heathen, immediately 
 I conferred not with flesh and blood,"* &c. A liberty is doubt- 
 less at the same time granted to such, to accept the necessaries 
 of life which are freely offered to them while thus engaged. 
 But if the motive to enter upon this high calling be mercenary, 
 if the desire be to make a gain of godliness," with the view 
 formerly expressed, " Put me I pray thee into one of the priests' 
 offices, that I may cat a piece of bread ;"7 lamentable indeed is 
 the degradation, and spiritually destructive may be the eflccts, 
 
 ' Acta viii. 20, 23. ' Titua i. 7, 8. 3 2 C<>r. xi. 13. ' 1 O-r. ix. IG. 
 5 Gal. i. 16. •"• 1 Tim. vi. .0. 7 l Sain. ii. 36. 
 
128 MINISTERS TO BE CONTENTED AND TRUSTFUL. [Chap. 19- 
 
 not only to the individual himself, but to those also who are 
 the objects of his ministrations. 
 
 Even the system of paying missionaries, for spiritual labours 
 among the heathen, well deserves serious consideration; since 
 it furnishes a precedent to these poor people, which may be 
 very injurious to their future interests, both spiritual and tem- 
 poral. If such labourers — highly gifted, devoted and zealous 
 as many of them are — would place themselves more on a level 
 with the simple natives among whom they reside, and regard 
 them as brethren, being content to labour towards their own 
 maintenance, they would more fully conform to apostolic ex- 
 ample, and produce a better influence and effect, by affording 
 patterns of greater disinterestedness and self-denial. But, alas ! 
 how can great success be expected among uncivilized tribes 
 from the labours of the missionaries, while the general behaviour 
 of Christians affords the people a ready answer to the strongest 
 appeals of these labourers. When the ministers are maintained 
 in ease, without labour for temporals, and hold the rank of 
 spiritual and secular rulers among the people, there is great 
 danger of their departing from the spirit of gospel moderation, 
 and adopting a worldly ambitious system of aggrandizement, 
 relying entirely on the toils of others, — proceedings which 
 are not likely to commend them or their doctrine to the hearts 
 and consciences of their hearers. 
 
 If worldly occupations have their evils, the want of occupa- 
 tion has its evils and snares also. Moderate secular employment 
 creates sympathy with those who have to toil, gives a useful 
 knowledge of the affairs of common life, and keeps the mind as 
 well as the body in a healthy tone. 
 
 Were there more of a disposition generally among ministers 
 of religion, "having food and raiment, therewith to be content,"^ 
 to cultivate a trustful reliance on the goodness and care of 
 divine providence, to be satisfied with small things and lowliness 
 of station, setting examples to the churches of moderation and 
 contentment; there can be no doubt that He who watches 
 over " the lilies of the field,^' and whose are " the cattle upon 
 a thousand hills,^^ would, from time to time, sufficiently provide 
 for their real necessities. Rich endowments and emoluments 
 have an evident tendency to counteract this exercise of lively 
 
 ' 1 Tim. vi. 8. 
 
NECESSITY OF A FRKE OOSPEL MIMSTKV. 129 
 
 faith and liuinble dependence, and to produce incalculable 
 evils. 
 
 In many places of protestant worship, great pains arc taken, 
 and various modes resorted to, to raise an income for the minis- 
 ters. The houses, instead of being free for all, are to a large 
 extent divided into pews, whicli are let at certain rents; the 
 collections are frequent and heavy, and the regular payments 
 from members are rigidly claimed. When will ministerial ser- 
 vices be rendered freely " without money and without price," 
 from the sole love of God and of his holy cause ? Even the 
 popish churches are much more free from distinctions between 
 the rich and the poor, notwithstanding their many pecuniary 
 exactions. ^loncy, money, money, is too much the object, and 
 that almost everywhere ! 
 
 And truly it is not ministers only, but the professing churches 
 at large, tliat liave suffered declension and loss in this respect, 
 by setting an undue value upon temporal possessions and making 
 them the object of eager pursuit ; while, the things that belong 
 to another world are in danger of obtaining only a secondary 
 place in the thoughts and affections ! 
 
 Yet how can we be sufficiently grateful to the gi'eat Head of 
 the church, who deigns to stoop to man's low and degenerate 
 state, to compassionate our many errors, and to grant his bless- 
 ing at times on feeble ministrations, and on sincere though 
 weak endeavours to advocate his cause ! Or how can we be 
 enough on the watch against a distrustful mind, and presump- 
 tion on the divine forbearance ; lest it be said of us, as of certain 
 prophets of old, " I sent them not, nor commanded them ; 
 therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the 
 Lord!"» 
 
 Wicliffe maintained that " every man is a priest, and that 
 we need no other priest to be a mean ; also that no man may 
 be hired to pray " for another. He zealously denounced the 
 worldly greatness and wealth of ministers of religion, recom- 
 mending simplicity, poverty .ind disinterestedness, as essential 
 qualifications for preachers of the gospel. 
 
 It was one of the doctrines held also by William Tyndal, 
 *hat no man might be hired to pray. " To pray for one another," 
 he says, " we are equally bound ; and to pray is a thing that we 
 
 ' .ler. xxiii. 32. 
 
 K 
 
130 MOVEMENTS IN FAVOUR OF A FREE GOSPEL MINISTRY. [Chap. 19. 
 
 may always do, whatsoever we have in hand. No man may 
 hire another to do it ; Christ's blood hath hired us already."^ In 
 these views others of the Reformers united. 
 
 Several interesting movements to encourage a gospel ministry 
 free in every sense of the word, are in progress at the present 
 time in various parts of England, as well as on the continent of 
 Europe. May their promoters keep under the Christian spirit 
 of meekness and charity, while they pursue the object with zeal 
 and devotedness. And may the period soon arrive, through 
 the blessing of the Most High, when the ministers of religion 
 in every Christian community shall be able, without self-con- 
 demnation, to adopt the inviting language of the evangelical 
 prophet speaking in the name of the Lord : — " Ho ! every one 
 that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no 
 money, come ye, buy and eat ; yea come, buy wine and milk 
 without money and without price ! Wherefore do ye spend 
 money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that 
 which satisfieth not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye 
 that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 
 Incline your ear and come unto me, hear and your soul shall 
 live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even 
 the sure mercies of David."^ 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. * Isaiah Iv. 1, 2, 3. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ON tithes; their origin, history and changes; the testi- 
 monies AGAINST them, &C. 
 
 Of all the endowraents and revenues of professed Christian 
 churches, those in the East excepted, tithes have generally con- 
 stituted tlie principal part. Some account of them, therefore, 
 and especially of their introduction in the dai'k ages, becomes 
 necessary in this treatise. 
 
 1*^ Section. — Of Tithes before the coyning of Christ. 
 
 Both reason and religion teach us that it is the duty of every 
 indi\-idual, to appropriate some portion of his substance to the 
 service of God, and to the benefit of his fellow-men. Hence 
 arose, at a very early period of the world's history, frequent 
 sacrifices, as well as consecrations of worldly goods, for the 
 ministrations of religion and for works of charity; especially 
 after particular occasions, in which divine mercy and protec- 
 tion had been eminently witnessed. No claim for tithe, or an 
 exact tenth part of produce, profit or income, is to be deduced 
 from the law of nature ; nor is there any moral or universal 
 reason for contributing that or any other specific proportion. 
 Religious and charitable objects being many and various, and 
 none of them possessing an inherent or absolute claim for sup- 
 port, to the exclusion of others ; all sucli objects are to be con- 
 scientiously estimated by each individual, in order to guide his 
 own contributions. 
 
 Sacred hilton,' relates, that when Abram was returning from 
 his victory over the four kings, Mclchisedck, the king of Salem, 
 who was the priest of tlie Most High God, brought forth bread 
 and wine for him and for his young men, and blessed him ; and 
 that Abram gave him a tithe of the spoils.^ Jacob also made a 
 ' fien. xiv. 18, 20. 
 
 k2 
 
132 EARLY DEDICATIONS OF TENTHS. [Chap. 20. 
 
 VOW at Bethel, that if God would be with him, would prosper 
 him, and bring him back in peace, of all that should be given 
 him he would give the tenth unto God.^ These are the only 
 notices which we have on record, of the special devotion or 
 gift of a tenth, prior to the promulgation of the Mosaic law : 
 the former of the two appears to have been a grateful return 
 for the refreshments afforded, and a pious acknowledgment of 
 divine mercy and preservation. In the second case, the sacred 
 penman has not thought proper to relate how Jacob fulfilled his 
 vow ; but it probably was in the amount of his sacrifices and 
 devotional offerings. 
 
 Tithes, as is well-known, Avere instituted by Moses, on the in- 
 troduction of the legal dispensation, for the support of its sacri- 
 fices and other religious rites, and for the maintenance of the tribe 
 of Levi ; which was appointed to perform the ceremonial and 
 sacred services. As far as appears, they constituted the chief re- 
 venues of the Jewish church, and even of the state itself.^ In con- 
 sequence of this proiision, no land was allotted to the Le^dtes in 
 the general division of the territory of Canaan, when each of the 
 other tribes had its proportionate share ; the Most High declaring 
 himself to be the portion and inheritance of the sons of Levi.^ 
 
 The family of Aaron, being chosen for priests out of that tribe, 
 were entitled to a tenth part of the tithes, also to first-ripe fruits, 
 first-born clean beasts, and other offerings, according to the libe- 
 rality of the contributors. The tithe — supposed by some to have 
 been another — was devoted for two successive years to sacred 
 feasts, and every thu'd year to the poor Le^ites, the strangers, 
 the fatherless and the widows.* But it is worthy of special re- 
 mark that, although tithes and offerings were commanded by the 
 Mosaic law to be brought to the Levites, from a fertile soil which 
 required little labour or cost in cultivation, yet no legal provision 
 existed to recover them, no compulsion was authorised ; and in 
 the event of their being withheld, no outward penalty or punish- 
 ment foUowed ; but he that did not bring them was declared to 
 have robbed God. The general principle inculcated was that of 
 fi-ee-will offerings, with the blessing that attended generosity and 
 dedication to the Lord's service. " Whosoever is of a willing- 
 heart, let him bring it an offering of the Lord. — And they came, 
 
 ' Gen. xxviii, 20, 22. ^ Dent. x. 9. ^ Joshmv xviii. 7. 
 
 * Selden, ii. 3 ; Septuagint, Deut. xxvi. 12. 
 
Sect. 1.] LEVITICAL TITHES AND THEIR OBLIOATtON. 133 
 
 every one wliom liis spirit made williiif;:, and they brought the 
 Lord's ottering. And they spake unto Moses saying, tlie people 
 bring niucli more than enough, and they \vcrc restrained from 
 bringing." ' 
 
 On the other liand, the judgments of the Lord were pro- 
 nounced against tliose teachers, wliose spiritual services were ren- 
 dered from covetous motives. " The priests teach for hire, and 
 the prophets divine for money ; — and he that puttcth not into 
 their mouths, they even prepai-e war against him, therefore night 
 sludl be unto you, that ye sliall not have a vi.sion." Other 
 priests, sons of lielial, said, " Nay, but thou shall give it me 
 now ; and if not, I will take it by force." 2 
 
 The institution of tithes, being part of the law of Moses, and 
 one of the many regulations connected with the Levitical priest- 
 hood and ser>'ices, continued in force during the existence of the 
 Jewisli polity. The last we find of them is that which Josephus 
 and Euscbius relate — that they became the cause of a violent 
 (piarrel between the high priests and the priests of Jerusalem, 
 a little before tlie destruction of the city.^ 
 
 On the fulfilment and conclusion of the legal dispensation 
 by Jesus Clirist — who was of the tribe of Judah and not of 
 Le\-i after tlie flesh, but became a higii priest for ever, of a 
 new, spiritual, and higher order — all the priests and ordinances 
 of the law were abolished, and by necessary consequence, the 
 tithes as part of the latter. Therefore, to assert tlie claim of 
 tithes now on the ground of the Jewish practice, is, as some 
 eminent reformers have observed, to re-enact one of the ordi- 
 nances or typical observances of the law, which were to continue 
 only till tlie Messiah came, and amounts virtually to a denial 
 of his coming, or is " anticliristian." ^ 
 
 " Whatever is of natural or christian divine right," says Paolo 
 Saqii, " is binding on us, but not that which is of Mosaical divine 
 right," as he esteems tithes to have been.' Judge Hhukstone 
 obsenes, " A divine right certainly commenced, and, I believe, 
 as certainly ended, with the Jewish theocracy." ^ 
 ' Exodud XXXV. and xxxvi. '^ 1 Sam. ii. 12, 16; Micah iii. 11. 
 
 * Eu.sel>. lib. iii. 20. 
 
 * See tlie language oi W. Brute, W. Thori)f, W. Swinderby, and others in 
 Fox's Acts aiul Monuments, vol. i. ; also W. Fuller, on Heb. vii. ; Willett's 
 Synopsi.i, &r. 
 
 '" I'liaj). xixii. • Comments, ii. 3. 
 
134 VOLUNTARY DONATIONS TO THE EARLY CHURCH. [Chap. 20. 
 
 Among the Romans, Greeks and some other ancient nations, 
 it appears to have been not uncommon to dedicate to the ac- 
 knowledged deities, on particular occasions of success, a tenth 
 or some other part of the proceeds, or of their whole property, 
 in token of veneration and gratitude, as well as to propitiate the 
 divine favour in future. 
 
 2nd Section. — The origin and general establishment qf Tithes 
 among Christians. 
 
 Our Lord, on the introduction of his new and perfect dispen- 
 sation, gave, as has been remarked in the last chapter, no coun- 
 tenance to a system of stipulated pay for the preaching of the 
 gospel ; nor from his apostles did it derive any encouragement, 
 either by precept or by practice. On the contrary, while many 
 of them accepted what was required and freely offered for their 
 support, they declared that their object was the salvation of the 
 souls of the people, and not the possession of their silver or gold ; 
 and steadily did they denounce those teachers, who were '' greedy 
 of filthy lucre," and made "merchandise of men through 
 covetousness !" Nor are tithes once named in the New Testa- 
 ment as a provision for Christian ministers. It is therefore evi- 
 dent that neither such a system, nor that of any other pecuniary 
 contract for the preaching of the gospel, is sanctioned under the 
 present dispensation by the authority of Christ or his apostles. 
 
 At Jerusalem and other places, most of the early believers 
 renounced the sole right to their own property, having for a 
 time "all things common;" and "distribution was made to 
 every man," whether minister or hearer, " according as he had 
 need," by " daily ministration." Afterwards, we read of perio- 
 dical collections for the poor " on the first day of the week ;" and 
 to these succeeded monthly offerings, as each was of abihty and 
 felt disposed to contribute. On the destruction of the city and 
 temple by the Romans, about forty years after the crucifixion, 
 the Mosaic law and Jewish observances were so completely 
 annulled, that the existence or revival of tithes is not to be 
 traced even among the Jews. In the Christian church they 
 were entirely unknown for at least '300 years. The ecclesiastical 
 historians make no mention of them, although they frequently 
 speak of the lands and possessions of the church. There was 
 
Sect. 2.] SUCH CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE POOR. 135 
 
 at the same time an entire confusion of the Jc^nsh tribes, and 
 it has never since been found practicable to distiuguish the 
 descendants of Aaron or Levi. Tcrtullian, in liis apology 
 wi-itten about the year 200, says of the practice of the Christians 
 at that time : " Every one pays something into the public chest 
 once a month, or when he pleases, and according to his ability 
 and inclination ; for there is no compulsion, but each contributes 
 freely. These gifts ai'c, as it were, the deposits of piety. Hence 
 we relieve and bury the needy, support orplian and dccrcpid 
 persons, those who have suflered shipwreck, and those who, for 
 the word of God, are condemned to the mines or to imprison- 
 ment." ^ This simple mode of contribution is stated by Eusebius 
 to have been continued till after the year 300 : its great object 
 being a provision for the poor, and not for the ministry. It 
 is manifest that no sort of tithes was paid to the church nor 
 imposed by any of its authorities, prior to the Council of Nice. 
 In the records of Constantino's generosity no mention is made 
 of such a mode of payment.^ 
 
 At an early period however lauds had been given to the 
 church ; the income from these, and the voluntary collections, 
 being under the charge of the deacons and elders, for the relief 
 of indigent Christians, without distinction of office. So bountiful 
 were the donations to some churches, that at Home, about tlie 
 year 150, they served for the relief of the poor in other places, 
 and for the redemption of numerous captives. Even some of 
 the persecutions arose from the desire of the emperors to possess 
 the private and public property of the Christians. The gains of 
 the trading ministers went to the church and the poor.^ The 
 council held at Antioch in 3 W) enacted, in conseciuencc of a 
 complaint against some of tlie deacons, and perhaps from other 
 motives, that the bishops should distribute the goods of the 
 church : but it enjoined them to appropriate no part to them- 
 selves, unless like others they were in absolute need ; quoting 
 the words of the Apostle: — "having food and raiment, be 
 therewith content." Soon after this, many of the Ciiristians 
 sold what they had, withdrew from civil society, and united 
 together in monastic comnmnities, having all things common, 
 after the example of former times ; but ascetic in their cliaractcr, 
 
 ' Milner, 3nl cent ii. chap. ' Waddington'a Hist 
 
 3 Paolu Sarpi ou Benefices, chap. iii. 
 
136 AVARICE OF THE MINISTERS INCREASES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 and supported chiefly by donations. These donations however 
 did not at first consist of any particular proportion, nor were 
 they limited in application to any special class of persons. 
 
 Darkness and corruption were now increasing, and invaded 
 the doctrine and practice of the church ; so that the ministers 
 of religion, assuming the title of " clergy^' — God's lot, or heri- 
 tage, — began to expect payment in money for the performance 
 of religious service. At first the funds were applied principally 
 for the rehef of such as were poor ; and next, contributions "for 
 holy uses" were strongly urged. At Rome, 1,500 indigent 
 persons are related to have received relief from the funds of 
 the church in the time of Cornelius ; and above 3,000 at Antioch 
 in the time of Chrysostom, about the year 400. The whole 
 number who attended Christian worship at Antioch is said, 
 at the same time, to have been not fewer than 100,000.^ To 
 make provision for the poor, was the great object of the early 
 church in the acquisition of property; but entirely has this 
 application been neglected and perverted by modern and even 
 by reformed churches. The ministry soon usurped the reason- 
 able claims of poverty. 
 
 The learned John Selden, who wrote a History of Tithes 
 in 1618, and was persecuted for his liberal sentiments, quotes 
 the authority of Chrysostom, to prove that at that time the 
 ministers were supported only out of voluntary contributions, 
 though he recommended the people to give not less than a 
 tenth. Being very generally exempted from secular services 
 and contributions, the exemption proved an inducement to 
 many unworthy persons to undertake the sacred office. They 
 prevailed on the sick and on widows to make the church their 
 heirs, so that an ordinance was made in the year 370, to forbid 
 the practice.^ In the apostolical constitutions and canons, which 
 were pretended to be drawn up by the apostles and to be col- 
 lected by Clement, the payment of tenths, and an opinion in 
 favour of their being received by the bishops, are expressly 
 stated ; but it is evident that this whole work is an imposture, 
 like many others attributed to the same age ; and as such it was 
 denounced iu a general council held about the year 490.^ Even 
 
 ' Bingham's Christian Antiquities ; Sarpi on Benefices. 
 
 '' Sarpi on Benefices, chap. ili. 6. 
 
 2 See Mosheim's History, 1st century, 2ud chap. 
 
y.>^ 13? •^-vj^ 
 
 Sect. 2.1 lUGENT Al'I'EALS TO THE PEOPLE FOR MOnW .>» lO/ / ~v^ 
 
 in this compilation, which is attributed to the fcJurfl^jMJQftti 
 century, the contributions to the church are styled " free 
 and its ofticers are forbidden to accept them from the impenitent 
 or vicious.^ Of no better authority arc the decrees of a council, 
 said to have been held at Rome under Pope Damasus, about 
 380 ; in which mention is made of tenths, as " rij^htly to be 
 paid by the faithful." An epistle from Jerome to the same pope, 
 alluding to tenths and offerings, is also rejected by competent 
 authorities. These aud many others arc manifestly fabrications 
 of later periods for particular purposes, aud entitled to no credit, 
 being self-contradictory, and referring to circumstances which 
 occurred long after their preteiulcd dates. 
 
 From the hitter part of the fourth century the apostacy made 
 great progress, and the power of the ecclesiastics rapidly in- 
 creased. The people were solemnly urged to make larger con- 
 tributions " for pious uses," to otter the first fruits, and to follow 
 the example of the ancient Jews, by not presenting less than a 
 tenth. This practice is alluded to about that time as prevailing 
 in several countries of the west ; but though many councils were 
 held, not one of them, in any document considered genuine, 
 appears to have enforced tithes." 
 
 The bishops gradually assumed great authority in disposing 
 of the common funds, so that, in order to restrain them, it was 
 decreed in the Avestern church, about the year 470, that a divi- 
 sion should be made into four parts, to be proportioned accor- 
 ding to circumstances, for the bishops, the ministers, the edifices, 
 and the poor.^ 
 
 The institution of mouastcries, and the artifices of the monks 
 on the minds of credulous and devout persons, coutriliutcd 
 largely to increase the wealth of the church. The Benedictines 
 alone are said to have had 15,000 religious houses, beside lesser 
 convents.' All alienations of church revenues to secular pur- 
 poses were strictly forbidden. 
 
 In the fifth and sixth centuries, several of those called Fathers 
 uf the church, as .Vmbrose and Augustine, urged the payment 
 of tenths to be due by God's law, that the poor might not want; 
 referring for authority to the Mosaic institutions. Jerome, 
 " the great monk of the age," recommended the generous 
 
 ' Books ii. ami iv. • SeMen'a Hist. chap. v. 
 
 ' Sarpi on Beueticen, chap. vii. * IV>i(l. chap. viii. 
 
138 TENTHS CLAIMED TO BE DUE TO THE CHURCH. [Chap. 20. 
 
 contribution of not less than a tenth. Gregory, a very super- 
 stitious pope, advised the hallowing of " Lent," or a tenth of the 
 year, as well as the dedication of the tenth of property, excepting 
 that gained by usury or war. From the decided opinions and 
 urgent recommendations of these and other authorities, the 
 payment of tenths, the observance of Lent, and other supersti- 
 tious practices, came by degrees to be generally adopted. 
 
 Some canons of the church, enforcing the right and payment 
 of tithes, are attributed to this period; but one only, of a 
 council held at Mascon, or Matiscon, in the diocese of Lyons, in 
 the year 586, claiming them for the use of the poor and for the 
 redemption of captives, and threatening the excommunication 
 of such as should not pay, possesses any claim to authenticity ; 
 the rest being evident fabrications of later dates. With that 
 doubtful exception, there appear to be no decrees of bishops, 
 determining or commanding tenths or tithes, before the year 
 700 ; though there are some which treat largely of church reve- 
 nues, oblations, &c.^ 
 
 In the eighth century, perpetual endowments of tenths began 
 to be made, for abbeys and other churches, according to the 
 will of the donors. The story of Charles Martel despoiling the 
 churches of tithes, and giving them to the laity, about 740, is 
 entirely discredited by Seldeu ; though he thinks it may have 
 been true with respect to other property. It was through great 
 opposition and much bloodshed that the yoke of tithes was 
 imposed on the Saxons, the Huns and some other nations, about 
 760 ; and as soon as the armed forces of the Franks were with- 
 drawn, these people threw off the profession of Christianity, 
 chiefly on account of this and other impositions.^ 
 
 The testimony of Agobard, an eminent bishop of Lyons, is 
 important, and shoAvs that the impost was not then generally 
 established. Writing in the latter part of the eighth century, 
 he says, "Nothing has ever been decreed in the synods, 
 nothing publicly commanded by the holy fathers, as to the dedi- 
 cation of property or establishment of churches. No necessity 
 has compelled ; a religious devotion prevailing everywhere, and 
 a desire to establish and honour the churches spontaneously 
 prompting." Down to this period no extant law of the eastern 
 
 ' Selden, chap. v. 
 
 * Neander's History, vol. iii. sec. 1 ; and Selden, cliap. v. 
 
Sect. 2.] VARIOUS MODES OP APPLICATION. 139 
 
 church mentions tithes ; and it is evident that, until nearly the 
 year 880, no decree, canon or council, generally received in 
 the western churcli, prescribed the payment of any certain 
 part.' Yet it appears that tenths were often brought by the 
 more devout, and bestowed from time to time in various ways ; 
 some gave them to the priests, others to the abbots ; some to 
 the churches, and others to the poor : offerings were expected 
 from all, but the amount and the object were indefinite. " Lay 
 persons" or patrons often claimed the right to receive the tenths, 
 paying out of them such sums for ecclesiastical or chfiritable 
 piirposes as they thought proper, or felt inclined to contribute, 
 ^[any pious individuals devoted a tenth of their substance to 
 the church, before the practice was generally enforced. The 
 amount received was still generally divided into four parts. 
 In some countries, however, the division was only into three, the 
 practice varying much in different districts. 
 
 In 791, a provincisU synod was held at Friuli in Italy, when 
 the duty to pay tenths was grounded on the words of the prophet 
 Malachi, " Bring all the tithes into my storehouse," &c. ; but no 
 such practice was generally enforced by any canon of the church. 
 
 Most of the bishops lived in monasteries with their ministers, 
 who went out to preach and exercise their functions in the 
 country round, and were termed " secular clerg}\" The occu- 
 piers of other monasteries being under abbots or priors, were 
 subject to tlic rules of these respective orders, and were supposed 
 to have wholly withdrawn from the world, being denominated 
 "regular clerg\'." The people at large were considered as 
 having no part in these Ixoly offices, and were called, by an 
 unhappy di^5tinction, " lay persons." The abbots were more 
 generous tiian the bishops toward the poor and strangers ; 
 hence they were more popular, and the people often preferred 
 to pay their tithes and give donations to them, knowing that 
 they would be applied more charitably. This preference, though 
 denounced by the bishops as a heinous offence, continued to 
 operate, until at length it was prohibited by law. 
 
 The enactments for the payment of tithes were either imperial, 
 
 provincial, or pontitical. The first of the imperial decrees was 
 
 made by Charlemagne," in a general assembly of civil and eccle- 
 
 siiistical estates in 788, when he confirmed the fourfold division, 
 
 ' Selden, chaj*. v. ' Blac^^tone's Commentaries, 2, 3,-2, 1. 
 
140 EARLY ENACTMENTS FOR THE PAYMENT OF TITHES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 which the bishops had invaded, but which long after continued 
 to be recognized. Charlemagne greatly augmented the revenues 
 and power of the church, and raised its ministers to rank and 
 influence. The impost still appears to have been very partially 
 and imperfectly discharged. Several provincial laws in favour 
 of tithes were enacted about that time. A Council of Mentz, 
 in 813, was explicit on the subject, in these words: — "We 
 admonish and command, that it be not neglected to give the 
 tenths wholly to God." This was closely followed by coun- 
 cils at Rheims, Aries, and Chalons. Similar decrees of Scotch 
 and English princes of this period are also extant, but of doubt- 
 ful authority. Tithes and other church funds were still called 
 " the Lord's goods," " the patrimony of the poor," i &c. 
 
 Of pontifical enactments for the payment of tithes, the first 
 appears to be one of Pope Nicholas II. in 1059. " We com- 
 mand," says he, " that tenths and first-fruits, or ofi^erings of the 
 living and the dead, be faithfully rendered to the churches of God 
 by the laity ; and that they be at the disposal of the bishops. 
 Whoso shall retain them, let such be separated from the com- 
 munion of the holy church." The same terms were used by his 
 successor, Alexander II. A council of Gregory VII., surnamed 
 Hildebrand, was held at Eome about 1070; and alluded to 
 tithes, as received by special gifts or consecrations. Another 
 at Clairmont, under Urban II. in 1095, decreed that the laity 
 should not keep back the tenth part. 
 
 Most of the sermons of those ages pointed to the duty of the 
 payment of tithes, which was enforced with great urgency; 
 matters of doctrine and religious obligation being generally ex- 
 cluded. Aud not content with tithes of the produce of the soil, 
 the ecclesiastics began to claim personal tithes also, beyond even 
 Jewish example.^ 
 
 A regulation termed Precaria was artfully introduced in the 
 ninth century, which secured to those who made over property 
 to the church three times the annual value as long as they lived; 
 and the tenure of civil property being much more precarious than 
 that of ecclesiastical, in those days of superstition and disorder, 
 many proprietors, and especially those without children, gladly 
 embraced the terms.^ The whole system had by this time 
 
 ^ Selden Hist. chap. v. ^ P. Sarpi on Benefices, chap. xi. 
 
 ^ P. Sai'iji ou Benefices, chaji. xix. 
 
Sect. 2.] IMPOSITION OF TITHES RESISTED. 1 il 
 
 become extremely corrupt, being a natural consequence of con- 
 sidering the sujjport of the ministry as a species of property. 
 
 The ninth general council, held at the Lateran in 1110, under 
 Calixtus II., appears to have been the hist which mentions 
 tithes ; and it alludes to them as given or consecrated by indi- 
 viduals. Feudal, im[)ropriate or lay tithes, are spoken of in the 
 enactments of another geuneral coueil, held at the same place 
 in 1130. About 1151, these and other decrees, with the laws 
 of some provincial councils, and passages from the writings 
 of Augustine, Ambrose and others, in support of tithes, were 
 collected and confirmed as general canon law, by Eugcnius III. 
 The general or Oicumcuical council of the greatest authority 
 is the eleventh under Alexander III., held in 1180; but the 
 only allusion to the question is, that the iufcodation or grant of 
 tithes to lay persons is prohibited, and also their appropriation 
 to religious houses, without the consent of the bishop. Until 
 this time, it is evident that they were frequently given to any 
 individual or ecclesiastical body, at the will of the donor. The 
 prohibition was confirmed by several subsequent councils. 
 
 The priests commonly urged this inquiry on each devotee at 
 the shrift or confessional, " Hast thou at any time neglected 
 to pay thy tenths to God, which he himself hath ordained to 
 be given him ? If thou hast done so, or consented to the 
 defrauding of the church therein, first restore to God fourfold, 
 and then must thou suffer penance, with bread and water only, 
 for twenty days." 
 
 Still however, in some countries, it was found impossible to 
 enforce the payment. About llfiO, extensive tracts of waste land 
 having been brought into cultivation in the diocese of Olden- 
 buigh, the cultivators, although wilbng to give some part of the 
 increase, objected to contribute a tenth to the church ; and, not- 
 withstanding the strong persuasions and authority of the bishop 
 and the court, they utterly rcfu.scd the claim, declaring with 
 tumult and clamour, that they never would submit their necks 
 to the ser\ile yoke of the priests, under which most other 
 Christians laboured. Nor could the payment be enforced on 
 the Danes, whose abhorrence of the system was so great, that 
 it proved the chief cause of their betraying and murdering the 
 king, Canute IV., when he would have imposed the practice. 
 » Selilen'.s Tithe.'^, chap. vi. 6. 
 
142 ENFORCEMENT OF TITHE SYSTEM. [Chap. 20. 
 
 About 1180, under Waldamir I., the bishop used every effort 
 to induce the people to pay, on pain of an interdict ; but they 
 stoutly refused, and sent a public message to the clergy, com- 
 manding them to continue the divine services, or to depart 
 the country ; and threatening them, if they declined both, with 
 not only the loss of their property, but the maiming of their 
 limbs. Krantz the historian relates, that it was with great dif- 
 ficulty that the Norman nations generally were prevailed on to 
 render the tenths ; but that at length, about the year 1200, 
 many of them yielded to the combined authority of the chm'ch 
 and their princes.^ 
 
 No canon of a general council is found, expressly commanding 
 the payment of tithes, or assuming them to be due by acknow- 
 ledged right, until that of the Lateran in 1215, under Innocent 
 III.^ Ecclesiastical authority had however now attained its 
 greatest height, and much deference being paid, in most coun- 
 tries, to the canons of the church, the parochial claim to receive 
 tithes was enforced by the ecclesiastics, and arbitrary consecra- 
 tions were declared unlawful; so that, about 1260, the local right 
 was assumed by the authorities of the church to be fully esta- 
 blished, although the exceptions were still numerous and the 
 practice varied in different countries. 
 
 Thus the sacred duty of the Christian ministry was degraded, 
 and rendered more and more a freehold or leasehold, an office 
 to be bought and sold; and true religion proportionately suffered 
 loss. The most secure property, in those times of irequent 
 anarchy, was that belonging to the church, which was guarded 
 from spoliation by a superstitious dread of the priests. Hence 
 many persons surrendered their lands to the ecclesiastics for 
 greater safety, and held under them as vassals. It was com- 
 puted that in Germany the officers of the church got into their 
 hands more than one-half of the whole property of the nation. 
 In many countries the share was prodigious,^ and it is said to 
 have amounted to a full half of all the soil of Europe ! 
 
 In 1537, at the time of the Reformation, an application was 
 made by the reformed ministers to an assembly of German 
 protestant princes at Smalkald, for a pro\dsion to be made out 
 of the ecclesiastical funds for three objects— the maintenance 
 of the clergy, the education of youth, and the support of hos- 
 ^ Selden, iv. 7. 2 ibid. ^ Eobertson's Charles Y. 
 
Sect. 2.] FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OP TITHE SYSTEM. 143 
 
 pitals for the aged and infirm poor. Seckendorf states that 
 a regulation to this purpose was adopted and carried into cftect, 
 but tliat the fonucr popish partakers in those funds were allowed 
 a subsistence for life.' 
 
 The great decree which speaks most plainly on the subject of 
 tithes, is that of the Council of Trent, under Pius IV., about 
 15G0; wliicli conimunded them to be paid, under penalty of 
 excommunication, as being due to God.* This was the celebrated 
 council, which, though summoned to consider the state of the 
 chiu'ch, and to suggest measures for its reformation, confirmed 
 many of its grosser corruptions, and declared that its traditions 
 should be esteemed of equal authority with the Scriptures ! 
 
 Although, through the intrigues of the ecclesiastics, tithes 
 were thus established after the example of the Jewish law, yet 
 other parts of that law were wholly neglected, which gave the 
 priests but a tenth of the tithes, and also forbade those who 
 ministered to possess property in land. Personal tithes also were 
 now required, which had been unknown to the ancient Jews. 
 
 " History puts it beyond all doubt,^' says Paolo Sarpi in his 
 treatise on benefices, " that no tithes were ever paid in Africa, or 
 in tlie east, and that they owe their origin to France about 585." 
 
 "Wlicn the Crusaders were victorious in Turkey, and Innocent 
 III. established a Latin chui'ch at Constantinople, a concordat 
 was concluded in 1216, according to which, a fifth portion of 
 all ciiltivated produce was at once made over to the Latin 
 church, and the monasteries were also to be transferred to it. 
 The papal authority in the east was however of short duration, 
 and its impositions were not generally established. 
 
 3rrf Section. — On the establishment of Tithes in England. 
 
 The general superstition and clerical usurpations, which led 
 to the institution of tithes abroad, operated in a similar manner 
 to introduce them into this country, during the corruj)t ages. 
 
 About the year GOO, many of the Britons, especially those in- 
 habiting Kent, with Ethelbert their king, adopted the profession 
 of Christianity, under tlic preaching of Austin or Augustin the 
 monk, who had been sent over for their conversion by Pope 
 
 ' Luther and the Reformation, vol. ii. 
 
 '^ S^e SeUlen's Hi.st. ; Elwooil's " Foumlatiwn <>( Tithe.'* Shaken ;" Ncander, 
 Mo.><heini, Milncr, &c. 
 
144 TITHE SYSTEM IN ENGLAND. [Chap. 20. 
 
 Gregory I. Augustin and his fellow-labourers followed for 
 some time the example of former ages_, receiving only from 
 those whom they taught such things as were necessary for their 
 support; but at lengthy having brought over most of the nation 
 to their faith, they introduced the papal doctrine that the faithful 
 ought to contribute largely to the church. On an appeal to the 
 Pope, " into how many portions the things given by the faithful 
 to the altar, were to be divided," he replied that " all emolu- 
 ments which accrue '^ were, by the customs of the apostolic see, 
 divided into four portions ; one for the bishop and his family to 
 support hospitality, a second to the clergy, a third to the poor, 
 and a fourth to the reparation of churches.^ 
 
 The priests and churches of Britain were maintained, until the 
 time of Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, about 673, solely 
 by the voliuitary contributions of the people ; but as this was a 
 precarious resoui'ce, he prevailed on the kings of the different 
 states to impose a special tax on their subjects for that pui'pose, 
 under the name of Kirkscot. He also assigned fixed stations to 
 the priests, who had hitherto moved from place to place.^ 
 
 About 790, the Pope sent two legates to England, one of 
 whom attended a council held at Calcuith, and presented twenty 
 regulations or canons which he had brought from Rome. In 
 these was asserted the dirine right of the clergy to the tenth of 
 all the possessions of the laity, also a claim to exemption from 
 being tried and punished by the civil authorities.^ 
 
 Offa king of Mercia, having caused Ethelbert, the young king 
 of the East Angles, to be murdered about 743, fled to Rome to 
 seek for pardon and protection ; when, to atone for his sin and 
 to conciliate the Pope, " he gave the tenth part of his goods to 
 holy church;" and afterward he became a monk. Thus were 
 tithes introduced into two of the British heptarchies. 
 
 After the union, and the establishment of the kingdom of 
 England, Ethelwolf, the second sovereign, made, in the year 855, 
 a fresh grant, which is generally considered the chief origin 
 and foundation of tithes in this country. Its language is quoted 
 differently by different historians ; but they agree in the main, 
 and though obscurely expressed, the grant clearly shows his 
 motives : — " Since, in our times, we see the ravages of war, the 
 plimder of our property, and the cruel depredations of hostile 
 
 ^ Fox's Acts and Monument?, vol. i. ^ Bede's Ecc. Hist. chap, xxvii. 
 3 Henry's Hist. England ; Prideaux on Tithes, &c. 
 
Sect. 3.] kthklwolk's taiANr of nriiKs. 14.") 
 
 barbarous and heatlien nations ; and many troubles prevailing 
 so as to afflict us even to destruction, and dangerous times im- 
 pending ; therefore I, Ethelwolf, King of the West Saxons, with 
 the counsel of my bishops and princes, have adopted a salutary 
 measure and a uniform remedy : to wit, that I grant a tenth 
 part of my hereditary lands to God, and the holy Mary, and 
 to all the saints ; to be possessed by a perpetual right, by the 
 servants of God both male and female of all degrees, and by the 
 distressed laity. Also a tenth part of all my goods I have dedi- 
 cated for the redemption of the souls of my ancestors and of my 
 own soul, to the perpetual use of the holy church, to be safe and 
 scciu'e from all secular services, royal tributes and taxes, to the 
 service of God alone ; that they may the more diligently pour 
 out prayers to God for us, as we in some degree lighten their 
 condition." 
 
 It may be observed that the first object in view was to pro- 
 cure a remedy for the irruptions of the Danes ; and the second, 
 to obtain redemption, or the remission of sins ! On these two 
 superstitious and untenable gi'ounds was the great decree for 
 tithes in England founded. Ethelwolf, having been an eccle- 
 siastic in early life, was a very bigoted pi'ince ; and, as Fox says, 
 " having been once nestled in that order, was always good and 
 devout to holy church and religious objects." 
 
 One writer says that he gave some part of his lands; another, 
 that he gave a tentli ; and a third, that it was a tenth of all 
 West Saxony ; while a fourth includes also a tenth of his goods 
 and chattels. One relates that he endowed the whole English 
 church, " universam dotavit ecclesiam Anglicanam;" and another, 
 in Norman French, that it was to feed and clothe the poor, 
 " pur pestre et vestrc les pauurts."^ All however agree in the 
 superstitious motives which prompted the grant. 
 
 The terms of many of the charters of tithes from the early 
 kings, whether to particular abbeys or churches, or of a more 
 general nature, are nearly the same as the foregoing, varying 
 only in some few particulars. Most of them have reference to 
 the same religious motives and to the relief of the poor, with 
 imprecations on such as refuse to obey. These repeated grants 
 show that they were mainly of a local character, and that 
 
 ^ Acts nml Monumpnts, vol. i. ' J>eMen, William r.f Mnlmshnr^-, &c. 
 
 L 
 
146 TITHES ESTABLISHED IN A DARK AGE. [Chap. 20. 
 
 a strong reluctance existed in the minds of the people to submit 
 to the imposition. 
 
 The forgery of charters was no uncommon device in the 
 middle ages. The monks perverted their knowledge of writing 
 to the purpose of forging documents in their own favour ; which 
 might easily impose on an ignorant age, since it has required a 
 peculiar science to detect them in modern times.' 
 
 Of this the ninth century, in which tithes were set up and 
 other great innovations introduced_, Milner, the historian of 
 Episcopal Protestants, speaks as follows : — "We are penetrating 
 into the regions of darkness, ' a land of deserts and pits, a land 
 of drought and of the shadow of death ; ' and we are carried 
 by every step into scenes still more gloomy than the former. 
 Here and there, indeed, a glimmering ray of the Sun of Righte- 
 ousness appears ; but it is vain to look for any steady lustre of 
 evangelical truth and holiness. Several circumstances attended 
 the thick darkness which pervaded this century, namely, the 
 preference given to human writings above the Scriptures, the 
 domination of the Popedom, the accumulation of ceremonies, 
 and the oppression of the godly." 
 
 The artifices of the priests to confirm and extend their own 
 authority, by bringing back many of the views and observances 
 of Judaism, were very successful. The ministers assumed the 
 title of priests or Levites, and the pope claimed to be considered 
 the successor of the Jewish high priest. They required the pay- 
 ment of the tithes, and he of the tenths and first fruits. The 
 ideas of altars, and sacrifices, and temples, &c., &c., were strongly 
 inculcated, as though Christ had not put an end to the ceremo- 
 nial law, or as though he had reconstructed it under a new and 
 permanent character. They attempted to put the new wine into 
 the old bottles, and with the new cloth to repair the old gar- 
 ment, forgetting the warning given by Christ himself, that this 
 course was contrary to the spirit of the gospel, and that thus 
 the wine would be spilt and the rent be made worse.^ 
 
 In the tenth and eleventh centuries, several of the English 
 
 kings passed laws confirming the payment of tithes; but in 
 
 the copies of some of these enactments there is reason to 
 
 believe that interpolations have been made at later periods. 
 
 I Hallam's Middle Agea, vol. ii. a Matt. ix. 16, 17. 
 
Sect. 3.] Kl.\(i STKI'UKN's CONKIRMATORY (iR.VNT. 14-7 
 
 Kiug Edgar, about 970, took t'roiu the people the right of 
 paying tithes at tlieir own discretion, and directed that they 
 should be paid in their respective parishes : his orders, however^ 
 were resisted by the monasteries or lay houses, and were not 
 cai'ried into general effect. In a s}Tiod held about the time of 
 the Conquest, several laws were made for the punishment of 
 crimes, by fasting and pecuniary penalties ; together with a 
 persuasive to give alms, and the decree, " let tithe be paid of 
 all that is possessed through the Lord's bounty." 
 
 The following extract from a confirmatory charter granted by 
 King Stephen to the priory of Eye in Suffolk, in the year 1137, 
 affords a striking specimen of the false notions under which 
 tithes were enacted : " Because, through the pro\idence of 
 Divine mercy, we know it to be ordered, and by the churches 
 publishing it far and near, it has reached the ears of all, that by 
 the in\ iuK of alms the bonds of sin raav be broken, and the 
 rewiirds of Ijcavenly joys obtained ; I, Stcplieu, by the grace of 
 God Kiug of the Englisli, desiring to partake with those who, by 
 a happy commerce, exchange heavenly things for earthly, smitten 
 with the love of God, and for the salvation of my own soul, and 
 the souls of my father and mother, and of the kings ray an- 
 cestors — viz., of King William my grandfiAthcr, ajul of King 
 William my uncle, and of King Henry my uncle, and of Robert 
 Malet — and with the advice of my Barons, do grant to God> 
 and to the churcli of the holy Peter of Eye, and to tlie monks 
 there assembled in the divine service of God." * &c., &c. 
 
 The charter concludes thus: — "Whosoever shall knowingly 
 take away, diminish or disturb any thing contained in this 
 charter, let him be, by the authority of the Lord Almighty, the 
 Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and of the holy Apostles and all 
 the Saints, excommunicated, anathematised, and separated from 
 the flock of the Lord and the limits of tlie holy church, until lie 
 shall repent and p.ay to the royal authority thirty pounds of 
 gold. So be it ! So be it ! So be it ! Amen. Amen. Amen !" 
 Signed by the bishop of Norwich, Gauston the prior of Eye, by 
 the King, Queen and Prince, by two archbishops and eight 
 bishops. This is only one out of many similar grants of tithes 
 to religious houses ; but it is said by Selden to be the largest 
 and fairest charter he had seen. 
 
 ' Pearson's Great Case of Tithes; Selden 'a Hist,, chaj.. ii. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 VARIOUS DECREES FOR TITHES. [Chap. 20, 
 
 Several things are worthy of notice in this curious specimen 
 of politico-religious dotation : — 1st, King Stephen's method of 
 giving alms, by charging the property of his subjects both then 
 and thereafter ; 2nd, his idea that by such means persons might 
 be absolved from sin ; 3rd, the imagined commerce, by which 
 heavenly things, and the salvation of his own and his ancestors' 
 souls, could be received in exchange for this exaction of his 
 people's property ; and 4th, the fulminations pronounced against 
 those who should disobey. Thus superstitious, priest-ridden 
 monarchs, misled by false notions of piety, and blinded by the 
 delusive expectation of atoning for the sins of themselves and 
 their ancestors, imposed a heavy burden on their subjects, and 
 established the unreasonable impost on future generations ! 
 
 Under Henry I. it was ordained, in a convocation at West- 
 minster, " that tithes be not rendered but to the churches;" and 
 in another grant to a monastery in the same reign, one half of 
 the tithes is specially restricted to be " distributed for the use of 
 the poor." A claim to some such partition was recognized in 
 England by many of the original grants, and was acknowledged 
 in numerous documents down to the time of the reformation.^ 
 Since then it has been very much overlooked and abandoned, the 
 tithes being wholly absorbed by the ministers and impropriators; 
 while the support of the poor and the repairs of the places of 
 worship have been thrown on the public, to be provided for by 
 distinct and heavy rates. Gratuitous duties of an educational 
 kind towards the children of the parish, are also enjoined by 
 various laws on each minister, but they appear to have been 
 little recognized till very recently.] 
 
 About 1200, among the decretal epistles of Pope Innocent III., 
 who confirmed the notion and term of transubstantiation, and 
 set up the Inquisition, one is directed to the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, commanding him to enjoin every man to pay his tem- 
 poral goods to those who ministered spiritual things to him in 
 his own parish.^ This was enforced by ecclesiastical censures, 
 and was the beginning of general parochial tithes in England ^ 
 many ancient exceptions were admitted, however, in favour of 
 religious houses and others. Canon law was long the chief 
 authority for tithes. 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol. iii. ; Selden, chap. v. 
 
 ^ Blackstone, 2, 3, 2, 2 ; Selden, chap, vii., sect. 1 ; Selden's Hist., chap. ii. 
 
Sect. 3.] HENRY Vlll.'s CONFIRMATION OF TITHES. Wj 
 
 The chief of the Englisli canou laws enjoiiiiug the piiyment of 
 tithes, both prajdial and personal, is commonly attributed to a 
 council held in London, in 1385, by the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, in the reign of llichard 11., who also continued the tithes 
 to the parishes ; but it was directed, by acts of that king and of 
 Henry IV., that in all appropriations of chui'ches, the bishop of 
 the diocese should ordain a convenient sum of money to be an- 
 nually distributed, out of the fruits and profits of every living, 
 among the poor parishioners, in aid of-their sustenance for ever ! 
 
 Thus having been gradually introduced, and at length esta- 
 blished in England, titl)cs were soon claimed by prescription, as 
 " due to God and holy church." The laws enjoining the pay- 
 ment generally take this ground, and not any civil right or 
 property possessed by the claimants. 
 
 Henry VIII., instead of removing the yoke, as might have 
 been justly expected from the Reformation, extended it to 
 the inhabitants of London, who had been hitherto in a great 
 measure exempt, and passed new laws to strengthen and enforce 
 the system : although he abolished the payment called Peter's 
 pence, wliich had subsisted with several intermissions for about 
 800 years, and all other payments to Rome. In truth, his 
 great object seems to have been, to transfer to liimself the 
 revenues and the authority which had hitherto been enjoyed 
 by the pope. The papacy had made large claims on the 
 estates and minds of the people, and he was equally desirous 
 to possess himself of the spoils. The preamble of the Act of 
 the 27th of his reign, chap. 20, " for tithes to be paid through- 
 out this realm," is as follows : — " Forasmuch as divers numbers 
 of evil-disposed persons, having no respect of their duties to 
 Almighty God, but against right and good conscience, have 
 attempted to subtract and withhold, in some places the w hole, 
 and in other i)laces great parts, of their tithes and oblations, 
 as well personal as pnedial, due unto God and holy church, 
 — for reformation of which said injuries, and for unity and peace 
 to be preserved amongst the king's subjects, our sovereign lord 
 the king, being .supreme here on earth (under God) of tlie church 
 of England, willing that the spiritual rights and duties of tliat 
 church shouhl be nuiiutaiued, hath ordained and enacted, by 
 authority of tliis present piuliament, that every of his suljjects of 
 
150 TITHES CONFIRMED AT THE REFORMATION. [Chup. 20. 
 
 this realm, according to the ecclesiastical laws and ordinances of 
 his church of England, and after the laudable usages and cus- 
 toms of the parish where he dwelleth, shall yield and pay his 
 tithes, offerings and other duties of holy church," &c. &c. 
 
 This preamble shows that the payment of tithes was then 
 objected to by "numbers of persons," also that they were 
 claimed on the ground of prescription, and of their being " due 
 to God and holy church." Although this king was undoubtedly 
 permitted to be instrumental in accomplishing much substantial 
 o-ood ; yet his avarice and his leaning to many of the abuses of 
 popery are too well known to need any comment. The refor- 
 mation which he introduced was at best but very incomplete, 
 and even from this he returned in some respects to the former 
 system during the latter years of his reign, when he became 
 so bloodthirsty, changeable and tyrannical, that his subjects 
 scarcely knew whether their lives were more endangered by the 
 profession of popish or of protestant principles. Many persons 
 had doubtless expected that the denial of various popish errors 
 would have led to the denial of the claim of tithes ; but in this 
 they were utterly disappointed, the oppressive and anti- christian 
 burthen being enforced with still heavier penalties. 
 
 In the reign of Edward VI., an act was passed for the pay- 
 ment of tithes, both prsedial and personal, under pain of treble 
 damages ; and their recovery was still limited to the extravagant 
 ecclesiastical courts : since that time personal tithes have, to a 
 great extent, been commuted or become otherwise obsolete ; 
 while prsedial tithes have been repeatedly recognized and con- 
 firmed by law ; but the penalties for non-payment have been 
 mitigated, and the proceedings for recovery rendered less expen- 
 sive. In order to save the system from destruction, it has been 
 stripped of some of its more ob\dously revolting features. 
 
 Tithes, being the tenth part of the annual increase, arising 
 from the land, from the stock, and the industry and skill of the 
 people, were either prsedial, as of corn, grass, &c. ; or mixed, as 
 wool, milk, pigs, &c. ; or personal, as of manual occupations, 
 trades, fisheries, &c. The gross produce was tithed under the 
 first two heads, and the nett profits under the last head. They 
 were also distinguished, with respect to value, into great and 
 small, rectorial and vicarial ; great tithes being on corn, &c., and 
 
Sect. 3.] RAPACITY OF TUE ECCLESIASTICS. 151 
 
 small tithes the personal and mixed. The operation of Ethelwolf's 
 grant was limited chiefly, if not solely, to praedial tithes. William 
 the Conqueror added the smaller or mixed titlies, and much 
 increased the oppression. Some of the demands for personal 
 tithe, which still subsist and are upheld on the ground of cus- 
 tom, are of au extremely unreasonable nature, particularly 
 those in some places on fisheries and on mills. 
 
 Most of our historians and jurists, who have adverted to the 
 establishment of this great impost and to other usurpations of 
 the church, describe in strong terms of censure the shameless 
 rapacity and encroachments of the ecclesiastics, who were at 
 length prevented only by stringent laws, from swallowing up the 
 greatest part of the land in the nation ! " Not content," says 
 Blackstone, " with the ample provision of tithes, which the law 
 had given to the parochial clergy, they endeavoured to grasp 
 at the land and inheritances of the kingdom ; and had not the 
 legislature withstood them, would by this time have probably 
 been masters of every foot of ground in Britain."^ The statutes 
 of mortmain and other enactments were found absolutely neces- 
 sary to restrain this insatiable avarice ! 
 
 K we turn to the continent of Europe, we find the same 
 rapacious spirit to have prevailed in many countries till it 
 received a check ; most of the popes too, who fostered it and 
 introduced the tithe system, were notorious for their ambition, 
 avarice and crimes. The history of these pontiffs, and of the 
 transactions in which they took a principal part, is highly 
 repulsive and disgusting. It is only wonderful that a system, 
 which was unknown to the earliest and purest ages of the 
 Christian chui'ch, and indebted to the intrigues of such men 
 for its origin, should have been allowed to subsist in this land, 
 with some partial modifications, to the present day ! 
 
 The evil eflects produced on the interests of true religion by 
 such endowments for upliolding cei'tain doctrines and practices, 
 and the suspicious circumstances under which they were intro- 
 duced, are surely sufHcient to excite a deep and general interest 
 on the question, in our comparatively happy land, and it cannot 
 be doubted that this will be the case, as it is fully considered, 
 and lus the light of Christian truth increases. Thus, under the 
 ' Coninientaries, iv. 8. 
 
152 PERIOD IN WHICH TITHES WERE INTRODUCED. [Chap. 20. 
 
 divine blessing, the reformation of religion will be further 
 advanced, and protestant Britain will not long remain almost 
 the only exception to the abolition of the tithe system ; but by 
 moral and constitutional means, her generally free and fair 
 institutions will be purged of the evil of a state endowed hier- 
 archy, and our beloved country will at length be freed for ever 
 from the servile yoke ! 
 
 May the nature of true, disinterested gospel ministry and 
 worship speedily become more clearly understood ; and may the 
 practical influence of Christianity, free, pure and beneficent, 
 spread universally among the nations of the earth ! 
 
 Aith Section. — Chief characteristics of the period in which Tithes 
 were introduced and established. 
 
 Whoever traces with impartiality the adoption of the tithe 
 system by professing Christians, cannot fail to be impressed with 
 the corrupt character of that long and dark period, in which it 
 first sprang up, and at length acquired a strong, general and 
 permanent hold. It was one of the products of the apostacy — 
 when superstition reigned supreme, and when ignorance debased 
 the minds of men, making them a ready prey to the covetous- 
 ness and ambition of sordid ecclesiastics. The true nature of 
 religion appears, during that long night, to have been generally 
 unknown, with some bright exceptions; and in its stead pre- 
 vailed lifeless forms, fanatical observances, unblushing covetous- 
 ness and unscrupulous hjrpocrisy. 
 
 A brief inquiry into other corrupt and strange opinions and 
 practices, which originated and became current during the 
 same ages, will sufiice to show whether or not the system under 
 consideration is fairly entitled, on account of its antiquity, to 
 possess any weight of authority in the Christian churches of 
 later and more enlightened periods. 
 
 Even in the second century, monasticism, penances and volun- 
 tary austerities began to be practised. Scriptural religion had 
 lost much ground, and prayers, off'eriugs and sacrifices for the 
 dead were introduced. Great stress was laid on the celebration 
 of what is called Easter, and violent controversy arose about the 
 proper time for observing it ; the oriental churches following 
 
Sect. 4.] THE DARK AGES. 153 
 
 the ancient Jewish period of the Passover, and the western 
 churches keeping the first day of the week next the Saviour's 
 resurrection. The Bishop of Rome excommunicated the 
 Asiatics. 
 
 In the third century, incense and frequent fasts were intro- 
 duced, ceremonies were muUiphed, exorcism Avas practised to 
 di-ive away evil spirits ; and many reH{^ous persons betook them- 
 selves to deserts and caves, where tliey used severe discipline 
 and self-torture, professing tliereby to commend themselves to 
 the ^lost High. The doctrine of purgatory was eml)i'acecl, and 
 licentious sports were encouraged in celebrating the memory 
 of the miu*tyrs ! 
 
 In the fourth centm'y, Constantine and his successors made 
 great innovations on the simple government of the church ; 
 excluding the people from any part in it, and claiming great 
 power and immunities for the ecclesiastics. Vaiious rites, super- 
 stitious and even pagan, were gradually substituted for true 
 rehgiou and genuine piety. Pilgrimages, relics, fasts, monas- 
 ticism and miracles were upheld : the celibacy of the priests 
 was enjoined; and the worship of the Christians, in many 
 places, differed very httle in appearance from tliat of the 
 heathen, both having a splendid and pompous ritual. 
 
 The fifth century was distinguished l)y odious quarrels and 
 bloody wars between the authorities of the several churches ; 
 scandalous dissensions generally prevailed, and real religion 
 became apparently almost extinct ; images were introduced ; the 
 pride and hcentiousncss of the clergy increased, and the morals 
 and principles of the people proportionately suffered; most 
 of them being devoted to superstitions and fictions. 
 
 In the sixth century, monasticism further increased ; violent 
 contests prevailed between the eastern and western churches, 
 ignorance became greater; the immoralities of the ministers or 
 clergy were notorious; gross abuses and superstitions multi- 
 plied. Hence were inculcated absurd notions concerning the 
 celebration of the mass, the worship of images and saints, the 
 fire of purgatory, and the efficacy of good works ; the principal 
 place being given to outward rites and observances for the 
 attainment of salvation, the powrr of relics to heal the diseases 
 of body and mind, and other sinnlar fancies. 
 
154 PREVALENCE OF IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION. [Chap. 20. 
 
 The ignorance, darkness and barbarism, that reigned in the 
 seventh century, were so great that they could scarcely be 
 exceeded. Ambition, avarice and hypocrisy pervaded the 
 churches ; and large estates were bequeathed to the monks and 
 other ecclesiastics, under the delusion, which was artfully incul- 
 cated, that past immoralities and crimes would thus be expiated. 
 
 In the eighth centmy, the general corruption, which had 
 before darkened and perverted the clergy, still increased ; they 
 abandoned themselves to their passions without shame or re- 
 straint, and were distinguished by their luxury, gluttony and 
 lust; the people being held in abject servility. The notion 
 of atoning for sin by endowing churches and monasteries, pro- 
 duced great accumulations of wealth to the priests ; these acts 
 being often attended with a shameful invasion of the rights of 
 private individuals and of families. 
 
 The luxury, impiety and licentiousness of most of the clergy 
 continued to be excessive in the ninth century, and were only 
 equalled by their general ignorance and superstition. The 
 arrogance and ambition of the popes led them to assume 
 unprecedented authority ; bitter controversies and quarrels 
 increased; the monastic life was held in the highest esteem; 
 ceremonies, pretended saints and relics swarmed ; the worship 
 of images became more general ; and the doctrine of transub- 
 stantiation was introduced. 
 
 In the tenth century, deplorable ignorance, barbarism and 
 confusion still prevailed ; yet not without faint gleams of light 
 in some directions. The clergy were mostly debased in super- 
 stition, darkness and immorality, and the Roman pontiffs appear 
 to have been so many monsters of guilt and infamy. The sale 
 of sacred appointments was openly practised ; the doctrines of 
 Christianity were disfigured and perverted ; divine worship being 
 loaded with additional ceremonies ; and the essence of religion 
 was deemed to consist in venerating images and saints, in dis- 
 covering and honouring relics, and in accumulating riches upon 
 the priests and monks. 
 
 In the eleventh century, the wild and superstitious crusades 
 tended to augment the wealth and power of the church : the 
 bishops of Rome assumed the title of pope or common father ; 
 Gregory VII., or Hildebrand, aimed at no less than universal 
 
Sect. 4.] DAWNING AND PROGRESS OF REFORMATION. 155 
 
 dominion, and involved Europe in confusion and bloodshed. 
 Ignorance, superstition, licentiousness, frauds, dissensionsjand 
 other enormities, prevailed in all ranks of the ecclesiastics ; and 
 celibacy being imposed upon them, concubinage was generally 
 practised ; yet a desire for knowledge, and for a reformation in 
 religion, showed itself in some countries. 
 
 In the twelfth century also, the attainment of knowledge, 
 the study of philosophy, and the conversion of the heathen ob- 
 tained a place ; but flagrant licentiousness, with gross ignorance 
 and superstition, predominated. The popes struggled violently 
 to maintain tlieir arbitrary rule : indulgences to commit sin 
 were granted and sold to raise money ; and the prevalence of 
 sophistry, mysticism and fanaticism produced strange contro- 
 versies and excesses among the various sects and orders. 
 
 A spirit of chivalry was cultivated, and the crusades still 
 continued in the thirteenth century ; other wars, crimes and 
 calamities followed, and the extravagant supremacy of the Pope 
 was maintained. Although knowledge was zealously cultivated 
 by a few, and some partial reformation was introduced into the 
 ciiurch ; yet ignorance pervaded the multitude, fanaticism and 
 superstition maintained a firm ground, transubstantiation took 
 stronger hold ; and those who denied this and other eorruj)t 
 doctrines, were barbarously persecuted by inquisitors and others. 
 
 In the fourteenth century, learning made some progress, and 
 a desire for reformation increased, amid prevailing corruption 
 and ignorance ; disgracefid dissensions and conflicts among the 
 aspirants to the papal see embroiled Europe in wars. Persecu- 
 tion also followed the "Waldenses, Lollards and other enlightened 
 people, who successively arose. 
 
 In the fifteenth century, religious light and learning advancetl 
 in spite of opi)ression. John IIuss and Jerome of Prague, two 
 zealous reformers, were put to death. The councils of Constance 
 and Florence were called to eft'ect a reformation of the church, 
 and to heal its dissensions, but in vain. Profligacy, indolence 
 and superstition still characterized the ecclesiastics; the church 
 was divided by contending popes, and the conflicts of diflerent 
 sects and parties produced great confusion and bloodshed. 
 
 In the sixteenth century, the dissatisfaction which had long 
 been secretly increasing, burst forth into open opposition to 
 
156 PREDICTIONS OF THE APOSTACY. [Chap. 20. 
 
 the despotic usurpations and gross enormities of the popes^ to 
 the superstition and crimes of the priests^ and to the general 
 darkness and corruption of the church, in morals, doctrine and 
 services. Thus arose the reformation under Luther, excited at 
 first by the open traffic in indulgences, but soon directed more 
 generally against the deep and wide-spread debasement of those, 
 who professed to be the spiritual leaders of the people. 
 
 This reformation, though commenced upwards of three cen- 
 turies ago, is still in various respects, according to the judgment 
 of many, very incomplete; nor is this surprising, when it is 
 considered that the corruptions to be removed had been accu- 
 mulating through fourteen or fifteen centuries, and had en- 
 trenched themselves deeply in the darkness, the pride and the 
 self-interest of the natural heart. 
 
 The superstitions, extravagancies and enormities which have 
 just been described, as the great features of the period when 
 the tithe system was established, are surely sufficient to excite 
 strong doubt and suspicion Avith respect to it ; and especially so, 
 when it is found to be at variance with the doctrine of the New 
 Testament, and when the corrupt character of those in whom it 
 originated, was clearly predicted by the apostles. " For I know 
 that, after my departure, shall grievous wolves enter in among 
 you not sparing the flock : also of your own selves shall men 
 arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after 
 them," 1 " And through covetousness shall they, with feigned 
 words, make merchandize of you." " The prophetic descriptions 
 of the apostacy or night of darkness, and of the coming of anti- 
 christ, are given in clear and forcible terms. " For the day (of 
 Christ) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, 
 and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who 
 opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or 
 that is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of 
 God, showing himself that he is God.'' — '^And then shall that 
 wicked be revealed," "even he whose coming is after the 
 working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, 
 and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness," ^ &c. 
 
 Protestants generally consider that these prophecies, and 
 
 ' Acts XX. 29, 30. ' 2 Peter ii. 3. 
 
 ' 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4 ; 1 Tim. iv. 1. 
 
Sect. 5.1 TITHES FIRST HELD BY POPISH PRIESTS. 157 
 
 others to the like purport, were iu great measure fulfilled, iu the 
 priestly exaltation and the perversion of the truth, which mark 
 the period just reviewed ; ^ but they have not yet been induced 
 fully to repudiate, or even" to question, many of the views and 
 practices, to which that lengthened night gave birth, and which 
 are clearly at variance with the simi)le, unsophisticated princi- 
 ples of Christianity laid down in the New Testament. 
 
 5M Section. — Founders and variotis Possessors of Tithes in 
 En (/land and IVales. 
 
 It has been shown that prorision for the poor was the prime 
 object of endowments in the Christian church, and that the system 
 of tithes under the present dispensation originated and grew up, 
 together ^vith other corrupt practices, in a rime of gross dark- 
 ness, both religious and intellectual: also that designing pontiffs, 
 covetous priests and ignorant superstitious princes were its chief 
 authors, uniting together for their own selfish ends. 
 
 It must be remembered too, for what purposes tithes and other 
 ecclesiastical claims were first imposed, and how the amount 
 continued to be applied for many hundred years : — chiefly for 
 the maintenance of popish priests, with their absurdities and 
 errors ; for purgations and exorcisms ; for the celebration of 
 the mass ; for image worship ; for prayers and dirges for the 
 dead ; for auricular confession ; for upholdin;^ the seven sacra- 
 ments, false miracles, and other erroneous and corrupt obser- 
 vances and notions ; for the putting down, punishing and 
 burning of heretics and Lollards ; for the maintenance of 
 swarms of idle, ignorant, covetous, and grossly immoral eccle- 
 siastics, in pomp, tyranny and sin ! Strange it is that, when 
 these superstirious absurdities are generally denounced, the chief 
 wages originally provided for their support should still be 
 enforced ! 
 
 When Henr}' VIII. about the year 1534-, by a reformation at 
 first almost nominal, rirtiudly installed himself as the Pope of 
 England, l)y supplanting tlie Pope of Home, instead of the titlies 
 being abolished, and the amount returned to the owners of the 
 land, or applied to general civil purposes, in consistency with 
 ' See Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies, fee. 
 
158 TITHES UNDER HENRYVIII., EDWARD VI. AND MARY. [C/tO/?. 20. 
 
 the professed desire to remedy religious abuses,3the whole con- 
 tinued to be absorbed by the clergy, by the impropriators, the 
 king and his favourites.' For about thirteen years, during the 
 remainder of his reign, they were applied, with almost equal 
 superstition, to the condemners and persecutors of those who 
 had but lately possessed them, and to the opposers of the papal 
 authority. Most of the ecclesiastics, following the king, had 
 thrown off the pope's supremacy, and embracing that of the 
 monarch, continued to hold their livings ; while some who re- 
 sisted were displaced, and others appointed in their stead. But 
 Henry so wavered to and fro in his religious professions, that 
 the safety of both parties was by turns endangered, through his 
 capricious and cruel temper ! 
 
 During the short, but brighter reign of Edward VI., the 
 tithes and other ecclesiastical property continued in the pos- 
 session of protestant episcopal ministers, the reformation in 
 doctrine made further progress, and had the king lived, greater 
 advances would probably have taken place. 
 
 The accession of Queen Mary in 1553, a period of despotic 
 royalty, at once turned the tables, and the revenues were again 
 handed over to the Catholic priests, who exercised their power 
 with almost savage fury against their late superiors. More than 
 10,000 ministers, being at least two-thirds of the whole number 
 in England, and including all who were married, were ejected 
 from their livings ! ^ 
 
 If it be asked what the tithe question has to do with these 
 enormities, the answer is obvious. It was the "loaves and 
 fishes,^' the golden remuneration, the decimal revenues, which 
 constituted underneath the principal matter of contention, 
 especially among the many worldly-minded, unprincipled and 
 covetous, who turned with the breath of royal pleasure ; while 
 the spiritual and devout, the conscientious and the simple- 
 hearted, lamented the spirit and motives with which these con- 
 tentions were conducted, and often felt their effects in dreadful 
 severities ! 
 
 After five years of bitterness and bloodshed, Elizabeth restored 
 Protestantism according to her own low apprehension of its 
 
 ' Blackstone's Commentaries, 1, 8, 4. 
 
 ^ SmoUet's History, vol. iv. ; Simpson's Plea for Eeligion. 
 
Sect. 5.] TITHES UNDER gCEEN ELIZABETH. 159 
 
 principles ; when nearly all the parochial ministers retained 
 the state endowments. Avaricions and time serving, they 
 repeatedly chanf^jed with the tide of royalty, adapting their 
 profession and practice to tlie will of the ruling sovereign. 
 Others probably judged, as Camden asserts, that they should 
 better serve the interest of the papacy by retaining their posi- 
 tions. About 290 only ai-e said to have sacrificed interest to 
 principle, and to have given up their benefices.* Most of them 
 received compensation, to the amount of one-fiftli of their former 
 incomes. Persecution was still employed, in a spirit of retalia- 
 tion for past indignities, and though there was less of popish 
 superstition, yet the reformation was very incomplete ; those 
 under the name of Puritans, who would have carried it farther, 
 were oppressed and trampled upon ; the wedge of gold and the 
 Babylonish garment still polluted the camp ; and the genuine 
 and lowly spirit of the gospel made but little real progress. 
 
 Under popery, the poor had been sharers to some extent in 
 the tithes and other ecclesiastical revenues ; but after the refor- 
 mation, when the religious houses were broken up, the indigent 
 were deprived of all part, and suffered so severely, that stringent 
 laws became necessary for their support, and against vagabond- 
 age and robber}', to which they had resorted for a maintenance. 
 The number of executions under Henry YITI., on this account, 
 is almost incredible. Thus protestantism seized the living of the 
 poor, and was even more cruel in that respect than popery ! 
 
 For eighty-eight years, through successive reigns, did the 
 Protestant episcopal ministers continue to hold the pulpits and 
 revenues; yet during all this period many religious persons, 
 whose views were more simple and spiritual, were much discon- 
 tented with the religious establishment. Royalty and hierarchy 
 made however greater encroachments, and the spirit of dissatis- 
 faction with the ecclcsiastic.ll and civil domination gradually 
 increasing, produced at length, not a peaceful, firm and consti- 
 tutional opposition, but violence, rebellion and civil war. These 
 proceedings, totally at variance with the benign and gentle 
 spirit of Christianity, were so far successful for a time, as to 
 obtain ultimately, by one step after another, the abolition of 
 
 * Simpson's Plea, Gray'» Sermons at Barapton I^ecturea, Smollett'a 
 History, vol. iv. 
 
*itr 
 
t 
 
162 INDEPENDENTS IN POSSESSION OF TITHES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 church lands appropriated to ecclesiastical titles and offices were 
 alienated and sold, and the work of further reformation was 
 seriously debated. It made, however, very slow progress, in 
 consequence of the opposition of seK-interested and prejudiced 
 parties. 
 
 When Oliver Cromwell was appointed Protector in 1653, one 
 of the articles of government to which he swore and subscribed, 
 was expressed in these words : — " That the Christian religion con- 
 tained in the scriptures be held forth and recommended, as the 
 public profession of these nations ; and that as soon as may be, 
 a provision, less subject to scruple and contention, and more cer- 
 tain than the present, be made, for the encouragement and main- 
 tenance of able and painful teachers, for instructing the people, 
 for discovery and confutation of error, heresy, and whatever is 
 contrary to sound doctrine : and that, until such provision be 
 made, the present maintenance [viz. tithes] shall not be taken 
 away or impeached." ^ By this clause, the newly established 
 preachers, being secure of the continuance of the old system, to 
 their great discredit sat down at ease, demanding tithes, and 
 prosecuting with much severity those who conscientiously de- 
 chned to pay them. Such remained the case during the power 
 of these men, who had so loudly inveighed against episcopacy 
 with its oppressions, and who therefore were culpable in a ten- 
 fold degree, for abusing that authority and influence which they 
 had acquired under pretences in a great measure vain. " Popery, 
 prelacy," &c. they excluded from toleration. 
 
 Milton, their able apologist, who had been a chief instrument 
 in promoting their cause, and who was much opposed to a 
 hierarchy under any name, complained loudly of their conduct 
 in this respect ; and in his " Considerations on the most likely 
 means to remove Hirelings out of the Church," published in 
 1659, alluded to the maintenance of " church ministers," as then 
 " under pubhc debate," thus decidedly expressing his own senti- 
 ments : — " I hate that they, who have preached out bishops, pre- 
 lates and canonists, should, in what serves their own ends, retain 
 their false opinions, their pharisaical leaven, their avarice, and 
 closely then* ambition, their plm'alities, their non-residences, their 
 odious fees ; and use their legal and popish arguments for tithes : 
 
 * See Introduction to A. Pearson's Great Case of Tithes ; Neal's Puritans, 
 vol. iv. 
 
Sect. 5.] MILTON DENOUNCES ALL STATK HIERARCHIES, 163 
 
 tliat Independents should take that name — and yet seek to be 
 dependents on the magistrate for their maintenance ; which two 
 things, independence and state-hire in religion, can never consist 
 long or certainly together ! For magistrates, at one time or 
 other, will pay none but such, whom, by their committees of ex- 
 amination, they find conformable to their interest and opinions ; 
 and hirelings will soon fr«ime themselves to that interest and 
 those opinions, which they see most pleasing to their pay- 
 masters ; and to seem right themselves, will force others as to 
 the truth." 
 
 Again he says, '"'our new reformed English Presbyterian 
 divines, against their own cited authors and to the shame of their 
 pretended reformation, would engross to themselves all tithes by 
 statute ; and, supported by their wilful obstinacy and desire of 
 filthy lucre, would persuade a Christian magistracy and parlia- 
 ment to impose upon us a judaical, ceremonial law ; and yet from 
 that law be more irregular and unwarrantable, more complying 
 with the covetous clergy, than popish kings and parliaments ! '' 
 
 Little, probably, did the illustrious author expect, when this 
 was written, that within two or three years, the unfaithful Pres- 
 byterians and Independents would be displaced, and Episcopacy 
 with the old order of things fully restored. 
 
 Charles II. being recalled to England and set on the tlirone 
 in 1660, most of what had been done in religious matters for the 
 preceding twenty years was effaced, as speedily and completely 
 as possible ; the bishops were re-established ; and the lands, 
 tithes and authority were restored to the Episcopal ministers. 
 Charles had declared to the commissioners at Breda, that " liberty 
 should be given to tender consciences, and that no man should 
 be disquieted or called in question for differences of opinion in 
 matters of religion, which should not disturb the peace of the 
 kingdom." lie also promised that all questions relating to the 
 grants, sales and titles of estates, should be determined by par- 
 liament, alluding doubtless in part to ecclesiastical lands and 
 revenues. It was not however to be expected, from the spirit 
 of retaliation which recent injuries had excited, that anything 
 woidd be left undone on the part of the Episcopalians. Accord- 
 ingly, on the passing of the Act of I'^niformity in 1662, notwith- 
 standing the inconsistencies of many, about 2,0(K) ministers, 
 chiefly Presbyterians, a considerable proportion of whom appear 
 
 >i 2 
 
 1 
 
164 EPISCOPALIAN RECEIVERS OF TITHES. [Chap. 20, 
 
 to have been pious, excellent men, preferring principle to in- 
 terest, were displaced from the pulpits on Bartholomew's day, 
 without any provision or compensation, contrary to former 
 precedents. Their sufferings were consequently great, while 
 many of their places were filled by others who disgraced their 
 profession ! Of 12,000 benefices, 3,000 or more are said at this 
 time to have been impropriate, 4,165 sinecui-es, and many of the 
 rest very ill occupied. ^ A severe persecution commenced against 
 those who dissented, and the jails were filled with Noncon- 
 formists, Friends and others ; 8,000 of them are said to have 
 perished in prison, during the following twenty-five years. The 
 reign of James II., and the revolution which followed, gave 
 increased hberty in matters of religion -, but no steps were taken 
 to remove the burthen of the tithe system, though the penalties 
 for non-payment were diminished. These have been gradually 
 softened from the time of the Commonwealth to the present, 
 being a period of about 190 years, during which the tithes have 
 remained in the hands of the same body, a relic of a dark and 
 superstitious age — to the injury, it is believed, of all parties and 
 of the interests of true religion. In a new and less obnoxious 
 mode, it is perhaps even more firmly riveted ; being invested 
 with a more secular and uniform character; but it is still 
 essentially the same, in root, in principle, and in application^ and 
 is therefore open to the same conscientious objections. 
 
 And how are the millions per annum, derived from the ancient 
 tithe system under its altered form, applied in England at the 
 present time ? Are they used as formerly for sustaining the 
 poor ? This object is provided for by a further direct charge on 
 the pubhc, nearly equal to the tithe rent-charge itself ! Are they 
 employed for another of the original purposes — to maintain the 
 houses or the services of the National worship ? These are also 
 thrown on the resources of the country, to be upheld by a dis- 
 tinct levy, though not much exceeding one-tenth of the modern 
 tithe ! Does the charge support the bishops, no less than the 
 ministers, as it did at first ? To some extent it is certainly pos- 
 sessed by them, in addition to large estates, which are generally 
 much more than sufficient of themselves, for the most honourable 
 successor of James, Peter or Mark ! Does the charge satisfy the 
 minister for officiating at marriages, burials and other individual 
 1 Neal's Puritans. 
 
Sect. 6.] PRESENT POSSESSORS OF TITHES. 1G5 
 
 services ? For each of these also lie expects a distinct fee, 
 amounting in the whole to one-tenth of the general payment ! 
 
 What, then, arc the chief existing modes of the application of 
 the tithe rent-charge ? Some part goes to maintain in moderate 
 circnmstances the parochial ministers, who reside among the 
 people, and endeavour more or less faithfully, according to their 
 own views, to instruct and edify them. Another, and perhaps 
 the largest part, is possessed by other resident ministers who live 
 in ease, luxury and worldly-mi ndedn ess, performing what are 
 termed the rcgidar duties, but either neglecting the private ones, 
 or devolving as much as may be on a laborious and ill-paid curate ! 
 Another, and no inconsiderable part, goes to support men who 
 live at a distance, where convenience, interest or pleasure calls 
 them — Mho hold the ministerial appointment over several 
 parishes at once, but who care for the fleece and its exchange- 
 able value more than for the flock, and rarely pay them a visit ! 
 Only a small part comparatively falls into the hands of faithful 
 hard-working men, who serve their richer brethren as curates. 
 A very considerable proportion has been gradually acquired by 
 the nobility of the land, by private families or individuals having 
 no connection with the church, by its chief dignitaries the arch- 
 bishops or bishops, by universities or colleges, by deans or pre- 
 bends of cathedrals. An extremely small portion is applied by 
 such holders towards the spiritual instruction of the actual con- 
 tributors, or the poor of their parishes ! Thus selfish motives 
 have gradually been allowed to operate, ecclesiastics have, it must 
 be candidly acknowledged, assumed the name and the property 
 of the church ; and covetousness, having laid its rapacious 
 hand on endowments for sacred piirposes, has converted them 
 into means for secularising and perverting that holy religion, 
 which they were injudiciously designed to establish. 
 
 6th Section. — Other considerations and circumstances relating to 
 Ecclesiastical Tithes and Tithe Rent-charge. 
 
 It has already been shown that no authority for the exaction 
 of tithes is derived from the example or commands of Christ and 
 his apostles ; but it may be well to consider the subject further 
 in its practical bearings, and under different points of view. 
 
 1st. Jewish example and ancient institution afford no claim 
 for tithes or tithe rent-charge, payable to ministers alone. 
 
166 JEWISH EXAMPLE AND EQUITY. [Chap. 20. 
 
 If we could suppose for a moment that a right to demand 
 and to receive tithes exists under the gospel, as in the legal dis- 
 pensation, still they would not, by analogy, or Jewish example, 
 be chiefly due to ministers of religion. On the contrary, they 
 would be applicable to religious purposes generally; to the 
 universal church, to the relief of the poor, and to other reli- 
 gious and benevolent objects ; while a tenth of the tithes, or a 
 hundredth part only of the increase of the land, would probably 
 be the proportion of the ministers. According to this view of 
 the subject therefore, and having regard to the original appro- 
 priation of tithes in England for several purposes, how great is the 
 invasion of public and private right, when the ministers, though 
 professing to be reformed from the evils of papacy, deprive 
 the indigent of the patrimony which they formerly enjoyed, 
 assume to themselves the whole tenth, and tlirow upon the com- 
 munity additional charges for special religious services, for the 
 support of the bishops, of the poor, of the places of worship, of 
 labours for the conversion of the heathen, for the education of the 
 young, and for numberless other religious and charitable objects ! 
 
 In the same text of Scripture, where God commands the 
 tenth to be given to the Levites, he also commands that they 
 shall not possess land or real estates, and that they shall content 
 themselves with the tithes only. If therefore the people are 
 obliged by this command to pay tithes, the ministers are under 
 the same obligation to take no possessions of inheritance.^ 
 
 2nd. Want of equity in the demands made on many of the 
 payers. 
 
 The Apostle Paul said, " Let him that is taught in the word 
 commimicate unto him that teacheth in all good things;"^ 
 and it is evident that the scriptural and equitable principle 
 is, that they to whom spiritual things are ministered, should, 
 when needful, supply carnal or outward things. Therefore to 
 demand these of all — many of whom cannot conscientiously 
 accept the ministry — has no foundation in either scripture, 
 justice or reason ! On the contrary the injustice is palpable, 
 when it is considered that the tithe rent-charge is possessed 
 bv one denomination, to the exclusion of all the rest ; who con- 
 stitute probably one-half of the population in England, and 
 
 ' P. Sarpi on Benefices, cliap, 21 ; Numbers xviii. ; Deut. xviii. 
 ^ Gal. vi. 6. 
 
Sect. 6.] NATURE OF ORIGINAL GRANTS OF TITHES. 167 
 
 live-sixths of it in Ireland ; and who iire thus compelled to 
 support doctrines and services, to which they feel religious 
 objections. This surely is in direct opposition to the memorable 
 command of our Lord, " "Whatsoever ye would that men should 
 do to you, do ye to them likewise." Would that this first 
 principle of Christian morals were fairly applied ! 
 
 3rd. The original grants of tithes, whether free or compulsory. 
 
 Some have alleged that the various owners of land throughout 
 the countrv' spontaneously dedicated the tithe, or tenth part of 
 the produce, to religious purposes for ever. This however, 
 though true in certain instances, is not generally consistent with 
 the evidence of history. The language of some of the royal 
 grants or enactments, and the statements of contemporary 
 writers, prove that large numbers contributed very unwillingly ; 
 and that they were compelled to pay, in some cases by violence, 
 and in others by threats of punishment, human and divine, for 
 disobedience. In fact, so averse were many of the people to 
 the imposition, that they resisted it in certain countries for very 
 long periods, and were only brought to submission in the end, 
 by the united efforts of the civil and ecclesiastical powers.^ 
 
 The monarchs, urged on by the bishops and priests, imposed 
 the payment of tithes on the people, as has been before re- 
 marked, under the plea of their recci\'ing in return essential reli- 
 gious services ; while at times the parliaments enforced the impost 
 by their sanction. The difference in this respect is not material. 
 Early history is full of complaints against the oppressions prac- 
 tised in ecclesiastical affairs. The governing authorities have 
 overstepped their proper limits, by the enforcement of general 
 and perpetual tithes for sectarian objects, thus invading the 
 rights of conscience and the divine prerogative ! 
 
 4th. No right vested in the ancient owners to impose such a 
 charge on their posterity. 
 
 It lias been said that the owners had as much right to give 
 the tithes for ever, as they had to give their estates for ever. 
 That they did not generally give the titlies willingly, has l)ecn 
 already shown. But they had an acknowledged and perfect 
 right to give their estates of their own free will, for any purpose 
 wliicli they conscientiously approved ; provided they did not 
 tlicreby injure, in purse or conscience, the just claims of their 
 ' Seldcn, 6, 4 ; Krantzs History ; Neander\s History, iii. 1. 
 
168 PERSONAL TITHES MOSTLY ABOLISHED. \Chap. 20. 
 
 families^ their friends or the public. The establishment of 
 tithes however was very different, because in such a grant 
 they actually disposed of a portion of the labour, skill and 
 capital of their descendants. Had they chosen to give the 
 whole land, or a tenth of the land, they might doubtless have 
 done so, with the provision already mentioned. The alienation 
 would then have been complete; their successors would not 
 have been parties, nor burthened in conscience. But the tenth 
 of the land would not have satisfied the tithe-claimant; the 
 successive nominal owners must cultivate it for him, with their 
 industry, skill and capital; they must manure, sow and reap 
 it ; they must pay the rates and taxes, stock it with cattle, incur 
 the risk of failures and losses ; and yield annually, to him and 
 to his assigns, the whole produce of the tenth or an equivalent 
 in money. All this makes every successive landowner a party 
 in the matter, and compels him to uphold an object of which he 
 may entirely disapprove. Had it been a tenth of the profits 
 only, the wrong, though still existing, would have been less than 
 when a tenth of the gross produce is claimed. In truth, the 
 imposition is so oppressive in its bearing, so unjust in its 
 character, and so inconsistent with the privileges of conscience, 
 that it is evident no landowner has a natural and just right to 
 enforce it on future generations ; thus making them upholders 
 of his own religious opinions, and depriving them, not only of 
 the free exercise of individual judgment and conscience, but 
 also of the legitimate fruits of their skill and industry ! 
 
 5th. Personal tithes, with some exceptions, long since gene- 
 rally abolished, and the charge confined chiefly to the land and 
 its cultivation. 
 
 Tithes in the old popish church were personal as well as 
 prsedial. Trade and employments had to contribute besides 
 agriculture ; the merchant and the menial servant, as well as 
 the cultivator of the soil. Now, and for ages past, the burden 
 on country districts having been in some measure shifted, and 
 by degrees contracted in its bearing, rests almost wholly on the 
 land, which supplies the food of man, and which therefore 
 ought to be free from charges, in order to be able to furnish that 
 food to all as cheaply as possible. This is especially due, seeing 
 that most other countries have thrown off the oppressive impost, 
 and that they possess therefore a great advantage over the 
 
Sect. 6.] CAUSES OF LANDS BEING TITIIt; FREE. HV.) 
 
 burdened agriculture of Britain. Personal tithes have been gene- 
 rally abolished ; an application of equal measures must abolish 
 the prsedial also, under whatever change of name they now exist. ^ 
 
 Gth. Tithe-free lands. 
 
 Large portions of land in England have become free from 
 demands for tithe rent-charge, through the operation of various 
 causes. 
 
 When estates or manors belong to ecclesiastical bodies or 
 offices, to colleges or universities, tithe rent-charge is rarely pay- 
 able to other parties. Thus the lands of deans and chapters, 
 of archbishoprics, bishoprics, &c. are generally exempt from 
 all such claim. Some lands are also tithe-free by ancient pre- 
 scription, and others by the custom of paying a small modus. 
 
 In some cases, when common lands have been enclosed and 
 cultivated, a certain piece of land has been allotted to the min- 
 ister of the parish by special agreement or act of parliament, in 
 hen of tithes or tithe rent-charge on the whole, the rest being 
 exempted from the liability. By the general Tithe commuta- 
 tion Act, power was given, with certain limitations, to indi\i- 
 duals and to parishes to make an arrangement of this sort with 
 the tithe-claimant, and the power has been acted on in many cases. 
 When proprietors of land have purchased the tithes of lay-impro- 
 priators, such tithes have generally been merged in the freehold, 
 or in another word extinguished ; the lands being thus rendered, 
 at a cost of ten, twelve, or more years' value of the tithe, free 
 from all such claim in future. 
 
 In these eases, occupiers or purchasers, not being liable to the 
 burden to which other lands are subject, naturally consent to 
 
 ' Both the adventurers and the poor men engaged in tlie fishery, in some 
 places on tlie coast of Cornwall, are compelled to pay tithe whenever the 
 boats are put out, whether any fi.sh are taken or not. One-twelftli of the 
 profits or wages is claimed in some porta, in others a certain sum is de- 
 manded annually. Of course this tithe has not been commuted : if it had 
 been, the rent-charge must have been laid on the ocean instea<l of the 
 land. The payments to the vicar in an individual parish amounted, on one 
 occasion, to the large sum of £(500. Many expensive attempt.^ liave l)een 
 made to resist this unreasonable <lemand in courts of law, but liitherto in 
 vain, ancient custom, and not equity* being successfully pleaded in its 
 favour ; yet cu.<?tom in the opposite direction is of little avail. The Bi.shop 
 of Exetor, in the time of Edward I., received tithes of the stannaries or 
 mines of Coniwall, as well as of large ti.sh ; — and a small annual sum is 
 still paid to the Bishop by the Duchy. 
 
170 ALLEGED ALLOWANCES FOR TITHES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 pay higher amounts in the shape of rent or purchase money^ 
 just as they would do in cases of exemption from any other 
 disadvantage or impost. 
 
 7th, Allowance alleged to be obtained in the purchase or 
 rental of estates, no sufficient reason for paying the tithe rent- 
 charge. 
 
 It is pleaded, with respect to tithes, that every purchaser of 
 an estate knew and calculated the claim when he bought the 
 land, and obtained it for a price proportionately less on that 
 account ; and that therefore he is justly bound to satisfy the 
 demand. To this it may be replied, that if an estate when 
 purchased were subject to a claim of a still more objectionable 
 nature, as for the upholding of Mahomedan or idolatrous 
 worship, the purchaser, knowing of its existence, would, by the 
 same argument, be justly liable to pay it, however contrary to 
 his conscientious views as a Christian. As such however he 
 could not do so. In buying the land, he would resolve to 
 shake off every objectionable claim as speedily as possible ; and 
 duty assuredly leads him, if a dissenter, to do so in the former 
 case ; to refuse the payment, and to submit to the penalty or 
 loss arising from his refusal ; at the same time to endeavour, 
 in a Christian spirit, to obtain liberation from the impost, by 
 promoting an alteration of the law. 
 
 But the truth is that every purchaser buys as cheaply as he 
 can, and obtains the largest allowance he can for all the dis- 
 advantages, of whatever nature they may be, attending the article 
 bought. It would be a grievous oppression, for the government of 
 a country to prevent any man from purchasing the natural soil, 
 except on conditions opposed to the just rights of conscience. 
 
 The same arguments apply to the farmer who takes an estate, 
 knowing it to be subject to the tithe rent-charge. He endeavours 
 to obtain it at the lowest annual sum, taking into view all 
 the incommodities and claims upon it. If (without intending 
 any invidious comparison) one of these were known to be the 
 frequent invasion of a band of robbers, he would not, on the 
 ground of that knowledge, be equitably bound to submit to them : 
 neither is he bound, it is conceived, to admit the less flagrant 
 demand of the tithe claimant, though sanctioned by the law of 
 the land. 
 
 8th. Projrressive increase of tithe claims. 
 
Sect. 6.J LEGAL CLAIM ANU INCREASE OF TITHES. 171 
 
 In numberless instances, the present owners of estates have 
 inherited them from their ancestors, sometimes from remote 
 periods, and during this time advances have often been made in 
 the demands for tithes; the amount claimed, which was origi- 
 nally trilling, being gradually swollen, by repeated encroach- 
 ments, to a very considerable sura ; and the increase of the tithes 
 being far greater than that in the prices of the produce. The 
 value of livings generally is said to have increased in the pro- 
 portion of from one to ten,^ between the time of the Reforma- 
 tion and 1793, and the increase since must have been very 
 large. Thus therefore, to the extent at least of that increase, 
 the landowner or tenant has been in the position of a person 
 exposed for the first time to such an objectionable claim. The 
 returns to the circular inquiries of the British Board of Agricul- 
 ture, make the whole average tithe per acre, in 1 790, 4s. O^d. ; 
 in 1803, 5s. 3}d,; and in 1813, 7s. 9.jd. It frequently amounts 
 to one-fifth, one-fourth, and sometimes even to one-third, of the 
 rent paid to the landlord ! 
 
 9th. Comparative weight of the legal claim for tithe rent- 
 charge. 
 
 The mere law of the land will not surely be a valid plea, or a 
 sufficient ground for the claim to most Christians ; since, as the 
 authority of the law is merely that of man, and as matters of 
 conscience, of which this is one, do not come within his proper 
 province, tlie autliority of the Lord of the conscience will be 
 generally allowed to be much greater, and more entitled to obe- 
 dience. The Cliristian will feel bound however in such cases, 
 though a dissenter, to yield a passive submission to the laws 
 of his country, by bearing their consequences ; but to testify 
 against them and endeavour to procure their repeal, yet always 
 by moral, temperate and constitutional means alone ; w hen, as 
 he believes, human laws are opposed to a higher law, and wlicn 
 therefore he cannot actively comply with them. 
 
 10th. Alleged right of property in ecclesiastical tithe rent- 
 charge. 
 
 Some contend that the ministers of the several parishes, (or 
 
 rather it should be said, the patrons who arc often different) 
 
 have bought the livings or benefices, giving the claim to tithe 
 
 rent-charge; and that therefore it ought to be paid, as being their 
 
 ' Rees' Cyi'lopwdia, — Article, Church. 
 
172 TITHES CLAIMED AS PROPERTY: PATRONS. [ChttJ). 20. 
 
 due and legal property. The old maxim however is, " Let the 
 buyer beware ! '' Let him who would buy, or who holds such pro- 
 perty, remember that there are very many who do not recognize 
 the right, and that the law itself is accompanied with restrictions, 
 which show the dubious and questionable nature of the claim. 
 Human law may indeed create various kinds of property, which 
 the divine law does not sanction ; but to this last must be our 
 ultimate appeal. In some of the United States of America, man 
 has acquired by law a property in the persons of some of his 
 fellow-men, in opposition to the laws of God. In Britain, the 
 law gives to one class of men a property in the produce of other 
 men^s exertions and capital, for services which some of them 
 cannot accept ; the claim is therefore by nature invalid ? 
 neither of these kinds of property can be conscientiously re- 
 cognized as founded in justice or equity. On the contrary, both 
 are manifestly at variance with those great natural principles 
 of right to the fruits of his own honest personal exertions, which 
 every man is at liberty to vindicate as a member of civil society, 
 and still more so as belonging to an enlightened Christian 
 community. 
 
 11th. Patrons of livings or benefices. 
 
 This class of persons, though occupying a most important 
 and responsible position in the Anglican church, as well as in 
 some foreign churches, is apt to be overlooked, probably because 
 their powers are but rarely called into exercise. The benefice 
 of every parish has its proprietor in reversion, termed its patron ; 
 and on the death of the incumbent minister, whose duty it has 
 been to officiate as the parson of the parish, another is appointed 
 or nominated, not now as formerly by the people, who in a 
 religious sense are chiefliy concerned, but by the patron alone, 
 subject to confirmation by the bishop. The patron may have 
 obtained the power by inheritance, by purchase, or by other 
 modes of transfer ; and he may transmit it to others in the 
 same manner. The law against simony prohibits him from 
 selling it when the benefice is vacant, but before it become so, 
 or while held in reversion, he may dispose of the patronage like 
 other freehold property. The crown claims the right of patron- 
 age in a large number of livings, the archbishops and bishops 
 in others, and rehgious or secular bodies in others, but in the 
 great majority it is held by private indiriduals. The officiating 
 
Sect. 6.] VARIOUS CLAIMANTS: SIMONY. 173 
 
 ministers themselves iire often the patrons, liaving purchased 
 the livings when in the possession of former incumbents. 
 
 The old rotten system of borough patronage, subversive of 
 the political constitution of the country, has fallen before the 
 increasing light of the age : and shall tliis system of ecclesiastical 
 patronage, which invades interests of a far more sacred character, 
 be suffered much longer to diffuse its baneful influence? This 
 subject will be more fully examined in Chapter 21, "On 
 Ecclesiastical Patronage." 
 
 12th. Various ecclesiastical officers or claimants of tithe rent- 
 charge. 
 
 Every parochial place of worship in England is dedicated 
 to some pretended " patron saint ! " Connected with many 
 parishes, there are, 1st. The patron of the living -described 
 under the last head, being either an individual or a corporate 
 body, lay or ecclesiastical, and claiming the right to nominate 
 the minister. 2nd. The impropriator, or lay-claimant of the 
 great tithe rent-charge, being also either an individual or a 
 corporation. 3rd. The farmer or lessee, for years or for lives, of 
 the great tithe rent-charge imder the party No. 2. 4th. The 
 >'icar, claiming the small tithe rent-charge, and officiating as 
 minister of the parish. If however there is no impropriator, 
 the minister of the parish is termed a rector, and receives all 
 the tithe rent-charge, both great and small. 5th. The curate 
 or curates assisting the minister, or acting for him if he is 
 unequal to perform the services. Beside these is the parish 
 clerk in ever)' parish. 
 
 13th. Nice distinctions of the English law respecting simony, 
 or the purchase of the ministerial office and emoluments. 
 
 Judge Blackstone says, that simony is the corrupt presenta- 
 tion of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice, for money, gifts or 
 reward ; being so called from the resemblance it is said to bear 
 to the sin of Simon Magus ; though he thinks that the purchase 
 of holy orders (viz., from the bishop) approaches nearer to that 
 offence. A living or benefice procured by such means is for- 
 feited on that occasion to the crown. By tlie canon law it is 
 treated as a great crime, and being always accompanied with 
 perjun*', is so much tlie more heinous ; every presentee being 
 solemnly sworn to have " made no simonijical contract, pay- 
 ment or promise, directly or indirectly, by himself or any 
 
174 LEGAL DEFINITIONS OF SIMONY. [Chap. 20. 
 
 other, to his knowledge or with his consent/' ^ &c. But ecclesi- 
 astical corruption has devised many subterfuges and evasions, to 
 render such appointments a transferable property, and their 
 purchase and sale a safe and an easy business, so that the 
 instances are very notorious, in defiance of great Christian 
 principles, and Acts of Parliament. 
 
 These Acts, it appears, are rarely if ever enforced, but 
 Blackstone asserts that modern prevailing usage calls aloud for 
 putting them in execution. In 1699 Dr. Watson, bishop of 
 " St. David's," was deprived of his see for simony, which he 
 carried on unblushingly to a large extent. Other instances of 
 the same kind have occurred; the offence being the sale of 
 what are termed holy orders, and not of advowsons. But cases 
 of the latter sort have also taken place, in open contravention 
 of the law. 
 
 The following practices are regarded by the English law as 
 simony.^ For any one to purchase a presentation when the 
 living has actually become vacant ; for a clerk to bargain for 
 the next presentation to a benefice for himself, the incumbent 
 being sick and about to die ; for him to purchase one, either 
 in his own name or in another's, and to be thereupon presented. 
 And also the procuring a benefice, by agreeing to cede to the 
 patron some of the rights belonging to it. On the other hand, 
 the following are deemed by the law not to be cases of simony; 
 1st, the purchase of a presentation by a father on behalf of his 
 son ; 2nd, the purchase by a clerk for himself in perpetuity, 
 when not vacant ; 3rd, a bond to pay money for charitable uses 
 on receiving a presentation ; 4th, a bond to resign in case of 
 non-residence, or, on taking another living ; or when the patron's 
 son shall attain canonical age, or twenty-three years. These 
 nice distinctions clearly show that the legislature has entertained 
 considerable doubt of the propriety of sanctioning such transac- 
 tions, and making them matters of pecuniary bargain ; and that 
 it had to contend with a mercenary, trading spirit in ministers 
 of the established church, which required to be closely watched 
 and restricted. How far success has attended these restrictions 
 is another question ! 
 
 To allow the sacred office of the ministry and the care of im- 
 mortal souls to be thus bought and sold as a species of property, 
 ' See 40th Canon of Anglican Church. - See Blackstone and Paley. 
 
Sect. G.] TITLKS OF LAND AND OF TITHES. 17."! 
 
 is, it must be confessed, greatly to degrade the high spiritual 
 calling ; and, notwithstanding all the excuses of common usage 
 and polite phraseology, virtually to assimilate it to the attempts 
 of Simon of old. That a pm-chase in I'cvcrsion should be per- 
 fectly justifiable, while a purchase in immediate possession is 
 a transgression of the law of Christ, is a distinction in judg- 
 ment that carries no conviction to the simple, unprejudiced 
 mind. The present inefficient laws against simony seem intended 
 rather to preserve appearances by a show of disapprobation, than 
 to abolish the actual buying and selling. 
 
 14th. Titles to land objectionable in many respects, as well as 
 to tithes. 
 
 It is sometime alleged that the original titles of land are in 
 many cases very dubious and questionable, as well as the origin 
 of tithes ; that neither the one nor the other will bear very close 
 investigation ; and that what we have now to deal with is the 
 present o\^^lership and application. This comparison, however, 
 is founded on a superficial new of the facts. With respect to 
 land, there is in general no ancient adverse claimant, nor any 
 other claimant that can be traced beside the party in possession ; 
 if there be, any question of disputed title may be fairly settled 
 by legal tribunals. But in relation to tithe rent-charges, the case 
 is widely difl'erent, since the patron has not as such, or ought 
 not to have, any civil interest ; and another natural claimant 
 exists, being the present landowner, who is the representative of 
 the original owner and is generally known. The tithe receiver 
 is at most only a lessee and is also liable to be dispossessed, 
 according to former precedents, whenever the state may think fit. 
 
 15th. Tithes, or ecclesiastical tithe rent-charge, asserted to be 
 public property. 
 
 Again it is contended that, although the tithes originally be- 
 longed to the landowner, yet in consqucnce of their imme- 
 morial severance and long ahenation from him, he has now no 
 right to them ; and that they are manifestly the property of the 
 state. Doubtless the state has assumed a claim to them, and to 
 deal with them as it thinks fit : and though the amount has been 
 subtracted from the owners of the soil, yet if the rent-charge were 
 applied to general purposes of indisputable benefit, of which 
 they could fully approve, none coidd fairly refuse to pay the 
 demand. While, however, the application to sectarian purix)ses 
 
176 CHURCH DEMANDS AND STATE TAXES. [CA«J9. 20. 
 
 is retained, those who conscientiously object to it will not be- 
 come reconciled to the payment, whether it be considered 
 public or private ecclesiastical property. 
 
 16th. Distinction between the nature of ecclesiastical tithe 
 rent-charge, and that of payments to the state. 
 
 For the payment of direct taxes to the government, or of rates 
 for local purposes of a civil or strictly charitable nature, which 
 are " things that are Caesar's," although some of those pur- 
 poses may not be free from objection, all the payers receive a 
 return, in the protection of person and property, in the main- 
 tenance of order, and in the promotion of the general welfare 
 and comfort of the people ; such payments are justified by the 
 example of our Lord himself. But for forced contributions to 
 uphold certain ministers, tenets and forms of religion, all those 
 who conscientiously disapprove of the character of these parti- 
 cular purposes receive no return whatever. Being of " the 
 things that are God's," in which no man has a right to interfere, 
 great injustice is inflicted on dissentients. This would have 
 been more palpable, as before remarked, had the payments been 
 exacted for the support of Mahomedanism, or heathen idolatry ; 
 but there is a violation of principle in each case, and the diflfe- 
 rence is only in the degree. 
 
 Between claims for the direct ecclesiastical purposes of a few, 
 and claims by the state for the general civil purposes of all, 
 there is a marked distinction. The command to " render to 
 Csesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that 
 are God's," will, it is believed, justify and require the conscien- 
 tious dissenter to withhold compliance from demands which 
 he believes to infringe on the divine law, while he will also feel 
 bound to uphold the authority of Caesar in its legitimate province. 
 
 17th. Distinction between the nature of ecclesiastical tithe 
 rent-charge, and that of rent for land to an ecclesiastical body or 
 person. 
 
 Very slight reflection is suflicient to show that between these 
 two demands there is a broad and clear distinction. The dis- 
 senter who pays the rent has the use of the land, as a fair and 
 equitable consideration for his money, just in the same manner as 
 if the land belonged to a private person : but for the ecclesiastical 
 tithe or tithe rent-charge he can have no return whatever, with- 
 out a violation of his conscience. When made upon him, there- 
 
Sec(.7.] oKKiiN Of iMi'Koi'ui am: riTMi's. 177 
 
 fore it may be prououneed to be an uureasonable and unjust 
 demand. 
 
 18th. Application of state-provision to ministers of all religious 
 persuasions decidedly objectionable. 
 
 If the tithe rent-charge could possibly be didded in fair pro- 
 portions between all the relij^ious denominations, there would still 
 be ground of^very serious objections. The false system of state 
 endowments for religious purposes would remain, and even be 
 established on a more specious and a broader basis ; jealousies 
 and contentions would be fostered ; the principle of a hireling 
 ministry would continue ; the compulsory payments would be at 
 variance with the gratuitous nature of the gospel ; the call to 
 ministerial appointments would be more extensively venal ; the 
 conscience would be burdened with the apprehension of support- 
 ing error ; religion and its ministers in many sections would 
 sutler, through the tendency to induce a self-exalting and tem- 
 porizing character; and there would follow a yet more general 
 alienation of the profession of Christianity, from the simple, 
 sincere principle of the Messiah's spiritual kingdom. 
 
 7t/i Section. — On i/npropriate Til hen, is'C. 
 
 All tithes or tithe rent-charge are, as is avcH known, either 
 ecclesiastical, impropriate (or lay), or api)ropriatc. The tenu 
 impropriation is used, when an ecclesiastical benefice is (impro- 
 prie or improperly) in the hands of a layman ; and api)ropriation, 
 when the living is appropriated to a bishop, college or religious 
 house : though sometimes they are confounded, or the former 
 class arc called lay appropriations. 
 
 The monastic orders at a very early period .succeeded, by 
 various contrivances, and especially by alleging the claims of 
 the poor, in obtaining possession of a great number of advow- 
 sons, benefices or livings, tor the sake of the tithes, undertaking 
 to provide for the discharge of the parochial duties. They also 
 repaired the buildings for public worship, and in many instances 
 paid annual acknowledgments or fees, to bishops and other 
 ecclesiastical officers. " Thus," says Blackstone, " these appro- 
 priations became annexed to bishoprics, prrl)ends, religious 
 houses, nay even to nunneries and certain military ordei's, all 
 
178 DISPOSAL OF MONASTIC FUNDS. [Chap. 20. 
 
 of which were deemed spiritual corporations." Such bodies 
 deputed one of their own number, as curate, deputy or vicar, to 
 perform divine service, &c., his stipend being at their discretion. 
 The appropriator was bound to find somebody ; but this, through 
 the indolence and irregularities of the monks and abbots, was 
 often done in so scandalous a manner, and the parishes, as 
 Blackstone states, suffered so much by neglect, that the legis- 
 lature was forced repeatedly to interpose. It was enacted, in the 
 reign of Richard II., about the year 1392, that in all appropri- 
 ations the vicarage should be sufficiently endowed; and also 
 that the bishop should ordain a competent sum, to be distributed 
 annually among the poor parishioners, in compliance with the 
 original principle.^ 
 
 The system of impropriations, or rather appropriations, is said 
 to have begun with William the Conqueror, and to have extended 
 within three centuries to more than a third of the benefices in 
 England, and those the richest. By the time of the Reforma- 
 tion, another third was added, and many of the parishes were 
 left altogether unserved, the monks and friars, and not laymen, 
 being the chief holders.- Camden gives the number cf appro- 
 priations as 3845, out of 9284 parishes in the reign of James I. 
 
 It had been expected that Henry A^III., when he suppressed the 
 monastic institutions and withdrew the corporate capacity from 
 the regular orders, would restore the tithes to the parochial 
 ministers, or appropriate the whole revenues to other religious 
 objects as he had promised to do. Their li^-ings would, by law, 
 have become disappropriated, had he not, by a clause in the 
 Act, secured them to himself. " This,^' says Blackstone, using 
 very mild terms, " though perhaps scarcely defensible, was 
 not without example ; for the same had been done in former 
 reigns, when the alien priories, or those occupied by foreigners, 
 were dissolved and given to the crown. From these two roots 
 have sprung all the lay appropriations or secular parsonages, 
 whose tithes are generally termed " impropriate," they having 
 been granted or sold from time to time to private individuals."^ 
 
 Hence it appears that all tithes, whether ecclesiastical or not ; 
 whether claimed by a rector, bishop, religious house, college, 
 
 ' Commentaries, i. 2 — 5, &c. - Blunt's Eeformation. 
 
 ^ Commentaries, i. 11 — 5. 
 
r 
 
 Sect. 7.] ECCLESIASTICAI. 1)1 TIES TRANSKKKlUn) WITH TITMKS, 170 
 
 officer of state, or secular individual, had tiie same origin ; the 
 difference consisting chiefly in the variety of the parties claim- 
 ing them. All possessed a sort of spiritufil character, and could 
 not, without a distinct transfer, pass with the land or merge 
 into it. To some extent, but varying in degre in diff'erent 
 parishes, this spiritual character still subsists in all the tithe- 
 rent-charge. The tithes of most of the monasteries having been 
 charged with some ecclesiastical services or stipends, the same 
 conditions were generally retained in the disposal of them to 
 private individuals or public bodies. Such are the repair of the 
 chancel, the appointment and pay of a perpetual ciu'ate, the 
 contribution to a \icar,^ &c. 
 
 ]\Iany of the setjuestered livings were applied by the king to 
 liis own purposes, or bestowed on his favourites ; while others 
 were sold to the nobles and gentry at easy prices, and the pro- 
 ceeds employed wholly or in part to extend the Episcopal esta- 
 blishment, by founding six new bishoprics, establishing deans 
 and chapters in eight other sees, and augmenting the colleges 
 and professorships at Oxford and Cambridge. These bishoprics 
 were AVcstminstor,- Oxford, Peterljorough, Bristol, Chester, 
 and Gloucester. 
 
 A few lay-impropriators have, at different periods, renounced 
 their claims gratuitously in favour of ecclesiastical objects, and 
 others have done the same on receiving compensation. 
 
 The report of the commissioners presented to Parliament in 
 1835 enumerates the following "Appropriations and Impropria- 
 tions in England and Wales :" — 
 
 88 benefices possessed by the Crown. 
 
 385 by archbishops and bishops. 
 
 702 by deans and chapters, or ecclesiastical corporations 
 aggregate. 
 
 438 by dignitaries and other ecclesia-stical corjjorations sole. 
 
 15G3 over, 
 
 ' Of thirty-one lay impropriations in Cumberland, two are charged witli 
 sniull payments to the Viishop, seven to vicars for perpetual curate.^, three 
 are unknown, and nineteen appear to be free from any ecclesiastical obli- 
 gation except the repair of the chancel.— /fiVAarcfcrow on Jmpropri4it« 
 Tithes. 
 
 * Westminster was converted by Queen Elizabeth into a deanry. 
 
 V *> 
 
180 TITHE-COMMUTATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES. \Cliap. 20. 
 
 1563 brought forward. 
 
 281 by universities, colleges and hospitals. 
 2552 by private persons (lay or ecclesiastical.) 
 43 by municipal corporations. 
 121 \dcarages partly endowed with great tithes. 
 132 vicarages wholly endowed with great tithes. 
 
 4692 
 
 These returns were apparently incomplete. Gregory, in his 
 Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, stated that there were then 
 3845 impropriations in England alone. 
 
 8^A Section — Commutation of Tithes in England, Wales and 
 Ireland, into Tithe rent-charge. 
 
 The details of this measure, which, though very important, are 
 often misunderstood, will, it is believed, be found correctly 
 described as follows. 
 
 The commutation enacted by Parliamenti for England and 
 Wales in 1836, has made a great change in the tithe system, 
 abolishing the payment of tithes, and substituting for them an 
 annual tithe rent-charge, to be paid in money by the owner of 
 the land, to those parties who had heretofore received the tithes 
 from the occupier. The act does not extend to tithes of fisheries, 
 mills or minerals ; to other personal tithes, to Easter offerings, 
 mortuaries, surplice fees, or money payments, except by mutual 
 agreement. The city of London, and rates in other cities or 
 large towns, are also excluded from the operation of the act. 
 
 The tithe rent-charge especially differs from tithes in being, 
 with two or three exceptions, equally payable, whether the land 
 be cultivated with one crop or another, or whether it be left 
 wholly without cultivation : and therefore it does not depend on 
 the amount of produce. The impost is laid on the landlord, not 
 on the tenant ; and is recoverable, not like tithes, by being taken 
 in kind, but like rent, by distress. The amount of tithe rent- 
 charge for each parish was calculated, according to the average 
 tithe payments of the seven years preceding 1836, with liberty 
 to the commissioners in fixing it, to increase or diminish the 
 amount by one-fifth or less, at their discretion. The whole tithe 
 ' 6 and 7 William IV., cap. 71. 
 
Sect. 8.] TiTHE-c().\i.\irTAri(>N iv irkkand. 181 
 
 rcnt-cluirgc payable lor each parish' was then apportiuuecl ou the 
 several estates, and even in many parts on every field, according 
 to their annual value respectively, as estimated at that time. It 
 was next calculated how many bushels of wheat, barley, and oats 
 (in equal quantities of each sort), that amount would purchase, 
 according to the average prices of the last seven years : and in 
 every futiu*e year an amount of rent-charge is to be levied in each 
 parish, to be sufficient to purchase the same number of bushels, 
 year after yeiu*, at the pre>'ious septennial average prices. The 
 charge on each estate and field is always to retain the same pro- 
 portion, however their relative values may change hereafter, a 
 few peculiar crops excepted. The cost of the commutation has 
 been very great. 
 
 Sundry xVcts of ParKament, establishing compositions for tithes 
 in Ireland, were passed between the years 1823 and 1832 ; and 
 in 1838 another act' abolished these compositions, and established 
 a rent-charge instead. This rent-charge was fixed at three- 
 foui'ths of the amount of such compositions, and was declared to 
 be payable by the party possessing the first estate of inheritance 
 in the lands subject to it. The rent-oharge is variable with the 
 price of corn, in like manner as compositions for tithes; the 
 tenants under existing leases were made liable for the amount of 
 the rent-charge, but under all future agreements the liability 
 rests on the landlord, unless in cases of special agreement to the 
 eontraiy. The remedy for non-payment is by application to a 
 court of equity, which appoints a receiver to take the rents, and 
 to apply them in discharge of the claim. The process is, as may 
 be supposed, an expensive one. The tithe rent-charge is generally 
 lower th<an on similar land in England. In a large number of 
 parishes the minister's office is much of a sineciu'e, there being 
 ^ cry few or no hearers ; lie consequently receives the emolu- 
 ment, while he ])erforms little, if any service.'^ Cliurch-cess (or 
 church-rate) was abolished in Ireland in 1833; and in the same 
 year the crown sun*endered the claim to first-fruits. 
 
 ' In some places, those called Kister dues, and other ecclesiastical pay- 
 ments, were commuteil into a small tithe rent-charge, in the same manner. 
 
 • 1 and 2 Victoria, cap. 109. 
 
 ' Of 2,.394 parishes in Ireland, 1.55 were returned as having no c-liurch nor 
 a single Protestant inhabitant ; an<l 80.5 pari^lies with less than fifty Pro- 
 testants in each — men, women and children. — nWc'« Unre/ormed Abuser. 
 
182 TITHE RENT-CHARGE NEARLY THE SAME AS TITHE. [C/iap. 20. 
 
 It will be seen that the tithe rent-charge, when viewed with 
 reference to political economy, possesses some advantages over 
 the old system. Its amount is not affected, whether an estate 
 be well or ill cultivated, which is an encouragement to good 
 husbandry ; but it may rise or fall from year to year, according 
 to the prices of corn for each preceding seven years. It can- 
 not be taken in kind on the ground, neither can it be increased 
 at the will of the claimant, as heretofore has been often the 
 case; the cause of disputes is therefore to a great extent 
 removed. It is no longer tithe, but a rent-charge on the land. 
 With these secular improvements however, the ecclesiastical 
 demand remains in most respects the same. It is the same in 
 origin, being a graft from the old papal stock ; the same in 
 character, being a charge on all for the satisfaction of a few : 
 and the same in application, being the main support of the 
 national hierarchy. In most instances too, the amount in 
 England and Wales is larger than that of the former tithe ; the 
 commissioners having generally exercised their discretion in 
 favour of the claimants. The consent of the patron was neces- 
 sary to the commutation. . It does not therefore appear that the 
 ground of dissenters in refusing to pay the impost is removed ; 
 or that those who conscientiously object to tithes, or to compul- 
 sory hire for the ministry of the gospel, can feel at liberty to 
 pay it under the new shape of a tithe rent-charge.^ 
 
 The ecclesiastical rent-charge is to be regarded, not as a 
 money payment for public purposes, but as a main support and 
 foundation of an unequal, oppressive, hierarchical establishment, 
 retaining many corrupt doctrines and usages ; and though the 
 impost is mitigated ill some of its characters, and altered in 
 name and form, it is still substantially the same with the original 
 antichristian tribute, and cannot be reconciled with the prin- 
 ciples of the New Testament. There is ground to fear that, in 
 its new and more secular shape, the tithe system has even spread 
 its roots more deeply and widely in British institutions : and 
 
 1 In some rural parishes, where no tithes had previously existed, and 
 where the ministers received small fixed pajTnents from the landowners, 
 the commissioners for commutation emjiloyed their authority to establish 
 a tithe rent-charge. This was particularly the case in one small parish, 
 where a rent-charge was imposed for the first time, amounting to £600 a 
 year, instead of a small payment of £70 a year, which had been the pre- 
 vious demand ! 
 
Sect. 9.] KIKSr-lKLlTS AND TKNTHS. 183 
 
 that, by the removul of some of its more obviously repulsive 
 features, its abolition \^ill be a Diore ditTicult and a more pro- 
 tracted work. This forms however no sufficient ground for 
 inaction or despair. " Great is the truth and it will prevail ! " 
 
 9th Scctiou.— On First-fruits mid Tail Its. 
 
 This subject is closely connected with that of tithes. 
 
 The demand of first-fruits and tenths, from the so-called priests, 
 was introduced by Alexander IT., about 1070, in imitation of the 
 .Fewish practice, and was first made by the pope on the English 
 clergy, in the reign of King John, about 1200, under the plea 
 of the expenses incun-cd in the holy wars or crusades. 
 
 The first-fruits, primitice or annates, consist of the whole profits 
 or tithes, &c. of each benefice for the first year, according to an 
 ancient low rate called the liber regis. They now amount to 
 about i;4,500 a yeai*. The tenths, or decimce, are a tenth part 
 of the annual produce of each benefice by the same valuation, 
 and produce about .£l),rj00 a year. Both these tributes were 
 claimed and enforced by the popes, for many centuries, through 
 a pretended analogy to the right of Aaron, the high-priest of 
 tlie Jews, who received from the Lcvites the first-fruits and a 
 tcntli part of the tithes ; these and other papal exactions were 
 however loudly complained of.' 
 
 At the time of the Reformation, about 1534, King Henry 
 VIII. instead of extinguishing these tributes, transferred them 
 from the pope to himself, as supreme head on earth of the 
 English Church, inider a new valuation ; and by this valuation, 
 which is contained in " tiber rcr/i.'i/'' but is extremely low and 
 unequal, the livings arc still rated, notwith-standing the vast in- 
 crease and changes in value. First-fruits in Ireland were abo- 
 lished in 1833. About -lOOO, or nearly one-third of the livings 
 in England and Wales, have been discharged at diilercnt times 
 from the payment of first-fruits and tenths : 1 50 pay first-fruits 
 annually by custom. Perpetual curacies are wholly exempt. 
 
 \Oth Section. — Queen Anne's Bounty. 
 
 The Protestant sovereigns of England continued to receive 
 the first-fruits and tenths ; but the amount was often gro.ssly 
 
 ' Blackstone, i. 8, -1. 
 
18rt QUEEN ANNe's BOUNTY FUND. [Chap. 20. 
 
 misapplied for the favourites and dependents of the court. In 
 the reign of Queen Anne, 1704, they were restored to the 
 established church, in a new form of application, being vested in 
 trustees for the augmentation of the smaller livings, under tjjie 
 name of " Queen Anne's Bounty." This appropriation has 
 been confirmed and regulated by more recent statutes -^ and the 
 fund, originally about £16,000 a year, has been increased from 
 time to time by parliamentary grants, by donations, and other- 
 Avise.^ 
 
 Within about ten years from 1809, more than a million 
 sterling Avas appropriated by Parliament for this purpose. The 
 annual income, as returned to the House of Commons for the year 
 1848, was £183,034; and the disbursements, chiefly in loans, 
 benefactions and expenses, were by the same return £178,767. 
 A million and a half were granted by Parliament within forty 
 years, for erecting new churches, — one million of which was voted 
 in 1818 — independently of grants to this fund. The present 
 average of first-fruits and tenths is stated to be £14,000 a-year, 
 while the interest of the parliamentary fund is still larger, and 
 the benefactions nearly as much. Benefices under the clear 
 yearly value of £50 were discharged by Queen Anne from the 
 payment of first-fruits and tenths, and have since remained so.""^ 
 
 The economical management and use of this and other funds 
 might have saved the country from further large demands for 
 the purposes of the hierarchy ; but a great deal is now swal- 
 lowed up in the current expenses. The salaries of ofBcers, at 
 the three boards, of first-fruits, tenths and Queen Anne's 
 bounty, are returned as £4083 per annum. The duties are 
 mostly performed by deputies, and many abuses have crept in. 
 The office of remembrancer or chief agent is a patent office or 
 freehold, and has been repeatedly sold, at from £8,000 to £9,000.^ 
 
 ' 2 Ajine, c. 11, 26 ; Henry VIII., c. 3 ; 27 Henry VIII., c. 20 ; 1 Eliza- 
 beth, c. 4. 
 
 2 Burnet's History of liis Own Times, &c. He appears to have been the 
 chief mover in effecting the arrangement. 
 
 Livings, either under £10., or charged with fifteenths or tenths to the 
 king, were generally exempted from the tenths to the pope ; but these 
 instances were few. 
 
 3 Blackstone's Commentaries, i. 8 — 4. 
 ■* Eeport of Commission, 1837. 
 
Sect. 11.] MANAOE.MKNT Of THliSK IINDS. 185 
 
 IIM Section. — Ecclesiastical Commission. 
 
 In 1835, a commission of inquiry, consisting of five episcopal 
 and seven lay mcnibors, Avas appointed by tlio British Go\oni- 
 nient " to consider the state of the established church in Eng- 
 Unul and Wales with reference to ecclesiastical duties and 
 revenues.''' In 18.36, the appointment was made permanent, 
 in order to establish two new dioceses, to re-arrange the others, 
 and to re-distribute the episcopal revenues. 
 
 In 1840 a great change was made in this important commis- 
 sion : the number of members, including all the bisliops, was en- 
 larged to forty-nine, the clencal proportion being thirty. The 
 former commissioners had held othce "during pleasure;" but 
 this limitation was now rescinded. Largely increased duties 
 and powers were committed to them. The chief object for 
 which the disposal of the property was placed under their con- 
 trol was declared to be " to make better provision for the cure 
 of souls." The schemes of the counnissioncrs are hiid before 
 the Queen and Council, and orders in council are issued, which 
 accpiire the force of law. 
 
 A select committee was appointed l)y the House of Commons 
 in 1848, to inquire into the composition and management of the 
 commission, and reported several objections under both heads. 
 They described the property vested in the commission as very 
 large and increasing almost daily. Prybably to avoid disputes, 
 it is classed under two heads. The episcopal fund will have a 
 disposable balance of XI 6,000 a-year; the common fund, a similar 
 balance of about t;;500,000 a-year. Out of the episcopal fund 
 had been paid, up to 1818, the sum of £93,276, for the aug- 
 mentation of the less richly endowed sees, for proAiding new 
 palaces, improving others, piu'chasing land for parks, &c., &c. 
 The common fund is derived from the income of extinguished 
 cathedral preferments, from the falling in of leases, &c., and is 
 applied to iucrease the incomes of the smaller liviugs. The 
 report of the committee sliows that a great deal of jobbing 
 and mismanageuiont has taken place. 
 
 The consolidation of this very important commission with the 
 
 board of Queen Anne's bounty, under an improved system of 
 
 management, has been recommended as highly desirable. The 
 
 present expenses amount to many thousands a year.' The iVrch- 
 
 ' Bkiclcs. f'oiuin. Report, AiiHwer 2120. 
 
186 COMPLAINTS AGAINST TITHES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 bishop of Canterbury and otliers are represented in the report on 
 church-rates^ to have asserted that there are ecclesiastical funds, 
 "which might be so far improved as to produce a milHon of 
 money." The property under the control of this commission 
 was probably alluded to in this remark.^ 
 
 \2th Section. — Complaints and efforts of reformers, in different 
 ages and countries, against tithes and other pecuniary endow- 
 ments of ministers. 
 
 In the sixth century, Gregory of Tours, commonly styled 
 Saint Gregory, inveighed loudly against those ministers who 
 made an ill use of the revenues of the church, as usurpers of the 
 public goods, and destroyers of the poor whom they ought to 
 feed. "^When we bestow necessaries on the poor," said he 
 in his pastorals, " we restore to them their own, and we per- 
 form a work of justice rather than of mercy." Very similar 
 was the language of most writers on the claim of the poor to the 
 goods of the church, for several hundred years, till the entire 
 revenues came to be considered the property of the eccle- 
 siastics." 
 
 The well known Bede, in the eighth ceutmy, thus addressed 
 the Ai'chbishop of York : " Freely ye have received, freely give ; 
 provide neither gold nor silver. If therefore Chi'ist ordered the 
 apostles to preach the gospel freely, and did not permit them to 
 receive gold or silver, or any payment of money, from those to 
 whom they preached, what hazard, I would ask, must hang over 
 those who do the contrary ?"3 
 
 Alcuin, a learned ecclesiastic of York, who died in 804, re- 
 monstrated closely with the Emperor Charlemagne, on the em- 
 ployment of force against the heathen, in propagating the 
 Christian profession with its ecclesiastical system, and especially 
 the impost of tithes. He was earnest that ministers should not 
 preach the word out of a love of gain, but that they should be 
 "men of prayer and preaching, not men of prey;" and that they 
 should remember the words of our Lord, " Freely ye have 
 received, freely give." " Let only the same pains be taken," 
 said he, " to preach to the Saxons the easy yoke and the light 
 
 ' Evidence on Church-Rates, answer 2096. 
 ^ Sarpi on Benefices, chap. xxxi. 
 3 Bedes's Works, Viy Giles, vol. ii. 
 
