I 
 
 -LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 
 
 Received . September.? 188 
 
 Accessions No. 2~^?4>C r Shelf No. 
 
 * 
 
 
 r 
 
GUIDE TO THE CHURCH; 
 
 IN 
 
 SEVERAL DISCOURSES. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
 
 TWO POSTSCRIPTS; 
 
 THE FIRST, 
 
 TO THOSE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH 
 
 WHO OCCASIONALLY FREQUENT OTHER 
 PLACES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP^ 
 
 THE SECOND, 
 
 TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 A new Introductory Preface to the' Reader. 
 
 w There (hall t* no Schifm in the Body." i. Cor. xii. 25. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 P. C. AND J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUI/S CHURCH-YARD, LONDONj 
 BY R. CRUTTWELL, 5ATH. 
 
 1804. 
 
v 
 
 ' 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 *- REFFACE to the READER ----.. .....{ 
 
 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE - - - . ..... X 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 On the Nature, Deftgn y and Conjlitutlon of tie Chrijlian 
 Church^ confidercd as a vijible Society -.-.- jj 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 Of the Sin of Schifm 41 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 On the Reafons generally advanced to jujlify a Separation from 
 the Church ; and fir/}, on thefuppofedjpiritual Qualification 
 of the Party undertaking the Office of the Mlnifiry ... 65 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 On the Plea advanced by Separatijls from the Church, that the 
 Gof pel is not preached in it --....-.-. 77 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 On the Sacrament of Baptifm, confidered as furnifoing a 
 Plea for Separation from the Church ----.- 103 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 On Liberty of Conference ...... . .... 1^3 
 
} v CONTENTS* 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 On Toleration - - - - 135 
 
 p 
 
 DISCOURSE IX 
 On the Right of Private Judgment in Religious Matters - 145 
 
 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 On the Advantages attendant upou a confcientious Communion 
 with the Church ; together with the Disadvantages confe- 
 quent upon a wilful Separation from // ------ 167 
 
 CONCLUDING DISCOURSE -.--.-....-219 
 
 POSTSCRIPT to thofe Members of the Church, who occafionally 
 frequent other Places of Public Worjhip - -'- - - - a6i 
 
 POSTSCRIPT to the Clergy --353 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 f"TpHE following Difcourfes were originally de- 
 figned for private circulation in a particular 
 parifh. Being written for that purpofe, their ac- 
 commodation to the exiiling ftate of that parifh con- 
 ftituted of courfe the principal object in view. Should 
 therefore fome parts of the fubjeft be more dilated, 
 than may be thought necefiary for general informa- 
 tion; or fome circumflances noticed which might 
 have been omitted; the candid reader will, it is hoped, 
 make allowance for what on thefe accounts may be 
 an unwelcome trefpafs upon his time. Thus much 
 it may 1>? proper to fay in behalf of the Difcourfes 
 before him. 
 
 As an excufe, if excufe be neceflary, for the alter- 
 ation of my plan in giving them to the public, I have 
 to plead, that upon their revifal for the prefs, they 
 were judged to convey fome information applicable 
 to the general circumflances of Chriflians in this 
 
yi TO THE READER. 
 
 country; and that new books, though containing 
 nothing frefli upon the fubjefts of which they treat, 
 will be read ; whilft old ones, more fraught with in- 
 formation, lie ufelefs on the ilielf. 
 
 The Poftfcripts fubjoined to the Difcourfes mufl 
 fpeak for themfelves; becaufe they were written for 
 the purpofe to which they are applied. 
 
 Upon the fubjeft of Eflabliftiments I have nothing 
 to unfay. Upon this fubjeft I have written as I have 
 been always taught to think. An uniformity of 
 fentiment on great and momentous fubjefts conftitutes 
 a criterion, by which the thinking honeft man will 
 ever be diftinguifhed. The oppofite infirmity (if it 
 may be called by fo foft a name) will, I truft, never 
 attach itfelf to my chara&er. From the reader who 
 differs from me in opinion, I have only, therefore, to 
 crave that candour which, I truft, I fliall on all occa- 
 jfions be ready to return. 
 
 " Errare pofium, litigiofus effe non volo." - 
 
 To write upon ecclefiaftical fubjefts without cen- 
 fure, is what no author mufl expe&. The chief 
 fource, therefore, from which his fatisfa&ion mutt be 
 derived, will be the fincerity of his intention. To 
 promote in any degree the honour of GOD by pre* 
 ferving the unity of the church, is an objeft which 
 
TO THE READER. Vll 
 
 every minifter of that church ought to have at heart. 
 With this view I have placed myfelf at the door of 
 the temple with my torch; in the full confidence, that 
 whoever lhall be induced to enter in, will abide there 
 for ever. 
 
 But though I am too well acquainted with man- 
 kind to expeft that, after what has been heretofore 
 written on the fubjeft of church communion^ any thing 
 now faid upon it will produce effeft on thofe in whofe 
 minds judgment in this matter has been already 
 patted; yet, if I may prove the inflrument of con- 
 firming one wavering member of the church in a 
 rational attachment to it, I fliall not think my time 
 to have been wholly thrown away. Should it, how- 
 ever, be the will of that Divine Mafter, in whofe 
 fervice I feel myfelf engaged, that I fucceed- not even 
 thus far ; there is one confolation remaining, which 
 I fliall dill enjoy in common with all thofe of my 
 brethren, who have exerted themfelves in a fimilar 
 caufe j that fo far at leaf! as this fubjeft is concerned, 
 
 LIBERAVl ANIMAM MEAM. 
 
PREFACE TO THE READER. 
 
 
 
 E writer who feeks not popularity, muft not 
 expeft to be popular; whilft he whofe objeft 
 is truth, will be fatisfied with the conviction, that the 
 pofitions laid down by him are capable of being fub- 
 ftantiated by their proper proofs. Should it be his 
 misfortune to be writing to a world too much en. 
 gaged with itlelf, or too indifferent to the fubjeft he 
 is handlirig, to give it due attention, he will confider 
 himfelf as one born out of due time; and that his 
 words are not true, only becaufe they are notfeafon- 
 able ; a confideration, which, to a man who has 
 learned that the truth of GOD is of more value than 
 the whole world, cannot, in the prefent day, be fo 
 much a fubjeft for furprife, as it is for regret. 
 
 An endeavour to roufe Chriilians from an appa. 
 rent apathy to a due fenfe of the tremendous danger 
 attendant on that unfettlement of principles, and un- 
 
 B 
 
C K ] 
 
 fettlement of inftitutions, which chara&erife the pre* 
 fent revolutionary age; and to guard againfl the 
 defertion of thofe old and tried paths, by which, under 
 GOD, this country has been conduced to the acme 
 of national pre-eminence; by oppofmg a barrier to 
 thofe licentious opinions, and irregular pra&ices, 
 which, if not countera&ed, muft terminate in the 
 deflru&ion of our excellent conflitution; and by ex* 
 pofing the fallacy of that fpecious reafoning on Church 
 fubje&s in particular, by which uninformed minds are 
 continually drawn aflray from the eflablifhed road of 
 truth into the bye-paths of en or and fchifm; is an 
 endeavour, for my engagement in which, as a minifter 
 of the Church of England, I have no apology to 
 offer.. At the fame time, when I confider the viti- 
 ated talte of a faflidious public, which caufes the 
 generality of readers to pay more attention- to po- 
 lilhed periods than to the matter they contain, and, 
 from an infatiable third after new things, to negleft 
 the laying in that fundamental information neceffary 
 to qualify them to diflinguiih the chaff from the 
 wheat in any fubject of importance; I certainly feel 
 it neeefTary to claim indulgence for a work, which, 
 rejecting all meretricious ornaments unfuited to its 
 dignity, profefles only to deliver thofe plain words of 
 truth and fobernefs, which are bed calculated for 
 general edification. Whilfl to every one ferioufly 
 attending to the fubjefts contained in the following 
 pages, (and to no other we write) it muft, it is pre- 
 
C m 3 
 
 fumed, evidently appear, that the opinion of the world 
 can conftitute no flandard, by which the judgment of 
 any reader of them ought to be determined. 
 
 The kingdom of CHRIST, confefledly, is not bf this 
 world i it was eftablifhed with the intent, that this 
 world fliould be conformed to it; not that this king- 
 dom fhould, from time to time, be made conformable 
 to the fluctuating opinions of a capricious world. 
 As this kingdom then, according to the account 
 given of it in Scripture, is to endure to the end of 
 time; it is to be expe&ed, that the government of it 
 fliouJd correfpond with its nature, no lefs than with 
 the character of the faith it was intended to preferve, 
 that of being " the fame yefterday, to-day, ancf 
 for ever." 
 
 That fuch is the cafe, (we have authority for af 
 ferting) no honefl enquirer, properly qualified, can 
 entertain a doubt* " It is evident (fays our Church, 
 in the preface to her Confecration Service) unto all 
 men diligently reading Holy Scripture, and ancient 
 authors, that from the Apoftles' time there have 
 been thefe orders of miniflers in CHRIST'S Church 
 Bifliops, Priefts, and Deacons. And, therefore, to 
 the intent that thefe orders may be continued, and 
 reverently ufed and efteemedj in the Church of Eng- 
 land, no man fhall be accounted, or taken to be, a 
 lawful Bifhop, Prieft, or Deacon in the Church of 
 England, or fuffered to execute any of thefaid func- 
 tions, except he be called, tried, examined, and ad- 
 
L iv ~J 
 
 mitted t thereunto, according to the -form hereafter 
 
 ! ; 
 
 following, or hath had formerly . episcopal confecra* 
 
 tion or ordination.'* On this fupposed unqneftion- 
 
 . . . -,...,, 5* * J 
 
 able ground, ,eflablifhed by hiflorical proof of the 
 uniformity ^of -the. ^cclefiaftical Comlitution for a 
 long fiKceflion of ages,, the Church of England has 
 .proceeded with confidence in her judgment on this 
 important fubjech Hence it is, that in -her Canons 
 ihe exclufively appropriates the title of a true and 
 lawful Church. ..to. tlv.it fociety ,of Chriftians in this 
 country affembled under epifcopal, government; and 
 determines-, all feparatifls from it to be fchiimatics: 
 the fin of fchifm, according to its old and eflabliihed 
 definition, confuting in a wilful and needlefs fepa? 
 ration "from a true and lawful church. In praying, 
 therefore,- againfl fchifm in her litany, the Church 
 prays againfl that fin, which in the A& for Uni- 
 formity, 14, c. ii, is defcribed as attaching to thofe 
 Chriflians, who, " following their own fenfuality, 
 and living without knowledge and due fear of GOD, 
 do wilfully and fchifmatkally abflain from, and re- 
 fufe to come to, their parifli churches, 5 ' &c. 
 
 With the fame view of the fubjeft, the vifible 
 Church of .Chrifl (which the Church on earth was 
 defigned to be) is defcribed in our Article to be " a 
 congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure 
 word of GOD is preached, and the facraments duly 
 admiuiflered according to Ghriffs ordinance^ in all 
 thofe things that of neceflity are requifite to the 
 
J 
 
 fame." Art. 19. For, on the ground 'that a*coriv 
 mnTion authorifing the admittiftration of ' the jv f.icni- 
 ments conftituted an eflential part of 'C&Pifi's^- ordi- 
 nance; as the Apoftles could *not become ftewards of 
 the myfteries of the Gofpel, till our Saviour thought 
 fit to make them fuch; and confequently did not 
 adminifler the facraments previous to their having 
 received a commiiTion from him, authorifing them fo 
 to do : therefore the facraments cannot, in the 
 judgment of the Church of England, be du-y ad- 
 mmtftered according to Cbrift's ordinance, but by 
 thofe minifters, who, being " lawfully called and 
 fent into the LORD'S vineyard/' thereby receive the 
 fame divine commilTion tranfmitted to them from the 
 Apoftles, for the difcharge of the fame facred truflv 
 And a commentator on the Apoftles' Creed has ob- 
 ferved, that thofe two articles, i6 the holy Catholic 
 Church, and the Communion of Saints " were in- 
 ferted on purpofe to prevent fchifm; and that that 
 alone is their true fenfe and aim. No fchifmatic, , 
 therefore, can with a fafe confcience repeat thcfe two 
 articles; inafmuch as by his fchifm he far too clearly 
 and emphatically declares his difbelief of any peculiar 
 holinefs in the Catholic Church, and his difregard of 
 the duty and the bleiling of a Communion of Saints."' 
 The queftion then is, Has the Church of England: 
 judged corre&ly on this fubjeft, or not? To the deter-' 
 raiiiai on of this queftion, the eftablifhment of her own; 
 * King on the Creed, 310, 325, . . " 
 
t yi ] 
 
 right to the title of a true Apostolical Church of Chrift 
 may be thought a necefiary preliminary- Admitting 
 this right tp -be eflablifhed, a point which every well- 
 informed reader is competent to decide for himfelf, 
 \vhat was fchifm in the days of the Appflles, mufl 
 continue to be fchifm flill. For, on the aflumption 
 that the body of Chrifl, under its appropriate govern- 
 ment, remains wfyat it originally was; no circuin- 
 fiances of piety, learning, or wifdom, joined with 
 fchifm, can change the nature of the fin. 
 
 But we venture to fay, and it is by no means an 
 hafly pofition that we advance, but one that has flood 
 the tefl of deliberate and repeated invefligation, that 
 no ancient hiflorical fal in the annals of mankind is 
 capable of equal demonflratipn with that of the ori- 
 ginal conflitution of the Chriflian Church. Nay, 
 we fay further, that .no point of do&rine profefTed in 
 the Church, flands on equally unqueflionable ground 
 with it. For we know of no do&rine, however clearly 
 revealed, that has not, during the progrefs of Chrifl- 
 ianity in the world, met with its occafional oppugners. 
 But fuch, for the fpace of the firfl fifteen centuries of 
 the Chriflian aera, was not the cafe with refpeft to 
 the Apoflolic Government of the Church. Bifhops, 
 indeed, were occafionally fet up againfl bifhops, and 
 thereby the communion of the Church broken by 
 fchifm; at the fame time that the general pofition, 
 refpecling the divine origin and eflabliftiment of Epik 
 eopal government was admitted on both fides. In, 
 
[ vii 3 
 
 Fact, the pofition relative to the Apoilolic government 
 of the Church by Bifliops, Hands confirmed by the 
 teftimony, not of this or that country only, but by 
 .the united, and for a long time uninterrupted tefti- 
 mony, of all Chriilendom. For the firil fifteen cen- 
 turies, no Church of Chrift, in any part of the w,orld, 
 was known to exift under any other government; 
 and it has been only fince that period, which unfortu- 
 nately gives date to the introduction of a different 
 form, that Epifcopacy has met with oppofition from 
 thofe, who have found themfelves obliged to write it 
 down, as the only way to difcharge themfelves from 
 that lin, which mult otherwile neceffarily attach to a 
 needlefs feparation from it. At the fame time, the 
 attacks that for this purpofe have been made on the 
 Epifcopal government of the Church* from the ear- 
 lied date down to the prefent time, have ferved to 
 prove the flrength of the grouncl on which that go- 
 vernment (lands. 
 
 But it is much more eafy to cavil about words,, 
 than to argue upon fubjects; to flart trifling objections, 
 than fairly to defend them. . And this mode of pro- 
 ceeding, the opponents of Epifcopacy well know, is 
 calculated to anfwergood purpofe; becaufeit throws 
 ftumbling-blocks in the way of ignorant minds, with- 
 out, at the fame time, furnilhing fufilcient information 
 to qualify the parties to remove them; and every 
 degree of doubt created, relative to the truth of any 
 caufe, becomes a ftep in advance towards the oppofite 
 
[ viii ] 
 
 convi&ion. But furely never does the human mind 
 fo much expofe its weaknefs, as when it deferts the 
 public road of long-eftablifhed knowledge, and ven- 
 tures to ftrike out new paths for its devious move- 
 ments; entangling itfelf with briars and thorns, and 
 {tumbling over (tones, and flumps of trees, till it at 
 laft lofes itfelf in an impervious wildernefs. It being, 
 however, our objeft to point out the beaten path of 
 truth, rather than to trace the wandering courfe of 
 error; to the obje&ions that cavillers are continually 
 bringing forward on this controverted fubjeft, relative 
 to the platform of Church Government not being 
 found totideni verbis laid down in the facred writings ; 
 and the order of Bifhops not being to be clearly 
 traced up to the Apoftles ; it is enough to fay, that 
 to us fufficient information appears to have been 
 communicated in them to determine both thofe points. 
 But were the information conveyed in the Apoftolic 
 writings on thefe fubjefts more fcanty than it really is, 
 iis deficiency has been abundantly made up by the 
 mequivocal teftimony borne to thefe points by fub- 
 fequent writers; fome of whom were contemporaries 
 with the Apoftles, and fupreme adminiftrators uf that 
 government of which they fpeak. Proofs on this 
 head will be found in their proper place. Suffice 
 it for our prefent purpofe to obferve, with Bifhop 
 Taylor, that either CHRIST hath left no govern- 
 ment for his Church, and in fuch cafe the Apoftles 
 muft have greatly mifunderftood an effential part of 
 
[ 5x J 
 
 their high office; or mofl certainly the Church hath 
 retained that government, whatfoever it is: becanfe 
 it is unreafonable to fuppofe, that the original Founder 
 of the Church would be wanting to the preservation 
 of his own inftitution. 
 
 Admitting, then, that Clemens, Ignatius, -Irencrus, 
 and Cyprian, were honed men. and no fools, their 
 teftimony on this fubjecl: ought to be completely fii- 
 tisfaftory to every reafonable man. And if to their 
 teftimony be added the concurrent uniform practice of 
 fifteen centuries, the conclufion from fuch premifes 
 will follow, in the words of an ancient author;* that 
 we muft take care above all things to adhere to that 
 which has been believed in all places, at all times, 
 and by all perfons; for this is truly and properly 
 Catholic; and confequently, that " it never was, nor - 
 is, nor ever fliall be, lawful to teach Chriftian people 
 any other thing, than that which has been received,*' 
 from a primitive fountain. 
 
 In a word, the ftrength of the argument, in defence 
 of the Apoftolic Government of the Church, lies in 
 this undoubted truth, that the Chriftian priefthood 
 is a divine inftitution ; which, as it could have no 
 beginning but from GOD, fo neither could it be 
 continued, but in the way appointed by GOD for 
 
 : " Magnopere curandum eft, ut id teneamus quod unique, quod 
 femper, quod ab omnibus t creditum eft. Hoc eft enim vefe proprie- 
 quc Catholicum. Annunciare ergo Chriftianis Catholicis, prater id 
 quod acceperunt, nunquam licuit, nunquani licet, nunquam liccbit." 
 Vincent. Lirin. adv. Haeres, cap. 5 14. 
 
[ x 3 
 
 that purpofe. What that way was, the Apoftolic 
 praftice has plainly fliewn. For CHRIST was in all 
 that the Apoftles did; and " GOD was in CHRIST, 
 reconciling the world to himfelf." The miniflry of 
 this reconciliation was committed by CHRIST to his 
 Apoftles; and that miniflry was confefiedly branched 
 out by them into three diftinft orders, diftinguiihed 
 from each other by the appropriate titles of Bifliop, 
 Prefbyter, and Deacon. From whence it follows, 
 in anfwer to the objeftions above referred to, that 
 from what our LORD fald to his Apoftles, and 
 from what they did in confequence of his directions, 
 fufficient information was conveyed, to enable the 
 governors of the primitive Church perfe&ly to un- 
 derftand the plan, and continue the form of polity 
 which the Apoftles had begun; which form, the 
 uniform hiftory of the Church for fifteen centuries 
 has demonftrably proved to be, what that of the 
 Church of England now is, in the true fenfe of the 
 word, Epif copal. 
 
 This argument, three centuries ago, would have 
 been confidered unanfwerable: But fince men thought 
 proper to depart from the government of the pri- 
 mitive Church, and to erect a new platform of Church 
 difcipline, it has become neceiTary that their reafon-* 
 ing fliould correfpond with their practice. Hence 
 it has happened, in defiance of the undeniable 
 .pofition, that what was once truth on this head; 
 mult be truth ftill, that Epifcopa^cy has in thefe 
 
later days become a fubjeft of lefs eitablifhed repu- 
 tation than it heretofore was. " The Reformation [ 
 (as an able Divine of our Church long fmce re- 
 marked) gave fuch a turn to weak heads, that had 
 not weight enough to poize themfelves between the 
 extremes of Popery and fanaticifm, that every thing 
 older than yeilerday was looked upon to be Popifh 
 and anti-Chriflian. The meaneft of the people uf- 
 pired to the prieflhood, and were readier to frame 
 new laws for the Church, than obey the old." 
 SHERLOCK. 
 
 The progrefs of error, however, in this cafe, as in 
 moil others, has been gradual. Thofe foreign re- 
 formers who were the firil eftablifhers of a new- form 
 of government in the Church, pleaded neceffity for 
 their conduct. It is not our bufmefs to examine the 
 juilice of that plea, but in candour to admit it. We 
 therefore fay for tl)em, what on this occafion they 
 faid for themfelves, that they confidered it to be a 
 moil unjufl afperfion of their charafter to fay, they 
 were #;2//-Epifcopalians, or that they condemned or 
 threw off Epifcopacy as fuch; on the contrary, they 
 lamented their unhappy circumflances, that they were 
 not in a fltuation to partake of that advantage, which 
 England fo eminently enjoyed in this refpeft; con- 
 fidering their want of Epifcopacy to be more their 
 misfortune than their fault. Such was at one time ' 
 the declared language of Calvin and Beza. And 
 Jcng after their day, when the affembly of divines 
 
E 3 
 
 at Weflminfler, under the influence of the Scotch 
 Covenanters, applied to the learned Blondel to bring 
 forward what could be faid in favour of the Prefby- 
 terian form, with the view of giving countenance to 
 the plan then in agitation for overturning the an- 
 cient Apoftolical Church government in England, he 
 concluded his apology * for the opinion of Jerom 
 with words to the following purpofe: " By all that 
 we have faid to aflert the rights of Prefbytery, we do 
 not intend to invalidate the ancient and Apoftolical 
 confutation of Epifcopal pre-eminence; but we be- 
 lieve, that wherefoever it is eftablifhed conformably 
 to the ancient Canons, it muil be carefully preferved ; 
 and wherefoever, by fome heat of contention, or 
 otherwife, it has been put down or violated, it ought 
 to be reverently reftored." This conclufion, not 
 
 * Dr. Munro, in his Enquiry into the new Opinions, &c. makes 
 the following juft obfervation on this work of Blondel, entitled, 
 " Apologia pro fententia Hieronymi." Amftel. 1646. " When 
 (fays he) the government and revenues of the Church were facrile- 
 gioufly invaded by atheifts and enthufiafts, under Oliver Cromwell, 
 the learned Blondel employed all his fldll to make the ancients 
 contradict themfelves, and all contemporary records; and though 
 every line that he had written, with the leaft colour of argument, 
 had been frequently anfwered and expofed, it was ftill thought 
 enough for the enemies of Epifcopacy to fay, that Blondel had 
 written a book of 549 pages to mew that Jerom was of their opi- 
 nion, and had fufficiently proved, that this ancient monk was a- 
 Prefbyterian." Would my reader wifh to form a particular judg- 
 ment refpecling the validity of Blondel's fentiments on the fubjecl 
 of Epifcopacy, he will be qualified for the purpofe by an appeal to 
 Dr. Hammond's learned Diflertations, entitled " Differtationes 
 Quatuor, quibus Epifcopatus Jura ex S. Scripturis et primaeva an- 
 tiquitate adftruuntur, contra fentenetem D. Blondelli," &c. 
 
xiii ] 
 
 being faitedto the object, the -iiffembly. Jiad- in view, 
 \vas, in coniequence of very preiling rernonf lances 
 againft it, kept- -back j though, 'in juliice to truth, it 
 ought to ftand on record, as it .here iloevS.* 
 
 But when this new form -of Church government, 
 which in- its origin pleaded neceffity for its introduc- 
 .tioiv and was contidered, by the introducers oi % it, 
 as fupplying the place of what was then ( acknow- 
 ledged to be a better thing, -became lb; rampant as 
 lo bear with no oppofitioa ; thofe Rrqibytefs who 
 Calvin declared ought to be anatbematizcd) who 
 would not reverence fuch an hierarchy as the" Chibrch 
 of England poileiled, trampled that very hierarchy 
 uflfier foot, as an anti-Chriftian, iniquitous, and ty- 
 rannical ufurpation.t When, at a iubiequcBt period, 
 Epifcopacy was reflored with the Monarchy of this 
 anmtry, the Church of England-returned to her ori- 
 
 ^* This important piece of information is given'- at "full length in 
 a letter from Dr. P. du Moulin to Dr. Durefy and puWiihcd intb 
 Appendix to, his " View of die Go.ycrnme.nt iin.d i\.blic Worfhip o_f 
 GOD In the Reformed Churches beyond tlic Seas?' V. 339, 
 
 t '* Talem fi nobis hierarchicm exhibeant, in qua fie emineant 
 F.pifcopi, ut Chrifto fubefie non recufent",* ct ab illo timqimm 'uniro 
 capire pendeant, et ad ipfum referantur ; in qua fie inter ie fraicrr.am 
 focietatcin colini, ut non alio modo quam ejus ycritate fint colligati, 
 turn vero nullo non anatheuiate dignos fatear, "(I qui'erunt, cjui non 
 earn revereantur, fiirnmaquc obedientia obfervent.'* Calvin de 
 NecefT. Eccles. Reform. 
 
 Beza's language on this fubjecl was equally flrong. Speaking of 
 the Epifcopacy of the Church of England, he fays, " Fruatur fane 
 iffi jingidari DEI bc;L'i1;c>'.iia^ quas utinam fit illi perpetual 
 Trucl. de Miniit. Eccl. Grad. cap. i. and xviii. 
 
t *i 
 
 gmal ideas on this fubjeft ; confidering the cafe of 
 DifTenters as a fchifmatical feparation from the Com- 
 munion of a true and Apoftolical Church. The dif- 
 conrfes written on this occafion, for the purpofe of 
 recovering the Dilfenters to unity, though, through 
 the infirmity of human nature, they failed in pro- 
 ducing the defired effe, -do infinite honour to the 
 divines of that day; and ought to be in the hands 
 of every clergyman, who would be thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the weaknefs of the objections, by 
 which the unhappy feparation from the Communion 
 of the Church of England was originally maintained.* 
 The increafing eftablifhment of feparate congrega- 
 tions, which took place fince the above period, though 
 it could not alter the flate of the cafe, as it really 
 {lands between the member of the Church and the 
 feparatift, or in any degree change the nature of the 
 fin of fchifm, tended however to loofen the ideas of 
 Chriilians in general on the fubjecl: of Church com-* 
 munion; fo that fome who entertained very correct 
 notions relative to the original Apoflolic form of* 
 Church government, began (till to queftion, whether 
 it was fuch zjine qua non as might not be difpenfed 
 with. Le Clerc has exhibited a ftrong fpecimen of 
 this accommodation of fentiment to the changing cir- 
 cumftances of times. ProfeiTmg, in one page of his 
 writings, " to believe Epifcopacy to be of Apoftolical 
 
 * Thefe Difcourfes are now collected together in three vols. 
 oftavo, under the title of" the London Cafes." 
 
[ XV ] 
 
 inftitution, and confequently very good and lawful; 
 that it was juflly preferved in England; and that 
 therefore the Proteflants in England, and in other 
 places where there are bifhops, do very ill to feparate 
 from that difcipline, becaufe nothing :is more proper 
 to prevent things from being turned into chaos, and 
 people from being feen without a call, and without 
 learning, pretending to infpiration, than the Epifcopal 
 diicipline:" with, this belief in his mind, on the fu3> 
 ject of Epifcopacy, Le Clerc,-in another part of his 
 works, writes thus: " It is nothing to the purpofe 
 to (hew that Chrifl and his Apoflles inflituted this 
 form of Church government, and that the Church 
 never had any other kind of government in it for 
 above fifteen hundred years, from our Saviour's days 
 downwards; which, though it be fo clearly evidenced, 
 that the truth of it cannot be denied; yet it is of no 
 weight, nor deferves to be regarded. For thofe who 
 would make the hierarchy neceffary to the conftitu- 
 tiouof the Chriftian Church, ought to prove, that 
 GOD inflituted Chriflianity for the fake of the Epif- 
 . copal order; and that the Epifcopal order was not 
 inflituted for the fake of Chriflianity. For if this 
 order was appointed for the fake of the Church, 
 (which they cannot deny) they mufl alfo acknow- 
 ledge, that if it be more advantageous to the Church 
 in fome places to have this order aboliftied, it is not 
 amifs to lay it afide in fuch places." Now to us it 
 ippears, that there is nothing neceffary either to be 
 
proved or acknowledged on this fubjeft; but fome- 
 thing' highly neceffary to be confidered; namely, 
 that as GOD, ihat all-wife Being, " who feeth the 
 end from the beginning," was, by his Apoftles, 
 the inftitutor of the government of his own Church, 
 (a kingdom not of this world;) it is to be in humility 
 concluded, that no form that man might fubftitute 
 in its place, would equally anfwer. the purpofe; and 
 confequently that it could not prove more advanta- 
 geous to the Church in any place, that the divinely- 
 inflituted form of its government ihould be aboliihed. 
 Although therefore we make the hierarchy neceffary 
 to the conftitution of the Chriftjan Church, becaufe 
 it has been divinely inftituted; we are not obliged to 
 prove that GOD inftituted Chriflianity for the fake of 
 the Epifcopal order; nor Ihould we expe&to be called 
 upon for fuch proof by any man of competent under- 
 handing; it is fufficient for us to fay, that the go- 
 vernment of the Church, in Its original form, was infti- 
 tuted for the fake of Chriftianity, to preferve its truth 
 in the world; for from thence it will follow, that 
 for the fake of Chriftianity , in other words, for the 
 the fecurity of \hcfarne divine objefl, it ought to be 
 preferved. " We do not fay, that Chriftianity was 
 inftituted for the fake of the outward polity of the 
 Church, or the Church for the fake of the Epifcopal 
 order; but we may juftly fay, what is plainly faid in 
 Scripture, and was conftantly profeffed in. the pureft 
 ages of the Gofpel, that the belief of " the Holy 
 
xvi 
 
 Catholic Church" being a part of the faith which 
 Chriflianity requires, and the Epifcopal order a part 
 of what we are taught to believe concerning the con- 
 ftitution and government of the Church, no fepara- 
 tion mud be attempted of what our GOD and Saviour 
 has thus joined together. 3 '* And this, it might be 
 prefumed, fhould be enough to fay to any reafonable 
 and inodeft Chriftian on the fubjeh 
 
 But error cannot be ftationary; it is conftantly 
 proceeding from bad to worfe; the breach at which 
 the waters enter is continually growing wider, till the 
 inundation becomes univerfal. That loofenefs of 
 opinion on the fubject of Church government, which 
 the original feparation from the Apoftolic form of it 
 by degrees introduced, appears at length to be arrived 
 at the ne plus ultra of ecclefiaflic infubordination : 
 for we are now, at the end of the eighteenth Century^ 
 told by a ProfefTor in a Church which has been gene- 
 rally diflinguiflied by the flriftnefs of its difcipline, that 
 <c the firfl order given to the Eleven to make con- 
 verts, to baptize, and to teach, carries in it nothing 
 from which we can difcover that it was a commtffion 
 entrufted to them exclufivcly as Apoftles or Miniften, 
 and not given them alfo as Chriftians; and that the 
 Apoftles were particularized, becaufe beft qualified, 
 from their long attendance on Chrift's miniilry, for 
 
 * See Bifhop SKINNER'S excellent Defence of Epifcopacy againft 
 the attack made on it by the late Dr. CAMPBELL, under the title of 
 Primitive Truth and Order vindicated," &c. 
 
[ xviii ] 
 
 promoting his religion in the wprld; but not with a 
 view to exclude any Chriftians, who were capable, 
 from co-operating with them in the fame good caufe.'* 
 CAMPBELL, vol. i. p. 118. 
 
 Nothing but the eagernefs tomaintain,at all events, 
 a favourite hypothelis, could, it may be fuppofed, 
 have prevented the able refuter of the fophiftical 
 HUME from adverting to the particular circumftances 
 which accompanied the original delivery of the Apof- 
 tolic commiflion, and thence perceiving the objection 
 to which fuch a mode of reafoning is palpably ob- 
 noxious. The word commljjion^ from the verb committo, 
 which in one of its leading fenfes fignifies to entruft, 
 to give in charge, is thus illultrated by AINS WORTH, 
 from Cicero: " Rem magnam difficilemque alicui 
 committere." But according to Dr. CAMPBELL'S 
 tiife of this word, as applied to our SAVIOUR'S com- 
 niiffion delivered to his ApofHes, we are to undertone! 
 by it a coinmiffion of, no charge or office to parti- 
 cular perfons, which might not be freely afTumed and 
 exercifed by all\ a fenfe, which if we miilake not, 
 totally evacuates its eflablifhed and peculiar meaning. 
 We cannot, indeed, be furprifed, that a minifler, 
 unable to trace his own commiflion from the proper 
 fountain, fliould attempt to perfuade the world, 
 that no commiiEon has been delivered, but what may 
 be indifcriminately exercifed; fuch a principle does 
 not feem to be an improbable confequence of the 
 original deviation from Apoftolic praftice. But that 
 
t *ix 3 
 
 fuch a latltudinarian principle fliould have been in* 
 culcated by a ProfefTor from a theological chair, of 
 which he claimed exclusive poffeffion by virtue of a 
 commiffion delivered to him for that purpofe; and 
 in a courfe of le&ures, one principal objeft of which 
 appears to have been the maintenance of the Prefby- 
 terian form of Church government, againfl the origi* 
 nal Apoflolical one of Episcopacy, is what could not 
 have been believed, had not the fa<ft been eftahlifhed 
 by record. But were Dr. C. flill living, we would 
 take the liberty to alk one ftiort queflion ; which, if 
 he could anfwer fatisfa&orily, we might begin to think 
 his mode of reafoning on this occafion entitled to 
 attention. If the particular appointment of certain 
 chofen individuals, fele&ed from a numerous body, 
 to an important office, (as was the cafe in our SAVI- 
 OUR'S delivery of the commuTion to his Apoflles) 
 carries in it nothing in which we can difcover a com- 
 miffion for their exclufive exercife of that office; it 
 may be aiked, on the principle that an all-wife Being 
 does nothing in vain, why did fuch a particular ap- 
 pointment take place? 
 
 Had Profeflbr CAMPBELL been a member of the 
 corps diplomatique ', and in that character written a 
 treatife on the rights and privileges of ambafTadors; 
 and adopting a mode of reafoning fimilar to that here 
 made ufe of, had he maintained, that the royal ap- 
 pointment of a certain individual to the representative 
 office of an ambaffador carried in it nothing, from 
 
we could difcover any right to the EXCLUSIVE 
 exercife of that office; but that, notwithstanding this 
 particular appointment, the office flill remained open 
 to be exercifed, ad libitum, by any individual who 
 might think himfelf qualified to undertake it, or to 
 affift in it; his brethren of the corps, it is prefumed, 
 tvould confider his treatife to be as little entitled to 
 their thanks, as his argument was to their notice. 
 
 The able Reviewer of Dr. CAMPBELI/S work in 
 the Anti- Jacobin has illuftrated the Doftor's mode 
 of reafoning on this occafion by a different fimilitude; 
 which, as it may flrike fome readers more forcibly, is 
 here fubjoined. " It is not probable (fays the Re- 
 viewer) that his Majefty's commiflion to the Prefident 
 of the Supreme Court of Law in Scotland, exprefsly 
 prohibits all other lawyers from executing that office 
 to which it appoints him; and it is certainly not im- 
 probable, that there are many lawyers at the Scotch 
 bar perfeftly well qualified to prefide over any 
 court of law in that part of the united kingdom. 
 Yet what would Dr. C. have thought of the man, 
 \vlio, having formed opinions of the courts of law 
 fimilar to thofe which he had formed of the conftitu- 
 tioh of the Chriflian Church, fhould have faid, 
 <c There is nothing in the commiffion given to the 
 Prefident of the Court of Seflion, from which we can 
 difcover, that it is a commiffion entrufted to him 
 exchifively as a judge, and not given to him alfo as 
 a lawyer; and that he is particularized in it, only be- 
 
[ xxi } 
 
 eaufe he is befl qualified for difcharging the duties of 
 the office; but not with a view to exclude any lawyer, 
 who is capable, from occafionally taking poffeffion of 
 bis chair, and prefiding with authority over the court." 
 
 Either of the above fimilitudes, it is prefumed, is 
 fufficient to expofe the weaknefs of the ground on 
 which the reafoning of Dr. C. flands; though it may 
 prove inefficient to counteract the prevalency of the 
 falfe principle built upon it. For unhappily, it is 
 not the eftablifhment of truth, fo. much as the fupport 
 of opinion, that the generality of mankind are anxious 
 to fecure; and as the world is now circumflanced, 
 the more latitudinartan that opinion is, the more weU 
 come will be its reception. We are not, therefore, 
 furprifed to find the principle here alluded to daily 
 gaining ground; andprofeffed members of the Church 
 becoming tools in the hands of thofe whofe objeft 
 it is to undermine it, by admitting the government 
 of the Church to be a matter of " doubtful opinion ;" 
 and confequently, that the communion of one clafs of 
 Chriflians may be equally fcriptural with that of 
 any other. 
 
 Put by a matter of doubtful opinion we underftand 
 a matter, which, upon competent invefligation, does 
 not furnilh fuiEcient evidence to determine the judg- 
 ment on either fide. On fuch a matter a difference 
 of opinion muft fubfift; and where it does, it is its 
 own juftification. For men may differ about an opinion^ 
 Without either breach of charity, or of the unity of thfc 
 
C" "1 
 xxh J 
 
 Church j which requires not that all fliould precifely 
 be of the fame opinion, but of the same communion^ 
 and for this evident reafon, becaufe no difference of 
 opinion among Chriftians, concerning matters really 
 doubtful or not ejftntial, can juflify the pofitive fin of 
 fcifm. But if any point be admitted to be a doubtful 
 one, only becaufe a difference of opinion exifts upon 
 It, whether the point in queflion relate to the confti* 
 tution of the Church or its doctrine, the human mind 
 muft be left in an equal (late of general indeciiion 
 with refpect to its religious concerns. A ilate of 
 mind which will ultimately introduce that dangerous 
 error, to which MELANCTHON looked forward with 
 ferious apprehenfion. " It was to be feared," he 
 faid, " that the time would come, wherein men would 
 be tainted with this error; either th'at religion is a 
 matter of nothing, or that the differences of religion 
 are merely verbal." 
 
 It is true indeed, with refpect to points on which 
 there is no determining ftandard of appeal, an opinion 
 will be right or wrong, according to the order or 
 caprice of the day ; and what was right to day may, 
 in conformity to the fluctuation of the public mind, 
 be wrong to-morrow. But the question is, does the 
 point under confideration admit of proof? And 
 has that proof been fairly appreciated? If it have 
 not, the perfons who, by occafional communion w.tfy 
 Different bodies of Chriftians, think proper to. 
 ^s fome members of the C^urcl^ do, on th^ 
 
[ xxiii ] 
 
 pofed ground of Church government being a fubje& 
 of " doubtful opinion," at the fame time that they 
 are to be taken as no judges in the cafe, pronounce, 
 by their conduft, the fevereft fentence on their own 
 negligence, and mufl be anfwerable for the confe- 
 quences to which it may lead. 
 
 As this is both a ferious and important fubjeft, it 
 fhould be confidered ferioufly; and, as far as poffible, 
 abflra&edly from all perfonal confiderations and pre- 
 judices. In faft, this fubjeft is to be determined only 
 by the word of GOD, and the pra&ice of the Church 
 originally built upon it. For next to the Divine in- 
 ffitution, Catholic practice conftitutes the bafis of the 
 power and order of Epifcopacy. What government 
 was therefore inflituted by the Apoftles, delivered to 
 their immediate fucceffors, and univerfally eftabliihed 
 in the Church, fuppofmg that capable of being afcer- 
 tained, muft conflitute the ftandard, to which all future 
 judgment on this head ought in reafon to conform: 
 on the confideration, that no judgment of the prefent 
 members of the Church can come in competition with 
 it; becaufe no prefent members of the Church ftand 
 on the fame ground with the Apoftles, and their im- 
 mediate fucceffors, with refpeft to the data 9 from 
 which alone a judgment on this fubjeft is decidedly 
 to be formed. 
 
 The reafoning which latitudinarianifm has by degrees 
 introduced into this fubjeft, however plaufibly it may 
 found to uninformed minds, is certainly replete witU 
 
xxiv 
 
 dangerous fallacy. Provided, we are told, the effentiah 
 of religion are fecured, what are deemed the circttm* 
 Jlantiah of it are no longer confidered worthy atten^. 
 tion. From which general premifes it is concluded, 
 that, providedChriflians hear the Gofpel, and become 
 pious perfons, it is a matter of no importance on 
 what mlntftry they attend. With truly pious perfons, 
 of whatever denomination, every faithful minifler of 
 CHRIST'S Church mud cordially wifli to be united; 
 for true piety is that gracious quality of the human 
 heart, which at all t;mes challenges refpeeh But it 
 may be alked, we trufl without offence, whether it 
 can be any recommendation even of true piety , that it 
 fliould be eccentric: or, whether true put: become 
 lefs fo than it really is, or in any degree fink in the 
 fcale of eflimation, by being accompanied with a due 
 regard to order and obedience ? To us it appears, 
 that of two fuppofed equal degrees of piety, that of 
 the party who lives in communion with the Church 
 5s to be preferred to that of the perfon who feparates 
 from it; on the ground of his piety being accompa- 
 nied with that humility, which, in conformity with 
 the Apoflolic injunction, has preferved its poiTefTor in 
 fubmiflion to the authority appointed to rule over 
 him. We know that the firfl open rebellion againffc 
 eflablimed order in the Jewiili Church, though 
 grounded on the holinefs of the parties, was followed 
 with the mofl fignal mark of the Divine difpleafure. 
 there is no paffage in Scripture from which i| 
 
[ XXV ] 
 
 Can be concluded, that fimihr rebellion in 'the Chrift- 
 ian Church, is not equally offenfive to its Divine 
 Founder; though the crime be not attended with 
 confequences equally prompt and decifive. 
 
 But it may be further aiked of thofe Chrifiians, 
 \vho thus discriminate between the effcntiah and the 
 cireumftantiah of religion, where they draw the line 
 between what is to be regarded of effential obligation 
 to Chriftians, and what is not? or by what criterion 
 their judgment on this head is determined? Should 
 the government of the Church be reckoned among 
 their non-effentials^ and confcquently a matter of in- 
 difference, as from the practice of the day we have 
 too much reafon to conclude, we mud fay, that we 
 are at a lofs to underfland, how a government that 
 has received the fancYion of Divine appointment, 
 (" divind lege fundatum" fays CYPRIAN) can be 
 feen in this 1'ght* But exclufive of this conilder- 
 ation, which fkould of itfelf, it might be fuppoied, 
 preclude every feeming objection on this head; the 
 great object which the government of the Church 
 was defigned to fecure, proclaims the wifdom of its 
 eflabl-fliment. The Apoille calls the Church " the 
 pillar and ground of the truth:" i Tim. iii. 15. 
 * c ZruXos Y-CLI *opauupa;"a. pillar, and thebafis of that 
 pillar: in other words, a pillar upon its bafis, firmly 
 fuftaining that which was built upon it. The fimili- 
 tude is taken from ancient houfes, built on pillars 
 placed firmly on thejr bafes, for the fupport of the 
 
[ xxvi J 
 
 incumbent building. Thus the Church is confidered 
 as a pillar ere&ed on the bafis or foundation of JESUS 
 CHRIST and his Apoflles; for the purpofe of fuf- 
 taining and upholding the truth, which, as a fuper- 
 flru&ure, has been raifed upon it. In conformity to 
 this idea is the following defcription of the Church 
 at Ephefus: " Now, then, (fays the Apoflle writing 
 to his Ephefian difciples) ye are no more flrangers 
 and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the faints, 
 and of the houfliold of GOD; and are built upon the 
 foundation of the Apoflles and Prophets, JESUS 
 CHRIST himfelf being the chief corner-flone. In 
 \vhom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth 
 unto an holy temple in the LORD."* " If (fays the 
 learned HAMMOND) the truth of the Gofpel had been 
 fcattered abroad by preaching to fingle men, and thofe 
 men never compared together into a fociety, under 
 the government of bilhops or ilewards, &c. fuch 
 as Timothy was, to whom was delivered by St. Paul 
 that 7rapajca7 a ^W> that depofitum^ or body of found 
 doftrine, i Tim. vi. 20, to be kept as a flandard in 
 the Church, by which all other doftrines were to be 
 meafured and judged; if, I fay, fuch a fummary of 
 faith had not been delivered to all Chriilians that 
 came in, in any place, to the Apoflles preaching; 
 and if there had not been fome fleward to keep it ; 
 then had there wanted an eminent means to fuflain 
 and uphold this truth of the Gofpel, thus preached 
 * Ephes, ii. so* 
 
xxv 
 
 unto men. But by the gathering of Tingle converted 
 Chriflians into afiemblies or churches, and appointing 
 governors in thofe churches, and entrufling this depo- 
 fit urn ) or form ofwholcfomedottrine, to their keeping, 
 it comes to pafs, that the Chriftian truth is fuilained 
 and held up; and fo this houfe of GOD is affirmed to 
 be" the pillar and bafis of the truth;" or "the pillar 
 on that divine bafis by which truth is fupported." 
 
 And hence it is that St. IGNATIUS, (who, St. CHRY- 
 SOSTOM informs us, received his ordination from the 
 hands of the Apoftles themfelves, and confequently 
 mufl have been inflrufted by them) infills fo much 
 on the indifpenfible neceflity of communion with the 
 bifhop ; becaufe he confidered that form of do&rine 
 depofited with, and kept by the bifliop in the Church, 
 as the only fure means to fupport and preferve the 
 truth. And fuch, in the early days of the Church, 
 \vas coniidered to be that eflablifhed mode of proof, 
 by which the truth was to be effectually afcertained 
 r.guinft heretics; namely, by tracing the form of found 
 do&rine, through its feveral fucceflive depofitaries, 
 the governors of the Church, up to its original 
 Apoflolic fource. On this eflabliflied principle IRE- 
 NJEUS built his argument againfl the heretics of his 
 clay. " We can reckon up (faid he) thofe who were 
 by the Apoflles ordained bifhops in the churches, 
 and thofe who were their fucceifors, even to our own 
 time. They never taught nor knew any of the wild 
 ppinjons of thefe men; and had the Apoflles Joiown 
 
xxviii 3 
 
 any hidden myfteries, which they imparted tq 
 none but the perfeft, (as the heretics pretend) they 
 would have committed them with particular care to 
 thofe perfons, to whom they committed the churches 
 themfelves. For they would be extremely defirous, 
 that thofe fliould be perfeft, and unreproveable in all 
 things, whom they left to be their fucceflbrs, and to 
 whom they configned their own authority."* And 
 afterwards, fpeaking with immediate reference to the 
 Church of Rome, as the largeft, moft ancient, and 
 then heft-known, church in the world; he proceeds 
 thus : " By fhewing forth the tradition received from 
 the Apoftles, and the faith delivered to mankind, and 
 defcended even to us by means of the fucceffions of 
 thofe bifhops, (to whom that Church has been com- 
 mitted) we confound all thefe heretics."! TER* 
 TULLIAN argues againft heretics in a fimilar way, 
 where he fays, " that the true knowledge of the 
 Apoftqlic do&rine, of the ancient (late of the Church, 
 together with that of the character of the body of 
 CHRIST, was preferved in the whole world by the 
 
 * " Habemus annumerare eos, qui ab Apoftolis inflituti funt Epi 
 copi in ecclefiis, et fucceffiones eorum ufque ad nos, qui nil tale do- 
 cuerunt neque cognoverunt, quale ab his deliratur. Etenim fi 
 recondita myfteria fcnTent Apoftoli, quas feorfim et latehter ab re- 
 liquis perfeftos docebant, his vel maxime traderent ea, quibus etiam 
 ipfas ecclefias committebant. Valde enim perfeftos et irreprehenfi- 
 biles in omnibus eos volebent efie, quos et fucceflbres relinquebant, 
 fuam ipfori^m locum magifterii tradentes. IREN. lib. iii. c. 3. 
 
 t " Earn quam habet ab Apoftolis traditionem, et annunciatam 
 hominibus fidem per fucceffiones Eplfcoporum pervenientem 
 ad nos, indicantes confundimus omnes cos ? ^C.^-^JREN. lib. iii,c f 
 
[ xxix ] 
 
 fucceffion of bifliops, to whom the Church in every 
 place had been committed."* And numberlefs arc 
 the teftimonies to be produced from the ancient fa- 
 thers, particularly from the writings of St. AUGUS- 
 TINE againfl the Donatifts, to prove the principle of 
 the Church being in their days confidered as the foun- 
 dation of the true faith, though it be inconiiftent with 
 the nature of a preface to bring them forward. 
 