I 
 
 Sect. 12.] KiN« kugar's comim.ain r. 187 
 
 burcleu of Christ, as are taken to eollect the tithes from them or 
 to punish the least transgression of the laws, and perhaps they 
 would no longer bo found to rei)el baptism with al)liorrcnce." 
 Tn a letter to Archbishop Arno, Alcuin says, " The tithes, as 
 it is reported, have subverted the faith of the Saxons ! Why is 
 tlie yoke to be imposed on the nocks of those ignoranti people, 
 which neither wo nor om* brethren have been able to bear ?"^ 
 In reference also to tiie Avares or Huns, he says to the same 
 prelate, "Be thou a preacher of piety, not an exactor of tithes!"^ 
 
 King Edgar, about 970, a few generations after the establish- 
 ment of tithes in England, in reference to the lai'ge dedications 
 made to the church by his ancestors, reproaches the ecclesiastics 
 for their usurpations, and scandalous misapplications of the 
 revenues. His expostulations are well w orthy of notice, and are 
 addressed to Dunstan the monk, as follows : — 
 
 " My great-grandfather, as ye know, gave the tenth part of all 
 his lands to churches and abbeys. ^ly great-great-grandfather, 
 Alfred of holy memorj', did not spare his treasures or rents, 
 that he might enrich the church. Your fatherhood is not 
 ignorant how great things my grandfather, Edward the elder, 
 gave to the churches. Remember with what gifts my father 
 and his brothers enriched Christ's altars. Oh, father Dunstan ! 
 behold my father looking on thee fi'om that bright place of 
 heaven; hearken to his words thus' lamenting : — ' Oh, father 
 Dunstan ! thou {javest me counsel to ])uild abbcvs and churches. 
 I chose thee as a shepherd and bishop of my soul, and a keeper 
 of ray manners : Avhen did I not obey thee ?— what treasures 
 did I prefer to thy counsels? — what possessions did I not 
 despise if thou badest me ? If thou thoughtest meet to give 
 anything to the pooror to churches, I deferred not. If thou 
 complainedst that monks or clerks wanted anything, I su])plied. 
 Thou saidst that alms hist for ever, and that none were more 
 fruitful than those given to abbeys or churches ; for with them 
 both God's senants are sustained, and that which remaineth is 
 given to the poor.' 
 
 " Oh, worthy alms ! Oh, worthy price of the soul ! Oh, whole- 
 some remedy of our sins! which now stinketh in the sweet furs 
 of the priests' concubines, with w hich thoy adorn their ears and 
 deck tiieir fingers, clothing their delicate bodies with silk and 
 ' Neander's History, vol. iii., sect. 1. ' Thirl. 
 
188 LEUTARD, BERNARD AND ARNOLD. [Ghup. 20. 
 
 purple ! Oh, father ! is this the fruit of my alms, is this the 
 eflFect of my desire and of thy promise ? What wilt thou answer 
 to this complaint of my fathers V^ 
 
 About the year 1000, Leutard, a Frenchman of eminence, 
 declared that the payment of tithes was unnecessary and vain. 
 He held some other opinions different from the usual doctrines 
 of the age ; by these means he acquii'ed the name of heretic, and 
 exposed himself to suflPering, which appears to have shortened 
 his days.2 
 
 During the darkness of the apostacy, but little e^idence of the 
 truth is to be expected; but, as light slowly increased, objections 
 were made, from age to age, by numerous spu'itually-minded 
 Christians, against the conversion of ofl&ces in the church into 
 temporal property, and against the exaction of money for 
 fulfilling the customary religious rites. A council held at 
 Rome, about 1180, decreed that the offices of the chiu'ch 
 should not be bought, sold or de^^.sed ; and that every cathedral 
 should have a master to teach children without payment. 
 The Council of Rheims, under Calixtus II. about 1300, fol- 
 lowed in the same course. These however, as far as appears, 
 are somewhat rare exceptions to the general character of such 
 councils. 
 
 Bernard, who was usually styled a " Saint," writing to Pope 
 Eugenius in the twelfth century, says, " I fear no greater poison 
 to happen unto thee than greedy desire of rule and dominion ! " 
 And in one of his sermons he remarks, " Truly the goods of the 
 church are the patrimony of -the poor ; and whatsoever the 
 ministers or stewards, not lords or possessors, take to themselves 
 more than sufficient for a competent living, is taken away from 
 the poor by sacrilegious cruelty.^ 
 
 In the twelfth century lived Ai-nold of Brescia, a bold Itahan 
 ecclesiastic and reformer, Avho, though possessed of a turbulent 
 spirit, had enlightened views of the avarice and corruptions that 
 prevailed in the chui'ch. He declared that he had been com- 
 manded by the Lord to promulgate these views, and many 
 cordially united in them. A work entitled " Opus Partitum," 
 which is still extant, is supposed to have been written by him. 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. 
 
 * Eadulphus Glaber, quoted by Seldeu, vi. 6. 
 
 ■' Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. 
 
Sect. 12.] THK Ai.iu(;i:\si:s, WAi.nEN'sr.s, etc . 189 
 
 The writer complains of the many aljiiscs and enormities 
 which existed — of the multitude of idle religious persons — of 
 ill-adnsod promotions for gain or through interest — of the goods 
 of the church hcing spent on luxiu-ies and not on the poor, with 
 other evils. He maintained that the kingdom of Christ is not 
 of this ^vorld, and that the secnlar power of the church is an 
 unprincipled corruption! The ruling authorities, not being able 
 to tolerate his ardent zeal and close dealing, caused him to be 
 put to death in 1155.1 
 
 The Emperor Frederic, about 1100, complained loudly of the 
 pride and covetousness which pervaded the church, and called 
 on its rulers, either to submit to the secular jjowcr or to restore 
 the possessions with which that power had endow edit ; charging 
 its officers with being prowlers for mouey, and insatiable with 
 silver and gold ! 
 
 About the same time a people arose, who bore a noble testi- 
 mony for Christian truth, and proved their sincerity by great 
 sufferings. Under the name of Albigenses, Waldenses, Bohe- 
 mians, Poor !Mcn of Lyons, Beghards, and other appellations 
 in different countries, they were some of the earliest and 
 most conspicuous witnesses against the evils of the church. 
 Absiu'd practices and doctrines were falsely alleged against 
 them, as against many other reformers, to bring them into dis- 
 repute ; but it appears that, among other interesting senti- 
 ments, they held the following: "That the true church of Christ 
 consists of all those w ho have a right faith, and that to such the 
 keys of the church are given, to keep out the wolves and to 
 appoint faithful ])astors : ;\lso that the preaching of the word is 
 free to all Christian men, called thereto by the Holy Spirit.'^' 
 They objected to the payment of tithes, and said that the priests 
 ought not to covet riches, but to be content with poverty. Their 
 own pastors lal)ourcd for their subsistence like the apostles. 
 They continued from the twelfth to the seventeenth century, and 
 were often cruelly persecuted : many being put to deatli for 
 their testimony against the superstitions, corruptions and vices 
 of the ecclesiastics. Henry II., instigated l)y the clergy, treated 
 
 ' Fox's Acta and Mun. vol. i., and Mosheim, vol. i. ; Sari)i on Benefices, 
 chap. xxxi. 
 
 •^ Fox's Acts and Mon., and Mosheim. 
 
190 PERSECUTIONS OF THE AVALDENSES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 with great inhumanity some of them Avho came into England, 
 so that all appear to have perished. i 
 
 It is greatly to be lamented, that these poor but enlightened 
 people, instigated by the oppressions and cruelties with which 
 they were harassed in their native valleys, were induced at length 
 to depart from the meekness and long-suffering of which our Lord 
 set so memorable an example, and to take up arms in their own 
 defence. . Unable to contend with the forces sent against them, 
 they were overpowered after severe struggles, and lost much of 
 their Christian devotedness, their moral standing, and for some 
 time their existence as a united and distinct body. Their trials 
 must be acknowledged to have been very severe ; yet if they had 
 faithfully maintained patience, forbearance and firmness, they 
 might, and we are warranted by Scripture in believing that they 
 would, have been watched over and preserved by the gi'eat Head 
 of the Church. A resort to force and violent resistance, not 
 only lowered their religious position, but weakened their cause, 
 and they fell an easy prey to their assailants, who had been 
 rendered by the opposition so much the more furious ! 
 
 About 1150, appeared in England a short but remarkable 
 treatise, generally attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer, and entitled 
 " Jack Upland ;" in which the covetousness and hypocrisy of the 
 friars are keenly reprehended, in homely phraseology and ancient 
 style, suited to the understandings of the country people of that 
 time. It excited much attention, and commences thus : — " I, 
 Jack Upland, make my mone to very God, and to all true in 
 Clmst, that Antichrist and his disciples deceive Christ^s church, 
 by many false figures, where-through many virtues been trans- 
 posed to vices. But the felliest folk that ever Antichrist found, 
 been last brought into the church, and in a wonder wise ; for 
 they been of divers sects of Antichrist, sown of divers countries 
 and kindreds. Neither the tillen, ne sowen, weeden, ne repen, 
 wood, corn, ne grass, neither nothing that man should help, but 
 only themselves their lives to sustain. And these men han all 
 manner power of God, as they seein, in heaven and in yearth, 
 to sell heaven and hell to whom that them likcth ; and these 
 wretches weet never were to been themselves. And therefore, 
 freer (or friar) in thine orders and rules being grounded on 
 ' Milner, Mosheim, Jones, &c. 
 
Sect. \2.] COMl'I.AINT OK ".lAlK IPLANU." 191 
 
 Gocldis law, tell thou me Jack Upland that I aske of thee; and if 
 thou be, or thinkest to be, ou Christ's side, keep thy patience." 
 Amonj; otixer questions, he puts the following, " Why say ye 
 not the gospel in houses of (poor) bedrcd men, as ye do in rich 
 men's, that mow go to church and hear the gospel ? Why covet 
 ye not to bury poor folk among you, sith that they bin most 
 holy, as ye saine that ye been for your poverty ? Why will ye 
 not be at hir dirges, as ye have bin at rich men's, sith God 
 praiseth him more than he doth other men ? W^hat is thy 
 prayer worth, sith thou wilt take therefore H for all chapmen, 
 ye need be most wise for dread of simony. What cause hast 
 thou that thou wilt not preach the gospel, as God said that thou 
 shouldst, sith it is the best lore and also om* believe ? Why be 
 ye e^'il afraid that secular priests should preach the gospel, sith 
 God himself hath bidden them ? AVhy hate ye the gospel to be 
 preached, sith ye be so much hold thereto ? For ye win more 
 by year with " in principio," then with all the rules that ever 
 yoxn- patrons made ; and in this, minstrels bin better then ye, 
 for they contraricn not the mirths that they maken, but ye con- 
 traricn the gospel both in word and deed. Freer, what charity is 
 this, to overcharge the people by mighty begging, under colour of 
 preaching, or praying, or masses singing? sith holy Avrit biddeth 
 not thus, but even the contrary; for all such ghostly deeds 
 should be done freely as God yeveth them freely," &c., &c.' 
 A chief offence of the pusillanimous King John of England, 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mori. vol. i. 
 
 Chaucer, in his poetry, freely and forcibly reproved the avarice of the 
 ecclesiastics. His ploughman thus complains of them : — 
 "Their tithing and tlieir offering both 
 
 They clamcth it ])y pct.ssession, 
 
 Thereof nil they none forgo. 
 
 But rol)ben man l)y ransome." 
 And then of parish rectors : — 
 
 " For the tithing of a ducke, 
 
 Or an apple, or an aye, [scil. egg.] 
 
 Tliey make men sware upon a boke. 
 
 Thus they foulen Christ's fay. 
 
 ♦ ♦ ♦ * * 
 
 He will have tithing and offering, 
 Maugre whosoever it grutch. 
 
 ♦ * # ♦ ♦ 
 
 And small tithes they were fowle yshent."* [or blamed, j 
 * Selden's Tithes, oliap. x. 
 
193 AVITNESSES AGAINST CLERICAL AVARICE. [Chup. 20. 
 
 in the sight of the pope^ was his free reprehension of the un- 
 ruliness and neglect of the clergy ; and he carried it so far^ as 
 to order^ about the year 1200_, that those in certain dioceses, 
 Avho did not perform their appomted services, should be deprived 
 of their incomes and lands. Ecclesiastical influence prevailed ; 
 the imperious pope carried things with a high hand against him, 
 and he was at length induced to make abject submission. 
 
 In the following reign of Henry III. the papal extortions 
 being continued, to the extent of one-tenth, and in some in- 
 stances one-fifth, of all the revenues of the " clergy and laity," 
 strong remonstrances were made against them ; and it was 
 alleged that, in the many livings then given to Italians, " neither 
 the old ordinances, nor rehef of the poor, nor hospitality, nor 
 any preaching of God's word, nor care of men's souls, nor ser- 
 vice in the church, nor yet the walls of the churches, be kept 
 up and maintained, as the law requireth." 
 
 An Italian, usually termed Gulielmus de Sancto Amore, of 
 the University of Paris, is mentioned by Fox the Martyrologist, 
 as a champion in the cause of truth ; and to him is attributed a 
 book " De Periculis Ecclesise," enumerating thirty -nine signs of 
 false prophets. His views, as set forth in some of these, are, 
 that false prophets, prefer traditions, vain and eloquent Words, 
 to the plain and spiritual truths of the scriptui'e ; that they 
 preach for their own gain and honour, claiming to live of the 
 gospel, and not by the labour of their own hands, without being- 
 sent by God ; that they compel others to receive them ; seek 
 the favour of the world and luxurious living ; receive bribes or 
 reward from the wicked, boast vain gloriously, hate their 
 enemies, follow false philosophy, &c., &c. For these and other 
 plain truths, he was condemned as a heretic, and his writings 
 were burnt, about 1280.^ 
 
 Many excellent persons, both men and women, notwith- 
 standing the obloquy and false charges heaped upon them, 
 in their faithfulness to the pure doctrines and spiritual cha- 
 racter of Christianity, bore testimony in that age of darkness and 
 in different countries, against the corruptions with which they 
 were surrounded. Most of them entertained a strong sense of 
 the serious evils arising from the secular power possessed by the 
 rulers of the church ; from making religious services a source 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. 
 
Sect. 12.] "the i'i.ouoiiman's comi'Lvixt." I«J8 
 
 of pccuniaiy emolument ; from superstitious notions I'clatinj^- to 
 the bread and wine ; from the observanee of countless rites 
 and ceremonies ; and from the hypocrisy, avarice and other 
 vices of the ecclesiastics,^ 
 
 About 1370, lived an eminent woman named Bridget, 
 canonized even by the church of Rome as a saint and pro- 
 phetess, though she severely reproved its degeneracy and 
 covetousness. " The clergy," said she, " h.avc turned the 
 commandments of God into two words. Da pecuniam, give 
 money," — a brief but faithful testimony! About the same 
 time lived Catherine Scnensis, a female of a similar spirit, who 
 reprehended the prevailing evils, and prophesied distinctly of 
 the Reformation. This had also been declared by Hildegardis, 
 ^v'.lo lived aboVc 200 years before, and who was esteemed a 
 prophetess Ijy the papists themselves.^ 
 
 A sl.jrt piece, entitled "The Prayer and Complaint of the 
 T'loughman," which was published in England about the middle 
 of the fourteenth century, is remarkable for the simplicity of its 
 views, expressed in the antique style of that day ; but still more 
 so for its clear and faithful denunciation of the corruptions 
 which disgraced the Chiistian name. The unscnptural assump- 
 tion of the pnesthood, the covetousness of the clergy, the super- 
 stitions connected with holy places, things and observances, 
 the worldly character of the professing Christian Church, and 
 its departure from the purity and lowliness of the gospel of 
 Christ, are forcibly touched on and protested against. William 
 TyndsU gave it increased publicity about 200 years after.'' 
 
 The author thus writes : — " A Lord, he that clepeth himself 
 thy vicar upon earth hatli y ordained an order of priests, to 
 do thy service in church, to force thy lewd (lay or common) 
 people insinging mattens, even-song and mass. And therefore 
 he chargeth lewd men, in pain of cursing, to bring to his priests 
 tithings and otlVrings, to findcn his priests ; and he clepeth that 
 God's part, and due to priests that serven him in church ! 
 
 " But Lord, in the old law, the tithings of the lewd people nc 
 were not «lue to priests, but to that other childer of Levi that 
 serveden thee in the temple ; and the priests hadden their part of 
 sacrifices, and the first bygettcn beasts and other things, as the 
 
 1 See Moslieini, Milner Jonut, aii<l other ecclc«iastic.nl hintoriauH. 
 * Fox's Acta an<l Men. vol. i. ' Ibid. 
 
194 *^'the ploughman's complaint/' [Chaji. 20. 
 
 law telleth. And Lord, St. Paul thy servant saitli that the order 
 of the priesthood of Aaron ceased in Christ's coming, and the 
 law of that priesthood. For Christ was end of sacrifices, yoffered 
 upon the cross to the Father of heaven to bring man out of sin; 
 and became himself a priest of Melchisedek's order. For he was 
 both king and priest, without beginning and end ; and both the 
 priesthood of Aaron and the laAV of that priesthood ben ychanged 
 in the coming of Christ, 
 
 "And Lord, another great mischief there is now in the world, 
 an hunger that Amos thy prophet speaketh of, that there shall 
 comen on the earth not an hunger of bread, ne thrust of drink, 
 but of hearing of God's words. And thy sheep woulden be re- 
 freshed, but their shepheards taken of thy sheep their livelode, 
 as ty things, &c., and liven themselves thereby where them liketh. 
 
 " Of such shepheards thou speaketh by Ezekiel thy prophet, 
 and seyest. Woe to the shepheards of Israel, that feden them- 
 selfs; for the flocks of sheep shoulden be yfed of their shepheards; 
 but ye eaten the milk, and clothen you with their wool, and the 
 fat sheep ye slow, and my flock ye ne fede not, the sick sheep ye 
 ne healed not, thilke that weren broken ye ne knit together, 
 thilke that perished ye ne brought not agen, but ye ratled them 
 with sternship and with power. And so the sheep be sprad 
 abroad in devouring of all the beasts of the field. 
 
 " A Lord, thou were a good shepheard, for thou puttest thy 
 soul for thy sheep. But Lord, thou teldest that thilke that comen 
 not in by the door ben night-thieves and day-theenes ; and a 
 theefe, as thou seyest, cometh not but for to steal, to slein and 
 to destroy. And Zechere the prophet saith, that thou wouldest 
 reren up a shepheard unkunning ; that ne wot not hele thy sheep 
 that beth sick, ne seek thilke that beth lost. Upon his arm is 
 a swerd and upon his right eye : his arm shall wax dry, and his 
 right eye shall lese his light. Oh Lord, help, for thy sheep beth 
 at great mischief in the shepheard 's defaut ! 
 
 " But Lord, there cometh hired men, and they ne fedcn not 
 thy sheep in thy plenteous lefew (or pasture) but feden thy sheep 
 with swevens (or dreams) and false miracles and tales. But at 
 thy truth they ne comen not ; for Lord, I trow thou sendest 
 them never. For have they hire of thy sheep, they ne caretli 
 but little of the feeding and keeping of thy sheep. Lord, of 
 these hired men speaketh Jeremy the prophet, and thou seyest 
 
Sect. 12.] TIJK II IKK I) SIIKIMIKKDS. 195 
 
 that word by him, I uv send thoni not, and thoy ronnc blivc 
 (or quickly) I nc speak unto tliem, and they pioplu'ciden. — From 
 the least to the mest all they studien covetice, and from the pro- 
 phet to the priest all they done p^ile. ..... 
 
 " A Lord, here is much mischief and matere of sorrow, and yet 
 there is more. For gif a lewd man would teaeh thy people truth 
 of thy words, as he is yhold by thy commandment of charity, he 
 shall be forbodeu and put in prison. And so Lord, thilke that 
 have the key of conning have ylockt the truth of thy teaching 
 under many wardcs, and yhid it from thy children. But Lord, 
 sith thy tcaeliing is ycome from heaven above, our hope is, that 
 with thy grace it shall break these wardes, aud shew him to thy 
 pcoj)le, to kill both the hun«jcr and thrust of the soul. And then 
 shall no shcpheard, ne no false hirid-miui bcgilc thy people no 
 more. For by thy law I write, as thou ihightest (or promisedst) 
 sometime, that from the least to the mest all they shullen 
 knowcn thy will, and wcten (or know) how they shidleu please 
 thee evermore in certain. And Icve Lord, gif it be thy will, help 
 at this need, for there is none help but in thee ! 
 
 " Lord, what dome (or right judgment) is it, to cui'se the lewd 
 people for tythings, and not curse the parson that robbeth the 
 people of tythings, and tcaeheth them not God's law ; but feed- 
 cth them with painting of stone wall and songs of Latin that the 
 people known not. Lord, how may any man segge that such 
 shepherds, that loven more the wolle than the sheep, and feeden 
 not thy sheep in body ne in soul, ne ben ravenors and thieves ? 
 And who may segge that the maintcnor of such shcphcards ne is 
 not a maintenor of thieves and robbers? For they robben, uiid 
 sleen and destroycn ; they robben thy sheep of the tenth part of 
 their travel, and feeden themselves in ease. . . . O Lord, 
 gif it be thy vriU, deliver thy sheep out of such shepheard.s' 
 wai'd, that rctcheth not of thy sheep, so they ban tlieir wolle to 
 make thcmsclf rich. For thy sheep ben in great mischief, and 
 foule accombred with their shepheards. — Therefore we lewd men 
 prayen tlicc that tliou wolt .send us shepherds of thine own, 
 that wolen feden thy tlock in thy lefew and gon before them- 
 self ; and so written thy law in our hearts, that from the least 
 to the most all they mayen knowcn thee. And I^ord, give our 
 king and his lords heart to defenden thy true shcphcards ami 
 thv sheep from out of the wolves' mouths ; and grace to know 
 
 o2 
 
196 THE DARKNESS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, \Chap. 20. 
 
 thee that art the true Christ, the Son of thy heavenly Father, 
 from the antichrist, that is, the son of pride. And Lord, geve 
 us thy poor sheep patience and strength to suffer for thy law the 
 cruelness of the mischievous wolves. And Lord, as thou hast 
 promised, shorten these days. Lord, we axen this now, for more 
 need was there never !"i 
 
 The Christian church generally, at this time, bore scarcely 
 any resemblance to the primitive pattern left by Christ and his 
 apostles. The holy scriptures were locked up, and the services 
 performed, in an unknown tongue. Many of the benefices were 
 granted by the popes at pleasure to their own favourites and 
 dependents, who, being foreigners, knew not even the language 
 of the countries where they held office. Under a vain semblance 
 of uniformity of faith, and of one holy Catholic church, ignorance, 
 superstition and immorality generally prevailed ; and a blind 
 submission was paid to the mandates of the see of Rome, from 
 which if any dared to dissent, they were imprisoned and in many 
 cases put to death. Su,ch was the vaunted meridian splendour of 
 priestly ru.le and rehgious unity, under which the system of 
 tithes and other corruptions became confirmed ! 
 
 Yet Christian truth, there is reason to believe, was never left 
 wholly without living witnesses, often hidden from public obser- 
 vation, and when discovered, despised and treated as heretics by 
 the ruling powers ; but endeavouring through all to follow faith- 
 fully the footsteps of their divine master, who endured similar 
 treatment from the high professors of his day, and who promised 
 to be Avith his true disciples to the end of the world. 
 
 John Wiclift'e, one of the greatest ornaments of his country, 
 and sometimes termed ^' the morning star of the reformation," 
 was born in Yorkshire in 1 324. Raised up by the divine power, 
 and endowed with eminent spiritual gifts, he became, through 
 his superior piety, deep penetration, and great firmness, an en- 
 lightened and powerful reformer. At first he declaimed against 
 the more obvious abuses and superstitions ; but his attention 
 was soon drawn to the innate evils of the system itself. Trans- 
 lating the Bible into English, he took it for his guide, and 
 recommended it to others. So many are the false charges 
 brought against him, and his mode of defence consisted so much 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. The objections of the writer of this piece — 
 perhaps Wicliffe himself — to oaths and war were clear and decided. 
 
Sect. 12.] JOHN WICLIFFE. 197 
 
 more of denial than of jjlain luminous statements^ that it is not 
 veiy easy to ascertain his views on all points of Christian doctrine; 
 in fact they altered and became more decided as he advanced in 
 years. It is clear, however, that he defended the maintenance of 
 pastors by voluntsiry contributions, opposing the system of religious 
 endowments, and of tithes established by law. He asserted that 
 *' tithes are pm-e alms," and that they ought not to be exacted 
 by the force of ecclesiastical censures or by the ai'm of the state ; 
 strongly recommending poverty and simplicity of living to the 
 ministers of religion. This doctrine of Wiclitic gave more 
 oHeuee in England than any others which he promulgated ; and 
 the same may be remarked of others who have held it in 
 succeeding ages. It Avas maintained by John Huss, and seems 
 to have excited equal animosity in Bohemia, because it touched 
 the priests on the tender ground of their temporalities.' 
 
 Wiclifle's intrepidity gave great eucom'agement to that large 
 portion of the community who secretly held similar sentiments, 
 ^lost of the civil and even some of the ecclesiastical magnates 
 of England were glad of such a champion. They had long been 
 s])oiled and trampled on ; both temporal motives and higher 
 considerations procured him exalted patronage and extensive 
 support. He was the means, under the divine blessing, of im- 
 pressing on the public mind a strong sense of the individual 
 right of freedom of judgment ; which sentiment, like a living 
 seed, took deep root and sprang up largely ; and though often 
 cut down, burnt, or rooted up, the effects were not permitted to 
 be utterly destroyed, but at length resulted in the great refor- 
 mation, and in those further efforts, which have been employed 
 from that time to the present, to restore the profession of 
 Christianity to its primitive freedom, simplicity and moral 
 dignity ! 
 
 After the death of Wicliffe in 1381, numerous eminent 
 individuals in England and Germany, known by the name of 
 Lollards, declared successively the same doctrines ; and under 
 a bloody statute of Henry IV'. pjissed about 1 MX), many were 
 publicly bunied as heretics, for following those religious opinions : 
 Wicliffe's translation of the scriptures being forbidden to be 
 read on pain of death ! Thus priestly usurpation and oppression 
 prevailed on the secular |)owcr in Englnnd fo inflict death on 
 ' Gilpin'ti Life, Moaheiui, I 
 
198 WALTER BRUTE AGAINST TITHES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 pretence of religion, yet not without great opposition from the 
 increasing light of the nation; and much Christian blood was spilt 
 in the repeated struggles, between ecclesiastical tyranny on the 
 one hand, and intellectual and moral independence on the other. 
 
 Walter Brute, a learned man of Hereford, bore a noble testi- 
 mony for the truth about 1390, and appears to have been more 
 enlightened than most of his contemporaries; yet like many 
 others he was cruelly borne down by the combined force of 
 ecclesiastical and civil authority, and subjected to severe impri- 
 sonment and penalties. Fox describes him as worthy of con- 
 sideration, "for the mighty operation of God's Spirit in him, 
 for his mature knowledge, modest simplicity, valiant constancy, 
 and for his learned tractations and manifold conflicts against 
 God's enemies.'' On the subject of tithes he reasons thus : — 
 " First : Christ, making an end of the priesthood of Aaron, doth 
 also make a full end of the law belonging to that priesthood. 
 Whereupon I marvel that your learned men do say, that 
 Christian folks are bound to the small ceremony of the payment 
 of tithes, and care nothing at all for the other ceremonies of the 
 law. It is plain that tithes were given to the sons of Le^i, for 
 serving in the tabernacle and temple of the Lord ; as the first- 
 fruits, and parts of the sacrifices, &c. were given to the priests. 
 But since the labour of those sacrifices ceased at the coming 
 of Christ, how should those things be demanded which were 
 ordained for that labour ? And seeing that the first-fruits were 
 not demanded of Christians, which first-fruits were then rather 
 and sooner demanded than the tithes, why must the tithes be 
 demanded, except perhaps that they are more in value than the 
 first-fruits ? 
 
 " Second : why are the lay-people bound to the payment of 
 tithes, more than the Levites and the priests to the not ha^dng 
 possession of reahties and lordships among their brethren ? 
 seeing that the law, which saith that tithes ought to be given to 
 the Levites, saith also to the Levites, You shall be contented 
 with the offerings of the tithes, and have no other thing among 
 your brethren. Wherefore, seeing that the priests are not 
 bound to the not having temporal lordships, how are the lay- 
 people bound to the payment of tithes ? 
 
 " Thirdly : circumcision and other ceremonies of the law 
 utterly ceased at the coming of Christ; but we may reason 
 
Sect. 12.J wiLM.vM tuohi'e's examination. 191) 
 
 that, if we are boiuul to tithing, wc are bound to keep all the 
 law. For to say that men are bound to one ceremony of the 
 law, and not to the others, is not reasonable : cither, therefore, 
 wc are bound to them all, or we are bound to none. It may be 
 showed, by many reasons, that by the same old law men are not 
 bound to pay tithes ; but the things already said are sullicient. 
 
 " It scemeth to me that our men are in the same predicament 
 with the Pharisees, leaving oft' the ceremonies and weightier 
 nu\tters of the law, and keeping only the commandment of 
 tithing. When the apostles said to Christ, Behold, we leave all 
 things and have followed thee, what then shall we have ? he did 
 not answer them. Tithes shall be paid you ; neither did he pro- 
 mise them a temporal, but an everlasting reward in heaven, and 
 taught them not to be careful for food or for ajjparel. In the 
 first conversion of the Jews at Jerusalem, as the Acts of the 
 AjKistles declare, they had all things common ; and to every 
 one was dinsion made, as need required. Wherefore, seeing 
 that neither Christ nor any of the apostles commanded to pay 
 tithes, it is manifest and plain that, neither by the law of 
 Moses nor by Christ^s law, Christian people are bound to pay 
 them, although by tlie tradition of men they arc bound."^ 
 
 In 1 107, William Thorpe of Shropshire, an intrepid reformer, 
 was accused to Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, of dift'using 
 heretical oi)inions. An account of his examination and other 
 circumstances, written chiefly by himself, and preserved by 
 Tyndal, is quoted at length by Fox in his INIartyrology. Among 
 the many inquiries put to him and his answers, are the following : 
 
 " What sayst thou to this fourth point that is certified against 
 thee, preaching openly and boldly in Shrewsbury that priests 
 have no title to tithes ? " 
 
 " And I said, ' Sir, I named there no word of tithes in my 
 preaching; but after I was arrested, a man came to me in 
 the prison, and asking me what I said of tithes : he said, ' Our 
 
 ' This Walter Brute, or <le Britte, is said to have been descended from 
 an illiwtriouH British family : hence greater pains were taken to influ- 
 enre him. His sentiments, in opposition to capital punislimonts au<l war, 
 were fully expressed ; as were those of William Thorpe and some others 
 of that early |)eriod, although Fox endeavours to give a more limited con- 
 struction to their language. 
 
 Acts and >[on. vol. i. ; Lives f»f British IJeformers. 
 
200 WILLIAM THORPE AGAINST TITHES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 prelates say, that we are obliged to pay our tithes of all things 
 that renew to us ; and that they are accursed that withdraw 
 any part wittingly.' And I said to that man, as Avith my protes- 
 tation I say now before you, that I wonder that any priest dare 
 say men to be accursed, without the ground of God's word. 
 And the man said, ' Sir, our priests say that they curse men 
 thus by the authority of God's law.' And I said, ' Sir, I know 
 not where this sentence of cursing is authorised now in the 
 bible. In the old law, which ended not fully till the time that 
 Christ rose up again from death to life, God commanded tithes 
 to be given to the Levites, for the great business and daily 
 travel [or labour] that pertained to their office. But because 
 the travel of the priests was mikle more easie and light than 
 was the office of the Legates, God ordained the priests should 
 take for their livelode, to do their office, the tenth part of those 
 tithes that were given to the Levites. But now," I said^ ' in the 
 new law, neither Christ, nor any of his apostles, took tithes of 
 the people, nor commanded the people to pay tithes, neither to 
 priests nor to deacons. But Christ taught the people to do 
 alms, that is, works of mercy, to poor, needy men, of surplus 
 which they had more than them needed. And thus,' I said, 
 ' not of tithes, but of pure alms of the people, Christ lived and 
 his apostles, when they were so busy in preaching of the word 
 of God to the people, that they might not travel otherwise to 
 get their livelode ; but after Christ's ascension, and when the 
 apostles had received the Holy Ghost, they traveled with their 
 hands to get their livelode, when they might do thus for busie 
 preaching. Therefore, by example of himself, St. Paul teacheth 
 all the priests of Christ to travail with their hands, when, for 
 busy teaching of the people, they might thus do. And thus all 
 these priests will do to the world's end, whoso priesthood God 
 accepteth now, or will accept, or did in the apostles' time and 
 after their decease. 
 
 "One Pope Gregory ordained tithes first to be given to priests, 
 now in the new law. But St, Paul, in his time, whose trace or 
 trample all priests of God enforce them to follow, seeing the 
 covetousness that was among the people, and desiring to destroy 
 that foul sin, through the grace of God, and true virtuous 
 living and example of himself, wrought, and taught all priests 
 to follow him, as he followed Christ, patiently, willingly, and 
 
Sect. 12.] Ills VIEWS OF CHUISTIAN MINISTERS. 
 
 gladly in high poverty ; for certain, in whatsoever digtiUv 
 and order any priest is, if he conform him not to follow Christ 
 and his apostles, in wilful poverty and other hea\ enly virtues, 
 and especitilly in true preaching of God's word, he is no more 
 hut a priest in name ; for the work of every priest in such an 
 one wantcth. Tliis sentence approvcth Augustine, Gregory, 
 Chrysostom and Lincoln plainly.' 
 
 " And the Archbishop said to me, ' Thinkest thou this whole- 
 some learning to sow openly or yet pri^•ily among the people ? 
 Certain this doctrine contrarieth plainly the ordinance of holy 
 fathers, which have ordained, granted and licensed priests to be 
 in divers degrees, and to live by tithes and offerings of the 
 people, and by other duties.' 
 
 " And I said, 'Sir, if priests were now in measurable number, 
 and lived virtuously, and taught busily and truly the word of 
 (lod, by example of Christ and of his apostles, without tithes, 
 offerings and other duties, that priests now challenge and take, 
 the people would give them fi'ccly sufficient livelode.' 
 
 " And a clerk said to me, ' How wilt thou make this good, 
 that the people will give fi*eely to priests their livelode ; since 
 that now, by the law every priest can scarcely constrain the 
 people to give them theii* livelode V 
 
 " And I said, ' Sir, it is now no wonder though the people 
 grudge to give priests their livelode that they ask. Mckill 
 people know how that priests should live, and how that they 
 live contrary to Christ and his apostles. Therefore the people 
 is full heavy to pay, as they do, their temporal goods to jjarsons, 
 and to other ricars and priests ; which should be faitliful dis- 
 pcnsators of the parishes, goods, taking to themselves no more 
 but a scarce living, of tithes, nor of offerings, by the ordinance 
 of the common law. For whatsoever priests take of the people, 
 be it tithe or offering, or any other duty or service, they ought 
 to liave thereof no more but a bare liring ; and to depart 
 the residue to the poor men and women, si)ecially of the 
 pju'ish of whom they take this temporal liviug. But the most 
 deal of priests now wastetli their parishes' goods, and spendeth 
 them at their own will after the world, in their vain lusts ; so 
 that in few places poor men have duly, as they should h.ive, 
 their own sustenance, neither of tithes, nor of ofieriugs, nor of 
 other large wages and foundations, that priests take of the 
 
202 WILLIAM Thorpe's long examination. [Chap. 20. 
 
 people in divers manners, above that they need for sustenance 
 of meat and clothing : but the poor, needy people are forsaken 
 and left of priests to be sustained of the parishioners, as if 
 the priest took nothing of the parishioners to help them with. 
 
 " ' And thus, Su", into over-great charges of the parishioners, 
 they pay their temporal goods tmce, when once might suffice, 
 if priests were true dispensators. Also, Su', the parishioners 
 that pay their temporal goods, be they tithes or offerings, to 
 priests that do not their office among them justly, are partners 
 of every sin of those priests ; because that they sustain those 
 priests^ folly in their sin, with their temporal goods. If these 
 things be well considered, what wonder is it. Sir, if the parish- 
 ioners grudge against these dispensators?^ 
 
 " Then the Archbishop said to me, ' Thou that shouldest be 
 judged and ruled by holy church, presumptuously thou deemest 
 holy church to have erred, in the ordinance of tithes and other 
 duties to be paid to priests. It shall be long ere thou thrive, 
 lossel, [lost or worthless fellow] that thou despisest thy ghostly 
 mother. How darest thou speak this, lossel, among the people ? 
 Are not tithes given to priests to live by ?' 
 
 '' And I said, ' Sir, St. Paul saith that tithes were given 
 in the old law, to Levites and to priests that came of the 
 lineage of Levi. But our priests, he saith, came not of the 
 lineage of Levi, but of the lineage of Judali, to which Judah 
 no tithes were promised to be given. And therefore Paul saith, 
 since the priesthood is changed from Levi to Judah, it is neces- 
 sary that changing also be made of the law. So that priests 
 should live now without tithes and other duties that they claim, 
 following Christ and his apostles in wilful poverty, as they have 
 given them example. For since Christ lived all the time of liis 
 preaching by pure alms of the people, and by example of him 
 his apostles Lived in the same wise, or else by the travaD. of their 
 hands, as it is said above ; every priest whose priesthood Christ 
 approveth, knoweth well and confesseth in word and in work, 
 that a disciple ought not to be above his master ; but it sufficeth 
 to him to be as his master — simple and pure, meek and patient ; 
 and by example especially of his master Christ, every priest 
 should rule him in all his living ; and so after his cunning and 
 power, a priest should busie him to inform and to rule whomso- 
 ever he might charitablv.^ 
 
iSect. \:l.\ HIS IIKM AM) DKCISIVE ANSWERS. 2().'i 
 
 " And the Archbisliop said to me, with a great spirit, ' God's 
 curse liavc tliou, and mine have thou, for this teaching 1 for 
 thou wouhlst hereby make the okl law more free and perfect 
 tlian the new law. For thou sayst that it is lawful to IjQvites 
 and to priests to take tithes in the old law, and so to enjoy their 
 privi!e«i;es ; but to us priests in the new law thou sayst it is not 
 lawful to take tithes ; and thus thon givest to Levites of the 
 old law more freedom than to priests of the new law.' 
 
 " And I said, ' Sir, I marvel that ye understand this ])lain 
 text of Paul thus. Ye wot well that the Levites and priests in 
 the old law that took tithes, were not so free nor so perfect as 
 Clirist and his apostles that took no tithes. And, Sir, there is 
 a doctor — I think it is St. llicrom — that saith thus : — ' The 
 priests that challenge tithes now in the new law say in effect 
 that Christ is not become man, nor that he hath y(>t suffered 
 death for man's love.' AVherefore this doctor saith this sen- 
 tence : since tithes were the heirs and wages limited to Levites 
 and to priests of the old law, for bearing about of the tabernacle, 
 and for slaying and flaying of beasts, and for burning of sacri- 
 fice, and for keeping of the temple, and for trumping of battle 
 before the host of Israel, and other divers observances that per- 
 tained to their ofHce ; those priests that will challenge or take 
 tithes, deny that Christ is come in the flesh, and do the priests' 
 oflBcft of the old law, for whom tithes were granted : for else, as 
 this doctor saith, priests take now tithes wrongfully.'^ 
 
 " And the Archbishop said to his clerks, ' Heard yon ever 
 lossel speak thus ? Certain, this is the learning of them all — 
 that wherever they come and they may be suffered, they enforce 
 them to expugu the freedom of holy church.' 
 
 " And I said, * Sir, why call yc the taking of tithes, aud 
 such other duties that priests now challenge wrongfidly, the 
 freedom of holy church ; since neither Christ nor his a^jostles 
 challenged nor took such duties? Therefore these takings of 
 priests now, are not called justly the freedom of holy church ; 
 but all such giving aud taking ought to be called aud hohleu 
 the slanderous covetousness of men of the holy clnu-ch !' "- 
 
 What became of this bold and enlightened man, AVilliam 
 
 ' FoiUHled on i\\\» and on other reason-s the yoke of tithefl i-s profKrly 
 termed " an autiohristian yoke." 
 ■■' Fox'a Act-8 and Mon. vol. i. 
 
204 LORD COBHAM : JOHN Huss. [Chap. 20. 
 
 Thorpe, does not appear ; but he is supposed to have been im- 
 mured in prison till he died. It is not often that the sentiments 
 of any of the early reformers are stated so much at length ; but 
 if we may judge from the language of the bitter ecclesiastics 
 who examined and reddled him, the opinions of most, and in- 
 deed "of them qM," were very similar on the subject of tithes. 
 
 The same superstitious persecuting Archbishop Arundel, 
 about 1410, issued a mandate to the Bishop of London, enjoin- 
 ing the worship of the Virgin ]\Iary, and the ringing of the 
 bells both morning and evening in honour of her. After having 
 occupied the see of Canterbury for eighteen years, and violently 
 opposed the growing light of the age, he is said to have died 
 miserably in 1414, of a virulent disease affecting his tongue, so 
 that he could neither speak nor swallow.^'^ 
 
 The illustrious Lord Cobham, ah'eady quoted as a man of 
 remarkable firmness, being, about 1413, accused and examined 
 before Arundel respecting his faith, did not hesitate to declare 
 his entu'e dissent from the corrupt and covetous system pre- 
 vailing in the Romish Church, which he boldly declared to be 
 anti-christian. He was bm'nt in 1417, near Temple-bar. 
 
 John Huss, at the Council of Constance 1415, asserted his 
 belief, in accordance with Wicliffe, that tithes were pure alms, 
 and would have explained his sentiments and the grounds of 
 them more fully, had he not been borne down with violence -and 
 prevented fi'om doing so. He held that pecuniary payment for 
 spiritual services to ministers of the church is to cause them to 
 practise simony. In his treatise on tithes being alms, he showed 
 that no just claim to them could exist, asserting that beggars 
 might, with equal right, demand alms on the ground of long 
 usage. He maintained that no man can reasonably affirm, 
 either of himself or of any other, that he is the head of any par- 
 ticular church, but that this honour belongs to Christ alone. 
 
 He is said to have prophesied as follows : — " The church of God 
 cannot be reduced {i. e. brought back) to its former dignity or 
 reformed, before all things be made new ; the truth whereof is 
 plain by the temple of Solomon ; like as the clergy and priests, 
 so the people and laity; or else, until all such as are now 
 addicted to avarice be converted and reclaimed, as well the 
 people as clergy and priests. Albeit, as my mind now giveth 
 ' Fox's Acts aucl Mou. vol. i. 
 
'Sect. 12.] ziscA ANo Tui: hohemians. 205 
 
 nic, I believe rather the first ; that is, that there sliall rise a 
 new people, formed after the new man, which is created after 
 God. Of the which pooi)le new clerks and new priests shall 
 come and be taken, which all shall hate covctousness and tlu; 
 glory of this life, hastening to a heavenly conversation. Not- 
 withstanding, all these things shall come to pass and be brought 
 by little and little, in order of times dispensed of God for the 
 same purpose ; while the carnal people and carnal priests suc- 
 cessively and in time sliall fall away, and be consumed as with 
 the moth."' 
 
 The well-known Jerome ofP rague, among other great ti-uths, 
 testified that, " forasmuch as patrimonies of the churches Mere 
 given first to the poor, then for hospitality, and thirdly to the 
 reparations of the churches, it was a grief to see the same 
 mispent, and cast away upon things unseeming the Christian 
 religion." - 
 
 About 1417, John Zisca, a Bohemian nobleman, being con- 
 vinced of the truth of the doctrines maintained by John Huss 
 and Jerome of Prague, and anxious to avenge their cruel 
 treatment and death, was unhappily misled by a spirit of resis- 
 tance, and incited his countrymen to take up arms against their 
 persecutors. Mauy battles and much loss of life ensued, till at 
 length Zisca was overpowered and died. This epitaph was 
 wiitten for him — " John Zisca a Bohemian, enemy to all 
 wicked and covetous priests, but mth a godly zeal !"^ 
 
 Pope ^Martin V. having issued a furions bull and inquisition 
 against all heretics, the Bohemians, soon after the death of Zisca, 
 addressed a " Christian exhortation to kings and ])rinces," to stir 
 them up to zeal in tiie cause of true religion, and to excite their 
 sympathy and active assistance on their own behalf To this 
 they added certain articles for consideration ; some of which, 
 directed against the corrupt practices of the age, are these : 
 
 " 1st. That when bishops ordain priests, they do it not, 
 except he that is to be made priest have sufficient livings, either 
 inheritance left him of his parents or of benefices : whereas 
 Christ would that priests should be poor, forasmuch as it is 
 enough for the scholar to be as his master, and for the servant 
 to be as his Lord ; but the bishops will that they should be rich 
 upon earth, which is unjust before the Lord. 
 
 ' Fox's Acta and Mou. vol. i. ' Ibid. , 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. ; Gilpin'a Life, &c. 
 
206 BOHEMIANS AND LOLLARDS. [Chap. 20. 
 
 "2nd. That bishops take money of such as are ordained; 
 but St. Peter sharply rebuked Simon Magus when he would 
 have given him money, as it is written in the eighth of Acts. 
 
 " 3rd. That they which come to be priests enter not into 
 their priesthood for the service of God, to preach and increase 
 it, so that the people may be edified and made better ; but 
 rather for an idle life, that they may eat well and drink well, 
 and that they may be honoured and reverenced upon earth. 
 
 " 7th. That they are covetous, from the highest to the lowest ; 
 and for covetousness they preach many foolish deeds and mani- 
 fest lies, and sell the holy sacraments, which is a great heresy, 
 for God commanded that they should give freely. 
 
 " 15th. That they receive tithes of men, and will of right 
 have them, and preach and say that men are bound to give them 
 tithes ; but therein they say falsely, for they cannot prove by 
 the New Testament that our Lord Jesus Chiist commanded it ; 
 and his disciples warned no man to do so, neither did themselves 
 receive them. But although, in the Old Testament, it was 
 commanded to give tithes, yet it cannot thereby be proved that 
 Christian men are bound thereto ; for this precept of the Old 
 Testament had an end in the first year [or rather at the death] 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, like the precept of circumcision. 
 Wherefore, beloved, consider and see how your bishops seduce 
 you, and shut your eyes with things that have no proof. Christ 
 saith in the eleventh of Luke, ' Give alms of those things that 
 remain :' he said not ' Give the tenth of the goods which ye 
 possess,^ but, ' Give alms.' But when they hear the Avord, 
 they may say, as the lawyer said to Christ, ' Master, when thou 
 sayest so, thou givest ofi'ence.' "^ 
 
 About 1424, great persecution was excited in Norfolk and 
 Suffolk against persons accused as Lollards, and many of them 
 sufl'ered death in consequence. Among other doctrines, they 
 held the following : — that curates should not take tithes of their 
 parishioners ; but that such tithes should be diAided amongst 
 the poor : and that every true Christian man is a priest to 
 God.2 
 
 Even Cardinal Cajetan, about 1500, acknowledges that the 
 law of Tithes under the New Testament would be wrong, and 
 if beyond an honourable maintenance of the ministers of God, 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. - Ibid. 
 
Sect. 12.] " srPPI.U'ATION of HKtiOARS." 207 
 
 so great an atHucncc to one would injure the community, exc(?pt 
 he consider himself as the father of the poor.' 
 
 llichard lluuue of London, Merchant Tailor, was hunj^ in 
 prison as a heretic, 1511. Among other artich's charged 
 against him, the first is that he had taught publicly " against 
 the laws of Almighty God, that tithes or paying of tithes, was 
 never ordained to be due [under the gospel] save only by the 
 covetousness of priests."^ 
 
 About this time, Carp, a Russian deacon, accused the higlicr 
 riuiks of the Greek clergy of selliug ecclesiastical otlices, and 
 of having corrupted the church to such a degree, that the pre- 
 sence of the Holy Ghost was no more to be found in her ordi- 
 nances. Lai'ge numbers adopted his sentiments, and suflered 
 severe persecutions.-^ 
 
 In a lil)cl or small book, addressed to the king by Simon Fish 
 of London in 1528, and entitled "The Supplication of Beggars," 
 the intolerable oppression of the ecclesiastics, through their 
 demands for dues and tithes, is thus forcibly complained of : — 
 " Who is able to number this idle, ravenous sect ; which, setting 
 aside all labour, have begged so importunately, that they have 
 gotten into their hands more than the third part of all your 
 realm ? The goodUest lordships, manors, lands and territories 
 are theirs. Besides these, they have the tenth part of all the corn, 
 meadow, pasture, grass, wood, colts, calves, lambs, pigs, geese 
 and chickens ; over and besides the tenth ])art of every servant's 
 wages, the tenth part of wool, milk, honey, wax, cheese and 
 butter. Yea, and they look so narrowly upon their profits, that 
 the poor wife must be countable to tlicm for every tenth v\:^<j:, or 
 else she getteth not her rights at Easter, and shall be taken as 
 a heretic. Hereto have they their form of offering days. What 
 money pull tlu'v in, by pro])atcs of testaments, privy tithes, and 
 by men's otfcriugs to their pilgrimages, and at theii' first masses ! 
 For every man and child that is buried, somew hat must be paid for 
 masses and diriges to be sung for them, or else they will accuse 
 their fncnds and executors of heresy ! What money they get 
 by mortuai'ies, by hearing of confessions ! (and yet they keep 
 tlicreof no counsel) by hallowing the churches, altars, super- 
 
 ' Sarpi on Bonetioes, chn\>. lii. * Fox's Acta and Mon. vol. ii. 
 
 * Piukerton's CIreek Cfiuich. 
 
208 EXACTIONS AND SALARIES. [Chap. 20. 
 
 altars, ctapels and bells; by cursing of men, and absolving 
 them again for money ! What a multitude of money gather 
 the pardoners in a year ! how much money get the sumners by 
 extortion, by asciting the people to the commissaries' court, and 
 afterward releasing the appearants for money ! Finally, the 
 infinite number of begging friars — Avhat get they in a year ? 
 Oh, grievous and painful exaction, thus yearly to be paid ; from 
 which the people of your noble predecessors, the kings of tlie 
 ancient Britons, ever stood free ! And this will they have, or else 
 they wiU procure him that will not give it to them to be taken as 
 a heretic. Consider then, whether these sums -draw nigh unto 
 the half of the whole substance of the realm or not ; so shall 
 ye find that it draweth far above !''^ A fearful picture truly of 
 ecclesiastical oppression ! 
 
 Sir Thomas More and others answered this book by another, 
 professing to be " a supplication from the souls in purgatory," 
 and pleading for the ecclesiastics ; but the strongest arguments 
 it contained were those of might. 
 
 In the fourteenth century Europe was visited by earthquakes, 
 and these were succeeded in 13 19 by a pestilence, which is said to 
 have swept away one-half of its inhabitants. Knighton asserts 
 that before this plague a curate might be hired for four or five 
 marks a year, or for two marks and his board ; but after it, so 
 few priests were left, and the people were so much more in 
 earnest about religion, that twenty marks, or about £\^ ster- 
 ling were demanded as salary.^ 
 
 By a constitution of Archbishop Islip, it was ordered that 
 curates serving a cure should be content with six marks a year ; 
 but by Archbishop Sudbury this was enlarged to eight marks, 
 or their board and four marks, by reason of the difterence of 
 times. An Act of Queen Anne (xii., 2 — 12) directed the pay 
 to be not less than <£20, nor more than c€50 per year, as the 
 bishop should see fit.^ The salaries of perpetual curates are 
 fixed. 
 
 After King Henry VIII. had thrown off the authority of the 
 see of Rome, and had declared himself supreme head, on earth 
 of the Church of England, he promulgated, at different times, 
 
 ' Fox, vol. ii. ? Pictorial History of England. 
 
 ^ Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. 
 
Sect.\2.'\ DUTIES ATTACH i:i) and disliki: shown to tithes. :i()i) 
 
 injunctions and articles for the reformation of the church, la 
 a statement of these, issued in 1536, the following appears : — 
 " Furthermore, because the goods of the church are called the 
 goods of the poor, and in these days nothing is less seen than 
 the poor to be sustained with the same ; all parsons, Wears, pre- 
 bendaries, and other beneficed men within this deanery, not 
 being resident upon their benefices, which may dispend yearly 
 jB20 or above, either within this deanery or elsewhere, shall 
 distribute hereafter yearly amongst their poor parishioners or 
 other inhabitants, in the presence of the churchwardens or 
 some other honest men of the parish, the fortieth part of the 
 fniits and revenues of their said benefices ; lest they be worthily 
 noted of ingratitude, which, reserving so many pai'ts to them- 
 selves, cannot vouchsafe to impart the fortieth portion thereof 
 amongst the poor people of that parish, that is so fruitful and 
 profitable unto them." 
 
 Every beneficed man, having .€100 yearly, was commanded 
 by the king to proWde for one scholar at the university, and so 
 in proportion to his income if larger; and it was ordered 
 " That all parsons, ncars and clerks, having churches, chapels 
 or mansions, should bestow yearly upon the same, being in 
 decay, the fifth part of their benefices, till they should be fully 
 repaired; and the same so repaired should always keep and 
 maintain in good estate."' 
 
 For many centuries, the duty of giving instruction to the 
 children of the parish was held to be incumbent on every min- 
 ister. Tlie twenty-sixth ecclesiastical law of Canute directs that 
 "the bishops shall willingly teach schools and instruct;" and 
 the twentieth canon of Thcodulf decreed that " every priest have 
 a school in his house." " If any good man will send his children 
 to the priest," says another canon, " he ought to teach them 
 willingly, not expecting any reward from their relations, except 
 what they voluntju'ily give." This appears to have been tlic 
 origin of the collegiate or grammar-schools. - 
 
 A strong and growing feeling endently existed in many parts 
 of the nation against the exaction of tithes, as appears from the 
 following preamble to the Act of the 32nd of Henry WW. 
 chapter 7th : — "Many persons in sundry counties and places of 
 
 ' Fox's Acta an«l Mon. vol. ii. 
 ^^^1itAker'9 Hintory of Manohpflter. 
 
 P 
 
210 PAOLO SARPI, OR "FATHER PAUl/' [Chap. 20. 
 
 this realm, and other the king's dominions, not regarding their 
 duties to Almighty God, and to the king our sovereign lord, but 
 in few years past more contemptuously and commonly presuming 
 to offend, and infringe the good and wholesome laws of this realm, 
 and gracious commandments of our said sovereign lord, than in 
 times past hath been seen or known, have not letted to subtract 
 or withdraw the lawful and accustomed tithes of corn, hay, pas- 
 turages, and other sort of tithes and oblations, commonly due 
 to the owner of the parsonages, vicarages, and other ecclesiastical 
 places;'' therefore, &c. &c.^ 
 
 Paolo Sarpi already quoted, or "Father Paul" as he is usually 
 termed, was a learned ecclesiastic of Venice, where he died in 
 1623. His investigations into the origin and nature of ecclesias- 
 tical benefices and revenues gave him a clear insight into the 
 shameless avarice and impositions of the rulers of the church ; 
 and he exposed with much learning and eloquence the baseless 
 superstructure of tithes, and the contentions between the eccle- 
 siastical and civil authorities, for the spoils of the people and 
 the patronage of bishoprics and livings.^ "Unlike the inspectors 
 of the Jewish sanctuary, who said to Moses, ' The people bring 
 much more than is enough,' whereupon they were restrained 
 from bringing: the church," said he, "now knows no limits : where 
 will its acquisitions end, and who will say the people have given 
 enough?" 
 
 To the foregoing might be added many other testimonies, if 
 time and space permitted or necessity required; but those 
 already quoted are presumed to be ample, to show that, from a 
 very early period, eminent witnesses have been raised up age 
 after age, who have testified against the system of tithes, and 
 the many peculations which covetousness had introduced into 
 the professing church of Christ. There is little doubt that 
 many fm-ther evidences would have been collected and preserved, 
 if the historians themselves had had similar views, and had not 
 been interested in withholding such evidence, and maintaining 
 the exaction of pecuniary compensation for religious services. 
 Many of the martyrs were deeply impressed with a sense of the 
 practical e\ils still prevailing in the church, by which merchan- 
 dize was made of religion, and secular poAver and influence were 
 
 ' Collection of Statutes. 
 
 2 See his Treatise on Ecclesiastical Benefices and Revenues, chap, liii., &c. 
 
Sect. 12.] n.vuNEs, tynpai. and jox. ^.'11 
 
 lodged in the hands of the ecclesiastics. Some of those good 
 men, with their latest breath, expressed their desires that the 
 work of reformation might not stop short, but bo fully carried 
 out and completed by the removal of the remaining corruptions. 
 To this ett'ect were some memorable words of Dr. Barnes of Cam- 
 bridge, who was burnt in Smithficld in 1511, as a heretic, with 
 two others. Among several requests which he made to the sherifl' 
 just before he suftered, is this : " I require you,'' said he, " to 
 have me commcuded unto the king's grace ; and to show him 
 that where his grace hath received into his hands all the goods 
 and substance of the abbeys, I deem that it is well done that 
 all such superstition be clean taken away. But his grace is 
 made a whole king, and obeyed in his whole realm as a king 
 (which none of his ancestors that reigned l)oforo him ever had 
 been) ; and that through the preaching of us, and such other 
 wretches as we arc, which have applied our whole studies, and 
 given ourselves for the setting forth of the same, and this is now 
 our reward ! Well, it maketli no matter ; now he reigneth 
 among you, I pray God long he may live and reign ! Woidd to 
 GckI it may please his grace to bestow the said goods, or some 
 of them, to the comfort of his poo)' subjects, which surely have 
 great need of them ! I desire that his grace would sot forth 
 Christ's true religion, and seeing he hath begim, go forward and 
 make an end ; for many things have been done, but muck more 
 h to do ; and that it would please his grace to look on Clod's 
 Avord himself; for it hatli been obscured with many traditions 
 invented of our own brains !'" 
 
 "Lord, open the king of England's eyes," was one of tlie 
 last petitions of the enlightened "William T^nidal, when brouglit 
 to the stake at Antwerp in LISO. 
 
 Jon Fox, the pious and laborious martyrologist, often quoted 
 in these pages, thus writes of the state of the reformed church in 
 the time of Elizal)eth: "Covetousness robs and spoils; Ijcncfices 
 arc bought and sold ; priests grow cold, and would they were cold 
 indeed ; but now many are neither cold nor hot. The pulpits are 
 silenced ; Christ's slic('pff)ld is fleeced not fed ; the liarvest is 
 despised !" 
 
 The concurrent testimony of the illustriotis John Milton, about 
 the year lO.'H, must not lie overlooked, being expressed with 
 much force and clearness. 
 
 ' Fox, vol. ii. - Stryjw's Parker, Puritans in Kn^lantl. 
 
 r 2 
 
212 MILTON, GEORGE FOX AND THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. [Chap. 20. 
 
 " He, who by the law brings tithes into the gospel, brings in 
 withal a sacrifice and an altar, without which tithes by that law 
 were unsanctified and polluted ; and therefore they were never 
 thought of in the first Christian times, till ceremonies, altars and 
 oblations had been brought back, by a more ancient corruption. 
 And yet the Jews, ever since their temple was destroyed, though 
 they have rabbies and teachers of their law^ pay no tithes ; as 
 having no Levites to whom, no temple where to pay them, no 
 altar whereou to hallow them ; which argues that the Jews them- 
 selves never thought tithes moral, but ceremonial only. That 
 Christians therefore should take them up, when Jews have laid 
 them down, must needs be very absurd and preposterous ! 
 
 " Certainly, if Christ and his apostles had approved of tithes, 
 they would, either by scripture or by tradition, have recom- 
 mended them to the church, and that would soon have appeared 
 in the practice of the primitive and the next ages ; but for the 
 first three hundred years and more, in all the ecclesiastical 
 story, I find no such doctrine or example ; though error by that 
 time had brought back again priests, altars and oblations, and 
 in many other points of religion had miserably Judaized the 
 church. Hence those ancient reformed chiu-ches of the Wal- 
 denses denied that tithes were to be given, or that they were 
 ever given in the primitive church. Thus far has the church 
 always been from the approving of tithes, whether in her prime 
 or in her most ancient reformation."^ 
 
 Following down the series of past ages, — lastly, but not least 
 clearly or consistently, has the religious Society of Friends, 
 dating from about 1650, borne a continued testimony against 
 tithes. George Fox, generally considered the founder of this 
 body, living in a period of serious and extraordinary inquiry on 
 matters of religion, was early broiight to perceive the inconsis- 
 tency of this impost Avith the nature of the gospel dispensation ; 
 and deeply felt, with many preceding reformers, that state-hire 
 for ministers of Christ was a main root of the secular spirit, the 
 contentions and other evils, which disfigured the Christian reli- 
 gion, impaired its vitality, and blighted its good fruits. " Oh ! 
 the vast sums of money," said he, " that are got by the trade 
 of selling the scriptures, and by preaching, from the highest 
 bishop to the lowest priest ! What one trade in the world is 
 comparable to it ? Notwithstanding the scriptures were given 
 ' Considerations on Hirelings. 
 
Sect. 12.] ITALIAN KEFOKMEKS. 2l',i 
 
 forth freely, and Christ commanded his ministers to preach freely, 
 and the prophets and apostles denounced against all covetous 
 hirelings and diviners for money !"^ 
 
 Both he and the other early members of the body expressed 
 themselves very decidedly on these subjects, and what is still 
 more, they acted consistently, and refused the payment of all 
 compulsory ecclesiastical demands. But thoir conduct is well 
 ^vorthy of commendation in this respect, that they were neither 
 betrayed into acts of violence on the one hand, nor could they 
 be compelled to yield against their consciences on the other. 
 For their steady and uncompromising firmness in this and other 
 matters, they suftered from the successive ruling powers cruel 
 Avhippings, severe fines, impiisonmeuts, banishments, and in a 
 few cases the awful penalty of death ! To their undaunted but 
 peaceable opposition to this and other usurpations, the large 
 amount of religious liberty now enjoyed in Britain is to a great 
 extent to be attributed. Had other dissentients maintained an 
 e(pial amount of zeal and courage, of patience aiul meekness, 
 there can be no doubt that tithes and religious establishments 
 founded on compulsion, Mould long ere this have been known 
 to Englishmen only in the history of the past ! 
 
 The Italian reformers speak strongly on these points. 
 
 " There are clergymen in our prostrate country who are mere 
 sacerdotal tradesmen!'' Thus spoke the indignant Gavazzi in 
 18.")1, of the venal and reckless character of the ministry in his 
 own native Italy. " They say ' hush,' if you whisper the word 
 abuse ! They say ' let the gangrene go on ; let corruption eat 
 into the flesh ; we in the mean time cat, drink, and make merry 
 in the lazarhouse, the church of the living (rod ! Or, like sailors 
 in a plague-ship, with ' Peter at the helm,' so that our rations 
 are served out regularly, let the crew and all perish in the 
 destruction which we cannot avert I" 
 
 " The shop," says he, " was at the bottom of all the priestly 
 devices; — both the pence of the poor and the ducats of opulent 
 ignorance were the aim of their devout contrivances ! The 
 civil power has often had U) interfere to prevent sanguinary 
 collisions between rival religious processions I"- 
 
 " 1 know it is written," says Achilli in 1850, " that the 
 labourer is worthy of his hire, and the priest has been accus- 
 ' .loiinijtl "fhis Life. * Giivazzi's Lectures. 
 
214 EXTREME CASES NOT PKODUCED. [Chap. 20. 
 
 tomed to live, as they term it, by the altar. But this which is 
 a sound doctrine, becomes objectionable when it is made a 
 dominant principle — the axle on which the wheel turns. The 
 minister who serves the gospel is maintained by those to whom 
 he dispenses its truths ; but he is not equally to be so main- 
 tained on the sole ground of his priestly office, when he is 
 unemployed. 
 
 " The Romish priests and monks,''^ he says, " are accus- 
 tomed to an idle life, setting aside the laborious duty of saying 
 mass ; so that, when they leave their ancient creed from motives 
 of conscience and clear conviction, their first inquuy is, how 
 they are to live. Hence many are kept in allegiance to Rome, 
 because they fear they shall die of hunger if they desert her. 
 Others throw themselves boldly into any reform whatever, under 
 the vain hope of finding the means to become rich. The priest 
 who is persuaded of the truth, but not converted by it, is always 
 in search of " what he shall eat, what he shall drink, and where- 
 withal he shall be clothed;^' and is unhappy and desponding 
 if he is not supplied as he thinks necessary. I shall exhort 
 them to work as I do, and gain their own bread, St. Paul 
 laboui'ed with his own hands, and why should not a priest who 
 has not much to do in his ministry, spend his leisure time in 
 some civil or literary employment ? I even indulge the hope 
 that we may at last retiu'u to the old practice in this matter."^ 
 
 It would have been very easy to select and expose many 
 cases of great hardship and extreme severity, in the carrying out 
 of the tithe and hierarchical systems among impoverished parties 
 who are liable to the demand ; and also very many instances 
 of avarice and excessive accumulation, through pluralities and 
 otherwise, by indolent, luxurious receivers ! Many of the works 
 to which reference has been made breathe a spirit and abound 
 in language, strongly denouncing the system and its effects! 
 The object of this treatise is however, not to excite feehngs of 
 irritation and animosity, but to promote a fair and dispassionate 
 view of a great national and religious question, and to com- 
 mend it, in its plain and genuine colours, to the deliberate 
 consideration of an euhghtened Christian community ! 
 
 ' Dealings with the Inquisition. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ON ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE, OR THE APPOINT.MKNT OF 
 MINISTERS, BISHOPS, ETC. 
 
 1 st Section. — Introduction. 
 
 Although, in the early endowment of the Church with pro- 
 perty, the relief of the poor had been the great object in 
 view ; yet by degrees, as corruption and avarice crept in, its 
 officers who adniiuistercd the funds, and more particularly such 
 as performed the ministerial functions, generally applied a large 
 part to themselves. A regular allowance for the support of 
 these, as a separate priestly caste, came to be expected ; and 
 the proportion applied to other objects was, in the coiu'se of 
 time, greatly reduced ; till at length the whole was generally 
 absorbed by the ministers, and claimed by them as their due. 
 The character of trustees became sunk in that of owners. The 
 priests obtained the lion's share ! 
 
 It was indeed a natural consequence of the system of tithes, 
 and of other stated pecuniary payments, joined with the recog- 
 nition of one individual minister for each congregation, that 
 those who held them should, as they degenerated from purity 
 and integrity, assert a property in these funds ; and that the 
 holders should be regarded as lessees for life. 
 
 IJut a further evil was, tluit on the decease of each of these, 
 the property or endowment did not revert to the church, to be 
 again applied to its general uses, or even to be allotted by its 
 voice to another party, together with the ministerial otlice ; but 
 in most cases it passed back to a second class termed " Patrons," 
 being private individuals or public bodies, " lay or clerical." 
 Each of these, having obtained what was improperly termed 
 " the right of patronage " jus patronatus, claimed the privilege 
 
216 APPOINTMENTS IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. [Chaj). 21. 
 
 of appointing himself, or one of themselves if a minister^ and if 
 uot^ then some other minister to the vacant office. 
 
 In the primitive ages, the functions of prophesying or of the 
 ministry were, as is evident from scripture eridence, not re- 
 stricted to one individual in each congregation ; and even when 
 they became more limited, the church at large, or believers 
 generally in each place, had a voice, according to the united 
 testimony of ecclesiastical historians, in the appointment or 
 approval of ministers, and of all their other officers, as a natural 
 right. 
 
 Holy men, so eminent in the gathering of the churches, and 
 so largely endued with the Holy Spirit, as James, Peter, Paul, 
 Timothy and Titus, naturally exercised a considerable influence 
 in the proceedings and judgments of the church; yet were they 
 very careful not to act as " Lords over God's heritage," or to 
 infringe on the privileges of the believers generally ; but feeling 
 themselves to be fellow-members, and not the heads of the 
 several spiritual bodies, they claimed simply to be helpers and 
 joint-heirs with their brethren, under Christ the ever-living head.^ 
 
 Archbishop Cranmer remarks, '' Sometimes the apostles and 
 others, unto whom God had given abundantly his Spu'it, sent 
 or appointed ministers of God's word ; sometimes the people 
 did choose such as they thought meet thereto. And when any 
 were sent or appointed by the apostles or others, the people, of 
 their own fi'ee wiU, with thanks did accept them. The people, 
 before Christian princes were, did commonly elect their bishops 
 and priests."- 
 
 The bishops however, forgetting their true relative position, 
 began, especially about the year 500, to arrogate power to them- 
 selves, and to assume the right of approving or nominating 
 ministers, and dispensing the goods of the church. Imitating 
 the example of the feudal lords, they claimed to be treated as such 
 by their own inferiors, exacting homage from both ministers 
 and people, with pecuniary reservations and serxile obedience. 
 
 ' "And when they had ordained them elders in every church," &c. — 
 Acts xiv. 23. The Greek word here translated " ordained," signifies 
 " elected by show of hands," implying an apiDointment by the chm-ch, under 
 the superintendence of Paul and his companions. 
 
 " Burnet's History, vol. i. — Records. 
 
Sect. 2.] USURPATIONS IN APl'v)INTMt:NTS Ol' MINISTKHS. 217 
 
 111 proportion as tlie i)ustoriil otticc was restricted to one indi- 
 vidual in each ivlii^ious asscMubly, and as pecuniary payment 
 became attached to the performance of the service, it grew to 
 be an object of gain and ambition, as a profitable, dignified 
 profession. The necessity of the gifts and calling of the Holy 
 Ghost was little considered. Ambition led to intrigues and 
 factions in the appointments to ofHce.^ The people gradually 
 lost their privileges, both spiritual and temporal ; they were re- 
 quired to yield their judgments and to pay their money; the 
 ministers and bishops became proportionately elevated and in- 
 dependent, usurping the functions and even the name of " the 
 t'luu-ch." 
 
 Instead of being men qualified for service by its Great Head, 
 and subject to the approbation, or called by the voice, of the 
 believers at large, they were appointed entirely by their eccle- 
 siastical superiors, who often acted from unworthy motives in 
 the selection, and obtruded their nominees by arbitrary measures. 
 Ordinations or appointment of ministers, without a destination 
 to one i)articiUar church or locality, were generally discounte- 
 nanced." 
 
 " The light of noonday is not clearer," says Paolo Sarpi, the 
 learned writer just quoted, " than that the election of ecclesias- 
 tical officers was first in the people ; that afterwai'ds it came 
 into the hands of the princes, when they had received the 
 Christian faith and had taken the afiairs of the chui'ch into 
 their care ; and lastly, that the appointments rested in the clergy 
 only, after the seculars had been excluded, every diocese retain- 
 ing its own right of election and collation, till the popes 
 gradually assumed it to themselves."'^ All parties became 
 involved on this account in violent and long-continued con- 
 tentions. 
 
 2nd Section. — Benefices. 
 
 The original institution of benefices is very ancient, and in- 
 volved in much obscurity. All who were admitted to eccle- 
 siastical functions for the first two Innicb'cd years appear to 
 have been elected by the faithful in general assemblies.* In 
 
 ' Paolu Sjirjii ou BcueAces, cIih|i. ix. " Ibid, eliap. ii. 
 
 ' n>iil. i-l»a|>. .XXXV. * IIi'kI. clia|>8. iii. ami vii. 
 
218 RISE OF INDIVIDUAL PATRONS. [Chap. 31. 
 
 Cyprian^s letter to the Spanish nation about 250^ he desires that 
 " no one may be ordained but in the presence of the people." 
 A Council at Laodicea, in 368^ decreed however that the people 
 should notj in the first place, choose the minister or priest; 
 but one held at Carthage in 397 required the concurrence and 
 acceptance of the flock in the appointment of pastors. A 
 canon of the year 428 also shows that the election of ministers 
 was in the clergy, but subject to the consent of the people. 
 And in 493 this was extended to the appointment of bishops. 
 The approval of the congregation was again pronounced neces- 
 sary by the tliird Council at Orleans in 538.1 
 
 The " apostolical constitutions," as they are termed, enacted 
 that if any bishop, presbyter or deacon should obtain his dignity 
 for money, the parties, both ordaining and ordained, should be 
 deposed and cut off from communion, like Simon Magus. 
 Several councils issued decrees to the same effect, showing that 
 the practice of buying and selling such offices was prevalent.^ 
 
 According to the sacramentary of Gregory the Great, no 
 priest could be ordained without the publication of banns, such 
 as are used for marriage ; and the people were called on to 
 object, if the candidate were unsuitable. 
 
 The claim of individuals to the patronage of particular 
 churches is of great antiquity, and, though attended with evils 
 of no small magnitude, has not been without its advocates. The 
 most plausible ground alleged in its favour is that of especial 
 services originally rendered, in erecting the buildings, endowing 
 the ministers, or otherwise promoting the estabhshments. 
 
 It had been a common idea among the heathen nations, that 
 the deities were propitious to a country, in proportion to the 
 number of its temples and altars. This opinion was gradually 
 introduced among Christians, and in consequence of it, as well 
 as of pure religious motives, places of worship or " chui'ches" 
 were greatly multiplied as early as the time of Constantine. 
 Both the ecclesiastical and the secular authorities exerted them- 
 selves to provide these edifices, in the cities as well as in the 
 rural districts. Wealthy persons, and lords of the country or 
 of particular manors, were encouraged to erect such buildings 
 as acts of piety, and as the means of obtaining forgiveness of 
 
 ' Eepoi-t of Lords ou Aiiehterarder Case. 
 '" Bingham's Christian Antiquities. 
 
Sect. 2.] ORIGIN OK CLAIMS TO PATKONAGK. 219 
 
 sins. lu retiu'n for the public use of them, and for the tithes 
 derived from their lands, the owners and their representatives 
 were allowed the pri^ilege of proposing, and by degrees of abso- 
 lutely appointing, the ministers. Those who contributed large 
 donations to the church appear to have been encouraged and 
 compensated by enjoying the same privilege, in cases where 
 patrons did not already exist. Hence arose the "right of 
 patronage," borrowed in part from an old Roman custom of 
 patrons and clients. 
 
 Bochmer, in his " Jus Parochiale," a work of great authority, 
 refers to the existence of patrons, saying " Let the decisive vote 
 in an election be given to the patron ; but a negative vote to the 
 people, that they may dissent if they can allege just reasons."^ 
 
 A Scotch Act of 1567 alludes to " the presentation of lay 
 I)atronages always reserved to tlie just .ind ancient patrons." 
 Some of the most powerful of these had liowever become such 
 by seizing the prajdial tithes, leaWng " the altarage " or smaller 
 oblations to the ministers.- Thus the patrons made themselves 
 impropriators in many cases. 
 
 The Emperor Justinian in the sixth century had forbidden 
 any payment or reward to be given for obtaining sacred ofKces ; 
 but decreed that all founders of churches and their heirs should 
 be allowed the privilege of nominating their own clerks thereto. 
 This practice became general, and the nobles considered the 
 clergy among theii* retainers, often exacting pensions from them 
 out of their livings, appointing to the priestly office men who 
 were their relatives, or whom they wished to oblige, but not 
 possessed of proper qualifications, and even their own serfs.* 
 Masses were expected to be said for the release of the souls of 
 the patrons from purgatoiy, and this was esteemed a consi- 
 deration of no small value ! Many of them after death were 
 canonized, becoming " patron saints " of the places for worship, 
 though Avith little or no pretensions to moral sanctity ! 
 
 These presentations or appointments ])cing ex-mero beneficio, 
 and compensated by the bencjicence of the peoj)le, were termed 
 benefices. The right was attached to the lands of the founders, 
 and it often passed witli them from one proprietor to another ; 
 hence a reproachful sptcies of nepotism crci)t in, and the iiuli- 
 
 ' Report of Lords on Auchterarder ('a.se. ' Bum's Ex.'cle»ia«tical TjRw. 
 
 ' Bingham's ( 'hristian Antiquities. 
 
220 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF ADVOWSONS. 
 
 [Chap. 21. 
 
 vidual patronage, or ownership of appointments to the minis- 
 terial oflSce, fell into the hands of a variety of jsersons. The 
 congregations, who Mere in reality the parties chiefly concerned, 
 w^ere not consulted, and had no voice in the matter. A real 
 call from the great Head of the Church was little regarded, 
 and the most sacred functions became a species of inheritance ! 
 Every benefice had for its patron either the state, or the bishop, 
 or some clerical or secular body or indiAidual, either occupying 
 it or appointing an occupier for life. On the death of the 
 minister, if a private patron omits to exercise his right within 
 six months, things are said to '^'^ return to their right order," 
 and the patronage lapses to the bishop.^ 
 
 The monarch, as head of the church, is termed " patron para- 
 mount" of all the benefices in England, any of which ultimately 
 become vested in the crown, when not properly filled, or when 
 the holder is preferred to a bishopric. The tithes in extra- 
 parochial places also belong to the sovereign. The English 
 people, though so deeply interested, are restricted by law and 
 custom from exercising any judgment in the appointment of 
 ministers. 
 
 The appointment or call {advocatio) of a minister to the 
 office, often became in process of time severed from the land; 
 but still it entitled him to the tithes and other endowments, and 
 being held to be a distinct property, was termed an advowson. 
 The pecuniary reward or compensation was an object of greatw 
 consideration than the spiritual service for which it had been 
 assigned. The old entreaty was often renewed, " Put me I 
 pray thee into one of the priests^ ofiices, that I may eat a piece 
 ofbread."2 
 
 While the claim to the patronage of many benefices originated 
 in the manner which has been described ; in others it was 
 
 ' A Bishop in the west of England, who appears to have obtained that 
 office through his political pamphlets, is said to be very inquisitive into 
 the titles of patrons in his diocese, whenever livings become vacant. 
 Several instances are stated to have occurred, in which, through his 
 subtle objections, a delay of six months has been occasioned, when he has 
 claimed the right of presentation as having lapsed to himself, and given 
 the living to some relation of his own ! Surely this is a species of 
 trickery discreditable to any member, much more to any bishop, of a 
 Christian church ! — Edinburgh Review, No. 1 93. 
 
 ^ 1 Samuel ii. 36, 
 
Sect. 2.] CONTKNTIONS ABOUT I.IVIXfJS. 221 
 
 fonnclccl at first on mere possession, tlu'ougli the gift of the nihng 
 powers, or the election of tlie people. Th:it which had been 
 obtained by favoiu', or on certain conditions, was, after the lapse 
 of years, claimed as a right, and disposed of as other inheritances. 
 Yet the title to the property was in many cases so doubtful, 
 that the church not unfrequently became " litigious ;" that is, it 
 was the subject of disputes and conflicts between contending 
 claimants. ^lany laws were made to prevent usurpations ; and 
 in order to put an end to litigation, the right of presentation has 
 in some cases been arranged to be enjoyed in turn by tlio 
 different claimants. The same arrangement has probably pro- 
 ceeded, in other cases, from the circumstance of two or more 
 persons or families having contributed to the first erection of 
 the fabric, or possessed most of the land in the district, or being 
 equally heirs of the founder. All differences relating to the 
 right of patronage were, by the constitutions of Clarendon in tlie 
 twelfth century, restricted to be tried in the civil courts. 
 
 The absence of incumbents often gave rise to reports of their 
 death, and presentations were claimed by others to fill the 
 supposed vacancies; so that special enactments were issued 
 against persons casting an evil eye on the benefices of others, 
 and feigning sucli reports ; also against patrons presenting in 
 such cases ; as well as against intruders who got possession of 
 livings and defended themselves by force of arms ! ''A spoliation" 
 was sued for in these instances. If the true patron did not within 
 six months proceed by suit against the usurper to prevent the 
 induction, he lost his presentation ever afterwards, till Queen 
 Anne restored such claims by law. 
 
 The numerous abl)cys and priories were occupied by ecclesi- 
 astics, most of whom officiated as ministers in the country 
 round, and received the church revenue, or some specific part 
 of itj from the several districts. AVith urgent entreaties, they 
 often persuaded their benefactors to confer upon their houses 
 or tliemselves the right of presentation, on the plea of their 
 hospitality ; and so great was tlieir success in this and other 
 methods, some of which were very questionable, that these 
 institutions became by degrees tlie patrons of more than oue-lialf 
 of the " churches" or livings in England,' which were termed 
 ' Bum's Ecclesiastical Law. 
 
222 DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY INTO PARISHES. [Chap. 21. 
 
 appropriations. When those religious establishments were 
 broken up^ the property and patronage of some were sold or 
 given away to the nobility or gentry ; while in other cases they 
 were made over to the new bishops' sees, or to old ones, to the 
 chapters, or to colleges in the universities ; some again being 
 retained by the crown. Thus the patronage became distributed 
 among various bodies or individuals, lay, clerical, episcopal, 
 capitular, collegiate, political and royal. 
 
 In some instances, the whole tithe was charged with ministerial 
 functions ; in others these were connected with only a part, and 
 the remainder of the tithe became impropriate, or vested in one 
 who imjjroprie or improperly received the income, not perform- 
 ing the duties. Hence the great or rectorial tithes of a parish 
 are often impropriate, or belonging to a party who performs no 
 ministerial service, while the small or Adcarial tithes alone are 
 held by the minister ; at other times the tithe rent-charge of 
 both kinds is impropriate, the minister being provided for by 
 certain payments out of it, or from other sources. Custom is 
 the great legal authority and arbiter in these matters, and varies 
 much in different parishes and districts. With respect to im- 
 propriate tithe rent-charge, there is of course no other patron 
 than the impropriator, unless a part of the rent-charge be 
 reserved as a provision for a minister or perpetual curate. No 
 parish has more than one patron or body of patrons, except in 
 succession. 
 
 Great difference of opinion prevails as to the time when the 
 country was first divided into parishes, {napoiKia or parochia, a 
 neighbourhood,) Camden dates it as early as 630. Hobart 
 asserts that the division originated with the Council of Latcran 
 m 1179; but on the other hand, some such arrangement is 
 referred to in the laws of King Edgar, about 970. The divisions 
 and subdivisions appear to have been introduced by degrees. 
 
 The early parochia was the small diocese or district of the 
 bishop or superintendent, in which he and the ministers lived 
 together on part of the common fund, provided by th e oblations 
 of the people for " pious uses" — caring for the poor, repairing 
 the places of worship, and dispensing hospitality around them ; 
 himself visiting the whole district once a year, and the ministers 
 going out to preach, and encouraging the erection of oratories or 
 
Sect. 2.] POPES AND PKIXCES QUARREI- ABOUT PATROXAfiE. 223 
 
 small chapels in remote parts, where the population was zealous 
 or numerous.^ The boundaries of i)arishes are still governed 
 by ancient custom, and are very arbitrary. 
 
 In 1215, it was enacted by a Lateran Council that every ni:ui 
 should pay his tithes to the minister of his own parish ; instead 
 of beinj; at liberty to bestow them on any minister or religious 
 house, as he pleased, and as had frequently been done. 
 
 The patronage of livings, or appointments to the ministiy, 
 having thus been wrested from the people or congregations, 
 to whom, under the Great Head of the church, the judgment 
 of qualification naturally and properly belonged, became the 
 object of frequent ambition and contention among different 
 claimants. The number and authority of ecclesiastical councils, 
 which had maintained some appearance of popular control, 
 diminished, and the judgment of even matters of faith and 
 discipline was usurped by the higher powers. So great was the 
 departure from the simplicity and purity of the apostolic Chris- 
 tian pattern, that the system of the church aiul state ministry, 
 and especially that pai't Mhich forms the subject of the present 
 chapter, bore little or no resemblance to it, and had become 
 a complex, corrupt, secular hierarchy. The Popes and the 
 potentates of Europe quarrelled about their respective shares 
 of the spoil ; each party, on presenting to a benefice, expect- 
 ing a valuable consideration in the shape of first-fruits or 
 tenths, or under some other name ; notwithstanding many 
 enactments against the sale of orders, and also of benefices. 
 " They who buy or sell holy orders can be no priests," said 
 Gregory of the sixth century, reputed for a saint, " wherefore 
 they incur anathema dandi et anathema acciplendi, and arc 
 counted guilty of simoniacal heresy." 
 
 The Popes, in the pchod of their most uncontrolled usurpation, 
 put forth extravagant pretensions under specious reasons to the 
 right of imiversal patronage or investiture, and got by degrees 
 a large portion into their own hands ; taking advantage of times 
 of civil confusion still further to usurp the power, for their own 
 personal aggi-andizement and gain. Even companies of mer- 
 chants openly bought the benefices of whole districts from the 
 papal agents, and retailed them at advanced prices to the highest 
 bidders : in fact, the practice of selling benefices was so notorious 
 ' Bum's Eccleaiafltical Law. — Appropriations. 
 
224 ARTIFICES OP THE SEE OF ROME. [Chap. 21. 
 
 that no pains were taken to deny or disguise it!i These usurpa- 
 tions and scandalous proceedings were practised both in England 
 and in other countries. 
 
 Bernard^ usually styled a saint, writing to Pope Eugenius III. 
 about 1150, laments that Rome was the common rendezvous of 
 the ambitious, the covetous^ the simoniacal/ the sacrilegious, the 
 adulterer and the incestuous; who resorted thither in pursuit 
 of benefices, and met with a reception which they could obtain 
 nowhere else ! " Beneficiary bulls, given to such characters, 
 generally began with the apologizing words, " De plenitudine 
 jjotestatis," or " Non ohstantihusr Expectative grants or pro- 
 Adsors, in anticipation of vacancies, were also issued, commencing 
 with " Sii pro alio ibidem non scripsimus."^ Innocent IV. is 
 described by writers both ancient and modern, as " a roaring 
 lion," whose chief endeavour was to devour all the benefices 
 that came within his reach !^ To promote disputes and appeals 
 to Borne was a frequent artifice of the papal see, in order to 
 obtain authority and money ! 
 
 " A detestable distinction to favour certain rich officials,^^ was 
 introduced in the twelfth century, between benefices of residence 
 and those of non-residence ; the pope, for secret considerations, 
 frequently giving the minister leave to appoint a vicar or deputy, 
 to receive the small or vicarial tithes, or some other parts of the 
 income, and to perform the service ; while the minister himself 
 retained the greater tithes or chief of the revenue, without duty. 
 It appears from Matthew Paris that ^"icarages gained a place in 
 England, under Alexander III.^ about 1170. Another assump- 
 tion soon followed that of non-residence — an individual might 
 hold more than one living, especially when these were small ; 
 and the same liberty was gradually extended to benefices of 
 both kinds and of all amounts, on a variety of specious pre- 
 tences. Thus were introduced pluralities, commendams, pecuhars, 
 impropriations, provisors, exemptions, dispensations, &c., which, 
 though less frequent now than formerly, are far from being 
 wholly abolished to the present day. 
 
 In 1298, Boniface VIII. boldly maintained in the Decretals, 
 that the absolute disposition of all benefices belonged to the 
 pope, — a maxim which had already been inculcated and acted 
 
 ' Robertson's Charles V. ^ P. Sarpi on Benefices, chap. xxx. ^ Ibid. 
 '* Lockman's Preface to Paolo Sarpi. 
 
»*^ec/. 2.] oprosiTioN TO I'Ar.vK knchovcmmknts. 225 
 
 on ; hut tlic source of ecclesiastical oppression aiul endless 
 contentions.' 
 
 The Couneil of Rheinis under Calixtus IT. ahout 1300, 
 enacted, anionj^ otiier tiiin<^s, that no man should huy or sell 
 any ecclesiastical oflfice or promotion ; that no lay person should 
 invest with clerical orders ; and that no hishop or priest should 
 devise a bencHce, by way of inheritance.' 
 
 For several centuries the monstrous pretensions of the papal 
 sec were maintained with a hv^h hand, in the disposal of benefices 
 and livings. The pope claimed the nomination to such benefices, 
 as fell vacant dming six or eight months of each year. These 
 were called the pope's months ! There were besides reservations 
 of all livings, possessed by ministers who were appointed cardinals 
 o'r bishops, by those translated to other benefices, and by such 
 as died at Rome or within forty miles of it. Pensions out of 
 livings were bargained for, infringing on the vested rights of 
 patrons ; and every artifice was adopted to increa.se the papal 
 revenues and influence ! The avarice of the clerical order knew 
 no bounds, benefice after benefice was heaped on the same 
 person, in defiance of all laws ! 
 
 The statutes of premunire were passed in l']ngland, under 
 Kdward I., in the fourteenth century, to guard against this 
 foreign interference ; and his firmness was exerted to check 
 the rapacity of the see of Rome. All these its contrivances were 
 e\idently simoniacal, contrary to the rights of the Englisli and 
 other ehurches, and designed to extract as much money as 
 possible for the appointment to livings. Since such more open 
 attempts have been put to shame, the covert idea of onerous pcr- 
 (juisitcs and official fees, advanced by ecclcsia.stical authorities 
 with the same object, has not been wanting even in protcstant 
 countries ! 
 
 The Coinicil of Trent, which was called in l.")47 with a pro- 
 fessed design to reform ecclesiastical abu.se.s, and which con- 
 tinued to sit at intervals for sixteen years, is said by its learned 
 historian, Paolo Sarpi, to have been designed chiefly to remedy 
 three things — plurality of benefices, lu-reditary succession, and 
 non-residence. It decreed that no ecclesiastic should have more 
 than one benefice with cure of souls ; but alh)we(l anotlier to 
 be held /'// cnmmeudam or without duty. It prohibited the 
 ' r. Sarpi, ch.i]>. xxxv. ' Dtipin's Ecclosiast. IIi«t. 
 
 «i 
 
226 THE REFORMERS TRY TO SUPPRESS PATRONAGE. [Chap. 21. 
 
 succession of relatives to any benefice without regular ordina- 
 tion; — a prohibition which proAcd of no effect. On the question 
 of residence the members fell into acrimonious disputes ; some 
 contending for it by the divine law, and others maintaining that 
 it was enjoined merely by canon law, with which the court of 
 Eome might dispense. The reservations, or the privilege of the 
 Pope to bestow benefices, they left untouched. The general 
 results of the council, in these and other matters, disappointed 
 the best friends of the church .^ 
 
 Many of the early reformers struggled hard to obtain authority 
 for the congregations to choose their own spiritual officers, or to 
 secure to them at least the power of expressing approval or dis- 
 approval. But the secular rulers generally decided against such 
 claims, and enforced the privileges of the patrons and other 
 authorities, which had then long been exercised. 
 
 John Knox says, in his first book of discipline, 1560, " It 
 pertaineth to the people — to every congregation, to elect their 
 minister." And in his second book, 1578, he remarks, "The 
 liberty of election of persons called to ecclesiastical functions, 
 observed without interruption so long as the kirk was not 
 corrupted by antichrist, we desire to be restored ; so that no 
 man be intruded upon any congregation, either by the prince 
 or by any inferior person, without lawful election, and the 
 assent of the people over whom the parson is placed ; as the 
 practice of the apostolic and primitive kirk, and good order 
 craves.'^ ^ 
 
 In the time of Edward VI., the patrons, in a large proportion 
 of the parishes, had given the benefices to their menials as wages — 
 to the gardeners, and the keepers of their hawks or hoilnds ; or 
 else they let out the glebe and parsonage, the vicar obtaining a 
 chamber at an alehouse, amid the bad company which frequented 
 it ! ^ The king, or others in his name, took from the bishops 
 manors of land and livings without hesitation, and bestowed 
 them on court favourites ! Cranmer, Ridley and others were sub- 
 jected to this spoliation.* Supposing the endowments to have 
 been excessive or altogether objectionable, as they doubtless 
 
 1 Paolo's History of the Council of Trent. 
 
 ^ .Judgment of Lords on Auchterarder Case, 1839. 
 
 ^ Lives of British Reformers. 
 
 * Oliver's History of Exeter. 
 
Sect. 2.] ( L.VIMS OV VATKONS DlSKKCiAllDLI). 227 
 
 were, this arbitrary course was a strange mode of setting uialters 
 right ! 
 
 Queen Elizabetli enacted tliat, if any jiatron accepted money 
 for the presentation of a benetice, such presentation sliould l)e 
 void, and the queen or her successors should for that time 
 present. Otlier statutes liave followed to the same purport. 
 
 In 1581, the House of Commons submitted to the Lords, 
 " That no bishop should ordain a minister without the concur- 
 rence of six presbyters ; that no minister should be appointed, 
 without prenous opportimity for the parishioners to inquire into 
 the soimdness of his doctrine, the integrity of his life," &c. But 
 these propositions were rejected.^ At the Reformation, and at 
 the subsequent changes, when the ministers of one profession 
 were displaced, and those of another were put into the puljjits, 
 " the rights of patronage" were totally disregarded, the secular 
 heads of the national churches taking the power into their own 
 hands, and disposing of the livings as they saw fit. The claim 
 was not abolished however, but was revived in full force by the 
 old or new patrons, as the religious trouldes subsided ; being 
 always held subject, in some degree, to the will of the ruling 
 sovereigns. Cromwell appointed "Tiiers" to examine the min- 
 isters, and those whom they deemed unsuitable were ejected. 
 lie also appointed a commission in 1G51, to inquii'c into the 
 value of all benefices, to ascertain the patrons, and if needful to 
 luiite two or more parishes together, in which case the patrons 
 were to present by tin'us. No minister to receive less than 
 tlOO per year.- 
 
 In Scotland, more than in most other countries, the congre- 
 gations have repeatedly resisted the intrusion of disapproved 
 ministers, through the nomination of worldly-minded jjatrons ; 
 claiming for the members of the church the right of objecting, 
 or pronouncing a veto. In England, where the state church 
 maintains no definite membership, the subject has engaged l)ui 
 little attention ; there is no specific body to pronounce a veto, 
 and the people (piictly acquiesce in this time-sanctioned inva-sion 
 of their spiritual rigiits. Yet it seems scarcely ercdible that 
 appointments, so important to the interests of the church at 
 large, sliould have been sufrcrcd thus to dwindle down into 
 private property, and to be transferred from hand to hand as such. 
 ' Fuller's Ecclesiastical History. ' Neal's Puritans. 
 
 q2 
 
228 MODERN CLAIMANTS OF PATRONAGE. [Chap. 21. 
 
 In neither country has the authority of Christ been properly re- 
 cognized, "to send by whom he will send/' whether by one or by 
 several, as it may please him. A single individual in each parish, 
 claiming the ecclesiastical income, has been styled in England, 
 from early popish times, the parson, or persona ecdesia, as re- 
 presenting in himself the local church, possessing its revenues, 
 and being its rector or ruler. Behind him, the patron wlio 
 presented him, and who is ready to present another at the next 
 vacancy, is very much lost sight of. On an average of five years, 
 there were reported by the Committee on First-fruits, in 1837, 
 to be 518 institutions to livings annually. Sinecure benefices 
 without congregations sometimes happen, especially in Ireland. 
 There are in England upwards of sixty sinecure rectories.^ 
 
 By degrees, the patronage of benefices in England and Wales 
 has become widely distributed; so that at present, of about 
 11,000 livings mthin the establishment, the pastors of 952 are 
 chosen by the crown; 1258 by archbishops and bishops; 787 
 by deans and chapters; 1851 by other dignitaries; 721 by 
 universities and colleges; 53 by municipal corporations; and 
 5096 by private persons.^ Total 10,718. Thus more than half 
 of aU the parochial benefices in England are at the disposal of 
 individuals ; tlie chu.rch having no guarantee whether they are 
 secular or ecclesiastical, residing near at hand or at a distance, 
 concerned or utterly indifi'erent as to the right qualification 
 of the party whom they present. It is however freely admitted, 
 that many patrons endeavour to discharge the trust conscien- 
 tiously ; while numerous instances exist to the contrary. In 
 parishes where the great tithes were appropriated to a religious 
 house or person, that house or person was usually patron of the 
 vicarage ; and in subsequent transfers the two claims have fre- 
 quently gone together. The consent of the patron was required 
 to each tithe commutation. In Scotland, the right of patronage 
 in 587 parishes is held by the various landholders, in 302 by the 
 crown ; in 60 by the privy council ; and in 23 by colleges or 
 indiAiduals. 
 
 The patronage of livings is still sometimes transferred, with 
 consent of the ordinary or bishop, to large benefactors. It is 
 frequently di\dded between diflPerent persons, and between 
 
 ' Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. — Simony. 
 
 ■ M'Culloch's Statistics. — Commissioners' Export, 1835. 
 
Sect. 2.1 DISPOSAL OK LIVINGS OR ADVOWSONS. 229 
 
 persons of different classes ; each presenting in tnrn. Wlicii a 
 patron wishes to sell a vacant living, he nsnally gives it to an 
 aged minister, and then sells the reversionary interest, or in 
 Other words, the next presentation. Occasionally, the party jjre- 
 sented is unable fi'om age or infirmity to fulfil the duties, yet 
 strange to say, the law does not annul the appointment on that 
 account ! The claim of patronage is held to be paramount to 
 such considerations ! 
 
 Advowsons are sometimes claimed and held by Jews, and 
 by others who arc adverse to the doctrines of the established 
 church; but catholics are prohibited from exercising the right. 
 Livings pass under wills and marriage settlements as freeholds, 
 ai-e mortgjiged for sums of money, and may be sequestrated for 
 their smallncss, for debt, for neglect, or for dilapidations. Tliey 
 are advertised for sale, like other property, in the newspapers ; 
 and are often specially recommended to purchasers, because the 
 present incumbent is aged, and there is a prospect of early 
 possession ; or because the population is snudl and the duty 
 light ; or because the district is favourable for .sporting ; or on 
 account of some other inducement of ease, profit or pleasure ! 
 Wliat resemblance is there between such a picture of actual cir- 
 emnstances in this section of the professing Christian church, 
 and the holy and disinterested pattern of the apostles of Christ ; 
 wlio sought " no man's silver or gold," but cheerfully sacrificed 
 their own will and pleasure, in the discharge of s])iritual services? 
 Dr. Paley remarks,^ that the sale of advowsons is iu-separable 
 from the allowance of private patronage ; as patronage would 
 otherwise devolve to the most indigent, and for that reason the 
 mo.st improper hands it could be placed in.- Thus the system 
 l)eeomes widely cornipted, and one e\il leads to another. He 
 thinks that the law^ intended not to prohiint the passing of 
 advowsons from one patron to another, but to restrain the 
 patron from presenting for a bribe, or for personal benefit. Is 
 not this however really the case when an advowson is sold, and 
 especially to a minister, who, on the living becoming void, incUicts 
 himself? Ecclcsisistical patronage is compared to a freehold of 
 forty shillings annual value, which gives a right to vote for a 
 represi^ntative in parliament ; the vote or nomination in cither 
 ease not being ullowi-d to be inflnenced by money. This eom- 
 ' Moral and Political Economv. iii. 1-20. * Iliid. 
 
230 ABSOLUTE POWER OF PATRONS. [Chap. 21. 
 
 parison is very defective ; aud greatly are the ministerial duty 
 and appointment degraded by it^ and by such a proprietorship ! 
 
 When a patron presents a minister to be settled as the pastor 
 of a church, the congregation have no voice in the matter ; and 
 unless he be legally disqualified, which is not easily proved, the 
 bishop is bound to admit him, on his subscribing his acknow- 
 ledgment of the royal supremacy, his approval of the liturgy, 
 and his assent to the thirty-nine articles. In donative livings 
 however, the patron collates or imposes the minister without 
 reference to the bishop. Indeed, so absolute and uncontrollable 
 is the power of patrons in the eye of the law, that William 
 Gladstone, a distinguished member of the present British 
 government, stated last year in the House of Commons, that 
 for a minister " to represent the Bible as a fiction and an ab- 
 surdity," is no offence which any ecclesiastical court would deem 
 a sufficient ground, for interference with the right of the patron 
 or with the presentee in taking possession. What Christian 
 principle can be alleged for such a system ? 
 
 Thus many enter this holy office through the exercise of such 
 a "right" who are in many respects unprepared, and even 
 in the judgment of the church at large, wholly unfit to per- 
 form the duties of a minister of the gospel, presuming upon 
 their independence of the people, and even making a boast of 
 it ! It is true that patrons can present none but those who 
 have been ordained as priests ; yet this often proves in practice 
 to be a very insufiicient security. As some check on the present 
 ev\\s, it has been suggested that the congregation should nomi- 
 nate three, of whom one should be selected by the patron, or 
 vice versa. Such a mode, it is evident, would soon destroy the 
 pecuniary value of the appointment. Surely this is much to be 
 degired, and the claim of patronage, which has no shadow of a 
 foundation in the New Testament, ought to be wholly abolished ! 
 
 Bishop Latimer complained that in his day, many benefices 
 were let out to farm by secular men, or given to their servants 
 as a consideration for keeping their hounds, hawks and horses ; 
 and that the poor clergy were reduced to such short allowance, 
 that they were forced to go to service, turn clerks of the kitchen, 
 surveyors, receivers, &c.i 
 
 In an address to the Regent in 1552, he boldly says, " The 
 ' Neal's Puritaus. 
 
Sect. 2.] BISHOP JU KNKT ON CHIR( U lATUONAGE. 231 
 
 land is t'ull of idle pastors; and how cmi it be otherwise, when 
 the nobility and patrons of livings put in just those, who they 
 know will allow them to take out most profit ? It wo\dd be j^ood 
 if your j^raee would sentl out surveyors to see how benefiees arc 
 bestowed. Benefiees are everywhere robbed and plundered 
 by patrons! And now, if we search for the root of all these 
 evils, what is it but avarice ?" 
 
 A worldly-minded patron may obtrude an equally worldly- 
 minded minister, and in every such ease the eongrefj;ation lu'c 
 spoiled both spiritually and temporally, without the means of 
 redress in all probability as long as he lives. A dissolution of 
 the union with the state would release the protestant episcopal 
 church from this thraldom of patronage. But the coveted tem- 
 poralities uuhajjpily stand in the way of such a change ; and 
 for the sake of these, she continues to submit to the present 
 bondage ! ' 
 
 Bishop Burnet, one of the upholders of the system, thus can- 
 didly describes some of its eflects : " Patronage is a noble thing 
 in a family, and lias always been highly esteemed. But many 
 receive into the service of the church unworthy men, who are in 
 the sequel reproaches to it, and this is often the case with the 
 richest benefices. Some sell the next advowsou, which is said 
 to be legal, even though the incumbent is at the point of death ; 
 others do not stick to buy and sell benefices when open and 
 vacant, though this is declared by law to be simony. Barents 
 buy them for their children. In such cases it is true there is 
 no pcijury ; for the person presented is no party to the bargain. 
 Often ecclesiastics themselves buy the next advowsou, and lodge 
 it with trustees for their own advantage. Where nothing of all 
 this traffic intervenes, patrons bestow benefices on theii* children 
 or friends, without considering their abilities or merit. How 
 great a part of the benefices of l^igland are disposed of, if not 
 simoniacjdly, yet at least unworthily, without regard to so sacred 
 a trust as the care of souls ! Pjitrons ought to act with great 
 caution and in the fe.ir of God ; and not to enter into that 
 filthy merchandise of the souls of men, which is too common !"' 
 
 When Burnet himself had been presented with a benefice, he 
 decliued to take it absolutely, till he had performed the functions 
 
 ' D'Auliigiu't* CJfrinany, Eii;;laJi(l au<l .S-otlaiuI. 
 ' (.'ouclusioD to History of his Own Times. 
 
232 THE MERCENARY TRANSFERS OF LIVINGS. \Chap. 21. 
 
 for four months, and received a joint request from all the parish- 
 ioners. He Mas then ^'ordained" in 1665. He remarks that 
 exemptions are a scandalous remnant of popery, and that they 
 take a great part of the diocese out of the hands of the bishops.^ 
 
 The sale of a vacant benefice or living by the patron, is pro- 
 nounced by the canons of the Anglican church to be " simony," 
 a " detestable sin," and " execrable before God ;" yet to sell 
 the reversion or the next presentation, though it may be in 
 actual possession to-morrow, is esteemed no simony, no sin or 
 offence at all ! By such technical quibbles and frivolous dis- 
 tinctions, resting on no discernible moral ground, is one of the 
 highest callings under the gospel deliberately trampled upon ; 
 and the holy office of the ministry is reduced to an article 
 of pecuniary value; being made a matter of appointment by 
 one man — the patron or reputed owner, who is independent 
 of the judgment of the church at large. Hundreds of livings 
 are thus bought and sold annually by patrons; the highest 
 prices being obtained for those where the population is small 
 and the income largest. Surely it is quite time to put a stop 
 to this trafficking in duties so sacred ! 
 
 One of the first acts of an English minister, on his accession 
 to a living, is to make a rigid inspection of the dilapidations of 
 all the ecclesiastical buildings, and especially of the parsonage 
 house ; the amount requisite for full repairs is then demanded of 
 the representatives of the former incumbent, who are often called 
 upon for large amounts, and dispossessed in a summary manner. 
 
 In some English parishes or episcopal congregations, where 
 the people exercise the power of electing their own ministers, 
 there being no church discipline to determine the question of 
 membership, every person paying " church-rates " has been 
 allowed to vote. Thus many dissenters obtain the responsibility 
 of doing so. Indecorous contests have ensued ; party feehngs 
 and influences taking the place of those sacred motives, which 
 ought ever to operate in such matters. Were there no pecuniary 
 emolument or endowment, it might be reasonably hoped that a 
 sense of spiritual qualifications in the individual, and of duty 
 to the church, would animate the ministers and people, and 
 impel them to a common and pure desire to act disinterestedly, 
 as in the sight of God, and for the good of his cause. 
 ' Conohisjiou to History of hi« Owu Timci, 
 
Sect. 3.] EARLY ELECTIONS OF UlSHOPS. 233 
 
 Although as has been remarked, attempts have been iiwuIl' 
 at (liflfereut times to iutroduce the election of ministers by the 
 conjj^rcgations, and tlius to destroy the right of patronage, yet 
 they have i)rovcd inellectual. The demands of property and 
 " vested interests," though relating to those sacred functions 
 in which property ought never to be recognized, have hitherto 
 proved too strong in tlie Anglican church for the spiritual claims 
 of the people ; and individuals continue to usurp the functions 
 of the body at large, and of Christ, the head of his own church ! 
 
 Lectiu'crs are often appointed in London and other cities, as 
 assistants to the rectors, being chosen, according to ancient 
 usage, by the vestry or chief inhabitants, their usual ollice 
 being to preach in the afternoons. There are also one or more 
 lecturers in most cathedrals, and many lectiu*eships have been 
 founded by the donations of private persons. The bishop is 
 considered to have a right to judge of the qualifications of any 
 one appointed a lecturer, and may refuse to grant his license 
 unless funds are provided for a fixed sidary, and unless the 
 party subscribes to the thirty-nine articles, &e., like other 
 ministers.' There are said to be about 350 Icctiu-cships in 
 England and Wales, supported by endowments and otherwise. 
 
 Srd Section.— On Bishoprics. 
 
 The bishops, known also as presbyters, elders or overseers, 
 were anciently chosen by the general voice of the ministers and 
 people; so that no such ruler or superintendent was obtruded 
 on them without their approbation. The same mode was 
 adopted in episcopal elections, as in those of ministers anil other 
 ollicers. The practice ditiered however in ditferent churches. 
 Frequent and violent disputes arose after the general declension, 
 b(>tween the several ])arties claiming the right of election. No 
 k-.ss than 300 persons lue said to have been killed on one of these 
 occasions ; and, on the insufficient plea of such disorders, the 
 princes often precluded the people from the exercise of their 
 ancient right.- 
 
 Sylvester I. in 330 enacted, that the whole body of believers 
 
 should possess the elective franchise for the bishopric of Home. 
 
 And>rose, civil governor of Milan, is well known to have been 
 
 raised to arehiepiseopal dignity by thi' general voice of the people; 
 
 ' Uuru'u Ecclesiastical Law. ' ll>i<l. 
 
234 
 
 RIGHTS OF THE CHURCH INVADED. [Chap. 21. 
 
 and his great cotemporary Augustin was called to the priestly 
 and episcopal functions in the same manner in 395. 
 
 The authority of the Bishop of Rome in the appointment of 
 other bishops is rarely met with during the first four centuries. 
 At a later period no ordination, even of a bishop, was held to be 
 valid without the sanction of the people. After this regulation 
 had been invaded, Charlemagne restored to the cities the right of 
 electing their own bishops, and to the monks of appointing their 
 abbots, as well as to the congregations the choice of their min- 
 isters; while the bishops and people jointly nominated the pope 
 for the approval of the emperor. The posterity of Charlemagne 
 however soon degenerated, and the bishops were enabled to ad- 
 vance their own pretensions. i 
 
 By the laws of Justinian about 540 already referred to, the 
 people were cut off from taking any part in episcopal investitures, 
 the power being confined to the ecclesiastics, and to persons of 
 the highest rank. A good lawyer or statesman was said to make 
 a better bishop than a good divine, and this idea appears still 
 to prevail in certain quarters ! 
 
 On the breaking up of the Roman empire, the Gothic kings 
 in France and Spain were admitted to a share in the appoint- 
 ment of bishops, and their approbation was held to be requisite. 
 From this beginning the power of princes quickly increased to 
 the prerogative of the sole appointment. The new bishop swore 
 fealty and did. homage to the lord, who invested him by the 
 delivery of a ring, and of a crosier or pastoral staff. 
 
 The Council of Bari in 1096, according to the gross notions 
 then prevailing, declared it to be abominable that pure hands, 
 which could "create God, and offer him up in sacrifice for the sins 
 of the world," should (in the act of homage for a benefice or 
 bishopric) be placed between hands polluted with bloodshed, or 
 defiled by contact with the other sex ! ^ 
 
 The bishops in early times were allowed a fourth j)art of the 
 revenues of each church for themselves, but special provisions of 
 large amount were soon made for them without having recourse 
 to the common fund. They became the associates of princes, 
 and sometimes equalled them in wealth and expenditure. Many 
 of the abbots were mitred, and ranked as prelates. 
 
 Gregory VII. or Hildebrand, who first claimed for himself 
 ' Paolo Sarpi, chaii. xv. ^ Keightley's History of Englaud. 
 
Sect. 3.] OUIGIN OF PAPAL CONCORDATS. 235 
 
 jiloiic the conimou name of pope, or pupa, excommunicated 
 the emperor Henry IV. no less than four times, for conferring 
 or scllin'^ l)ishoprics, and for other offences ; and in 107"), with 
 hands wliich were by no means clear of the same, he issued a 
 fulminating decree against the practice, and forljad, on pain of 
 excommunication, the conferring of spiritual dignities by any lay 
 persons, having special reference to kings and princes. The con- 
 test was long continued between the civil and ecclesiastical 
 authorities, and no bishop was allowed to exercise the functions 
 after his appointment, till he had been confirmed by the pope. 
 The wars produced by this vexed question lasted for fifty-six 
 years, during the time of six popes ; and are said to have caused 
 seventy-eight battles and the destruction of millions of people, iiM 
 Henry V. resigned the claim to the investitures in 1122. ^ The 
 custom in Europe subsequently was,- for the ruler of the state to 
 nominate the iiulividual, and to invest him with the temporal 
 power and periiuisites by the delivery of a wand or sceptre ; and 
 for the pope to consecrate him (as it was termed), or invest him 
 with the spiritual authority of bishop, by presenting him with 
 the ring and crosier, as emblems of his nuptials with the church 
 and of his pastoral office. 
 
 Ab(mt the twelfth century the papal and imperial parties be- 
 came denominated Gueiphs and Ghibellines, aiul the contests 
 between them were fierce and protracted, especially in Florence 
 and other parts of Italy. In succeeding times the name of 
 (ruelphs was usually applied to those who espoused the cause of 
 the people, while that of Ghibellines was synonymous with aristo- 
 crats. Ecclesiastical feuds led to these and other political con- 
 flicts, both the popes and the emperors being manifestly influenced 
 by selfish objects. At length to quiet disputes, and to put an 
 end to the wars whicli ensued, recourse was had to the base and 
 unchristian transactions called " concordats," or bargains between 
 the bishops of Rome and the sovereigns, for a di\-ision of the ill- 
 gotten spoils — being the transfer of so much spiritual patronage 
 for so much pecuniaiy value or secular authority ! Thus the 
 independence of European churches, which had long been torn 
 from them, was bartered from hand to hand for worldly consider- 
 ations !^ "The pope, who is a spiritual power," says Mezeray, 
 "took to himself the temporal power— the [jrofits ; aiul parted 
 ' P. Saqii on Benefices, chap, xxiii. " Mo^heini. * (iavazzi. 
 
236 APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS IN FRANCE. [Chap. 21. 
 
 with the spiritual — the nomination of bishops, to a temporal 
 prince."^ The former order of things professedly spiritual was 
 reversed for gold. 
 
 In France,, the churches zealously asserted the ancient privilege 
 of electing their own ministers and bishops, and this "■ right of 
 investiture^' was the subject of frequent contests between the 
 popes, the kings and the people. The first two parties were not 
 slow to usurp the natural claims of the church at large ; and 
 strengthened each other in such usurpation. The kings had the 
 sole collation of all the bishoprics in the kingdom. Louis IX., 
 or " St. Louis,^' asserted the independence of the Galhcan 
 church, by publishing the " Pragmatic Sanction" in 1255. By a 
 similar resolution or agreement of the nation, solemnly adopted 
 by Charles VII. with his prelates and nobles in 1438, among 
 other measures the pope was deprived of the power of appointing 
 to vacant sees and large benefices, in conformity with the de- 
 crees of the Council of Basil, held in 1431 ; and the ancient right 
 of election was restored to the people. This to some extent 
 they continued to enjoy for thirty years, till Louis XL was 
 induced to enter into a treaty or concordat with Pius IL, 
 annulling the former agreement, and restoring to him the an- 
 nates, or first-fruits of all benefices, which had been abolished 
 by that Council. For this consideration, the pope formally 
 transferred to Louis the right of investiture, and also bestowed 
 on him and his successors the title of " Most Chi'istian ! " The 
 university of Paris however, being seconded by public opinion, 
 successfully vindicated the popular claims against both the pope 
 and the king.^ 
 
 The wholesale disposal of advowsons and investitures continued 
 to be exhibited on the very CA^e of the Reformation, when 
 Leo X. prevailed on Francis I. to agree to another concordat 
 in 1516, confirming the articles of the former compact; thus 
 the people were excluded from any share in the matter, and the 
 power was assigned to Francis of presenting to all the French 
 bishoprics, with many reservations in favour of the pope. The 
 parliament made a violent opposition; but the measure was 
 at length enforced upon an unwilling and indignant people, 
 who conceived their spiritual rights to be set at naught.^ 
 
 A concordat made in 1801, between Napoleon Buonaparte 
 ' P. Sarpi, cliaji. xlviii. * Moslieim. ^ Ibid, and Gavazzi. 
 
Sect. 3.] CONTESTS FOU Tin: INVKSTITIUK IN fJEHMANY. 237 
 
 when First Consul and Pius VII., re-established the Catholic 
 church in France, which the revolution had overthrown, securing 
 to the pope the canonical investiture of the bishops, and the per- 
 quisites connected with it: but the primary nomination was vested 
 in the ruler of the state, and the number of prelates was miicli re- 
 duced. In 1817, Louis X\'IIT. concluded a new concordat with 
 the same pope, by which the agreement made in 15 IG, and very 
 injurious to the liberties of the Gallican church, was revived, 
 and forty-two additional sees were created. This measure excited 
 so much disgust, that the government was obliged to abandon it! ^ 
 
 In Germany, the same questions have led to frequent contests 
 for the spoil, between the popes and the emperors. In a Diet 
 held at AVorms 1122, it was agreed that the bishops and abbots 
 should in future be chosen by those to whom the right of elec- 
 tion belonged ; but in the presence of the emperor's deputy — 
 that the emperor should not confer the regalia by the ring 
 and crozicr, these being ensigns of "ghostly dignity;" but by the 
 scejjtre, the emblem of secular power. By a concordat between 
 Alexander III. and Frederic I., the pope, in exchange for the 
 aid of the state, coolly made over to the emperor the reputed 
 rights of every diocesan chapter in Germany.^ In a similar com- 
 pact of Nicholas V. and Frederic III. in 1418, reservations of 
 benefices to a large extent were made in favour of the papal sec, 
 and the right of investiture was shared between the parties as a 
 measure of peace. 
 
 The Emperor Charles V. struck a bargain with Adrian \l., 
 who had been his tutor, and received, for a certain consideration, 
 the full investiture of the Spanish episcopate I Clement Vll., 
 whom Charles had taken prisoner, obtained his liberty at the 
 price of twenty-seven bishoprics in the kingdom of Na])les ! 
 What name ought to be ai)i)lied to mercenary transactions 
 such as these ? 
 
 In Prussia, the veto of the state on unsuitable episcojial 
 and clerical appointments by the pope is not yet finally settled, 
 though various concordats have been conchuled oi\ this and 
 other points of ditrcrencc."' 
 
 ' Buck's Theological Dictionary. * Gavazzi's Lectures. 
 
 3 Ouv of tlioso related to the children of mixed inarriapea Ixstwecu 
 Catholics and l^roteatants ; the court of lionie insi.stiug that all Huch chil- 
 ilren should be brought up in the Catholic faith, on i)ain of the withholding 
 
238 CLAIMS OF INVESTITURE IN ENGLAND. [Chap. 21. 
 
 Disputes about tlie authority of investitm*e repeatedly caused 
 great troubles in England, where the law gave to the Idng the 
 custody of the temporalities on the death of any archbishop or 
 bishop, and the pope claimed the right of consecration. The 
 ancient kings, and especially William Rufus, often kept the sees 
 vacant in order to enjoy the profits, committing great waste on 
 the forests and other episcopal property, and then selling the 
 sees to the best bidders. Gregory VII. was the first pope who 
 objected to the royal disposal of bishoprics and abbeys, and 
 asserted the right for himself. In 1 102, Anselm, Archbishop 
 of Canterbmy, acting under the papal authority, refused to 
 consecrate bishops named by King Henry I. ; and the contest 
 lasted for many years, both parties refusing to yield. At the 
 death of the king, civil war ensuing, the nation was involved 
 in other difficulties, and the ecclesiastics were enabled to do 
 as they pleased. Henry had been fully equal to the pope in 
 selfishness. For five years he had held the primacy in his own 
 hands, and enjoyed the profits, selling the bishoprics as they 
 became vacant for large sums ; other sovereigns did the same, 
 and corruption spread throughout, infecting the civil and 
 ecclesiastical bodies. It was not uncommon, with or without 
 cause, to seize the temporabties during the life of a bishop, till 
 Edward III. endeavoured to guard against the practice, ^ but to 
 a great extent in vain. The popes acted on the same corrupt 
 principle. Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, obtained that 
 appointment in 1278, by engaging to pay for it to the pope 4000 
 marks ; an engagement which was rigidly enforced." 
 
 It was on this question, in reference to the see of Canterbury, 
 that the quarrel between Innocent III. and King John rose to 
 an extreme height: the pope then seemed to be all-powerful in 
 such matters ; and he had to deal with a weak-minded prince. In 
 1253, Innocent IV. ordered Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, to confer 
 a benefice on a Genoese, contrary to the canons ; the prelate 
 refusing, a violent rupture followed, and succeeding prelates 
 in many cases acted on his example, thus incurring the high 
 displeasure of the court of Rome. Many other similar trans- 
 actions might be referred to. 
 
 of spiritual privileges from the parent. The people of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, it may be hoped, will not long submit to such unnatural dictation ! 
 ' Blackstone's Commentaries, i. 8 — 1. ^ Dupin's Eccles. Hist. 
 
Sect. 3.] RISE ANn power or tiif rAuniwi.s. 239 
 
 Henry VIII. assumed to himself and his successors the sole 
 authority of investiture in En|;land, and by an act passed in the 
 twenty-fifth year of his reign, it was decreed that tlicnei-furwaid 
 no person should be presented or nominated to the pope, for 
 the otliee of archbishop or bishop. Queen Elizabeth kc[)t 
 several sees vacant for some years, for the sake of the profits, 
 which she applied to her own purposes.^ 
 
 Some remnant of an appeal to the consent of the church at 
 larj^e, is still found in the election of an English bishop ; all 
 oppose rs and objectors being publicly summoned to state their 
 reasons for dissent from the appointment. It appears to l)e a 
 matter of mere form. The fees on investiture ai'c stated to 
 amount to about .€G00.'- 
 
 Thc popes themselves, as well as the lower ecclesiastical officers, 
 were appointed in early times by the general suffrage of religious 
 assemblies; Nicholas II., at a council held in 1059, first pro- 
 cured a decree, by which the election of the pope bt came vested 
 chiefly in the cardinals — a mode which his successor, the despotic 
 Innocent III., confirmed. Some appearance of an appeal to the 
 people was still for a time retained. But the choice was soon en- 
 tirely wrested from both them and the princes, and the cardinals 
 became a close corjjoration. The word cardinal, according to 
 Paolo Sarpi, implied at first an inferior priest or bishop. One 
 who was api)ointcd to a benefice was termed Ordbiatus, but one 
 not so provided for was tcrnicdlncoordinatus. About the year (UH), 
 many Italian bishops and ministers were driven from their cures 
 by the Lombards, and being gradually replaced in other churches, 
 were called Ep'incopi or Presbyteri coordina/es or cardinak'S. Afti>r- 
 wards they assumed great authority, ami gave another meaning 
 to the word, "quasi cnrdincs omuiuin ferraruni," claiming to hv 
 the pivots on which the world turned, and to be invested with 
 exalted dignity ! 
 
 By degrees Home has succeeded in securing the almost ex- 
 clusive appointment of the catholic bishops in Asia, Africa ami 
 America. How long this authority will be permitted to survive, 
 es|)ccially in the I'nited States, is very do>d)tful. In Europe, 
 more than elsewhere, it has had to encounter resistance from 
 sovereigns who claim a share in the usurpation. 
 
 During the long period of darkness both parties appeared to 
 ' Neal's riirituis. ' Buni'^ P>vl<'sia.stir.il I*iw. 
 
240 THE CHURCHES SPOILED OF THEIR RIGHTS, [Chap. 21 . 
 
 be asleep on this great question, as on many others, till about 
 the twelfth century, when, gradually awaking from their torpor, 
 they fell into violent contentions and wars respecting it. The 
 struggle for authority continued for several hundred years, till 
 the time of the Reformation, and has in most catholic countries 
 survived it. In the protestant states the claim was generally 
 assumed by the civil rulers. 
 
 Thus the great body of Christians have been swindled out of 
 that which they esteemed to be their birthright, and the 
 episcopacy has become a species of political patronage — the 
 property and tool of secular princes, or scarcely less secular 
 ecclesiastics ! Such is the melancholy tale, and such the bane- 
 ful result, of political and priestly usurpation, in the union of 
 church and state. The diffusion of spiritual gifts, the necessity 
 of a divine call, the disinterestedness of Christian motives, the 
 gratuitous nature of the gospel ministry, and the lively sense 
 of religious duty, — all these have been greatly overlooked and 
 trampled on, and opposite, unevangelical motives, influences 
 and qualifications have to a large and lamentable extent usurped 
 their places ! 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 I'AROtniAl. RATES AND MINOR CHARGES FOR ECCLESIASTICAL 
 
 SERVICES. 
 
 Even when the profession of Christianity had become much 
 cormpted, the revenues derived from oficringSj from hands and 
 from other free som'ces, as well as from tithes, constituted for a 
 considerable period, as has already been remarked, a sufKcient 
 provision for the whole expenditure of the churches; but by 
 degrees, as the spirit of avarice and encroachment prevailed, 
 the ministers absorbed the entire revenues, and fresh levies were 
 made for other ecclesiastical purposes. Some of these, in their 
 modem forms, will now be considered. 
 
 1st Section. — " Church Rates." 
 
 This claim is well known as the parochial lc^T to provide for 
 the incidental expenses of public worship in the Anglican st<ite 
 church, and for the maintenance of the edifices in which it is 
 conducted.^ 
 
 It is no charge on the o^^Tier or his property, and can be 
 recovered only from the occupier or liis goods. If the property 
 be unoccupied, no such rate is payable. This was also the case 
 with tithes ; but the tithe rent-charge, on the contrary, is re- 
 coverable from the owner, or from his property, whether the 
 land is occupied or not. 
 
 ' By a figure of 3]>eech, the hotise where the church or congregation met 
 came to be called a church ; and l>y another figure, or rather by a great 
 perversion of language, the term ia limited in Britain to such e<lifice» as 
 are used by Episcopal Protestants, as though their claims to 1)6 considered 
 the (liurch of Christ were stronger than those of every other denomination. 
 But in truth, cither all houses used for divine worship are churches, or 
 none are churches ; and all the funds are church funds, or Done are 
 such. 
 
 R 
 
242 APPLICATION OF CHURCH-RATES. [Chap. 22. 
 
 " Church-rates" must be considered as parochial claims for 
 the ecclesiastical uses of a portion of the community ; but un- 
 fairly imposed on the other portions also, who disapprove of 
 some of those uses, and regard thera as superstitions. They 
 are for repairing and supporting certain buildings for divine 
 worship, and for making them and the burial- gi'ounds holy, as 
 is professed, by the bishop^s consecration ; for buying and main- 
 taining bells, bell-ropes, organs, and other instruments of music, 
 nowhere enjoined by the gospel, as requisite to Chi'istian 
 worship ; for providing the various utensils, furniture, and 
 matters employed in questionable religious ceremonies ; for 
 purchasing books to pray by, a practice not sanctioned by the 
 New Testament; for procuring ministers^ surplices, and other 
 vestments, on Roman Catholic models, the superstitious use of 
 which has caused for centuries extraordinary contentions ; for 
 the dinners of ministers and churchwardens at visitations ; for 
 ringing and singing feasts and other entertamments, too often 
 ending in excess, and not authorized by primitive example ; for 
 salaries of clerks, beadles and other officers; also for fees to 
 registrars, apparitors, and various attendants on an ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction, such as the doctrine of the gospel gives no authority 
 to exercise. 
 
 When the appKcation of a fourth part of the tithes for some 
 of these purposes was discontinived, and the whole was claimed 
 as the propertj?^ of the ministers, they were long considered 
 bound to repair some part of the buildings, and to make pro- 
 vision for matters already specified. 
 
 The rate was always deemed optional with the people, and 
 not to be levied unless with the sanction of a majority of the 
 parishioners assembled in vestry. Of late years, attempts have 
 been made to set aside this ancient principle, and to establish 
 the rate as being undeniable, and in the power of even a minority 
 to impose ! The question is not yet decided by the judicial 
 authorities. The fact appears to be, that some of the amend- 
 ments moved at vestries against the rate have been irregular, 
 and the motion in favour of it, being the only regular one, has 
 been of necessity carried. 
 
 The especial grievance of this odious burden consists, as 
 already observed, in its being laid on the whole community for 
 tlie express religious uses of one section only. At the time of the 
 
Sect. l.J ANNUAL PRODUCE OF CHURCH-RATES. 243 
 
 Protectorate, the pulpits were often used by ministers of different 
 sects; the grievance of the charge was tlierefore less. Now 
 however, on the \\v^\\ notions fostered by a national establish- 
 ment, bnt opposed to Christian lowliness, such a liberty woidd 
 be esteemed by most Episcopalian authorities a great desecra- 
 tion of the place. There can be no doubt that both the houses 
 and the burial-grounds are public property, and belong to the 
 state, which has repeatedly handed them over, with the tithes, 
 first to one party, and then to another, at the pleasure of the 
 riding power. The jealous restriction of the use of the paro- 
 chial burial-grounds, except with submission to the established 
 ministry and ritual, is therefore an evident ^iolation of common 
 equity, however the law may sanction it. 
 
 The amount of church-rates is supposed to have been pretty 
 well ascertained. A return made to the House of Commons 
 in 18-10, shows tlicm to have produced £506,812. for the 
 year 1838-9. Lord Althorp, in 1831, had estimated them at 
 <^600,000. a year, when he proposed that they should be 
 abolished, and that the sum of .C250,000. a year should be 
 paid out of the Consolidated Fund or revenue of the state, for 
 the maintenance of the fabrics. To this however objections 
 were raised by many dissenters, as unfair in principle, and l)y 
 the episcopalians, as a sui'render of their ancient privilege. 
 Proposals have been more recently made to pay the amount 
 out of the first-fruits, which are ecclesiastical funds. 
 
 In Ireland, the power to levy " Church-cess " for similar 
 purposes, was annulled in 1833, as before remarked, and the 
 amount has since been raised by a tax on benefices, &c. 
 
 Had the cpxcstion of these rates been the only one at issue, 
 it would probably have been settled long ago by their abolition; 
 but the same principle was felt to be involved in the claim for 
 tithes, and hence the reluctance to yield even a trifle, which 
 was thought to be like admitting the thin end of a wedge. 
 Thus Arnold remarks, " If churches are to be maintained by 
 those only who belong to one denomination, it strikes of course 
 {it the root of any establishment ; because tlie same principle 
 must apply equally to tithes '" 
 
 On the motion of J. S. Trelawney M.P., a committee wa.s 
 appointed by the Huu.sc of Commons in 1H51. to incjuire into 
 
 ' Lrttir 14<; 
 
 k2 
 
244 WEST HACKNEY CHURCH-RATE CASE. [Chap. 22. 
 
 the subject of church-rates. By the evidence then collected^ 
 many startUng cases of great suffering were elicited, two of 
 which are briefly as follows. 
 
 In West Hackney near London, a rate having been made 
 on the inhabitants in 1840, to carry on the public religious 
 services ; a dissenter named Nunn, a poor but pious man, was 
 summoned for non-payment of 3s. 4d. demanded, and on his 
 stating that he believed the church-rate to be illegal, he was 
 cited to the Ecclesiastical Court, where in the cause of Varty 
 and Mopsey v. Nunn, costs were accumulated to the fearful 
 amount of j6240. Dr. Lushington the judge, in giving a legal 
 decision on the case, declared himself greatly embarrassed by the 
 conflicting language of the various statutes. Finally however 
 he delivered judgment against Nunn, who was threatened to be 
 sent to Newgate for life, and being greatly harassed, he became 
 insane, and died in a lunatic asylum ! Both the churchwardens 
 likewise were so worried by the results of the suit, and by the 
 reflections of the parishioners, that they died; the one shortly 
 after, and the other within a very few years ! The amount 
 of costs was finally raised by private subscription, but great 
 excitement and acrimony of feeling continued for a long time. 
 
 In Braintree, Essex, the opposition to church-rates has been 
 carried on successfully for seventeen years, by a majority of 
 the parishioners. The first legal proceedings were in 1837, on 
 a rate of .€532., or 3s. in the pound, chiefly for repair's of the 
 church. Burder a dissenter having refused payment of his 
 share, which was £60., on the ground that the rate was made 
 by the churchwardens after the vestry had adjom'ued the 
 question for twelve months, he was proceeded against in the 
 Consistory Court of the Bishop of London ; when a dissenters' 
 committee Avas organised, and a general subscription raised, 
 to defend the action. Dr Lushington pronounced sentence 
 against him in the same year. A writ of prohibition, being 
 moved for in the Com't of Queen's Bench, was granted in 1840. 
 The churchwardens next carried the case by writ of error to 
 the Exchequer Chamber, where the judges in 1841 affirmed 
 the prohibition, and thus terminated the first Braintree case — 
 Velcy V. Burder. The costs of opposition amounted to €624., 
 which having been taxed, the churchwardens were compelled 
 to pay €264 ! 
 
Sect.}.] KUArNTUKK ( III KCII-KATK LITIfi ATFOX . 2-^5 
 
 The (liliipithitioiis of the odilice still inon^asiu};, tlio second 
 case in the same parisli was comnicnccd about three months 
 after. Acting on a suggestion of the chief justice in delivering 
 the former judgment, the churchwardens now called a vestry, 
 and proposed a rate, which the vestry refused to grant. Affidavit 
 of the refusal was made by the vicar to the Consistory Court as 
 before. The churchwardens and parishioners being cited to 
 appear and show cause for and against the rate, the latter did 
 not attend, and a monition was issued to make a rate. 
 
 About Midsummer 1841 the churchwardens convened another 
 vestry, at which a rate of two shillings in the pound was moved 
 and seconded. A large majority then carried an amendment 
 fefusing to make a rate, and alleging that all compulsory pay- 
 ments for the religious services of any sect appeared to the 
 vestry to be unsanctioned by scripture, and opposed to the pure 
 and spiritual character of the religion of Christ. One of the 
 churchwardens, being the defendant in error, conceived that the 
 supporters of the amendment had by this coiu'se abandoned 
 their functions as vestrymen ; he therefore proposed to the other 
 ratepayers to make the rate. This was done by a small minority 
 — the chairman, the two churchwardens, and eighteen of the 
 parishioners signing it ; the mover and seconder of the amend- 
 ment protesting against it. Gosling, a parishioner, now appealed 
 against the rate, on the groimd that it had been made con- 
 trary to the resolution of a majority of the vestry. The cause 
 was then carried again into the Consistory Court, where Dr. 
 Lushington rejected the libel of the churchwardens. In the 
 Court of Arches that decision was reversed ; but in the Queen's 
 Bench and the Exchequer Chamber the validity of the rate Avas 
 affirmed. The case ultimately came l)cfore the House of Peers on 
 appeal early in 1832, tuid was left for the decision of the judges. 
 These were equally divided, five being for and five against the 
 validity of the rate : their opinions were ordered to l)e printed, 
 and the matter is still postponed by the Lord Chancellor, for 
 further consideration ! The costs of opposition in this second 
 case, \'clcy v. Gosling, up to the judgment in the Exchequer 
 Chamber only, were about {;5."jO. ; while by proceeding in the 
 usual way l)efore a magistrate, and appealing to the quarter 
 sessions, the costs would have been conq)aratively trifling. Veley, 
 one of th(; churchwardens, and also the solicitor for the suit, 
 
246 ORIGIN or MORTUARY FEES. \Cha'p. 22. 
 
 paid £900. toward the costs in support of the rate in these cases, 
 out of his own pocket, £700. more being contributed by a 
 friend ! 
 
 These instances relate to two parishes only, out of those brought 
 under the notice of the Parliamentary Committee. Sm-ely it 
 is high time to close the door by fair, constitutional measures, 
 against such disgusting and ruinous conflicts ! 
 
 Dr. Lushington stated, in the course of the proceedings, 
 that various extraneous items, such as expenses of highways 
 and acts of Parliament, have been occasionally included in 
 church-rates. One of the witnesses asserted what can be easily 
 proved — that rewards for the destruction of noxious animals 
 were frequently paid out of this rate in rural districts. It is' 
 not improbable that the poor animals themselves were brought 
 up and baited in former times, on payment of the reward. 
 There has also been a great variety in the mode of rating, 
 and in the kind of property rated. In many large parishes the 
 amount is now raised by voluntary contributions, which may 
 be hailed as the commencement of a more equitable system ! 
 Had the prmciples of common justice been applied to the ques- 
 tion of these rates, dissenters would have been exempted long 
 since from the imposition of this most unreasonable levy. 
 
 2nd. Section — Mortuaries. 
 
 These are a sort of ecclesiastical heriots, claimed by custom in 
 different countries, and in many parishes of England, as due to 
 the minister on the death of each of the parishioners.^ Originally 
 they were voluntary bequests or donations to the church, in- 
 tended, it is said, as amends to the clergy for the personal tithes 
 and other ecclesiastical dues, which the party while living may 
 have neglected or forgotten to pay. The lord's heriot, or best 
 chattel, was taken out first; the second-best was reserved to 
 the church as a mortuary, and was called in the decrees of King- 
 Canute, " soul-scot " or soul money .^ 
 
 By the laws of Venice, personal tithes, omitted to be paid 
 
 during the life of the party, were to be satisfied at his death out 
 
 of his chattels. By a similar pohcy in France, every man that 
 
 died without bequeathing part of his estate to the church, which 
 
 ' Blackstone's Commentaries, ii. 28 — 2. '" Iliid. 
 
Sect. 3.] OllKUN AND AMOl'NT OF KASTER OFKERINGR. 247 
 
 was called " dying without confession," was t'onncrly deprived 
 of " Christian burial ;" and if he died intestate, his relations and 
 the bishop appointed arbitrators to determine what should be 
 given to the church. The French Parliament in 1409 redressed 
 this grievance.^ 
 
 In England, the mortuary was formerly " brought to church 
 along with the corpse, and thence called ' a corse-present.' " 
 In the reign of Henry III., about the year 1200, bequests of 
 mortuaries were held to be necessary parts of testaments of 
 chattels, and without them the will was void. Some of these 
 strange demands have been abolished, but mortuaries are still 
 claimed in many parishes. By the 21st of Henry VIII., c. 6, 
 the highest sum to be demanded was fixed at ten shillings.- 
 
 It has been found very ditfioidt to ascertain correctly the 
 whole amount annually received for niortiiarios ; but it probably 
 reaches some thousands. 
 
 These payments were considered to be due, in times of Romish 
 superstition, for the saying of masses and tolling of bells for 
 the benefit of departed souls. Edward I., about 1300, passed 
 many laws to restrain the oppressive power of the clergy. Till 
 his time, all the goods of intestate persons were considered to 
 belong to the bishop or ordinary ; but it was then enacted that 
 the bishop should discharge out of them the debts of the de- 
 ceased ! The control over testamentary matters, still allowed 
 in Britain to ecclesiastical courts and persons, is evidently a 
 relic of ancient superstition and usurpation, and ought to be 
 entirely abolished. At present, it constitutes a source of con- 
 siderai)le emolument and influence. 
 
 Srd Section. — Easter Offerings. 
 
 In ancient tinu-s, the popish clergy or priests were presented 
 with gifts at " church festivals," for special religious services. 
 Such as withheld the usual oblations were threatened with 
 ecclesiastical censures and temporal calamities. These dona- 
 tions soon felt the transmuting power of custom, and from 
 being optioiuU they were made imperative. Some parishes 
 Imvc allmved them to be commuted into a small rent-charge, 
 though generally excepted from the Tithe Commutation Act. 
 ' Blaekstone's Commentaries, ii. 28—2. - Il>i<l. 
 
248 OBJECTIONS TO SPECIAL CLERICAL FEES. [Chap. 22. 
 
 A late writer estimates, "oblations, offerings, and compositions 
 at £80,000. a-year!"i 
 
 There were also in the days of popery — and probably they 
 are still maintained among catholics — diriges or dirges, obits, 
 soul-masses, moneth-myndes, year-myndes, trentals, &c., &c. 
 being superstitious services for the repose of departed souls, or 
 rather contrivances for extracting money from the aflPection 
 of surviving relatives, but happily swept away by protestantism. 
 The besom requires however to be still further applied ! 
 
 4th Section. — Surplice Fees. 
 
 Beside the forementioned, are those termed surplice fees, 
 derived from official services at '^ marriages, christenings, 
 churchings and burials,^^ but objected to by many pious and 
 enlightened reformers. The rate of payment is fixed by 
 custom in each parish, and they are computed, by a very un- 
 certain estimate, to produce an annual aggregate of half a 
 million sterling \" 
 
 Wealthy persons often made presents to the ministers for 
 special services, and by degrees this generosity was claimed as 
 a regular fee, which led to frequent contentions betAveen the 
 receivers and the people ; till the pope decreed that whatever 
 had been customary should be paid in each place. ^ On this in- 
 sufficient ground of custom, many unreasonable payments have 
 been and still are exacted ! Archbishop Langton ordained in 
 1210, " We do firmly enjoin that no sacrament of the church 
 or burial of the dead, shall be denied to any one upon the 
 account of a sum of money .^'* This regulation was urged by 
 other authorities, and with respect to the former it was the 
 general understanding. 
 
 To the fees required by ministers for particular services, ob- 
 jections were repeatedly made by individuals and by assembled 
 churches. In 747, Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury con- 
 vening a synod of bishops, apparently for the better regulation 
 of ecclesiastical matters; one of the regulations was, that no 
 money should be taken for the baptism of infants. By two 
 councils held at Rheims, about 1120 and 1188, it was decreed 
 that payment should not be exacted for baptism, chrism, 
 
 ' See "Wade's Unreformed Abuses. - Wade, 1849. 
 
 ^ Sarpi on Benefices, chap, xxviii. * Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. 
 
Sect. 4.] MILTON REMONSTRATES AGAINST CLERICAL FEES. 249 
 
 burial, consecration, clmrcli liallowinj;, &c. W'iclitte asserted 
 in 1370 that " no priest ought to sell, by bargaining and 
 covenant, his gliostly travail, nor his masses, nor his prayers, 
 nor God's word, nor hallowings, nor bajjtism, nor confirming, 
 nor order givings ; for weddings, for shrift, (or confession) fin* 
 housel (or the eucharist), nor for anointing. To ask or take 
 any worhlly mau^s reward,'^ said he, " for any of those or for 
 any ghostly thing, he errs and doth wrong ! "^ 
 
 The priests were especially bitter against the Waldenses in 
 the fourteenth century, because they objected to payments for 
 particular religious services.* 
 
 ^lilton writes on this subject as follows : — " Let us see what 
 hath been thought of that other maintenance beside tithes, 
 which of all protcstants, our Englisli divines only or most ap- 
 pjirently require and take ! These are fees for christenings, 
 marriages, and burials ; and though whoso will may give freely, 
 yet being not of right, but of free gift, if they be exacted or 
 established, they become unjust in them who are otherwise 
 maintained. Of such evil note are they, that even the Council 
 of Trent makes liable to the laws against simony those who 
 take or demand fees, for administering any sacrament. With 
 like severity it condemns the giving or taking for a benefice ; 
 and the celebration of marriages, christenings, and burials for 
 fees exacted ; nor counts it less simony to sell the ground or 
 place of burial. In a State assembly Jit Orleans, 15G1, it was 
 decreed that nothing should be exacted for administering sacra- 
 ments, burials, or any other spiritual function. Thus much that 
 council ; and truly if the minister be maintained for his whole 
 ministry, why should he be twice paid for any part thereof? 
 Why shoidd he, like a servant, seek vails over and above his 
 wages ? That zealous antiquary. Sir Henry Spelman, proves 
 by many canons, and some even of corrupt times, that fees for 
 sacraments, mamages, and especially for interments, are wicked, 
 simoniacal and al)ominable ! Yet thus is the church, for all this 
 noise of reformation, still left unrcformed '."'^ 
 
 On the occa-sion of a bill brought into Parliament in 18.")1, for 
 the abolition of intramural interments, strenuous efforts were 
 made to secure to all the parochial ministers affected by the 
 measure, full compensation for the loss of their " vested inte- 
 rests," in the abolition of some of the fees ! Surely these are 
 
 ' Fox's Acts aii'l Mou. i Mihier. ' ConsideratioiiH on Hirelings. 
 
250 INDIRECT CLERICAL PERQUISITES. [Chtt]). 22. 
 
 indications of a bondage to ecclesiastical domination propped up 
 by the power of the state^ but which the influence of Cluistian 
 principle, if brought to bear upon itj would speedily dissolve ! 
 
 5th Section. — Pew Rents. 
 
 In edifices erected under the Church Building Acts, these 
 form the sole or main income of the ministers, and they are 
 a very considerable item in perpetual curacies : in some modern 
 cases deficiencies are made up out of the church-rates. 
 
 It is almost impossible to arrive at their value : they are sup- 
 posed however by some to produce nearlj'^ ^£200,000. a-year.^ 
 Much doubt has been thi'own on the value of the parochial 
 incomes, stated in the Report of the Commissioners to Parlia- 
 ment in 1835, and it was also very defective in not specifying 
 the amount of each particular kind. 
 
 In Rome a large proportion of the ecclesiastical revenues is 
 said to be derived from lotteries, unblushingly encouraged with- 
 out regard to time or place ! " 
 
 Qth Section. — Indirect Demands. 
 
 The claims on the people of England for the objects before 
 stated, being made in a direct form, are naturally felt by those 
 who conscientiously object to the episcopal modes and services 
 of religion to be oppressive and mijust. Beside these there are 
 however numerous indirect claims, for the support of the same 
 forms and ser\ices, yet mixed with larger demands for other 
 objects : it is therefore almost impossible to trace the application 
 and to make a distinction. Such are the testamentary and regis- 
 tration perquisites, the many payments to episcopal chaplains 
 in public departments, in gaols, hospitals, asylums and work- 
 houses ; in the army and navy ; beside fellowships and master- 
 ships in colleges and schools,^ &c., &c. In short, wherever the 
 state founds an institution or plants a colony, there the Episcopal 
 church steps in to exercise her influences, and to claim compen- 
 sation for her ministers. Scarcely a session of Parliament passes, 
 without some proposition for an extension of the interests of this 
 
 * Church Property and Eeveniies. 
 - Gavazzi's Lectures. 
 
 ^ The cost of chaplains iu the army and navy is computed to be ^25,000. 
 a year. — Eclectic Review. 
 
Sect. 0.] Ni:\\ cniRcriEs and t ii\ri,\i\s. 251 
 
 one church, at the cost of tlic untiou at hirj^c ! To obviiitc thi> 
 uufiiinicss by an cndowincnt of oth(>r churches and niiuisters 
 would, if it were possible, only be to increase the mischief, 
 to inflict a deep wound on their independent and spiritual 
 character, and to impair the true interests of religion. Tlie 
 multiplication of places of worship, when those already built 
 though equally convenient arc half empty, serves little other 
 purpose than to provide situations for more ecclesiastics at the 
 public cost ! Let the Anglican church and the other different 
 denominations erect as many edifices for divine worship as they 
 please, so long as they do it at their own charge, and maintain 
 them afterwards without expense to their fellow-professors. But 
 for any to be empowered to thrust their hands into the pockets 
 of their neighbours for such purposes is surely unreasonable 
 and unjust, and altogether opposed to the Christian command, 
 to do to others as we would they should do to us ! Would that 
 the authorities of that church and of tlic nation could be pre- 
 vailed on, before it is too late, to redress these grievances con- 
 stitutionally, and to place all the religious l)odies on a fair, 
 equal, Christian basis. 
 
 The amount of these indirect demands is not easily computed. 
 " The Clergy List for 1853" enumerates 16 chaplains to the 
 forces, 102 for the navy, 12 for government prisons, 130 for 
 county and borough prisons; 21 chaplains and 48 assistant 
 chaphiins to the East India Company, in the Calcutta diocese; 
 1 1 ehai)lains and 22 assistants in the Madras diocese ; 7 chap- 
 lains and 21 assistants in the Bombay diocese, and so on in the 
 several dioceses of Coloml)o, Victoria, Cape Town, Quebec, 
 Montreal, Toronto, Nova Scotia, Fredericton and Newfound- 
 land; beside eleven more dioceses in the West Indies, Australia, 
 New Zealand and (Jibraltar. A very large aggregate number 
 is thus formed ! 
 
 Beside the foregoing are the glebe lands, estimated by the 
 Quarterly Rcvicir to be 8,000 in number and worth al)out 
 i;500,000.;' and the parsonages are nearly as numerous : the 
 annual value of both is pn)l)a])ly C250,000.: to say nothing of 
 the " churches and church-yards," from which further income 
 is in many places derived, for monuments, sepulchral grants, 
 &c. &c. 
 ' Pebror vahios the glelxa at X20. each on an average, <>r XMOO.iMX). a-yoni-. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 EXTENSINE CHANGES INTKODUCED, AVTTH RESPECT TO TITHES, 
 CHURCH PROPERTY AND PATRONAGE, ON THE CONTINENT OF 
 EUROPE. 
 
 1. France. 
 
 Tithes were abolished throughout this country in 1789, at 
 the very commencement of the revolution, as among the griev- 
 ances most obviously requiring to be redressed. The amount fell 
 into the hands of the proprietors and cultivators of the soil. The 
 other landed property of the French Catholic church, producing 
 annually about four millions sterling, and said to exceed one- 
 third of all the land in the kingdom, was confiscated in the same 
 year, and placed at the disposal of the nation. The salaries of 
 the Catholic clergy were generally reduced to about a fifth of 
 the former amounts, the ministers of all denominations being 
 placed on the same ground, and paid very moderate stipends out 
 of the public treasury .^ The ecclesiastical constitution was re- 
 modelled, and the important principle introduced into it, of the 
 bishops and ministers being elected by the people, instead of 
 being appointed by the government." The cathedrals and chap- 
 ters were suppressed. In some of these particulars a degree of 
 reaction has since taken place ; the pope and the government 
 having regained a large share of authority in the appointment 
 of bishops. 
 
 2. Belgium. 
 
 Tithes and rent-charges were abolished here also in 1789, and 
 the other ecclesiastical property was made over to the nation, 
 
 • A French archbishop is stated to have £1041. a year, a bishop £625., an 
 archdeacon <£1GG., a canon or prebendary £100., a rector £48., and a 
 curate £31. — See Wade's Unreformed Abuses, 1849, 
 
 2 Alison's History of Europe, &c. 
 
CONTINENTAL CHANCES AS TO CHURCH FUNDS. 253 
 
 which provides for the support of the miuisters of all denomi- 
 nations, for the expenses of di\ine worship, the biiihhuj^ and 
 rei)airing of churches and parsonage houses, antl the maintenance 
 of the educational establislunents. These charges are annually 
 defrayed by the respective communes, or by the national govern- 
 ment. An allowance for the Jewish worship is included with 
 the rest. The whole cost to the state in 18 19 was about 1,300,000 
 francs, or L172,OOO.i 
 
 3. Holland. 
 
 In some provinces tithes were commuted in 1798, and amal- 
 gamated with the public treasury ; in one province they were 
 suppressed by Napoleon in 1811 ; but in others they still remain. 
 In 1795 the state took possession of the church property, which 
 was of great value, and in return it provides in chief part for the 
 stipends of ministers of all denominations, except the Mennonites 
 or Baptists, wlio decline to receive its aid. Each congregation 
 generally maintains its place of worship, but when deficiencies 
 occur they are made good from the fiiuds of the pro^^nce or state. 
 In 1816 the government reorganized the reformed church. The 
 state not being connected with any particulai* religious com- 
 munity, no partiahty is shown. 
 
 4. Germany. 
 
 The district on the left bank of the Rhine is still rcgidated, 
 in great measure, by the " Code Napoleon." Tithes were extin- 
 guished in 1795, and the government guarantees to ministers of 
 all professions an income of 500 francs or j£21. in the rural dis- 
 tricts, and twice that amount in the towns. The state does not 
 professedly favour any particular denomination. The places of 
 worship arc maintained either by congregational collections or 
 by grants from the communes. 
 
 In Hanover tithes still subsist. The places of worship are 
 supported by the ecclesiastical funds, and by the contributions 
 of the people. 
 
 In Bremen the abolition of tithes has been concluded on, but 
 
 ' For further ]>articular8 see Rayuard'H Present Reformed Churehe*», 
 vol. ii. 
 
254 GERMANY, AUSTRIA^ POLAND. [Chap. 23. 
 
 the terms are not j^et settled, or the settlement, if it has taken 
 place, is very recent. The places of worship are repaired as in 
 Hanover. 
 
 In Hamburg tithes are unknown. Stipends to ministers 
 and all other expenses of divine worship, are defrayed out of 
 voluntary contributions and congregational property. 
 
 In Mecklenburg tithes were abolished at the time of the 
 reformation. The minister has the produce of a small piece of 
 land in each parish, with contributions in food and money from 
 the people; the whole being of very small amount. Each place 
 of worship is maintained by the patron and people jointly. 
 The government is more closely connected with the Lutheran 
 Church than with any other. 
 
 5. Austria. 
 
 The Roman Catholic ministers formerly received the tithes ; 
 but the following mode of suppressing them has been recently 
 determined on. The tithe-claimant is to lose one-third, the 
 state is to pay another third, and the landowner is to contribute 
 the remaining third. The last two are to be capitalized, or con- 
 verted into a fund, for the Catholic ministers. The privileges 
 of Protestants have been much extended. 
 
 6. Gallicia, Cracow, and Russian Poland. 
 
 Historians relate that a proportion of not less than two-thirds 
 of the revenue of the land in Poland was appropriated in the 
 thirteenth century to ecclesiastical purposes. In 1573, at the 
 Reformation, perfect equality of rights and privileges was intro- 
 duced and secured to religious professors of all denominations. 
 
 Tithes are still paid by the landholders to the Roman Catholic 
 or Greek ministers. Those of the Protestants generally derive 
 their incomes from the government and the congregations 
 jointly. The cost of maintaining the places of worship is divided 
 between the patron and the members of each church. In 
 Russian Poland no religious community is specially favoured. 
 
SWEDEN, DENMARK, NORWAY, RUSSIA. 255 
 
 7. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. 
 
 On the accomplishment of the Reformation, all ecclesiastical 
 property in each of these countries was placed under the nia- 
 nagenient of the state, to make provision for the support of the 
 ministers, and for the establishment of colleges, hospitals and 
 poor-houses ; the surplus to be applied to the secular piu-poscs of 
 the nation. In Denmark, a complete separation of the church 
 from the state is said to be in progress. In Norway the church 
 was of old richly endowed. Since the new order of things, all 
 its property, except the parochial glebes and some other re- 
 served farms, has been sold, to the amount of two millions of 
 dollars. The capital has been invested, and the proceeds are 
 applied in great part, it is believed, to educational purj)oses. 
 A committee of the Storthing superintends church affairs.' 
 
 8. Russia Proper. 
 
 Tliere are no tithes, either in this country, or generally in the 
 Greek or Oriental churches. Tithes of corn were formerly paid 
 from the estates of the church, and applied to support the col- 
 legiate schools for training ministers; but in 1764 the govern- 
 ment took possession of these estates, and engaged to provide 
 for the seminaries. The support of the Russian or Greek 
 priests is derived partly from the state, and partly from the 
 free-will offerings of the people. Their stipends are compara- 
 tively small. Peter the Great abolished the ofliccs of patriarch 
 and exarch, or heads of the Greek church, and instituted in 
 their room metropolitiuis and an ecclesiastical synod. The 
 bishops are nominated by the synod, but selected by the em- 
 peror. The Empress Catherine II. deprived the monasteries 
 and convents of their estates, out of which she gave small an- 
 nual salaries to the bishops and clcrg}', applying the remainder 
 to the support of hospitals and poor-houses.- The three metro- 
 politans receive each about .t200. a-year ; an archbishop has 
 t;l.")0., and a bishop something less, with fees and presents in 
 addition.'' 
 
 ' Forrester's Norway. • rink<TtnnV Cir.k ( lum). < K.l.l I.'m-,.:. 
 
256 SWITZERLAND, ITALY, UNITED STATES. [Chap. 23. 
 
 9. Switzerland. 
 
 From the tithes and lands which anciently belonged to the 
 Roman Catholic Church, the protestant cantons derived a fund 
 after the reformation, sufficient to afford competent salaries to 
 the established ministers, and also to defray, with little or no 
 addition, all the other expenses of the state. ^ 
 
 10. Italy. 
 
 In this country — the centre and stronghold of priestly cor- 
 ruption and usurpation, the swarming ecclesiastics appear to 
 eat out one another ; and what is far worse, in most Catholic 
 countries they eat out also the poor half-starved people on 
 whom they live ! Yet even here the salaries of most are now 
 comparatively moderate : a cardinal having from £4Q0. to ,£500. 
 a vear, the rector of a parish .€30., and a curate £\7.~ The 
 majority of the monastic establishments have been confiscated 
 and sold, to pay the national debts. This was a very general 
 effect of the French revolution on the continent of Europe.^ 
 At Rome the revenues of the church are said to be still twice 
 as large as those of the state ! 
 
 1 1 . United States of America. 
 
 In the new world the tithe system never obtained a perma- 
 nent footing. In Virginia, which was colonized by Episcopa- 
 lians, attempts were made to establish it, but they were not 
 long successful, although both there and in some of the other 
 colonies, a forced maintenance for ministers of religion, being 
 urged by the government at home, was for a time upheld by 
 law; nor was it wholly discontinued till the era of independence, 
 
 1776. 
 
 ' Smith's Wealth of Nations, v. 1. " Wade's Uni'eformed Abuses, &c. 
 
 ^ An intelligent traveller observes that, since the revolution, the position 
 of the clergy in the Anglican and Catholic chui'ches has been reversed ; 
 the latter being now in most cases poor, simple and laborious, which gives 
 them great place with the people, while many of the English and Ii-ish 
 established ministers are full and indolent. The effect has been unfa- 
 vourable to the true intei'est of protestantism. — Laing's Notes. 
 
liKlTISlI COLON IKS, KTC. 257 
 
 12. BuiTisii Colonies. 
 
 A report made to the Canadian [):iiliainiMit in 1852, repre- 
 sents the income of the " clergy reserved fund" to have been 
 applied as follows: — 
 
 Church of England, Upper Canada 
 
 Ditto Lower Canada . 
 
 Church of Scotland, Upper Canada 
 
 Ditto Lower Canada . 
 
 United Synod, Presbyterian, Upper Canada 
 Roman Catholic, Upper Canada . 
 Wesleyan Methodists, Upper Canada 
 
 e s. 
 
 d. 
 
 12,(HG 7 
 
 11 
 
 2,173 17 
 
 (; 
 
 7,114 17 
 
 2 
 
 1,086 18 
 
 9 
 
 565 13 
 
 
 
 1,666 13 
 
 1 
 
 777 15 
 
 6 
 
 Total . . . £26,032 3 2 
 
 The question of the disposal of these funds is likely to engage 
 the attention of the British legislature. 
 
 Li Australia, a disposition has lately been evinced by the 
 Roman Catholic and Wesleyan, as well as by the Episcopal 
 ministers, to reject the pecuniary aid of the government at 
 home, and so far to repudiate the alliance between the parent 
 state and these colonial churches ! 
 
 Thus have many of the nations of Christendom taken oppor- 
 tiniitics to throw off or greatly to diminish the imposition of 
 tithes, and to convert the lands of each national church to pur- 
 j)oses deemed to be consistent with the general interests of 
 religion. It is not of course assumeil that tlieir present arrange- 
 ments are altogether satisfactory, inasmuch as they have been 
 generally based on the princijjle of state maintenance, or 
 pecuniary hire for the ministry of the gospel. Yet the steps 
 hitherto taken are obviously steps in advance, and likely to 
 lead, by degrees, as the Christian world grows in grace and 
 truth, to further and more complete reformation in these and 
 other respects. 
 
 In France and several other c(mtinental countries, some 
 of the ministers of religion decUne to receive .stipends from 
 the state, because accompanied with -conditions onerous to 
 
 8 
 
258 RESTRICTIONS ON THE MINISTRY. [Chap. 23. 
 
 the conscience^ in relation to the doctrines which shall be 
 taught. For instance, in the French protestant chui'chj the 
 ministers are said to be sometimes forbidden to preach on 
 regeneration and the work of the Holy Spirit. Those who 
 decline to come under such restrictions, generally withdraw 
 from the state churches and depend on the voluntary con- 
 tributions of their hearers. In many districts, however, a good 
 deal of latitude is allowed. Very generally mere morality is 
 preached rather than Christianity. Some denominations alto- 
 gether refuse, on conscientious grounds, to receive pay for their 
 ministers from the state, and support them by private con- 
 tributions. It does not appear that any religious body objects 
 to all pecuniary compensation for the ministry, although cer- 
 tain individual preachers decline to accept it. 
 
CITAPTK1{ \\1\. 
 
 ESTIMATES OF THE TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUES OK TUl. STATE 
 CHUKCH IN ENGLAND AND WALES. 
 
 The income of the protcstant episcopal church in Enj^land and 
 Wales, or in other words its annual cost to the nation, is 
 computed very differently by diftcrent writers : parliamentary 
 returns also are in general partial and unsatisfactory ; and it 
 is by no means easy to form a conclusive calculation of the total 
 amount. 
 
 The avowed friends of the establishment have often spoken in 
 strong terms of its poverty ! The Earl of Chatham called the 
 income of the established church in Great Britain and Ireland 
 "a pittance;" but estimated it at three millions sterling! 
 Watson, IJishop of Llandaf!', in " a letter addressed to the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury," and published in 1783, adopted the 
 same strain ; confidently stating that the whole revenues of 
 the church, including bishoprics, deans and chapters, rectories 
 and \icarages, with dignities and benefices of all kinds, and 
 even the two universities with their colleges, did not then 
 amount, upon the most liberal calculation, to a million and a 
 half ! Yet about the same time, Arthur Young, a veiy com- 
 petent authority, estimated the whole ecclesiastical income at 
 five millions.^ 
 
 Pebrer, a Spanish statician, computed the total revenues in 
 1833 at i^3,872,138.- The commissioners of inciuiry reported 
 to parliament in 1835 " the income of benefices with and 
 without cure of souls" to be £3,251,159. But the returns, 
 though professing to include all classes of income, must be 
 admitted to have been in many eases very far below the actual 
 value ! Great deductions were made for alleged expenses. 
 
 A late author^ sets down the revenue of the established 
 ministers of England and Wales at the very large amount of 
 
 ' See " Church Property and Revenucfl," paniplilet, 1850. 
 
 * '* Taxation, Capital, &c. of Briti.sh Empire." 
 
 ' " Remarks on the Consumption <>f PnMic Wealth," &c 
 
 V o 
 
260 ESTIMATES OF STATE CHURCH REVENUES. [Chap. 23. 
 
 £9,459,565. Another writer^ states tliat, according to the 
 returns of the tithe commissioners, the incomes of the clergy 
 from tithe rent-charge and tithes alone, amounted to .£6,480,000. 
 In these estimates no deduction appears to be made for impro- 
 priations, the proportion of which is not well ascertained, but 
 is computed to be one-tliird of the whole. 
 
 The same author gives the following estimate of the entire 
 revenues of the established church r — 
 
 Church tithes £6,480,000 
 
 Incomes of the bishoprics^ . . . '. 197,493 
 
 Cathedrals and collegiate churches* , . 360,095 
 
 Glebes and parsonage houses .... 250,000 
 Perpetual curacies, £75. each . . . 75,000 
 
 Benefices not parochial, £250. each . . . 32,450 
 
 Surplice fees on burials, marriages, christenings, &c. 500,000 
 Oblations, offerings and compositions . . 80,000 
 
 University and school foundations . . . 932,300 
 
 Lectureships in towns and populous places . . 60,000 
 
 Chaplainships and offices in public institutions 10,000 
 
 New churches and chapels .... 188,100 
 
 Great Total . . . £9,165,438 
 
 A very recent pamplilet,^ the author of which appears to have 
 investigated the subject carefully, gives the following as an 
 approximate calculation : — 
 
 Tithes £3,148,232 
 
 Glebes 509,275 
 
 Parsonages and churches, not including those 
 
 erected by parliamentary grants . . 500,000 
 
 Churches of recent date, for which £1,744,196. 9s. Q>d. 
 
 has been granted (3 per cent.) . . . 52,325 
 
 Surplice fees 500,000 
 
 Church rates 600,000 
 
 Episcopal and capitular revenues, as returned in 
 
 1835, including " separate revenues" . . 541,726 
 
 Universities, &c 2,000,000 
 
 Drawback on materials used in building churches 244,196 
 
 Total . . £8,095,754 
 
 ' Wade, in his " Unreformed Abuses in Church and State." 
 
 2 Ibid. ^ From the Eeturns of 1843. 
 
 * See Eeturns of Ecclesiastical Revenues, 1835. 
 
 ^ " Church Property and Revenues in England and Wales, 1850," 
 
COMPUTATION OF TITHES HY AREA AND niODUCE. 261 
 
 In addition he notes " city and town assessments, pew-rents, 
 cliaplaincies, frag:racnts of titlie (not previously demanded, but 
 now j^leaucd by commissioners), clerical surrogates, Hcc." 
 
 A'arious methods may be adopted for arriving at some tole- 
 rable degree of correctness on this subject. 
 
 1st. According to the third report of the Emigration Com- 
 mittee presented in 1838, England and Wales contain 37,094-, 100 
 acres of land; of which 1,3(51,100 acres were then considered 
 unprotitablc, and 3,984,000 were uncultivated wastes capable of 
 improvement. Of the last two areas, upwards of one million of 
 acres may be fairly computed to have been brought into culti- 
 vation since that date, viz. Avithin twenty-five years. "VVe thus 
 have in round numbers thirty millions of acres of cultivated land 
 in England and Wales at the present time — 1853, producing a 
 supposed average rental of t\. per acre. From this quantity 
 deduct one-tenth,' or three millions, for lands exempt from tithe 
 rent-charge, as ha^-ing belonged to religious houses, or being free 
 by modus, prescription, mergers and other causes; and there 
 remain twenty-seven millions of acres subject to tithe rent- 
 charge. A further deduction must be made for the lauds, subject 
 altogether or in part to impropriate rent-charge, supposed to be 
 one-third of the whole ; and the remainder will be about eighteen 
 millions of acres, subject to ecclesiastical rent-charge, and pro- 
 ducing at four shillings per acre," or one-fifth of the rent, 
 .t3,600,000 annually. To this sum add 1100,000 for tithes on 
 fisheries, mills and minerals, and for assessments in London and 
 other large places ; and the whole amount will be four millions 
 of pounds sterling for England and Wales at the i)rescnt time ! 
 
 2nd. The annual value of the agricultural produce of England 
 and Wales has been estimated by IM'Culloch and Porter at 
 1 132, .100,000. The proportion which tithes bear to the gross 
 produce is computed to be not less than that of one to twenty. 
 According to this rate, the amount of the whole tithe rent- 
 charge would be about t:(),()2r>,()()(), subject to the same deduc- 
 tions of one-tenth for tithe-free lands, and of one-third for 
 
 ' See Quarterly Re>new. 
 
 ' The returns to the Board of Afp-ioulture in 1813, state*! the average 
 rate of tithes to be 7s. 9W. per acre at that time. Aiwessed to Poor-rates 
 in 1841, laiuled pro|)erty thirty-two and a-half uiillion.s ; assessed to 
 Incoiue-tax, in 1843, landed property forty million.^, au<l tithes two 
 millions. — See Companion to AlmantK, 1843 and 1846. 
 
262 TITHE COMMUTATION RETURNS. [Chap 24. 
 
 impropriations ; and a result is left, nearly approaching to that 
 before computed, of four millions. 
 
 3rd. The commissioners for effecting the tithe commutation 
 reported to Parliament, in 1850, that they had much work still 
 before them ; but that rent-charges had already been assigned 
 to the value of more than £3,900,000. From this must be 
 deducted the third for the impropriations, leaving £2,600,000 for 
 ecclesiastical rent-charge commuted under the commissioners : 
 add £400,000 as before, for tithes on fisheries, mills and 
 minerals, and for city and town assessments uncommuted ; also 
 £300,000 for tithes before commuted ; and £600,000 for others 
 remaining to be commuted, for perpetual curacies, &c. This 
 again produces a total of about £4,000,000. So that from these 
 various methods we get a result, after the necessary deductions 
 are made, very nearly the same. 
 
 Other statements and grounds of computation might be re- 
 sorted to, but they appear to be generally incorrect or partial, 
 and are therefore unsatisfactory. According to the returns 
 already quoted, made to the royal commission by the parochial 
 ministers, and published in 1835, the gross annual revenues of 
 the state church then amounted to £3,938,051, and the net 
 yearly receipts to £3,439,767; but the statements were generally 
 considered to be defective, no replies being made by some, and 
 those of others being obscure and evasive. Baptist W. Noel 
 however takes them for granted as being correct ! Even the 
 " Clergy List" for the present year (1853) returns the rent- 
 charge in some of the parishes at the sums reported in 1835, 
 although the amounts of commutation in the same parishes 
 are very considerably higher ! ^ Between the returns made to 
 Parliament in 1835 for the information of the public, and the 
 statements of actual receipts laid before the commissioners as 
 a basis for the commutation, there is a striking and not very 
 commendable discrepancy ! The average increase of the com- 
 muted rent-charge over the former amount of tithe appears to 
 have been at least 2^ per cent., perhaps much more. 
 
 ' To take the first instance. — The return of 1835 for a parish in 
 Cornwall stated its net vicarial income derived /rom all sources at ,£303. : 
 and this amount is retained on the "Clergy List" for 1853, although 
 the vicarial rent-charge alone has long been settled by commutation at X500., 
 independent of all fees and jierquisites ! This is far from being a solitary 
 case. Twelve adjacent parishes are understated by at least one-fifth ! 
 
ATTEMPTED NEW ESTIMATE. 263 
 
 The computation of the total revenues of the established 
 church iu England and Wales, according to the three modes 
 before referred to, will be — 
 
 Ecclesiastical tithe rent-charge commuted, and 
 
 tithes, &c. imcommuted ' . . . . £4,000,000 
 
 Glebe lands and parsonages .... 500,000 
 
 Income from lands and other property belonging 
 
 to archbishops and bishops .... 250,000 
 
 llevenues of prebends and other officers of cathe- 
 drals (beside tithe rent-charge) . . . 350,000 
 „ of universities, colleges, &c. (ditto ditto-) 250,000 
 
 Surplice fees 500,000 
 
 Pew-rents, Easter offerings, mortuaries, chaplain- 
 cies, allowances, &c. .... 400,000 
 
 Church-rates 500,000 
 
 .€6,750,000 
 
 This is the most correct estimate which appears to be dcducible 
 from the various retiu-ns, and from the opinions of those who 
 have written on the subject, and is believed to be below the 
 truth. Other indirect levies are however to be added. In a 
 parliamentary return (1843) the following sums arc stated to 
 have been voted out of the taxes, for religious worship in England, 
 Scotland and Ireland, since 1800 : — 
 
 England, established .... ^£2,935,646 
 Scotland, ditto .... 522,082 
 
 Ireland, ditto .... 1,749,818 
 
 Total for established churches . €5,207,546 
 
 Chui-ch of Rome .... 365,007 
 
 Protestant dissenters . . . l,019,61-7 
 
 Total sums voted for established and non- 
 established churches in forty-two years . .t6,592,200 
 
 • Tliis sum includes the " aj>pri>j)riations," l)eiug tlie tithe reut-diai-ge 
 hehl by .archbishops, bishop-s, deau.s and chapters, and other ecclesi- 
 a.stical l)odics. 
 
 I^rofessor Jones computed the revenues of the two universities of 
 Oxfonl and Cambridge at £832,300., prolwbly including tlielr tithes. The 
 number of students at Oxford and ( 'ambridge is comparatively small, being 
 ;ibout 12(H) at each. 
 
264 UNEQUAL DIVISION OF STATE CHUUCH REVENUES. [Chap. 24. 
 
 Nearly five-sixtlis of this amount, it will be seen, are for the 
 national churches — episcopal and presbyterian ! 
 
 By a return made to Parliament in 1838, the drawbacks on 
 materials for the construction of churches in Great Britain, 
 had in 1837 amounted in twenty years to .€170,561 for 609 
 edifices, or on an average to j6280 each !> 
 
 The whole revenue of the established chui'ch in England 
 and AVales, or in other terms its cost to the nation, cannot 
 then be taken at less in round numbers than Seven Millions 
 sterling ! ]\Iost modern writers have computed it at more. 
 The charges of the twenty-five bishops and established churches 
 in the colonies are also very considerable. 
 
 The unequal division of these vast revenues is highly objec- 
 tionable, as well as the total amount. To form a correct 
 estimate of the annual emoluments of each see is almost 
 impossible ; the returns being evidently far below the reality. 
 
 In 1836 an act was passed, incorporating certain bishops and 
 others as " ecclesiastical commissioners for England and Wales^" 
 with full power to examine and regulate the dioceses, revenues, 
 and patronages; as already referred to in the 20th chapter, 
 page 185. According to the scale then laid down, the income 
 of the Archbisliop of Canterbuiy was fixed to be £15,000, and 
 of York £10,000; of the Bishop of London £10,000, Dui'ham 
 £8,000, Winchester £7,000 ; of four others £5,000 each, and of 
 nineteen remaining sees, about £4,000 each. Total £146,700.- 
 These amounts are however acknowledged to be much under 
 the sums wliich have been actually received by many of the 
 bishops since that time ; while pre^dously the incomes of the 
 more wealthy were at least double this . scale, and the poorer 
 ones below it. Enormous sums have been received by some 
 of the bishops, for new leases of the lands attached to the sees, 
 which have formed a principal soui'ce of income ; of this fore- 
 stalling many gross instances might be stated. Endeavours 
 have been repeatedly used to abolish the practice, but they 
 have not been carried out with sufficient strictness. 
 
 The septennial return made to Parliament in 1851, states the 
 
 actual cost of the episcopate in England and Wales at about 
 
 £200,000. a year ; which sum is miequally shared between two 
 
 archbishops and twenty-six bishops ; the largest single income 
 
 1 Couipauiou to Almauao, 1839. " Raptist W. Noel. 
 
M MItKllS, INCO.MK.S, AM) NON-KKsl I)i;\( i; OF .MIN\ftiTJms. 265 '^ 
 
 bcin^' ai)()ut t3H,(M)(), and the smallrst about L:2,()()(N^:Y«ar.' 
 
 By Jin order in cuuueil issued in that year, their total reveilms- 
 
 were fixed and somcwlmt equalized, but the amounts continue to 
 be exceeded. 
 
 The same principle has been applied to the incomes of the 
 "cathedral clerj;y," which were intended to stand in future 
 thus: — 
 
 2G Deans at LIOSO .... £43,080 
 104 Canons at tSOO .... 83,:2(X) 
 
 156 Minor Canons at €150 . . . 23,400 
 
 Total income of cathedral clergy . 1 150,280 
 
 Prior to the act of 1836, as well as since, some of these 
 officials have received emoluments far exceeding this rate. 
 
 Among the incumbents or parochial ministers, a similar in- 
 equality of remuneration exists. The whole number of " the 
 clergy" in England and Wales is stated to be 16,010 : of these 
 3,087 have no duties to attend to, leaving 12,923 working min- 
 isters, (or 7()D3 beneficed clergy and 5,230 curates,) for 10,533 
 benefices, forming 11,077 parishes." In round numbers 200, 
 according to their own returns, possess incomes, varying from 
 tl,000 upwards to i;7,000 each : 400 have ,€750 and upwards : 
 1000 have €500 and upwards: 3,600 average about €300: 
 3,800 t250 : while 1,500 are said to receive about €100 each ! 
 The salaries of the curates are represented to average €81. ^ 
 
 According to the diocesan returns of 1850, more than one- 
 fourth of the incumbents do not reside within their parishes ; 
 some being absent by exemption, others by licence, some 
 through dilapidation of the churches or parsonage houses, and 
 others through engagements at the universities, &e. &c. 
 
 The Ecclesiastical Commissioners appointed by the crown 
 
 < In France, the total charge of eighty Roman C^atholic liishojis is stated 
 to be £42,.'500. In Spain, foi* forty-eight hisliops £62,000. 
 
 2 M'Culloch, llorsuian, Noel, «S:c. 
 
 ' The Wesleyan Conference ]>o<ly i.s said to have in Englaml .'ind Wales 
 U)0() working itinerant ministers, who receive salaries ranging from about 
 £~Ci to £350 each, Wside al)out 6000 local ministei-s wlio receive no jMiy 
 whatever. May thoee free lalKiurers never surrender their dutioj* and pri- 
 vileges to stipendiaries ! The Independents have aliout 1,7(K» ministers, 
 the liajjtista 1,400, and small Wesleyan lu-anches a)K)Ut 66C». 
 
266 PRESENT APPLICATION OF CHURCH FUNDS. [Chap. 24. 
 
 strongly recommended, in 1850, that of the 777 livings in the 
 patronage of the Lord Chancellor, 330, producing £200,000 
 a-year, should be sold, and that the proceeds, calculated at seven 
 or ten years^ purchase, should be applied to build new churches. 
 A bold and strange proposition ! In the next year, the House 
 of Commons resolved that a provision should be made out of 
 the resources of the established church itself, for " the existing 
 spiritual destitution." It has also been proposed by a member 
 of the parliamentary committee on church-rates, that the pro- 
 ceeds arising from the sale of those livings should be per- 
 manently invested, and the income applied for the repairs of 
 the national places of worship.^ 
 
 The revenues of the state church in England and Wales, 
 amounting according to the calculations already given, to seven 
 millions per annum, are believed to exceed the whole civil income 
 of most of the states of Europe, and to be much greater than 
 those of any other church in the world, when at the same time 
 the number of members or hearers is very much less than that 
 of some other national churches. If the money were well ap- 
 plied in promoting the true interests of religion, it ought not to 
 be grudged, since it is a mere trifle as compared with the cost 
 of intemperance in this same country : but being enough with 
 proper economy to evangelize the world, and yet largely ex- 
 pended in palaces, parks, and equipages ; in luxury and too often 
 in indolence, without generally producing the genuine fruits 
 of Christianity, though with many bright exceptions, it may 
 well be viewed with regret and remonstrance. And so much 
 the more, when regard is had to the pure, simple, scriptural 
 pattern of the apostolic churches, and when the established 
 church is considered as the church of a minority ; while its 
 support is imposed by the force of law on the whole nation ; 
 many of the people having at the same time to provide for their 
 own churches ! 
 
 The national census of population which was taken in 1851, 
 and which was to report the number of attenders at the several 
 places of worship on a given day in that year, has not yet been 
 published, and therefore the proportion between the established 
 
 ' The Lord Chancellor presents to all the livings under the value 
 of £20 in " liher regis,''' according to which the tenths and first-ffuits are 
 paid. It does not contain the impropriations. 
 
DISPROPORTIONATE AMOUNT OK CHURCH FUNDS. 
 
 267 
 
 cluirch and the other relifdous bodies is not ascertained. If 
 a conjecture may be allowed, this result is anticipated — tliat 
 nearly one-third of the whole population attend the episcopal 
 worship, that another third frequent all the other places of 
 Morship, and that fully one-third absent themselves from any 
 divine worship.^ This, though a melancholy picture as respects 
 the last class, is, it is feared, too true; and in vain are the 
 expenditure of lar^re sums of money and the erection of hand- 
 some buildings for worship, unless Christian education can be 
 largely extended ; and, under the power of the Holy Spirit, the 
 saving truths of the gospel be brought home, by individual 
 submission of heart, and by qualified, devoted, spontaneous 
 labourers, to the minds and consciences of the masses.^ The 
 whole population of England and Wales, according to the 
 census of 18 tl, was about sixteen millions.'^ 
 
 ' Including sick persons and" young children. 
 
 ' It is computed, says a late statician, that there are iu England aud 
 AVales 28,290 churches and chapels, " aa follows : — 
 
 Denominations. 
 
 Churches, 
 or Chapela 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 1. Established Church .... 
 
 2. Presbyterians 
 
 3. Independents ..... 
 
 4. Ripti-sts 
 
 5. Wcsleyan Connexion .... 
 
 6. Wcsleyan New Connexion . 
 
 7. Primitive Methodists 
 
 8. Wesleyan Methodist Association 
 
 ' 9. Bible Christians 
 
 10. C'alvinistic Methodists .... 
 
 11. Lady Huntingdon's Connexion 
 
 12. Unitarians ...... 
 
 13. Quakers or Friends .... 
 
 14. Various minor Protestant Sects . 
 
 15. Roman Catholics .... 
 
 14,000 
 
 150 
 
 2,572 
 
 1,943 
 
 4,450 
 
 281 
 
 1,662 
 
 322 
 
 415 
 
 778 
 
 30 
 
 260 
 
 330 
 
 500 
 
 597 
 
 49^49 
 •56 
 
 9-(i9 
 6-87 
 15-78 
 •99 
 5^87 
 110 
 
 r47 
 
 276 
 •11 
 •91 
 1-17 
 1-72 
 2-11 
 
 
 28,290 
 
 100-00 
 
 From this table, which seems to have been framed with care, "it appears 
 that rather more than half of the places of woi-ship in England and Wales 
 Wlong to Dissenters, Protestint or Roman Catholic ; that those l)el()nging 
 to Protestants are 978;) per cent., and those belonging to Roman Catholics 
 are 2-11 per cent, of the whole number." — Laid before the London ,Stalistical 
 S}cieti/, 1852. 
 
 ' Bajitiat W, Noel a.<vmmes the " effective Anglicans " to l>e eight millions, 
 or half of the whole population, "the Dissenters" (including Wewleyans) to 
 l)e four million.s, and tho.se of "irreligious habits," the otiier four millions. 
 If the niunber of "communicants" or meudjci-s were taken, this picture 
 Would be utterly reversed I 
 
268 DISPROPORTIONATE AMOUNT OF CHURCH FUNDS. [Chap. 24. 
 
 Assuming the numbers of the episcopal church, and of all 
 other chiu'ches together^ to be, as already conjectured, nearly 
 equal; what is the compulsory charge for the one, as compared 
 with the voluntary charge of all the others ? This, notwith- 
 standing returns and calculations, must still be matter of 
 uncertainty ; but there is strong reason to believe that the 
 revenues of the one are fifteen or twenty times as large as those 
 of all the rest added together ! Sui'ely such a state of things 
 loudly calls for national interposition and remedy ! The re- 
 formation in this respect yet remains to be carried out and 
 perfected, in Great Britain and Ii'eland ! 
 
 1 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 0\ THE POWKH AN'l) DUTY OF THE BIUTISH fiOVERNMENT AND 
 PEOPLE, WITH RESPECT TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISH- 
 MENTS. 
 
 1st Section. — Introductory remarks. 
 
 Mich has already beeu said on the endowments of the church, 
 and its union with the state — on that priestly usurpation, wliich, 
 sprinjiinj; u[) under the covert of i{;;norancc and superstition, 
 appropriated to itself the privileges and property of the whole 
 spiritual body — on the gradual introduction of the system of 
 tithes, and its imposition under specious pretences on the nations 
 of western Europe — on the additional fees for particular religious 
 services and objects — on the attaching these large pecuniary 
 emoluments to the otKcc of the gospel ministry — on the division 
 of the general religious commimity into distinct churches — on the 
 repeated transfers of the tithes and other perquisites from the 
 ministers of one church to those of another, at the pleasure 
 of the respective civil governments — on the conversion of the 
 office of the state-established ministry possessing these endow- 
 ments into a species of private transferable property — on the 
 existence of patronage for the absolute disposal of these offices, 
 without reference to the desire or judgnunt of the congrega- 
 tions — on the measures generally adopted on the continent of 
 Europe, to correct some of these abuses, — and lastly, on the very 
 large sums still annually expended, and the privileges bestowed 
 in this country upon the ministry and worship of the one 
 favoured denomination, anued with the authority of the law 
 to enforce the contributions reipiired for its maintenance, on the 
 members of every religious community. 
 
 Tho\igh some of these points may require further elucidation 
 in their development and cft'ects, yet tliis seems a suitalile place 
 
270 AUTHORITY OF GOVERNMENT TO REFORM ABUSES. [Ghttp. 25. 
 
 to consider the following questions, which naturally suggest 
 themselves : — 1st, whether the British government and nation 
 have not the power, and are not under a sacred obligation, to 
 apply a remedy to these evils ; and 2nd, in what manner this 
 national remedy can be most properly and wisely administered. 
 
 That the government and legislature of this country may, 
 with the consent of the people, abolish the establishment of one 
 particular church as that of the nation, no one who has paid 
 attention to the subject, and considered the authority of im- 
 perial legislation can deny or doubt. Without revolutions, as 
 in foreign countries, changes equally great have been intro- 
 duced and effected in this kingdom, though not without con- 
 siderable opposition from the party unjustly favoured, yet they 
 have proved beneficial nationally; and in this case a similar 
 change is equally required, equally within the power of the 
 government, and may be expected to be equally beneficial. 
 The same reasoning applies to Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 One of the first duties of Christian government is to examine 
 into the condition and wrongs of different classes, and to treat 
 them all with consideration and fairness ; it is in fact to carry 
 into practice the great gospel principle of doing unto others 
 as we would that they should do imto us. Whatever infringes 
 on this rule is a violation of Christian duty, whether in indi- 
 viduals or in governments. If we subject to its test the com- 
 pulsion of a whole nation comprehending many Christian 
 churches, to the maintenance of one particular church, the 
 compulsion must at once be condemned. Let any who think 
 otherwise place themselves in the position of those on whom the 
 maintenance of this one church is imposed, contrary to their 
 own religious convictions; and they will quickly discover the 
 injustice and injury of such a restrictive, compulsory policy ! 
 The power and the duty are clearly manifest ! 
 
 2nd Section. — The pecuniary part of the question. 
 
 Of the territorial property and revenues now possessed by the 
 Anglican Church, the tithe rent-charge is by far the most impor- 
 tant part. What the state has created and connected wdth the 
 ministerial office, in opposition to the principles of the gospel — 
 what it has given to one religious body or set of men, and taken 
 
Sect. 2.] PAST DISPOSALS OP CHURCH PROPERTY. 271 
 
 away from them, theu given to others, and aj^aiii taken away, 
 and so on five or six times in succession, — what it has modified 
 and partly abolished — what it at first provided for several pur- 
 poses, and now suffers to be restricted to one — what it has per- 
 mitted to be doubled and quadrupled — what it has allowed to 
 be made a matter of barj^aiu and sale, w ith the spiritual care of 
 the souls of the people ; yet guarding these transactions with 
 jealous laws, as if afraid of its own doings and the proceedings 
 of the receivers — what it has thus freely and repeatedly handled, 
 and at length has commuted into a new form and character, to 
 remove some of its more obvious ill effects — this surely, without 
 doubt, it may still alter, otherwise apply, diminish or totally 
 abolish, as the government and the people shall tl^ink proper ! 
 
 If the British nation take the scriptural view of the free 
 nature of the gospel ministiy, they will, under a feeling of 
 Christian duty, detach the payment entirely from such an 
 object ; and either extinguish it partly or wholly to afford relief 
 to the agricidturists ; or, regai'diug it as a public property, long 
 alienated from the owners and cultivators of the soil, they will 
 apply it to public purposes of civil and undisputed benefit, for 
 the good of the community at large. 
 
 No reforniJitory measure can be based on just Christian prin- 
 ciples, or be comj)atible with the religious liberties of the nation, 
 which leaves all the temporalities, and especially the rent-charge, 
 in the possession of one religious body. " I am sure," says 
 Dr. Arnold to a fnend, " that sooner or later the church must 
 be more comprehensive ; or, if this be impracticable, then an 
 establishment cannot be maintained ; and the next best thing 
 will be, to take care that all the church property is applied 
 to strictly public purposes, — to schools, hospitals, almsliouses, or 
 sometliing of the sort ; and that it is not stolen by the land- 
 lords."^ This will doubtless be the wish of many reformers ; 
 and yet it cannot be forgotten that the property in question has 
 been taken by degrees from the landlords and tenants. 
 
 The holding which each minister possesses in the ecclesias- 
 tical rent-charge, being generally deemed to be a contingent 
 interest only for his own life, Hable to be terminated earUer, 
 and at his death reverting to the patron, is much more easily 
 to be dealt with and abolished, than if it wore an estate in 
 
 ' Letter, l".:^. 
 
272 WRITERS ON CHURCH REFORM. [Chap. 25. 
 
 fee belonging to the minister and bis beirs in absolute rigbt, 
 and recognised as sucb by the law. But the fact is that it 
 has evidently been regarded by the legislature as property of 
 a questionable, uncertain nature, and subject to its own disposal. 
 Those who have treated on this subject may be divided into 
 four classes. 1st. Such as style themselves the friends of the 
 law-established chiu-ch, and commend it warmly. These speak 
 in high terms of its venerable institutions, its excellent liturgy, 
 its pure doctrines, its meritorious clergy, its well deserved reputa- 
 tion and endowments. In their view, little or nothing requires 
 to be corrected. 2nd. Are those who admit that much is amiss 
 in the constitution of the church ; that its litm^gy and services 
 need revision, that its expositions of doctrine require in many 
 parts to be amended, that its ministers and bishops are un- 
 suitably educated and chosen, and unequally remunerated, that 
 they have too many secular duties, that the revenues require a 
 better administration, and that some of the more obvious pres- 
 sure on nonconformists ought to be removed. This class would 
 act on a reformatory but strictly conservative principle : they 
 would retain the substantial part of the temporalities, introduce 
 laymen to a share in church government, and establish synodical 
 action, curtailing the interference of the national legislature. 
 3rd. May be ranked most writers not belonging to the state 
 church, who have treated of its abuses, its opulent, luxurious, 
 indolent hierarchy, its opposite symbols of doctrine, its overpaid 
 dignitaries, its tendency even now to an overbearing and per- 
 secuting spirit. These writers lean to exaggeration, to violent 
 invective and indignant denunciation. 4th. Are those, to 
 whom the author of this treatise desires to belong, who see very 
 much that 'is amiss, but aim to deal with it in a Christian spirit, 
 and to apply the necessary remedies in a considerate manner, 
 peaceable but decided, constitutional but thorough-going ; who 
 believe that the cause of Christianity and the true interest of the 
 protestant episcopal church herself will be most effectually 
 promoted, by putting all the different churches in the kingdom 
 on an equal footing, and applying the ecclesiastical rent-charge 
 and other national property which she at present possesses, to 
 educational, charitable or other purposes of a strictly civil 
 character. These would make every church dependent, under 
 the divine blessing, on her own spontaneous exertions. 
 
I 
 
 Sect. 2.] CONSERVATIVE CHURCH REFORMATION. 273 
 
 To quote the laudatory laiij^imge of writers of the first class, 
 >vhcu speaking of their beloved natiouul church, would be 
 uunecessary here ; and the strong denunciations of the third 
 class would be also at variance with the spirit, which it is 
 desired that these pages may exhibit. 
 
 Lord Henley's scheme for church reform, published in 1828, 
 seems to belong almost as much to the first class as to the 
 second, and with some good suggestions, partakes largely of the 
 character of an apology for things as they then were. Of 
 course he does not interfere with the present application of the 
 revenues, except by some improved distribution. The same 
 may be said of writers in the Quarterly Review, and other pub- 
 lications in the same interest. 
 
 By individuals of the second class many schemes have been 
 proposed, for removing some of the most glaring abuses of the 
 law-established church, but the fault is that their views are 
 not comprehensive towards the nation at large, and that they do 
 not suUiciently admit the existence and rights of other Christian 
 churches. An example of the sentiments of this class has 
 lately been brought before the public. 
 
 A large number of " influential clerg}'men and laymen " are 
 represented to have formed a society, with the limited view 
 of eftecting a " thoroughly conservative reformation " of the 
 Anglican Church. They propose " That each clergyman hold 
 no more than one living, aud that he be resident thereon ; that 
 cveiy attempt to sell a presentation to a living be punished by 
 confiscation of the patronage to the parish, and every attempt 
 to purchase a nomination be visited on the clerical delinquent, 
 by a deprivation of holy orders; that no clergyman fill the 
 office of a civil magistrate; that all canonrios, deaneries, and 
 prebendal stalls be abolished, and their revenues applied to the 
 general purposes of the church ; that its property be adminis- 
 tered by a Board of Commissioners, composed exclusively of lay 
 churchmen appointed by the government, and sidiject on all 
 points to the jurisdiction and investigation of Parliament ; that 
 patrons s\d)mit the names of six persons to the congregation, in 
 order that one may be chosen therefrom as the incumbent ; 
 each of the six so nominated having performed duty one whole 
 Sunday before the election ; that future occupiers of all livings 
 now in the gift of the crown, bishops and other church digni- 
 
 T 
 
274 VARIOUS PLANS OF CHURCH REFORM, [Chap. 25. 
 
 taries be chosen by tbe communicant members of the congre- 
 gation; that there be one hundred dioceses, as equal as possible; 
 that each diocese be divided into four districts, each district 
 being presided over by an archdeacon as an assistant bishop ; 
 that an annual synod take place of the clergy and church- 
 wardens in each diocese, in the proportion of one half of each, 
 presided over by the bishop, to take into consideration the spiri- 
 tual state of the diocese ; that a report of the same be submitted 
 to a general council of the church, meeting once a-year, and 
 consisting of the archbishops, bishops, and lay-delegates from 
 each synod, to decide upon all matters of doctrine and discipline/' 
 They also propose "That curates be paid ^81 50. a-year; 
 country incumbents, £250.; town incumbents, £360.; archdea- 
 cons, £750. ; bishops, £2000. a-year ; the archbishop of York, 
 £4000.; and the archbishop of Canterbury, £5000. a-year; 
 that church-rates, marriage and baptismal fees, and easter- 
 offerings, be abolished ; and that the bishops cease their atten- 
 dance in the House of Lords.'' 
 
 What effect such movements may produce, time only will show. 
 There appears, however, to be a growing conviction in the public 
 mind that some decisive measure must be adopted. To leave 
 the temporalities in the same hands with only a more equal 
 distribution, is an arrangement which cannot satisfy dissenters, 
 who consider the estates and revenues of the Anglican and Scotch 
 churches to be national property, and at present unjustly applied. 
 Many able writers of the fourth class have shown the incon- 
 sistency of the union of church and state with the great prin- 
 ciples of the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom as laid down 
 in the New Testament, and with the enlightened views of reli- 
 gious and civil freedom which justly distinguish the present age.i 
 Few of these have, however, propounded any particular scheme 
 for effecting a just and permanent arrangement. 
 
 In 1 841, Thomas Spencer, perpetual curate of Hinton Charter- 
 house, near Bath, published the following proposals for a com- 
 prehensive church reformation : — 
 
 " 1. The bishops to be removed from the House of Lords. 
 " 2. The titles and offices of prelate, dean, archdeacon, canon, 
 prebendary, and all other titles and offices connected with 
 cathedrals, to be abolished. 
 
 ' See Drs. Campbell and Wardlaw, Dymond and others. 
 
Sect. 2.] COMPREHENSIVE CHURCU REFORMATION. 275 
 
 " 3. Tlie titles of rector, vicar and i)ricst to be abolished, 
 
 " 4. The designation of the clergy to be ministers of religion, 
 pastors, bishops and cnrates. 
 
 "5. A U patronage to cease, and an equitable adjustment to be 
 made with existing patrons. 
 
 " 6. The revenues of bishoprics and cathedrals, -svith the income 
 of all livings arising from tithes, glebe-lands, &c., to be vested 
 in ecclesiastical commissioners. 
 
 " 7. The palaces of bishops and houses of deans and chapters to 
 be sold, and the proceeds placed with such commissioners. 
 
 " 8. All clergymen desiring to do so, to be permitted to quit 
 their profession. 
 
 " 9. Out of the ecclesiastical revenue raised as above, which 
 would exceed six millions sterling, to appropriate for the present 
 two millions to the payment of ministers of religion, giving to 
 each an average of .€200. a year. 
 
 " 10. To recommend to all congregations having the ability, 
 that they support their own ministers. 
 
 "11. To appropriate the remaining four millions to the pur- 
 poses originally designed — the relief of the poor, the repair of 
 parochial edifices, and other public objects ; thus superseding 
 the necessity for compulsory religion and compulsory charity, 
 and abolishing all church rates and poor rates. 
 
 "12. To transfer the relief of the poor to the inspection and 
 care of the respective parishes and congregations. 
 
 " 13. To set apart those called divinity colleges in the univer- 
 sities, for the training of ministers, for their instruction in the 
 doctrines and precepts of scripture — and at the other colleges to 
 prepare all classes of men for their duty ; by sound moral and 
 political science, by public speaking, &c. 
 
 " 14. To allow the members of each congregation to elect their 
 own minister out of such as have been thus trained, after having 
 satisfied themselves of his fitness. 
 
 " 15. Instead of prelacy to institute a moderate practical epis- 
 copacy. 
 
 " 16. The duties of a bishop to be to preside at all clerical 
 meetings, to visit every ])ansh yearly, to apj)oint the minister 
 whom the congregation liave chosen, to visit the jjarochial 
 schools, to investigate the state of the poor, to decide cases of 
 difficultv, &c. 
 
 t2 
 
276 COMPREHENSIVE CHURCH REFORMATION. [Chap. 25. 
 
 "17. A written invitation from the majority of tlie congre- 
 gation to be a sufficient proof of election. 
 
 " 18. The clergy to meet quarterly in each district, to admin- 
 ister discipline, &c. 
 
 " 19. All the clergy, including the bishops, to be equal, and 
 not to be distinguished by peculiar dress, &c. 
 
 " 20. The clergy to use or disuse the sui'plice, gown, &c., as 
 may seem fit. 
 
 "31. To be permitted to preach in any place of worship to 
 which they may be invited; and, with consent of churchwardens, 
 to invite any recognized minister of other churches to preach in 
 their pulpits. 
 
 " 22. In every congregation, persons taking the Bible as the 
 rule of faith, and appearing to be guided by its precepts in their 
 conduct, to be deemed members of the church, and enrolled as 
 such on a church list. Such members to hold subordinate 
 meetings for church discipline. 
 
 " 23. The liturgy to be revised, and rendered more conform- 
 able to scripture. 
 
 " 2-4!. A general meeting of the clergy for matters of business, 
 to be held annualh^ by rotation in the principal towns of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 " 25 . Churches and burial-grounds to be no longer consecrated : 
 saints' days to be left out of the calendar. 
 
 " 26. All penal laws, canons, acts of uniformity, and compulsory 
 statutes connected with religion to be repealed.^' 
 
 Another proposal may be quoted here, which appeared in 
 pnnt a few years since. 
 
 " Proposition for a general adjustment of the pecuniary and other 
 questions between the British natio7i and its established 
 churches. 
 
 " 1st. That those churches retain all the lands, houses, and per- 
 sonal property now held by them, whether the same consist of 
 estates, glebe lands, bishop's palaces, parsonage-houses, manses, 
 churches or burial-grounds ; of money in the funds, or on other 
 securities. 
 
 " 2nd. That any persons whatever be at liberty to bury their 
 dead in the parochial burial-grounds, in such decent manner, 
 and with such religious rites as they may think proper. 
 
I 
 
 Sect. 2.] BENEFITS OF SEPARATING CHURCH AND STATE. 277 
 
 "3rcl. Tluvt none be compelled to contribute to the remune- 
 ration of episcopal, prcsbytcrian, or any other ministers, or to 
 the maintenance of their religious services, or to the repairs of 
 their places of worship. 
 
 "4th. That one-half of the ecclesiastical tithe rent-charge be 
 extinguished, as a measure of relief to the agriculturists. 
 
 " 5th. That the other half be applied to the purposes of general 
 unsectarian education, under the control of a central and of local 
 boards of directors. 
 
 " 6th. That in consideration of long possession with the sanction 
 of the British legislature, compensation, amounting on an average 
 to the last seven years' net annual proceeds of the ecclesiastical 
 tithe rent-charge, be paid to each of the present incumbents, 
 from the national fund." 
 
 The same scheme suggested — 
 
 " 1st. That the general management and property of the protes- 
 tant episcopal and presbyterian chiu'ches be vested by Parliament 
 in a body of directors, of whom one-half, at least, shall not 
 be ecclesiastical persons ; the whole to be elected for ten years 
 by the members of the local churches, in proportion to their 
 number, one-fifth retiring by rotation every two years. 
 
 "2nd. That Parliament exercise no further control over the 
 ministers, doctrine, property, or other aftairs of those churches, 
 or of any others. 
 
 " 3rd. That no gi-ants of money be made to any church, or to 
 its ministers as such, either at home or in the colonies. 
 
 " 4th. That no bishop have a right, by virtue of his office, to sit 
 in the Upper House of Parliament." 
 
 No opinion is pronounced here on the particulars of these 
 schemes, nor of others which might be adduced ; but while by 
 the legal adoption of some decided measure in a constitutional 
 mode, the bishops and ministers of the British episcopal church 
 would lose a large part of their pecuniary life interests, and the 
 patrons would be deprived of their reversions in trust, with or 
 without compensation, it may be fairly expected that the real 
 necessities of all gospel labourers would be amj)ly provided for 
 by their flocks, and that both the officials of that church and the 
 members generally wouhl gain much in moral and religious dis- 
 cipline, soundness and efficiency. They would be raised from a 
 condition of bondage under the state, to one of independence in 
 
278 EETENUES NOT TO BE HELD AND CONTROL REMOVED. \_Chap.2o. 
 
 principle and practice. The body might, and most probably 
 would, divide into two or more parts ; but each part would be 
 more closely united in itself. They would reform their liturgy 
 and constitution ; private zeal would be stimulated to exertion ; 
 a spii'it of true devotion and piety would be encoiu'aged; a 
 painful incongruity of condition removed; a great measure of 
 national justice accomplished ! And it is but reasonable to an- 
 ticipate such an increase of humility and sincerity amongst 
 episcopalians, and of mutual charity among all denominations, as 
 would advance the interests of true Christianity, draw down the 
 divine blessing, and largely promote the spiritual welfare of 
 the nation ! 
 
 The consequences of an entire separation of any church from 
 the state would be much more beneficial to its own true interests 
 — however unwilling some may be to think so — than to the 
 neighbouring churches not so connected and endowed. The 
 members would feel their responsibility, and obtain the control 
 of their own affairs, of which the ci\dl power now deprives them, 
 as the condition of its protection : they would enjoy a healthy 
 vitality and a freedom of religious thought and action, and thus 
 would be enabled better to fulfil their solemn vocation and high 
 profession as churches of Christ. Mere money and worldly 
 greatness siu'ely are not to be balanced against results, so 
 eminently conducive to the cause of truth and righteousness ! 
 
 Well will it prove for the Anglican church, for her discipline, 
 for her humility, and her growth in the Divine life — if, re- 
 nouncing the long-cherished temporalities and dignities of the 
 state, she shall be brought to rely only on her own spontaneous 
 duties and exertions, with the blessing of the Most High ! The 
 spirit and tendencies of the age are evidently in this direction, 
 and the ultimate accomplishment must be considered as a ques- 
 tion merely of time. To desire that this time may be prolonged, 
 is, in the opinion of the author, no clear e\idence of true friend- 
 ship to that church, or of wise discernment. 
 
 With equal inconsistency and boldness, the desire professed 
 by some members of the established church to dissolve the con- 
 nection with the temporal power, is accompanied with an earnest 
 resolution to retain the " good things of this life," which are pos- 
 sessed through that connection — to enjoy the emoluments of the 
 state, and yet be iadependent of its control. The late Sir Robert 
 
Sect. 3.] DESIllE TO DISSOLVE THE UNU N. 279 
 
 Peel once remarkcdj that " if a church chooses to participate in 
 tlie aclvautagcs appertaining to an establishment, that church, 
 whether it be the church of England, or of Home, or of Scot- 
 land, must conform to the law." 
 
 " It is a singular historical coincidence," says an intelligent 
 observer, writing in 1812, "that at the same moment the Catholic 
 clergy in Prussia, the Calvinistic in Scotland, and the Puseyite 
 in England, are all agitating for a church power independent of 
 the state, and using the same arguments. An apostolical suc- 
 cession to power, derived from the headship of Christ over his 
 church, is used by all as a foundation of their claims, and in 
 this the popish clergy seem to have a stronger ground of argu- 
 ment than the others. Theii's is the oldest church after the 
 apostles^ days, and any other system set up by the state, and not 
 by the free election and voice of the people, linds a natural pre- 
 judice existing against it." ^ The domination of the state over 
 the church is carried to an extreme height in Germany, and has 
 driven many of its purest spirits into exile. 
 
 3rrf Section. — Existing Infringements on complete Religious 
 Liberty. 
 
 "While grateful acknowledgment is cheerfully made for the 
 possession of the natural right obtained by all British subjects, 
 of worshipping and serving God in any peaceful mode without 
 personal molestation, it must be remembered that this is only 
 one step, though a highly important one, in the progress of 
 religious liberty ; and that many others yet remain to be taken, 
 in order to place the members of the several denominations on 
 that entire equality of standing in all respects, to which, as 
 orderly, conscientious citizens of a free, enlightened and Chris- 
 tian state, they are justly entitled. 
 
 The state still remains in close union with one religious body 
 in England, Wales and Ireland, and with another in Scotland ; 
 among whose respective bishops, ministers and presbyters, its 
 whole territory is parcelled out, by means of the system of 
 church patronage, as among so many spiritual proprietors and 
 masters, claiming by law religious authority over the entire 
 population ; and demanding, as the hire of their ministrations, 
 ' La'mg's Notes in Germany. 
 
280 EXISTING GRIEVANCES OF DISSENT. [Chap. 25. 
 
 a rent-charge representing one-tenth of the produce of the soil 
 of the kingdom^ with other important privileges. All the nation 
 is compelled to pay, not onl}^ the rent-charge, but also direct 
 rates for upholding the national places of worship and biu'ial- 
 grounds, now occupied by the favoui-ed religious bodies ; as well 
 as for supporting their worship and services. Other charges are 
 also levied on the public for their ministers, varying by custom 
 in different districts. The burial-grounds, though maintained 
 by public rates, are not allowed to be used by the people for 
 sepulture, except with the forms peculiar to these bodies. The 
 British monarch is still their supreme head, — the fountain of 
 their honours and preferments. The bishops are acknowledged 
 and act in the legislature as peers of the realm. The ecclesias- 
 tical courts are permitted to exercise special jurisdiction, in 
 matters of conscience, over the whole land. To such ministers 
 alone judgment is confided, with respect to the wills and admi- 
 nistrations of all deceased persons. The privileges of most of 
 the universities and pubhc schools of the nation are restricted 
 to the members. The legislation of the state is generally cha- 
 racterised by special provisions in their favour, and is liable at 
 any time to be further exerted in the same direction, as far as 
 public opinion can be brought to submit. Many of these dis- 
 tinctions operate with vastly increased severity in Ireland, where 
 only a small fraction of the population belongs to the privileged 
 body. 
 
 Such is a brief statement of the principal grievances of which 
 dissenters still have to complain, being the remnants of those 
 cruel oppressions, which in past ages pressed heavily, and 
 brought imprisonment and death, upon their ancestors ; but 
 which, by undaunted, united and persevering efforts, they were 
 enabled thus far successfully to overcome. It must be borne 
 carefully in mind, that these are not mere pecuniary and secular 
 matters, affecting only the purse and the inclination ; but neces- 
 sary consequences of a great hierarchical system, invading the 
 province of conscientious and religious feeling, setting outward 
 law and religious duty often at variance, and presenting a pain- 
 ful choice, whether God or man shall be obeyed. 
 
 As members of the great civil and religious community under 
 which we live, the duty is therefore unquestionable, that we 
 endeavour, in the spirit of Christian goodwill, fully to perfect 
 
Sect. 3.] CONSTITUTIONAL EXCELLENCY AND FREEDOM. 281 
 
 the work of practical reformation wliich our predecessors began, 
 until the injurious civil distinctions and privile;i;cs confinod to 
 such religious bodies arc wholly swept away, and all dcuoniina- 
 tions are placed on the same just and equal ground, to worship 
 and serve God according to their own consciences, ncitlicr 
 incited to hypocrisy by secular advantages, nor deterred from 
 obedience by outward privations. 
 
 Great Britain prides herself on the excellency of her con- 
 stitution, and on the liberty of the people. But how is tliat 
 excellency dimmed by the want of equity evinced in her eccle- 
 siastical regulations, by the absence of even-handed justice 
 towards her several churches. And defective is that boasted 
 liberty which acts with compulsion in matters of conscience ; 
 constraining it to submit to pecuniary demands equally re- 
 pugnant to its moral sense, and inconsistent with gospel prin- 
 ciples and genuine freedom. When the truth shall make her 
 free, then shall these ancient but servile restrictions be removed, 
 and she and all her sons shall be free indeed ! 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT AND INFLUENCE OF THE PAPAL POWER IN 
 BRITAIN ; AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 1st Section. — Introduction of the Papal authority. 
 
 Before taking a particiilar view of modern British cliurclies 
 connected with the state, it may be well to survey more closely 
 the old papal stock from which they sprang, and from which 
 many of their institutions and notions have been derived. 
 
 Ancient authors are not agreed as to the time when Chris- 
 tianity was first introduced into Britain, nor as to those who 
 were the chief agents in planting it. There are strong reasons 
 for believing that the gospel was preached to our heathen 
 ancestors, and embraced by many of them, in the second or 
 third century. In the fifth, the Saxon invaders, being heathens, 
 drove the professors of the faith into remote parts of the 
 country, where they still maintained their Christian worship. 
 About 696 however, Austin (or Augustin), a zealous monk, 
 was sent over with forty others by Pope Gregory, to introduce 
 the Roman Catholic faith into the Saxon kingdoms of Britain. 
 He was kindly received by Ethelbert, King of Kent, whom he 
 soon converted, with other influential persons ; and such was 
 the success attending the exertions of himself and companions, 
 that he is said to have baptized 10,000 converts in one day. 
 The pope appointed him the first Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 Thus encouraged, Austin was earnest to bring the ancient British 
 churches also into a conformity with the Church of Rome. 
 They declined hoAvever to acknowledge its authority, and boldly 
 resolved to adhere to their own religious practices. Perse- 
 cution was set on foot to establish the domination of the pope, 
 and after a long period of conflict, being compelled to yield, 
 they quickly experienced proofs of his desire for absolute rule. 
 
Sect. 1.] ECCLESIASTICAL JLRISDICTION. 283 
 
 Many of their monarchs, being superstitious and woak-miiukd 
 persons, submitted to the debasing authority and arbitrary im- 
 positions of the haughty pontiff. 
 
 For the first 300 years after Christ, no distinction had existed 
 between civil causes and ecclesiastical or spiritual causes ; all 
 being determined by the general law, and under the jurisdiction 
 of the magistrates. But after the emperors had embraced 
 christiauity, in their zeal to give authority to the bishops, they 
 made them "judges and dividers^' over the people, contrary to 
 the example of Christ : granting them jurisdiction by degrees, 
 under various heads, which either were, or were pretended to be, 
 of an ecclesiastical nature. Such were "the cases of tithes, 
 because paid to men of the church; cases of matrimony, because 
 marriages were mostly solemnized in the church ; cases testa- 
 raent.ary, because wills were often made at the last extremity, 
 when churclnucn Mere present, giving spiritual comfort to the 
 testator;" and so forth. Defamation was a fruitful source of 
 business, and all cases of bad faith were artfully included. The 
 bishops proceeded in these causes according to the civil law, 
 the jurisdictions not being separate in England before the 
 Norman Conquest, all matters being determined in the county 
 or hundred-court, Avhcre the bishop and the ear), or other 
 oflBcers on both sides, sat together and administered judgment.' 
 
 The spiritual governors, the bishops, closely followed the civil 
 authorities. Each diocese was divided into deaneries {decennaries, 
 or titliings) composed of ten parishes or churches, each of these 
 being under one ecclesiastic or more' Large properties were 
 gradually acquired Ijy the dean and chapter, or prebendaries, 
 iu almost every cathedral. William the Conqueror is stated to 
 have found more than one-third of all the land in the kingdom 
 iu the possession of the clergy.' 
 
 The pope does not appear to have possessed any civil au- 
 thority in liritain till the era of the Conquest, when, having 
 favoured the designs of William, he took that opportunity for 
 establishing his own power ; and was permitted to do so by the 
 Conqueror, in order to humble the Saxon clergy, and to aggran- 
 dize the Norman prelates. 
 
 Blackstone remarks, that the most stable foundation of legal 
 and rational government is a due subordination of rank and 
 ' Bum's Eccles. Law. ' Ibid— Deans. * Ibiil. — Monasteries. 
 
284 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM COPIED BY THE PAPACY. [Chap. 26. 
 
 a gradual scale of autliority.^ Tyranny also is most firmly 
 supported by a regular increase of despotism^ rising from the 
 slave to tlie sultan. The difference however is, that the mea- 
 sure of obedience in the one is grounded on the consent of the 
 people, and the just and necessary principles of society; while 
 in the other it is limited only by absolute will and pleasure, 
 without permission to the inferior to examine the title upon 
 which it is built. More effectually therefore to enclose the 
 consciences and minds of the people, the Romish clergy them- 
 selves paid the most implicit obedience to their own superiors 
 or prelates ; and they in turn were as blindly devoted to the 
 will of the sovereign pontiff^ whose decisions they held to be 
 infallible, and his authority co-extensive with the world ! 
 
 The establishment of the feudal system, by which the lands 
 of private proprietors were declared to be held of the prince, 
 furnished a hint to the court of Rome, for usurping a similar 
 authority over all the preferments of the church. The pope 
 became a feudal lord, and all ordinary patrons were to hold 
 their right of patronage under this universal superior. Estates 
 held by feudal tenure, being originally gratuitous donations, or 
 at least so esteemed, were at that time denominated beneficia. 
 The name and constitution of these were borrowed, and the 
 care of the souls of a parish thence came to be termed an eccle- 
 siastical benefice. Lay-fees or lands being conferred by investi- 
 ture or delivery of possession, spiritual benefices also received an 
 investiture from the bishop, and induction under his authority ; 
 as lands lapsed to the lord in defect of a legal tenant, so benefices 
 lapsed to the bishop upon non-presentation by the patron ; and 
 other fines were extorted from the clergy by the bishops and 
 the pope, similar to those levied by princes on their vassals. 
 
 At length the pope went a step beyond the example of any 
 secular ruler, and reserved to himself, as stated in a former 
 chapter, the absolute disposal of bishoprics and benefices ! 
 King John having refused to sanction the pope's nomination 
 of Langton to the see of Canterbury ; the pontiff on this 
 account, in 1208, laid the whole kingdom under interdict for 
 six years, during which period the churches were sealed up, 
 the religious rites, on which the salvation of souls was then 
 supposed to depend, were intermitted, marriage could not be 
 * Commentaries, book iv. chap. 8. 
 
Sect. 2.] KING John's subjection to the pope. 285 
 
 legally accomplished, and the bodies of the dead, denied inter- 
 ment in consecrated <i:round, were thi'own into ditches and 
 wastes, or buried in silence ! ^ 
 
 To sum up this head Mith a transaction almost unequalled 
 even in those days, Innocent III. liad at Icuf^jth the effrontery 
 to demand, and King John liad the meanness to yield, a 
 resignation of liis crown to the pontiff, whereby England was 
 pretended to become for ever " St. Peter's patrimony ;" the 
 abject monarch thus becoming reconciled to the pope and 
 his dignitaries, whom he had offended, and receiving back his 
 sceptre from tlie liands of the papal legate, to hold as the vassal 
 of the see of Rome, at the annual rent of a thousand marks, 
 or £666. 6*. 8rf!- 
 
 Innocent III. directed his attention to four main points : 
 Ist, to establish the secular power of the papacy in the Roman 
 states, and to enlarge their boundaries. 2nd. To fix the pre- 
 eminence of the papal over the royal authority tliroughout the 
 kingdoms of western Eiu'ope, and to reduce their sovereigns to 
 the condition of vassals to himself. 3rd. To enlarge the pon- 
 tifical authority and influence within the church. And 4th, 
 to secure the unity of the faith by the extirpation of heresy .^ 
 All these he unscrupulously attempted to carry out. lie en- 
 forced the payment of tithes, and laid an impost on ecclesi- 
 astical j)roperty, called the Salt/din tax, for the pretended service 
 of religion, In' the shuiglitcr of Saracens and heretic Christians. 
 He appears to have been the most able and ambitious pope 
 after Gregory VII. 
 
 2nd Section. — Extent of Papal Exactions. 
 
 Some authors assert that the papal dominion in Europe 
 reached its height in the beginning of the thirteenth centurj'j 
 and that, after the proud pontificate of Innocent III., when 
 
 ' Fox's .\rt.s ami Mon. vol. i. ; Brook's Civil .id<1 Relij^ioua Liberty, vol. i. 
 
 ' " With respect to John's surrender of his kingdom to the pope, it must 
 in justice be ob.serve<l that his nobles a-ssentcl to it, autl never made it a 
 ground uf reproach to him. Ills fatlicr had done the .same, .so also had the 
 King of Arragon and the Norman monarchs of Naples and Sicily ; and 
 Rich.ard T. had declared him.self a vas.sal of the empire. Such va.s.s.ilage 
 was no dishonour in those days, even to the highest. — Keigttdey't Historjf 
 of Enijfnnd. 
 
 ' Waddington's History. 
 
286 PAPAL DEVICES TO EXTRACT MONEY. [Chap. 26. 
 
 parochial tithes were generally established^ the papacy began to 
 decline. Others allege that it did not obtain its fall force till 
 the time of Boniface VIII. ^ a hundred years later. 
 
 Though the title of spiritual head of the universal church 
 was a thing of great sound^ and of greater authority among 
 men of conscience and piety ; yet the court of Rome was fully 
 aware that^ among the bulk of mankind^ power cannot be 
 maintained or enjoyed without property ; and therefore its 
 attention was very early turned to every method that promised 
 pecuniary advantage. Tithes^ Peter's pence^ &c., had already 
 been established. The doctrine of purgatory was introduced, 
 and the purchase of masses was urged, to redeem out of it the 
 souls of the deceased. New offices were created_, and indulgences 
 sold to the wealthy for liberty to sin. The canon law took 
 cognizance of crimes, enjoined penance for the salvation of the 
 soul, and commuted that penance and all religious duties for 
 money. Non-residence and pluralities among the clergy, and 
 marriages among the laity related within the seventh degree, 
 were strictly prohibited by canon ; but dispensations or exemp- 
 tions in these and other matters were seldom denied, to those 
 who could afford to buy them. Thus the pope determined at 
 will the legitimacy of children, the rights of families, and the 
 connubial pri^dleges of the people, and was to be influenced only 
 by interest or money. In short, the wealth of Britain, as well 
 as of other countries, was largely drained by a thousand chan- 
 nels into the coffers of the see of Home, and its local repre- 
 sentatives. In no country were these pecuniary exactions and 
 encroachments carried to a more exorbitant pitch than in 
 Britain, which became one great field of ecclesiastical imposition 
 and plunder. 
 
 In 1245, it was solemnly stated to the Cotmcil of Lyons, 
 that Italian priests drew annually from England 60,000 or 
 70,000 marks, being about £45,000. — a sum at that time greater 
 than the whole revenue of the crown. The appointments to 
 parochial benefices were openly seized, and foreign priests were 
 placed in the richest. Most of these continued to reside in 
 Italy, where they held other preferments ; many never visited 
 England, nor understood the language : and it is affirmed that 
 in some cases as many as fifty or sixty livings were accumu- 
 lated on one individual. The king, prelates and barons com- 
 plained to the court of Rome that many of these foreigners. 
 
Sect. 3.] PECUNIARY EXACTIONS FROM ENGLAND. 287 
 
 who occupied the benefices and received the tithes^ did not even 
 provide substitutes to perform the services.^ 
 
 A parliamentary remonstrance stated, in 1376, that the yearly 
 taxes paid to the pope out of England were five times the 
 amount paid to the king ; also that the richest prince in Chris- 
 tendom had not the foiu'th part of that revenue. The ecclesias- 
 tics and their lands were mostly exempted from general taxation, 
 and from other contributions to the service of the state. Very 
 nearly one-half of the soil of England was at this period in the 
 possession of the church ; whose total income was computed by 
 Knyghton to amount to the enormous sum of 730,000 marks, or 
 nearly ^500,000. in money of those days, and at least five times 
 as much at the present time. A moiety of the land in Scotland 
 is said to have been also in the hands of the ecclesiastics. 
 While the chiu'ch thus became rich, the poverty of the state 
 and of secular individuals was proportionately extreme:^ the one 
 may be said to have eaten up the others. The principle of most 
 of these ecclesiastical imposts was continued through the changes 
 of the Reformation, and their remains may yet be traced down 
 to the present day. An outline of the steps, by which these mis- 
 called spiritual claims were gradually introduced and established, 
 seemed necessary to give a clearer view of the origin of certain 
 demands and usages still subsisting. 
 
 Srd Section. — Chief Heads of the Revenue draivn from England 
 
 by the Popes. 
 
 The following are mentioned by Fuller and others, as the 
 chief modes by which the papal revenue was collected : — 
 
 1st. The sale of vast numbers of the " Agnus Dei," holy 
 trinkets, consecrated beads, crucifixes, medals, &c., said to act 
 as charms or preservers. These were the privilege of the sub- 
 ordinjite officers. 
 
 2nd. The annates or first-fruits, being the entire revenue of 
 one year, which every new bishop or priest paid to the j)ope. 
 Tlie bishops were charged various sums under this head, from 
 .€4000. downwards. 
 
 ' Black.itone'a Commentaries, W.irUHngtnn, &c. 
 
 * "In a few years Gregory IX. is .iai<l, partly l>y levies of money, partly 
 by revenue.s of benefices, to have plundered the kingdom of 950,000 marks." 
 — HaVams Mid'Ue Aget, vol. ii. 
 
288 DISPENSATIONS AND INDULGENCES. [Chap. 26. 
 
 3rd. The appeals in all high controversies, in which the pope 
 reserved to himself the definitive sentence, and hence derived 
 no small profit. 
 
 4th. The pension given him by King Ethelwolf in 856, while 
 on a pilgrimage to Rome. This king had established tithes 
 before; he now added a pension of 300 marks or .£100. a year, 
 chiefly, as is said, to provide '' candles for St. Peter and St. 
 Paul.^^^ 
 
 5th. Dispensations were another profitable source of revenue, 
 being licences from the pope for various acts which were 
 usually forbidden ; such as marriages in certain months, or 
 within certain degrees of kindred, the succession of illegitimate 
 sons, &c. INfany of these acts he had forbidden without scrip- 
 tural authority, in order to increase his own. 
 
 6th. Indulgences extended to more direct moral transgres- 
 sions and produced a large return. According to the doctiine 
 of supererogation in the Romish church, all the good works 
 of the saints, over and above those necessary towards their 
 own justification, are deposited, together with the infinite 
 merits of Jesus Christ, in one inexhaustible treasury! The 
 keys of this were committed to St. Peter, and to his successors 
 the popes, who may open it at pleasure, and by transferring a 
 portion of this superabundant merit to any particular person 
 for a sum of money, may convey to him, either the pardon of 
 his own sins, or a release for any one in whose happiness he is 
 interested, from the pains of purgatory ! Such indulgences, 
 which were, in fact, anticipated absolutions, and tended greatly 
 to relax the discipline of the church and the public morals, were 
 first invented in the eleventh century, as a recompence for the 
 crusaders, aud instead of shocking mankind, they soon became 
 general.^ Plenary indulgence implied an unconditional permis- 
 sion to sin for the rest of life ! 
 
 7th. Legative le\des were made occasionally, as the necessities 
 or desires of the papal see prompted. 
 
 8th. Mortuaries were considered due to the pontiff at the 
 death of great prelates. 
 
 9th. Pardons were purchased for sums of money in extraor- 
 dinary cases. 
 
 10th. Peter's pence, or Rome-scot. Ina, king of the West 
 ' William of Malmesbxiry. ^ Robertson's Charles V. 
 
Sect. 3.] »'n.«;iuMAGKs, tknths, ktc. 289 
 
 Saxons, {^oing on a pil<^rimagc to Rome about 7 10, was indncod 
 to enter into an absurd ajjrccMucnt witli (Jrcfjory II., that every 
 family or evciy chimney in liis dominions should pay a penny a 
 year to the pope, at the time called " the feast of St. IVter : " 
 from whence the tribute was termed Peter's pence.^ Offa, king 
 of ^lercia, who also imposed titlies on his subjects, having com- 
 mitted a murder, and seeking for absolution, laid a similar 
 impost on his own country about fifty years after. These levies 
 Averc gradually extended to the whole of England, and con- 
 tinued to be generally paid, with some commutations and inter- 
 ruptions, for 800 years, till the time of the Reformation, when 
 Henry VIII. enacted that for the future no person should pav 
 this or any other imposition to the see of Rome. The aninud 
 amount varied much ; Fuller calculates it at .€7,500.2 
 
 11th. Pilgrimages were another source of income ; super- 
 stitious persons of quality going yearly to Rome, sometimes with 
 bare feet, but never with empty hands. The pope's principal 
 harvest from this device was in the jubilee, when multitudes of 
 English and other strangers flocked to the city : one million are 
 said to have arrived in the year 1300, on the first occasion, and 
 to have suflcred dreadfully from want ! 
 
 12th. Tenths, being a tenth part of the annual profit of each 
 lining, according to a general valuation, were claimed by the 
 pope, on the example of Melchizcdec and the high-priests of the 
 .lews. Collectors were stationed in each diocese, who forwarded 
 the amount every year.^ 
 
 From these multifarious sources, traces of many of which 
 still remain in most countries of Europe, vast sums of money 
 flowed annually to the treasury of the Romish sec ; indepen- 
 dently of the revenues of tlie parochial priests, the monks, &c. 
 
 The " hundred grievances," as stated in a lucmorial to the 
 diet of Nuremljcrg in 1523, was a catalogue of hereditary 
 wrongs, the subjects of repeated but fruitless remonstrances, 
 " Payments for dispensations and absolutions, sums of money 
 drawu by indulgences, appeals to Rome, reservations, com- 
 mendams, annates, exemption of ecclesiastics from legal punish- 
 ment, excommunications and unlawful interdicts, secular causes 
 
 ' See chapter xiv., sect. .3. * Fuller's Hist. cent. 16. 
 
 ' Fnll.r's Hist. »>ook ii. 
 
290 SACERDOTAL LEGISLATION OR CANON LAW. [Chap. 26. 
 
 tried before clerical tribunals^ great expenses in consecrating 
 cliurclies and cemeterieSj pecuniary penance^ fees for sacraments, 
 burials, &c., &c." Each of these heads -w^ould unfold in detail a 
 long chapter of priestly avarice and oppression/ 
 
 4fA Section. — Ecclesiastical or Canon Law. 
 
 From the period of Constantino, the injunctions or canons of 
 the various councils held for the government of the church were 
 deemed to be of great authority. They were collected into 
 three volumes by Ivo, Bishop of Chartres in France, about the 
 year 1100, and were called '' the Decrees.'^ About thirty years 
 after, was discovered in Italy the original manuscript of " the 
 pandects of Justinian/' containing a collection of the civil 
 laws of the Romans. From that time, the study of the Roman 
 jurisprudence received great attention in different parts of 
 Europe, and the cWtl and canon law formed an important branch 
 of academical learning. Gratian, a Benedictine monk of Bologna, 
 stimulated by the discovery, and following that work as a model, 
 collected the canonical writings about the same period, and 
 prepared an abridgment, termed "'the Decretals/' from the 
 decrees of general councils, the decretal letters and bulls of 
 popes, and the opinions of ancient doctors. The work was 
 designed by him to bring together and harmonize the dis- 
 cordant canons; its main object being to strengthen and extend 
 the authority of the papal see; but it is said to be full of defects 
 and errors. Innocent lY. forbade even the reading of the muni- 
 cipal law by the clergy, because it was not founded on the imperial 
 or clerical constitutions, but merely on the customs of the laity." 
 Andreas, an eminent canonist of the fourteenth century, wrote a 
 commentary on the Decretals, and entitled it "Novelise,'' after 
 a favourite daughter. Tliis work, often termed his " Novels," 
 acquired a high reputation and authority in popish countries. 
 The extension of the canon law, and its reduction to a regular 
 system, on the principle of ecclesiastical superiority and inde- 
 pendence, greatly strengthened the court of Rome and the 
 church in their conflict with the civil powers.^ "Boniface YIII.," 
 says Gavazzi, " abrogated by one fell swoop the authority of 
 kings, of magistrates, and of fathers, involving the human race 
 ' Waddiugtou's Hist. - Blackstone's Introd. •* Buck's Theolog. Diet. 
 
Sect. 'I'.] CONTESTS OF THK cnil. AM) I'llIKSTLY TOWKKs. 291 
 
 in sacerdotal serftloiu. Legislation (luailcd before the new-born 
 code of clerical command, which, in the slang of tlie dark ages, 
 had obtained the name of canon law ! Its false principle was, 
 that every luiman right, claim, property, franchise or feeling, 
 at variance with the predominance of the popedom, was inimical 
 to heaven ! The pandects and codes of Justinian were set aside 
 by clerical bye-laws; and the famous Clementine code, intro- 
 duced in the eighth century, but well known to be a forgery, 
 superseded the jurisdiction of civil tribunals, and forbade the 
 holding of national ecnuieils without the sanction of the pope. 
 The clergy, claiming exemption from the ordinary jurisdiction 
 of the land, ran riot in the impunity of concealed delinquency 
 — all under the sanction of canon law.'" 
 
 The first volume of the Decretals was regularly studied in 
 the universities and schools of England, and was admitted as 
 law in the ecclesiastical courts. King Stephen, in whose reign 
 it was introduced, Wewcd the canon law which it contained 
 with great aversion, and issued a proclamation against the 
 study of it. This was treated as an act of impiety by the eccle- 
 siastics, and from that time two opposing parties prevailed. 
 On the one hand, the bishops and clergy, many of them 
 foreigners, adhering to the papal authority, upheld the civil and 
 canon laws, which were generally united; and on the other 
 hand, the nobility and laity adhered to the ancient common 
 law of England. The papal see assumed the authority of 
 dispensing with the strongest moral and civil obligations, and 
 with oaths disadvantageous to the church — a very comprehen- 
 sive and convenient phrase ! The contests between the two 
 jurisdictions were violent, and carried on with obstinacy on 
 both sides. 
 
 A striking instance of the opposition l)etween these parties, 
 and of the low morals of the ecclesiastics, was exhibited, in the 
 reign of Henry 111., at the famous parliament of Merton in 
 1236; when the prelates endeavoured to procure an act to de- 
 clare all base children legitimate, provided the parents inter- 
 married at any time afterwards ; alleging that " holy church," 
 or in other words canon law, declared the legitimacy of such 
 oflspring ! To this " all the earls and barons answered, with one 
 voice, that they would not change the laws of England, which 
 
 ' Sixth Tjectiire. 
 
 U 2 
 
292 EXCOMMUNICATION AND INTERDICT. [Chap. 26. 
 
 had hitherto been used and approved ! "^ A memorable deci- 
 sion against priestcraft ; would that it had always been pro- 
 nounced with equal firmness ! 
 
 The same firmness prevailed in the next century, when the 
 nobility declared " that the realm of England hath never been 
 unto this hour, neither, by the consent of our lord the king 
 and the lords of parliament, shall it ever be, ruled or governed 
 by the civil or canon law.^^ In the " spiritual courts" however, 
 the proceedings are to the present time conducted in part 
 according to that code, in consequence of these courts having 
 first been established under the immediate direction of the 
 popish ecclesiastics. 
 
 One great evil which followed from the establishment of 
 such coiu'ts, and the acknowledgment of this law, was that 
 the self-styled clergj^ who had committed crimes hoAvever great, 
 claimed immunity from the judgment of secular tribunals, or 
 what was termed " the benefit of clergy," and were held re- 
 sponsible to the ecclesiastical authorities alone. By these means, 
 their many immoralities being connived at by one another and 
 by their superiors, they generally escaped punishment altogether, 
 to the great scandal of their religious profession. 
 
 Strong in their usurped authority, and acting under the mon- 
 strous sanction of the canon law, the popes had two dreaded 
 weapons to hurl against those who ofi'ended them, — excommu- 
 nication and interdict. 
 
 Excommunication was originally nothing more than the power 
 which every religious society possesses, or ought to possess, of 
 expelling or removing its faulty members. But the papacy 
 converted it into an engine of terrific vengeance. " The excom- 
 municate was cursed with a fiendish minuteness of detail, in soul 
 and body, life and limb, person and estate, temporals and spiri- 
 tuals." Interdict was a superior and a more comprehensive pun- 
 ishment ; being pronounced against the territoi'ies, the subjects, 
 and the persons of such sovereigns or nobles as had offended 
 the head of the church. When the dominions of a prince were 
 laid under interdict, all religious ofiices were forbidden to the 
 inhabitants. " No service was performed in the churches ; their 
 doors were sealed up; no bells were rung or even tolled, a 
 
 > " Una voce responderunt quod nolunt leges Anglias mutare." — Stat. 
 Merton, 20 Hen. III. c. 9. — Blackstoiis's Commentaries ; Introduction. 
 
Sect. 5.] BULL AGAINST QUEEN ELIZABETH. 293 
 
 matter then of great moracut ; and, what was still greater, no 
 sacraments were administered, save baptism and extreme unc- 
 tion ; the dead were buried in silence, and in waste places ; a 
 moral gloom overspread the land ! " 
 
 Gregory VII., or Ilildcbrand, was the first who used these 
 spiritual weapons against emperors and kings. i During a long 
 and dark jjcriod tliey were generally successful, in bringing 
 both raonarehs and people to speedy subuiission. Down to the 
 time of Boniface \ 111., the dreaded bulls of the Vatican and 
 the terrible sentence of interdict were often issued against 
 different countries, to the dismay of all their inhabitants ! 
 But as light increased, these priestly fuhuinations were set at 
 naught, and the terrors of canon law were disregarded and 
 despised. 
 
 The sovereigns too were not ^^■ithout their means of defence 
 and retaliation. By outlawry, and by seizing the property 
 and sometimes the persons of troublesome and obstinate eccle- 
 siastics, they managed to keep the pope and his dependents in 
 check, and to vindicate their own interests. 
 
 One of the last feeble attempts of papal vengeance against 
 the sovereigns of England was exhibited in the bull of Pope 
 Pius v., issued in 1570 against Queen Elizabeth, and beginning 
 in the old lofty style oi"Regnans in excelsis, &c." This bull de- 
 nounced " the pretended Queen of England" as " illegitimate 
 and excomminiicato," deprived her of all title to the throne, 
 and absolved her subjects from their allegiance, forbidding them, 
 under pain of excommunication, to obey her. It was treated 
 with contemptuous hostility, and, in conformity with the bar- 
 barous, revengeful spirit of the age, the agent who distributed 
 it was put to death ! - 
 
 oih Section. — Religions Houses, as Abbeys, Monasteries, i^r. 
 
 Another powerful engine of ecclesiastical usurpation was the 
 introduction ofreUgious houses, or establishments of monks and 
 friars. These, not content with the ample provision of tithes, 
 given by law to the parochial ministers and largely sharctl by 
 themselves, as well as with generous voluntary contributions, 
 endeavoured, by ingratiating themselves into the favour of the 
 sick and dying, to obtain possession of manors and estates, and 
 Keightley'b Ilbtory of England. ' Ibid, 
 
'iJ)4 KKVKNl E$ VNO HOI SKS 01 HKl.U;lOl!>; OKOKRS. [Cfiop. '20. 
 
 thujv wrostod the property I'rom tho lawl'ul hoirs. PretondiUii 
 exti*j\onlinary sanctity and spiritual power, tliey fi\scinated the 
 miuds of the people, obtained, fovpnrposes professedly relipous. 
 large grant* of moi\ey and land, and ju'tfully propagated the 
 notion, that to deprive them of these was nothing less than 
 saei'ilege. 
 
 "A death-bed was a friar's harvest. Then were suggested the 
 foundation of ehajitries. and the provision for masses and wax- 
 lights. The confessional was his exchequer ; there hints Avere 
 divpped to sensitive ears, that the convent needed a new window, 
 or owed t-W for stones." Kivsvl relies jilso were set xip. and 
 impostuivs of vaiious kii\ds multiplied, to the impoverishment 
 ol' the people, !ind to the disgnice of the so-called church.^ 
 
 " How vast,"* says Aehilli. sj>oaking of Italy at a very i*ecent 
 date, " is the speculation of these gentiy I In this line of busi- 
 ness, the Jesuits, the friars. See., despoil houses, impoverish 
 families, and often tiu'u mothers and children out of doors, 
 destitute aud forlorn ! These arc the notorious results of the 
 practice of confession, and sut^eient to pain every reflecting 
 heart."'- Such was the state of things formerly in Brit:un! May 
 tliere be sufliciejit tluuikfiilness for the light aud liberty obtained ! 
 
 The ivligious orders having establishmei\ts in Euglaiul in 
 the times of popery were very numerous.'^ 
 
 Eight orders of monks had about 200 lai'ge houses. 
 
 Eight sorts of canons . *250 „ 
 
 Three other sorts of n\uis, say 35 „ 
 
 Eleven kinds of friars .190 „ 
 
 Three military orders of the ^ -. 
 
 rehijious, sav . j 
 
 Together about TOO large houses. 
 
 Beside these, the number of small establishments then scattered 
 through the eoimtry is almost incredible ; so that tlie whole 
 amounted to about 318:2 ivligious houses, containing, as is com- 
 puted, 50,000 pei"sons. This is the total number of the institutions 
 supposed to have been dissolved from tirst to last, in addition 
 to the friars' houses, &c. Like a swarn\ of locusts, they devoured 
 the fruits of the land. 
 
 ' Wimt s Reformation in Englwid. - Dealings with the Inquisition. 
 ■' Burn s Eoelesiastical Law. 
 
Sect. 5.] suppiiEssioN of smaller religious houses. 295 
 
 Scatocl in cathcilnils, i-oUcj^iato cliurclics or colleges, abbeys, 
 priories, prcceptories, commaudrics, hospitals, friaries, her- 
 initajres, chantries, free chapels, and nunneries, they afforded, 
 in their dress, pursuits and habits of life, a singular contrast to 
 those of the present age. 
 
 Their total yearly revenues at the times of dissolution were 
 ri'turned as follows : — 
 
 Of the greater monasteries .... 1 104,920 
 
 Lesser ditto 29,702 
 
 Knights hospitallers in Jjondon . . 2,38G 
 
 Ditto in the country . 3,02G 
 
 Friars' houses ...... 751 
 
 jei40,785 
 
 These ecclesiastics had accumulated such large possessions, 
 through their iuHuence over the dying, when called to receive 
 their confessions and to give absolution, that nearly one-third 
 of the soil of all England is said to have come into their hands. 
 And though many were their hospitalities to the poor and 
 strangers, yet in the main they consumed within their own 
 walls, in luxury and licentiousness, the streams of plenty which 
 should have fertilized the whole country. To check these 
 rapacious proceedings, Edwaidl., ''the English Justinian," and 
 other sovereigns, enacted the statutes of Mortmain, by which 
 persons were restrained from alienating their property with the 
 " dying hand" or into a '' dead hand." 
 
 The evils of the system became at length too flagrant to be 
 overlooked or tolerated. The Templars were dissolved as early 
 as 1312. Foreign monks having obtained possession of many 
 priories, by bequest of parties who had travelled abroad, and by 
 other means, the spirit of the nation was roused against them, 
 and they were suppressed about 1418. Their lands and other pro- 
 perty were confiscated to the crown,* and eight new colleges were 
 established at Oxford and Cambridge. Even the pope found it ex- 
 pedient to manifest liis disapprobation of the conduct of some of 
 the professedly religious; and in 1528 he issued two bulls, direct- 
 ing C'artlinal Wolscy to suppress several monasteries, whose evil 
 character had become notorious. This however was a very 
 
 ' Bliicktttoue'a ( 'ommeniarieis 4—*^. 
 
296 SUPPRESSION OF LARGER HOUSES. [Chup. 26. 
 
 insufficient measure. Henry VIII. proceeded farther^ and in 
 1535 appointed a special commission to visit all the religious 
 houses, and to inquire into their morals, revenues and general 
 state. The report disclosed the existence of scandalous im- 
 moralities and impostui'es ; and the king, nothing loath to act 
 upon it, suppressed in the following year about 380 of the 
 smaller establishments. Within five years, most of the larger 
 ones and the Knights of Jerusalem were put down. Still more 
 sweeping was the last act of Henry in this direction a few 
 years later, so that it included even the colleges of Oxford and 
 Cambridge, Winchester and Eton ; these however were spared, 
 on their petitioning for mercy. In the first year of Edward VI., 
 many other religious houses were dissolved. 
 
 The total number and the computed revenues have been 
 already stated, as given by Bui'n. Other authors represent 
 the several dissolutions to have embraced 645 monasteries, 90 
 colleges, 110 hospitals, with 2374 chantries or free chapels; 
 and their income to have been much larger. The furniture, 
 plate and other moveables were very valuable. A late writer^' 
 says, — but his estimate must be a high one, — that " thirty 
 millions and a half was the amount of the whole booty, on 
 which Henry boldly laid his hand, sweeping it all into his 
 capacious crypt ; giving back just what he pleased, and making 
 even that subject to the payment of his first-fruits and tenths. 
 The gold and jewellery alone were estimated at a million. All 
 which," he says, " may be seen at large in the Cotton MSS., 
 in Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, Spelman's History of Sacri- 
 lege, Speed, Stowe and Camden." Collier gives it as his opinion 
 that, though the revenues of the monks nominally amounted 
 to a fifth of the whole returns of the kingdom, they did 
 not actually exceed a tenth. This however was a handsome 
 share, in addition to the incomes of the parochial ministers, 
 or " secular clergy," which were doubtless of equal or greater 
 value. 
 
 The vast property, of which the king obtained the disposal by 
 the dissolution of these houses, consisted chiefly of tithes and 
 lands. He had promised to apply the whole for rehgious 
 objects, but failed in the performance. Queen Mary had a 
 design to restore the property to the ecclesiastics, and actually 
 ' Howitt's rriestcraft, p. 336. 
 
Sect. 5.J APPLICATION OP PINDS OP AHUEYS, ETC. 297 
 
 obtained a. bull fpom the pope for tliivt purpose, but uas pre- 
 vented from executin<ij it by the barons and others, who liad 
 no inelination to surrender their sliare of the spoil, and were 
 too strong to be compelled to yiehl. 
 
 The remarks of Bishop Burnet on the monasteries and their 
 dissolution are worthy of note. " As the pope got to himsulf 
 a great principality, so his clergy imitated him as mucli as 
 possible, sparing no pains, nor tiiinking any methods too bad to 
 promote their projects. The belief of purgatory, aiul the re- 
 deeming of souls out of it by masses, with many other like 
 impostures, had brought the wealth of this and many other 
 nations into their hands. It was therefore a reasonable and 
 just proceeding of the government, to resume those lands which 
 liad been fraudulently drawn from former ages, and to dispose 
 of them otherwise for the interest of the whole kingdom." 
 Well, however, would it have been for the nation, if the disposal 
 of them had been as free from objection, and the application 
 as comprehensive as are here presiuned. A noble fund might thus 
 have been created, for educational and other generally beneficial 
 purposes of an unsectarian character ! 
 
 It must be acknowledged that many of these establishments 
 had been highly useful in encouraging literature, and relieving 
 the necessitous : but their tendency w as to engross religion 
 and learning, such as these were, to themselves, instead of 
 dirtusing their blessings through society at large. The system 
 was unsound in principle and deeply pernicious in its main 
 ettects ; idleness and gross immorality having deei)ly insinuated 
 themselves. Yet the destitution which many of the inmates 
 suffered, in consequence of the hasty overthrow of their asylums, 
 was extreme; many thousands being suddenly deprived of the 
 means of subsistence, and driven out, either to perish through 
 want, to implore employment or charity, or to perpetrate acts 
 of desperate criminality. Some obtained small pensions, others 
 " forty shillings each and a new gown," till they procured 
 liWngs ; but the larger part were wholly uni)rovided for. And 
 the neighbouring poor, deprived of their accustomed refuge and 
 relief, also suffered grievously from the change. A distinct state- 
 provision for them, and severe laws Jigainst vagrancy, soon became 
 necessary. 
 
 An eminent writer observes that, if the superstitious zeal 
 
298 THE MONKS WOULD HAVE SWALLOWED UP ENGLAND. [Chap. 26. 
 
 which established these monastic foundations had continued to 
 prevail, England would probably have been by this time a 
 nation of monks and friars.^ Warm gratitude is due to the 
 gracious watchful Providence, which preserved her for brighter 
 and higher purposes. Is there any danger that, through the 
 prevalence of a latitudinarian indifference, these orders, and 
 still more the Jesuits, may again obtain an influence in Britain ? 
 Too many Romish priests, it is feared, are mere ecclesiastical 
 craftsmen, conscious of the fearful impositions which they practise, 
 and reckless of the inevitable results in superstition or infidelity. 
 Protestants, while they steadily uphold liberty of conscience for 
 all, have need of an especial guard against encouraging such 
 errors.- 
 
 ' Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. 
 
 " The careless and capricious manner in which Henry VIII. disposed of 
 the property of the religious houses, is strikingly exhibited in the case of 
 the "Priory of St. Germans, in Cornwall," as related by an old historian. 
 Acertain JohiiChampernown,it appears, followed the coui't, and, through his 
 pleasantries, won the favour of the king. " Now when the golden shower 
 of the dissolved abbey lands rained well near into every gaper's mouth," 
 two or three gentlemen, acquaintances of Champernowni, waited at a 
 door to see the king, and to beg the favour of a grant of church property. 
 Champernown being inquisitive to know their suit, they declined to tell 
 him. In the mean time the king came out ; they knelt down, so did 
 Champernown ; they preferred their petition, which the king granted ; 
 they returned humble thanks ; so did he. Afterwards they refused to 
 allow him a share ; but the king, on Champernown's appeal, declared that 
 he meant to bestow the largess equally. On this the overreached com- 
 panions were obliged to allot him this priory as his share of the whole 
 grant.* The property thus accidentally and ingeniously acquired proved 
 very valuable. It was returned at £240. a year at the dissolution ; and 
 the prior and six canons had pensions of £15. allotted to them.— >S'ee 
 Dugdale's Monast. Angh 
 
 * Carew's Suiwey of Coi-nwall. 
 
CilAPTEll XX VU. 
 
 THE ANCJLICAN STATE CHURCH ; ITS INTERNAL t;OVEKNMENT, 
 ITS COURTS AND OFFICERS. 
 
 1st Section. — General Odservations. 
 
 Wiir.N a cliurcli claiiiis the support of the public, and demands 
 that support as its due, the public have a natural right to in- 
 (piirc into the nature of the institution which they are thus 
 compelled to maintain. On this ground the present inquiry 
 will be pursued, with Christian plainness, but without hostility. 
 The sccidar power ^yhich the British Episcopal Church pos- 
 sesses, is vested not in itself, as a religious corporation, but in 
 the state of which its members constitute an important part. 
 Even its disciplinary authority rests, to a large extent, with the 
 imperial parliament. The state indeed performs the functions 
 which a mcII proportioned shai'c of internal lay authority ought 
 to fulfil. So learned, influential and wealthy a body might be 
 supposed to be fully capable of regulating all its own business, 
 and providing for itself ; but like a pampered and overfed animal 
 long confined with a short golden chain, it possesses but little 
 healthy energy or self-control, and is obliged to depend on 
 artificial means and extraneous aid, to direct its movements, 
 aiul to supply its wants. Not allowed to move, nor to create 
 any general working agency of its own, and possessing scarcely 
 any but its bishops and ministers, it wants the bone and muscle 
 of vigorous health, and the place of these necessarj' stamina has 
 to be filled by the state, its master ; which endeavours to 
 make good tiie absence of the deliberations and measures of the 
 church at large, by the discussions and acts of the national 
 legislature. This body, though composed of persons of very 
 diftcrent religious pcrsuiwions, and even, it may be, of others ol 
 
300- VARIOUS CHURCHES ARISE. [Chap. 27. 
 
 no religion at all_, employs its authority to determine the ritual 
 of the state-churchj and to regulate its revenues and discipline, 
 such as the latter is, — while the monarch, its supreme head on 
 earth, acting like the prelates in both capacities, is the dis- 
 penser of most of its preferments and dignities, appointing its 
 archbishops, bishops, and many of its ministers. 
 
 That a Christian spiritual church should be united to any 
 political state and governed by it, may well be objected to, on 
 grounds of Scripture and reason. It is however matter of 
 especial objection, that any religious body should be found 
 in so anomalous and painful a position, as that of union with 
 and dependence on a secular government and parliament, com- 
 posed of men of all shades of religious opinion and profession. 
 This condition of things can only be attributed to the fact, 
 that in the younger days of the state and of its church, the 
 religion of the one was the religion of the other ; and that, 
 whatever differences of faith really existed, there was but one 
 professed church in the nation. With this general unity in 
 belief and profession, the state was in fact the visible church ; 
 the head of the one was the head of the other ; the legislature 
 was mainly the same for both; the people were members of 
 both ; all were expected to contribute in person and in purse 
 to the support of both ; and what each needed, or thought it 
 needed, the other endeavoured to supply. The difference was 
 mainly as to their functions ; the one class being political and 
 temporal, the other religious and spiritual. 
 
 But in process of time, differences of opinion arose with re- 
 spect to religion, and the spread of these differences produced 
 dissenting churches. Still these were only a small minority, 
 and the members of the former general church refused to abate 
 their own authority and privileges, treating the others as schis- 
 matics. At length one of the reputed schismatic bodies prevailed 
 so much in numbers and authority, as to seize the power of the 
 state and of the ruling church, and apply that power to its 
 own purposes. After several changes of this sort, a religious 
 community, styled heretical by the early state-church, now 
 retains the authority over the original possessor, and over the 
 rest. 
 
 During the same time, great changes have also taken place in 
 the government of the state. One religious and political party 
 
8ect. 2.] THE LEGISLATIVE UODY AND TlIK UEFORMATION. 301 
 
 has been in power at one period, and anotlicr at another period. 
 Formerly tlu; •^overnin^; body was composed of men who nnited 
 with one another and with the state-ehnrch, on religions mat- 
 ters ; now it is composed of persons distinguished by every 
 variety of opinion and every discoidance of profession. And 
 yet, with such a divided body of legislators, one church con- 
 tinues to retain the ancient connectiou, claiming for itself the 
 autliority and privileges which were formerly possessed h\ the 
 general and sole church of the nation, and subject to the con- 
 trol and dictation of the hetorogcneous legislative body. Tlic 
 evils of this state of things, in whatever country, and especially 
 in liiitain, it is a chief object of the present volume to expose. 
 
 2nd Section. — Brief Historical Sketch of the Exercise of Eccle- 
 siastical Supremacy by successive Rulers of the State. 
 
 A rapid glance at some chief features iu the conduct of the 
 various Protestant rulers of the state, with respect to matters 
 of religion, may not ill employ a few pages; since a striking 
 practical illustration is afforded by it of the mischievous efJ'ects 
 of tlie power and interference of civil governors in the control 
 of such matters, and of the danger of entrusting them with such 
 a power. 
 
 The Reformation quickly put a stop to the papal authority in 
 England, and to the enormous drains of money to Rome, related 
 in the last chapter ; while appeals to the pope, which liad been 
 practised from the reign of Stephen, were also proliil)ited. 
 Henry VIII. however transferred to himself, as the pope's 
 successor, as much as he could of authority and wcaltli ; re- 
 maining a papist and a persecutor to the last. Priestly power 
 and tithes were perpetuated ; and the church, though curbed 
 in some of its extravagant pretensions, continued united witli 
 the state as firmly as ever ,and even more dependent upon it. 
 
 It is always more easy to pull down error than to buihl up 
 simple truth ; but both processes require a large portion of 
 charity and singleness of purpose. Without this, the faith 
 which can remove mountains, and the knowledge of all mys- 
 teries are nothing. Many of tlie gross superstitions and false 
 doctrines of popery had been swept away, not always in the 
 spirit of the gospel ; but other errors and ill founded notions, 
 
302 - LAW OF THE SIX ARTICLES. [Chttp. 27. 
 
 built upon them and but little different, were retained ; and 
 great as was the work effected, it was rather a compromise 
 between conflicting opinions, than a complete reformation. 
 Protestant episcopacy was set up instead of Catholic episco- 
 pacy, and the head of the new church required implicit obedience, 
 no less than the head of the former. There was a chanjre of 
 ecclesiastical masters, not an abolition of spmtual mastery. A 
 thorough reformation would have abolished all state inter- 
 ference and connexion, and consequently all persecutions for 
 religion. These however followed through the reigns of Henry 
 VIII., Mary and Elizabeth; the flames being turned in dif- 
 ferent directions, just as different doctrines influenced the royal 
 authority. 
 
 One of the first examples of Henry's care over the spiritual 
 interests of his subjects is found in an act, passed at his special 
 suggestion in 1539, four years after the renunciation of popery, 
 "for abolishing diversity of opinions in certain articles con- 
 cerning Christian religion," and commonly called "The law 
 of the Six Articles." These were in substance as follows : — • 
 " 1st. That in the sacrament, after consecration, there remained 
 no substance of bread and wine ; but, under these forms, the 
 natural body and blood of Christ. 2nd. That communion in 
 both kinds (that is, with the wine as well as the bread,) was not 
 necessary. 3rd. That priests might not marry. 4th. That 
 vows of chastity ought to be observed. 5th. That private 
 masses should be continued. 6th. That auricular confession 
 was requisite." Under these heads were retained some of the 
 worst features of popery ! 
 
 All persons speaking, preaching, or writing against the first 
 article, were to be judged heretics and burnt. Imprisonment, 
 forfeiture of goods, and punishment as felons, were decreed 
 against those who did not conform to the other articles, or who 
 spoke against them. Commissioners were sent round to detect 
 delinquents, and all ecclesiastical incumbents were to read the 
 act publicly once a quarter. On the ground of this " severe 
 and barbarous statute," — the work of a monarch, who was in 
 some respects a reformer — not less than 500 persons were soon 
 sent to prison, and many were burned as heretics. In 1540, 
 it was decreed that the ordinances of the king alone, on matters 
 of religion, should have all the force of law. Thus were evil 
 
Sect. 2.^ Kitw \Hi> \i. M \Kv \M) r.M/.Aur.Tii. 308 
 
 passions and ivil instrunionts larfjely mingled in the great work 
 of professed refornuitiun. 
 
 EdwiU'd \'l. repealed the law of the six ai-tieles ; at the same 
 time he enforced with severe penalties the new liturgy and 
 ceremonies, stripped of some of their popisli eharacter ; the 
 ^\ork being attributed to " the aid of the Holy (Jhost/' 
 
 Queen Mary carried into practice, .is far as in her lay, the 
 principle which the leaders of every religious party still taught, 
 — that erroneous doctrine ought to be extirpated. Many en- 
 lightened Christians scaled their testimony with their blood. 
 Those opinions, which had been held up as orthodox in the last 
 reign, were now punislied as heretical,— a dreadful result of one 
 single fact — that an individual of ditferent opinions had become 
 the supreme head of the state ; the nation generally remaining 
 the same, and being divided into two gi'cat parties. 
 