 From hence it appears, that the Church, under its 
 appointed governors, is to be confidered as a faithful 
 regifter, or notary, whofe office it is to preferve the 
 original records of its charter from corruption. It is 
 called in Scripture, as we have already obferved, and 
 for the reafon above given, " the pillar of the truth. 9 ' 
 In the book of Revelations it is called a candlejllck^ 
 whofe office it is to hold and preferve the light. 
 Now, remove the pillar, the building falls into ruin. 
 Throw down the candleftick, the light will be thrown 
 down with it, and moft probably extinguiflied. 
 
 This Apoflolic government of the Church then, 
 however lightly it may be now efleemed, by perfons 
 who have formed their judgment on this fubjeft more 
 from the opinions of men, than from the revelations 
 of GOD, appears to be of moft ejfential importance, 
 jn the prefervation of thofe very eiTentials, which many 
 of thofe, who erroneoufly confider Church govern- 
 
 * " Agnitio vera eft Apoftolorum do<5trina, et antiquus ecclefiae 
 ftatus in univerib mundo, et chara&er corporis QumsTifecunduin 
 fucccjfiones Epifcoporuw, quibus illi earn quae in unoquoque loco eft, 
 cccleiiam tradiderent, quas peryenit ufque ad DOS.' '-Lib. iv. c. 63. 
 
[ xxx } 
 
 ment to be a matter of indifference, would be thought* 
 moil anxious to fecure ; becaufe it is the only fure 
 ftandard, by which the authenticity of thofe effentials 
 is to be ascertained. For, remove this ftandard, 
 which the regular derivation of Apoftolic truth* 
 through the continued channel of the Church, has fet 
 up; and it may be afked, what criterion will remain, 
 of authority competent to determine between the con-* 
 tending opinions of different fe&s, all., of which will 
 not fail to be equally confident in their refpe&ive 
 tenets? In fuch cafe, the conclufion drawn will not 
 fail to be to the difadvantage of religion in general* 
 " Ye difTent among yourfelves,(faid CLEMENS ALEX- 
 ANDRINUS, fpeaking of the objections thrown out 
 againfl the Chriflian religion by the infidels of his 
 day) and maintain fo many fe&s; which fe&s, not* 
 withflanding they all claim the title of Chriflian 
 religion, yet one of them ciirfeth and condemned! 
 another. And therefore your religion is not true, 
 nor hath its begining or ground from GOD."* In 
 faft, however diflant the event may be, the confe* 
 quence of removing the flandard of Church authority, 
 by which the genuine do&rine committed to the 
 Apoftles is capable of being afcertained, and thereby 
 giving countenance to the wild notion that every 
 man is left at liberty to form his own Church, and 
 
 * Vos Chriftiani diflidetis inter vos, et totfectas habetis; qiue 
 licet omnes Chriftianifmi titulum fibi vindicent, tamen alia aliam 
 execratur et con^emnat. Quare veftra religio vera non eft, nee ft 
 t)f o originem ducit." CLEMEN. Stromat. lib. vii. 
 
xxx 
 
 make his own creed, mufl ultimately terminate in that 
 general indifference, which is but one degree removed 
 from downright infidelity. An indifference, which 
 the enemies of Chriftianity have been enabled to re- 
 commend with too much fuccefs, on the ground of 
 that uncertainty which muft apparently attach to a 
 fubjecl, concerning which men are fo infinitely divided 
 among themfelves in opinion. And " when," (as,a 
 found divine 'of our Church has obierved) " through 
 our own weaknefs, we have thus given an opportu- 
 nity to artful and unworthy men, to fow the feeds of 
 confufion, and every evil work ; are we to wonder, that 
 GOD fhould at length be provoked to fuffer thofe 
 \vho cannot agree with one another, to be deftroyed 
 of one another?"* Since then (as St. AUGUSTINE! 
 has obferved) " where GOD doth build his city, the 
 Devil will have another hard by to confront it;" or in 
 the language of LUTHER, "Where CHRIST ere&eth 
 his Church, the Devil will have his chapel;" it be- 
 comes matter for mod ferious confideration with thofe 
 who feem indifferent to the divifions prevailing among 
 Chriflians, whether any (late of things in the Chrifl- 
 ian world can be more defirable to the grand enemy 
 of the Church, whofe continued objeft it is tocoun- 
 
 * BOUCHER'S Difcourfes, p. 67. 
 
 t " When Satan," (faith AUGUSTINE in another part of his wri- 
 tings) " faw his temples forfaken, and that his oracles were all put to 
 iilence, he cunningly devifed for a new fupply, to have always his 
 minifters in or about the Church : qui fub vocabulo Chriftiano doc- 
 trinae refifterent Chriftianse who under a Chriftian name might re- 
 fill the Chriftiando&rine."--AvGUST.deCmt.DEi; lib.xviii. c.ji. 
 
t 
 
 teracl, and thereby deftroy, its gracious deflgfl, thafi 
 to fee the increafmg growth of herefy and fchifm; 
 and Chriftians feeking to know the truth, at the fame 
 time that, in confequence of the diffraction of men's 
 minds on the fubject, they are at a lofs where to find 
 it. And thefe perfons, who by their loofe conduct 
 are inflrumental in removing the government of the 
 Church from its Apoftolic foundation, and placing it 
 on the waves, the fluctuating opinion of the people* 
 would do well to confider further; that, however fin- 
 cere their zeal may be for the effentlals of Chriftianity, 
 they are fetting up their judgment againfl that of 
 GOD, by feeking to preferve them in a way different 
 from that which has been in wifdom appointed for 
 the purpofe: in which cafe it is to be feared, that 
 whilfl they think themfelves promoting the caufe of 
 GOD in the world, it will ultimately be found, that 
 they have been, alas! unconfcioufly employed in a 
 very different fervice. 
 
 The foregoing reafoning ftands fufficiently con- 
 firmed by the hiftory of facts, to claim the attention 
 of every confiderate man. It was (we are told) in 
 thofe days, when there was no king in Ifrael, and 
 every man did what was right in his own eyes, that 
 Micah introduced a feparate houfe, a feparate priefl- 
 hood, and a feparate religion, from his country. And 
 when the ten tribes, in confequence of their revolt, 
 feparated from the eftabliihed worfhip at Jerufalem* 
 they fell into thofe numberlefs idolatries^ which at 
 
xxxiii 3 
 
 length led to their captivity and difperfion. It was 
 alfo when there was no king in our Israel, and when, 
 in confequence of the Apoftolic government of the 
 Church being fuperfeded among us by an overbearing 
 fa&ion, every man did what was right in his own 
 eyes; that fixty different fe&s prevailed in this land, 
 prefenting fuch a motley religion, as left the greater 
 part of its inhabitants without any found notions on 
 the fubje&. It {lands moreover upon record, that 
 DURY, one of the leading and moil zealous patrons 
 of prefbytery, and MELVILL'S principal inflrument 
 in eftablifhing that form of Church government in 
 Scotland; as if twenty years' experience had furnifhed 
 him with full conviftion of the truth of JE ROM'S 
 affertion, that bifhops were originally placed at the 
 head of the Church, that the feeds of fchifm might 
 be taken away, (" ut schifmatitm femina tolleren- 
 tur;") left the following teflimony on his death- 
 bed in favour of the original Apoftolic government. 
 When fome brethren came to vifit him, he requefted 
 them to tell the AfTembly as from him, " that there 
 was neceflity of reftoring the ancient government of 
 the Church, becaufe of the unrulinefs of the young 
 minifters, who would not be advifed by the elder 
 fort, nor kept in order. And fmce both the Hate of 
 the Church did require it, and the King did labour 
 for it, he wiflied them to make no trouble therefore, 
 but only to infill with the King, that the bed minif- 
 ters, and of greatefl experience, might be preferred to 
 
[ xxxiv ] 
 
 places. 55 * And there is a curious circumflance in 
 favour of Epifcopacy, not perhaps generally known, 
 recorded by Mr. JONES in his life of Biiliop HORNE, 
 informing us, that JOHN WESLEY, a femi-feparatifl 
 from the Church of England, and the founder of a 
 numerous feel, inverted two miniilers with the Epif- 
 copal character, (at leaft fo far as he was capable of 
 fo doing) and in that capacity fent them over to 
 America. The reafon for this conduct, according to 
 his own acknowledgment, was " to prevent diforders 
 and confufions among his poor people (as he called 
 them) in America, now all religious- connexion be- 
 tween this country and the colonies was at an end. 5 * 
 An anecdote, which fully proves, that unity had, in, 
 Mr. WESLEY'S opinion, been preferved among his 
 people by their relation to the Epifcopacy of the 
 Church of England; from which neither he nor they 
 did ever profefs themfelves to be in a ilate of fepara- 
 tion. And although Mr. WESLEY had not himfelf 
 profited by the opinion delivered by the celebrated 
 Mr. LAW| on the eccentricity of his enthufiaflic un- 
 
 * SKINNER'S" Ecclefiaftical Hiftory of Scotland;" vol. ii. p. 236. 
 
 t When JOHN and C H A R L E s WE s L E Y began their new miniftry, 
 one of them went to confult with Mr. LAW, as a perfon of profound 
 judgment infpiritual matters; and when the cafe had been opened, 
 and the intention explained, Mr. LAW madeanfwer,"Mr. WESLEY, 
 if you wifh to reform the world, and fpread the Gofpel, you muft 
 undertake the work in the fame fpirit as you would take a curacy in 
 the Peak of Derbyfhire ; but if you pretend to a neiu coininijjioi;-, and 
 go forth in the fpirit and power of an Apoftle, your fcheme will end 
 Bedlam." JONES'S Life of BifhopHoRNE,, p. 187. 
 
[ XXXV ] 
 
 dertaking, he was ftill wife enough to fee that the 
 eftablifhment of the Epifcopal Church government 
 was the only plan, by which the irregularities of a 
 licentious miniftry were to be prevented. 
 
 But exclufive of the conclufion to which the fore- 
 going confiderations will, if permitted, lead the intel- 
 ligent reader, there is one circumftance, admitting it to 
 ftand on firm ground, which ought to (hut up all 
 controverfy on this fubjeft. 
 
 The commlffion^ by virtue of which the Apoftles 
 and their fucceifors became governors of the Church, 
 originally proceeded from the head of the Church: 
 it confequently conveyed an inveftiture of authority 
 from the only Fountain, from whence authority in 
 fpiritual matters is to be derived. " As my father 
 fentme, (faid CHRIST to his difciples, the Apoftles) 
 fo fend I you." And from the circumftance of the 
 original delivery of the Apoftolic commiflion being 
 accompanied with a declaration, which plainly im- 
 ported the continuance of it to the end of the world; 
 the Church has reafonably and univerially concluded, 
 as might be proved from the moft unanfwerable 
 evidence, that it was the Divine intention, that this 
 fame ccmmlfjion^ for the accomplifliment of the fame 
 divine object, fhould accompany the Church through 
 every ftage of its progrefs. In conformity with this 
 admitted and eftablifhed principle, the governors of 
 the Church of England have uniformly proceeded 
 in their authoritative delegation of the minifterial 
 
f xxxvi J 
 
 office. Either then this commuTion, thus regularly 
 handed down to us, is Ml in force, or not. If it be, 
 all authority in the Church mud continue to be 
 derived from it. If it be not, it is incumbent on thofe 
 who aft on this prefumption, by afTuming a minifte- 
 rial office in the Church, independent of any authori- 
 tative appointment, to inform us, at what period this 
 commiffion determined; becaufe, if it be determined, 
 the Church and its miniilry are determined with it. 
 
 GOD, it is certain, can be bound only by himfelf; 
 or by perfons deputed and commiffioned by him to 
 engage in his name. The Sacraments are the feals 
 of that covenant, in CHRIST by which- GOD hath 
 thought fit to be bound. The adminiilration of 
 them CHRIST formally committed to his Apoflles, 
 and their facceflbrs, for the benefit of his Church to 
 the end of time. The validity of thefe feals depend- 
 ing, therefore, on the commijjjion of the adminiilering 
 party, it follows, that where this commiffion, origi- 
 nally delivered by our Saviour, and by his authority 
 fucceffively continued in the Church, does not aftu- 
 ally fubfiit, there the facraments adminiflered are not 
 feals of the Divine covenant, but mufl be confidered 
 in the light of human ordinances. 
 
 This circumftance of the ftewardfliip of the Divine 
 myfleries being vacated, whereby the regularly-efta- 
 blifhed adminiilration of the Evangelical covenant 
 comes to an end in the world, is a circumftance, that 
 fliould weigh down all the comparative trifling con* 
 
xxxvii ] 
 
 federations, which are fuffered to diftract the minds of 
 differing Chriftians at any period. In all churches 
 are to be found fpeculative opinions, concerning which 
 a layman, \vho is not obliged to fubfcribe the public 
 confeJlion of faith, need give himfelf very little trouble 
 to enquire, whether they are true or falfe. But a 
 defect in the million of the minifters of the gofpel 
 invalidates the facraments, ai!ets the purity of public 
 worfhip, and can therefore be no fubjeft of indiffer- 
 ence, as points of doubtful opinion are generally con- 
 cluded to be; but a fubjeft of primary and eflential 
 importance to every Chriftian profeffor. It has been 
 faid -indeed, with a v;ew, it is prefumed, to that ac- 
 commodating fyftem which the Church of England 
 is now perfuaded to adopt, on the principle of every 
 thing being doubtful concerning which a difference 
 of opinion exifts, (whether the fubjeft under confider- 
 ation has been fairly examined, or not;) that " when 
 numbers are againfl the Eftabliftiment, the fcale will 
 turn; and if we do not buttrefs up our Eftabllfhment 
 with thofe who are feparated from it, the fabric muft 
 fall." This language we certainly underftand, when 
 made ufe of with reference to the reprefentation of 
 his nation in a Britilh Koufe of Parliament; but 
 when applied to the Church of CHRIST, we as cer- 
 tainly do not: becaufe, with the conftitution of the 
 Chriflian Church numbers can have nothing to do. 
 Ar,d it mud be to a want of information fufficient to 
 diftinguifli between the Church of Chrifl as a fpiritual 
 
[ xxxyiii ] 
 
 fociety, abftrafledly- confidered^ and the eftablifhment 
 of that Church, politically confidered^ that the fciolifls 
 of the prefent day fland indebted for fuch a palpable 
 confufion of ideas on this fubjeft. Whether the 
 political eflablifhment of the Church fland or fall, 
 the Church itfelf, fo long as GOD fhall think fit to 
 preferve it in any country, will remain, as to its con- 
 Jlituthn, what it originally was, firm on its own 
 Divine foundation. When thofe who are now fepa- 
 rated from the Church fhall be difpofed, from con- 
 vi&ion, to return into her bofom, the Church, as a 
 tender mother, muft with joy receive them, as ftrayed 
 deep returning to " the Shepherd and Bifhop of 
 their fouls." But in fuch cafe, fhe receives them to 
 a conformity with her doctrine, and a due obedience 
 to her difcipline. To receive them on any other 
 plan, would be to attempt to form an uniform fociety 
 out of heterogeneous and difcordant parts; a fociety, 
 which, on the fuppofition that it could be brought 
 together, and by whatever political eflablifhment it 
 might be fecured, muft, from the nature of its com* 
 pofition, necefTarily crumble into early diffolution, 
 for want of that principle of unity, which is the ce-* 
 ment of the Chriflian Church, namely, a fledfaft 
 continuance " in the Apoftles* doffrine and fellow* 
 Jhip." Whereas this unity, on which the very 
 exiftence of the Church, as a divinely-conflituted 
 fociety, depends, according to the loofe and genera- 
 lizing notions of fome modern interpreters, (with the 
 
[ xxxix ] 
 
 view of accommodating the word to thofe multifa- 
 rious reparations from the Church, which they appear 
 interefted to fupport) " confifts not in the vifible 
 union of members in one community ', but in that great 
 unity of the members of Chrift's- body, difperfed 
 over all parts of the earth, vifibly united to commu- 
 nities of different perfuafions"* Now, though we 
 do not take upon ourfelves to explain, how the 
 members of CHRIST'S body, the Church, which is 
 defcribed " as a city that is at unity in itfelf," can 
 be vifibly united to " communities of different perfua- 
 fions" and ftill remain members of a community 
 united in itfelf; becaufe we have always regarded 
 the union and divifion of the fame body as conditions 
 impoffible, in the nature of things, to co-ex(ft; yet 
 we may be confidered as difcharging a part of our 
 duty to the reader, in thus furnifhing him with a 
 fpecimen of that confufion of ideas, and mifcon- 
 ftrucYion of meaning, by which fo many fincere tho' 
 unfufpecling Chriflians are continually led away from 
 the plain unfophiflicated language of their bibles, 
 which, if fuffered to fpeak for itfelf, would rarely 
 fail to preferve them found members of the Church. 
 ImprefTed by a deep and repeated attention to the 
 principles of the prefent times, and looking almoft 
 with an eye of defpqndency to that deilruftion of 
 efhiblifhments, which fuch principles, if not timely 
 counteracted, mufl ultimately effect, I feel myfelf, as 
 
 * Critical Review, March 1799, on the" Guide to the Church," 
 
a Minifter of the Church, juftified in bringing forward 
 to the confideration of every ferious and thinking 
 man the important fubjeft of the following work. 
 
 In this mind, oppofmg patient inveftigation, Chrift- 
 ian firamefs and charity, * to haftinefs of decifion, to 
 ignorance and flander; I have taken the ground on 
 which a Minifler of the Church of England ought to 
 ftand; and on which, provided he be not wanting to 
 himfelf, he may ever fland firm; by defending our 
 Ecclefiaffical government on the high ground of 
 Apoftolical Injiitution. The language made ufe of 
 for the purpofe has been that, which I have for the 
 mod part learned from my mother, the Church ; a 
 language, which were I, in times like the prefent, to 
 withhold from fear of giving offence, I mould be 
 unworthy the character in which I glory, that of 
 being her dutiful fon. In flating the authority de- 
 rived from the Apoflles to thofe facred perfons to 
 whom the miniflry of reconciliation has been com- 
 mitted, my objeft has been to prefs on the minds of 
 my readers the importance of the enquiry heretofore 
 fuggefled by the judicious HOOKER: " Whether, as 
 we are to believe/;r ever the articles of Evangelical 
 Do&rme, fo the precepts of Difcipline we are not in 
 like fort bound for ever to obferve?" 
 
 It is not, I will venture to fay, from an improper 
 prejudice in favour of names and diftinctions, nor 
 from a narrow notion that the affairs of CHRIST'S 
 kingdom may not be adminiflered under any govern- 
 
C *! ] 
 
 ment different from that which has been actually efhu 
 blifhed, that my coticlufion on this fubjecl has been 
 drawn; but from the fettled conviction, that what 
 Divine Wifdom ordains muft, in this as in every other 
 cafe, be bed calculated to promote the object which 
 Divine Goodnefs has in view. It being -therefore, 
 in our judgment at leaft, a matter capable of demon- 
 flration, that the Apoftolic corjiiiution of the Church 
 was the provifion made, under the Chriilian difpen- 
 fation, for the preservation of true religion in the 
 world; for this reafon it is, that we look up to the 
 circumftantials of order and government, as they 
 exift in the Epifcopal Church of this country, (conli- 
 dered as a branch of the Catholic Church of Chriil) 
 as to means divinely appointed for the purpofe of 
 conducing to that important end. And it is to be 
 deeply lamented, that Chriflians of the prefent day 
 feem, for the moil part, not to be acquainted with 
 the fundamental conftitution of the Church, nor 
 fufficiently to have attended to the confcquences of 
 rebellion againft it, to be duly fenfible of its value. It 
 is, however, incumbent on us to remark, what the 
 teftimony of almoft three centuries has now proved ; 
 that to the Eilablifhment of the Apoftolic conftitution 
 of the Church in this country, we are, under Provi- 
 dence, indebted for the maintenance of primitive truth 
 among us, aflailed as it has been by every mode of 
 attack, and by every diverfity of feet. And it is to 
 the polTeiTion of this Eflabliihment, provided the 
 
[ xlii ] 
 
 Clergy of it be faithful to their important truft, and 
 the members of it manifeft a due regard for that 
 Chriilian unity, which the Apoflles fo folemnly 
 enjoined, that this country will be indebted for the 
 prefervation of that ehara&er, which the general voice 
 of Europe once conferred upon it, of being the Eye 
 of the Reformation-, and our excellent Church con-' 
 tinue, what at that period it was defervedly confidered 
 to be, the glory of all churches. 
 
 My Preface might here conclude; fufEcient, it is 
 prefumed, having been faid in it to demonflrate the 
 importance of the fubjeft, which it is intended to in- 
 troduce. But, as there are fome words frequently 
 employed in a perverted fenfe, which, by creating an 
 undue imprefiion on the mind, thereby prevent that 
 fair enquiry into certain fubjefts, which might ulti- 
 mately eilablifti truth; I crave indulgence, whilft I 
 detain my reader a few moments longer. 
 
 It is common with the world to pay more attention 
 to names than to things ; and writers are never want- 
 ing to take advantage of this too general weaknefs, 
 by making the language of popular impreilion their 
 fubftitute for that of found reafoning and legitimate 
 proof; a fpecious kind of writing, perfectly well fuited 
 to the indolence of the prefent readers, who, generally 
 fpeaking, have neither time, patience, nor candour 
 of mind, fairly to examine received opinions to the 
 bottom. In confequence of this degradation of the 
 mental powers, fliould a Divine in thefe days venture 
 
Sh 
 
 ber of the Church may be expected to write, he 
 mufl make his account to have his character ftamped 
 with the titles of bigot and high- churchman ; titles, 
 which, whatever be the'r proper meaning, in the fenfe 
 in which they are on fuch occafions to be taken, are 
 certainly intended to difgrace the party to whom they 
 are applied. But when, on turning to my dictionary, 
 I find, that under the article %o/, I am to under- 
 hand, on the authority of Dr. WATTS, " a man 
 unreafonably devoted to a certain party or to certain 
 opinions," I am at a lofs to conceive with what 
 propriety that title can attach to a Divine, whofe 
 opinions have been formed, not by any blind and un~ 
 reafonab'e attachment to certain prejudices, but by 
 the deliberate eftabliflied judgment of the Church, of 
 which he is a member; a judgment, which itielf 
 {lands on the broad and firm ground of Scripture and 
 primitive antiquity. And if the title of high-church- 
 man conveys any meaning, beyond that of a decided 
 and principled attachment to the Apoftolic govern- 
 ment of the Church, as originally eftablifhed under 
 the direction of the Holy Spirit by its divine Founder, 
 (from whom alone a commifiion to minifter in holy 
 things can properly be derived;) it is a meaning, 
 for which thofe mud be anfwerable, who underftand 
 and maintain it; the fenfe annexed to that title, in my 
 mind, containing in it nothing, but in what every 
 found minifter of the Church of England ought to 
 
t xiiv ] 
 
 glory. And when it is confidcred, that that confti- 
 tution of the Chriftian Church, for which we manifefl 
 our reverence, and in defence of which we have 
 ventured to commit ourfelves to the public, has been 
 acknowledged even by thofe who are leafl difpofed to 
 commend it, to " have been from the beginning 
 favourable to peace and good order, and fubmhTion 
 to the Sovereign; and never been the occailon of any 
 civil commotion in any country in which it has been 
 once eftablifhed;"* a principled attachment to fuch 
 a Church will, it is prefumed, by every well-wifher 
 to the community, be regarded as a more fit fubjeft 
 for refpeci: and commendation, than for obloquy 
 and reproach. 
 
 But it is faid,and the prefent liberal mode of thinking 
 (as it is falfely called) fanHons the idea, that to infill 
 on the Apqftolicfortn, as the only Divine inilitution of 
 Church government, is to pronounce an uncharitable 
 fentence on all thofe who do not conform to it; on 
 the ground, that thofe Chriflians who are not in the 
 Church, mufl necefTarily be out of it ; and as fuch, 
 unpoileifed of a covenanted title to the promifes made 
 to the Church by its Divme Head. Now, admitting 
 the confequence in this cafe, it is certainly a confe- 
 quence for which the Clergy of the Church of 
 England are not anfwerable. To be confiilent minif- 
 ters of that Church, they mufl argue confidently from 
 the premifes which that Church has laid down* 
 
 * SMITH'S "Wealth of Nations," b.viii. c. >. 
 
C xlv ] 
 
 Admitting, then, that the conclufion drawn from 
 thefe premifes, may found harfli to the ears of thofe 
 who feparate from her communion, it ought (till 
 Hot to offend them; becaufe it is that conclufion, 
 \vhich they mufl expecl fhould be drawn by every 
 honeft minifter of the Church; at the fame time 
 that it is a conclufion, by which thofe who deny the 
 validity of the premifes in this cafe laid down, cannot 
 confider themfelves to be affected. The queftion 
 therefore is not, whether the Church of England has 
 determined rightly, or otherwife, on this fubjecl; 
 but whether her minifters do not aft in ftricl: confor- 
 mity with their character and duty, by inftru&ing 
 the members of that Church in the nature of the 
 fpiritual fociety to which they belong, with the view 
 of preventing them from finning ignorantly by need- 
 lefs feparation from it. At the fame time, with 
 refpecl to thofe who are in an actual ftate of fepara- 
 tion, we fay with the Apoftle, " what have we to do 
 to judge them that are without; them which are 
 without GOD judgeth," they are in the hands of 
 that all-gracious and all-merciful Being, who judgeth 
 righteous judgment; and to Him we leave them. 
 
 To thofe therefore, who feem to confider the deli- 
 very of any decided judgment on the conftitution of 
 the Church, and the fubjecls necefTarily connected 
 with" it, to be inconfiftent with Chriftian charity, it 
 may be proper to obferve, that the mod enlarged 
 idea of toleration is perfectly confident with the moil 
 
[ xlvi J 
 
 flrenuous exertion in the caufe of the Church; and 
 that " the zeal," which is " according to knowledge," 
 while it fhuns the intemperance, which is as repug- 
 nant to the fpirit of Chriftianity, as it is to the com- 
 mon feelings of mankind, ftill finds itfelf properly 
 employed, in contending earneftly for the truth. It 
 was the language of the primitive Church, that " it 
 is no part of religion to force religion." " Non eft 
 religionis cogere religionem. 55 * And, on following 
 the hiftory of the Chriftian Church, from its ear Heft 
 days down to the prefent time, it will be found, that 
 to be intolerant and uncharitable has been more the 
 charafteriflic of error than of truth. To contend 
 earneftly for the truth then, and to be wanting in 
 charity towards thofe who unhappily do not pofTefs 
 it, are difpofitions of the mind, between which there 
 is certainly no neceffary connexion. 
 
 But if a minifter of the Church is to refrain from 
 teaching the fundamental principles of Church go- 
 vernment, from a confideration of thereby giving 
 offence, by appearing to pronounce fentence on thofe 
 who feparate from it; for the fame reafon he muft 
 refrain from infilling decidedly on any doctrine what- 
 ever; for there is no do&rine of the Church, which 
 will not meet with parties to whom it is obnoxious. 
 The preaching up, for inftance, the being and pro- 
 vidence of GOD, will be offenfive to atheifts and 
 worldlings, (of whom, it is to be feared, there is no 
 
 * TERTULLIAN adScAPULAM. 
 
[ xlvii ] 
 
 finall number;) becaufe they are thereby concluded 
 under damning unbelief. The authority of the 
 Scriptures, and the certainty of revealed religion, 
 are points equally offenfive to deifls and fceptics. 
 The union of the divine and human nature, as 
 preparatory to the great work of atonement, is a doc- 
 trine 'not to be infilled upon; becaufe of its alarming 
 confequence to Arians, Socinians, and Unitarians. 
 The doctrine of the Chriftian Sacraments mult, in 
 like manner, be kept out of light; from fear of giving 
 offence to that feet among us, which is diltinguilhed, 
 partly, by the rejection of the feals divinely appro- 
 priated to the Gofpel covenant. 
 
 This facrifice of principle, by the adoption of an 
 accommodating fyftem, from a dcfire of not giving 
 offence, (which by a mifnomer, character iilic of the 
 prefent age, is called liberality) certainly bears no 
 affinity to that Chriitian charity to which it pretends. 
 For Chriitian charity has for its primary object the 
 falvation of fouls ; which is not to be effected by 
 humouring men in their error, but by making them 
 fee it; and with this view, writing them up to the 
 truth, inftead of writing, as the manner of fomehath 
 been, the truth down to them. And the great ex- 
 cellence of Chriftian charity confifls in its making a 
 proper difcrimination between the finner and the fin; 
 condemning unequivocally the one, whilft it is at the 
 fame time defirous of fparing, and even doing all 
 manner of good to the other: after the example of 
 
[ xlviii ] 
 
 our truly charitable SAVIOUR, wh<3, tho' he feverely 
 rebuked his difciples for their defire to call down 
 fire on a village of Samaria, as a punifliment for its 
 refufal to receive him; yet, when he had occalion to 
 fpeak of the religion of its inhabitants, he did not 
 admit that they were within the pale of the true 
 Church; by decidedly declaring, that " they knew 
 not what they worfhipped, and that falvation was of 
 the Jews/' 
 
 With fuch an example before me, I claim the right, 
 to which a Minifter of the Church is entitled, of 
 maintaining the ground on which fhe (lands; and of 
 reafoning, for the benefit of her members, in con- 
 formity with thofe premifes, which ihe has authori- 
 tatively laid down; without being confidered anfwer- 
 able, in any way, for confequences which may attach 
 to a denial of her premifes, or to a feparation from 
 her communion. Thefe confequences it is my utmofl 
 wifli, from a general love towards my Chriftian 
 brethren, to prevent; though I dare not indulge an 
 hope, that any feeble efforts of mine will turn to 
 much account, after the arguments of fo many wife 
 and learned men have proved ineffectual. Still, when 
 I fee fo many apparently idle and unconcerned, whilft 
 the enemy is digging and undermining the very ground 
 on which they ftand ; and at the fame time confider, 
 that they who help not to fupport the Church when 
 fhe is in diftrefs, do in reality contribute to pull her 
 down: in writing, as an honeft minilter of that Church 
 
[ xlix ] 
 
 ought to write on her fubjeft, I feel that fatisfa&ion, 
 which muft ever .accompany a confcientious.difcharge 
 of duty. 
 
 All I requeft of my reader is, that he would lay 
 afide every prejudice, and with becoming reverence 
 and humility of foul take his inftru&ion.from GOD: 
 fince to be wife above what is written, whether in 
 matters of doctrine or difcipline, is to throw up the 
 reins to inordinate affection, and to multiply error 
 .without end. Adverting to the effects the latitudi- 
 narian principle has already produced in the world, 
 its progreiTive nature, and the extremity to which, if 
 not counteracted, it neceflarily leads; let him confi- 
 der the growing indifference to the Divine inflitution 
 of the Church, the contempt of its order, and the 
 indifcriminate affumption of its facred miniflry, to be, 
 what it is much to be feared it is, a part of that wild 
 philofophy, " which inculcates on every individual 
 this dangerous principle ; that his own capricious and 
 uninformed notions are to fuperfede thofe ancient 
 rules, which are taught by Divine Wifdom, or efta- 
 bliihedon the bauYof human experiaice; and which 
 have hitherto been regarded with reverence, and con- 
 fidered as the tefts and the bulwarks of morality: a 
 philofophy, which, on the ground that every man is 
 to erect a ilandard of right and wrong for himfelf, 
 maintains the mod criminal and deftructive actions to 
 be juftifiable, provided their perpetrator have fo de- 
 praved a judgment, and fo vitiated a heart, as jfo- 
 
 K 
 
[ 1 ] 
 
 cerely to think them meritorious."* A philoibphy, 
 which, regarding with fupercilious contempt the 
 eflabliftied fyflems of policy, morality, and religion, 
 by which the conduct and opinions of mankind have 
 been hitherto regulated, has been long employed in 
 Tapping the foundation on which all fubmiifion to 
 government (lands; with the view of thereby fo un- 
 fettling the human mind on this important fubjeft, 
 as to difpofe it not to leave one (tone upon another 
 of thofe venerable edifices, which it hath been the 
 labour of fo many ages to raife and to complete. 
 And unlefs, by fuffering his reafon to become the 
 dupe to fuch a licentious principle, he has learned to 
 think with thefenfelefs philofophers of the day, that 
 the maintenance of true religion is a matter of no 
 moment to a flate; he cannot remain indifferent to the 
 prefent increafing feparation from a Church, which, 
 from its diflinguiihed excellence, has been confidered, 
 by thofe who had no perfbnal attachment to her, as 
 exhibiting the mofl perfect fpecimen of reformed 
 Chriflendom. 
 
 But when it is/ confidered, that the mofl fatal 
 -errors derive their origin from the little attention 
 that is paid to the conflitution of the Church; the 
 indifference with which this fubjeft is now regarded, 
 even by thofe whom we mufl fuppofe to be interefled 
 in it, is not more the caufe of aflonifhrnent to us, 
 than of concern. For, admitting that a regular 
 
 * w View of the Moral State of Society," by J. BOWLES, efq. 
 

 r K ] 
 
 form of Church government was once eftablifhed by 
 Divine authority, it requires no argument to prove, 
 that all thofe various forms with which the choice 
 of Chriftians is now diftra&ed, cannot be right. In 
 fact, on the ground of fuch admiffion, all mufl be 
 wrong which deviate from the original model; be- 
 cuufe our SAVIOUR, who, through the medium of 
 his Apoftles, laid that model down, was alone en- 
 titled to conflruft the platform on which his own 
 kingdom {hould be built. But what adds {till 
 greater weight to this confideration, by proving that 
 it is a circumflance by no means of fmall importance 
 whether Chriflians adhere to this Divine model or 
 not, is; that, as the great fcheme of Redemption is 
 the fole effect of Divine grace, it neceffarily muft 
 be embraced as it is propofed : on the acknowledged 
 principle, that of him who is to receive a favour, it 
 is to be expected that he {hould accede to the terms 
 on which it is offered. Now we know from Scrip- 
 ture, that all the promifes which relate peculiarly to 
 the Gofpel, are made to the Church of CHRIST; 
 and we have no authority from Scripture to fay, 
 that any but thofe who are members of that Church 
 are interefled in them. The " fecret things belong 
 to the LORD our GOD;" on them, confequently, we 
 have no judgment to form. But with refpect to 
 thofe which have been revealed, we are to judge in 
 conformity with the tenour of fuch revelation ; from 
 which revelation it fliould feem, that the wilful de- 
 
[ Hi 3 
 
 -fertion of that Church to which the promifes have 
 ,been made, mutt be confidered as a virtual rejection 
 ,of the terms on which the mercy of the Gofpel has 
 .been, proffered, and a formal renunciation of all cove- 
 nanted claim to its benefits. 
 
 With this .chain of reafoning in view, fliould my 
 
 -'.arguments fail to bring conviction to my reader's 
 
 mind, relative to -the conditution of the Chriilian 
 
 church, and his own duties confequent thereupon; I 
 
 leave him with my bed wifhes and prayers to his own 
 
 judgment: but: not without reminding him, that the 
 
 fubjecl: here laid before him Is therefult of the fulled 
 
 and mod deliberate invedigation, grounded on the 
 
 .conviction, that that cementing bond of the fpirit, 
 
 :for which our SAVIOUR fo earneflly prayed, which 
 
 unites Chriltians to their head, and to one another; 
 
 imaking them regard themfelves as members of the 
 
 -fame body, the Church; as a fold of fheep, not as 
 
 draggling individuals; is not a matter either of 
 
 .indifference or "doubtful opinion," but capable of 
 
 the mod demondrative proof; and confequently of 
 
 mod effential importance. 
 
 One of the mod learned and mod fpiritual bifliops 
 .that our Church can boad, in one of his fermons 
 on the fending of the Holy Ghod, has placed this 
 fubjecl: of Chridian unity in that driking and beau- 
 tiful light, fo peculiar to himfelf, which cannot fail 
 to leave an impreiTion on the mind of every fpirituaji 
 reader. . Speaking of the Holy Ghod, he calls Him 
 
C MH ] 
 
 * 'the' very effential unity \ the love-ltnot- of the" two- 
 peffo'ns, the Father and the Son; even of GOD whh 
 GOD. And he is fent to be the union, the love- 
 knot of the two natures united in Chrift, even of 
 GOD with man. And can we imagine, .that. He,. 
 effential unity, will enter but where there is unity 
 the Spirit of Unity, but where there is unity of> 
 fpirit? Verily there is not, there cannot pbffibly be,, 
 a more proper and peculiar, a more true anjd'; certain,^ 
 clifpofition to make us -meet for Ilirft/rtJuyi that, 
 quality in us that is moft like his nature aud.effence;- 
 that is, Unanimity. Faith to the word, | r and love 
 to the fpirit, are the true preparations. ^ And there 
 is not a greater bar, rf^more fatal oppqjition,, to his 
 entry, than difcord and difunited minds. They* 
 neither give nor receive the Holy Ghoft"; their heart 
 is divided, 'their accord is gone: the cord of love i 
 untwifled; they cannot live; the fpirit is gone too.; 
 And do we marvel, that the fpirit doth fcarcely 
 pant in"- us?' that we iing and fay,- e Come; Holyf 
 Ghoft ;*' and yet he cometh no fafter! r Why;- tho 
 day of Pe'iitecoft is coine, and we are not all of one 
 accord. '-A'cc&rd is wanting: the very firft oii}t ift - 
 ivantmg'-to make us meet for his coming; Surq 
 his after-coming will be like to- his firfl ; ? to then) 
 that are, and not to any but to them that are, of 
 one accord. * 
 
 " And who fliair make "us of one accord? High 
 flaall be his reward in Heaven, and happy his re- 
 
t Hv ] 
 
 membrance on earth, that (hall be the means to 
 reftore this accord to the Church ; that once we 
 might keep a true and perfect Pentecofl: when the 
 difciples of CHRIST were all with one accord in 
 one place." 
 
 May the GOD of Peace grant, that every member 
 of the Church, more particularly every Minifter of 
 it, may feel the full force of the above fpiritual lan- 
 guage of the excellent Bifhop ANDREWS. In fuch 
 cafe, we might hope, that the Dove,* the fpoufe of 
 CHRIST, as the Church is called, may flill take her 
 reft in this favoured land; and that the fpirit of her 
 beloved may dwell among us of a truth. To this 
 end, do Thou, O Holy and Eternal Spirit, who, in 
 feparating us to the miniflry, didft take us out of the 
 world, cleanfe our thoughts by thy holy infpiration, 
 keeping them out of the corruptions, and above the 
 policy or wifdom of the world, wh : ch is " foolilhnefs 
 with GOD." And do Thou, O bleffed LORD, who 
 haft fet fuperior watchmen upon the walls of thy 
 Church, and inferior at her gates, caufe them to 
 -watch over her by night and by day; that uniform- 
 ity of doftrine and wholefomenefs of difcipline may 
 fo work together for the good and glory of thy 
 Church, that flie may not always labour under the 
 
 * Song of SOLOMON, c. ii. 14* 
 
 r Ergo hanc \xiKnColuiribani^t dilettamfponfamfuam CHRISTUS 
 appellatj haec apud omnes haereticos ct fchifmaticos cfTc non 
 " Optat. Milcvitan. 
 
C iv 3 
 
 diftrefs and diforders of a fiege; but may come forth 
 in the face of her enemies, " terrible as an army with 
 banners."* Even fo, Amen. 
 
 It remains only, from a refpe& ufually paid to the 
 candid reader, that I briefly inform him, that the 
 prefent edition differs from the preceding one, chiefly 
 in the adduction of thofe authorities, which were 
 judged ueceflary to the more firm eftablifhment of the 
 ground undertaken to be maintained. And if, inltead 
 of taking up with the floating, unfettled, and for the 
 mod part erroneous opinion of the day, on the fubje& 
 of the Church, he will be at the trouble to vifit the 
 fountains, from which I have drawn ; he will know, 
 that no new things are brought to his ears, but that 
 I have written as I have read. The advantage he 
 will derive from this mode of proceeding will be two- 
 fold. In the firft place, as a balance againfl his not 
 thinking with the croud, (a mortifying circumftance, 
 it muft be allowed, to thofe who take the world for 
 their ftandard) he will have the fatisfaftion to think 
 with thofe, who moft confidered, and certainly beft 
 underftood, this important fubjeft. In the fecond 
 place, Ihould the argument, in his opinion, have fuf- 
 fered from my want of ikill in conducting it, he 
 will be qualified to improve it to his own mind ; and 
 having, as I have no doubt will be the cafe, thereby 
 confirmed himfelf, his time cannot afterwards be 
 better employed, than in ftrengthening his brethren, 
 
 * Song of SOLOMON, c. vi. r. 4. 
 

INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 1VJ O wife man makes the practice of the world a 
 rule for his government in religious matters; 
 being, fatisfied that no practice, however general, can 
 make that right, which the word of GOD has deter- 
 mined to be wrong. Cuftom may indeed reconcile 
 us to any thing. But cuftom is not the law of the 
 wife man; becaufe, being at times no lefs an advocate 
 for error than for truth, it can furnifh no reafonable/ 
 fatisfaclion to the party governed by it. Men, as 
 men, are liable to error. Neverthelefs error and 
 truth are two things eiTentially different from each 
 other; and it will always conflitute the beft employ- 
 ment of the reafoning faculty, properly to difcrimi- 
 pate between them. 
 
 To enable the thinking man fo to do, that he may 
 thereby become proof againft the various delufions' 
 
2 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 upon the fubjeft of Religion, which have at different 
 periods prevailed in the world; his appeal mull be 
 made to the ilandard of judgment fet up in the word 
 of GOD. 
 
 Time was, when Schiftn, or the fin of dividing the 
 Church by a feparation from it, was confidered to be 
 a fin of the mod heinous nature ; " fo great, that fomc 
 of the ancients have thought it is not to be expiated 
 by the blood of martyrdom."* It cannot be, becaufc 
 opinions on this fubjeft have changed with the times, 
 that the nature of this fin is alfo changed. For fo 
 long as the Church continues to be, what it originally 
 was, afociety of CHRIST s forming^ a wilful feparation 
 from it mull be at all times equally {infill; it being 
 not lefs an oppofition to a Divine inftitution in one 
 age of the Church than in another. Confequently 
 *vhat was faid upon this fubjecl: in the firil days of 
 Chriftianity, mufl apply to it with the fame force and 
 propriety in the times in which we live. 
 
 Upon the authority of an infpired Apoflle we are 
 informed, that thofe who " caufe divifions in the 
 Church" are to be avoided, as perfons " who ferve 
 
 * Perfuafive to Communion with the Church of England, by 
 Bifhqp GROVE. See London Cafes. 
 
DISCOURSE. 3 
 
 not the LORD JESUS." <c Now I befeech you, bre- 
 thren, mark them which caufe divifions and offences 
 contrary to the doftrine which ye have learned, and 
 avoid them: for they that are fuch, ferve not our 
 LORD JESUS." Rom. xvi. 17. If they ferve not 
 the LORD JESUS, it requires no great fagacity to de- 
 termine whom they ferve, for there are but two 
 matters in this cafe that can be ferved; either that 
 Divine Mailer, who, in love to man, fct up his king, 
 dom in oppofition to the prince of this world, that he 
 might thereby counteract his evil work ; or that Evil- 
 Worker himfelf, whofe conftant employment it is, fo 
 far as in him lies, to divide and deflroy that kingdom. 
 
 Now no greater advantage can be given to the 
 common enemy in any caufe, than by a divifion among 
 the parties profeiledly engaged in its fupport. A 
 confideration, which accounts for that ftrefs, fo re- 
 peatedly laid in the Apoftolic writings, upon the pre- 
 fervation of union and harmony among Chriilians; 
 as effential to the well-being of the Church, coniider* 
 ed as a fociety formed by GOD, for the purpofe of 
 carrying into effect a regular defign for the benefit 
 of its members. 
 
 It having pleafed Divine Providence to place me 
 in a fituation, which has given me an opportunity 
 
4 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 of feeing fome of thofe many evils confequent upon' 
 a deviation from GOD'S plan in the eftablilhment oF 
 his Church upon earth; I fhould do lefs than my-' 
 duty, did I not take occafion to fpeak plainly on this : 
 fubjeft; trufling that what, from a motive of pure 
 charity to all, may be faid upon it, will be received 
 charitably by all; without, if it be poilible, any mix-* 
 ture of that prejudice, which is-able'-^n a manner to* 
 convert truth into error-, when the' mind -of the p-arty^ 
 to whom it is addreffed, feels, indifpofed' to receive in* 
 
 The objeft in view on this* -occaiien is- two-fold; ; 
 to qualify, in the firil place, -the members of the 
 Church to give a reufon for their communion ^vith it;" 
 and thereby prevent their being carried about from 
 one place of public worfhip to another; upon the* 
 miftaken idea, that it is a matter-of indifference where 
 the word of GOD is preached, or by whom: and irt 
 the fecond place, to open the eyes of thofe, who, witli 
 perhaps the befl intention, may, through ignorancb,* 
 have feparated from the Church 1 ; ; and-who, were they- 
 better informed, might not fcruple to prefer its fober 
 and edifying worffiip to that in which they are -at? 
 prefent engaged. 
 
 He mud be little acquainted with the world who 
 Aoes not- know, that religious prejudices teave the 
 
v .DISCOURSE. - 
 
 powerful impreilion upon the human mind; -and 
 that till thefe are removed, it is impoflible to form a 
 fair judgment upon a fubjeft of this nature. Thofe 
 .who have taken their -religion upon truft, or have 
 received it as a fort of hereditary pofTeifion from their 
 forefathers, feldom give themfelves the trouble to 
 form any judgment upon it. Whilil others, who, 
 jn the choice of their religion, confult the gratifica- 
 tion of paiTion, interefl, or the promotion of fome 
 particular objecl; are, for the mod part not in a 
 condition to bring, this matter to a fair difcuflion. 
 The only hope of fuccefs therefore in this cafe mufl 
 be, from an appeal to the honed and wdl-difpofed; 
 thofe who feek the truth in fmcerity, and are refolved 
 to follow wherever Jt may lead. 
 
 Such are doubtlefs to be found in all congregations 
 of Chridian people j fome of whom, in confequence 
 only of their never having had the truth properly 
 laid before them, have taken up with erroneous 
 opinions; which, from prejudice of education or in- 
 capacity, they are- prevented from bringing to the 
 ted: of reafon and Scripture. -Deriving their natural 
 growth in error from their parent flock, they have 
 by years acquired an habitual attachment to it; at 
 the fame time that the earned zeal even of thofe wh<* 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 might be qualified for the purpofe, will not let thent 
 flop to examine the fource from which it has been 
 derived. Such men maybe confidered as not far 
 from the kingdom of GOD, and it muft be the ear- 
 neft wifh of every minifter of that kingdom to bring 
 them into it. Could thefe men be but once brought 
 acquainted with the nature of CHRIST'S church, 
 they would never feparate from its communion ; be- 
 caufe they would be convinced that th$ plan upon 
 which CHRIST has eftablifhed that church, muft 
 be conformed to by all, who expe& to enjoy the 
 privileges annexed to it. 
 
 On looking into the writings of the Apoftles, 
 we find frequent mention made of the unity of the 
 Chriftian church, as neceffary to the prefervation of 
 that peace which CHRIST left with his followers; and 
 repeated and earneft cautions againfl thofe diviflons,. 
 by which it muft be unavoidably difturbed. The 
 Founder of this church is emphatically ftiled the 
 Prince of Peace; becaufe he is not only the maker 
 of peace between GOD and man, but alfo the author 
 of a religion calculated to promote that blefling upon 
 earth. The mark or diftinftion, therefore, by which 
 the profeflbrs of this religion ought to be known, 
 is, that love and harmony by which they are joined 
 
DISCOURSE. 7 
 
 together in the fame mind and in the fame do&rine: 
 agreeably to the defcription given of them in the 
 earlieft flage of their connexion; before the prince 
 of this world, that deftroyer of peace, had fown his 
 feeds of divifion among them; when, as we read, 
 " the multitude of them that believed were of one 
 heart and of one foul." Afts iv. 32. 
 
 As the time of our SAVIOUR'S departure from 
 the world drew near, the future eftablifhment of his 
 church appears to have conflituted the moil iritereft- 
 ing fubjeft of his thoughts. That moft earneft and 
 folemn prayer addrefled to his FATHER almoft im- 
 mediately before his fuffering, ftrongly marks out to 
 us his dying wifli upon it; where, after having firfl 
 prayed for thofe particular difciples, to whofe imme- 
 diate care and direction he thought fit to commit his 
 church; that they might be duly fanftified for the 
 great work of their miniftry, he thus proceeds: 
 " Neither pray I for thefe alone, but for them alfo 
 which fliali believe on me through their word ; that 
 they all may be one, as thou, FATHER, art m me, and 
 I in Thee, that they alfo may be one in us; that the 
 world may believe that Thou haft fent me." JOHN 
 xvii. 20, 2i % 
 
8 tNTRODUCTORr 
 
 Unity, therefore, was defigned to be an effential 
 chara&eriftic of the church of CHRIST; the mem- 
 bers of which were to be confidered as conftituting 
 one body, animated by one fpirit, imparted to them 
 by their regular communication with one head, JESUS 
 CHRIST. Agreeably to which idea, the Apoflle 
 addrefles himfelf to his Ephefian converts: " I be- 
 feech you (fays he) that you walk worthy of the 
 vocation wherewith ye are called; with all lowlinefs 
 and meeknefs, with long-fuffering, forbearing one 
 another in love ; endeavouring to keep the unity of 
 the fpirit in the bond of peace." As a reafon for 
 their fo doing, the Apoflle proceeds to remind them, 
 that " there is one body; and one fpirit; one hope of 
 their calling; one LORD, one faith, one baptifm, one 
 GOD and FATHER of all, who is above all, and 
 through all, and in all." Ephefians iv. i, c. 
 
 We have here a picture of the Chriftian church 
 in its perfect ftate; in which, in conformity to 
 CHRIST'S inftitution, it ought at all times to be 
 .found: a fociety joined together by the bond of 
 charity, in the profeflion of the fame faith; into 
 which the members of it are admitted by one and 
 the fame baptifm; in confequence of which they 
 become partakers of that fpirit, which is derived to 
 

 DISCOURSE, 9 
 
 them from their union with one head, Jesus CHRIST; 
 and are fupported by the lively hope, that where 
 that Head of the body is, there, in the fulnefs of 
 time, (hall the members of it be alfo. 
 
 If the church, as it is now circumftanced in the 
 world, bear little refemblance to this primitive pat- 
 tern, it muft be in confequence of men either having 
 formed miflaken notions with refpeft to the nature 
 of it, or deviated from the plan upon which it was 
 originally eflablifhed. In either cafe, they are de- 
 ceiving themfelves. For as the church is but one, 
 and the promifes of God are maade only to that 
 church; mail's covenanted title to thofe promifes muft 
 depend upon his being a member of it; upon the 
 fame principle that thofe perfons only who have 
 been admitted members of a fociety, have any 
 claim to the privileges of it. 
 
 Hence it becomes a matter of importance with 
 every man, to be fatisfied whether he really is a 
 member of the church of Chrift; for fhould he not 
 be fuch, the fmcerity of his profeflion will not fupply 
 the deficiency of thofe privileges and bleflings, of 
 which in that cafe he may not be in a fituation to 
 partake. 
 
 F 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The Lord, we read, Afts ii. 47. at the firft open- 
 ing of the Apoftolic commiffion, " added daily to the 
 church fuch as fhould be faved." From whence we 
 underfland, that admiiTion into the church is no in- 
 different thing, but a privilege of an important kind. 
 Let men reafon, therefore, as they pleafe upon 
 this fubjeft, the counfel of GOD ilill flandeth fure. 
 " Many," fays SOLOMON, " are the devices of a 
 man's heart; neverthelefs the counfel of the LORD, 
 that fliall Hand." Prov. xix. 21. According to the 
 general tenour of Scripture, from which alone any fafe 
 conclufion can be drawn in this matter, 'it appears, 
 that the only appointed road to heaven lies through 
 the church of CHRIST upon earth. For the church 
 is the fpoufe of CHRIST, whofe office it is to bring 
 forth children unto GOD. And it is from the arms 
 of this fpiritual mother, that all the legitimate children 
 of the Father are received. In conformity with which 
 idea was the language of St. AUGUSTINE; where, 
 he fays, " He cannot have GOD for his Father, who 
 hath not the Church for his J Mother." 
 
 Was this well confidered, it might be fuppofed, 
 that where an event of fuch importance is at flake, na 
 wife man would venture to make experiments. 
 
EISGOURSE. 11 
 
 To enable the reader to form fome correct judg- 
 ment upon this matter, it is my defign to lay before 
 him fome plain thoughts on the following important 
 heads: ift, On the nature, defign, and conftitution 
 of the Chriilian church, idly, On the fin of fchifm, 
 or a wilful feparation from -it. 3dly, On the reafons 
 commonly advanced to juflify that feparation. And 
 4thly, On the advantages attendant upon a confcien- 
 tious communion with the church ; together with the 
 difad vantages confequent upon a feparation from it. 
 In difcourfmg upon thefe fubje&s, the object is, to 
 enter into them, fo far only as may be deemed fuffi- 
 cient for the information of the parties to whom they 
 are immediately addrefled. 
 
 " The lips of the pried (we are told) fliould retain 
 knowledge, and they fliould feek the law at his mouth; 
 for he is the melfenger of the LORD of Hofts." 
 Mai. ii. 7, Every Chriftian therefore, before he 
 feparates from the church, inftead of being governed 
 by his own imagination, or that of fome fellow- 
 Chriftian, not better informed perhaps than himfelf 
 upon the fubjeft, fliould give himfelf an opportunity 
 of knowing from the perfon, whofe office it is to 
 inform him, whether the reafons advanced for his 
 quitting the communion of the church are dronger 
 
IS INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 than thofe which are to be produced for his conti- 
 nuing in it. Whoever determines upon a reparation 
 from the church, without having made this previous 
 enquiry, cannot be faid to do juftice, either to himfelf 
 or to his minifter, and muft be anfwerable for the 
 confequence of his negleft. 
 
[ 13 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 On the Nature, Design, and Constitution of 
 
 the CHRISTIAN CHURCH, considered as 
 
 a visible Society. 
 
 BEFORE we can be qualified to determine what 
 is wrong, we mud have acquired fome juft and 
 cftablifhed notion with refpeft to what is right. Aa 
 acquaintance therefore with the nature, defign, and 
 conflitution of the Cbrlftian church, becomes a necef- 
 fary preparative to our forming a proper judgment 
 upon the fubfequent parts of our fubjeft. 
 
 To trace the church through its feveral progreffive 
 ftages.; from its original eftablilhment in paradife, 
 where the good news of a Saviour was firfl delivered 
 to fallen man; through its infant condition; and days 
 of contraction in the ark, when it was confined to 
 one fmgle family; to its fubfequent enlargement in 
 the defendants of ABRAHAM ; its wandering ftate in 
 the wildernefs; and its more complete fettlement in 
 the land of Canaan; down to that fulnefs of time, 
 when our SAVIOUR came in the fleih to vifitit; would 
 
14- DISCOURSE II, 
 
 lead into too wide a field. It is our happinefs. and 
 to that part of the fubjeft our prefent attention is 
 confined, that we live in that ftage of the church, 
 which may be confidered as the completion of every 
 former difpenfatiori. JESUS CHRIST, the head of 
 the church, by purging it from the corruptions which 
 it had contracted, and reftoring its worfhip to that 
 fpiritual flandard in which its perfection confiits; has, 
 as it were, put his finifliing hand to the eftablifhment 
 of it, upon the plan bed calculated to fecure the pur- 
 pofe he had in view. 
 
 It is a matter therefore of importance, that we 
 fnould be particular in our obfervations upon this 
 point; becaufe a deviation from CHRIST'S plan, by 
 an attempt to .alter the conftiution of his church, 
 may make it a very different thing from what it was 
 defigned to be; and though, in this cafe, a man may 
 fatisfy himfelf, by calling the creature of his own ima- 
 gination the church of CHRIST, it certainly does not 
 follow that it really is fuch; and it may be the mod 
 dangerous piece of felf-impofition thus to confider it. 
 
 To underftand the nature and defign of the 
 Chriflian church, we muft confider the world at large 
 as lying in wickednefs ; and confequently in a ftate 
 of condemnation before GOD. Out of this nicked 
 
DISCOURSE II. 15 
 
 fociety, of which all are by nature born members, 
 GOD has been pleafed to call men into another fociety, 
 very different from it; the objeft of which is to mi- 
 nifter to their falvation, by fo purifying them from 
 the corruptions of a fallen world, that they may not 
 be condemned with it. This fociety, fometimes called 
 the Church ofChrift, becaufe CHRIST purchafed it 
 with his blood; fometimes his kingdom, becaufe he 
 is the king and governor of it; was fet up in oppofi- 
 tion to that kingdom of this world, which has Satan 
 for its prince. Into this fociety, or kingdom, perfons 
 are admitted by baptifm; which is the feal conveying 
 to them an affurance of their future inheritance: by 
 the regular application of which, they are fanftified 
 or fet apart from the reft of the world, as the peculiar 
 property of the Holy Spirit. Having then, in confe- 
 quence of their being born anew of the Holy Spirit in 
 baptifm, profefTedly withdrawn themfelves from the 
 fervice of the prince of this world, and entered into 
 that of the living GOD; they become entitled to 
 thofe privileges, which the King, into whofe fervice 
 they are entered, has purchafed for his fubje&s. 
 
 Whilft therefore thofe who, in their natural con- 
 dition, " are fhrangers from the covenant of promife; 
 living without hope and without GOD in the world;" 
 
16 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 thofe who have been tranflated from the world into 
 the church, may thereby be confidered as delivered 
 from the powers of darknefs, and become heirs with 
 CHRIST of an eternal kingdom. 
 
 The privileges to which the members of the church 
 are entitled, namely, pardon of fin, and eternal life^ 
 having been purchafed by JESUS CHRIST j the 
 church muft of neceffity be a fociety of his forming. 
 For no man can take upon himfelf to form a church; 
 in other words, to call men out of the world, and by 
 incorporating them into a certain fociety, thereby to 
 invert them with Gofpel privileges 5 for this plain rea- 
 fon, becaufe no man can enfure to the members of a 
 fociety of his own framing thofe privileges which he 
 has it not in his power to confer. Every thing, 
 therefore, in this matter, mufl be done in the name, 
 and by commiffion from CHRIST; becaufe CHRIST 
 is the fulfiller of that divine engagement, by which 
 alone man is delivered from condemnation with the 
 world, and placed in a ftate of acceptance with GOD. 
 Now nothing can be more obvious to common 
 fenfe, than that no man can engage for what he is 
 Dot in a condition to perform, unlefs particular cir- 
 cumilances authorife him fo to do. On the other 
 hand, an engagement entered into on the behalf of 
 
DISCOURSE II. 17 
 
 another can be binding only upon the party, by virtue 
 of a commtffion received for that purpofe. The ap- 
 plication of thefe two felf-evident pofitions fufficiently 
 point out the difference between thofe who have 
 received a commiffion from the Head of the church, 
 to adminifter the affairs of his fpiritual kingdom, 
 and thofe who have not. 
 
 If it be admitted, then, that the claurch is a fo- 
 ciety ; as fuch, it mud be poffeffed of power neceffary 
 to its own prefervation. It mufl have its rules and 
 orders; and confequently its governors, to carry thofe 
 rules and orders into effeft. Without fuch a provU 
 lion for order and government, no fociety can fubfifl. 
 That fuch a power was left with the church by its 
 Divine Founder, is to be proved from the commiffion, 
 by which the governors of it received authority to 
 admit members into the church, and to exclude them 
 from it, according to the qualification or difqualifi- 
 cation of the refpeftive parties. And that this power 
 comprehended under it every exertion of authority 
 neceffary to the regulation of the fociety committed 
 to their management, we conclude (to avoid multi- 
 plying proof upon a fubjeft that fpeaks for itfelf) 
 from St. PAUL'S charge to his difciples, that they 
 fliould " obey them that had the rule over them, and 
 
18 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 fubmit themfelves;" from the conCderation, that 
 their fpiritnal governors " watched for their fouls." 
 Heb. xiii. 17. 
 
 Moreover, as there are differences of adminiftra- 
 tions, and diverfities of operations to be performed in 
 the church, there muft be perfons regularly appointed 
 to the difcharge of the feveral offices, neceiTary to 
 the well-being of the fociety to which they belong. 
 But a regular appointment of offices pre-fuppofes a 
 power lodged fome where, to determine upon the 
 qualification of the undertaking parties; for if indivi- 
 duals are left to fettle this matter for themfelves, the 
 fociety will not only be worfe ferved for the time 
 being; (the moft felf-fufficient men being, generally 
 fpeaking, the leaft qualified to difcharge the office 
 they undertake;) but what is a ftill further confidera- 
 tion, the diforder confequent upon an indifcriminate 
 exercife of public fun&ions, mud ultimately termi- 
 nate in the dnTolution of that fociety, where fuch 
 confufion prevails. 
 
 But the church being a fociety, of which CHRIST 
 is the head, from whom alone all the benefits belong- 
 ing to it are derived; the appointment of the govern- 
 ors, together with the rules and orders by which 
 this fociety is to be managed and directed, muft ori- 
 
DISCOUIISE I*. 3$ 
 
 ginate with, and receive its fanftion from him. For 
 man, merely as man, can claim no rule over his fellow- 
 creatures. Government, therefore, whether in church 
 or ftate, muft look to that fupreme Difpofer, from 
 whom all power is derived ; by whofe authority alone 
 the validity of its exertions can be eftablifhed. The 
 reafon of the thing, in this cafe, we fhall find upon 
 enquiry to be confirmed by the hiftory of facts. 
 
 When our SAVIOUR, after his refurreclion, pro- 
 ceeded to the regular eftablilhment of his church 
 upon earth, he appointed the eleven principal difci- 
 ples, or Apoflles as they are called by way of diitinc- 
 tion, to meet him in a mountain in Galilee, for the 
 purpofe of delivering his commiilion and directions to 
 them on that fubjecl:. " Then the eleven difciples 
 (we read) went away into Galilee, into a mountain, 
 where JESUS had appointed them. And JESUS 
 came, and fpake unto them, faying, All power is 
 given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, 
 therefore, and teach (or make difciples in) all nations, 
 baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghoft; teaching them to ob- 
 ferve all things whatfoever I have commanded you -. 
 and lo! I am wiih you alway, even unto the end of 
 the world." Matth. xxviii. 18. 
 
20 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 N 
 
 It is to be obferved, that our SAVIOUR'S difciples 
 at this time exceeded the number of five hundred. 
 After .his refurre&ion, St. PAUL tells us, that " he 
 was feen of above five hundred brethren at once.'* 
 But our SAVIOUR did not deliver the commiflion for 
 adminiftering the facraments of his rhurch to his 
 difciples at large, but only to his Apoflles; and to 
 them not by accident, but, it fhould feem, by exprefs 
 defign: in the firft inftance, at his laft fupper; and 
 in the fecond, when, in confequence of a particular 
 appointment to meet him in Galilee after his afcen- 
 Con, he delivered to them his final commiflion to 
 " baptize all nations." 
 
 Now the granting a commiflion manifeftly implies, 
 that none but thofe to whom it has been delivered, 
 have authority to aft in that bufinefs for which the 
 commiflion has been granted. Were it otherwife, 
 the commiflion would be an ufelefs form. CHRIST, 
 therefore, by making choice only of eleven out of the 
 whole number of his difciples, intended, it is pre- 
 fumed, that the bufinefs which he authorized them 
 to do, fhould not be performed by every one that 
 might think proper to take upon him to execute it.* 
 
 * Should there remain a douk on this head, the particular re- 
 jection of the eleven Apoftles from the other difciples, for the 
 
DISCOURSE II. 21 
 
 It is to be remarked further, that the tenour of 
 the commiflion delivered to the Apoftles feems pur- 
 pofely calculated to provide againfl, and thereby to 
 render unneceffary, z\\ felf-conjlituted authority in 
 the church. " As my Father has fent me," faid 
 CHRIST, " fo fend I you;" &c. According to the 
 common import of which words, as well as' the re- 
 ceived fenfe of them in the Catholic church, our 
 SAVIOUR is to be underftood as if he had laid, 
 " With the fame power and authority that my Fa- 
 ther fent me into the world to conflicute and govern 
 my church, I fend you and your fucceflbrs for the 
 further advancement of the fame divine purpofe; and 
 lo! my fp-rit fliall accompany the regular adminif- 
 tration of the office to the end of the world. As 
 therefore, in confequence of the million which I have 
 received from my Father, I fend you; fo, by virtue 
 of the million received from me, you have authority 
 to fend others, for the purpofe of carrying on and 
 perpetuating the plan which I have fet on foot in 
 
 purpofe of delivering to them their commiflion, is calculated to re, 
 move it. See Luke vi, jz, 13; Mark iii. 13, ,14; Matt. x. i; 
 xxviii. 16, 19, ao; John xx. 31,22. This important point the 
 reader will find particularly made out, and infifted upon, in " POT- 
 TER'S Difcourfe of Church Government," chap. ii. p. 45, et ie<j 
 and chap. iii. p, 61, et feq. 
 
22 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 the world, by a regular adminiflration of the affairs 
 of my kingdom to the end of time." The govern- 
 ment committed to the Apoftles was, therefore, of 
 the fame nature with that of CHRIST ; for thus he 
 declares to them: " I appoint to you a kingdom, as 
 my Father hath appointed to me. 33 Luke xxii. 2.9. 
 The keys of the kingdom of heaven CHRIST re- 
 ceived from GOD; by virtue of which grant, he had 
 power to remit lins on earth. Matt. ix. 1 6. Thefe 
 fame keys, with the power which belonged to them, 
 were delivered by CHRIST to his Apoflles in thefe 
 words: " Whofefoever fins ye remit, they are re* 
 mitted; and whofefoever fins ye retain, they are 
 retained." John xx. 23. " The Father (we read, 
 John v. 22, 27) committed all judgment to his Son." 
 And our LORD . promifed, that when the Son of 
 Man fliall fit on the throne of his glory, the twelve 
 Apoflles fhould fit on twelve thrones, judging the 
 twelve tribes of Ifrael." Matt. xix. 28. Hence it 
 is, that the Apollles are reprefented as conflicting 
 part of the foundation on which the Chriflian church 
 was built. " The wall of the holy Jerufalem, de- 
 fcending out of heaven from GOD," the Spirit 
 defcribes as having twelve foundations, and in them 
 c< the .names -of the twelve Apoflles of the L-aiiuV* 
 
DISCOURSE II. 23 
 
 Rev. xxi. 14. And St. PAUL told the Ephefians* 
 that they were " the houfehold of GOD, built upon 
 the foundation of the Apoftles and Prophets, JESUS 
 CHRIST himfelf being the chief corner-Hone." 
 Eph. ii. 19, 20. 
 
 But it may be faid, although this commuTion, 
 delivered to the Apoftles, ftamps a diftinftion upon 
 their characters, and evidently inverts them with a 
 particular office and authority; yet it does not fur- 
 nifh fufficient light by which to determine the precife 
 conflitution of the Chriftian church. It certainlj 
 does not; and were there no other light vouchfafed 
 to us on this fubjcft, we ftiould not fpeak fo decidedly 
 upon it as we now feel ourfelves authorifed to do. 
 
 But, perhaps, more information may be expected 
 in this cafe than the Bible was defigned to furnilh. 
 Divine revelation, it is to be obferved, was not 
 meant to gratify the curioiity, but to furnifli in- 
 formation fufficient to eflablilh the faith, and govern 
 the practice, of the Chriftian profeffor. It is not to 
 be fuppofed, that in the fhort hiftory given by the 
 Apoftles, one thoufandth part of the doctrine, or in- 
 ftruclion, delivered by our SAVIOUR to his difciples, 
 could be recorded. St. JOHN makes ufe of a ftrong 
 expreffion, where he fays, that " if all things which 
 
24 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 JF.SUS did fliould be written, every one, the world 
 itfelf could not contain the books that Ihould be 
 written;" thereby giving us to underfhmd, that the 
 hiltories written by the Apoftles furnifli but a very 
 fliort abftract of our SAVIOUR'S life and converfation, 
 by no means fufficient to qualify the reader to form 
 a minute and circumflantial judgment, with refpect 
 to any particular tranfaction recorded. 
 
 Upon the fubject before us, for inftance, we have 
 no information but what is derived from the mere 
 recital of the fact; that our SAVIOUR did, after his 
 refurrection, deliver a commuTion to his ele\en dif- 
 ciples, relative to the government of his church. 
 The manner in which this commiilion 'was to be 
 carried into effect, is to be afcertained by the fub- 
 fequent practice of the Apoflles; which doubtlefs 
 conformed to the direction they had received from 
 their Divine Matter. For it is not to be fuppofed, 
 that our SAVIOUR would fail to accompany the 
 delivery of fo important a commiffion with all the 
 information neceffary for the parties en tr lifted with 
 it. Indeed it fhould/eem, as if this were one of the 
 principal objects our SAVIOUR had in view, in re- 
 maining fo long upon earth after his refurrection; 
 Cnce we are exprefsly told, that he employed that 
 
DISCOURSE IT. 
 
 time in fpeaking of the things " pertaining to the 
 kingdom of GOD." A&s i. 3. If the Apoftles have 
 not recorded the directions which accompanied the 
 delivery of their commiflion, we are not from thence 
 warranted to conclude, that no directions were 
 given; but that they were judged unneceflary to be 
 particularized; for this reafon, it may be, becaufe 
 the government of the Chriftian church was to cor- 
 refpond with that of the Jewifti. For the Jewiih 
 and Chriftian church are to be confidered, not fo 
 much different eftablifhments, as two editions (if we 
 may fo fay) of the fame church of GOD; the former 
 conftituting, as it were, the ground-plan upon which 
 the latter has been built. 
 
 Indeed, as the ceconomy of man's falvation forms 
 one complete whole, it is but to be expefted, that 
 there ihould be an uniformity in its feveral parts; 
 although the modern Chriftian, by confining his 
 attention to one particular part of the Divine dif- 
 penfation, is thereby unqualified to trace the refem- 
 blance b etween them. 
 
 If GOD, then, thought proper Himfelf to regulate 
 the fervice of the Jewifh church, by the exprefs 
 appointment of thofe who were to bear office in it, 
 it is reafonable to fuppofe, that He would adopt a 
 
 a 
 
26 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 limilar plan in the Chriftian church. Nor is it to 
 be imagined, that He who did all things with regu- 
 larity and order; who in his own perfon paid a 
 delicate regard to the ordinances of the old difpen- 
 fation, which were to be done away; fhould leave 
 the affairs of his new church only in an irregular 
 and diforderly condition. 
 
 The hiflory of the Chriflian church proves that 
 He has not done fo; it being taken for granted, that 
 the pratice of the Apoflles, in the execution of 
 their commiilion, will be admitted as authority fuffi- 
 cient to eflablifh this fa&. The Apoflles, we are 
 told, did not enter upon the difcharge of their com- 
 miflion, till they had received the promife of the 
 Father, in the gift of the Holy Ghofl. " They 
 were commanded to tarry in Jerufalem till they were 
 endued with power from on high." Luke xxiv. 49. 
 Which power the Apoflles a&ually received at the 
 fubfequent day of Pentecofl; when, according to 
 our SAVIOUR'S promife, the Holy Ghofl vifibly de- 
 fcended upon them, as their previous qualification 
 for the difcharge of their high office. What form 
 of government, therefore, the Apoflles agreed to 
 eflablifli in die church, if not exprefsly communi- 
 cated to them by CHRIST in perfon, mufl be 
 
DISCOURSE II. 27 
 
 confidered as eftablifhed under the dire&ion of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 Thus, Apoftolical pra&ice, with refpe& to the 
 government of the church, well afcertained, muft in 
 this matter be equivalent to Apoftolical precept with 
 refpeft to the do&rine of it; becaufe the Holy Spirit, 
 by whom the Apoftles were dire&ed, and whofe 
 office it was to teach them all things neceflary to the 
 well-being of the Chriftian church, would not lead 
 them into error in one cafe more than in the other. 
 
 What that form of government was, we (hall be 
 at no lofs to determine, if we are difpofed to enquire 
 fairly into the fubject. Indeed, the conftitution of 
 the Chriftian church, as eftablifhed by the Apoftles, 
 may be confidered to be fufficiently notorious from 
 their writings, to render particular proof on the 
 fubjeft unneceffary. 
 
 But did the conclufion upon this matter ftand 
 upon lefs firm ground than it really does, or were 
 the language of Scripture in this cafe lefs clear than 
 it is, the prattice of the primitive cfmrch furnifhes 
 fuch a comment upon it, as muft, we fliould think, 
 determine the judgment of every unprejudiced man. 
 
 It is a known axiom, that every law is beft ex- 
 plained by the fubfequent practice. Let this maxim 
 be applied in the prefent cafe. 
 
23 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 " Be ye followers of me, (fays ST. PAUL in his- 
 dire&ions to the church at Corinth) even as I alfo 
 am of CHRIST. Now I pray you, brethren, that you 
 remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, 
 as I have delivered them to you." i Cor. xi. i, 2, 
 To every careful reader of the New Teftament, it 
 will evidently appear, that the Apoftles were the 
 followers of CHRIST in the adminiftration of his 
 kingdom on earth; no aft of power being done by 
 our LORD in the flefh, which was not, at leaft in 
 fome degree, exercifed by the Apoftles after his 
 afcenfion. Their prefcribing rules and ordinances 
 for the church, and enforcing them by fuitable punifh- 
 ments; their judging and condemning tranfgreffors, 
 and their pardoning and abfolving penitents; their 
 ordaining minifters, and fuperintending the difcharge 
 of their minifterial duty; together with the obedience 
 and attendance paid to the Apoftles by the inferior 
 ,minifters; are circumftances, which prove, that the 
 government of the infant church was in their hands: 
 and that it was managed by them on the plan now 
 diftinguifhed by the word EpifcopaL From Apof- 
 tolical authority defcending to Catholic practice, 
 Vhich (as Bifhop TAYLOR* has obferved) " is the 
 
 * Of the Sacred Order of Epifcopacy," Sea, . 
 
DISCOURSE II. 29 
 
 next bafis of the power and order of Epifcopacy," 
 we are as well allured as we can be of any his- 
 torical fact whatever, that TIMOTHY, TITUS, IG- 
 NATIUS, POLYCARP, CLEMENS ROMANUS, and 
 others, the immediate difciples of the Apoftles, did 
 exercife the Epifcopal office, for fubftance the fame 
 as it is now exercifed, in that branch of the Chriftian 
 church eftabliihed in this country. From which 
 circumftance we feel ourfelves warranted in con- 
 cluding, that fuch was the government originally 
 fettled in the church; becaufe it is not to be fup- 
 pofed, that thofe who lived with the Apoftles, who 
 exercifed the office they had received in the church 
 by virtue of their appointment, and in fome meafure 
 under their fuperintendance, could deviate from the 
 plan laid down by the Apoftles, whom they confi- 
 dered as acting under the immediate direction of the 
 Holy Spirit. For if it can be fuppofed, that the 
 immediate difciples of the Apoftles did not know the 
 minds of their teachers, or that their practice was 
 not ftnctly conformable to it; or " if it is imaginable 
 that the whole world ftiould, immediately after the 
 death of the Apoftles, confpire together, to feek 
 themfelves, and not the things that are of JESUS 
 CHRIST, to erect a government of their own defiring, 
 
30 DISCOURSE II 
 
 not ordained by CHRIST, not delivered by his 
 Apoftles; and to relinquifh a divine foundation, and 
 the Apoflolical fuperftru&ure, which, if it was at all, 
 was a part of our Matter's will;"* we may fup- 
 pofe and imagine any thing; and there is no ground 
 left, upon which any conclufive reafoning on this 
 fubjecl: can be built. 
 
 But " what need we," faid a judicious writer, 
 who had paid particular attention to this fubjeft, 
 and whofe writings have been frequently referred to 
 as a ftandard of judgment in church matters; " what 
 need we/' faid he, " to feek for proofs, that the 
 Apoftles, who began their order of regiment by 
 biftiops, did it not but by Divine inftincl:; when, 
 without fuch direction, things of far lefs weight and 
 moment they attempted not? PAUL and BARNABAS 
 did not open their mouths unto the Gentiles, till the 
 Spirit had faid, * Separate me PAUL and BARNABAS 
 for the work whereunto I have fent them.* The 
 eunuch, by PHILIP, was neither baptized nor inftruft- 
 ed, before the angel of GOD was fent to give him 
 notice, that fo it pleafed the MOST HIGH. In Aila, 
 PAUL and the reft were filent, becaufe the Spirit 
 
 * TAYLOR, " Of the facred Order and Office of Epifcopacy." 
 Se&ion 11. 
 
DISCOURSE II. 31 
 
 forbad them to fpeak. When they intended to 
 have feen Bythinia, they flayed their journey, the 
 Spirit not giving them leave to go. Before TIMO- 
 THY was employed in thofe Epifcopal affairs of the 
 church, about which the Apoftle PAUL ufed him, 
 the HOLY GHOST gave fpecial charge for his ordi- 
 nation; and prophetical intelligence, more than once, 
 what fuccefs the fame would have. And fhall \ve 
 think, that JAMES was made bifhop of Jerufalem, 
 EVODIUS bifhop of the church of Antioch, the an- 
 gels in the churches of Afia bifhops; that bifhops 
 every where were appointed to take away fa&ious 
 contentions and fchifms; without fome like divine 
 infligation and dire&ion of the HOLY GHOST? 
 Wherefore let us not fear to be herein bold and 
 peremptory; that if any thing in the church's re- 
 giment, furely the firfl inflitution of bifhops was 
 from heaven, was even of GOD; the HOLY GHOST 
 was the author of it." HOOKER'S Ecc. Pol. book 
 vii. If we fay then, that in every church that was 
 planted, the offices of bifhop, prieft, and deacon, 
 anfwering to thofe of high-priefl, priefl, and Leyite^ 
 under the law, were to be found, we fhall fay no 
 more ihan the hiflory of the primitive church will 
 warrant. It being certain that the ceconomy of the 
 
32 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 Chriftian church correfponded as nearly to that of 
 her elder filler the Jewifh church, as the different 
 nature of their refpeftive fervices would permit. In- 
 deed, from the parallel fubfifting between the law 
 and the Gofpel, the one being confidered as the type 
 or figure of the other, it was no uncommon thing for 
 the primitive fathers, in fpeaking of the government 
 of the Chriftian church, to argue from the diftinftive 
 offices in the Levitical priefthood, to a fimilar dif- 
 tinftion in the Chriftian. " CHRIST and his Apof- 
 tles, (fays the learned HICKES) who were the re- 
 formers of the Jewifh ceconomy into the Chriftian 
 church, did build with many of the old materials, 
 and conformed their new houfe, as much as they 
 could, after the platform of the old. This will ap- 
 pear from baptifm itfelf, which was a ceremony by 
 which profelytes, both men, women, and children, 
 were initiated into the Jewifli church ; which cere- 
 mony our SAVIOUR confecrated in the place of that 
 of circumcifion, to be the facrament of initiation 
 into his church, and a feal of the righteoufnefs 
 of faith.* So likewife the other facrament of the 
 LORD'S Supper was certainly of Jewifh original, as 
 
 * SELDEN de jure, I. ii. c. a.; de Synedr.l. i. c. 3. LIGHTFOOT 
 Horse Hebroicae, p. 42. HAMMOND on MATTH. iii. i. JACOB 
 ALTJNSIUS de Profelytis. 
 
DISCOURSE II. 33 
 
 hath been (hewed by many learned men ;f and the 
 correfpondence of the bifhops, prefbyters, and dea- 
 cons, to the high-pried, priefts, and Levites, doth 
 fhew,that the fubordination of the Chriflian hierarchy 
 is taken from the Jewifh church; as ST. JEROME 
 obferves in his epiftle to EVAGRIUS, " what the 
 high-prieft, priefts, and Levites were in the temple, 
 that the bifhops, prefbyters, and deacons are in the 
 church, according to the apoftolical conftitution taken 
 from the Old Teftament." " Et ut fciamus traditi- 
 ones Apoflolicas fumptas de veteri Teftamento, quocl 
 AARON, et filii ejus, et Levitae in templo fuerunt; 
 hoc fibi epifcopi et prefbyteri et diaconi vendicent 
 in ecclefia."J 
 
 Thus, in correfpondence with the fame eftablimed 
 idea, St. CLEMENT, one ^of the firft bifhops, a fello\r 
 
 f MEDE, i book, difc. 51,6, n. GROT. Opufc. torn. iii. p. 519. 
 CUDWORTH on the LORD'S Supper. THORNDIKE, c. 10. Dr. 
 TAYLOR'S " Great Exemplar;" p. i; Difcourfe of Baptifm. 
 
 t The reader will find a mafterly illuftration of the connexion 
 between the Jewifh oeconomy and Chriflian church, (a fubject ne- 
 ceffary to be underftood by all Chriftian divines, who, according to 
 our SAVIOUR'S defcription of the do&or "rightly inftrufted unto 
 the kingdom of GOD;" mould be like unto an houfliolder, " who 
 bringeth out of his ftorehoufe new things and old:") in the dif- 
 courfe previous to the " Cafe of Baptifm, by the very learned Dean 
 of WORCESTER." ee London Cafes, No. 15. 
 
34 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 labourer with St. PAUL, writes to the members of 
 the church at Corinth, for the exprefs purpofe of 
 preffing upon them the duty of ecclefiaftical fubor- 
 dination and obedience. " To the high-prieft," fays 
 he, " were allotted his proper offices; to the priefts 
 their proper place was ailigned; and to the Levites 
 their fervices were appointed; and the laymen were 
 retrained within the precepts of laymen. 5 * 
 
 Now were there no fimiliarity at that time 
 acknowledged between the Jewifli ceconomy and 
 Chriftian church; were there no offices in the latter 
 correfponding with thofe of high-prieft, prieft, and 
 Levite, in the former; the force of argument, other- 
 wife to be deduced from the application in this 
 cafe, muft have been totally loft upon the parties to 
 whom it was addreiTed. 
 
 But upon appeal to St. PAUL'S writings we find, 
 that part of the charge delivered to TIMOTHY, ap- 
 pointed bilhop of the church in Ephefus, was, that 
 " he fliould lay hands fuddenly on no man;" that 
 he fhould receive no accufation againft a prefbyter, 
 but before two or three witnelTes; and that the 
 deacons in his church fhould be men of fober and 
 orderly converfation. Here, then, we have the form 
 of the Chriflian church, after the model drawn out 
 
DISCOURSE II. 35 
 
 by the Apoftles themfelves, with its officers diftin- 
 guiflied by their refpe&ive ftations; thebifhop, as 
 fupreme governor, anfwering to the high-pried under 
 the law ; the prefby ters and deacons to the priefls 
 and Levites, as fubordinate miniflers in it. And by 
 an appeal to ecclefiaftical hiftory it will be found, 
 that immediately from the death of the Apoftles, or 
 a very few years after, the government of the Chrifl- 
 ian church throughout the world was in every part 
 of it fettled upon this fame Apoflolic plan. 
 
 Under this form of government has the church 
 continued, from the days of the Apoflles down to 
 the prefent time ; and, doubtlefs, will continue fo to 
 the end, whatever occafional interruptions it has met 
 with, or may flill meet with from the prevailing 
 paflions and prejudices of finful men. " For it is 
 impoffible," we are told, " but that offences will 
 come;" and " there mufl be herefies; that they which 
 are approved may be made manifeft." LUKE xvii. 
 ij i Cor. xi. 19. 
 
 Should further teflimony in favour of the govern- 
 ment of the church, as here defcribed, be necefTary, 
 we are furnifhed with what mufl be deemed direct 
 to the purpofe, in the writings of ST. CLEMENT 
 above-mentioned ; where he fays, in his firfl epiille 
 
36 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 to the Corinthians, that " the Apoftles knowing of 
 the LORD JESUS, that contefts would arife concern- 
 ing the Epifcopal name, (or order) and for this caufe 
 having perfeft fore-knowledge (of thefe things,) they 
 did ordain thofe whom we have mentioned before; 
 and moreover did eftablifli the conftitution, that other 
 approved men ihould fucceed them who died in their 
 office and miniftry." 
 
 Thus then, upon' the authority of ST. PAUL, who 
 was called to be an Apoftle by JESUS CHRIST, to- 
 gether with that of ST. CLEMENT, who was a bifhop 
 within forty years after our LORD'S refurre&ion, 
 and who, as living with the Apoflles, muft have 
 been made acquainted with the conftitution of the 
 church over which he was appointed to prefide; fup- 
 ported by the confideration of that uniform fyftem 
 of government which has prevailed in the church 
 from the beginning, we are warranted in determining; 
 that where we find the order of bifliops, priefts, and 
 deacons regularly appointed, there we find the 
 church of CHRIST according to its original conftitu- 
 tion ; and without thefe (to make ufe of the words 
 of ST. IGNATIUS, who it is to be obferved was the 
 difciple of ST. JOHN) it is not called a church. " Let 
 all," fays this holy man^ " reverence the deacons, 
 
DISCOURSE II. 37 
 
 Cis the minifters of JESUS CHRIST; and in like 
 manner the bifhop, as JESUS CHRIST, the Son of 
 the Father; the prefbyters, as the fenate of GOD, 
 and college of Apoflles; without thefe, it is not 
 called a church." 
 
 From whence the obvious conclufion is, that the 
 Church is not merely a number of people, agreeing 
 jn the fame articles of faith, or in the fame afts of 
 religious worfliip ; but it is moreover a fociety, hold- 
 ing one vifible communion under the fame divinely- 
 inftituted government: a fociety, not of man's but of 
 ChriJPs forming; a fociety or fpiritual incorporation, 
 of which He is the head, and all individual Chrift- 
 ians, who have been regularly admitted into it, the 
 members. For the church is not a creature of the 
 fancy, deriving an imaginary exigence from the whim 
 and caprice of man, but a fettled and permanent 
 eftabliihment, the work of Divine Wifdorh. It is, 
 moreover, not hid in a corned, that men need be lit a 
 lofs to find it; but a vifible fociety, pofTeiTed of thofe 
 charafteriftic marks, by which it may at all times be 
 known. Like ail other focieties compofed of fallible 
 men, it has, indeed, been deformed by corruptions 
 and abufe c : but corruptions and abufes affect not 
 
38 DISCOURSE II.' 
 
 the nature and conftitution of the church itfelf, but 
 the parties only by whom they have been occafioned. 
 To form a proper judgment, therefore, upon this 
 fubjeft, recourfe mufl be had to thofe records which 
 contain an account of the original plan, upon which 
 the church was eflabliihed by its Divine Founder. 
 In them we find, that every figure under which it is 
 defcribed, has application, not to a confufed mul- 
 titude of men independent of each other, but to a 
 regular fociety under an appointed government. 
 It is " a body having many members, of which 
 CHRIST is the head." It is " a kingdom of which 
 CHRIST is the king." It is " a family," of which 
 CHRIST is the mafter. It is " a building fitly 
 framed together, built upon the foundation of the 
 Prophets and Apoflles, JESUS CHRIST himfelf being 
 the chief corner-ftone." It is the fold of flieep, of 
 which JESUS CHRIST is the fliepherd. All which 
 fever al defcriptions lead to the fame general idea of 
 affociation, order, and agreement, fubfifting among 
 the feveral members of the church, confidered as 
 parts of the fame body; in confequence of which, 
 they regularly difcharge their refpe&ive offices, con- 
 tinuing in conftant dependence upon the Head, from 
 whence their power of life and aftion is derived. 
 
DISCOURSE II. 39 
 
 Such then is the nature and conflitution of the 
 church, as it was originally eftablifhed by its Supreme 
 Head; from whom the Apoftles, and their fucceflbrs 
 the bifliops, have derived their commiffion; a branch 
 of that commuTion which JESUS CHRIST received 
 from his FATHER ; by virtue of which they chal- 
 lenge obedience from every member of the Chriftian 
 church, as to the flewards or chtef officers in that 
 fpiritual fociety, over which they are authorifed to 
 prefide. And fuch muft be the conclufion upon this 
 fubjeft, unlefs we fuppofe, either that the Apoftles 
 underftood not the nature of the commiflion with 
 which they were entrufted, or that for the fake of 
 aggrandizing their own chara&ers, they wilfully 
 mifreprefented it. 
 
DISCOURSE III. 
 Of the Sin of SCHISM, 
 
 circumftance of the church being a focldy of 
 CHRIST'S forming, for the regular adminiftration 
 of the affairs of his kingdom, " for the perfecting 
 of the Saints, for the work of the miniftry, for the 
 edifying of the body of CHRIST," Eph. iv. 1 2, points" 
 out the nature and quality of the fin of SCHISM. 
 
 The word . tranflated Schifm,* which in modern 
 language fcarce feems to have an appropriate idea 
 annexed to it, is in the original derived from a verb, 
 
 * The word Schifm (according to the learned HAMMOND) 
 comes from thepaflive verb, o-^fo/na*, which regularly fignifies being 
 cut, or divided j but yet the fiq of fchifm being an action upon him- 
 felf, not a paflion from any other, it was of the nature of thofe paffives 
 which note reciprocal action, or paflion; which ST. JUDE fully ex- 
 prefTes by atixoSicpi&vTss taurus, the title which he gives the grand 
 Gnoftick Schifmatics, that they cut off or divide themfelves from 
 the church. HAMMOND, therefore, underftands the paflive verb, in 
 this cafe, to be of the nature of the Hebrew Hithpael, which denotes 
 reciprocal action ; which he confiders to be very ufeful to fet down 
 the true notion of/^//w, as it differs from all other things thatbor-. 
 der on it, particularly from excommunication, which is the cutting 
 
 H 
 
42 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 i 
 
 which ilgnifies to cut, divide, or feparate; it muft, 
 therefore, relate to fome body capable of being di- 
 vided or feparated. Upon reference to the firft chap- 
 ter of ST. PAUL'S Epiftle to the Ephefians, we find 
 that the church is called the body, of which CHRIST 
 is the head. " The GOD of our LORD JESUS 
 CHRIST," faith the Apoflle, " hath put all things 
 under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all 
 things to the church, which is his body." 
 
 The church then, in the figurative language of 
 Scripture, is the body of CHRIST. Upon further 
 reference to the twelfth chapter of the firft Epiftle to 
 the Corinthians, we find the fame Apoftle arguing, 
 from the connexion which fubfifts between the mem- 
 bers of the natural body, to the neceflity of a fimilar 
 connection fubfifting between the members of the 
 Ipiritual body. That no fchifm, no divifion or fepa- 
 ration, fhould take place in one body more than in 
 the other. " For," faith the Apoftle,* " as the 
 natural body is one, and hath many members, and all 
 
 off otters from the church ; whereas ST. PAUL, fpeaking of the here- 
 tical Gnoftics, which were fchifmatics too, faith that they were 
 avroxaraxf/k, fuch as condemned and excommunicated themfelves ; 
 which is as perfect an evidence of the reciprocal aftion or pafF.on, as 
 could be. HAMMOND'S Works, vol. ii. Anfwer to Schifm dif- 
 armed ; p. 69, 70. 
 
 * i Cor. xii. 12, 13. 
 
DISCOURSE III. 43 
 
 the members of that one body, being many, are one 
 body; fo alfo is CHRIST, (or the church of CHRIST, 
 confidered as that body, of which individual Chriflians 
 are the members.) For by one fpirit are we all bap- 
 tized into one body." And the intention of our 
 being thus baptized into this one body, or church of 
 CHRIST, is, as the Apoftle* elfewhere informs us, 
 that we mould " all come in the unity of the faith, 
 and of the knowledge of the Son of GOD, unto a 
 perfect man; unto the meafure of the ftature of the 
 fulnefs of CHRIST: That we fliould not, like chil- 
 dren, be toffed to and fro, and carried about with 
 every wind of doctrine, by the Height of men, and 
 cunning craftinefs, whereby they lie in wait to de 
 ceive: but fpeaking the truth in love, might grow 
 up into him in all things, which is the Head, even 
 CHRIST ; from whom the whole body," of the church, 
 " fitly joined together, and compacted by that which 
 every joint fupplieth, according to the effectual 
 working in the meafure of every part, maketh increafe 
 of the body, unto the edifying of itfelf in love." 
 
 From whence it appears, that one great object in 
 the eftablifhment of the church upon earth was, that 
 
 * Ephef. iv. 13, 14, &c. 
 
44f DISCOURSE III. 
 
 it might become one great comprehenfive fociety 
 continually increaiing in numbers and in flrengthj a 
 firm, compact, indifToluble body, fo fitly joined toge- 
 ther, and conne&ed by the harmony of its component 
 parts, as thereby to be beft calculated to produce 
 glory to GOD, and love among men. 
 
 " The church (fays Bifhop GROVE, in his difcourfe 
 on Church Communion) is a body of men, feparated 
 from the reft of the world, or called out of the world, 
 (as the word e^.-aXc/i/, to call out, from whence Ec- 
 clefia is derived, fignifies) united to GOD and them- 
 felves by a divine covenant. The church is united 
 to GOD, for it is a religious fociety inftituted for the 
 worfhip of GOD; and they are united among them, 
 felves, and to each other, becaufe it is but one body, 
 which requires an union of all its parts. This union 
 with GOD, and to each other, which confbtutes a 
 church, is made by divine covenant. For the Chrift- 
 ian church is nothing elfe but fuch a fociety of men^ 
 as is in covenant with GOD through CHR i ST." Now 
 as no covenant can originally be made for GOD, but 
 by GOD hirnfelf; it hence follows, that GOD only can 
 make or conflitute a church. 
 
 From this defcription of the church, as the body 
 of CHRIST, the termfcbifm, in its application to it, 
 
DISCOURSE III* 45 
 
 denotes a divifion among the members of which that 
 body is compofed ; occaiioned by a want of obedience 
 to the government which CHRIST, by his Apoflles, 
 fettled in the church; and a confequent feparation 
 from its communion, in contradiction to the divine 
 plan of its eflablifhment; the defign of which was, 
 that all Chriflians fhould be joined together 1 in the 
 fame mind, and in the fame worfhip ; " continuing,'' 
 according to the primitive pattern, " in the Apoflles* 
 doctrine and fellowfhip, and in breaking of bread, 
 and in prayers." Acts ii. 42. 
 
 Such is the nature and quality of fchifm; which 
 fin confifls in its being a direct violation of the order 
 and government eflablifhed in the church, thereby 
 conflicting a fpecies of rebellion againfl its Divine 
 Founder. 
 
 Indeed as the word church, through the modem 
 confulion of language, is underflood to be applicable 
 to all focieties of profeffing Chriflians, by what au- 
 thority and under what teachers 'foever they may be 
 affembled, there can be no ftich fin as that of fchifm 
 in the world. For the fin of fchifm pre-fuppofes the 
 eflablifhment of a certain fociety by Divine authority, 
 with which all Chriflians are obliged to communicate. 
 Now if the church, inflead of being a fociety efla- 
 
46 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 bliftied under a particular government, for the purpofe 
 of Chriflians living in communion with it, is any thing, 
 and every thing that men pleafe to make it, a fepara- 
 tion from it becomes impracticable; becaufe a fociety 
 muft have acquired fome regular and collected form, 
 before a feparation from it can take place. But upon 
 the fuppofition that every fociety of profeiTmg Chrifl:- 
 ians is the church of CHRIST; the church, in that 
 cafe, confifls of as many feparate focieties under differ- 
 rent forms, as there are fanciful men to make them ; 
 and, confequently, is no longer in that collected flate, 
 in which it is poffible to live in communion with it. 
 For before the members of the church can live in 
 communion with each other, the church, as a fociety, 
 muft be at unity in itfelf. 
 
 Tp determine upon the legality or illegality of a 
 practice, from man's opinion concerning it, is to fet up 
 a ftandard of judgment which is perpetually varying, 
 and on that account ever liable to deceive. Chrifl- 
 ians, in religious matters at leafl, have a more fure 
 word than that of man to depend upon; if they are 
 Wife, therefore, they will not fuffer themfelves to be 
 governed by a lefler authority, when they have a 
 greater at hand always to direct them. Cuflom has, 
 indeed, fo far reconciled us to the divifions that have 
 
DISCOURSE III. 47 
 
 taken place among Chriftians, that they are no longer 
 feen in the light in which they were feen in the pri- 
 mitive days of the church; whilfl charity, forbidding 
 us to fpeak harfhly of the fpiritual condition of our 
 brethren, has in a manner tended to efface the fin of 
 fchifm from our minds. But though we prefume to 
 judge no man, leaving all judgment to that Being who 
 is alone qualified to make allowance for the ignorance, 
 invincible prejudice, imperfeft reafonings, and mif- 
 taken judgments of his frail creatures; yet mufl it not 
 from hence be concluded, that it is a matter of indif- 
 ference, whether Chriftians communicate with the 
 church or not; or that there is a doubt upon the 
 fubjeft of fchifm, whether it be a fin or not. 
 
 " There is one plain rule to direft all men in this 
 enquiry; that wherever there is a church eftablifhed 
 by public authority, if there be nothing finful in its 
 conftitution and worfhip, we are bound to communi- 
 cate with that church, and to rejeft the communion of 
 all other parties and fe&s of Chriftians. For the 
 advantage always lies on the fide of authority. No 
 publick eftablifhment can juftify finful communion; 
 but if there be nothing finful in the communion of the 
 national church, which is eftabliflied by publick au- 
 thority, to feparate from fuch a church, is both difo- 
 
48 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 bedience to the fupreme authority in the ftate, and 
 a fchlfm from the church." " Now (proceeds the 
 Bifhop, in another part of his difcourfe) if fchlfm be 
 an innocent thing, and the true Catholic fpirit, (as 
 from the prefent too prevailing pra&ice among 
 Chriftians we might be induced to think it was) I 
 have no more to fay, but that the whole Chriftian 
 church, ever fmce the ApofHes' times, has been in a 
 very great miflake. But if fchifm be a very great 
 fin, and that which will, according to the judgment 
 of the primitive church, damn us as foon as adultery 
 and murder, then it muft be a dangerous thing to 
 communicate with fchifmatics."* 
 
 Indeed, with refpeft to the reality and heinous 
 quality of this fin of fchifm, it fcarcely feems poffible 
 for Chriftians, who enter fufficiently deep into the- 
 fubjecl:, to entertain two opinions. 
 