 Queen Elizal)eth soon showed herself determined to maint.'iin 
 an absolute ecclesiastical supremacy : and the changes which 
 she made, after her first assertion of protestantism, were rather 
 retrograde towards popery than otherwise. The liturgy of 
 Edward ^'I. was revised, and rendered more agreeable to the 
 papists. Even to bishops of her own church, her love of outward 
 pomp in religion, and the imperious dictation in which sjie 
 indulged, proved causes of continued ])aiu and irritation. In 
 language almost profane, she is said to have threatened to 
 " unfrock," or displace some of them, when they show ed a dis- 
 position to judge for themselves. To her determined resistance of 
 further reforms through a long reign, may be attril)uted, in great 
 measure, the imperfect character of the English Reformation. 
 
 To secure unity of opinion among the protcstants she deemed 
 essential to the peace and security of the state ; and with these 
 views the Act of Uniformity was passed in 1559, establishing the 
 new forms and services, and requiring all the Queen's subjects 
 to attend them, under penalty of fine and imprisonment. By 
 one of its clauses, she was empowered to make whatever altera- 
 tions she might think proper, — a liberty which she used rather 
 in favour of popery. 
 
 Many of the most zc.ilous Pmglish protcstants, to escape 
 death and imprisonment in tlu; reign of (itieen Mary, had Hed 
 for safety to the continent of Europe. Their principal settle- 
 ment was at Frankfort, where they were permitted in l^rjltf) 
 
304 RISE OF THE PURITANS. [Chap. 27. 
 
 establish a little cliurcli ; but scarcely bad they done so, when 
 differences of opinion arose among them, chiefly mth respect to 
 the litui'gy, and observances in divine worship; and separate 
 chru'ches were the consequence. On returning to England 
 after the death of Mary, they brought these different sentiments 
 with them.^ 
 
 Many were altogether dissatisfied with the popish corruptions 
 still retained, and claimed a liberty of conscience to worship 
 God with greater purity than they thought the Act of Uniformity 
 prescribed; hence they received in contempt the name of 
 Puritans. They considered that the queen, as well as her pre- 
 decessors, in exacting rigid conformity to their own views by 
 penal statutes, had forsaken the great protestant principles of 
 the divine authority and sufficiency of the holy scriptures, and 
 of the right of individual conscience to judge in mattei*s of reli- 
 gion ; and that the stringent Act of Uniformity was entirely at 
 variance with these great principles, by demanding obedience 
 on points in which there ought to be freedom, and inflicting 
 penalties in cases where there was no crime. Between the 
 queen and the puritans wide diversity of sentiment arose, and 
 the authority in chm'ch and state being in her hands, with a 
 parhament obsequious to her will, one oppressive penal enact- 
 ment followed another in quick succession. Many noncon- 
 formist ministers Avere consigned to prisons, where they lan- 
 guished in great suffering, and more than a few died. No hope 
 of accommodation between the two parties now remained, and 
 the high chnrch and the puritans loaded one another witli 
 reproaches. Satirical pamphlets, such as Martin-mar-prelate, 
 were printed by an itinerant press, and in reply, Pasquil's 
 Apology and others, ill becoming the gravity and meekness of 
 advocates of religion.^ Ebzabeth often declared that she hated 
 the puritans still more than the papists ; and by her religious 
 intolerance and personal jealousies, she sullied the high reputa- 
 tion of her sovereignty over the state. 
 
 At length, about the year 1570, twelve years haring elapsed 
 since the last rejection of popery, the puritan ministers and 
 people who were most dissatisfied, seeing no hope of redi'ess to 
 their grievances, determined to renounce their communion with 
 the established church, and made an open separation ; some 
 ' Neal's Puritans. « Ibid. 
 
Sect. 2.] OPI'RESSIVK AITS (»1 KI.IZAIiKTll . .'^0,") 
 
 receiviiiji- thr uiimr of Mrnwnists. sonic of Presbytcriiuis. and 
 others of Baptists. 
 
 Amoufr thr oppressive Acts, was one passed in ir>02, " for 
 the i)nnishnient of persons obstinately refnsinj; to come to 
 churcli," and attending "any conventicle or meeting under 
 pretence of religion.'* After three months' disobedience, they 
 were to be sent into perpetual banishment, and in case of 
 returning without licence, were to suffer death. ^lany puritans 
 took refuge in Holland, where they enjoyed liberty of eonseience ; 
 and not fewer than seventy popish priests were banished at 
 one' time. Camden admits that ftftt/ were executed within ten 
 months. Two hundred catholics appear to have suffered death 
 in Elizabeth's reign as traitors, pretended or real !^ 
 
 An oath, acknowledging the cpieen's spiritual supremacy, 
 was imposed l)y statute ; the Court of High Commission was 
 (Established, which exercised arbitrary juri.sdiction chiefly in 
 I'cclesiastical uiatters ; and the star-chamber issued ojipressive 
 decrees prohibiting the printing of any book, except with the 
 commissioners' licence. Preaching, by any but authorised 
 ministers, had been forbidden before. Thus, while popery was 
 professed to be abolished, one of its worst features, the employ- 
 ment of the .secular power, to enforce certain doctrines and 
 l)ractiees, and to extirpate others^ was still inconsistently pcr- 
 l)etuated. 
 
 The Commons gradually took part with the puritans, in 
 resisting the despotic measm-es of the queen and bishojjs, the 
 arduous struggle was kept up throughout the rest of her 
 reign, and a bold spirit of op])osition gained ground. i-jven 
 Hume, whose prejudices were strong against the puritans, 
 acknowledges " that the precious spark of liberty had been 
 kindled, and Mas preserved by them, and that to this body the 
 I'^nglish owe the freedom of their constitution.' To a great 
 extent this is doubtless true. Yet it must be admitted that 
 most of them were anxious, not only for the eircidation of 
 their own religious principles, but for the enforccnuMit of them 
 by the laws of the laiftl. They thouglit the civil authority 
 necessary to uphold the truth, and were not fully scMisible 
 of the duty and the benefits of complete religious liberty. 
 
 ' Strype's E/'cles. Mem., vol. iii. ; Brook's Civil and Religioufl Lil)erty, 
 
 vol. 1. 
 
 X 
 
306 JAMES I. AND CHARLES I. HEADS OF THE CHURCH. [Chap. 27. 
 
 Sir James Mackintosh asserts that puritanism and the papacy 
 were agreed in one leading object — to render the temporal sub- 
 ject to the spiritual power, and that this was the common aim 
 of Knox and Hildebrand !^ Well is it for the civil and religious 
 liberty of Europe, that other counteracting principles of puri- 
 tanism have contributed largely to defeat such attempts ! 
 
 King James, notwithstanding his early professions, pursued 
 the same path of religious intolerance as his predecessor. 
 Hopes had been excited that he would have effected a further 
 religious reformation ; but these hopes were soon disappointed ; 
 for the king, flattered by the bishops, refused to yield anything, 
 and the arbitrary Court of High Commission continued its per- 
 secuting course. The Brownists took the name of Independents 
 about 1616, nnder some relaxation of the former puritan disci- 
 pline. Through the reigns of James and Charles I,, the lan- 
 guage and measures of the two great religious parties, having 
 lost much of the Christian character, became every year more 
 political and violent, until they ended in civil war, and in the 
 overthrow of the royal and episcopal authority. The dissatis- 
 faction caused in Scotland, by the forced introduction of the 
 bishops and the liturgy, tended strongly to this result. 
 
 Still, under the Commonwealth and Protectorate, the descen- 
 dants of the very men who had struggled and bled for liberty of 
 conscience to themselves, intoxicated by the possession of power, 
 and by the idle but long cherished phantom of uniformity in 
 faith and worship, employed that power in their turn, with the 
 same narrow anti-christian spirit, to persecute and punish those 
 who differed from them ; and instead of abolishing the union 
 between civil and religious authority, and annihilating the pecu- 
 niary endowments for spiritual ministrations, they clung to 
 both and defended them, with a pertinacity almost equal to 
 that of their former holders. 
 
 The Friends who sprang up during this period, the Episco- 
 palians and the Papists, but chiefly the first, were now the suf- 
 ferers ; many of the old penal statutes of Elizabeth were revived, 
 and the gaols were again filled with conscientious victims. The 
 abuse of secular poAver by one religious party after another — by 
 Papists, Protestants, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Indepen- 
 dents — is surely sufficient to show that it never ought to be 
 ' History of England. 
 
Sect. 2.] INDEPENDENTS AM) IKIENDS MOST TOLKKANT. 30? 
 
 united with the church under any form, or exercised in spiritual 
 concerns ; while the faihu'c of every attenii)t to enforce iiuifor- 
 niity in rehgion, ineontestably proves that such attempts are 
 utterly fruitless. In fact, not one of these parties seems to have 
 been principled against the union of church and state, or the 
 etfort to compel the coveted uniformity, though many individuals 
 in each body perceived the evils of both these objects and boldly 
 denounced them. It was one thing to deprecate the exercise of 
 the civil power by others against themselves, but it was another 
 thing to acknowledge the anti-christian character of all such 
 measures, in whatever hands, thougli esteemed the wisest and 
 the best, and even in their own.^ 
 
 Several English rulers, beside Ehzabeth, have sliown more 
 zeal for religious liberty abroad than in their own country. 
 Such was the case with Cromwell, who nobly maintained the 
 cause of the oppressed Waldcnses ; and though he professed to 
 be, and probably was, friendly to full toleration, yet great per- 
 secutions were pcpctrated in England under his name, and the 
 measures of many of his supporters, of which he could not be 
 ignorant, were -violent, false and selfisli. Had he boldly and 
 faithfully applied the tithes, as well as the other temporalities 
 of the church, to civil objects of common interest and necessity, 
 he would have rendered great service to the nation, the apple 
 of discord would have been taken away, and the aspirants to 
 rehgious supremacy would have been deprived of their gieat 
 motive; but ambition and avarice prevailed, and the Presby- 
 terians and Independents reserved for themselves a golden 
 prize, which they could not hold, and whicli proved one great 
 cause of their speedy downfal. 
 
 The Independents were perhaps the most favourable of any 
 of the parties in power to religious toleration, and even they 
 shrunk from extending it to popery, prelacy, and some other 
 forms of religion." The Friends, though never possessing civil 
 authority in England, were always advocates of complete tolera- 
 tion. ^Villiam Peun's consistent and manly assertion of it at 
 home brought him into suspicion and trouble more than 
 once ; while his example in tlic new world will long be remem- 
 bered with respect and admiration ! 
 
 Some of the strict Presbyterians pronounced toleration " a 
 ' Ncal's PtiritAns. ' Thid. vol. iv. 
 
 X :l 
 
308 CROMWELL PLEADS FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. [Chap. 27. 
 
 root of gall and bitterness," " a door for libertinism and pro- 
 fan eness/' declaring that it ought to be rejected as " soul 
 poison V All who differed from them they termed sectaries. 
 Seldom has the great right of liberty of conscience been more 
 wantonly disregarded than by them, in violation of former 
 professions. 
 
 Cromwell appears to have been much more favourable to 
 such an entire liberty, and more opposed to any interfer- 
 ence of the magistrate in matters of religion, than the parlia- 
 ment and most of those who were about him. He reasoned 
 very justly with the Scotch Presbyterian ministers : — " Where 
 do you find in Scripture that preaching is included [or limited] 
 within your functions ? Though an approbation from men has 
 order in it, and may be well, yet he that hath not a better than 
 that, hath none at all. I hope He that ascended up on high 
 may give His gifts to whom He pleases, and if those gifts be the 
 seal of missions, be not you envious though Eldad and Medad 
 prophesy. It will be found an unjust and utiwise jealousy to 
 deny a man the liberty he hath by nature, on a supposition that 
 he may abuse it."^ 
 
 Soon after the death of Cromwell, on the restoration of the 
 king and the bishops, the efforts to effect a union between epis- 
 copacy and presbyterianism proving in vain, and the party in 
 power refusing to yield anything, the Act for Uniformity was 
 again passed by both Houses of Parliament, contrary to the 
 king's declaration from Breda. There was now a complete 
 change in the subjects of persecution, except that the Friends 
 still partook of a large share. The prisons were crowded, 
 and the sufferings of many conscientious ministers and others, 
 who adhered to their principles, were very severe. This re- 
 mained the case for about twenty-five years, during the reign 
 of Charles II. ; and though the process was slow, yet a larger 
 number seem to have fallen victims to oppression during this 
 period, on account of their religious principles, than even in the 
 two reigns of Mary and Elizabeth. The king, however, being 
 careless about religion, and favouring the Roman Catholics, 
 showed himself less opposed to liberty of conscience than the 
 bishops and parliament, who determined if jDOSsible to extirpate 
 schism. It was during this reign that the oppressive Corpora- 
 ' Neal's Puritans, vol. iv. 
 
See/. .3] WILLIAM iii. — rin; toleration act. 3()<) 
 
 tioii aiul Test Acts were passed, proliibithif; sill ])crsons from 
 tilling any magisterial or corporate office, or any place of trust 
 under the crown, without having previously taken tlie " sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's supper" within a limited period. The object 
 of these acts was to exclude all dissenters, and they continued 
 in force for about 150 years till 18.28, when they were repealed 
 after a protracted struggle. Dr. Chalmers rejoiced on that 
 occasion, " that the Scottish prcsbyterian establishment had 
 never been fenced with such imagined safeguards; "the absence 
 of which he thought had tended to procure for it " the love 
 and veneration of the people." 
 
 King James TT., actuated probably by various motives, re- 
 leased, soon after his accession, about 1500 sufferers who sur- 
 vived, many more having sunk from time to time under their 
 long and imwholesome continemeut. William TTT., by the Act 
 of Toleration passed in l(i89, and by other iilicral measures in 
 conformity with the increasing light of the age, at length put a 
 stop to persecutions for religion, and secured for all classes of 
 his subjects personal liberty, in the exercise of conscience — a 
 blessing which has ever since, to a large extent, been enjoyed. 
 
 Yet, it must not be forgotten that the established chinch has 
 abated nothing in its imperative claims on the whole nation for 
 pecuniary support, and that its ministers and members con- 
 tinue to be invested vriih privileges, far superior to those of 
 any of the other churches. It has w ithdrawn no demand in its 
 own favour, but has become satisfied to support such demands 
 by legal process and distresses of property, without vindictively 
 proceeding against the persons of non-conformists. The sj)irit of 
 the age became long since too strong for the latter ; it is now 
 taking another step in advance, and becoming too strong for the 
 former ! And this, be it observed, is no unfair encroachment 
 on the part of dissenters. ])ut an assertion of just claims and of 
 natural rights ! 
 
 Srd Section. — Tfte Conrorafion. 
 
 From very ancient times, the bislu)]), chief presbyter or super- 
 intendent of each small district or diocese, had the powrr, in 
 Britain, as well as in other countries, to convene his ministers 
 
310 ABBOTS AND PRIORS IN THE PARLIAMENT. [Chap. 27. 
 
 or '^ clergy/^ and to transact with them^ at such council or synod, 
 affairs relating to the order and government of the local churches. 
 These assemblies, at which the people or " laity ^^ had also the 
 right to be present, were held periodically^ or according to 
 exigencies which arose, and were continued occasionally in Eng- 
 land, through the various changes of government down to the 
 time of Henry VIII. In the same manner, the archbishop of 
 each province assembled the bishops and some of the clergy at 
 a provincial council, for the consideration of such spiritual mat- 
 ters as came within their juiisdiction. 
 
 And at a very early period, the bishops and some of the 
 abbots and priors, being the most learned and influential persons 
 of the community, were brought into the parliament or " Wittena- 
 gemote " of the nation, to assist in the transaction of its busi- 
 ness; in which, as opulent subjects, they were largely concerned. 
 WiUiam the Conqueror first treated them as barons, and made 
 them subject to civil ser\dces and payments. He also removed 
 ecclesiastical causes, and suits for the recovery of tithes, from 
 the civil courts, and established special tribunals for their adju- 
 dication. In these the clergy were unfairly the judges, and 
 severe censures were dealt on the refractory .1 Fuller says, that 
 in the forty-ninth year of Henry III., no less than sixty-four 
 abbots and thirty-six priors were called to parliament; but 
 that this number being too large, Edward I. reduced it to 
 twenty-five and two. Afterwards twenty-seven abbots and two 
 priors regularly enjoyed the privilege, till the dissolution of the 
 religious houses. - 
 
 Even in the time of the Saxons, the parochial and other minis- 
 ters, being liberally endowed, had been convened as a separate 
 body by the king's writ, to determine on the amount of their 
 aids to the state. This general assembly was afterwards termed 
 a convocation.^ Of this body Judge Blackstone says^ that it 
 differs considerably in its constitution from the synods of other 
 Christian kingdoms, these consisting whoEy of bishops ; whereas 
 in Britain the ministers meet also, and the convocation is the 
 miniature of the parliament. The Archbishop of Canterbuiy 
 j)resides with regal state ; the upper house of the bishops sitting 
 
 1 Blackstone, iv. 3 — 2. - Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. — Monasteries. 
 
 ' Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. * Commentaries, 1, 7 — 5. 
 
Sect. 3.] THE LAITY TOOK PART IN SYNODS. 311 
 
 as the lords, and the lower house, composed of representatives 
 of the several dioecses and of each cha[)ter, rescmhliug the com- 
 mons, and appointing its own prolocutor or speaker. 
 
 This constitution originated in the policy and necessity of 
 Edward I., who in 1219, when the knights, citizens and bur- 
 gesses were first simimoncd to parliament, issued ;Uso his writ 
 to the bishops of England, to call together the clergy of their 
 choccses at Westminster, to give him their help and counsel, 
 with the intention that they should act as a third estate. 
 The ecclesiastics had strongly objected to contribute any part 
 towards the general expenses of the nation, and warm contests 
 arose between the king and themselves on this account. The 
 archbishops and bishops threatened to excommunicate the king, 
 while he and his barons, aware of their intention, outlawed all 
 their opponents, and seized their possessions. Being himiljled 
 by so strong a measure, they consented to meet on the joint 
 summons of the king and the archbishop.^ This was the first 
 national .assembly to which the lower ecclesiastics were called by 
 the king's writ, to share in the privilege of forming canons. 
 His object however was, not so much to extend their privileges, 
 as to obtain aids, and to introduce a method of taxing eccle- 
 siastical benefices by consent of convocation. He accordingly 
 demanded half of their profits for one year. Archbishop Wake 
 states, that in 13H() the Parliament agreed that tliey would grant 
 tlie king .t:l(){),000 a-ycar, provided the clergy would bear one- 
 third of the charge. To this they replied that their grants were 
 not made in Parliament. They a])pear however to have fre- 
 quently contributed in that proportion. 
 
 In the primitive church the laity were present at all ecclesias- 
 tical synods, and took a part or had a voice in the management 
 of the affairs. On the same principle, since their attendance has 
 been discontinued, no proceedings of the king and ecclesiastics 
 alone have been considered binding without an Act of Parlia- 
 ment,2 where the people arc represented. The assent of the 
 monarch hsis always been held to be essential, no acts of the 
 body being valid without it. 
 
 The extent of the powers of the convocation caused frequent 
 disputes between the civil and ecclesia-stieal authorities, initil at 
 length, in the reign of Henry VIII., " The Act of Submission" 
 ' Keightley's History of England. ' Burn'^ Ecclesiastical Law. 
 
312 LAST MEETING OF CONVOCATION FOR BUSINESS. [CJlUp. 27. 
 
 (25 Henry VIII., c. 19) was passed, to establish the king's 
 prerogative, and to prevent such disputes in future. This 
 Act, by which the ecclesiastics and convocation may be said to 
 be bound hand and foot, concludes as follows : — "It is therefore 
 enacted, according to the said submission, that neither they nor 
 any of them [the king's humble and obedient svibjects the clergy 
 of this realm of England] shall presume to attempt, allege, claim, 
 or put in use any constitutions or ordinances provincial, by what- 
 soever name or names they may be called, in their convocations 
 in time coming (which always shall be assembled by authority 
 of the king's writ), unless the same clergy may have the king's 
 most royal assent and licence, to make, promulge and execute 
 such canons, constitutions and ordinances, provincial or synodal, 
 upon pain of every one of the said clergy doing contrary to this 
 Act, and being thereof convict, to suffer imprisonment and make 
 fine at the king's will." Thus the sijbmission of the English 
 ecclesiastical body was rendered complete, and the Act remains 
 in full force down to the present time. 
 
 The convocation continued to meet when summoned by the 
 king, and to pass such resolutions as were dictated to them ; but 
 in 1665 the clergy yiekled up the right of meeting to determine 
 the amount of their subsidies to the state, and submitted to be 
 taxed by the House of Commons, receiving as an equivalent the 
 right to vote for members of Parliament. They had never pre- 
 tended to act as a synod, and from that time they have generally 
 met only in form, and at once adjourned. In 1700 the two 
 houses of convocation disagreed in sentiment ; the lower house 
 wishing to discuss certain controverted points, and objecting 
 to an adjournment. Great altercations arose, which were ter- 
 minated only by a dissolution ; but the controversies as to 
 their powers and privileges were long maintained through the 
 press. No business has been transacted by the convocation 
 since 1717; and though it still meets at Westminster on the 
 assembling of each new Parliament, it is merely as a form, 
 the sittings being almost immediately closed, and the dis- 
 cussions cut short b}' a prorogation under the royal autliority, 
 in spite of many attempts to establish a power of its own. 
 
 The lower house is composed of 143 members, who are all 
 ecclesiastics, 22 being deans, 53 archdeacons, 24 prebendaries 
 or proctors of chapters, and 14 proctors of parochial ministers. 
 
tSeCt. 3.] PKESBYTERIAX ASSli.MHLlKS AT 1' i:m I'll; 1). 313 
 
 Thus inoiv than two-thirds of the \vhoh> mmilx-r arc connected 
 witli the bishops and cathedrals, and less than one-third with 
 the incumbents of the parishes. Neither the curates nor tiic 
 church-nieuibcrs at large are represented. So tliat in fact the 
 couvocution cannot be said to represent the great body of the 
 church, although the 13yth canon asserts, on pain of excommu- 
 nication for denial, that it " is the true church of England by 
 representation." 
 
 The business of the convocation now consists merely in 
 recognizing and contirming what the last Parliament has done 
 in ecclesiastical matters, and in voting an address to the sovereign, 
 these being things of course and not of serious deliberation. It 
 has sometimes attempted to discuss points of doctrine and disci- 
 pline, but these do not appear to be constitutionally within its 
 province. The proceedings being confined to the interests of the 
 episcopal body, and often marked with a spirit l)ehind that of 
 the age, have rarely possessed much weight or interest with 
 the public. 
 
 In IGiG, when episcopacy had been abolished, and the pres- 
 byterians were in power, they attempted to establish their form 
 of church-government throughout the nation. England was 
 divided into provinces ii;istead of dioceses, every parish had its 
 presbytery, a number of these constituted classes, the classes 
 sent representatives to the provincial assembly, as the provincial 
 did to the national. The first provincial assembly, that of 
 London, met there in 1647; but these meetings, under the 
 authority of parliament, were less general than other voluntary 
 associations at the same time. The n.itional assembly was 
 designed to occupy the place of the episcopal convocation, and 
 was equally intolerant. Both were successively supported by 
 the secular power ; and presbyters or ciders were substituted 
 for prelates and episcopal ministers. The nation being greatly 
 divided on matters of religion, this form of churcli-govemment 
 obtained but partial hold, and was of short duration. 
 
 Merle D'Aubignc thus sarcastically describes the epi.scopal 
 convocation in its present state : " It is the shadow of a body, 
 which, having the sliadow of a jurisdiction, holds the shadow of 
 an a.ssembly ; and then all these shadows dissolve and vaiush, 
 under the antique arches and among the pillai*s and tombs of 
 the (lothic abbey. " He verv naturallv remarks that the church 
 
314 ANXIETY OF HIGH CHURCH FOR CONVOCATION. [Chap. 27. 
 
 of England ought to have a government independent of the 
 Parliament. '' How can any one/' says he, " deny the necessity 
 of an ecclesiastical representation, in which the members of the 
 church, and not the ministers alone, may be heard ? — Many 
 are the proofs of this want, which is felt more and more. An 
 ecclesiastical constitution, inspired by a spirit of wisdom and 
 piety, would remedy the evil.^ 
 
 The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol lately acknowledged 
 that the history of the convocation, when permitted to sit, con- 
 tained little more than the record of the struggles between the 
 two great parties in the episcopal body. The high church party 
 have long been anxious that the discipline, doctrine, and other 
 affairs of the Anghcan church should be placed in reality under 
 the convocation — an arrangement which would release it fi'om 
 the control of the state ; but a' general feeling prevails, not very 
 complimentary to the ecclesiastical authorities, — that it would be 
 unsafe to allow this body, as now constituted, to rule. A con- 
 siderable mixture of those termed lay persons, or in other 
 words, the members or representatives of the church at large, 
 according to primitive usage, would seem to be a very necessary 
 ingredient. The state must not part with its authority, say the 
 reasonable part of the public, so long as it allows its emoluments 
 and other privileges to be enjoyed. 
 
 4<th Section. — Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Courts. 
 
 Under the earliest British sovereigns who succeeded the 
 reformation, special ecclesiastical courts of a most inquisitorial 
 and oppressive character were established, as before mentioned ; 
 chiefly for the detection and punishment of opinions and forms 
 of worship contrary to the religion established by law. Such 
 were the courts of high commission and the star-chamber, 
 whose despotic measures, in opposition to the great principles 
 of the British constitution, were so severely felt in the reigns 
 of Henry VIII., Elizabeth and James. They were finally 
 abolished by statute in the sixteenth year of Charles I. 
 
 The lowest of the '^ spiritual courts'' are " the peculiars," for 
 
 small districts having an independent jurisdiction of their own, 
 
 and exempt from that of the bishop. They are 285 in number, 
 
 and their limits and authority are ill-defined and arbitrary. 
 
 ' Germany, England and Scotland. 
 
Sect. 4'.] THE ecclesiastical ok spiritual courts. 315 
 
 Next in ascending rank is " t/tc archdeacon's court," of which 
 class there arc thirty-five, varying in tlieir jurisdiction; the 
 judge is called the othcial of the archdeacon. In each diocese 
 is also a " consistorial or diocesan court" in which either the 
 bishop himself, his chancellor or commissary presides, being the 
 supreme and sole authority. " The provincial courts" belong to 
 the two archbishops. In "the prerogative court" of the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, wills are proved and administrations 
 taken ; any contest about such matters is also decided in this 
 court ; ^ 7000 are said to be the average number of wills proved 
 in it, and 3(K)0 the grants of administrations every year. Ap- 
 peals from all these may be preferred to " the court of arches," 
 which sits in London; its judge being a doctor of civil laAv, 
 and its pleadings carried on in Latin. From this an appeal lies 
 to " the judicial committee of the privy council," which is the 
 highest authority. 
 
 The ecclesiastical or canon law, according to which these 
 courts chiefly proceed, emanated originally from popes, councils 
 and synods, and is often at variance with civil law. The bishop 
 appoints the judges, advocates and proctors within each diocese, 
 and can remove tlicm at his pleasure. They must swear obe- 
 dience to his lawful commands, and belief in the thirty-nine 
 articles. \'ery few practitioners are allowed in these courts. 
 Trial by jury is \inkuown. AVitnesscs are examined privately 
 by wi-itten interrogatories, and the parties accused do not meet 
 their accusers face to face, so that there is little chance of a 
 fair representation, or a just judgment ! Excommunication is 
 the penalty for contempt of sentence. Fines and long im- 
 prisonment sometimes follow. Nearly one-half of the courts 
 are frequently "inhibited" or closed, to the great inconvenience 
 and loss of suitors. Their jurisdiction embraces matters relating 
 to wills and administrations, as far as personal property is con- 
 cerned. It also regulates cases of marriages, divorce, defamation, 
 heresy, &c., beside points of more direct ecclesiastical discipline. 
 \ arious old luircpcalcd statutes confer on these odious courts 
 extraordinary and highly objectionable powers ! Many lucrative 
 
 ' In a retxim made to the House of Commoos on courts granting pro- 
 bates, it is stated that, from the year " 1653 to 1660, all wills were proved 
 liefore the judges at We.^tminster." It was at that time proposed to deprive 
 the ecclesiastical courts of t«stamentary jtirisdiction. 
 
316 ABUSES OF ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. [Chap. 27. 
 
 offices in tliem are complete sinecures, and are often filled by 
 juniors or other incompetent persons, being near connexions of 
 church dignitaries, to the great disgrace of the system ! The 
 expenses of suits are excessive ; and are chiefly in the shape of 
 fees to the officers. Ancient custom has brought many matters 
 very unreasonably under the cognizance of some of these courts ; 
 and the custom Aaries in difl^erent districts. Such matters are 
 "confirming of chui'ch -rates, Hcences to practise surgery,^^ &c. &c. 
 The citations express the ground to be for the " soul's health." 
 Cases of tithe rent-charge have been removed by the Commuta- 
 tion Act to the civil com'ts, but " church-rate c^-ses " are still 
 under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction.^ It is manifestly out of 
 the province of ministers of religion to adjudicate, as such, many 
 of these matters. 
 
 Bishop Burnet candidly observes, " It has been the burden 
 of my life to see how the ecclesiastical jurisdiction Avas ad- 
 ministered. Our courts are dilatory and expensive, and their 
 constitution is bad, so that they are uniAersally dreaded and 
 hated. Matrimonial and testamentary causes should be left to 
 lay hands. We are fatally tied down to all that was in use in 
 the time of Henry YIIL, and are in a woeful condition V- 
 
 Many attempts have been made to reconstruct, reform or 
 abolish these courts. George IV. issued a commission in 1830, 
 to mquire into their jurisdiction, and into the expediency of 
 its being "taken away or altered." William IV. continued the 
 commissioners, who in 1831 made a report, which was printed 
 in 1832, and reprinted in 1843: some of its recommendations 
 have been partially acted on. But it is most manifest that the 
 whole system of these vexatious, uncertain and expensive courts, 
 their constitution, functions and perquisites, merit severe repro- 
 bation, and require thorough investigation and reform ; or, what 
 would be far better for the people at large, complete annihila- 
 tion ! Woe be to the unfortunate suitor Avho gets into them, 
 and is dragged from court to court, in a state of utter uncer- 
 tainty as to the final issue and total costs ! 
 
 ' Report on Ecclesiastical Courts ; History and Power of Ecclesiastical 
 Courts, by Muscutt. 
 
 ^ History of his Own Times. — Conclusion. 
 
JSecf. 0.] COKONATION DATIIS OK SOVKK KKiN . 317 
 
 ^th Section.— T/te British Sovereirpi the supreme head on earth 
 of the Anylicdii Chureh. 
 
 " By the ancient laws of this rcahn," says Lord Coke,* " this 
 kiugiloni of Enghmd is an absokitc empire and monarchy ; con- 
 sisting of one head, which is the king, and of a body composed 
 of several members, which the law divideth into two parts, the 
 clergy and laity ; both of them, next and immediately under 
 (lod, snljject and obedient to the head." 
 
 The title of the sovereign is this, " By the grace of Crod, king 
 of England, France and Ireland, defender of the faith ; and of 
 the church of England, and also of Ireland, in earth the 
 supreme head." At the coronation, the monarch swears " That 
 he will, to the utmost of his power, maintain the laws of God, 
 the true profession of the gosjjcl, and tlie protestant reformed 
 religion established by law : That he will preserve unto the 
 bisiiops and clergy of the realm, and to the churches connnitted 
 to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or 
 shall appertain to them:" also "Inviolably to maintain and pre- 
 serve the settlement of the true protestant religion of the church 
 of England, -and its doctrine, worship, discipline and govern- 
 ment : and Also the government, worship and discipline, rights 
 and privileges of the church of Scotland, as established by the 
 laws of that kingdom." He further swears, " to govern the 
 people according to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and 
 the laws and customs of the kingdom," &c. 
 
 A statute of King William 111.- enacts that " Whoever shall 
 come into possession of the crown of England, shall join in com- 
 munion with the church of England, as by law established." 
 
 George III. long objected, and it may be hoped conscien- 
 tiously, to the terms of the coronation oaths, a.s restraining him 
 from conceding the Catholic claims, and the abrogation of the 
 Corporation and Test Acts. 
 
 6/^ Section. — The Bishops and their Appointment. 
 
 None is admitted to be a bishop in the Anglican church under 
 thirty years of age. 
 
 ' Bum's Elccle.Hiaatu'ftl I>aw. '12 an-l 13 William, c. 2 — 3. 
 
318 " CONSECRATION '^ OF BISHOPS. [Chap. 27. 
 
 In the appointment or " consecration/' the following is under- 
 stood to be the mode of proceeding. After the conge d'elire has 
 been issued by the sovereign or the prime minister^ and the in- 
 dividual priest has been determined on, the officer, having the 
 written authority or letter missive in his pocket, requires the 
 dean and chapter, with whom the choice nominally rests, to 
 proceed with the election. If they refuse to appoint the minis- 
 ter's nominee, each of them is liable to the heavy penalties of a 
 premunire. The consequence is that he is never rejected. 
 
 There seems to be nothing in the shape of a check, beside 
 public opinion, to prevent an unprincipled minister of the crown 
 from forcing on the established church men obviously unsuitable 
 in essential points for so important a charge. Were the crown 
 to nominate three, out of whom the dean and chapter or the 
 church at large should make the selection, or vice versa, there 
 would be a greater appearance of propriety. 
 
 Every such compulsory election of a bishop is prefaced by 
 solemn prayer and invocation of the Holy Ghost, to guide them 
 to a right choice, all well knowing at the same time who must 
 be elected. This professed appeal to the Most High being ended, 
 the appointment of the party whom they are bound to elect 
 proceeds as a matter of course. The splendour and worldly 
 spirit of the ceremonial contrasts widely with the spiritual pro- 
 fession and religious nature of the thing itself. 
 
 The archbishop says, in solemn terms, to the bishop elect, 
 " Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a bishop in 
 the church of God, now committed to thee by the imposition of 
 our hands. And remember that thou stir up the grace of God, 
 which is given thee by this imposition of our hands." The new 
 bishop is then ranked among the successors of the Apostles. 
 
 How lamentable is this method of mingUng the highest reli- 
 gious profession with the really secular or political character! 
 " I doubt," says Denison, a late writer,^ " whether the whole his- 
 tory of the church supply any worse example, not simply of 
 abdication of the church's office, but of mockery of the privileges 
 vouchsafed to her by God ! " 
 
 After a bishop has been invested and consecrated, he is intro- 
 duced to the presence of the sovereign, and has to do homage 
 for his barony or temporalities, which fall to the monarch in his 
 ' Pamphlet on the Bishops, 1861. 
 
Sect. 7.] PonTicAi, cii.vKvt tp:r or bishops. :M{) 
 
 cliuracter of head of the state on the death of each bishop ; as 
 does also the charge of providing for the spiritual f auctions, in 
 liis character of liead of the church. 
 
 In one part of tlic ceremony, the party chosen to be a bisliui), 
 being applied to for his consent, is expected publicly to refuse 
 in the words " nolo cpiscnpari,"^ and to attempt to leave the 
 place ; when his companions seize him and bring him back ! 
 This is a strange comic scene for the investiture of what ought 
 to be a holy, spiritual office ! 
 
 The bishops of the Anglican church arc entitled peers or 
 " lords spiritual," and as such they sit in the Upper House of 
 Parliament. Their right to do so apj)ears to have grown up 
 from ancient usage. At certain periods they considered their 
 attendance there as a token of subjection, and were excused 
 from judgment in civil causes, as they still are in those of life and 
 death. The political character, contracted by the bishops through 
 their civil rank, and through sitting in the house of peers, has a 
 strong bias on themselves and on the inferior clergy, tending to 
 secularise their conduct and to benmnb their pastoral influence. 
 It has made bishops courtiers, withdrawn them from their pro- 
 vincial duties, and estranged them from the humbler ranks, both 
 lay and clerical. Nor have they atoned for these evils by their 
 conduct .18 legislators : their voices and votes have rarely been 
 distinguished by supporting the cause of liberty of conscience, 
 suftering humanity or enlightened legislation ! Wlietlicr wear- 
 ing the hiwn as spiritual barons, or elevated on the throne in 
 their own cathedrals, they bear but little resembhmce to tlie 
 humble apostles whom they profess to succeed ! 
 
 In other protestant communions the bishops do not possess 
 political dignity ; in most of them the ecclesiastical authority is 
 vested in synods or consistories. Even in France the Roman 
 catholic bishops enjoy no secular ])()wer. 
 
 7th Section. — Priests and Deacons, their Ordination, i^c. 
 
 Tlie officers in the ancient Christian church were usually 
 
 ordained or appointed with the imposition of hands and prayer, 
 
 the people at large having a share in the nomination. In the 
 
 English church no person is admitted to be a deacon until he is 
 
 ' Quarterly Review, 1h.')2. 
 
320 " ORciNATiox or priests/' [Chap. 27. 
 
 twenty-three years of age, nor to be a priest under twenty-four^ 
 and till he has been a deacon for at least one year. Notice is 
 required to be given in the parish where any candidate resides, 
 and if any person knows any just cause why he should not be 
 admitted into holy orders, or any impediment thereto, such 
 person is to declare the same. Some small trace of the ancient 
 practice to regard the voice of the people may be discovered in 
 this, and in a subsequent appeal of the same kind ; but, in fact, 
 both now amount to little or nothing, and are considered as 
 matters of form. 
 
 When deacons are to be ordained, the archdeacon or his deputy 
 presents the candidates to the bishop, who asks if he has made 
 due enquiry of them, and then asks the people if they know any 
 notable impediment or crime in any of them. No objection 
 appearing, the bishop, laying his hands on the head of the indi- 
 vidual, who humbly kneels before him, uses these words : — 
 " Take thou authority to execute the office of a deacon in the 
 church of God, committed unto thee in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." 
 
 The bishop next delivers to him the New Testament, and 
 says, " Take thou authority to read the Gospel in the church of 
 God, and to preach the same if thou be thereto licenced by the 
 bishop himself." He is then informed that he must continue in 
 the office of deacon for one year, to the intent that he may be 
 perfect before he is admitted to the priesthood. No person is to 
 be made both deacon and priest in one day. 
 
 When priests are ordained, tlie bishop solemnly enquires of 
 each whether he believes himself " moved by the Holy Ghost, 
 and called according to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, to take 
 upon" him that "office and calling;" to which he is expected 
 to answer in the affirmative. The bishop then appeals to the 
 people, that if any one knows any impediment or notable schisms 
 in the candidates he shall come forth and show it. No sufficient 
 objection appearing, the bishop administers to the parties the 
 oaths of allegiance and supremacy. He next desires the congre- 
 gation to recommend them to God in their private prayers, for 
 doing which there is a competent time of silence. -Vocal prayers 
 and singing follow ; after which the bishop and the priests pre- 
 sent lay their hands severally on the head of all who receive the 
 order of the priesthood, these humbly kneeling, and the bishop 
 
Sect. 7.] SOLEMN rORM USKD I\ THK ORDIN.VTIUN. 321 
 
 saving to cacli, " Receive the Holy Ghost for tlic office and work 
 of a priest in the church of God, now committed uiito tliee l)y 
 the imposition of onr liands. Wliose sins tliou dost forgive they 
 are forgiven^ and whose sins thou dost retain they are retained. 
 And be thou a faitliful dispenser of the Word of God, and of 
 his lioly saeranients; in the name of the Fatlier, and of the !Son. 
 and of tlie Holy Ghost." 
 
 This fonn is said by Sclden not to have Ijeen used in tin- 
 C'liristian church till more than a tliousand years after Christ. 
 On those solemn words the Bishop of Oxford (Wilberforce) 
 remarks, "All this is (/le most blasphemous frivolity, if it be not 
 the deepest truth !" He goes on to declare his own convictions 
 of the latter : many serious unprejudiced Christians will however 
 have their misgivings on the subject ! The reformers, who 
 exhibited certain conclusions to Parliament in 1395, declared, 
 " We do not sec that the Holy Ghost doth give any good gift 
 through such signs or ceremonies : for it is a lamental^lc and 
 dolorous mockery unto wise men to see the bishops mock and 
 play with the Holy Ghost in ginng of their orders."' Arch- 
 l)ishop Cranmer expressed his opinion that "there is no more 
 promise of God that grace is given in the committing of th(> 
 ecclesiastical office, than in the committing of the civil office. 
 In the Apostles' time," he added, "when there were no Christian 
 princes, the appointment of ministers was by the consent of the 
 multitudes among themselves."- 
 
 The bishop next delivers the Bible into the hand of each of 
 them kneeling, and says, "Take thou authority to preach the 
 Word of God, and to administer the holy sacraments in the con- 
 gregation, where thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereunto." 
 
 If any person receive money or other profit, directly or 
 immediately, or any promise of the same to himself or his 
 friends, for the ordaining of any minister, he is liable to forfeit 
 
 eio, &c. 
 
 The deacon is " to assist the priest in divine service, and 
 especially at the holy connnmiion, to read holy .scriptures and 
 homilies in the church, to instrnct the yonth in tlu" eattehism 
 in the absence of the priest, to baptize infants, and to pn aeh if 
 licensed by the bishop ; also to search for the siek, poor, and 
 impotent, and to inform the curate tliat they may be relievefl 
 
 ' Fox's Acts ami Mon. vol. i. 
 
 * Bnmet's Reformation, vol. i. — Records. 
 
322 ECCLESIASTICAL REGULATIONS. [Chap. 27. 
 
 with alms.^' He may perform all the offices in the liturgy, ex- 
 cept '^consecrating the sacrament" of the supper and pronouncing 
 absolution ; but till admitted to be a priest, he is not capable of 
 accepting any benefice or other ecclesiastical promotion. 
 
 The canons prohibit any person from preaching, although he 
 may have been ordained a priest, '' except he be licenced by the 
 bishop of the diocese, or by the archbishop of the province." 
 This restriction places every episcopal minister, who desu*es to 
 exercise his functions, under complete subjection to his bishop, 
 who, as he thinks proper, may approve or disapprove, and silence 
 such minister without assigning any reason. The hcence may 
 even be withdrawn at any time. Beneficed ministers as well as 
 curates are thus always at the mercy of the diocesan, and have 
 often been made to feel "the iron hand" which rules them. 
 
 The university of Cambridge, through a bull of Pope Alexander 
 VI., possessed the right at the time of the reformation to 
 licence twelve ministers yearly, to preach throughout England 
 for term of life, without a bishop^s licence. This privilege they 
 used, in spite of threats, to protect many Puritan ministers.^ 
 No such authority is believed now to exist. 
 
 To obtain a benefice or living, a clerk must procure a pre- 
 sentation signed by the patron, and present it to the bishop 
 with his testimonials. "After induction by the archdeacon 
 or his deputy, by delivery of a bell-rope, he is to be left 
 alone in the church, and to toll the bell," which completes the 
 ceremony." 
 
 Within two weeks after obtaining possession, he is required 
 to read aloud on some Lord^s-day the thirty -nine articles, and 
 to declare publicly before the congregation his " unfeigned as- 
 sent and consent to all and everything contained in the book of 
 common prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and other 
 rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, and the manner 
 of ordaining and consecrating bishops, priests and deacons." 
 He has also to subscribe a declaration of his conformity. 
 
 Bishop Burnet, speaking of his own time, says, " the requii-- 
 ing subscriptions to the thirty-nine articles is a great imposition ; 
 the greater part (of ministers) subscribe without ever examining 
 them, and others because they must do it, though they can 
 hardly satisfy their consciences." To a considerable extent, 
 doubtless, these remarks are still applicable. 
 
 ' Neal's Puritans. ' "Present State of Great Britain," 1715. 
 
Sect. 8.] SKRIOIS RKQIIHK.MFATS OK Ml.MSTKHs. 323 
 
 Que distinguishing; evil of the system is, that the appointment 
 or ordination of a priest or deacon is .in appointment for life, 
 and that, according to the maxim of the Komaii Catholie 
 Church, " the sacrament of holy orders is indelihle." Once a 
 priest, and always a priest. Hence parishes may be encumbered 
 and their liighcst interests may suffer, as long as the individual 
 lives. Once presented and inducted, it is a difficult and expen- 
 sive matter to displace him, though he may be well known to 
 disgrace his spiritual and moral chai'actcr. Woe to the parish 
 that finds itself in such an evil predicament ! 
 
 Every parochial minister is required, " on each Sunday and 
 holyday, before morning and evening prayer, to catechise and 
 instruct, for half-an-hour or more, the youth and ignorant per- 
 sons of his parish, in the ten commandments, the articles of 
 belief, the Lord's prayer, and the catechism," on pain of veiy 
 severe penalties. For the first offence, on presentation by the 
 churchwardens, sharp reproof; for the second, suspension ; and 
 for the tliird, excommunication. The penalties on parents 
 neglecting to send tlieir children to be instructed, are almost 
 equally hea\y. But the whole of these injunctions, Mith many 
 others, are now very much a dead letter. If the ]<]piscopal 
 Church had really the management of its own discipline and 
 regulations, such discrepancies between the ndes and the prac- 
 tice, it is reasonable to conclude, would soon be removed. 
 
 8//t Section. — Deans and C/nip/ers. 
 
 The ofHce of rural dean is of great antiquity, and was early 
 charged with important functions. On the suppression of the 
 monasteries and other religious houses by Henry YIII. a large 
 portion of their estates was vested in a new order of trustees, 
 under the name of deans and chai)tcrs of the cathedrals. The 
 duties of these bodies, and the purposes for which the re- 
 venues were to be employed, are clearly defined in the statutes 
 of theii- foimdation, and in the following general preamlilc to 
 the charters : — " That youth may be lil^erally trained, old age 
 fostered with things necessary for living; and that liberal lar- 
 gesses of alms to tlie poor in Christ, and reparations of roatls 
 and bridges, and other offices of piety, teeming over from them, 
 might thence flow abroad far and widi- to all the neighbouring 
 
 V 2 
 
324 TRUST REPOSED IN DEANS AND CHAPTERS. [^Chap. 27. 
 
 places ; to the glory of Almighty God^ and to the common wel- 
 fare and happiness of the subjects of the realm/^ 
 
 The different classes of officers in each cathedral, the objects 
 to be benefited, and the number in each class, were prescribed 
 by the statutes. In the metropolitan church of Canterbiny, 
 the language used is " First of all we ordain and du-ect that 
 there be for ever one dean, twelve canons, six preachers, twelve 
 minor canons, one deacon, one subdeacon, twelve lay clerks, one 
 master of the choristers, ten choristers, two teachers of the boys 
 in grammar, fifty boys to be instructed, twelve poor men to be 
 maintained at the costs and charges of the said church, two 
 vergers, &c. &c." All these were to be boarded and otherwise 
 provided in the cathedral establishment, on the funds entrusted 
 to the dean and chapter ; a definite salary being allowed for 
 each ; thus absorbing the whole of the capitular revenues, in 
 exact proportion between the officers and the objects of the 
 trust. An especial obligation is imposed on the successive 
 trustees to care for the humbler classes and recipients ; and a 
 certain number of the grammar boys are to be maintained at 
 Cambridge and Oxford, out of the same funds, after leaving the 
 school. 
 
 Solemn oaths, to observe and keep all the statutes and ordi- 
 nances of the foundation, are required of the dean and of each 
 of the canons, on their appointment ; yet it appears that, in most 
 of these establishments, the revenues have been almost entirely 
 absorbed by the officials and their relations, to the amount of 
 £1000., i;2000., or £3000. a year each ; while the objects of 
 their charge have been reduced to a mere pittance, or the 
 schools have been wholly shut up ! The minor canons, who 
 perform the greater part of the duty, have in general only the 
 means of a bare living ; the prebendary or canon frequently 
 possessing at the same time, from his office or from several offices 
 together, a very considerable income ! The number of poor 
 men supported out of the revenues is reduced in a proportion 
 equal to that of the scholars ; and wealthy relations have in 
 many cases unjustly divided amongst themselves the large 
 revenues, originally designed for education, for the aged, and for 
 other purposes of general utility ! How long shall such gross 
 misapplications of the public funds be suffered to be carried 
 on by professedly spiiitual persons ? 
 
Sect. U.] THE orFiCEiis engross the funds. 325 
 
 A diuly service is performed at each of the cathedrals, hut in 
 many instances in a very hasty and irreverent manner ; the 
 consequence is that the congregations arc frequently less nume- 
 rous than the officials in atteudauce ! and being mostly their 
 own families, pensioners, or curious visitors, do not amount to 
 one in five hundred of the population. The whole service, 
 though said to be highly imposing on the senses by its harmony, 
 must be acknowledged to have an appearance and effect little 
 better than a mere musical performance, instead of edifying 
 devotional worship. 
 
 Unproductive of the excellent objects contemplated in the 
 first foundation, these establishments may be complained of in 
 the very same terms as the monastic institutions to which they 
 succeeded, " for the well known abuses and violations of the 
 trust reposed in them."' And yet this misa[)i)Hcati()n of the 
 existing revenues is allowed to proceed, and the nation is re- 
 peatedly harassed with urgent entreaties for the relief of spiritual 
 destitution, by providing large additional means. 
 
 A proper economy, and due em})loyment of the rich resources 
 jJready possessed, ought surely to obtain that close attention, 
 which would relieve both the episcopal church and the nation; 
 but, until enforced by the state, reform in these and other re- 
 spects is not very likely to take place.* 
 
 9/A Section. — Parish Clerks. 
 
 These, in ancient times, were poor or inferior ministers, one 
 being appointed in each parish to assist the priest. They were 
 to be " Twenty years of age at least, and of honest conversa- 
 tion, with competent knowledge to read, write, and sing if it 
 might be." The right of appointment is said to have been ori- 
 ginally in the minister; but, like many other matters, it has 
 been the subject of frequent contests between him and hia 
 pari.shioners, and is very much governed l)y the custom of every 
 parish. When the clerk is licenced by the bishop, he is sworn 
 
 ' Henry \^II., 27, c. xxviii. 
 
 * These plain reiu.irkH, an«l othors of a similar nature, are not tleHigned 
 to irriUite and uffeml, liut to oxcit« a seriou.s ami <lec|» investigation into 
 the abuscij stated, tliat a pr(>{>er renic<ly may l>u si)ecilily ap|iliu<l, ami 
 tliat tlto fun<l.s may be c m ployed, tki v>as originally intended, for puri>o»e.H 
 I'f public utility. 
 
326 CHURCHWARDENS AND ASSISTANTS. [^Chcip. 27. 
 
 to obey the iniuister. The people were formerly enjoined to 
 supply him with necessaries^ wherever customary to do so. The 
 office is now occasionally filled by men whose conduct is a 
 reproach to their profession ; private interest and the want of 
 discipline operating against their removal. Does the alliance 
 with the state confer any benefits on the Anglican churchy 
 making amends for the privation of self-government and re- 
 formation under which it obviously laboiu's ? 
 
 lOM Section. — Churchwardetis, ^-c. 
 
 The bishops were wont^ in early times^ to summon to their 
 periodical meetings or episcopal synods^ two, three, or more 
 creditable persons of each paiish ; who were bound by oath to 
 present heretics, and all other ii'regular persons, whether minis- 
 ters or people; they were afterwards appointed annually by 
 the parishioners ; as were others called synod' s-men, and by 
 corruption sides-men, also sometimes quest-men, fi'om their duty 
 to make inquiry and present offenders. Until a little before 
 the reformation, the latter acted as assistants to the church- 
 wardens ; but about that time these were expected to perform 
 the whole duties, the office of sides-men becoming nearly 
 obsolete. 
 
 The great want of discipline, and of keeping pace with the 
 change of circumstances, is forcibly exhibited with respect to 
 the office of churchwardens. These "lay functionaries'^ are 
 chosen " at Easter " every year, one by the minister and one by 
 the people, unless a custom exists to the contraiy. They and 
 the deacons were accustomed to take charge of the collections 
 and other fimds for the poor. Disciplinary duties of serious 
 importance, as well as provision for the repairs and serrices of 
 the places of worship, are imposed on the churchwardens by the 
 canons ; and they enter into very solemn engagements to fulfil 
 them, and to present, or make retimis to their superiors, in 
 each of the follo^ving cases, as well as on other matters. 
 
 " Of all persons, not being dissenters, and having no rea- 
 sonable cause of absence, who do not frequent di^dne service 
 on Sundays and all holy days. Of all papists. Of every lay 
 person, not being a dissenter, or a peijured chiu'chwarden, or 
 a notorious offender, who does not receive the holy communion 
 
Sect. 11.] GENERAL NEGLECT OF DUTIES. 327 
 
 three times every year. Of all who offend by any species of 
 immorality. Of clergymen who do not say or sing the Common 
 Prayer at the times appointed, and the Litany as prescribed ; 
 particularly on Wednesdays weekly, at the tolling of the bell. 
 Of clergymen allowing any persons to be godfathers or god- 
 mothers who are parents, or who have not received the holy 
 communion, and of ministers who do not regularly catechize the 
 children on Sundays, and all holy days V 
 
 Instructions and questions of a most searching nature ai'e 
 addressed to the churchwardens every year, relating to the 
 preaching, behaviour and doctrine of the minister, and to the 
 moral conduct of the parishioners. Duties somewhat similar 
 were vested in the rural deans of earlier ages. 
 
 An oath was formerly required of the churchwardens, sides- 
 men and assistants^ that they woidd faithfully discharge all 
 these particulars; but by the 5tli and Gth of William IV. 
 cap. 62, for the abolition of oaths, a solemn declaration is sub- 
 stituted. This however ought to be equally binding on reflecting 
 and conscientious persons. Generally speaking, attention to the 
 more serious part of these obligations is entirely neglected, in 
 violation of the solemn engagements of the officers ! Thus, the 
 duties prescribed being in some respects more stringent than 
 the circumstances of the age sanction, the regulations are 
 suftcred to become very much a dead letter, and the discipline 
 is wholly disregarded. With it, the part formerly taken by the 
 congregation in the management of church affairs has gradually 
 fallen into desuetude. When Avill the episcopal church aAvake 
 to a true sense of her real position, dissolve her union with the 
 state, shake off the golden chains, and take the restoration of 
 her discipline and the management of her affairs into her own 
 hands ? 
 
 11 /A Section. — Dissenters and Papists. 
 
 The enactments against both these classes were formerly 
 verv" rigid. In the days of popery, all the people were expected 
 to be of one opinion on religious matters, and nonconformity 
 was not tolerated. Hence arose, as has l)ocn already remarked, 
 requirements of pecuniary payment and of personal attendance 
 
328 COEPOllATION AND TEST ACTS. [^Chup. 27. 
 
 at the national worship; exacted from all the people without 
 distinction. 
 
 As respects dissenters^ this anomaly was to some extent 
 corrected, or in legal phrase, the laws against them were " con- 
 ditionally suspended/' by the Toleration Act/ and by other 
 statutes. But the crying evil still exists, that they have to pay 
 for the support of ministers and services, which they neither 
 attend nor approve ; and are placed on a footing unequal, in 
 many respects, to that of episcopalians. 
 
 From the time of Charles II. till so lately as 1 828, or during 
 a century and a half, dissenters were wholly disqualified by 
 those termed the Corporation and Test Acts, from holding any 
 office in corporations or in the state. To prevent them from 
 doing so, all persons taking such offices were required by two 
 acts of Charles 11.,^ to have received, within a short period 
 previously, what is termed the sacrament of the Lord's supper, 
 according to the rites of the church of England, The object 
 of these acts was to provide a safeguard for that church against 
 sectarian power and influence. In order still to afford pro- 
 tection to the established church, when they were repealed, 
 every person appointed to such offices was obliged, by tlie re- 
 pealing act, (9 Geo. IV. cap 17,) to make a solemn declara- 
 tion, that he would not use any power or influence of such 
 office to injure the established church, or its bishops or clergy, 
 in their rights and privileges : — a regulation which is still in 
 force. To many minds this enactment carries the impression of 
 an attempt to prevent the redress of an obAdous wrong, of an in- 
 justice which was so likely to excite opposition, that a stringent 
 measure was required to guard against it. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers fully approved of the general rej^eal of the 
 Corporation and Test Acts, and remarks that it was at first 
 proposed that the declaration, which Avas substituted for them, 
 should embrace also the church of Scotland, but that it was 
 afterwards resolved by the English authorities, " to keep the 
 whole of this stigma to themselves !" 
 
 It was long ago justly remarked, that it is rather dissent 
 which tolerates an established church, than the established 
 church which tolerates dissent ! 
 
 ' William and Mary, 1—18. -" 13 Car. ii. 2-1, and 2o Car. ii. 2. 
 
Sect. 11.] SENLUE ENACTMENTS AGAINST PAl'ISTS. 3^1) 
 
 As respects papists, the laws have hccii in letter hij^hly severe 
 till very recently ; while in fact their operatioii has for a lonj^ 
 time been genenilly harmless. The euaetments against them 
 had tlu'ee degrees of severity ; viewing them either simply as 
 l)apists, or as popish recusants, or as popish recusants convict. 
 A jjojjish recusant is defined to be a papist, who refuses (when 
 legally required) to attend the religious services of the chiuch 
 of England ; and a pupish recusant convict is a papist legally 
 convicted of such olfcnce. Many protestant dissenters, and espe- 
 cially members of the Society of Friends, were severely dealt 
 with in the reign of Chailes II., on the pretended ground of 
 being popish recusants. The absurd and vexatious restrictions 
 and pcnaliies against these were as follows. They were subject 
 to heavy tines for not attending the established worship. They 
 were not to possess any horse abo\e the value of t.l. Each of 
 their children was to be baptized in the jjarish chiu'ch within 
 a month after birth, on pain of forfeiture of fclOO. by the 
 parents ! If buried otherwise than in the authorized place and 
 manner, the piu'ty buiying to forfeit t;20. ! Any person keeping 
 a j)opish servant, to forfeit fellO. a month, or keeping a poi)isli 
 schoolmaster tlO. a month, and the schoolmaster himself liable 
 to perpetual imprisonment ! Papists not having taken the 
 oaths, to pay double land-tax, &c., &c. Such were the enact- 
 ments, which for centuries disgraced the English national code, 
 till {US late as 18-lG ; when, being too rigorous to be enforced, 
 and unworthy of an enlightened Christian country, they were 
 (piietly repealed. Their effect, if any, naturally was, rather to 
 create a sympathy with the papists, and thus to injure the 
 cause of protestantism, than to prevent the diflusion of erro- 
 neous doctrines ! 
 
 The Roman Catholics of this nation laboured also under 
 great civil disabilities, till a very recent period. They were 
 disqualified from sitting in either house of the British Parlia- 
 ment, from voting at the election of members of the IIou.se 
 of Commons, from liolding civil and militarj' ofKces under the 
 state, and from being members of corporations. In all these 
 respects, they were relieved by an act uf parliament pa.s.«»ed after 
 a long and arduous struggle, in i>^]l\), and weU known as the 
 
 Roman Catholic Relief Bill." All those availing themselves 
 of the benefit of this act, were required thereby to take various 
 
330 EXCOMMUNICATION NOW DISUSED. \Chap. 27. 
 
 oaths,, binding tliem to good behaviour towards the established 
 churchy and not to exercise the acquired power in attempting to 
 subvert or weaken the protestant religion or government, with 
 other provisions to the same effect. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers said on that occasion, " I have never had but 
 one sentiment on the subject of the catholic disabihties, and it 
 is, that the protestant cause has been laid by them under very 
 heavy disadvantages ! The truth is, that these disabilities have 
 hung as a dead weight around it for more than a century. 
 Single-handed truth walked through our island Avith the might 
 and prowess of a conqueror ; as soon as she was propped with 
 the authority of the state, and the armoui' of intolerance was 
 given to her, the brilliant career of her victories was ended, 
 and strength went out of her."^ Yet these are the acknow- 
 ledgments of an apologist for religious establishments ! 
 
 12ih Section. — Excommunication. 
 
 By this ecclesiastical censure, which is so often threatened in 
 the Anglican canons, the person against whom it is pronounced 
 is for the time cast out of the communion of the church. Ex- 
 communication is of two kinds ; the less and the greater. " The 
 less deprives the offender of participation in the sacraments and 
 in divine worship ; the greater deprives him also of the society 
 and conversation of the faithful.^' Every person excommuni- 
 cated is to be openly denounced by the minister every six 
 months, in the parish and cathedral churches ; and also to be 
 kept out of the church until absolved. He can neither bring 
 an action, nor receive a benefice, nor act as an advocate, nor be 
 a witness, nor have " Christian burial.^^^ 
 
 Like penance and most other disciplinary institutions of the 
 Anglican state church, this mode of dealing with offenders has 
 long sunk into neglect, and is very rarely carried out. Were 
 it literally observed, all moral delinquents would share its severe 
 consequences ; and till very lately, dissenters too were equally 
 punishable ! How long will Christian churches permit such 
 solemn enactments to remain as witnesses against themselves, 
 unrepealed but unexecuted ? 
 
 ' Chalmers' Works, vol. iii. - Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. 
 
Sect. 13.] ECCLESIASTICAI. CANONS ()!• KJO.'i. ^'M 
 
 IZth Section. — Kiiyliah Canon Law. 
 
 Such of the foreign papal cauons as were sanctioned by the 
 king and parliament, oljtained authority in England. Since the 
 reformation, various regulations or canons have been enacted 
 by the king, the convocation and the legislature, for the govern- 
 ment of the Anglican church ; deriving their chief obligation 
 from the royal assent, and enforced through the ecclesiastical 
 coiu'ts. Occasionally, when the judgments of such courts, pro- 
 ceeding on canon law, tended to the great injury of individuals, 
 the coiu'ts of common law have, on complaint being made, 
 granted prohibitions.' 
 
 The authority vested in the church of England, of establishing 
 discipline or of making canons, was ascertained by a statute of 
 Henry \'I1I., commonly called the " Act of the Clergy's Sub- 
 mission," and referred to in the third section. In it they agreed 
 " not to attempt, allege, claim, or put in use any constitutions 
 or canons, witliout the king's assent.'' So that, though the 
 power of making such enactments resided in the clergy met in 
 convocation, their force was derived from the authority of the 
 king, assenting to and confirming them. A reformed code of 
 ecclesiastical laws was prepared by Cranmer, but was never 
 confirmed by the royal authority ; and the old canon law re- 
 mained in force till the time of James I. 
 
 The " constitutions and canons ecclesiastical," now recog- 
 nized, and partially operating in the Anglican church, arc 1-41 
 in number, and were framed at a convocation held in 1603, 
 under the authority of James I., receiving his confirmation. 
 
 " The clergy of England of the present day," remarks one of 
 their warm friends, " are governed by the synodical constitu- 
 tions of the papal legates in the reign of Henry III., and by the 
 provincial constitutions of the popish archbishops of Cantcrbuiy 
 in the thirteenth and fourteenth centiu'ies. The clerical law is 
 composed of heterogeneous materials, and is vague, indefinite 
 and imccrtain in its operation ! "- 
 
 The power vested in the bishops by the canon-law to grant 
 licences, as in cases of marriage, is evidently a relic of the p()|)isli 
 
 ' Blackstone's Commentaries. — Introduction, 1. 
 ' I>ird Henlpy on Church Rofoi-ni. 
 
332 AVANT OF CHUllCH DISCIPLINE. [Chui). 27- 
 
 claim to grant dispensations^, botli being permissions to act con- 
 trary to tlie law of the land. Various other usages still pre- 
 vailing are derived from the same source ; and of later times 
 there has been an evident desire in a large ecclesiastical party, 
 to revive the obsolete visages and powers acquired tkrough the 
 canon law. 
 
 \4ith Section. — Want of Church Discipline. 
 
 "The Book of Common Prayer" contains, in the introduction to 
 the form of " commination, or denouncing of judgments against 
 sinners/^ the following brief but candid acknowledgment of 
 the want of discipline in the established church : " In the primi- 
 tive church there was a godly discipline, instead whereof, until 
 the said discipline may be restored, which is much to he luished, 
 it is thought good that, at this time in the presence of you all, 
 should be read the general sentences of God's cursing against 
 impenitent sinners," &c. 
 
 The relaxation or .absence of moral discipline has followed, of 
 necessity, from the circumstance of the British sovereign being 
 the head of the church ; since the sovereign cannot be safely 
 dealt with for delinquencies of conduct however great. Hence 
 the discipline and Christian character of the established church 
 receive a deadly wound. If the head may be an irreligious 
 or immoral person without censure or notice, the same defect 
 follows as respects private individuals. Is it possible to con- 
 ceive a state of things more detrimental to religion and virtue, 
 than that vice and wickedness may occupy securely exalted 
 stations in a Christian church. 
 
 To the same cause may be also partly attributed the existing 
 want of any clear distinction of membership, which may be 
 pronounced a great deficiency in any religious community. The 
 distinction can scarcely be said to be acknowledged at all, but 
 were it not for the connection with the state, such an evil, it 
 may be presumed, would soon be rectified. 
 
 That in a system, most carefully contrived for securing autho- 
 rity and pay to the bishops and ministers, there should be an 
 entire want of spiritual or even moral care and control over the 
 conduct of the members, or private individuals of the church, 
 must be admitted to be a great inconsistenc}^ Surely the 
 eternal interests of the multitude arc far more worthv of 
 
Serf. 14.] NKoi.KCT of ciiiiun nrs;rnM.i\F i.A>tF\TKn. 333 
 
 cfiroful provision, tlian the dignity and rovcnnrs of tho priestly 
 few ! 
 
 " I wonld only ask," says Lord Bacon, " why the civil state 
 sliould be purged and restored by good and wholesome laws, 
 made ever)' third or fourth year in parliament assembled, de- 
 vising remedies as fast as time l)reedetli mischief; and con- 
 trariwise the ecclesiastical state shouhl still continue upon the 
 dregs of time, and receive no alteration? "^ 
 
 Bishop Burnet fully admitted " the want of a sound, well 
 regulated discipHne," aiul spoke of it as " a great defect."- Many 
 pious members and ministers of the episcopal cliurch have ex- 
 pressed their regret at the deficiency. But there must be a 
 separation from the state, a recognition of membersliip, and an 
 appointment of a " Ijiy," or mixed, governing constituent body, 
 before this great deficiency can be proi)erly su])plicd. 
 
 Burnet further remarks, " no inconvenience would follow on 
 leaving out the cross in baptism, or on laying aside surplices, 
 and regidating cathedrals, especially as to that indecent way of 
 singing prayers. The bowings to the altar have at ler-^t an ill 
 appearance, ami are of no use. All these, with many other 
 things, are now bound on us by a law, that cannot be repealed 
 except in parliament."- To such a thraldom, attended with 
 obvious spiritual loss, docs the episcopal church submit, for the 
 sake of mere worldly riches, honour and power ! 
 
 I Quoted in Lord Henley's " Churcli lie form." 
 
 * Ilia Own Times; C'ancliution. — Not in a .spirit of <>itternes.s and hostility 
 have these defects been expo.<?ed, but witli a suicere de.sire that tlie protes- 
 tant episcopal church may ea.st a.siilc the j^oMen fottorn of the .state, and 
 jnit on strength, cleanse and order her house, in the name of tJie Lord. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 IRELAND ; ITS CHURCHES, AND ENDOWMENTS FOR ECCLESIASTICAL 
 
 PURPOSES. 
 
 Whoever studies the history of this verdant but unhappy isle, 
 and reflects upon it with candour, must admit that, from the 
 time of its first subjugation by the English, it has been treated 
 for many centuries as a conquered country. The inhabitants 
 not being admitted to a just participation in civil and religious 
 rights, but trampled on as serfs, their religious prepossessions 
 outraged, and the lands wrested from their hierarchy and from 
 their nobles by repeated confiscations, it was not to be expected, 
 even on the adoption of a more generous policy, that they would 
 soon forget past grievances, or cordially unite with the parties of 
 whom they had so long and so justly complained. 
 
 1*/ Section. — Protestant Episcopal Church Establishment. 
 
 The reformation in England, though still imperfect, was a 
 work mainly of rational and religious conviction, and effected by 
 degrees. In Ireland it could scarcely be called a reformation, 
 being a work of conquest and violence, by whicli a protestant 
 hierarchy and profession were enforced on an unwilling Roman 
 catholic people. Of this proceeding, so contrary to the genuine 
 spirit of Christianity, bitter have been the fruits ! 
 
 At the union with England in 180], the fifth clause of the Act 
 stipulated, "that the doctrine, worship, discipline and govern- 
 ment of the United Church of England and Ireland shall remain 
 in full force for ever, and its preservation shall be an essential 
 part of the union, as the same are now by law established;" 
 thus perpetuating, as far as an Act of Parliament can do so, 
 that which had been one chief ground of dissatisfaction — the 
 
Sect. 1.] XlMHIiRS Ol' m).MAN CATHOLICS AND I'KoTESTANTS. 335 
 
 forced imposition on all of au extravagant state church for the 
 few ! Most of those who have approaclied this sul)ject have ex- 
 pressed themselves in stronfj terms of indifjnation at the many 
 prevuilinj; abnses, and at tiie eumbrons and expensive character 
 of the ecclesiastical machinery, as contr.istcd with the poverty ol" 
 the people, and with the few individuals who in most places 
 compose the congregations ! 
 
 In the first report of the Irish Commissioners of Public In- 
 struction in 1831, the whole popidation was given as little less 
 than eight millions. Of these nearly six millions and a half Mere 
 Roman catholics. The members or attenders of the protestant 
 established church were computed at 853,000 ; the presby- 
 terians at 613,000; and other denominations about 22,000.^ 
 The total number of places of worship Mas at that time 4502, of 
 which 2109 belonged to Roman catholics, 1537 to tlie established 
 church, -152 to presbyterians, and 404 to other religious bodies. 
 The whole population is now estimated to be reduced to about 
 six millions — an almost unparalleled diminution ! The Roman 
 catholics, who liad much increased before, have of late years 
 rapidly diminished, through famine, fever, conversion, and espe- 
 cially emigration, and arc supposed at present not to exceed 
 four millions, or two-thirds of the whole. The episcopalians are 
 computed at one million. The presbyterians at 700,000, and 
 other dissenters at 300,000. 
 
 The total number of parishes or districts was then 2 108, and 
 of benefices 1387, many of these consisting of two or more 
 parishes. In 536 benefices there Mas no glebe-house ; in 210 no 
 episcopal place of Morship; and in 157 no protestant Morship, 
 the incumbents in 340 parishes being non-resident. Of 405, the 
 protestants in no one case numbered 100 ; in no parish out of 99 
 did they exceed 20 ; and in 41 there Avas not a single episcopal 
 protestant. The landlords of these poor Roman catholic inha- 
 bitants arc not relieved hoMcver from paying the tithe rent- 
 charge. Fifty-one benefices, containing 3030 protestant episco- 
 palians, Mere what is tenned "M'ithout cure of souls," the 
 incumbents receiving the incomes, but doing nothing in return! 
 
 The injustice and usurjiation of a state church establishment, 
 
 notwithstanding the late changes, arc still jjrominently exhibited 
 
 in Ireland ; the great m.xss of the people being entirely opposed 
 
 to the system of ecclesiastical doctrines and 8er\ices imposed 
 
 ' See Companion to Almanac, 1837. 
 
336 IRISH ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS. [Chap. 28. 
 
 upon them, and tlic wealth of many of the officials forming 
 a striking contrast with the fewness of the members and the 
 poverty of the people at large ! 
 
 In his Essay on the Eyiglisli Constitution, Lord John Russell 
 remarked many years ago — " la the church of Ireland there are 
 four archbishops and eighteen bishops, whose united income is 
 estimated at £185,700 a-year. The revenue drawn from fines 
 is enormous, and their landed property is immense ! " 
 
 The estates belonging to these archbishops and bishops were 
 reported to Parliament in 1831 as containing 669,250 acres, set 
 down at the low net return of £45,258.^ The land is usually let 
 at small annual rents, on leases for twenty-one years, in conside- 
 ration of heavy fines charged for the renewal of the leases — an 
 uncertain speculative system for the grantor, and an ill-advised 
 injurious one for both parties, as well as for the land itself. 
 Prior to the modern regulations, the number of these dignitaries, 
 and the amount of their revenues were extravagant. One -third 
 of the Irish bishops, elected in triennial rotation, sit as peers in 
 the British Parliament. 
 
 By the Church Temporalities Act passed in 1833, an ecclesias- 
 tical commission was established for Ireland, with power as 
 vacancies should occur to reduce the hierarchy, from four arch- 
 bishops and eighteen bishops, to two archbishops ha^nng .€12,000. 
 and €8,000. a-year, and ten bishops to receive from €8,000. to 
 €^•,000. each. The actual revenues however are still much above 
 these amounts, and are received, be it remembered, in the midst 
 of an indigent community, widely differing in religious per- 
 suasion. 
 
 By the same Act first-fruits were abolished, and the large 
 surplus arising from suppressed sees, from suspended sinecure 
 benefices in the gift of the crown, and from other sources, Avas 
 made applicable to the augmentation of small livings, providing 
 places of worship, &c. &c. This surplus has been laid out as 
 intended, amounting in tlie whole to nearly two millions sterling, 
 and the expense of the commission, which still subsists, has 
 been £140,000. 
 
 A combination having been formed against the payment of 
 
 tithes, in 1832 a tithe-composition was introduced, still payable 
 
 by the tenant ; but the burden on the poor Roman catholic 
 
 occupiers had become intolerable. A fierce agitation was ex- 
 
 ' See Compauion to Almanac. 18.34. 
 
Sect. 1.] NKW TITIIK KENT-CHARGE. '.V.\'7 
 
 cited and six years after, when the commutation iueas»urc was 
 enacted, the charpje was removed from the tenants nnd made 
 compulsory on tlic hmdhirds, who were conciliated hy a reduc- 
 tion of one-fourth, in consequence of greater security and ease in 
 the collection — a very reasonable ground for abatement, which 
 had not been at all admitted in England. 
 
 The Irish rent-charge is now returned as (j482,000. per 
 annum, of which the impropriate part is .€81,850., or about one- 
 sixth. The parochial glebes are in addition, and very large, 
 being estimated at nearly tlO(),()00. a-year. The great increase 
 in the value of land contributed much in the last century to the 
 opulence of the Irish church. "Ministers' money" is levied by 
 assessment on the inhabitants of all denominations in some of 
 the towns, and is computed to produce about .£10,500. a-year. 
 The present government has announced an intention to abolish 
 this charge. Of the 1 i5G benefices or livings returned in 1831, 
 the yearly value of one was €2800. ; of ten others upwards of 
 .€2000. each ; of twenty upwards of €1500. ; of seventy-one more 
 upwards of €1000. each; of 222 €G00. and upwards, and of 281 
 jt MX), and upwards. In some the stipends were represented to 
 be very low.' The bishops have " the right of presentation " to 
 a majority of the Irish livings, and the lay patrons are fewer 
 than in England. Some doubt exists whether tithes were estab- 
 lished through the whole of Ireland before the time of Elizabeth. 
 
 It must be stated, in justice to the parochial ministers of the 
 Irish established church, that many of them are philanthropic 
 men, earnest in their endeavours to improve the condition, 
 temporal and spiritual, of the population around them, and that 
 the charge of the poor-rates has fallen heavily on them, as it also 
 has on the landlords. The present levying of the tithe rent- 
 charge on the latter, instead of on the tenants as formerly, has 
 proved a great relief to the poor occupiers, their rent having been 
 already too high to admit of an increase. 
 
 Two thousand seven hundred and thirty-six Irish tithe- 
 owners made application to the British (iovernment for relief on 
 account of arrears, from 1831 to 1833, amounting to €818,(M){). ; 
 of which the sum of €187,300. was ajjplied for by 023 impro- 
 priators. One million sterling was granted by Parliament for 
 this purpose down to 18-M); €750,(XX). for building e])iscoi)al 
 places of worship, and j£74'l,0(X). for their charter schools: the 
 ' See Retxim to Parliamcut in lf^33, No. 2fi5. 
 
 z 
 
338 ESTIMATED REVENUES OP IRISH STATE CHURCH. [Chap. 28. 
 
 last two to 1829 only.^ At the very time when these claims 
 were urgently preferred, most of the dignitaries of the Irisli 
 state church were encumbered with wealth, and the ofiBces of 
 many were mere sinecures. 
 
 Wade, in his " Unreformed Abuses," taking Ward's statement 
 in the House of Commons in 1844, computes the total revenue 
 as follows : — 
 
 Archbishops and Bishops . . . . £151,127 
 
 Deans and Prebends 34,481 
 
 Minor Canons and Vicars Choral . . 10,525 
 
 Total episcopal and cathedral 
 
 Parochial tithes .... 
 Episcopal tithes ..... 
 Dignitaries' tithes .... 
 
 .' £196,133 
 
 £486,785 
 
 9,515 
 
 24,360 
 
 Total of tithes 
 Add episcopal and cathedral revenues 
 
 . 520,660 
 196,133 
 
 Total revenue of the Irish church . 
 
 . £716,793 
 
 William Howitt and J.T. Leader in 1832 estimated the amount 
 at £1,986,604. Pebrer, in 1833, following Moreau and late 
 Parliamentary returns, computed the entire receipts at about 
 £1,300,000. per annum, and those of all other denominations, 
 though many times more numerous, at £264,000. Lord Althorp 
 estimated the amount in 1833 as not exceeding £800,000. 
 
 The annual revenues of the established church of Ireland 
 have been returned as follows since 1833 : — 
 
 Archiepiscopal and episcopal endowments^ . £151,128 
 Corporate revenues (Deans, Canons, &c.)^ . 57,106 
 
 Tithe rent-charge 401,000 
 
 Glebe lands 92,000 
 
 Ministers' money ..... 10,300 
 
 Dublin University, &c. &c.* .... 100,000 
 Other ecclesiastical resources . . . 50,000 
 
 Total .... £861,534 
 
 1 See Eetui-n to Parliament. — Compauion to Almanac, 1841. 
 
 2 First Report on Ecclesiastical Eevenues, Ireland. 
 
 3 Second Report on Ecclesiastical Eevenues. — ComjDanion to Almanac. 
 * The students at Trinity College, Dublin, are said to be about 830. 
 
I 
 
 Sect. 1.] A KU'M (HI lull AND AN 1 M roVF.llISH KI) PEOPLK. .i.'Ji) 
 
 About a Million Sterling in roinul nuiuhiTs may bi- a fair cuni- 
 putiition of tlie annual revenues of tbe Irisli cliurcb establisli- 
 ment at tbe present time. If tbe ecclesiastical expenses of tbe 
 otber religious bodies were equally great in jjroportion to tbeir 
 numbers, tbe wbole cbarges on tbe people for sucb piirposes 
 would be about six millions a-year ! 
 
 In tbe taking of tbat large income from tbe Roman eatliolies, 
 and its present enjoyment mainly by a few protestant ecclesias- 
 tics, in tbe midst of overwbebning poverty and wretcbedness, 
 is presented a melancboly and sickening picture, wbicb lias been 
 stigmatized, as was likely, by very bard epitbets.' Yet tbe pro- 
 posed appropriation clause of tbe Act of lS;i3, by wbicb it was 
 designed to apply a small surplus of about .t;250,000. a-year out 
 of tbe revenues to educational and otber civil purposes, was met 
 witb general cries of sacrilege and spoliation, and was obliged 
 to be abandoned. Wben will tbings be called by tbeir rigbt 
 names? Tbe establisbed churcb, being in unison witb tbe sen- 
 timents of so few, cannot fairly be termed a national cburcb. 
 
 " Cburcb-cess" in Ireland, simdar to tbe Englisb " cburcb- 
 rate," and amounting to about l:;H(),()00. annually, was abolisbed 
 by the Act of 1833. First-fruits were also extinguished by tbe 
 same Act. 
 
 Tbere are several circumstances connected witb tbe established 
 cburcb of Ireland which render it a cause of especial beait- 
 burning and irritation. Tbe ecclesiastical emoluments and otbi'r 
 property formerly in the possession of tbe Roman catbolics were 
 forcibly taken from them. These still constitute the great bulk 
 of tbe nation, while those who now enjoy tbe proceeds are only 
 a very small minority. The proceeds themselves are very ill 
 (li\ided among the bishops and ministers of the few ; some of 
 them being gorged with riches, and many of them having little 
 or no service to perform. The Roman catbolics have to support 
 their own hierarchy in addition, and at considerable cost. Till 
 very lately they were subject to vexatious penalties, and denied 
 a participation in civil privileges — the right of all peaceable sub- 
 jects. Even now tbeir humbler classes are treatecl by many 
 protestants with unchristian aversion and bautcur. These are 
 serious impediments in tbe way of tbeir embracing tbe protcs- 
 
 1 The average rate of men's wages apjnyirs to have been frnni Gc/. to \0d. 
 per day, in Irelaml, till very recently. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 FEES TO ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS. [Chap. 28. 
 
 tant faitli. The abolition of the church establishment is essen- 
 tial to cure most of these evils, and would go far, with the 
 blessing of the Most High, to produce this happy result. 
 
 2nd Section, — The Irish Roman Catholic church. 
 
 In treating here and elsewhere on the position of Roman 
 Catholicism in reference to the state, it may be observed that 
 the main object of this work is, not to discuss and expose the 
 errors of Romanism — great as all protestants must believe them 
 to be, nor of any other denomination; but to consider the 
 question of the treatment of each religious body by the civil 
 authority, and to deal candidly and fairly with each in a spirit 
 of Christian good will. To their own master they must stand 
 or fall. 
 
 The Roman catholic hierarchy of Ireland, for four millions 
 of its people, is represented^ to consist at present of four arch- 
 bishops and twenty-three bishops, nominated by the pope ; of 
 forty-six deans and archdeacons, appointed by the cardinal 
 protector at Rome; and of 2,145 parochial priests, chosen by 
 the bishops. The whole of these ecclesiastics are supported, 
 not by the mere voluntary contributions of their flocks, to be 
 withheld at pleasui'e, but by regular payments required by the 
 principles of the Roman catholic faith. " Easter and Christmas 
 offerings" must be made ; prayers for the living, extreme unction 
 for the dying, masses for the dead, must be had and paid for. 
 With astonishing confidence, the priests contend, that all these 
 payments are to be made for the sake of the giver, or of those 
 for whom they are given ; not for the sake of the priest and for 
 his support, which is represented to be but an incidental and a 
 secondary object ! The catholic pays, and his payments are held 
 to be essential, not for the priest, but to save his own soul, or the 
 souls of those whom he loved, from purgatory — not for a sus- 
 tentation fund, but for his own or their salvation ! The duty of 
 these payments is an essential part of the Roman catholic reli- 
 gion; and whether that religion is endowed or unendowed — 
 whether they are compelled to pay to the ministers of another 
 church or not, the payments to their own priests must be made. 
 But it is obvious that while poor and dependent, the influence 
 * Laing's German Catholic Church. 
 
Sect. 2.] PROPOSED ENDOWMENT OF ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS. 3 11 
 
 of the priests is in some respects less^ and their tone lower, than 
 if they stood in a more authoritative position, backed by the 
 arm of the law. The imposition of the protestant churcli estab- 
 lisliment is the great national grievance, and the complaint 
 must be acknowledged to be well founded. 
 
 The propriety of endowing tlic Irish lloman catholic priests 
 was suggested l)y some high protestant authorities in 1815;^ 
 and the sum of €250,000. per annum was thought necessary 
 for the purpose. One main object doubtless was to remove 
 the existing appearance of sectarian partiality, and to furnish 
 some excuse or show of reason for maintaining the protestant 
 episcopal establishment. Happily, however, the llomish church 
 preferred at that time to remain independent of the state, and 
 many zealous protestants warmly opposed the scheme, wliich 
 consequently fell to the ground. To take the amount from the 
 opident state church for any other jjurpose whatever, it was 
 contended would be spoliation ; but to preserve the present 
 ajjplication, though in the midst of destitution and starvation, 
 was accounted no spoliation at all. It is not by an addition or 
 a division of endowments, which would but perpetuate an anti- 
 cliristian system ; but by annulling all state provisions, that tlie 
 present unjust state of things can be rectified, that true rcHgiou 
 will be best promoted, and the ancient discontent and irrita- 
 tion fairly removed. This may be lu'onounccd to be the only 
 ('(juitable and scriptural princii)le on wliich the "difficulties" 
 of the sister countiy can be finally remedied. 
 
 To state or even to estimate the annual incomes of the Irish 
 Roman catholic priests, would be a point of great difficulty. So 
 many small fees are required even from the poor, and so many 
 large contributions from the wealthy, that the whole amount 
 though hidden must be very considerable. Since the general 
 prevalence of distress in 1H36 and 1837, the receipts of the 
 priests have been much diminished, as well as their infiuencc 
 over the people, who found the protestants at that awftd 
 crisis their best friends. "Were the Irish church establish ment 
 abolished, tlie Roman catholic ministers would lose a strong 
 ground of sympathy and of appeal to their hearers. The " reli- 
 gious equality," which they often profess to desire, would not 
 probably, if real in its operation, satisfy them long. They would 
 ' (juailcrly Bcvicw, No. 151. 
 
342 MAYNooTH COLLEGE. [Chap. 28. 
 
 still sigh after tlie rich temporalities taken at the reformation 
 from their predecessors. Much is it to he desired, however, 
 that this golden apple of vmseemly contention and injurious 
 effects may be divided fairly between all parties, by an applica- 
 tion to educational, charitable and civil purposes ! — that there 
 may be a real civil equality, and no domination of either reli- 
 gious class ! 
 
 3rt/ Section. — Maynooth College. 
 
 The Irish Roman catholic college of Maynooth, for the 
 education of priests, has long been supported by the British 
 government. The main reason alleged for that support has 
 been, to provide the means of education at home for the students, 
 and to prevent the necessity of their being exposed abroad to 
 anti-British, and even to infidel principles. This reason operated 
 with special force in 1 795, when the first grant of £8,000. was 
 made by the Irish parliament, to aid in erecting the college ; 
 the bias and intluence of the young priests educated on the con- 
 tinent being then found to be very pernicious. The grants have 
 since been repeated almost every year, and have gradually 
 increased to nearly £30,000. per annum. 
 
 The continued support of the college by the state is said to 
 have been a condition of assent to the union of the two nations 
 in 1801, and as such distinctly held out to the Eoman catholic 
 body ; being accepted by them on the faith of government, and 
 on the implied pledge of parliament. The Act of Union does 
 not however clearly confirm this view, but refers generally to 
 objects of improvement and charity, Avhich were to be supported 
 for twenty years. 
 
 Maynooth College was a state establishment, originating in 
 motives of state expediency, as a matter of political compromise. 
 In 1845, the imperial legislature, acting on the same motives, 
 and being anxious at that time to conciliate the catholic priest- 
 hood, granted a charter of incorporation to the college, endowed 
 its ofiicers and professors with moderate salaries, and settled 
 sufficient means of support for the students, to be paid out of 
 the consolidated fund, instead of being voted annually as before. 
 It also voted a sum not to exceed £30,000., for building and 
 enlarging the premises; visitors being appointed by the crown, 
 
Sect. 5.] NEW iKisn colli:ges. 313 
 
 to inspect the institution and to report annually. The amount 
 for 1850 was .t26,360. This parliamentary grant has of late 
 years been the subject of repeated strong remonstrances ; many 
 sincere protestants being utterly opposed to any application 
 of the i)ublic money for inculcating the gross doctrines of 
 Romanism. The number of students is considerable; but their 
 appearance and the state of the institution arc said to be in- 
 different, and the literary instruction appears to be by no 
 means of the first class,* 
 
 4/A Section. — New Educational Colleges. 
 
 These, not being of a sectarian or an ecclesiastical character, 
 have been made, on that very account, the subject of severe 
 censure and contest, in the same manner as the elementary 
 schools for both catholics and protestants under the National 
 Board of Education. These schools are said to be about 4S00 
 in number, educating half a million of scholars. In 1815 an 
 Act was passed, granting the sum of €100,000. to the commis- 
 sioners of public works, in order to the erecting one or more 
 new colleges in Ireland, for the advancement of learning ; also 
 a sum not exceeding .€21,000. annually, for defraying the 
 stipends of the presidents, vice-presidents, professors of faculties 
 and other officials. 
 
 This Act has been to a large extent carried into eflcct ; but, 
 the principle of the foundation being of a liberal and compre- 
 hensive character, and not specially subservient to the interests 
 of either protestantism or Komanism, the colleges have been a 
 topic of ranch vituperation, and have not hitherto received suffi- 
 cient support or encouragement to make them fully successful. 
 The value of the institution will reqiure time and good manage- 
 ment for its development, in a country torn by religious con- 
 tentions, and where the largest number object to the general 
 introduction of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 blh Section. — The Regium Donwn. 
 
 The regium donum, or royal bounty to the Irish presbytcriaus, 
 is an ancient annual endowment, commencing as early as 1699; 
 ' C'luttli'icagh ( oriesiMimleuce, Ecluclic Keview, lb;>2. 
 
3J^4 REGIUM DONUM OR ROYAL BOUNTY. [Chap. 28. 
 
 when William III. granted by his letters patent to seven j)res- 
 byterian ministers and to their successors^ the sum of .£1200.^ 
 to be paid to them annually during pleasure, for the use of the 
 presbyterian ministers of the north of Ireland. The grant was 
 renewed by Queen Anne^ in 1 702^ with but little variation. In 
 1784, George III., on being assured of their zeal for his 
 person and government, gave them an additional allowance 
 of £1000. a-year; and in consequence of an address from the 
 Irish House of Commons in 1792, the sum of £3729. IQs. \0d. 
 per annum was granted " during pleasure/^ to be distributed 
 among the " Irish non-conforming ministers of the north,'' at 
 the discretion of the Lord Lieutenant. With the view of 
 obtaining their concurrence in the union with England, a large 
 addition was made to the grant in 1801. Down to 1803 it 
 was divided equally ; but from that time the sum, being about 
 .€20,000., was apportioned among them in three classes, at the 
 rate of £100., £75., and £50. annually to each individual, on con- 
 dition that each congregation raises not less than £35. a year. 
 Smaller sums were allotted to the seceders, and the agent was 
 allowed about £350. a year for making the distribution. It was 
 discovered, in ] 850, that the agent had been dishonest, and had 
 retained a large share for himself.^ 
 
 From a return made in 1847, it appears that the ministers of 
 451 presbyterian congregations then partook of the fund, re- 
 
 ' Another regium donum of small amount has long subsisted in England, 
 being originally bestowed by George I. in 1723, on dissenting ministers of 
 the three denominations, presbyterians, independents, and baptists, with 
 their widows. The first grant was £500. a year ; the design being in this 
 case, as in that of the Irish bounty, to secure the good will and influence of 
 the dissenters. The sum was soon afterwards increased to ,£700., and it is 
 now annually voted by parliament, amounting to about £5000. yearly for 
 "protestant dissenting ministers, French refugee clergpnen, &c." These 
 are the chief recipients of the fund at the present time.* In 1850 it was 
 stated at £7359. Objections have been repeatedly made by dissenters, 
 both in and out of parliament, to the repetition of the vote, and very few 
 partake of the bounty. 
 
 " The Consul Act, which empowers the Treasury to give yearly allow- 
 ance to episcopal or presbyterian ministers of British congregations on the 
 continent, requires the hearers to pay a sum equal to the allowance." — See 
 Matthews' Report. 
 
 * Buck's Theological Dictionary and National Finance Exports. 
 
Sect. 6.] ILL EFFECTS OF THK HOYAL IJOUNTY. 315 
 
 ceiving besides on an average about €40 a year as i)cnv-ients 
 from their liearcrs, computed with chihlren at 432^250 persons. 
 Some of tlic present receivers are understood to be miita- 
 rians, having forsaken the orthodox principles of those for whom 
 it was first intended. 
 
 A striking exemplification of the ill effect of endowments, or 
 grants by the state for religious pin-poses, is afforded by this 
 small fund. Many of the congregations, relying upon it, have 
 become very backward and niggardly in their- own contributions, 
 and limit themselves, though wealthy, to the bare sum of ,t35. 
 required by the government. Even of this the people pay in 
 some cases but .€20., the remaining €15. being allowed to be 
 made up by a free manse or private endowment. So that 
 " while, in the commonest hedge or infant school, the children 
 give each a penny a week ; these presbyterian ministers, for 
 affording religious instruction, do not receive from their people 
 at the rate of even one farthing a week ! Three small presby- 
 terian bodies in Ulster accept no royal bounty, and their con- 
 gregations pay more than double the average stipend of the 
 endowed class !"i This contrast clearly shows the chilling, 
 pauperising effect of provisions and endowments by the state, 
 for sacred objects beyond its legitimate province. 
 
 6M Section. — General Remarks. 
 
 The unreasonable imposition of the Protestant episcopal 
 church on Roman catholic Ireland has been felt, even by many 
 of its supporters, to be a gross outrage on just and equal policy. 
 By way of a counterpoise, some appearance of fair dealing, by 
 measures in favour of the Roman catholics and of protcstant 
 dissenters, was felt to be necessary. 
 
 This idea, and a desire to quiet and conciliate the leading 
 members of these two bodies, were doubtless the motives which 
 led to the grant for Maynooth College, and to the regium 
 (lormm. They were designed as props to the established Irish 
 church, the position of which was felt to be morally like an 
 
 • See report of George Matthews, appointed by the government to in- 
 vestigate the case, containt'cl, with nmrli other v.nhiahle information, in the 
 tracts of ■* the British Anti-Stato ( liurch Association." 
 
346 ALL THE ENDOWMENTS ON THE SAME GROUND. [Chap. 28. 
 
 inverted pyramid, in danger of being quickly upset without the 
 application of supports, granting favour to the other religious 
 bodies. It may be said that there is no moral equality in the 
 character of the doctrines upheld by these several institutions. 
 The difference however — great as are the errors of Eomanism — 
 may be thought by some to be more in degree than in principle ; 
 and all are presumed to be conscientiously maintained by those 
 who profess them, however we must lament the prevalence of 
 error. The Irish endowments will probably all stand or fall 
 together ; the most anomalous procedure of the three being to 
 enforce on six millions of people a church, which five millions 
 entirely disapprove of. The grants to Uoman catholic students 
 and to dissenting ministers are comparatively mere trifles ; some 
 of the protestant dignitaries being at the same time loaded to 
 repletion with the wealth of their endoAvments ! 
 
 In the forced expulsion of the Romish ecclesiastics^ in the 
 imposition of the protestant hierarchy on an averse and discon- 
 tented people, and in the animosities which have ever since 
 been kindled by the measure, is presented a striking example 
 of the evils of state interference in such matters, gi'eatly dete- 
 riorating the civil as well as the religious condition of a nation ! 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE cm RCIIES OF SCOTLAND ; THEIR PROGRESS AiNI) COX- 
 STITUTIONS. 
 
 An eminent political leader is said to have declared several years 
 ago, that " the battle of religions establishments must be fought 
 in Scotland;" and it may be said that the conflict has been 
 maintained in that country for more than three centuries, with 
 very varied results. 
 
 The principles of the reformation were first introduced into 
 Scotland in \^)27, and for a long period great cruelties were 
 perpetrated on their professors, through the jealousy of the 
 Romish priests. Those principles however took deep root. Knox 
 and Melville bringing with them from Geneva the presbytcrian 
 polity, which had been adopted in that city, it became finally 
 established. The first General Assembly was held in loGO, and 
 the original Act of Settlement was passed in 1592. 
 
 \st Section.— Presbyterian Discipline. 
 
 The government of the Scotch established, or presbyteriau 
 church, is conducted by ministers and ruling elders or pres- 
 byters. There are also deacons, but their sole office is to take 
 care of the poor. Every parish — and there are nearly a thousand 
 — has its minister, nominated by the patron, but called or elected 
 professedly or really by the members of the parochial church. 
 It has also two or three lay or ruling ciders, being heads of 
 families, appointed for their orthodoxy and exemplary conduct, 
 by the imposition of the hands of the minister and other ciders. 
 These arc equal in authority, and together form a kirk-session 
 in each parish for the di.scipline of the church. All the ministers, 
 and one ruling elder from every ])arish within a district, com- 
 l)ose a presbytery Thf several presbyteries in each province 
 
348 CLAIMS TO PATRONAGE IN SCOTLAND. [Chap. 29. 
 
 constitute a provincial synod, and of these there are fifteen, 
 which meet twice every year. The highest authority is vested 
 in the General Assembly of the nation_, consisting of a certain 
 number of ministers and elders delegated from each presbytery, 
 together with commissioners from the Scotch Universities and 
 royal boroughs. The Lord High Commissioner, the Queen^s 
 representative, presides over the General Assembly with great 
 splendour, having a salary of £1500. a-year; but he has no voice 
 in the proceedings. One of the ministers is chosen moderator 
 or speaker, and on questions purely religious there is no appeal 
 to a higher authority. The assembly meets annually for about 
 ten days, and is open to the public with tickets. It is composed 
 of several hundred members, the majority being ministers, and 
 the remainder elders, representing 972 parishes.^ 
 
 The crown has the power of patronage, or of nominating 
 ministers, in 302 of the parishes, the privy council in 60, the 
 aristocracy or landholders in 587,^ and other private persons or 
 colleges in 23. This claim to patronage was recognized in the 
 original Act of Constitution, and it has long been the chief cause 
 of contention between the two great religious parties, viz. the 
 moderates or high-church, but low-doctrine men, who are the 
 advocates of patronage, on the one hand ; and the evangelicals, 
 high Calvinists or non-intrusionists, on the other. In leading 
 doctrines they mostly accord, varying cliiefly in degree. 
 
 There can be little doubt that in the primitive apostohc age 
 the terms bishop or overseer, and presbyter or elder, were but 
 different names for ministers who held the same office ; and that 
 all were chosen by the voice of the assembled church. A notion 
 soon followed, that bishops were ministers or clergy of a supe- 
 rior order, deriving their authority from divine right, and by 
 outward succession to the apostles ; but that elders were lay- 
 men only, without any such right or succession, and holding 
 ministerial authority merely by the appointment of the people. 
 Hence the system of the episcopacy was considered aristocratic 
 or monarchical, and that of the presbytery popular and demo- 
 cratic, each having its respective supporters. The Scotch pres- 
 byterian church has always rejected the idea of apostolical 
 succession. 
 
 ' Buck's Theological Dictionary. ^ This is a veiy large proportion. 
 
Sect. ,2.] CHAN'OES I\ CHURCH COVF.RNMKN T. 3 U) 
 
 2//^/ Section. — Progress of the Scotch Established Church, dad 
 Origin of the Secession Churches. 
 
 James VI. desired to support episcopacy as most consonant 
 witli monarcliy, on the ground of his own maxim, " No bisliop, 
 no king," and after lie ascended the EngHsh tlirone lie suc- 
 ceeded, with some difficulty, in establishing bishops in Scotland. 
 Charles I. proceeded in the same course, attempting to assimilate 
 the Scotch and English churches in all respects, and to introduce 
 a liturgy, M'hich till then had never been regularly used in Scot- 
 land. ]H' these measures he excited a general storm of violent 
 opposition. In 1G3H the people bound themselves by a new 
 instrument called "the solemn league and covenant," to ex- 
 terminate prelacy as a conniption of the Gospel ; they met the 
 king's troops with force of arms, and took a prominent part in 
 those measures of resistance, which ended in the death of Charles 
 and the erection of the Commonwealth. The church quickly 
 shook oft* the control of the state, though it still grasped the 
 temporalities, and employed the civil power to persecute those 
 who dissented. Patronage, or the claim to present ministers, 
 was abolished in 1G19. 
 
 Soon after the restoration of the monarchy, Charles II., by 
 his royal proclamation, altered the form of church government 
 in Scotland in lOfil, and re-established the bishops with great 
 pomp, also the rights of patrons, in opposition to the strong 
 and general feeling of the Scotch. 
 
 The presbytcrian ministers were now generally displaced, and 
 succeeded by bishops and episcopal " clergy," many of whoui 
 were unfit for the charge, and of careless, dissolute habits. 
 Some of those who had been ejected, were put to death for 
 the fearless maintenance of their profession, and others iimhT- 
 went severe persecutions. The conduct of the episcopal party 
 resembled that of foreign inquisitors, rather than of Biitish jiro- 
 testants. The people, however, generally continued to adhere 
 to their principles. On the accession of King William, the 
 bishops, taking the high ground of the " non-jurors," and 
 objecting to transfer their allegiance to him, were suppressed 
 altogether ; when presbytery was at length fully established, and 
 ratified by act of parliament in 1690, to the great satisfaction of 
 
350 RISE OF SECESSION CHURCHES. \Ghap. 29. 
 
 the nation. The sittings of the General Assembly were now 
 renewed, after a suspension of nearly forty years, and the right 
 of patronage again abolished. By the treaty of union under 
 Queen Anne in 1707, it was mutually agreed that episcopacy 
 should continue in England, and presbytery in Scotland. The 
 established religion in one country is therefore a species of 
 dissent in the other; the British monarch, by a singular anomaly, 
 being the head of both ! 
 
 Dr. Chalmers, while a member of the Scotch presbyterian 
 establishment, thus compared the two : — " Instead of possessing 
 any such securities, [alluding to the Corporation and Test Acts 
 of England] we ourselves were objects of jealousy to the 
 English hierarchy, and thrust along with its general body of 
 sectarians, to an outfield place beyond the limits of her guarded 
 enclosure. We, in the midst of disabilities, have stood and 
 prospered; and though wanting her artificial protections, we 
 yet outpeer her in the love and reverence of the population."^ 
 
 When patronage, as already mentioned, had been annulled 
 in Scotland in 1690, on the establishment of presbytery, a 
 compensation of 600 marks or £35. was assigned to each of the 
 claimants; but in 1711, only twenty-one years afterwards, on 
 the plea of insufficient amends made to the patrons, and of 
 great heats and divisions, the patronage system, with liberty to 
 the congregations to express disapproval, was re-enacted by 
 the British parliament, to the great discontent of the Scotch. 
 Protests were presented against it year after year, but the 
 assembly and the patrons becoming more and more absolute, 
 all these remonstrances were in vain. 
 
 In 1733, under Ebenezer Erskine, a minister of independent 
 character, a considerable secession from the established church 
 took place, on the ground of the patronage, of the departure 
 from primitive simplicity, and of the power assumed by the 
 General Assembly. The new body was termed, " the Scotch 
 Secession Church." In 1747, this body subdivided into two 
 parts, " the Burghers and Anti-burghers," on account of a 
 burgess oath, by which the person swore to maintain the reli- 
 gion by law established. Each of these divisions again split on 
 the power of the civil magistrate in religious matters. Most of 
 them objected to the principle of connexion with the state, and 
 ' Chalmei's' Life, vol. iii. 
 
Sect. 2.] POWER EXERCISED BY GENERAL ASSEMBLIES. ,').') 1 
 
 all of them adhere to the doctrines of the "Westminster con- 
 fession" of 1017, held hy the established chnrch of Scotland. 
 On the recent abolition of the Bnr^her Oath, they generally 
 coalesced under the name of " the United Scotch Secession 
 Chnrch." All their ministers arc snpported by free contribu- 
 tions, and attend their General Assembly. 
 
 Notwithstanding these endences of dissatisfaction, the system 
 of the established body underwent no relaxation, and many 
 appointments were made without regard to the spiritual wants 
 of the parishes. High Calvinistic notions of election and repro- 
 bation have not proved a very favoursible soil for the growth of 
 Christian forbearance and charity. Kobertson, the moderator 
 and well-known historian, took a leading part in arbitrary 
 measures. Great apathy and deadness now prevailed for a very 
 long period in the Scotch church, and discontent continued. 
 The settlement of the presbyterian establishment was further 
 guaranteed by the fifth article of the union with Ireland in 
 1801. 
 
 At length, in 1831, the General Assembly, assuming more 
 authority to itself, promoted, under what was termed the 
 " scheme of church extension," the erection of a large number 
 of new places of worship, -with the privilege to their ministers 
 of sitting and voting in the general body, and with the pre- 
 sumption that the state would provide the means for their 
 support. The Assembly also enacted that a minister should 
 be set aside, though nominated by the legal patron, if the 
 major part of the male heads of families, w ho were full members 
 of the church, joined in objecting, or in giving forth a veto 
 against liis appointment ; thus acting on the i)rineiple termed 
 " non-intrusion." The general effects of these measures are said 
 to have been good — more zeal for religion was excited, anil 
 many new churches were established. 
 
 A case however occurred in the same year, which brought to 
 the test the i)ower of the assembly. The living of a parish being 
 vacant, the patron insisted on introducing his nominee, though 
 280 members of the church objected to him, and only three 
 were in his favour. The presbytery, the synod, aiul the (Jcncral 
 Assembly all decided against him; but a civil tribunal, the Court 
 of Session, reversed the whole ; the conclusions of the Assembly 
 were declared null and void, and the minister was forced upon 
 
352 DETERMINED EXERCISE OF PATRONAGE. [Chap. 29. 
 
 the parish. In another instance, in 1837, the presbytery, as 
 well as the Court of Session, urged the appointment of a pastor ; 
 one member only being favourable to him, and 260 others, as well 
 as the rest of the chui'ch judicatories, against him. The minister 
 was inducted under painful opposition. A great struggle now 
 arose between the civil and ecclesiastical courts, the supporters 
 of each being resolute in their determination. Thus the inju- 
 dicious and resolute exercise of the power of patronage by two 
 or three individuals, gradually produced effects wliich involved 
 the whole Scotch establishment in conflict. The question itself 
 must be admitted to be one of great importance to many other 
 professing churches. 
 
 At the General Assembly of 1838, the decisions of the civil 
 courts being brought forward, the question was opened up 
 between the chui'ch and the state, when a majority of forty- 
 one, consisting of the "Evangelical party," decided to assert, 
 at all hazards, the authority and jurisdiction of the chui'ch, 
 and to maintain the right of the veto in the congregations. 
 Large and enthusiastic meetings were held, many of the people 
 shared in the feeling, the nation was greatly agitated, and at the 
 assembly in 1842, a resolution was adopted, denouncing the 
 judgments of the civil courts as encroachments, and claiming 
 rights for the church in such matters ; a memorial was also 
 agreed on, calling on the queen to abolish altogether the 
 system of patronage. Both these measures were 'however in vain, 
 — the Imperial Parliament confirmed the judgments of the civil 
 courts, and decided that the veto act of the Assembly in 1834 
 was illegal and null.^ One step led to another, and a special 
 convocation of Scotch ministers being summoned, they resolved 
 that the church should maintain her independence, and if 
 necessary, rehnquish her union with the state. 
 
 3rc? Section. — Establishment of the Free Church. 
 
 At the General Assembly in 1843 a long and decided protest 
 was read, from the dissatisfied evangelical ministers and elders, 
 against the decision of the government, as an infringement of 
 the rights of Scotland, b}- her constitution and by the Act of 
 Union. Immediately after this, the moderator himself (Dr. 
 
 ' See Aucliterai-dei' Case in the Eeport of the House of Lords, 1839. 
 
Sect. 8.] b;sTAHi.rsii>n:.\r of i-ui;i; chukcii. .'ij.'i 
 
 Welsh), and about .'500 ministers and ciders withdrew trom the 
 assembly in silence and m ith deep emotion, and proceeded in 
 order, amid the acclamations of the [)oople, to another buildings, 
 where they organized the National Free Church of Scotland. 
 Dr. Chalmers, who, though a zealous advocate for the union of 
 church and state, probably had not foreseen the extremity to 
 which these proceedings were likely to lead, was chosen tlie 
 first moderator of the New Assembly. An Act of demission 
 was prepared and e.vecuted, by which 474 seceding ministers 
 reliu(juished their stii)ends, their manses, and other pastoral 
 endowments, amounting together to upwards of 1100,000. a- 
 year, or an average of £210. each. About 2000 elders are 
 stated to have joined in the secession, the whole being a full 
 half of the ofKcc-bearers in the national church, and carrying 
 with them about one-half of its " ineml)ers, in full coniuumion " 
 or membership. 
 
 The claim of patronage is obviously one of the fruits of that 
 connection with the state, by which the most sacred concerns 
 and rights of a church are surrendered to the determination of 
 the civil authority, in consideration of the guarantee of certain 
 civil privileges. Emancipated from this serfdom, the Scotch 
 church might have regulated its affairs according to its own 
 judgment of Christian principle and duty. There is, however, 
 some reason to apprehend that the seceding party really wished 
 the state to be subsernent, and took ground quite as high in 
 some respects as that held by Ihe body from which they with- 
 drew. 
 
 Great personal sacrifices were involved in these steps. The 
 ministers and their families had at once to quit their manses 
 or ])arsonage houses, and find shelter where they could ; they 
 had to preach for a time in barns or sheds, in ravines or in 
 the open fields ; but a sentiment of duty and a general zeal 
 * animated both them ami the people, so that about one-third only 
 of the whole population is said to have remained with the 
 established church. Strenuous efforts were made by the seceding 
 party to rai.se contributions, and 000 free places of worship were 
 soon erected, the whole sum contributed within three years at 
 home and abroad being upwards of a million sterling. Of this 
 amount, part was expended on new buildings for worshij), and 
 part was invested as a capital, the interest of which, and the free 
 
 2 A 
 
354 THE FREE CHURCH ONLY FREE IN PART. \Chap . 29. 
 
 contributions of the people, provide for the maintenance of the 
 ministers. These are said to be about 1500 in number, and 
 to have received in one year £81,000. from the fund, and 
 £20,000.more from collections; the incomes of most of the leaders 
 being very nearly equal to their former stipends. Thus, not- 
 withstanding the assumed name of "free," they have not fulfilled 
 the command of our Lord to " give freely," nor followed the 
 apostolic example, to " labour with their own hands " in some 
 honest calling. 
 
 Here it must be especially remarked that, in both these 
 Scotch churches, the ministers retain a preponderance of votes ; 
 and that in both, the old notions and habits of ascendancy 
 and self-importance, natural to an establishment, still exert a 
 powerful influence. In their celebrated protest, the evange- 
 lical or Free Church party " firmly assert " what they con- 
 ceive to be "the right and duty of the civil magistrate, to 
 maintain and support an establishment of religion;" claiming 
 the liberty, for themselves and their successors, "to strive by 
 all lawful means to secure the performance of this duty;" but 
 acknowledging that they are not at liberty to retain the benefits, 
 while they " cannot comply with the conditions." Thus after 
 all, interesting as the struggle is, the object contended for was 
 but partial and incomplete — by no means a denial of the prin- 
 ciple of state support till forced upon them, bi\t merely a reso- 
 lution, apparently not very fair and reasonable, to be free from 
 its control on the subject of the appointment of ministers.^ 
 
 The retention of such views does not convey a bright promise 
 of spiritual-mindedness ; and accordingly, a corrupt system of 
 vicing with the established kirk in the erection of handsome 
 places of worship, and courting popular favom* by outward 
 grandeur and eloquent oratory, is still at work, and is greatly 
 to be lamented, as evidence of a worldly spirit. A holy emu- 
 lation in maintaining the purity and simplicity of the gospel 
 worship and ministry, and in doing good to the bodies and 
 souls of men, would be more worthy of Christian churches 
 and their ministers ! 
 
 ' D'Aiibigne's Scotland, &c. ; Noel's Essay ; Buck's Theolog. Diet., &c. 
 
 % 
 
Sect. 1.J RKVKME OF KSTAUl.lsni:i) rUKSHVlKUIAN cm 1(( 11. .'i.")5 
 
 \th Section. — Revenues of the Established Presbyterian Church 
 
 of Scotland. 
 
 Tlio whole income ot" the ministers of the kirk was estimated 
 in 1755 at about ii08,500., and tlieir number at Ui4; hence 
 each received on an averaf^^c about C72. a-year.' 
 
 The ministers of the presbyterian Scotch establishment arc 
 now stated to amount to 1105. Their income is derived chiefly 
 from teinds or tithes, which arc often paid partly in money 
 and partly in victuals, as oatmeal or barley. By an Act of 
 Parliament passed in 1810, the sum of t^l 0,000. per annum 
 was granted to increase the stipends of the poorer ministers to 
 not less than X^150. each; and down to IH.'il) total grants of 
 €367,591. had been so appropriated. A small sum, about 
 tS. €is. 8rf., is usually allowed for what are termed " communion 
 elements," besides a manse or parsonage, and a glebe of six or 
 seven acres of land, with some other minor privileges. The 
 whole income of a few of the livings appears to range from 
 .€500, to £700. a-year each. The entire cost of the Scotch 
 ecclesiastical establishment is supposed not to exceed at present 
 €300,000. per annum ; which sum, if divided between 1105 
 ministers, would give an average of €270. for each, inchuling 
 the expen.ses of divine worship, &c.- Pluralities and non-resi- 
 dence have of later times been abolished. 
 
 The teinds or tithes of the established ministers of Scotland 
 are not, like the rent-charge of the Anglican church, regulated 
 by a seven years' average of the prices of corn, but fluctuate every 
 year according to the medium price for the previous year alone 
 — a plan which is said to sid)jcct their income to great and in- 
 convenient variations. 
 
 A government grant of €50,000. was made in 1 8*25, for erect- 
 ' iug edifices for the national worship in the highlands and islands 
 of Scotland. A drawback of €17,156. was also allowed down 
 to 1831) on the building matenals.'^ 
 
 ' Baptist \V. Noel's Hn-say, ' Buck'.n Theological Dictionary. 
 
 St'i- I'nrliiuuPiif .ii'v Rpfiirii-i. 
 
356 NUMBERS AND DISCIPLINE OP SCOTCH CHURCHES. [Chap. 29. 
 
 5th Section. — General Notices. 
 
 The Established Church is represented to have 16 synods, 83 
 presbyteries, and about 974 parishes; but to number less than a 
 third of the entire population as its members. 
 
 The Free Church consists of 17 synods and 71 presbyteries, 
 with a larger and more wealthy body of members, at present, 
 than either of the two other great divisions. Its affau's are con- 
 ducted much on the same system as that of the established 
 church, patronage excepted. 
 
 The United Secession Church has about 500 congre2;ations, 
 extending through the country, and comprehending many of the 
 most liberal-minded, philanthropic and active members of the 
 middle class. The population belonging to its various branches 
 is estimated at about 350,000.^ 
 
 There are also a few Episcopalians, Baptists, Independents, 
 Methodists, Friends, &c. 
 
 To the credit of the Scotch churches generally, it must be 
 noted that membership or communion is in general well defined 
 and maintained, and that moral delinquency is commonly visited 
 with a privation of church privileges. However deficient they 
 may be in some respects, the several churches do to a large 
 extent govern themselves, elect their officers, and manage their 
 own affairs. The evils of the system of patronage are therefore 
 felt more sensibly by them, and more easily corrected than in 
 England, where there is little or no discipline over the private 
 members of the established church. 
 
 ' Penny Cyclopsedia. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF ANGLO-SAXON STATES AND CHURCHES IN 
 NOKTII AMKUICA. 
 
 Most of the European govcruraents were originally foinulcd 
 in times of barl)arism and ignorance, before the general diffusion 
 of Christianity. Many of their principles were derived from 
 heathen or Jewish sources. Brute force and dark superstition 
 furnished quotas to their constitutions. In process of time, the 
 feudal and the papal systems contributed largely. Priestly 
 authority exercised a powerful inHuence on public affairs.^ We 
 therefore rarely find in the old world histances of complete 
 liberty and equality in civil and religious matters. It was how- 
 ever on this great principle, that the Anglo-Saxon governments 
 in several parts of the new world were professed to be settled, 
 in tinu's of great inquiry, conflict and intelligence. To that 
 interesting field then we must chiefly look, for the practical 
 development of constitutional liberty, and especially liberty of 
 conscience. Nothing less was to be expected from men who had 
 suflFered so severely from an exclusive system. The sources of 
 information on this head are scanty ; but a rapid glance at 
 several of the British Colonies Mill tend to throw light on 
 the subject. 
 
 1 8t Section . — Viry in iu . 
 
 The earliest settlements of Englishmen on the American 
 shores took place, about the year 1G()7, on that part railed 
 Virginia; where the colonists, being strict episcopalians, fixed 
 the form of religion according to the doctrines and rites of the 
 otablishcd church of England. 
 
 In 1()21, a representative constitution was introduced; the 
 company of proprietors ordered KK) acres of land in each of the 
 
 ' See a Dissertation on Canon and Feudal Law, l>y John Adams. 
 
358 EPISCOPACY ESTABLISHED IN VIRGINIA. [Chap. 30. 
 
 boroughs to be laid off for a glebe^ and £200. sterling to be 
 raised for a living by each parish. The stipend was settled by 
 the yearly appropriation to each minister of a large quantity of 
 tobacco and corn, valued at £200. There were then only five 
 ministers in the colony.' 
 
 The Assembly passed an Act in 1643, " to preserve purity and 
 unity of doctrine and discipline in the church, and the right 
 administration of the sacraments. ^^ No minister to be admitted 
 to officiate, except on proof of his ordination by some bishop in 
 England, and on subsci'iption of conformity ; otherwise to be 
 silenced and compelled to depart the country. The ancient 
 constitution, having been suspended duiing the Commonwealth, 
 was restored in 1662, and the church of England was regularly 
 established by the Assembly. Churches were ordered to be biiilt, 
 glebe lands to be laid out, and vestries appointed. ]Ministers 
 who had been ordained in England were to be inducted by the 
 governor, and all others to be prohibited. 
 
 In 1682, report was made that Virginia contained about 
 1 4,000 " tithables or working hands." The ecclesiastical livangs 
 were then seventy-six or seventy-seven ; but the poorness of 
 the country, and the low price of tobacco had reduced the 
 value about one-half. In 1703, the colony contained 60,000 
 souls, of which number 25,000, being males above sixteen years 
 of age, were subject to tithes by a poll-tax, the remainder being 
 women and children.- Every inhabitant was required, under 
 pain of fine and imprisonment, to contribute to the support of 
 ministers of the episcopal chui'ch. 
 
 2nd Section. — New England. 
 
 This country was first colonized in 1620 by the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, or British settlers at New Plymouth, — being suffering 
 puritans, who had quitted their native land in order to escape 
 persecution for religion, and to establish a united Christian 
 colony. The basis of agreement between the first settlers was 
 this : — to " enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal 
 laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and officers fi'om time to 
 time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the 
 
 ' Holmes' Auuals of Ameiica : John Eichanlsoiis Life. - IVjid. 
 
Sect. '2.] tlllKClI AND STATE IN NKW ENGl.AND. ',i')[) 
 
 general good of tlic colony ; " the emigrants promising thereto 
 " all due subordination and obedience."^ 
 
 This however was but a vague outline of their intentions ; it 
 laid down no clear princiidcs of religious or civil liberty ; and 
 they soon enforced with a high hand their own views of religion, 
 persecuting others who held different sentiments. Two episco- 
 palians, who had gone out with them, and had Ixh'U appointed 
 members of the Council, were treated with much har.^lniess for 
 asserting their own principles, and within a short period were 
 tUTCsted and sent back to England. 
 
 " The platfomi of church discipline," agreed upon by a 
 synod, held at Cambridge in New England in 1610-7 and 8, 
 together with the recognition of many excellent principles, 
 and of " the AVestminster confession of faith," contains the 
 following clauses : — If necessary, " the magistrate is to see 
 that the ministry be duly provided for," and " The power of 
 the magistrate extends to the preservation of the peace in mat- 
 ters of moral righteousness, yea, and of godliness too; so that 
 idolatry, blasphemy, heresy, &c., &c., are to be restrained and 
 punished by him. If any churches grow schismatical, or walk 
 contrary to the rule of the word, the magistrate is to put forth 
 his coercive power, as the matter shall require." This was 
 adopted as the religious constitution of the New England 
 colonics ;- and by it a dangerous opening was allowed for state 
 interference in religious matters, to an indefinite extent, sub- 
 ject to the caprice or prejudices of those in authority ! 
 
 In 1(530, a Court held at Charlestown ordered that houses be 
 built and salaries raised for the ministers of religion, at the 
 common charge. 
 
 The first synod on the American shore was held at Newtown 
 in New England, in 1637. It condemned, as erroneous, eighty 
 opinions disseminated by Ann Hutchinson. In conserpuMui' of 
 this decision and of general intolerance, several dissatisfied in- 
 habitants joined Roger Williams, who had lately settled at 
 Providence. 
 
 Persecution wa.s excited against the Friends orUuakers, quickly 
 after their arrival in 1056, when the Court of Massachusetts, "con- 
 sidering them hostile alike to civil and to ecclesiastical order, 
 passed sentence of banishment on twelve of them, being all 
 ' Ne;«r« History of the ruriUins. ' lliid. ; Hohiics' AnnalM. 
 
360 RELIGIOUS LIBEKTY IN MARYLAND. [Ckcip. 30, 
 
 wlio were then in the colony/'^ This persecution was carried 
 to such a barbarous extent, that in the years 1659 and 1660 
 four were hung at Boston for maintaining their religious 
 principles, and many others subjected to ignominious treat- 
 ment, cruel imprisonment and exile. An order procured from 
 Charles II. put a stop to these antichristian proceedings in 
 1661;" and the Society soon became numerous, in spite of the 
 fierce opposition it had encountered. The stigma attaching to 
 the puritan New Englanders has proved indelible, and the 
 dangers attending the union of civil and ecclesiastical authority 
 have seldom been more forcibly exemplified. 
 
 In 1681, the first episcopal society was established with autho- 
 rity, and the English liturgy enforced at Boston. These were 
 some of the fruits of James II.^s arbitrary rule ; on his abdica- 
 tion the country was again governed according to its charters, 
 the surrender of which he had in many cases attempted to 
 gain. 3 
 
 Srd Section. — Maryland. 
 
 This district was colonized about 1683, by papists under Lord 
 Baltimore, to whose memory it is due to acknowledge that he 
 founded a government where liberty was fully assured to persons 
 of all religious persuasions. It must be recorded as the earliest 
 instance in the New World, and most probably in the whole 
 world, of the practical adoption by a Christian government of 
 the great principle of complete liberty of conscience. 
 
 The governor declared in his oath, " I will not, by myself or 
 any other, directly or indirectly, molest any person professing 
 to believe in Jesus Christ, in respect of religion." At the 
 instance of certain puritans however, a temporary exception 
 was made after a course of years, with respect to those who 
 professed the principles of the first founders — popery as well 
 as prelacy. The Friends also were subjected to sufferings 
 for their religious principles. But enlarged views generally 
 characterised the government, persons of all denominations 
 wei'e protected, and as a natural consequence, the colony rapidly 
 advanced in population and prosperity.* 
 
 ' Holmes' Annals. ^ Sewell and Gough's Histories of Friends. 
 = Ibid. ' liowden's History of Fricncls in America. 
 
Sect. 4.] BLESSINGS OF RELIUIOLS tREEDOM IN KllOl) 
 
 Aih Section — Hhodc Island. 
 
 Koger Williams, u puritan minister, " young, godly and 
 ze.iloiis," who went to NeAv Englaiul in 1030, being more 
 enlightened and independent than most of his cotemporaries, 
 boldly declared that " persecution for cause of conscience 
 is most evidently contrarj' to the doctrine of Christ." His 
 tenets were pronounced to be " hei*etical and seditious, tend- 
 ing equally to sap the foundation of the establishment in 
 church and in state; and being found irreclaimable he was 
 banished the jurisdiction.''' After enduring great exposure and 
 suffering, in 163.") he settled on Rhode Island, where he esta- 
 blished a new colony on the broad Christian basis of entire reli- 
 gious liberty and equality, naming its capital " Providence/' 
 and declaring his earnest desire that it might prove " a shelter 
 for persons of distressed conscience." A charter was granted to 
 these colonists in 1643, and one of the articles of the con- 
 stitution agreed on was, " that none be accounted a delincpient 
 for doctrines/' and that '' the magistrate having nothing to do 
 with matters of the first table, but only the second, therefore 
 there should be a general and unlimited toleration for all 
 religions ; and that to punish men for matters of conscience 
 was persecution." This Christian liberality brought upon its 
 author violent reproaches from neighbouring colonies, in some 
 of which prcs1)ytery violated the rights of conscience not less 
 than episcopacy had done in Europe. " We have not felt in 
 this colony," exclaimed the independent Rhode Islanders in 
 1651, "the iron yoke of wolvish bishops, nor the new chains of 
 the presbytcrian tyrants ; nor have we been consumed by the 
 over-zealous fire of the (so-called) godly Christian magistrate. 
 We have not known what an excise means; vre have almost 
 forgotten w hat tithes are ! "- 
 
 The government was liowevcr induced to pass a bill in 1665, to 
 outlaw the Friends and seize their estates, for not bearing arms 
 against the Indians; but the people rose and prevented it from 
 being carried into execution.'' The general example of Rhode 
 Island was a noble one in respect to religiotis liberty, and has 
 ultimately been followed throughout tlie I nited States. 
 ' Holmes' Annal. Bowden's History. * Holmes' Annals. 
 
362 Locke's constitution for Carolina. [Chap. 30. 
 
 bth Section. — Carolina. 
 
 This district was first settled by the English in 1663; and the 
 charter from Charles II, allowed " indulgences and dispensa- 
 tions in religious affairs, as the colonists might think proper."' 
 Six years after, the proprietaries sent over a new constitution 
 framed by the celebrated John Locke; an express clause in 
 which granted full freedom to men of every religion, — to Jews, 
 heathens, and dissenters. This " attracted pui'itans and papists 
 from England, Ireland and Holland, persecuted Huguenots from 
 France, and exiled Covenanters from Scotland.'^ Members of 
 the Society of Friends had already settled in the colony. The 
 constitution was however defective. It recognised negro slavery ; 
 the church of England was to be allowed a public mainte- 
 nance; an order of hereditary nobility was created; and the 
 legislative power was limited to a few.- In consequence of 
 the inconvenience of these and other regulations, it was aban- 
 doned by the north in 1680, and by the south in 1693 ; general 
 religious liberty was however retained. 
 
 By an act of the pro^incial assembly in 1693, the counties 
 were divided into thirty parishes, sixteen of which were supplied 
 with ministers, and provided with li^dngs. An episcopal college 
 was established in the same year, as a seminary for ministers, 
 and for educational pui'poses. The college was endowed with 
 20,000 acres of land, and with a revenue derived from a duty 
 of one penny per lb. on tobacco exported. Episcopacy was 
 established in South Carolina in 1704, and an Act was passed 
 by the provincial legislatui'e, requiring all members of the 
 assembly to conform to the rehgious worship of the chm'ch of 
 England, and to receive the Lord's supper according to its 
 rites. An ecclesiastical jurisdiction was also established and 
 vested with arbitrary powers : " money was provided for build- 
 ing churches, land for glebes, and a salary for each rector."^ 
 
 The government of Georgia was settled in 1 732, with liberty 
 of conscience and freedom of worship to all but papists.^ 
 
 ' Holmes' Annals of America. 
 
 - Some of these clanses are said not to have been indited by Locke. 
 
 ^ Holmes' Annals. * Ibid. 
 
Sect. 6.] UKLKilOUS EQUALITV IN NKW JEK.sEV. 3(l.i 
 
 ()///. — 7'he Jerseys. 
 