 Looking into the writings of St. PAUL, I fee fchifm 
 fpoken of as a carnal fin; and that this fin confifls. 
 in a Reparation from the communion, and a fetting 
 up of teachers independent of the government, and 
 deftruftive of the unity of the Chriftian church. 
 A fin, which, befides its being the parent of confufion 
 
 * Difcourfe of Church Communion, by Bifhop GROVE. Sec 
 Condon Cafes, No. i. 
 
DISCOURSE III. 9 
 
 and diforder in the church, is moreover deftru&ive 
 of that charity or brotherly love, by which it was 
 defigned that Chriflians fliould be joined together. 
 
 In the epiflle of ST. JUDE mention is made of 
 thofe who " periflied in the gainfaying of Coxs," 
 even thofe who feparated themfelves, being fenfual, 
 having not the Spirit. From whence it is to be 
 concluded, that there is a fin in the Chriftian church, 
 anfwerlng to that of KORAH in the Jewifli; fomc 
 refemblance, confequently, there muft be between 
 the two churches, to juitify, in this cafe, the Apof- 
 tle's application : for if there were not, the method 
 adopted by the Apoftles and primitive writers, of 
 making the law minifter to the explanation of the 
 Gofpel, by conildering the former as the intended 
 type of the latter, (a complete fpecimen of which we 
 are prefented with in the Epiftle to the Hebrews) 
 would have been calculated, not fo much to inform 
 as to lead their difciples into error. 
 
 By referring to the fixteenth chapter of the Book 
 of Numbers, we find in what the fin of KORAH con- 
 fifted. KORAH conformed to the law, the do&rine, 
 and worlhip, which GOD had appointed; for we do 
 not read that there was any difpute upon either of 
 thefe points. But KORAH, being a pried of aa 
 
50 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 inferior order, wanted to encroach upon the authority 
 of AARON the high-prieft, and to continue no longer 
 under fubjection to him. The fin, therefore, of 
 KORAH confifled in his rebelling againft the order of 
 government eftablifhed in that church, of which he 
 was an inferior minifler. An order of government, 
 therefore, muft exift in the Chriflian church, againfl 
 which it is a fin to rebel; otherwife the fin of KORAH, 
 defcribed in the Old Teflament, and the gainfaying 
 of Core, mentioned by ST. JUDE,* cannot conflitute 
 parallel cafes. 
 
 That a particular order of government has been 
 eftablifhed in the Chriflian church, an unanfwerable 
 proof has been already brought from the writings 
 of ST. PAUL,! where he calls upon the members 
 of the church " to obey thofe that had the rule over 
 them, and to fubmit themfelves. " To give force, 
 therefore, to the Apoflle's injunction in this cafe, 
 fpiritual governors there mufl be in the church, to 
 whofe authority fubmiffion is required. In with- 
 drawing, therefore, that fubmiffion, in confequence 
 of certain felf-fufficient miniflers of an inferior order 
 fetting themfelves up as heads and leaders of feparate 
 congregations, independent of their refpe&ive bifhops, 
 
 * Epift. of JUDE, u. f Heb.xiii. 17. 
 
DISCOURSE III. 51 
 
 the fin of fchifm in the Chriftian church, correfpond- 
 ing with that of KORAH and his affociates, alluded 
 to by ST. JUDE, originally confifted. 
 
 The light in which this fin was feen in the primi- 
 tive days of the church, makes it a fubjeft of ferious 
 confideration. The Apoftles, and thofe who lived 
 with them, could not be miftaken upon this point. 
 Knowing what the conftitution of that church was, 
 over which they were commiffioned to prefide, they 
 muft know in what the fin of thofe perfons confided, 
 who fet themfelves up in oppofition to it. An ap- 
 peal, therefore, to their writings in this cafe mull 
 afford unanfwerable evidence to all who are open 
 to conviction. 
 
 What ST. PAUL and ST. JUDE have faid upon it 
 has been already remarked. To which the teftimony 
 of ST. JOHN may be added, where, in his third 
 epiftle, he fpeaks of one DIOTREPHES, who, in the 
 true fpirit of KORAH, " loving to have the pre- 
 eminence/'* created a divifion among the brethren, 
 by not fubmitting himfelf to ST. JOHN, who was his 
 fuperior in the church. And whatever different 
 interpretations, with the view of favouring different 
 opinions, have been put upon the Apoftolic writings, 
 evidence is to be produced from the primitive writers 
 * 3 JOHN 9. 
 
52 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 of the church fo decifive, as to take away all reafon- 
 able ground for difpute on this fubjeft. 
 
 It will be fufficient to produce one of thefe writers ; 
 becaufe, if his authority, dire& to this point, be not 
 fufficient to determine the opinion of every reafon- 
 able man, all further appeal becomes unneceiTary. 
 The writer here meant is ST. IGNATIUS, one of the 
 firft biihops and martyrs of the church, "who lived 
 with the Apoftles, and was a difciple of ST. JOHN; 
 a circumftance, which, it is prefumed, places his 
 teflimony in the moft unexceptionable point of view; 
 becaufe, what he has written muft, in fairnefs of 
 conftru&ion, be coniidered as expreiling the fenfe of 
 the Apoftles; his authority, confequently, becomes 
 equal to theirs upon this fubjeft. 
 
 Thus then, in one part of his writings, he admo- 
 nifties those whom he addrefTes, " to beware of the 
 poifon of feducers;" by whom were .meant the fchif- 
 matics, or thofe who feparated from the church in 
 thofe times; for, continues this holy man, " he is 
 without, who does any thing without the bilhop and 
 prefbytery and deacon, and fuch an one is defiled 
 in his confcience."* 
 
 * O Se E'ATC? w'v, aros Ef<v o ^u^is rtt EiriffX^'Tfti , y^ ruv 
 ^ ruv &iocx.ovuv rt trptxcrcr&v o rotaros fts/>KjrT< rr t 
 
 Epift. to the Trallians. 
 
DISCOURSE III, . 53 
 
 In another part of his writings, referring to the 
 obedience due from all orders in the church to the 
 bifhops, this holy man fpeaks thus: " Flee divifions, 
 as the beginning of evils; all of you follow your 
 bifhops, as JESUS CHRIST, the Father; and the 
 prefbyters, as the Apoflles; and reverence the dea- 
 cons as the inftitution of GOD. Let no man do any 
 thing of what appertains to the church without the 
 bifhop. Let that facrament be judged effeftual and 
 firm which is difpenfed by the bifhop, or him to 
 whom the bifhop has committed it. Wherever the 
 bifhop is, there let the people be. It is not lawful 
 without the bifhop either to baptife, or celebrate the 
 offices ; but whenfoever it may be approved of by 
 him, according to the good pleafure of GOD; that 
 every thing ye do may be firm and fafe."* 
 
 Again, fpeaking of thofe who aft without the 
 bifhop, he obferves, " As CHRIST did nothing with- 
 
 * Tx s^iy^,xTiX (fisvyilt us af%v KO.KUV. Uarris ru ETJV MOV 'a 
 l^tras TU I T<, c TU Tlsa'TrvTftM us T.IS 
 
 wo Toy ETr/yxoTrot u<rx, y u av avro^ sTrirg E\l/>7. 
 . Ova e^ov <rt ^upts T 
 
 AA\' OTOCV tK&VU OX* 
 
 , <va ota-^se-Xes y j CeCa/ov wav o act 
 JGNAT. Epift. to the Smyrnasans. 
 
$4 % DISCOURSE II. 
 
 out his Father, fo neither do ye, whether prefbyter, 
 deacon, or laick, any thing without the Bifhop."* 
 " Give heed to your Bifhop, that GOD may hearken 
 to you: my foul for theirs who fubjeft themfelves 
 under the obedience of their bifhop, prefbyters, and 
 deacons; and let me take my lot with them in the 
 LORD." 
 
 The foregoing paffages, to which others might be 
 added, from the writings of IGNATIUS, fpeak fo 
 plainly and decidedly in favour of the government 
 eftablifhed in the church, and fo directly in condem- 
 nation of all feparation from it, that a particular 
 comment upon them is unneceffary. They fpeak a 
 plain language, expreflive of the fentiments of the 
 holy men who lived in the Apoftolic age; and the 
 general conclufion from them is, that whoever was in 
 communion with the bifliop, the fupreme governor 
 of the church upon earth, was in communion with 
 CHRIST, the head of it; and whoever was not in 
 communion with the bifhop, was thereby cut off from 
 
 * " Clamp ^ o Kvpios avtv TV Tlotrpos a^sv voisij ro> ? v^tis acvsu 
 
 ICNAT. Epift. to the Magnes. 
 
 ** Too Emo-Koiru 9rpo<r^T, ivx o Qsof vfju*' xvrt-^v^oit tyu ruv 
 Vfroraacrofjifvcuv fyov EKtcrwrru, TIpc-uTEpiu f A/axovo/^' pil' otvtwy f*c/ r- 
 ptpos ytvotvo tyiv ystfot >*.*' Epift. to POLYCARP- 
 
DISCOURSE III. 55 
 
 communion with CHRIST; and that facraments not 
 adminiftered by the bifhop, or thofe commiflioned by 
 him, were not only ineiFe&ual to the parties, but 
 moreover, like the offerings of KORAH, provocations 
 againfl the LORD. 
 
 If, then, the conflitution of the Chriftian church 
 be the fame now that it was in the days of the 
 Apoftles, (and if it be not, the time when, and the 
 authority by which, an alteration was produced in it, 
 fliould be afcertained) the fin of fchifm, however we 
 may attempt to palliate it, is precifely the fame fin 
 it then was. And if the primitive writers of the 
 church fpoke fo decidedly upon this fubjer, with -a 
 view of guarding its members againfl fo heinous a 
 fin, where it refpefted chiefly the feparation of inferior 
 ministers from the jurifdiclion of their refpective bi- 
 ihops; what would they have faid upon it, had they 
 lived to mark the extent to which this fin is carried 
 in the days in which we live? If they conlidered 
 fchifm, as it was then pra&ifed, as the greatefl of all 
 crimes, becaufe it directly counteracted the Divine 
 plan in the eftablifhment of the church; what lan- 
 guage would they have found fufficiently ilrong to 
 exprefs their abhorrence of that Babel of confufion, 
 which now prevails in the Chriflian world? If the 
 
56 , DISCOURSE III, 
 
 prefervation of the government of the church con- 
 flituted an object of that importance in their eyes, as 
 to fubjecl: any the leaft oppofition to it to their fevered 
 cenfure; what mufl they have thought of that licen- 
 tious practice, which leads to its total diffolution? 
 when, in confequence of all ideas refpe&ing the 
 nature of the church having been in a great meafure 
 loft among us, men look not beyond themfelves for 
 that commiiTion, by "which they prefume to enter 
 upon the miniftry of holy things; drawing congre- 
 gations after them, and thereby dividing Chriflian 
 profeflbrs into as many feels and parties, as there are 
 felf-fufficient teachers to be found, who have an end 
 to anfwer, or a paiTion to gratify, upon the occafion. 
 
 The opinions of the prefent day, unhappily for us, 
 tend to countenance a general diffolution of eftabliuV 
 ments; as if men are different creatures now from 
 what they were in any former ftate of the world; and 
 grown too wife, in this age of reafon, as it is called, 
 to fubmit to any ordinances that have not received 
 the fan&ion of their own immediate appointment. 
 
 But if it be ,true, that CHRIST formed only one 
 church, there can be but one communion in it; and 
 if that church be a vifible fociety, diilinctly known 
 by its minifters and facraments, as it moft certainly 
 
PISCOURSE III. 57 
 
 is, a wilful reparation from it muft be rebellion againft 
 the Divine ordinance, whenever it takes place. For 
 ignorance with refpeft to the nature of the Chriftian 
 church, can make no alteration in the plan upon 
 which Divine Wifdom has formed it: confequently 
 fchifm, or a feparate communion from that church, 
 muft, whatever ideas of prejudice or error may prevail 
 on the fubjeft, be an heinous fin in the eyes of GOD. 
 To form a proper judgment upon this fubjeft, we 
 muft not be governed by the opinions and praftices 
 of the world upon it ; becaufe it ever has been the 
 misfortune of the world, to be more fond of its own 
 inventions than of GOD'S commands. And there 
 is this obvious reafon for it; what man invents has a 
 more ftrift correfpondence with the corrupt inclina- 
 tions of his depraved nature, than what GOD ordains: 
 and hence it is, that we are fo readily induced to 
 fubftitute human imaginations in the place of Divine 
 inftitutions. The one are creatures of our own, and 
 tend in a greater or lefs degree to the gratification of 
 our humours and paffions; the other, as controling 
 our inclinations, and abridging our liberty, are on 
 that account lefs welcome to the natural man. 
 
 To deal honeftly with .ourfelves, therefore, we 
 fliould place this fubjeft upon the ground on which 
 
55 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 it ought to ftand. By proceeding thus, we fliall find 
 that one great objeft in the eftablifliment of the 
 church, was to unite men by the bond of chanty in 
 conflant communion with GOD and each other; that 
 by entering upon a life of peace, of love, and fellow- 
 Ihip with the Holy Ghofl upon earth, the members 
 of it might be prepared for that more perfect (late 
 provided for them in a better world. 
 
 A church, the members of which were to be thus 
 joined together in Chriftian fellowfhip, prefented a 
 pifture of too heavenly a fociety for the grand enemy 
 of mankind to behold without envy; and which, if 
 fuffered to continue in a perfect flate, would mofl 
 certainly tend to render thofe beings happy, whom, 
 from the creation of the world, it has been the con- 
 ftant employment of this deftroyer, as he is empha- 
 tically called, to render miferable. From the moment, 
 therefore, that the church was founded upon earth, 
 the malice of this evil one has been directed againfl 
 it. And it not being in his power to deflroy the 
 church, (the Divine Founder of it having exprefsly 
 declared, that the gates of hell Ihall not finally prevail 
 again!! it) his next object has been . to render it as 
 ineffectual to the purpofe of its eftablilhment as pof* 
 
DISCOURSE III/' $9 
 
 fible; by (owing the feeds of divifion where only 
 thofe of love and harmony were defigned to grow. 
 
 Herein, then, confifts the nature of fchifm; and 
 fuch is the origin of it : it proceeds, for the moil part, 
 from that fpirit of pride and independence, which 
 caft the devil out of heaven ; and which, it is to be 
 feared, will difqualify many for admiffion into that 
 bleiTed place. And the heinoumefs of the fin confifts 
 in this, that it is not only a fyftem of oppofition to 
 the Divine will, but that, fo far as it prevails, it 
 countera&s the gracious purpofe which CHRIST had 
 in view in the eftablifhment of his church; by di- 
 viding and feparating thofe members, which it was 
 his defign to unite by an harmonious interchange of 
 fervice and fellowfhip. 
 
 Wherever, then, there is a wilful fepafaiton from 
 the communion of the church of CHRIST, there 5 
 according to the original idea upon this fubje&, a 
 divifion of CHRIST'S myftical body takes place; and 
 there this fin of fchifm is to be found. 
 
 Such, then, being the nature and confequences of 
 fchifm, we cannot be furprifed at finding the Apoftles 
 and primitive writers making ufe of fuch ftrong lan- 
 guage, whenever it became the fubjeft of confederation j 
 with the view of guarding their difciples againft what 
 
60 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 appeared to them, and what, it fliould be fuppofed, 
 muft appear to every one who duly confiders the 
 nature of CHRIST'S church, to be a fin of the moft 
 dangerous kind; becaufe, to omit leiTer confider- 
 ations, it is a fin, whereby a man cuts himfelf off 
 from the means of grace, and expofeth himfelf to the 
 danger of denying the faith. A learned divine* of 
 the laft century, who lived to fee the effefts of this 
 fin fully exemplified in the complete deftru&ion of 
 his own church and country, after having colle&ed 
 the numberlefs flriking pafTages from the writings of 
 the ancient fathers relative to this fubjeft, thus con- 
 cludes upon it: " It is but a fmall part (fays he) of 
 the character bf'fchifm, that it is contrary to faith, 
 contrary to charity, and to all the advantages which 
 belong to a member of the church the benefits of 
 prayer and facraments; that it is as bad as herefy, 
 and that there never was any herefy^ in the church 
 which was not founded in it; and that it is conflantly 
 forced, in its own defence, to conclude in fome he- 
 fefy or other: each of thefe particulars, and all of 
 them taken together, are but a fmall part of the 
 chara&er which the ancient fathers of the church 
 give us of the fin of fchifin." 
 
 * HAMMOND, 
 
DISCOURSE III. 61 
 
 V 
 
 It would draw out this difcourfe into an incon- 
 venient length, were I to bring forward one-tenth 
 part of what has been written upon this fubjeft, by 
 thofe who faw it in the fame light in which it wa$ 
 feen by the learned divine juft mentioned. One ad- 
 ditional quotation from Archbifliop SHARP fliall, 
 therefore, fuffice for our prefent purpofe. 
 
 " If human conjectures (fays the Archbifliop) 
 about the reafons and caufes of Divine judgments 
 may be allowed, it will appear from hiftory and 
 experience, that there has been as much war and 
 blood-flied caufed in the world, as many nations de* 
 folated, as many churches ruined, by the malignity 
 and evil influence of this fin of fchifm, as any other. 
 And if ever GOD in judgment fliall think fit to give 
 over this flourifliing church of ours as a prey to its 
 enemies, we fliall have good reafon to believe, that 
 the unneceflary diviflons and quarrels among our- 
 felves had a great hand in bringing on the judgment." 
 
 It mufl feem ftrange to a modern Chriftian, that 
 a fin, of which the world now appears to know no- 
 thing, fliould be thus defcribed. He will be apt to 
 conclude, either that the church of the prefent day 
 muft be a very different fociety from .what it once 
 \vasj <?r that the old writers upon this fubjeft were 
 
OS DISCOURSE III. 
 
 wonderfully miflaken in their opinion. But if he be 
 a wife man, he will confider, that mould what has 
 been faid upon this fubjeft be true, his pad ignorance 
 upon it cannot poffibly make it otherwife. He will 
 confequently think it to be his duty to bring the 
 matter to a fair examination, and fufFer his judg- 
 ment to be determined by the evidence* 
 
 " The fum of all (to make ufe of the words of 
 Biihop GROVE) is in fliort this. Befides thefe men 
 who juilify their feparation from the Church of Eng- 
 land by charging her with requiring fmful terms of 
 communion, (which is the only thing that can juftify 
 their feparation, if it could be proved;) there are others 
 who feparate lightly and wantonly, for want of a due 
 fenfe of the nature of church communion, and our 
 obligations to preferve the unity of the Spirit in the 
 bond of peace. They have no notion at all of a 
 church, or no notion of one church, or know not 
 wherein the unity and communion of this church 
 confifts: and thefe men think it is indifferent, whe- 
 ther they communicate with any church at all; or 
 that they fecure themfelv.es from fchifm, by commu, 
 nicating fometimes with one church, and fometimes 
 with another; that they may choofe their church 
 according to their own fancies, and change them 
 
DISCOURSE III. 63 
 
 again whenever their humour alters. But I hope, 
 whoever confiders carefully what I have now writ 
 and attends to thofe paffionate exhortations of the 
 Gofpel to peace, and unity, and brotherly love, which 
 cannot be preferved but in one communion, which is 
 the unity of the body of CHRIST, and the peace and 
 love of fellow-members; will not only heartily pray 
 to the GOD of Peace, to reftore peace and unity to 
 his church, but be careful how he divides the church 
 himfelf; and will ufe his utmoft endeavours to heal 
 the prefent fchifms and divifions of the church of 
 CHRIST."* 
 
 * Should my reader wifh to fee the fubjecT: of Church Com*, 
 munion more fully handled, he will not fail to meet with com- 
 plete fatisfaftion, by reference to a difcourfe, entitled " A Per- 
 luasive to Communion with the Church of England," by Dr. 
 GROVE, bifhop of Chichefter, to be met with among the " London 
 Cases." And mould he be desirous of having the ground on 
 which die two preceding chapters Hand, more firmly eftablifhed, 
 (mould fuch additional eftablimment be judged necefTary) I can 
 refer him to no publication, in which he will find more inform- 
 ation on church matters brought into a fmaller compafs, than 
 in" LESLEY'S Difcourfe concerning the Qualifications requisite tQ 
 adminifter the Sacraments:" the iupplement to which prefents 
 him with a fummary detail of authorities for Epifcopacy, taken 
 out of the Fathers and Councils in the firft four hundred and 
 fifty years after CHRIST : a detail, which appears to leave no^ 
 thing undone, that human evidence is capable of doing, for tho. 
 &tlsfa#ioa of every intelligent reader on tliw fubjeft. 
 
DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 On the Reasons generally advanced to justify a 
 
 Separation from the Church; and first, on 
 
 the supposed Spiritual Qualification of the 
 
 Party undertaking the Office of the Ministry. 
 
 T TAVING difpatched the two leading parts of 
 our fubjeft, which refpeft the conftitution of 
 the church, confidered as the body of CHRIST, 
 and the nature of fchifm or wilful feparation from 
 it; we proceed to confider the reafons generally ad- 
 vanced to juftify that feparation. For at the fame 
 time that men fcruple not to commit the fin, they 
 feel unwilling to acknowledge themfelves finners ; 
 and are therefore induftrious in finding out pleas, of 
 one kind or another, which may tend, if not to do 
 away, at lead to make the fin fit eafy upon their 
 minds. Hence it is, that, in the prefent day, we 
 have fo many definitions of fchifm, differing more 
 or lefs from the fenfe originally and properly annexed 
 
66 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 to that word, through which the definers for the 
 moft part impofe on themfelves and others; excluding 
 themfelves by the fallacy of words, from the apparent 
 commiffion of that fin, which at the fame time a&ually 
 attaches to their cafe. 
 
 The firft and moil general plea advanced upon this 
 occafion refpe&s the holinefs, or fpiritual qualification, 
 of the party who undertakes the office of the miniftry. 
 This is neither more nor lefs than the plea of Ko RAH 
 revived. The popular argument in the mouth of 
 KORAH was, that " AARON took too much upon 
 himfelf; feeing that all the congregation was holy;'* 
 the inference from which feems to be, that the people 
 had no need of the miniilration of AARON, but 
 could miniiler unto themfelves. Upon this plea, the 
 offspring of fpiritual pride, KORAH and his company 
 gathered themfelves together againfl; MOSES, and 
 A A RON j and the fixteenth chapter' of the book of 
 Numbers has recorded the fatal event that termi- 
 nated the conteil. 
 
 But had we no leiTon of experience upon this head 
 to draw from the Jewifli hiilory, that of our own 
 has taught us to view this plea with a very fufpicious 
 eye; becaufe it has been "minifterial to the great eft 
 Calamities... We remember, that it was ia the rei&t* 
 
DISCOURSE IV. 67 
 
 of the Saints, as they were then called, the invaders 
 of the priefthood in thofe days of confufioii, that the 
 Conftitution of this country was completely overturned 
 in the laft century ; when preaching, and rafting, and 
 praying, were made ufe of as convenient cloaks for 
 rebellion, facrilege, and murder. We are therefore 
 afraid, when we hear talk of gifted men, left an in- 
 creafe of their number fliould lead to a repetition 
 of the fame difmal fcenes. , 
 
 But granting that the bolinefs of the party, on 
 \vhofe account many feel themfelves juftificd in fepa- 
 rating from the church, was really fuch as they think 
 it to be; it does not authorife the poffcfTor of it to 
 take upon himfelf an office to which he has not been 
 regularly appointed. 
 
 Our SAVIOUR, it will be allowed, poffefled holi- 
 nefs in a fuperlative degree; for <c to him," we read, 
 " the Spirit was not given by meafure." JOHN ili. 
 34. But our SAVIOUR " glorified not himfelf to be 
 made an high-prieft;" but He that faid unto him 
 <c Thou art my fon.' ? Heb. v. " This honour (fays 
 the Apoftle) no man taketh unto himfelf ^ but he that 
 is called of Goo, as was AARON." Now AARON 
 was called by an outward call from GOD, communi- 
 ate4 to him through the medium of MOSES; from 
 
68 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 "whom, as GOD'S prime minifler, he received a formal 
 appointment to his high office before all the people. 
 EXOD. xxviii. And from the circumilance of our 
 bleffed SAVIOUR delivering the commiilion for col- 
 letting and governing his church, not to his difciples 
 at large, but to his eleven Apoftles, purpofely con- 
 vened by him on the occafion, (as we read, MATT. 
 xxviii. 165) the conclufion may be drawn, that it was 
 the defign of the Divine Founder of the church, that 
 the facred office of miniilering in it ihould be fub- 
 je& to that control and dire&ion, which was beft 
 calculated to give effect to his Divine inflitution. 
 Upon this idea have the governors of the church 
 uniformly proceeded, in the difcharge of that com* 
 million, from the days of the Apoflles down to the 
 prefent time. 
 
 Thus ftands the facl; a fadl: not to be contro- 
 verted; and reafon teaches us, that the wifdom of 
 Gop has been manifefted upon this occafion. 
 
 The church, as it has already been obferved, is 
 a fociety; and every fociety is diftinguifhed from the 
 general mafs of the community by its order and 
 government. To the eftablilhment of order and 
 government, a regular appointment of chofen men 
 to the adminiflration of particular offices is eiTentiaU 
 
DISCOURSE IV. 69 
 
 But if any man, independent of all regular appoint- 
 ment, is to take upon himfelf the difcharge of an 
 office, for which he may feel himfelf difpofed, or 
 think himfelf qualified; the fociety having no longer 
 any fecurity for the proper management of its con- 
 cerns, the end for which it has been colle&ed 
 being thereby fruflrated, its confequent difTolution 
 muft enfue. 
 
 This mode of reafoning, fo far as temporal affairs 
 are concerned, we readily admit. Let it be applied, 
 as it ought to be, to the cafe of the church, confi- 
 dered as a fociety, formed by GOD under a particular 
 government calculated to promote the end of its 
 inftitution; and we fliall conclude in one cafe, as ip 
 the other, that perfonal qualifications furnifh no 
 difpenfation for an outward appointment to an office 
 of truft; becaufe this is the only fecurity which the 
 members of the church can have againft impofturej 
 it being the only criterion by which they can judge, 
 who are the minifters of the church, and who are not. 
 
 We do not fay that the perfonal qualification of 
 the minifler in fpiritual matters, is not requifite to 
 the proper difcharge of his facred office ; becaufe 
 it confefledly is foto a certain degree, and on that 
 account truly defirable: but what we would be un- 
 
70 DISCOURSE IV 
 
 derftood to fay is, that in the adminiftration of aa 
 outward facrament, which is to be confidered as the 
 appointed means of fpiritual comnlunicatlon from 
 GOD to man; nothing is to be regarded as abfolutely 
 neceffary, but the lawfalnefs of the commiffion by 
 which it is adminiftered. For it is the commiffion 
 which fecures to us the Divine confirmation of the 
 minifterial aft, and not the perfonal qualification of 
 the minifter* that the eye of the faithful may be 
 direfted to the proper objeft, and GOD, not man? 
 receive the glory. 
 
 JUDAS received a commifGon from our SAVIOUR 
 to baptize, no lefs than the other Apoftles. And 
 there can be no doubt, but that the baptifm adminif- 
 tered by him was equally effectual with that admi- 
 niftered by any other Apoitle. Yet we read that 
 this JUDAS was a devil. JOHN vi. From whence 
 it is to be obferved, that the power of Divirie grace^ 
 happily for mankind, is not limited by the poornefs 
 of the inilrument appointed to convey it; and that a 
 minifterial aft performed by proper authority, may 
 be valid to the parties to whom it is applied, be the 
 performer of it ever fo unworthy.* 
 
 * " Sacrament urn non ex ejus manu eftimandurrt efTe a quo ad- 
 mimftratur, fed velut ex ipfa DEI manu, a quo fraud dubie profeftv.ru 
 
DISCOURSE IV, 71 
 
 " For this caufe," fays ST. BARNABAS, in his 
 Catholic epiftle, c. 5, " did CHRIST choofe men 
 who were exceeding finners, to be his apoftles; to 
 fliew the greatnefs of his power and grace; and put 
 the ineftimable treafure of his Gofpel into earthen 
 vdTels, that the praife might be to GOD, and not to 
 
 The idea of the perfonal fanftity of the minifler 
 being neceiTary to the effectual adminiftration of his 
 office, conflituted one of the earliefl errors in the 
 Chriitian church; and has accompanied it through 
 every ftage of its progrefs. The effect of it, where- 
 ever it has prevailed, has been uniformly deftruftive 
 of peace and unity; by fixing the eye of the Chrift- 
 ian worfhipper upon the man, rather than upon the 
 office; by which means the perfons of miniflers being 
 held in admiration, the commiilion by which they 
 have been authorifed to aft in the minifhy has be- 
 come an object of inferior confederation. 
 
 But it fhould be remembered, that there is an 
 holinefs of office, independent of the holinefs of the 
 
 eft : inde colligere licet nihil illi afferri vel auferri ejus dignitatfl 
 per cujus manum traditur." CALv.Inftit. lib. iv. c. 15. 
 
 t Such, we fhould remind the reader, is the principle laid dow* 
 by our Church in her 2 6th Article. 
 
72 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 minifter; the former, being effential to the validity 
 of the minifterial aft, is on that account not to be 
 difpenfed with, whilft the latter only recommends 
 and adorns it. 
 
 That thefe two qualifications ihould always meet 
 together, is doubtlefs a circumftance moil devoutly 
 to be wifhed; but as, through the infirmity of hu- 
 man nature, this will not always be the cafe, it ought 
 to become an objeft of primary concern with us in 
 our judgment upon this point, that the greater con- 
 iideration be at no time facrificed to the leffer one. 
 
 Where the inward call of the Spirit is therefore 
 pleaded as a warrant for undertaking the facred 
 office, we have a right to expeft that it fhould be 
 accompanied with the outward call, or a regular ap- 
 pointment to that office; becaufe rea/on tells us, that 
 the end for which the church, as a fociety, was in- 
 flituted, requires that thus it fhould be; becaufe, 
 moreover, where there could be no poffibility of 
 deception in the party, as in the cafe of our blefTed 
 SAVIOUR, (a circumftance which challenges par- 
 ticular confideration) this conformity to order was 
 judged necefTary to be obferved. And if our bleffed 
 SAVIOUR condefcended to regulate his public exer- 
 cife of a facred office by this rule of order, with the 
 
DISCOURSE IV. 73 
 
 view, doubtlefs, that it fhould become obligatory 
 upon every fucceeding minifter in his church ; we 
 need not hefitate to call it fomething worfe than 
 prefumption in man, upon the ground of any quali- 
 fication whatever, to plead an exemption from it. 
 
 What zeal foever, therefore, a man may feel, and 
 what qualification foever he may pofTefs for the fer- 
 vice of GOD; flill GOD, to be ferved acceptably, 
 mufl be ferved in his own way. Well-meaning 
 people (and I wifh to fpeak of them with refpeft, for 
 we may honour their principle at the fame time that 
 we condemn their pra&ice) fhould confider, that good 
 intention and regular practice are two very different 
 things; and that the former can never make amends 
 for the diforder occafioned by the defeft of the latter. 
 On this account it is, that the intention of the agent 
 is never admitted as a fanftion for the irregularity of 
 his aft. UZZAH, it is probable, meant well, when " he 
 put forth his hand to hold the ark." But UZZAH 
 was flruck dead on the fpot, for invading the office of 
 the priefthood. i Chron. xiii. 9. SAUL, it is pre- 
 fumed, meant well, when, in the abfence of SAMUEL, 
 he offered the burnt- offering. But the fentence 
 pronounced againfl him was, that in fo doing " he 
 ** had done foolifhly; that he had not kept 
 
74 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 mandments of the LORD his GOD, and that there- 
 fore his kingdom fhould not continue. 5 * i Sam. 
 xiii* 8. There is not a more common deception than 
 that which arifes from the perfuafion that the act is 
 juftified by the fincerity of the agent. Sincerity -, it 
 is to be obferved, generally fpeaking, fignifies nothing- 
 more than that a perfon is earnefl in the purfuit of 
 his object; that he really believes as he profeiTes, 
 and acts as his bed judgment directs. But this fin- 
 cerity may confiil with the moil irregular practice, 
 and the mofbunchriflian difpofition. A man, for in- 
 (lance, may believe his own lie ; and act upon it with 
 the fame confidence that another acts upon the truth: 
 he may have a zeal for GOD'S fervice, but not ac- 
 cording to knowledge ; he may earneflly purfue a 
 wrong object, or a right one, by irregular means. 
 "In all fuch cafes the fcripture has furniilied us with a 
 general rule of judgment, where it tells us, that " a 
 man is not crowned, except he flrive lawfully" And^ 
 " that there is a way which feemetb right unto 
 a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." 
 " There are excellent works," fays Bifliop REY- 
 NOLDS, " which being done without the call of 
 GOD, do not edify but difturb the body. The 
 for the church to profper and flourifli is, for 
 
iv, 75 
 
 every member to keep in his own rank and order ; 
 to remember his own meafure\ to a& in his own 
 fphere, to manage his particular condition and re- 
 lations with fpiritual v;ifdom and humility \ the eye 
 to do the work of an eye^ the hand of an hand." 
 
 In fhort, whatever ideas of ferving GOD we may 
 form to ourfelves, GOD is not to be .ferved by a 
 breach of his commands. And this we may depend 
 upon, that GOD will be beft ferved, when the at- 
 tention of every perfon in his own order, {hall be 
 confined to the difcharge of the duties appropriate 
 to his particular ftation. 
 
 
C 77 ] 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 On the Plea advanced by SEPARATISTS from, 
 the CHURCH, that the GOSPEL is not preached 
 in it. 
 
 A FURTHER plea commonly advanced by Sc- 
 paratifls is, that the Gofpel is not preached in 
 our Church. Had it been faid, that the Gofpel of 
 J. CALVIN was not preached there, we ihould rea- 
 dily have pleaded guilty to the charge; but that 
 the Gofpel of JESUS CHRIST is preached there, we 
 certainly maintain, upon the authority of thofe Scrip? 
 tures from which it has been received. 
 . The leading do&rine of CHRIST'S Gofpel, in the 
 judgment of fome Chriflians, is, that it holds out 
 falvation to certain chofen individuals, exclufive of 
 the general bulk of mankind. The do&rine of out 
 church upon the fubjeft is, that CHRIST died to pur- 
 chafe ' falvfttion for all men ; all men, confequently, 
 are interefled in that great event, though all men 
 will not be in a condition to be benefited by it. The 
 notion of partial falvation is founded upon certam 
 
78 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 fuppofed abfolute decrees; of which fome preachers 
 talk much, but confeffedly know nothing. The 
 doctrine of general falvation, by which we mean fal* 
 vation attainable by all men upon certain conditions, is 
 founded upon the general fcope and tenour of the 
 holy writings, fupported by particular paffages dire& 
 tp this purpofe. 
 
 ST. JOHN, fpeaking of JESUS CHRIST the right- 
 eous, {tiles him " the propitiation for our fins ; and 
 not for ours only, but alfo for the fins of the whole 
 'world, i John ii. 2. It was the obfervation of ST. 
 PETER, upon his eyes being opened to the general 
 defignof the Gofpel difpenfaticn, & That GOB is no 
 refpefter ofperfonsi but in every nation, he that fear* 
 eth Him, and worketh righteoufnefs, is accepted with 
 Him." A&s x. 34. But the doftrine of J. CALVIN 
 makes GOD the greateft refpe&er of perfons; and 
 that in a matter of the moft eiTential importance. 
 
 In another part of the facred writings, we are toI4 
 by GOD himfelf, that w He has no pleafure in the 
 death of him that dieth, but that he fhould return 
 from his evil way, and live." Ezek. xviii. 32. 
 
 But according to J. CALVIN, GOD has deter- 
 mined, by an abfolute decree^ an event, which at the 
 fame time, in conformity wjth the foregoing dqclara,* 
 
DISCOURSE \\ ? 
 
 tkm, He does not wifh fliould take place. The ab- 
 furdity of fuch a fuppofition, which, makes the GOD 
 of truth contradict himfelf, need not be pointed out. 
 
 Once again; our SAVIOUR, to the queflion put 
 to him, " LORD, are there few that be faved?" re- 
 turned the following anfwer: " Strive to enter in at 
 the flrait gate: for many will feek to enter in, and 
 fliall not be able."* On this head common fenfe 
 teaches us to reafon thus. Upon the fuppofition 
 that there was an arbitrary decree of GOD, afcer tain- 
 ing the number, and determining individually the 
 perfons, who {hall be (lived; this direction of our 
 SAVIOUR was both vain and ufelefs; becaufe no 
 driving of man could, in this cafe, produce any alter- 
 ation in his condition. To direct a man to ftrive, 
 when, in confequence of his fate being determined by 
 an over-rjuling power, ftriving could anfwer no pur- 
 pofe, would be fomething like locking a man up in 
 prifon, and calling upon him to come forth, while 
 you kept the key of the prifon-door in your pocket. 
 
 But if we read the whole of our SAVIOUR'S an- 
 fwer on this occafion, we fliall be convinced that the 
 inability of the parties to enter in at the flrait gate, 
 
 * Luke xiii. 34, 
 
60 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 did not arife from any decree of GOD againft them, 
 but from defeft in themfelves. They had refufed to 
 enter in till the gate was (hut; or fought to enter in, 
 without having gained the vi&ory over their fpirjtual 
 enemies.* No grace of GOD was wanting in this 
 cafe, but holinefs in man. The parties excluded 
 might have entered in, had they been qualified for 
 admiflion; but they were, as we read v. 27, " work- 
 ers of iniquity.' 3 
 
 To enter at large into the confutation of a do&rine 
 which carries its own condemnation upon the face of 
 it, would be a wafte of time. Upon this idea we 
 decline a particular confideration of thofe texts, which 
 have been at different times fo grofsly mifapplied 
 to this fubjecb; choofmg rather to build what may 
 be faid upon it, on the general defign of the Gofpel 
 revelatioil ; from the confideration, that where that is 
 
 * The original word here made ufe of by the Evangelifr, mews 
 that it requires great conftancy, diligence, and courage; a fharp 
 conflict with the world, the flefh, and the devil, to fucceed in en- 
 tering through die ftrait gate into life eternal. The word fignifies 
 toftriveto agony, with the utmoft refolution, and with every faculty 
 of body and mind. From whence we conclude, that fomething is 
 left for man to do in this cafe. The gate of eternal life is opened 
 to him by CHRIST, but the Chriftian muft fo ftrive as to become 
 qualified for admiflion into it$ otherwife, though he fhould " feek to 
 enter, he (hall not be able." 
 
DISCOURSE V. SI 
 
 once underftood, the meaning of particular paflages in 
 it will be lefs liable to doubtful interpretation. And 
 though this method does not give an anfwer to every 
 cavil and objection, which enthuliafm and error have 
 brought forward; yet it furnifhes the conliderate 
 Chriftian with that ftandard of judgment, by which 
 every do&rine belonging to the religious fyltem may 
 be fo meafured, as to enable him to build his conclu- 
 fion upon it on the moft rational foundation. 
 
 The grace of GOD to man in the Gofpel revelation, 
 teaches him to " deny ungodlinefs a-nd wordly lulls, 
 and to live foberly, righteouily, and godly in this pre- 
 fent world." Whatever man, therefore, has received 
 the Gofpel in the truth and fpirit of it, mull manifeft 
 its effects in his life and converfation; from whence the 
 following axiom is deducible, that no found member 
 of the church can be a bad member of fociety. A 
 doftrine, then, which tends to weaken the obligation 
 to repentance and newnefs of life; which fupports 
 the finner with a falfe hope, or lulls him into a fatal 
 fecurity; which proves deftru&ive of one great end 
 of CHRIST'S death unto fin, namely, the reformation 
 of the finner; thereby counteracting one great obj eft 
 of the Gofpel revelation ; cannot be a doclrine that 
 cometh from GOD. 
 
82 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 That the doftrine of ahfolute decrees produces this 
 effet is certain, from the conciuilon too generally 
 drawn from it; the profeflbrs of it for the mod part 
 depending for falvation through CHRIST upon the 
 flrength of a pofitive and irrevocable decree in their 
 favour, antecedent to their birth, and not dependent 
 on their actions; the too general confequence of which 
 has been, that inftead of adorning the doftrine of 
 GOD their Saviour in all things, which Chriftians are 
 called upon to do, many have been led to difgrace it 
 
 The remark of ERASMUS, the ftrenuous and unan- 
 fwerable oppofer of this doctrine, was this: " Of old 
 (faid he) the Gofpelmade men better; but the new- 
 pretended gofpel made them much worfe." And in 
 another epiille upon the fame fubjeft he wrote Ml 
 more ftrongly. " This new gofpel (fays he) founded, 
 upon the do&rine of abfolule decrees , .has produced a 
 new generation of obftinate, impudent, hypocritical 
 people, who are re vilers, liars, deceivers; and who do 
 not agree among themfelves, and-are very imeafy to 
 others; who are feditious, furious, given to cavilling; 
 and with whom I am fo much difTatisfied, that if I 
 knew any town where none of them were, I would 
 go thither, and choofe to live in it," 
 
DISCOURSE V. 83 
 
 Tliis decifive judgment of ERASMUS upon the 
 effects produced by the doctrine here alluded to, 
 brings to my mind the anfwer made by an eminent 
 preacher of it to fome brethren who were enquiring 
 into the fuccefs of his miniflry. " I have made 
 (replied he) many profelytes, and have a very full 
 congregation; but (continued the preacher) all the 
 effeft I have found is, that I have preached a con* 
 gregation of Chriflians into a congregation of devils." 
 
 I would not be underflood as adopting all the 
 harfli expreffions that have been at different times 
 made ufe of upon this fubjeft; becaufe, at any rate, 
 the application of them does not belong to the well- 
 meaning among thefe miilaken people; but my object 
 is to point out the general ill effect of the doctrine 
 itfelf. And fo long as it tends to cherifh an idea, 
 {hat falvation through CHRIST is a thing indepen- 
 dent of the perfonal condition of the party; the fore- 
 going language made ufe of by ERASMUS, and the 
 preacher, is not, fo far as thofe perfons are concerned, 
 jn whofe mind fuch an idea prevails, too flrong for it. 
 So long as it fhall be maintained to be found doctrine, 
 that the true faints of GOD, as they are called, may 
 commit horrible and crying fins, die without repen- 
 tance, and yet be fure of falvation j we minifters are 
 
84< DISCOURSE V. 
 
 called upon by our office to fay, that fuch a do&rine 
 is not of GOD; becaufe it teareth up the very foun- 
 dation of religion, induceth all manner of profanenefs 
 in the world, and is exprefsly contrary to the whole 
 current of fcripture. 
 
 One of the old independents of the lafl century 
 faid exprefsly, " Let any true faint of GOD be taken 
 away in the very aft of any known fin, before if is 
 poffible for him to repent, I make no doubt or fcruple 
 of it, but he fhall as furely be faved, as if he had lived 
 to have repented of it;" and he inftances in DAVID, 
 in cafe he had been taken < away, before he had 
 repented of his adultery and murder. That fame 
 modern teachers of this doctrine are not behind hand 
 -with the old independent juft mentioned, there is but 
 too much reafon to fear. 
 
 The remark made, therefore, upon this fubjeft by 
 an eminent bifliop* of our church, is not fo ftriftly 
 confined to the wild fchifmatics of former days, as, 
 for the credit of the prefent age, we could wifli it was. 
 " The fanatical fefts (faid he) that fprang up in abun- 
 .dance, amid the confufions of the laft century, had fo 
 corrupted the word of GOD by their impure glofles on 
 
 *BifhopH.URD. Sermons at Lincoln VInn. 
 
PISCOURSE V. 85 
 
 the Gofpel do&rine of grace, that the age became 
 immoral on principle, ^and under the name of ' faints 9 
 engendered a hateful brood of profligate Antinomians, 
 i. e. a fort of Chriftians, if they may be fo called, 
 who turned the grace of GOD into licentioufnefs ^ 
 and to magnify his goodnefs, very confcientioufly 
 tranfgrefTed his laws. In a word, they taught tha? 
 the ele& were above ordinances, and might be faved 
 without, nay in defiance of, the moral law/' 
 
 Upon examining this doftrine clofely, the defor- 
 mity of which is fo ftriking, that it is . a matter of 
 aftonifliment how it has ever gained credit in the 
 world, we fhall find it to be lefs built upon the word 
 of fcripture, than upon the vain conceit of man; 
 which renders him a mere paiTive being in the wor.k 
 of falvation, and means of grace in a great meafurc 
 ufelefs inftitutions. 
 
 The firft imagination that poffeffes the mind of an 
 ignorant man upon the fubjeft of the Divine decrees 
 is, that in every thing relating to his falvation GOD 
 muft work in him both to will and to do, and there- 
 fore he muft wait GOD'S time. This idea, though 
 true in its proper fenfe, is carried by him to that 
 extreme, that if he be called upon to attend his 
 church, and put himfelf under the word; he will tell 
 
86 . DISCOURSE V* 
 
 you, that means of grace can be of no life to hm! 5 
 till GOD fhail be pleafed to open his heart. Should 
 he be reminded, that the Gofpel condition upon 
 which he mufl expeft to receive is, that he fhould 
 alk; and that having the ufe of his legs, he is as 
 able to walk to church as to any other place: his 
 anfwer is, that he does not feel the will to. do it; 
 and that GOD will make " his people willing in the 
 day of his power." Pf. ex. 3. In this confidence 
 he lives an heatheniih life, without GOD in the 
 world, waiting for that compulfive aft of Divine 
 power, by which he is to be brought into a flate of 
 falvation. 
 
 Feeling at fome future period of his life, perhaps, 
 fame more than common hnpreflion made upon him 
 by religious fubjefts, a fecond imagination takes pof- 
 feffion of his mind. Confidering this impreflion as 
 the immediate operation of that Divine power, which 
 he has been waiting to experience, he now perfuades 
 liimfelf that he is in the number of GOD'S eleft people, 
 and that confequently his falvation is fecure. Upon 
 his being reminded, that he that " thinketh he 
 ftandeth, mufl take heed left he fall," his anfwer is, 
 he cannot fall; for GOD will keep his elect from 
 falling; He who has begun the work in them, will 
 
DISCOURSE V, 87 
 
 complete it; fo that the man who is once in a ftate 
 of falvation, mufl be always in it. When the cafe 
 of DAVID, the man of GOD'S own heart, is ftated to 
 him; or the text quoted, where that chofen veilel 
 ST. PAUL expreffes an apprehenfion, left " after all 
 his pleaching to others, he himfelf ihould be a caft- 
 away," he has a reply fuited to the occafion; that 
 upon the fuppofition that the eleft may commit 
 grievous fins, his comfort is, that their falvation can- 
 not be endangered, becaufe no aft of man can render 
 void the Divine purpofe in his -favour. 
 
 Thus then, under the impreffion of the firft of 
 thefe imaginations, the man neglefts the ufe of the 
 means of grace, upon the idea that his heart has not 
 been opened by GOD to receive benefit from them; 
 and becaufe he has no power of himfelf to help himfelf, 
 he cannot be perfuaded to make ufe of that power 
 which GOD has given him. Under the impreffion 
 of the fecond, the means of grace are oft times con- 
 fidered by him to be of no confequence, from the 
 conviction that his falvation is effectually fecured. 
 
 I do nof fay that this doftrine is carried to the 
 fame extent by every profefTor of it. GOD forbid it 
 ihould. For there are degrees of folly, as there are 
 degrees of wifdom; and no extraordinary cafe can 
 
88 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 conftitute a proper ftandard for general application. 
 But there is one inftance to be produced, which au- 
 thorifes my placing it in the light in which it is here 
 placed, with the view of guarding my reader againft it. 
 One of my parifhioners, who took his divinity, as 
 many others perhaps may do, from fome old puritan- 
 cal writers of the la-ft century, rather than from the 
 Bible, maintained, I am forry to think, the above doc- 
 trine in its fullefl extent. He has been heard to fay, 
 that fliould he kill a man to-day, he fliould certainly 
 go to heaven to-morrow. His falvation, therefore, 
 being, according to his own notion, perfeHv fecured, 
 religious ordinances, as means of grace, to him were 
 ufelefs. He afted, therefore, but in confidence with 
 his do&rine, when, inflead of frequenting a place of 
 public worfhip on Sundays, he wa>: generally occu- 
 pied in attending his farm. But on this head we 
 fliall only fay with SOUTH, that " what is nonfenfc 
 upon a principle of reafon, will never be fenfe upon 
 a principle of religion." 
 
 An additional anecdote, which furniflies a mofl 
 ftriking proof of the ill eifeft of this dangerous doc- 
 trine in another way, fliall be mentioned; becaufe it 
 has fallen within my own knowledge. 
 
DISCOURSE V. 89 
 
 Upon colle&ing through my parifh, fome time 
 fmce, for the relief of the emigrant French priefts, 
 I found an almoft general difmclination among the 
 diflenters from the church to contribute. At length 
 one, more open than the reft, furnifhed the following 
 reafon for it; by telling me, that <: CHRIST never 
 died for thofe priefts; and therefore he had no feel- 
 ing for them, or concern about them." Another, 
 who had learnt his Chriftianity in the fame fchool, 
 upon my application to him on the fame occafion, 
 immediately exclaimed, " What, Sir, to a Roman* 
 give to a Roman! one that lives in fuch errors: if 
 I had ten thoufand guineas, I would not beftow a 
 fingle mite upon him!" 
 