 The first settlement of New Jersey was by the Dutch ; the 
 colony being finally transferred to British doniiniou in 1074, 
 when West Jersey was purchased by two members of the Society 
 of Friends for C^OOO. These subdivided it among many others ; 
 and in 107(5 the proprietors laid down certain principles of 
 future government. Section 16th declares that " No man or 
 number of men have authority to rule over men's consciences 
 in religious matters ; " therefore it is ordained " That no person 
 within the said province shall be, upon any pretence whatever, 
 called in question or punished, either in person, estate or privi- 
 lege, for the sake of his opinion, faith or worship, in matters of 
 religion, &c." All the inhabitants were to be free from oppres- 
 sion and slavery, and the force of arms was in no case to l)e 
 employed. Many of the Friends having migrated from England 
 to West Jersey, and settled there with liberty and success, 
 certain members of the same society purchased East Jersey 
 in 1681.1 
 
 An American annalist remarks, that in every town in East 
 Jersey about that time there was a house for public worship, 
 where religious service was performed weekly. They had no 
 laws for maintaining public teachers, but the towns that had 
 them made way ^vithin themselves to maintain them. Newai-k 
 appears to have been the only town ha\'ing a settled preacher 
 who " followed no other employment." In 1086 a strict law 
 was passed against duels and challenges, and no one was allowed 
 to go armed with sword, pistol or dagger, on penalty of C5.- 
 
 IJoth colonies became a secure and favourite retreat for those 
 who were oppressed in England and Scotland, and desirous to 
 live in peace. James II. attempted to deprive the colony of its 
 chai'ter, which was at length surrendered to the crown, and the 
 two provinces were united in 1702 under the government of 
 Lord Cornbury. 
 
 ' Buwdens History, &c. " lloliuen' .<Viiiml«. 
 
364 
 
 HBEllTY OF CONSCIENCE ALLOWED. [ChdJ). 30. 
 
 7t/i Section. — New York. 
 
 This country, termed by the Dutch New Netherlands, was 
 finally assigned to the British by the treaty of Westminster in 
 1674j when the Duke of York, afterwards James II., obtained a 
 new patent for it from the king, and called it after his own title. 
 The first assembly after the reA'olution was held in 1691, and 
 passed an Act that no person, professing faith in God by Jesus 
 Christ, should be disturbed or questioned for different opinions 
 in religion, he not disturbing the public peace ; the professors of 
 the Romish religion being excepted. The same liberty of con- 
 science was extended by charter to Massachusetts in 1692, and 
 with the like exception. The episcopal church was first intro- 
 duced into New York in 1693, when the assembly passed an Act 
 for settling and maintaining a ministry.^ 
 
 Sth Section. — Pennsylvania. 
 
 In 1681 a grant was made to William Penn, by royal chartei", 
 of a large tract of land near the Delaware, which was named 
 Pennsylvania, after his father Admiral Penn. The motives of 
 William Penn in soliciting the grant and planting the colony, 
 are said to have been three-fold : the first was, to establish entire 
 liberty of conscience, and thus to provide a safe shelter and 
 peaceful abode for the people of his own and other persuasions, 
 who were distressed on account of religion ; the second, to fui*- 
 nish a sound example and " holy experiment " of enlightened 
 polity and good government, founded on Christian principles; 
 and the third, to promote the civilization and conversion of 
 the Indian natives, by measures of righteousness and religious 
 intercourse. 
 
 In his outline of the frame of government he says, " I do for 
 me and mine declare and establish, for the first fundamental of 
 the government of my province, that every person residing 
 therein shall enjoy the free possession of his or her faith and 
 exercise of worship towards God, in such manner as every such 
 person shall in conscience believe is most acceptable to God. 
 And so long as every such person useth not this Christian liberty 
 ' Hohues' Auiials. 
 
Sect. 8.] ALL CHIRCHKS PKOTIXTKI) IN rKNN sYI.\ AMA. 3(5") 
 
 to the destruction of otlicrs or to licentiousness, he or slio shall 
 be protected in the enjoyment of the aforesaid Christian lil)erty 
 by the civil nia^istratc." 
 
 The charter uliich he granted to the colony in 1701 breathed 
 the same impartial and comprehensive spirit. " No person con- 
 fessing the one Almighty and Eternal (Jod to be the Crcatoi-, 
 l^pholder and llulcr of the world, and holding himself obliged 
 to live peaceably and justly under civil government, shall be in 
 any case molested or prejudiced in person or estate, for his con- 
 scientious persuasion or practice, or be compelled at any tinu; 
 to frequent any religious worship, place or ministry, or to do 
 or suffer any other act or thing, contrary to his religions per- 
 suasion." All such as professed faith in Jesus Christ, the 
 Saviour of the world, and who had not been " convicted of ill 
 fame, or imsober and dishonest conversation," were to be capable 
 of being electors, members of the provincial council or general 
 assembly, and officers of the government. The people were 
 vested with authority. 
 
 Founded and conducted on these enlightened Christian prin- 
 ciples, the government could scarcely fail to succeed; and, as 
 a natural consequence, Pennsylvania soon became populous and 
 the people flourishing, as his biographer remarks, " almost be- 
 yond conjecture, and certainly beyond former precedent." ^ 
 Eighty years after its settlement, the territory is said to have had 
 more white inhabitants, though settled later, than any other 
 English colony on the continent. New England alone excepted. 
 
 It was a favourite maxim of this illustrious man, that good 
 citizens were of still more importance to a country than a good 
 civil constitution, and that without the former the latter could 
 not be maintained. Hence he enacted laws for the right educa- 
 tion of the young, for the encouragement of virtue, and provided 
 for the reformation as well as the punishment of offenders ; but 
 jealously guarding against any infringement of the rights of 
 religious liberty, which he determined in his charter to be " one 
 of those laws which were never to be changed." - 
 
 Locke is said to have candidly acknowledged that the consti- 
 tution framed by Penn was suj)erior to bis own production 
 twelve years earlier. 
 
 So early as 170J, twenty-one years after the establishment of 
 the colony, the inhabitants of the city were composed of two 
 ' Clarkson's Life of Penn. » Ibid. 
 
366 SINISTER ATTEMPTS OF EPISCOPALIANS. [Chttp. 30. 
 
 nearly equal portions ;i one of these being Friends or Quakers, 
 real or professing, the other consisting of English Independents 
 Irish Catholics^ Scotch Presbyterians, Welsh Episcopalians, Ger- 
 man Amish, Swiss Calvinists, Swedish Lutherans, and so on. Each 
 of these sects supported its own worship and ministry. Though 
 the Friends were a large majority OA^er any other indi^ddual 
 sect, they carefully abstained as a body from giving themselves 
 the airs of an establishment ; and for twenty years the various 
 churches had lived in peaceful harmony. 
 
 To conciliate the Bishop of London and the episcopal party 
 generally, who were intriguing for the purpose. King William 
 had made two grants, chargeable on the customs; one of 
 €50. a year, towards the support of a church and minister at 
 Philadelphia, first established in 1700; the other of €30. a 
 year, for the support of a schoolmaster.- Nor was the tax of a 
 penny a pound on all the tobacco exported from Pennsylvania 
 and the Delaware the chief evil. Under favour of this endow- 
 ment, which in itself was an act of injustice to every other 
 denomination in the colony, " the vestry of St. Paul's " assumed 
 the attitude of the church of England. They laboured to 
 undermine the power of the too tolerant proprietor ; now in- 
 voking the protection of Lord Cornbmy, now applying for 
 support and counsel to the see of London and to other parties. 
 They wished tp be made the national church; to obtain endow- 
 ments, charters and privileges from the state. Their first mea- 
 sure therefore was to get the colony annexed to the English 
 crown. They pleaded falsely and unreasonably the licence of a 
 party suffering persecution. Their clergy, they said, had not the 
 same rank and rights as in England. This was their grievance. 
 In a land of equals they would be superior. Claiming immu- 
 nities which were denied to all, they wished to be the dominant 
 chiu'ch as in the mother country.^ Their attempts however 
 were not successful. The germs of civil and religious freedom 
 which had been implanted could not be eradicated, but con- 
 tinued to grow and prosper. 
 
 ' The population of the city at that time appears to have been about 
 10,000 ; at present it amounts to about 280,000, the number of acknow- 
 ledged Friends being nearly 2,400. 
 
 2 This was at the time of the commotion excited by George Keith. — See 
 Richardson and Boumas' Lives. 
 
 ' Dixon's Life of Penn. 
 
Sect. 9.] HRIGHT KXAMTLK OF FKN .\SVI,\ AM A. 367 
 
 Witli those great but simple Christian principles, neither 
 employing nor requiring any arms whatever of oft'ence or de- 
 fence, Pennsylvania afforded to the world a striking example 
 worthy of universal imitation, enjoying internal religious free- 
 dom among a variety of sects, and external peace even among 
 aboriginal barbarous tril)cs. No militia or other soldiers were 
 employed; tlit; constable's staff was the only instrument of 
 authority. The state did not interfere with religious matters ; 
 every denomination was alike i)rotected. No theatrical amuse- 
 ments were permitted ; innnorality and vice were discounte- 
 nanced. This memorable state of things continued without 
 material interruption till about \7'iC), or for seventy-five years, as 
 long as the government remained in the same hands, and as long 
 as the same wise Christian policy was pursued by the citizens.^ 
 
 9/A Section. — General Constitution of ttie United States. 
 
 Having briefly traced the outlines of the civil constitutions 
 adopted by most of the English colonics on the American shores, 
 in reference to religious liberty, we see that though some of the 
 settlers carried exclusive notions with them, and in one case in- 
 stituted dreadful excesses, yet in general the regidations of the 
 new states on this head far surpass, in Christian liberality, those 
 of the old European governments. Happily for America and for 
 the world, those principles of mutual toleration and freedom of 
 conscience, with some exceptions which long subsisted, have ob- 
 tained a permanent and increasing hold. The declaration of 
 independence at the revolution in 1776 thus briefly but fidly 
 recognized and established them in its third supplementary 
 article : — " Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- 
 ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 
 
 The great views of religious liberty and equality are more 
 largely developed in the modern constitutions of many of the 
 
 ' " Universal charity," writes William Penn, " impartial liberty of con- 
 science, and to do to others a.s one would he done hy, are comer-stones and 
 principles with me, ami I am scandalized at all buildings that have them 
 not for their found.itions. Religion itself is an enii>ty name without 
 them, — a whited wall, a paiiite<l sepulchre, no life nor virtue to the soul, 
 no goo«l nor example to one's neighbour. Jjet us not flatter otirselves ; we 
 can never be the l>etter for our religion, if our neighlwur be the worse 
 for it. Happy would it be, if where unity ends charity did l>egin." 
 —Clarkson.i Lifi; of IT Petin : Lcffer to IF. Pnppte. 
 
368 LIBERAL CONSTITUTION OF INDIANA. [Chup. 30. 
 
 states. The following is a specimen worthy of imitatiou, from 
 the constitution adopted by the state of Indiana as lately as 
 1851 :— 
 
 "Article I. Bill of Rights. 
 
 "1st. "We declare that all men are created eqnal; that they 
 are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights^ &c. 
 
 " 2nd. All men shall be secured in the natural right to wor- 
 ship Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own 
 consciences. 
 
 " 3rd. No law shall, in any case whatsoever, control the exer- 
 cise and enjoyment of religious opinions, or interfere with the 
 rights of conscience. 
 
 " 4th. No preference shall be given, by law, to any creed, re- 
 ligious society, or mode of worship ; and no man shall be com- 
 pelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to 
 maintain any ministry against his consent. 
 
 " 5th. No religious test shall be required, as a qualification for 
 any office of trust or profit. 
 
 " 6th. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the 
 benefit of any religious or theological institution. 
 
 " 7th. No person shall be rendered incompetent as a witness, 
 in consequence of his opinions on matters of religion. 
 
 " 8th. The mode of administering an oath or affirmation shall 
 be such as may be most consistent with, and binding upon, the 
 conscience of the person, to whom such oath or affirmation may 
 be administered,"' &c., &c. 
 
 \Oth Section. — Unrighteous Distinction of Colour. 
 
 A constitution founded on such a basis of complete civil 
 and religious liberty, would seem adapted to secure to all 
 the people, without exception, entire fi'cedom and impartiality, 
 security and privileges, whatever their rank, persuasion, origin 
 or colour; yet greatly is it to be deplored that, by a mon- 
 strous stretch of prejudice, and entire perversion of moral 
 principle, all such as have in their veins the least tincture of 
 African blood, however fair their colour may be, are not included 
 among the " all men," who are declared to be " created equal," 
 and to possess as sucli, " inalienable rights," These rights are 
 
Sect. 11.] KELIGIOUS AND FEUSONAL LIHKIITV VIOLATED. 3G9 
 
 ill violutiou of the corapreliensivc and impuitial law ol' God, 
 denied at oucc, by prejudiced iufereuce aloue, and without ii 
 word to waiTant it, to a hirge proportion of the population of 
 tlie globe! 
 
 Europeans have indeed, in their anticpiated systems, grossly 
 infringed on tlie just claims of religious etpiality and liberty of 
 conseienee; but Americans, w hile boasting of the full enjoyment 
 of these blessings, and of their new-born independent eitizenship, 
 have violated them still more grossly and cruelly, by continuing 
 to degrade and enslave their colouj'ed fellow-subjects. Practical 
 Christianity must however break every yoke of moral and per- 
 sonal oppression, and the reign of justice and equity will 
 assuredly prevail ultiuuitely in both hemispheres. 
 
 In the mean time, freedom is yet fiuther outraged in the 
 Western world, by the enactment of fresh laws, forbidding 
 coloured persons to settle in some of the states, or even to re- 
 main there, without giving security of an offensive kind. And 
 in Europe intolerance, civil and religious, assumes a bolder posi- 
 tion and more vindictive aspect. Surely the cup will soon be 
 full, and the wrath of Divine vengeance at length displayed in 
 judgment on the oppressors! Every enlightened Christian 
 country is bound by the strongest obligations of duty and of 
 interest to conform its system to the righteous law of Christ.' 
 
 11/// St'c/ioii — The several lleliyious Bodies, and their Progress 
 after the Revolution. 
 
 One of the first measures of a religious character, after the 
 establishment of the federal government in 1789, was a move- 
 ment of the episcopal body. The independence of the authority 
 of England had rendered parts of " The Book of Common Prayer" 
 totally inap[)licable to American episcopalians : prayers for the 
 king and royal family of Creat Britain, and observances founded 
 on events of English history, had become wholly out of place. 
 The niinisters of that body met therefore in convention at 
 rhiladelphia in the same summer, and drew up a general 
 
 ' Tlie tinjiutt conihictof the United SU-ites toward the native Indians, and 
 the still more opprensive mea.-tures of Great Britain toward the alM>riginal 
 trilto.s of lier own colonies, uiu.st be alIowe<l to Iw fold sjMjts on the nioml 
 reputation of Itoth countries, consistent only with heathen and not with 
 Christian principles, and Jittcrly >ul>versive of exertions to elevate and 
 convert these our fellow men. 
 
 2 n 
 
370 EPISCOPACY IN AMERICA. [Chap. 30. 
 
 constitution for the protestaut episcopal churcli in the United 
 States. 
 
 This assembly agreed that a similar general convention 
 should be held every three years, and that the church in each 
 state should have a representation in it "both lay and clerical;" 
 that the bishops, when there should be three or more, should 
 form a house of revision ; that the bishop or bishops in each 
 state should be chosen as the convention of each state should 
 detei-mine; and that no person should be admitted to holy 
 orders tiU he had been examined and approved. The Book of 
 Common Prayer was corrected and ratified ; such parts as related 
 to the government and circumstances of England, with the 
 Athanasian creed, were omitted, references to the authority of 
 the United States inserted, and a few other parts of the service 
 amended. Substantially, however, the English forms and ser- 
 vices were retained. This was the first episcopal convention in 
 America. 
 
 To pro\ade against contingencies, and to found a new chain 
 of direct succession, three episcopal American ministers had been 
 " consecrated bishops " in London two years before, under the 
 authority of a special Act of Parliament; and in 1792 the first 
 bishop was "consecrated" in America. At the present time they 
 number about thii'ty. Thus was the episcopal churcli fully 
 established in the new States; but its aristocratic pretensions 
 and character, still to some extent retained, do not seem to have 
 won much favoiu' from American citizens. 
 
 A comparison of episcopacy, as existing in the established 
 chui'ch of England, with its counterpart in the United States 
 is not devoid of interest. The American episcopal chui'ch, which 
 in some districts had partaken of the character of an establish- 
 ment, down to the declaration of independence in 1776, has since 
 then received no peculiar bounty from the state, but has stood 
 precisely on the same ground with other religious bodies. Its 
 members provide without difficulty for their own ministers, places 
 of worship, and religious services. Tithes, chui'ch-rates, state 
 endowments and compulsory maintenance are alike unknown. 
 Ecclesiastical patronage, if it ever existed, has been entirely 
 abolished. The ministers are chosen by the several congrega- 
 tions, and the bishops are elected on the same principle. The 
 members of the chm-ch at large are clearly defined, and invested 
 
Sect. 11.] OTIIKK UKMOIOUS BODIES. ,'571 
 
 with II clcj^ce of chiircli nuthurity. The liturgy has been in 
 some respects purified, and may be further corrected without 
 ap[)i'al to any civil U'lrislature, whenever the members of the 
 church, whetlier ministers or heai'crs, shall think proper. 
 
 A genei-al assembly of the presbyterian church met also for 
 the first time in 17HU. It was composed of four synods, and 
 was held in Philadelphia. Its reputation is that of an influen- 
 tial community. The Dutch reformed church, wliich had 
 iiitherto been under the spiritual superintendence of Amsterdam, 
 now became independent. A Roman catholic bishop was "con- 
 secrated'' in 1790, being the first in tlie United States. There 
 arc now about thirty. Their members appear to be more nume- 
 rous than those of any other religious body. The Wesleyan 
 Methodists early formed a connection in America. John 
 Wesley's first visit was in 1735, and at his deatli in 1791, his 
 followers there were about 60,000, one-fourth of them being 
 peoi)le of colour. Their various sects are now next in nmnber 
 to the catholics. The baptists in the same year reached al)out 
 73,0(X), and now form several large divisions. The Society of 
 Friends held its first yearly meeting of discipline on Rhode 
 Island in 1661 for New England, and has continued such 
 meetings from that time. In 1072, a similar meeting was 
 established on AVest River in Maryland. Five years after, one 
 appears to liave been held on Long-Island for New York. In 
 lOS] another was settled at Burlington for New Jersey, after- 
 wards inelnding Pennsylvania. At early periods such meetings 
 existed in Virginia and North Carolina. Ohio yearly meeting 
 Mas not established till 1813, nor Indiana, now much the largest 
 of the whole, till 1821.' 
 
 Wherever a new settlement is formed in the western states, 
 tljcre one of the first public buildings is usually a neat chapel 
 or meeting-house, raised by spontaneous exertions and consi- 
 dered indispensable. Ministers of religion liave often been en- 
 couraged to settle in a district, by the appropriation of a piece 
 of land for their maintenance. Throughout the United States, 
 either an oath or an aflirmation may be used in any case at the 
 option of the party — a reasonable libert}- which affords great 
 
 ' In some p.art-s the penoral meetlng^;* were first held hnlf-yenrly. See the 
 several books of (HaciplLiie ; alsi. TJl.liii.K..ii"-< .Tuiirual, Bowden's History, 
 Holmes's Annals, &c. 
 
 o n o 
 
 /v l> <V 
 
372 NUMBERS OF CHAPELS^ MINISTERS AND MEMBERS. [Chap. 30. 
 
 relief to many conscientious persons. Dr. Baird stated in 1851, 
 that while the increase of the whole population has been less 
 than fourfold within the last half century, the number of evan- 
 gelical churches,, ministers and members has increased nearly 
 tenfold, all their funds being raised by voluntary contributions. 
 In 1850^ according to him^ 10,000 places of divine worship were 
 built, and the salaries of their ministers freely raised were about 
 £350,000. So much for the result of spontaneous efforts in 
 the cause of religion, in the Anglo-Saxon states of America ! 
 
 In Britain, endeavours have been used to restrain the mind 
 and conscience, and to tie down religious profession by Act of 
 Parliament, — endeavours which have been productive of baneful 
 results through an alliance of priestly with civil usurpation. In 
 America, a spirit of independence in thought and feeling, and 
 an absence of all such constraint by magisterial authority, have 
 produced a great variety and some extravagances of religious 
 opinion. With less profession and more liberty of mind, the 
 new world however will probably not suffer by a candid com- 
 parison with the old : the one often displaying the fickleness, the 
 inexperience and the rashness of youth ; the other retaining 
 largely the immoveability, the formality and the coldness of age. 
 
 \2th Section. — The Existing Religious Bodies. 
 
 On an examination of several returns and calculations, the 
 proportions of the various religious societies in the United States 
 are assumed to be, in round numbers, nearly as follows;^ the 
 whole population being sixteen or seventeen millions : — 
 
 Keligious bodies. 
 
 Chapels. 
 
 Ministers. 
 
 Members. 
 
 Various sects of Methodists . . . 
 
 „ „ Baptists .... 
 
 „ „ Presbyterians . . . 
 
 „ „ Congregationalists . 
 Lutheran and Eeformed Churches . . 
 Protestant Episcopalians 
 
 
 14,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 1,700 
 
 1,7C0 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,000 
 
 700 
 
 1,400 
 
 14,000 
 
 15,500 
 
 11,500 
 
 4,500 
 
 2,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 1,800 
 
 900 
 
 700 
 
 1,100 
 
 13,000 
 
 1,200,000 
 1,000,000 
 400,000 
 200,000 
 200,000 
 150,000 
 120,000 
 120,000 
 110,000 
 1,500,000 
 
 Friends, or Quakers, and Seceders 
 Unitarians (beside under other heads) 
 Various other Sects 
 
 Eonian Catholics 
 
 
 
 
 50,000 
 
 53,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 ' See American Almanac, Dr. Baird 's Statement in 1851 to Evangelical 
 Alliance, Census Eeturns, &c. It must be noted that this comjiutation 
 refers to members only, and not to attenders. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS 0\ CHURCH CONSTITUTIONS AND DISCIPLINE. 
 
 Part I. On Church Constitutions. 
 
 While true spiritual authority in a religious community is de- 
 rived from the Great Head of the church, — without some degree 
 of "vvlio.sc life and power its nominal memhcrs, ministers and 
 other officers are but insensible and dead as to heavenly things, 
 and their proceedings likely to obstruct rather than promote 
 vital Christianity, — it is at the same time evident that, for the right 
 ordering and government of every particular church, there must 
 be a proper authority vested somewhere, and exercised by some 
 body or person. The question now to be considered is, in whom 
 is that authority rightly placed ? 
 
 Ist Section. — Opinions of the Early Reformers. 
 
 The first reformers from popery do not appear to have had 
 very clear or decided views on this subject. Not foreseeing 
 the variations which might and did arise, protestantism presented 
 itself to them at first as a unity producing uniformity, — as one 
 religious system distinguished from Catholicism ; and Jis some 
 governments had protected the one and maintained its interests, 
 so other govcrnuicnts were expected to ui)hold and protect the 
 other. But, contrary to their own anticipations, the adherents to 
 the reformation, while generally agreeing in main principles, 
 soon divided into distinct sections or churches, taking difTerent 
 views on points of detail, — a consequence which was to be anti- 
 cipated from individual freedom of inquiry and of oijinion, but 
 atl'ording no just ground for the alarm of the friends, or for the 
 reproach of the enemies of the protestant cause. Difficulties 
 sprang up and had to be provided against, which the reformers 
 
374 THE ERASTIAN SYSTEM. [Chap. 31. 
 
 had not foreseen^ and for which they were not prepared. Their 
 views therefore, as to the union of one church with the state, 
 and the evils arising from it, were not distinctly called out. 
 Their conflict had been chiefly with the power usurped by the 
 see of Rome, in opposition to the rights of conscience and to the 
 Divine prerogative ; but protestant rulers also soon deserted the 
 leading principle of the reformation — the duty of private judg- 
 ment in matters of faith under the guidance of the Spirit of trutli 
 and the authority of Holy Scripture. They imitated one of the 
 worst features of the papacy, assuming the rank of so many 
 protestant popes, and claiming a power for themselves, and sub- 
 mission from their subjects, almost as absolute and unreasonable 
 as had been exacted by Rome herself. 
 
 Many of those who thought all gained when they had escaped 
 the fangs of popish inquisitors, soon deemed all lost when they 
 fell into the clutches of protestant persecutors. In the principle 
 and not in the men the chief fault really lay. Most religious 
 parties asserted the duty of the secular power to interfere in 
 matters of religion ; and whether in the hands of professed eccle- 
 siastics, or of rulers of the state exercising ecclesiastical func- 
 tions, the difi'erence was not material; the system and its results 
 were in both cases nearly the same. 
 
 '^nd Section. — Union with the State, or Erastian System. 
 
 Catholics, protestant episcopalians and puritans, — all main- 
 tained, that the rulers of the state have full authority to con- 
 trol and govern the church, by means of a union such as still 
 exists in several European nations, and which it is the special 
 object of this essay to controvert. 
 
 Matters of religion, however, as has been already shown, do 
 not properly belong to the province or the cognizance of the 
 state, iniless they interrupt its outward peace, or injure those of 
 its institutions which are strictly secular or moral. To commit 
 the government of a spiritual body, in conformity with the 
 notions of Erastus and his followers, to politicians, statesmen 
 and legislators, who may be of any variety of religion, or of none 
 at all, is an outrage on the common sense and convictions of 
 mankind, as well as at variance with the principles of the New 
 Testament. It admits indeed of no plausible apology, except on 
 
1. — 3.] FOUNDATION OF cukist's CIU'UCII. 375 
 
 the ^'ound that a churcli has no working agency witliin itself, 
 to which it can confide the ecclesiastical authority — a deficiency 
 that should not and need not exist. 
 
 " The part of the prince/' says Merle D'Aubigne, " is to leave 
 a fair field to the church. Princes easily forget this. They like 
 to grasp and mould in their iron hand the spiritual interests of 
 the church. I hope they will feel more and more convinced 
 that they should leave to God all that appertains to God." Thus 
 writes a shrewd observer and experienced Christian ; while 
 Chalmers, equal in religious weight, declares, " I regard as co- 
 ordinate errors standing upon the same level, antichristian 
 Erastianism, which attributes supremacy in the church to the 
 state on the one hand, and popery, which attributes it to the 
 see of Rome on the other. It is still human authority claiming 
 precedence over the Bible, that great directory of our faith." ^ 
 
 3rd Section. — The Popish or Hiyh Church System. 
 
 Many Christians refer, for a solution of the question of church 
 government, to the conversation of our Lord with Peter. 
 "Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son 
 of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him. 
 Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not 
 revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And 
 I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I 
 will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom 
 of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be 
 bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall 
 be loosed in heaven.'" The Roman catholics assert, that " the 
 power of the keys " was hereby committed only to Peter, and to 
 his successors the popes and Romish priests, to be used in ex- 
 communication and absolution. Such will do well however to 
 remember, that it was ver\' soon after Christ had spoken of 
 giving the keys to Peter, that he rebuked him with the words, 
 " Get thee behind me, Satan ! thou art an offence imto me ; for 
 thou savourest not tlie things that be of (Jod, but those that be 
 of men."-' Our Lord thus clearly showed that it was not upon 
 
 ' D'Aultignc'ti Ocrinany, Euglftiid and Scotland. 
 ' Matt. xvi. 16—19. ' Ibid. xvi. 23. 
 
376 AUGUSTIN AND WICLIFFE ON ""' THE KEYS.'^ [Chap. 31. 
 
 Peter that he woiild build his church, but upon that true faith 
 in himself Avhich Peter had testified, whether existing in Peter, 
 in all the apostles, or in the church at large. 
 
 The papists, restricting this power of the keys to the pope and 
 their own bishops, denounce all others as heretics and intruders; 
 and even the high-church protestants claim nearly the same 
 power for themselves, as derived through Rome from Peter, to 
 the exclusion of dissenters. 
 
 Augustin declared that ^'what was said to Peter was said to 
 all believers: Teed my sheep;' Teed my lambs ;^ 'What ye 
 bind on earth shall be securely bound, and what ye loose shall 
 be entirely loosed.'^' Wicliflfe plainly declared that no bene- 
 diction or censure of any priest would produce either good or 
 evil, except in proportion as it is in agreement with the mind of 
 Christ. And truly when believers, being baptized into Christ, 
 and brought into spiritual fellowship and oneness with him, 
 suffer their wills to be thoroughly subjected to the will of God, 
 having, as Paul thought he had, " the mind of Christ," then, as 
 they abide in this state of subjection and heavenly-mindedness, 
 they can will or desire nothing but what God wills, bind or con- 
 demn only that which he binds or condemns, and loose or acquit 
 only what he looses or acquits. Is not this the full extent and 
 true meaning of the power which Christ designed to confer, and 
 is it not extended to all the true members of his spii'itual body? 
 
 " That Peter was once a prisoner," remarks Gavazzi, " we 
 gather from Holy Writ ; but where do we learn that he became 
 also a gaoler, and kept the keys, not of heaven, but of a bride- 
 well ? Not content with appropriating the Moorish rosary' — 
 an innocent adaptation of Saracenic devotion — Rome must also 
 learn from the camel-driver of Mecca the use of the sword, in 
 promulgating the doctrines of the Redeemer ! " 
 
 4th Section. — The Ministerial System. 
 
 Some protestant churches, giring a wider construction to the 
 words of Christ, take also into consideration his further address 
 to the whole of his disciples, and not to Peter alone : — " Verily 
 I say unto yoii, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound 
 in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed 
 
1. 5.] rUIVII.EGKS OF CHURCH MEMHEUS. 377 
 
 in heaven."^ Aiul iij^aiu : — " AVlioscsoevcr sins ye remit tlioy arc 
 remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain they are 
 retained."- Sueh eluirehes profess to understand this power as 
 descending from tlie first diseipk^s to the ministers of the gospel, 
 and to be confined to ministers in all succeeding times. 
 
 This notion savours strongly of the assumed di\ine right and 
 apostolical succession. It derives however no solid support frc.n 
 the language or conduct of the primitive apostles themselves. 
 As ministers they had a distinct and peculiar office to fulfil, 
 in handing forth to the people the " word of reconciliation/' 
 while other disciples superintended the more secular concerns of 
 the church. All were "to rule with diligence/' and such as 
 "ruled well" were to be "counted worthy of double honour/' 
 whether they " laboured in the word and doctrine " or not, but 
 "especially" the former.^ 
 
 oth Section. — The Popular or Representative System. 
 
 Other protestants take a still more enlarged view of our 
 Saviour's words, maintaining that he addressed them to the 
 whole church, and that all its faithful members, all true be- 
 lievers, are entitled under him to a degree of spiritual authority 
 and influence in the conduct of church affairs. 
 
 To the believers at large our Lord directed that the last ap- 
 peal should be made in cases of difference: — "If thy brother shall 
 trespass against thee, go and tell him his faidt : if he shall hear 
 thee, thou hast gained thy brother; if not, take witli thee one or 
 two more; and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it/' as a 
 final measure, "unto the church." ' In the book of the Acts 
 we read that " the disciples," being " together about a huiulrcd 
 and twenty,"* united in choosing a successor to Judas ; also 
 that " the apostles and elders, with Hie irhole church," met and 
 deliberated together on very important questions of practice. 
 
 The true judgment of the Christian church is fully expressed 
 in the words, " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." 
 AVith this sacred direction, the conclusions of any religious body 
 w ill ever be sound and right. At this point each should aim, that 
 its deliberations and proceedings may be under such a guidance, 
 
 ' M.'itt. xviii. 18. ' John xx. 23. * 1 Tim. v. 17. 
 
 4 Malt, xviii. 15—17. * Acta. i. 15. • Acts xv. 28. 
 
378 SUBJECTION OP ALL TO CHRIST ALONE. \Chaji. 31. 
 
 no less than that of the Spirit of its ever-living Head^ who pro- 
 mised to be with his people to the end of the world ; the 
 natural will, selfishness and wisdom of man being brought into 
 subjection to Him. The apostolic church recognized different 
 brethren as called to the performance of different duties. ^' For 
 we being many/' said Paul, " are one body in Christ, and every 
 one members one of another, — having gifts differing according 
 to the grace that is given to " each ; whether " ministry/^ or 
 *^ exhortation/' or " discerning of spirits/' or " giving/' or 
 '* ruling/' or '^ showing mercy :" ' " For there are diversities 
 of gifts, but the same Spirit/'- — " a manifestation of" which 
 " is given to every man to profit withal."^ 
 
 The gift of prophecy or of the ministry is highly to be valued, 
 and important to the chui'ch ; but the other gifts, just enume- 
 rated and placed somewhat on a par, are important also. In the 
 primitive church, "letters of commendation"^ were given to 
 ministers proceeding from one district to another. Such were 
 termed " the messengers of the chiu'ches, and of Christ," but not 
 otherwise Christ's vicars.^ This was an intrusion which entered 
 at a much later period. Christ is the Head — the Master ; and 
 all believers are fellow-members — fellow-servants. 
 
 Since therefore no one has a claim to act as the head, and 
 since no class j)Ossesses an inherent power to goA^ern the body, 
 it follows that from all the lining members of the church, the 
 authority over it must be derived under Christ, that all things 
 may be preserved in order. There is to be no usui^pation ; on 
 the contraiy, all must "be subject one to another, and be 
 clothed with humility."^ Every member has a duty to perform 
 in the spiritual body, and of this duty he cannot divest himself 
 by relinquishing the performance to others. Every li^dng 
 member of the church is spiritually both priest and king. 
 
 The church at large then appears to be the right judge 
 under Christ, in spiritual matters, such as the duty of particular 
 measures, the fitness of individuals for the ministry, and other 
 considerations. Altogether opposite and absurd is the idea that 
 churches are to be under subjection to their ministers. 
 
 The possession of a deliberative power and duty naturally 
 
 ' Eom. xii. 4—8. ^ 1 Cor. xii. 4. ' 1 Cor. xii. 7. 
 
 ■• 2 Cor. iii. 1, and Acts xviii. 27. 
 
 " Euskin on Construction of Sheepfolds. ° 1 Peter v. 5. 
 
]. — 5.] ADVANTAGES OF DEFINITE MEMBEIISHIP. 379 
 
 gives to every true member an interest in tlie welfare of a 
 elmrch, in its discipline, doctrines, observances, finances, minis- 
 ters, and other offieers. It reiniircs a correct view of the con- 
 stitution and extent of membership ; it strengthens the commu- 
 nity of feeling between the ministers and the people, places both 
 parties in their proper relative positions, and tends to build them 
 up together as a united spiritual family, in a holy fellowship and 
 brotherhood. And on the other hand, the investiture of minis- 
 ters alone, or in a degree far beyond others, with a spiritual 
 authority over the church by virtue of their otHcc, and the denial 
 to the faithfid members at large of all part in its deliberations 
 and management, is a sure method to make the latter in a great 
 degree a cypher, an inert body, depriving both them of common 
 Clu'istian rights, and the church of the benefit of their co-ope- 
 ration. 
 
 The treatise of Paolo Sarpi, or " Father Paul," on ecclesias- 
 tical benefices and revenues, relates many distinguishing features 
 of the church, both in its purer and in its corrupt days. Accord- 
 ing to him, its government in the pinmitive ages was entirely 
 popular, the believers at large having a share in all delibera- 
 tions of moment. Cyprian attributed to the collective church 
 the right of choosing and deposing bishops ; and it sometimes 
 happened that, before the usual regulations for the appointment 
 could be gone through, a bishop was chosen by the direct and 
 unanimous call of the assembly. 
 
 Gavazzi states it as his opinion that " the clergy, who in after 
 times called themselves by insolent monopoly ' the church,' 
 were in early d.iys but the servants and functionaries of the 
 great assemblies of the faithful; and that to such assendjlics was 
 invariably entrusted the election of bishops, presbyters and 
 deacons," as well as other matters of importance. 
 
 Whether there be ruling elders or presbyters, or whether 
 there be overseers or bishops, to assist or watch over the minis- 
 ters ; or whether there be any other form of chiu'eh govern- 
 ment, the dirtercnce docs not appear to be very material. 
 " Presbyter," said ^[ilton, " is but old priest writ large." 
 The true foundation of authority under Christ consists in tlic 
 judgment and api>ointmeut of the church at large, united in a 
 real desire to be inHuenccd by his Spirit, and to deliberate 
 
380 ARNOLD AND LAING ON CHURCH GOVERNMENT. [Chap. 31. 
 
 and act in submission to Him^ for tlie good of his body. Unless 
 the government of the churchy whatever be its form, originate 
 with the people, and be subject to be controlled by them, there 
 will be great danger of ecclesiastical despotism and usurpation, 
 in some shape or other, among the ministers or other rulers, and 
 of indifference and apathy among the hearers, as feeling them- 
 selves an uninterested party, excluded from judgment and from 
 action. 
 
 Dr. Arnold boldly declares in one of his letters, dated 1840, ''I 
 hold it to be one of the most mischievous falsehoods ever broached, 
 that the government of the Christian church is vested hj di^dne 
 right in the clergy ; and that the close corporation of bishops 
 and presbyters — whether one or more makes no difference — is, 
 and ever ought to be, the representative of the church." He 
 however, under a vague notion of the " perfect church and the 
 perfect state," would employ the aid of the state to supply the 
 want of a governing body in the church itself The Wesleyan 
 methodists have long suflFered from contentions about the full 
 adoption of the representative system, to be shared by all the 
 members of the connection, the ruling body of ministers being 
 very unwilling to grant it. Priestly usurpation is by no means 
 confined to one religious body ! 
 
 The following remarks of a shrewd observer confirm the views 
 here expressed : — " The supremacy of the civil power over the 
 religious concerns of the people is clearly inconsistent with a 
 sound and pure administration of the Christian religion. Now 
 there is but one remedy for this overwhelming evil, which has 
 been growing to a head ever since the reformation. It is to vest 
 the church power, neither in the government of the country, nor 
 in an ecclesiastical power independent of it, but in the people. 
 It is in the voluntary system, in which neither state-power nor 
 church-power can interfere with the religious convictions of men, 
 that protestant Christianity must ultimately find its true and 
 permanent asylum. The church generally assumes now, as 
 it did in the darkest ages, that a power over the religious 
 conscience should be lodged in a body called the church, or 
 in a body called the state. It is a truth which is only 
 beginning to dawn upon Europe, that this power should be 
 lodged in a body called the people; and that it should be 
 
1. 5.] REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT : FEMALE MEMHERS. 381 
 
 abolished altogether us au establishment in society vested with 
 })o\ver." ' 
 
 It is uot however to be supposed that mere popular control 
 will rectify the condition of any church. Unless the influential 
 body, whether the people, the ministers or the state, be subject 
 to the government of Christ's Spirit, every such chui'ch will still 
 be out of order, and will uot possess the true character of the 
 " body of Christ." " Take heed to yourselves and to all the 
 flock, over whicli the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers," 2 is 
 an injunction that can never be too deeply pondered or too highly 
 estimated, by all who have an influence over the professing 
 churches. 
 
 John Hales of Eton, an eminent Christian, observed two cen- 
 turies ago, in his treatise " on the power of the keys," " this 
 authority was not so imparted to the apostles that it should be 
 confined to them. Every one that heard and received from them 
 the light of the saving doctrine of Christ crucified, so far forth 
 as he had understanding in the ways of life, had now the keys 
 of the kingdom of heaven committed to his power, both for his 
 own and for others' use. Every one, of w hat state and condition 
 soever, that hath any occasion oS'cred him to serve another in 
 the ways of life — clergy or lay, male or female, whatever such 
 be — hath these keys, not only for himself, but for the benefit 
 of others."^ 
 
 The representative system affords great advantages in giving 
 to the people, or to the members generally, a share in the inte- 
 rests and management of their respective churches ; such of 
 course as possess the confidence of their fellow-members being 
 chosen by the rest to act for them, and for such time only as 
 that confidence may be retained. That the ministers should 
 liavc no voice is not to be presumed, any more than that their 
 voice should be preponderating. The revival of diocesan synod.s, 
 which has of late been urged in the Anglican church, would not 
 supply a proper remedy to the existing evils, because the govern- 
 ing power would still be confined to the ecclesiastics. 
 
 No system moreover can be complete, which altogether ex- 
 cludes females, who are endowed with spiritual gifts, and who are 
 often numerous, pious and zealous menibers, from some part in 
 
 ' Laing'a Notes of a Traveller. * Acts xx. 28. 
 
 I Quotetl by W. Penu iu au Address to Protestants. 
 
38.2 BENEFITS OP CO-OPERATION IN THE CHURCH. [Chap. 31. 
 
 its deliberations, especially "with respect to the oversight of their 
 own sex. This branch of the subject, apart from all extravagant 
 and absurd views of it, is one of great moment, and well deserves 
 serious consideration; that the Christian character and important 
 influence of woman may be elevated to a proper position, and 
 that the church may derive from it that co-operation, which the 
 one is so well able to afford, and which the other so greatly needs. 
 TMiere right order, and a proper distribution of assistance, 
 control and labour are sincerely desired by all parties, there — 
 under a frequent recui'rence to the guidance of the Spirit of 
 truth and to the authority of Holy Scripture, — a profitable ad- 
 justment of the details of discipliae in the church will from 
 time to time take place, in a spirit of charity and mutual for- 
 bearance. Abuses will be corrected, errors relinquished, and 
 deficiencies supplied. Ephraim will not envy Judah, neither 
 will Judah vex Ephraim. The rulers will not be oppressors, nor 
 will the people be unreasonable. Exaction will give place to 
 spontaneous bounty. The love of Christ and of his church will 
 supersede selfish and ambitious motives. All classes, whether 
 ministers or hearers, rich or poor, male or female, whether 
 taking an active share in the general management or not, will 
 be united in one common interest, and strive together to pro- 
 mote their common duty — the salvation of their own souls, the 
 true welfare of the church, the honour of God, and the advance- 
 ment of the kingdom of Christ in the hearts of men. 
 
 Part II. On Church Discipline. 
 \st Section. — Church Membership. 
 
 Where the head of the state is, by virtue of that office, the 
 head of the church, there a relaxation or total absence of moral 
 discipline is the consequence. The sovereign can scarcely be 
 severed from membership while allowed ecclesiastical supre- 
 macy, hoAvever great may be his or her deficiency in morals. If, 
 as has often been the case in past periods, the head be an irreli- 
 gious or immoral person, and still remain the head or even a 
 member, the same licence will naturally extend to private indi- 
 viduals. The hedge of discipline will be broken down, by a breach 
 commencing in the most prominent and dangerous quarter. A 
 
2. 1.] EVILS OF WANT OF CHURCH MEMBERSniP. 383 
 
 general absence or laxity of moral control, and an entire indcfi- 
 niteness of menibersliip, as in the Anglican church, iucvitalily 
 follow. There can be no clear and positive action in admitting 
 or excluding members. A line of membership is in vain at- 
 tempted to be drawn. It certainly does not include as members 
 all who contribute under compulsion to the minister and services, 
 or it would comprehend the nation. Nor does it extend to all 
 those who have been sprinkled in infancy, or confirmed in youth, 
 or who occasionally attend the national forms of worship, which 
 would be very insutUcient grounds of church fellowship. Nor can 
 it be construed so exclusively as to be confined to those only who 
 j)artake of the bread and wine, or who are punctual attenders 
 of all the religious services. Neither of these circumstances 
 atlbrds a safe and determinate rule ; and no general standard or 
 test of faith or of morals being maintained, a heterogeneous 
 medley is loosely held together, going under the general deno- 
 mination of a Christian church, but with such an acknowledged 
 discordance of opinions, that the state declines to call even the 
 ecclesiastical functionaries together in consultation, lest their 
 incongruous views and rash movements should prove of evil 
 report to the world, and fatal to their continued fellowship. 
 
 The eticcts of this looseness of membership are more injurious, 
 in a moral and religious sense, to the nation at large than is 
 iisually supposed. A man may be naturally ashamed and humi- 
 liated to feel that he belongs to no denomination of Christians, 
 and to be an outcast from all religious communion ; but the 
 salutary effects of such a consciousness will be in great measure 
 lost, if he can shelter himself, as thousands do, under the idea of 
 belonging to an established general church ; while his chief or 
 only connection with it is a ceremony performed upon him while 
 an unconscious infant, or an occasional attendance of its wor- 
 ship once in a week, or a month, or a yciu". 
 
 A Christian church therefore, it is presumed, ought not to 
 consist of a miscellaneous number, who do not know whether 
 they are included within the pale of membership or not; but 
 ought to have its constitution so well defined, and so established 
 on Christian faith and jiractice, that all its members may be with- 
 out moral reproach, and may share in the common responsibilities 
 and privileges of a healthy operative body. 
 
384 DUTIES OF EVERY CHURCH TO ITS POOR. [Chap. 31. 
 
 2nd Section. — Care of the Poor. 
 
 One of the first duties which engaged the attention of the 
 members of the primitive Christian church_, was a provision 
 for the outward wants of its poor. To fulfil this great duty their 
 united exertions were directed,, and their contributions liberally 
 poured in. And surely the same object has a legitimate and 
 powerful claim on the care of every Christian church at the 
 present time. To throw off this charge on the state or the 
 public, to be coldly administered by the agents of the law or hy 
 chance, is a dereliction of duty which is submitted to be neither 
 sanctioned by Scripture example, nor productive of good effects 
 on the minds of either party. Did every church provide with 
 attention and kindness for its own poor members, there would 
 be much less pauperism and suffering, the bonds of mutual in- 
 terest and charity would be strengthened, and all would feel 
 closely united in one common brotherhood of spirituals and tem- 
 porals. The poor would be distinctly owned as well as the rich, 
 to be members of that body, whose Holy Head ever evinced a 
 special regard to their instruction and comfort. Is there not 
 some truth in the assertion that the Roman catholic church is, 
 in many j)laces, more attentive to the poor than some pro- 
 testant bodies ? and that in England the poor suffered great 
 temporal loss from the reformation ? If there is any ground 
 for these reproaches they ought to be rolled off for ever. But 
 truly with shame be it spoken, is there not great reason to fear 
 that, in most modern churches, the demands of the ministers 
 have exhausted the generosity of the members, and left the poor 
 unprovided for ? 
 
 Srd Section. — On Dealing with Delinquents. 
 
 Some sort of order and of dealing with delinquents being 
 obviously necessary in every well regulated church, the next 
 point for consideration is, the kind and extent of discipline 
 which ought to be exercised in this and other respects. The 
 membership of adult individuals in any religious body should 
 evidently be the result of conviction and preference. If these 
 
Sect. 3.] LIMITS or CIIUUCII DISCll'LlNE. 385 
 
 tend towards another body, and outward interested motives are 
 allowed to supersede them, the real efficiency of such members 
 is destroyed as respects that particular church, although they 
 may be good members of another which they prefer. Every 
 motive therefore, which supplants the true ground of inward 
 conviction and preference, must be carefully avoided as a base 
 substitute ; and no agencies, such as the hope of gain or the 
 fear of loss, either in purse or in reputation, must be brought 
 to operate, and to interfere with the conscientious action of 
 private judgment, — the indispensable requisite to all true reli- 
 gious profession. 
 
 The authority and discipline of a church over its members 
 must not therefore exceed this limit. If an individual w ithin its 
 pale cannot conscientiously unite with it as a whole, he must be 
 left at full liberty to withdraw, without penalty or denunciation. 
 If he commit a breach of its rules, or of morality, or embrace 
 doctrines opposed to those of the society of which he is a nomi- 
 nal member, and if repeated endeavours to retain or convince 
 him prove in vain, he must be separated from the body in a 
 spirit of Christian good-will, with regret for the cause. Any 
 measures which go beyond this line of charity, and interfere 
 with independence of feeling and profession, are clearly at vari- 
 ance with the freedom and sincerity of all true religion, and 
 tend to crush it at the root. The judgment of conscience not 
 being within the province of fallible man, but God's prerogative, 
 to Ilim must the dissentient, and ourselves also, either stand or 
 fall. A breach of morality or Christian love comes, in many 
 cases, within secular jurisdiction, and ought to be viewed as a 
 more heinous oflencc than doctrinal ditlerences, important as 
 these may be. 
 
 '■' The arms of a religious society," says Locke, " are those 
 of exhortation, admonition and advice; beyond these nothing 
 remains, but to separate the obstinate from the society. This 
 is the last and utmost force of ecclesiastical authority, and no 
 other punishment can be inflicted. No church is Ijound by the 
 duty of toleration to retain anyone in her bosom, who continues 
 obstinately to offend against her laws. But no private person, 
 nor particular church has a right in any manner to prejiulicc 
 another person in his civil enjoyments, because he dirt'ers in 
 opinion. Nav, we must not content ourselves with the narrow 
 
 2 c 
 
386 DISCIPLINE OF ANCIENT CHURCH. [C/iap.ol. 
 
 measure of bare justice, but must add to it the charity^ bounty^ 
 and liberality enjoined by tlie gospel." 
 
 In the New Testament are clearly laid down the true principles 
 of church discipline. " Brethren/-' says the Apostle Paul, " if a 
 man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such 
 an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also 
 be tempted."^ The spiritually minded are to be the agents, they 
 are to act with meekness, considering their own liability to temp- 
 tation, and their great object must be to reclaim and restore. 
 For this purpose, the good order laid down by our Lord, 2 and 
 before noticed, must be observed : — First, " Tell him his fault 
 between thee and him alone ; if he will hear thee, thou hast 
 gained thy brother," which is the great purpose ; " if not, then 
 take with thee one or two more f and if still unsuccessful, 
 finally " tell it to the church." If all these measures fail, '^ let 
 him be to thee as a heathen man and a publican." — Not let him 
 be imprisoned, or fined, or scourged. And this, it must be 
 remembered, was for a trespass against a brother — probably a 
 moral delinquency. 
 
 Bingham states, that the discipline of the ancient church 
 consisted in giving admonition, in exclusion from the common 
 spiritual privileges of believers, in pronouncing censure. It did 
 not extend to the privation of natural or civil rights. All, 
 whether men or women, rich or poor, were liable to the same 
 disciplinary proceedings. No one was reputed a formal heretic 
 or excluded, before having contumaciously resisted the admo- 
 nition of the church. ^ 
 
 On important points of doctrine it may be expected that all 
 the members of a religious society should generally agree, while 
 on minor points some amount of diversity may reasonably exist. 
 For conscientious diversities no man can be held culpable, either 
 by another man or by an association of men, though these 
 diversities may be so great as to require a dissolution of mem- 
 bership. 
 
 4:th Section. — Necessity of Seriousness in conducting the Discipline 
 and other Affairs of the Church. 
 
 The deliberations and proceedings of every community which 
 professes to be a Christian church must, it is self-evident, be 
 > Gal. vi. 1. ' Matt, xviii. 15 — 17. ^ Christian Antiquities. 
 
2. — I.] Christ's spiuit to rile i.\ church affairs. 387 
 
 conducted in a Cliristiau temper and manner. There must 
 be seriousness and weightiness, humility and watchfuhiess^ love 
 and forbearance, disinterestedness and devotedncss, combined 
 Avith lively faith and a holy zeal for the cause of Clirist. A 
 good degree of the same reverence which characterizes assem- 
 blies for the worship of God, ought to prevail over those wlio 
 meet for the order of his clau'ch. Unless tliis be the case, and 
 they gather together in his name, Christ will not be in the midst 
 of them ; unless hia Spirit influence the movements and those 
 who take part in them, the house of God cannot be built up, 
 and the edifice, instead of being honoured and consecrated by 
 his presence, will be in danger of becoming polluted — a body 
 without life, a form without the substance; the kingdom of 
 this world may be advanced, but not the kingdom of Christ. 
 The New Testament contains examples of both kinds, and clearly 
 sets forth both the one and the other for oiu* imitation and 
 Avarning. 
 
 If these views are correct, what must be thought of religious 
 asscml)lies for the government and discipline of the church, not 
 confined to bishops and priests, but extending to ministers and 
 presbyters, in which law-pfficers are professionally employed, or 
 which closely resemble political or merely popular meetings, 
 where some speakers are saluted with applause and others with 
 contempt, — where serious propositions meet with shouts of 
 laughter,! — where disorder and tumult prevail, while ambition 
 and strife too often influence the proceedings ? Surely such 
 things ought not to be named of religious gatherings, whose 
 professed object is the right order and edification of the church 
 of Christ ! 
 
 ' D'Aubignc's Germany, England and Scotland. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE MORE DIRECTLY CONSIDERED; 
 ITS CONSEQUENCES ; OBJECTIONS TO IT. 
 
 This subject lias been already referred to under most of the 
 heads of this treatise ; in the present chapter, however, some 
 further views of it will be taken. 
 
 1*/ Section. — Arguments for the Union considered. 
 
 Some good and zealous men, while deprecating the civil 
 authority possessed by certain episcopal churches, and asserting 
 the necessity of its abolition, have nevertheless pleaded for a 
 principle somewhat similar, under the term of " the dominion 
 of grace." By this they appear to have meant, that righteous 
 and spiritually-minded persons had a claim to possess civil 
 power in the world, and ought, on the ground of Christian 
 expediency, to exert it to the honour of God, in encouraging 
 and maintaining truth and righteousness among men, and put- 
 ting down their contraries. There is, it must be acknowledged, 
 something specious in this idea ; yet, when attentively considered, 
 it is evidently the same in reality as the union of civil and 
 ecclesiastical authority, which these very persons have com- 
 plained of. 
 
 " It is a very important truth," said Dr. Arnold, '' which 
 fanaticism has often neglected, — that moral and spiritual autho- 
 rity does not interfere with the ordinary laws of political rights, 
 and that the children of God are not, by virtue of that relation, 
 to claim any dominion upon earth. "^ 
 
 Though Divine grace, or " the manifestation of the Spirit," is 
 good and infallible, yet its subject, the human heart, is fallible 
 
 ' Lectures ou Modern History. 
 
Sect. 1.] " THE PERFECT STATE AND THE PEUIECT CHIKCII." 389 
 
 and evil ; and while men in authority may think themselves 
 inider " the dominion of grace," and qualified to exercise it, 
 tlu'v may, at the same time, he under the guidance of a difl'erent 
 aud opposite principle. 
 
 A great error even of sincere ministers of Christ has been, 
 to imagine that the more of worldly power and influence they 
 could obtain, the more they should promote the kiugdoui of the 
 Redeemer. In his own body he repudiated this deceptive idea, 
 and refused the authority aud glory of this world ; but his 
 professed spiritual bod}', his followers, have too much forgotten 
 his example, and accepted, under a plea of doing God service, 
 that secular greatness which has alienated them from him, and 
 has often been perverted to evil purposes. 
 
 Several eminent modern writers have asserted that " the 
 perfect state and the perfect chui'ch " must be one and the 
 sauie thing — different integral parts of the same whole ; and 
 that to speak of an alliance between them, as between two 
 sovereigi\ states, is an idle and fanciful spec\ilation ; because 
 religion not only falls within the province, but is the duty, of the 
 (^hristian magistrate, and ought, as one of the great bonds and 
 blessings of human society, to be the principal thing in his care- 
 
 That religion is the duty of the Christian magistrate as of 
 every other individual, is readily admitted ; while at the same 
 time, it cannot be conceded that his province is to uphold his 
 own particular views of it by magisterial means. The measures 
 which uphold the religion and church of Christ must be such 
 as appeal to the conscience and judgment by gentle persuasion 
 and spiritual motives, not by that outward force which alone 
 the civil magistrate has under his control. 
 
 However true this theory of the identity of the perfect state 
 and the perfect church, the reasoning built upon it is utterly 
 fallacious. The idea, however, has probably influenced many, to 
 attempt to make the existing state and church identical, and to 
 constrain all the subjects of one state to become members of 
 one church. 
 
 \Vhen we speak, therefore, of the perfect state and the perfect 
 church, we speak not of i)resent realities, of a(;tual human ex- 
 periences ; but of excellence not now to be counted on as pos- 
 sessed. On the contrary-, we have to deal Avith human society, 
 such as we find it, composed of individuals widely differing in 
 
390 THE PRESENT CONDITION OF MAN IMPERFECT. [Chap. 32. 
 
 sentiment on religion, liable to be seduced by external motives, 
 and often deeply tinctured with e\dl. The perfect state and tlie 
 perfect cliurcb present a beautiful image ; but the present state, 
 and the present cliurclies, are the subjects of our consideration, 
 and very imperfect elements. If we apply to tbe actual state 
 of things, arguments and measui'es belonging to an imaginary 
 one, we reason very inconclusively, and cannot fail to be dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 The idea of perfection and identity in the state and in the 
 church supposes that the one is co-extensive with the other, and 
 that all the members of one state are members of one church. 
 But in the first place, if we have regard to the imiversal church 
 of Christ, this does not hold good in the present condition of 
 human nature. For, how large is the number even of Christian 
 professors who are not members of this great church ! In the 
 next place, if we take the church, as many writers appear to do, 
 in a local or visible sense, and yet under some vague notion of 
 perfection or universality, we find the idea immediately contra- 
 dicted by actual circumstances. Every country has its diffe- 
 rences of opinion on religious matters, and its different churches 
 either openly or secretly existing. But notwithstanding this 
 palpable fact, the fundamental, abiding error has been, to imagine 
 that all the members of one state may be made members 
 of one particular church, may be induced to adopt the same 
 religious tenets, to worship together under one profession and 
 ministry. Hence have arisen the greatest evils to the true uni- 
 versal chui'ch of Christ : constraint or bribery has been actively 
 employed by secular authority. " AYe forbid him because he fol- 
 loweth not us ;" or, " we offer him such and such inducements to 
 join us." Unhappily, this has been the language from one gene- 
 ration to another; and, not content with " forbidding," the zealous 
 religionists have proceeded to persecution and extermination for 
 this insufficient cause alone. In the great natural variety of the 
 human mind, with the differences of education and cii'cum stances, 
 it is vain to expect all the people of a state to unite in the same 
 views of doctrine and practice, and to become members of the 
 same particular church. The existence of different churches 
 must therefore be counted on. Hence it follows that the state, 
 which is common ahke to all, should have an impartial govern- 
 ment, and treat every particular church alike, placing all their 
 
Sect. 1.] VAGUE IDEAS OF " THE Clll RCU." 31)1 
 
 officers and services ou the same footing; neither endowing 
 one denomination with privileges, nor coercing another Mith 
 penalties, but leaving the mind uuintiuenced and unshackled as 
 to particular views and practices nut at variance with the morals 
 and peace of the community. 
 
 A modern author remarks that it is " fatuity to talk of the 
 authority of the church ; as if the church were anything else 
 than the whole company of Cliristian men ! Fatuity, to talk 
 of a separation of church and state, as if a Cliristian state and 
 every otHccr therein were not necessarily a part of the church, 
 aiul as if any state officer could do his duty without endeavour- 
 ing to aid and promote religion ; or any clerical officer do his 
 duty without seeking for such aid and accepting it ! ^'^ 
 
 Here is another instance of the vague idea of "the church." 
 One particular church cannot be intended, because such a special 
 association caimot be presumed to comprehend " the whole 
 compjiny of Christian men." Neither can the universal church 
 of Christ be meant, because the state and " every officer therein" 
 are not necessarily parts of that spiritual body. Such writers, 
 accustomed perhaps to regard their own particular religious com- 
 munity as being par coccellence the chui-ch of Christ, are led 
 into strange inconsistencies and conclusions. 
 
 We have therefore no ground to assume that the state and the 
 church are identical ; or that all the members of one state arc, 
 or, in the present condition of human nature, will be, members 
 of one church, in either sense of the word. 
 
 And even supposing them all to be members of the universal 
 church, can it be supposed that the governors of the one would 
 be fit governors of the other ? — that the chief person or persons 
 of the state are so subject to the power of divine grace, as to be 
 the most spiritual members of the church, or the most fit to 
 govern it ? Or w ill the most highly gifted members of the church 
 be the most capable to guide the helm of the state ? Will they 
 be found qualified to take the same places in the one as they 
 hold in the other ? Or is it not much more probable that the 
 charge of the highest duties of the one will render them unfit 
 for the highest duties of the other? What then becomes of 
 the identity and oneness? 
 
 " The monstrous intermarriage," says Gavazzi, " between the 
 ' Riukin's Stones of Veuice. — Appen<lix. 
 
392 THE KINGLY AND PRIESTLY FUNCTIONS DISTINCT. [Chap. 33. 
 
 kingly function and the service of God's altar, has more pub- 
 licly offended the moral sense of mankind as society has pro- 
 gressed, and as the dark delusions of past centuries have been 
 dissipated by the noonday of ci^nlization. To be a good priest 
 is difficult enough to the infirmity of mortals ; to understand 
 kingcraft in all its branches is a gift few can boast ; but to 
 combine both sacerdotal and regal functions is a perfectly hope- 
 less pretension ! Hence either the priest is merged altogether 
 in the politician and warrior, or the king disappears in the 
 timorous devotee ! " 
 
 However specious therefore the theory of the perfect state and 
 the perfect church, and of their oneness, may be, we are com- 
 pelled to admit that this identity is not to be looked for in the 
 present condition of man. "When men shall be perfect, and their 
 corrupt tendencies be brought into entire and permanent sub- 
 jection to the will of God, it is evident that only good will 
 result from the possession of civil authority by ministers of 
 religion and other officers of the church. The beau ideal of 
 a perfect state and a perfect church will then be realized, Man 
 however is very remote from such a condition at present. 
 Elevated and happy beyond our feeble conceptions will that day 
 be, when '^ the kingdoms of this Avorld shall become the king- 
 doms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever 
 and ever.''^ But fatal has been the error, to employ unchristian 
 means to promote this sublime object. Even under the peculiar 
 institutions of the Jews, where the INIost High himself was the 
 Huler of the church, a chief offence of the first king was, the 
 undertaking to administer sacred things, and an intrusion into 
 the sacerdotal office." 
 
 Some have contended that, as the head of a family is bound 
 to provide religious instruction for his children, so the head of a 
 state is bound to make such a provision for his subjects. The 
 analogy however does not hold good. Children when young ai'e 
 incapable of forming a correct judgment for themselves, and 
 therefore require parental care ; but the adult subjects of a 
 state may be equally competent Avith its rulers, and many may 
 be even more competent, to form conscientious and sound 
 opinions. For his child the parent is to a large extent respon- 
 sible ; but not so the ruler for his subjects in religious matters. 
 ' Eev. xi. 15. M Sam. xiii. 9—13. 
 
Sect. 1.] THE STATE NOT TO RULE OVER CONSCIENCE. 393 
 
 Every intelligent citizen has to answer for liimself to his Maker. 
 " Every one shall give account of himself to God."' Each one has 
 a mind and conscirnco of liis own, a spiritual sense divinely 
 bestowed, according to which it is his duty to judge and to act, 
 and not according to the conscience and spiritual sense of any 
 other man. The ruler for himself and the subject for himself; 
 each a free, intelligent, rcsponsil)lc being, deriving through the 
 first Adam a proneness to sin, yet deriving also from tlie last 
 Adam a sense of sin, power to refuse it, and pardon for it. 
 
 !Many strenuous defenders of church establishments admit 
 that, if there were no such endowed state churches already, 
 it would, in the present coiulition of society, be a retrogra<lc 
 step to create them ; but that existing, and having been so con- 
 stituted from early ages, they must still be upheld. This is the 
 common apology for many of the evils and abuses handed down 
 by antiquity, it is however of no validity against the great 
 Christian principles of the New Testament. 
 
 If it were conceded, for the sake of argument, that the pro- 
 testant episcopal rulers of this country have aa'ight to require 
 from all the people contributions to that form of religion ; on 
 the same ground, it would follow that the popish rulers of other 
 countries must have a similar right over their own people, to 
 compel their support of the Roman catholic tenets and obser- 
 vances. It would be difficult to show, why the Unitarians, the 
 Jews, the Mahometans, and even idolaters, when \ippcrmost in 
 any country, would not also have a right to enforce on the 
 people the maintenance of their respective opinions. The ab- 
 siu'dity and confusion attending the admission of such a prin- 
 ciple, and its opposition to the spirit of the New Testament, are 
 surely self-evident. 
 
 If it still be alleged that there is a duty of Christian expediency 
 resting on the state, to j)rovidc religions instruction for the 
 people, and thus to preserve them from ignorance and error 
 — although the subject may seem to have been exhausted — 
 a few further considerations will require attention. Who has 
 in reality a right to determine for another what is and what is 
 not error ? The governing body of a state is composed of 
 individuals, who may cither agree or differ with respect to 
 religious truth and error. .\nd supposing them to agree between 
 
 ' Rom. xiv. 12. 
 
394 STATE INTERFERENCE INJURIOUS TO DEVOTIO?:. [Chap. 32. 
 
 tliemselves, tliey may widely differ from the great body of the 
 people. Or when the government and the majority of its sub- 
 jects agree, as they did in England before the reformation, have 
 they authority to enforce their reUgious views and observances 
 on those who conscientiously dissent, as the Lollards then 
 did ? to coerce them by capital punishment, or even by im- 
 prisonment or fines ? or denying the authority for these, had 
 they a right to exact payment from the reformers for the support 
 of the popish state- church and its observances ? to deprive 
 them of common natural pri\ileges because they refused to 
 conform ? All such proceedings are obviously beyond the right 
 province of the civil magistrate in reference to peaceable, 
 orderly citizens. '' Whatsoever ye would that men should do 
 to you, do ye even so to them.^^^ " Let every man be fully per- 
 suaded in his own mind.'''^ " Every one of us shall give account 
 of himself to God.^'^ 
 
 If the principle of influencing by merely outward considera- 
 tions be once adopted in religious matters, not only is a door of 
 danger opened for civil governors, which no one knows when to 
 close, but a false impulse is set at work, and the value of the 
 ser^dce is destroyed by the corruptness of the motive induced, 
 both being utterly at variance with the sincerity and freedom 
 of the kingdom of Christ ! 
 
 Liberty of choice and of performance is essential to Christian 
 devotion. The compulsory authoritative system on the one 
 hand, and the mercenary alluring system on the other, deprive 
 submission of its true value and acceptance ; converting it into 
 a cold, constrained and grudged service, without the odour 
 proceeding from pure love and duty, or the approbation resting 
 on spontaneous, conscientious effort ! * 
 
 ^nd Section. — Working of the Union. 
 
 Two or three cases may be added to the instances of the 
 operation of the union given in other chapters. Ai'chbishop 
 Laud's opinion of the unity of the church and the state, and 
 
 ' Matt. vii. 12. ^ Eom. xiv. 5. « Eom. xiv. 12. 
 
 * See Wardlaw's Lectui-es on National Chui'ch Establishments, delivered 
 in 1839, in reply to Chalmers. 
 
Sect. 2.] LAID ON Tin: umtv or ciiuiicii and state. 395 
 
 liis mode of cariyiiijj^ it out, atlorcl a curious illustration ot" 
 the efl'ects of tlie system. 
 
 A forced loan was demanded h\ Charles I. in 1G26, and 
 Laud's instructions to the clerj^y to preach in support of it ran 
 as follows : — " AVe have observed that the church and the state 
 ai'C so nearly united and knit together, that though they may 
 seem two bodies, yet indeed in some relation they may be 
 accounted but as one ; inasmuch as they are both made uj) ol" 
 the same men, which are diiTcrcnt only in relation to spiritual 
 or civil ends. This nearness makes the church call in the helj) 
 of the state to succour and support her, whenever she is pressed 
 beyond her strength. And the same nearness makes the state 
 call for the service of the church, both to teach that duty which 
 lier members know not, and to exhort and encourage them in 
 that duty which they know. It is not long since we ordered 
 the state to serve the church, and by a timely proclamation 
 settled the peace of it ; and now the state looks for the hke 
 assistance from the church, that she and all licr ministers may 
 serve God and us." He therefore enjoined them to support 
 the loan from then* pulpits. 
 
 This use of the clergy by the king was not without precedent. 
 Queen Elizabeth was accustomed " to tunc the pulpits,'' as she 
 expressed it, for her own purposes.^ Something similar is well 
 known to have been practised occasionally in modern times, to 
 excite a hostile spirit in the jjcople towards some foreign nation, 
 or to promote other political objects. 
 
 Thus have the sacred duties of the gospel ministry been in- 
 vaded and perverted, and the " drum ecclesiastic," of the state 
 has been beaten by royal command, to serve secular pui'poses, 
 — purposes often inconsistent with cither liberty or justice. 
 May it not be said that, in such instances, the imperfect state 
 and the imperfect church have been united in an anti-ehristian 
 league against the rights and duties of man, and therefore 
 against the sovereign will of the Most High ? 
 
 The " declaration" of King James I. to his " loving subjects 
 concerning lawful sports," which he ordered eveiy minister to 
 read in his pulpit, — but which many felt conscientiously bound 
 not to read, is another notable instance of the arbitrary conduct 
 of the head of the state church. This declaration, issued in 
 I Ueyliu's Life of Laud, iiuoteU by Mackintosh. 
 
396 KING James's book op sports. [Chap. 33. 
 
 1618, commended a variety of sports, games and exercises to 
 be used after di^dne worsliip_, in order to counteract the increas- 
 ing tendency to seriousness and puritanism. The same or a 
 still more irreligious course was pm'sued under the authority of 
 Charles II., another head of the church, when a flood of im- 
 morality deluged the nation. 
 
 James, Charles, and other English sovereigns held the opinion, 
 that kingly government in the state could not stand without 
 episcopal aid in the church. Both kings and bishops flattered 
 themselves with notions of irresponsible power, divine right, and 
 succession by high authority, — notions which have evidently 
 long been on the wane, and are giving place to more reasonable, 
 constitutional, and christian sentiments. 
 
 3rd Section. — Special Objections to the Establishment of any 
 one particular Church. 
 
 If it could be proved to be right to establish some one system 
 of Christian faith and worship, and one only, by the authority 
 of the state ; how is that one to be ascertained ? 
 
 Of course, it must be the true and pure system, the one most 
 in accordance with the doctrine and example of Chi'ist and his 
 apostles, which should be so favoured. But how is this con- 
 dition to be decided ? Is it to be judged according to prin- 
 ciples, or practices ? Is the creed or the conduct to be the rule, 
 or are both to be considered ? Is it to be the church professed 
 by the majority of the people; or that which is in unison with 
 the conscientious feelings of the monarch or rulers ; or that 
 which has been handed down by tradition ; or that which ap- 
 proaches most nearly to the standard of scriptural truth ? Who 
 is to be the judge in so serious and vital a question ? Or if a 
 nation sincerely professing one mode of religion be invaded and 
 subdued by a more powerful nation, professing with equal 
 sincerity another mode of religion, which of tlie .two is to be 
 established and enforced ? 
 
 Human judgment and conscience too are by no means sta- 
 tionary. Society is in a continual state of transition and pro- 
 gress. If then, even by general consent, or in accordance with 
 one of these criteria, one denomination be endowed; and in 
 process of time, as is not improbable, many, or a majority of the 
 members of that denomination, see — or think they see — serious 
 
Sect. 3.] DIIFICILTIES ATTENDING CHURCH ENDOWMENTS. 397 
 
 errors in its formulary, its creed, its discipline, or its general 
 system, and tliereforc adopt new tenets or services ; what, in 
 snch a case, becomes of the endowment — the established pri- 
 vileges ? Are they to be applied according to the will of the 
 nation, or of the church ; of the ministers of religion, or the 
 rulers of the state? Will not the danger of losing them be 
 likely to act as a powerful obstruction to the progress of refor- 
 mation and to the pursuit of truth ? and will not the desire of 
 obtaining them be a stinndus to hypocrisy and deceit ? Our 
 I^ord reproved the unworthy motives of some in his day, mIio 
 followed him merely for " the lofives and the fishes," not from a 
 desire of spiritual benefit. And is not this reprehension still 
 justly applicable ? 
 
 Who, moreover, is entitled to judge of the respective merits 
 of religious bodies, except so far as an individual is himself con- 
 cerned? Is not religion a matter of private conscience, between 
 each man and his Maker, — one which other men have no right 
 to control or to question, so long as social and civil duties are 
 not violated ? If the members of each denomination are to be 
 responsible to God and not to man, and if no human authority 
 has the right or the ability to decide which denomination is 
 most owned and accepted by him ; then the investiture of any 
 one community with temporal authority and benefits, on such a 
 ground, to the exclusion of the rest, is an act of manifest injus- 
 tice and unauthorised partiality, let the consecpiences of it be 
 what they may, or let our motives in making the selection be as 
 pure as possible. Gloss it over as we will, with solemn preten- 
 sion or ecclesiastical sophistry ; is it not still a violation of com- 
 mon honesty, a departure from the plainest elements of cardinal 
 justice, to compel all to support the particular doctrines, minis- 
 ters and services ado[)tcd by one party, but conscientiously dis- 
 sented from by the rest? 
 
 The upholding of one particular church by the power of the 
 state, has a natural tendency to produce high-mindedncss and 
 arrogant pretensions. Fallen as human nature is, this is the 
 natural consequence. Thus the best title to the names of 
 Ghristian and of Christian minister is in danger of being par- 
 tially or wholly forfeited ; and vain ideas of direct succes- 
 sion and transmitted superiority are fondly cherished, tending 
 to excite the scorn of the infidel and worldling, the sincere 
 
398 FALSE PRINCIPLE OF STATE ENDOWMENTS. [Chap. 32. 
 
 regret aud pity of every true Christian, and deeply to injure the 
 parties themselves. 
 
 But what is in truth the principle which regulates and pre- 
 scribes endowments and distinctions for particular religious 
 bodies ? Is it the bringing forth of the fruits of the Spirit, the 
 prevalence of true godliness in the life and conversation ? 
 Or is it not rather the heathen principle of might, and the 
 unjustifiable law of the stronger, that govern these matters ? 
 Surel}'^, if individuals are required to scrutinize their motives, 
 and to probe the springs of action ; states and churches are 
 equally bound to look narrowly into theirs, and to trace the 
 origin and title, as well as the practical working, of politico- 
 rehgious distinctions, so powerful in their effects on the highest 
 interests and dearest hopes of man ! 
 
 If conscience and religion are matters between every individual 
 and his Maker, and man^s well-being both in time and in 
 eternity depends on his faithfulness herein; it is evidently an 
 evil and a sinful thing to hold out temptations and seductions, 
 that lead to violate the sense of duty and to deny the convic- 
 tions of the heart. The state may make hypocrites, but it cannot 
 make true Christians. It may utter a specious counterfeit, but 
 it cannot produce the sterling gold. The mint must be of a 
 spiritual nature and not of this world, or its productions will 
 be but baser metals. Are we not guilty therefore in a high 
 degree, if we countenance a system tending to produce presump- 
 tion, fraud and delusion, either in individuals or in churches ? 
 
 4M Section. — Objections to the Endowmetit of all Churches. 
 
 On the other hand, if we attempt to escape from the diffi- 
 culties and partiality attending the endowment of only one out 
 of many churches, by extending the favours of the state to all 
 religious denominations, fresh difficulties arise in the way. The 
 result will often be that of upholding opposite and contradictory 
 opinions, of supporting and extending under some form or other, 
 what many, if not all in turn conscientiously believe to be erro- 
 neous. Thus a labyrinth of new difficulties is entered, religious 
 intrigues and jealousies are fomented, and the rulers of a state 
 are called upon to judge on spiritual matters of the highest 
 moment, which they may be wholly incompetent to determine. 
 
Sect. J.] WITHDRAWAL OF STATE SUPPORT. 3<J0 
 
 But will not truth fall in the streets, and righteousness be pre- 
 vented from finding an entrance, if the state withdraw its pro- 
 tection ? By no means : He who has sustained his own churcli 
 in all ages, and still more conspicuously when the civil powers 
 persecuted than when they fluttered his people, can and as- 
 suredly will care for his own, and for the great cause of truth 
 and righteousness, Avhen it escapes both the contumely and tlie 
 adulation of man. Neither overlaid by luxury and worldly 
 caresses, nor harassed by the infliction of pains and penalties. 
 Christian trutii, standing on an immutable foundation, and having 
 the Eternal for its author and protector, must and will prevail. 
 State protection, not less than state persecution, does but en- 
 cumber and impede its growth, like the parasitical \\y on 
 some noble oak. 
 
 To allege that the services of the Anglican church would be 
 discontinued or neglected in consequence of the withdrawal of 
 state maintenance, would be a gross libel on its members. 
 It may lie presmned that those who now conscientiously support 
 it would feel the claims on their support to be strengthened, and 
 Avould be not less zealous in their eflbrts than the members of 
 many unendowed churches. Thus the fall of state protection 
 would be the resuscitation to spiritual freedom and life. 
 
 The concern for the cause of Christ, which is avowed in favour 
 of its protection by the state, is less powerfid, it may be feared, 
 in the minds of many, than the apprehension of losing those ex- 
 ternal advantages which the state has to bestow. The state is 
 a good paymaster both regular and bountiful, and while the 
 ministry of the gospel furnishes the means of obtaining a hand- 
 some livelihood, a gi'cat reluctance to lose the ancient lil)eral 
 maintenance, must be expected from human nature to exist in 
 the minds of many, as in the case of many evident abuses. 
 
 5M Section. — Eesponsibility of the Established Church for the 
 State, and its Dependence thereon. 
 
 It is said to be an admitted maxim, that the king can do no 
 wrong ; so likewise it appears to be generally taken for granted 
 by the Anglican church, that the state can do no wrong. 
 Whenever the state recognises a new sovereign, whatever be his 
 
400 ESTABLISHED CHURCH DEPENDENT ON THE STATE. [Chap. 33. 
 
 character^ it calls upon the highest dignitaries of its church to 
 anoint^ crown and bless him. When the monarch declares 
 war, he expects the ministers of his church to pray for the suc- 
 cess of his armSj whether his cause be just or unjust. When he 
 obtains a victory over his enemies, by Avhatever means, the sub- 
 servient state-church must offer thanksgivings. If new colours 
 are to be presented to the troops, a bishop or some influential 
 functionary must pronounce on them the divine blessing, and 
 pray for their safe and triumphant bearing. Whenever armies 
 or fleets are sent forth in the work of destruction, they are 
 attended by church-officers, to give them the sanction and co- 
 operation of religion. In these and various other matters, the 
 church holds herself responsible for the proceedings of the state, 
 which are assumed to be in accordance with the will of the 
 Most High, and, however opposite may be their true character, 
 are commended to his blessing. 
 
 The church is also dependent on the state ; and large is the 
 price which she pays for its protection, emoluments and honours. 
 Her constitution has been estabhshed by Acts of the British 
 legislature of king, lords and commons. Her service, or Book 
 of Common Prayer, is really a long Act of Parliament, and all 
 her rubrics are clauses in that statute; with alterations from 
 time to time, under different governments and under new Acts ; 
 being liable to be further altered at any time by the imperial 
 legislature. From any of these her functionaries dare not 
 deviate, under pain of severe inflictions. 
 
 What a fearful responsibility, as regards Christian doctrine 
 and the most sacred interests of man, is this, which is vested in 
 the hands of the state and its political rulers, of whatever reli- 
 gious profession, or of none at all ! That faith and worship are 
 to be settled and tied down by Act of Parliament — that men are 
 to believe and not to believe, and to use any religious forms and 
 services, as the state may dictate : — surely this is '■' teaching for 
 doctrines the commandments of men," and not depending alone 
 on the Spirit of Christ, which he promised his followers should 
 be ever with them, and lead them " into all truth." 
 
 This dependence of any church on secular will and power, has 
 a strong tendency to paralyze the springs of improvement and 
 progress in her character, constitution and services, and to deter 
 
Sect. 5 ] POWKK OF STATE OVKll CIJIULU Ari'OlNTME.VTS. 401 
 
 from tilt' ronu'dy of ackuo«lcilgccl evils. If, in consequence 
 of her duty to keep pace witli altered circumstances, ami 
 with the proj^rcss of liijht, she introduce changes liowevi-r 
 necessary, and vary from her former habits however antiquated 
 and out of date ; she may be said not to be wliat she was when 
 slie obtained the privik-ges and emohunents of the state, and 
 thus may be in danger of losing them. This appreliension 
 naturally presents a serious obstacle to reformation, and suggests 
 the iniwise and perilous maxim, that however requiring repairs 
 and alterations, the venerable pile must not be touched by the 
 baud of renovation, but must be allowed to remain unchanged, 
 even if it sink gradually into decay and ruin. 
 
 Yet as tlie power which made can alter, so also that whicli 
 bestowed can either add or take away. It may be said to have 
 been constantly adding, at the demands of the ecclesiastics ; and 
 scarcely a session of parliament passes, without some fresh 
 largess or chiim, to meet the alleged wants of the established 
 church. Tlic bounty has been almost continually renewed, with 
 little check. But is it not high time for Britain to consider, 
 whether she is fulfilling the solemn requirements of duty towards 
 all her j^eople, whether she is encouraging by right means a 
 system founded on gospel truth, and tending to promote the 
 kingdom of Christ, and the eternal well-being of men ? Or, 
 on the contrary, whether this state compulsion and patronage 
 arc not unsound in themselves and still more so, when apjjlied 
 in favour of one only out of many religious denominations; 
 w hether the ambition, presumption, improvidence and indolence 
 thus fostered, are not evils of serious magnitude, which require 
 to be dealt with righteously, faithfully, and completely ? 
 
 In no respect is the dependence of the established chiu'ch 
 upon the state more seriously felt, than in the appointment of 
 the higher dignitaries. If an archbishopric or a bishojjric be 
 vacant, the prime minister or the government nominates at 
 pleasure, and the state church is bound to accept the nominee 
 however unsuitable ; and whomsoever the existing government 
 chooses not to nominate is laid aside, liowcvcr much the church 
 may protest or struggle. So likewise in thousands of inferior 
 but highly important offices the church ha.s no voice whatever, 
 the sole right of appointment or presentation being vested in 
 the crown, or in equallv questionable patrons. 
 
 2 I. 
 
402 BOROUGH AND ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE, [Chap. 32. 
 
 Who can truly estimate the vast importance of the results, 
 flowing from the use of this power to the episcopal body, and 
 even to the nation at large ? On the one hand, excellent, faith- 
 ful men may be put in office, who have received an anointing 
 from on high, sound in doctrine, diligent in service, holy in 
 life, and having at heart the honour of God and the salvation 
 of souls. Or on the other hand, men without a due sense of 
 religion, deeply tinctured with error, qviestionable in conduct, and 
 caring for the fleece more than for the flock, — merely influential 
 characters, political partizans, family connections, personal 
 friends, may be nominated to the most serious stations ; and 
 thrust on a diocese or a parish for life. 
 
 It is a well-known fact, that down to a recent period, the 
 system of patronage having crept into many of the English 
 boroughs, the corrupt influence of their elective franchise had 
 become, in the hands of peers of the realm and other affluent 
 persons, an unconstitutional but productive species of property, 
 ■which they were enabled to dispose of at pleasure for pecuniary 
 or influential considerations. At length however, this flagrant 
 abuse could be no longer tolerated by the advanced light of the 
 age, and the whole system of borough patronage was swept away 
 by the parliamentary and corporate reform acts. Surely the 
 system of ecclesiastical patronage is, in many respects, a much 
 more serious evil, and one which still more loudly demands 
 abolition. Can such high responsibilities be proper matters to 
 be handled and decided on by the state and its political rulers, or 
 by inconsiderate private individuals ? and are not the secular- 
 izing efl'ects of the system, with the attendant jealousies and 
 contentions, very manifest and continually recurring causes of 
 just off'ence and lamentation? 
 
 Qth Section. — The State Responsible for its Church, and in some 
 degree dependent upon it. 
 
 A high and weighty responsibility for the established church 
 rests on the state and on every member of it. That church 
 having become what she is, either by legislative enactment, by 
 her own encroachment, by public suff'erance, or by the whole 
 combined, an obligation arises impartially to inquire what she is. 
 
Sect. 7.] ILL EFFECTS 0\ A C !I I UC II AND ITS OFFICIALS. 403 
 
 what she ought to be, how far individual responsibihty extends, 
 and what are the duties it imposes upon each. 
 
 Such reflections have operated with tlie writer to ])ring the sub- 
 ject, solely in a feelinj; of good will, before his fellow-countrymen 
 of all religious denominations; that they may suflieicntly ponder 
 the nature of the system which they contribute to uphold, 
 and the weight of the eternal interests lying at their door. 
 Let these things be seriously deliberated upon, not M'ith bitter- 
 ness, en\'y or worldly motives ; but in the spirit of prayer, of 
 truth, and of charity ; that the remedies necessary may be 
 perceived, and applied speedily in a proper manner. 
 
 7th Section. — Effects produced by the Union on the character and 
 conduct of Dignitaries and Ministers. 
 
 No part of the whole subject is more difficult than the present 
 to be treated with truth and faithfulness, and at the same time 
 with delicacy and cliarity. The complaint, as before remarked, 
 is not so much of individuals, as of a system, and of the natural 
 tendency of that system to produce unfavourable eflFects on any 
 body of men subjected to its influences. Any other body than 
 the present established church, if placed in a like position, would 
 probably be just as injuriously afteeted by the same sinister bias, 
 or even more so. It is to the commendation of many of those 
 who are now exposed to it, tliat they are not warped aside still 
 more from the line of moderation and forbearance. 
 
 One great evil of the system on the professors, and especially 
 on the ministers of a state church, is this, — that being established 
 and upheld by law, and possessing the special favour and au- 
 thority of the state, manj* of them naturally look down upon 
 all those of other denominations as inferiors and schismatics. 
 Tlieirs they conceive to be the genuine religion of the land, the 
 true faith and the authorized church — tJieir worship and ser- 
 vices to be divinely acknowledged, and those of all others to be 
 only tolerated, and standing lower in the scale of Divine and 
 human account. To their ministers the care of all the souls 
 tlnoughout the nation is assumed to be committed. These 
 remarks in words or in import are very common. " This is my 
 parish" — "that is his" — "these arc my people" — and "no 
 
 •) n *> 
 
 /t^ 19 f^ 
 
404 ILL EFFECTS OF UNION ON MINISTERS. [Chap. 32- 
 
 minister of any other body has authority to expound the scrip- 
 tures, or to conduct Divine worship among them." This is the 
 tone and spirit of some, and in that restricted sense happily the 
 present remarks are to be understood. With such sentiments, 
 the carriage and bearing of these successors of fishermen and 
 tent-makers is of coui'se high and imperious, bespeaking exalted 
 and absurd pretensions. The vain assumption would however 
 be merely amusing, were it not that it relates to interests 
 of the greatest moment, and that the injurious efi'ects on 
 their own minds and on those of others demand our sincere 
 reprobation and regret. Elevated in their own apprehension 
 above the level of the rest of the community, they associate too 
 exclusively together in familiar intercourse, having little sym- 
 pathy' with the public at large, very ignorant of the usages and 
 requirements of common life, and exercising but feeble in- 
 fluence of a moral and useful character on the mass of the 
 people. Of that imagined superiority, and general isolation 
 from their fellow-christians, much doubtless is to be attributed 
 to the narrowness and unsoundness of collegiate education ; 
 but the gi'eater part of the evil must be charged to the esta- 
 bhshment and endowment by the state. 
 
 Ministers of religion, thus placed in a false position with 
 reference to persons around them — a position which many have at- 
 tained more through the arrangements of parents, than through 
 any particular choice or qualification of their own — yet regai'ding 
 themselves, in opposition to true gospel precedent, as "the 
 clergy,'"" an eminently endowed body, and all others as "the 
 laity,'' or possessors of inferior religious prinleges and qualifi- 
 cations, are most unfavourably circumstanced for the growth of 
 humility, meekness and charity, by subjection to the crucifying, 
 transforming power of the spirit of Christ. They may be, 
 and doubtless many of them are, subjects of Christ's spiritual 
 kingdom and members of his universal church ; but their stand- 
 ing and circumstances are against them ; and if they know in 
 themselves the work of vital religion, and a true call to the 
 ministry and apostleship of Christ, it will not be by virtue 
 of any outward advantage or apostolic succession, but in spite 
 of these disqualifying notions and their influences. What so 
 likely as the protection and preference of the state to create 
 indifference and laxitv in their own minds and habits, to 
 
Sect. 8.] SLMMAUY OK CHlKf OBJECTIONS TO Till: LNIOX. 105 
 
 encourage pride luul presumption, to foster intolerance ami 
 harshness towards those who ditlcr, and to reduce themselves, and 
 conseciuently the episcopal church at lar<;c, to an inauspicious 
 situation in point of spiritual elliciency and I'ruitfulncss. 
 
 The members generally, occupying an imaginary j)re-emi- 
 nence, a privileged and commanding ground, are also liable to 
 a strong temptation to imbibe the \ain and selt-complacent 
 feelings which such ideal superiority is calculated to inspii-e, 
 and to lose sight of the humility, gentleness, and teachableness, 
 essential to all the followers of the lowly Jesus. 
 
 Enough may have been said on this painful part of the sub- 
 ject, and on those peculiar temptations to evil, which are the 
 costly and dangerous })rice of worldly preference and emolument 
 attached to one rehgious profession. The picture might be 
 much more deeply shaded, and many painful instances might 
 be selected ; but as the object in view is to probe, rectify, and 
 heal the moral wound, not to inflame and irritate, the writer 
 wiUingly passes on, commending the subject, with its evils and 
 dangers, to the imprejudiccd and grave consideration of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 8M Section. — Summary of Chief Objections to the Union. 
 
 The chief objections to a church establishment, or the union 
 of church and state, may be briefly summed up as follows : — 
 
 1st. It is inconsistent Mith the lowly, free, s})iritual pattern 
 of the Christian church and ministry, exhibited in the New 
 Testament. 
 
 2nd. It exceeds the right limit of the authority of civil govern- 
 ment over its subjects. 
 
 3rd. It is an invasion of the Divine prerogative, to govern 
 the minds of men in matters of faith and conscience. 
 
 4th. It is at variance with the royal law of Christ, " \Vliat- 
 soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
 them." 
 
 5th. It is unjust toward other Christian churches. 
 
 Cth. It is an unevangelical compact, and a surrender of the 
 authority due to Christ to that of the world. 
 
 7th. It is the admission of an unsound principle, opening a 
 
406 SUMMARY OF CHIEF OBJECTIONS TO THE UNION. [C/iaj). 32. 
 
 door to inequitable exaction^ and to antichristian persecution^ as 
 well as to the support of erroneous doctrines. 
 
 8tli. It deprives devotion of its true value, by encouraging 
 motives of insincerity and constraint, and discouraging tlieir 
 contraries. 
 
 9tb. It tends to give a secular^ negligent, presumptuous cha- 
 racter to any church, and to its functionaries. 
 
 10th. It has been lamentably perverted and unsuccessfid, and 
 has been made an instrument for ci\dl and religious oppression. 
 
 11th. It brings a chui'ch into bondage to the civil govern- 
 ment, and deprives it of the power of self-control and of 
 action. 
 
 12th. It confines and tempts the minds and consciences 
 of individuals, and impedes the development of truth and 
 righteousness. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE EVILS OF PIIESCRIBING RELIGIOUS FOllMS AND SERVICES BY 
 TUE STATE, CONSEQUENT ON ITS PROTECTION. 
 
 The subject of aggrandizing a ministry or church and endowing 
 it with temporalities having been considered, that of prescribing 
 forms and services of religion is now to be examined. The 
 one may be viewed as the grant of the wages, the other as part of 
 the conditions on which the wages are allowed. 
 
 In countries where several religious communities partake of 
 civil endowments, particular creeds and positive modes of 
 divine worship are not very likely to be enforced. But where 
 only one church is upheld by the state, the conditions, as to faith 
 and forms of religion, are generally stringent and rigidly carried 
 out. They are indeed a necessary part of the system, in order 
 to secure identity in the church, so far as this can be accom- 
 plished, with respect to elements liable to great fluctuation as 
 human connctions and opinions are. Ilcncc we find an un- 
 natural and unscriptural compact inevitably implied between 
 the religious and secular powers, which is one of the greatest 
 evils of the whole system, and somewliat to this cftect : — " We 
 will believe this and that, and we will worship so and so, until 
 you shall order otherwise, provided we receive from you such and 
 such privileges." Or, to express tiie same thing in milder terms, 
 " We believe and worship thus and thus; and on this con- 
 dition we claim peculiar favour aiul protection." Ileure arises 
 a state of lamentable dependence aiul servility; and hence 
 a single endowed church, wealthy, and influential, and learned 
 as her oftice-bearcrs may be, has been termed, with apparent 
 truth, " the creature and slave of the state.'' 
 
 This is one of the most serious consequences resulting from 
 
408 CREEDS DO NOT EXCLUDE ERROR. [Chop. 33. 
 
 the pecuniary endowment of any special mode of religion. That 
 the exact creed for a particular church should be framed by 
 statesmen and politicians, enacted and restricted by legislatures, 
 and liable from time to time to be altered by them ; that certain 
 forms for divine worship, for supplication and other devotional 
 exercises, should be constructed by the same authority, and that 
 every minister should be required to subscribe his assent and 
 consent to such creeds, forms and services, however contra- 
 dictory or defective, inapplicable, unsound or unedifying : and 
 that no one should dare to depart from them, on penalty of being 
 denounced as an offender and losing his maintenance — these are 
 fearful considerations, involved in the pitiful condition of secular 
 remuneration, favom* and preferment. How many a wounded 
 conscience they may have caused, is knov/n only to the great 
 Searcher of hearts ; who also alone beholds the extent to which 
 they have operated, in retarding the spread of light and truth, 
 charity and godliness. 
 
 True it is that we are bound to ^aew the subject impartially, 
 and to consider whether the prescribing of certain national 
 creeds, if they are sound and good, does not establish Christian 
 unity of belief and practice, and provide a wholesome and 
 necessary restraint against the introduction of error, as well as 
 an essential secmity for the maintenance of evangelical faith. 
 But in opposition to this plea, let it be remembered that, as to 
 the soundness and goodness of such creeds, there prevail at 
 least conflicting opinions, often serious doubts, and in some 
 cases unanswerable objections. The human mind and con- 
 science cannot be restrained and boimd down in their workings 
 and persuasions, by arbitrary dogmas and authoritative formu- 
 laries ; under the same literal terms great differences of opinion 
 on vital points are well known to exist. Such forms are there- 
 fore wholly insufficient, to close the avenues of the heart against 
 the irruption of error, or to keep open its recesses to the saving 
 faith and hope of the gospel. Stereotyped creeds and national 
 confessions may produce an imaginary identity of faith, an 
 apparent unity of doctrine ; but if we penetrate beneath the 
 surface, and explore the secret convictions within, we often find 
 their professors entertaining great variety of rehgious opinion, 
 and very wide asunder. It is indeed a well-known law of human 
 nature, that the attempt to constrain and restrict the mind, 
 
EXPOSITION OF CHURCH DOCTRINKS NEEDFUL. -109 
 
 ill opposition to the free dictates of reason, and conscience, and 
 the teachings of the Holy Spirit, excites a powerful tendency to 
 reaction, to (piestion, and to resist, in a degree far beyond tiiat 
 which probably wouhl have been reached if no such constraint 
 had been attempted. 
 
 Tiicse remarks must not, however, be understood to imply 
 any objection to the recognition by a Christian community of 
 particular views of religious truth, as the basis and terms of its 
 union. The tenets of every such body should be clearly ex- 
 pressed, and be capable of being appealed to. Each church 
 must have some authorised declaration of its principles, in 
 which, to a large extent, all arc nnderstood to unite ; and 
 the minor points of which, if the opinions of the members on 
 evangelical truth generally require it, they may slightly modify 
 or alter. Or, if any individuals are brought to think differently 
 and stand alone, they may without offence quit the society, 
 and unite themselves with another. It may even be well that 
 religious bodies should, at times, have an opportunity or be 
 under a necessity, to bring their professed doctrines to the test of 
 scriptural authority and expericucc, to recur to first principles, 
 to compare them with priicticc, and to consider how far the one 
 corresponds with the other. To possess no opportunity of this 
 kind, in the present fallible condition of man, might prove a 
 most serious evil; since in this case there would be no appeal 
 or retreat for the body at large, even from the profession of 
 that which was believed to be error. 
 
 But when any mode of religion is prescribed by the state, 
 and a ecadition of favour and privilege, to whatever extent, is 
 annexed to that mode by an acknowledged compact ; then it is 
 evident that the state, comprehending other parties who may 
 or may not unite with that mode, is concerned in the matter, 
 and has a controlling power over such a church. In this case, the 
 compact is felt to bo a burdensome condition, a painful bondage; 
 and the consciences of the members in general may be ham- 
 pered with serious diflicultics, from which, except by individual 
 withdrawal, they may find it impossible to free themselves. An 
 undue prominence is given, as a necessary consequence, to the 
 professing of certain re(piired tenets, tending to the disre- 
 gard of real godliness. \N hen Tyndnl pressed on Sir Thomas 
 
410 HIGH AND LOW CHURCH PARTIES. [ChajJ. 33. 
 
 More the wretched immorality of the Pope and the clergy, his 
 only reply was, '^ Our matter is not of the living, but of the 
 doctrine.^^i 
 
 The ill success of estabhshed forms, in producing uniformity 
 of religious opinions, is very apparent from the existence of two 
 distinct parties, which originated about the time of the expul- 
 sion of James II., in the Established Church of England, termed 
 " the High Church" or non-jurors, and " the Low Church" 
 or evangelical party. ^ 
 
 The following are represented to be the politico -religious tenets 
 of the former : — 
 
 1st. "That it is never lawful for the people, under any pro- 
 vocation or pretext whatever, to resist the sovereign." This is 
 termed the doctrine of ^^ passive obedience." 
 
 2nd. '' That the hereditary succession to the throne is of 
 Divine institution, and therefore can never be interrupted, con- 
 founded or annulled on any pretext." Hence is claimed the 
 divine right of kings. 
 
 3rd. " That the church is subject to the jurisdiction, not of 
 the cinl magistrate, but of God alone, particularly in matters 
 of a religious nature." The paramount elevation of ecclesias- 
 tical authority is plainly asserted here. 
 
 4th. " That consequently the bishops deposed by King 
 William III. remained, notwithstanding theii* deposition, true 
 bishops to the day of their death; and that those Avho were 
 substituted in theii' places were the unjust possessors of other 
 men's property .^^^ Thus are exemplified iudeHble apostoHcal 
 succession and the di^dne right of bishops. 
 
 5th. " That those unjust possessors of ecclesiastical dignities 
 were rebels against the state, as well as schismatics in the 
 church; and that all therefore who hold communion with 
 them, were also chargeable with rebeUion and schism.^' A con- 
 sequence full of despotic irresponsibility. 
 
 6th. " That this schism, wliich rends the church in pieces, is 
 a most heinous sin ; whose punishment must fall hea^dly upon 
 
 ' Tyndal's Life, by Offer. 
 
 * The two parties first assumed the names of High Church and Low- 
 Church, at the Convocation in 1702. 
 
 ^ Tillotson was one of these new bishops. — Burnet's Oioi Times. 
 
VAIUATIOXS BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW ( II I UC II M i:.\ . Ill 
 
 all those, who ilo not return sincerely to the true church from 
 which they have departed."^ A vain priestly fulmination ! 
 
 The term " lligh-Churchmen,"" is now more f^cnerally applied 
 to all those, who entertain exalted notions of the authority and 
 jurisdiction of the chui'ch and its dignitaries, though not to the 
 full extent of these positions. 
 
 The low church party, on the otlier hand, decidedly disavow 
 such sentiments, being much more moderate in estimating 
 their own hierarchy and church, as also the right of kings, and 
 more mild and charitable in their views of other religious deno- 
 minations. While they consider the episcopal form of govern- 
 ment to have been established by apostolic authority, and to be 
 far superior to every other ; and while they recoranicnd all the 
 precautions which they deem essential to its preservation, and to 
 the maintenance of their own clnuch ; many of them do not 
 carry their attachment to it to such an extravagant degree, as 
 to refuse the name of a church to every other body that is not 
 governed by a bishop.^ Between these two parties of Episco- 
 palians, there is less of hai'mony and accordance, than often 
 prevails between the low church party and many of those 
 termed " orthodox disseuters." In fact, a mutually dissentient 
 and palpably discordant body constitutes and will constitute the 
 Anglican, and every other law-established church, in spite of the 
 same creeds, the same articles, and the same sernces for all. 
 The inexplicit and even contradictory manner, in which different 
 parts of the liturgy are expressed, in reference to points of 
 doctrine, show that its compilers or their royal rulers were 
 desirous to embrace wide variations of sentiment, and to satisfy 
 persons of opposite opinions. What then becomes of the unity 
 of the church ? 
 
 Although the particular doctrines to be believed, and the 
 supplications to be used, may be determined by law for any 
 national church ; yet the addresses and exhortations, if such 
 tliere be, from the minister to the people, cannot, at least in the 
 present day, be thus prescribed. Hence great variety of sen- 
 timent and practice has prevailed, notwithstanding the efl'orts 
 to enforce uniformity. One minister, according to his own 
 preference, may enlarge on a view apparent in one of the for- 
 mularies ; another may select and urge a very ditrercnt doctrine, 
 
 ' ^losheiiu's Eoclcs. Hist. J-^lli < (.iinirv. ' Ibid. 
 
413 AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH BOUND TO SUBMIT. [Chap. 33. 
 
 to be deduced^ as he thinks, from another part of the ritual ; 
 and the workings of the mind and conscience;, bind and control 
 them as we may, will often scorn our futile attempts and over- 
 step our limitations. The reading of homilies or forms of 
 address to the people, prevailed after the reformation for a long 
 period, and was enforced by authority, being often used on ac- 
 count of the ignorance or idleness of the ministers. But it 
 appears to have been a cold, lifeless performance, and it 
 gradually gave place to written or unwritten discourses, in the 
 latter of which the Puritans were prominent and ardent. 
 
 It is assumed in an establishment, that the state has a right 
 to prescribe both formularies and rulers, and that the endowed 
 church is bound to submit. The members and authorities of 
 that church may form an influential part of the state, or they 
 may not. They may be so at one time, and they may not be so 
 at another. One political party is in the ascendant now, but 
 very opposite parties have been in authority before, and may be 
 so hereafter. The state may appoint certain men, with certain 
 tenets and services, under the pressure of one emergency or the 
 rule of one political chief, and very different officers and services 
 under another. So that a specially endowed church is not its 
 own master, as to its profession, even in those things which come 
 within the sacred precincts of faith and conscience; and a 
 degree of painful uncertainty hangs over it from time to time, as 
 to the conditions and the office-bearers to be imposed upon it. 
 
 Not only does the prescription, by acts of national legis- 
 lation, embrace long schedules of articles on the various great 
 questions of belief and practice ; but it extends, as already ob- 
 served, to minute particulars of public devotional services, and 
 to the very words with which man shall approach his Maker ! 
 A painful and awful position must this be for a conscientious 
 pastor to find himself in ! Apprehending that the state of the con- 
 gregation, and the suggestions of the Spirit of truth require sup- 
 plications for particular graces, or for preservation against certain 
 snares ; yet is he compelled to adopt a form of prayer widely dif- 
 ferent, it may be, in its character and objects ! Or, again, when 
 he believes that thanksgiving is due for especial mercies and 
 blessings, he may find the language prescribed for his adoption 
 greatly at variance with the occasion and with the current of his 
 feelings. The Israelites, in the wilderness, were commanded to 
 gather tlia manna daily, and to use it while it was fresh ; and an 
 
PAINFUL YOKE OF PRESCRIBED FORMS. 413 
 
 experience resembling tliis is believed still to apply to spiritual 
 sustenance and devotional engagements, which are to be fresh 
 and lively day by day ; not gathered from the mouldy human 
 legislation of bye-gone ages. Much are those ministers to be 
 commiserated, who feel themselves under such a galling yoke 
 of religious bondage ; not un outward or merely an intellectual 
 oppression, but one which is calculated to harass the conscientious 
 feelings, and to exact a course opposed to the most solemn 
 convictions. In these cases, can that which is offered be true 
 prayer or thanksgiving, or is it not at times a mockery of the 
 divine Omniscience and Majesty ? The conscience of the 
 minister must often recoil from the legal and chilling terms, in 
 which the devotional services are required to be performed ; 
 while the minds of the people are in great danger of being 
 perverted from the life of religion, from perceiving the real exi- 
 gencies of their spiritual state, and turned to rest in a cold, formal 
 acceptance of the " commandments and doctrines of men." 
 " The grace of God within me, and the Scriptures without me," 
 said William Pcnn, " are the foundation and declaration of 
 my faith and religion ; and let any mon get better if he can."i 
 
 While the great principles of Christian truth must ever 
 remain immutably the same, the circumstances of mankind are 
 of necessity various, changeable and progressive, presenting a 
 strong objection to the enforcement of particular man-made 
 formularies ; which may have been adapted to the condition of 
 a community at former periods, but Mhich may at the present 
 time be obscure, or less applicable, or unedifying. ''In England," 
 remarks D'Aubigne, " ancient and venerable forms have been 
 maintained ; but, generally speaking, the true, the divine Sj)irit 
 has forsaken those forms. In its place, a human spirit, produced 
 by these very forms, has taken possession of them ; and, alas ! 
 still sits proudly in the antique porch of many a college and 
 cathedral ; while the true Spirit, banished from these elevated 
 stations, has found refuge in humble retreats." " 
 
 In the construction of devotional forms, the embarrassing 
 question presents itself at the outset, " What spiritual character 
 and condition of the people shall they be framed to suit ? Shall 
 it be that of faithful Christians, as appears to have been con- 
 temj)lated in the Anglican burial service, and in many other 
 
 ^ Life iu his Works, vol. i. * Germany, England and Scotland. 
 
414 CHILLING INFLUENCE OF FORMS. [Chap. 33. 
 
 parts of her liturgy ; or sliall it be that of the " miserable 
 sinners/' elsewhere alluded to V It is obvious that in either 
 case the expressions must be totally inapplicable to some. 
 When one specific form is to be used for all^ this very serious 
 difficulty admits of no practical remedy. 
 
 Independently of higher considerations^ what should we think 
 of using in our addresses^ even to an earthly potentate, certain 
 lithographed forms, prepared long since and under very different 
 circumstances ? Would not a few lively words proceeding from 
 the heart be more becoming and acceptable ? Can we suppose, 
 judging from human nature, and the general effect of reli- 
 gious forms, that the use of them at appointed periods has a 
 tendency to promote a free current of piety and devotion in 
 either ministers or people ? Is it likely to encourage and 
 strengthen those views of the spiritual condition and wants of 
 the worshipper, and those fresh, deep-felt and acceptable aspira- 
 tions, whether uttered or unexpressed, which, proceeding from a 
 sense of entire inability and dependence, tend to promote faith 
 and holy resolution through Christ, so essential to a growth in 
 divine grace ? Or, on the contrary, is not the regular use of 
 such stated formularies, even though excellent in themselves, 
 fraught with extreme danger of producing a cold and lifeless 
 formality, an appearance without reality, a fatal presumption 
 and deadening hypocrisy ? To undertake to say to what extent 
 these lamentable effects really follow, Avould doubtless be a rash 
 judgment ; but it must be acknowledged that such is the obvious 
 and evil tendency. 
 
 However excellent the forms may be, however evangelical the 
 principles which they inculcate, the great question still presents 
 itself: Is the use of such modes of divine worship and religious 
 service warranted by the authority of Scripture ? In the New 
 Testament we have indeed the beautiful, brief petition called 
 the Lord's prayer, which was recommended by Jesus Christ to his 
 disciples ; but it must be especially observed that, so far from 
 certain precise expressions being prescribed, the command was, 
 as we read in one of the Evangelists, " after this manner," 
 or to this effect, "pray ye;" and his supplicants were not 
 to use " vain repetitions," or to come with unprepared or 
 unforgiving hearts. We do not find this prayer mentioned 
 afterwards as used by the disciples, nor is it once alluded to in 
 
STATE PAY AND BONDAfiK TO THE STATE. 415 
 
 the apostolical epistles. At another tirae^ our Lord commanded 
 them to put up their petitions in his name; cle.nrly sliowinj^ 
 that in the foregoing he hjid not laid down any particular form 
 of prayer. And, on a further occasion, he directed them not to 
 premeditate when they should be brought before kings and 
 rulers, but assured them that it should be given them in the 
 same hour, by the Holy Ghost, what they should say.' The 
 Apostle Paul also observes, that they knew not what to pray 
 for as they ought ; but that the Holy Spirit knew their weak- 
 ness, and would graciously help them.= This is the great remedy 
 for the infirmity of man, and his true guide in devotion. The 
 history and precepts of the New Testament show the absolute 
 necessity of depending daily on fresh spiritual influence from the 
 ^Most High in this sacred duty of worship ; a view to which the 
 use of set forms at appointed times is at least ill adapted, however 
 they may be well expressed in words or correct in doctrinal truth. 
 
 " The magistrate has no power/' says Locke, " to enforce or 
 forbid by law in his own church, and much less in another, the 
 use of any rites whatever in the worship of God ; because these 
 churches are free societies, and whatever is practised is only so 
 far justifiable, as it is believed by those who practise it to be 
 acceptable to Ilim.^'^ 
 
 " The principle that the state, or the union of church and state, 
 is entitled to regulate the religious belief of a country, has more 
 intellectual thraldom in it, than that which the power of tlie 
 popish church ever exercised [out of Italy] in the darkest ages ; 
 for it had no civil power joined to its religious power. It worked 
 only through the agency of the civil power of each country ; 
 being an independent, a distinct, and often an opposing power. "' 
 So says an intelligent writer ; but whether the two be united, 
 or the one be at the bidding of the other, the difference is not 
 material ; in either case religious liberty has been largely 
 invaded. The same writer thinks that Catholicism has gene- 
 rally shown a politic disposition to lay hold on the great move- 
 ments of the people, and use them for its own puri)oses, while 
 protestants have too much dissipatetl their strength by intestine 
 divisions, — a hint that is worthy the attention of all. 
 
 A minister w ho recently quitted the Anglican church, in a 
 ' Mark xiii. 1 1, &c. * Rom. viii. 26. * Letters on Toleration. 
 * Laiug'a Notes of a Traveller. 
 
41 G DODSHON ON STATE PAY AND ITS CONDITIONS. [Chap. ZS. 
 
 statement of liis reasons for doing so^ publislied in 1 849^ thus 
 expresses himself: " State payment is an unscriptural prin- 
 ciple of the establishment. The clergyman's stipend is state 
 wages, and nothing else. It is said that the state no more pays 
 him his rent-charge than it pays the landlord his rent, or the 
 dissenting minister his endoAvment or his pew-rents ; inasmuch 
 as it equally protects them all in the enjoyment of their pro- 
 perty, and nothing more. But is this a true statement of the 
 case ? I would ask is there not a difference in the respective 
 terms on which this protection is accorded? What interference 
 is there by the state with the creed of the land-owner or of the 
 dissenting minister? The state imposes no I'estrictions of its 
 own, in regard to their belief or teaching, on either the landlord 
 or the dissenting minister. But can the apologist for the 
 establishment assert the same as regards the clergyman ? He 
 cannot. The state indeed secures to the clergyman his glebe, 
 his parsonage, and his rent-charge, or whatever else he is 
 legally entitled to ; but it is upon conditions of its own fixing 
 and imposing. The state lays down its own terms, and if the 
 clergyman violates those terms, the state employs the agency 
 of a bishop and an ecclesiastical court, and stops his stipend. 
 And what are those terms, which the state imposes upon 
 the clergyman, as the condition upon which he may enjoy 
 his emoluments ? The terms are these ; that he makes certain 
 subscriptions, and thinks and acts in accordance with them ; 
 that he uses certain forms of worship ; that he preaches certain 
 doctrines which possess the state's imprimatur, no matter 
 whether he thinks them all true or false ; and further and 
 especially, that he is silent with respect to everything in the 
 system which he considers objectionable, and might feel it his 
 duty to condemn and denounce. 
 
 " Parliament gives to each individual clergyman his emolu- 
 ments upon these terms ; and on these terms it maintains him in 
 them. Thus then there is a wide difference between the two 
 cases. Neither landlords nor dissenting ministers hold their 
 property upon the terms of the Act of Uniformity, as the 
 clergyman does ; and as he will soon be taught to feel that he 
 does, if he transgresses its provisions. The landlord and dis- 
 senting ministers are under no restrictions whatever, except that 
 of conducting themselves as dutiful and peaceful subjects; whilst 
 
STATE PAY A\n IJONDAGE TO THE STATE. 417 
 
 the suit aucl service exacted from the clergyman, as tlic terms 
 of his tenure (viz., to tliiuk, speak and act, in relation to Divine 
 truth, the worship of God, and the discipline of the church, 
 just as Parliament in its wisdom has prescribed), prove but 
 too clearly the position, with regard to the i)ropcrty of the 
 establishment, occupied by Parliament, and the capacity in which 
 the clergyman receives his income. It is idle then to deny that 
 clergymen are paid by the state ; and this I maintain is an 
 unscriptnral principle, and one which must needs operate most 
 injuriously on the pastoral relation, and on the spiritual pros- 
 l)erlty, purity, and independence of churches. But that is not all. 
 1 must also in candour state my conviction, considering the 
 terms on which those wages are conceded, to ministers as the 
 price of their subserviency ; to churches, as the reward of their 
 surrender of Christ's rights, and their own best privileges; 
 that these are not merely state-wages, but wages of a very 
 discreditable kind — a bribe to blind the eyes in judgment.^" 
 
 ' Brief Keasona for quitting the English Establishment, by I, Dodshon, 
 ^LA., late Vicar of Cookerham, 1849. 
 
 2 E 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 ON VARIOUS FORMULARIES, RITES AND OBSERVANCES, APPENDED 
 TO DIVINE WORSHIP AND SERVICE BY PROFESSED CHRISTIANS : 
 HISTORICAL SKETCHES AND VARIOUS OPINIONS OF THEM. 
 
 1st Section. — Introductory Remarks. 
 
 The history of religious rites is so closely connected witli that 
 of formularies; that it becomes expedient to consider them 
 together. 
 
 Legislative regulations on these points generally, perhaps 
 necessarily, follow the endowment of any one church by the 
 state, in order to identify the church, and ascertain the fulfil- 
 ment of the conditions of endowment. 
 
 So long as we have the inspired records for our guide, and 
 down to the period to which their narrative is brought, the 
 information given by the inspired penmen may doubtless be 
 relied on, as authentic and tinctured with nothing superstitious 
 or fabulous. Though individual Christians were not free from 
 errors in faith and practice, yet the primitive apostolic churches 
 were generally animated by the Holy Spirit, the life of all true 
 religion ; and they appear, to a large extent, to have kept their 
 first love to Christ their Lord and Master. But having arrived 
 at the conclusion of the sacred history, no sooner do we attempt 
 to proceed onwards from that period, by consulting the works of 
 the earliest ecclesiastical writers, than we find the state of things 
 greatly changed. Instead of truth and inspiration, are legends 
 and traditions ; and in the place of pure religion, superstitions 
 and corruptions. Evidences of a darkening period are the chief 
 objects visible. In the midst of fables and interpolations, and 
 among the numerous attempts to obtain sanction for observances 
 and for documents, by ascribing them to the apostles, it is 
 difficult to discover what to believe and what to disbelieve.^ 
 
 Serious and spiritually-minded persons, who consider the 
 
 ^ The very recent publication of the remains of Hippolytus by Chevalier 
 Bunsen throws sonae increased light on this primitive period. 
 
Sect. 1.] OBJECTIONS TO CEREJJOMAL OBSERVANCES. 119 
 
 subject without prejudice, will, it is believed, generally feel 
 bound to admit, that the outward ceremonial system, with which 
 a worldly and superstitious spirit had jj:;radually invested the 
 profession of Christianity, as partially developed in the fore- 
 going pages, inflicted great injury on its Aitality and efficacy ; 
 by obscuring its spiritual character, impeding its operations, and 
 leading the expectation of the people, from the teachings of 
 Christ by his Spirit and by bis written word, to a dependence on 
 man, on prescribed forms, and superstitious or outward rites. 
 State endowments, and the conditions on which they were held, 
 had a great share in producing these effects. They attracted the 
 superficial and ambitious. Endowments required the imposition 
 of creeds, and this cpiickly led to formality and persecution. 
 
 The writer of this Essay desires to express it as his serious and 
 deliberate opinion, with due deference to the views of many of 
 his esteemed fellow-Christians who think differently, that our 
 Lord did not institute any ritual observance or symbol, to be of 
 permanent obligation in the Christian church ; although, in 
 condescension to the outward ideas of the Jews, and in compli- 
 ance with the national figurative rites, then about to expire and 
 to be fulfilled in the gospel, certain things which arc not im- 
 perative, and the use of many of which Christians have gene- 
 rally declined, were observed by himself, and more especially 
 by his disciples. Had the practice of succeeding ages extended 
 to the total disuse of elementary rites, gi'cat superstitions, con- 
 tentions and bloodshed, and consccpiently much reproach to 
 the Christian religion, might have been avoided. 
 
 The author does not expect that all his readers will be pre- 
 pared to go the whole length with his conscientious objections 
 to ceremonial observances ; but he trusts that, though witli 
 some diversity of sentiment and practice, mutual charity and 
 forbearance will be maintained ; and that those who have always 
 believed some of these forms to have been instituted l)y the 
 Divine Foiuider of Christianity, will again seriously consider the 
 subject, and will at least be watchful not to mistake them for 
 the substance of religion, nor place any dependence upon them, 
 but ever look up to Him — the great and only Source of spiritual 
 light, life and salvation. 
 
 Some terms ami modes of expression, quoted from ecclesiastical 
 authors, and already noticed in the tenth chapter, will be found to 
 
 2 i: 2 
 
420 RELIGIOUS FORMS ENFORCED BY THE STATE. [Chap. 34. 
 
 be used occasionally in these pages to avoid circumlocution^ with 
 little or no censvire or remark ; but the approval of them by the 
 writer must not be thence inferred. In exposing much super- 
 stitioUj and dwelling on circumstances that are deeply painful 
 with reference to religion, he desires to avoid contempt, levity 
 and unkindness, and merely to discharge a duty to the commu- 
 nity ; being sensible that, while evil is faithfully denounced, all 
 conscientious worshippers are entitled to oui' forbearance and 
 respect, though they may widely differ from us in apprehensions 
 of the truth. 
 
 Should it be objected that such matters are irrelevant to the 
 professed object of this treatise, which is, the evil of upholding 
 religion by temporal power and pecuniary endowments, — the 
 answer is a plain one. The ceremonies and observances in 
 question were not left to every one freely to accept or decline, 
 according to his own conscientious convictions ; but, being up- 
 held by the arm of secular authority, aided or wielded by those 
 who made them a means of emolument, influence and ambi- 
 tion, they were forced upon the people as sacred, under the most 
 severe penalties ; and any slight neglect or hesitation was visited 
 at times with persecution, imprisonment, or death itself. Had 
 it not been for this fearful perversion of the power of the state, 
 interfering with the natural right of private judgment and indi- 
 vidual conscience, it is very unlikely that, in their strange and 
 superstitious shapes, many of them would have been continued 
 for a single century. The light of reason and revelation, if it had 
 not been restrained and half-extinguished by outward violence, 
 would have pierced and dissipated the darkness of ignorance 
 and error. And why was this violence exercised ? Surely not 
 from a simple desire to investigate and maintain the truth, 
 which needed no such false auxiliary ; but from a fear that the 
 craft would be endangered, its revenues destroyed, and the great 
 modern Diana of pompous and gainful superstition entirely over- 
 thrown ! 
 
 If any should suggest that, by thus dwelling on the growth of 
 the ceremonials and revenues, and laying bare the fraud and 
 covetousness by which Christianity has been defaced, there is a 
 danger of injuring religion itself, and bringing it into contempt ; 
 the answer is : — By no means. This is not the object, nor will 
 it be the result. These evil excrescences have produced that very 
 
Sect. 2.] STKENGTH AM) BKAITY OF TURK CIIKISTIAMTY. -1;21 
 
 effect, and their reproach has long fallen on our holy religion, 
 but their exposure and removal, in a proper spirit, can only 
 redeem and exalt its true and genuine character. 
 
 The Christian religion stands on a tirm and indestructible 
 basis, simple but beautiful, lowly but dignified ; often obscured 
 from without, but intrinsically true; abused and wounded by 
 man, yet full of spiritual life; more injured by false and pre- 
 tended friends than by open and avowed enemies ; hidden from 
 the worldly-wise, but revealed to the poor in spirit ; overlaid Ijy 
 wealth and luxury, but strong and vigorous in the minds of the 
 humble; long corrupted and bound in a night of apostacy 
 and darkness, but gradually emerging from its obscurity and 
 shackles, to the light, and freedom, and vigour of the gospel 
 day. To aid, in however small a degree, the promotion of this 
 great object, without giving needless offence or pain to any of 
 his fellow-believers, is the sincere desire of the author. 
 
 2nd Section. — On Liturgies in general. 
 
 Most writers on this subject arc of opinion that, in the age 
 immediately succeeding tiiat of the apostles, divine service was 
 still very simple ; but that, as Christianity became corrupted, a 
 few ceremonies and set prayers were adopted. 
 
 By degrees external rites were multiplied, and new prayers 
 added, to render the service more venerable and awful in the 
 view of the people, though really burdening and depressing the 
 spiritual life ; till at length things were carried to such a height, 
 that it was deemed expedient to lay down certain regidations, 
 to curb extravagance.^ This was the first and main excuse for 
 prescribing set devotional forms. The loss of the substance was 
 attempted to be supplied by an outward appearance. 
 
 The .services to be used in divine woi-ship, and the manner 
 of performing them, were put into writing, and this was termed 
 a " liturgj'."^' The word however is used in a more limited 
 sense ; among the Romanists for " the ^fa-ss," and in the 
 Anglican church for " the Common Prayer.'' 
 
 To prescribe certain forms and words for the conduct of outward 
 devotion, appears very counter to the nature of that sj)iritual 
 worship whidi Christ taught his disciples that the Father will 
 ' 1 luck's Tlieolog. Diet.— Art. LUurg>-. ' I Mil. 
 
422 INTRODUCTION OF LITURGIES. [Chap. 34. 
 
 accept. He declared that this worship must be " in truth ; " 
 but how can that devotion be said to be in truth^ as respects 
 the party engaged in it, which finds vent only in the language 
 of other men, often unsuited to the state, disposition, and cir- 
 cumstances of persons of different classes and degrees of expe- 
 rience, who are compelled to confine themselves to it ! How 
 many a holy declaration or petition becomes a lie on the tongue 
 of the careless and worldly-minded ! How many a response to 
 the most sacred truths, and the most devout resolutions, sinks 
 into mere mockery of the Most High, by proceeding from in- 
 sincere hearts and polluted lips ! With every desire to judge 
 charitably, is it possible to conclude that worship, being in such 
 cases inconsistently performed, fulfils the character of being 
 offered "in spirit and in truth?" 
 
 " Prayer is rather the work of the Spirit than of any form," 
 said Saltmarsh in ] 647 ; " and no set form ought to be put 
 upon the Spirit of God,'but what it freely breathes and speaks. 
 Prayer is an immediate, proper and spiritual act of the Spirit 
 of God in the saints."^ " Formerly," observed Bishop Burnet, 
 " the worship of God was a pure and simple thing ; and so 
 it continued till superstition had infected the church, and those 
 forms that every bishop used as he saw fit, were thought 
 too naked, unless they were put under most artificial rules and 
 dressed up with much ceremony, every age making notable 
 additions."^ 
 
 Justin Martyr, about the year 160, relates, in his Apology, 
 that the president of the Christian assemblies, or he who in- 
 structed the people, prayed according to his aljility, or spiritual 
 knowledge. Tertullian also, in his Apology, says that the 
 Christians of those times prayed in the public congregations 
 " without any prompter but their own hearts and feelings," 
 The introduction of liturgies does not appear to have taken 
 place till the latter end of the third, or the beginning of the 
 fourth century. There are indeed litm'gies, which pass under 
 the names of three of the Apostles ; but they are evidently gross 
 forgeries of later dates. So much of interpolation and false 
 ascription abounds in ecclesiastical history at even an early 
 period, that no weight is to be attached to their pretended origin. 
 The Emperor Constantine, who, with some apparently good in- 
 Sparkles of Glory." * History of the Eeformation, part ii. 
 
 I (( 
 
Sect. 2. J UEASONS rOH AM) AGAINST LlTl KGIES. 4(23 
 
 tcntious, contributed largely to secularise and corrupt the 
 Christian church, composed a form of prayer for his heathen 
 soldiers, •which is still extant. Although there arc many asser- 
 tions to the contrary, this is one of the lirst ascertained instances 
 of that kind ; and it is by no means evident that any liturgy was 
 generally used, initil that period or soon afterwards. 
 
 The Niccne creed was adopted under Constautine's iuflucnec, 
 as the faith of the empire, in 325 ; and was enforced, under 
 pain of banishment, on all Christians. Still every bishop was 
 at liberty to frame a liturgy for his own church, congregation or 
 diocese; and so long as he kept to the analogy of faith and 
 doctrine, the details were left to his own discretion. There 
 existed therefore a great variety of liturgies in ditiercnt 
 countries. For several ages tlie bishops retained this privilege ; 
 afterwards it became the practice for each province to follow the 
 model of the metropolitan council to which it belonged. From 
 the period of the union of secular and ecclesiastical authority by 
 Constantinc, may be dated the regular use of formularies of 
 doctrine and worship in many of the Christian churches, which 
 had already lost much of theii* simple and spiritual character, 
 conformity being enforced- as far as practicable. 
 
 Augustin, about the year 400, says that there was a liberty to 
 pray, sometimes in one mode of expression, and sometimes in 
 another •} but that when the ^Vrian and Pelagian heresies invaded 
 the church, this liberty was taken away, and it was ordained for 
 the first time by the Council of Laodicea, that jione should pray 
 according to their own judgment, but that the same form of 
 prayers should always be used. This was one then composed, 
 and the Council of Carthage enacted, in 397, that whoever 
 should prepare any different forms should not use them, until 
 after a conference with the brethren who were well instructed.- 
 
 The advantages claimed for a liturgy by its advocates arc, 
 that it prevents extravagant, absurd or impious addresses to 
 God; also any confusion or embarrassment in extemporary 
 prayer; and that it secures imiformity.^ Much however may be 
 said on the opposite side. A set form of prayer is in great danger 
 of not conveying the life and fervour of the Holy Spirit to the 
 heart and feelings, and of becoming a matter of rote. It may be 
 
 ' Es3. 121. » Neal'.H Puritan.s, vol. 2. 
 
 ' Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy. 
 
424 ROMTSH MASS-BOOK. [Chap. 34. 
 
 very unsuited to the occasion and to the assembly. No such 
 power of forced dictation is vested in any individual or body. It is 
 contrary to the general tenor of the New Testament^ and to the 
 freedom^ power and truthfulness of the Gospel. It notoriously 
 fails to maintain unity of doctrine. It puts the spiritual-minded, 
 faithful minister on the same low level as the worldly, insincere 
 hireling, to say nothing of a still lower class ; while in the mouths 
 of such, sacred truths and aspirations lose their virtue, and be- 
 come empty and untrue words ! 
 
 3rd Section. — Of the Roman Liturgy or Mass-book. 
 
 The liturgy of the Roman catholic church consists of, — first, 
 the Breviary, containing those called matins or morning prayers, 
 lauds or thanksgivings, &c.; second, the Missal, or volume em- 
 ployed in celebrating the mass, with the calendar, or table of 
 saints^ days, and the general rubricks, or description of cere- 
 monies j third, the Ceremonial, or offices peculiar to the pope ; 
 fourth, the Pontifical, describing the functions of bishops ; and 
 fifth, the Eitual, or services of ordinary priests. The whole is 
 written and performed in Latin. The Mass, or Missa,^ in the 
 church of Rome, signifies the office or form used in celebrating 
 the eucharist, or, to explain it in the common Romish phrase- 
 ology, in " consecrating the bread and wine into the body and 
 blood of Christ ; and off'ering them, so transubstantiated, as an 
 expiatory sacrifice for the li\dng and the dead.^^ 
 
 The Mass-book gradually received additions of varied super- 
 stitious kinds ; and, to use the language of Fox the martyrolo- 
 gist, "was patched up with vain institutions, absurdities and 
 perilous idolatry, by successive pontiffs.^' The fourth, fifth and 
 sixth centuries were fertile in these inventions and additions. 
 Such were the exclamations in Greek, the responses, the gradual, 
 the sequences, the offertory, the kiss of peace, the form of dis- 
 missal, &c. &c. Mosheim relates that Gregory, surnamed " the 
 Great," who lived about the year 600, showed a marvellous 
 fecundity of genius in inventing, and a great force of eloquence 
 in recommending, superstitious observances. He prescribed a 
 new method of administering the eucharist, with a magnificent 
 assemblage of pompous ceremonies. This was called " the Canon 
 
 ' This term is supposed by some to be derived fi'om the concluding 
 words of the officiating priest, " Ite missa est.'" 
 
Sect. 3.] STUANOE MODK OF CHOOSING A LITIUGV. 
 
 of the Mass," being a <j;reat augmentation of the al\^^rtt, form 
 Many ages however passed before this Gregorian ct^^ tins 
 adopted by the whole even of the Latin churclics. The ulfcipnt 
 British churches rcsohitcly resisted the dictation of Gregory to 
 accept and use it. 
 
 Two liturgies of Gregory and Ambrose being in use, and some 
 preferring the former, but others the latter, Adrian I. called a 
 council about the year 700, to determine the disputed question, 
 when the following expedient is said to have been adopted. Both 
 the mass-books of Ambrose and Gregory having been laid on the 
 altar of one of tlic churches, the doors were carefully shut and 
 sealed ; the bishops then betook themselves to prayer, that the 
 Lord would show by some evident sign which of the two services 
 he approved. On opening the doors in the morning, the two 
 missals were found still on the altar, the leaves of Gregory's 
 being plucked asunder and scattered over the building; but the 
 book of Ambrose remaining open and entire where it had been 
 laid. Adrian, by an arbitrary interpretation, dictated probably 
 by his own wish, declared this miracle to imply that, as the 
 leaves of Gregory's book were scattered over the church, so 
 should the book itself be promulgated throughout the world. A 
 decree was made by the council to this effect, aad the service of 
 Amljrose was restricted to the use of his own church at Milan. 
 This is reported by John Fox, quoting from Durandus and 
 others, to have been the origin of the great decree of Pope 
 Adrian, for setting up the Gregorian mass or liturgy as a uni- 
 form ritual. Charlemagne vigorously enforced the use of 
 Gregory's mass-book, burning the others wherever he found 
 them ; violent contests followed, not only on the continent but 
 in England, about tlie superiority and use of these and other 
 particular liturgies.^ 
 
 An account, equally strange and absurd, is given of the 
 Spaniards in the eleventh century, who resisted the despotic 
 attempts of Gregory X. to introduce the Roman ceremonies, and 
 adhered with firmness to tlicir ancient Gothic forms. It is 
 represented that they concluded to decide the question, first by 
 the single combat of two selected and armed champions, and 
 next by committing both the Roman and Gothic liturgies to the 
 flames; in both which trials the advantage is reported to have 
 ' Fox's Acts ami M«>n., vol. i. ; Stuwe's Aiiiialt<. 
 
426 INCREASE OF CEREMON'IES IN DIVINE WORSHIP, [Chap. 34. 
 
 been on tlie side of the Gothic rites. These were accordingly 
 retained for a time till the pope mainly carried his point.^ 
 
 Superstitious and rude as were such means of ascertaining 
 the divine willj they are little if at all out of keeping with 
 the character of that benighted and barbarous age ; in which, 
 for selfish ends, ecclesiastical power was leagued with hypocrisy 
 and impious fraud, in which a priesthood and tithes were im- 
 posed with a high hand, image worship was practised, and gross 
 ignorance and superstition reigned supreme. 
 
 Most of the writers in the eighth and ninth centuries em- 
 ployed their ingenuity to discover mystical significations for 
 every rite that was used ; till at length there Avere so many 
 missals, breviaries, rituals, pontificals, pontoises, pies, graduals, 
 antiphonas, psalteries, hours, &c., &c., that the regular prescribed 
 mode of officiating was a difficult process, and not to be learned 
 without long practice." 
 
 The several vernacular tongues were generally used at public 
 worship till about 867, when Nicholas I. decreed that all divine 
 service should be performed in Latin, excepting the Sclavonians 
 and Poles, who were allowed to retain it in their own languages 
 till the fourteenth contury. The Latin ha\dng become unin- 
 telligible to the people at large, some attempts were made in 
 the Italian churches, in the eleventh century, to discontinue 
 the public use of it, but these efforts were without success. The 
 same practice prevailed in the Eastern churches ; the Egyptian 
 Christians continuing to perform their religious service in the 
 ancient Coptic, the Jacobites and Nestorians in the Syriac, 
 and the Abyssinians in the old Ethiopic language, though all 
 these had for a long period become obsolete. 
 
 Gregory YIL, in the twelfth century, used considerable 
 exertions to introduce the Roman ceremonies everywhere, and 
 to establish a perfect uniformity of divine worship ; but he 
 succeeded only in part. 
 
 Wichfi'e was opposed to the use of precise forms of prayer, 
 and especially to the imposition of them, as interfering with the 
 rights of Christians; saying that "to bind men to set and prescript 
 forms, derogates from that liberty which God has given them."^ 
 ^'That man," said he, "who liveth best, prayeth best. A simple 
 
 * Waddington's Church Hist., &c. * Bui-net's Hist. Eeformation, part ii. 
 ' Fox, Acts and Mon., vol. i. 
 
Sect. 4.] VAUIOIS LITURGIES USED, 427 
 
 pateruoster from a religious ploiigliuiiui is of more value, in the 
 sifi^lit of God, than a thousand masses from a wicked prelate.'" 
 The cstfiblished church of England says, on the contrary, in 
 the twenty-sixth article, that " The cflect of Christ's ordinance 
 is not taken away by the wickedness of the minister, nor the 
 grace of God's gifts diminished, from such as from faith and 
 rightly receive the sacraments ministered unto them, which be 
 effectual because of Christ's institution and promise, although 
 they be ministered by evil men."" 
 
 The Latin services and the old mass-books, as they had l)efure 
 been used in England, were continued through the reign of 
 Henry VITT. without alteration, save some very few erasures, 
 till the new liturgy was established by Edward VI., and in the 
 next year the missals, &c., &c., were ordered to be abolished and 
 burnt. Queen ]N[ary however restored them to use.* 
 
 Luther did not favour one invariable ritual or form of public 
 worship, but advocated a large degree of freedom in this respect. 
 Consc(pxently a variety of practice has always prevailed among 
 the Lutherans. In the Calvinistic churches also, both extem- 
 poraneous prayer and certain forms were admitted together.* 
 Various modes of supplication being still used in different places, 
 the Council of Milan in 1615 directed that none should employ 
 any formulary which had not been ap})roved by a synod. » 
 
 In the sixteenth century great contentions about the liturgy 
 of the Greek cluu-ch arose in Russia, and kept the whole nation 
 in confusit)n for upwards of a hundred years. ''' The ignorant 
 and prejudiced people were earnest that no change whatever 
 should be introduced, although there appears to have been great 
 necessity for some improvement. 
 
 4th Section. -On tJie Enrjlish Episcopal Liturr/y, the Presbyterian 
 
 Directory, S^c. 
 
 This liturgy, or " service-book " as it was formerly termed, 
 was compiled chiefly from the Roman ^lass-book, translated into 
 English by Cranmcr, Ridley and others in 1547, being the lirst 
 year of Edward VI., and was established by law in the following 
 
 ' British Biog., vdI. i. p. .'lO. ' Bnok of Common Pniyer. 
 
 • Burn's Eccle.si.iaticiil Law. * Neale's Hist, of PuritAn.s, vol. ii.,p. 321. 
 
 * Laings Notes of a Traveller. * Pinkertou'a Greek Churclu 
 
428 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL LITURGY. \Chap. 34'. 
 
 year; having been purified from the more objectionable and 
 grosser passages of the Romanists,, contraiy to the A"iews of many 
 of the ministers and people. The following words of confirma- 
 tion were then adopted : — " Which at this time^ with the aid of 
 the Holy Ghost^ with uniform agreement, is of them concluded 
 and set forth/^ &c. Some parts of that edition, being still 
 thought to favour superstition, were objected to by Calvin and 
 others ; it was therefore reviewed a few years after, and then 
 confirmed b}^ acts of Parliament : Queen Mary abolished it, and 
 the forms of the last years of Henry VIII. were re-introduced, 
 as stated in the last section. 
 
 Edward VI., " that royal and godly child" as Milton calls 
 him, in the exercise of his powers as head of the church, forbad 
 for a time all preaching, on pain of imprisonment, restricting 
 the ministers to the forms of prayer and the homilies. When 
 the new Book of Common Prayer had been compiled by the 
 commissioners and sanctioned by Parliament, its observance was 
 strictly enforced under severe penalties, amounting for the third 
 ofi'ence to imprisonment for Hfe. The burning of two persons 
 as heretics followed soon after. These despotic measures pro- 
 duced much pain among moderate persons, and obstructed the 
 cause of the Reformation. They were however exceptions to 
 the generally mild measures of this reign. Had Edward lived 
 a few years longer the Reformation would probably have been 
 carried to a much greater extent. 
 
 The thirty-fourth article of the Anglican church states, that 
 ^'it is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all 
 places one, or utterly like, for at all times they have been divers, 
 and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, 
 times and men's manners; so that nothing be ordained against 
 God's word." The liberty here referred to has not however 
 been frequently conceded in practice. 
 
 In 1549 some of the people of Devonshire and Cornwall, in- 
 stigated by Popish priests who were averse to tlie Reformation, 
 rose in a body, and proceeded towards London in large num- 
 bers with force and arms. Their object was to procure a 
 restitution of the mass and other ceremonies, and to have every- 
 thing restored as in the dark days of the papacy. King Edward 
 VI. reasoned moderately with them in a long Avritten message, 
 in which among other things he says of the reformed liturgy, 
 
Sect, 4.] REVISIONS OF ENGLISH LITURGY. 42^ 
 
 " It hath manifest reasons for it ; and tliough perchance it 
 seemeth to you a new service, it is none other than the old, the 
 solf-sanie words in English which were in Latin, saving a few 
 things taken out, which were so fond tliat it had been a shame 
 to have heard them in English, as all they can judge, which list 
 to report the truth." ^ Thus is perceived the extent of the re- 
 formation in this respect. 
 
 The senice-book in English was enforced by Edward VI. on 
 the Irish, although to most of them it was in an unknown 
 tongue ; and it was ordered that when neither priest nor people 
 understood English, the Latin service should be used. This con- 
 tempt thrown on their own language was an unlikely course to 
 edify or conciliate the native worshippers. Very much the same 
 ai'bitrary course was piu'sued in Wales, and produced the natural 
 effect of disgust and dissent in the minds of the people. 
 
 Elizabeth, on coming to the ci'own in lo.'iS, having a strong 
 tincture of popish superstition, appointed a committee to revise 
 the liturgy, and in obedience to her commands some passages 
 offensive to the papists were expunged, and several of the old 
 usages restored. If practicable, she would even have enforced 
 celibacy on the clergy. The great "Act for the Uniformity of 
 Common Prayer and Service in the Church, and Administration 
 of the Sacraments," was passed under her authority in 1559, in 
 opposition to most of the bishops : it established the liturgy 
 by law, and required all the queen's siibjects, under heavy 
 penalties, to attend the new forms of religion. This soon led 
 to the sepfiration of the nonconformists, and was painful to 
 many who still conformed, numerous places of worship being 
 shut up in different parts of the country. 
 
 The queen carried her authority as supreme head of the church 
 so far, that she attempted at different times greatly to restrict 
 and almost to put down spontaneous acts of public devotion, 
 even by the authorized ministers. Prayer had been generally re- 
 quired to be off'ered in certain prescribed forms of words ; but she 
 insisted on applying the same rule to i)reaehiug, .ind forbad the 
 "prophecyings" which had sj)rung up and ])rcvailed witli the re- 
 formation, declaring that three or four preachers were enough for 
 a county, and that the reading of homilies generally was all that 
 was necessary. In thus carrying out to the full extent the princij)le 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. 
 
430 ATTEMPTS TO REVISE THE LITURGY. [Chap. 34. 
 
 of liturgies she prevailed for a time^ to the injury of the cause of 
 true religion,^ and to the wounding of many consciences. 
 
 In 1562^ much dissatisfaction prevailing, a convocation was 
 called to review the doctrine and discipline of the church, 
 when several changes were proposed; namely, the discontinu- 
 ance of the sign of the cross in baptism, of most of the holydays, 
 of the variety of vestments, of chanting, of the use of organs, 
 of kneeling at the sacrament, and of the minister's turning 
 his back to the congregation. After warm debates^ forty-three 
 voted in favour of these omissions and thirty-five against them, 
 but the proxies of absentees turned the scale, leaving a majority 
 of one vote only against any alteration. Thus terminated the 
 first attempt to reform the established protestant liturgy. In 
 the main doctrinal views of the two parties, the conformists and 
 the puritans, there was little avowed diff'erence, but in the mode 
 of upholding and enforcing these religious observances the 
 diff'erence was great.^ Whether the puritans themselves would 
 have shown more forbearance if they had been in power, must 
 be admitted to be very doubtful. 
 
 The second great effort to revise the liturgy was that known 
 as " the Hampton Court Conference," between eighteen bishops 
 and clergy on the one hand, and four puritan ministers on the 
 other.^ It took place in 1603-4, King James I. presiding : the 
 proceedings of the king and others were very overbearing towards 
 the puritans, and reflected no credit on themselves. Little or 
 no concession was made, but a proclamation issued to enforce 
 uniformity. About 1500 ministers are compvited to have been 
 suspended. Many escaped from persecution to the continent 
 of Europe, and from thence to America. 
 
 At the request of Charles I., Archbishop Usher and others 
 drew up a scheme in 1641, for uniting episcopacy with presbj'- 
 terianism, in which were proposed several emendations of the 
 liturgy, and the reduction of episcopacy into synodical govern- 
 ment. But the two great parties were too much exasperated 
 against each other to unite in any such measure.* 
 
 » Brooks' History of Eeligious Liberty, vol. i. 
 
 * Strype and Warner, quoted in Brooks' Eeligious Liberty. 
 
 ^ To a suggestion of the puritan ministers at the Hampton Court Con- 
 ference, the nation is mainly indebted for the last or " authorized version" 
 of the Holy Scriptures — one of the best measures of King James's reign. 
 
 ■* Neal's Puritans, vol. ii. 
 
 I 
 
Sect. -1.] PROPOS.VI-S TO SATISFY DISSENTERS. 1^1 
 
 With the idea of effecting " a comprehension" of dissenters, 
 another reWcw of the liturgy was taken in ItiGl, and again in 
 IGGS, conferences being hchl for the purpose between several of 
 the bishops and presbyterian ministers. The eliief points can- 
 vassed were "tlie surpUce, the cross in baptism, tlie kneehng at the 
 sacrament, and the bowing at the name of Jesus/' The customs 
 of godfathers, of various holydays, and of the responses were 
 also objected to.^ No concessions were however made ; some 
 parts were rendered even more objectionable, and the disputants 
 separated still more at variance than before. 
 
 A fiu'ther eflfort to amend some parts of the liturgy, so as to 
 obviate the objections of dissenters, was made early in the reign 
 of AVilliara III. A convocation of the bishops and clei-gy was 
 summoned, and the presbyterians and others also met to repre- 
 sent their views ; but both sides refusing to yield sufficiently, 
 and intemperate language being used, the endeavour to form 
 a comprehension again proved abortive. This is considered 
 by some the seventh attempt to reform the service of the 
 Anglican church. Bishop Burnet expressed an opinion, that if 
 the coiTcctions of the liturgy agreed to by the bishops and 
 others on this occasion vwere adopted, they would make it 
 " more perfect as well as more unexceptionable."" 
 
 The establishmeut of the English liturgy by law, and the em- 
 ployment of pains and penalties to uphold its observance, have 
 been so far from producing that general uniformity so much 
 desired in doctrine and practice, tliat they have had an opposite 
 effect, keeping the nation in a ferment for a long time, and at 
 length leading to open ruptures and separations among the 
 English protestants. The Biownists in 1.jG8, and the presby- 
 terians soon after, sprang out of the puritan ministers of the 
 establishment, the former merging in the independents, or con- 
 gregationalists, about IGIG. The first baptist church was esta- 
 blished in 1G33; and the society of friends made its appearance 
 about 1G.j1. Severe persecutions tended to alienate them all 
 from forms of religion upheld by such antichristian means, and 
 to confirm them as distinct religious bodies. 
 
 No revision of the liturgy has been seriously attempted 
 within the last century and a half, yet there is evidently a growing 
 
 ' Burnet's own Tiine=*. Neal's Purit'ins. » Djid. 
 
432 NO LATE REVISIONS OF LITURGY. [Chap. 34. 
 
 dissatisfaction with many portions of it among a large and in- 
 fluential body of the established chui'ch. 
 
 Simple^ plain_, practical Christianity has been often overlooked 
 and contemned by the ruling powers ; and elaborate systems of 
 theology have taken its place, producing contentions about 
 articles of faith and outward observances, but destitute to a large 
 extent of the love of God and of the love of man. When 
 Christians and their ministers shall labour to promote the tem- 
 poral and eternal welfare of mankind, with the same earnest- 
 ness which they now display, to build up and to extend the 
 church divinity of parties, then will real every-day religion 
 pervade more thoroughly the hearts and the lives of men ; and 
 then will the social, the civil, and the political edifices of society 
 be strongly imbued with the spirit and temper of the beneficent 
 Kedeemer. 
 
 " The English Liturgy, " said the puritans, '' hath been a 
 great means to make and increase an idle and unedifying 
 ministry, content with set forms made to their hands by 
 others, without putting forth themselves to exercise the gift of 
 prayer, with which our Lord pleaseth to furnish his servants 
 whom he calls to that office. It hath also been a matter 
 of endless strife and contention in the church, and a snare 
 as well to many godly and faithful ministers, who have been 
 persecuted and silenced upon that occasion, as to others of 
 hopeful parts, many of whom have been thereby diverted from 
 all thoughts of the ministry.^' i 
 
 In 1616, after prelacy had been established in Scotland for 
 thirty years, a pretended assembly held at Aberdeen ordained 
 that a new liturgy or book of common prayer should be formed, 
 for use in the Scotch church. To this the people generally 
 objected in strong terms, not only because it restricted the 
 minister to a set form of words, but since it also recognised a 
 number of superstitious, unscrijjtural practices.^ In 1637, on 
 the day appointed by Charles I. for commencing the use of this 
 Anglo-popish service, as they termed it, violent tumults and 
 riots took place, which finally ended in the great Revolution. 
 The Scotch established Church continues to use no liturgy. 
 
 A grand object of Archbishop Laud was, to enforce a unifor- 
 mity in religious observances throughout England, Scotland, 
 
 ' Preface to Directory, Neal, vol. iii. * Macrie's Scottish Clnirch. 
 
F^ect 4.] coNTHovF.usiEs ahoit Tin; i.iTt'uriY. 43tS 
 
 Ireland, and tlie British congregations in foreign parts — to set 
 np the idol of general nniforniity. But all in vain. 
 
 In 1610, a eontroversy about the English liturgy and hier- 
 archy engaged the attention of the uhole nation. ]\Iany severe 
 paMij)hlets appeared against the establishment and its scr- 
 \'ices, attacking them in a very free and scarcely generous 
 manner. This brought forth a defence of the liturgy from 
 Bi.sli()[) Hall, Avho endeavoured to show that forms used in 
 Divine worship are of a very early date. The bishop's remon- 
 strance was answered by a celebrated treatise, under the title of 
 " SiiH'ctyinnuu^j" a fictitious word, made up of the initial letters of 
 the names of the authors. The arguments on both sides are well 
 deserving of attention, as entering into the chief merits of the 
 whole question. Bishop Hall, who was a mau of a liberal mind, 
 expressed himself in favour of a large extent of liberty in reli- 
 •„M0us services. " God," said he, "is a free Spirit, and so should 
 ours be, in pouring out our voluntary devotions on all occasions."! 
 Milton's caustic animadversions and able " Apology for 
 Smectymnuus," especially the latter, will also repay the reader 
 for his trouljle, though partaking of the coarseness of the age. 
 
 " "Wholesome matter and good desires rightly conceived in 
 the heart," says he, in his ' Eiconoclastes,' " wholesome words 
 will follow of themselves. Neither can any true Christian find 
 reason why a liturgy should be at all admitted— being a pre- 
 scription not imposed or practised by those founders of the 
 church, who alone had that authority." This acute and indepen- 
 dent man was a powerful advocate for the tnifettercd exercise of 
 spiritual gifts in the Christian churches. 
 
 The use of the Book of Common Prayer in England was set 
 aside and prohibited by Parliament in IGJ 1, under the prevailing 
 influence of the Presbyterians. Not content, however, to allow 
 every religious body to adopt their own mode of divine worship 
 without endowment or penalty, the Long Parliament established 
 by certain ordinances, and inider the penalty of heavy fines, 
 '' a new Directory for the public worship of God," Mith another 
 " for Presbytcrial church government, and for the ordination 
 of ministers without the presence of a diocesan bishop." These 
 had been " agreed upon by the assembly of divines at West- 
 minster," and by the Scotch "General Assembly." The former 
 ' Neil's Puritans, vol. iii. 
 
 2 F 
 
434 HOMILIES AND LESSONS. [Chap. 34. 
 
 met in 1643, including thirty lay assessors and a hundred 
 and twenty ministers, Presbyterians, Erastians, Independents 
 and Episcopalians, with commissioners from Scotland. The 
 episcopal party however soon withdrew. Forms of prayer, 
 saints' days, and many other regulations for divine worship 
 esteemed superstitious, were set aside by the assembly ; and a 
 more free and simple mode was introduced and enacted by law, 
 continuing in general use for about fifteen years. ^ But the 
 yoke of ecclesiastical authority being maintained through the 
 various changes of that eventful period, the people, who were 
 disappointed and suffered under it, became indifferent what 
 party was uppermost, and the episcopal litui'gy and hierarchy 
 were restored with Charles II. The -minds of men of all reli- 
 gious parties, the Eriends and some of other societies excepted, 
 seem to have shrunk with horror from tolerating all sects. 
 
 Several parts of the liturgy were still considered open to serious 
 objection, and requests have been made from time to time for 
 a further revision, but hitherto without effect. The plea for- 
 merly advanced by Whitgift against alterations was, " Lest the 
 church should be thought to have been in error " — a very un- 
 worthy but too frequent reason for resisting improvements. 
 
 After the assertion of independence in the United States, as 
 before remarked, the Protestant Episcopal Church, at a conven- 
 tion held at Philadelphia in 1789, revised the English liturgy, 
 omitting the Athanasian creed, and making additional changes, 
 chiefly such as had been proposed a hundred years before in 
 England, by the Commissioners under William III., with others 
 required by the altered position of the country,^ 
 
 5/A Section. — On Homilies and Lessons. 
 
 A homily is a sort of sermon, but more famihar ; and it was 
 sometimes delivered in a conversational manner. The practice 
 of compiling homilies, to be read, or recited from memory, by 
 ignorant or idle priests, commenced about the close of the 
 eighth century, if not earlier. They were, in fact, long written 
 sermons. Some of those composed by the ancient " fathers '' 
 
 ' Neal's Puritans, and Appendix to ditto, where the Directory is given. 
 Buck's Theological Diet., Art. Liturgy, &c. 
 
Sect. 5] MINISTERS COXFIM'n TO TIOMII.IKS. 435 
 
 are still extant. In the early cliurclies it would appear that the 
 addresses to the people in divine worship were extemporary and 
 direct. 
 
 The emperor Charlemagne ordered homilies or discourses to 
 be prepared on the Gospels and Epistles. This gave rise to 
 a famous collection, called " The Iloini/iarium of Charlemagne ; " 
 whieli, says Alosheim^ ''being followed as a pattern, contributed 
 much to encourage the ignorance and sloth of a worthless clergy. 
 For the greatest part of these, if they went at all beyond the 
 homilies, employed their time and labour only on those select 
 parts of the Scriptures called lessons, whicli the emperor had 
 appointed to be read to the people, and did not attempt to 
 examine the rest of the inspired volume/' 
 
 Some of the Scripture lessons or selections were prepared 
 and used at a very early period, but they have varied in different 
 ages. "As, in the synagogues of the Jews, the reading of portions 
 from the Old Testament formed the basis of public religious in- 
 struction, so the same practice with respect to the whole Bible 
 passed over into the Christian assemblies. It was followed by 
 short and originally very simple addresses in familiar language, 
 such as the heart prompted at the moment, containing the 
 exposition and application of what had been read."^ The readers 
 were commonly the inferior clergy or deacons. The sufferings 
 of the martyrs and other pieces were also read, and were thence 
 probably called legends. 
 
 The service of the Greek church consists almost entirely of 
 outward forms, the Mass being the chief part of it. Extracts 
 from the Scriptures, written prayers, legends of the saints, and 
 recitations of the creed, constitute the rest. Preaching and 
 catechising form the least parts. To prevent the diflusion 
 of new doctrines, preaching was, in the seventeenth centurj"^, 
 strictly forl)idden in Russia, — an arbitrary regulation, but not 
 imcommou in those times. 
 
 Homilies were composed in England about the time of tlie 
 
 Reformation, to be read in the established churches, in order to 
 
 supply the deficiency of suitable preachers. Twelve homilies 
 
 were prepared, chiefly by Cranmer, in the reign of Edward VI.; 
 
 and in 156:2 another collection was published by Jewel and 
 
 others, to prevent, as was alleged, the propagation of error, 
 
 ' Neander's Hist., Ist period, sect 3. 
 
 o p o 
 
436 INJUNCTIONS ON MINISTERS. {Chap. 34. 
 
 while matters were in an unsettled state. Henry VIII., 
 Edward VI. and Elizabeth, each exercised the prerogative of 
 ecclesiastical supremacy so far as to prohibit, at times, all 
 preaching. The city of London besought Queen Elizabeth's 
 consideration in these terms : " That in this city one-half of the 
 churches are utterly unfurnished of preaching ministers, and 
 are pestered of candlesticks, not of gold but of clay, unworthy 
 to have the Lord's lights set in them." Other parts of the 
 country appear to have been equally destitute/' 
 
 In the thirty-fourth year of Henry VIII., Bonner enjoined 
 on his clergy, among other things, that no sermons should be 
 preached, that had been made within 200 or 300 years; but 
 that when they preached, they should explain the whole gospel 
 and epistle for the day, according to the mind of some good 
 doctor : that there should be no railing in sermons ; but the 
 preacher should discreetly set forth the excellence of virtue and 
 vileness of sin, and should also explain the prayers for the day, 
 that so the people might pray with one heart ; but should avoid 
 the reciting of fables or stories, for which no good author could 
 be vouched. 
 
 Burnet says that, in the time of popery, there were few ser- 
 mons but in Lent; for the discourses on the holy days were 
 rather panegyrics on the saints, and the magnifying of their 
 relics. Divine truths were greatly intermixed with extravagant 
 fables, by which the whole was alloyed and debased. Hence 
 the people ran, with wonderful zeal, after the new preachers, 
 who instructed them in the grounds of Christianity. The king 
 and his advisers issued a book of homilies, to be used through- 
 out the year, and thus was introduced the general practice of 
 reading sermons. Parts of the apocryphal books appear to 
 have been read occasionally in public worship from an early 
 period. 
 
 Why the addresses to the Deity should be confined to certain 
 words, while the addresses in His name to man are left without 
 restriction, is by no means apparent. But it is evident that to 
 confine the latter to precise forms is an attempt that would in 
 the present day be found impracticable ; so that the homilies 
 of the church have been very much laid aside, as dry and 
 unedifying. 
 
 I Neal's Puritans. 
 
SectA'y.] CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS OF FAITH. 137 
 
 Gth Section. — On Creeds and Confessions of Faith. 
 
 Several ancient creeds or confessions of faith have commonly 
 formed parts of the service in divine worship. Ihe earliest 
 appears to be that called the Apostles' Creed, but generally con- 
 sidered to have been composed and enlarged by difterent hands, 
 in the latter end of the second, or the beginning of the third 
 century.! The common practice was to recite it publicly twice 
 a year, till about 600, when Geraphius, Bishop of Antioch, 
 ordered it to be repeated on every occasion of diviqe worship. 
 In the ninth century, it was directed to be sung in the 
 churches. 
 
 The Athanasian Creed, long attributed to Athanasius, bishop 
 of Alexandria in the fourth century, is now generally allowed 
 to have been the work of another author. An African bishop 
 who lived in the latter ])art of the fifth century, is believed 
 to have composed this denunciatory exposition of faith. It 
 was first introduced into France about 850, and from thence 
 was successively received into England, Germany, Spain, &c. 
 Whether the Greek and Oriental churches ever received it, has 
 been questioned. From the modern episcopal chiu'ches of 
 America it has been excluded. 
 
 The Nicenc Creed is so called from being a paraphrase, made 
 at the Council of Constantinople in 381, of the short statement 
 prepared by the first general council at Nice in 325. 
 
 In addition to these brief compositions, there have been many 
 celebrated confessions of faith by different religious bodies, but 
 not used in divine worsliip ; such as the twelve last articles in 
 the creed of Pope Pius IV. 1750, the Protestant Confession 
 of Augsburg 1530, the Tctrapolitan Confession of the same 
 date, the Westminster Confession of 1644, &c., &c. To prevent 
 by such means diversities of sentiment, was found to be 
 impossible. 
 
 In the daik ages, the creeds largely used in some countries 
 were very defective, superstitious and absurd, relating chiefly to 
 
 ' Mosheim, First Cent. 3 — 4. 
 
438 ARTICLES AND CONFESSIONS OF FAITH. [Chap. 34. 
 
 the Virgin Mary, and pretended tutelar saints, mixed witli 
 observances of gross idolatry and ignorance. 
 
 Cranmer and other reformers had long desired the prepara- 
 tion of a set of articles of rehgion, which might lay down with 
 authority the doctrines of the chiu'ch, and secure uniformity 
 among its teachers. The idea was even entertained that a 
 general creed should be drawn up by a congress of protestants 
 of different nations, to comprehend and unite all the reformed 
 churches, and to put an end to the painful di\dsions which so 
 largely prevailed ; but this was a vain hope, the scheme being 
 found to be impracticable. 
 
 In 1551, Edward VT. caused a new confession of faith to be 
 draw^n up in forty-two articles, and in the following year all 
 ministers were required to subscribe to it, apparently for the 
 first time. At a convocation called by Queen Elizabeth in 1562, 
 the articles were revised and reduced to thirty-nine in number, 
 without any material alteration in the piirport. The Lutheran 
 confession of Augsburg, prepared by Melancthon, was partially 
 used as a model. 
 
 Subscription to the Apostles' Creed, to the Athanasian and 
 Nicene Creeds, is required of all the ministers of the Anglican 
 Church ; those creeds being used in its public offices. Sub- 
 scription to them was also enjoined by the Toleration Act on 
 English dissenting ministers ; but they were relieved from it by 
 an Act passed in 1770. A clear exposition of doctrine is essen- 
 tial to a well-ordered religious body, though subscription to it 
 by every member would be an infringement of individual liberty. 
 
 The " Westminster Confession of Faith," drawn up by the 
 presbyterians at their assembly at Westminster in 1614, was 
 substituted, under the Commonwealth, for the thirty-nine 
 articles of the episcopal church, but was never fully sanctioned 
 by Parliament. The Independents met in 1658, and issued the 
 " Savoy Confession,'' which they characterised in the preface 
 as " a great and special work of the Holy Ghost ;" it vested 
 the church at large with disciplinary powers. They were 
 generally more tolerant than the episcopal and presbyterian 
 churches.^ 
 
 ' Neal's Hist. Puritans, &c. 
 
Sect. 7.] INTRODUCTION OF VOCAL .MUSIC. -139 
 
 7th Section. — On Vocal and Instrumental Music in Divine 
 
 Worship. 
 
 Maiiv of the more spiritaally-niiiulcd Christians in difTercnt 
 ages, and especially those who are known as reformers of reli- 
 gion, have had their attention directed, not only to the danger 
 of ceremonial observances generally in divine worship, but also 
 to those denccs of man which were calculated, by a sci'ies of 
 outward attractions, to please the hearing and other senses, to 
 amuse the attention, and to convert the solemn acts of public 
 devotion and approaches to the Deity into pompous shows, and 
 occasions of self-gratification. Among those things which they 
 frequently objected to, was the introduction of studied and 
 especially instrumental music into places of worship. 
 
 As a part of divine service, music is performed cither by a 
 choir, being a company distinct from the congregation, or by 
 the congregation themselves, or by both alternately. The first 
 was the custom in the Jewish temple. The singing of psalms 
 was soon introduced from the synagogues into the Christian 
 congregations for public worship. Sometimes they were sung 
 by one person alone, sometimes by the whole assembly, and at 
 other times with alternate variations. The more ancient or 
 " plain song " much resembled recitation or reading. More 
 artificial and mcasiu'cd modes gradually crept in. 
 
 In the fourth century spiritual songs or sacred hymns, 
 composed by distinguished teachers — as Ambrose and Hilary — 
 were introduced into the public worship of the western 
 churches. Much opposition was excited to this novelty ; and it 
 was demanded that, according to ancient custom, no melody 
 shoidd be used on such occasions, but what was taken from 
 the Scriptures. Tliosc termed sectaries and heretical parties often 
 resorted to church psalmody to diffuse their o«ti opinions. The 
 first institution of singers, as an order in the church, seems to 
 have been in the beginning of the fourth century. Complaints 
 were soon made that ecclesiastical music had departed from its 
 ancient simplicity, and taken too artificial and theatrical a style, 
 heathen melodies being introduced, which were far from ex- 
 citing emotions of penitence.* Most of those in the Roman 
 1 Neauder's History, ii. page 318. 
 
440 INTRODUCTION OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. [Chup. 34. 
 
 Breviary are attributed to Prudentius, about the same period, 
 who also set the notes. The people were accustomed to joiu 
 their voices in the closing words. 
 
 400. — Augustine had very conflicting feelings on this subject, 
 and says of his temptations, with respect to the simple music then 
 in use, "The pleasures of the ear have deep hold on me. I find, 
 even wdiile I am charmed w ith sacred melody, that I am led astray 
 at times by the luxury of sensations, and offend ignorantly ; but 
 afterwards I discover it. Sometimes I err in the other extreme, 
 and wish all the melody of David's Psalms, and those of the 
 church were removed from my ears, and think it safer to 
 imitate the plan of Athanasius, who directed a mode of re- 
 peating the Psalms, more resembling recitation than music. 
 But when I remember my tears of afl'ection at my conversion 
 under the melody of the church, with which I am still affected, 
 I again acknowledge the utility of the custom. Thus do I 
 fluctuate between the danger of pleasure and the experience of 
 utility ; and am more induced, though with a wavering assent, 
 to own that the infirmity of nature may be assisted in devotion 
 by psalmody. But yet, when the tune has moved me more 
 than the subject, I feel guilty, and am ready to wish I had not 
 heard music. See where I am and mourn with me, ye w ho are 
 conscious of my inward feelings of godliness. I cannot expect 
 the sympathy of those who are not. Thou Lord my God, hear, 
 and pity, and heal me.''^ These remarks are worthy of attention 
 from such as encourage devotional melodies. 
 
 Flavian, in the fifth century, is said to have established a 
 choir at Antioch. There " sacred music" was brought into a 
 system by Ambrose, and the creed was sung in divine worship. 
 Gregory authorized the chant and the Greek music about 590. 
 
 Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, is reported to have 
 introduced music into the British churches about 670 ; it had 
 before been chiefly confined to Kent.^ 
 
 Pepin, king of France, in the eighth century, commanded the 
 mode of devotional singing and instrumental music, which was 
 then in use in Rome, to be practised in all the French churches ; 
 but it does not appear that this order w^as complied with. 
 
 The ringing of " church bells" is said to have been first intro- 
 duced in the eighth or ninth century. The bells were honoured 
 ^ Milner. — Confessions. — Book 10. "^ Bhint's Reformatiou in Eupjland. 
 
Sect. 7.] USE ANU CONSKCUATION OK UKLLS. 441 
 
 witli baptism or aspersion, to render them more sacred. Popes 
 themselves assisted iu the ceremony of eonscerating bells, or 
 baptizing them with proper names. They were then supposeil 
 to put demons to Hight, and were rung during eclipses, " to 
 drive away the dragon." On that termed " St. John's day," 
 they were rung furiously to prevent storms; a popish council 
 directed, by formal decree, that bells should be blessed, to 
 affright demons, avert lightnings, &c. They were also ordered 
 to be tolled for the well-being of departed souls. Nine knells 
 were given for a man, six for a woman, and three for a child — a 
 superstitious custom which still continues in some places.^ 
 
 The sixty-seventh canon of the Anglican church directs that 
 " when any is passing out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, ami 
 the minister shall not slack to do his last duty. And after death 
 there shall be rung no more but one short peal, and one other 
 before the burial, and one other after the burial." This direc- 
 tion however has long ceased to be fully obeyed. 
 
 The creed is said to have been first sung in the Roman 
 churches in the eleventh century. Organs appear to have been 
 introduced into public worship in the twelfth. 
 
 12~0. — The Waldcnscs maintained that superfluous singing 
 and chanting in divine service are not to be practised, and 
 used great simplicity in their devotions. 
 
 1360. — Wiclitf had a great dislike to chanting, which was 
 then commonly used in cathedrals and religious houses, and 
 was known iu England by the name of the "new song." This 
 sort of worship, he says, wjis originally introduced to impose on 
 the understanding, by substituting sound in the room of sense, 
 and so to be a means of keeping the people in ignorance. He 
 owned it was a merry way of serving God, and therefore he sup- 
 posed it met with so much encouragement. But he would have 
 men to be of Augustine's opinion, who says that as often as 
 sound drew his attention, so often he worshipped God improperly. 
 ''Christ," said he, "gives us no instruction on this head, and 
 requires no recommendation but the devotion of the heart. 
 It is grievous to see what sums of money are yearly expended 
 upon singing priests, and how little upon the education of 
 children.'^ 
 
 1300.— From "The Ploughman's Complaint."' " Ezekicl the 
 ' Sir R. Phil!-i».i. " Ciilpin'a Lifc. ' Fox'u Acta ami Mou., vol. i. 
 
442 REFORMERS OBJECT TO MLSIC IN WORSHIP. [Chap. 34. 
 
 prophet said that when he spake thy words to the people,, they 
 tiinied them into songs and into tales. And so^ Lord, men do 
 now : they sing merrily thy words, and that singing they call 
 thy service. But, Lord, I trow that the best singer he worship- 
 peth thee not most ; but he that fulfilleth thy words worshippeth 
 thee full well, though he weep more than sing. And I trow that 
 weeping, for breaking thy commandments, be more pleasing 
 ser\ice to thee than the singing of thy words/^ 
 
 1407. — William Thorpe, speaking of pilgrims, remarked that 
 in passing through the towns they were often accompanied with 
 singing and music. Archbishop Arundel defended this practice, 
 saying, " With such solace the travel and weariness of pilgi'ims 
 is lightly and merrily borne ; and by authority of Holy Scrip- 
 ture men may lawfully use such solace, for Da\"id teacheth men 
 to have divers instruments of music to praise God therewith." 
 To this Thorpe replied, " By the sentence of divers doctors ex- 
 pounding the Psalms of David, the music and minstrelsy that he 
 and other saints of the old law spake of, ought not now to be 
 either taken or used by the letter ; but these instruments with 
 their music ought to be interpreted ghostly (or spiritually), for 
 all those figures are called virtues or graces, with which virtues 
 men should please God and praise his name. For St. Paul 
 saith that all such things befell to them in figure. Therefore, 
 sir, I understand that the letter of the Psalms of David, and of 
 such other psalms and sentences, doth stay them that take them 
 now Kterally. This sentence, as I understand, Christ himself 
 approveth, putting out the minstrels when he would quicken 
 the dead damsel.'^ Archbishop. — '^ Lewd lossel, is it not lawful 
 for us to have organs in the church to worship God withal?" 
 W. Thorpe. — "Yea, sir, by man's ordinance; but by the ordi- 
 nance of God, a good sermon to the people's understanding 
 were mickle more pleasant to him." Archbishop. — "Organs 
 and good delectable songs sharpen men's wits more than any 
 sermon." W. Thorpe. — "Worldly men delight to have their 
 wits quickened and sharpened with diverse, sensible solace, but 
 the faithful followers of Christ have all their delight to hear and 
 understand God's word, and to work thereafter faithfully and 
 continually. For to dread to oflFend God and to love to please 
 him in all things, quickeneth and sharpeneth all the wits of 
 Christ's chosen people, and ableth them so to grace, that they 
 
Sect. 7.] INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC CONSIUEUEU I'OIMSH. 1 i3 
 
 joy greatly to withdraw tliuir ears and all their wits and mem- 
 bers from worldly delight and from fleshly solace."^ 
 
 1115. — "John Claydou, an English martyr, asserted that 
 "the often singing in the eluireh is not founded on Seri^jture; 
 and that therefore the priests onglit not to ocenpy themselves 
 w ith it, bnt w itli the stndy of the law of Christ, and the i)reaeh- 
 ing of his word."- The Bohemians took the same view of 
 singing and instrumental music. 
 
 It2k — "The Lollards in Norfolk and SufTolk contended that 
 the use of bells and ringing in the church was ordained for no 
 other piu'pose than to fill the pi'iests' purses.'^^ 
 
 14'J0. — Savonarola of Florence, an enlightened catholic re- 
 former, remarked thus : — " To disturb even the still devotion of 
 individuals, the devil has begun to bring into operation music 
 and the organ, which only please the ear and edify nothing. In 
 the ancient polity, it is true, there were many festivals with 
 songs, trumpets, tabernacle and the like, but this for the most 
 j)art had an end with Christ."* 
 
 The Flemings are said to have brought set devotional music 
 into England. Luther introduced metrical psalmody in popular 
 airs, and this practice became common ; congregational singing 
 being adopted. Organs were identified by the reformers with 
 the corruptions of the catholic religion, — they were generally 
 taken down and their pipes sold for old metal. By a retrograde 
 movement however, they were rc-erected in England after the 
 restoration of Charles II. He ventured to employ in his own 
 chapel a band of French fiddlers. 
 
 1")30. — Among the opinions extracted from the books of 
 Tyndal and others, are these that " the playing on organs and 
 singing among religious persons are superstitious;" and that 
 "through such means the service and honour of Ciod are in- 
 jured and suppressed."^ 
 
 " Queen Elizabeth was afraid of reforming too far, and w as 
 desirous to retain images, crucifixes, crosses, instrumental nuisic, 
 and many of the popish habits; in the Act of Uniformity a 
 clause was inserted, empowering her to ordain farther cere- 
 monies," &c.* 
 
 ' Fox's ActA an.l Mon., vol. i, p. 010. » Ihul p. 727. ' IVul 
 
 ' Myers' Lectures. * Fux'.s AcUj aiicl Munumcuts. 
 
 ' Warner's Eccle?. Hljit. vul. ii. 
 
444 DIFFERENT MODES OF DEVOTIONAL MUSIC. [ChciJ). 31. 
 
 Drs. Humplireys and Sampson, principal nonconformists, 
 complained of music and organs in Divine worship, as grievances 
 which ought to be removed.^ The chief puritans in the reign 
 of Elizabeth objected to many of the observances still retained 
 in the church of England. They disapproved of the cathedral 
 mode of Avorship, of singing the prayers and chanting the 
 psalms, nor did they sanction musical instniments, as trumpets, 
 organs, &c., which Ihey alleged were not in use in the chui'ch 
 for above twelve hundred years after Christ.^ In 1571 it was 
 agreed, with the consent of the bishop, that at Northampton 
 singing and playing of organs in the choir should be put down, 
 and that excessive ringing of bells and the carrying of the bell 
 before corpses should be prohibited.^ 
 
 The Scotch churches exclude the use of the organ from Divine 
 worship, viewing it, like the early reformers, as a popish inven- 
 tion. In England, on the contrary, wherever sufficient means 
 can be obtained, it is generally introduced, not only among 
 episcopalians, but by many dissenters also, who are closely imi- 
 tating the former, in opposition to the simple pattern of the 
 puritans and to that of the apostles. 
 
 Herschell, the converted Jew, remarks, '' I firmly believe that, 
 if we seek to affect the mind by the aid of architecture, painting 
 or music, the impression produced by these adjuncts is just so 
 much abstracted from the worship of the unseen Jehovah. If 
 the outward eye is taken up with material splendour or forms of 
 external beauty, the mind's eye sees but little of " Him who is 
 invisible.^' The ear that is entranced with the melody of sweet 
 sounds Ustens not to " the still small voice,'^ by which the Lord 
 makes his presence known. ^^^ Is there not great danger of the 
 one being mistaken for the other ? To a people formerly it was 
 predicted that "the songs of the temple" should become "bowl- 
 ings" in the day of the Lord''s visitation.^ 
 
 "A degraded and emasculated class of priesthood," says 
 Gavazzi, "was found best adapted to charm effeminate devotions 
 with strains of unnatural music." 
 
 In the Greek chui'ch instrumental music is altogether ex- 
 cluded, but most of the congregations have choirs of singers, 
 confined to men and boys. 
 
 ' Neal's Puritans, vol. i. p. 154. 2 Ibid. p. 186. ' Ibid. p. 215. 
 
 * Visit to Fatherlaud. ' Amos viii. 2. 
 
Sect. 7.] CATHEDRAL MUSIC. .{ j", 
 
 The worship of God hiis its natural music, in tlic artiiss hut 
 afTcctinj; tones of deep-felt prayer and praise ! True relij^ion 
 and charity have their music, for they " cause tlie widow's heart 
 to sing with joy ! " No practised tunes can produce true and 
 abiding harmony of soid, equal to that which sincere devotion 
 inspires. 
 
 " Still let us on our guard be found, 
 And watch against the power of sound 
 
 With sacred jealousy ; 
 Lest haply sense should damp our zeal, 
 And music's charms ])ewitch and steal 
 Our hearts away from tliee." — 
 
 Wtar^EY. 
 
 " Oh may the heart in tune be found, 
 liike David's harp of solemn sound." — Watts. 
 
 Seymour, on visiting a cathedral at Rome on a special occa- 
 sion in 1850, describes his impressions in the following terms: — 
 " Everything — the brilliant lights, the shining dresses, the con- 
 versation, the promenade, the gallantry, the coquetry, and espe- 
 cially the character of the music — threw over the whole the tone 
 and style of some musical entertainment at a theatre. The very 
 last thought that seemed associated in the mind of any, was the 
 thought of religion ! We felt that w^e might as well be at the 
 opera ! 
 
 " Even in London at the cathedral services, may be seen a 
 throng of persons, eagerly listening and sighing for a long an- 
 them and a short sermon, watching with breathless anxiety for 
 the commencement of the words of the anthem, but not for the 
 text of the sermon ; aud eagerly inquiring the name of the per- 
 former who is going to sing, though very indifferent to the 
 clergyman who is going to preach. These persons go not to 
 worship (rod, but to hear music; and not to hear the word of 
 (lod, but to listen to the voices of the singers. All this is bad — 
 very bad ; though too frequent in the cathedral congregations of 
 England."' 
 
 " You easily understand," says Dr. Chalmers, " how a taste 
 for music is one thing, and a real submission to the influence 
 of reli^rion is anoher — how the ear mav be regaled bv the 
 melody of sound, and the heart may utterly refuse the proper 
 impression of the sense that is conveyed by it — how the sons 
 1 Seymoiir'-i Pil'^rini.ige ti>I;..mi' 
 
446 MUSIC xoT RELiGiox. [Chap. 34. 
 
 and daugliters of the world may, with their every affection 
 devoted to its pleasm-able vanities, inhale all the delights of 
 enthusiasm, as they sit in crowded assemblage round the deep 
 and solemn oratorios, or listen to eloquence the most touching 
 or sublime, — and yet leave the exhibition as dead in trespasses 
 and sins as when they came to ii."^ 
 
 The artificial modes of singing, practised in the established 
 church, and among many dissenting bodies, are open to very 
 serious objections. The choir of singers, male and female, who 
 are usually the chief performers, consists frequently of persons 
 who are strangers to religion and of dissolute lives ; while a 
 part of their remuneration, as well as of those employed in 
 ringing, consists of jovial entertainments at alehouses, where 
 intemperance abounds, and where the sacred name of the 
 Most High, so far from being praised and reverenced, is often 
 profaned in foolish jesting, or even in swearing ! Many pious 
 ministers, it is well known, deeply lament these foul inconsis- 
 tencies ; which cause the musical annals of many parishes in 
 England to be marked with repulsive licentiousness, as well as 
 sharp contentions. 
 
 8/^ Section. — On Peculiar Priestly Vestments, and the Tonsure. 
 
 In the primitive church, no difference of garments prevailed 
 between the ministers and the people at large, it being con- 
 sidered that these distinctions among the Jews had a symbolical 
 meaning, and that this being fulfilled they were abolished. In 
 Tertullian's time, the pallium or cloak was the general habit of 
 Christians. Chrysostom speaks of white garments, but not 
 with approbation ; he rather found fault with them, Augustine 
 relates that a variety of observances prevailed in different places, 
 without destroying general peace and concord. ^ 
 
 Pope Sylvester, in the time of Constantine, about the year 
 320, is stated to have been the first that appointed the 
 eucharist to be administered by the priests in white linen 
 garments, of a particular shape, called albes ; giving this reason 
 — that the body of Christ was buried in a white linen cloth. The 
 practice is supposed, however, to have been introduced in imi- 
 tation of the heathen priests. Yet distinctive habits were not 
 for a long period generally adopted ; for in 876 the clergy of 
 1 Discoui'ses. "^ Neal's Puritans, vol. i. 
 
SeCt.H.] INTRODUCTION OF PRIESTLY VESTMENTS. 447 
 
 Ravenna, writing to the Emperor Charles the bald, said " We 
 are distinguished from the laity, not by our clothes, but by our 
 doftrines ; not by our hal)its, but by our convcisation.'' Gor- 
 geous rubes, tiaras and mitres soon followed tlu* other distinc- 
 tions, and it was represented by the popish priests, tliat these 
 vestments were essential to their religious services. They alleged 
 that they could not perform the consecration of holy water, the 
 transubstantiation of the body of Christ, or the conjuration of 
 the devil out of possessed persons or places, without a surplice, 
 an albe, or some other hallowed garment.^ In the Roman pon- 
 tifical, de clerico faciendo, the surplice was styled "the habit of 
 the holy religion ;" and Durandus termed it " the linen vest- 
 ment, which man must wear in holy things.'* Ancient times 
 are not the only periods, in which this superstitious dress has 
 greatly disturbed the peace of the church. It was considered 
 by many of the Reformers an especial badge of the Romisli 
 religion ; but in many of these points the profession of Chris- 
 tianity has evidently lost ground, and acquired a strong tincture 
 of w orldliness. 
 
 In the twelfth century, some of the ecclesiastics appear to 
 have devoted their most serious attention to embellish their 
 garments, to determine the motions and postures they were to 
 observe, and the looks they were to assume in divine woi"ship. 
 These trivial externals were deemed to be things of the highest 
 moment. Would that tlicy had been confined to that benighted 
 age ! The particular vestments, rigidly adhered to by the super- 
 stitious Roman priests, were often complained of, even in the 
 time of popery, as of heathen origin, and unbecoming the 
 ministers of Christ. 
 
 The rubric of Edward VI. directed that, " at the holy com- 
 raunion, the priest should put on him a white albe (or sur- 
 plice) plain, with a vestment or cope ; and that the bishop on 
 such occasions should also wear a surplice, beside his other vest- 
 ments." The importance attached to certain habiliments and 
 their enforcement, have been tlie source of bitter and frequent 
 strife from the time of the Reformation. 
 
 When Hooper was first appointed Bishop of Gloucester in 
 in.lO, lie refused the office for two reasons. Tlie first related to 
 the form of the oath, (being "by God, the .saints, and the Holy 
 ' Neal's Puritans, vol. i. 
 
448 OBJECTIONS TO PRIESTLY VESTMENTS. [Chap. 34-. 
 
 Gliost/^) \vliicli he called foul and impious ; the second was 
 founded on the "Aaronical habits." His decided objections 
 to the latter were the following: — Ist^ because they had no 
 countenance in the New Testament or primitive antiquity ; 
 2nd, because they were the invention of Antichrist, and intro- 
 duced into the church in the most corrupt ages of Chris- 
 tianity ; 3rd, because they had been abused to superstition and 
 idolatry, particularly in the pompous celebration of the mass, 
 and therefore were not indifferent ; 4th, because the continued 
 use of these garraents was, in his opinion, to symbolize with 
 Antichrist, to mislead the people, and inconsistent with the 
 simpUcity of the Chi'istian religion. Cranmer was less decided 
 in these views ; Martin Bucer at Cambridge, and Peter ]Martyr 
 at Oxford gave their opinions against the priestly habits, as inven- 
 tions of Antichrist, and wished them removed out of the church ; 
 but on the whole, and with the hope of this result, they recom- 
 mended acquiescence for a time.^ 
 
 Hooper was committed to the Fleet for his non-compliance, 
 and would probably have lost his life had he persisted ; but at 
 length he consented to be robed at that termed the consecration, 
 and once at court ; but not afterwards. Accordingly when he 
 preached before the king, he came forth, says Fox, like a new 
 player on the stage ; his upper garment was a long scarlet 
 chymere down to his feet, with a white linen rochet beneath 
 covering his shoulders, and a four-square cap on his head. 
 These things he is said to have borne patiently for the welfare of 
 the church ; but after the occasions agreed on, he could not be 
 induced to wear " the Aaronical vestments.^' Most of the re- 
 formed ministers agreed with Hooper, and hoped to procure an 
 act to abolish them ; calling them the defiled robes of Anti- 
 christ. To reconcile matters a little, some of the more gorgeous 
 articles of dress were superseded by black, which still did not 
 give satisfaction. 
 
 The ignorant people however, through a lamentable degi'ee 
 of superstition, were clamorous for the mummery of the old 
 observances in this and other respects.- In their "s-iews many of 
 the more Romanizing clergy united, considering it a glorious 
 thing, and tending greatly to their influence with the ATilgar, to 
 be '' arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and 
 ' Neal's Puritans, vol. i. ^ Blimt's English Reformation. 
 
Sect. 8.] CHUEtTlONS TO PRIESTLY VESTMENTS. 119 
 
 precious stones and pearls" • — the ornaments of the woman 
 representing the false church ! 
 
 Taylor tlie martyr, at tlie time of his dejri'adation, called 
 them ** foolish toys and apish trumpery/' Even the merely white 
 garments were regarded as relics of popery, and much disliked. 
 The variety of dresses in difiercnt parts of the service was 
 also very otiensive to many of the reformed ministers.- Bishop 
 Jewel termed the prescribed vestments " the habits of the stage, 
 tlie relics of the Amoritcs ;" and wished them to be extirpated 
 to the very roots; yet other bishops earnestly enforced them. 
 
 The popish apparel and forms, so tenaciously retained in 
 I'ngland, were very much laid aside by the reformed churches 
 on the continent of Europe. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was especially attached to them, and in the 
 early part of her reign, the episcopal robes and other orna- 
 mental trappings were the chief cause of offence and division 
 between the leading members of the protestant church. The 
 gown, cap, tippet and surplice constituted the priestly uniform, 
 which the queen was earnest to establish ; having a minister 
 dressed as a pattern, but the pvu'itans disliked this set mode, 
 and generally wore plain, coarse, russet gowns.'' 
 
 Archbishop Parker, examining some of the puritan ministers, 
 inquired whether the surplice was a thing evil and wicked, or 
 indifferent. To which they replied, " Though the surplice in 
 substance be indifferent, yet in the present circumstance it is 
 not so, being of the same nature with the strange garment or 
 apparel of idolatry, for which God, by the prophet, threatened 
 to visit with puuishment." This they confirmed with many 
 arguments, but Parker would abate nothing. 
 
 Many of them, being suspended, published, in 1560, the follow- 
 ing reasons for refusing " to wear the upper apparel and minis- 
 teiing garments of the pope's church : " Because neither the 
 prophets in the Old Testament, nor the apostles in the New w ere 
 thus distinguished ; the linen garment of Aaron being typical 
 aud peculiar to his priesthood. Because a distinction of vestments 
 did not generally obtain till long after the rise of Antichrist. 
 Because all these garments had been abused to idolatry, sorcery, 
 and all kinds of conjurations. Because they were an offence 
 to weak Christians, and an encomageuient to the papist. 
 ' Rev. xvii. 4. * Neal's PuritaiiB. vol. i, •• Ibid. 
 
450 PRIESTLY VESTMENTS : THE TONSURE. [Chaj). 34. 
 
 Because at best they were but human appointments and ordi- 
 nances, after the commandments and doctrines of men. Because, 
 if they were indifferent, their imposition was an infringement 
 of Christian liberty. Lastly, because pious foreign ministers 
 generally condemned these habits."- No redress being obtained 
 in this and other matters, the breach became wider, and at 
 length the protestant nonconformists publicly separated from 
 the established church. 
 
 The use of the ring at the marriage ceremony was often 
 objected to, as a heathenish and popish relic. It was first 
 introduced at the preliminary espousals, being borrowed from 
 the ancient Romans." 
 
 The seventy-fourth of the canons, issued in 1603, contains 
 very minute directions for the dress of the various orders of 
 the Anglican clergy, but they have gradually come to be little 
 observed by the parochial ministers in the daily intercourse of Hfe. 
 
 The Russian and other priests of the Greek church wear 
 the wide flowing robes of orientals, with long beards and hair. 
 This singular appearance gives the vulgar false ideas of peculiar 
 sanctity, but prevents free intercourse with the people. They 
 dislike to change their dress, as the opinion has been long 
 established that it is holy, and similar to that used by Christ 
 and his apostles, therefore the only garb in which his ambas- 
 sadors should appear. The priests are divided, according to the 
 colour of their gowns, into " black and white, or regular and 
 secular clergy." ^ 
 
 All the Egyptian priests had, according to Herodotus, their 
 heads shaved, and kept continually bald." On this account it 
 most probably was, that the Jewish priests were commanded not 
 to shave their heads, nor to make any baldness upon them.^ Yet 
 the pagan rasure or " tonsure," as they call it, on the crown of 
 the head, has long been the distinguishing mark of the Ex)man 
 priesthood. It does not appear to have been adopted for several 
 centuries after Christ, and was then introduced by the monks. ^ 
 
 In the seventh century, Martin I. enacted that no priest 
 should wear a beard or have long hair. Soon afterward followed 
 the regulation for the tonsure, or shaving of the poll of 
 
 ' Neal's Puritans, vol. i. - Bingham's Christian Antiquities. 
 
 ^ Pinkerton's Greek Chui'ch preface. * Lib. ii., 36. 
 
 6 Lev. xxi. 5 ; Ezek. xliv. 20. ^ Dr. Middleton's Letter from Pome. 
 
Sect. 9] DEFINITIONS OK IIIK TKKM " SACHAM KNT." 451 
 
 the head, in the sliape of a crown, decreed by tlie Council 
 of Toledo ; iu imitation, it is said, of Christ's crown of tliorns 
 and of Peter's baldness ; but supposed to have been really 
 Ijorrowcd from the priests of Isis. In the oriental churches 
 however it was the custom to wear a lonj^ beard, and to shave 
 the front of the head in the form of a crescent, which their 
 opponents called in derision the tonsure of Simon Maj^us. This 
 was the ancient British mode. By such affected peculiarities, 
 which both parties earnestly contended for, dissensions were 
 cherished, and the unscriptural distinction between the ministers 
 or clcrc:y and the people or laity was made apparent and 
 confirmed. 
 
 9/A Section. — On the Sei^en Sacraments of the Roman and Greek 
 
 Churches. 
 
 Many writers have been perplexed in attempting to frame a 
 clear, satisfactor}"^ definition of the term " sacrament,' ' the word 
 not being found in its modern sense in scripture.^ In the 
 catechism of the Council of Trent, a sacrament is defined to be 
 "a sensible thing, which, by divine appointment, hath the power 
 of causing, as well as of signifying, holiness and righteousness." 
 The reformed catechism of Heidelberg describes the sacraments 
 as " holy, visible signs and seals, ordained by God — that he 
 may more fully declare and seal by them the promise of his 
 gospel unto us, that he freely givoth remission of sins and life 
 eternal, upon the account of that only sacrifice upon the cross." 
 The twenty-fifth article of the church of England more nearly 
 resembles the Romish definition, and asserts that " sacraments 
 ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian 
 men's profession, but rather they be sure witnesses and eflfectual 
 signs of grace and God's good will towards us, by the which he 
 doth work invisil)ly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also 
 strengthen and confirm our faith in him." Some have termed 
 the sacraments " positive institutions," as distinguished from 
 
 ' Tlio Latin vulgnte haa the temi " the .sacrament of go(Uine8.s" instead 
 iif"tlie mystery," 1 Tim. iii. 16; and in an older Latiu version, "the 
 Woman " is called " sacrament, Babylon the great," Rev. xvii. 5. A 
 saci-ameut among the Romans denoted a .solemn pledge, and especially the 
 military oath. The ecclesiastics adopte<l it, at an early period of the church, 
 in the .sen.ne of mi/8ter>/. 
 
 '.) i: 'J 
 
452 DISPUTES ON THE NUMBER OF SACRAMENTS. [Chap. 34. 
 
 moral duties ; others have styled them " symbolic observances ;" 
 and others " the consecration of a common thing to a sacred pur- 
 pose ; " while by some again they are designated " federal rites," 
 "confirming seals," or "seals of the covenant.^' But many 
 supporters of such observances object to all these definitions, 
 as either including too much, or not being correctly applicable."' 
 
 In the twelfth century, it began to be asserted that every 
 ceremony, which was a token or signification of a holy tiling, 
 ought to be esteemed a sacrament. About 1144, Hugh St. 
 Victor and Peter Lombard taught that there were seven sacra- 
 ments, and many united in their views even in the eastern 
 churches. The question remained unsettled for some centuries, 
 but at length this number was established by the Council of 
 Florence held in 1348. They were baptism, confi.rmation, the 
 eucharist, penance, orders, matrimony, and extreme unction. 
 The Council of Trent, about 1550, pronounced an anathema upon 
 those who say that the sacraments are more or fewer than seven, 
 and upon such as esteem them to be equal in value. It decreed 
 that they all confer grace by the mere administration, [ex opere 
 operato) unless resisted by mortal sin in the recipient. That 
 three of them, namely baptism, confirmation and orders, impress 
 an indelible character, and cannot be repeated without sacrilege. 
 That every one is accursed, who shall affirm that penance is not 
 truly a sacrament, instituted for the reconciliation of those who 
 fall into sin after baptism. That it is the duty of all to confess 
 their sins to a priest in secret, at least once a year ; when 
 the priest is to pronounce positive absolution. This secret or 
 auricular confession had been established by the Council of 
 Lateran, in 1215. The Greek and Roman churches still hold 
 the seven as sacraments, and regard them with great veneration, 
 but assign no scriptural ground for this number. 
 
 Wiclifl^e, in the fourteenth century, appears to have acknow- 
 ledged seven sacraments ; he was however very vague in his 
 definition of the term sacrament, calling it " a token that may 
 be seen of a thing that may not be seen." The idea of seven was 
 almost universal among the writers on divinity of that period. 
 Becoming more spiritual in his views as he advanced in years, 
 he expressly stated that he did not esteem them all necessary to 
 salvation, and inveighed warmly against the many idle cere- 
 monies used in their administration.^ 
 
 Dr. Halley on the Sacraments. ^ British Biography, vol. i. 
 
Sect. U).] M MHEK AND KIFECT t)K SACRAMENTS. 453 
 
 Cranmcr in his Catechism, published in 1548, niaintaiiiod the 
 observance of three sacraments; viz., "baptism, \\\v Ijath of 
 ri'i^cniM-ation, or instrument of tlie second birth; absohition, or 
 the authority of the keys, throu{^h which pardon is obtained for 
 sins after baptism ; and the holy communion, which administers 
 fresh supjdies of grace to the worthy receiver, and enables him 
 to go on from strength to strength."' Even in the Confession 
 of Augsburg, the reformers, apparently for fear of divisi(^ns, 
 exjjresscd themselves indefinitely as to the number of sacraments 
 and the natui-e of the ]\[ass.- Soon however they generally 
 rejected five of the rites from the rank of sacraments, retaining 
 as such only two, viz., baptism and the snjjper. Each of these, 
 on account of the importance long and generally attached to 
 them, demands a serious and more particular consideration. 
 The Anglican church also rejects five out of the seven, alleging 
 this reason, — " for that they have not any A-isiblc sign or 
 ceremony ordained of God."^ 
 
 (Ireat contentions liave prevailed at different times among 
 the Romish authorities, as to the nature and effects of the 
 sacraments, and as to the indelible character of three of them. 
 " The whole of what they agreed in,'' says Dr. Campbell, 
 " amounts to this— that in the unreiterable sacraments as they 
 call them, something, they know not what, is imprinted, they 
 know not how, on something in the soul of the recipient, they 
 know not where, which can never be detected."* Some of the 
 liigh Roman catholic authorities maintain " that marriage is 
 essentially a sacrament, and that unless it be solemnized as 
 such, its tie is invalid, and the intercourse mere concubinage." 
 To what fearful lengths of illiberality and denunciation docs 
 priestly assumption carry its devotees ! 
 
 lU/A Section. — On the two Ceremonies styled Sacraments, 
 observed by many Protestants. 
 
 Most denominations of protcstants consider that there are two 
 religious rites, not of an intrinsic moral nature, appointed by 
 the great Founder of our religion to be observed as sacraments, 
 or edifying, mystical and commemorative ceremonies. "In any 
 
 ' Biunt's Hist, of Reformation in England. 
 
 - W.iiliiington's Hist, of the Church. 
 
 ' Artii-le 2.'}. * Dr. Hallev on the Sac'ranients. 
 
454 DISPUTES ON RIGHT TO ADMINISTER SACRAMENTS, [Chap. 34. 
 
 sacrament/^ says" one of their advocates^ " there is nothing 
 moralj nothing holy, nothing religious, nothing of the least 
 worth, except conscientious obedience to Christ." In the 
 opinion of many episcopal protestants, it is essential to the 
 vahdity and efficacy of these rites, that they be properly adminis- 
 tered by a duly ordained priest or minister ; which terms are 
 understood to mean one who has been regularly appointed by a 
 bishop, in the order of apostolical succession. Much supersti- 
 tious arrogance is comprehended in this dogma ; the inference 
 being — that the administration of these rites, by any others 
 than their own ministers, is a presumptuous invasion of reli- 
 gious authority, and therefore unproductive of spu'itual benefit. 
 As this supposed apostolical succession has been derived 
 through the Roman catholic priesthood, — the validity of whose 
 ordinations is thus tacitly but distinctly implied, it would seem 
 that such protestants consider the rites in question to be effica- 
 cious when performed by E-omish priests. As to other denomi- 
 nations, who receive them through unauthorized hands, and 
 still more in respect to those who believe the outward obser- 
 vance to be altogether unnecessary, the rash and uncharitable 
 sentiment is occasionally expressed, that such are " destitute 
 of the seals of Christian promise," and " left to the uncovenanted 
 mercies of God." Many may shrink from entertaining this 
 fearful consequence ; but such will do well to consider, whether 
 it be not the natural and necessary inference from their own 
 ideas of the true administration of the sacraments, and of 
 apostolical succession. 
 
 The Council of Trent in 1546 decided "that, in administering 
 the sacraments, the minister's intention to do what the chiu'ch 
 intends is necessary." Hence it was showed that, " if the 
 priest were an infidel or a hypocrite, children must be lost, peni- 
 tents remain unabsolved, and the people without the commu- 
 nion, according to their own views ; and that if one of those 
 children became a priest or bishop, all his acts and those of his 
 successors would be nullified and utterly vain," &c.^ Many are 
 the doubts and questions to which such ^dews lead. Who, for 
 instance, can pretend to determine whether the minister and each 
 of his spiritual predecessors have been duly ordained ? And how 
 can it be discovered whether he is a faithful, sincere servant of 
 Christ ? To make the salvation of immortal souls depend on 
 ' Scot's Luther and the Eeformation. 
 
Sect. 10.] DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THESE RITES. 465 
 
 the circumstances or the sincerity of other men, or on the (hic 
 administration of any outward ceremony, is surely to narrow, 
 without any authority, the extended blessings of the gospel, and 
 to oU'er an indignity to the character and religion of the 
 Saviour of the world. The serious question. What constitutes 
 the validity of the sacraments? long agitated the church, and 
 has at various periods disturbed its peace ; one party denounc- 
 ing and even excommunicating the other.' 
 
 Again, as to the idea that these rites are necessary to salva- 
 tion. Perhaps no one in this day will ventiu'c to assert that of 
 themselves they are sufficient ; even if it be contended that the 
 mere acceptance of them conveys grace. In addition to the 
 proviso that they be administered by one duly ordained, it 
 will generally be admitted that there must be also true faith or 
 grace in the recipient ; and then these questions naturally present 
 themselves, whether there may not be true faith and grace 
 without them ? — whether the blood of Christ and the power of 
 the Holy Spirit be not sufficient, through simple faith, without 
 these or any other ritual observances, to effect the great purjjosc 
 of man's salvation? and whether there be not great danger 
 of imdervaluing those gracious means, and the necessity and 
 importance of true faith, repentance and holiness, by laying 
 stress on the essential value of such outward ceremonies. 
 
 The command to the disciples to " wash one another's feet,"- 
 was positive and clear ; yet we do not find that it has been 
 \iewed by many Christians as literally binding. The ancient 
 practice of the holy kiss of charity was also directly enjoined by 
 two of the apostles ;^ yet it has long fallen into disuse. The one 
 was a token of humility, and the other of love; but Christians 
 have generally agreed that the spirit and not the letter of these 
 institutions is binding. The same construction is presumed to 
 be fairly applicable to the other two now luider consideration. 
 
 ^Ve do not find these rites were at all alluded to by " the 
 a|)08tlcs and elders, and the whole church at Jerusalem," in 
 their enumeration of the things necessary to be observed' by 
 belioing Gentiles ; but the hearts of such were asserted to be 
 " pui'ified by faith." Our Lord also himself emphatically de- 
 clared, on a certain occjusiou, that " one thing is needful/" and 
 
 ' Neander'a Ilifltory, vol. i. 316—321. * John xiii. 14. 
 
 ' 1 Thess. V. 26 ; 1 Peter v. 14, &c. * Acts xv. 28. ' f.uke x. 42. 
 
456 IMPOSITION OF SACRAMENTS. [CJiap. 34. 
 
 that Mary had " chosen that good part.'' This surely was no 
 mere outward ceremony, but true faith and dependence on him, 
 as the Saviour of the world, which could not subsist in any soul 
 careless of its moral and religious obligations. How then can 
 we assert that other things are still needful, which do not stand 
 on moral ground as the great duties of devotion and of conduct, 
 but which are, as Locke remarks, " in their own nature, and 
 in the ordinary occasions of life, altogether indiifereut V If 
 we look at practical results, we may boldly assert that one of 
 them has been productive of more doubt, contention and 
 bloodshed among professing Christians — of more superstition 
 and idolatry — than any other religious observance whatever ! 
 
 The strong terms used by most of those called " the Fathers,'^ 
 seem to imply that they held the notion of baptismal regene- 
 ration. Under grossly corrupt forms and ideas, many of them 
 revolting to common sense, were these ceremonies imposed on the 
 acceptance and reverence of the people, either by superstitious, 
 secular rulers, or, what was still worse, by ecclesiastics usurping 
 the secular power with a blind and vindictive zeal. Scarcely a 
 middle course was thus left open, between cold unbelief on the 
 one hand, and fanatical superstition on the other. A senseless 
 conformity in practice characterized both, to the scandal of the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 A sacrament is defined by the English episcopal church, — and 
 the definition, though by no means clear, is probably admitted 
 by many others, — to be " an outward and visible sign of an in- 
 ward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ 
 himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge 
 to assure us thereof.''^ This description would clearly include 
 confirmation, according to the views of the same church. Yet 
 though conferred only by her higher dignitaries, which would 
 seem to stamp it with a higher character, she does not entitle this 
 a sacrament ; any more than absolution, where pardoning grace 
 is positively assumed to be conferred ; or ordination, where the 
 Holy Ghost is professed to be communicated. Even " evil men, 
 if lawfully consecrated,"' are held to be capable instruments 
 of performing these solemn rites, " by Christ's commission and 
 authority."- 
 
 Dr. Edward Stillingfleet, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, 
 ' See Catechism. ^ Halley on Sacraments 
 
Sect. 10.] stillingfleet's i.mjehai, sentiments. \')7 
 
 publislicd in IGOO his " Irenicum, or a Weapon Salve for the 
 church's AVouncls/^ in wliicli he attempted to prove that no one 
 form of church government is specially of Divine right, and tliat 
 the church liad no power to impose things indillereut. " The 
 design of our Saviour," he says in the preface, " was to ease men 
 of their former burdens, and not to lay on more. The duties he 
 required were only such as were necessary, just and reasonable. 
 He that came to take away the insupportable yoke of Jewish 
 ceremonies, certainly did never intend to gall the neck of his 
 disciples with another instead of it; and it would be strange 
 the church should require more than Christ himself did." He 
 remarked that " religion should not be clogged with ceremonies ; 
 for that when they are multiplied too much, though lawful, 
 they eat out the heart, life and vigour of Christianity." Stilling- 
 flect, however, afterwards forsook these great principles, and 
 instead of promoting freedom and charity, became a fierce 
 persecutor of those who thought as he had formerly done.i 
 
 Tiie views of the Puseyite party in the Anglican church are 
 thus described by one of their number in 1851. " I understand 
 the doctrine of the sacraments to be this : — 1st, That man is 
 " made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor 
 of the kingdom of heaven," in and by holy baptism. 2nd, 
 That man, " made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an 
 inheritor of the kingdom of heaven" in and by holy l)aptism, is 
 renewed from time to time in holy communion. 3rd, That " a 
 death unto sin and a new birtli unto righteousness," is [are] 
 given to every adult and to every infant, in and by the out- 
 ward visible sign or form in baptism " water, in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 4th, That the 
 gift may be received in the ease of adults, woi'thily or uuAvorthily, 
 but that it is always received. 5th, That the body and blood 
 of Christ are given to every one who receives the sacrament of 
 bread and wine. 6th, That the gift may be received worthily 
 or unworthily, but that it is always received."^ 
 
 The evangelical party, or most of them, nuiintain on the 
 contrary, that grace is not inseparable from the sacraments, but 
 is frequently or occasionally communicated by them, as by one 
 
 ' Neal'rt Puritans. 
 
 •i From j\ p.imjthlet, entitle«l " Why should the Bishops continue to git 
 in the PFoiise <>f I><>rils I l>y <»• A. Denison, M.A." 
 
458 TRUE SEAL OF THE COVENANT. [Chap. 34. 
 
 of several means designed for the conversion and salvation of 
 men.^ 
 
 To consider " the sacraments " as the causes^ or the means, 
 or even the personal seals of spiritual and saving grace, is 
 virtually, as remarked by a modern author,^ to oppose the great 
 Protestant doctrine of justification by faith. Man has no true 
 ground to believe that that piu-e and omniscient Being, with 
 whom we have to do, grants the seal of his approbation and of 
 his covenant without discrimination, to be appropriated by the 
 evil or the good, the unbeliever or the believer at their own 
 pleasure. The seal of his covenant is the grace of his Holy 
 Spirit,* leading to " depart from iniquity,'^ and bringing forth the 
 fruits of righteousness, to the good of his creatures, to the salva- 
 tion of the individual, and to his own glory. The doctrine of 
 the sacraments introduces an additional and entirely different 
 element as essential to human salvation; beside Christ^ s merits, 
 and the teachings of his Spirit, on the one hand, producing 
 repentance, and faith in him, on the other. 
 
 *' The Judaism," says Dr. Arnold, " which upheld circum- 
 cision, and insisted on the difference of meats, did, even within 
 the first century, transfuse its spirit into a Christian form, and 
 substituting baptism for circumcision, and the mystic influence 
 of the bread and wine for the doctrine of purifying and defiling 
 meats, did thereby, as has happened many times since, pervert 
 Christianity to a fatal extent."* — " I call all this Judaism a 
 direct idolatry ; it is exalting the church and the sacraments 
 into the place of Christ, as some have exalted his mother, and 
 others in the same spirit exalted circumcision."'' 
 
 It may be argued, that the abuse of a doctrine or observance 
 affords no valid objection to its use. But when the abuse is 
 flagrant and general, and the use and original institution are 
 highly questionable, sufficient ground is afforded for much more 
 deep consideration and inquiry, than have yet been bestowed on 
 this view of such ceremonies. 
 
 Much truthful meaning is contained in the expression of the 
 Apostle Paul on the subject of outAvard observances or rites, 
 when he terms them " weak and beggarly elements ;" that is, 
 
 ' Halley ou the Sacx'ameuts, Lecture 2. ^ Dr. Halley. 
 
 3 2 Tim. ii. 19. " Arnold's Letters. '^ Ibid. 
 
Sect. 11.] PURE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF tllKISTIAMTY. 459 
 
 as it may be presumed, having uo moral virtue or real strength 
 in themselves, but dependent entirely on the estimate or use 
 made of them. With the Galatians, mIio having " begun in the 
 spirit," were seeking to be " made perfect by the flesh,'' eai'uestly 
 did he expostulate that they might " not be brought again into 
 bondage.'" " Baptism he stated was not his office, and yet the 
 commimication of spiritual gifts was an importimt part of his 
 work, and the impartation of the Spirit the chief and manifest 
 proof of his apostleship."- 
 
 Thc author submits these considerations to the candid and 
 serious judgment of his fellow-believers ; being fully assured, at 
 the same time, that many use such ceremonies conscientiously, 
 under the apprehension that they were commanded by Christ, 
 and that they themselves have derived ft'om them spiritual 
 grace and strength. Yet these must remember that " he is not 
 a Jew that is one outwai'dly, neither is that circumcision which 
 is outward in the flesh ; but he is a Jew which is one iuwardlv, 
 and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in 
 the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God ;"3 ^nd that 
 Christians ''are scaled," not with outwai'd ceremonies, but " with 
 that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inherit- 
 ance, until the redemption of the pui'chased possession."'* 
 
 Wth Section. — On Baptism and Sjrnnk/inr/ icith IVater. 
 
 The reader is requested distinctly to observe, that many or 
 most of the individuals, whose opinions are about to be (j noted 
 with reference to water-baptism and the supper, altiiough they 
 expressed the riews following, did still generally approve of 
 those ceremonies, but being not quite consistent nor free from 
 liesitation, differed chiefly as to their character, details and 
 effects. 
 
 Baptism with water was anciently used among both Israelites 
 and heathens. Justin Martyr and the Talmud agree that this 
 was one of the Je^-ish rites on initiating proselytes, and also a 
 sign or mode of legal purification. Thus we read in the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, of their " divrrs washings,'" or baptisms. l*'leury 
 
 X Gal. ii. 4, &t'. * Dr. Halley, Lecture 4. 
 
 * Romans ii. 28, 20. * Eph. iv. 30. 
 
460 ON BAPTISMS AND PURGATIONS WITH WATER, [ChajJ. 34. 
 
 asserts, on the authority of Maimonides, that water " baptism, 
 and the ancient ceremonies Avhich the church observed in it, 
 were all borrowed from the Jews/^" 
 
 0\id, in the second book of his Fasti, mentions several instances 
 of eminent heathens, who had committed manslaughter, resort- 
 ing, in the month of the Februal sacrifices, to ablution in certain 
 rivers, to wash away their crimes. This practice, he says, had 
 been derived from the Greeks, but his comment is worthy of 
 observation, — " Ah too credulous ! who think that the foul crime 
 of murder can be taken away by the water of a river." Other 
 classical authors refer to the same mode of purgation. The 
 Brahmins still baptize in the Ganges, as a religious ceremony : 
 and other heathen nations observe the rite in some way or 
 other. 
 
 It is fully admitted that water baptism, as a token of initia- 
 tion into fellowship, was used by the apostles of our Lord, both 
 before and after his death. Yet he himself did not practise 
 it, and Paul asserts that he was not sent to perform it,^ nor 
 does it appear that the disciples themselves received it, or that 
 Christ enjoined its reception upon believers. Outward cere- 
 monies, originally of di\dne appointment, are termed " carnal 
 ordinances,* " rudiments of the world,^ weak elements,"^ 
 &c., &c. 
 
 Most of the early Christian ministers are represented to have 
 outwardly baptized their converts by immersion in rivers, or in 
 other open places appointed for the purpose ; but the authority 
 to baptize was soon limited to the bishops alone. These after- 
 wards conferred it upon the presbyters and others, reserving to 
 themselves the confirmation of the baptism, when so adminis- 
 tered, or the imposition of hands, which originally formed part 
 of the ceremony.^ Many of the Christians who had been Jews 
 differed widely from the Gentile believers in the observance of 
 religious rites. 
 
 In the second century, converts were baptized twice in the 
 
 1 Heb. ix. 10. 
 
 2 In tlie account of Philip's conference with the eunuch, the 37th verse, 
 " And Philip said unto him," &c., is generally considered to be an inter- 
 polation. Acts viii. 
 
 3 John iv. 2, and 1 Cor. i. 17. * Heb. ix. 10. 5 Col. ii. 8, 20. 
 6 Gal. iv. 9. 7 Neander's Church Hist., vol. i. 
 
Sect. 11,] KAUi.v VI i:\vs ok uaitism 4fil 
 
 year, " at tlie {^reat feasts of Easter and W hitsuntitlc." They 
 professed their belief, reuouiiced their sins, and promised to live 
 in obedience to the j^ospel ; they were then immersed three 
 times, and declared to be received into Christ's kingdom by the 
 invocation of God. They received the sign of the cross, were 
 anointed with oil, and by prayer and imposition of hands 
 were dedicated to the Lord ; receiving salt, milk and honey 
 as little children, and as inheriting a new Canaan.' 
 
 In this century, the Ascodrutie rejected the use of all external 
 symbols or sacraments.'' About the same time Ircnreiis mentions 
 Christians, termed Valcntinians, who disused the ceremonies of 
 baptism and the supper, saying that the mystery of the unspeak- 
 able, invisible power ought not to be performed by visible and 
 corruptible elements : nor that of incompreliensible and incor- 
 poreal things to be represented by sensible and corporeal 
 things ; but that the true knowledge of the unspeakable majesty 
 is itself perfect redemption or liaptism.'' Justin Martyr observed 
 " The only baptism that can heal us is repentance and the know- 
 ledge of God. What need is there of that l)aptism, which can 
 only cleanse the flesh and the body ? Be washed in your flesh 
 from wrath and covetousness, from envj' and hatred ; and behold 
 the body is pure.'''* Clemens Alcxandrinus remarked, on the 
 proverb " Be not pure in the laver, but in the mind,"'' — " I sup- 
 pose an exact and firm repentance is a sufficient purification ; 
 judging and considering ourselves for the deeds we have done, 
 cleansing the mind from sensual aflections and former sins." 
 
 Ireuajus about 180, is considered by many to be the first 
 teacher in the church who made any allusion to infant bajjtism.^ 
 Tertullian wrote a book on baptism, against the doctrine of 
 Quintilla, a female minister, who had been at Carthage a little 
 before, and taught that water baptism was needless, and that 
 faith alone was sutlicient ; to whom he intimates that many 
 adhered. He alleged that faith and repentance were required 
 of the baptized ; that the ceremony was of no efficacy without 
 these, of which infants arc by necessity incapable, and he 
 pleaded strongly against baptizing them, as also against bap- 
 
 » Mosheim'fl 2nd Cent 4—1.3. » Bingham's Chriat. Antiq. xv. 2, 9. 
 
 3 Nennder'.s History, vol. i. 312 ; Tertullian on I^|»tisin, lih. i. cap. 10. 
 < To Tr>-pho the Jew ; Taylor's Life of Clirist ; an.i Dr. Halley. 
 ' I hid. vol. i. 
 
462 PAGAN NOTIONS BROUGHT INTO THE CHURCH. [Chap. 34. 
 
 tizing unmarried persons.^ Dissuading against haste in baptism, 
 he remarks that ^'true faith, wherever present, is sure of 
 salvation ;" also that " the soul is not consecrated by the water, 
 but by the truth professed. '^^ Unction was used in confirma- 
 tion, and first mentioned by Tertullian. 
 
 In the third century great darkness prevailed ; the apostacy 
 had made sensible progress, and in many places, traditions and 
 inventions were multiplied and sanctioned by the churches. The 
 tendency to confound the inward with the outward, the inclina- 
 tion to the magical, the fondness for pomp and display, caused 
 the forms of exorcism, which had been employed in the cases of 
 those demoniacally possessed, to be introduced into the baptism 
 of the heathens. The first unequivocal trace of it is found in 
 the acts of a council held at Carthage in .256.^ Exorcists were 
 soon afterward constituted a separate order, their office being 
 to adjure evil spirits from those supposed to be possessed. The 
 rite of exorcism was made preparatory to that of baptism, to 
 which none were admitted, till they were considered by the cries 
 and shouts of the exorcist, to be delivered from the prince of 
 darkness. The baptized returned home with crowns and white 
 robes, in token of their victory over Satan, and purification 
 from sin. Baptism was deemed an indispensable preparation 
 for the supper, and essential to salvation ; this last idea soon 
 led to its being conferred on infants. The remission of all 
 past sins was thought to be its immediate result.* 
 
 " Many of those who joined the church,^' says Neander of 
 its early period, " bringing their pagan notions over with 
 them into Christianity, sought in baptism a magical lustration, 
 which could render them at once entirely pure. Their longing 
 after reconciliation with God remained covered under a grossly 
 material form, and they sought in Christ, not a SaAdour from 
 sin, but a bestower of an outward and magical annihilation 
 of it."^ How much of this grossly material view still finds a 
 place in Christian churches ! 
 
 Great contention arose in the third century, between the 
 Asiatic and Western churches, as to the necessity of re-baptizing 
 heretics, or those who had fallen into sin, before their restora- 
 tion to the church. About the year 250, a council of seventy 
 
 1 Neander's History, vol. i. ^ De resur, carnis. 
 
 3 Ibid, lat period, 3rd section. ^ Ibid. '' Ibid. 
 
 k 
 
Sect. 11.] INTRODUCTION OF SPRIXKLINO. 463 
 
 Nortli African bisliops, held at Carthage uiuk*r Aj;«;rij)piuus, 
 decided that baptism by heretics was of no avail ; and that, on 
 joining the orthodox chnreli, a fresli baptism was necessary. 
 Two synods, held also at Carthage nuder Cyprian soon after, 
 confirmed this judgment. The Roman party maintained tliat 
 tlic life or doctrines of the minister were no impediment to true 
 baptism. The African and Asiatic chiu'ches supported the 
 opposite opinion, and the contention was long and serious. 
 Cyprian and Tertullian declared that the water ought to be 
 first cleansed and sanctified by the priest, that it might have 
 power by baptism to wash away sin.' 
 
 Cyprian seems to have been one of the first who gave coun- 
 tenance to the practice of sprinkling ; which he permitted oidy 
 in cases of sick or aged persons, whom it might be unsafe to 
 immerse ; requiring that baptism should be administered to such 
 as well as it could, if no more than by sprinkling. These were 
 called clinici, being mostly sprinkled on a couch or bed ; (from 
 clinicus, a bed-rid person,) many thought this mode imperfect 
 and invalid, and the church prohibited such from receiving 
 ordiiuition. At that time it was usual to defer the rite of water 
 baptism till mature or advanced age, that the individual might 
 not be placed under the restraints of religion in youth, nor fall 
 again into sin ; but might depart pure and blameless.- Thus 
 Constantine was baptized in his illness, when about sixty-five 
 years old, and died a few days after. Some however allege 
 other reasons for his having deferred the ceremony so long. 
 Basil in the fourth ccnturj', Theodosius, and many other eminent 
 persons, did not receive baptism till they had become aged. In 
 times of public calamity or danger, the people hurried in crowds 
 to be baptized.'* 
 
 When the l)aptism of children was introduced, it ai)pears 
 not to have been generally performed before they had received 
 instruction, and had given evidence of religious impressions 
 being made on their hearts. Several of "the fathers," as Origen 
 and Ambrose, asserted that the custom of baptizing infants was 
 received from Christ and the Apostles ; this however is one of 
 the many traditions and J)old assertions of that period for whirh 
 there is no evidence.* Neandii- remarks, that " we have nil 
 
 • Neander's Hist., vol. i. ibid. vols. i. and ii. 
 
 ' Neander, Ist & 2nd periods, 3rd section. * Neander's Ist perio<l, Snl sec. 
 
464 SPRINKLING OF INFANTS. \Chop. 34. 
 
 reason for not deriving infant baptism from apostolic institu- 
 tion/^ and that of this a proof is found in the fact, that it Avas 
 first recognized in the third century. 
 
 About 248, a bishop named Fidus recommended the baptism 
 of young children, according to the manner of circumcision, 
 when they were eight days old, mider the impression that the 
 one rite had been substituted for the other. The idea being 
 at that time new or undecided, Cyprian could not conclude upon 
 it without a general consultation ; and the bishops and elders 
 being summoned together in council at Carthage about 254, it 
 was ordained that children should '' be timely baptized, as well 
 before as after the eighth day." Many parents and others 
 objecting that it was an unfit ceremony for a child, and en- 
 dangered the health, Gregory Nazianzen recommended that 
 the baptism of children should be deferred till they were three 
 years old. Only those who were sick or delicate were at first 
 allowed to be merely sprinkled : at length however it became 
 the common practice. Cassander states, that the baptism of 
 infants began to be much used by the fathers who lived about 
 three hundred years after the Apostles. It was a very natural 
 consequence of admitting the doctrines of original sin and of 
 the necessity of water baptism to salvation. There is good 
 ground however to infer, from the circumstance of many 
 pious and eminent persons not being baptized even then till 
 late in life, that the custom was by no means general till after 
 that date. Thus, the practice of sprinkling infants, the children 
 of believing parents, grew to be held indispensable to the 
 obtaining everlasting life, and was introduced, step by step, into 
 the Christian churches. 
 
 Though many of the advocates for 'infant baptism have con- 
 tended that it was substituted for circumcision, yet neither this 
 rite nor any other was understood by the Israelites to convey 
 regeneration. Were they then unregenerated ? or did they 
 receive the grace of regeneration mthout a ceremony ? And if 
 so, is Christianity more dependent than Judaism on outward 
 observances ? Such woidd appear to be the strange but neces- 
 sary conclusion of those who plead for baptismal regeneration. 
 
 If it be acknowledged that, the water baptism used in the 
 first churches, was by immersion — and there seems little or no 
 ^ Neander, 1st period, 3rd section. 
 
Sect. 11.] CIlANCiK 0¥ CLOTHES AT IMMKKSION. 465 
 
 doubt of the tact — it must he admitted that there was ground 
 for the opinion entertained by some in the third century, that 
 the substitution of mere sprinkling, and the general adminis- 
 tration of it to infants, were a great falling oil', and a very 
 imperfect fulfilment of this apprehended religious institution. 
 If it was one of such inn)erative and sacred obligation, tliey 
 thought it but reasonable to conclude that it ought to be 
 strictly and fully complied with, in the same manner as other 
 ceremonial observances. The contrary practice in this respect 
 goes far to show that, after all, the spirit aiul not the letter, the 
 substance and not the form, was a great principle still acknow- 
 ledged even by degenerate Christians, according to the general 
 scope of the gospel dispensation. 
 
 The adult converts from Judaism and heathenism still con- 
 tinued for a time to be baptized by immersion. The individual 
 w ore a veil for some days prenously, and used his former clothes, 
 till he stripped to enter into the water ; on coming out of it, 
 he renounced the devil, made a profession of faith, promised 
 obedience to Christ, and attired himself in new white garments. 
 These were a token that he had put off the filthy rags of sin, the 
 old man with his deeds, and had now put on the new man, the 
 white raiment of righteousness and salvation. The clothes were 
 l)reviously exorcised, and passed through several ceremonies, 
 but were worn only for a week. Even to the present day, some 
 1 races are found of these parts of the ceremony, in the terms of 
 •' Whit-Sunday " and " Whitsuntide," and in the colour of the 
 infant's head-dress.^ The renunciation of the devil was made 
 i)y the catechumen or baptized jjcrson three times, with his face 
 toward the west ; the other parts of the ceremony he performed 
 with his face to the east.'^ 
 
 To go back again to the second century. Such was the dark- 
 ness then prevailing on religious matters, that some African 
 churches, the Cataphrygians and Montanists, baptized the dead 
 bodies of those who had not received the rite while living, and 
 put the sacramental bread in their mouths, as a viaticum, or 
 means of their reaching heaven. This practice was noticed 
 by the third Council of Carthage, as one which certain ignorant 
 Christians were fond of.^ 
 
 The ^larcionites and Cerinthians used a sort of vicarious 
 baptism, and when a person had died unbaptized, allowed some 
 
 ' Xeander'.-* Hi.st., vol. i. - P.in'.'haiii Hinghams (Christ. Anti<i. 
 
 2 U 
 
466 BAPTISM WITH FiKE^ &c. [Chap. 3i. 
 
 one present to represent him, and receive the rite of baptism on 
 his behalf. Many zealous persons were baptized at the graves 
 of martyrs, to testify that with Christ they were dead to sin, 
 and for him were ready to die. One religious sect in Africa, 
 called Habbasines, baptized themselves once a year in lakes or 
 ponds. The Jacobites in Asia gave a literal interpretation to 
 Christ's words, " Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and 
 with fire," and marked their children at baptism with a hot iron, 
 in the face, on the ears, or on the arm. Valentinus, in the second 
 century, rebaptized all who had received water baptism, and 
 conferred on them the baptism of fire. Others thought that fire 
 should be in some way or other joined to the water ; and it is 
 supposed that they caused the person to pass between two fires, 
 or to leap through the flame, or that they used lighted torches.^ 
 The Seleucians taught that baptism is not to be received by 
 water, and substituted a mode of baptism with fire.^ 
 
 A certain Jew is said to have been baptized in the wilderness 
 with sand, for want of water, but was ordered by the Bishop of 
 Ascalon to be rebaptized, because water was deemed essential. 
 Yet the baptism of an infant with wine, in case of necessity, 
 was decreed by Stephen II. to be valid. And a circumstance is 
 seriously related by Socrates and other historians, of some boys 
 of Alexandria, who, having been regularly baptized on the 
 sea-shore in play by another boy, were not permitted by the 
 bishop to undergo the rite again, their juvenile performance 
 being held to be sufiicient.^ 
 
 Some of the Gnostics consistently with their notions cele- 
 brated baptism as a wedding, and decorated the place like a 
 bridal chamber, using a long and mysterious formula.* 
 
 Rebaptization being considered a crime, hypothetical baptism 
 was administered in doubtful cases, with these words, " If thou 
 art baptized, I do not re-baptize ; if thou art not, I baptize thee, 
 in the name of the Father," &c.® 
 
 After many discussions, a council at Carthage decided in 340, 
 that heretics should not be re-baptized. About this time, the 
 unconditional necessity of infant baptism was admitted in the 
 North African church ; ® but still the practice was not general. 
 
 The mother of Augustine objected to his being baptized when 
 
 1 A. Clarke on Matthew iii. 11. ^ Neander and Augustine. 
 
 3 Bingham's Christ. Antiq. ^ Encyc. Brit. 
 
 ^ Neander, 1st period, sect. 3. ° Neander, vol. ii. 
 
Sect. 11.] AUGUSTINK 0\ WATEU RAPTISM. 467 
 
 young, lest he should afterwards fall into sin ; and he did not 
 undergo the ceremony till the thirtieth year of his age, 391. 
 Yet he regretted this, and having heen consulted by some who 
 wished to know his opinion, he asserted that " infants which de- 
 pjxrt out of the world without having partaken of the sacrament 
 of holy baptism are damned, being guilty of original sin." lie 
 is said to have been the first eminent person who publicly 
 preached this doctrine. He also advocated the necessity of 
 administering the eucharist to them. Other fathers of that 
 period entertained a similar view in respect to both rites; yet the 
 dipping or sprinkling of infants appears not then to have been 
 generally adopted. The necessity of infant baptism was decreed, 
 on pain of anathema, by ninety-two bishops in the Milevitan 
 provincial council, held in Africa about 402, and was finally 
 confirmed by a general council at Carthage in 410. The 
 canon of this council has these words, " Infants are truly 
 baptized for remission of their sins ; that what they derive by 
 generation may be cleaused by regeneration.^^ Some assert that 
 the former council was held at !Malta.^ 
 
 Augustine, in his work on baptism, mentioned Christians of 
 an earlier age, who said that baptism in water did good to no 
 one. He reprobated the dangerous notion of the possibility of 
 baptized persons being saved in their sins: but he says that "the 
 fire of exorcism" always preceded baptism. Ambrose thought 
 "the form of ba])tisin sufficient, if only one person of the Trinity 
 were named; but the general opinion and practice of the church 
 embraced the mention of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 
 Great differences of sentiment prevailed however, as to the form 
 and circumstances of administering the rite,- each party anathe- 
 matizing the rest. 
 
 " The fathers " were also sadly perplexed with the inquiry. 
 Who baptized the Apostles ? seeing it is declared that " Jesus 
 baptized not." '' The question is one that never can be affirma- 
 tively answered, and is only one of many difficulties attending 
 the outward view of Christian baptism. 
 
 It was currently taught in the fifth century, that the effect of 
 water baptism was the certain salvation of the soul; an opinion 
 which, considering that its subjects were mostly adults, largely 
 
 ' See Hanmer's Chronol., Taylor's Liberty of Prophecy, &c. 
 ' Bingham's Chri.Ht. Antiq. ' John iv. 2. 
 
 •2 M 2 
 
468 EFFECTS ASCRIBED TO WATER BAPTISM. [^Chttp. 34. 
 
 tended to destroy the great doctrine of justification by faith, 
 and to pervert the Gospel ; by exhibiting a mechanical kind of 
 Christianity, which might exist without any personal experience 
 of the favour of God, without any conscious union with Christ 
 or power over sin.^ 
 
 Jovinian held that those who had received true baptism 
 were safe, and could not fall into the temptations of the devil. 
 Theodoret speaks of some Christians, called Ascodrutse, a sort of 
 Gnostics, who said that no profit accrued to those baptized ; and 
 he states that several noted men were of that opinion. He 
 condemned such, and also the Eunomians, who used only one 
 immersion, contrary at that time to the general practice of the 
 chui'ch. 
 
 The rite of water baptism, as has already been remarked, was 
 at first performed in rivers or fountains. Hence the word " font " 
 was introduced, for a vessel containing " baptismal water ;" 
 or it may have implied the source of spiritual life. It was super- 
 stitiously termed by some "the mother of adoption." Fonts 
 were adorned with figures and pictures, that those who were 
 baptized might have good patterns before their eyes. In times 
 of persecution, such vessels were sometimes placed in private 
 houses or in retired situations. At length, in the fifth century, 
 it became customary to set them in the porch, and finally in 
 " the church itself." Oratories and small chapels termed bap- 
 tisteries, adjoining the churches, or over springs of water, were 
 also used for the performance of baptism ; the use of private 
 houses for the purpose being strictly forbidden. 
 
 " It is the key of the sacraments" said Gaudentius, "that 
 opens the gate of heaven," — an opinion which is still maintained. 
 The administration of baptism b}^ an illiterate priest who used 
 false latin, was received with apprehension by many, the virtue 
 of the sacrament being deemed to depend on the correctness 
 of the terms employed. 
 
 The practice of administering both confirmation and the eucha- 
 rist, together with the rite of baptism, to infants, prevailed exten- 
 sively in early times, and was continued for at least 300 years.^ 
 
 The souls of infants unbaptized were declared to be received 
 into a place called " Limbus Infantum ; " the rites of " Christian 
 burial'^ were not used for any unbaptized, but their bodies were 
 interred "in an unhallowed place." 
 
 * Smith's Reliffiou of Ancient Britain. 2 Biuffham. 
 
Sect. 11.] DECREES REL.\TINr. TO WATKR HAITISM. 1^9 
 
 In the French and Spanish churches, lijiptisni was for a 
 long period performed only " at the festival at Easter/' except 
 when infants ^vere ill.' A council at Gerunda in Spain aftcr- 
 wanls decreed tliat baptism, or " remission of sins," as it was 
 sometimes termed, should be administered only " at Easter and 
 Whitsuntide," unless necessity should retjuire otherwise.' At 
 these holiday times large numbers received the ceremony. 
 
 To persons of certain descriptions baptism was not extended ; 
 such as image-nuikcrs and stage-players, gladiators and game- 
 sters, astrologers and charmers, frequenters of games and 
 theatres, including those in the army and in concubinage. The 
 Marcionitcs refused baptism to all married persons. In some 
 cases Jews and Heathens were by arbitrary zealots compelled, 
 under pain of confiscation of goods, to submit to the rite of 
 baptism, till at length the Council of Toledo prohibited this use 
 of antichristian compulsion.* 
 
 The primitive British chui'ches strongly objected to the 
 Roman method of performing Mater baptism, introduced by 
 Austin in 5U7 ;' but the nature of their objection docs not 
 appear. lua, king of the West Saxons, ordained, about G92, 
 that every infant should be baptized within thirty days from 
 the birth, mider penalty of thirty shillings, to be paid by the 
 parents ; or of the whole estate, if the child died unbaptized 
 — a verj' arbitraiy and superstitious edict. Bede, who is styled 
 the " \'enerable," declared his belief, that an unconscious 
 infant is saved in baptism, through the faith of its parents and 
 god-parents. A coimcil held in Britain, in 810, enacted that 
 infants should be immersed in the font, and that water should 
 not be poured on their heads only. Ancient fonts of large size 
 for this purpose still remain. For a long period they received 
 usually three immersions, in the name of the F'athcr, of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and King Edward VI. issued an 
 ordinance to this eflect. 
 
 To return again to an early period : Justin Martyr, in the 
 second century, siKJaking of the method of baptizing, makes tio 
 allusion to siK)n8ors ; but these soon followed the rite of bap- 
 tizing infants, who were incapable of answering for themselves, 
 or confessing their faith. Tertullian refers with disapprobation 
 
 ' Bingham's Christ. Antiq. ' Ilannier ; Neander, vol. ii. 272. 
 
 ' Bingham. ' IVmgham's Christ. Autiq. 
 
 * Blunts Kc'fonnitii.u ill Euglaml. 
 
470 INTRODUCTION OF SPONSORS. [Chap. 34. 
 
 to infant baptism and sponsors, remarking that the latter under- 
 take what they may never be able to fulfil. It was an ancient 
 practice, for one man or one woman to attend at the baptism of 
 an infant, according to the sex, and undertake as sureties for his 
 or her proper instruction. The parents were usually considered 
 the proper parties; but other "^ godparents" were required under 
 Charlemagne. Persons of mature age who were baptized were 
 also accompanied by " godfathers and godmothers : " and these 
 in the fourth century were often the deacons or deaconesses 
 of the church, who were expected to instruct and prepare the 
 ignorant. Godfathers and godmothers, being called " gossips," 
 were considered to have acquired a spiritual relationship to the 
 infant and to one another ; so that it was ordained by Justinian 
 and certain councils in the sixth and seventh centuries, after 
 two sureties had become common for each child, that they might 
 not marry with each other, or with the person or child baptized, 
 or with either surviving parent of the child ; and even that the 
 baptizer should not marry the person baptized, on account of 
 the sacred affinity said to have been contracted at the font. 
 This strange idea gave rise to numerous regulations, difficulties, 
 and absurdities, and was rejected by the early protestant re- 
 formers, but it is still upheld in the Greek if not in the 
 Romish church. The gossips formerly put on white garments, 
 as well as the priest and the baptized person or child. In Britain, 
 and in some other parts, for every male child, two godfathers 
 and one godmother are still required ; and for every female 
 child, two godmothers and one godfather. The 29th Anglican 
 canon enjoins, that "no parent shall be admitted to answer as 
 godfather for his own cliild, nor shall be urged to be present. 
 Neither shall any person be admitted godfather before he has 
 received the holy communion." The Scotch altogether reject 
 the use of godfathers and godmothers, as one of the corruptions 
 of the dark ages. " Should it be said that the infant believes 
 by its sponsors, we reply," says Dr. Halley, " that with as much 
 countenance from Scripture it may be said, it is regenerated in 
 its sponsors.^ 
 
 The Paulicians, who in the eighth and ninth centuries were a 
 considerable sect in Asia Minor and Italy, '^maintained that it was 
 not Christ's intention to institute baptism by water as a perpe- 
 tual ordinance ; but that by baptism he meant only that of the 
 
 ' Lecture v. 
 
Sect. 11.] BAPTISM OK HKLLS, &C. 471 
 
 Spirit, by whose teachings he coramunicates himself as tlie living 
 uatcr, for the thorough cleansing of man. They combated the 
 inclination to rely on the magical eflects of external forms, par- 
 ticularly the sacraments.'" 
 
 To receive any payment for baptism, for the eucharist, for 
 confinnation, for burying, for consecration of churches, or for 
 other like spiritual olHccs, was deemed by the ancients a sort of 
 simony ; and it was prohibited by several councils. 
 
 The absurd and superstitious practice, which had found its 
 way into the corrupt church, of extending the rite of baptism 
 to inanimate things, as bells and the like, is mentioned in the 
 capitulary of Charlemagne with disapprobation ; but afterwards 
 it was acknowledged in the otliccs of the church, and continued 
 for several hundred years. Pretended godfathers were appointed, 
 who made responses; a new garment was put on, and other 
 ridiculous ceremonies were used.- The baptism of bells is still 
 practised in Italy, and being considered a very important cere- 
 mony, is performed only by the bishops." 
 
 Chm'lemagnc, adopting the Mahometan principle, enforced 
 baptism with the edge of the sword on some of the heathen 
 nations of Germany ; as soon however as they were left to 
 themselves, they returned to the pagan rites with increased 
 zeal.* Similar measures were resorted to, at later periods, 
 towards several of the northern tribes, who were brought 
 to the profession of Christianity by artifices and violence. 
 
 The Mai'cionites and some other sects allowed baptism to be 
 performed by women, in opposition to the general practice. 
 Laymen were not permitted to baptize, except in cjises of 
 urgency. Many great disputes arose as to the parties who had 
 a right to perform the ceremony ; but the baptism even by 
 schismatics was generally held to be valid. The Romish ritual 
 allows baptism to be administered in case of necessity, not only 
 by a catholic layman or woman, but also by a Jew, a pagan, or 
 an infidel. Among episcopal protcstants, a nurse or any other 
 " lay person " is authorised under pressure of illness to sprinkle 
 a child ; otherwise the rite is not considered to be duly per- 
 formed, unless by a minister ordained by the bishop ; conse- 
 qucntlv bai)tism by nonconformist ministers nmst be held to be 
 invalid. 
 
 ' Neaiuler'ft IIit«t. ' Hiiij^hain's Cliii.xt. Autiq. 
 
 AchiUi's l)o;iliugs with tht* Inquisilion. * Ni-aiuler'a Hi.st. 
 
472 HIGH NOTIONS OF THE WATER OF BAPTISM. [Chap. 34. 
 
 The following ceremonies commonly took place in the Romish 
 church at the baptism of a child. 1st. The priest breathed 
 three times on the infant's face, which was termed the insuffla- 
 tion, to denote the communication of the Holy Ghost. 2nd. 
 He anointed his eyes, ears and nostrils, with earth moistened 
 with saliva, saying Ephphatha. 3rd. He named him, and 
 marked him with the sign of the cross, on the breast and back, 
 with holy oil ; exorcising him, or abjuring the devil to go out of 
 him, and come at him no more. 4th. Three times he dipped 
 him into the water, or, if weak, sprinkled water upon him, in 
 form of a cross. 5th. Putting his thumb in the chrism or holy 
 ointment, he marked the forehead with the sign of the cross, 
 using the imposition of hands, and praying for the unction of 
 the Holy Ghost. 6th. He covered him with a white garment 
 as a token of innocence. And 7th. He put into his hand a 
 burning candle, as an emblem of light and glory ! Nearly the 
 same superstitious proceedings took place in the baptism of 
 adults, and were practised, as was said, in the fulfilment of 
 Christ's commands, or of apostolical traditions ! ^ 
 
 Before water was used for baptism the priest consecrated it 
 by prayer, and by holy ointment with the sign of the cross. 
 " The very same change was supposed thus to be wrought in 
 the waters of baptism, as on the bread and wine in the 
 eucharist. Not only the presence of the Spirit, but also the 
 mystical presence of Christ's blood, was beheved to attend after 
 consecration !"- According with this notion is the language 
 of the Puseyite poem, " The Christian Year," in reference to 
 the water of baptism : — 
 
 " What sparkles in that lucid flood 
 Is water, by gross mortals eyed ; 
 But seen by faith, 'tis blood 
 Out of a dear Friend's side." 
 
 It was held that the sacrament of baptism, like circumcision, 
 once administered, could not be erased, and ought not to be 
 repeated ; while that of the eucharist or mass, like the passover, 
 was to be repeated often.^ The one was deemed necessary to 
 produce the new birth and spiritual life, the other to nourish 
 and sustain it, by the feeding on the flesh and drinking the 
 blood of Chi'ist. Without a regularly ordained priest, these 
 indispensable benefits, it was declared, could not be received, 
 
 ' Bingham's Christ. Autiq. " Ibid. "* Halley on the Sacraments. 
 
Sect. 11.] MANY OUJKCT TO WATKll HAI'TISM. 473 
 
 Thus the self-styled successors of Peter assumed to keep tlic keys 
 of heaven : whom they would they professed to have power to 
 admit, aud whom they would to exclude. Their owu faith or 
 monUity was not cousidered necessary to the validity of theii* 
 performances ! Aud these views, be it rememhered, w ere not 
 confined to the ignorant and most superstitious, but were for 
 centuries the avowed doctrines of the eluu-ch, and of most of 
 those who arc renowned as its early fathers. As such, they 
 were sternly enforced by secular* authority. Papists, and even 
 some professed protestants, still cling to them. Nearly the same 
 efl'ects are by many now attributed to water baptism as for- 
 merly : viz., forgiveness of sins, regeneration, spiritual light, 
 and salvation. It was deemed the most full absolution and 
 indulgence. 
 
 In the eleventh century, Robert, King of France, caused 
 to be burnt at the stake, thirteen of the clergy aud nobles of 
 the city of Orleans, for denying the outward baptism and 
 supper.^ Some of the adherents of Gundulph of Italy, coming 
 into Flanders and being examined by the Bishop of Cambray, 
 denied that water baptism could do any good to infants ; and 
 farther confessed that they thought it of no use to any one, 
 infant or adult. The following, being some of the sentiments 
 held by these parties, and by the protestant mountaineers in 
 tlie south of France, were condemned by a synod at Arras in 
 1025 : That the sacrament of baptism was useless, and of no 
 efficacy to salvation ; that the Lord's supper was eqimlly urrne- 
 cessar}% that tliere was no peculiar sanctity in churches, nor in 
 the altar; that the use of bells, ik,c., was objectionable ; that the 
 various orders of the church were not of divine institution ; and 
 that its rites of sepulture are to be ascribed to the avarice of the 
 clergy. * Bercnger, and Bishop Bruno, two eminent men in 
 France, bore public testimony against infant baptism, aud 
 that termed " the real presence." The doctrine spread through 
 France and Germany, aud its professors were called Beren- 
 garians, Waldenses, &c.^ 
 
 In the twelfth century many enlightened persons expressed 
 
 objections to infant baptism. Peter Abelard opposed this rite 
 
 and was burned at Home for his testimony. Peter de Bruys, of 
 
 France, and Henry and Arnold, of Italy, taught against infant 
 
 ' Miliier'a Hiat. * Wjv<l<liugt<)n'8 Hwt. ' Ban.>u. .^ViiU. 
 
474 THE CATHARI, WALDENSES AND OTHERS. [Chap. 34. 
 
 baptism, transubstautiation, &c. ; for Avhich the first was com- 
 mitted to tlie flames, the second to prison where he died, and 
 the third was executed. Their followers were very numerous, 
 and were called " Cathari," or the Pure.^ Exbert of Germany 
 wrote a treatise, in 1 160, against the Cathari, of whom he says, 
 " They hold that water baptism is of no avail to salvation." 
 These people subsisted for several centuries.^ The Massahans 
 or Euchites in the East, sometimes also termed Bogomiles, 
 continued for a long period, and refrained from baptism, from 
 the Lord's supper, and other external rites of worship ; placing 
 the essence of reUgion in prayer. This sect was numerous, and 
 is said to have been founded by Lucopetrus. The terms Cathari 
 and Massalians became general and invidious appellations for 
 such eastern Christians as opposed the vicious practices, corrupt 
 forms and tyranny of the priesthood.' William of Newbury 
 mentions thirty religious persons, who came into England from 
 Germany in 1170, and denied baptism and the eucharist. The 
 chief of them were Gerard and Dulcimus. They were probably 
 some of the early Waldenses. About this time was raised up 
 a people in the province of Albi, in France, thence called 
 Albigenses, of whom some declared that infant baptism was not 
 necessary. The Waldenses became generally known about the 
 same period. They laid little stress on the outward baptism and 
 supper, finding fault with the papists for relying too much on 
 these things. Reyner their historian says, " Some of them hold 
 that baptism of material water and other sacraments profit 
 nothing to salvation.'' Both they and the Albigenses used 
 great simplicity in their mode of worship; and for testifying 
 against the corruptions imposed by the ruling powers, they 
 were hunted down and massacred without mercy,* 
 
 Although the baptism of infants had long been general, yet 
 some writers assert that Innocent III., who founded the Inqui- 
 sition, and sanctioned the doctrine of transubstantiation, was the 
 first who fully established it, by ratifying the Mile^itan Canon, 
 at the Council of Lateran in 1215, which has been elsewhere 
 referred to. 
 
 In the fourteenth century enlightened sentiments continued to 
 make progress. The citizens of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, ha\ing 
 
 ' Baron. Ann. ^Milner's Church Histoi-y, Dupin, &c; 
 
 ^ Encyc. Brit. ■* Jones's Hist. Waldenses, &c. 
 
iStJC/. 11.] UKITE AND TYNDAL ON BAPTISM. 475 
 
 resisted their ecclesiastical superiors, were exeommimicated, and 
 remjiiued for tw outy-eight years without baptism or otlicr rites. 
 Tlie return of the priests to perform tlicir accustomed ceremo- 
 nies seems to liave been regarded as a farce.' The autlior of 
 " The Ploughman's Complaint," under a more spiritual view of 
 our Saviour's command, thus expresses himself: — ".^Vh, Lord, 
 thou badest thy disciples go and fulleu (or purify) all the folk, 
 in tlie name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, in forgiveness of their sins."- AViclitic declared, "They 
 which affirm that the children of the faithful dying without 
 baptism are not saved, ai'c presumptuous and foolish." Walter 
 Brute, an eminent English reformer before referred to, denied 
 that baptism with water is necessary to salvation, or that any- 
 thing more is required than repentance and faith in Christ. 
 " Faith," says he, " is a spu'itual water, springing from Ilim, 
 the Fountain of wisdom, wherein the soul of the sinner is 
 w ashed from sin. With this water were the faithful patriarchs 
 baptized before the law ; and the faithfid people of the Hebrews 
 and the faithful Christians after the law. Many Christians are 
 saved without the sacrament of baptism in water. Are not all 
 baptized ^nth the Holy Ghost and with fire ? but not with 
 material fire. Thus, no more is the lotion of water corporally 
 necessary to wash away sins, but only spiritual w atcr ; that is 
 to say, the water of faith. "^ Many of the Lollards, a numerous 
 body in England, dechu'cd their belief that infants dying uubap- 
 tized are saved, in opposition to the opinion then generally held. 
 The incrcjise of religious light in the sixteenth century 
 produced clearer views on tliis and other subjects; but the dif- 
 ference between the Roman catholics and the reformers was not 
 generally so great on this point as on the "eucharist." Both 
 parties upheld the outward baptismal rite, diflering chiefly as 
 to its administration and eftects. Erasmus, Bucer, Melancthon, 
 and many other eminent men, declared that infant baptism is 
 not pliiinly authorized by scripture. William Tyndal maintained 
 " that the water of the font hath no more virtue in it than 
 any other water, as that of the river Rhine : that the water 
 of baptism doth not take away sin, for then were it a precious 
 water indeed, and then it behoved us daily to wash therein. 
 
 ' D'AubignC'S History. ' Fox, Acts and Mon. vol. i. 
 
 ' Fox, vol. i. 
 
476 EXORCISM IN REIGN OF EDWARD VI. {Ghup. 34-. 
 
 The virtue of baptism lieth not/' said he^ " in hallowed water, or 
 in the outward things at the font, but in faith only." Among 
 the opinions attributed to him and his followers was this, — 
 that infants are holy and clean, though they have not re- 
 ceived baptism.^ Calvin remarks expressly, that infant bap- 
 tism is not mentioned by any of the Evangelists, and he 
 doubted, if he did not deny, the duty of the practice. "I 
 must ingenuously profess," said Zwingle, "that almost all 
 who have undertaken to write of baptism, even from the very 
 times of the apostles, have erred in not a few things from the 
 scope." Of infant baptism he says, " There are no plain words 
 of Scripture by which the same is commanded." If thou be 
 baptized a thousand times with water and have not faith," said 
 John Frith, an English reformer, "it availeth thee no more 
 towards God, than it doth a goose when she ducketh herself 
 under the water. In the apostolic baptism there was neither 
 font, holy water, earth, cream, oil, salt, godfather nor god- 
 mother."- The centuriators of Magdeburg remark, in their 
 learned history, that they find no example in the scriptures of 
 baptizing infants. They also declared against holy water, fonts, 
 exorcisms, anointing, confirmation &c., which, they said, were 
 not used in the primitive times. 
 
 The Anabaptists sprang up in Germany about the time of the 
 Reformation. Many of them settled in England soon after, 
 having been driven from their own country by contentions and 
 persecution. Believing the baptism of infants, as well as that 
 administered by the Romish priests, to be invalid, they re-bap- 
 tized all who joined them, and hence arose their name. Some 
 were called gentle or moderate, while others denied the peace- 
 able principles of the gospel, and broke out into violence. Of 
 these, some were examined and executed, contrary to the wishes 
 of the people at large, in the generally mild reign of Edward VI .^ 
 Such were the consequences, even under a moderate ruler, of 
 daring to differ from the estabhshed system. 
 
 The form of baptism, enacted by the litui'gy published as late 
 as that reign, contained this exorcising clause : — " Then let the 
 priest, looking upon the children, say, ' I command thee, unclean 
 spirit, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, that thou come out and depart from these infants, whom 
 
 1 Fox's Martyrs, vol. ii. " Puritans in England. ' Burnet's History. 
 
Sect. 11. J MARTYKS OIJJKCT TO WATER BAPTISM. 477 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ hath vouchsafed to call to hi.s holy bap- 
 tism, to be made member-s of his body aud of his holy cougrega- 
 tiou ; therefore thou cursed spirit remember thy scuteuce, re- 
 meuibcr thy judgment, aud the day to be at hand wherein thou 
 shalt burn in fire everlasting, prepared for thee and tliy angels ; 
 and presume not hereafter to exercise any tyranny towards tliese 
 infants, whom Christ hath bought with his precious blood, and 
 by this his holy baptism called to be of his flock/ "^ 
 
 Thomas Ilawkes of Essex, a zealous protestant, suffered at 
 Cogtreshall in the vear of blood 1555, for firm adherence to his 
 religious principles. On his long examination by Harpsfield 
 before Bishop Bonner, among other remarks arc the following : 
 Bishop. — " This is the man that I told you of, that would not 
 have his child christened, neither will he have any ceremonies." 
 Harpsfield. — " Christ used ceremonies. Did he not take clay 
 from the ground, and spittle, and make the blind man see ? " 
 Ilawkes. — " I wot that well ; but Christ never used it in baptism. 
 If ye wiU needs have it, use it as Christ did." Harps. — "Admit 
 your child die uuchristcned, what a heavy ease you st;ind in ! " 
 Hawkes. — " If it do, what then ?" Harps. — " INIarry, then are 
 ye damned and your child both ! " Hawkes. — " Judge you no 
 further than ye may by the scriptures." Harps. — " Do ye not 
 know that your child is born in original sin ?" Hawkes. — "Yes, 
 that I do." Harps. — " How is onginal sin washed away ?" 
 Ilawkes. — "By faith and belief of Jesus Christ." Harps. — " How 
 can your child, bciug an infant, believe?" Hawkes. — "The 
 deliverance from sin standeth in the faith of his parents." 
 Harps.— "How prove you that?" Hawkes.— " By St. Paul's 
 Mords, ' The unbelieving man is sanctified by the belienng 
 woman, and the unbelieving woman by the believing man, or 
 else were your childi-en unclean.' " Bonner. — "Recant, recant! 
 Do ye not know that Clnist said, ' Except ye be baptized ye 
 cannot be saved?'" Hawkes.— " Doth Christianity stand in 
 outward ceremonies or no?" Bonuer. — "Partly it doth. AVhat 
 say you to that?" Ilawkes. — "I say as St. Peter saith, 'Not 
 the washing of water purging the filthiness of the flesh, but a 
 good conscience consenting unto God.'"* He was soon com- 
 mitted to the flames. 
 
 ' Bum's Ecclesiastical Law. 
 
478 MARTYRS OBJECT TO WATER BAPTISM. [Chop. 34. 
 
 Robert Smith, another dauntless English reformer^ was asked 
 by Bonner on his examination — " In what point do we dissent 
 from the word of God?" Smith. — "First in hallowing your 
 water, in conjuring of the same, in baptizing children, with 
 anointing and spitting in their mouths, mingled with salt, and 
 many other lewd ceremonies, of which not one point is able to 
 be proved in God's order.'' Bonner. — " By the mass, this is 
 the most unshamefaced heretic that ever I heard ! " Mordant. — 
 " I pray you, my lord, mark well his answer for baptism ; he 
 disalloweth therein holy ointment, salt^ and such other laudable 
 ceremonies, which no Christian man will deny." Smith. — " It 
 is a shameful blasphemy against Christ, so to use any mingle- 
 mangle in baptizing young infants." Bonner. — "I believe, I 
 tell thee, that if they die before they be baptized they be 
 damned." Smith. — ''Ye shall never be saved by that belief; 
 but I pray you, my lord, show me, are we saved by water or liy 
 Christ?" Bonner.— "By both." Smith.— "Then the water 
 died for our sins, and so must ye say that the water hath life. 
 It being our servant, and created for us, is our Saviour. Is not 
 this a good doctrine?" Bonner. — "Then thou makest the 
 water of none effect, and then put away water." Smith. — "Your 
 generation have set at nought the word of God ; for to judge 
 children condemned that be not baptized is wicked." 
 
 Thomas Iveson of Surrey, who in the same year, 1555, was 
 brought to the stake at Chichester, professed in his answer on 
 baptism that it is a token and sign of Christ, as circumcision 
 was, and none otherwise ; and that he believed his sins were not 
 washed away thereby, but his body only washed ; for that his 
 sins were washed away only by Christ's blood.^ 
 
 John Bradford, in one of the many long and minute conver- 
 sations which he had with his examiners on points of faith, de- 
 clared that he durst not exclude from Christ all who died with- 
 out baptism.^ 
 
 Bellarmine, in his work on baptism says, that in scripture 
 there is neither command nor example for infant baptism, which 
 he refers to the imaginary catalogue of apostolical traditions. 
 
 We next come to the seventeenth century, when various 
 religious questions were much discussed. Hitherto it had been 
 
 ' Fox, Acts and Mon. vol. iii. p. 214. ^ Ibid. p. 320. ' Ibid. 
 
Sect. 11.] vviuors oriMONs on BAPTIs^r. 479 
 
 the general practice in England to perform the baptism of 
 infants by immersion, either once or tlu-iee : in the latter cases 
 they were declared to be " in the name of the three persons 
 of the Trinity" successively. But several of the English 
 protestant ministers, having taken refuge in Germany and 
 Switzerland in the reign of Queen ^Tary, and observing that 
 baptism was there administered by sprinkling, under the autho- 
 rity of Calvin and other reformers, brought back that mode with 
 them on their return home. Thus the dip[)ing of infants in the 
 font, which had been complained of on account of their frequent 
 delicacy and the coldness of the climate, was very much banished 
 from this country about the year IGOO.' The Baptists in Eng- 
 land, as well as the Menonites and others on the continent of 
 Europe, have always confined the ceremony to adults, and ad- 
 ministered it by immersion. 
 
 Hugo Grotius says it is evident that infant baptism was not 
 common in the early church, because Constantine the Great, 
 though the son of Helena a zealous Christian, was not baptized 
 till he was aged, like many others of that period. 
 
 Joseph Mede, in his commentary on Titus, maintained that 
 " no such thing as sprinkling was used in baptism in the apos- 
 tles' days, nor for many ages after, and that to sprinkle young 
 or old and call it baptism was very incongruous." 
 
 John Saltmarsh, an eminent minister of Kent, published a 
 discoJirse against water baptism. He declared that ^'no outward 
 ordinance nor ministration of the creature can convey or confer 
 pure spiritual things. Also that the baptism of water is not 
 Christ's baptism or of his administration, but John's and his 
 ministry ; and therefore that Christ never gave it to his disci- 
 ples in their first commission to preach to the Jews, nor baptized 
 he any himself, nor doth it appear that in Matthew xxviii. lie 
 meant baptism by water, but by the Spirit."' 
 