 Read, now, the ftory of the good Samaritan ; and 
 judge how far fuch a narrow-minded religion, which 
 .engrofles all GOD'S favours to its own profeflbrs, 
 and regards the reft of mankind as objefts in a 
 condition beneath that of the beafts that perifh, 
 agrees with the enlarged and charitable fpirit of the 
 Gofpel. When the difciples of our SAVIOUR would, 
 have called down fire from Heaven to deftroy their 
 enemies, our SAVIOUR rebuked them, by telling 
 them, that " they knew not what fpirit they were 
 of," What would this SAVIOUR fay to thofe pro- 
 
 L 
 
90 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 feiTors of his religion, who could fuffer a fello\y- 
 creature to flarve at their doors, becaufe he lived in 
 error? 
 
 In a word, let this do&rine of ele&ion and abfolute 
 decrees, as it is often underftood, and the effe&s> pro- 
 duced by it upon the lives of fome of its profeiTors, 
 be compared with the revealed purpofe of CHRIST'S 
 coming into the world 9 and the fpirit of his religion ; 
 and let this be done fairly, without prejudice, and 
 with an eye only to the truth, and it is impoffible 
 that any Chriltian can longer be led captive by fuch 
 a delufion. 
 
 The rule laid down, though not ftri&ly followed, 
 by ST. AUGUSTINE, " that the more obfcure parts 
 of fcripture fliould be interpreted by thofe that are 
 plain," is the only rule that will enable us to form 
 a rational and confident judgment upon the doftrines 
 of revelation. 
 
 That CHRIST came to redeem man in his genera! 
 character from the confequences of the fail, and to 
 purchafe for him thofe means of renewed grace, 
 which required only to be properly employed to 
 become effectual to his falvation, conftituted the 
 effence of that glad tidings, which the birth of a 
 SAVIOUR was intended to convey to a loft world. 
 
 
DISCOURSE T. 91 
 
 This do&rine, fo plainly and fully revealed, ought 
 in reafon to overbalance every argument drawn from 
 a few obfcure paffages, which at firft fight may feem 
 to look a contrary way. But this is a confideration 
 which feldom has its due weight with thofe who en- 
 tertain fome fingular conceit or opinion. Engroffed 
 with their own notions, they are not to be prevailed 
 upon to make the general tenour of fcripture the 
 ftandard for their doftrine; but are apt to bend and 
 warp the expreilions of it to their own particular 
 purpofe: and whilft they eagerly lay hold of every 
 paffage that feems to countenance it, will hardly give 
 a hearing to other texts, how plain foever, that 
 might ferve to fet the fubjeft in its true light. To 
 this prejudice in favour of a pre-conceived opinion, 
 added perhaps to a certain refpeft for the authority 
 of names, is that do&rine in a great degree to be 
 attributed, which places the conduft of a merciful 
 CREATOR towards his fellow-creature in a light fo 
 very different from that in which the plained texts 
 of fcripture authorife us to regard it. 
 
 In fa&, thofe parts of ST. PAUL'S writings on 
 which this partial do&rine is fuppofed to be founded, 
 which has perplexed the minds of fo many well- 
 meaning people, were feen in a very different light 
 
9$ [DISCOURSE V. 
 
 by the primitive Chriftians; to whom they conveyed 
 the fame idea that they now convey to all who pay 
 attention to the general tenour of the Apoftle's argu- 
 ment. By them the Apoftle has been confidered as 
 laying open the myfterious plan of Providence at 
 that time taking place in the world, which refpefted 
 the reje&ion of the Jews from their boafted peculi- 
 arity as a nation, and the ele&ion of the Gentiles to 
 a common participation with them in the privileges 
 of the Chriflian church; "that through CHRIST 
 both Jew and Gentile, being reconciled unto GOD 
 in one body by the crofs, might have an accefs by 
 onefpirit unto the Father." Ephef. ii. 18. 
 
 A want of attention to this leading circumflance, 
 relative to the Jewifli nation being the chofen people 
 of GOD, diflinguiflied by particular laws and pri- 
 vileges from all other nations, has given rife to 
 numberlefs errors, which have difturbed the peace of 
 . the Chriflian church, from the days of the Apoflles 
 to the prefent time. But in no inftance has this 
 want of difcrimination led to more unchriftian con- 
 clufions, than in the cafe now before us; in which 
 the general declarations of Divine favour and ven- 
 geance, exprefled by the ele&ion and rejeftion of 
 nations, as fuch, have, through a miftaken interpret- 
 
DISCOURSE V. 9S 
 
 ation, become the fubjefts of particular zndperfonal 
 application. 
 
 For my own part, I do not take my faith from 
 the writings of LUTHER, CALVIN, or the more 
 ancient profeflbr of this doftrine, ST. AUGUSTINE; 
 at the fame time that I profefs the higheft refpeft for 
 each of them; but from that fountain from whence 
 alone it ought to be taken, the word of GOD. If 
 fome zealous men, from a laudable oppofition to one 
 dangerous doctrine, have been heated into a deter- 
 mined fupport of another; I lament in them the 
 infirmity of the human underflanding, which is too 
 apt, in avoiding one extreme, to be carried into ' 
 its oppofite. The unbalanced mind of man rarely 
 fuftains itfelf in that due mean which reafon and 
 religion mark out. This has been the cafe in the 
 fubjeft under confideration. 
 
 With the view of cutting up by the root the doc- 
 trine of merit, which had conftituted one of the 
 groffeft corruptions of the church of Rome, fome 
 of the firft foreign reformers brought forward that 
 of abfolute unconditional eleclion, and irrejt/iible grace. 
 
 This was, indeed, to do the bufinefs at aftroke; 
 but it was a flroke which feverely wounded the 
 caufe it was meant to ferve. By taking away man's 
 
54 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 free agency, an end was at once put to the morality 
 and immorality of human a&ions; for a being, whofe 
 conduft is determined by an over-ruling power, can- 
 not be an accountable one. Thus a corrupt doftrine 
 made way for a fpecies of fatallfm^ which, under an 
 impofing title, tends to deprive rational Chrillianity 
 of its firmeil fupport. 
 
 But, thank GOD, the bible is before me. The 
 word election is in it, it is true; but as I would not 
 be governed by the found of a word, but by its 
 relative fignification, I examine the paffages vhere it 
 is to be met with; and am thereby fatisfied, that it 
 does not mean the perfonal eletiion of individuals to 
 eternal life, but thedefiion of nations to the blelTmgs 
 and privileges of the Gofpel difpenfation. Where it 
 is faid, '" JACOB have I loved, and ESAU have I 
 hated;" 5 it only means, (as I trull it is generally un-- 
 derffood) that GOD preferred JACOB to ESAU, to 
 inherit and convey the bleffing which had been pro- 
 nounced to faithful ABRAHAM. And nothing but 
 a vain defire to force texts of fcripture into the fup- 
 port of an ill-founded fcheme of a particular eleflion 
 and reprobation to eternal life and eternal mifery, 
 could induce any one to prefs the inilance of JACOB 
 and ESAU into their ferviqe.* 
 
 * See Note at the end of this Difcourfe. 
 
DISCOURSE V. 5 
 
 With refpeft to abfolute decrees, determining the 
 future falvation of individuals, I fee nothing in fcrip- 
 ture that leads me to conclude that there are any 
 fuch; on the contrary, I fee all through the bible 
 general promifes of mercy fufpended upon particular 
 conditions. 
 
 On the fuppofition, then, that any decrees may 
 have been eftabliflied in the Divine councils, (a fubjeft 
 on which I prefume not to pronounce) my comfort 
 is, that they mud be conformable to GOD'S revealed 
 willj becaufe a GOD of truth cannot contradict him- 
 felf. Without perplexing myfelf, therefore, with an 
 ufelefs enquiry with refpeft to what GOD may do 
 by an abfolute aft of power, I confider w hat He hath 
 done, and what {lands with his wifdom, juflice, and 
 goodnefs to do. And feeing myfelf called upon 
 by his Apoftle to make my calling and election 
 fure, I conclude, as I conceive every reafonable man 
 mufl do, that there can be no abfolute decree in a 
 cafe, the certainty of which depends in fome meafure 
 upon myfelf. Confining myfelf, confequently, to 
 the revealed will of GOD, which was given for my 
 inftruftion in righteoufnefs, and by which I am to be 
 judged ; my fole endeavour is, by Divine grace, to 
 conform myfelf to it; being well affured, from the 
 
)6 DISCOURSE Vv 
 
 general tenour of fcripture, that no fanRified perion 
 will be fliut out of heaven, and no unfanftlfied one 
 admitted into it : " for without holinefs no man 
 " fliall fee the LORD." 
 
 And happy is that meeknefs and poverty of fpirit, 
 which induftrioufly declines the rugged thorny paths 
 of controverfy and captious difpute, and walks in the 
 plain fmooth way of duty and practical religion ; which 
 jftudies GOD'S commands, and labours to underftand 
 things of a fize with its capacity. Too many in- 
 flances there are of daring men, who, by prefuming 
 to found the deep things of religion, have cavilled 
 and argued themfelves out of all religion. Thefe 
 men miftake their bufmefs. For what CHRIST re- 
 quires of thofe who profefs his religion is, not pene- 
 tration or fubtlety of wit; nice diflinclions, or fublime 
 notions; but victorious faith, and an honefl holy 
 life; fobriety, temperance, and chaftity ; juftice and 
 charity, piety and devotion. Let the Chriflian fub- 
 mit his reafon to revelation, and let humility and 
 deference to GOD recommend his faith; and then, 
 though there may be knowledge tod wonderful for 
 him, and fo high that he cannot attain unto it, yet 
 he will be fure not to want any that is neceffary or 
 profitable for him. 
 
DISCOURSE V. 
 
 gj* "JACOB have I loved, but ESAU have I hated." Rom. 
 ix. 13. The Apoftle quotes the foregoing text from the 
 prophet MALACHI, cap. i. 2, 3. By attending to the context 
 it will plainly appear, that what has been haftily concluded 
 irom it, refpe&ing the perfonal ele&ion of one party ., and 
 the perfonal reprobation of the other, was not the idea meant 
 to be conveyed by the prophet. " I loved JACOB," faith the 
 LORD, " and I hated ESAU." The account of the manner 
 in which this divine love and hatred were manifested is im- 
 mediately fubjoined. " I loved JACOB, and I hated ESAU; 
 and laid his mountains and his heritage wafte, for the dra- 
 gons of the wildernefs. Whereas EDOM faith, we ar 
 impoverifhed, but \ve will return and build the defolata 
 places. Thus faith the LORD ofHoflsj they {hall build, 
 but I will pull down ; and they mall call them the border 
 of wickednefs, and the people againlt whom the LORD 
 hath indignation for ever. And your eyes lhall fee, and 
 ye mall fay, the LORD will be magnified from the border 
 of Ifraeh" The latter words in the foregoing paflage refer 
 to the circumftance of the MESSIAH being to come from. 
 JACOB, and not from ESAU. In which refpecl: JACOB is laid 
 to be loved, and ESAU to be hated) that is, the line of JACOB 
 was preferred by GOD to that of ESAU for the conveyance of 
 the blefling promifed to ABRAHAM. Thepromife to ABRA- 
 HAM was, that " in his feed all the nations -of the earth 
 mould be blefled." But it was no part of this promife, that 
 the bleffing ihould be conveyed through the elder branch of 
 his family; and it could pafs only through one branch of it ; 
 it remained, therefore, with GOD to clioofe which branch he 
 thought proper. According to his will, then, the bleiling 
 of the promifed feed palled through ISAAC, not through 
 
98 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 ISHMAELJ through JACOB, and not through ESAU; through 
 JUDAH, not through either of the other fons of JACOB -, and 
 through DAVID, in preference to his elder brethren. 
 
 With a view to the preference given upon this occafion, 
 ISAAC, JACOB, JUDAH, and DAVID may be faid, in the ftrong 
 language of fcripture, to have been loved of GOD j that is, 
 preferred by Him; whilft ISHMAEL, ESAU, and the brethren 
 of JUDAH and DAVID, were bated or rejefted. In the fame 
 fenfe the Virgin MARY may be faid to have been loved by 
 GOD, and all other women in the world hated j becaufe flic 
 was. chofen or preferred, before all other women, to be the 
 mother of the promifed MESSIAH. 
 
 The expreflions, therefore, of loving and bating, as applied 
 to JACOB and ESAU, are to be taken in the fenfe in which our 
 SAVIOUR ufed the latter, when he faid, that ts if any man 
 came to him, and bated not his father and mother, &c. he 
 could not be his difciple." LUKE xiv. 2(5. That is, he that 
 preferred his father and mother, &c. before him, and was 
 Hot willing t facrifice every worldly consideration, rather 
 than renounce him, was not worthy to be his difciple. 
 
 And that this text, quoted from the Prophet, referred not 
 to the perfonal condition of the parties mentioned in it, but 
 to that of their refpective pofterities, the argument of the 
 Apoftle furnifhes a proof. " For the children," ESAU and 
 JACOB, fays he, " being not yet born, neither having done 
 any good or evil, that the purpofe of GOD, according to elec- 
 tion, might fland, not of Works, but of him that calleth; it. 
 was faid, the elder mall ferve the younger." Rom. ix. 11. 
 But ESAU the elder, as appears from the hiftory, never did 
 ferve JACOB. Perfonally, JACOB feems ever to have been the 
 inferior. The word of the LORD, therefore, in this remark- 
 able pafTage, not being verified in the perfons of ESAU and 
 JACOB, the accomplishment of it muft be referred to their 
 pofterityj and upon this head no doubt can be entertained 
 
DISCOURSE V. 99 
 
 by any one who reads the whole paflage as it ftands, Gen. 
 xxv, 23: " And the LORD laid unto REBKK.AH," as ihe was 
 upon the point of being delivered of the two foils in queftion, 
 " Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people 
 fhall be feparated from thy bowels > and the one people fhall 
 be flronger than the other people ; and the elder fliall ferve 
 the younger." 
 
 This circumftance of the elder ferving tie younger not ha- 
 ving then taken place in the perfons of ESAU and JACOB, we 
 mull look for fome fpiritual ienfe, in order to perceive the 
 completion of this blefling to JACOB; and this will lead us 
 to that perfon promifed to ABRAHAM and to ISAAC, as the 
 blefling of all nations, even JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Tlie original promife to ABRAHAM implied, that all nations 
 of the earth mould have an equal right in the blefling of tlie 
 MESSIAH; yet the church of GOD, of which the MESSIAH is 
 head and king, was for a time confined to the dcfcendants of 
 JACOB. In this ftate of the church, did the pofterity of ESAU 
 ferve, or was inferior to, that of JACOB. At length the dif- 
 tin&ion was taken away. The church of GOD was opened 
 to- all nations, and Gentiles as well as Jews became the peo- 
 ple of GOD. Then did EIAU the Gentile break the yoke 
 of JACOB the Jew from off his neck, and became his equal. 
 
 An attention to the Apoftle's argument will convince the 
 reader, that it was St. PAUL'S object on the occasion, not to 
 fopport the doftrine of predefti nation, or the perfonal ele6tiou 
 of individuals to the Divine favour ; but to reconcile the Jews, 
 to whom it was addreiTed, to the Divine difpeniation in the 
 promulgation of the Gofpel. 
 
 The Gofpel was to be firft preached to the loft fheep of the 
 houfe of Ifraf 1 ; and upon their rejection of it, to the Gen- 
 tiles. " It was neceffary" (faid the Apoflles to the Jews) 
 " that the word of GOD mould firft have been fpoken to you; 
 but feeing ye put it from you, and judge yourfeives unworthy 
 
100 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 of everlafting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles : for fo hath 
 the LORD commanded us." A6ls xiii. 46, 47. 
 
 The Jews, the peculiar people of Go D, were at this time 
 to lofe that distinction. The middle wall of partition, which 
 heretofore feparated the Jewifh from the Gentile worfhipper 
 in the temple, is therefore faid, by the Apeftle, to have been 
 broken down by CHRIST ; that both Jew and Gentile might 
 thereby underftand, that they were now to be admitted into 
 the church upon the fame footing 5 the object of JESUS 
 CHRIST'S coming into the world being, " that he might 
 reconcile both unto GOD in one body by the crofs." Ephef. 
 ii. 16. In allufion to this part of the Divine difpenfation 
 refpe&ing the admiflion of the Gentiles into the church, the 
 Apoftle refers to the prophet HOSEA, where he fays in the 
 name of the LORD, fe I will call them my people, which 
 were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. 
 And it mall come to pafs, that in the place where it was faid 
 unto them, Ye are not my people ; there fhall they be called, 
 The children of the living GOD." Rom. ix. 25, 26. 
 
 This circumitance refpecting the admiflion of the Gentiles 
 into the Chriflian church proved a great itumbling-block in 
 the way of the Jews, at the firft preaching the oGfpel. To 
 reconcile them to it, the Apoftle tells them, they might a* 
 well alk, why GOD at firft chofe the Jews to be his elect and 
 peculiar people; to which no reafon was to be given, but that 
 it was his will fo to do. (t I will have mercy (fays GOD) on 
 whom I will have mercy." In like manner they might alk, 
 why GOD chofe that the MESSIAH mould defcend from the line 
 of JACOB, in preference to that of ESAU; to which a iimilar 
 anfwer was to be given 5 It was GOD'S will that fo it fhould 
 be. In this cafe, of preferring one nation before another, 
 the Creator of man hath exercifed the fame power which the 
 potter exercifes over the elay of the fame lump, to make one 
 unto honour, and another unto difhonourj and th* 
 
DISCOURSE V. 101 
 
 thing formed is not to fay to him that formed it, Why haft 
 thou made me thus ? 
 
 Taken in this fenfe then, not as referring to the ferfonal 
 ele&ion of individuals to Divine favour in exclufion of others, 
 but to the election of nations to particular and temporary 
 privileges, for the purpofe of carrying into effect the great 
 myflery of godliness for the more general ben eft of mankind, 
 the argument here made ufe of by the Apoftle is. plain, re- 
 gular, and confident : and to prefs an argument beyond the 
 fubjecl: to which it was originally applied, is to take the way 
 moft likely to lead into error. 
 
 [The Reader will fee this fubjeft more largely, arid, 
 I flatter myfelf, more conclufively treated, in the 
 Fourth Letter of the Appendix.] 
 
C 103 ] 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 
 
 On the SACRAMENT of BAPTISM, considered af 
 furnishing a Plea for Separation from the 
 Church. 
 
 the two pleas already advanced, a third is 
 to be added, refpecYmg the SACRAMENT of 
 BAPTISM; which, as it is adminiflered in the church, 
 is by fome maintained to be invalid, for the follow- 
 ing reafons: Firft, becaufe children are incapable of 
 being fubjefts of it; and fecondly, becaufe, after the 
 example of our SAVIOUR, who was baptized in 
 Jordan, it ought to be adminiftered by the immerfion 
 of grown perfons in a river. Did this plea (land 
 upon firm ground, it ought, as relating to an efTential 
 fervice of the church, to have weight; but (landing 
 as it does, according to our ideas, on no foundation, 
 it can, in our judgment, have no weight at all. But 
 as this conflitutes one of the mafter-prejudices againil: 
 the church, it may be proper to give it fome con- 
 fideration. 
 
104 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 The ground upon which the firft part of this plea 
 ftands, refpe&s the incapacity of children to fulfil 
 the conditions of the baptifmal covenant. 
 
 But this argument, if it prove any thing in the 
 cafe, proves too much. For if no perfons are to be 
 baptized who are incapable of fulfilling the conditions 
 of baptifm, our SAVIOUR himfelf was, of all others, 
 the moft incapable of baptifm. 
 
 The baptifm of JOHN was a baptifm unto repent- 
 ance. " He came (we read) preaching the baptifm 
 of repentance for the remiflion of fins/* But our 
 blefled SAVIOUR had no fins to repent of. He was 
 " the Lamb of GOD without fpot" On this account 
 we find JOHN refufing to baptize our SAVIOUR, 
 confidering him an improper fubjeft for the ordinance. 
 " I have need to be baptized of thee, (fays the bap- 
 tift) and comefl thou to me;*' But our SAVIOUR, 
 by his anfwer, convinced him, that though he had 
 no fins to repent of, yet feme other end was to be 
 anfwered by his being baptized. " Suffer it to be 
 fo now, (fays CHRIST) for thus it becometh us to 
 fulfil all righteoufnefs." Matt. iii. 15. 
 
 In like manner infants, though incapable of fome 
 of the ends of baptifm, are not incapable of all. 
 They cannot, it is true, make ,'profeffion either of 
 
DISCOURSE VI. 105 
 
 their faith or repentance; becaufe they cannot under- 
 fland what is meant by the one, nor are they in want 
 of the other; having no aftual fins to repent of. 
 But, as infants, they are capable of receiving a fign 
 of GOD'S grace and favour. They are capable, for 
 inftance, of being admitted into the communion of 
 the Chriflian church, and of having the privileges of 
 the Gofpel covenant configned to them; although 
 they are too young to underfland the nature of that 
 covenant, or perform the duties enjoined upon its 
 members. In a word, they are capable of being 
 wafhed from their original corruption, and of re- 
 ceiving the fign of their reft oration to GOD'S grace; 
 though they may not at the time be capable of un- 
 derftanding the condition upon which it is fufpended. 
 And if GOD has been pleafed to regard the off- 
 spring of believing parents as holy from their birth, 
 (as the Apoftle hath plainly told us, i Cor. vii. 1 2) 
 and thereby given them a prefent interefl in, and fort 
 of hereditary right to, thofe means which CHRIST 
 appointed for the fan&ification of his church ; ought 
 we not rather to rejoice, that GOD'S covenant of 
 mercy to man is beflowed with a latitude extending 
 to perfons of all ages, than feek to fet limits to 
 Divine goodnefs, by reftraining it within the narrow 
 
 M 
 
106 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 bounds of our own uncharitable prejudices? If 
 CHRIST was pleafed to leave, the door of his church, 
 which was open to children under the Jewifh difpen- 
 fation, Hill open to them under the Chriftian; as he 
 gave his difciples to underftand, by telling them to 
 " fufFer little children to come to him, for of fuch 
 was the kingdom of GOD;" (or, as the meaning 
 may be better exprefTed, for theirs is the kingdom of 
 GOD, or the kingdom of GOD belongs to them,) it 
 feems an unaccountable infatuation, that parents, who 
 in all other cafes fail not to manifeil a zeal for the 
 maintenance of their children's privileges, ihould in 
 this be fo ready to give them up. 
 
 I would aik fuch parents a queflion Do they think 
 that their children, dying unbaptized, are capable of 
 admiffion into the kingdom of heaven? Relying on 
 the mercy of GOD, (though uncovenanted mercy is 
 all upon which they can, in this inflance, place any 
 juft dependence) they will doubtlefs anfwer, Tes. 
 
 But perfons who are capable of the greater , are 
 certainly capable of the lefs^ which is contained 
 within it. If through Divine mercy, then, unbap- 
 tized children are capable of adrnuTion into the 
 kingdom of GOD in heaven, they are furely capable, 
 through the fame mercy, of admiffioa into the 
 
DISCOURSE VI. 107 
 
 church, which is the kingdom of GOD on earth. If 
 they are capable of receiving the fulnefs of Divine 
 mercy in the poffeffion of everlafting blefTednefs in 
 heaven; where CHRIST has told us, "their angels 
 continually behold his Father's face," (Matth. xviii.) 
 they are furely capable of being admitted into that 
 church memberihip, which was defigned only as 
 preparatory to it. 
 
 Although infants, therefore, fhould not fuffer for 
 the negligence, obftinacy, or felf-opinion, of their 
 parents; yet parents would do well to confider what 
 may be the confequence to themfelves, for fliewing 
 lefs attention to the fpiritual condition of their 
 children, than GOD has done; by flraitening that 
 covenant, which, in the original delivery of it, was ex- 
 prefsly extended to them; and, in the Jewifh church, 
 fcrupuloufly continued to them. At the fame time 
 they may remember, that though the child of Mofes 
 fuffered no punifliment for the delay of his circum- 
 cifion, yet the father (as we read Exodus iv. 24) 
 very narrowly efcaped it on a memorable occafion. 
 
 But it may be obferved further, in anfwer to thofe 
 who object to the admuTion of infants to baptifm on 
 account of incapacity, that the Jewifh infants were 
 admitted into the covenant by circumcifion at eight 
 
108 DISCOURSE VI* 
 
 days old, by GOD'S exprefs command. That there 
 is the fame reafon for infants of Chriftian parents to 
 be admitted to baptifm, is to be thus proved. 
 
 The covenant entered into by GOD with ABRA- 
 HAM (an account of which we have in the feventeenth 
 chapter of Genefis) was, as ST. PAUL plainly tells 
 us in the third chapter of GalatianS, the Gofpel cove- 
 nant. " The fcripture, (fays the Apoftle) forefeeing 
 that GOD would juflify the heathen through faith, 
 preached before the Gofpel to Abraham" delivered 
 beforehand the glad- tidings of that event to ABRA- 
 ,HAM in the following words: " In thee fliall all the 
 nations of the earth be bleffed." " Now to ABRA- 
 . HAM and his feed were the promifes made. He faith 
 not. And to feeds, as of many; but as of one: And 
 to thy feed, which is CHRIST. This I fay, that the 
 covenant that was confirmed before of GOD in 
 CHRIST; the law which was four hundred and 
 thirty years after cannot difannul, that it flioul'd 
 make the promife of none efFe<ft." " From thefe 
 words, which diftinguifh fo plainly between the 
 .covenant which GOD made with ABRAHAM, or the 
 promife which he made unto him, and the law; it 
 is evident, that the beginning of the Jewifli church, 
 purely confidered as a church, is to be dated from 
 
DISCOURSE VI. 109 
 
 the covenant which GOD made with ABRAHAM; 
 and therefore, in the fecond place, the way to find 
 out the nature of the Abrahamical or pure Jewifh 
 church, is to confider the nature of the covenant or 
 promife upon which it was founded; and if we ex- 
 amine the fcriptures, we fhall find, that it was an 
 Evangelical covenant, for fubflance the fame with 
 that which is fince made betwixt GOD and us, thro* 
 CHRIST. This will appear upon a review of thofe 
 fcriptures which teach us, T\wA. faith was the con- 
 dition of this Abrahamical covenant; that it was 
 made with ABRAHAM,* as the father of the faith- 
 ful, and in him with all believers, with his fpiritual 
 as well as carnal feed, proceeding from him by 
 fpiritual as well as carnal generation ; and that the 
 bleflmgs or promifes of this covenant belonged unto 
 them upon the fame account of their faith. "|| 
 
 * " Fide autem flare juftitiam, et illic efle vitam preditfum eft 
 apud HABAKKUC. Jujlus autem ex fide vivet. Inde ABRAHAM 
 Pater Gentium credidit. In Genes, credidit ABRAHAM DEO, et 
 deputatum eft ei ad juftitiam. Cognofcitis ergo qui ex fide funt, hi 
 funt filii ABRAH*:, providens fcriptura quia ex fide -, &c," 
 
 CYPRIAN advers. Judaeos. 
 
 " Succeflifle vero in eorum locum Chriftianos/^ Dominum pro- 
 merentes, et de amnibus gentibus^ ac toto orbe venientes." 
 
 CYPRIAN ad Quirin. Teftim. 1. iii. 
 
 II " Cafe of Infant Baptifm by the Dean of Worcefter." See 
 London Cafes, No. ij, 
 
110 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 The covenant, then, that was made by GOD with 
 ABRAHAM, was the Gofpel covenant, containing the 
 promife of blefling to all nations in CHRIST. Of 
 admiflion into this covenant clrcumclfion was, at that 
 time, the appointed feal. Ciicumct/ion, therefore, 
 was not a legal inftitution, but the feal of the Gofpel 
 covenant, adminiftered to ABRAHAM four hundred 
 and thirty years before the introduction of the law. 
 Agreeably to which our SAVIOUR told the Jews, 
 that " MOSES gave unto them circumcifion, not 
 becaufe it was of MOSES, but of the fathers." 
 
 All the alteration that took place in this buiinefs, 
 upon our SAVIOUR'S eflablifhment of his church, 
 was in the nature of the feal ' of the covenant; our 
 SAVIOUR having exchanged the fevere and painful 
 one of circumcifion, for the more mild and practicable 
 one of baptifm. The feal, then, is altered, but the 
 covenant remains the fame. 
 
 The covenant, therefore, into which Chriftians are 
 admitted by bapt'fm, being the fame Gofpel cove- 
 nant, which was confirmed before to ABRAHAM in 
 CHRIST; the mere change in the ritual can make 
 no diTerence with refpeft to the capability of the 
 parties to be admitted into it. Confequently the 
 precept delivered to ABRAHAM, (Gen. x. 17) re- 
 
DISCOURSE VI. Ill 
 
 fpefting the admiifion of infants into the Gofpel 
 covenant by circumcifton, applies with equal force to 
 the adraiffion of infants into it by baptlfm; circum- 
 clfion and baptlfm being feals or tokens of the fame 
 covenant, appointed by GOD to be made ufe of for 
 the fame purpofe, at different periods. Hence it 
 comes to pafs, that the Church Chriftian is called in 
 the New Teftament, the new and supernal Jerufalem; 
 to let us know that Chriilianity is nothing but fpi- 
 ritual Judaism; the fame city new reformed, con- 
 flituted upon a new charter, blefled with more noble 
 and ample privileges than formerly, and every way 
 better built, and more auguft than it was. Thus in 
 Rev. iii. 12, " Unto him that overcometh (faith the 
 Son of Man) I will write the name of my GOD, and 
 the name of the city of my GOD, which is new 
 Jerufalem, which is come out of heaven from my 
 GOD;" that is, I will acknowledge him that holds 
 out to the end for a perfon truly godly, and for a 
 true member of the pure Catholic-Chriflian church, 
 which is the fpiritual Jerufalem defcended from above. 
 And fo, c. xxi. 2, " I faw the holy city (New Jeru- 
 falem) coming down from GOD, down out of heaven* 
 prepared as a bride adorned for her hufband," mean- 
 ing JESUS CHRIST. So, in Gal. iv. " Jerufalem, 
 
2 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 which is from above, is a. free city, which is the 
 mother of us all."* 
 
 To what has been faid, it need only be added, 
 (for I avoid entering at large into a fubjeft which 
 has been fo frequently and fully handled) that our 
 SAVIOUR found the Jews in the praftice of infant 
 baptifm; as has, I think, upon the ground of the 
 ftrongeft probability, been maintained by learned 
 men. He, therefore, only transferred this ceremony 
 from the Jewifii church to his own, by making it 
 the facrament of initiation into it. It is to be con- 
 eluded therefore, that the Apoftles, who were Jews 
 themfelves, and who were directed to addrefs the 
 firft offer of the Gofpel to " the loft fheep of the 
 houfe of Ifrael;" in baptizing them into the church 
 of CHRIST, or rather into the new difpenfation of 
 it, would obferve the general practice to which they 
 had been accuflomed, if they had received no exprefs 
 precept from CHRIST to direct them otherwife. 
 
 But the commiflion delivered to them by CHRIST 
 was of a moil general and comprehenfive nature: 
 " Go ye, and baptize all nations." In confequence 
 of which commiffion, we read of their baptizing 
 
 * See " Cafe of Infant Baptifm, by the Dean of Worcefter." 
 Cafes. 
 
DISCOURSE vi. 113 
 
 Vhole houfes, without any exception being made to 
 any perfons contained in them. If our SAVIOUR 
 had not defigned that baptifm fhould be adininiflered 
 to infants, the commifTion to his Apoflles would cer- 
 tainly have been accompanied with an exprefs pro- 
 hibition to that efFeft, to prevent their falling into fo 
 obvious a miilake. No fuch prohibition appearing, 
 is a circumftance that, in reafonable conitru&ion, 
 amounts to a confirmation of the practice then in 
 ufe. For a rule that has once regularly obtained, 
 if unrepealed, fhill remains in force. This is the 
 argument made ufe of upon this fubjeft by one of 
 the mod learned writers* of our church, and it 
 appears to be unanfwerable: " If baptifm and the 
 baptizing of infants had been a new thing, and 
 unheard of until JOHN Baptifl came, as circum- 
 cifion was, until GOD appointed it to ABRAHAM; 
 there would have been, no doubt, an exprefs com- 
 mand for baptizing infants, as there was for circum- 
 cifmg them." But, " fince it was ordinary in all 
 ages to have infants baptized, if CHRIST would have 
 had that cuilom abolifhed, he would have exprefsly 
 forbidden it. So that his and the fcriptures' filence 
 in this matter does confirm and eilablilh infant 
 for ever." 
 
 * LIGHTFOOT. 
 
114 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 To the fecond part of the plea refpe&ing the bap- 
 tifm of CHRIST in the river Jordan, conildered as 
 eftablifhing a precedent for the praftice of a fimilar 
 form of admiflion into the Chriftian church, we have 
 the following anfwer to make; though the fubjeft 
 itfelf is almofl too ridiculous to be entitled to ferious 
 difcuflion. 
 
 Our SAVIOUR, we read, was baptized by JOHN 
 in the river Jordan. But the conclufion drawn from 
 thence, refpe&ing the form of adminiftering Cbriftian 
 baptifm, does not appear by any means warranted 
 by the premifes. 
 
 The baptifm of JOHN was a peculiar miniflration, 
 preparatory to the eftablifhment of CHRIST'S church; 
 but did not a&ualJy admit into it, or convey the 
 privileges of it. For which reafon, we find ST. 
 PAUL baptizing fome difciples of JOHN, whom he 
 found at Ephefus, a fecond time, in the name of the 
 LORD JESUS: Afts xix. The baptifm of JOHN, 
 then, and the baptifm appointed by JESUS CHRIST, 
 being two different ordinances, in ufe at different 
 times, and for different purpofes; it does not appear 
 that the one, as to the exaft form of its adminiftra- 
 tion, fhould neceffarily conltitute a precedent for 
 the other. 
 
DISCOURSE vr. 115 
 
 The difcples of CHRIST and JOHN lived under a 
 different ceconomy, and were fubje&ed to different 
 rules; a circumftance which occafionally gave offence 
 to thofe who underftood not the nature of our SA- 
 VIOUR'S million. In this temper of mind, the dif- 
 ciples of JOHN came to JESUS to know the reafon, 
 " why the difoples of JOHN and of the Pharfees 
 fafted oft, whilfl his difciples fafted not." But what 
 was a rule in the one cafe, did not become obligatory 
 in the other ; the parties to whom it was appLed 
 being differently circuruftanced. 
 
 CHRIST, it mud be confidered then, bapt'zed men 
 to be his own difciples, not to be the difciples of 
 JOHN: and his baptifm was thebaptifm of admiffion 
 into the Chriftian church; whilft that of JOHN was 
 only a baptTm of difciplelhip into his own peculiar 
 mini dry. Allowing, therefore, that all JOHN'S dif- 
 ciples were baptized in a river, (which is more than 
 can be proved, and from the nature of J HN'S 
 min'ftry, as the preacher of the wildernefs, it is pro- 
 bable that he made ufe of water in any place where 
 it was convenient for his purpofe;) it does not follow 
 froai this circumitance, that the difcipies of CHRIST 
 fhould be baptized in a river alfo; CHRIST having 
 no where ordained that they fhould be: and reafon 
 
116 DISCOURSE VIr 
 
 forbids us to conclude, that the quantity of water 
 made ufe 'of in this facrament, any more than the 
 quantity of bread and wine confumed in that of the 
 LORD'S Supper, can be eflential to the validity of 
 ,the inftitution. 
 
 When PETER, ignorant of the fpiritual nature of 
 CHRIST'S wafhing, required him not only to wafh 
 his feet, but alfohis hands and his head, judging that 
 a partial waihing could not effeft a general cleaning, 
 our SAVIOUR'S anfwer was calculated to rebuke 
 his carnal application of the aft, by telling him, that 
 " he that is wafhed, needeth not fave to wafh his 
 feet, but is clean every whit." JOHN xiii. 10. 
 PETER therefore was given to underfland, that the 
 cffe& produced in this cafe, was not by the outward 
 application of the element of water, becaufe parts 
 were faid to be cleanfed which the water had not 
 touched; but by the operation of the fpirit on the 
 foul, producing that inward purity, of which an idea 
 was conveyed to the mind by this familiar applica- 
 tion to the body. Thus, in like manner, the efFeft 
 of wafhing in baptifm is not produced by the water 
 applied to the body, either in whole or in part; but 
 by the fpirit of GOD accompanying an ordinance of 
 his own inftitution, and producing that effeft upon 
 
DISCOURSE Vf. 117 
 
 the foul of the party, of which the water is defigned 
 to be the type or emblem. 
 
 But it is to be further obferved, that the circum- 
 fiance now reckoned by fome few individuals fo effen- 
 tlal to baptifm, from the confideration of CHRIST'S 
 having been baptized in a river, was, in the primitive 
 church, either not regarded at all, or at lead deemed 
 a matter of indifference. For though the form of 
 plunging the whole body was in general obferved, 
 as moft fignificant of the idea meant to be conveyed 
 on the occafion; neverthelefs this was done, not in 
 a river, but in a baptiftry, or building adjoining to 
 their churches; where every thing was prepared for 
 the decent adminiilration of this fervice. 
 
 It is moreover well known not to have been an 
 uncommon thing among the early Chrtfians, to defer 
 their baptifm till they were fuppofed to be on their 
 death-beds ; upon the idea of guarding thereby 
 againfl the probability of falling away from grace ; 
 in which cafes, the form of plunging the party either 
 in a river or elfewhere mud, it is prefumed, have 
 been difpenfed with. And in the cafe of the gaoler's 
 family who were baptized in the prifon, there is rea- 
 fon to think that the Apoflle made ufe of ftiil more 
 difcretionary latitude in the performance of this office; 
 
118 PISCOURSE VI. 
 
 from the confideration that there could be no river 
 to be made ufe of on this occafion; together with the 
 improbability that the gaoler's houfe fliould be pro- 
 vided with conveniences for the immeriion of the 
 whole body. For, according to the account given 
 of this tranfaftion, we find that it was a bufmefs of 
 immediate difpatch; no time being given for prepa" 
 ration on the fubjeft. Immediately upon the difco- 
 very of the fituation of his prifoners, the gaoler (we 
 read) " took them the fame hour of the night, and 
 waflied their flripes, and was baptized, he and all 
 \i\s^ftraitway" Ads xvi. 33. 
 
 And allowing, what might have been the cafe, 
 that the gaoler's houfe was provided with a fountain, 
 in which he and his family might have been bap- 
 tized by immerfion; yet this fountain not being a 
 river, a deviation from the fuppofed eftabliihed prac- 
 tice of baptifm in one point, as circumftances then 
 required, renders the imitation of our SAVIOUR'S 
 example, as to the letter, not effential to this fervice. 
 
 From thefe premifes, we feel ourfelves warranted 
 in concluding, that the baptifm of JOHN in the river 
 Jordan conilitutes no precedent for the baptifm of 
 Chriftians; and from the circumflance, that baptizing 
 in a river, confidered as the neceffary form of admiflion 
 
DISCOURSE VI. 119 
 
 into the Chriflian church, has neither the authority 
 of fcripture, antiquity, or reafon for its fupport, it 
 confequently follows, that the example of CHRIST, 
 in this cafe, was not meant to apply to his difciples. 
 
 But there is another and flill more eflential con- 
 fideration belonging to this fubjeft, which it is my 
 duty to place before you. 
 
 Baptifm is the feal of a covenant; a pledge, to 
 affure the parties to whom it is applied, of the per- 
 formance of thofe conditions, by which a gracious 
 GOD has been pleafed to bind himfelf to man. The 
 affixing this feal GOD has made the peculiar office 
 of his appointed minifters. 
 
 Now we know, that in all human covenants the 
 Cze or fhape of the feal, whether it be large or fmall, 
 round or fquare, is a matter of no importance; the 
 validity of it depending folely upon the chara6ter of 
 the perfon who makes the impreilion. In a cafe where 
 the affixing the feal is not the perfonal aft of the 
 contracting party, fhould the perfon who undertakes 
 to do it, not be authorized to reprefent that party, the 
 fignature becomes ineffeftual; and the covenant into 
 which this felf-appointed reprefentative has prefumed 
 to enter, of courfe not binding. Apply this to the fub- 
 jeft of baptifm, and the conclufion, it is prefumed, will 
 
DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 be, that it is not a matter of fo much 
 baptifm is adminiftered, as by whom ; and that the 
 baptifm in the church is valid, not on account of the 
 particular form in which it is adminiflered, but 
 becaufe thofe who' adminifter it, have received a 
 commiffion to bind the contracting party ; and that 
 the baptifm out of the church, whether the fervice 
 be performed in a river or elfewhere, is not fo, 
 for the pppofite reafon. 
 
 Much more might be faid, and has been faid 
 upon this fubje& at different times; though, alas! 
 with little effe& ; becaufe men wedded to an opinion, 
 however ill-founded, are feldoin in a difpofition to be 
 convinced; the beft arguments appearing weak and 
 unfatisfa&ory, when oppofed to inveterate prejudices. 
 
 Indeed, when I confider the liberal nature of the 
 Gofpel covenant, the general tenour of the Apoftolic 
 commiiTion, and the univerfal pra&ice of the primitive 
 church confequent thereupon, I cannot tell where to 
 find ground for a difpute upon this fubjeft. But 
 when I confider the nature of man, together with 
 the many abfurdities which have at different times 
 found their ftrenuous advocates in the church ; I am 
 furprifed at no concluiion that may be drawn by a 
 being, who, as the world now goes, claims a right of 
 
DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 f 
 
 judging abfolutcly for himfelf in all religious matters: 
 becaufe zeal being a much more common thing than 
 knowledge, it mull often happen, even upon the 
 moft charitable conflruftion, that fincerity and error 
 will be fo intimately blended together, that juilly to 
 difcriminate between them will furpafs the common 
 powers of the human mind. * 
 
 * A learned and elaborate inveftigation of this general fubjeft, 
 the reader will find in " the Hiftory of Infant Baptifm," by the 
 Rev.W. Wall. For the manner in which this fubject, as applicable 
 to our prefent purpofe has been handled in the foregoing Chapter, 
 the reader will find abundant authority in " the Cafe of Infant 
 Baptifm" above referred to; written by that moft learned divine andi 
 ornament of the Church of England, the Rev. G. HICKES,D.D' 
 
[ 123 ] 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 On LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE. 
 
 the pleas already advanced in juftification of 
 feparation from the church, may be added 
 thofe general ones which refpeft the hacknied fub- 
 jects of liberty of conference, toleration, and the right of 
 private judgment in religious matters; upon each of 
 which it may be necefiary to fay a few words: 
 becaufe vulgar errors of fome magnitude have been 
 attached to thefe popular phrafes, which hjtVe led 
 many well-meaning people to dangerous conclufions. 
 And the hiflory of this country in particular proves, 
 that it is a matter of importance to prevent people 
 from running away with words; becaufe there is a 
 certain unaccountable magick in the found of fome 
 words, which operates beyond what can be reafonably 
 accounted for: the ill effect of which, upon minds 
 unqualified to difcriminate, it is. always difficult, 
 fomt times impoflible, to counteract. 
 
124- DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 In fa&, the generality of mankind are governed by 
 words and names ; often without, and fometimes even 
 againft their knowledge. Whilft the ignorant multi- 
 tude are led backward and forward, this way and that 
 way, like a drove of cattle, by the cry to which their 
 drivers have familiarifed them. This has been the 
 cafe from the beginning of the world to the prefent 
 day; and muft be the cafe> fo long as men continue 
 to be what they are, more difpofed to aft than to think. 
 
 But words, it is to be obferved, are but the gar- 
 ments of things; and fometimes loofe garments, 
 which are put off and on, according to the tafte or 
 humour of their employer. At the fame time it mould 
 be remembered, that how often foever the drefs may 
 change, the body flill remains the fame: in other 
 words, there is a character of truth eiTential to the 
 nature of certain fubjefts, which, though by an artful 
 difguife it may be made to ferve the caufe of impof- 
 ture, will not remain unknown to thofe who have 
 judgment and refolution to flrip off the drefs defigned 
 to conceal it. 
 
 Nothing would be more eafy, than to prove the 
 dreadful confequences derivable to fociety from fuch 
 fatal deception, by an induction of thofe numberlefs 
 circumflances in which a plaufible word, wrefted from 
 
DISCOURSE VII. 125 
 
 its proper fenfe, has proved the means of accomplifh- 
 ing whatever objeft the artful employer of it had in 
 view, however deftru&ive to the peace and welfare of 
 mankind. But to avoid digreffion, it will be necef- 
 fary to confine myfelf to what may be confidered as 
 falling within the compafs of our prefent fubjeft. 
 The only popular phrafes, therefore, upon which I 
 fhall now hazard a remark, will be thofe of liberty of 
 confdence^ toleration^ and the right of private judgment 
 in religious matters; fubje&s, upon which all fepa- 
 ratifls from the church are forward in enlarging; 
 becaufe they, for the moft part, confider them as 
 (landing upon ground which is not to be fhaken. 
 
 In fubjefts, where truth and error border fo clofe 
 upon each other, that it requires nice difcrimination 
 to trace out with precifion the exaft line of feparation 
 between them; and in which interefl and prejudice 
 have at all times had much to do, in mifleading the 
 underftanding, and corrupting the judgment; we 
 muft not be furprifed to find, not only a great variety 
 of fentiments and opinions, but alfo a great perplexity 
 in the manner in which they are delivered. When, 
 through the infirmity of human nature, men are apt 
 to be more intent on gaining the vi&ory over an 
 opponent, than on invefligating the caufe of truth; 
 
126 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 they will choofe that field of controverfy, which gives 
 the greateft fcope for manoeuvring, to prevent as 
 much as may be, the poffibility of their being puflied 
 as it were into a corner, from whence there might be 
 no efcape. In defending their caufe, therefore, know- 
 ing that much is to be faid ? which is not to be con- 
 troverted; they take care to confine themfelves to 
 thofe generalities, to which their opponent cannot 
 object; whilfl their mode of attack confifls, for the 
 moft part, in driving their adverfary into extremes, 
 by a ftudious aggravation of his conclufions, for the 
 purpofe of eftablifhing a ground-work for popular 
 declamation and abufe. 
 
 By this mode of managing controverfy, the exact 
 point in which truth lies, is continually kept out of 
 fight; for men, whofe object it is, in the handling 
 certain fubjects, not fo much to convince, as to con- 
 found, will ftudioufly fleer clear of thofe precife limits, 
 which ought to conftitute the boundary for all 
 rational argument on the occafion. To the fubjefts 
 here immediately in view the foregoing obfervations 
 may not be deemed wholly inapplicable. 
 
 Upon the firft of them, it has been imagined, that, 
 
 provided men follow the direction of their own con- 
 
 fcienccs, they are juftified in whatever mode of con- 
 
DISCOURSE VII. 127 
 
 du& they may adopt; which (as the terra confcience 
 is now too generally underflood) is in other words 
 to fay, that becaufe men are perfuaded a thing is 
 right, therefore it cannot be wrong. Upon this 
 principle, it matters not what a man's profeffion is, 
 provided he be Jtncerf in it; confequently tliejtncere 
 martyr for the faith, and thejincere perfecutor of it, 
 ftand upon the fame footing. 
 
 But though a conduct, in oppofition to the dictate 
 of confcience, carry with it its own condemnation, 
 (for in fuch a cafe a man pronounces fentence upon 
 himfelf;) it by no means follows, that a conduct in 
 conformity to it will, on that account, fecure to itfelf 
 an acquittal. For this would be to make private opi* 
 nion the ftandard of right and wrong, inftead of the 
 law of GOD; an idea which has, on different occa- 
 fions, led to an infinity of mifchief. 
 
 Though the plea of confcience, therefore, conii* 
 dered as the private judgment of the party upon the 
 legality or illegality of his own conduct, might be a 
 good one in the mouth of a heathen, who might 
 have no furer guide to follow; yet it cannot be admit- 
 ted in that of a Chriitian, but in proportion as it is 
 conformable to the rule by which it will be judged 
 But, as preparatory to our forming a correct idea upon 
 
128 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 this fubject, it is neceffary that we know what corfr 
 fclence properly is\ for of the number that make ufe 
 of the word, nineteen in twenty, perhaps, may be 
 ignorant of its true meaning. 
 
 By confcience., then, is to be underftood, not that 
 knowledge, opinion, or perfuafion, which a man may 
 poffefs upon any given fubject; but that knowledge, 
 opinion, or perfuafion, which is reflected inward upon 
 his mind from fome reafon^ law, or rule ^ from without* 
 which is the proper ftandard of judgment in the cafe 
 in queftion. Confcience, therefore, as its compound 
 title denotes is, comparative knowledge \ it is the judg- 
 ment which a man paffes on his own actions compared 
 with fome law. Remove all law, and you take away 
 all confcience. For where there is no law, there 
 can be no tranfgreffion ; and where 'there is no tranf- 
 greffion, there can be no judgment, becaufe there is 
 no criminal. Without a law fuperior to confcience, 
 therefore, there can be no fuch thing as confcience at 
 all: for confcience is a private, perfonal principle, 
 which muft necelfarily be fubmitted to fome law of 
 GOD, real or fuppofed, as its ultimate rule. 
 . " When we fpeak of confcience in our a&ions, (fays 
 Archbifliop SHARP) we have refpeft to fome law or 
 rule, by which thofe actions are to be directed and 
 
DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 governed, and by their agreeablenefs or difagreeable- 
 nefs with which, they become morally good or evil.* 
 The law of the ChrifHan, in religious matters, is 
 the revealed will of GOD; and what, upon proper 
 authority, is deducible from it. The confdence of a 
 Chriilian, confequently, is that teftimony which the 
 mind bears to the conduct, when compared with that 
 revealed will. 
 