 AVilliam Dell, an enlightened minister of Caius College, Cam- 
 bridge, wrote a treatise *•' on the doctrine of baptisms," in which 
 he demonstrates at some length that water baptism is not an 
 ordinance of the gospel. "The baptism of Christ," says lie, "is 
 spint or fire baptism ; and this is the one and only baptism of 
 the New Testament. Its outward instrument is not material 
 water, but the word; as Christ shows where he says 'Tcacli 
 ' Encyclopspflin Brittanica. ' Sparklefi of Glory, 
 
480 DELL, TAYLOR, &C. ON BAPTISM. [Chap. 34. 
 
 baptizing/ showing that teaching the Word is the outward 
 means of baptizing with the Spirit, which is sufficient for all the 
 faithful. He that is truly washed from all filthiness of flesh and 
 spirit, what need hath he of cold material water to be poured 
 on his body, under the pretence of any sign whatever, when he 
 hath the truth, substance and heavenly thing itself?"^ The 
 sentiments of William Dell against the use of water were very 
 decided. 
 
 Henry Hammond, chaplain to King Charles I., says in his 
 "Annotations on the New Testament,'^ "Is not Christ the end of 
 ceremonies, types, figures and shadoAVS ? John's water baptism 
 and all the shadows of Moses were to endure but for a time; 
 for as all the prophets were unto John, so John was until Christ ; 
 and Christ by his internal washing — the laver of regeneration — 
 fulfilled and ended, not only Moses' laver, but John's Jordan 
 washing also, by fulfiUing inwardly that which they represented 
 outwardly." 
 
 The sentiments of Jeremy Taylor, afterwards an Irish bishop, 
 are deserving of particular notice. In his treatise on "the 
 Liberty of Prophecy," he clearly set forth the case of the ana- 
 baptists, apparently uniting in their arguments against infant 
 baptism. This giving offence to some of his friends, he after- 
 wards wrote a tract containing views dh'ectly opposite. The 
 following are from the first piece in favour of the anabaptists : — 
 
 " Christ blessed childi^en and so dismissed them, but baptized 
 them not ; therefore infants are not to be baptized. He hath 
 other ways of bringing them to heaven than by baptism. — As 
 we are sure that God hath not commanded infants to be bap- 
 tized, so we are sm'e that God will do them no injustice, nor 
 condemn them for what they cannot help. In the passage 
 ' Except a man be born of water and of the spirit,' &c., the 
 words water and the spirit signify the same thing ; and by water 
 is meant the efl'ect of the Spirit purifying the soul, as appears in 
 its parallel place of Ckrist baptizing with the spirit and with 
 fire. It no more inferred a necessity of infant baptism than 
 the other words of Christ, ' Except ye eat the flesh of the Son 
 of man, and di-ink his blood,' &c., oblige us to give them 
 the holy communion. Therefore, if men will do us justice, 
 cither let them give both sacraments to infants^ as some ages of 
 Doctrine of Baptisms. 
 
Sect. 11 ] BISHOP TAYLOR 0\ BAPTISM. 481 
 
 the church diilj or neither. — No sensible account can be given 
 of the custom of godfathers. — The baptizing of infants produces 
 inconveniences, wliich in other questions we avoid like rocks. 
 Either baptism produces spiritual effects, or it does not. If not, 
 why is such contention about it ? what are we the nearer to 
 heaven if we arc baptized ? And if it is neglected, what ai'c 
 we farther off? If it does operate upon the soul, producing 
 spiritual benefits, these are produced by the external work 
 alone, or by that as it is helped by the co-operation of the 
 suscipicnt. If by the external work alone, how docs this differ 
 from the oj)us operatuni of the papists ? If not by the external 
 work alone, but according to the predisposition of the susci- 
 picnt, then, because infants have none, it does them no benefit 
 at all. In short, either bajjtism is a mere ceremony or it implies 
 a duty. If a ceremony only, how does it sanctify us ? If a duty, 
 liow can children receive it, who cannot perform a duty at all?" 
 This reasoning is clear and conclusive ! 
 
 " Infant or paido-baptism," he asserts, " is not commanded 
 in scripture, nor was its necessity determined in the church, 
 till the eighth age after Christ. In the year 418, in the Milevitan 
 Council a provincial of Africa, a canon was made for it; but 
 never till then. It was practised in Africa before that time, 
 but not often there, nor at all in other places, as Ludovicus 
 Vives says. In his annotations upon St. Austin, he asserts that 
 anciently none but adults Avere baptized ; and that St. Austin 
 was the first that ever preached it to be absolutely necessary. 
 It was the opinion of the primitive church that infants ought 
 not to be baptized, as is clear from the sixth canon of the 
 Council of Neoca}sarea."' 
 
 On this question. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, writes as 
 follows : — " There is neither precept nor example for p;cdo- 
 baptism, nor any just evidence of it, for about two hundred 
 years after Christ. Tcrtullian condemns it as an unwarrantable 
 custom ; and Nazianzen, a good while after him, dislikes it too. 
 In the primitive times they were Catcchumcni, then llluminati 
 or Baptizati. The truth is, that piedo-baptism, how or by whom 
 I know not, came into the world in the second century ; and in 
 the third and fourth began to be practised, though not generally, 
 and defended as lawful from the mistaken text, John iii. 5. On 
 ' Taylor's Liberty of Prophecy. 
 
 2 I 
 
482 OPINIONS ON p^DO-BAPTisM. [Chap. 34. 
 
 the same gross mistake of John vi. 53, they did for many 
 centuries, both in the Greek and Latin churches, give the Lord's 
 supper to infants ; and I confess they might do both, as well as 
 either." Willet, in his synopsis of popery, remarks that "baptism 
 in the early age being deferred till Easter, it often happened 
 that many died without baptism; which showed that the church 
 had then no opinion of its necessity." 
 
 Bossuet, the learned Bishop of Meaux, in writing of com- 
 munion under both kinds, says, "Protestants assert that the 
 baptism of infants is founded on the scripture, but they produce 
 no express passage to that purpose ; arguing from remote, not 
 to say doubtful, and even false consequences. It is certain that 
 all the proofs brought from the scripture on this subject have 
 no force at all.'^ 
 
 Great disputes arose among the New England ministers in 
 1662, respecting the children who had a right to baptism ; some 
 confining it to those whose parents or grand-parents were 
 members of the church, and others disapproving of this restric- 
 tion, and conferring it on any whose parents expressed a desire 
 on behalf of their children.' 
 
 In this century, George Eox, Robert Barclay, George 
 Whitehead, and the other early Friends showed clearly the 
 spiritual nature of the Christian religion, and its freedom from 
 the yoke of ritual observances, — a very valuable and important 
 testimony, which their successors are bound to uphold. 
 
 Early in the eighteenth century, Henry Dodwell, a minister 
 of the established church, promulgated the sentiment held by 
 many at the present time, " that no one could partake of salva- 
 tion, but those who had a federal right to it by the sacraments, 
 and that these were the seals of the covenant ; so that he left 
 all who died mthout them to the uncovenanted mercies of God ; 
 adding that none had a right to give the sacraments but 
 the apostles, and the bishops and priests ordained by them 
 and their successors. It followed from hence, that sacraments 
 administered by others not episcopally ordained were of no 
 value, and that the dissenters were no Christians, but in a state 
 of damnation till rebaptized."^ Is not this even now the high 
 church doctrine, though not often so fully expressed ? 
 
 Dr. Trapp of Oxford remarks, " With water the pollution of 
 ' Neal's Hist, of tlie Puritans. ^ Burnet's Own Times, 
 
Sect. 11.] OPINIONS ON M'ATIMl BAPTISM. 483 
 
 the flesli is put away, but by Christ's baptism witli tlic Spirit, the 
 answer of a good conscience is known, purged from dead works 
 to (ludward." Bishop Burnet, in his concUision to the History 
 of his Own Times, complained freely of several of tlic reguhitions 
 in tlie estabHshed church, and especially of " the exclusion of 
 parents from being sponsors in baptism, and the recpiiring of 
 others ;" which he thought rendered it " a mockery rather than 
 a solemn sponsion in too many ;" yet incapable of being re- 
 dressed except by parliament. 
 
 Dr. ^litchell of Derby, in a sermon on the design of the 
 gospel, showed that " Christianity did not attempt to substitute 
 one rite in the room of others which had been abrogated, but to 
 bring men back to a strict regard of natural and moral duties." 
 
 George ^Vhitfield thus remonstrated with some, "If you place 
 religion merely in being baptized, in having the outward wash- 
 ing of water, without rcceinng the baptism of the Holy Ghost, 
 you place the kingdom of God in something in Mhich it does 
 not consist ; in eifect, you place it in meat and drink.^'^ 
 
 About the middle of the eighteenth century, a numerous sect 
 sprang up in Russia, named Duhobortzi or Malakans, who not 
 only threw aside the other rites of the Greek church, but 
 rejected also water baptism and the supper, affirming that the 
 only baptism for the remission of sins takes place, mIicu a man 
 truly repents, and cries in sincerity to God.^ 
 
 The nineteenth century has produced many comments worthy 
 of notice on this subject. " The question of infant baptism," 
 says the historian Milner, " lias produced volumes of strife. I 
 could v^dsh that Christian people had never been vexed with a 
 controversy so frivolous."' 
 
 Melville Home, an episcopal minister, in a treatise on re- 
 generation and baptism, entitled " Scripture and Common 
 Sense," remarks: — "Purifying water has no tact with the mind, 
 nor can, as a conductor, convey to it the grace of the Spirit. Every 
 sign is in nature essentially different from the thing signified, 
 though bnites and children often mistake shadows for bodies." 
 
 Ncander the church historian obscn'os, " It was by con- 
 founding regeneration with (water) baptism, and thus lookiug 
 upon regeneration as a sort of charm completed at a stroke, by 
 
 • "SMiitfield's Semion on the Kingiloni of God. 
 
 2 Pinkerton's Greek Church ; W. .:Ulen'8 Journal. 
 
 ' Milner's History, cent. 3rcL 
 
 2 I 2 
 
484 HALLEY ON BAPTISM. [Chap. 34. 
 
 supposing a certain magical purification and removal of all sin 
 in the act of baptism^ that men were led to refer the forgiveness 
 of sins obtained through Christy only to those particular sins 
 which had been committed before baptism ; instead of regarding 
 all this as something, which, with the appropriation of it by 
 faith, must go on developing itself through the whole of life."^ 
 
 Dr. Halley, who published seven " lectures on the sacraments" 
 in 1844, complains repeatedly that he finds the subject fraught 
 with long and wearisome controversies, and perplexed with 
 difficulties ; so that cause is aiforded to such as deny the per- 
 petuity of those rites, to entertain serious objections to the views 
 of the several parties, seeing that they cannot agree among 
 themselves, on the meaning of the commission and authority, 
 which they say they have received for these observances. Each 
 party deprecates^ refutes and severely denounces the views of 
 the others.2 There seems indeed no refuge from such diffi- 
 culties, but in taking a spiritual view of the baptism requii'ed. 
 Although he contends for baptism with water, yet he admits 
 that there is a baptism of the Holy Ghost without water, a 
 cleansing of the soul by his purifying influences, an administra- 
 tion of the Spirit by Jesus the Saviour upon all his people, by 
 an internal and life-giving process.^ — " Let it be observed," he 
 says, " that there is in the New Testament no express command 
 to any living man or woman to be baptized, and no other com- 
 mand than that which is implied in Christ's address to his 
 apostles, to administer baptism to any person whatsoever. Were 
 that one text obliterated from scripture, we should have no direct 
 authority for the administration of baptism."'^ The question 
 naturally suggests itself, Does not this one text admit of a 
 very easy and warrantable interpretation of a spiritual kind ? 
 " The washing away of sin," he admits, " is a solemn reality, 
 and no ceremonial representation ; to be performed by the Holy 
 Spirit, and not by man himself." 
 
 "It has been ingeniously and plausibly endeavom'ed," says 
 a late writer, " to make baptism a sign of admission into the 
 visible church; but absurdly enough; for we know that half the 
 baptized people in the world are very visible rogues, and it is 
 flat blasphemy to call these visible Christians."^ 
 
 "To bring man directly to God just as he is," remarks 
 
 1 Neander's History vol. i. ^ Lectures, 1, 3, &c. ^ Lecture 4. 
 
 * Lecture 7 ^ Notes on construction of sheepfolds. 
 
Sect. 11.] CUMMINO ON POPERY AND PROTESTANTISM. i85 
 
 Dr. Curamiug, " is the grand characteristic of true religion. To 
 keep man from God, and detain liim uith the priest — the saera- 
 ments — the ceremony — is the grand ellbrt of all false religions. 
 There is no regenerative virtue inherent in or inseparable from 
 baptism ; for baptism is not the Holy Spirit. There is no 
 saving and expiatory virtue in the Lord's supper; for the Lord's 
 supper is not the Lord Jesus Christ. We may not place bap- 
 tism in the room of the Holy Spirit, nor the eucharist in the 
 place of the Lord Jesus. We must look far above and beyond 
 them both !'" 
 
 D'Aubigne remarks, that " to institute a mediatorial caste 
 between man and God, and to cause men to purchase with works, 
 with penances, and for a value in money, the salvation which 
 God bestows, — is popery. To open to all through Jesus Christ, 
 without human mediation, without that power called the church, 
 a free access to the free gift of everlasting life bestowed by God 
 on man, — such is Christianity and the reformation. Popeiy inter- 
 poses the church, or rather its ministers, between God and 
 man ; Christianity and the reformation bring God and man 
 together face to face,^'' 
 
 Not only the Roman catholic churches, but also many of the 
 professedly reformed, still persevere in notions and usages 
 with respect to this rite, which arose in the darker ages. The 
 Anglican church forbids any minister to practise exorcism, 
 without the licence of the bishop.^ 
 
 The Society of Friends, for about 200 years, taking a spiritual 
 ^icw of our Lord's dispensation, and consequently of his declara- 
 tions and practice on the subject of baptism, have altogether 
 refrained from the use of the outward ceremony, believing 
 the baptism of the Holy Spirit alone to be required and suffi- 
 cient. Many of their writings at large may be referred to, by 
 the inquirer for further reasons in support of such views. 
 
 In the Greek church, holy water is deemed of great efficacy ; 
 the rite of baptism very quickly follows the birth, and is per- 
 formed by the priest with strange and almost ludicrous cere- 
 monies. It is also bestowed freely and superstitiously on houses, 
 furniture, and other inanimate things.* 
 
 Henry Martyn, in one of his conversations with a Jewish 
 iMahoraetan, having, according to his frequent practice, urged the 
 
 * Sermon before the Queen, 1850. ' Hist. Reformation, vol. i. 
 
 * Seveutj'-sccoud C:iuou. * Kohl's liuasia. 
 
486 CERTAIN HEATHEN STUMBLE AT OUTWARD RITES. [Ghop. 34. 
 
 observance of water baptism and the Lord's supper^ as institu- 
 tions of Christ, the Mahometan made this intelligent answer, 
 " These are mere emblems, and if a man have the reality, what 
 need is there of emblems ?" How many reflecting heathens 
 stumble at Christianity, when the essential nature of these obser- 
 vances is insisted on as an essential part of it.i 
 
 Herschell inquires " What did Peter tell Cornelius ? That 
 there was an apostolic church, in connection with which there 
 was safety, and out of which there was no hope of anything 
 but ' uncovenanted mercies V That in the mysterious rite of 
 water baptism, he should be made a member of this church ? 
 Alas poor Peter ! he said not one word of all this ; he preached 
 faith in Christ ; and as if to show that the outward rite is but 
 the sign, not the instrument of the Spirit's gift, 'while he yet 
 spake, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.' 
 Here was the true Epiphany, the manifestation to the Gentiles."^ 
 
 While very many Christians profess to believe that baptism or 
 sprinkling with water was enjoined by our Lord, and is pro- 
 ductive of spiritual blessings of the greatest value ; such will do 
 well to apply the simple test which he recommended ; " By their 
 fruits ye shall know them," and to consider whether those who 
 have received the rite give evidence in their lives of any high 
 benefits derived through it ; or whether, on the contrary, it has 
 been totally unproductive of spiritual grace, leaving them in the 
 same position as those who have never received it. If the latter 
 
 ' The great stress, which is laid by many missionaries on the reception of 
 outward rites, is much to be lamented, as creating serious difficulties in the 
 way of the heathen. The following incident is related of Eadbod, king 
 of Friesland, in the eighth century. " He declared himself ready to receive 
 baptism, but first wished an answer to one question, viz., if on arriving 
 in heaven, he shoiild find there the former kings, his forefathers 1" Bishop 
 Wulfrum replied, " That these having died without baj)tism, had assuredly 
 been condemned to hell." " What business then have I," said Eadbod, 
 " with a few poor people in heaven ? I prefer to abide by the religion 
 of my forefathers." This circumstance may serve to show how the spread 
 of Christianity was checked by the narrow and confused view of its doc- 
 trines, growing out of the ordinances of the church." Neander's Hist., 
 3rd period, 1 sect. May it not be asserted that such views are calculated to 
 shock the common sense of inquiring heathens 1 Some of these have also 
 been assured that the " sacraments are of no avail if administered by dis- 
 senting or by coloured ministers." But " The cloven foot" seeks in vain to 
 hide itself. 
 
 ^ Herschell's Fatherland. 
 
Sect. 11.] THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. 487 
 
 must be admitted, then another reflection forcibly arises, whether 
 the nature of our Lord's injunction has not been mistaken, by 
 givinjj it an outward interpretation, wlien he designed it to 
 be understood in a spiritual sense. These deeply important 
 questions are submitted to the^ serious and unprejudiced con- 
 sideration of the reader. 
 
 On the Siffn of the Cross. 
 
 Ircnieus asserts that Valentinus, whom he calls a heretic, and 
 who lived about l-i;"), was the first that made any great account 
 of the sign of the cross.^ This sign was supposed, in the third 
 century, to convey a miraculous power against calamities and 
 malignant spirits ; and no Christian is said to have undertaken 
 an affair of moment without arming himself with it.- The 
 efficacy of faith in Christ crucified was transferred to the out- 
 ward sign, and a supernatural, sanctifying, protecting virtue was 
 attributed to it. 
 
 Bishop Taylor says, "This is a ceremony, not of Divine 
 ordinance or apostolical practice, but instituted by men ; as 
 Boethius observed in the fifth century."^ Willct remarks, 
 " Having no warrant in the word, it is a tradition of men, and not 
 after Christ."* " The two lines, drawn across one another on a 
 child's forehead," says Cai-twright, "are a fontoy (phantasy), and 
 an idle device of man's brains. "^ The sign of the cross was 
 employed at least four or five times in the ceremony of baptism. 
 It was used also in the consecration of the «uchai'ist, in the 
 unction of confirmation, and in the ordination of presbyters ; 
 without it none of these rites were esteemed to be dul}- and 
 solemnly performed.''' Some of the early reformers called it 
 " the mark of the beast." Bishop Andrews, disputing with 
 Cardinal Pcronnc about ceremonies, urged that man ought not 
 to add to God's word, lest he lose his part in the book of life; 
 when the cardinal asked, " Why then do you retain the cross 
 in baptism?" The bishop answered, "Because authority enjoins 
 it." " For the same reason," replied the cardinal, "we retain 
 all the other ceremonies."^ Walter Brute, whose sentiments 
 have already been quoted, expresses himself thus: — "The Bishop 
 of Rome sittcth in the temple of God, showing himself as God. — 
 
 ' Book i. c. 1. • Neanfler'-s Hist., vol. i. 293. * Ductor dubitant. 
 
 * Willet*3 Synopsis. ' Keply to Whitgift. ' Bingham's Chi-ist. Antiq. 
 
 ' Sober Inqnirer. 
 
488 THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. [Chap. 34. 
 
 He giveth 'to small and great, marks in tlieir riglit liands and on 
 tlieir foreheads ; that no man should buy or sell but those that 
 have the marks.' — The pope saith, that in the administration of 
 every sacrament, he doth imprint — on the soul of him that 
 receiveth it a certain character or mark, that cannot be wiped 
 out. In giving of orders, the chief bishop doth imprint the cor- 
 poral marks, but of the spiritual marks I know none. But this 
 one thing is certain, that none in the church ought to sell spiri- 
 tual merchandise, unless he have the mark of the beast. My 
 counsel is, let the buyer beware of those marks, lest he drink of 
 the wine of God's wrath.''^ 
 
 In the oriental churches the crossings and bowings are almost 
 endless ; three fingers are used in the former, as mystic symbols 
 of the trinity; and this mode of crossing is deemed essential. 
 Among the English these acts were carried to strange extremes 
 before the reformation, and were supposed to convey sanctity 
 and security. Even now there is a tendency in certain quarters 
 to revive them. The British episcopal clim'ch requires the sign 
 of the cross on the forehead of every infant when sprinkled ; 
 the Erench reformed church does not use it ; and the American 
 episcopalians allow it to be omitted, when the relatives object. 
 In all other ceremonies the Anglican church has discontinued 
 this sign, though generally retained in them by the Romanists. 
 
 On the Baptisin with the Holy Spirit. 
 
 "The spiritual baptism is that wherewith Christ daily bap tizeth 
 all who willingly receive him." Chrysostom observes, " That 
 which regenerates and renews the hearts of the elect.'' — Piscator. 
 " That which washeth the soul as water doth the body." — Calvin. 
 " That which purgeth our consciences." — Peters. " That which 
 kindles zeal in our hearts." — Phillips. " That which is necessary 
 to salvation." — Fulk. " That which purges our lusts and cor- 
 ruptions." — Pool. "That which consumes the dross." — Henry. 
 " Makes partakers of the adoption of the sons of God..'''^Stevens. 
 " The only necessaiy baptism." — Brute. " Wherewith Christ 
 baptizeth all that come to him." — Taylor. "That which we 
 are directed to pray for." — Common Prayer Booh. " That which 
 only saves." — Burkitt. " Without it there is neither right nor 
 title to the kingdom of God." — Clarke. 
 
 ' Fox's Acts aud Mou., vol. i. ; Eev. xiii. 16, 17. 
 
Sect. 1 .] MODES .VXD EFFECTS OF WATl'.K BAPTISM. 489 
 
 General Remarks. 
 
 A great difference of opinion «in(l practice, in relation to the 
 mode, sul)jects and effects of water baptism, lias been sliown to 
 have prevailed among Christians from an early period. The 
 mode at first appears to have been immersion, and the subjects 
 were adnlts ; the baptists, mennonists, and some anabaptists in 
 modem times, still baptize thus. But the general usage among 
 both protcstants and catholics is at present that of sprinkliu'r, 
 and of applying it only to children. This variety in the mode 
 of administration extends also to their methods of baptizing 
 adult heathen converts. 
 
 In reference to the effects of water baptism, the diversity of 
 sentiment has been equally wide, and the contention warm and 
 repeated ; some considering that it actually conveys grace, is 
 ecpiivideut to regeneration, and essential to eternal life ; while 
 others esteem it only as a sign or figure, but yet one that ought 
 to be observed. Although in some churches the ceremony, under 
 some mode or other, is enforced as necessary for those who 
 desire to be regarded as strict members ; yet, general practice if 
 not direct avowal attests, that its importance has lost ground 
 in the estimate of the Christian world. The spiritual regenera- 
 tion attributed to it by some high professors, has probably 
 contributed to this result. 
 
 If a conclusion be dra^v^l from the usually thoughtless man- 
 ner of resorting to the sprinkling of an infant, and from the 
 festivities attendant, which seem to occupy the chief attention 
 in many protcstant families ; it must be inferred that but little 
 religious weight or importance is really attached to the ceremony. 
 In England, compliance with it in all its questionable forms used 
 to be recpiired, in order to have the birth of a child publicly 
 registered : but of late, a system of civil registration having been 
 established, the practice of having infants sprinkled, or, as it is 
 otherwise termed, "christened," appears to have been gradually 
 declining, especially among the humbler classes. 
 
 The subject of water baptism did not attract so much atten- 
 tion and controversy at the time of the reformation, as that of 
 the cueharist, nor were the variations of opinion upon it con- 
 sidered equally impoptant. For this difference, several reasons 
 may be assigned. The rite of baptism was received but once in 
 the life of an individual ; the other was by many received 
 
490 VARIATIONS ON WATER BAPTISM. [Chap. 34. 
 
 montlily or often er. The partakers of tlie one were chiefly chil- 
 dren ; those of the other were persons of mature age. The one 
 was administered privately^ or with but few spectators; the 
 other with great publicity, splendour and solemnity .1 
 
 Summary of Differences in Sentiment and Practice with respect 
 
 to Baptism. 
 
 1. Some baptize by actual immersion ; others by only pouring 
 or sprinkling water : some by one, others by three immersions, 
 
 2. Most sprinkle only children ; others restrict the rite to adults, 
 
 3. Some have baptized the dead ; some have baptized others, as 
 substitutes for the dead. 4. Some have baptized or sprinkled 
 bells and other articles, giving to the former what are termed 
 Christian names, and in certain churches the practice is still 
 continued. 5. Some have baptized repeatedly ; most baptize or 
 sprinkle only once, 6. Some considered that those baptized 
 among heretics ought to be re-baptized; others denied the neces- 
 sity of this. 7. Some churches baptized only two or three times 
 in a year, in large numbers; others baptize individuals alone, 
 as often as occasion requires. 8. Some have professed to baptize 
 with fire, by using a hot or fiery iron. 9. Some trace the sign 
 of the cross on the forehead ; others omit this sign, and deem it 
 superstitious. 10. Some profess to prepare holy water for bap- 
 tism; others believe that they possess no such power, 11. Some 
 hold that no one, unless ordained by a bishop, has a right to 
 baptize, yet allow a lay person, and even a nurse, to perform it 
 in extreme cases ; others consider that any sincere Christian 
 may do so. 12. Some require the parents alone to answer and 
 undertake for the infant ; some believe that other " godfathers 
 and godmothers" are the proper sureties ; and others again 
 that no sureties are necessary. 13. Some have maintained that 
 between all these parties close spiritual consanguinity was con- 
 tracted, and therefore they forbade either the " god-parents,^^ 
 
 » The Lavanda, or ceremony of washing the disciples' feet, is still ob- 
 served by the Poi^e once a-year. It is a mere show or state-ceremonial, 
 and a great outrage on sacred things. No one is allowed to attend but 
 the elite of Catholic Europe in court or evening dresses. At this sislendid 
 piece of pageantry, the pontiff uses a golden ewer and basin, everything is 
 well prepared and highly adorned, perfumes and nosegays of flowers are 
 in profusion, and the whole forms a revolting contrast to a work of humili- 
 ation and charity. — Roper's Romanism in Rome. 
 
Sect. 12.] VARIATIONS ON WATER BAPTISM. — THE EUCHARIST. 491 
 
 the child or the priest to intermarry ; others rejected altogether 
 this uotion. 11. Some apply the water only to those adults, whom 
 they deem to bo true believers; others to these and their fami- 
 lies; and others to all who apply with seriousness, for themselves 
 or for children connected with them. 15. Some say that the 
 ceremony is to be used only as a figure of tlie new birth, and is 
 profitable only, but not essential ; others allirm that it is the 
 commencement of the spiritual life, equivalent to regeneration 
 and essential to salvation, the souls of all being lost who die 
 without it. IG. Some dispense with the outward rite altogether 
 as unnecessary, believing that it is the filth of the soul, and not 
 of the flesh, that must be washed away ; and that the blood of 
 Christ graciously applied to the heart, through faith in him, can 
 alone etfect this one spiritual baptism and remission of sins. 
 
 12th Section. — Of the Lord's Supper, Eucharist or Mass. 
 
 The religious observance now to be considered has been for 
 ages, as to its nature, eftects, and mode of celebration, the cause 
 of more bitter controversy between Roman Catholics and Protes- 
 tants, and of more blood being shed, than any other matter of 
 difference. 
 
 For the long period of nearly 200 years, from the time of 
 Henry IV. about 1400, to the reign of James I., it was made 
 the principal test of religious faith, both in England and on the 
 continent of Europe ; and the Roman Catholics more especially, 
 but not exclusively, when they possessed the chief secular power, 
 condemned and Imrnt as heretics, without distinction of age or 
 sex, those who differed from their own views upon it. The grand 
 ([uestion was, not whether the rite ought to be retained or not, 
 for in the former opinion most coincided, but as to " the real 
 presence ;" that is, whether the words pronounced by the priest, 
 " This is my body," arc to be taken literally or figuratively; and 
 whether they did or did not convert the bread into the real 
 body of Christ. To probe the sentiments of the accused, tlic 
 most minute distinctions and the most subtle interrogatories 
 were framed ; which often tended to confound both parties, and 
 to involve them in wide contradictions and fearful absurdities. 
 Yet on the issue depended life or death to hundreds if not 
 thousands ! 
 
 In consequence of a difference of opinion on this nii'stcriou^ 
 
492 THE JEWISH PASSOVER. [Chap. 34. 
 
 question, many of the most eminent Christians of Europe were 
 eonsi^ed to the stake — a dreadful result, which covdd not have 
 been accomplished without that unscriptural union or alliance 
 of the secular and ecclesiastical power, the evils of which are 
 the special subject of this treatise. It forms, therefore, a le^ti- 
 mate part of the authors duty, to show, not only the forms and 
 ceremonies which state-authority was employed to uphold and 
 enforce, but also the conscientious reasons against such obser- 
 vances, or the doubts respecting them, urged by reflecting^ serious 
 persons. 
 
 Some of the remarks on the use of the bread and wine, having 
 been coupled with others on baptism and already quoted, will 
 not require to be repeated. The reader must fully understand, 
 that most of the individuals, whose language is about to be 
 quoted, were still of opinion, that at least as a commemorative 
 act, the ceremony was one of divine appointment ; yet because 
 many of them conscientiously differed as to its form, nature or 
 effects, thev were condemned to the flames, without mercv, as 
 heretics. 
 
 At the feast of the passover, it was customary among the 
 Jews, for the master of the house to take unleavened bread, then 
 giving thanks to God, to break it and give to the fimiily ; like- 
 wise to take the cup, give thanks, and distribute it to the house- 
 hold. This our Lord folfilled according to the law ; but at the 
 last passover supper, he also drew their attention from the 
 paschal lamb and the deliverance of their forefathers, the objects 
 originally commemorated by the passover, to the breaking of his 
 own body, and to the deliverance of man firom sin, being the 
 great purposes typified by both. He therefore directed that *'as 
 often as" they who were Jews observed the rite in future, they 
 shotdd do it " in remembrance "^ of him; who was '' the Lamb 
 of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." * 
 
 The practice of breaking bread and drinking wine together as 
 a rehgious ceremony, with special reference to the breaking of 
 the body and shedding of the blood of Christ, and to a com- 
 mimion in the benefits derived thereby, prevailed extensively in 
 the early periods of Christianity ; and was observed in various 
 modes according to the views of different churches. 
 ■ Loke xxiL 19. ' John L 29. 
 
 I 
 
Sect. 12.] INESTIMABLE BENEFITS OF CIIRISt's COMING. I^.'J 
 
 And here tlie author may be permitted further to remark, that 
 ill tracing the many awfully superstitious observances connected 
 witli this ceremony, lie desires to treat the various views of his 
 fi'llow-bclicvers with" respect. He is also bound to acknowledge 
 his reverent sense of the inestimable benefits, which mankind 
 have received by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; by 
 his death as a sacrifice for the sins of the world ; and by the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit purchased thereby. \\'ould that the 
 mists of sjiperstition and ignorance were dispelled, which have 
 obscured these great doctrines, that the glorious light of 
 gospel truth may be more clearly seen ; and that the tenfold 
 husks which have enveloped the living kernel were removed, 
 that the value of the inward substance may be more fully 
 accepted, a{)preciated and enjoyed. 
 
 The earliest Christian writers and a|)ologists scarcely allude to 
 this rite. Justin Martyr, about a.d. 140, affords the first informa- 
 tion on it after the time of the Apostles : and when he wrote 
 it was celebrated with much simplicity.* Irenicus contended, 
 about the year 2(X), that the cucharist should be regarded as " a 
 sacrifice ;" thus opening a floodgate, through which the church 
 was deluged with error.^ Tlie Ascotlrutse in the second cen- 
 tury are mentioned as " heretics" who did not use " the sacra- 
 ments."' 
 
 Tertullian soon after speaks of tlie celebration of the cucharist, 
 in connection with the meals of the early Christians; as we read 
 in the New Testament, of " the breaking of bread," in private 
 houses and public assemblies, w ith remembrance of the breaking 
 of the body of Christ. Tertullian is said to have been the first 
 who applied the word "sacrament" to religious rites. "This 
 w ord," says Curcelloeus, " w hich by human prudence has been 
 applied to the sacred rites of baptism and the Lord's supper, 
 is very improper ; for it signifies chiefly a military oath. But 
 though there were no impropriety in the word, yet, having been 
 the occasion of so many quarrels and contentions among Chris- 
 tians, it ought now to l>c rejected." * 
 
 Public prayers were followed by oblations of bread, wine and 
 other things, every one oflFering according to his ability ; and 
 partly from hence all those who were in necessity derived their 
 
 • Sniith'H lielig. of Ancient Britain. * Ibid. 
 
 » Bingham'ij Christ. Antiq. xr. 2 — 9. * See bi« finit DLusert. 
 
494 EARLY MODE OF CELEBRATING EUCHARIST. [Chap. 34. 
 
 subsistence. Of the bread and wine thus presented to the churchy 
 such a quantity was separated from the rest as was required in 
 the administration of the Lord's supper, being " consecrated by 
 the prayers of the bishop.'' The wine in many churches was 
 mixed with water, and the bread was divided into several por- 
 tions ; some being carried to the sick or absent members of the 
 church, as a token of love and fellowship. The ministers like- 
 wise received from individuals meal or flour, with which a large 
 loaf was made, called "pants dominicus," for use in "the com- 
 munion," and for distribution to the people.^ Participation in 
 the ceremony was even then considered by many to be essential 
 to salvation. 
 
 The manner of celebrating the eucharist among the ancient 
 Christians in some places, is thus described : — " After the cus- 
 tomary oblations had been made, the deacon brought water to 
 the bishops and presbyters standing round the table, to wash 
 their hands ; according to the language of the Psalmist, " I will 
 wash my hands in innocency, and so will I compass thy altar. 
 Oh Lord." Then the deacon cried out, " Embrace and kiss each 
 other ;" which being done, the whole congregation prayed for 
 the peace and welfare of the church, for the tranquillity and 
 repose of the world, for wholesome weather, and for all ranks and 
 degrees of men. After this followed mutual salutations of the 
 ministers and people ; and then the bishop or presbyter, having 
 sanctified the elements by a solemn benediction, broke the bread 
 and gave it to the deacon, who delivered it to the communi- 
 cants, and next handed them the cup. During the time of 
 administration, they sang hymns and psalms ; and having con- 
 cluded with prayer and thanksgiving, the people saluted each 
 other with a kiss of peace, and the assembly broke up."^ In 
 consequence of abuses which crept in, the parting kiss was dis- 
 continued after a time. It has been followed in many churches 
 by the use of an unexceptionable salutation — the giving of the 
 right hand of fellowship. 
 
 In the third century, it became customary for the minister at 
 the commencement of the ceremony to admonish the church to 
 silent devotion, calling upon them to hft up their souls to heaven, 
 to which they usually replied, " Yea, to the Lord we have lifted 
 
 ^ Mosheim first century, 4 — 6, and second century, 4 — 12. 
 J ^ Encyc. Brit.; Neander's Hist., vol, i. 325. 
 
Sect. 12.] THK bread and wink oiven to children, 495 
 
 them up." 1 — Cyprian says, "The eating of Christ is our abiding 
 in him : and our drinking is, as it Mere, a certain incorporation 
 in him. The eating of his flesh therefore is a sincere desire 
 to abide in him. None eateth of this Lamb, but such as be 
 true Israehtes, — that is true Christian men, without colour or 
 dissimulation. He is the food of the mind, not of the stomach." 
 How often has this feeding on Christ by living faith been lost 
 sight of and superseded by an empty ceremony ! 
 
 "As the churches of North Africa were the first to brine: 
 prominently into notice the necessity of infant baptism, so in 
 connection Mith it they introduced the communion of infants ; 
 for as they neglected to distinguish with sufficient clearness 
 between the sign and the divine thing which it signified, and 
 as they understood all that is said in the sixth chapter of John's 
 gospel, concerning eating the flesh and drinking the blood of 
 Christ, to refer to the outward pailicipation of the Lord's supper, 
 they concluded that this, from the earliest age, Mas absolutely 
 necessary to the attainment of salvation." - Origen observed 
 " Of the outward supper, the Morthy and the unworthy may 
 partake alike; but not of the true heavenly bread, since otherMise 
 it could not have been said that whoever eats of this bread shall 
 live for ever." " Nothing which enters into the mouth sanctifies 
 the man, though by the simple the so-called bread of the Lord 
 is supposed to possess a sanctifying power."^ He seems how- 
 ever to have been the first, that recommended " a very reveren- 
 tial regard for the elements after consecration." * 
 
 The eucharist was generally received once a-week or oftcner, in 
 the second aiul third centuries, by the diligent and zealous.^ A 
 spiritually-minded sect of ascetics named Massaliaus or Euchites, 
 held in the fourth century that the sacrament of bread aud 
 Mine did neither good nor harm, and rejected its use. They 
 subsisted through several hundred years. Basil says, " There is 
 an intellectual mouth of the inward man, at Mhich he is fed who 
 partakes of the "Word of life, m hich is the bread that came doMU 
 from heaven."*' In the time of Constantine, the tables or altars, 
 Mhich had hitherto been made of wood, were built of stone, and 
 often adonied Mith silver.^ Ambrose seemed to regard every cele- 
 bration to be as great a mystery and miracle as the incarnation ! 
 
 ' Neander's Hist., vol. L ' Ibid. 
 
 * Ibid. * Smith's Religion of Britain. * Bingham's Christ. Antiq. 
 
 * BanH on P?iliu xxxiii. ^ Ibid. 
 
496 NAMES GIVEN TO THE CEREMONY. [Chap. 34. 
 
 "Whjj" said Augustine, '^dost thou prepare thy teeth and thy 
 stomach? Believe, and thou hast eaten. To beheve on him 
 is to eat the hving bread. He eats who believes on him.'^i 
 — " The bread of our heart is that whereon he feeds, who eats 
 inwardly, not outwardly ; with the heart, not with the teeth. "^ 
 The Douatists denied the validity of the sacraments, when they 
 were consecrated and administered by sinful men. Augustine 
 however maintained the contrary, "even though a murderer 
 performed the services. "^ His strong views and expressions 
 encouraged errors in this and other respects. He earnestly 
 advocated the admission of children to the eucharist as well as 
 to baptism, though they understood nothing of either ceremony, 
 urging that both were necessary for their obtaining eternal life. 
 This was the general opinion of the church for many ages. The 
 practice of giving the bread and wine to children is said not to 
 have been abrogated in France till the twelfth century ; in 
 Germany it was retained later; and in the eastern churches it is 
 still continued.* 
 
 The idea being now generally received that this rite was a '^ sacri- 
 fice,^^ altars were substituted for tables, and other sacrificial 
 appendages followed. Priestcraft found in this idea a strong 
 support, and grasped it with eagerness. The sign of the cross 
 was introduced. Pomp and splendour were displayed, and rich 
 vessels of gold and silver were deemed necessary articles. The 
 word " mass" was not known in the primitive church ; nor is it 
 found in the works of Augustine, Chrysostom, or other writers of 
 the fourth century. They termed the ceremony " the supper 
 of the Lord," " the mystical supper or table,' ' " the eucharist," 
 " celebration of the sacrament," '^the Lord's board," "oblation," 
 " communion," " mystery, " &c. Certain Christians called 
 Aquarii used water at the eucharist instead of wine. The 
 Ebionites did the same. Others used water mingled with the 
 wine, which was said to denote the union of the church with 
 Christ; and this was the general practice. Some substituted 
 milk, honey or grapes for wine.^ 
 
 At a council held in 506, the laity were ordered to communi- 
 cate three times in a year, under penalty of not being reputed 
 catholic Christians. A provincial council at Caesar Augusta in 
 ,519, pronounced a curse upon those receiving the sacrament, who 
 
 ' Tract. 25 and 26 on John vi. ^ On Psalm xlviii. 
 
 * Bingham's Christ. Antiq. ■• Ibid. ^ Ibid. 
 
Sect. 12.] Gregory's canon of thk mass. 197 
 
 ate it not in the church. Tlic eucharist hud already been admin- 
 istered to infants : it was now given even to dead persons. It 
 formed a part of Divine worsliip, was used to consecrate every 
 religious act, and was occasionally celebrated at the tombs of 
 martyrs ; whence followed masses for the dead. The bread and 
 wine Merc held up to the view of the people before distribution, 
 that they might be gazed on Mith reverence. The bread was 
 usually broken, to signify the breaking of the body of Christ. 
 At other times it was pierced with a spear, and said to be immo- 
 lated. With the remaius of the eucharist, and with other obla- 
 tions, it had long been usual to hold occa.sionally "the agapre, or 
 feasts of cliarity,'' being a liberal collation of the rich to feed the 
 poor ; but this practice giving rise to various abuses, was pro- 
 hibited in the sixth and seventh centuries. ^ 
 
 " The canon of the mass," instituted by Pope Gregory " the 
 Great" about tlic year 620, for the celebration of the eucharist, 
 occasioned a remarkable change, by the introduction of a length- 
 ened, pompous and magnificent ritual. It was still generally 
 performed in the language of each particular country, and the 
 first time that it was openly said in Latin appears to have been 
 at the Council of Constance, by the pope's legate in 681. The 
 administration of the sacrament was now deemed the most 
 solemn and important part of public devotion, and was every- 
 where embellished with a variety of senseless appendages. The 
 burning of incense received general sanction. Charlcnuigne 
 made some attempts to stem the torrent of superstition, but 
 with little success. To the ceremonies of trying the giiilt or 
 innocence of individuals, by cold water, by single combat, by the 
 fire ordeal, and by the cross, was added the celebration of the 
 eucharist with other rites, to give to these barbarisms a religious 
 and imposing aspect." During the same period it Mas degraded 
 and profaned, by being introduced occasionally into ridiculous 
 and absurd festivals, instituted in imitation of the heathen, and 
 
 • Bingham'.^ Christian Antiquities. 
 
 » '' In the Life of Gregoi-y the Great it is related tliat a certain woman, 
 when he gave her the eucharist, with the usual words ' the Ixxly of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul,' laughed at the form, antl when aaked 
 the reason, she replie«l, because he called that the Itndy of Christ, which she 
 knew to be bread, that she had made with her own hands a little Vtefore." — 
 Bingham's ChriMinu Antiquities, xv. 2 — 5. 
 
 2 K 
 
498 VARIOUS SORTS OF MASSES. THE PAULICIANS. [Chap. 3^* 
 
 with no higher object than to promote sport and diversion at 
 the cost of religion, and even of common decency. 
 
 A canon of one of the provincial councils enjoined that bap- 
 tized infants should receive communion, before they partook of 
 any nourishment. The priests also were required to administer 
 it in the morning before they tasted other food. Great impor- 
 tance was attached to the kind of cup used in performing the 
 ceremony. In connection with this, Boniface the martyr said, 
 about 750, that formerly golden priests made use of wooden cups; 
 but now, on the contrary, wooden priests used golden chalices. 
 The Triburentian Council decreed, that no priest by any means 
 presume to make the sacred mystery of the body and blood of 
 our Lord in cups or chalices of wood.^ 
 
 The superstitious custom of performing solitary or secret 
 masses by the priest alone, on behalf of souls said to be detained 
 in purgatory, was introduced by degrees, and proved a rich 
 source of emolument to the clergy. There was also the dry mass, 
 without the bread and wine or the consecration ; and the two- 
 fold or three-fold mass, several being thrown into one sernce, 
 and all being celebrated with one canon, — this was apparently 
 a device of the priests to save labour. Voluntary oblations of 
 money were sometimes made by those who received the sacra- 
 ments ; the priests were prohibited from encouraging this usage, 
 but it became a common rule and was expected as such. In 
 some countries it still prevails. The popish priests do not 
 usually require payment for the sacraments : they do not sell, but 
 they accept gifts, either for themselves, or for some miraculous 
 image, or for the souls in purgatory, for which masses and other 
 oblations are necessary. 
 
 The Paulicians of the eighth century, a large body of Chris- 
 tians in the east before referred to, maintained that the eating 
 of the flesh and drinking of the blood of Christ consisted simply 
 in coming into vital union with him, through his doctrines and 
 his word, which they considered to be his true flesh and blood. 
 They insisted not on bread and wine, but on his words, which 
 were to be support for the soul, as bread and wine are for the body.^ 
 
 For a very long period, the sacrament of the bread and wine 
 was viewed and employed by the great body of catholics as a 
 sort of charm or amulet, to heal bodily diseases in men or in 
 
 1 Bingham's Christ. Antiq. 2 Neander's Hist. vol. iii. p. 363. 
 
Seel. 21.] THi: hukakino of rm. uukad. M)1) 
 
 cattle, to ensure success aud avert cahiiuities, as well as to 
 minister health to the soul. Voyagers carried with them con- 
 secrated bread, as a pledge for their preservation. It was often 
 administered with absolution to the sick or dyin<;, and was then 
 termed the viaticnm, or provision for their journey into the next 
 world. It was sometimes even buried with the corpse. These 
 notions were warmly urged by the corrupt and selfish priests.^ 
 
 It had been common to pronounce the consecration of the 
 eucharist audibly and intelligibly, that the people might hear, 
 and answer Amen ; but in the tenth century, the contrary 
 l)racticc of "intonation" or pronouncing the services in a low 
 voice began to be introduced to render them more mysterious. 
 
 The oblations of common bread by the people for the purpose 
 of the eucharist, having commenced at a very early period, were 
 generally continued till the eleventh or twelfth century, when 
 wafers and unleavened bread were introduced by the priests, 
 under the plea of decency and respect, the people being ordered 
 to bring a penny each, instead of the former contribution.- The 
 eastern churches still used leavened bi'cad, and great disputes 
 followed. In the ancient church, the bread had usually been 
 broken into many parts, that each one of the people might 
 partake. Afterwards it was broken by the Greeks into four 
 parts, by the Latins into three, and by some other churches 
 into nine parts. The large wafer or thin small cake now used 
 in the Komish churches, is still broken into three parts, to retain 
 a sbadow of the ancient custom ; but the people generally do 
 not partake.^ All who attended divine worship, were expected to 
 share in the eucharist ; but by degrees this was relaxed, and 
 those who would not partake of it were allowed a sort of con- 
 secrated bread, called the " eulogia." This appears to have been 
 introduced in the ninth century.* 
 
 At length arose in the eleventh ccntui-y the famous controversy, 
 respecting the manner in which the body of Christ was believed 
 to bo partaken of in the eiuharist. Christian professors had 
 long ditl'crcd on this mysterious subject ; but an opinion gained 
 ground, that the figurative interpretation ought to be dismissed, 
 and that after consecration the same identical body of Clirist, 
 that was born of the virgin, that sufiVrcd upon the cro>s, and 
 
 ' Bhmt'.s Refomintion. a BingharuH ('hrist. Antin- ' Iliid. 
 
 * It is almost inipos-sible to (lescribe those and other mutters, without 
 using the corrupt eccle-sia-stical phra.<wology commonly employed. 
 
500 SPIRITUAL VIEWS OF BERENGER AND OTHERS. [Chap. 34. 
 
 that was raised from the dead, was in reality present. Others 
 declared that none but saints and believers received the body of 
 Christ in the sacrament ; while a few others held that the bread 
 and wine were merely signs and symbols of Chiist's absent flesh 
 and blood, which were partaken of by faith. This controversy, 
 involving a rehgious and mysterious question of great moment, 
 was carried on very fiercely for some ages between the different 
 parties and their leaders. 
 
 Berenger, who died in 1088, took a more spii'itual view of 
 the Lord^s supper than most of the ruling men of his day, 
 though many others agreed with him. He held, contraiy to the 
 received opinion, that the passages in the 6th chapter of John 
 had no reference whatever to the outward supper. "Chi'ist," 
 said he, " does not descend from heaven, but the hearts of the 
 faithful ascend devotionally to him in heaven." — "The true, the 
 imperishable body of Christ is eaten only by the true members 
 of Clirist, in a spiritual manner.""' It was a favom-ite maxim of 
 his, " Though we have known Chi-ist after the flesh, yet now 
 henceforth know we him thus no more."^ 
 
 Absolution, or the remission of sins was generally understood 
 to attend the worthy reception of "the sacraments," these being 
 deemed "the keys" given to Peter and his successors. Till the 
 twelfth century, the form of absolution was imperative orprecative, 
 not indicative and absolute.^ Salvation was said to be impossible, 
 without a participation in these "tremendous mysteries." Thus 
 the one great off"ering was overlooked, and rehgion made a thing 
 of rote, to be shared equally by the righteous and the wicked ! 
 
 Peter de Bruis Abbot of Clugny, with Henry his disciple 
 and their followers, held, not only with Berenger that there 
 is no change of substance in the sacrament, but also that it 
 is no longer to be administered. Peter was burnt " at St. Giles 
 Languedoc." Many united with them in Flanders, France and 
 Italy, among whom was Arnold of Brescia, who was also burnt 
 for his reputed heresies.^ These were the usual stigma and 
 end of such, as ventured to dissent from the gross ideas upheld 
 by arbitrary authority in church and state. 
 
 It was not until the Council of Lateran in 1215, that the 
 great question was decided, when Innocent III., that bold 
 and unscrupulous pontifl", sanctioned the notion of " the 
 real presence," and established the term " transubstantiation," 
 
 ' Neander's Hist. vol. iii. ^ Bingham's Christ. Antiq. ^ Diipin. 
 
Sect. 12.] ASSUMPTION OF KOMlsll I'UIESTS. 501 
 
 asserting it iu gross jiiul positive terms, as tlie authorised 
 doetriiic of the Romish chui'ch. This doctrine teaches the 
 duty of paying di\-inc Avorship to Clirist, under tlic form of the 
 consecrated bread or host, ( from hostia, a victim), and incul- 
 cates the idea of a propitiatory sacrifice ; Christ being imdcr- 
 stood to be truly and properly offered up, on every occasion 
 of mass being performed. AVho should set bounds to the 
 authority of men that declai-ed they had power to produce, at 
 their own bidding, the Deity himself? The same Council of 
 Lateran reduced the obligation to receive the euchai'ist to 
 once iu the year, at Easter, when every man and every woman 
 were enjoined to confess all their sins to the priest. This rule 
 was afterwards made canon law. Pi'ivate and solitary masses 
 soon became general, and such continued the state of things 
 till the rcfornuition. 
 
 A new train of ceremonies and institutions followed the notion 
 of transubstantiatiou, in honour of what was blasphemously 
 called the deijied bread. Hence arose the customs of kneeling, 
 and adoring the sacrament or host, which was elevated for the 
 purpose ; and of cariying about this " divine bread" in solemn 
 l)omp through the public streets, and with lighted caudles, 
 though at noon. An annual fcstivjxl of tlie holy sacrament, 
 called " Corpus Christi," Mas instituted by Urban IV. in 1264, 
 and gave " a finishing touch to the highest expression of super- 
 stition and absurdity."^ 
 
 The standing posture was anciently adopted at the recep- 
 tion of the bread and wine ; sometimes however the eommimi- 
 cants knelt : the original practice of receinng it when sitting, 
 appears to have become limited almost to Poland.' In the 
 French reformed church the communicants stand singly. " The 
 Romish priests admit that they should be guilty of idolatry in 
 kneeling before the elements, if they did not believe them to be 
 the real body and blood of Christ. This ceremony [of kneeling] 
 was not introduced into tlie church," say the puritans, "till 
 Antichrist was at his full height, and there is no one action iu 
 the whole service that looks so much like idolatrv'.""* Among 
 the practices of the anabaptists of Munstcr which offended their 
 cotcmporaries, was their partaking of the Lord's supper iimcli 
 after the manner of an ordinary meal. 
 
 In consonance with the prevailing ideas, Archbishoi) IVckham 
 
 ' Moshuiiii. -' Biiigiiaiii's ( 'lirisl. Aiitiq. ' Nr.il"s I'mil.dis 
 
502 DOCTRINE OF CORPOREAL PRESENCE. [Chup. 34. 
 
 enjoined, " The sacrament of the eucharist shall be carried with 
 due reverence to the sick, the priest having on at least a surplice 
 and stole, with a light earned before him in a lantern with a 
 bell; and the people by the minister's discretion, shall be taught 
 to prostrate themselves, or at least to make humble adoration, 
 wheresoever the King of Glory shall happen to be carried under 
 the similitude of bread !''^ 
 
 A hermit disputing in Paul's Church about 1306, affirmed that 
 the sacraments then used in the chiu'ch were not instituted by 
 Christ. John Fox supposes this to have been one Ranulphus, 
 mentioned in the " Flower of History," who died in prison.^ 
 
 In the " Ploughman's Complaint," before quoted, the writer 
 expresses himself as follows : — " Ah, Lord Jesus ! whether thou 
 ordainest an order of priests, to offer on the altar thy flesh and 
 thy blood, to bring man out of sin and pain, and whether thou 
 gave them a power to eat thy flesh and thy blood ; and whether 
 none other man may do so, without leave of priest. Lord, Ave 
 believe that thy flesh is very meat, and thy blood very drink ; 
 and whoso eateth thy flesh and drinketh thy blood, dwelleth in 
 thee, and thou in him : and he that eateth this bread shall 
 live without end. But, Lord, thy disciples said this is a 
 hard word; but thou answeredst them, the Spirit it is that 
 maketh you alive ; the words that I have spoken to you are 
 spirit and life. Lord, blessed mayest thou be ; for in this word 
 thou teachest us, that he that keepeth thy words and doth them, 
 eateth thy flesh, and drinketh thy blood, and hath everlasting 
 life in thee."^ 
 
 AYhen the doctrine of the corporeal presence was first received 
 in the western church, the whole loaf was believed to be changed, 
 at each celebration, into the entire body of Jesus Christ; so 
 that in the distribution of parts, one had an eye, another an ear, 
 another a finger, &c. &c. ; and this was supported by pretended 
 miracles suited to that opinion. Such continued to be the 
 doctrine of the Church of Rome for nearly three hundred years. 
 But when the school-men began to sift and form the tenets of 
 that church, they adopted a more refined and subtle way of ex- 
 plaining the mystery, and taught that there was an entii'e body 
 in every crumb of bread, and in every drop of wine. Wicliffe 
 and others showed the absurdity of these gross notions by 
 
 ' Bum's Eccles. Law. ' Neaiidei's Hist. vol. i. 
 
 ■' Fox's Acts aud Mou. vol. i. 
 
Sect. 12.] GROSS NOTIONS Oh" COKl'OllKAl. PKE8ENCE. 503 
 
 cogeut appeals to plain reason. Afterwards Christ's body was 
 by sonic believed to be present in the manner of a spirit, which 
 was only occasionally seen.^ The more superstitious of tiic people 
 fancied that they must " see their Maker," according to the 
 coumion phnise, " before they coidd lie down in peace on their 
 beds at night !" consistently with this coarse corporeal idea, they 
 charged the protestauts with giving the people the creature, 
 instead of the Creator !" From that period, this doctrine, 
 strengthened by the notion of the infallibility of the pope and 
 the church, has continued to be generally held by the llomanists. 
 Many enlightened men, however, testified against it from time 
 to time, while infidelity denied it and Christianity for its sake, 
 and various sentiments contradictory of each other continued 
 to be entertained by its supporters. 
 
 The priests freely acknowledged to Luther the impostures 
 which they practised on the \'nlgar, in administering the eucha- 
 rist, by introducing other words in the pretended consecration 
 and mixing impious jests with the proceedings. So almost incre- 
 dibly low and gross were the notions of even sincere, religious 
 people, that Farel, one of the French reformers, confesses : "The 
 wafer, which the priest held in his hands, placed in the box, and 
 shut up there, being eaten and given to others to eat, was to me 
 the true God, and there was no other, either in heaven or on the 
 earth." Thus dreadfully had the religious world sunk before 
 the Reformation,'^ and thus blasphemous was the worship. The 
 power which the priests claimed for themselves in the sacraments 
 greatly fostered other errors. It was deemed a monstrous 
 desecration of their holy character to enter into the connubial 
 -state, or to submit to the judgment of princes or people. 
 But it might truly be said of many of them, as of the ancient 
 
 ' Burnet's Hist. i Soame's English Reformation. 
 
 3 " n(x;na pocua" is said to l>e derived from the mocking of the common 
 |>eople at the words used in tlie catliolic consecration of the sacramental 
 elements, Hoc est corpus. This was a species of transmutation a]>plied to 
 the words. — Lainff^s Xotes of a Traveller. Sume of the priest.s confessed 
 that, iiLstead of the ap[Miinted fonn, they sjiid in derision, "/V//u'« et, et pania 
 manebU ; vinum es,et vinum matiebu." " Bread thou art and bread thou wilt 
 remain ; wine thou art and wine thou wilt remain." — Reformation in 
 Europe." "The wary answer of the princcs.s, afterward Queon Elizabeth, 
 to her popish examiner is well known, ami in substance thus, " Christ wa-s 
 the word and spjike it, he took the bread and brake it, and what His word 
 did make it, that I receive and take it."'— J/umc, dc. 
 
504 WICLIFFE AND BRUTE ON THE EUCHARIST. [Chap. 34. 
 
 heathensj that " professing themselves to be wise, they became 
 fools, &c.''^ 
 
 The principal aim of the eminent John Wicliffe was, to call 
 back the church from her idolatry, especially in the matter of 
 the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ ; as well as from 
 her usurped power to punish spiritual oflfences with corporal 
 pains. He declared that it is not found in the gospel or estab- 
 lished by it, that Christ made or ordained mass." 
 
 Philip Repington, in his public examination, declared that as 
 touching the sacrament he would hold his peace, until such 
 time as the Lord should otherwise illuminate the minds of the 
 clergy .3 He was however afterwards prevailed on to adopt the 
 Romish doctrines, and at length became a cardinal. ^ 
 
 Walter Brute of Hereford before quoted, who lived about 1405, 
 had very clear and spiritual views on many points of Chris- 
 tian faith and practice. On the communion of the body and 
 blood of Christ, he expressed himself as follows : — " I believe 
 and know that Christ is the true bread of God, which de- 
 scended from heaven, and giveth life to the world. Of which 
 bread whosoever eateth shall live for ever, as is declared in the 
 sixth chapter of John. By the faith which we have in Christ, 
 as the true Son of God, who came down from heaven to redeem 
 us, we are justified from sin, and so live by Him ; which is the 
 true bread and meat of the soul. And the bread Avhich Christ 
 gave is his flesh, given for the life of the world. As we beheve 
 that He is true God, so must we also believe that He is a true 
 man, and then do we eat the bread of heaven, and the flesh 
 of Christ. And if we believe that He did voluntarily shed 
 his blood for our redemption, then do we drink his blood. 
 Except we thus eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his 
 blood, we have not eternal life in us ; because the flesh of Christ 
 verily is meat, and his blood is drink indeed ; and whosoever 
 eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood, abideth in Clmst and 
 Christ in Him. But the priests be greatly deceived, and also 
 greatly deceive others : for the people beheve that they see the 
 body of Christ, nay rather Christ himself, between the hands of 
 the priests, for so is the common oath they swear ; 'By Him whom 
 I saw this day between the priest's hands.' And they believe that 
 they eat not the body of Christ, but at Easter, or when they lie 
 
 1 Romans i. 22. ^ Fox's Acts aud Mou. vol. i. 480. 
 
 3 Fox's Acts aud Mon. vol. i. 480. * Lives of British Eeformers. 
 
Sect. 12.] COMMUNION IN ONK KIND. 505 
 
 upon their dcutli beds, and receive with their bodily mouths the 
 sacrament of liis body. But since the body of Clirist is the 
 soul's food, and not the food of the body in this world, whoso- 
 ever bclieveth doth cat spiritually and really, at any time when 
 he so beUcveth ; and it is manifest that they do greatly cit, 
 which beheve that they eat not the body of Christ, but when 
 they eat with their teeth the sacrament of his body. Tlie 
 priests therefore are in great peril, most dangerously seducing 
 themselves and the people."^ 
 
 ^^'ilUanl Thorp of Shrewsbury, being examined before Arch- 
 bishop Ainindel about the same time as to his faith, declared 
 " I said to the people, ' the virtue of the most holy sacrament 
 of the altar standeth much more in the belief thereof that 
 you ought to have in your soul, than in the outward sight 
 thereof. And therefore ye were better to stand still quietly 
 to hciu" God's word, because through the hearing thereof men 
 come to \cr\ true belief.' The Archbishop pleaded the use of 
 images, not to be worshipped for themselves but to move the 
 people to devotion. I replied, ' Sir, they that come to the 
 church to pray devoutly to the Lord, may in their inward 
 wits be the more fervent, that their outward wits be closed 
 from all outward seeing and hearing, and from all disturbance 
 and lettings.' " He requested the people that they woidd 
 abstain from the sacraments of the corrupt Romish j)riests, 
 saying, " No one needs to be afraid to die ANithout taking 
 any sacrament of those enemies of Christ; since Christ him- 
 self will not fail to minister all sacraments, lawful, healthful 
 and necessary, at all times, and especially at the end, to all 
 them that are in true faith, in stedfast hope and perfect 
 charity." The archbishop and priests were very bitter against 
 him ; and he is supposed to have died in prison.^ 
 
 It had been the ancient practice for the people (or laity) to 
 partake of both the bread and the wine, which was termed 
 '* receiving the sacrament in both kinds;" but a])Out 1100 was 
 introduced a new custom, which in 1411 was solemnly enjoined 
 by the Coimcil of Constance, that the priests should restrict the 
 wine to themselves, and distribute the bread or wafer alone 
 to the people. This practice has proved another cause of 
 great contention. It has subsisted ever since in the Roman 
 ' Fox's Act.** ami Mon., vol. i. .">04. ^ Il>i<l. 
 
506 LUTHER AND OTHERS ON THE EUCHARIST. [Chap. 34. 
 
 catholic church, but is rejected both by protestants generally 
 and by the oriental churches. The Bohemians were by some 
 called UtraquistSj because they received both the bread and wine. 
 The same council decreed, "If any one shall deny whole and 
 entire Christ, the Fountain and Author of all graces, to be taken 
 under one species of bread, &c., let him be anathema." 
 
 Ten persons, mostly of Tenterden in Kent, were compelled 
 in 1511 to abjure the following, among other supposed errors: 
 — " That the sacraments of baptism and confirmation are not 
 necessary or profitable for men's souls ; that holy water and 
 holy bread are not better after benediction by the priest than 
 before.'' Many others, adhering to their opinions, were biirnt 
 about the same time as obstinate heretics.^ 
 
 Elizabeth Stamford, being examined before the Bishop of 
 London, confessed thus : — " Christ feedeth and fast nourisheth 
 his church with his own precious body, that is, the bread of life 
 coming down from heaven; this is the worthy word that is 
 worthily received, and joined unto man to be in one body with 
 him. Sooth it is, that they be both one, they may not be parted. 
 This is the wisely deeming of the holy sacrament, Christ's own 
 body ; this is not received by chewing of teeth, but by hearing 
 with ears, and understanding with your soul, and wisely working 
 thereafter." ^ 
 
 At the Reformation in the sixteenth century, Luther, whose 
 eyes were but very partially opened with respect to ceremonies, 
 while he rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, held the 
 opinion not less incomprehensible, that the partakers of the 
 Lord's supper received the real body and blood of Christ, along 
 with the bread and wine. This idea was termed, in distinction, 
 consubstantiation. Something like it is often held even now 
 by the supporters of baptismal regeneration. Though Luther 
 was the great instrument for carrpng out the reformation from 
 papal corruption and oppression ; yet his views on this subject 
 Avere much more outward and gross than those of many 
 other reformers. 
 
 Occasionally however he expressed more spiritual ^iews : 
 
 " If divers men shall use a diverse rite, let not one judge or 
 
 contemn another, but let every one abound in his own sense ; 
 
 and let us all savour and judge the same things, though in 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mou. vol. i. " Ibiil. 
 
Sect. 12.] UEFORMEKS ON THE EL'CHARIST. 507 
 
 forms wc act diversely ; for outward rites, as wc cainiot want 
 them either as meat and drink, so neither do they com- 
 mend us to God, but only faith and love commend us to him. 
 And therefore let that of Paid take place here, that the 
 kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, 
 peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. And so, no rite nor form 
 is the kingdom of God, but faith within us." Again he says, 
 " The better part of every sacrifice, and consequently of the 
 Lord's supper, is in the word and the promises of God. With- 
 out faith in this word and in these promises, the sacrament is 
 but dead. It is a body without a soul, a cup without wine, 
 a purse without money, a type without fulfilment, a letter 
 without meaning, a casket without jewels, a sheath without a 
 sword." And further " The priests may deny us the sacrament, 
 but they cannot deprive us of the strength and grace which 
 (iod hath attached to it. It is not their will nor any power of 
 tlieirs, but our own faith, that the Lord has made essential to 
 our salvation. Tiie sacrament, tlie altar, the priest, the church, 
 we may pass them all by : that word of God, w Inch the bull of 
 the pope condemned, is more than all these things. The soul 
 may dispense with the sacrament ; but it cannot live without 
 the word. Christ the true bishop will himself supply your 
 spiritual feast." By these and other remarks to the same effect, 
 Luther at times gratified some, startled others, and offended 
 many of those who heard him.' 
 
 Calvin believed that the bread and wine were not the actual 
 flesh and blood of Christ, but that these were sacramentally 
 received by the faithful, in the use of the outward elements. 
 Zwingle and (Ecolampadius took much more spiritual views of 
 the subject than those generally maintained by Luther. They 
 held that the fiesh and blood were not really present ; but that 
 the Inead and w ine were only external commemorative symiiols, 
 designed to excite, in the minds of the part.nkers, the remem- 
 l)rance of the sufferings and death of Christ, and of the benefits 
 arising therefrom. Thus CKcoUunpadius, at a conference in 
 1527, says, " Christ, who said to the people of Capernaum, 
 * the rtcsh profitcth nothing/ rejected by those very words the 
 oral mandueatiou or chewing of his body ; therefore he did not 
 establish it at the institution of his supper. There is danger in 
 ' I)'Aubign6's Reformation. 
 
508 TYNDAL AND FRITH ON THE EUCHARIST. [Chap. 34. 
 
 attributing too much to mere matter. — Since we have the 
 spiritual eating, what need of the bodily one ? " ^ Zwingle re- 
 marks to Luther, " Jesus says that to eat his flesh corporeally 
 profiteth nothing; whence it would result that [if outwardly 
 eaten] he had given us in the supper a thing that would be 
 useless to us. The soul is fed with the Spirit, and not with the 
 flesh. Christ's body is [according to you] a corporeal and not a 
 spiritual nourishment. You are thus re-establishing popery.''^ 
 Luther stoutly denied that he was a sacramentarian, as the 
 reformers were often called. This controversy greatly divided 
 the chief protestant leaders, and was repeatedly agitated with 
 unsatisfactory and distressing results. 
 
 William Tyndal the martyr declared, that it were better to 
 receive neither of the parts of the sacrament than one only, as 
 practised in the Romish church. It was an opinion frequently 
 expressed in strong terms by him and other reformers, that the 
 ceremonies of the church had brought the world from God. 
 " By works, superstitions and ceremonies," said they, " we 
 decay from the faith, which alone doth truly justify and make 
 holy."' 
 
 John Frith, one of the English martyrs, in Queen Mary's reign, 
 said, "The ancient fathers before Christ never believed the gross 
 and carnal eating of Christ's body; yet notwithstanding they 
 did eat him spiritually, and were saved; as Adam, Abraham, 
 Moses, &c., all of whom ate the body of Christ, and drank his 
 blood, as we do. But this eating and drinking of theirs was 
 spiritual^ pertaining only to faith, and not to the teeth; for 
 they " were all under the cloud, and drank of the Rock which 
 followed them. This Rock was Christ," which was promised to 
 come into the world. Moses also prefigured him by divers 
 means, both by the manna which came down from Heaven, and 
 also by the water which issued out of the rock, for the refreshing 
 of the bodies of his people : nor is it to be doubted that the 
 manna and the water had a prophetical mystery in them."^ 
 
 John Lambert, another of the martyrs, expressed himself 
 thus : — " God sendeth his grace where and when he pleaseth, 
 either with the sacraments or without them ; so that it is at his 
 arbitrament how and when. Moreover, many lewd persons 
 
 ^ D'Aubigne and Dell. ^ D'Aubigue's Eeformation, vol. iv. 
 
 3 Fox's Acts and Mou. vol. ii. ■• Ibid. 
 
Sect. 12.] UEGULATIONS FOR THE EUCHARIST. 509 
 
 being destitute of grace, receive the sacraments to their confu- 
 sion ; so that 1 cannot aflirin that they give grace : yet in due 
 receipt of them I suppose and think that God givcth grace, as 
 he dotli unto all good persons even without them also."^ 
 
 At the Kcformation, for tlie ancient term "high mass" was sub- 
 stituted the phrase " communion of the sacrament," or simply 
 " communion." Some of the early reformers exerted themselves 
 to restore the practice of a weekly or monthly administration ; 
 but the people generally could not be prevailed upon to receive 
 it so often, and the attempt proved abortive. The rubric of 
 Edward \1. required all married persons to "receive the holy 
 communion on the day of their marriage." The rubric now 
 in force declares it to be " convenient that they should do 
 so on that day, or at the first opportunity afterwards ;" but 
 also requires every parishioner to communicate " at least three 
 times in the year." This however has fallen into disuse. The 
 same rubric orders that " if a man by reason of extremity 
 do not receive the sacrament of Christ's body and blood, the 
 ciu-ate shall instruct him that if he do truly repent him of his 
 sins, and stedfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suffered death 
 upon the cross for him, and shed his blood for his redemption, 
 earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving 
 him hearty thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the body 
 and blood of our Saviour Jesus Chnst profitably to his soid's 
 health, although he doth not receive the sacrament with his 
 mouth."' This seems a near approach to spiritual \iews of the 
 question. 
 
 Edward ^ I., in a letter to Bishop Ridley, states that " most of 
 the altars in the churches" had been already taken down, and 
 orders that the rest be removed, and instead thereof that " a 
 table be set up in some convenient part of the chancel, for the 
 ministration of the blessed communion." The reason assigned 
 is that, contrary to the popish notion, no sacrifice is off"ered, and 
 that a table is most suitable to the occasion. The Book of 
 Common Prayer, on the principle of conciliating all, uses both 
 the terms, altar and taljle. 
 
 At a disputation held at Cambridge in ir}41), before the king's 
 
 commissioners, the intricacies and difticulties of tliis question, as 
 
 then imderstood, were searched into and debated at great 
 
 length, in a gross and painful manner. Dr. Madew, one of the 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon., vol. ii. ' Bum 'a Ecclesiaiitical I^-iw. 
 
510 PROTESTANT MARTYRS ON THE EUCHARIST. [Chap. 34. 
 
 disputants, says, " To be short and plain Avith you, most honour- 
 able audience, the whole universal world hath been and yet is 
 sore deceived and deluded about the estimation of this sacra- 
 ment.^^^ 
 
 Dr. Kedman,an early English protestant, being asked in the time 
 of his illness whether he thought that the very body of Christ 
 was received with the mouth or not, paused and held his peace 
 a while, and then replied, " I will not say so : I cannot tell. 
 It is a hard question ; but surely we receive Christ in our soul 
 by faith. When you speak of it otherwise it soundeth grossly." 
 His friend rephed, " I am glad to hear you say so much. I fear 
 lest that sacrament, and the little white piece of bread lifted up, 
 hath robbed Christ of a great part of his honour." Then said 
 the sick man, looking upward, " God grant us grace, that we 
 may have true understanding of his word !" He also remarked, 
 that the manner whereby Christ is there present and minis- 
 tereth his flesh to the faithful is altogether inexplicable.^ 
 
 Two French martyrs at Sanserre, declaring that the mass was 
 superstitious and mere idolatry, said that to attribute any part 
 of salvation thereto was " utterly to destroy the benefits of the 
 sufferings of Christ, and ought not to be named by a Christian 
 man !"' 
 
 In a conference between Ridley and Bourne, the former, a 
 well-known and illustrious protestant martyr, with many other 
 remarks, expresses himself thus : — " When you hear God's word 
 truly preached, if you believe it and abide in it, ye shall and do 
 receive life withal ; and if ye do not believe it, it doth bring 
 unto you death. And yet Christ's body is still in heaven, and 
 not carnal in every preacher's mouth."* He thus showed that 
 the participation in an outward rite is not necessary, in order to 
 partake of the body and blood of Christ. 
 
 Robert Smith of Windsor, another of those who proved by 
 death the sincerity of their Christian faith, was asked at his 
 examination before Bishop Bonner, how long it was since he had 
 received the sacrament of the altar ? His answer was, " I never 
 received the same since I had years of discretion ; nor ever will, 
 by God's grace. Neither do I esteem the same in any point, 
 because it hath not God's ordinance either in name or in other 
 usage, but rather is erected to mock God." Bonner. — '^Do ye 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. ii, " Ibid. ' Ibid. 
 * Ibid. vol. iii. 
 
SeCt.\2.] SMITH AND PHILPOT ON TIIK KUCHARIST. 511 
 
 not believe that it is the very body of Christ, that was born of 
 tlie Virgin Mury, really, naturally and substantially, after the 
 words of consecration ?" Smith. — " 1 showed you before it was 
 none of God's ordinances, as ye use it; then much less is it 
 God, or any part of his substance, but only bread and wine, 
 erected to the use aforesaid. Yet if ye can prove it by tlie 
 Word to be the body that ye spake of, I will believe it ; if not, 
 I will, as I do, account it a detestable idol, not God, but con- 
 trary to him and his tnith !" After many raging words and 
 vain objections, Bonner said there was no remedy but he must 
 be burned. Smith. — " Ye shall do no more unto me than ye 
 have done to better men than either of us. But think not 
 thereby to quench the Spirit of God, nor to make your matter 
 good ; for your sore is too well seen to be healed so privily with 
 blood : for even the very children have your deeds in derision \" 
 He was consigned to the stake at Uxbridge in the reign of 
 Queen Marj^, in that year of death 1555.^ 
 
 John Philpot, another eminent mart}T, being examined by 
 the Bishop of London and others, protested : " There be two 
 things principally, by which the clergy of this day deceive the 
 whole realm ; that is the sacrament of the body and blood of 
 Christ, and the name of the Catholic cliurch ; both of which 
 they have usurped, having indeed neither of them ! As touching 
 their sacrament, which they term of the altar, I say now as I 
 said before, that it is not the sacrament of Christ; neither in 
 the same is there any manner of Christ's presence. And where 
 they take on them the name of the Catholic church, they are 
 nothing so, but call you from the true religion to vain super- 
 stition ."2 
 
 In \~)7)~) and the three following years, not less than two hun- 
 dred and eighty persons were publicly burnt or otherwise executed, 
 chiefly for their difference of sentiment on the mysterious question 
 of the bread and wine, and many more died in prison. This was 
 a tremendous exercise of the united power of church and state, and 
 in support of what is held by all protestants to be false doctrine! 
 
 Bishop Jewel says, " Wc cat Christ by faith, and not by the 
 mouth of the body; and it is the common resolution of the. 
 school-doctors, that the grace of God is not tied to any sacra- 
 ments."^ 
 
 ' Fox's Acts ami Mon. vol. iii. ' n>ul. ^ On Sacraments, \\ 21. 
 
512 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS DISUSE THE EUCHARIST. [Chap. 34. 
 
 ''You have cast out ceremonies in the sacraments," said 
 Edwards in 1646, "as the cross, and kneeling at the Lord's 
 supper ; and many cast out the sacraments themselves/'^ 
 
 Bishop Taylor, though a very moderate man, declared, in con- 
 sonance with the general views of his church, that without the 
 offices of episcopacy "no consecration of the sacrament, no 
 rite, no sacrament can be legitimately performed in order to 
 eternity."® 
 
 By the Corporation and Test Acts, passed in the reign of 
 Charles II., the taking "the sacrament of the Lord's supper" 
 was made necessary in England and Wales to the holding of all 
 public places of trust, the object being the exclusion of dis- 
 senters — an object which was enforced for a century and a half. 
 These acts had never extended to Scotland. The effect in 
 England was, to make the ceremony in many cases a mere 
 passport to office for the unscrupulous and the irreligious. 
 
 The Society of Friends, from their rise about the year 1650, 
 have steadily declined the observance of this rite, believing, 
 with many other protestant reformers, some of whose remarks 
 have been already quoted, that the true eating of the flesh and 
 drinking of the blood of Christ is by lively faith in him, and 
 must be the experience of every sincere believer, being a spiri- 
 tual act independent of any outward ceremony. Their writings 
 may be referred to for the reasons which they allege from Holy 
 Scripture, that such a ceremony was not designed to be per- 
 petuated as a standing observance under the gospel, that it 
 has a dangerous tendency to draw off the attention from the 
 spiritual perception and benefits of that experience ; and that it 
 has manifestly produced most serious injury in various ways to 
 the professing Christian churches. To pursue such arguments 
 further would not consist with the object of this treatise. 
 
 John Wesley declared, " He that truly trusts in Christ, cannot 
 fall short of the grace of God, even though he were cut off from 
 every outward ordinance, though he were shut up in the centre of 
 the earth. There is no power in means ; separate from God it is 
 a dry leaf — a shadow; and in itself a poor, dead, empty thing."^ 
 " You may have a token and receive the sacrament," said George 
 Whitfield, " and perhaps at the same time be eating and 
 drinking your own damnation. You are resting on the means of 
 
 ' Neal's Puritans. 2 Episcopacy Ass. ' J. Wesley, Sermon xvi. 
 
Sect. 12.] OPINIONS ON Tin: li ciiauist. 513 
 
 grace all the while, and placing rcligiou iu that which is only a 
 mean of religion.'^' 
 
 The Duhoboitzi (or Malakans) iu Russia, before referred to, 
 say that they always commuuicatc or hold spiritual and life- 
 giviug communiou with Christ ; but the symbols of bread and 
 wine they do not receive. They reside chiefly in the southern 
 parts of the empire, and arc foimd also in Lapland and Siberia. 
 "With these views of vital religion their moral character is said 
 to be most exemplary. 
 
 Dr. Johnson gave it as his opinion, that deviations from the 
 primitive mode in what is merely ritual may be admitted on the 
 ground of convenience, and that the Roman catholics are as 
 well warranted iu withholding the cup from the people, as the 
 establislied church is to substitute sprinkling for the ancient 
 mode of baptism.'^ 
 
 Adam Clarke remarks " ' "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinkcth 
 my blood hath eternal life,' &c. — John vi. — this can never be 
 understood of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, Jesus 
 took bread ; unleavened bread certainly. If any respect should 
 be paid to the primitive constitution, then unleavened, unyeasted 
 bread should be used. "SA'ill it not appear that the use of 
 common bread is highly improper ?" ^ The question whether 
 the bread should be leavened or not, was one great cause of 
 the dissension between the Greek and Latin churches in the 
 thirteenth century. The former used unleavened bread, and 
 neither party would yield. 
 
 The high-church notion of self-restricted authority appears in 
 the following, under date of 1820 : — "A person not commissioned 
 from the bishop may break bread and pour out wine, and pre- 
 tend to give the Lord's supper; but it can afl'ord no comfort to 
 receive it at liis hands, because there is no warrant from Christ 
 to lead communicants to suppose that, while he does so hci'c on 
 earth, they will be partakers iu the Saviour's heavenly body and 
 blood."^ On this principle, all such observances by noncon- 
 formist ministers are vain and fruitless. 
 
 In the form of communion composed by Drs. EUcrt and 
 
 ' WbitfielJ's Sermon on the Kingdom of Goil. 
 
 ' Pinkerton's Greek Cliurch. ' BoswcH'm Life. 
 
 4 A. Clarke's Notes. 
 
 5 Dr. Uook, anil OxfurJ Tracts, No. 2.5. 
 
 2 L 
 
514 DIFFERENT MODES OF RECEIVING THE EUCHARIST. [Chap. 34. 
 
 Neandei'j for the new evangelical churcli in Pmssia, under the 
 authority of the late King, no terms of actual " consecra- 
 tion" were used, the historical fact only being related, that 
 Chi-ist said "This is my body,'' &c.; "This is my blood," &c. 
 Such was the state-expedient used to endeavour to reconcile 
 the opposite opinions of the Lutheran and Calvinistic chui'ches. 
 Many however contended that this was no real sacrament 
 at all, but only a narrative of the transaction ; and that in 
 this way even Jews and Mahomedans might be admitted to 
 communicate.^ Many conscientious Prussians suffered severely 
 on account of their religious convictions, and especially on this 
 subject of the eucharist. 
 
 If a literal interpretation is to be given to the language and 
 example of the supposed institution of "the Lord's supper," 
 a supper should now be strictly observed, and not the use of a 
 sop or wafer only in the middle of the day. But in this, as in 
 water baptism, a literal consistency has been departed from. 
 Many protestants, while they retain the popish custom of re- 
 ceiving the bread and wine in a kneeling posture, and regai'd 
 the ceremony as one of sacred obligation, acknowledge that 
 they have not been able to arrive at a conclusion respecting it, 
 which is fully satisfactory to themselves. The Anglican church 
 forbids her ministers to " administer the communion to any but 
 to such as kneel, under pain of suspension.'^^ On the Continent 
 the bread and wine are usually received by protestants while 
 standing, and weekly or monthly. In Scotland they are received 
 only twice in the year, in a sitting posture, and in complete 
 silence : no person is allowed to communicate there, if known to 
 be guilty of any breach of morality, and to this restriction great 
 importance is attached. The canons and the rubric of the British 
 episcopal church are equally strict on this point ; and so small 
 is the number of communicants in most places, that there are 
 probably few cases of exception to the rule. 
 
 At a general meeting of Scotch episcopal ministers held at 
 Perth in 1617, one of the articles adopted enjoined the practice 
 of " kneeling at the communion," which proved more obnoxious 
 to the people than all the others, being so identified in their 
 minds with the idolatry of Rome, that they shrank from it with 
 horror, and great excitement and opposition followed.^ 
 
 * Laing's Notes of a Traveller. ' Canon 27. ' M'Crie's Scottish Cliui-ch. ^ 
 
Sect. 12.] MYSTERIOUS AND CONFLICTINO VIEWS. 515 
 
 The protcstant cliurchcs in general which observe tliis rite 
 receive the elements only as bread and wine, but symbolieal of 
 the flesh and blood of Christ. The papists receive them as tran- 
 substantiated into something holy and divine by the consecra- 
 tion of the priest. Hence the necessity that he should be of a 
 separate, sanctified class, that he should observe celibacy ; and 
 hence the unlimited veneration and confidence which he enjoys 
 among the people. Thus is one error fruitful in producing and 
 strengthening others. Yet observes one, " the doctrine of a real 
 presence, the mode mysterious and undefined, and beyond all 
 liuman power of comprehension, is admitted by the formularies 
 of the Anglican church, and has been held by numbers of its 
 most pious and learned members ; and is as far removed from 
 the Romish tenet, as from the system of Zwingle and Iloadley, 
 which reduces the sacred ordinance to a mere naked symbol."' 
 The Cliurch of England, though restricting the term " sacra- 
 ment" to two rites, uses three others, — confirmation, absolution, 
 and ordination, — by which grace is declared to be conveyed ; 
 and therefore, according to licr own definition, she virtually 
 upholds five sacraments. Great indeed are the difficulties in- 
 volved in the idea of a permanent, outward institution !" 
 
 "Whatever may be the professed principles of the Christian 
 churches in relation to this rite, it is manifest that it obtains 
 less regard than formerly from the religious community at large, 
 and has lost much of that superstitious reverence with which it 
 was formerly observed. The great majority of the Christian 
 world have long given practical evidence which cannot be 
 mistaken, that they do not hold it to be esscntiid. The number 
 of communicants, as they are termed, when compared with 
 that of serious and devout worshippers, is in general extremely 
 small. "Wide differences of opinion on the mode, character and 
 effects of the ceremony, and the dreadful persecutions following 
 those differences, have doubtless tended to produce this result, 
 and have led many to believe that, where there is so nnuh of 
 (jucstioning, discordance and bitterness, the whole matter is 
 open to reasonable doubt. There is also too nnich cause to fear, 
 that religion itself has been called in question, and luis lost its 
 hold on the minds of many, on this very ground. Yet serious, 
 refiectiug persons, whatever may be their own doubts in respect 
 to the ceremony, often hesitate to express them, from an unwil- 
 ' Forester's Norway. * Il.alley on the Sacraments. 
 
516 THE BREAD AND WINE LESS USED. [Chap. 34. 
 
 lingness^ either to shock the conscientious convictions of others, 
 or to bring upon themselves suspicion and obloquy. They 
 therefore merely disuse it^ without undertaking to form a de- 
 cided opinion^ or to judge for others respecting it. Many of 
 them evince that they have submitted to the operations of the 
 Holy Spirit on their hearts, and that they fully appreciate the 
 blessings derived from the offering of Jesus Christ " once " for 
 all, for the redemption of fallen man. Such doubtless are per- 
 mitted to feed on him by living faith, and to hold spiritual com- 
 munion with him, thus partaking of true christian fellowship 
 and redemption without the medium of the outward ceremony. 
 
 The reformation from papal forms must surely be carried 
 farther, and be suffered to abrogate the two observances, still 
 cherished by many protestants as sacraments; in the same 
 manner as it has already abrogated grosser portions of them, 
 and all the five others formerly acknowledged as such. Those 
 who observe them are earnestly and respectfully requested to 
 give the subject a serious and unprejudiced consideration, with 
 a sincere aspiration to be rightly directed by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The propriety of disarming secular rulers of all power to 
 enforce either one view or another in such matters of individual 
 faith, is abundantly evident from Scripture, and from the mourn- 
 ful experience of different ages and countries, as related in the 
 preceding pages. How soon such absurdities and cruelties may 
 be re-enacted, if the power be retained, it is impossible to say. 
 
 Summary of different Sentiments and Practices, with respect to 
 the Lord's Supper, Eucharist or Mass. 
 
 1st. Some would have it administered to all ; others to be- 
 lievers only. 2nd. For a long period it was given to children, 
 as is still practised in the Oriental churches. 3rd. Some have 
 given it to dead persons. 4th. The Eastern church and most 
 protestants distribute both bread and wine ; the Roman cathohcs 
 give the bread only to the people, but the wine to the priest 
 alone. 5th. Some take the bread and wine before supper, 
 others after supper. Many partake of them at dinner time, 
 under the name of a supper. 6th. Some take them every day, 
 others every week, some three times a year, and others once a 
 year. 7th. Some have used them as a meal, most as a sop or 
 form only. 8th. Some use leavened or fermented bread, others 
 
Sect. 12.] SUMMARY OF VARIATIONS OX FAXRARIST. 517 
 
 contcntl for unleavened only. 9th. Some have the bread broken 
 by the minister, others break it themselves. 10th. Some use 
 wine only, others v,h\c mixed with MJiter. 11th. Some receive 
 the bread and wine while standing, others sitting, and others 
 again in a kneeling posture. 12th. Some use the kiss of 
 peaee, others omit it. 13th. Some receive it in an upper 
 chamber, others in the place of public worship. 14th. The 
 Roman catholics believe that the bread and wine are transub- 
 stantiated, or changed into the very body and blood of Christ. 
 15th. The Lutherans say that these are present eonsubstan- 
 tially, or together with the bread and wine. IGth. Some pro- 
 tcstants maintain that Christ is present sacramentally ; others 
 that the bread and wine are only figures or emblems of him. 
 irth. Roman catholics assert that the ceremony is an expia- 
 tory sacrifice for sin. 18th. Protestants diflTer widely among 
 themselves respecting it ; some alleging that it is instituted only 
 in commemoration of the death of Christ ; others that it is a 
 means of spiritual grace. 19th. Roman catholics contend that 
 the bread and wine, having been consecrated by the priest into 
 the body and blood of Christ, ought to be elevated and adored. 
 Protestants think this practice idolatrous. 20th. Most readily 
 acknowledge that the ceremony is mysterious and beyond 
 human comprehension. 21st. Some assert that it is essential 
 to spiritual life, and therefore necessary to salvation. Others 
 that it is profitable only, but not essential or necessary. 22iid. 
 Some hold that it profits, ex opere operato, or by the mere use 
 of the rite, except when resisted by mortal sin. Others that 
 it profits only when the priest is sincere in his intention ; and 
 others again, only when the receiver possesses true faith. 23rd. 
 Some hold that sinfulness in the minister does not destroy the 
 virtue of the observance, others that the ministrations of wicked 
 men are ineflectual to the good of the soul. 2 Ith. Some 
 believe that the ceremony can be properly performed only by 
 a priest or minister, duly ordained by a bishop. Others that 
 it may be properly administorrd by those not so ordained. 
 25th. Lastly — Others are of the judgment that no new 
 outward ceremony was instituted by Christ at the last passover 
 which he ate ; and that his tnic supper is a spiritual communion 
 of the soul with him, wherein the sincere Christian, by living 
 faith in him, is graciously permitted spiritually to eat his flesh 
 and drink his blood, to the renewal of the inward life. 
 
518 SIMPLICITY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. [Chap. 3i. 
 
 Section 13. — On other matters relating to Divine Worship. 
 
 At tlie risk of occasional repetition^ some further particulars 
 under this head seem to require notice. 
 
 The worship of the primitive Christians^ in the age succeeding 
 that of the Apostles, continued for a time to be remarkable for 
 its simplicity. The addresses of those who ministered were brief 
 and fervent. The attention of the people was serious and devout. 
 Most of them were poor and unlettered persons, who had made 
 great personal sacrifices for their faith, and embraced it from a 
 deep conviction of its truth. They generally met in private 
 houses, and any were allowed to preach who believed themselves 
 divinely called to do so. Passages from Holy Scripture were 
 read, and short devotional hymns were occasionally recited or 
 sung.i 
 
 But this simplicity and absence of form did not long continue. 
 The presbyter or bishop of each congregation or church obtained 
 the sole right to preach or pray, the people, in the latter exer- 
 cise, often joining, responding, or repeating the closing words. 
 It soon became the practice in prayer to turn the face towards 
 the east, in conformity with the custom of oriental nations. 
 External ceremonies, although offensive to the spiritually minded, 
 began to be multiplied, in order to arrest and gratify the senses, 
 and thus to captivate the vulgar. The celebration of the Lord's 
 supper formed an important part of worship. The bishops 
 received additional honours. New offices and titles were created. 
 The sign of the cross, which was supposed to afford especial pro- 
 tection, with various other mystical practices, was introduced. 
 Jewish, heathen, and even military rites were borrowed, and 
 were, with many variations in different countries, accommodated 
 to the Christian worship. The addresses of the ministers lost 
 their ancient simphcity and fervour, and became in most places 
 studied orations, or superstitious rhapsodies. Exorcisms and 
 heathen mysteries, but little altered, were held in respect and 
 resorted to as true religious exercises. 
 
 In the fourth century, the bishops were elevated by Constan- 
 tino to temporal dignity and imperial favour, when worldly 
 greatness and honour, like a flood, invaded the church, still 
 farther corrupting its simple character. The religion of the 
 ' Moslieim, 1st cent., 4 — 6, &c. "^ Mosheiin, 2ud cent., 4 — 1 — 7, 
 
Sect. 13.] INCREASE OF SUPERSTITION. 519 
 
 Christians now differed very little in appearance from that of 
 the heathen Greeks or Romans. S})kMidid " churches," gold and 
 silver vessels, wax tapers, incense and images, with processions, 
 lustrations, and other circumstances of pageantry, indicated 
 grandeur and opulence; but these were accompanied with a 
 mournfid decay of vital religion. Augustine, declared that the 
 yoke of religious rites, under which the Jews formerly groaned, 
 was more tolerable than that imposed upon many Christians.^ 
 
 In the fifth century, the ordinary priests appear to have 
 begun to preach in public. Chrysostom is said to have been 
 the first presbyter who preached at stated times. Origen and 
 Augustine did so by special permission. The sermons or public 
 addresses were more adapted to excite admiration, than to en- 
 lighten or edify. The people were permitted, and even exhorted 
 by the preacher, to testify their approbation of liis address, 
 with clapping of hands and loud acclamations. Divine worship 
 was still performed by every nation in their own language, but 
 rose gradually from one degree of pomj) to another, and de- 
 generated more and more into a gaudy spectacle." 
 
 In the sixth century, the cause of true religion sank apace, 
 and the reign of dark siipcrstition was extended in proportion. 
 Gregory the Great contributed largely to this result, by adding 
 magnificent appendages to divine worship. Boniface V. made 
 the churches places of refuge for all, including hardened crimi- 
 nals who ficd to them for protection; a practice which en- 
 couraged depravity and crime. The Greek and Roman churches 
 adopted new ceremonies widely different ; so that the two bodies 
 became gradually more at variance. 
 
 In the tenth century, the worship of the Virgin Mary, Mhich 
 had before been carried to a great degree of idolatry, received 
 new accessions of superstition ; and the institutions called the 
 rosarv and crown were borrowed from the devotional usaires 
 of the Saracens, to count tlic number of prayers off*ered. The 
 rosary consisted of fifteen repetitions of the Lord's pravcr, 
 and \')0 salutations or Avc-^larias; while the crown consisted 
 of six or seven of the prayers, and sixty or seventy salutations, 
 which were regulated by circumstances. The pravcrs of reli- 
 gious persons, for tlie souls said to be confined in purgatory, 
 were accounted of gi-eat avail. A multitude of superstitious 
 ' Mosheiiu, 4th ccut. 3 11>i<l. 
 
520 PREVALENCE OF GROSS SUPERSTITION. [Chap. 34 
 
 ritesj insulting to true religion^ and even shocking to common 
 sense, were observed. This is sometimes styled the age of 
 barbarism and ignorance : the stupid veneration that was paid 
 to the bones and carcases of departed saints, and the savage and 
 unnatural lives of monks and hermits, abundantly justify the 
 designation. 
 
 In the twelfth century, the scandalous traffic in indulgences 
 was begun by the bishops, and soon after was monopolized by 
 the Pope. The abbots and monks, who were not qualified to 
 grant them, resorted to other methods of enriching their con- 
 vents. They carried the dead bodies and relics of the saints in 
 solemn procession through the country, and permitted the 
 people to behold and touch them at certain fixed prices ; often 
 gaining as much by these degrading exhibitions, as the bishops 
 did by their indulgences. It was high time for a reformation 
 to put an end to such gross impositions.' 
 
 Among the strangely superstitious practices which prevailed, 
 some writers enumerate " the creeping or hoisting up of the 
 cross or crucifix to be kissed or worshipped on bended knees, 
 the putting ashes on the head on Ember days, the bearing 
 candles on Candlemas-day, the carrying palms on Palm- Sunday, 
 as well as the sprinkling holy-water, giving holy bread, hallow- 
 ing the font, knocking on the breast, crossing diff'erent parts of 
 the body, and other like exorcisms and incantations.^^^ 
 
 Before the reformation, a large proportion of the parishes of 
 England had their pulpits occupied by persons from the dregs of 
 the people, by loiterers on the ale-house bench, dicers, scarcely 
 able to say by rote their pater-noster, often unable to repeat 
 the commandments. The service of the church being in Latin 
 tended to little or no edification; while of preaching there was 
 scarcely any. Quarterly sermons appear to have been prescribed 
 but not insisted on ; for though mass was on no account left 
 unsaid for a single week, sermons were sometimes omitted for 
 twenty weeks together, and no blame followed. To be a preacher 
 gave suspicion of being a heretic. The discourses consisted of 
 scandals and invectives, miracles of saints, tissues of fables and 
 absurd tales.* Such continued the case to some extent, Avhen 
 
 I Burnet's Hist. Reform. 
 
 "^ " Godly and Pious Inst, of a Christian Man." pub. 1537. 
 
 3 Latimer's Sermons ; Bluut's Reformation. 
 
Sect. 13.] NEGLECT OF PAROCHIAL MINISTRY. 521 
 
 protestantism was j)rofcsscd, many of the preachers being papists 
 in (1is«ruise, and the most zealous ministers discountenanced by the 
 ruliu'T powers, v/ho were afraid how far reform wouhl carry them. 
 
 The LoHard or Puritan, on the other hand, preached on his 
 own authority, without any bcenee from the bishop, in vina'i;es 
 and church-yards, in fairs aiul markets. Going about bare-foot, 
 in a bkie or russet gown, he rejected pontifical habits, was 
 strongly opposed to the use of church music and especially of 
 organs, holding out to the ministers the duty of labouring like 
 Paul with their own hands, and not being loose or secular in his 
 expressions and conduct.^ 
 
 The people of Cornwall, who in If) 19 had opposed the Refor- 
 mation, (see page 4:2S), addressed about thirty years after, a 
 petition of complaint to Parliament, in very different terms, 
 which may serve to show the low state of the parochial ministry 
 inidcr Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 " We are above the number of fourscore and ten thousand 
 souls, which for want of the word of God are in extreme misery 
 and ready to perish ; and this for want of neither maintenance 
 nor place. For besides the impropriations in our shire, we allow 
 yearly above tOj'-iOO., and have about IGO churches, the greatest 
 part of which are supplied by men guilty of the grossest sins, — 
 some fornicators, some adulterers, some felons, bearing the marks 
 in their hands for the said offence ; some drunkards, gamesters 
 on the sabbath-day, &c. We have many non-residents who 
 preach but once a quarter ; so that between meal and meal the 
 silly sheep may starve. Some ministers labour painfully and 
 faitlifully ; but these are not suflcred to attend their callings, 
 nor is it safe for us to go and hear them ; for though our own 
 fountains are dried up, yet if we seek for the waters of life 
 elsewhere, we are cited into the spiritual courts, reviled, and 
 threatened with excommunication. Therefore from far we 
 come, beseeching this honourable house to dispossess these 
 dumb dogs and ravenous wolves, and to appoint us faithful 
 ministers who may peaceably preach the word of Ciod, that we 
 be not disquietid by apparitors, &c., uj)on every light occa- 
 sion.'" This is a truly melancholy picture of the prevailing 
 state of things at that period. 
 
 ' Blunt'8 Hist, of Beform.ntion in England. 
 ' XcaI'-s Hist, of Puritans, 
 
522 LIBERTY or EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH. [Chap. 34. 
 
 14M Section. — On the Multiplication of Holy Days, Festivals, 
 
 and Fasts. 
 
 A holy day, devoted to thoughts of heaven and to religious 
 exercises, is one thing ; but a holiday, in the general appre- 
 hension of the ternij and in the dissipating character of its 
 pursuits, is another and a very opposite thing. 
 
 " Certain it is," says Fox the martyi-ologist, " that the 
 apostles, being attentive only to the doctrine of salvation, gave 
 no heed to the observation of days and times, neither bound 
 the church to any ceremonies and rites, except those necessary 
 things mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles ; leaving all others 
 free to the liberty of Cliristians, every man to use therein his 
 o^vn discretion. AVherefore the diversity among men was not 
 greatly noted, nor uniformity required. "^ 
 
 The early Christians appear to have regularly used the first 
 day of the week for the sacred duty of di\ine worship. The 
 seventh day was also still observed for a while, especially by 
 those who had been Jews. The anniversaries of remarkable 
 events in the life of the Savionr, as well as the anniversaries of 
 the death of himself, of his apostles, and of the martyrs, naturally 
 attracted their serious remembrance; and as superstition in- 
 vaded the church, began to be considered holy, and entitled to 
 veneration, 2 
 
 Socrates the historian, describing various practices with regard 
 to fasting, says, " Because none can bring forth any written 
 commandment of tliis matter, it is plain that the apostles left it 
 free to every man^s mind and will, that none might be com- 
 pelled by fear and necessity."^ 
 
 "Not barely the observance of Jewish feasts," observes 
 Neander, " but all forms and modes of particularising the 
 Christian life by reference to certain times, are reprobated by 
 the Apostle Paul as a Jewish practice, a descent from the pure 
 Christian elevation to servile dependence on the elements of 
 the world." 
 
 Irenaeus, about the year 195, writing to Victor of the diversity 
 of days and fastings, remarks " Notwithstanding all this variety, 
 
 1 Acts and Mon. vol. i. ^ Mosheim, first cent. iv. 4. 
 
 3 Eccles. Hist. lib. i. sect. 1. 
 
Sect. 14.] DISPUTES 0\ OBSKRVINO " EASTEK." 623 
 
 they kept peace among themselves, and mc keoi) it still, and this 
 difference ainonj^ ns connnendeth more the concord of faith. "i 
 Tims the doctrine of Christian liberty remained sound in the 
 chureh to that time. 
 
 The western Christians, ])lcading; the examples of tlic apostles 
 Paul and Peter, kept the paschal feast on the first day of the 
 week ne.vt the anniversary of Christ's resurrection, or " Easter- 
 day '," while the oriental cluirches, assertinjjj the authority of the 
 apostle John, observed the day of the ancient Jewish passovcr, 
 or Lord's supper, being the fourteenth day of the first Jewish 
 month, in whatever part of the week it fell. Violent conten- 
 tions, increased by mutual jealousies, ensued on this and other 
 accounts, and were protracted through several centuries." Victor, 
 Bishop of Rome in 290, excommunicated the churches of Asia 
 Elinor, on account of this dispute .ibout the time of celebrating 
 Easter. The Council of Nice, in S^o, partially settled the 
 controversy, by determining that the feast should be observed 
 according to the Roman practice. At some periods, this single 
 question, unimportant as it may now appear, excited apparently 
 more e.imestuess and zeal than all other religious matters 
 together. At length these dissensions broke forth into a total 
 separation between the two churches, Avhich has never since 
 been healed.^ 
 
 In the fourth century, the first day of the week, which had 
 been nnich neglected, was, at the command of Constantino, 
 kept with greater solemnity.* Five festivals were generally cele- 
 brated, in commemoration of the chief events recorded in the 
 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. 
 
 ' Neander, vol. i. > Mosheim's Hist., 2nd cent. iv. 9, &c. 
 
 * The Calendar was reformed by Julius C'ii'sar, A.U.C. 707, in order to 
 correct the discrepancies which had gra<lually crept in, lietween the natural 
 and the comi)uted year. It was again refornieil by Pope Gregory XIII. iu 
 1582, and his computation Ijeing ai)proved by men of science, has been 
 generally followed by Roman catholics and more slowly by protestants. 
 It was not adopted in Great Britain till 1752. "Eleven days, from 
 September 3rd to SeptemlK-r 14th, were omitted, and the year, instead of 
 beginning on tlie 25th of March, w.'is aj)]>ointed to begin f>n January 1st." 
 The nations connected with the Greek church still olwerve, Imwever, the 
 old perio<l for commencing the year, ami this variation yet exists between 
 the Riussian and the other EiirojKjan calendars. Easter, so called from 
 a Teutonic heathen goddess, to whom saorificea had Iwen offere«l at that 
 season, continues to l>c a chief festival of the Anglican, Romish and Greek 
 churches. 
 
524 INCREASE OF FASTS AXD FESTIVALS. [Ckop. 34. 
 
 New Testament ; ^iz.^ the birth^ death, resuiTection, and ascen- 
 sion of Christ, and the effusion of the Holy Ghost or Pentecost. 
 The gradual addition of many other holy days, occasioned by 
 the pretended discoveries of the remains of martyrs, so far 
 from tending to an increase of devotion, produced an entirely 
 opposite effect. Instead of being employed in pious exercises, 
 they were largely devoted, even in early times, to indolence, 
 voluptuousness and criminal pursuits ; so that in the fifth 
 century it became necessary to suppress the Agapa or feasts 
 of charity, at which the bread and wine were partaken of, on 
 account of the many abuses attending them in the rapid decline 
 of religion and morality.^ 
 
 In the fourth century Aerius of Pontus, a spiritually-minded 
 man, although an ascetic, objected to the confining of fasts to 
 set times ; maintaining that they ought to be observed Avith 
 freedom, according to the spirit of the gospel, and the incHna- 
 tion and necessities of each individual. He found fault with 
 the ordinances of the church, for having substituted the yoke 
 of Jewish bondage to the law, in the place of gospel liberty.^ 
 Chrysostom also maintained that the Christian principle of 
 celebrating festivals was not necessarily restricted to certain 
 times, but embraced the whole life grounded in faith.^ 
 
 Fasting, though much less rigidly observed than during the 
 first inroads of declension, was long regarded as an effectual 
 method of repelling the power of the evil one ; and numerous 
 were the times appointed for the people to practise it. On fast 
 days, they offered prayer while kneeling ; but at festivals, and 
 on the first day of the week, in a standing posture, to signify 
 rejoicing, the face being always turned to the east. 
 
 " Churches" in incredible numbers were erected in the sixth 
 century, and many festivals were instituted in honour of saints, 
 each having a solemn anniversary. These and other outward 
 observances are said to have been adopted with a riew to con- 
 ciliate and gratify the heathen. In the seventh and eighth 
 centuries, almost every pope added some new rite or festival, 
 and it became an essential proof of holy zeal to divert the 
 multitude with novel spectacles of devout mummery. Religion 
 consisted almost entirely in a motley round of external per- 
 formances, especially on the often-recurring holidays in honour 
 
 ' Mosheim's Hist., &c. ^ Neander, vol. ii. 343. 
 
 ^ Neander, vol. ii. 
 
Sect. 14,] ILL EFFECTS OF MULTIPLIED HOLIDAY^ ^ 525 
 
 of the saints and martyrs. Successive centuries wi 
 rapid multiplieiitiou of foolish superstitions, to the great injury 
 even of tlie temporal interests of the connnunity. The EmixTor 
 Charlemagne, in 7'J 1, found it needful to direct that no new 
 saints should be ^vorshipped, and that no chapels should be 
 erected to their memory on the public highways/ 
 
 Prince Ilacon of Norway, apparently a sincere and devout 
 man, attempted in the tenth century to plant the Christian 
 church in that country, but by decreeing a large number of days 
 to be observed as fasts, and devoted to the exercises of religion, 
 as well as by other intemperate regulations, he excited a violent 
 opposition from his people, and failed of success.' 
 
 The schism, which had long existed between the Greek and 
 Latin churches, continued gradually to increase and ended in a 
 complete separation about 1050; the supremacy of the en)peror 
 being mjuntained in tbe one, and that of the pope in the other. 
 Each was as intolerant of the other, as tlie Latins were of " the 
 heretics."^ 
 
 A council held at Oxford in 1222 enacted that, among other 
 festivals, should be observed within each parish, the day of 
 dedication of the church to " its patron saint." This celebration 
 is often noticed, and is thought to have been the origin of local 
 fairs, feasts, revels and wakes, which are still continued, and 
 which, down to the thirteenth century, were generjUly held in 
 churchyards,* being a gross degeneracy from a professedly 
 religious original. From many Humanists the image of the 
 patron saint even now receives more reverence than that of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 In the thirteenth century, the celebration of a jubilee was 
 enacted at Rome by Boniface VIIL, with the utmost profusion of 
 pomp and magnificence ; and it was solemnly decreed that, in 
 every hundredth year, those who should confess their sins, visit 
 Rome and do penance, should obtain thereby entire forgiveness. 
 His successors, finding the experiment answer well in a j>ecuniary 
 sense, determined to repeat it more frecpiently, and ordained 
 that the jubilee should be celebrated, at first every fiftieth, and 
 afterwards every twenty-fifth year. 
 
 Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1350, enjoined both min- 
 isters and people to pursue their bodily labours, under pain of 
 
 I Neaniler, vol. iii. ' Wadilinj^ion's History. 
 
 Burn'a Eccka. Law.- CLurcli. ♦ Fox's Acta and Mou. vol. i. 
 
526 APPOINTMENT OF HOLY AND FAST DAYS. [Chap. 34. 
 
 excommunication, on certain saints' days, which were " wont to 
 be consecrated to unthrifty idleness/^^ 
 
 About the time of Wickliffe, religion was deemed to con- 
 sist in the observance of days, meats, garments, and such hke 
 circumstances. Times were so observed, that the hoHness of the 
 whole year seemed to be transported and put off to the season 
 of Lent.^ At the time of the Reformation, the number of holy 
 days and festivals was much diminished in Protestant countries. 
 By an Act of Edward YI. (5 and 6, c. 3,) " all Sundays,'' 
 and twenty-seven other specified days, are enjoined to be kept 
 holy, and none besides. Two others were added by the rubric. 
 Another act of the same reign and the rubric direct the follow- 
 ing to be "days of fasting, and abstinence from all manner 
 of flesh: 1. The forty days of Lent. 2. The Ember days at 
 the four seasons, being the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 
 after the first Sunday in Lent, the Feast of Pentecost, September 
 the 14th, and December the 13th. 3. The three Rogation days, 
 being the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Holy 
 Thursday, or the ascension of our Lord. 4. All the Fridays 
 in the year except Christmas day." These fasts were confirmed 
 by various acts of Queen Ehzabeth, and a penalty of twenty 
 shillings, or oile month's close imprisonment, was decreed for 
 non-observance. The curate is still ordered by the rubric to give 
 public notice, after reading the Nicene creed, what holidays or 
 fasting days are to be observed in the week following. Four 
 days of political notoriety are also to be for ever kept holy, viz. 
 " The gunpowder treason, and the landing of King William III." 
 "The martyrdom of the blessed King Charles I." "The re- 
 storation of Charles II.," and the coronation of the reigning 
 Sovereign; a special service for each being appointed to be 
 used.3 Such appears to be the canon law of England to the 
 present time ! Is it always to remain so ? 
 
 One of the articles of a Scotch ecclesiastical assembly, held at 
 Perth in 1617, related to the observance of five great holidays, 
 and was the cause of much contention. It was objected that 
 those relating to Jewish events were revivals of the ceremonial 
 law of the Jews ; and that the anniversary days of the birth 
 and crucifixion of Christ were no more consecrated by those 
 events, than was the form of the manger in which he was born, 
 
 ' Neauder, vol. iii. ^ Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. 
 
 ^ Bum's Eccles. Law. ■■ Mosheim's Fourteenth Centmy. 
 
Sect. 11.] EXTRAORDINARY AND AlJSlKI) TESTIVALS. 527 
 
 &c., and that such as kept those days came under the charj^e 
 of " obscrviiij^ days, and montlis, and times, and years," — a 
 practice viewed with much apprehension by the apostle PaulJ 
 
 The Duhobortzi of llussia, ah'cady noticed under other 
 lieadsj account every ph\ee and time ahke holy, and use great 
 simplicity in performing Divine worship. " Fasting," they say, 
 " consists in abstinence, not from food, but from gluttony and 
 other vices ; in purity, temperance, humility and meekness." * 
 
 It cannot be doubted that true religion has suffered deep 
 injury from the absurd multiplication of fasts and festivals, 
 which has produced a practice, especially on the Continent of 
 Europe, among both catholics and protcstants, to have only wluit 
 is termed a " morning service," not only on each holiday, but 
 also on the first day of the week, the rest of it being given up 
 to amusement or recreation. Although every day is in itself 
 equally holy, yet this neglect is deeply to be lamented, as well 
 as the opposite extreme, and is the natural consequence of it. 
 The devout observance of the first day, and two or three attend- 
 ances at divine worshi]) in every week, are surely a veiy reason- 
 able duty to be expected from every sincere, reflecting Christian ! 
 
 Extraordinary festivals and instances of religious profanation 
 took place occasionally' in the Ilomish church ; one of which was 
 observed at Beauvais near Paris, in the following manner. " A 
 young woman, the handsomest in the town, was selected, placed 
 to ride on an ass richly harnessed, with an infant in her arms, 
 both gaily dressed. The bishop and clergy following her, the 
 whole formed a procession from the cathedral to the church 
 of St. Steven. All having entered it, she placed herself near 
 the altar, and then celebrated mass ; explaining at the same time 
 the fine qualities of the auim.il, and exhorting him to make a 
 devout genuflexion, with a variety of other fooleries." * 
 
 Absurd and profane festivals, under the name of " the feasts 
 of fools," were regularly celebrated, from the fifth to the six- 
 teenth centun*', in several countries of Europe, by both clergy 
 and laity ; presenting a strange spectacle in the ridiculous mix- 
 ture of religious and foolish ceremonies. They arc said to have 
 been instituted in imitation of the Saturnalia or heathen festiv.als, 
 lasting for some weeks from the beginning of each year. At first, 
 only tlie boys of the choir and young sacristans played tlie 
 
 ' ^I'Ci-ie's Scottish CTuircli History. » Pinkerton's Greek Cliurch. 
 ' Bni'k's Tlicologicil Dictionary. 
 
528 PROFANE OBSERVANCES : HOLY WATER^ &C. [Chap. 34. 
 
 principal part in them ; but afterwards^ all the inferior servants 
 of the church, while the bishop or highest clergyman of the 
 place, with the canons, formed the audience. The young people 
 chose from among themselves a bishop, or archbishop of fools, as 
 he was called, and consecrated him with many ridiculous cere- 
 monies, in the principal church of the place. He then took the 
 usual seat of the bishop, and caused high mass to be said, unless 
 he preferred to read it himself, and to give the people his blessing. 
 During this time, the rest of the performers, dressed in various 
 masks and disguises, engaged in licentious songs and dances, and 
 practised all possible follies in the church. These incongruous 
 practices, eminently calculated to convert religious observances 
 into impious buffoonery, to throw contempt upon sacred things, 
 and to foster a spirit of infidelity, Avere condemned by popes and 
 councils, and forbidden in 1414 by the Parisian college of the 
 Sorbonne ; but they continued to be stoutly defended, and were 
 kept up till the time of the Reformation.^ 
 
 Section 15. — On the Hallowing or Conjuring of Water, &c., 
 the Consecration of Buildings, Ground, ^c. 
 
 A disregard of these matters, trivial as some of them may now 
 appear to most protestants, was formerly deemed a sufficient 
 proof of heresy, and treated by the ruling powers as a capital 
 offence. In the Greek and Romish churches they are still 
 strictly observed ; some reformed bodies retain them, and as of 
 late years a strangely degenerate inclination has been evinced 
 by a party in the Anglican chui-ch to esteem and re\ive them, 
 some notice of the subject may not be out of season. It is also 
 closely connected with that of water baptism and the supper. 
 
 Under the dispensation of the Levitical law, outward modes 
 of purification were sanctioned by Divine authority; various 
 washings, baptisms, sprinklings, separations and anointings 
 were used for legal purgation ; and were, with the other cere- 
 monies of that typical system, tokens of corresponding spiritual 
 operations in the gospel day. 
 
 Whatever some have absurdly alleged in favoiu- of holy water, 
 from the spittle and the clay used by om- Savioiu" in opening 
 the eyes of the blind man, it is evident that neither our Lord's 
 example nor precepts, nor those of his Apostles, furnish any 
 reasonable ground for such a notion. Under the pure and 
 1 Buck's Theological Dictionary. 
 
Sect. 1-i.] HOLY AVATEU, &c. 529 
 
 spiritual dispensation of Christ, holiness is not an attribute of 
 insensi])le things and places, but of moral agents alone, viz., of 
 the Pivinc Being, and of those who love and serve Him, being 
 cleansed by tlie sanctifying operations of liis Holy Spirit on the 
 heart, and knowing their sins to be forgiven for Christ's sake. 
 
 The use of that which was termed holy water was introduced 
 very early into the Christian ciuirch, and atlbrds one amoiiir 
 many palpable proofs, how soon ignorant superstitions and vain 
 ])raetices made an inroad on Christian simplicity and truth ; 
 and how little reliance is to be placed on any principle or 
 observance whatever, merely on account of its antiquity, unless 
 it is clearly dednciblc from the authority of the New Testament. 
 The speedy operation of the apostacy, of which the Apostle said 
 even in his day, " the mystery of iniquity doth already work,''^ 
 obliges the inquiring Christian to distrust everything which has 
 not in the sacred page an evident authority for its permanence. 
 
 In times of early superstition, holy water was on special occa- 
 sions "sprinkled at the church-door on those who entered." Fox 
 remarks that he will not assert that it sprang from the idolatrous 
 usage of the gentiles ; yet that it was an old custom among the 
 Ivomans, that the priest stood at the entrance of the temple, and 
 having in his hand olive branches that had been dipped in 
 water, sprinkled with them such as went in. The use of holy 
 water, he says, so resembles this custom, that it appears to have 
 proceeded from it.^ Dr. C. !Middleton, writing from Kome in 
 1825, remarks, "The ceremony of sprinkling jjcrsons with holy 
 water is so notoriously borrowed from paganism, that the 
 catholic writers make not the least scruple to own it."^ 
 
 In the fourth century, vessels of water were placed at the 
 doors of the churches, that those who entered might wash their 
 hands — a practice that had its origin from siniil.'ir usages among 
 the ancient Israelites and llomans. It was connected with 
 the exorcisms introduced in the second or third century, and 
 formed, with crossings and other actions, part of those mystic 
 operations. 
 
 The awful form used in the Romi.sh church, for hallowing or 
 conjuring water, is thus given by Fox, "I conjure thee, thou 
 creature of Mater, in the name of (iod the Fatlier Almighty, 
 and in the name of Jesus Christ his Son our Lord, and in the 
 
 1 2 The33. ii. 7. ' Acta and Mon. vol. iii. •"' See his Free Enquiry, &c. 
 
 2 M 
 
530 CONJURING OF WATER, &c. [Chap. 34. 
 
 virtue of the Holy Ghost, that thou become a conjured water, 
 to expel all power of the enemy," &c.^ The priest then crossed 
 himself three times. Salt was conjured in the same way, with a 
 prayer to the Almighty that He would bless and make it holy, 
 concluding thus : " That it may be to all them that receive it 
 health of both body and soul ! " Can we be surprised that the term 
 "conjurer" has become used to imply grossly deceptive agency ? 
 
 An ancient decree prescribes the use of holy water in these 
 terms : " We bless water, mixed with salt and sprinkled among 
 the people, that all sprinkled therewith may be sanctified and 
 purified; which things we command all priests to do. For 
 if the ashes of the heifer, being sprinkled upon the people, 
 did sanctify and cleanse them, much more doth water, 
 sprinkled with salt and hallowed with godly prayers, sanctify 
 and cleanse."^ 
 
 Water used in the ceremony of baptism was previously con- 
 secrated by the priest, with prayer and the sign of the cross, 
 and this was deemed indispensable. It was then considered to 
 be endued with the virtue of the Holy Ghost, and of the cleans- 
 ing blood of the Saviour. Hence Jerome, Nazianzen, and other 
 fathers as they are termed, maintained that the recipients of 
 baptism were " washed in the laver of regeneration," and 
 " dipped in the blood of Christ."^ The Church of England also 
 alludes, in the baptismal ofiice, to the baptism of Christ in Jordan, 
 as having "sanctified water, to the mystical washing away of 
 sin.^' And a prayer follows, on every occasion of sprinkling an 
 infant, that the same eff'ect may be produced. That which is 
 called "the consecration of the elements" in the eucharist is 
 a somewhat similar rite, but applied to the bread and wine, 
 apparently with greater professed effects.* In fact, all such 
 hallowings and consecrations suppose a power in man to give 
 hoHness and moral virtue to physical, inanimate objects; and 
 though sanctioned and enjoined under " the law of command- 
 
 i Fox's Acts and Mon. iii. 10. 2 Ibid. 
 
 ' BLngham's Christian Antiquities, xvi. 10 — 4. 
 ■■ ■* In the accounts of the last passover supper, of which our Lord partook 
 with his disciples, both the Greek words used by the evangelists, and trans- 
 lated " blessed," may be and sometimes are rendered " gave thanks." Many 
 eminent wi-iters assert that this is the true sense here, and that no " blessing 
 of the elements " took place. From thence is derived the term " Eucharist," 
 or giving of thanks. — Matt. xxvi. 26 ; Luke xxii. 19, &c. 
 
Sect. 15.] modi: uk kxoiuisinc. 531 
 
 ments contained in ordinances," tlicrc is good jj;ronnd to believe 
 that they are tultilled and were repealed by llini, who "blotted 
 out the handwriting of ordinances, nading it to his cross."' 
 
 Flowers and branches, wax tapers, and many other articles 
 used in devotional rites, are still professed to be hallowed by 
 lornis which may be seen in the Roman INIissal. The Catholics 
 often sprinkle themselves with holy water, in their churches and 
 chambers, by way of purgation before they engage in prayer. 
 At Rome, Moscow and otlier places animals are sprinkled witli 
 it once in the year, to keep them healthy, frequently amid shouts 
 and jests of buft'oonery. With it the Russians profess to con- 
 secrate their dwelling houses, and almost every article of furni- 
 ture. This is indeed one great business of the priests in the 
 superstitious Greek church. The water is blessed by casting a 
 cross into it, or by holding a cross over it. 
 
 The Roman ritual (like that of the Anglican in the seventy- 
 second canon) forbids the exorcising of any person without the 
 bishop's leave. The following is an account of the process of ex- 
 orcism, as observed in the Romish Church. "The ceremony is 
 performed at the lower end of the church, towards the door. The 
 exorcist first signs the possessed person ^vith the sign of the cross, 
 makes him kneel, and sprinkles him with holy water. Then 
 follow litanies, psalms and prayers ; after which the exorcist asks 
 the demon his name, and adjures him, by the mysteries of the 
 Clu'istian religion, not to afflict the person any more. Then 
 laWng his right hand on the demoniac's head, he repeats the 
 form of exorcism, riz. ' I exorcise thee, unclean spirit, in the 
 name of Jesus Christ ; tremble, oh Satan ! thou enemy of the 
 faith, thou foe of mankind, who broughtest death into the 
 world, who hast deprived man of life, and hast rebelled against 
 justice ; thou seducer of mankind, thou root of all evil, thou 
 source of avarice, discord and envy !' " The form of exorcism, 
 for houses and other places supposed to be haunted by unclean 
 spirits, is much the same with that for a person possessed.* 
 
 How applicable are the words iiscd by Paul on a different 
 occasion, " Let it not be once named among you."* These prac- 
 tices however, and others equally unchristian and absurd, found 
 way, aiul gradually acquired a strong hold among professing 
 Christians, (hiring the dark ages of apostacy, and even to this 
 ' Colos. ii. 1 I • Biu-k's Tlioological Diet. — Exorcisms. ' Kpli. v. 3. 
 
 2 .M 2 
 
532 HOLY OINTMENT. [Chap. 34. 
 
 day they are by no means wholly rejected. The recital of many 
 of them at length would he only painful and disgusting. Their 
 principle was clearly derived from the notion of magic and 
 supernatural secret influence, which obtained large credit in the 
 heathen world. Thus the honour due to Christ and to his Holy 
 Spirit was given to the priests, to their performances, and to the 
 various articles on which they pretended to confer miraculous 
 sanctity ! 
 
 Two results of these practices especially contributed to uphold 
 them. The one was, that they obtained from the ignorant credu- 
 lous multitude, a superstitious regard and veneration for the per- 
 formers; and the other was, that, as means of filling their pockets, 
 such pretended conjurations were extremely convenient. 
 
 Holy ointment also, prepared and blessed by the priest, was used 
 in many cases for sacred pui'poses. Some judgment of the effect 
 believed to be produced by this process, may be formed from 
 the words of Cyril. " Beware that you take not this ointment 
 to be bare ointment; for as the bread in the eucharist, after the 
 invocation of the Holy Spirit, is not mere bread, but the body of 
 Chi'ist, so this holy ointment after invocation is not bare or 
 common ointment, but it is a gift of God, that makes Christ 
 and the Holy Spii'it to be present in the action.^'i Great 
 mystery was maintained respecting all these matters, as Basil 
 remarks. " Baptism, the eucharist and the oil of chrism were 
 things that the uninitiated were not allowed to look upon.'^" Do 
 not all these ceremonials stand more on the same groimd than 
 is usually supposed ? 
 
 The papists consider the ceremony of extreme unction en- 
 titled to the dignity of a sacrament. The laity are anointed on 
 the palm of the hand, but priests on the back, because their palms 
 are supposed to have been already consecrated by ordination. 
 The oil, with which the sick person is anointed, is said to repre- 
 sent that di^dne gi'ace, which is at the same time poured into the 
 soul. The form thus expresses the remission of sins granted to 
 the sick ; " By this holy unction, and his own most pious 
 mercy, the Almighty God forgive thee whatever sins thou hast 
 commited by the sight (when the eyes are anointed), by the 
 hearing" (when the ears are anointed), and so on. Even some 
 of the reformed churches retain most objectionable language in 
 ' Bingham's Christ. Antiq. xi. 10 — 4. ^ Ibid. x. 5 — 4. 
 
Sect. 15.] CONSECRATION OF PLACES OF WOllSUIP. 533 
 
 this rite. In early times it was supplicatory, it is now decla- 
 ratory. The ointment used by the Greek church in Russia, for 
 the chrism or contirmatioUj is composed of more than twenty 
 ingredients, and is consecrated annually by the bishop with 
 great solemnity. 
 
 The temples were accustomed to be hallowed among the 
 ancient Romans. It was carefully provided that, in every new 
 temple, one of the priests, solemnly holdinj:: a pillar of it by 
 his hand, should make the dedication to the particular divinity 
 intended. From hence and from the Jews the practice was 
 introduced among Christians.' The places for divine worship 
 used by the early believers were thoroughly plain and simple ; 
 the men and women occupying distinct parts. After persecu- 
 tion had ceased, and multitudes of converts had forsaken the 
 heathen temples, many of these, under favour of Constantine 
 and others, were converted into churches; and noble fabrics 
 richly adorned were erected in the cities in honour of Christ : 
 pictures and images quickly followed. The " consecration " 
 of buildings for Christian worship is said by some authors 
 to have been first decreed by Euginus, about 154, who was 
 also the first that styled himself pope. The altars of the 
 gods became altars of the saints ; the images and statues were 
 newly named, the curtains, tapers, incense, votive tablets, and 
 the vessels for holy water, &c. remfiined the same.- The reh- 
 gion was a sort of modified heathenism or nominal Christianity. 
 " Churches" were built over the tombs of martyrs, and fre- 
 quented only at stated rare periods ; others were set apart for 
 the usual religious assemblies. Both kinds were consecrated 
 to reputed saints with great splendour, and with peculiar rites 
 borrowed chicHy from those of the heathen priests. The early 
 British used very humble erections for divine worship, till 
 Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury about 670, urged them to 
 erect substantial edifices, and introduced chanting with other 
 Romish novelties.' 
 
 It was about the fourth century, as Francis Close asserts in 
 a treatise on the subject, that " church architecture arose and 
 flourished. As yet, however, churches were not built in the 
 
 ' See Cicero, in oratione pro domo suft ; also 2 Kings xi. 14. 
 ■'* Binph.im's Christ. Antiq. xi. 10—4. 
 Pictorial History. 
 