 It is in fa& the application of the general Chriftiaa 
 law to a particular inltance of pra&ice. Hence it is, 
 that confcience, as the vicegerent of GOD, carries a 
 divine authority with it, becaufe it has a divine word 
 or precept to fupport it. But if no fuch word or 
 precept is to be produced, it may, indeed, be flrong 
 opinion or perfualion, but it is not confcience. And 
 no greater mifchief has been done in the world, than 
 from the want of a proper diftin&ion having been 
 made between confcience and mere confidence of 
 opinion, or perfuaflon. 
 
 In temporal matters, fhould a man plead confcience t 
 or it fhould rather be called private perfuajion, againft 
 the determination of an exifling law, he would be 
 told, that he was not at liberty to make a rule for 
 
 * See " Difcourfe concerning Confcience" by Archbifhop SHARP, 
 in JLondon Cafes, No. 8. 
 
130 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 himfelf different from that which the fociety, of which 
 he was a member, had made for him; and upon 
 which it was his duty to procure information. Were 
 the cafe otherwife, the very end of fociety would 
 be frustrated. For let it be considered, what mufl 
 be the confequence of the admifllon of that principle, 
 upon which' the modern plea of confcience is too 
 commonly founded; namely, that the private per- 
 fualion of the party, furnifhes a juftification for his 
 public conduft. 
 
 The Quaker, for inftance, confiders the payment 
 of tithe to be unlawful. He therefore refifts the 
 demand, upon the hacknied plea of confcience. But, 
 as it has been already obferved, nothing can be a rule 
 of confcience, in religious matters, but fome law of 
 GOD, real or fuppofed. The plain law of GOD calls 
 upon the Quaker, in common with all other members 
 of a civilized community, to " fubmit himfelf to every 
 ordinance of man for the LORD'S fake;" and the 
 legiflature of his country has made the payment of 
 tithe legal. Nothing, then, can juftify an oppofition 
 to the legiflature, in this cafe, but a firm convi&ion 
 in the mind of the party, that the law enafted is in 
 direfl; contradiction to fome law of GOD, natural or 
 revealed. 
 
DISCOURSE VII. 131 
 
 But the law eftabl idling the payment of tithe does 
 not iland in this predicament; for it mud be confi- 
 dered rather as a law in conformity with the revealed 
 will of GOD, than in contradi&ion to it. The pri- 
 vate perfuafion of the Quaker, under the impofing 
 plea of confcience, may therefore be confidered as fet 
 up in oppofition to the law both of GOD and man; 
 and the admiflion of it by the legiflature is but 
 eftabliming a precedent for further oppofition to 
 its authority. 
 
 For let this principle be carried to its length, and 
 it is eafy to fee where it mufl terminate. Upon the 
 ground that the Quaker refifls the law of tythe, he 
 may take it into his head to refill any other aft of 
 the legiflature ; and if his refiftance be admitted, if the 
 private perfuafion of the individual (for confcience it 
 mud not be called) be allowed to be pleaded in bar of 
 obedience to an exifting law, there will Ihortly be an 
 end of all government in the world. 
 
 That this fame plea of confcience is of equal vali- 
 dity, when made ufe of by DiiTenters of any kind, as 
 a j unification for their non-conformity tothe liturgy, 
 rites, and ceremonies of our church, is a point that 
 has been abundantly and repeatedly proved.* 
 
 * See SOUTH'S Sermons on i John Hi. 21, vol. iL; and " Di 
 courfeof ConjTcience" by Archbifnop SHARP, in London Cafes. 
 
132 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 As in temporal matters, then, the law of the land 
 becomes obligatory upon every individual of the com- 
 munity; fo, in concerns of a fpiritual nature, the will 
 of GOD, fo far as it has been revealed, admits of no 
 exemption from its obligation; nor can confcience be 
 pleaded as ajuHification for difobedience in either cafe. 
 
 If GOD, then, has been pleafed to appoint a way 
 in which he will be worshipped; I am no more at 
 liberty, upon the mere ground of my own perfuafion, 
 to worfliiphim in any other way, than I am at liberty 
 to aft in contradiction to his revealed will in any other 
 matter. When men, therefore, talk of liberty of 
 confcience, they would do well to coniider, whether it 
 be not, as the phrafe is now generally underftood, ra- 
 ther a liberty of their own making, than any portion 
 of that liberty with which CnRisrhas made them free. 
 
 Indeed, the idea that has for fome time prevailed 
 among us, that Chriftian liberty gives every man a 
 right to worlhip GOD in his own way, appears to 
 have been admitted without fufficient examination. 
 There is not one fmgle paiTage of fcripture, which 
 ftrikes me as warranting the conclufion that has been 
 drawn upon this fubjeft. Our SAVIOUR fays,* " he 
 that reje&eth me, and receiveth not my words, hath 
 
 - * John xii. 48. 
 
DISCOURSE VII. 133 
 
 one that judgeth him: the word that Ihavefpoken, 
 the fame fhall judge him in the lad day." And 
 " though we, or an angel from heaven, (faith ST. 
 PAUL) preach any other Gofpel unto you, than that 
 which we have preached unto you, let him be ac- 
 curfed." Gal. i. 8. 
 
 Suppofe, now, any man, upon the plea of con- 
 fcience, ihould reject CHRIST, as many, alas! have 
 done; refufe to acknowledge him in his mediatorial 
 character, and thereby fet up for himfelf a religion, 
 effentially different from that which has been revealed; 
 will it be faid, that CHRIST has given man a liberty 
 to be thus employed againft himfelf? " He that is 
 not for me," faith CHRIST, "is againft me; and he 
 that gathereth not with me, fcattereth."f 
 
 It has, indeed,' been faid, that in a matter which 
 concerns his own falvation, every man fliould be left 
 to the direction of his own judgment. 
 
 Provided the revealed will of GOD be made the 
 rule of that judgment, this will be readily granted. 
 But as this pofition is generally underftood, thofe 
 who are forward in advancing it, have not duly conii- 
 <lered, perhaps, to what extent it may be carried; or, 
 what is ftill more to the purpofe, whether GOD has 5 
 
 t Matt. xii. 30. 
 
134 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 with refpedt to man's fpiritual concerns, been pleafed 
 to leave him thus abfolutely, as it were, in his own 
 hands. If he has not, all reafoning upon the matter 
 is at an end; and before men fuller themfelves to be 
 governed by a fpecious dogma, which is calculated to 
 impofe, they fliould examine, whether they have fairly 
 meafured their application of it by the flandard fet up 
 for that purpofe in the word, of G o D . In other words, 
 w'- ether they have honeftly made ufe of all means to 
 inform their judgment, before they adopt it as their 
 rule of conduct. If they have not, their fincerity, 
 merely as fuch, will furnifti no plea in their favour. 
 They w ; ll be condemned, not becaufe they are ilncere, 
 but becaufe they have neglected thofe means of in- 
 formation, which would have directed their fincerity 
 to its proper object. In confequ en ce of which neg- 
 lect., they may be in the condition of numberlefs 
 aiTertors of the rights of confcience, that have ap- 
 peared in all a?es of the world; who, in the ftrenuous 
 exertion of their zeal, thought they were doing GOD 
 fervice, at the time they were engaged in the moil direct 
 oppcfit'on to his will; and facrificing to idols which 
 their own corrupt nature had fet up, under the differ- 
 ent fnapes of fride, prejudice, and 'worldly intereft. 
 
C 135 ] 
 
 DISCOURSE VIU. 
 
 On TOLERATION. 
 
 fubjeft of TOLERATION has been open to 
 much mifconception. 
 The Aft upon which it is founded, fliould be feefl 
 in a civil) not in a religious point of view; for it con r 
 cerns men as members of a civil fociety, rather than 
 in any other character. The paffing this Aft was a 
 feafonable exertion of political wifdom, for the pur- 
 pofe of fecuring the government of this country, at 
 a very critical period, upon the broadeft foundation. 
 And the Aft itfelf may with more propriety be called 
 an Aft of Sufpenfion, than of Toleration ; the purpofe 
 of it being to fecure Proteftant DiiTenters from the 
 Church of England, on certain cond : tions, from the 
 penalties to which they had been made fubjeft by for- 
 mer ftatutes. That this was the idea which the legifl- 
 fctors had before them at the time, may be fairly 
 concluded, from the word ToiCi ation not being once 
 
136 PISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 mentioned through the whole ftatute; and from the 
 A& of Uniformity being at the fame time fuiFered to 
 remain unrepealed. 
 
 To form a correft judgment, then, upon this 
 fubjeft, it may be proper to conlider every law as 
 compofed of two diftinft parts,, the preceptive, that 
 which binds the law upon the confcience, and the 
 coercive, that which enforces the obligation of it 
 upon the pra&ice. Now the coercive part of any 
 law, or the penal fanftion annexed to it, is only for 
 the neceffary purpofe of moving or containing men 
 to pay that obedience to the law, which is required 
 of them. But the obligation upon the confcience is 
 not derived from the penalty defigned to fecure it, 
 but from the authority of the lawgiver; who, by 
 virtue of that authority, had a right to exaft obe- 
 dience to all his juft demands. A fufpenfion, there- 
 fore, of the penal fanction, though in the prefent 
 corrupt ftate of man it render the law lefs eifectual, 
 does not in anywife invalidate the law itfelf; which 
 remains juft what it was before the fanftion was 
 annexed to it; binding upon the party, or otherwife, 
 according to the juft tenour of the law in queftion, 
 and the authority of the law-maker, independent of 
 every other confideration. For it is not reafonable 
 
DISCOURSE VIII. 337 
 
 to fuppofe, that the removal of the penalty can take 
 away from the law that obligation which it derives 
 from a different caufe. 
 
 The Apoftle feems to have had this idea before 
 him in the following legal comment addreffed to his 
 difciples. " Wherefore," fays he, " you muft needs 
 be fubjeft, not only for wrath -, but alfo for conference 
 fake:" not for fear of the penalty, but from a fenfe 
 of the obligation which the law binds upon the con- 
 fcience. A motive which ought to fecure the obe- 
 dience of every Chriftian. 
 
 The fati&ion annexed, then, to any law proves 
 nothing as to the obligation of the law itfelf upon 
 the confcience; but it proves, that in confequence of 
 man not being in that perfect condition in which he 
 ought to be, other motives, befides thofe derived 
 from the reafonablenefs and equity of the command, 
 are become neceiTary to fecure his obedience. For 
 every law ftands upon the ground of its own merits; 
 if good in itfelf, and enacted by proper authority, 
 whether the penalties defigned to fecure its opera- 
 tion be enforced or not, its obligation upon the 
 confcience remains the fame. 
 
 Let us now confider what the Act of Toleration, as 
 it is commonly called, has done in the cafe before us. 
 
138 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 By the Aft of Uniformity ', every perfon is required 
 to conform to the mode of worfliip eflabliftied in 
 this country. The enforcement of penalties upon 
 this fubjeft, a fubfequent Aft has, under certain cir- 
 cumflances, fufpended; whilft, at the fame time, the 
 Aft itfelf, the operation of which thofe penalties were 
 meant to fecure, is fuffered to remain in being. May 
 we not conclude from hence, that the legiflators faw 
 no reafon to alter their opinion with refpeft to the 
 Aft of Uniformity itfelf; although, upon confidera- 
 tion, they thought proper, in particular cafes, to 
 leave it to produce its efieft upon the mind, unafllfled 
 by its appointed fanftion. 
 
 The title of Toleration Aft, therefore, which ufe has 
 now familiarized to the ear, feems to be derived rather 
 from the meaning which popularcinterpretation has 
 affixed to the Aft in queflion, than from the real in- 
 tention of the Aft itfelf. For an exemption from 
 penalties, which the policy of former times had 
 inflifted upon certain irregular praftices, cannot be 
 confidered fo much a toleration of thofe praftices, 
 as an acknowledgment, on the part of Government, 
 that religious opinions, fo long as they do not interfere 
 with what is deemed to be the welfare of the ftate, 
 are no longer confidered objefts for temporal coercion. 
 
DISCOURSE VIIT. 139 
 
 But in this cafe, as in fome others, in which the 
 prejudices and paffions of mankind are deeply en- 
 gaged, the conclufion has been carried beyond the 
 premifes; and the legiflature has been underflood 
 to fay more than was ever meant to be faid upon this 
 fubjeft; the fetting free from legal reftraint certain 
 religious diflinftions and practices having been con- 
 iidered, by many, to amount to a juftification, or 
 even eftablijhment of them. Whereas the Aft of 
 Toleration, as it is called, tolerates nothing ; if by 
 toleration is to be underflood a j unification of 
 practices, againft which temporal penalties had been 
 heretofore denounced. A fufpenfion of thofe pe- 
 nalties is all that it pretends to. But a fufpenfion of 
 penalties, whilfl the law to which they have been 
 annexed continues unrepealed, as it has been already 
 obferved, does not leflen the obligation of that law, 
 though it may deftroy its effeft. 
 
 But upon the fuppofition that the Aft of Toleration 
 did more than it does; that it not only fufpended 
 the penalties by which a conformity to the eftablifhed 
 worfliip was defigned to be enforced, but that it 
 moreover repealed every civil law that related to that 
 fubjeft ; fuch a conceffion would make no alteration 
 in the ea/e before us. For the obligation to church 
 
140 DISCOURSE VjtII. 
 
 unity is not derived from the authority of the civil, 
 but from that of the Divine law. It is originally 
 grounded upon the revealed will of the Founder of 
 the Chriflian church; who could not give a more 
 ftrikmg proof of the neceffity and importance of 
 this Chriflian principle, than by making it the fub- 
 jeft of his mod folemn prayer on a very particular 
 occafion. Nor could the Apoflle give a more plain 
 defcription of the nature of it, than by making the 
 human body a type or emblem of the Chriftian 
 church; to the end that the members of the latter 
 Ihould draw an argument for their conftant commu- 
 nion with each other, from the confideration of the 
 joint fellowfliip and united operation of the members 
 of the former. 
 
 Wherever, then, the church of CHRIST exifts, an 
 obligation to communion with it is binding upon the 
 confcience of every Chriflian, by virtue of that Divine 
 law which accompanied its eflablifhment. This Divine 
 law is paramount to every human injunftion upon 
 the fubjeft. Whatever liberty, therefore, the Aft 
 of Toleration may be fuppofed to give, with refpeft 
 to Chriftian conformity, mufl be underflood as given 
 in a cafe, in which no human legijlature has any 
 liberty to grant. The civil penalties which were de- 
 
DISCOURSE VIII. 141 
 
 Cgned to fecure it, having been removed, the law to 
 which they were annexed is left to {land upon the 
 original grounnd of its fuppofed agreement with the 
 revealed will of GOD; confequently, the obligation 
 to church unity is juft what it was in the primitive 
 days of the church, before civil policy interfered with 
 the bufinefs. 
 
 And though in this cafe civil policy, by with- 
 drawing its influence, ceafe to aflift the operation of 
 the Divine law, it does not, therefore, leifen its obli- 
 gation. For by whatever rules of political expedi- 
 ency the conduft of the magiflrate may be governed, 
 certain it is, that the greater power cannot be over- 
 ruled by the letter one. The fin of fchifm, therefore, 
 or a wilful feparation from the church of CHRIST, 
 is juft what the word of GOD has pronounced it to 
 be, whatever may be the determination of the magif- 
 trate upon the fubjeft; and all that he has hitherto 
 determined upon it in this country, has been to leave 
 it to the judgment of its proper tribunal. 
 
 It is to be lamented, indeed, that an indulgence, 
 originating, we truft, in charity, and deiigned to 
 produce good effefts, fhould have operated to the 
 more general difunion of the members of the Chrifr.- 
 ian church. But certain it is, that the Aft which 
 
142 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 fufpends the penalties which were defigned to enforce 
 the obligation to church communion, has, in its ope- 
 ration, tended to increafe the evil, which the original 
 interference of the legiflature was in this cafe intended 
 to prevent. That fanftion which the legiflature has 
 been fuppofed (by a mifmterpretation of the Aft in 
 queflion) to give to every feparation from the Chrift- 
 ian church, has in facl: proved the moft fatal blow 
 that the unity of that church ever received. For, 
 according to the remonftrance of the Houfe of Com- 
 mons, in anfwer to CHARLES the, Second's decla- 
 ration from Breda, " it has (in a manner) eflablifhed 
 fchifm by a law ; made the whole government of the 
 church precarious, and the cenfures of it of no 
 moment or confideration; and been the caufe of 
 increafing fefts and feftaries, by introducing that 
 loofe way of thinking upon the fubject of church 
 communion, which makes it a matter of indifference 
 with many people, what place of worfhip they fre- 
 quent, or with what fociety of religionifls they are 
 connected: a circumflance, which annihilates, as it 
 wtere, the fin of fchifm, by removing out of fight all 
 thofe difcriminating marks, to be found in the writings 
 of the Apoflles and firfl Chriftians, by which 
 
DISCOURSE VIII. 143 
 
 church of CHRIST, as a fociety at unity within it- 
 felf, is diftinguiflied." 
 
 Before we finifli this head, it may be proper to fay 
 one fhort word to guard againfl wrong conclufions. 
 
 As miniflers of the church of CHRIST upon con- 
 vi&ion, we mufl lament, in common with all found 
 members of it, that there fhould be any fuch thing 
 as feparation from it; and it is our duty, fo far as 
 perfuafion and argument will go, to prevent it. 
 But knowing that diverflty of opinions in religious 
 matters is the unavoidable refult of human imper- 
 fe&ion and human liberty, and that offences muft 
 come; we are prepared, in what we conceive to be 
 the true fpirit of our religion, to accompany fuch 
 events with that charitable hope which one Chriflian 
 may beftow upon another, though of a different 
 opinion. At the fame time we fliould do lefs than 
 our duty, did we not clearly point out what has been 
 here attempted, the light in which, according to our 
 judgment, the Aft of Toleration fliould be feen by 
 every member of the Chriftian church; reminding 
 him, that, upon the fuppofition that a wilful fepa- 
 ration from the church is finful in the eyes of GOD, 
 of which, it is prefumed, no reafonable doubt can 
 
144 .DISCOURSE vm, 
 
 be entertained, no a& of any human legiflature can 
 make it otherwife. 
 
 Separatifls from the church, therefore, under the 
 fuppofed countenance of Government, would do well 
 to confider, that a civil aft in this cafe (as we have 
 above obferved) refpefts them only as members of a 
 civil fociety; but furniflies no proper ftandard of 
 judgment for their condu& as Chriftians; in which 
 character, they become amenable to the law of that 
 LORD, by whom they will be judged, and from 
 \vhofe fentence there lies no appeal. 
 
I 1*5 ] 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 On the Right of PRIVATE JUDGMENT in 
 Religious Matters.- 
 
 UPON the right of private judgment in religious 
 matters much more perhaps has been faid, 
 than the fubjeft will warrant. 
 
 The Apoftle, indeed, dire&s us to " prove all 
 things," but at the fame time to " hold faft that 
 which is good." From whence it may be concluded, 
 that there is a difference between a blind and implicit 
 obedience to authority in religious matters, and a total 
 exemption from obligation on that head; between 
 taking our religion entirely upon trufl from others, 
 or thinking it to be a part of Chriilian liberty, to 
 make what religion we pleafe for ourfelves. The 
 one leads back to the dark days of bigotry and 
 fuperftition, the other renders the eftablifhment of 
 a church, as a fociety under regular government^ 
 altogether impra&icable. 
 
146 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 In faft, the right of private judgment in religious 
 patters refpefts man in the relation in which he 
 Hands to his fellow-creatures; the exercife of which, 
 fo far as it concerns himfelf only, no other man has 
 a right to control. But this confideration, though 
 it tend to fecure a privilege, claimed by every mem- 
 ber of civilized fociety, muil neverthelefs, when 
 applied to the fubjeft immediately before us, be 
 meafured by a facred flandard, before it can become 
 a fafe principle of human conduft. The phrafe, 
 therefore, is open to an ambiguous meaning; and 
 calculated, if not to offer incenfe to that idol of the 
 natural man, human reafon, at leaft to cherifh an 
 idea, which has too often led to a dangerous con- 
 clufion. Man, in the affairs of this world, may 
 affume a right to judge for himfelf in a cafe upon 
 which he is not qualified to form a judgment; and fa 
 long as his exercife of that right interferes not with 
 the authority of the magiftrate, or the welfare of the 
 community, he may be indulged in his folly. But in 
 religious matters no man can have a right to judge 
 otherwife than GOD has judged for him. The ordi- 
 nances of CHRIST, and the truths of his religion, 
 are neceffary, becaufe he has made them fo; that 
 teceffity therefore mufl continue the fame, whether 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 147 
 
 we obferve them, or not. For the religion of 
 CHRIST, whatever be man's opinion upon it, will be 
 precifely what it is, " the fame yefterday, to-day, and 
 for ever;" and it is at his peril, if he do not con- 
 form to it. 
 
 To fay, therefore, that man has a right to wor- 
 fliip GOD in the way he thinks proper; in other 
 words, to make a religion for himfelf; is to place all 
 religions upon the fame level as to the Divine favour, 
 and to render an appeal to revelation wholly unne- 
 ceflary; by leading him to conclude, that he is at 
 liberty to fet up a flandard of right and wrong for 
 himfelf in this cafe, inflead of accepting with humility 
 that Divine flandard which has in wifdom been fet 
 up for him. 
 
 To enter more at large into this fubjeft, after 
 what has been already faid, under the head of Li- 
 berty of Confcience, would be to trefpafs upon 
 the reader. 
 
 It may be neceflary, however, to take notice of 
 one mode of fettling the minds of ill-informed people 
 upon this fubjeft; which, from its plaufibility, has 
 gained much credit in the world. 
 
 There are authors, unhappily for this country, 
 manner of writing, upon certain fubje&s, 
 
148 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 feems calculated to confound every thing that looks 
 like order and government in fociety; by fetting up 
 the majefty of the people (to make ufe of the abfurd 
 phrafeology of republicanifm) as the origin of power 
 in the ftate; and the facred right, or rather miftaken 
 plea of Proteftantlfm^ as a fan&ion for divifions in the 
 church. According to thefe writers, who either do 
 Bot underftand, or purpofely mifreprefent, the prin- 
 ciple of proteftantifm, the right of judgment in reli- 
 gious matters, which the church of England pleads 
 in justification of her feceiHon from the church of 
 Rome, is to be pleaded, by every individual Chrif- 
 tian, for his feparation from the church of England; 
 as if by proteftantifm were chiefly meant, a right of 
 feparation from the church; without regard to the 
 caufe of it. But upon examining the two cafes, we 
 fliall find them to be by no means parallel; and 
 confequently no conclufion is to be drawn from the 
 one to the other. 
 
 The feparation of the church of England from the 
 church of Rome, was grounded, not upon the idea, 
 that Ihe had a right to form a church for herfelf 
 upon any new plan of her own; but upon the idea,, 
 that it was no longer compatible with the fpiritua! 
 welfare of her members to hold communion with a 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 149 
 
 corrupt church. It was neither the government nor 
 do&rine of the church of CHRIST, that were pro- 
 tefled againfl on this occafion, but the corruptions 
 that had taken place in both ; the ufurped fupremacy 
 of the bifhop of Rome, and thofe dangerous tenets, 
 which were incompatible with fome of the moil effen- 
 tial articles of the Chriflian faith. In protefling 
 againfl the Pope's ufurped fupremacy, the church of 
 England did no more than the church of Rome her- 
 felf had done upon a former occafion, when GRE- 
 GORY the Firfl protefled againfl the ufurpation of 
 the fame title by JOHN bifhop of Constantinople ; a 
 title which that great prelate did not fcruple to call 
 blafphemous, and the ufurper of it the forerunner 
 of AntichrifL The churches of Rome and Conflan- 
 tinople were two feparate branches of the church of 
 CHRIST; to their exiftence as fuch, their holding 
 communion with each other was not eflential. The 
 church of England is alfo a feparate bnmch of the 
 church of CHRIST; its feparation, therefore, from 
 the church of Rome is a circumftance, by which its 
 exiftence as a church can in no wife be affefted; 
 becaufe it poffefles within itfelf all thofe chara&eriflic 
 marks by which a church, as a fociety of CHRIST'S 
 forming, is diilinguifhed; and of which it was in full 
 
150 DISCOURSE IX, 
 
 pofTeffion, before its connexion with the church of 
 Rome took place. The proteflantifm, therefore, of 
 the church of England, confifls in the right which 
 one independent branch of the church of CHRIST 
 claims, of protefling, in its collective character, 
 againil the errors of another branch of it; with 
 which, from local circumflances, it may, or may not, 
 hold communion. 
 
 For by the unity of the Chriflian church, we do 
 not underfland a neceffary communion between all 
 branches of that church, however difperfed, or how- 
 ever diflinguifhed from each other ; for this mufl 
 depend upon circumflances: but that unity which 
 every branch of the Chriflian church poifeiTes within 
 itfelf, when all its members, being joined together, in 
 the fame mind, and the fame doctrine, live in dutiful 
 obedence to thofe who have the rule over them, and 
 in Chriflian fellowfhip with each other. 
 
 But the idea annexed to the word proteftantifm, by 
 the DifTenter from the church of England, is, that it 
 eflablifhes the right, which every individual claims, 
 pf judging for himfelf in religious matters; and fepa- 
 rating from the church, of which he ought to conti- 
 nue a member, for any reafon which to him may 
 appear fufficient; or, fliould he be fo difpofed, for no 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 151 
 
 reafon at all. He who cannot fee the difference 
 between thefe two cafes, muft, it is to be feared, be 
 in a condition fomewhat limilar to that in which the 
 Jews were, when their invincible prejudices would not 
 fuiFer them to acknowledge our SAVIOUR'S charac- 
 ter; they had eyes to fee, but would not fee. For 
 in the one cafe, we behold the deliberate aft of an 
 independent branch of the church of CHRIST, vindi- 
 cating its own rights againfl the ufurped tyranny of 
 Smother branch of the fame church, and breaking 
 off communion with it, for the fake of preferving the 
 purity of its own worfhip; in the other, we fee the 
 aft of the individual Chriflian, fetting up his own 
 way of thinking as his definitive flandard of judg- 
 ment in religious matters; a mode of proceeding 
 abfolutely incompatible with the exiftence of the 
 church as a fociety; and cafling himfelf out of her 
 communion, for the fake of gratifying fome private 
 prejudice or opinion. 
 
 To us thefe two cafes appear widely different; 
 but not more fo, I believe, than they would have 
 done to thofe original foreign reformers,* who, on 
 their firfl withdrawing from a corrupt church, la- 
 
 
 * CALYIN and BEZA In particular, 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 mented the neceillty they were under, of feparating 
 from the eflablifhed government of the church of 
 CHRIST ; and thought that no curfe could be too bad 
 for thofe who feparated from it, when in a reformed 
 ftate* Their fubfequent change of fentiment upon 
 this fubjecl, in conformity to times and circumflances, 
 does fo little credit either to the men or their caufe, 
 that we are glad to pafs it by in filence. 
 
 Ever fmce the aera of the Reformation, the church 
 of England has been confidered to be the firmeft 
 bulwark of Proteftantifm. So far as the Diffenter 
 agrees with her, in protefting againfl the errors of 
 the Romifh church ; fo far he may be faid to be 
 at unity with her: but when that right, which juftifies 
 the DnTenter, in common with the church of Eng* 
 land, in feparating from a corrupt branch of the 
 Chriftian church, is extended to jollify his feparatiort 
 from a branch of the church, confeffedly not in the 
 fame flate of corruption, and of whofe members 
 no unlawful terms of communion are required; and 
 to authorife his fetting up a church of his own, inde- 
 pendent of epifcopal government; the Diffenter quits 
 the original ground of proteftantifm, and places him- 
 felf upon that of fchifm; and in fuch cafe he be* 
 omes nfchifmatic grafted upon a froteftant. 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 153 
 
 Freedom of inquiry into the grounds of religion 
 is readily acknowledged to be the diftinguifhing 
 principle of the proteftant caufe. But this principle, 
 if not exercifed under proper reftraint, -will deilroy 
 the caufe it is defigned to ferve. That law mufl be 
 ufelefs, from which every man has a plea of private 
 exemption lodged in his own breaft. And all confli- 
 tuted authority in the church mufl be annihilated, if 
 the right of private judgment in religious matters, in 
 the extent to which it is carried by fome people, is to 
 be admitted. 
 
 Our SAVIOUR we find giving direction in a parti- 
 cular cafe, for an appeal to the judgment of the 
 church ; from whence we are obviouily led to con- 
 clude, that it was his defign that a certain degree of 
 refpeft fhould be paid to its decifions. Matt, xviii, 
 17. The church, we are moreover told by the 
 Apoftle, is " the pillar and ground of the truth." i 
 Tim. iii. 15. By which we underftand, that the 
 revelation of the Gofpel is a facred depofit, which 
 CHRIST has left with his church, to the end that it 
 might be propagated and fupported in the world by 
 that fpirit and authority, which were committed to its 
 miniilers for that purpofe. Therefore the bifhops, 
 who are thofe fpirhual fathers, to whofe care CHRIST 
 P 
 
154 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 i 
 
 has committed his church upon earth a are called upon 
 by the Apoftle, not only " to fpeak and exhort, but 
 alfo to rebuke with all authority, and to let no man 
 defpife them." 
 
 Where authority is committed, it is certainly with 
 the intent that, fo far as the exercife of this authority 
 properly extends, it ought to be obeyed. In the 
 cafe before us, then, we do not hefitate to fay, 
 that in proportion as the authority of the church is 
 difregarded, the pillar of truth is ihaken, and the 
 caufe of Chriflianity fuffers. 
 
 In confequence, indeed, of the abufe that has 
 been made of the fpiritual authority, many have 
 thought it not poflible to be too much upon their 
 guard againfl it. To fleer clear, therefore, of the im- 
 pofitions of the Romifti priefthood, they have haflily 
 determined to pay no attention to that facred office at 
 all. But this, furely, is to correct one error by run- 
 ning into its oppofite; by exchanging a blind credulity 
 for a contemptuous difregard for a Divine inflitution. 
 Without encroaching, then, upon the right of 
 private judgment, which, to a certain degree is ac- 
 knowledged, we may venture to fay in fupport of 
 ecclefiaflical authority, that if CHRIST hath appointed 
 certain perfons in his church, diflinguifhed by their 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 155 
 
 ftation and office to be teachers- and guides, it is the 
 duty of the members of that church to be taught and 
 guided by them, fo far as their teaching and gui- 
 dance conform to the revelation which they have in 
 commiffion to pubiifh. When the teaching or di- 
 reftion of thefe appointed guides appears, not in the 
 mere private opinion of the party, but upon evident 
 and fubftantial reafons, to be contrary to the revealed 
 will of GOD, they can no longer be a proper rule of 
 duty; in fuch cafe the member of the church exer- 
 cifes the right of private judgment. But it mufl be 
 remembered, at the fame time, that though the 
 private Chriftian be juftified in the fight of GOD for 
 withholding a&ive obedience from any rule or prac- 
 tice, which in his confcience are inconfiftent with 
 the laws of CHRIST, for he is to obey GOD 
 rather than man; yet if in this cafe, inftead of pati- 
 ently fubmitting to the penalties denounced againil 
 his difobedience, he openly refill the authority of his 
 appointed governors, by a conduft in dire& oppofition 
 to their injunctions; he thereby renders himfelf ac- 
 countable to GOD for rebellion againft the eftablifhed 
 government of his church. 
 
 Upon this fubjeft, then, we make the revealed 
 will of GOD the fole flandard of judgment, and call 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 for no fubmiffion to the clergy that may be proved 
 to be incompatible with it; but in doubtful cafes, 
 upon which a difference of opinion prevails, we claim 
 that degree of deference to the determination of the 
 appointed guides and teachers of the church, which a 
 refpeft for their flation demands, and the end for 
 which their office was inftituted, abfolutely requires. 
 
 With lefs authority than this, it is not to be con- 
 ceived, how it is polfible for miniflers of the church to 
 .execute the duties of their ftation. For if, in doubt- 
 ful cafes, where no pofitive law of GOD is to be 
 found for the dire&ion of the confcience, or where 
 the law produced is differently interpreted, the opi- 
 nion of the ruler and guide, of him who is appointed 
 by GOD to teach in the church, is not to overrule 
 that of the party to be taught; we have a government 
 inftituted without any authority annexed to it. For 
 in this cafe every private Chriftian is left in a ftate of 
 independence, to judge and determine for himfelf; 
 upon which plan, the church, as a vifible fociety, (the 
 very being of which implies an authority to com- 
 jnand, and an obligation to obey) could nowhere exift. 
 
 Subjeft to the above limitations, the ecclefiaflical 
 Authority is no abridgment of Chriftian liberty. 
 Under thefe limitations, therefore, we feel ourfelves 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 157 
 
 juftified in fupporting its caufe againft the right of 
 private judgment; taken in that unlimited fenfe, in 
 which its zealous advocates are difpofed to confider it. 
 Whilft, therefore, we proteft againft the Popifh 
 extreme, of leading men blindfold in their Chriftian 
 profeffion, as inconfiftent with the character of rea- 
 fonable beings; we at the fame time do not fcruple 
 to affirm, that every man is not qualified to form a 
 judgment for himfelf in religious matters, much lefs 
 to fet up for a teacher and guide to his brethren. 
 Were this the cafe, the paftoral office had been an 
 ufelefs one; and GOD, who does nothing in vain, 
 would never have delivered a commiffion to particular 
 perfons, which might, with equal advantage, have 
 been exercifed indifcriminately by all: much lefs 
 would He have thought it necefTary to have furnifhed 
 thofe perfons with extraordinary powers for the 
 difcharge of it. 
 
 It was a complaint made by one of the primitive 
 writers of the church, " that the fenfe of the fcriptures 
 was the only piece of knowledge, which every one 
 thought himfelf a competent judge of, without pains 
 or ftudy, without the help of a guide or inftru&or:" 
 a prefumption, which the levity and thoughtleffnefs 
 of the age have tended to increafe. But whillt 
 
158 DISCOURSE JX* 
 
 there are things hard to be underflood in the fcrip, 
 tures, which unlearned and unftable men did in the 
 Apoflles' days wreft to their own definition; the 
 notion that any man, without the aid of iludy or 
 learning, is qualified to be an expounder of the word 
 of GOD j "rightly to divide the word of truth," 
 as the Apoflle exprefles it; feems calculated not fa 
 much to ferve the caufe of religion, as that of folly* 
 enthufiafm, and imppflure. 
 
 If men, therefore, are determined to exercife this 
 boafted right of private judgment, at all events, upon, 
 the idea that Chriilian liberty authorifes every mau 
 to worfhip GOD in his own way; they ftiould at the 
 fame time remember, that if through pride, or felf? 
 conceit, they defpife inftru&ion; and by turning their 
 backs upon thofe pallors whom GOD has appointed 
 to direct them, they fall into error, or prove the 
 means of leading others into it; they muft thank 
 themfelves for the confequences. 
 
 Suppofing it pofrible that men might err with the 
 church, they would have this plea in their favour; 
 that they had followed thofe, whom, according to 
 the conflitution of the country in which GOD had 
 placed them, they had been taught to look up to as 
 their guides. Whereas i f they have left the church, 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 159 
 
 and the truth together, the choice has been their 
 own ' 9 and they will have two things to anfwer for: 
 firfl, the embracing error, when truth was before 
 them ; and in the next place, the breaking the peace 
 of the church, of which, according to CHRIST'S 
 inftitution, and upon the fuppofition that no unlaw- 
 ful terms of communion have been required from 
 them, they ought to have continued dutiful members. 
 
 The loofe way of thinking that prevails upon this 
 fubject, can make no alteration in the fubjecl: itfelf. 
 The plan upon which CHRIST has eftablifhed his 
 church in the world mud continue, till its object 
 fliall have been accompliihed. And though this 
 church, from the days of its firft fettlement, hath 
 been pafling from country to country, as the inhabi- 
 tants of each became refpe&ively unworthy of its 
 longer continuance among them; yet for our comfort 
 we are affured, that the gates of hell fliall not com- 
 pletely prevail againfl it. In one part of the world 
 or another, it; will be found to the end of time. 
 
 How long it may be in the counfel of GOD to 
 continue it in this country, He only knows. But 
 the prefent divided (late of Chriftians, fo much la- 
 mented by all found members of the church, together 
 with that too general indifference for all religious 
 
160 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 opinions, which, under the fallacious term of libe- 
 rality offentiment, now prevails, holds out to us no 
 very promifmg profpect. 
 
 So long indeed as a notion prevails, to which 
 the practice of the world gives countenance, that it 
 matters not what religious profeffion a man makes, 
 or with what religious fociety he connects himfelf j 
 it will be impoffible to fay any thing upon the fubjedt 
 of religious conformity, that will not be liable to 
 cavil and objection; becaufe, under thefe circum- 
 fiances, we are not dealing with the reafon, fo much 
 as with the prejudices and pafllons of mankind; which 
 are always, more or lefs, in a flate of rebellion againfl 
 every thing that wears the appearance of reftraint 
 or fubmiflion. 
 
 But if men will miftake the liberty with which 
 CHRIST has made them free; namely, a deliverance 
 from the dominion of over-ruling paflions, from the 
 abfurdities of heathenifh idolatry, and the yoke of 
 the Jewiih ritual ; for a freedom from all reftraint, 
 an uncontroled exertion of private judgment in reli- 
 gious matters, and an independence of eccleiiaftical 
 inflitutions ; we cannot be furprifed, that their conduct 
 upon this fubject ftiould militate againft the plan 
 laid down by CHRIST for the eflabliftiment of his 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 161 
 
 church. Whilft thofe prejudices and paffions, which 
 the Chriftian religion was defigned either to regulate 
 or fubdue, maintain their ground in the human mind, 
 the flandard of judgment fet up in the Gofpel will 
 be rendered in a great degree ufelefs. Men, under 
 thefe circumftances, will perfuade themfelves, either 
 that it does not apply to them, or by fome fallacy or 
 other will contrive to evade the conclufion, that mufl 
 otherwife have been drawn from it. Tfcusfelfdeqsp- 
 iion is induftrioufly put in pra&ice, in order to fteer 
 clear of that troubleforae thing called felf-conviftion. 
 
 In faft, human pride is, generally fpeaking, fo 
 much mixed up with human error, that till one can 
 be feparated from the other, there is little hope of 
 effefting an agreement of fentiment upon any difputed 
 fubjeft; for men will not fee what they are not dif- 
 pofed to acknowledge. 
 
 But when men " become as little children" pof- 
 feffed of that meek, lowly, and teachable temper, 
 \vhich alone renders them capable or defirous of 
 information ; the Bible, although it cannot fpeak a 
 plainer language than it does at prefent, will then 
 be better underftood ; becaufe men will fit down to 
 it, not with a view to confirm opinions already em- 
 Vraced a but to draw from it, in iimplicity and fincerity, 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 that knowledge, \vhich by Divine grace it was de* 
 figned to convey to all difpofed to receive it. 
 
 In that cafe, they will perceive, that one great 
 pbject which CHRIST had in view in the eftablifh- 
 ment of his church, was, that the members of it 
 might be joined together in the bond of peace and 
 unity; in the language of ST. PAUL, that " there 
 might be no fchifm in the body:" and confequently, 
 that no gratification of private fancy or opinion, 
 much lefs of prejudice or pafTion, ought to be weighed 
 in the fcale againft this mod effential confideration. 
 ST. PAUL has fo fully determined this point in the 
 cafe of fome of his Corinthian converts, by telling 
 them, that even the miraculous gifts of which they 
 were in pofleiTion, would prove no juflification for 
 their diflurbing the peace and order of the church, 
 as to leave nothing neceflary to be added on that 
 fubjecl. In the judgment of ST. PAUL, the gift of 
 prophecy, the underitanding all myfteries, and all 
 knowledge, and all faith, were as nothing in com- 
 parifon with that charity, by which it was defigned 
 that the members of the Chriflian church fliould be 
 joined together. 
 
 In the judgment of the world, what was of fuch 
 confequence in the early days of the church, is now, 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 163 
 
 we are forry to think, become of no confequence at 
 all; and that harmony among Chriftians, for which 
 our SAVIOUR earneflly prayed, and which the Apof- 
 tles and primitive rulers of the church laboured fo 
 conflantly to promote, is now become a matter of 
 comparative indifference: as we mud conclude to be 
 the cafe, when we fee men, not only without thofe 
 miraculous gifts, upon which the Corinthians pre- 
 fumed, but oft times without that degree of know- 
 ledge neceffary to qualify them to underfland the 
 letter of the Gofpel, which they undertake to publifli^ 
 drawing congregations after them, and making the 
 fupport of fome private conceit, or the flighted dif- 
 ference of opinion upon matters not effential to the 
 Chriftian caufe, a fufficient ground for feparatioa 
 from their appointed teachers. 
 
 But would men confider, that charity and humility 
 are two diilinguifhing marks of a Chriftian, they 
 would feel themfelves difpofed to believe more, and 
 to difpute lefs. Would the men to whom we now 
 more particularly allude confider, that the fubmiffion 
 of human reafon to the revealed word of GOD is 
 part of that felf-abafement, which the Chriftian is 
 called upon to pradYife; whofe every " thought is 
 to be brought into captivity to the obedience of 
 
164 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 CHRIST;*' they would ftand with lefs confidence 
 upon ground of their own choofing, than they do at 
 prefent; and would feel themfelves more in a dif- 
 pofition to be taught, than to teach. For, without 
 being an advocate for blind credulity, the evils of 
 which have been abundantly manifefted, we do not 
 heiltate to fay, that there are in religion many things 
 which, by the generality of mankind, mud in fome 
 degree be taken upon truil ; becaufe the generality 
 of mankind are not qualified to form a competent 
 judgment of the evidence upon which they ftand. 
 
 Whilil the bed informed will, upon the confider- 
 ation that now " we know only in part," be mod 
 ready to fubfcribe to the idea 5 that in certain cafes the 
 honour of GOD is more advanced by the fubmiilion, 
 than by the exertion, of the human underflanding. 
 
 And if this idea prevail, when applied to fubje&s 
 of primary confideration, as revealed articles of faith; 
 it will not furely, when the peace of the church is 
 concerned, be found inapplicable to matters, which 
 revelation may have left more undetermined. "For 
 the fpirit of CHRIST^ (as Bifhop ANDREWS long 
 fince obferved) is the fpirit of ingenuity, which will 
 freely fubmit itfelf to that which is expedient, even 
 in things of their own nature lawful. The not ota 
 
DISCOURSE IX, 165 
 
 ferving whereof, with good heed and difcretion, hath 
 in old time filled the world with many a fuperftitious 
 imagination; and in our days hath healed the imagi- 
 nation, and fuperftition, and hypocrify, with another 
 of riot and licentious liberty, as bad as the former, 
 and a great deal worfe." 
 
 The only remedy for this evil, the fruitful fource 
 of all fin and herefy in the world, is to be found in 
 the promotion of that charitable fpirit of the Gofpel, 
 " which envieth not; which is not puffed up; which 
 behaveth not unfeemly; which beareth all things, 
 believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all 
 things;" rather than that brotherly love, the bond 
 of Chriflian perfeclnefs, fhould be broken. A fpirit, 
 which it is my duty to prefs moft earneftly upon 
 Chriftians; from the full convi&ion, that envyings, 
 divifions, and herefies, are thofe works of the fiefh, 
 which moil effectually ferve the caufe of that grand 
 enemy, whofe conllant employment it is, fo far as in 
 him lies, to render abortive the Chriftian fcherne for 
 thefalvation of fallen man. 
 
C 167 ] 
 
 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 On the Advantages attendant upon a conscientious- 
 Communion with the CHURCH; together with 
 the Disadvantages consequent upon a wilful 
 Separation from it. 
 
 r "T*HE weight which any pra&ice or opinion ought 
 to have upon the mind, muft depend, in a 
 great degree, on the conclufion to be drawn from it* 
 Were not the advantages and difadvantages confe- 
 quent on a communion with, or feparation from, the 
 church to be made apparent; all that has been 
 written on thefe fubjefts might, for the moft part, 
 be confidered as wade paper. For if nothing is 
 to be gained or loft by the determination of man's 
 conduct in this refpeft, it certainly becomes a matter 
 of indifference, with what fociety of Chriftians he is 
 ccnne&ed; and in this cafe he might, in religious 
 matters at leafl, be left at liberty to follow the gui- 
 dance of his own fancy or opinion. 
 
16*8 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 I 
 
 But if the church is to be feen in the light in 
 which we have placed it, as a fociety of CHRIST'S 
 forming, for the exprefs purpofe of men being faved 
 in it from the corruption and condemnation of a 
 wicked world; it becomes a matter of eiTential con., 
 fideration with every man, whether he be a member 
 of that church or not. 
 
 To .enable the Chriftian, then, to draw the 
 conclufion neceiTary to confirm his judgment in this 
 cafe, we proceed, in conformity with our plan, to 
 point out the advantages and difadvantages confe- 
 quent upon a communion with, or feparation from, 
 the t church. In doing this, it may be proper to 
 confider man, firft, in the relation in which he ftands 
 to GOD, as redeemed by the blood of his crucified 
 Son; and, fecondly, in that in which he {lands to his 
 fellow-creatures, as member of a civilized fociety. 
 
 It is a pofition, we prefume, not to be controverted, 
 that if the falvation of fallen man be an a6l of free 
 grace on the part of GOD, (as Divine revelation has 
 informed us that it is) man ought thankfully to 
 receive it on the terms upon which it is beflowed; 
 and of courfe to conform himfelf to any plan fet on 
 foot by GOD for the purpofe of carrying his gracious 
 defign into effeft. The probable confequence of his 
 
DISCOURSE X. 169 
 
 a&ing otherwife, muft have that weight in the mind 
 of every reafonable man, as to induce him to fleer, 
 wide of the poflibility of it. 
 
 In a matter of this efTential importance, no grati- 
 fication of private conceit or prejudice, no attach* 
 ment to particular feft or opinion, will be fuffered 
 to preponderate againfl the Tingle confideration of 
 Conformity to the revealed will of GOD. " What 
 is written, how readeft thou?" will be the anfwer 
 which every wife man will be ready to receive and to 
 profit by; confidering that He who opened the gate 
 of everlafting life, muft be the fureft guide to conduct 
 man into it 
 
 Upon an appeal to this revealed will, as delivered 
 to us in the facred writings, we have the plan of 
 Div!ne wifdom in the falvation of fallen man fo 
 clearly laid before us, that whatever we may in 
 charity hope in the cafe of others, we are at leafl 
 qualified to form fome decifive conclufions in our 
 own. Were it not fo, it would be for little purpofe, 
 it fliould feem, that the facred records have been put 
 into our hands. 
 
 Upon an appeal to thefe records, we find the 
 church called, as hath been above obferved, the body 
 of CHRIST - ? that body, of which He is the Head and 
 
170 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 Saviour. " CHRIST (fays the Apoflle) is th&Head 
 of the church, and He is the Saviour of the body." 
 Eph. v. 23. And we no where read of him in the 
 character of a Saviour, but with reference to that 
 church, which he is faid to have purchafed with his 
 blood. In confequence of this purchafe, the church 
 is confidered to be the peculiar property of CHRIST j 
 every member of it, therefore, mud have a peculiar 
 interefl in him. The church, then, according to the 
 idea which the fcripture has taught us to form of 
 it, is that fpiritual aiTociation, which draws as it 
 were the line of diflin&ion between thofe who are 
 living without GOD, and confequently without hope, 
 and thofe who are formally admitted into covenant 
 with Him, and fealed with " the holy fpirit of pro- 
 mife, as an earnefl of their future inheritance." 
 
 Taken in this light, the church on earth may be 
 confidered as a preparatory flage in the road to man's 
 future happinefs; it being a fchool of difcipline efla- 
 blifhed by CHRIST, for the purpofe of making every 
 member of it meet for the pofleffion of his heavenly 
 inheritance. In confequence of man's admiilion into 
 this fchool, he is no longer confidered as " a flranger 
 and foreigner, but as a fellow-citizen with the faints 
 and of the houfliold of GOD." 
 
DISCOURSE X. 171 
 
 Thus the Apoftle, in conformity with this idea of 
 the church being a fchool of difcipline, for the pur- 
 pofe of fpiritualizing the fallen creature man, tells us; 
 that " He who afcended up on high, that he might 
 fill all things; gave fome, Apoflles; and fome, Pro- 
 phets; and fome, Evangelifls; and fome, Paftors and 
 Teachers; for the perfecting of the faints, for the work 
 of the miniftry, for the edifying of the body of CHRIST; 
 till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
 knowledge of the SON of GOD, unto a perfect man, 
 unto the meafure of the flature of the fulnefs of 
 CHRIST," Eph, iv. n. 
 
 After it was determined upon, in the Divine 
 counfels, that JESUS CHRIST fhould lay down his 
 life a facrifice for fin, thereby to render it poffible for 
 man to be faved; the next ftep taken towards the 
 accompli fhment of the great work of falvation was, 
 it mould feem, to prepare and qualify man to reap 
 the benefit of it. To this end, GOD gave CHRIST 
 tb be head over all things to his church; that a 
 fpiritual principle being fet at work, for the purpofe 
 of counteracting the effects of that evil principle by 
 which the world had been deftroyed, all men might 
 not perifh; but that the church, at leaft, confidered 
 as a " building properly conflructed, and fitly framed 
 
172 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 together, according to the plan ofits divine Mafter* 
 builder, might .grow into anholy temple in the LORD." 
 Hence we fee the reafon, why thofe who were to 
 be faved were firfl to be made members of the churchy 
 the church being, according to the Divine plan, the 
 ordinary road through which they were to travel 
 from this world to the next. " The LORD," we 
 read) " added daily to the church fuch as fliould be 
 faved." A&s ii. 47. And in the cafe of the devout 
 CORNELIUS, He vouchfafed a particular revelation, 
 for the purpofe of fecuring his admuTion into it; a cir- 
 cumftance which leaves us in no doubt with refpeft to 
 the importance of the obje& in view upon the occafion. 
 
 The advantages and difad vantages confequent, 
 then, upon a communion with, or feparation from, 
 the church, may here begin to be eftimated. 
 
 Communion with the church is conformity to the 
 
 Divine .plan for our falvation; feparation from it is 
 i 
 
 fetting up a plan of our own, if not in oppofition to, 
 at leaft in fome degree independent of, the former. 
 The one is putting ourfelves under GOD'S training; 
 by becoming difciples in his fchool, conforming to 
 thofe rules, and making ufe of thofe means, which 
 have been appointed by Him for the advancement of 
 our fpiritual concerns. The other is, in a degree at 
 
DISCOURSE X. 173 
 
 leail, taking the work of lalvation into our own 
 hands; by fetting up a fyftem of Chriftian education 
 for ourfelves. In the one cafe, \ve fubmit, as iii 
 humility we ought, to the wifdom of GOD; in the 
 other we make ourfelves wifer than GOD, by an at- 
 tempt to travel to heaven in a road different from 
 that which He has gracioufly marked out for us: a 
 conduct which leads to fomething like the following 
 impious conclufion that, in the great work of re* 
 demption, GOD was not the befl judge of the 
 manner in which it was to be carried into the mod 
 compleat effect. 
 
 But, alas! there always hath been in man a ftrong 
 propenfity to be the carver and contriver of his own 
 happinefs; in other words, to be an independent 
 being. ADAM, through the perfuafion of the tempter, 
 would be wifer than GOD ; and his fall was the con- 
 fequence of his folly. The happinefs of man mud 
 depend upon his obedience to the will of his Maker. 
 But this is a truth not fo generally a&ed upon, as it 
 is acknowledged. The unregenerate man, feels at 
 nil times the fame difpofition that ADAM did, to fol- 
 low a will of his own, in contradiction to the Divine 
 
 will; and to govern himfelf, rather than be governed 
 
 
 
 by GOD. To this end he fets out with doubting, 
 
174 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 then with difbelieving, what GOD has revealed; and 
 being advanced thus far in his progrefs towards re- 
 bellion, his next ftep a&ually commences it by form- 
 ing plans and fchemes of his own, which he thinks 
 better calculated to anfwer the purpofe in view than 
 thofe which come recommended by an authority, 
 \vhich he feels a natural indifpofition to admit. It 
 is a portion of this ftrong propenfity, which man has 
 to judge and aft for himfelf, that prevails with the 
 generality to feparate from the church; upon the 
 plaufible, though mifhaken idea, of ferving GOD 
 more acccepjably in a way of their own: without 
 confidering, that it is not the worfhipping GOD in 
 the way they pleafe, but in the way He has appointed, 
 that will fecure to them his bleffing. To judge in 
 fome meafure of the confequences refulting from 
 fuch felf-willed conduft, fo far as they belong to our 
 prefent fubjeft, it maybe proper to confider, what we 
 we have in the church, and what out of it; that the 
 jreafonable man, balancing the advantages of com- 
 munion with, againfl thofe of a feparation from it, 
 may judge for himfelf. 
 
 From the authority of the facred writings we con- 
 clude, that where the Chriflian facraments are duly 
 adminiflered, byperfons regularly appointed to that 
 
DISCOURSE X, 175 
 
 facred office, according to the plan originally laid 
 down by the Apoftles, there we find the church of 
 CHRIST. From the fame authority we learn, that 
 this church is to continue to the end of the world. 
 The unity confeqjiently of the Chriftian church mud 
 mean the fame now that it ever did 5 and a feparation 
 from it mud be attended with confequnces as dan- 
 gerous in the prefent day as at any former period. 
 For the church of CHRIST is but one; and all the 
 promifes of the Gofpel are exclufively made to that 
 one church. None confequently but members of that 
 church, can lay claim to an interefl in thofe promifes ; 
 upon the fame principle, that none but thofe who 
 have been admitted members of any human fociety, 
 can lay claim to the privileges belonging to it. Thus 
 the dire&ion given to thofe who were flruck with 
 St. PETER'S fermon was this, "Repent, and be 
 baptized in the name of JESUS CHRIST, for the re- 
 miffion of fins, and ye (hall receive the gift of the 
 Holy Ghofl." A&s ii. 38. By which we under- 
 fland, that admiffion into the church was confidered 
 by the Apoftle as a necefiary qualification for the 
 gift of the Holy Ghofl. Indeed, from the general 
 tenour of fcripture, it is to be concluded, that none 
 but thofe who are members of the church, can be 
 
176 DISCOURSE x. 
 
 partakers of the fpirit by which it is accompanied. 
 Without, therefore, prefuming to determine upon the 
 condition of thofe who are out of the church, we 
 are at leaft juftified in faying, that their hope of fal* 
 vation muft be built upon fome general idea of Divine 
 mercy, to which the member of the church has a 
 covenanted claim. In the one cafe we have an aft of 
 Grace indeed; but for the performance of which there 
 is no fecurity, becaufe it does not fland on the fure 
 ground of any revealed promife : whilft in the other 
 we build on apofitive aft of Covenant, which affuredly 
 will take place, according to the conditions on which 
 it has been made; becaufe " He is faithful who, 
 hath promifed."- 
 
 In this one chureh, then, we have the facraments of 
 CHRIST'S appointment; as feals of that covenant, by 
 which fallen man lays claim to eternal life. In this 
 one church, we have the ambafladors for CHRIST, 
 who e Lv. d office it is to administer, in the name of 
 Him whom they are commiffionecl to reprefent, the 
 facraments of that covenant, which GOD on his part 
 is thereby engaged to fulfil. In this one church, 
 we have moreover the fpirit of CHRIST Accompa- 
 nying his own ordinances ; according to the promife, 
 made at the original e( ? ablifliment of this church^ 
 
DISCOURSE X. 177 
 
 that He would " be with it always, even to the end 
 of -the world." 
 
 Such are the effential advantages attendant upon 
 communion with the church. 
 
 Let us now confider for a moment the difad van- 
 tages confequent upon a feparation from it. 
 
 When you leave the church, then, it fhould be re- 
 membered, you leave the miniflers and facraments of 
 CHRIST behind you. You may indeed appoint other 
 minifters, and inftitute other facraments; but let it 
 be obferved, thefe minifters are not the ambaiTadors 
 of CHRIST; nor are the facraments which they ad- 
 minifter, the facraments of CHRIST: for the efTence 
 of an ambaflador's office is, that he fhould be com- 
 tnijfioned by the party whom he reprefents, and in 
 whofe name he afts; and the effence of a covenant* 
 of which the facramepts are feals, is, that it fhould 
 be binding upon the party in whofe name it is made. 
 But mijiifters of the feparation are not ambaffadors 
 of CHRIST, becaufe they have never been fent by 
 him; and with refpeft to the benefit to be derived 
 froin the facraments adminiflered by them, their dif- 
 ciples mufl not look to GOD, for this obvious reafon, 
 becaufe Gop is not bpund but by covenants of his 
 0wn making, 
 
178 DISCOURSE x. 
 
 Now the effeft to be looked for from the Chriftian 
 facraments depends not upon the mere performance 
 of the miniftry, in the adminiflration of the elements 
 of water in baptifm, or of bread and wine in the 
 LoRD's-Supper; (for in that cafe, any minifler, how- 
 ever appointed, might anfwer the purpofe;) but upon 
 the fpirit of GOD accompanying ordinances of his 
 own infKtution. And there is little reafon to fup- 
 pofe, that the Divine bleffing will accompany irregular 
 miniftrations, call them by what name you pleafe; 
 which are not only not fan&ified by Divine appoint- 
 ment, but are moreover in dire& oppofition to that 
 order, which is effential to the peace and prefervation 
 of the Chriftian church Whoever, therefore, hopes 
 to receive benefit from religious fervices, muft per- 
 form them according to GOD'S will, rather than his 
 own; for let our religion be ever fo right and good 
 in our own eftimation, it cannot, on that account, 
 have any covenanted title to thofe privileges and blef- 
 lings, which are by Divine authority annexed to the 
 church of CHRIST. 
 
 In this fenfe, the primitive fathers are to be under- 
 ftood, when they fay, that there is no falvation out 
 of the holy Catholic Church. By which is meant, 
 that no covenanted plan of falvation has been revealed 
 
DISCOURSE X. 179 
 
 to man, fave that which is addreffed to him as a 
 member of the church of CHRIST. 
 
 " The fecret things belong unto the LORD our 
 GOD." Where, therefore, no knowledge has been 
 vouchfafed, no judgment ihould be paffed. In all 
 fuch cafes every confiderate man concludes, with 
 faithful ABRAHAM, that " the Judge of all the 
 earth will do right." But fo far as revelation holds 
 out a light to direft, we are authorifed and required 
 to judge; becaufe a revelation muft be fuppofed to 
 be given for that purpofe. 
 
 In this revelation then we read, that " no man 
 cometh to the Father, but by CHRIST." And ac- 
 cording to the fame authority, to have an interefl in 
 CHRIST, man muft be admitted into his church. In 
 confprmity to the general tenour of this revelation, 
 then, we hefitate not to fay, that there is abfolutc 
 fecurity in the church for every found member of it, 
 and that we know of no fecurity out of it. The 
 difference between the condition of a member of the 
 church of CHRIST at the bar of trial, and of one 
 that is not, appearing to us to be this: the former, 
 in arreft of judgment, pleads a covenanted title to the 
 benefit of an a& of grace paffed by the Judge in his 
 favour j the latter, having no fuch title to plead, is 
 
180 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 i 
 
 obliged to throw himfelf unconditionally on the mercy 
 of the court. Upon a matter, therefore, of the 
 utmoft importance; when there is abfolute certainty 
 founded on the revealed word on one fide, and no 
 fpecific declaration on the other ; the wife man, who 
 has confidered the fubjeft, will, it is prefumed, take 
 no long time to fettle his judgment. 
 
 To the foregoing advantages and difadvantages of 
 primary importance, confequent upon communion 
 with, or feparation from, the church, may be added 
 othefs ; which, though of a fubordinate kind, will 
 not fail to have their weight in the fcale of every 
 reafonable man. When Chriflians aflemble in the 
 houfe of GOD, it is underftood to be for the purpofe 
 of joining in thofe a&s of religious worfhip, fuitable 
 to their condition as fallen, finful, and dependent 
 creatures. Thefe ats are diftinguifhed by the ap* 
 propriate titles of confeffion, prayer, and thankfgiv- 
 ing. The firft, the neceffary condition of forgivenefs ; 
 * c If we confefs our fins, GOD is faithful and jufl to 
 forgive them." i The fecond, the condition upon 
 which all Divine bleffings are to be obtained ; " Afk," 
 fays our blefTed Mafter, fr< and it ihall be given unto 
 you." The third, that demonflration of gratitude 
 for mercies and bleflmgs beftowcd, which will .ever 
 
DISCOURSE X. 181 
 
 be proportionate to the fenfe of the obligation. In 
 the due performance of thefe feveral afts of worfhip, 
 accompanied with geftures of body proper to denote 
 that humiliation which ought to poflefs the mind of 
 iinners, when engaged in communion with their GOD, 
 confifts, for the moil part, the public fer vice of religion. 
 
 Such is the idea which the fcriptures lead us to 
 form upon this fubjeft. From whence it appears, 
 that public worihip mud be > (what the reafon of the 
 tiling tells us it ought to bej the joint aft of the con- 
 gregation aiTembled; that with one mind, and one 
 mouth, GOD may be glorified. 
 
 Thus EUSEBIUS defcribes the ftate of the church 
 in its early days: " There was one and the fame 
 power of the Holy Spirit, which pafTed through all 
 the members; one foul in all; the fame alacrity of 
 faith; one common confent in chaunting forth the 
 praifes of GOD." For by the nature and con- 
 ftruclion of church communion, there is that harmony 
 and confent of mind and mouth required in public 
 worihip, from whence all public prayers and facrifices 
 are fuppofed to derive their force. ." If two of you," 
 fays our LORD, " fhall agree upon earth to afk any 
 thing, it fliall be done for you of my Father which 
 is ia heaven; tor where two or three are gathered 
 
182 DJSCOURSE X. 
 
 together in my name, there I am in the midft of 
 them." There muft then be a confent, or, accord- 
 ing to the original, a ev^uv^t^ or fympbony, as 
 well as a meeting together, in public worfhip: whereas 
 the worfliippers have all one common mouth, fo they 
 ought all to have one heart and one mind, as ST. 
 CLEMENT fays, ' H^e;^ w ev opovota, STT; TO 
 *v]o cri>pa%9-si> res, ug e% ivoq $optfog /3oy(rupe v 
 irpos atfov exTevusy* &c. Let us therefore, being 
 gathered together with one mind into one place, cry 
 ardently to GOD as with one mouth, that we may 
 be partakers of his glorious promifes. Hence it is, 
 that ST. IGNATIUS fpeaks of [MM Trpoo-svxy, pi&t 
 teytnq, i$ WG, piet eXV/f, one pra)^er, one fuppli- 
 cation, one mind, and one hope: and JUSTIN MAR" 
 TYR* calls the prayers of the Chriilians, " xo(vx t 
 y % a; > common prayers: and ST. CYPRIAN! calls 
 the public fervice of the church, " unanimis oratio." 
 In drift correfpondence with which rational idea is 
 that excellent prayer of ST, CHRYSOSTOM which 
 concludes our church fervice, which is bell underflood 
 in the original. " O rotg KOIVKS TKVTOtt; Kat (rvp- 
 
 o KUI Svo teat 
 
 Apetog. I- 
 
DISCOURSE X, 
 
 <r\)p$uvv(riv em TV ovopctft <rx rets 
 
 eirovyyeiXctpevos" " Thou who hast given 
 us grace to make thefe common and harmonious pray- 
 ers, and who haft promifed to two or three praying 
 in concert in Thy name to grant their petitions," &c. 
 A conformity to this primitive pattern is the objeft 
 which the church has always had in view, upon every 
 public affembly of her members. To this end, in 
 that branch of the church, to which we belong, they 
 are furnifhed with a Liturgy, or flatedform of fervice, 
 fo excellently conftru&ed as to qualify, and at the 
 fame time to invite, the congregation aiTembled, to 
 become parties in every aft of religious worfhip that 
 is going forward ; that there may be no uninterefted 
 fpe&ators in a bufmefe in which every individual is 
 concerned, but that the united voice of Application, 
 prayer, and praife, may plead fo powerfully at the 
 Throne of Grace, as not to be refitted . And fuch, we 
 will venture to fay, is the plan beft fuited to the infir- 
 mity of our condition, as beft calculated Jo prevent 
 the natural diftra&ions of the human mind; by railing 
 and keeping alive that fpirit of devotion, neceffary to 
 qualify fallen man to hold communion with his Maker. 
 To this reafonable fervice performed in our church, 
 let us now oppofe what is, generally fpeaking, to be met 
 
184 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 with out of it. And could Chriftians be prevailed 
 upon to difcard prejudice, there would, it is prefumed, 
 be but one opinion upon this fubject. Out of the 
 church, indeed, people are afiembled, under various 
 denominations, for the purpofe of religious worlhip; 
 and we are ready to give individuals credit for their 
 pious intentions. But in what, it mud be afked, 
 does their religious worftiipconfift? For certain it is,- 
 that in religious affemblies out of the church we 
 have (generally fpeaking) no public form, either of 
 confeffion, prayer, or thankfgiving; the whole atten- 
 tion of the congregation being dire&ed to the per- 
 formance of the officiating minifter, whofe fervice, be 
 it ever fofpiritual, (which, confidering the qualification 
 of very many who undertake it, we may venture to 
 fay, is not always the cafe;) is neverthelefs the fervice 
 of the minifter rather than that of the congregation. 
 In the church the congregation are called upon to 
 become afiual parties in the fervice performed; in 
 the words of DAVID, " to worfliip, bow down, and 
 knqel before the LORD their Maker;" for the pur* 
 pofe of offering up at the Throne of Grace, with 
 humble, penitent, and contrite hearts, the folema 
 facrifice of prayer and thankfgiving; the fervice per- 
 formed there, confequently, is what it ought to be, 
 
DISCOURSE X* 185 
 
 the joint fervice both of minifler and people; all 
 fmners before GOD, all fupplicants for pardon, all 
 petitioners for bleffings. 
 
 Out of the church the congregation are obliged to 
 be, for the mofl part, hearers only; it being fcarce 
 poiTible for them to join in petitions, or to lift up 
 their voice with one accord in the celebration of 
 praifes, which they are unprepared to accompany. 
 How great foever therefore the fervour of devotion 
 on the part of the minifter may be, and how accept- 
 able foever his form of prayer, (if the public prayer 
 of any felf-appointed minifter may be acceptable at 
 the Throne of Grace) the congregation neverthelefs, 
 in confequence of their being little concerned in the 
 fervice performed, can in reafon have little to expeA 
 from the effeft to be produced by it. 
 
 But exclufive of unanimity being abfolutely neceC- 
 fary to accompany the public prayers of an aflembled 
 congregation, to entitle them to that chara&eriftic 
 diitinftion, it is moreover to be obferved, (and a mofl 
 important obfervation it is) that it was to prevent the 
 fubtle infmuation of falfe doftrines into the minds of 
 the people, that the miniilers of the church, for 
 fifteen ages together, were not permitted to ufe their 
 own prayers j and that none were allowed in public 
 
 R 
 
186 DISCOURSE x. 
 
 Congregations, but fuch as were approved and author 
 ritatively enjoined. 
 
 This fingle confideration fhould, it might be fup- 
 pofed, be fufficient to place an attendance upon the 
 fervice of the church, when contrafted with that 
 performed in any other place of worfhip, in too ftrikmg 
 a point of view, to render further enlargement on 
 this head neceflary. 
 
 But there is an idea which has long prevailed, upon 
 ivhich, though it may be confidered as fcarce fur- 
 nifliing a fubjecl: for ferious argument, it may be 
 proper, from the confideration of the many that are 
 led aftray by it, to fay a few words. An ignorance 
 with refpect to the meaning of fome particular paf- 
 fages of the facred writings has given birth to a 
 perfuafion, which enthufiafm, that puts out the eye of 
 reafon, and deftroys the fobriety of religion, has 
 long been diligently employed in cheriihing and fup- 
 porting; namely, that to comply with the Apoftolic 
 Idea of praying with thejpirit, it is neceflary that all 
 forms fliould be fet afide, as abfolutely incompatible 
 with that infpiration, fuppofed to be appropriate to 
 extemporary effiifions. But allowing that the fpirit 
 of GOD does affifl men both in the matter and form 
 of their prayers j it may be aiked, whether we have 
 
DISCOURSE X* 187 
 
 not as much reafon to think, that the public prayers 
 of the church were fuggeiled by that fpirit, as the 
 prayers of any private individual? Nay, whether it 
 is not more probable, that a company of learned and 
 pious men, aflembled for the purpofe of compoiing a 
 public liturgy for the ufe of the church, after having 
 previoufly invoked the Divine aiTiftance, fhould be 
 favoured with that afMance, rathel' than any parti- 
 cular perfon; who, without premeditation or fludy, 
 and oft times without any qualification for the work, 
 takes upon himfelf to deliver an extemporary prayer? 
 Is it to be imagined, that the Holy Spirit fhould 
 give fuch a decided preference to that fervice, upon* 
 which lead: care and attention has been bellowed, as 
 to vouchfafe to it fuch an exclufive title to his aflifl- 
 ance; that in comparifon with it the prayer of the 
 church is to be confidered as a lifelefs form? If rea- 
 fon tell us that this cannot be the cafe, we fhall not 
 hefitate to conclude, that in ufmg the liturgy of the 
 church, we pray as much at leafl (if not more) the 
 prayers of the fpirit, than when we accompany any 
 lefs regular fervice. 
 
 The judicious HOOKER, who had well confidered 
 this fubjeft, writes thus decidedly upon it. " Of all 
 helps for the performance of this fervice of prayer, 
 
188 DISCOURSE X* 
 
 the greatefl is that very fet and Handing order itfelf, 
 which, framed with common advice, hath both for 
 matter and form prefcribed whatfoever is herein pub- 
 licly done. No doubt, from GOD it hath proceeded j 
 and by us it muft be acknowledged a work of fingular 
 care and providence, that the church hath evermore 
 held a prefcript form of prayer, although not in all 
 things every where the fame, yet for the moil part 
 retaining ftill the fame analogy. So that if the litur- 
 gies of all ancient churches throughout the world be 
 compared amongfl themfelves, it may be eafily per- 
 ceived, they had all one original mould; and 
 that the public prayer of the people of GOD, ia 
 churches thoroughly fettled, did never ufe to be 
 voluntary diftates, proceeding from any man's ex~ 
 temporal wit. To him which confidereth the grievous 
 and fcandalous inconveniences, whereunto they make 
 themfelves daily fubject, with whom any blind 
 and fecret corner is judged a fit houfe of common 
 prater; the manifold confufions which they fall into, 
 where every man's private fpirit and gift (as they 
 term it) is the only bilhop that ordaineth him to this 
 miniftry; the irkfome deformities, whereby, through 
 endlefs and fenfelefs effufions of undigefted prayers, 
 they often times difgrace in moll iufufferable man- 
 
DISCOURSE X. 189 
 
 ner the worthiefl part of Chriflian duty towards GOD; 
 who herein are fubjeft to no certain order, but pray 
 both what and how they lift; to him, I fay, which 
 weigheth duly all thefe things, -the reafons cannot be 
 obfcure, why GOD doth, in public prayer, fo much 
 refpeft the folemnity of places where the authority 
 and calling of perfons by whom, and the precife ap- 
 pointment, even with what words or fentences, his 
 name fliould be called on amongfl his people. The 
 beft ftratagem that SATAN hath, who knoweth his 
 kingdom to be no one way more fhaken than by the 
 public devout prayers of GOD'S church, is by tra- 
 ducing the form and manner of them to bring them 
 into contempt; and fo to fhake the force of all men's 
 devotion towards them. From this, and from no 
 other forge, hath proceeded a ftrange conceit, that 
 to ferve GOD with any fet form of common prayer is 
 fuperftitious. As tho' GOD himfelf did not frame to 
 his priefts the very fpeech wherewith they were charged 
 to blefs the people: or as if our LORD, even of pur- 
 pofe to prevent this fancy of extemporal and voluntary 
 prayers, had not left us, of his own framing, one which 
 might both remain as a part of the church liturgy, and 
 ferve as a pattern whereby to frame all other prayers 
 with efficacy, yet without fuperfluity of words."* 
 * HOOKER'S Eccl. Pol. book v. 
 
190 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 But after all, it will perhaps be found, that this 
 prevailing idea refpeting fpiritual prayer, in thefenfe 
 in which it is too generally taken, has been grounded 
 upon a mifunderilanding of the Apoflle's meaning 
 upon this fubjeft. " I will pray," fays the Apoille, 
 " with the fplrlt^ I will pray with the under/landing 
 alfo." i Cor. xiv. 15. To comprehend the mean- 
 ing of the Apoflle on this occaiion, it is neceifary to 
 advert 'to the particular objeft he had in view. The 
 Apoftle then, it is obferved, is here fpeaking of the 
 extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, which were graciouily 
 vouchfafed to the infant church, for the purpofe of 
 effecting the more fpeedy and general propagation of 
 the Chriflian caufe. Among thefe gifts, that of 
 fraying by the f pint was confeiTedly one. But, alas! 
 through the infirmity of human nature, thefe fpiritual 
 gifts, defigned for the edification of the church, were 
 not always employed to that purpofe. Vanity and 
 oflentation in the exercife of them fometimes took 
 place of better motives. To correft this notorious 
 abufe of Divine grace, and to regulate the exercife of 
 fpiritual gifts in fuch a manner, that they might prove 
 beneficial to the parties for whofe fake they were 
 originally granted, was the object the Apoflle had in 
 view in writing this part of his epiftle. 
 
DISCOURSE X. 191 
 
 That attendants upon a Divine ordinance fliould be 
 benefited by the miniiler of it, it was abfb'Utely necef- 
 fkry that they ihould underftand what they heard. 
 To this end, he who had the gift of tongues, if he 
 prayed in a tongue, unknown to his hearers, is re- 
 quired by the Apoille to interpret at the fame time, 
 that his congregation might be benefited as well as 
 himfelf. " I would," fays the Apoftle, " that you 
 all fpake with tongues; (that you all partook of that 
 miraculous gift whereby you might be enabled to 
 fpeak languages you had never learned;) but rather 
 that you prophefied ; for greater is he that prophe- 
 iieth, than he that fpeaketh with tongues, except 
 he interpret, that the church may be edified." 
 " Wherefore let him that fpeaketh in an unknown, 
 tongue, pray that he may interpret.' ' And for the 
 following very evident reafon: " for," continues the 
 Apoille, " if I pray in an unknown tongue, my fpirit 
 prayeth, but my underftanding is unfruitful: 5 ' not 
 unfruitful to rnyfelf, but to my congregation. As if 
 he had faid, if I pray in an unknown tongue, without 
 at the fame time interpreting my prayer, the fpirit 
 within me prayeth, it is true; or I may be faid to 
 pray by the fpirit ; but my meaning being unintelli- 
 gible mufl of courfe be unprofitable to my hearers. 
 
DISCOURSE X. 
 
 " What is it then? I will pray with the fpirit, I 
 will pray with the understanding alfo." In other 
 words; if therefore I do make ufe of that gift be- 
 ftowed upon me, of praying by the fpirit, I will make 
 ufe of it in a manner that I may be under flood by 
 my hearers; that they, not lefs than myfelf, may be 
 edified by my prayer. That fuch is the fenfe in 
 which praying by the fpirit is here to be underftood, 
 we conclude from what the Apoftle has fubjoined in 
 the following verfes : " Elfe when thou flialt blefs 
 with the fpirit, how fliall he that occupieth the room 
 of the unlearned fay Amen at thy giving of thanks, 
 feeing he underilandeth not what thou fay eft; for 
 thou verily giveft thanks well, but the other is not 
 edified. I thank my GOD, I fpeak with tongues 
 more than ye all; yet in the church I had rather 
 Ipeak five words with my underftanding, that by my 
 voice I might teach others alfo, than ten thoufand 
 words in an unknown tongue/' i Cor. xvi. 1 9. 
 
 Hence we fee, that by praying by the fpirit is here 
 meant, praying in a language unknown to the con- 
 gregation; and by praying with the underftand'mg^ 
 praying in a language with which they are acquainted. 
 'And to convince us of the little value the Apoftle fet 
 Upon this gift of praying by the fpirit, compared 
 
DISCOURSE X. 193 
 
 with the more important confideration of edifying 
 his hearers, he tells us, that he had rather fpeak five 
 words in the church to be underftood, that by his 
 voice he might teach others, than ten thoufand words 
 in an unknown language, though that language 
 were di&ated by the fpirit. 
 
 But praying by thcfpirit, in the fenfe in which 
 enthufiails now underftand that phrafe, is not one of 
 thofe extraordinary gifts with which the primitive 
 Chriftians were furniflied, but fomething very differ** 
 ent; for it is rather an acquifition of art, attained by 
 habit and practice, and dependent in a great meafure 
 for its fuccefs upon the particular genius and abilities 
 of the party, rather than an infpired gift. 
 
 Confidering it in this light, in which found fenfe 
 has ever confidered it, we do not hefitate to prefer 
 a fettled form to any extemporary exertion of the 
 mental faculties, for the following obvious reafonsi 
 
 In the firfl place, certain it is, that fo far as the 
 congregation are concerned, the extemporary prayer 
 of the minifler is to them as much a form as any other. 
 If, then, the congregation mufl have a form in either 
 cafe, it remains only to be confidered, what form is 
 bed: calculated for their edification. Upon this head, 
 it is prefumed, there can be little difpute. For cm 
 
194 ".DISCOURSE x. 
 
 the one hand, we have an excellent form of prayer, 
 compofed with great judgment and piety, which the 
 congregation may, and which it is defigned they 
 fhouid, make their own, by joining in it ; on the 
 Other, we have (generally fpeaking) an imperfeft and 
 unconnected form, in which they cannot join, becaufe, 
 on account of its being flrange to their ears, they 
 muft, in a great degree, be unprepared to accompany 
 it. Without meaning, therefore, to refleft upon the 
 abilities of teachers out of the church, or to impute 
 to all the improprieties of which fome have been 
 notoriouily guilty; I think it may be faid, that the 
 only choice left to the hearers upon this fubjeft, is, 
 whether they will have a. good form or a bad onej 
 a form of found words, with which they are pre- 
 viouily acquainted, on the one hand; or, on the 
 other, a form, upon the propriety of which they 
 cannot at any time depend : experience having proved^ 
 that both the words and matter of it are ofttimes 
 ill digefled, fometimes indecent, and occafionally 
 unfound. 
 
 Taking the fubjecT:, then, in this light only, it 
 appears, that, fo far at lead as the edification of the 
 congregation is concerned, the change that enthufiafm 
 has introduced into the public worlhip of Chriftians, 
 
DISCOURSE X. 
 
 has been much for the worfe; and that the Chriftian, 
 in leaving the eftablifhed fervice of the church, has 
 gained nothing to balance againil the effential advan- 
 tages he has loft. 
 
 But there is this further confideration attached to 
 'an eftablifhed form of prayer in preference to any 
 other, namely, the promife of favourable attention 
 being paid to it by the DEITY; a confideration which, 
 it is probable, may never have been taken into the 
 account. " If two of you fhall agree upon earth, 
 (fays our blefTed SAVIOUR) as touching any thing 
 that they fhall alk, it fhall be done for them of my 
 FATHER which is in heaven. For where two 
 or three are gathered together in my name, there I 
 am in the midft of them." Matt, xviii. 19, 20. 
 On which ORIGEN makes this comment: " This is 
 the caufe we are not heard when we pray, in that we 
 agree not in all things. For as in mufick there muft 
 be harmony and agreement of voices, or elfe it de- 
 lights not the hearers; fo^n the church* an afTent 
 
 * The unreafonablenefs of private prayer in public will appear, 
 by coniidering, that all prayers offered up to GOD in public mull 
 be publicly known, consented to, and agreed upon, by all them that 
 join therein. Thus it ever was in the church of CHRIST the 
 faithful knew what they prayed for. " You that are faithful (fays 
 -fix, CHRYSOSTOM, Horn. vi. on Tim.) know what things are to be 
 
DISCOURSE . 
 
 and agreement is necefTary, or elie GOD is not pleafed, 
 neither will He hear the voice of our prayers/' It 
 is to this agreement in prayer, that denominates our 
 public worfhip of GOD common-prayer, that CHRIST 
 hath promifed his prefence. This promife confe~ 
 quently feems to belong only to the public prayers 
 of the church ; which, by being previoufly compofed 
 for general ufe, become confequently the joint prayers 
 of the congregation; a circumftance which furnifhes 
 a powerful argument in favour of that practice, 
 which has ever taken place in the Chriftian church. 
 Whereas in other affemblies of Chriftians., where 
 the extemporary prayer of the minifter conftitutes 
 the fubflance of religious worfliip, the condition 
 upon which this promife of our SAVIOUR is fuf- 
 pended, cannot, properly fpeaking, be performed. 
 
 There are, indeed, among feparatifts from the 
 church, thofe who, from an unhappy perverfity of 
 character, which is continually manifefting itfelf in a 
 
 defired in prayer, becaufe all prayer (that is public) ought to be 
 common. It is the exhortation of IGNATIUS, ** that we aficmble 
 together in one place, and ufe one prayer common to all" Epift. 
 ad Magn. And the eftablifliment of a public form for public 
 prayer, if not an effe^ual, is at leail the bell, fecurity that can be. 
 devifed againll falfe doctrine, becaufe it conftitutes that public 
 flandard of the church, to which an appeal is at all times to be made* 
 
DISCOURSE X. * 197 
 
 fettled oppofition to every thing that is eftabliflied, 
 carry their objections to fettled modes of worfhip to 
 that extent, as to reject even the LORD'S prayer, 
 becaufe it is a form. To reafon with fuch perfons 
 would, probably, anfwer no better purpofe, than it 
 \vould have done heretofore to have reafoned with 
 the Scotch covenanter; who, upon the word of 
 command being given in the field to wheel to the 
 right, flood flock ftill; and upon being queftioned, 
 why he did not obey, gave for anfwer, that his con- 
 fcience would not permit him, for the word of com- 
 mand was a form, and they had taken up arms to 
 fight againfly^rwzj. 
 
 It may be proper, however, to fay one fhort word 
 on this head, for the confideration of thofe, who, 
 whilft they affect to pray by the fpirit, reject the 
 LORD'S prayer, as laying a reflraint upon that Di- 
 vine impulfe, by which they imagine themfelves to 
 be governed. For, in conformity with this idea, the 
 Holy Spirit, whom our SAVIOUR fent into the world 
 for the purpofe of bringing all things to the remem- 
 brance of his difciples which He had faid unto them, 
 is fuppofed to aft in oppofition to a command which 
 CHRIST, when on earth, had given for their direct- 
 ion: " After this manner (fays CHRIST to his dif- 
 
-DISCOURSE *. 
 
 ciples) pray ye; Our FATHER," c. Matth. vi. g* 
 A form of prayer, which, from its conftruftion, ap- 
 pears to have been originally defigned for the ufe of 
 a congregation; and which the church, in confor- 
 mity with our SAVIOUR'S original direction, has 
 always thought proper to make a part of our religious 
 worfhip. The conclufion in this cafe is too obvious, 
 it is prefumed, to require being drawn at length. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be objected by thofe from whom 
 \ve differ upon the fubject of extemporary prayer, 
 that our reafoning upon it tends in a great meafure 
 to deny the aiMance of the Holy Spirit. On this 
 head, therefore, we obferve briefly, what we are 
 fully perfuaded of, that whoever is not aflifted by 
 the Holy Spirit in prayer, whatever be the form 
 which he may adopt for the purpofe, will never pray 
 "to effect. But whilft we admit this pofition in its 
 proper ferife, we at the fame time do not hefitate to 
 differ in opinion from enthufiafls, with refpect to 
 what is meant by the fpirit of prayer. With them 
 it means a fpirit of ready invention, and extemporary 
 effufion, which is by no means the certain effect of 
 'Divine influence. With us it means, what can pro- 
 ceed from GOD alone, a fpirit of devotion and pious 
 affe&ion; fuch as holy DAVID may be fuppofed to 
 
DISCOURSE X. 
 
 have particularly felt, when ha-compofed the 42d, the 
 5 1 ft, the 84th, and 86thPfalmsj with fome others, 
 \vhich need not be pointed out. 
 
 This fpirit of devotion, which gave acceptance at 
 the Throne of Grace to the fimple prayer of the Pub- 
 lican ; and without which the moft perfect compofition , 
 is but a collection of vain words, offenfive to the 
 Being to whom it is addreffed; is a mixture of hu- 
 miliation and gratitude, derived from the confideration 
 of our vilenefs and wretchednefs on the one hand, and 
 the contemplation of infinite goodnefs and aftoniihing 
 loving- kindnefs on the other. Whoever prays in 
 this difpofition of foul, moil certainly prays by the 
 fpirit; becaufe this difpofition is not natural, but the 
 effect of that Divine influence, which is gracioufly 
 employed for die purpofe of bringing fallen man back 
 to his Maker. 
 
 This devout difpofition, the work of the Holy 
 Spirit, is not, it is true, confined to any particular 
 mode of prayer; but, as it confeffedly depends more 
 upon the heart than the head, it is more likely to 
 prevail on occafions, when, in confequence of the 
 head being lefs occupied with attention to the form 
 or invention of the matter of prayer, the heart is 
 more at liberty to be aiFe&ed by the fpirit of it, 
 
200 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 A confideration, how little effeft foever it ma/ 
 produce in the minds of thofe who, by their fepa- 
 ration from our church, are not in a condition to 
 appreciate it, muft, it is prefumed, make every con- 
 fiderate member of it fenfibie of the advantages he 
 enjoys in the ufe of a liturgy ; which, from its excel- 
 lent conftru&ion, is not only calculated to raife that 
 fpirit of devotion eiTential to all religious exercifes; but 
 which is, moreover, in ftri& eorrefpondence with the 
 word of GOD, and the platform of primitive pra&ice. 
 
 And would thofe who now feparate from us, but 
 give themfelves the trouble to know what our church 
 is; we are confident, that their zeal, which now flames 
 againfl her without knowledge, would be abated, if 
 not totally extingiiifhed. For let any one that is 
 religioufly difpofed, but do juflice to her fervice, by 
 conforming himfelf to the feveral parts of it in fpirit 
 and in truth; and we dare anfwer for the confe- 
 quence. But the misfortune is, and we lament it, 
 that none of thofe out of the church, and few, alas! 
 of thofe who are in it, will make the experiment. And 
 Jience it is, that the former are fo violent againfl her, 
 and the latter fo indifferent for her. 
 
 Upon the fervice of preaching, little need be re- 
 marked^ becaufe it is to be confidered rather as an 
 
PISCOURSE X. 201 
 
 appendage to religious worfhip, than an aftual part 
 of it; and being more the fervice of the minifter, than 
 of the congregation, the manner in which it is per-* 
 formed may, with more latitude, be left to his 
 judgment and difcretion. Provided the doctrine 
 delivered be confonant to the revealed word of GOD, 
 and made intelligible to the hearers, the fervice of 
 preaching is duly performed; and being calculated 
 to anfwer its end, all further enquiry about it be- 
 comes unneceiTary. 
 
 But whilfl we are unwilling to fay any thing that 
 may tend in any degree to depreciate a powerful 
 means of grace, as the fervice of preaching moil un- 
 doubtedly is, when properly accompanied, we are 
 neverthelefs obliged to fpeak of it as it is; with the 
 view of preventing a greater effeft being expe&ed 
 from it, than it was deligned to produce. 
 
 The fervice of preaching was intended to inflruft 
 Chriftian profeffors in their duty; the fervice of 
 prayer, to procure for them that Divine ailiftance 
 which can alone enable them to difcharge it. Now 
 if the whole of the public performance of religion be 
 in a manner fwallowed up in preaching, it is eafy to 
 conceive how the attendants upon it may be hearers 
 of the word, and not doers of it; pofleiEng a form of 
 
S02 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 godlinefs, without knowing any thing of the power 
 of it. For it is as poflible for a man to be a diligent 
 attendant upon fermons, and yet manifeft nothing of 
 the fpirit of Chriflianity in his life and converfation j 
 as it is impoffible for him to be a devout and conftant 
 fuppliant at the Throne of Grace, and long remain an 
 unfan&ified perfon. For GOD, we are told, will give 
 his Holy Spirit to them that afk him. But He has no 
 where promifed, that He will grant it to thofe whofe 
 religious fervice confifls in hearing only. 
 
 It is a remark that has been long fince made, 
 that no man who prays, can long continue a finner; 
 for either his praying will make him leave off finning, 
 or his finning will certainly oblige him to leave off 
 praying. To which we will add, that a man may 
 hear fermons all his life-time, and yet be as far from 
 heaven at the end of his ftage as when he fet out; 
 but let him pray the prayers of our church, and de- 
 voutly attend her facraments, and we may venture to 
 anfwer for his falvation, though he fhould have been 
 fo circumftanced, as not to have heard a tingle fermon 
 during his whole Chriftian progrefs. 
 
 Should the foregoing ideas be conformable to found 
 reafon, the great danger confequent upon that error 
 of the prefent age, which has led fo many well-mean- 
 
DISCOURSE X. 203 
 
 mg people to comprehend all religious fervice in that 
 of preaching, will become ftrikingly apparent. 
 
 " It is well known," (fays Bifhop ANDREWS) that 
 all the time of the primitive church, the fermon was 
 ever done before the fervice begun; and that to the 
 fermon, heathen men, infidels, and Jews, heretics, 
 fchifmatics, in iliort, all forts of people, were admitted. 
 But when they went to fervice, when the Liturgy 
 began, all thefe were voided; not one of them fuf- 
 fered to flay. It were ftrange, that that fhould be 
 the only or the chief fervice of GOD, whereat they, 
 which were held no fervants of GOD, no part of the 
 church, might and did remain no lefs freely than 
 they that were." 
 
 Thofe, therefore, who feparate from the church, if 
 they will give themfelves liberty to think upon the 
 fubjeft, will be fatisfied, that the only part of religious 
 \vorfliip, which they have carried away with them, 
 is the leaft effential part of her fervice. And if they 
 will look into the hiftory of the Chriftian world, they 
 will be convinced, that in proportion as the religions 
 exercife of Chriftian profeflbrs has coniifted in hear- 
 ing more, and praying /<?/}, the fpirit of Chriftianity 
 has fenfibly declined; and that the only hope of re- 
 ftoring it to any thing like its primitive ftandard mufl 
 
204- DISCOURSE x. 
 
 t 
 
 be derived from the re-adoption of thofe means, by 
 which it was originally promoted. 
 
 We know, and we are forry to think, that there 
 are many ferious perfons, who, from an idea that 
 members of our church are mere formal lifelefs pro- 
 feffors of Chriflianity, have feparated from her com- 
 munion, with the view of joining in what appears to 
 them a more fpiritual fervice elfewhere. But though 
 \ve are not difpofed to admit the truth of the reafon 
 advanced on this occaiion, and are inclined to think 
 that feparation from the church is to be traced up to 
 a very different motive, yet we do not feel ourfelveS 
 engaged to enter upon this part of the fubjeft; our 
 prefent bufinefs being to point out the advantages 
 attendant upon communion with the church, not to 
 enlarge upon the occalional ill ufe that has been 
 made of them, 
 
 To form a fair judgment on this head, we mud 
 confider what the fervice of our church is in itfelf, 
 and the fpiritual effeft which it is calculated to pro- 
 duce; not the little benefit which its formal attendants 
 have a&ually derived from it. Viewing things in this 
 light, we do not hefitate to fay, that the circumftance 
 of the feparatift from our church having his atten- 
 tion fo engrofled with the fervice of preaching, as it 
 
DISCOURSE X. 205 
 
 generally is, how excellent foever that preaching may 
 be, throws an additional weight into the fcale of dif- 
 advantage derivable from his feparation. In confe- 
 quence of which he is obliged to take up, for the 
 mod part, with an eafy hearfay kind of religious fer- 
 vice, which is not calculated to procure for hjm either 
 pardon or bleffing at the Throne of Grace; whilfl the 
 member of the church is, or ought to be, engaged in 
 thofe more fevere and more fpiritual exercifes, which, 
 when properly performed, are the covenanted condi- 
 tions upon which both are to be obtained. 
 
 In treating this fubjecl:,we have hitherto confidered 
 how man is affected by it, in the relation in which he 
 ftands to GOD, as redeemed by the blood of his Son ; 
 we will now confider for a moment, how it affects 
 him as member of a civilized community. 
 
 One of the mod general marks by which Chriflians 
 are to be known, is the love which they bear to each 
 other. " By this," fays CHRIST, " {hall all men 
 know that ye are my difciples, if ye have love one to 
 another/' The religion which Chriflians profefs is 
 founded in love, and bed calculated to produce it. 
 Its characterise fruits are love, joy, peace, long- 
 fuffering, gentlenefs, goodnefs, faith, meeknefs, tem- 
 perance. So that it may be laid down as an axiom, 
 
DISCOURSE S. 
 
 that where chanty or love of the brethren is wanting, 
 there genuine Chriftianity is not to be found. 
 
 Now it has pleafed GOD in this, as in moil other 
 cafes, to ordain, that the prefent and future interefls 
 of mankind, their peace in this world, and that in the 
 next, fliould travel as it were hand in hand together; 
 by making an uniformity in religious worfhip contribute 
 eiTentially to both. So long as men continue in unity 
 in the church, they are, generally fpeaking, difpofed 
 to live in unity among themfelves. The breaking 
 away from her is but a preparatory ftep to their 
 breaking away from each other. No fooner is the 
 centre of unity deferted, than the bond of Chriftian 
 fellowfhip, by which men, as members of the church, 
 are held together, is burfl afunderj and that fociety, 
 which before conflituted a compaft body, at peace 
 within itfelf, is crumbled into parties and fa&lons. 
 
 Certain it is, that union among Chriftians is to be 
 found only within the walls of the church. Upon 
 leaving thofe walls, that union is exchanged for end- 
 lefs divifion ; which unavoidably generates thofe evils 
 which the Apoftle has defcribed among the works 
 of the flefh; under the feveral heads of " hatred, 
 variance, emulations, wrath, ftrife, feditions, herefies, 
 envyings, and murders." 
 
DISCOURSE X. 207 
 
 So that feparation from the church ultimately 
 proves more or lefs fatal to the peace of individuals; 
 as if it were the defign of GOD, that men fhould 
 experience in this world, the effects of their deviation 
 from his plan for their falvation. For when the 
 pailions are fet at work in this bufmefs, a miftaken 
 zeal for what fome men conceive to be the truth, 
 becomes the plaufible plea for difallowing to others 
 that liberty, which they have not fcrupled to aiTume 
 to themfelves. 
 
 This principle, common to all religious differences, 
 conftitutes the general ground upon which perfecution 
 is built; which, though a word of partial application, 
 it being generally confined to the feverities which we 
 ourfelves feel, not to thofe which we inflict on others, 
 is that fevere fcourge with which Providence feems to 
 have permitted men to afflict each other, as a punifh- 
 ment for their mutual defertion df the Chriftian 
 character. For whilft bigots of all defcriptions per- 
 fuade themfelves, that they are inftruments in GOD'S 
 hand for promoting his caufe, they are in fact only 
 acting under the influence of difordered paffions, and 
 gratifying the propenfities of a corrupt nature. 
 
 When the Scotch covenanters, through the un- 
 happy diflraction of the times, had fucceeded fo far as 
 
208 PISCOURSE x. 
 
 to break off from all connexion with the church in 
 their own country, by fetting up a form of govern- 
 ment independent of it; their confciences, as they 
 pretended, could not be at reft, whilfl a church- conti- 
 nued to exifl in England ; and in their zeal for profe- 
 lytifm, the deftrucHon of a whole kingdom was not, by 
 thefe intemperate bigots, thought too dear a price to 
 be paid for the propagation of their favourite caufe. 
 The Puritans, in the feventeenth century, who fled 
 from hence for the fake of enjoying a greater degree 
 of religious freedom, than was at that time to be had 
 an this country, were no fooner eilabliflied in their 
 .new fettlement, than they, furniflied the moil con- 
 vincmg proof, that thofe who go the greatefl lengths 
 to procure religious freedom for themfelves, are -lead 
 difpofed to allow it to others. The perfecution 
 which, under the forms of law, thefe Puritans fet on 
 foot againft fome of their brethren, who ventured, 
 after their example, to think for themfelves in reli- 
 gious matters, was fo fevere, that an order from 
 government was deemed neceifary to reftrain its vio- 
 lence. In fliort, this people, who -in England could 
 not bear being chaftifed with rods, had no fooner go 
 free from their fetters, than they fcourged their fellow 
 refugees with fcorpiousj though the abfurdity, <as 
 
PISCOURSE X. 209" 
 
 Veil as the injuftice, of fuch proceeding might 'have 
 flared them in the face* 
 
 Thefe circumstances, humiliating to man, as a 
 reafonable creature, have been brought forward to 
 convince the reader, that reparation from the church 
 as generally leads to further difunion among the 
 feparatifls -themfclves, as it certainly does to the 
 breach of that charity, by which the Chriftian reli- 
 gion, when profeffed in purity, binds all men together. 
 
 But, for the conllderation of bigots of every de- 
 fcription, whether in the church, or out of it, (for 
 the principle upon which they aft is equally to be 
 condemned) be it obferved, that the honour of GOD 
 can never be promoted at the expence of Chriftian 
 charity; and he that maketh the glory of GOD the 
 end, muft take the word of GOD for the rule, of his 
 a&ions. We are told, indeed, that " it is good to 
 be zealoufly affe&ed always in a good thing;" and we 
 readily fubfcribe to the do&rine. We are, moreover, 
 exhorted by the Apoflle to " contend earneflly for 
 the faith;" and GOD forbid, that Chriftians fhoultf 
 at any time be otherwife difpofed. But whilft wr 
 guard againi! that general indifference in religious 
 matters, which eonftituies one of the finking charac- 
 teriftics of the age ; we muft at the fame time re- 
 
210 DISCOURSE X. 
 
 member, that Chriftian zeal, under the direction of 
 that wifdom which defcendeth from above, will be 
 " pure and peaceable, full of mercy, and of good 
 fruits;'' in contradiftinftion to that furious and de- 
 ftructive quality, which has at different periods 
 ufurped its facred name, but which bears the une- 
 quivocal mark of its difgraceful origin 5 it being 
 " earthly, fenfual, devilifh." 
 