534 MODES OP ERECTION. — CONSECRATION. [Chap. 34. 
 
 form of a cross. The distinction of chancel and nave^ and the 
 separation of one part of the congregation from another, were 
 unknown ; there is no trace till then of the consecration of 
 churches; the extravagant notions about holy places had not 
 become prevalent. No notice appears of any particular aspect, 
 and the virtue attributed to building them east and west had not 
 yet been discovered." The chancel or eastern part, in confor- 
 mity with heathen notions, is deemed the most sacred, the com- 
 munion table or altar being always placed in it, and the nave 
 being the body or centre of the edifice. The incumbent or lay 
 impropriator is in many parishes liable to repair the chancel. 
 The choir, or elevated part now used for singers, Avas formerly 
 occupied also by the minister, for a portion of the service in paro- 
 chial worship. This is now the case only in cathedrals. The rood 
 loft, used to set up relics or images for public veneration, was 
 another raised part, often richly decorated. The churches them- 
 selves were at length generally built, through the prevailing 
 superstitious idea, in the shape of a cross, and in the same exact 
 position with respect to the points of the compass ; and these 
 rules are still carefully observed, even by some protestant bodies. 
 From the consecration of buildings, the priests soon went on to 
 proclaim the necessity of hallowing almost every thing in them, 
 as altars, bells, candles, books, ashes, palms, swords, banners, 
 pictures, crosses, &c., &c. 
 
 No church or burial-ground was allowed to be used, until after 
 the assignment of the house and glebe, and the performance of 
 the rite of consecration. This was, of course, to be paid for; 
 and the priests, in order to augment their revenues, not un- 
 frequently pronounced after any particular circumstance had 
 happened to afford them a plausible pretext, that the same 
 buildings had become desecrated, and that it was necessary again 
 to perform the piu-ifying, expensive process, which they termed 
 ^' reconciliation." The States of Germany complained to Pope 
 Adrian in 1533, of many grievances, by which the people suffered 
 from the covetous priests. One of these was, that after ground 
 had been consecrated, and used as a place of burial for many 
 years, if any accident, quarrel, or other outbreak occurred in it, 
 the spell of consecration was pretended to be broken, and to 
 require repetition, before the place could be used again by 
 Christian people. This was a sore oppression, manifestly prac- 
 
Sect. 15.] PAULICIANS AND WALUENSES. 535 
 
 tised with muuy others, for the purpose of repleuisliing the 
 pockets of the ecclesiastics.^ 
 
 A cauon of the British synod of Calchuith in 816, ordains 
 that the diocesan who consecrates a church shall take care that 
 the patron saint shall be pictured on tlic wall, on a tablet or 
 on the altar.* To the images of patron saints more devotions 
 are frequently paid in Roman catholic countries than to that 
 of the Saviour himself. 
 
 Baronius states that the consecration or baptism of bells, which 
 has been before referred to, began in 968, when Pope John XIII. 
 christened the great bell of the Lateran church, and named it 
 " John.'' The absurd custom was next introduced, of using 
 godfathers to the bells, and expecting responses : this last was 
 condemned in the sixteenth century as a superstitious inven- 
 tion.^ To what absurd lengths may even professing Christians 
 be deceived and corrupted ! The bells are still consecrated or 
 baptized in Italy, and only by the bishop, which implies that 
 the rite is deemed peculiarly sacred. 
 
 The Paulicians in the eighth and ninth centuries " considered 
 the confounding together of Jewish, Christian and political ele- 
 ments, to be the cause of the corruptions of the dominant church. 
 Hence," says Neander, "they carefully avoided every thing 
 that approached to a resemblance of Jewish or Pagan rites; 
 never calling their places of assembly temples, but oratories or 
 houses of prayer. In this people we see the incipient stages of a 
 reaction against the confusion of Jewish and Christian elements, 
 a reaction which spread more widely in succeeding centuries."* 
 
 The enlightened but persecuted Waldenses, about 1200, bore 
 a decided testimony " against the benedictions and hallowings 
 of creatures, and the rabl)le of other rites and ceremonies," 
 brought in by the darkness and cupidity of man. They asserted 
 that the conjuring of water and palms was a mere farce, that the 
 temple of the Lord was the wide world, and that his majesty 
 and holiness were not to be restrained within outward walls. 
 The peculiar vestments and ornaments of priests, the cor- 
 porascs, &c , they declared to be vain and useless. They were 
 well versed in the Scriptures, and endeavoured to bring all 
 doctrines and practices to the standard of the New Testament.^ 
 
 I Fox's Acts ami Mon. i liuni'M Eeclcs. I*iw — Church. ^ Enovcl. Brit. 
 * NeaiuU'r'sUwt. 3ril |)ori'"l itl) v.-t ' S..- .Jones, Mosheim, Fox, &c. 
 
536 OBJECTIONS OF REFORMERS. [Chap. 34. 
 
 The directions to the bishops of the Anglican chiu^ch for con- 
 secrating places of worship are very minute and superstitions. 
 Many of the early Reformers and martyrs objected to the empty 
 notion of holiness and reverence with which they were regarded, 
 and which seems to have originated the custom among most 
 religious bodies, of uncovering the head on entering such places. 
 The denomination of "chui'ches," given to them, though properly 
 belonging to the belieWng worshippers, tended to produce con- 
 fusion of ideas. The costliness and ornaments of the buildings 
 were also complained of, as being at variance with Christian 
 simplicity and lowliuess. This objection was probably strength- 
 ened by a knowledge, that the funds required for their erection, 
 and for the towers, bells, &c., had been obtained under false pre- 
 tences, or raised with great difficulty and pain, by the forced 
 contributions of many who toiled on in penury and hardship. 
 
 In a piece already cited, entitled "The Ploughman's Com- 
 plaint,'' and published in 1360, the author alludes to mistaken 
 views on religion, and handsome adornings of places of worship, 
 as follows : — " Lord, om' belief is that thine house is man's 
 soul, that thou madest after thine own likeness. But now men 
 make great houses of stone, full of glazed windows, and call 
 them thy houses and churches. And what worship is it, to build 
 thee a church of dead stones, and to rob thy li\dng churches of 
 their bodily livelihood ? Thou sayest in the gospel that true 
 worshippers of God worship him not in that hill beside Samaria, 
 nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit and in truth," &c., &c.^ 
 
 A modern writer asserts that, in the time of Wicliffe, about 
 1370, the people were taught to worship nothing but what 
 they saw, and saw almost nothing which they did not worship. 
 Religion consisted in externals and superficial observances. 
 Hence sprang so many sorts and fashions of haUowings, gestiu'es 
 and garments. WicliflFe asserted that the consecration of 
 churches and other kindred ceremonies had been introduced 
 only from motives of covetousness. 
 
 Walter Brute boldly declares, " In the church of Rome many 
 exorcisms and conjurations are practised, which are called by 
 the priests benedictions and consecrations. But I ask them, 
 whether they believe that the things and creatures so exorcised 
 and hallowed have that operation and efficacy given them which 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mon., vol. i. 
 
Sect. 15.] EXORCISMS AND CONSEt UATIONS CO M) KM N El). 537 
 
 they pretend ? If they so believe, every child may see that they 
 arc far beguiled. For lioly water, boin«i: of them conjured, liath 
 no such power in it as they command. Let a man behold the 
 blessing or hallowing of their fire, water, incense, bread, wine, 
 the church, tiic altar, the churchyard, ashes, &e., &c., and I 
 believe that he shall find out many errors of the heathen 
 magicians and charmers !'" 
 
 Several conclusions were exhibited to Parliament, in 1395, by 
 certain English reformers, against corruptions then prevailing 
 in the church. The fifth of these is — ''That the exorcisms and 
 hallowings, consecrations and blessings over the wine, bread, wax. 
 Mater, &c., &c., ai'c the very practices of necromancy rather 
 than of sacred divinity. If the book of exorcising or conjuring 
 of holy water, which is sprinkled in the chm*ch, were true, we 
 think certainly that holy water were the best medicine for all 
 kind of sickness and sores ; the contrary whereof experience 
 teaches us."* 
 
 About 1410 was published a small work written by John 
 (j rimes, an English Lollard, on the corruptions of the age. 
 The following is the seventh article : — " That the material 
 churches should not be sumptuously decked with gold, silver 
 and precious stones ; but that the followers of the humility of 
 Jesus Christ ought to worship their Lord God humbly, in mean 
 and simple houses, and not in great buildings, as the churches 
 be now-a-days.' About this time there was a great revival of 
 Greek and Roman architecture, without a corresponding in- 
 crease of religion. " Rivalry gave an impulse to the building 
 of gorgeous structures, where each order vied with its antago- 
 nist in rich mosaic, glittering relievo, and frescoed walls. But 
 who paid for all these ? The patrimony of orphans, swindled 
 from the lawful heirs by the conveyancers of the confessional 
 or of the dying pillow. Splendid cloisters were the price of 
 blood and the atonement of assassination. Every crime had its 
 tarifl' in masses or masonary. Lucky is the land, if the beggar 
 does not change his whine for the bluster of the bandit, when, 
 by successful mananivring, he has got a legal transfer of the 
 living man's property or the dying man's inheritance."' Woe 
 be to the shameless impudence and avarice thus keenly rebuked! 
 
 Pope Martin, about 1 140, ordered that all suspected persons 
 ' Fux's Act8 and Mon., vol. i. ' Il»i<l. ^ ji,i(|. * Gavazzi. 
 
538 TYNDALj LUTHER^ &c. [Chap. 34. 
 
 should be closely examined on a variety of opinions, attributed 
 to Jolm Huss and Jerome of Prague. The fifteenth of these was — 
 " Whether a man contemning purposely the rites of the church, 
 and the ceremonies of exorcism, of catechism, and the consecra- 
 tion of the water of baptism, be in deadly sin or not ? " From 
 hence it may be gathered that he esteemed it a deadly sin to 
 disregard these ceremonies, and that such a disregard of them 
 was a general characteristic of reformers. ^ 
 
 Tyndal testified that the ceremonies of the church had 
 " brought the world from God, by an outward show, glorious 
 appearance and shining of hypocrisy ; by feigned and usurped 
 fasting, prajdng, watching, singing, ofi"ering, sacrificing, hallow- 
 ing of superstitious ceremonies, monstrous disguising, &c. &c. — 
 Churches," said he, " are for preaching only, and not as they be 
 used now. Christ, taking away the law, to make us free and at 
 liberty, did most of all suppress and disannul the outward 
 observances, which consisted in persons, places, garments, 
 meats, days and such others, so that their use should be to all 
 men most indifferent. The temple of God is not stones and 
 wood, neither was any house called his temple, and used as such 
 for Christian worship in the time of Paul." ^ The majority of the 
 reformers boldly avowed that the consecrations by the priests 
 were utterly vain and worthless — mere shallow fictions, to obtain 
 for themselves money and estimation from the ignorant people. 
 Surely such deceptive practices ought to be entirely abolished ! 
 
 Well would it have been if Luther had swept his house clean 
 from the popish ceremonies and notions, and not given the 
 sanction of his name to many absurd, unscriptural observances, 
 which have troubled his chui'ch and obscured its lustre, render- 
 ing it " little more than a half-way house from popery to pro- 
 testantism." And this remark applies not to Lutheranism alone ! 
 
 In Gardiner's letter to Ridley, 1545, pleading for the use of 
 images and holy water, he expresses himself very superstitiously 
 and at great length. " Now," says he, " I will speak somewhat 
 of holy water, on which T send you a chapter in the history 
 Tripartite, where Marcellus the bishop bade Equitius his deacon, 
 in the fourth century, to cast abroad water which had been 
 hallowed by him, to drive away the devil ; and it is noted how 
 the devil could not abide the rirtue of the water, but vanished 
 ' Fox's Acts and Mou. vol. i. ^ Tyudal's Wicked Mammou. 
 
Sect. 15.] UEFORMERS ON HALLOW I NG8. 589 
 
 away; and for my part it secracth the history may be true, " &c. 
 &c. What Ridley replied to tliis docs not appear, bnt we may be 
 M'ell assnred that he dissented from these idle fictions.^ 
 
 Thomas Hawkes of Essex, already referred to for his senti- 
 ments on baptism, being examined by Bishop Bonner, was asked 
 " Will yon have no ceremonies in the chnrch — not one ? What 
 say yon to holy water?" Ilawkes. — "I say to it as to the rest, 
 and to all that be of the making of him that made them." 
 Bonner. — "Why, the Scriptnrcs do allow it." Hawkes. — 
 " Where prove you that ? " Bonner. — " In the Book of Kings, 
 where Elizeus threw salt into the water." Hawkes. — " Ye say 
 truth. The water being corrupted, Elizeus threw salt into it, 
 and it became sweet and good ; and so when our waters be cor- 
 rupted, if ye can, by putting in salt, make them sweet, clear 
 and wholesome, we will the better believe your ceremonies." 
 Jionncr. — " How say you to holy bread ? " Hawkes. — "Even 
 as I said to the other," &c. &c.- Robert Smith also, on his ex- 
 amination ])y Bonner, was asked, " What say you to holy bread 
 and holy water, to the sacrament of anointing, and to the rest 
 of such ceremonies in the church ? " To which he boldly 
 replied, " I say they ])c baubles for fools to play ^^'ith, and not 
 for the children of God to exercise themselves in : therefore 
 they may go among the refuse!" The papists were very furious 
 against him ; and, as he terms it, " baited" him again and again 
 before his execution.^ For the avowal of such decided senti- 
 ments, these and many other enlightened and excellent men 
 sacrificed their lives. 
 
 George Fox, about a hundred years after, thus describes the 
 purposes of his own call and that of the early Friends. " I was to 
 bring people off from the world's vain religions, that they might 
 know the pure religion, visit the fatherless, the widows, and the 
 strangers, and keep themselves from the spots of the world; then 
 there would not be so many beggars, the sight of whom often 
 grieved me, denoting so much liard heartcdness among Christian 
 professors. I was to bring them oil' from the world's fellowships, 
 prayings and singings, in forms without power, that their fellow- 
 ship might be in the Holy Ghost; from Jewish ceremonies, 
 from heatiienish fables, from men's inventions aiul worldly 
 doctrines, by which they [tunied] the people about this way 
 ' Fox's Acts aii'l Moii, - Ihi.l. ' Il.i.l. vol. iii. 
 
540 GEORGE FOX STATES HIS CALL. [Chap. 34. 
 
 and the other way, from sect to sect ; from all their beggarly- 
 rudiments ; from their schools and colleges for making ministers; 
 from images and crosses, and sprinkling of infants ; from their 
 holy daj^s and vain traditions, gotten up since the Apostles' days. 
 In the authority of the Lord's power, I had to declare against 
 them all, and against all that preached not freely, being such 
 as had not received freely from Christ."^ His views on these 
 and other points were very clear and scriptural, and were main- 
 tained with great plainness and boldness, many uniting in them. 
 
 On the subject of places for divine worship, Milton says, " not- 
 withstanding the gaudy superstition of some, still devoted 
 ignorautly to temples, we may be well assured that he, who dis- 
 dained not to be laid in a manger, disdains not to be preached 
 in a barn; and that by such meetings as these, being indeed 
 most apostolical and primitive, the people wiU in a short time 
 advance in Christian knowledge, and in reformation of life." ^ 
 
 The following account of "the consecration of St. Catherine 
 Creed Church" in London, as late as 1630, by Laud, afterwards 
 Archbishop, may be sufl&cient to show the monstrous supersti- 
 tion, and even blasphemy, which accompanied such ceremonies. 
 " It was enough,'' as has been observed, " to have made even a 
 Popish cardinal blush ; and no protestant can read the account 
 without indignant concern." It took place too merely after 
 the building had been repaii'ed, and was not a solitary instance. 
 " The bishop came, attended with several commissioners and 
 civilians. At his approach to the west door of the chiu'ch, 
 which was shut and guarded by halberdiers, some that were 
 appointed for that purpose cried with a loud voice, ' Open, open, 
 ye everlasting doors, that the king of glory may come in ! ' The 
 doors being opened, the bishop with some principal men entered. 
 Immediately he fell down on his knees, and with his eyes lifted 
 up, and his arms spread abroad, he said, ' Tliis place is holy, 
 the ground is holy ; in the name of the Father, Son and Holy 
 Ghost, I pronounce it holy.' Then walking up the middle aisle, 
 he took up some of the dust, and tlii'ew it into the air. On 
 approaching the communion table, lie bowed towards it five 
 or six times, and returning went round the church with his 
 attendants in procession, saying first the hundredth and next 
 the nineteenth psalm, as prescribed in the Roman pontifical. 
 
 ' See his Journal, year 1648. ^ Cousideratious on Hirelings. 
 
Sect. 15.] laud's superstitious consecration. nil 
 
 He then read several collects, praying God to accept that beau- 
 tiful building; and concluding thus — ' AVc cousccratc this 
 church, and separate it unto thee as holy ground, not to he 
 profaned any more to common use.' In another collect he 
 prayed that al/, who should thereafter be buried within the 
 circuit of that holy place, might rest in their sepulchres in peace 
 till Christ's coming to judgment, and then rise to eternal life 
 and happiness. Then sitting under a cloth of state, he took 
 a written book, and pronounced curses on those who should 
 profane that holy place, by musters of soldiers, or keeping pro- 
 fane law courts, or carrying burdens through it, &c., &c. ; and 
 at the end of every curse he bowed to the east, and said ' Let 
 all the people say amen.' Having ended about twenty curses, 
 he pronounced a like number of blessings on all tliat had had 
 any hand in the building, and on those that had given or should 
 give charities, plate, ornaments or otiicr utensils ; at the end of 
 every blessing bowing and saying as before. Next came the 
 sermon, and then the sacrament as follows. In approaching tlie 
 altar he made five or six low bows, and coming up to the side 
 where the bread and wine were covered, he bowed seven times. 
 Then after reading many prayers, he came near tlie liread, and 
 gently raising the corner of the napkin, looked at it ; imme- 
 diately letting fall the napkin, he retreated hastily a step or two, 
 and made three low obeisances ; he then advanced, and ha^-ing 
 uncovered the bread, bowed three times as before. Next he 
 laid his hand on the cup, which was full of wine with a cover on 
 it, stepping back lie bowed three times before it ; then coming 
 near and lifting the cover, he looked into it, let down the 
 cover, retired and bowed as before. Then the elements were 
 consecrated, and the bisliop, having first received the sacrament, 
 gave it to some principal men in their surplices, hoods and 
 tippets ; after which, many prayers being said, the solemnity 
 concluded !" ^ 
 
 Happy would it have been for the true interests of the 
 Christian world, if the reformation, or the more recent changes, 
 had effected an entire abolition of such prebiunj)tuous rites. 
 Vet great as were the superstition and arrogance of the actor 
 in tlicse proceedings, it must be deeply deplored, that liis 
 
 ' Buck's Theological Dictionary. 
 
542 GREEK AND ITALIAN CHURCHES, [Chap. 34. 
 
 opponents carried their vindictive feelings so far^ as to stain 
 their hands with his blood.^ 
 
 Herschell remarks^ in reference to the consecration of churches 
 which he witnessed in Palestine, " Now I will ask any candid 
 member of the Church of England, whether this silly apeing 
 of popish ministers is expedient, [especially] in places where 
 hitherto Christianity has been seen only through the medium 
 of Romish and Greek churches ? Should not the great aim of 
 protestants be, not thus to identify themselves with popery, but 
 to show that their Christianity is something very different ? ''^ 
 
 The churches of Italy, with their embellishments, marbles, 
 jewels, gold and silver ornaments, paintings and statuary, are 
 reckoned to have cost more than the value of the fee simple of 
 the whole Italian peninsula — an enormous outlay of capital in 
 an unproductive manner, and so many evidences that superstition 
 received more attention than the true interests of the people. 
 
 " What a prodigy of art,'^ said one, " is the Church of St. 
 Peter's. It must have cost its weight in gold." " I should rather 
 
 ' Bingham states that burials were not allowed to take place in cities or 
 churches for the first three centuries, and were long after forbidden from 
 them by the emiaerors. The first step towards the practice was the build- 
 ing of churches over the gi-aves of martyrs, and bringing their relics into 
 them. The next was the allowing kings and emperors to be buried in the 
 yard or porch. In the sixth century the people began to bury in the 
 chiu-chyard, and the monarchs in the church itself. The whole matter 
 was left in the ninth century to the discretion of bishops and presbyters. 
 The consecration of cemeteries was first recognised in the sixth century. 
 Graves and burying places were esteemed sacred by both heathens and 
 Christians without consecration. The former mostly burned the body, 
 and put the ashes in an urn above ground. The Christians abhorred this 
 practice, and buried the body entire : the former conducted the funeral 
 obsequies by night, but the latter in the day. — Christian Antiquities. 
 
 Till the time of the Eeformation, the seats in places of worship were 
 generally moveable, and no property was claimed in any seat or pew ; all 
 belonging to the rector, whether impropriate or not. Of later times, par- 
 ticular families have been permitted to establish claims to certain pews, 
 as private property, and to transmit them by legal transfers ; to the incon- 
 venience of the public, and sometimes to the encouragement of inde- 
 corous behaviour. In some modern erections, the rents of pews form a 
 chief part of the income of the ministers. The provision of free seata has, 
 however, been of late years encouraged. These observations relate of 
 course to the established church. 
 
 ^ Visit to my Fatherland. 
 
 I 
 
Sect. -. Of STUDIED CHURCII-ARCHITKCTURE. 543 
 
 call it accldama, or the field of blood," said a second, " since its 
 price was not so much }2:old as blood." " Truly," replied a third, 
 " your remark is just. It was built with money derived from 
 the sale of induljjenccs sent into Germany by Leo X."' Such 
 arc the plain comments of intelli{j:ence. This evil was however 
 overruled for good, and i)roved the means of first arousing the 
 I'ighteous zeal of Luther. It must not be forgotten that full 
 remission of sins has often been held out, as a motive for assisting 
 to erect cathedrals, and other splendid ecclesiastical edifices. 
 
 " The fact must be {idmitted/' says a modern writer, " that 
 wherever extravagant attention was paid to church architecture, 
 there the most debasing superstition prevailed, and the most 
 notorious corruptions were dominant. Superstition and church 
 decoration were coeval from the beginning."" Another modern 
 author, a great admirer of architecture, observes, " I do not 
 know, as I have repeatedly stated, how far the splendour of 
 architecture or other art is compatible with the honesty and use- 
 fulness of religious service. The longer I live, the more I incline 
 to severe judgment in this matter, and the less I can trust the 
 sentiments excited by painted glass and coloured tiles. "^ 
 
 ^Much is it to be lamented that several of the dissenting bodies, 
 forsjiking the simplicity of their predecessors, are closely imitat- 
 ing the Church of England in the style and decorations of their 
 houses for divine worship. In the place of plain, moderate, 
 useful edifices, elegant structures are rising up, highly embel- 
 lished, extravagant in cost, and often sacrificing convenience to 
 splendour. Thus is the old low, coiTupt principle, altogether 
 inconsistent with the example of the lowly Jesus, re-introduced 
 and set in operation ; the vain attractions of external show 
 evincing the " earthly mind," exhausting the church funds, and 
 rivalling, it is to be feared, if not exceeding the consideration 
 due to the holy internal influences of the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 In the eastern churches, everything is designed to be sym- 
 bolical, according to a system handed down from early ages. 
 The four columns of the dome arc emblems, as is pretended, of 
 the four evangelists, as the dome itself is of heaven, to which 
 mankind have received access by means of the gospel which they 
 
 ' Dealinjjs with the Inquisition. 
 
 ■ Fmncia Close on (^uirrh Architecture. 
 
 ' Rnskin's Stonea of Venice ; Appendix. 
 
544 IMPOSTURE OF THE GREEK FIRE. [Chap. 34. 
 
 wrote. The central part^ called the sanctuary, is typical of the 
 holy of holies in the ancient temple ; and the veil is represented 
 by the curtain, which divides it from the rest of the building. 
 The Greek church is still debased by much gross superstition. 
 The blessings, consecrations, crossings and sprinklings seem to 
 be almost endless, and extend to the houses, the stables, the blos- 
 soms, the fruit, the flocks, the waters, and most other things. 
 The priests inculcate the notion, that without their blessing 
 all is unholy, and will prove unproductive. On the other hand 
 they have a solemn ser^ace once in the year for cursing the 
 
 heretics.^ 
 
 One of the most gross instances of imposition, practised 
 under colour of religion by Christian ministers in the present 
 day, is the pretended miracle of holy fire, performed annually 
 by the two Greek and Ai'minian bishops of Jerusalem, "in 
 Easter week, on the anniversary of Christ's resurrection." 
 Most travellers who visit Jerusalem, speak of this exhibition at 
 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the strongest terms of 
 reprobation. Dr. Richardson calls it " a grand quackery and 
 juggle, played oflF by a charlatan on the ignorant multitude." 
 Thousands of Greek pilgrims come from all parts, full of eager- 
 ness to witness it, and to light their torches from the sacred 
 flame, in blind confidence of thus obtaining salvation. Games 
 and sports of all kinds are celebrated, and so extreme are the 
 excitement and pressure, that many deaths occur every year ! 
 
 The priests are reproached and derided by the Latins and 
 Turks for this imposture, which is called the Grecian fire ; but 
 having continued it so long, and finding it a lucrative con- 
 trivance, they are now unwilling to avow the truth, lest the 
 people should generally forsake their church, and themselves 
 should lose the perquisites. May there be no other Christian 
 community, in which feelings akin to this fear still exist with 
 respect to any observance ! In 1841, the metropolitan of the 
 English Episcopal Church saluted the authors of this imposture 
 as " Holinesses," and addressed them in an epistle, assui-ing 
 them of " reverence and honour." Surely a primary duty 
 towards them would be to denounce this fraud ! 
 
 By most of the people of Naples, a religion without its fre- 
 quent repetition of miracles is held to be no religion at all. 
 
 ^ Kohl's Russia. 
 
Sect. 10.] CliKISTIAN CHURCHES BECAME CEREMONIAL. 5-45 
 
 Some who disbelieve these pretensions, extend their disbelief 
 luilmppily to all that is related of Christ and his apostles, and 
 iiululji:e iu immonility. Between the two classes very few if any 
 are said to be found, who embrace pure, genuine Christianity. ^ 
 
 IGth Section. — On the Commencement unci Suspension of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 Thus have been historically but briefly surveyed vai'ioua 
 opinions and observances, deeply tinctured with superstition, 
 most of which arose in a Icnjjthened period distinguished by 
 extraordinaiy darkness and ignorance, both mental and spiritual, 
 — a period which had been specially foretold as " the falling 
 away," the apostacy or blasphemous reign of " the man of sin.^' 
 Professing Christians forsaking the simple spii'itual character 
 of their holy religion, as promulgated by its Divine Founder 
 and his primitive disciples, and exercising their own worldly 
 desires and inventions, gradually set up an ecclesiastical system 
 of human policy and priestly avarice, by which outward cere- 
 monies, instead of being discontinued, were, under new names, 
 perpetuated, rendered attractive and multiplied: their degrading 
 bondage, unfelt and unavoidcd, was embraced with eagerness : 
 and the Christian ministry, far from being marked by self-denial, 
 sincerity and humility, was made " a cloak of covetousness,'^ 
 a mask of hypocrisy, and a routine of pageantry ; so that man, 
 and not God, was honoui'cd and cxjiltcd. 
 
 For the Jewish passover was substituted the eucharist or 
 mass ; the privilege of feeding on Christ and supping with him 
 spiritually, by living faith, being too much lo.st sight of. For 
 circumcision arose, not " the circumcision of the heart," but 
 the sprinkling of infants with water. For the ancient feasts and 
 fasts of the Jews, were established outward feasts and fasts of 
 the Christians; the attention not being turned to the true spiri- 
 tual sustenance, and to the perpetual fast from sin and self- 
 indulgence. For the high priests of the Jews, were set up the 
 j)ope and the temi)oral heads of the Christian churches, invading 
 the prerogative of Christ, our " faithfid high priest'' for ever, 
 "not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power 
 of an endless life."- For the Jewish priesthood and Levites, were 
 established priests or ministers of another order, interfering with a 
 due sense and exercise of the privilege of the Christian priesthood, 
 ' Dealings with the luquiaitiou. '^ lleb. ii. 17, au«l vii. lU 
 
 2 N 
 
546 WITNESSES FOR TRUE RELIGION. [Chap. 34 
 
 conferred on every true believer. To tlie sacred temple at Jeru- 
 salem succeeded consecrated Christian temples or "churches;" 
 the true dedication of the temple of the heart and its spiritual 
 services and offerings being greatly overlooked. Holiness was 
 attributed to particular persons, orders, observances, places and 
 times ; instead of being felt to depend on the daily condition of 
 every man's soul^ in immediate relation to his Maker, Redeemer, 
 and Sanctifier. 
 
 Hence, for one outward and ceremonial system, was substi- 
 tuted another no less outward and ceremonial ; the senses were 
 feasted, the imagination was gratified ; but the work of divine 
 grace on the heart, subjecting it to the sanctifying power of the 
 Holy Spirit, and the extension of the kingdom of Christ over the 
 church and in the world, were neglected or greatly impeded. 
 An alliance took place between the ecclesiastical and civil powers, 
 and its evils became forcibly exemplified, in the upholding of 
 these outward views of religion by political authority, and in 
 the enforcement of certain ministers, forms, ceremonies and 
 observances on whole nations of men, at the arbitrary pleasure 
 of a few superstitious individuals in high places. 
 
 It is, nevertheless, a satisfaction to know that amid deep pre- 
 vailing degeneracy, and in spite of such combined authority, 
 eminent witnesses have been raised up from age to age, like 
 their divine Master, to "bear witness to the truth," "contending 
 earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints," though 
 often under severe sufi^erings, inflicted for their faithfulness by 
 the ruling powers : and that many experienced Christians under 
 various names continue in large degree to take spiritual views 
 of our holy religion. 
 
 The compilers of the AngHcan Common Prayer freely acknow- 
 ledged in the preface, that " the gospel of Christ is not a cere- 
 monial law, as was that of Moses ; but a religion to serve God in 
 the freedom of the Spirit, not in the bondage of the figure or 
 the shadow." Merle D'Aubigne well remarks to the same effect, 
 " If God had intended that Christianity should be like the 
 Mosaic law, chiefly an ecclesiastical, sacerdotal and hierarchical 
 system, he would have ordered and established it in the New 
 Testament, as he did in the Old. But nothing is found there 
 like this. All the declarations of our Lord and of his Apostles 
 tend to prove that the new religion given to the world is life and 
 spirit; not a new system of priests and ordinances. 'The kingdom 
 
Seel. IG.] CIIUISTIAXITY SPIRITUAL NOT CEUKMONIAL. 547 
 
 of Christ coraeth not with observation, neither shall they say lo 
 here or lo there; for behold the kinj^doui of Clod is witliia 
 you/ " 
 
 It was observed by Stillingfleet, and the observation is impor- 
 tant "all obligation is resolved into one of these two, the moral 
 nature of the action, or a positive law. Those therefore, who 
 plead the obligatory nature of scripture examples, must show 
 either their moral character, or a rule binding us to follow them." 
 
 "The relation of the individual with nature,'' says Joseph 
 ^Mazziui in 1850, "was the soul of paganism, as the relation of 
 the indindual with God has been the soul of actual Christianity. 
 Perhaps, in religion, the age of the symbol is rapidly passing 
 away, and a solemn manifestation may be near, of the idea as 
 yet hidden in the symbol."^ 
 
 " Christianity," remarks another modern author, " seems to 
 be resohnng itself insensibly into two great divisions — the one 
 pure, spiritual, scriptural, and altogether purged from cere- 
 monial forms of worship, and external influences of human 
 power, either of church or state — the other altogether cere- 
 monial, and founded ou the imaginative and aesthetic elements in 
 our mental constitution, rather than on our reasoning faculties. 
 The Eiiropean mind will take shelter in one or other of these 
 two extremes, and undoubtedly at last in that which is purest, 
 simplest, most spiritual, and best adapted to the intelligence of 
 enlightened men, as the suitable worship of their Creator.'" 
 
 From a very early period of the church, there have been succes- 
 sive bodies of Christians, under various names and in different 
 countries, stigm.itizcd and persecuted by the authorities in 
 church and state as heretics, who have regarded the religion of 
 the Redeemer as much more spiritual in its character and 
 requirements, than it was considered to be by the ruling powers. 
 Such — to say nothing here of eminent individuals besides — 
 were the Donatists of North Africa in the fourth century ; 
 the Euchites or Massalians of Western Asia about the same 
 period ; the Paulicians of Thrace and Asia Minor in the 
 eighth century; the Cathari, or Pure, of France and Italy, 
 in the twelfth ; the Albigenses find \Valdenscs of the same 
 countries verj- soon after ; the Lollards of Germany and England 
 
 ' Royalty and Republicanism in Italy. 
 ' Laing'a German Catholic Church. 
 
 2 N 2 
 
548 WITNESSES AGAINST CORRUPTIONS OF RELIGION. [Chap. 2)i. 
 
 in the fourteenth ; the Huguenots of France and the Protestants 
 of the rest of Europe in the sixteenth ; the Puritans of England 
 and their Nonconformist descendants but httle later ; the 
 Friends in the seventeenth; the Duhobortzi and the Methodists 
 in the eighteenth century. Some of these bodies were very 
 numerous, and subsisted through several hundred years, under 
 the same or different names. To bring them into contempt, they 
 were often charged with evil doctrines and practices which they 
 wholly disclaimed; and nearly all were the subjects of severe 
 persecution. Some of these people consisted however of two 
 parties, — the moderate on the one hand, and the violent and 
 enthusiastic on the other; the excesses of the latter being fre- 
 quently imputed unjustly to the whole. This series of spiiitually- 
 minded Christians has been too little noticed by ecclesiastical 
 historians, their own feelings having often tended in the opposite 
 direction; but it is a very important feature in the general 
 history of the church, and furnishes great cause for thank- 
 fulness and encouragement. 
 
 That there were dark periods, in which we cannot trace the 
 existence of pure, uncorrupted Christianity, is of very little 
 moment to those who are indifferent to the priestly dogma of 
 a direct succession. There may have been, and doubtless there 
 were, pious individuals, who had some glimpses of genuine truth, 
 and endeavoured to act accordingly. And when we consider the 
 mixed character and imperfect state of man, and even of en- 
 lightened believers of the present day, how little there is of 
 unsophisticated truth, and of uncontaminated motive, we shall 
 feel disposed to conclude that there has always been some 
 degree, either larger or smaller, of light and of holiness, but 
 often mingled and corrupted with error and unrighteousness. 
 He who "winked at the times of ignorance" and idolatrous 
 depravity among the heathen, and even then " left not himself 
 without witness," has promised to be with his people to the end 
 of the world, and has in these latter days in an especial manner 
 " commanded all men everywhere to repent," sending forth his 
 good Spirit to convince mankind of sin and of holiness. So 
 that both good and evil, Hght and darkness, righteousness and 
 sin, in various proportions, appear always to have existed in the 
 world, however few, poor, despised and persecuted may have 
 been the followers of the truth. 
 
Sect. IG.] RELIGION OREW OUTWARD IN APOSTACY. 5 19 
 
 It is worthy of special remark, that rcligiou grew more and 
 more outward and ceremonial, as the apostacy advanced iu the 
 dark ages ; that nearly all the different religious societies and 
 reformations which have since sprung up, — some occasional out- 
 breaks and declensions excepted — have aimed at the attainment 
 of greater degrees of spirituality, and a more fervent piety ; aiul 
 that each successive advance has lopped oft" some of tlie cere- 
 monial excrescences, iu order to make the system more simple, and 
 more conformable to the apostolic pattern than that of the body 
 from which it sprang. Thus, as the degeneracy of the Christian 
 church consisted largely in the setting up of a new priestly order, 
 and in the adoption of outward o])servances, outward notions, and 
 outM'ard modes of expression, insisting too much on the letter, the 
 flesh, and too little on the spii-it, the life, and relying too much 
 on human authority ; so the work of the reformation, as far 
 as it has proceeded, has been under great conflict iu an opposite 
 direction ; — to witiidraw the dependence of Christians from 
 man, his claims and performances, and to fix it on Christ, and 
 the operations of his Spirit on the heart ; to bring the churclies 
 back to primitive simplicity, freedom, spirituality and purity. 
 Although much has been already accomplished, yet much more 
 remains to be done in this respect. Primitive zeal has grown 
 cold, and the disposition has been too general, to remain satisfied 
 with the first reformation, and to stand still where the early 
 reformers planted their feet, without following up the teachings 
 of Christ to a higher stage of Christian experience, contraiy 
 to the hope and expectation of many of those excellent men. 
 
 "Protestantism," observes Dr. Birch in his preface to the life 
 of Tillotson, " can be nothing less than a renouncing the reli- 
 gion of man's contrivances, and a return to the religion which 
 God has revealed in the Bible. When we have done so, we 
 shall be qualified to take up the work of the reformers, and to 
 complete it with a happier success." 
 
 " Follow me no farther tlian you have seen me follow the 
 Lord Jesus," said John Robinson, an eminent iu)nconformist 
 minister about the year 1624. " If God reveal anything to you 
 by any other instrument of his, be as ready to receive it as ever 
 you were to receive any truth by my ministrj' ; for I am verily 
 assured that the Lord has yet more tnith to break forth out of 
 his holv word. I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the 
 
550 CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM. [^Ghap. 34. 
 
 reformed churches^ who are come to a period in religion^ and will 
 at present go no farther than the instruments of their reforma- 
 tion. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go farther than what 
 Luther saw, and the Calvinists stick fast where they were left 
 by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. This is a 
 misery much to be lamented ; for though they were burning and 
 shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the 
 whole counsel of God. It is not possible that the Christian world 
 should come so lately out of such thick anti-christian darkness, 
 and that perfection of knowledge should break forth at once." ^ 
 
 " There hath been no further reformation," said John Salt- 
 marsh complainingly in 1647, nor any higher attainment than 
 the bishops made, and the synod in England formerly. And 
 all the reformation that hath been endeavoured hath been only 
 in some outward things, as discipline or church government, and 
 some outward ordinances of baptism and the supper j not any 
 purer or more glorious discoveries of God, or the Spirit, or Jesus 
 Christ, or our union with the Spirit as to spiritual things."^ 
 
 Herschell remarks, " God is a Spirit and they that worship 
 Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." More than 
 eighteen centuries have elapsed since this declaration, and yet 
 we find in the Christian church, — instead of universal testimony 
 that it is the Spirit alone that quickeneth, and that the flesh 
 profiteth nothing, — a cleaving to outward rites and ceremonies, 
 as if these were still the appointed channels through which the 
 Spirit is conveyed. If I am still to be dependent on a priest, 
 for the sustenance or the commencement of my spiritual life, 
 I see little to distinguish the Christian from the Jewish dispen- 
 sation. The Church of Christ may still be edified by real gifts 
 and real sanctity ; but the ritual and official are mere " beggarly 
 elements,'^ passed away for ever ! A large proportion of the 
 professing church seems still in the condition of the Samaritan 
 woman, obliged to go to the well of Jacob to draw water, instead 
 of possessing in themselves " a well of water springing up into 
 everlasting life." " Christianity was not designed to be a counter- 
 part, but a contrast to the former dispensation — a contrast so 
 far, that all that was ceremonial and material in the one was to 
 be succeeded by that which is spiritual and real in the other." 
 
 ^ Neal's History of Puritans, vol. ii. 2 Sparkles of Glory,— Saltmarsh. 
 ^ Herschell's Fatherland, 
 
Sect, IC] CIIIUSTIANS OPEN TO DISCOVEHIKS OK TUUTII. 051 
 
 Of the Aufjlicau church Dr. Arnold says, " Instead of striving 
 to grow up into a true branch of Christ's glorious church, per- 
 fect even after tlie infinite })erfections of its Head, its notions 
 of excellence have been lowered by tiie actual constitutions in 
 church and state, by idle language about the doctrines of the 
 reformers, and the excellence of the Hritish constitution. As 
 if the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, scarcely waking sis 
 they were from the accumulated ignorance and insensibility of 
 thirty generations, could offer anything to satisfy our aspiration 
 after Christian excellence, as if the consummated work of the 
 Spirit of God were to be found in the dregs of the papal and 
 feudal institutions."^ " How discouraging to the Christian 
 would be the successive disappointments that have followed 
 every reformation, were it not for " the sure word of proj)hesy," 
 in which God hath promised, " yet once more I shake not the 
 earth only, but also heaven.'' Glorious day ! when falsehood, 
 and error, and everything that opposeth itself to the truth, shall 
 ' become like the chatf of the summer threshing-floor.""' 
 
 The remarks of Chevalier Bunsen on this subject are well 
 worthy of serious consideration : " The question at this moment 
 is, not how to carry out, but how to prepare, a second, grand, 
 reconstructive reformation ! The porch of the temple must first 
 be more thoroughly cleansed than it was in the sixteenth, and 
 above all, restored more honestly than it was in the seventeenth 
 century ; and lastly, the work must be handled more practically 
 than has yet been done by some of the schools of this age. In 
 the meantime let every one cleanse his own heart and house as 
 well as he can. "When the feeling of the misery which is coming, 
 and a real faith in the saving truth which is in Christ, shall 
 have thoroughly penetrated the nations, then will the Spirit of 
 God assuredly come upon them with might, either for the re- 
 formation or for the annihilation of the existing churches. 
 AVhctherthis crisis will end in the renewal or in the destruc- 
 tion of the present nations and states, will dejjcnd upon the 
 position which they take, in the face of the demands of the 
 Gospel and the wants of the tiroes. For every nation and age 
 has its time and its day of restoration, after which its fate is 
 scaled."^ May Britaia attend to these testimonies and warnings 
 
 ' Fraj^ent on f'hurch. ' irorechell's Fatherland. 
 
 * Bunsen'a Hippolytus, vol. iii. p. 37. 
 
552 STATE ALLIANCE IMPEDES CHURCH REFORMATION. [Chap. 34. 
 
 ere it be too late, proceeding as they do from the mouths of 
 many concurrent witnesses ! 
 
 A silent but very powerful impediment to the great work of 
 farther reformation is presented by state endowments, and by the 
 close union of civil with ecclesiastical authority, bringing into 
 the professing churches motives of selfishness and insincerity, 
 secularizing the sacred calling of the ministry, rendering all such 
 churches subservient to poUtical control, and chaining down 
 the workings of enlightened conscience. When this unholy 
 alliance between churches and states shall be dissolved, then 
 will be removed one formidable obstacle to the elevation of the 
 pure standard of Christianity, and then, as christians act up 
 to their glorious privileges, it may be reasonably expected that, 
 under the blessing of the Most High, truth and righteousness, 
 unconstrained by civil might and authoritative interference, 
 will widely prevail and bless abundantly the nations of the 
 earth ! 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 ON HERESIES. 
 
 The term "hercsjr" was applied by the Jews to the doctrine of 
 the first preachers of Christianity. Thus Paul boldly declared, 
 " After the way wliich you call heresy, so worship I the God of 
 my fathers.^' ^ The same apostle mentions as heretics those 
 Christians who fell into error, and who after two admonitions 
 were simply to be rejected.^ In the early succeeding church, the 
 term was used for any religious doctrine or practice, which 
 was adjudged by the ruling powers to be at variance with those 
 of the apostles. They who refused to submit to the judgment 
 of the church, to the decision of the councils, and other recog- 
 nized authorities, were maligned and denounced as heretics. 
 Such are not to be confounded with unbelievers, who alto- 
 gether rejected Christianity ; nor with those nonconformists or 
 dissentients obnoxiously termed "schismatics," who differed 
 chiefly on minor or disciplinary questions. These various classes 
 are, however, frequently confused one with another. "When 
 the Christian church became degenerate and corrupt, ortho- 
 doxy denoted only the religion of the majority, and heterodoxy 
 that of tlie minority ; so that true Christians may be more 
 often recognized among the minority, who, like the apostles 
 themselves, were traduced as heretics or schismatics, than 
 among the ruling party, who were considered the true sons of 
 the church, and who were greater in numbers and influence ; 
 but in both parties much mixture of good and evil must be 
 expected. Truth was often influential cliicfly among " the faitli- 
 ful few," the despised "remnant," the little persecuted ones; 
 wliile the high professing church, the claimants of dinne rip^ht, 
 of apostolical succession, and of infallibility, though uphold by 
 the civil powers, were deeply sunk in darkness and' error; and 
 so extensively was this permitted to prevail, that "all the 
 • Acta xxi%-. 14. ' Titus iii. 10. 
 
554 STANDARDS OF ORTHODOXY. Chap. 35. 
 
 world ^' is said to have "wondered after the beast" and wor- 
 shipped him^ exclaiming "Who is like unto" him ?^ 
 
 The subjects on which diflFerences of opinion have chiefly ex- 
 isted are those which ai-e mysterious in their nature^ such as the 
 origin of evil^ the nature of the Deity, the character of Christ, 
 the connection between Judaism and Christianity, and the 
 application to the latter of the principles of heathen philosophy ; 
 as well as the observance and importance of outward rites and 
 holy days, the government of the church, the authority and 
 claims of ecclesiastics, &c. &c. ^ From eighty to one hundred 
 and fifty religious systems, classed as heresies, are mentioned by 
 early ecclesiastical writers ; but Lardner has shown that many 
 of these ought to be excluded from the list ; and some others 
 appear to have had but few adherents. 
 
 The standard of orthodoxy in the Roman catholic church rested 
 professedly on two grounds — Holy Scripture and tradition. 
 Its system was declared to be "that which has been held 
 always, everywhere, and by all." The avowed outward standard 
 of protestantism is Holy Scripture alone, independently of 
 tradition and of general acceptance or rejection. The one class 
 cries " Hear the church ; " the other " Hear the Bible." Of 
 course the protestants have been condemned as heretics by the 
 former. Of every true Christian church Christ is the foundation 
 and chief corner-stone ; and whatever be the general reputation 
 or professed authority of any rehgious body, or however correct 
 its acknowledged creed, unless He influence it by his Spirit, 
 it will be a dead, corrupt mass, incapable of spiritual sensation 
 and energy. If his professed followers have not his spirit of 
 love dwelling in their hearts and influencing their actions, in 
 vain, according to his own words, do they claim for themselves 
 by high professions of orthodoxy the character of Christians. 
 The tree being evil its fruits will be corrupt, however fair they 
 may appear to man. In the present mixed state of things this 
 
 1 Eev. xiii. 3. 
 
 ^A ciirious illustration of the judgment of the church on heresy is 
 afforded by the well-known fact, that as late as the seventeenth century, 
 Galilei the eminent astronomer was adjudged to be a heretic and punished 
 as such, because he declared the sun and not the earth to be the centre of 
 the system, contrary to the general opinion, and to that of the self- 
 styled "infallible successor of St. Peter !" Nor is this by any means a solitary 
 case of the denunciation of philosophical truth by church authority ! 
 
WHAT IS TO BE ACCOUNTED UEllESY. 5oO 
 
 evil result will be proportioned to the want of obedience to his 
 divine instructions and government. 
 
 Wiclitlc considered heresy to consist in a bad life, as well as 
 in false opinions. No good nnui, he thought, could be a heretic 
 in the scriptural sense of the terra. In accordance with this 
 opinion Bishop Taylor remarks, in his Liberty of Prophecy, "No 
 heresies are noted in Scripture but such as are errors practical. 
 In all the animadversions against error in the New Testament, 
 no person was condemned but something was amiss in practice. 
 Heresy is not an error of the understanding, but an error of the 
 ^nll. If a man be innocent in his life, though deceived in his 
 doctrine, his error is his misery, not his crime : he may be an 
 object of pity, but by no means a person consigned to ruin, and 
 he is to be left to the judgment of God. It must be an open 
 crime of which any cognizance can be taken." Taylor observes, 
 The heresy of the Gnostics taught that "it was no matter 
 how men lived, if they did but believe aright ; which i^'icked 
 doctrine Tatianus, a learned Christian, so detested, that he fell 
 into the contrary extreme — that it is of no consequence what a 
 man believes, but only what he does. And thence came the sect 
 of the Encratites. Both these errors sprang from too nicely 
 distinguishing the faith from the piety and good life of a 
 Christian. They are both but one duty, and however they may 
 be distinguished if we speak as philosophers, they cannot be 
 distinguished when we speak as Christians. "i 
 
 Wlien those who have formed the predominant party in the 
 professing church have possessed the aid of secular power, but 
 have been controlled by the spirit of the age or by other cir- 
 cumstances, as is generally the case in the present day, they 
 have been unable to do more than to denounce as heretics 
 those who differed, to .separate them from Christian fellowship, 
 and to enforce their pecuniary contributions and general 
 submission. But when unhappily no such controlling influence 
 has existed, they have too often employed their authority, 
 through an unholy combination, for the express purpose of 
 correcting and punishing such dissentients; and hence have 
 arisen horrible persecutions on account of religion, to the great 
 disgrace of the nominal church, and to the incalculable injury 
 of the cause of Christianity. 
 
 • Liberty of Prophecy. 
 
556 THE TRUTH AND VALUE OF CHRISTIANITY. [Chap. 35. 
 
 But what do these conflicts and severities prove ? That men 
 should sink into a state of latitudinarianism and apathy ? Or 
 that that about which they have contended is altogether false 
 and untrue? Certainly neither the one nor the other. They prove, 
 on the contrary, that there is a reality and a truth in the Chris- 
 tian rehgion, which men will seek, and which they are bound to 
 seek, through fire and blood, a perceptible spiritual force which 
 sustains in the darkest hour, an element of immortal life, which, 
 received through Christ, and having conquered by suffering, 
 shall still survive and triumph over death and hell ! 
 
 The persecutions of the early Christians by the heathen 
 emperors of Rome do not, of course, belong properly to this 
 subject. It may however be observed that they occui'red chiefly 
 at ten distinct periods, between the year 66, under Nero, when 
 Paul suffered, and that of Dioclesian, in 313- The cruelties 
 perpetrated on many of the devoted victims were horrible in 
 the extreme, producing intense agonies of almost every kind ; 
 the bare recital of which is enough to shock the feelings of 
 humanity. It has been computed that in the course of them, 
 from one and a-half to two millions of Christians perished by 
 the violence of their persecutors, and by the fatigues and dis- 
 tresses with which they were harassed. Yet, notwithstanding all 
 these afflictions, Christianity was more pure, and made more real 
 progress in that period, than when it came to be allied with 
 imperial power, to bask in worldly honours and emoluments, 
 and when the rulers of the church had that power at their own 
 command ! 
 
CHAPTER XXXVT. 
 
 BRIEF NOTICES OF PERSECUTIONS INILICTED BY SOME PROFESSING 
 CHRISTIANS ON OTUERS DEEMED HERETICS, &C. 
 
 1. — Early Ages. 
 
 The main object of this volume liaving been to expose the 
 evils of ail alliance between c\\\\ and ecclesiastical authority, and 
 of magisterial interference and compulsion in matters of religion, 
 there remain to be briefly noticed the violent wrathful mea- 
 sures adopted by the state powers to effect their purpose, and 
 to wreak their anti-christian vengeance on those who felt bound 
 to obey God rather than man. 
 
 Though the rulers of the early Christian church were not 
 slow to pronounce an anathema on whatever they judged heresy, 
 yet capital procccduiga against those considered to be heretics 
 Mere generally condemned. The Roman emperors, who had 
 adopted the Christian profession, made many laws for fining, 
 banishing, and otherwise punishing such; and some of the 
 Alanichees, a body of mystical ascetics, suffered death for their 
 errors. Priscilliun and his followers, another sect of ascetiaB who 
 prevailed in Spain, being prosecuted by two bishops before the 
 Emperor Maximus, were put to death about the year 384 ; but the 
 persecutors were great) v blamed for it,' In both these instances 
 persecution produced eflccts qiiite opposite to those designed. 
 
 The Donatists, in the fourth and fifth centuries, many of 
 whom were considered intolerable heretics, were subjected only 
 to inferior penalties. Some of them, called Circumcelliones, 
 were very extravagant and violent, so that many of the bishojis 
 contended that the civil sword ought to be used against them. 
 Augustine however opposed this course, and repeatedly and 
 earnestly pressed the magistrates on no account to shed blood — 
 although to a certain extent, and not very consistently, he had 
 urged the duty of the state authorities to employ coercive mea- 
 sures. Many others of the Donatists were moderate and peace- 
 f Neander's History, 2nd period, sect. 4. 
 
558 EARLY PERSECUTIONS. [Chap. 36. 
 
 able, and had clear \iews of tlie spiritual nature of Christ's 
 kingdom ; yet they were often comprehended together in the 
 rigour of the general laws. ^ 
 
 One of the first instances of severity and cruelty that was 
 not censured by the church, occurred, as Burnet states, in the 
 fifth centuiy, under Justin I., who ordered the tongue of 
 Severus, a fierce ecclesiastic, to be cut out. In the eighth cen- 
 tury Justinian II. burnt many of the Manichees in Armenia. 
 And in the end of the twelfth century, the Bogomiles, a sect 
 of Euchites, were condemned by the patriarch and council of 
 Constantinople to be burnt. 
 
 The Pauhcians before referred to under diflFerent heads, a 
 considerable and spiritually- minded sect, in Asia Minor and 
 Thrace, were severely persecuted as heretics by the ruling 
 powers in the eighth and ninth centuries, and 100,000 are 
 said to have perished, till at length they took up arms in their 
 own defence. But, as Milner truly says, " where secular poHcy 
 begins, there the hfe and simplicity of \dtal godliness end. 
 When the Paulicians began to rebel against the estabhshed 
 government, to return e^dl for e^dl, and to defend their religion 
 by arms, negotiations and alliances, they ceased to be " the 
 light of the world," and "the salt of the earth,'' as they had 
 been for more than a hundred and eighty years : they lost the 
 solidity of true honour, as all have done in all ages who have 
 descended from the grandeur of the passive spirit of conformity 
 to Christ, and have preferred to that spirit the low ambition of 
 earthly greatness." ^ 
 
 Whatever was condemned as heresy was looked on as a sin 
 against God, and the worst of crimes. To make it appear the 
 more heinous offence, public burning was judged the most proper 
 punishment, being also a representation of everlasting biu'ning. 
 It was a common practice at the execution of heretics to fasten 
 about their neck scraps of scriptiu'C, and other e\'idences of their 
 supposed guilt, found in their possession, that the whole might 
 be burnt together.^ Of all the matters which in England were 
 condemned as heresies, and punished in this awful manner, the 
 differences of opinion with respect to the bread and wine 
 have been by far the most prominent and fruitful of victims. 
 
 i' Neander's History, 2nd period, sect 4. 2 9th cent. chap. ii. 
 
 3 Gilpin's WicliflFe. 
 
ALBIGENSES AND WALDKNSES PERSECUTED, CKi'J 
 
 Manifold as these difterenccs were, and mysterious as were tlic 
 points in question, excuses were rarely adjnitted at the time 
 of the Reformation by the combined politico-ecch\sia.stieal 
 authorities, and the bloody statutes "de ha^retico comburendo" 
 were enforced with rigid and dreadful severity. It is not an 
 easy matter, in this day of outward ease, for the mind to frame 
 an adequate idea of the horrors suflcred by the devoted victims, 
 or of that noble fortitude with which many of them sustained the 
 awful barbarities inflicted. Yet it is well to learn to appreciate, 
 through the consideration of such events, the value of the liberty 
 which wc are permitted to enjoy. 
 
 2. Albigexses, Waldenses, &:c. 
 
 About the year 1200, a large number of innocent persons 
 in the south of France, having long been disgusted with the 
 corruptions of the popish ministers and worship, separated 
 from the public religious assemblies. The fury of persecution 
 soon fell upon these poor people, known as Albigenses, and 
 200,000 of them are said to have been destroyed within a few 
 months. They had long been a numerous body, existing 
 under different names in several kingdoms of Europe. Those 
 residing in the valleys of Piedmont were termed Waldenses, 
 and in that country was their principal settlement. They were 
 spiritual in their religious riews, and inoffensive in their con- 
 duct; well versed in the Scriptures, and rejecting many of the 
 obsenances of the church of Rome. Proceeding farther in this 
 course, and testifying against the prevailing apostacy in religion, 
 they at length attracted the attention of the papal authorities. 
 They were examined and rebuked, threatened and punished, 
 excommunicated, and at length, not forsaking their principles, 
 were persecuted witliout mercy. In 1201) Innocent 111. pro- 
 claimed a crusade against the Albigenses, and promised to all 
 who took part in it plenary forgiveness of their sins. An army 
 of 300,0(X) men devastated their country and deluged it with 
 blood for three years. Further crusades followed, and the 
 persecution is asserted to have destroyed within twenty years 
 nearly a million of these devoted people. The Waldenses also 
 suffered extreme severities from tlie relentless " Holy Inquisi- 
 tion," wliich had been establislicd in 1206 principally with a 
 view to tlicir reclamation or destruction. 
 
560 PERSECUTIONS OP WALDENSES. [Chap. 36. 
 
 Dominic and his companions, finding that they could not 
 convince them by preaching, persuaded the ci^il magistrate to 
 burn all such as obstinate heretics Avho would not conform. In 
 order to do this by authority, the arbitrary Council of Lateran 
 decreed in 1315, that all heretics should be delivered over to 
 the secular power to be extirpated. Rulers who did not carry out 
 this law were to be deposed by the Pope, their subjects absolved 
 from allegiance, and their dominions to be given by the pontiff 
 to any other more faithful prince. This was termed a holy 
 general council, and has already been often referred to. The 
 decree was fatal to the Counts of Thoulouse, who first fell under 
 its censures ; and so terrified were many other princes of Eiirope, 
 that in order to save themselves and their sovereignties, they 
 submitted their subjects in great numbers to the judgment 
 of the ecclesiastical courts. 
 
 The Waldenses were harassed with dreadful cruelties in Ger- 
 many about 1250, and in Piedmont about 1300 ; the fires of 
 persecution continuing to rage with fury year after year for a 
 very long period, because they could not conscientiously conform 
 to the established mode of worship. In 1488, Innocent VIII. 
 determined again to have recourse to military power, and 18,000 
 soldiers were raised for the purpose of extirpating these poor 
 people from their quiet valleys. But the Waldenses, ceasing 
 through want of faith, to rely upon Divine protection alone, 
 and forgetting the true forbearing nature of the kingdom of 
 Christ, retired to the mountain fastnesses, and at length took 
 up arms in their own defence. They were of course unable to 
 repel their numerous assailants, and great numbers fell on both 
 sides for several years. At the time of the Reformation there 
 are said 'to have been more than 800,000 of them in Europe. 
 Another dreadful persecution broke out in 1650 against this 
 suffering people. They made on that occasion little or no 
 resistance, and excessive cruelties were perpetrated upon them 
 for several years. It is to the credit of Oliver Cromwell, and of 
 Milton his secretary, that they pleaded nobly on their behalf, 
 and their advocacy was not without success. In 1685 violence 
 was again used against them, and was met with determined re- 
 sistance. Many thousands perished, and most of the remainder 
 were driven into foreign countries ; yet they still survive, and 
 retain in their native vallies a testimony for the protestant faith. 
 
MASSACRES OF lUENCH HUGUENOTS. 501 
 
 3. FUANCE. 
 
 Few if auy countries have produced more martyrs than this. 
 The Albigenscs iu the south have ah'cady been mentioned. 
 Twelve rehgious persons, condemned as heretics, were burnt at 
 Orleans in the time of King Robert, about 1:200. I mler 
 Tramish, a savage persecutor, in the former part of the sixteenth 
 century, hundreds of the Huguenots or protestants were brouglit 
 to the stake, because they would not conform to the catholic 
 faith. Great cruelties having been perpetrated upon them 
 during a long period, they at last resisted with force of aniis in 
 15G0, and much blood was spilled on both sides. A dreadful 
 destruction of them again took place in the reign of Charles IX., 
 on the occasion of a royal marriage in 1572; when many of 
 their principal persons, having been invited to Paris mulcr a 
 solemn oath of safety, were basely murdered in diH'ercnt ways. 
 The queen dowager of Navarre was poisoned ; Coligni, admiral 
 of France, was assassinated in his own house, and his body 
 thrown out of a window. In Paris alone about 10,000 pro- 
 testants of all ranks were cruelly butchered within three days. 
 From thence the massacre spread through the whole kingdom ; 
 200 persons perished at ^leaux, 500 at Orleans, and 800 at 
 Lyons. The whole number destroyed on this dreadful occasion, 
 which is known as " the massacre of St. Bartholomew," is stated 
 difFcrcntly by historians ; some computing that G0,000, and 
 others that 100,000 lost their lives. It was a shameful aggra- 
 vation of these horrors, that great rejoicings took place at Rome 
 on receipt of the news, and a general jubilee was proclaimed, 
 because "the French infidels" were supposed to be extenuinated.' 
 The country was afterwards devastated by frequent wars between 
 the two religious parties, who became fierce political partisans. 
 In 1598, by the enactment termed the Edict of Xantes, under 
 Henry IV., the protestants acqxiircd full liberty of conscience. 
 They had however brought great injury on their cause by re- 
 sorting to violence, and repelling force by force. It has been 
 computed that, within forty-three years, no fewer than 200,000 
 persons suffered death in France for the sake of religion, beside 
 those who perished in the wars ! Yet there still reinaiiu'd 700 
 protestant churches. 
 
 ' Huiaiuis' History. 
 
 2o 
 
562 PERSECUTIONS IN BOHEMIA. [Chap. 36. 
 
 In the time of Louis XIV., 1685, the Edict of Nantes was 
 solemnly but perfidiously revoked, and a still more cruel de- 
 struction of the protestants took place; unheard-of cruelties 
 were practised on innocent men, women and children, and many 
 thousands perished to an unknown extent ; 50,000 industrious 
 famihes of the reformed are said to have quitted France, carry- 
 ing with them the best manufacturing skill of their country. 
 The dreadfal tale is enough to make the heart shudder ; and it 
 is a lamentable consideration, that men calling themselves 
 Christians could be guilty of such barbarities, and persuade 
 themselves or pretend that they were " doing God service V 
 
 4. — Bohemia, &c. 
 
 From a remote period, a body of pious Christians existed in 
 Bohemia and Moravia, who stood aloof from the superstitious 
 doctrines and observances that had sprung up in papal darkness. 
 Many of the Waldenses, on being driven out of their own 
 country about the year 1300, took refuge among them, and 
 were the means of exciting a revival of zeal for true religion. 
 About 1350, the toleration usually extended by the government 
 was withdrawn, and these poor people, unable to meet except in 
 private houses and secret places, were exposed to fierce persecu- 
 tions. Great numbers suffered death for their religious princi- 
 ples, of whom John Huss was burned in 1415, and Jerome of 
 Prague in the following year. The Hussites were hunted like 
 beasts of prey, and treated with savage barbarity. This rousing 
 them at length to forsake the Christian duty of forbearance, and 
 to employ force in their own defence, they chose for their 
 leader John Zisca, a nobleman who had lost his sight, and who 
 possessed more undaunted courage than religious moderation. 
 In 14.21 the Emperor Sigismund led an army of 150,000 men 
 against him, but was repulsed from time to time in very unequal 
 contests, both parties suffering severely. At length, in 1453, 
 these people were granted the free exercise of their religion, 
 under the name of the Bohemian or MoraAdan Brethren. They 
 were afterwards assailed with many storms of persecution, and 
 have repeatedly suffered dreadful cruelties; but through all 
 they have continued to subsist down to the present day. 
 
 Lithuania and Hungary were also deluged with protestant 
 blood, spilt in terrible persecutions at different periods. The 
 
PERSECUTIONS IN HOLLAND AND ITALY. 503 
 
 first reformer that suffered doatli in Smtzerlaiul was Claiule 
 Hottinjjer, who was executed in ir)'23. In tliat country and in 
 Germany, the suffering party took up arms, and tlms to tlie 
 injury of their cause, departed from the spirit and example of 
 Christ, imitating one of the worst practices of those from whom 
 they conscientiously dissented. Zwingle died in battle in the 
 year 1531. 
 
 5. — Holland. 
 
 Amazing cruelties were exercised on the Belgic protestants by 
 the Spaniards when they possessed that country. Grotius and 
 others state that 100,000 persons, chiefly through the agency of 
 the Inquisition, suftered by the hand of the executioner on 
 account of their religious principles. In 1523-4 the persecutions 
 of the protestants were extreme. They did not however ])rodure 
 the effect designed ; the principles of the Reformation spread 
 rapidly, and the struggle between ecclesiastical oppression and 
 its victims under Ciiarles Y. and Philip TI. was long and bloody. 
 By an edict published in 1529, all per.sons convicted of protes- 
 tantism were condemned to die — the men to be beheaded, the 
 women to be buried alive ; and apostates after having recanted 
 to be burned. AVilliam Tyndal, of illustrious memory, was 
 strangled and burnt at Antwerp in 1536. The notorious Duke 
 of Alva, within five years from 15G7, caused 18,000 persons to 
 be executed, and 100,000 more ai-e said to have taken refuge in 
 Germany. A general revolt followed, and the pl.-iins of Holland 
 and Zealand were drenched with human blood. Satan and his 
 agents however fciilcd of their purpose; for in the year 1579 
 great part of the Netherlands shook off the Spanish yoke and 
 became an independent state, which has long been considered 
 one of the chief countries of the reformed religion. The last 
 execution was that of a female servant named Anne, who was 
 buried alive in 1595. The protestants very soon afterwards 
 obtained full liberty of conscience. 
 
 f). — Italy. 
 
 Of this countr}% which was the birthplace and centre of Papal 
 usurpation, it may be sufficient to say that for a very long 
 period, and especially duiing the sixteenth century, the dun- 
 geons of the Inquisition were filled with victims of religious 
 
 2 o 2 
 
564 DOINGS OF THE INQUISITION. ENGLAND. [Chap. 36. 
 
 intolerance from other parts beside tlie valleys of Piedmont, 
 and capital punishments awaited those adjudged to be obsti- 
 nate heretics. Religious light and truth could not however be 
 suppressed, and many noble spirits suffered without mercy. 
 
 The Greek church, under the Emperor of Russia, has been in 
 general far more tolerant than the Roman, imder an ecclesiastic ; 
 each appears to regard the cfther as a great rival establishment, 
 instead of another fold under the one great Shepherd, the true 
 characters of which, there is reason to fear, have been in a great 
 degree lost by both. 
 
 7. — Spain. 
 
 The secret Inquisition, which was established here in 1480, was 
 the chief instrument employed in detecting and punishing those 
 Spaniards who were suspected of heresy, and also the conquered 
 Moors. The first public burning of protestant heretics, called 
 an auto da fe, took place at Yalladolid in 1559. The king and 
 his court made it their practice to attend on such occasions, 
 and witness the executions as public shows. At one time pro- 
 testanism made considerable progress in Spain, but it appears to 
 have been at length nearly rooted out by the extermination of 
 its supporters, to the lasting disgrace of their persecutors and 
 to the equal injury of the nation. 
 
 8. — England. 
 
 This country is also well known to have been the seat of much 
 persecution. Though the illustrious Wicliffe, the first eminent 
 English Reformer, shielded by the favour of powerful supporters, 
 was permitted to die in peace, yet such was the malice of per- 
 secutiou excited against his memory, that his remains were dug 
 out of the grave forty-four years after their interment, his bones 
 were burnt, and the ashes cast into an adjoining brook. This, 
 says one, conveyed them to a river, thence they were trans- 
 ported to the sea, and finally to the wide ocean, thus becoming 
 diftused, like his writings and principles, over the whole world. 
 
 King Henry IV., in the year 1400, out of gratitude to the eccle- 
 siastics who had assisted him to usurp the throne, granted them 
 a law, termed ex officio, for the fining and bui'uing of heretics. 
 William Santree, in the same year, was the first who suffered, 
 and he was followed by many more. In the reign of Henry V. 
 
FURIOUS ZEAL OF IlENUY Mil. 505 
 
 Lord Cobham and others were imprisoned, and soon after, 
 twenty-nine persons, condemned for treason and heresy, were 
 hanged or burnt. The eharge of treason apj)oars to have been 
 fabricated by the ecclesiastics, who became more cruel than 
 before, so that their eflbrts were often overruled by the judges 
 of the law. Another severe act followed against the heretics, 
 who became known as Lollards, and a> ho were generally charged 
 with capital errors, in addition to their particular opinions, that 
 under pretence of being guilty of the whole, they might be 
 represented to the people in more odious colours. Thus England 
 lost many of the best men of the age. The first English female 
 who surt'ered death for religion, was Joan Boughtou, who was 
 publicly burnt in Smithfield in 1 194, at the advanced age of 
 80 years, for her firm conscientious adherence to the doctrines 
 of AVicliffe. 
 
 Henry YIII. came to the crown in 1500, and soon showed 
 a furious zeal in religious matters. As a bigoted papist, he 
 first exercised his cruelty on the protestants, to force them to 
 conform; and about the year 1511, eight or ten persons were 
 burnt for their religious opinions. In 1519, seven others were 
 brought to the stake at Coventry, for teaching their children the 
 Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, &c. in English. About 
 1530, being incited by various causes, the king began to change 
 his religious views, and casting off the pope's authority, assumed 
 to himself the title of supreme head of the church. The very 
 same opinions, for which he had brought many to the stake a 
 few years before, were now enjoined by himself; and many 
 of the catholics, who denied his authority, were punished 
 as heretics. In 1533 seven persons were executed, chiefly, as 
 it would appear, on account of their religion, but also charged 
 with treason against the king. Many other executions of catho- 
 lics and reputed traitors followed, and he became so furious 
 and fickle, that victims ap])car to have been sacrificed in dif- 
 ferent places, at the same time, for opposite sentiments. Thus 
 dreadful were the effects of a union of temporal and spiritual 
 authority in the same hands. Not less than a hundred indi- 
 viduals, and probably a far larger number, were brought t(j 
 the stake during this reign on account of religion ; while for 
 other causes the numerous executions were unprecedented in 
 English history ! The capricious and vindictive proceedings of 
 
566 PERSECUTIONS UNDER MARY, ELIZABETH, &C. [Chap. 36 
 
 this arbitrary prince furnisli a clear illustration of the results 
 of church and state alliance, especially at transition periods ! 
 
 The short reign of Edward VI. was, for the most part, one of 
 peace and progressive reformation, yet several severe measures 
 were adopted, and two persons were burnt for heresy. 
 
 Soon after the accession of Queen Mary, and the restora- 
 tion of the Roman catholic as the state religion, the most 
 severe jaersecutions took place; and many illustrious men perished 
 under extreme tortures. Tn the year 1555, sixty-seven persons 
 were burnt, and eighty-five in the following year. The dreadful 
 scenes are enough to harrow the feelings of humanity ! Beside 
 very many who perished under tortures or by slower means in 
 prison, the whole number brought to the stake for maintaining 
 the principles of the Keformation, in this short reign of five 
 years, was not less than 277 of all classes. Five were bishops, 
 twenty-one ministers, eight gentlemen, eighty-four tradesmen, 
 one hundred husbandmen and servants, fifty-five women, and 
 four children ! 
 
 Nor was the glory of Queen Elizabeth's prosperous reign 
 untarnished by persecution. Conscientious objections to minor 
 religious and ceremonial matters were reputed to be crimes, 
 and many excellent men, under the name of puritans, died 
 in prison. About 200 papists being either real or reputed 
 traitors, were executed. Two anabaptists were burnt, and others 
 banished. Two Brownists, or puritans, were also put to death ; 
 and against them and the Roman catholics sanguinary laws and 
 cruel measures were enforced, which, though then adopted and 
 advocated by all parties when in poAver, were utterly inconsistent 
 with the genius of true protestantism. i 
 
 In the reign of James I. two Arians were burnt for heresy, and 
 other offenders were fined, or banished the country. About five 
 hundred of the parochial ministers were silenced or degraded, for 
 not conforming strictly to the rites of the Church of England. 
 In this and some succeeding reigns, upwards of 20,000 persons 
 were driven from England, chiefly to America, b}^ religious per- 
 secutions. 
 
 Under Charles I. the intolerant Laud was the occasion of 
 great suifering to many conscientious puritans. Fines and 
 imprisonments, whipping and the pillory, were administered 
 
 ' Keiglitley's History of England. 
 
PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 507 
 
 without mercy. Nor were tlie presbyteriaus and iiulcpciulcuts 
 free from the odium of persecuting under the Commonwealth, 
 many severe measures being adopted to extirpate po])ery, 
 prelacy, heresy and schism. Tlie execution of the king, arbi- 
 trary and faithless as he had proved himself, was the distinguish- 
 ing opprobrium of this troubled period. After the restoration 
 of monarchy under Charles II., the act for enforcing uniformity 
 was renewed, and by it J20(JO ministers were thrust out of oihce. 
 Then followed the Conventicle and the Oxford Acts, causiny: 
 some thousands to be imprisoned, of whom 5000 are represented 
 to have perished ' — doubtless a larger number than during the 
 rule of any other English sovereign, on account of religion. 
 
 In this reign, as under the Protectorate, the members of the 
 society of friends or quakers, like other disseuters, and even 
 much beyond them, suft'ered deej)ly for their religious prin- 
 ciples; 3173 had been imprisoned before the restoration of the 
 monarchy, of whom thirty-two died; and 30G8 more were incar- 
 cerated within two years after that event.- In or about IGGG, 
 fifty-five men and eight women were banished or transported 
 as convicts ; upwards of a thousand being frequently luider 
 imprisonment at the same time. ] IGO friends of both sexes 
 were returned, at the accession of James II., as prisoners for con- 
 science sake, and were released by his proclajnation in 1G85 ; 
 some hundreds having already died in prison, and the estates of 
 many being greatly Masted by severe distraints.^ Four members 
 of the society were publicly executed in New England, in 
 IG.")*) and IGGO, by those who had gone thither but a few years 
 before, in order to enjoy and establisji religious liberty. To the 
 unflinching firmness of the puritans, and to the equal firmness and 
 greater patience of the friends, in support of their conscientious 
 principles, the British nation is deeply indebted, under the Divine 
 blessing, for the large degree of religious freedom secured under 
 AVilliam and Mary, and ever since happily enjoyed. 
 
 0. — Scotland. 
 
 This land, though for a long time the scene of cruelty and 
 bloodshed on account of religion, has been generally more free 
 from persecution than most others. From 1528 to 1540, many 
 
 ' Neal'a PuritAn.«». * G. Fox and K. Hul)l>erthom'8 Letter to Cliarles II. 
 * Sewel's Ilustury, vol. ii. 
 
568 IRISH MASSACRES. [Chap. 36. 
 
 protestants suffered death. Patrick Hamilton, a learned and 
 conscientious young man of illustrious parentage, was the first 
 who was burnt for heresy. The last was Walter Mill, a decrepit 
 minister, at the advanced age of eighty, whose barbarous execu- 
 tion struck the nation with horror, and tended to hasten the 
 downfal of popish power. Persecution however, in a less bloody 
 form, was not unknown in succeeding periods, through a long 
 and severe, but unsuccessful struggle, to compel the acceptance 
 of prelacy by the Scotch. 
 
 10. — Ireland. 
 
 In this island likewise, the blood of Christians has been largely 
 shed by their fellow-professors ; not so much as in many other 
 nations, under the authority of the government ; but in defiance 
 of law, through a general massacre of protestants by private 
 individuals in 1641 ; when 40,000 or 50,000 are said to have 
 been basely murdered within a few days, in different parts of 
 the kingdom. Some estimate the whole numbers massacred 
 to have been 150,000,^ and assert that Charles I. was privy 
 to the bloody affair. ISIany thousands were forced to fly from 
 their homes, and perished with cold, hunger, and a variety of 
 hardships. All these outrages were perpetrated on account of 
 mere differences in religious faith and practice. Pope Urban 
 YIII. is stated to have received the intelligence of the massacre 
 with undisguised joy, absohing all the murderers ! 
 
 11. — General Remarks on Persecutions. 
 
 The tale of hoiTor, related of each of the countries here briefly 
 noticed, would afford sufficient matter for volumes of mourn- 
 ful and thrilling interest. Millions of Christians, and with 
 veiy few exceptions, of protestants, have yielded up their lives 
 rather than their principles, and have suffered ignominy and 
 death from other professed Christians, under the combination 
 of religious and secular authority, for conscientious adherence 
 to their religious tenets. The whole number of these faithful, 
 devoted martyi's is computed by some to amount to fifty millions ! 
 In addition to all this loss of life by violent means, who may 
 describe the incarcerations, the tortures, the exiles, the oppres- 
 > Eutty's Historical Introduction. 
 
GENERAL UEMAllKS — CIUSADK.S. 569 
 
 sions, and the many other personal and pecnniary snfferinfjs, 
 which bronght untimely death by slow processes on parents 
 and children ; or, in their less vivid forms, wounded the natural 
 and legitimate sensibilities of humanity? Well might the in- 
 spired penman ])redict, that at the fall of mystical Babylon, will 
 be " found in her the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all 
 that were slain upon the earth !" ' 
 
 Although the bloody deeds which have been briefly referred to 
 were perpetrated chiefly by papists ; yet many of them and of 
 others, less outrageous to the senses and feelings of humanity, 
 have been carried on by protestants also, when they had pos- 
 session of secular power; and therefore they call, in the same 
 or even in a greater measure, for mourning and reprobation. 
 To trust the officers of any clnirch with the j)ower of the state, 
 or to give the rulers of the state authority in religious matters 
 by any union, has invariably been found a dangerous expe- 
 riment. These results were foretold by our Lord himself 
 when he said, " yea, the time eomcth, that Avhosoever killeth 
 you will think that he doetli God service."- 
 
 The question may well be asked, what was the object aimed 
 at in these various persecutions ? One general answer applies to 
 them all, that the main purpose was to bring about imiformity in 
 religious faith and observances. But the result in almost every 
 instance clearly shows, that this object is not to be obtained, 
 and especially by such violent means, but that these tend, on 
 the contrary, greatly to strengthen the dreaded diversities. 
 The fruitless attempt in dift'erent ages and countries to establish 
 uniformity in religion, has been the inhuman ^Moloch, to 
 which the purest blood and the best interests of Christendom 
 have been sacrificed with savage barbarity and profusion ! 
 
 12. — The Cru.sade8. 
 
 Different in character from the persecutions wliich liave been 
 described, but not very different in spirit, Merc tlie crusades of 
 the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The persecu- 
 tions were inflicted by professed Christians on one another: the 
 crusades were carried on by those a.ssuming to be Christians, 
 against avowed Mahomedans. Many of these however, evinced 
 
 ' Rev. xviii. 21. "} John xvi. 2. 
 
570 VIOLENCE OF CHRISTIANS TOWARD HEATHENS. [Chap. 36. 
 
 dispositions more accordant with the Christian pattern^ than 
 those of the pretended followers of Christ, who indeed were the 
 furious assailants, the perpetrators of tlie wrong ; while those 
 whom they attacked were defensive agents, endeavouring to 
 protect themselves, their families and their property. An im- 
 partial judge cannot long hesitate in deciding which party was 
 the more guilty of the two, and therefore the more devoid of 
 the distinguishing characteristics of Christianity.^ 
 
 Between the years 1096 and 1291, two millions of persons 
 are said to have perished on both sides, in the vaiious ex- 
 peditions, encounters and massacres attending the crusades. 
 At the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, the inhabitants were mer- 
 cilessly slaughtered without regard to age or sex. 
 
 The avowed object of these rehgious wars, which the highest 
 authorities of the Church promoted, and in which the basest 
 characters took a prominent part, was the recovery of Palestine 
 from the possession of the ISIahometans. They ended however 
 in total failure ; and a deep enmity towards Christians was 
 excited in these people, which left no hope of their conversion ; 
 seeing, as they did, the extreme superstition and wickedness 
 of those professors of Christianity, who invaded their country, 
 under a pretence of religious zeal ! 
 
 Very similar to these unchristian proceedings, was the con- 
 duct of the Spaniards towards the Moors in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, and toward the Mexicans soon afterwards. When the 
 Moors conquered Spain in the eighth century, they allowed the 
 Christians the free exercise of their religion : but when the 
 Moors were overcome centuries afterward, the so-called Chris- 
 tian government, worse in reality than heathens, forced many 
 thousands of them, and of the Jews also, either to be baptized, or 
 to be burnt, massacred or banished, while their children were 
 sold for slaves. With shame it must be confessed, that many a 
 Christian nation has a heavy load of sin lying at its door, for 
 cowardly and wicked oppression of the unoffending heathen of 
 
 » A firman of the Sultan issued in 1850, and quoted in the report of the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society for 1851, secures to his protestant subjects 
 the full and free exercise of their religion throughout the empire, and will 
 bear comparison with the decrees of papal and even protestant rulers, for 
 tolerant and liberal sentiments. An address from the popish bishops of 
 Milan, issued in the same year, and quoted in the same report, breathes a 
 far less Clii'istiau spirit. 
 
HOPE OF DRIGHTER DAYS, 571 
 
 vanous countries, in modern as well as in ancient times. How 
 (litterent would be the result, if powerful Christian ji;ovcrniuents 
 rightly considered the high responsibility laid upon them, for 
 the instruction and improvement of the less favoured races of 
 mankind ! 
 
 Yet let it not be inferred that Christianity itself is responsible 
 for these horrible deeds. It is the departure from its genuine 
 spirit of humility, charity an 1 forbearance, displayed in the 
 example and precepts of its Divine Founder, and the adojjtiou 
 of heathen and Mahomedan principles, that have produced these 
 awful consequences, — consequences which can never be justly 
 charged upon Christianity, and which cannot be excused or 
 palliated by pretences of zeal for diffusing the benign gospel of 
 Christ. This will ever proclaim, by conduct as well as in words, 
 " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards 
 men." 
 
 If, as some hopefully believe, the law of kindness and Christian 
 love is beginning to be better understood, and to obtain a more 
 powerful influence in the Morld ; if the degradation aud the 
 suff'erings of humanity in its lowest types, and the interests of 
 the people generally, in preference to the arrogant claims of the 
 few, are acquiring greater consideration and more substantial 
 relief; we may then rejoice with thankful hope in the growth 
 of moral and religious liberty, in the more full ai)preciation of 
 the character and blessings of the Christian religion, and in 
 the extension of the reign of our beneficent llcdeemer. But 
 until mankind are more willing than at present to submit to 
 the teachings and government of the Holy Spirit, to take a just 
 view of the spiritual nature of the gospel dispensation, aud to 
 follow the example of the Saviour in lowliness, self-denial and 
 faithfulness, these great and glorious purposes will not be 
 attained. Very princii)al means to effect them will be, the 
 purification and re-cdification of the Christian churches, the 
 disjunction of their alliance with state authority, the spiritual 
 enlargement of the ministry, its independence of worldly policy, 
 possessions and learning, and the encouragement of a free, pure 
 and diffusive development of evangelical truth through idl 
 ranks aud classes of the community. 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER L 
 
 A WOKLDLT SPIRIT IX MAJfT CHKIffTLilT CHrmCBEJ ATTACHES 
 
 r^rorE mroKTASCE to taixkt jutd LEAumro ix xixistxks,. 
 
 AXD l.fTKODUCES EITXlXEOrS ACCOMTASIUrSn IJTTO Drt'O- 
 T105AI. nZftCISES. 
 
 Tbe inflnoiee of the state^ and of an ertablidmait n^i^ by 
 lav, nmst not be regarded as die oohr inihience ™»«fk*l to 
 rd^OD wbidi intrudes itsdf into tlie dmrdi, under tlie specious 
 gnne of fiienddnp. If anj odier -power than that of Cfamt, 
 of vbat natare soeror, and vith -wbatewer arcnred object«, be 
 t>it»ltfA in bofy tidngSy it nmst, as it tends to wmrp the bononr 
 and allegiance vhicb are doe to bim alone, prore an obstade to 
 flie s^ead of Ids bearoilT kingdom in the minds of men, and 
 iSaereihre is easentiallT Ajiiichruiimt. 
 
 In the preseat teal for education, and in the hi^ enhiTation 
 a( reason, taste and imagination, so cornmendable and li^A in 
 thdr places and within proper boonds, Ihoe is great dango* lest 
 a sopenor rank in these attainments procore far ministCTS of 
 idipon nMHv eonsidaataon ham the professing dnmdies, than 
 is paid to a nmple and diHgost conformity to the Divine -will ; 
 lest tal^it, and kaming, and orsitofT should nsorp the |rface, and 
 command ibe r espect, dne to ^fts and at t ainm ents of a widetr 
 diffiexmxt order, and nexer to be propeAj estonated l^ the mere 
 man of the vorld. 
 
 ^ot posaesm^ the poverfnl outward iiiflnence derived from 
 state oidowmaitsi, rafaidess as it is in promoting rital godH- 
 nem, dis s entin g chnrches maybe open to peculiar temptatMn, 
 to adopt such means of attraction or support asnnf be supp ose d 
 to make amends for tiie defidoicj, OvexAawing houses and 
 re s pec tiaMe congregations are often desired, and ibe danger is 
 greaty that with a Tiew to popular aceqitanee, and to fbeae 
 teamdarr objects, waiiSiy fobcf and the contriranoes of man 
 
COLLEGES CANNOT MAKE MINISTERS OK CHRIST. 573 
 
 may be set at work, and measures of an attractive and exciting 
 teudcucy, far removed from tlic simplicity, the lowliness, and 
 the spirituality of the religion of Jesus, may be studiously 
 employed. 
 
 In churches which are endowed, the same desire, on some- 
 what difterent grounds, may also exist, to give an undue 
 stimulus to high intellectual acquirements, and to profound 
 theological studies, as necessary and chief qualifications for the 
 ministry of the gospel, when in reality they may be spiritually 
 injurious, when the evidences of conversion of heart may not 
 be strong, or when its existence at all may be very doubtful. 
 Talent, and honour, and worldly influence may be cultivated 
 more assiduously than the gifts of the Holy Spirit, humility and 
 the other retiring Christian graces ; because, in fact, they are 
 found to receive from the w orld more deference and homage than 
 the truly substantial and spiritual, but less showy qualities. 
 
 Universities, colleges and schools of learning can never 
 rightly qualify for the ministrv' of the gospel, and are in 
 no small degree likely, through the false views derived, to 
 infuse false notions on this subject, so momentous to the 
 spiritual interests of the whole community. And hence 
 they have been viewed with fear and jealousy by many devout 
 and eminent Christians, while others of warmer temperament 
 have not hesitated to denounce them generally in strong 
 language of reprobation. AViclitfe termed the universities 
 " Cain's castles," " synagogues of Satan," and affirmed that 
 they were never instituted by Clirist. John Huss called them 
 " lieutenants of Antichrist." Luther declared them to be " one 
 of the phases of Antichrist, comely to look upon, but a very 
 chaos within, and the woe that the fifth angel brought upon 
 the earth." Though their discipline and tendency thrti were 
 probably mucli more evil than at present, yet strong objections 
 to many of them still exist, in respect to heathen philosophy, 
 and the general impression which they produce as to the com- 
 parative value of human and divine teaching. Such seminaries 
 in various religious communities have disappointed the hopes 
 of the church, and clearly proved that the true ministers of 
 Christ are to be called and qualified by him and not by man. 
 
 Milton forcibly remarks, " Doubtless, if God only be He who 
 ever gives ministers to his church, and tliroughthe whole go8{)el 
 
574 HUMAN LEARNING INSUFFICIENT FOR MINISTERS. [Svp. 1. 
 
 never sent us for ministers to the seliools of philosophy, but 
 rather bids us beware of such vain deceit — which the primitive 
 church, after two or three ages not remembering, brought her- 
 self quickly to confusion, — if all the faithful be now a holy and 
 a royal priesthood, not excluded from the dispensation of things 
 holiest, there will not want ministers elected out of all sorts and 
 orders of men. For the gospel makes no difference from the 
 magistrate to the meanest artificer, if God evidently favour him 
 with spiritual gifts ; as He can easily do and oft hath done, 
 while divines and doctors have been passed by.'' ^ 
 
 Is it not still true, as when the words were originally 
 addressed to the Corinthians of old, that " God hath chosen "3 
 the foolish, and weak and despised things of the world, to con- 
 found the wise, the mighty and the honourable ? and that 
 '' the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, 
 for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, 
 because they are spiritually discerned ? "^ Is there not too 
 general a disposition to rely on the armour of Saul, in pre- 
 ference to the more simple but often efficacious weapons, the 
 sling and the stone of the shepherd ? But surely every re- 
 liance on human wisdom and worldly power, to the neglect of 
 those qualifications which are from above, and which are 
 only acquired through living faith in the Savioui-, and a hearty 
 acceptance of the teachings of the Holy Spirit, and every sub- 
 stitution of the one for the other, whether in connection with 
 state endowments or not, are so many cases of rebellion against 
 the sovereignty of Christ, and desertion to his deadly enemy ! 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding these observations and complaints, it 
 roust by no means be supposed that the writer objects to the 
 cultivation of the intellect, to the attainment of learning, or 
 competence, and to the proper use of them in their right places. 
 Ignorance is the parent of superstition, and not of true religion ; 
 but in the pursuit of knowledge as well as of other human 
 objects, the command is still binding, " Let your moderation 
 be known unto all men.'' While kept in subjection to the 
 Spirit of Truth, and employed in the fear of the Lord, all these 
 attainments are doubtless to be regarded among the excellent 
 gifts of Divine Providence, to be accepted and cultivated with 
 gratitude, and faithfully employed in the promotion of the great 
 ' Milton's Observations on Hireliuf];s, ^ 1 Cor. i. 27. ' 1 Cor xi. 14. 
 
VARIOUS CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL ALI KNATION. STo 
 
 cause of truth aiul rigliteousness. But if, unhappily, they are 
 idolizctl, if thov cntri'oss our atlt-ctions, aiul steal away our 
 hearts from God ; if they beeonie principal oi)jects of our desires, 
 receive an undue share of our attention and respect, and are 
 jiursued as the chief means of recommendation ; in the same 
 decree Ave inflict a most serious injury on the cause of vital 
 rclij^ion, by introducing into the Christian church a base substi- 
 tute, instead of the sterling reality ; we renounce our alle- 
 giance to the Lord Jesus, and subject ourselves to imminent 
 danger of the withdrawal of his holy spiritual influences and 
 government. This result may be almost imperceptible to us at 
 first, for the gradations from truth to error are generally slow 
 and hidden ; yet it will not less surely follow ; till at length, if 
 persisted in, wo shall have cause bitterly to lament that, for want 
 of simple dependence on the Spirit of truth, and through our own 
 neglect and disobedience, we did not know the things behjuging 
 to our peace, and that they are become hidden from our eyes. 
 
 Lastly maybe considered the usual attractive acconn)animent9 
 of public devotion, — the skilful singing, the instrumental music, 
 the pomp of ornaraeut, the parade of authority, the eloquence 
 of oratory. Do they originate in the lowly, simple, self-denying 
 spirit of Jesus ? Do they conduce to a truly devotional frame of 
 mind ? Are the general effects on the worshippers consistent 
 with a heartfelt renunciation of the world ? Are they the fruits 
 of the Spirit of Christ? Or, on the contrary, do they not pro- 
 ceed in degree from a desire to gratify the vain and corrupt 
 dispositions, rather than to edify the awakened and anxiously 
 inquiring soul, to unite opposite interests and tempers which 
 are utterly incompatible ? xVre not some of them often per- 
 fonncd by persons ignorant of the reverence due to sacred 
 things, unhallowed in their lives, and mercenary in their 
 motives ? And must it not be confessed, with lamentation, that 
 the most sacred truths become, in the mouths of such persons, 
 a lie on the tongue, a profanation of holy things, and a mockery 
 of the Divine Ouniiscience ? Do they not tend to promote a 
 delusive idea of being engaged in the service of God, when 
 another lord and master is really served ? Do they not at 
 times contribute to excite in the hearers the animal impulses, 
 to delight the senses, to feast the natural understanding, taste 
 and imagination ? Could they be submitted to a spiritual 
 
576 ATTRACTIONS ADDED TO PUBLIC WORSHIP. 
 
 crucible, how small, if any, would be the true value of the 
 result ? Is it too severe a censure to pronounce them, in a great 
 degree, intellectual and imaginative enjoyments and services; 
 in which the manner is liable to be regarded more than the 
 matter, the style and sound than the substance, the delight than 
 the edification, the natural talent and high learning than the 
 gifts, and graces and influences of the Holy Spirit? But "my 
 people love to have it so ; " and to the Christian churches it may 
 be mournfully said " What will ye do in the end thereof? " ^ 
 
 Henry Martyn, the devoted oriental missionary, who may be 
 noticed as one among many witnesses in confirmation of these 
 views, declared his conviction, when near the close of hfe, that the 
 ritual of the chiu'ches, their good forms, and every thing they 
 have, are a mere shadow without the power of truth ; but he 
 said he felt that it was impossible to convince the people of the 
 world, whether Christians or Mahometans, that what they call 
 religion is merely a thing of their own, having no connexion with 
 God and his kingdom. This, he remarked, Avas a subject that 
 had lately pressed much on his mind. " How senseless,'^ he 
 adds, " is the zeal of churchmen against dissenters, and of dis- 
 senters against the church ! Tbe kingdom of God is neither 
 meat nor drink, nor anything perishable, but righteousness, and 
 peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."^ How many, at such an 
 awful period, have had similar convictions of the insignificance 
 of human systems, and of the infinite importance of the sub- 
 stance and life of rehgion ! 
 
 ' Jer. V. 31. 2 See Ixis Life. 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ARDENT PURSIIT OR LARGE POSSESSION 01" WEALTH, LUXURY, 
 AND OTHER WORLDLY ATTAINMENTS AND ENJOYMENTS, INJU- 
 RIOUS TO THE SPIRITUAL INTERESTS OK INDIVIDUALS AND 01' 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 But little rej^ard is paid by Christians gcueially to the express 
 commaud of Christ, " Lay not up for yourselves treasures on 
 earth, — but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, — for 
 where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."' Many 
 are the exhortations and warnings of a similar nature recorded 
 in the New Testament, teaching us that tlie eager pursuit 
 and large .iccumulation even of the lawful things of this 
 workl, as wcaltli, honour, learning, friendship, business or 
 pleasure, have a powerful tendency to absorb the mind and 
 atJeetious, to alienate them from God, to fix them on the world 
 and its transitoiy objects. Thus all these become rivals to 
 Christ in the soul, and the eai'nest desire of them, or, to use 
 one word of comprehensive import, " cuvetousness, is (in fact,) 
 idolatiy,'" — the setting up and worsliip of the creature instead 
 of the Creator. 
 
 The danger of tliis idolatry is not however confined to the 
 most atUuent or most learned ; though with them it is often 
 imminent. It extends to all who pursue with intensity any 
 of those objects, however limited may be the amount already 
 attained. He who deals in a small way, and counts by dozens 
 or scores, may be as devoted to his piu'po.sc, as full of 
 penuriousness, and as proud of success, as the extensive mer- 
 chant or banker, who reckons by thousands or tens of thou- 
 sands. He may be even a greater slave to mammon, and 
 more inflated with conceit. Tlie same remark may apply to 
 the yeoman of moderate means and tlie aflluent distinguished 
 « Matt. vi. 19—21. ' Col. iii. 5. 
 
578 WEALTH AND LUXURY INJURE THE CHURCH. [Slip. 2. 
 
 nobleman ; to the man of slender literary attainments and the 
 scholar of profound erudition. It is not only, perhaps not so 
 much, the amount attained, but the eagerness of aspiration and 
 the pride of self-gratulation that are injurious, be the possession 
 large or small. "VMiere one soul is ruined by great wealth or 
 learning, is there not much reason to fear that a hundred, who 
 never acquire either of these, do yet become -victims to the 
 world, through their keen devotedness to the pursuit, making to 
 themselves false gods, other objects of love and veneration, and 
 bowing down and serving them ? Yet how many excuses does 
 each make, and how often do we see the mote in our brother's 
 eye, without being sensible of the beam that is in our own ! 
 " Auri sacra fames/' has long been a poetical theme of satirical 
 reprobation, but the subject requires to be viewed more seriously 
 by the Christian, and to be brought home closely to the con- 
 science of each, with the secret but deep inquiry, "Lord, is it I?" 
 
 Were we but sufficiently alive to the great truth, that we are 
 but " stewards of the manifold grace of God,'' whether spiritual 
 or temporal, — stewards for Him and for the community, every 
 member of which we are commanded to love as ourselves, and 
 that for the right fulfilment of this stewardship each will be 
 called to account, and judged accordingly; then surely the gifts 
 themselves v^ould engage less of our attention than the bountiful 
 Giver, and their faithful occupation; while in this we should 
 derive a refined and a generous satisfaction, attended with an 
 humbhng sense of our very imperfect administration, and an 
 increasing desire to fulfil the command, " occupy till I come." 
 
 Though this subject is somewhat beside the special object of 
 the present treatise, yet candour and consistency seemed to 
 require, that ambition, wealth and luxury in the church at large 
 should have a passing notice of reprehension, as well as in the 
 ministry. Experience shows that if the people in general are 
 wealthy, they will not long be satisfied with the ministry of 
 the poor and humble of this world; if they are highly edu- 
 cated and polished, they will be much disposed to reject the 
 ministrations of the simple-hearted and the unlearned. What 
 the people are, the ministry will be; and what the ministers 
 are, the people will be, according to the ancient saying, " Like 
 people, like priest."^ The Christian's path for all classes is how- 
 
 ' Hosea iv. 9. 
 
OUTWAIU) lU.E.SSINOS TO HK HIOHTLY USED. 571) 
 
 ever throujifh the strait gate and the narrow way ; it is a path of 
 selt-denial and of the cross, and is in direct opposition to sdf- 
 indnlfijence and worklly gratification. AVherc wealth abonnds, 
 self-indnljj;cnce is, generally speaking, the natural and almost 
 inevitable conseiinence. Tie it down, and limit its outbreaks as 
 best we may, it will defy our efforts of restraint, either in our- 
 selves or in our families. ^Vhere the means of worldly gratifi- 
 cation exist in excess, the end to which they naturally lead is 
 seldom very remote, althougli we may attempt to coinitcract the 
 influence. Moderation is generally the line of safety, happiness 
 and usefulness. Much are those ministers of all denominations 
 entitled to our sympathy and conuncndation, who upliold the 
 truth unflinchingly, and without respect of persons; looking 
 with a single eye to their Divine Master, and remembering the 
 language of one formerly, that if he sought to please men, he 
 should not be the servant of Christ. i 
 
 The Reformation, which released the minds and even the 
 estates of men from oppression, and applied a greater stimulus 
 to human thought and energy, gave also additional security to 
 private property : and from these and other causes the com- 
 mercial pursuits of the world took a start, producing large accu- 
 mulations of wealth, and assimilating many Christian professors 
 to the world and its spirit. 
 
 Can a single church lie found, which, if we would judge can- 
 didly and impartially, is faultless' in this matter? Do not the 
 spirit of the world, its ])landishments and its influences, too often 
 usurp the place of higher and holier motives, first creeping in 
 almost imperceptibly, now gaining ground on one side, and then 
 intrenching themselves on the other, till even the most holy 
 places are not clear of the pollution, or free from the desolating 
 consecpiences ? In how many modes, and under how many 
 forms, does Antichrist show himself, like the more palpable 
 objects of the idolatry of the ancient world, still " opposing and 
 exalting himself above all that is called fiod, or that is wor- 
 'shipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of (Jod?"' 
 Men of business, devoted to the world but possessing good moral 
 reputation, make themselves useful to the churches by their con- 
 tributions in money, and by personal exertion or countenance. 
 Hence they often obtain a consideration and place in religious 
 ' Cial. i. lo. ' 2 llicss. ii. 4. 
 
580 OUTWARD BLESSINGS TO BE RIGHTLY USED. [Sup. 2, 
 
 denominations^ which tends to lower these in their spiritual cha- 
 racter, and to introduce into them a ATorldly and an injurious 
 distinction between high and low^ rich and poor. The business 
 spirit invades such chui'cheSj pecixniary matters occupy their great 
 care^ and money asserts a powerful but deteriorating influence. 
 
 The brotherhood of believers, and their equality in the sight 
 of God, without distinction of outward circumstances, are senti- 
 ments too little cherished by Christians in practice, however 
 they may be coldly acknowledged in words. The spirit of 
 Christianity and the example of the apostolic age demand from 
 every church more full consideration of the spiritual rights 
 and equal rehgious position of its humbler members, as well 
 as a generous provision for their necessities and comforts. 
 Wbat church is wholly unconvicted by the close rebuke of the 
 apostle James ? " My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if 
 there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in 
 goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile 
 raiment, and ye have respect unto him that weareth the gay 
 clothing, and say unto him Sit thou here in a good place, and 
 say to the poor Stand thou there, or Sit here under my 
 footstool, are ye not partial in yourselves, and judges of evil 
 thoughts?''! 
 
 If our learning, or possessions, or enjoyments are chiefly of 
 this world ; and if these are of more weight in our practical 
 regard than heavenly treasure — than the love of God and his 
 truth, — we are beyond doubt in a state of darkness and gi'eat 
 danger. If the attractions of the present scene have a stronger 
 hold upon our minds than those of heaven, and if they continue 
 to do so, whither, alas, will they conduct us in the end ? How 
 can we escape certain destruction, unless, through more entire 
 submission to the convictions and workings of Divine love and 
 grace, we prefer and embrace those things which are most excel- 
 lent ? If the love of the world, in whatever guise, usurp the 
 first place in the thoughts and afl'ections, we are equally guilty 
 of idolatry and obnoxious to its punishment with the less en- 
 lightened ancient or modern heathen. 
 
 Yet we must not run into an opposite extreme, and profess 
 with the ascetics to despise the things of this life, — those tem- 
 
 ' James ii. 1 — 4. 
 
DANGERS OF GREATNESS. 5Sl 
 
 poral benefits and blessings bestowed by a bountiful Giver, — or 
 eveu with some religious but inconsiderate persons speak liglitly 
 of them, as unworthy of our notice and attention. They are to 
 be thankfidly accepted, rightly applied and temperately used in 
 their proper places ; not to be abused on the one hand in Maste- 
 fulness or pride to our own destruction, nor excessively pursued 
 and accumulated on the other, to a destruction less apparent 
 but not less sure. Learning, riches, honour, business and 
 recreation are unquestionably good and eminently useful, when 
 kept in subsernency, and lawfidly applied to the honour of their 
 great Giver, and to the benefit of those around us ; but if thoy 
 obtain the first place in our hearts, to the exclusion of the holiest 
 and highest objects, they bring with them carnal security, blind- 
 ness and death as to the interests of eternity. 
 
 Although the eager pui'suit of knowledge is here included -with 
 that of other worldly gratifications, yet it is by no means de- 
 signed to put them on a level, or to estimate them as of similar 
 character and equal value, the one being the cultivation and 
 enjoyment of the intellectual, the other more connected with the 
 corporeal and sensual faculties; the one more noble and re- 
 stricted to reasonable beings, the other more resembling the 
 pursuits of the lower creation ; the one a more direct provision 
 for the mind, the other for the body. Inasmuch as the mind 
 exceeds the body, so do the powers, objects and enjoyments of 
 the one rise superior to those of the other, though intimately 
 allied, and in this world mutually dependent. The genend dif- 
 fusiori of knowledge is the honoiuable characteristic of the pre- 
 sent age; and learning is truly said to be the handmaid of reli- 
 gion ; but if the handmaid usurp the place of the mistress, she 
 is wont to rule with a sliort-sighted view and a destructive 
 hand. " The Spiiit and the understanding " nmst go together, 
 and the Spirit must ever be the foremost. The higlxcst and 
 noblest exercise of the mental powers is not merely within 
 the range of human literature and science, but, subdued 
 and chastened by the Holy Spirit, in a much more exalted 
 sphere ; in the knowledge, fear and love of our Father in heaven, 
 our Redeemer and Sanctitier; in the contemplation of the 
 immortal nature of man, of his fallen condition, and of his 
 unspeakable privileges through redeeming grace in the gospel 
 of life and !^alvJltion ; in a d:iil\ c^tinwite nf tl.r MoMiigs 
 
582 SPIRITUAL BENEFITS OF OUTWARD POVERTY. [Sup. 2- 
 
 enjoyed^ and the duties owed to all around us; and thus^ 
 through faith and obedience, in serious preparation for the 
 approaching state of eternal and spiritual existence. 
 
 There is the pride of intellect and learning, as well as that 
 of worldly honour and wealth ; the scorn of the former toward 
 the unlettered and ignorant, as well as the disdain of the latter 
 toward the poor and humble. The natural repugnance and 
 hostility to simple faith and contrition of heart may exist 
 equally in the learned and in the opulent, in the confident 
 reasoner and in the luxurious millionaire ; nay, perhaps even 
 more largely in the former than in the latter. The amassing of 
 both is declared, by our Lord and his apostles, to make it hard 
 for such as trust in them to receive the things of God and to 
 enter His kingdom. 
 
 The sacred historians have emphaticallj^ remarked that Christ 
 "preached the gospel to the poor," and that "the common 
 people heard him gladly;" while the rich, the full and the 
 learned for the most part rejected and despised him. And is it 
 not too often so in the present day with respect to the teachings 
 of his Holy Spirit and the devout acceptance of rehgious truth? 
 Has not poverty of spirit more affinity to external poverty than 
 to temporal grandeui' ? and are not afflictions and humiliations 
 well adapted and even necessary, to con\dnce us that "here we 
 have no continuing city," and to impel us to " seek one that is 
 to come ?" To many of us, as well as to the ancient church of 
 Laodicea, may it not be truly said, " Thou sayest I am rich, 
 and increased with goods^ and have need of nothing; and knowest 
 not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, 
 and naked ?" We are too liable to forget our fallen and entirely 
 dependent condition. Right reformations generally take the 
 first hold among the humbler classes. The thirsty minds of 
 these are often the most open and candid to receive, inquire 
 and consider ; while the full soul loathes even the honeycomb, 
 questions and resists. Yet the remark must be repeated, that 
 it is the eagerness of pursuit, the absorption of the thoughts 
 and affections, the complacency of self, in whatever class they 
 are found, which do the mischief, which harness the mind 
 to this world, and weaken its hold on heavenly and eternal 
 thinajs. 
 
AMMIABETICAL INDKX 
 
 Abbeys, Monasteries, &e. 293—298. 
 Advowsons, 220, 229. 
 Albigenscs, 1S9, 47i, o59. 
 Alcuiii on Tithes, 18(5. 
 Amalgamation of Lutheran and Cnhnnistic 
 Churclics, 61, 514. 
 American Churches, 372. 
 Anabaptists, 476. 
 
 Anglican State Church, 299—333, 551. 
 Apostacv of earlv Church, 114, 136, 146, 
 "152—156, 196, 462, 519, 520, 549. 
 Apostolical Succession, 92 — 102, 404, 464. 
 Appointment of Bishops, 236, 37H, 401. 
 
 of Ministers in rrimitive 
 
 Churches, 21G. 
 Appropriations, 177, 179, 222. 
 Arcliitccturc, Church, 533, 537, 543. 
 Articles, Thirtv-nine, 438. 
 
 Six, 302. 
 
 Arnold of Brescia, 188, 500. 
 
 Dr., Sentiments of, 49, 55, 90, 94, 
 
 24.3, 271, 380, 388, 458, 551. 
 Assembly, Scotch General, 348, 351. 
 Augustine, 137, 376, 423, 440, 446, 467, 
 
 496, 519. 
 Authority, Secular, injurious to Religion, 
 
 14. 
 
 Avarice of Ecclesiastics. 136, 151, 192, 
 
 225, 294, 298, 324. 
 
 Baptism, and Sprinkling with Water, 459 
 
 491. 
 
 with Water disused, 461, 473, 
 
 474, 475. 
 
 of Bells, &c. 440, 471, 535. 
 
 Romish Mode of, 472. 
 
 Summary of Differences on, 489, 
 
 490. 
 
 with Fire, 466. 
 
 with IIolv Spirit, 484. 
 
 Baptists, 305, 431.' 
 Benefices, 217-233. 
 Berenger, 473, 600. 
 Bernard, 188, 224. 
 Bishoprics, 233—240. 
 Bishops, Anglican, 317-319. 
 
 Income of, 26 1. 336, .3.38. 
 
 Blackstone, Judge, 133. 151, 173. 
 
 Bohemians, 26, 189, 205, 443,562. 
 
 Book of Sports, 395. 
 
 Bounty, Queen Anne's, 183, 184. 
 
 British Colonies, Church Funds, 257. 
 
 Browiists, 305, 431. 
 
 Brute, Walter, 98, 198, 475, 487, 504, 536. 
 
 Bimsen, Chevalier, 551. 
 
 Calendar, Reformation of, 623. 
 Canon Law, 290, 331. 
 Canons, Anglican, 322, 331. 
 Cardinals, 239. 
 Catholic Relief Bill, 329. 
 Cathari, or the Pure, 474. 
 Chalmers, Dr. 328, 330, 350, 353, 445. 
 Ceremonial Observances, 419 — 421, 515. 
 Charlemagne, 139, 234, 425, 435, 471, 497, 
 
 625. 
 Chaplains, Colonial, 251. 
 Charity, Christian, 3G, 68, 59. 
 Church, vague Notions of, 2. 
 
 Misapplication of the Word, 68, 
 
 241, 
 
 Membership, 382 
 
 Rates, 241—246. 
 
 Church-rate litigations, 244 — 246. 
 Churches and Chapels in Kngland ami 
 
 Wales, 267. 
 
 Americiui, 372. 
 
 Church Reform, 272—277. 
 
 and State, Separation of, 
 
 277-279. 
 
 Wardens, 326. 
 
 Early Christian, 113, 618 
 
 Reformers conservative, 273, 274. 
 
 Reformers comprehensive, 
 
 274-277. 
 Civil f jovemment, nature and objects of, H. 
 Clark, Adam. 513. 
 
 Clergv, Introduction of the Term, 60. 
 Cobham, Lord, 98, 119, 204. 
 Colour, tinrighteous distinction of, 368. 
 Cummui^, Dr. 385. 
 Commission, EcclcAiastical, 185, 265. 
 Commutation of Tithes, 180. 
 Community of Spiritual (iifts. 181. 
 
584 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Concordats, 143, 235, 236. 
 Consecration of Bishops, 317. 
 
 of Buildings, Ground, &c., 
 
 528, 533, 534, 540, 542. 
 Constantine, Emperor, 115, 119, 153, 422, 
 
 423, 618. 
 Constitution and Discipline of Chiirches, 
 
 Remarks on, 373—387. 
 Consubstantiation, 526. 
 Contests of Civil and Priestly Powers, 291. 
 Convocation, 309, 313, 430, 431. 
 Corporation and Test Acts, 309, 328, 512. 
 Corruption of Religion promoted by TJn- 
 
 scriptural Terms, 65 — 72. 
 
 Covetousness injurious to the Church, 577. 
 
 Courts, Ecclesiastical or Spiritual, 283, 
 
 292, 309, 314. 
 
 Cranmer, Aixhbishop, 215, 321, 435, 438, 
 
 448, 453. 
 Creeds, 408, 437. 
 
 CromweU, Oliver, 162, 227, 307, 308. 
 Cross, Sign of, 487. 
 Crusades, 154, 559, 569. 
 
 D'Aubigne, Merle, 116, 313, 375, 387, 
 413, 485, 546. 
 Deans and Chapters, 323—325. 
 Deaconesses, Ancient, 108. 
 Demands, Ecclesiastical, indu'ect, 250. 
 Delinquents, Dealing with, 384. 
 Dell, AVilHam, 88, 89, 479. 
 Du-ectory, Presbyterian, 433. 
 Discipline, Church, 382—385. 
 
 want of, 49, 325, 332, 383. 
 
 Dispensations, the Two, 42, 545, 550. 
 Dissolution of Religious Houses, 295, 298. 
 Disownment of Members, 385, 386. 
 Dissenters, 20, note, 279, 327. 
 Dodshon, J., 416. 
 Donatists, 21, 50, 496, 557. 
 Duhobortzi, 112, 483, 513, 527. 
 
 Easter, observance of, 523. 
 
 ■ — — Otferings, 247. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Establishment, Duty of 
 
 British Government, 269. 
 Edgar, King, on Tithes, 187. 
 Endowments for Christian Ministers, 77, 
 115, 120, 124, 151, 345, 398. 
 Erastian System, 15, 374. 
 Error not excluded by Creeds, 408, 
 Essentials to well-ordered Churches, 27. 
 Established Church, Objections to any, 
 
 396. 
 Eucharist, Lord's Supper or Mass, 
 
 491—517, 630, 541. 
 
 . Early celebration of, 493, 494. 
 
 given to Children, 496—498. 
 
 Summary of Variations on, 
 
 516. 
 Excommunication, 292, 330. 
 Exorcism, 462, 476, 531, 537. 
 
 Fast Days — see Holy-days. 
 
 Female Members of Church, 381, 
 Festivals, — see Holy Days. 
 
 — , Profane, 527. 
 
 Figurative representations of Church of 
 
 Christ, 30, 42, 43. 
 First-fruits, or Annates, 146, 183, 287, 336. 
 Forms, E\ils of prescribed, 407, 413, 414, 
 Fox, George, 66, 212, 539. 
 Fox, John, 211, 522. 
 Free Church in Scotland, 352. 
 Freedom or gratuitous nature of Christian 
 
 Ministry, 125, 130, 134. 
 Friends, Society of, 213, 306, 369, 485, 512, 
 
 567. 
 Frith, John 476, 688. 
 
 Gavazzi, 213, 376, 379, 391, 444. 
 German and ItaUan New Catholic 
 
 Churches, 62. 
 Gifts, Spiritual, diffusion of, 80, 81, 86, 
 
 103. 
 Glebe lands, 251. 
 
 Gospel Standard to be upheld, 53, 54. 
 Government of State and of Christ, 9, 11. 
 Greek Patriarch appointed by Mahomedan 
 
 Prince, 61. 
 Greek Church, 435, 444, 485, 644. 
 Greek Fu'e, imposture of, 644. 
 Gregory the Great, 497, 519. 
 Gregory VII, or Hildebrand, 164, 234, 238, 
 
 293, 425. 
 Gregory of Tours, 186, 440. 
 Guelphs and Ghibellines, 235. 
 
 Hales, John, 381. 
 Hall, Bishop, 433. 
 Halley, Dr. 484. 
 
 Hallowuig or conjuring of water, &c. 
 
 528, 538. 
 Hampton Court Conference 1634, 430. 
 Hawkes, Thomas, 477, 539. 
 Heathen names of Days and Months, 68. 
 Heresies, 653— 556.;,558. 
 Herschell, 444, 486, 642, 550. 
 High Commission Coiirt, 305. 
 High Church Tenets, 375, 376, 410. 
 Holy Days, Festivals and Fasts, 522—628. 
 Homilies, 412, 434, 435, 436. 
 Hooper, Bishop, 447, 448 
 Huss, John, 204, 562. 
 
 Impropriate Tithes, 177—180, 222. 
 
 Impurity of professing Churches, 34, 550. 
 
 Independents, 306, 307, 438. 
 
 Indulgences, 288. 
 
 Interdict, 284, 292. 
 
 Interference, State, injurious to true 
 
 Religion, 394. 
 Intolerance, ReUgious, 67, 434. 
 Investitures, disputes about, 235, 238. 
 Ireland, its Churches and Endowments, 
 
 334—336. 
 Irish Protestant Estabhshment, 334. 
 Episcopal Revenues, 338. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 585 
 
 Irish Regium Donum, 343. 
 
 Human Catholic Church, 340. 
 
 Kducationul Colleges, 343. 
 
 Israelites, Ancient, 40,41. 
 Italian lieformers, 62, 213. 
 
 Jerome of Prague, 205. 
 Jewish I'ricsts, 4oO. 
 Jubilee, Roman, 525. 
 
 Keys, power of the, 48, 99, 376, 381, 473, 
 
 600. 
 Kingdom of Christ, nature of, 3 — 6. 
 Kingly and Priestly fimctions distinct, 392. 
 Kiuelingat Sacrauieut, 501, 514. 
 Knox, John, 226. 
 
 Lambert. John, 107, 508. 
 
 Lands. &c. given to the Church, 135. 
 
 Latimer, Uishop, 230, 231. 
 
 Laud, Archbi.shop, 394, 540. 
 
 Lavenda, Romish, 45)0. 
 
 Lecturers, 233. 
 
 Liberty of conscience, 39, 393. 
 
 religious, existing infrinccments 
 
 of, 279, 281. 
 Liturgies, 421. 427, 431, 434. 
 Locke, John, 37, 38, 98, 99, 112, 362, 365, 
 
 385, 416. 
 Lollards, 197, 206, 394,443, 521. 
 Lord's Supper, — see Eucharist. 
 IjOW Church Tenets, 411. 
 Luther. 427, 443, 506, 538 
 
 Man, Fallen. Redeemed, 38. 
 Mass. the, 421, 421, 491. 
 Massalians, or Kuchites, 476, 495. 
 Ma>-nooth College, 342. 
 Members, Church, Privileges of, 377, 379; 
 Duties of, 378. 
 Milton, Sentiments of, 60. 89, 123, 211, 
 249, 379, 433, 540, 573. 
 Ministry-, True Gospel, 76, 79, 103, 104, 
 
 125—130, 
 
 Simplicity of, 74, 75, 128, 618. 
 
 degraded! 142, 175, 521. 
 
 of Women, 105, 108. 
 
 Ministerial Authority, 97, 102. 
 
 System, 377. 
 
 Ministers not to rule the Church, 48, 
 
 110—112. 
 
 appointment of, 218, 220, 227, 
 
 230, 233. 
 
 suspended, 303, 430. 
 
 Fonns imposed on, 323, 436. 
 
 .Vnglican, Number and Income 
 
 of, 265. 
 
 Dissenting, 265, 672. 
 
 worldly Power, 389. 
 
 false position of, 104. 
 
 Missionaries, Christi.an, 112, 128, 486. 
 Monasteries, suppression of, 206. 
 Monastic Orders, 151, 153, 177, 221, 293, 
 
 620. 
 
 Money for religious Puq)08eB, Efforts to 
 
 raise, 129. 
 
 Mortuaries, 246, 288. 
 
 Music, introduction mto Worship, 
 
 439—446, 57.'». 
 
 Neander, 118, 483. 
 Newton, Bishop, 115. 
 Nomination to licneficcs, 225. 
 
 Ointment, Holy, 5.12. 
 One Class exalt(.d in Church, and one 
 Man in Congregation, 77. 
 Ordination of Ministers, 100, 320. 
 Organs introduced, 440. 
 
 Pagan and Christian Systems, 8. 
 Paley, Dr., 229. 
 
 Paolo Sarpi, 133, 143, 210, 217, 379. 
 Papal Authority in Britain, 282—298. 
 Papists, Statutes against, 327—330. 
 Particular Christian Churches, 23. 
 Parishes, division into, 222. 
 Parish Clerks, 325. 
 Passover, Feast of, 492. 
 Patronage, Ecclesiastical, 172, 173, 
 
 215—240, 337, 348, 350, 352. 
 Patronage, Borough, 402. 
 Paidicians, 88, 470, 498, 535, 558. 
 Pcnn, Willi.im, 39, 59, 313, 364, 367. 
 Pennsylvania, 3G4, 367. 
 Perfect State and perfect Church, 389. 
 Persecutions, 56, 57, 59, 61, 63, 302, 306, 
 359, 491, 511, 5.')7. ')(if<. 
 Peter's Pence, 288. 
 Pew Rents, 250. 
 Philpot, Jolin, 511. 
 Pilgrimages, 289. 
 
 Ploughman's Complaint, 193, 441, 502, 
 
 536. 
 Politico-Ecclesiastical Systems, Evils of, 
 
 45. 
 Policy, Human, in Divine things, 51. 
 Pontiff. Meaning of the term, 67. 
 Poor, Care of by the Church, 136, 149, 
 
 384. 
 Prayer, 422. 433. 
 
 Book of Common, 369, 400, 421. 
 
 432. 
 Predictions, ancient Jewish, 42. 
 Presbyterians, 160, 163, 305, 308, 313, 
 347. 350, 431, 433. 
 Priest, emploj-ment of the term, 67. 
 Priests and Deacons, Anglican, 319. 
 Priests distinguished from Ministers, 90, 
 
 . 91. 
 Priesthood, Christian, Introduction of, 
 
 86. 
 
 Priesthood of Christians. 78. 85. 88, 90. 
 
 Priestly Presumption, 234, 380, 473, 482. 
 
 .501, 50.3, 513. 
 
 Prosperity of Christian CTiurches, 1 2, 26, 
 
 27. 86. 
 
586 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Puritans, 59,304, 444, 449, 521, 566, 567. 
 Puseyite Views, 457. 
 
 Rates and minor Charges for Religious 
 
 Services, 241—250. 
 
 Reform of Anglican Church, Writers on, 
 
 272—277. 
 Reformation, 39, 155, 301, 
 
 to be carried further, 64, 
 
 281, 516, 545—552. 
 Reformers, early English, 88, 95. 
 
 successive Christian, 546, 548. 
 
 Regiimi Donum, Irish and English, 343, 
 
 344. 
 Religion, Christian, Simplicity of, 83 ; 
 
 Departure from, 84, 87, 545. 
 Representative System, 377, 388. 
 Revenues of Anglican Church, 259, 268. 
 
 of Irish Established Church, 
 
 336—339. 
 
 of Scotch Established Church, 
 
 355. 
 Rights of Members, 49. 
 Right, Divine, of Bishops, 95. 
 Ringing of Bells introduced, 440. 
 Robinson, John, 549, 
 
 Sacraments, 67, 451, 453, 493, 515. 
 Saint, adoption of Epithet, 69, 70. 
 Samts, Romish, 69, 533. 
 Saltmarsh, John, 222, 479, 550. 
 Savonarola, 443. 
 
 Scotch Churches, 347—356, 444. 
 Secession, 350. 
 Selden on Tithes, 136. 
 Senses gratified in Worship, 152, 575. 
 Simony, 173, 223, 232. 
 SinipLLcity of Primitive Church, 83. 
 Singing of Psalms, 439. 
 Smectymnuus, 433. 
 Smith, Robert, 510, 539. 
 Sovereign, British Head of Anglican 
 Church, 317, 382. 
 Spencer, Thomas, 274. 
 Sponsors m Baptism, 469, 470. 
 Spruikling with Water, 463, 464,465, 479. 
 Standard of the Gospel, 54. 
 State Support, withdrawal of, 399. 
 State responsible for Church, 402. 
 Stillingfleet, Dr., 457, 547. 
 Succession, Apostolical, 92 — 102,404. 
 Superstition and Ignorance of Dark Ages, 
 
 152,545. 
 Submission, Act of Clergy's, 311,312. 
 Supremacy Ecclesiastical, of British Mon- 
 archs, 301, 309. 
 Surplice Fees, 248. 
 
 Talent and Learning in Ministers, undue 
 
 Estimate of, 572. 
 
 Taylor, Bishop, 12, 47, 449,480, 487, 512, 
 
 555 
 Tenths and First-fruits, 146, 183, 289. 
 Terms, Use of unscriptural, 65. 
 Tertullian on Church Funds, 135, 446, 461 . 
 
 Thorpe, William, 199, 442, 505. 
 Tithes, King Stephen's Charter, 147, 
 
 Enforced on the People, 141, 142, 
 
 167. 
 
 Origin and History of, 131 — 167. 
 
 Establishment in England, 143. 
 
 Ethelwolf s Grant, 144. 
 
 Present Possessors of, 164. 
 
 Rent- charge. Ecclesiastical, cir- 
 cumstances relating to, 165 — 177 
 
 Impropriate, 177—180, 222. 
 
 Commutation, 180, 262. 
 
 Protests and Efforts against, 
 
 186—216. 
 
 Before the coming of Christ, 131, 
 
 133. 
 
 Fourfold division of, 137, 139, 144, 
 
 166. 
 
 Decrees for, 138, 143,147, 150, 223. 
 
 various Possessors of, 157 — 165,271. 
 
 abolished or altered on the Con- 
 tinent, 252,-258. 
 rent-charge, produce of, 261, 262. 
 
 abolition of, 271. 
 
 Irish, 337. 
 
 Scotch, or Temds, 355., 
 
 Toleration Act, 309, 365, 438. 
 Tonsure, 451. 
 
 Transubstantiation, 499, 502, 515. 
 Trent, CouncU of, 225,451, 454. 
 Tyndal, WiUiam, 17, 71, 73, 129, 211, 409, 
 443, 475, 508, 538. 
 
 Uniformity, Act of, 303, 308, 429. 
 Union of Church and State, various modes 
 
 of, 1. 
 
 Arguments for, 388. 
 
 Objections against, 299, 405. 
 
 Effects of, on Ministers, &c. 4C3. 
 
 Advantages of dissolution of, 278, 
 
 399. 
 Consequences of, 388, 394—399. 
 
 of authority among Israelites, 
 
 40, 42. 
 Unity, Christian, 20, 23. 
 
 of Spirit amid diversity of Prac- 
 
 tice, 19, 
 
 of opinion not secured by pre- 
 
 scribed Creeds, 408. 
 United States, constitutions of and of 
 
 Churches, 357—372. 
 Universal Church of Chi-ist, 18, 21, 390. 
 Universities, Colleges, &c. 573. 
 
 Variations in particular churches, 19, 20 
 
 of Protestant Churches and of 
 
 Catholics, 28, 58. 
 Vestments, Priestly, 446— 451 . 
 Vicarages, 224. 
 
 Vu-gin Mary, Adoration paid to, 69, 204, 
 
 519. 
 Violence mjurious to the Church, 39,60, 
 
 190, 558. 
 Voluntary System, 380. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 587 
 
 "\Valdenses,189, 441, 474, 535, 559. 
 Wealth, Luxxiry, &c. injurious to 
 Church, 
 Wesley, John, 371, 512. 
 Westminster Confession of Faith, 
 
 Whittit'ld, Ucorgc, 483, 512. 
 Wiclifte, Sentiments of, It], 26, 104, 
 129, 196, 249, 376, 426, 452, 475, 
 Williams, Roger, 361. 
 Women, Ministry of, 105, 109, 493. 
 ^^'orship Divine, accompaniments 
 troduced ijito, 73, 
 
 the 
 577. 
 
 437, 
 438. 
 
 121, 
 504. 
 
 575. 
 
 I Worship Christian, and Ministrj-, 52, 72, 
 
 75,76—81,518. 
 
 Worldly greatness injurious to the Cluirch, 
 
 13, 14. 
 Spirit in Christian Churches, 572. 
 
 Zeal, denominational, and Christiiuj 
 charity, 20. 
 Zisca, John, 205, 562. 
 Zwingle, Ulric, 476, 608, 563. 
 
 uynDoa : 
 RiciiAKD tARRrrr, muntkr, mm.k lam:. 
 

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