 In a word, the zeal of the Chriftian muft not be 
 of a kind with that which the Difciples felt, when 
 they would have called down fire from heaven to 
 deftroy the city that was indifpofed to receive them; 
 but muft refemble, as far as may be, the holy and 
 affectionate zeal of that bleffed perfon, who came 
 into the world, not to deftroy men's lives, but tofave 
 them. And that man knows nothing of the Chriftian- 
 religion, who does not know it to be what it has 
 been here reprefented; and where what is called by 
 that facred name, is unaccompanied with the fruits 
 above fpecified, depend upon it, fome poifonous doc- 
 trine has been mixed up with it, deftru&ive of its 
 falutary effect; or the profeffor, how zealous foever 
 he maybe, has fubftituted the creature of his own 
 imagination, for the truth as it is in CHRIST JESUS. 
 
DISCOURSE X. 211 
 
 i 
 
 ik It were well, (fays an old writer*) if, inftead 
 of wild enthufiafm, we would come to learn the 
 fobriety of religion. In which let us heighten our 
 zeal and Divine enthufiafm, to adhere ftriftly to the 
 revealed will of fcripture; to have a flaming charity 
 for the good of the body, and the unity of the 
 -church; that our enthufiafm may tend to heal, and 
 not to divide; to advance the glory of GOD, and to 
 humble ourfelves in our own conceits; that we may 
 be willing cheerfully to fubmit ourfelves to our fu- 
 periors both in church and ilate; and not be fo apt 
 to judge others, as to cenfure ourfelves: and then, 
 though we had different opinions, yet we (liould 
 have no fchifm. We (liould live together, as mem- 
 bers of the fame body; that though one were more 
 honourable or uieful than another, yet there would 
 be no flrife, no emulation, but which fliould exceed 
 moil in mutual good offices, and care for the whole. 
 Such a heaven we fliould fee, if we had no fchifm." 
 
 But the evils refulting from fchifm are not confined 
 to men in their private character of Chriftians, but 
 affeft them alfo in their public one, as members of 
 a civilized flate. 
 
 * LESLEY. 
 
5212 DISCOURSE x. 
 
 Schifm and rebellion have, in all ages of the world, 
 been intimately connected with each other. The 
 fame difpofition of mind that leads individuals to 
 make their own church, if uncontroled, leads them 
 alfo to imagine themfelves qualified to form their own 
 government. Hence it is, that fchifmatics have beep 
 at all times, more or lefs, what they were in ST. 
 JUDE'S days, murmuren and complalners. By fuch 
 men this kingdom has once been brought to defo- 
 lation. The miniflers of the church were driven 
 from their pulpits by them ; that the godly preachers, 
 as they were then called, might ftep into their places. 
 And the fruit of their doclrine, when ripened to per- 
 fection, was this: a moil pious prince was murdered, 
 becaufe he would not join with them in pulling down 
 that church, which he \\sAfworn tofupport; and the 
 conftitution of this country was defhroyed, becaufe it 
 was not built upon a plan of their own forming. 
 
 The fame leaven of wickeduefs, which produced 
 thofe fcenes of mifery and confufion in the laft cen- 
 tury, is, it is to be feared, now working in this king- 
 dom; and it will be no breach of charity to fay, that 
 the doctrines, which are at times delivered by fome 
 of thofe irregular preachers, with which, unhappily 
 for us, this country fo much abounds, tend in a 
 
DISCOURSE X, 213 
 
 great degree to fpread the mifchief. In contempt of* 
 former experience, and in defiance of an exifting 
 example, the moft wretched in its kind that the 
 world ever produced, of the effefts attendant upon* 
 a general diflblution of order in fociety; there are 
 not wanting men, who, either from vanity or defign, 
 are defirous of making hazardous experiments, under 
 the plaufible idea of improving a fcience, upon which 
 few heads are competent to form a judgment ; and 
 to the confequences of a miftaken theory, upon 
 which the very exiflence of a ftate may eventually 
 fall a facrifice. 
 
 Reformation, it fhall be readily granted, is at all 
 times a defirable thing, when the honefty as well as 
 judgment of the reforming party are fully to be 
 depended on. But there is a further and very im- 
 portant confideration belonging to this fubject, which 
 is feldom taken into account; and againft which 
 neither honefly nor judgment are a fufficient fecurity. 
 In politics, the moft important events areofttimes 
 unforefeen, and derived from caufes with which they 
 have no immediate or apparent connexion. Circum- 
 ftances in proof of this pofition are to be met with in 
 the hiftory of every country. A plan fet on foot by 
 wife and honeft men may be fo diflorted in its work* 
 
DISCOURSE X, 
 
 ing, by palling through the hands of men differently 
 difpofed, that the evil eventually produced may far 
 overbalance the good originally proje&ed. For the 
 direft and immediate confequences of innovation of 
 any kind are, generally fpeaking, the leafl important. 
 Hence it follows, that reformers fliould be men pof- 
 feffed, not only of found heads and honeft hearts, 
 but alfo of a confiderable degree of forecaft, a fort 
 of anticipating knowledge with refpeft to future 
 events, to enable them to fee the remote as well as 
 immediate effect of the means they fet in motion. 
 For no wife man, though fenfible of an evil, provided 
 It be not of the intolerable kind, will riik a remedy, the 
 operation of which he cannot in fome meafure afcer- 
 tain ; and the effeft of which may, from its violence, 
 leave him in a worfe condition than it found him. 
 
 With refpeft to ourfelves, pofTeiTed of the bed 
 government, and the moil Apoflolic church in the 
 world, we are neverthelefs, it mufl be confefTed, a 
 difcontented people; owing in part to the hypochon- 
 driac feelings of fome, who know not what it is to be 
 happy under any circumftances; the defigned mif- 
 reprefentations of others ; and the various projected 
 fchemes of imaginary reformers, whofe zeal feldom 
 permits them to weigh coolly the poflible attainment 
 
DISCOURSE X. 215 
 
 of fpeculative perfection, againfl the probable ri/k 
 attendant upon the profecution of it. And perhaps 
 it may be thus accounted for : in proportion as things 
 in this world approach nearer to that perfection beft 
 calculated to promote human happinefs, there the 
 grand enemy of man, the difturber of his peace, 
 and the envier of his happinefs, is always moil bufily 
 employed. And when this prince of darknefs afTumes 
 the drefs of an angel of light, by making religion 
 the tool with which he works for the accompliih- 
 ment of his purpofe, he is then mod to be dreaded, 
 becaufe then he can mod fuccefsfully deceive. 
 
 Such are the general confequences refulting from 
 a feparation from the church of CHRIST. A more 
 particular invefligation of them would lead into a 
 a wider field, than is . propofed to be entered upon, 
 on this occafion. 
 
 Perhaps, indeed, fome indulgence may be required 
 on the part of the reader, to excufe the difpropor- 
 tionate length to which the difcuffion of this fubjecl: 
 has already been drawn out. Not without hopes, 
 however, that what has been faid, though in a lefs 
 complete and fyflematic form than the importance of 
 the fubjecl: demanded, may be fufficient to anfwcr 
 the purpofe in view, where it meets with a mind 
 
21G DISCOURSE X, 
 
 difpofed to receive it; we haften to a condufion, ia 
 one fliort but neceflkry word to the profeffed members 
 of the Chriflian church. 
 
 Whilft we are engaged in an earneft, though hum- 
 ble, endeavour to preferve the unity of the Chriilian 
 church, by bringing forward every confideration 
 which may tend to prevent a feparation from it; it 
 ought, moft affuredly, to be a matter of very ferious 
 concern with the members of that church, that they 
 do not render abortive our endeavour, by a voluntary 
 ignorance of, or fliameful indifference to, a fubject, 
 which mud be regarded as involving in it their moft 
 important interefts. To fecure themfelves againfl 
 fuch an imputation, it is neceiTary that they do juflice 
 to the church to which they belong; by making them- 
 felves acquainted with the nature of its conftitution, 
 the defign of its establishment, and the privileges of 
 which they become partakers by their admiffion into 
 it. This done, they will never forfake its commu- 
 nion; becaufe they will be convinced, that no plan 
 upon which any other Chriftian fociety has been 
 formed, is fo well calculated to promote the fpiritual 
 edification of its members, as that to which they 
 belong. But if they will not feek to make them- 
 felves acquainted with this interefting fubjeft, not- 
 
DISCOURSE X. 217 
 
 withftanding the abundant means gracioufly vouch- 
 fafed to them for that purpofe; if the religion which 
 they profefs, inftead of being built on the firm ground 
 of fober and rational enquiry, is the mere refult of 
 early prejudice, and accidental circumftance; a kind 
 of hereditary pofTeilion handed down to them from 
 their forefathers, of which they confefTedly know 
 little, and about which, perhaps, they ftill care lefs; 
 if, when they come to a place of holy worfhip, they 
 enter not into the fervices performed there ; neither 
 praying the prayers of the church, nor joining in the 
 facraments; but when they ought to be on their 
 knees, in humble fupplication for pardon and grace, 
 they remain on their feats unconcerned and unin- 
 terefled in the facred bufmefs that is going forward: 
 the neceffary confequence mud be, that they will be 
 dead, not living, members of the church; and it 
 will be no fubjeft for furprize, if, after having con- 
 tinued in that (late for years, without experiencing 
 any communication of Divine fpirit from the Head 
 to which they profefledly belong, they fhould bs per^ 
 fuaded to feek unhallowed fire elfewhere. 
 
 But be it remembered, the fault in th ; s cafe is not 
 in the church, but in its members; and by cutting 
 themfelves off from the. church, upon the imaginary 
 
 T 
 
218 DISCOURSE X, 
 
 idea of acquiring that fpiritual attainment, of which 
 they are not in actual poffeilion, in confequence either 
 of their abufe or difufe of thofe appointed means to 
 which the Divine grace has been formally annexed; 
 they only render their cafe, it is to be feared, in fome 
 fenfe more hopelefs than it was before. A limb, 
 though difeafed, whilil it continue united to the 
 body, may recover; which, when feparated from i^ 
 mufi inevitably perifli. 
 
[ 219 ] 
 
 CONCLUDING DISCOURSE. 
 
 convince, is one thing; to prevail with men 
 to aft in conformity with that conviftion, is 
 another. The former is the general effeft of found 
 argument, addrelTed to competent underflandings ; 
 the latter is ofttimes attended with a fpecies of humi- 
 liation, to which the pride of man will not fuffer 
 him to fubmit. 
 
 It is never too foon to tread back our fteps, when 
 convinced that we are not travelling in the right 
 path; becaufe the difficulty of our return to it in- 
 creafes in proportion to our diftance from it. But, 
 alas! all men poffefs not firmnefs of mind, to enable 
 them to do juftice to their reafoning faculty; choofing 
 rather, out of compliment to the opinion of the 
 world, which is rarely worth obtaining, to continue 
 in error, than to take (as they conceive) ftiame to 
 themfelves, by acknowledging that they have been 
 
CONCLUDING 
 
 miflaken; which is in fa&, in other words, to fay 
 that they are wifer to-day than they were yeilerday. 
 This remark is, perhaps, more frequently exem- 
 plified in religious, than in any other concerns in life; 
 for in proportion to the importance of the objeft in 
 purfuit is, generally fpeaking, the ftrength of pre- 
 judice in favour of the plan adopted for the purpofe. 
 Hence it is, that of the many who feparate from the 
 church, very few can ever be perfuaded to return to 
 it. You may fucceed, if mailer of the fubject, in 
 removing all obje&ions, in anfwering all arguments, 
 in fatisfying all fcruples; fo that feparatifls fliall in 
 a manner be left fpeechlefs: but when you think 
 yourfelf upon the point of accompanying them to 
 the houfe of GOD as friends, there is a lion in the 
 way the pride of the human heart will npt fuffer 
 them to proceed. I once remember having a long 
 and interefting converfation with a parifliioner, of 
 whofe underilanding I had formed a favourable judg- 
 ment, upon the fuhjeft of his leaving the church; and 
 was fo happy as tq fucceed in convincing him. When 
 arrived at this defired point, his immediate queftion 
 was, " what I would have him do in the cafe?" To 
 which the anfwer was obvious; th.a.t he fliquldt im- 
 mediately return to the place from whence he hadi 
 
DISCOURSE* 
 
 gone aftray. The queftioh fubjoined to this advice 
 manifefted the infirmity of human nature. " But, 
 fir, (continued he) what fhall I do with all thofe, 
 whom I have drawn after me from the church?" 
 f Bring them back with you to the church again, as 
 the belt amends that can be made for your paft error, 
 and the ftrongeft teflimony that can be given of your 
 prefent fmcerity;' was the reply. But, alas! this 
 was a trial too hard for flelh and blood; the man 
 was not proof againfl the remarks to which he fore- 
 faw his conduft muft fubjeft him; he therefore con- 
 tinues to this day a member of the Meeting, in fpite 
 of his better judgment. This cafe, it is to be feared, 
 is by no means a fingular one. Little hopes, there- 
 fore, can be entertained, that in a fubjeft of this 
 kind converfion will often accompany convi&ion. 
 For when fchifm once takes pofleffion of the human 
 mind, it bears fome refemblance to a cancer in the 
 human body, which fpreads its poifonous influence 
 fo generally through the fyftem, that the difeafe 
 feldom terminates but with the life of the patient. 
 
 Neverthelefs, how defperatc foever the cafe, the 
 phyfician, while life remain, perfeveres in his at- 
 tempt to cure. Upon this principle, rather than 
 upon any fanguine hope of fuccefs, I have thrown 
 
CONCLUDING 
 
 t % 
 
 together the foregoing thoughts upon a fubject, 
 which to me appears of the utmoft importance. My 
 earneft wifli in fo doing has been, in the firft inftance, 
 to difcharge fome part of my duty towards thofe 
 immediately committed to my care. In the fecond, 
 to do fome little good in a more general way, ihould 
 GOD think me worthy to become an inflrument of 
 doing good in fuch a caufe. 
 
 It is not to be expe&ed that what has been writ- 
 ten, fhould make impreffion upon thofe who will not 
 give themfelves leave to think differently from what 
 they may have been accuftomed to think; for pre- 
 judice, generally fpeaking, turns its back upon reafon: 
 but I cannot help indulging a hope, that where it 
 meets with a candid and ingenuous mind, it will not 
 fail of being attended with fome effeft. The only- 
 probable way to fucceed in this cafe feems to be, by 
 putting men upon the proper life of their rational 
 faculties, from a convicYion that ignorance is the 
 prolific parent of error. 
 
 All men, it is certain, are not qualified to penetrate 
 into the depths of fcience; nor is it neceilary for the 
 general purpofes of life, that all men Ihould be either 
 hiftorians, metaphyficians, logicians, or critics. But 
 all men are concerned to know what plan has been 
 
DISCOURSE. 223 
 
 revealed for the promotion of their eternal welfare; 
 and in what manner their conduft muft correfpond 
 with it, to fecure its effeft. It is to be fuppofed, 
 therefore, that an all-gracious GOD has furnifhed all 
 men with an underftanding competent to this purpofe, 
 provided it be properly employed. To that under- 
 ftanding the appeal is here made. For the caufe we 
 have in hand, requires not that we fhould put out 
 the eyes of men, in order to lead them blindfold in 
 their Chriflian journey. On the contrary, we are 
 defirous that they ftiould fee for themfelves, and fee 
 clearly; upon the idea, that the more they fee, the 
 lefs prejudice they will entertain, and the more they 
 will be fatisfied with the dire&ion of their appointed 
 guides. 
 
 With this view the Bible is put into their hands; 
 and they are required, after the example of the Be- 
 reans, to fearch and examine, whether what has been 
 faid upon the fubjeft of the church be agreeable to 
 the tenour of the Apoflolic writings. For that is 
 the ftandard to which all opinions upon this fubjecfc 
 mufl be ultimately referred. 
 
 From thefe writings, principally, we have col- 
 le&ed what appears to us decifive evidence refpe&ing 
 the nature, defign, and conftitution, of the Chrifliaa 
 
224 CONCLUDING 
 
 church. tJpon the authority of thefe writings, we 
 have defcribed the church to be, not a creature of 
 the imagination, or a fociety of human eftablifhment ; 
 but a vifible body of people called out of the world 
 by GOD, and placed by Him under a particular form 
 of government and difcipline, calculated to promote 
 the great objeft for which they are brought together. 
 By direft evidence from the fame fountain of know- 
 ledge, we have maintained, that the Head of the 
 church originally committed the care of it to his 
 Apoftles, invefling them with power to manage the 
 concerns of it; and that the Apoftles did actually 
 exercife that power, by appointing divers orders in 
 the church, and eftablifhing the plan upon which it 
 was in future to be conduced. In correfpondence 
 with this arrangement, we have reprefented the unity 
 of the church to confift in the conformity of its mem- 
 bers to this Divine plan; whereby they become joined 
 together in that brotherly communion and fellowfhip, 
 neceffary to the promotion of that charity, which is 
 * c the bond of perfe&nefs," and the chara&eriftic 
 mark of the difciples of the blefTed JESUS. 
 
 It now remains that the reader examine this matter 
 for himfelf. With his Bible in his hand, and pre- 
 judice laid afide, let the fubjeft then be brought to 
 
DISCOURSE. 225 
 
 an impartial hearing. And if he find, as we are 
 perfuaded will be the cafe, that thofe parts of the 
 facred records, to which an appeal has been made 
 in the foregoing difcourfes, will not, upon fair con- 
 flru&ion, admit a fenfe different from what has been 
 annexed to them; if he would maintain the character 
 of an honed man, he will be led to the following- 
 obvious conclufion: that a fancied independence on 
 fpiritual authority, upon the miftaken idea, that every 
 man is at liberty to make his own church; or to join 
 himfelf to any fociety of Chriftians who may affumc 
 that name, with the view of offering up a more fpi- 
 ritual fervice than, in their judgment, is offered to 
 GOD in any other way, the plaufible ground upon 
 which all modern feparations from the church are 
 built; whilft it renders the Apoftolic writings defli- 
 tute of all force and meaning, tends at the fame time 
 to the duTolution of that order, which CHRIST, for 
 wife reafons, faw necefTary to be eflablifhed. 
 
 In handling this fubjeft, we have laid down two 
 general pofitions; which, it is prefumed, are not to 
 be controverted. The firfl is, that the Author of 
 man's falvation was beft qualified to determine the 
 plan calculated to carry it into effeft. The fecond, 
 that as the falvation of fallen man is the work of 
 
CONCLUDING 
 
 free and undeferved grace, man muft be thankful to 
 accept it on the conditions upon which it is offered. 
 The conclufion to which thefe pofitions lead, feems 
 to be this: that no man, in the ordinary way of fal- 
 vation, can hope to attain the end of his Chriftiaa 
 calling, who negle&s to ufe the means appointed by 
 GOD to lead him to it. 
 
 Such is the ground upon which the argument for 
 conformity to the church is built. The confideration 
 that a certain plan has been fet on foot, and certain 
 means of grace appointed by the Head of the church, 
 for the purpofe of fecuring the falvation of its mem- 
 bers, tends to render that argument conclufive. For, 
 as it has been already obferved, though perhaps in 
 different words, the fpiritual life of man muft depend 
 upon his fpiritual connexion with CHRIST. " The 
 branch cannot bear fruit of itfelf, except it abide in 
 the vine." But the only revealed way that CHRIST 
 has appointed for man's obtaining this fpiritual con- 
 neftion with him, is by becoming a member of his 
 body, the church. " By one fpirit (fays the Apof- 
 tle) we are all baptized into one body;" by one and 
 the fame fpirit, communicated to us at baptifm, we 
 are united into one fpiritual fociety, the church; and 
 " have been all made to drink into one fpirit:" our 
 
DISCOURSE, 227 
 
 ipiritual life, as members of CHRIST'S body, being 
 preferved to us by our communication with the 
 head of it, JESUS CHRIST; in the ufe of thofe 
 means of grace appointed by Him for that purpofe; 
 upon the principle laid down by our SAVIOUR him- 
 felf in this (hort though comprehenfive axiom, " that 
 without Him we can do nothing." 
 
 Hence we have been led to point out the apparent 
 danger of feparating from the unity of the church. 
 For, if we reafon from analogy, as, from the figure 
 under which ST. PAUL has defcribed the church, 
 we are obviouily led to do, we fhall reafon thus: 
 that by feparating from the body of which CHRIST 
 is the head, we feparate from that fpirit which 
 animates it. And if we become partakers of CHRIST'S 
 fpirit, in confequence of being admitted members of 
 his church, which the fcripture has given us to under- 
 {land, (Acts ii. 38) the continuance of that fpirit 
 with us muft, it fhould feem, depend upon our re- 
 maining in that connection with Him, which firft 
 qualified us for its reception. 
 
 We read but of one body and one fpirit, Ephef. 
 iv. 4. From whence we are led to conclude, that 
 the fpirit of CHRIST is confined to that body of which 
 lie is the head; and that body is the church. A 
 
228 CONCLUDING 
 
 feparation from the church confequently, according to 
 the meaning defigned to be conveyed by the Apoftle, 
 mufl be regarded as a kind of fpiritual death. 
 
 From what has been faid at large upon this fubjecT, 
 our object has been to enable the reader to under- 
 ftand the figurative language of the Apoftle, confi- 
 dered as defcriptive of the myftical body of CHRIST; 
 the members of which are joined together, and ani- 
 mated by the fame fpirit, derived to them from their 
 participation in thofe life-giving facraments, which 
 CHRIST appointed as the means of forming and pre- 
 ferving to himfelf a church upon earth. The Apoftolic 
 language thus interpreted furnifhes a clear and diftinft 
 notion of the Chriflian church in its original and 
 perfect form; of which the joint communion of its 
 component members conilitutes an eiTential charac- 
 teriflic. If we have been tedioufly particular on this 
 point, it has been from a conviclion, that a want of 
 proper information upon it has been the caufe of 
 many well-meaning people going out of the church, 
 who might other wife have gladly remained in it. For 
 their fakes, therefore, I ftill feel difpofed to fay fome 
 few words on a fubjecl:, which, from its connection 
 with that in which we are immediately engaged, 
 feems to claim fome attention. 
 
DISCOURSE. 229 
 
 Separation from the church originates, it is to be 
 feared, for the mod part, in pride; although it is, 
 generally fpeaking, attempted to be juftified by the 
 imaginary plea of fuperior advantage, derivable from 
 an attendance upon religious worfhip in fome other 
 place. Should I be thought wanting in charity in 
 this cafe, I muil take flicker, under the authority of 
 a molt judicious writer of the laft century,* whofe 
 remark upon this fubjeft poflefTes that flerling value, 
 which mufl give it currency in every age. " What 
 harm foever" (lays he) " in private families there 
 groweth, by difobedience of children, flubbornnefs in 
 Servants, untra&ablenefs in them who, although they 
 otherwife may rule, yet fhould, in confideration of 
 fhe imparity of their fex, be alfo fubjeft; whatfoever 
 by ftrife among men combined in greater focieties, 
 by tyranny of potentates, ambition of nobles, rebel- 
 lion of fubje&s in civil ilates ; by herefies, fchifms, 
 and divJfions in the church; naming J>ride, we name^ 
 the mpther that brought them forth, and the only 
 nurfe that feedeth them. Give me the hearts of all 
 men humbled, and what is there that can overthrow 
 or diflurb [the peace of the world, where many things 
 are the caufe of much evil, but pride of all?" With- 
 
 * HOOKER'S Sermon on Pride. 
 
CONCLUDING 
 
 out, however, particularly infilling on the" can fe. of 
 feparation from the church, (as we would always,, 
 ignorant as we are of the human heart, fpeak with 
 diffidence, when we argue from the appearance of an 
 external act, to theexiftence of an internal principle;) 
 it will be more to our purpofe to attend to the con- 
 fequences derivable from it. And under this head, 
 we cannot help remarking the un found ground, upon 
 which a prevailing idea refpe&ing the Divine ailifb. 
 ance is commonly built. 
 
 In the church, we look for the ordinary affiftance 
 of the Holy Spirit in the regular and ilncere ufe of 
 the means of grace appointed to convey it. The 
 Divine promife encourages us fo to do. Provided, 
 therefore, we do not deceive ourfelves in this matter, 
 we certainly ihall not be difappointed in our expecta- 
 tion. Separates from the church, are frequently 
 taught to expect the extraordinary aiMance of the, 
 fame Divine fpirit, independent of all appointed means 
 whatever. For the fupport of this expectation there 
 is no authority, either from fcripture or reafon, to 
 be produced. We are not furprifed, therefore, that 
 to minds engrofTed with fuch an idea, all ftated fer- 
 vices of religion fhould appear in the light of ufelefs 
 forms, and beggarly elements; beneath the attention 
 
DISCOURSE. 231 
 
 of thofe who are favoured with a more immediate 
 communication from the Divine Fountain. But to 
 prove the abfurdity of this idea, confidered as efta- 
 blifhing the ground for a general poihion, and at the 
 fame time to fet aiide all pretenfions to fuch extraor- 
 dinary ailiitance, it requires only to be remarked, for 
 what purpofe that affiilance was originally granted, 
 and to what end it was employed. 
 
 " I will pray the Father," faid CHRIST to his 
 difciples, a little before his departure from them, as 
 we read in ST. JOHN'S Gofpel, " and he lhall fend 
 you another comforter,* that he may abide with you 
 for ever, even the fpirit of truth." In another part 
 of his writings the fame Apoille tells us, that " if 
 we fin, we have an advocate with the Father, JESUS 
 CHRIST the righteous." From the Apoille's appli- 
 cation of the fame word to the Holy Ghofl in the 
 former text, which he has applied to our SAVIOUR 
 in the latter; and fince the word thus applied to our 
 SAVIOUR muft be tranilated as it is, to make good 
 the Apoftle's meaning upon the occafion, it is to be 
 concluded, that by this common ufe of the fame term, 
 the Apoflle intended thereby to convey an idea of 
 
 * The original word, tranflated Comforter and Advocate, in thefe 
 two different parts of ST. JOHN'S writings, is the fame. 
 
232 CONCLUDING 
 
 fome fimilarity exi/ting between the office of the re- 
 fpeftive parties $ confequently, that both thefe Divine 
 perfons were, in fome fenfe, to be confidered advocates 
 for mankind. 
 
 Now the office of an advocate is, to fupport or 
 defend a caufe; to appear in behalf of another, to 
 plead for him, or manage his concerns. Whilft, 
 therefore, we have an advocate, JESUS CHRIST the 
 righteous, who appears in our caufe before the Father 
 in Heaven ; we have alfo another advocate on earth, 
 who undertakes the caufe of the church againfl its 
 fpiritual enemies ; providing the members of it, from 
 time to time, with fuch afliftance, as may enable them 
 to carry on their warfare againfl them with fuceefs. 
 To the care and management of this powerful advo- 
 cate, our bleffed SAVIOUR, when he left the world, 
 committed his church; that he might continue with 
 it, as its patron and fupport, to the end of time. The 
 method adopted by this Divine Advocate, in the 
 management of his great concern, at the commence- 
 ment of his office, is, what is now meant to be pointed 
 out to immediate attention. 
 
 At the firft eftablifhment of the Chriltian church, 
 a great and important reformation, both in principles 
 and pra&ices, was to be effected. The caufe of 
 
DISCOURSE. 23S 
 
 JESUS CHRIST was to be juftified; the prince of this 
 world was to be judged; the idols of heathenifh 
 fuperftition was to be thrown down ; and the religion 
 of a crucified SAVIOUR propagated. The inftru- 
 ments pitched upon by Divine wifdom for carrying 
 this great work into eiFeft, were men, for the mod 
 part, of the loweft order and meaneft endowments; 
 and confequently men, humanly fpeaking, the leaft 
 qualified for the undertaking; efpecially when it is 
 confidered, that on the other fide all the powers of 
 earth and hell were combined againft.them. 
 
 . Xhefe extraordinary circumfhmces, under which 
 the church of CHRIST firft appeared in the. world, 
 required extraordinary affiilance from heaven, for the 
 fupport of a caufe in itfelf fo apparently weak. To 
 furnifh this affiftance, by diftributing thole gifts 
 which JESLUS CHRIST, when he afcended upon high, 
 had received for men, Pf. Ixviii. 18, was the pecu- 
 liar office of the Holy Ghoft. The manner in which 
 that office was difcharged, according to the exigence 
 of the occafion, the Apoftle has particularly defcribed 
 in the twelfth chapter of the firft epiftle to the 
 Corinthians; where he gives a detail of the feveral 
 gifts and powers, which were conferred on the firft 
 Chriftians, to give weight and credibility to their 
 
 u 
 
234 CONCLUDING 
 
 do&rine, and to fupport an infant, ftruggling caufe 
 againfl that oppofition which was then fo powerfully 
 exerted againfl it. Among thefe gifts we find that 
 of divers tongues; a gift abfolutely neceflary, to 
 fupply the defe&s of an incompetent education, and 
 to qualify illiterate men for the immediate difcharge 
 of an office, which, according to the commifTion 
 delivered to them, was " to go and make difciples 
 in all nations." 
 
 But the Apoflles were not only to preach and 
 propagate the religion of a crucified JESUS, but were, 
 moreover, to leave behind them a flanding revelation 
 for the future dire&ion and government of the 
 church. To enable them to colleft the materials for 
 this work, from the detached converfation of their 
 bleffed Mailer, and the incidental circumflances of his 
 life, with a correftnefs efTential to its perfection, extra- 
 ordinary affiflance Was deemed' neceflary. One part, 
 therefore, of the Holy Ghoil's office, as advocate for 
 the church, was to qualify the Apoflles for this un- 
 dertaking; by " leading them into all truth; and 
 bringing all things to their remembrance which JESUS 
 had faid unto them/' John xiv. 25, 26. By this 
 fupernatural affiflance, ignorance and error were 
 effe&ually guarded againfl; and every truth expe- 
 
DISCOURSE. 235 
 
 dient to be known was delivered to the world, with 
 that authority and convi&ion, proper to accompany 
 a revelation, defigned to be the flandard of Chriftian 
 faith to all future ages. 
 
 To thofe, therefore, who in thefe days defpife the 
 ordinary means of attaining divine knowledge, from 
 a dependence upon that extraordinary affiftance from 
 the Holy Spirit, which was vouchsafed to the Apof- 
 tles and firft Chriftians, we have to obferve; that the 
 ftate of the Chriftian world does not at this time 
 render fuch affiftance neceflary. The ftandard of 
 Chriftian faith being fixed, we have no new revelation 
 to expeft. It remains only, that we now make our- 
 felves acquainted with that which has been vouch- 
 fafedunto us; and this is to be done by the ufual 
 methods of ftudy and application, accompanied with 
 that ordinary affiftance of the Holy Spirit, which we 
 are taught to believe will accompany all fincere 
 endeavours exerted in fuch a caufe. 
 
 The church ftands no longer upon that ground 
 on which it originally flood, when the weak things 
 of the world and the fooliih th ings were chofen 
 to confound the wife. Kings and Queens are now- 
 become her nurling fathers and nurfmg mothers; and 
 the wifdom of the wife is now engaged in her caufe. 
 
CONCLUDING 
 
 The figns and wonders, which accompanied the 
 preaching of the Gofpel in its early days, have there- 
 fore ceafed; be'caufe the end for which they were 
 granted having been anfwered, the continuance of 
 them is no longer necelTary. For a fimilar reafon, 
 all the extraordinary affiftance of the Holy Spirit to 
 qualify the firft teachers of Chriilianity for their 
 office, by the" effeft of immediate 'infpiration fupplying 
 natural incapacity, has long fmce ceafed ; becaufe 
 men have it now in their power, in a great degree, 
 to (qualify themfelves for the difcharge of the minif- 
 terial office by a proper employment of thofe faculties 
 which GOD has given them for the purpofe. 
 
 As much important work was to be completed 
 within a fliort period, the whole world being to be 
 converted by the Apoftles and their immediate depu- 
 ties to the knowledge of the true GOD, fuch means 
 were neceffary as would tend to give a ready recep- 
 tion to their preaching, by producing a powerful and 
 inftantaneous elfeft upon their hearers. Miracles 
 \vere exprefsly calculated for this pufpofe. And 
 had the date of the church (till continued to be what 
 it was when the Holy Ghofl firfl undertook the 
 charge of it, the fame extraordinary means would ftill 
 have been neceffary for its fupport. But in propor- 
 
DISCOURSE. 237 
 
 tion as the ordinary means of promoting Chriftian 
 knowledge increafed upon the world, extraordinary 
 means were withdrawn ; and the external evidence for 
 the credibility of the Gofpel, from the iigns and won- 
 ders which attended its early promulgation, gradually 
 gave way to that internal evidence, which the ftudy 
 of the facred writings, when put into the hands of 
 Chriflians, was calculated to furnifli; an evidence 
 which, though lefs quick in its operation than what' 
 afts upon the underftanding through the medium of 
 the fenfes, has yet this advantage in its favour, that it 
 is more permanent in its effcft. 
 
 Whilft, therefore, the fober Chriftian looks for 
 that affiftance of the Holy Spirit which is ftill necelTary 
 for his condition, to enable him to " fight the good 
 fight of faith," and which he certainly will obtain, 
 provided he do not aik amifs; he does not expect 
 to receive aiTiftance which the circumiiances of hi$ 
 cafe do not require. 
 
 Should extraordinary events take place in the 
 
 Chriftian world, he refts allured, from the experience 
 
 of former times, that the fame Holy Spirit who " di- 
 
 videth to every man feverally as he will/' and to 
 
 -whofe truft the fpiritual concerns of Chriftians have 
 
 been committed, will not be wanting to the occailon, 
 
 ^ 
 
238 CONCLUDING 
 
 A diftinction is, therefore, to be made between the 
 ordinary and extraordinary affiftance of the Holy 
 Spirit j each being adapted by Divine wifdom to the 
 particular condition of the party concerned. In the 
 prefent day, the extraordinary affiftance which at- 
 tended the infant church is not expe&ed, becaufe it is 
 not wanted. That it is not granted, can be no fub- 
 je& for controverfy; whilft thofe who pretend to it, 
 are unable to produce a proof of it. They neither 
 work miracles, nor do they poffefs the gift of tongues; 
 though from a want of knowledge of the languages 
 in which the Scriptures were originally written, they 
 are frequently leading their hearers into error; which 
 certainly they would not be permitted to do, if, like 
 the Apoftles, they were, as they pretend to be, under 
 the immediate dire&ion of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 All pretence, therefore, to this extraordinary affift- 
 ance of the Holy Spirit, which tends to fuperfede the 
 ufe of thofe general methods of attaining Divine 
 knowledge, which are fuited to the prefent (late of 
 things in the world, and calculated to eftablifh the 
 faith and practice of the Chriftian profeffor on the 
 firm ground of found argument and rational convift- 
 ion, is the offspring of enthufiafm; which has been 
 productive of more difgrace to the Chriftian caufe. 
 
DISCOURSE. 239 
 
 and more miichief to mankind, than almoft any 
 principle that has ever actuated the human mind. 
 And it is from a want of a proper diflin&ion having 
 been made between the effefts of the Holy Spirit, 
 which were peculiar to the Apoftolic age, and .thofe 
 which a change of circumftances render ftill neceflary 
 to be continued in the church, that all the miftakes 
 upon this fubject have arifen. 
 
 A confideration, which fpeaks a language fuffici- 
 ently intelligible to every difcriminating mind, in 
 favour of that rational and edifying form of worlhip 
 eftablifhed in our church, as befl calculated to form 
 that temper of fober piety and folid virtue, which 
 never fails to produce correfpondent effe&s upon the 
 practice of all who flncerely ufeit. Efpecially when 
 it is obferved, as in truth and juftice it ought to be, that 
 moft of the errors which have crept into the church 
 are to be traced up to the ignorance and incapacity of 
 thofe, who from time to time have deemed themfelves 
 qualified to be interpreters of holy writ. 
 
 In proof of the foregoing pofition, it may be fuffi- 
 cient for our prefent purpofe to produce one inftance. 
 The original commiffion delivered to the Apoflles, as 
 it (lands recorded in St. Matthew's Gofpel, runs 
 thus: " Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing 
 
240 CONCLUDING 
 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghofl; teaching them to obferve all 
 things whatfdever I have commanded you," &c. 
 From the letter of this commiiTion, as it (lands 'in our 
 tranflation, a conclufion has been drawn by fome, that 
 a previous acquaintance with the principles of Chrifl- 
 ianity is a neceffary qualification for admiilion into 
 the Chriflian church; and that infants, in confequence 
 of their incapacity to learn, are of courfe excluded 
 from that privilege. But had the early patrons of 
 this erroneous opinion in this country been acquainted 
 \vith the original* language, in which this Apoflolic 
 commiffion was firft delivered to the world, they 
 Would have been fatisfied, that a conclufion, the very 
 oppofite to the one drawn by them, is what the paf- 
 fage in quefiion feems defigned to point out. In 
 proof of this pofition, it is to be obferved, that the 
 words teach and teaching, which occur in this remark- 
 able paiTage, are in the original Greek expreffed by- 
 two words, conveying two different meanings. In 
 conformity with which, the commiffion in quefliou 
 
 * The Gofpel according to St. Matthew was originally written 
 by him in Hebrew, for the benefit of the Jews at Jerufalem; bu t 
 afterwards tranfiated by him, or fome apoftolical perfon, into Greek, 
 and in that language received into the canon of the New Tefta- 
 ment by the whole primitive church. 
 

 DISCOURSE. 41 
 
 may with propriety be read thus : cc Go ye, and make 
 difciples of all nations, baptizing them, c.; and 
 when admitted into the church by baptifm, teach 
 them to obferve all things," &c. Children, there- 
 fore, are admitted into a ftate of difciplefhip in the 
 church, or fchool, of. CHRIST, upon the fame idea 
 that they are admitted into that ftate in any other 
 fchool ; not becaufe they have been already taught, 
 but in order that they may learn. In confirmation 
 of the foregoing remark, it may be obferved, that in 
 the Eaftern churches, where the Gofpel of St. MAT- 
 THEW was read in the Greek language, the erroneous 
 opinion here alluded to, refpefting the incapacity of 
 infants for admiffion into the church by baptifm, 
 never prevailed. 
 
 Another text which has been preffed into the fame 
 fervice, by the patrons of this erroneous opinion, will 
 alfo be found unequal to the weight that has been 
 attempted to be laid upon it. " Except a man be 
 born of water and of the fpirit, he cannot enter into 
 the kingdom of GOD/' John iii. 5. But in the 
 original it is, " except a ferfon, any one be born," 
 c. a term of general import, and applicable, confe- 
 quently, to all ages and perfons, to man, woman, 
 and child. I have thought it neceffary to point out 
 
242 CONCLUDING 
 
 thefe two paffages of fcripture to notice, with the 
 view of ftiewing the reader the narrow ground upon 
 which the objection to infant baptifm originally Hood. 
 The arguments fmce drawn from fome other circum- 
 flances recorded in holy writ in fupport of it, have 
 been brought forward to prop up a feeble caufe, 
 which its zealous advocates having once efpoufed 
 have thought themfelves obliged, at all events, to 
 maintain. Whilft, on the other fide, is to be placed 
 that momentous confideration refpefting the religious 
 education of children, which reafon, experience, and 
 fcripture, uniformly recommend to parental attention. 
 Reafon tells us, that if a plant be difpofed in its 
 infant flate to take an untoward growth, early train- 
 ing is the only mode calculated to correct the natural 
 tendency. What this plant is in thephysical, man is 
 in the moral world; a being who, from the corruption 
 of his nature, is difpofed to evil. Vicious affections, 
 like noxious weeds, are the natural produce of the 
 human foilj which will of courfe ripen into maturity, 
 if early pains be not taken to eradicate them, and 
 plant in their room thofe graces of the Chriflian tem- 
 per, which as they are exotics in the foil of the 
 human heart, require, in order to their being pre- 
 ferred in health and vigour, early nurfing, conftant 
 
DISCOURSE. 24-3 
 
 fuperintendance, and afliduous care. The royal in- 
 flru&or, therefore, in his directions to " train up a 
 child in the way that he fhould go," fpake the lan- 
 guage of found wifdom; of a man acquainted with 
 the actual flate of human nature, and felicitous of 
 providing the only remedy, under GOD, againfl its 
 prevailing corruption. 
 
 The experience of mankind informs us, that the 
 welfare, we might fay the exiftence, of civilized 
 fociety, in a great meafure depends upon the proper 
 difcharge of the parental duty. And with refpeft to 
 religious education in particular, the Jewifli hiilorian 
 informs us, that there were never lefs among the 
 Jews than four hundred houfes of catechizing, where 
 the law and the Talmud were regularly expounded: 
 and, moreover, that there was an act made at Jeru- 
 falem, which obliged all children of a certain age 
 to attend, in conformity with that pofitive injunction 
 which accompanied the delivery of the law, and is 
 thus recorded for our admonition: " The words 
 which I command thee this day fliall be in thine 
 heart; and thou (halt teach them diligently unto thy 
 children ; and fhalt talk of them when thou fitted in 
 thine houfe, and when thou walkeil by the way, and 
 when thou lieft down, and when thou rifeft up/** 
 * DEUT. xi. 19. 
 
44 CONCLUDIXG 
 
 It feems almoft unneceffary to ?dd, that the con-r 
 trary pra&ice which prevails with many parents, in 
 confequence of their having taken up an erroneous 
 opinion refpe&ing infant baptifm, of leaving their 
 children as it were to their own training, in expe&a- 
 tion of an extraordinary call from the Spirit, when 
 their day of converfion fhall arrive; has been the moft 
 ruinous to the Chriftian caufe, and the moft advan- 
 tageous to that of its grand enemy, that ever could 
 proceed from the human mind. A pra&ice, which, 
 were it to become general, would prove the moft 
 efFe&ual mean, not only of banifhing Chriftianity 
 from the world, but of reducing the inhabitants of it 
 to a wild flate of nature, that could poflibly be devifed. 
 A confideration, which muft powerfully enforce itfelf 
 upon the mind of every parent, who regards the 
 welfare of his own children; who has formed any 
 idea of his own duty ; who has remarked, what his 
 Bible teaches him to do, the great attention that was 
 paid to children under the Jewifli difpenfation; and 
 has, for a moment, confidered, that one of the 
 reafons given by GOD himfelf for the particular fa- 
 vour with which He was pleafed to diftinguifh ABRA- 
 HAM, is thus expreffed, Gen. xviii. " For I know 
 
45 
 
 i/X" fays GOD, " that he will command "his children 
 and his houfliold after him, and they fliall keep the 
 way of the LORD." 
 
 There is one point more, upon which it may be 
 proper to add a ihort word, by way of obviating an 
 obje&ion very commonly made againft the fervice of 
 our church, by thofe who are either unpofTeffed of 
 candour or difcrimination. 
 
 When the church of England firft emancipated 
 herfelf from the fhackles of the Romifh worfliip, it 
 "was not to be wondered at, that fome Proteitants, 
 with more zeal than judgment, fhould entertain a 
 jealoufy of forms and ceremonies, as tending to pre- 
 'ferve the veftiges of that idolatry which they had 
 wifely renounced. But had they confidered, that the 
 divines, who fcrupled not to ufe thofe forms and 
 ceremonies, which were judged- expedient to '.be 
 retained in our church, wereibme of the moft power- 
 ful advocates the Proteflant caufe ever had, they 
 would in candour have concluded, -that the objection 
 to forms and ceremonies mufl chiefly depend upon 
 the idea- with which they are accompanied in the mind 
 of the party engaged in them; and that, confequently, 
 they may be not only very innocent, but very advan- 
 tageous affilhnces'tQ religious worfliip, 
 
CONCLUDING- 
 
 Forms, confidered merely in themfelves, are but 
 the outflde of religion; and if they lead to nothing 
 beyond that, it matters not in what place they are 
 pra&ifed, or by whom. Thus far all rational men 
 readily agree. Their difagreement confifts in this: 
 fome men reje& forms, from a remembrance of their 
 pafl abufe; whilft others more wifely determine, that 
 the advantage they are calculated to produce, ought 
 not to be facrificed to the evil which, through the 
 corruption of human nature, may , occafionally be 
 derived from them. And this determination is cer- 
 tainly beft fuited to the (late of the party concerned. 
 
 Man is a being compounded of foul and body; 
 his religion, therefore, muft be fuited to his circum- 
 fiances. That muft alfo have a foul and body, a 
 fpiritual and a corporal part; upon the proper union 
 of which two parts, the fpiritual life of its profeflbr 
 will, upon experience, be found to depend. For 
 certain it is, that religion may be too refined for the 
 prefent grofs ftate of the human underftanding; 
 which muft receive much of its information on divine 
 fubje&s through a fenfible medium. Hence the 
 language of the Bible is, for the moft part, a language 
 <fimilitudes\ the eye of fenfe being made to minifter 
 to the eye of the underftanding; natural and vifible 
 
DISCOURSE. "247 
 
 obje&s being employed to convey to the mind thofc 
 ideas, which it is not in a condition to receive in any 
 other way. 
 
 Correfpondent with this figurative language of 
 Icripture, are the forms or figurative fervices -which 
 iiave been introduced into religious worfliip. They 
 are defigned to minifler to a fimilar purpofe; namely, 
 to inform the underflanding, and, at the fame time, 
 to awaken and keep alive the attention to thofe fpiri- 
 tual fubjefts, which might otherwife make little or 
 no impreflion. Taken in this light, they may be 
 confidered as a fort of explanatory appendages to reli- 
 gious worfliip; and if made that life of for which 
 they were appointed, muft, in a great degree, tend 
 to the fpiritual advantage of the parties engaged 
 in them. 
 
 On this account they have made a part of every 
 "religion, true as well as falfe, that has appeared in 
 the world. The Jewifh religion, that peculiar dif- 
 penfation of GOD, abounded with them; from which 
 our SAVIOUR felefted thofe which were adapted to 
 the Chriftian inftitution. 'From whence the conclu- 
 fion is, that forms have always been deemed neceflury 
 to the fupport of religion in every age. 
 
4-8 CONCLUDING 
 
 Abufes there have been, and always will be, in a 
 bufmefs in which man is concerned. The Jew, in 
 our SAVIOUR'S day, was a fcrupulous obferver of 
 forms, whilft he knew nothing of the fpirit to which 
 they were defigned to lead, " He waflied diligently 
 the outfide of the platter,* 5 whilft the infide was fuf- 
 fered to remain unclean. 
 
 The Roman Catholic, who regulates his religious 
 fervice by his bead-roll, is in a fomewhat fimilar 
 condition. And fo is every member of our com- 
 munion, who fubftitutes the form of godlinefs for the 
 power of it. 
 
 The objeft of true religion has been at all times 
 the fame; namely, to make man a fpiritual being. So 
 far as forms contribute to this purpofe, and from 
 their impreffion upon the mind they contribute greatly 
 to it, they are an- eiTential part of religion. 
 
 But there are two extremes in this cafe, between 
 which the line of the wife man's conduft will be care- 
 fully drawn; from a conviction, that the abufe and 
 negleft of forms tend nearly in an equal degree to 
 defeat the defired purpofe; the one leading as cer- 
 , tainly to fuperflition and hypocrify, as the other does 
 to irreligion and prophanenefs. A confideration, 
 which, it may be hoped, will give additional weight 
 
i>iscouRSE. 249 
 
 to what has been faid in a former difcourfe upon the 
 advantages attendant upon communion with our 
 church; the forms of which are neither fo multiplied 
 as to engrofs the attention, nor yet fo infignifican t 
 as not to convey a fufficiently infinitive meaning to 
 the mind, of the worfhipper. Indeed, if any church 
 has been fo judicious, as to keep the golden mean 
 between loading the ferviee of GOD with external 
 forms on the one hand, and Gripping it fo bare on 
 the dther, as not to leave fufficient for the purpofes 
 of bodily worfhip and mental contemplation, the 
 Church of England may juftly lay claim to this dif- 
 tinftion* And he who perfuades himfelf that religion 
 Is to be preferved in the world without forms, makes 
 himfelf wifer than GOD; at the fame time that he 
 manifefts his ignorance of the nature and character 
 of man. 
 
 The general view of the fubjeft, which has been 
 here laid before the reader, is deligned to lead him 
 to the eonfideration of his own particular cafe. 
 
 The eftablifhed church of this kingdom is a branch 
 of the church of CHRIST; The congregation to 
 which fo'me Chriftians are joined, is a manifefl fepa- 
 ration from it. The teachers to whofe care they have 
 committed themfelves, own no relation to that fpiri* 
 
 x 
 
250 CONCLUDING 
 
 tual fociety, to which all Chriftians ought to be united 
 To make ufe, then, of the language of the primitive 
 church, here is altar fet up againft altar, and paftor 
 againfl paftor. From whence it follows, that if there 
 ever were fuch a fin as thaj: offchiftn, in any age of 
 the Chriftian church, it is now to be found among 
 us. It behoves thofe, therefore, whom it may con- 
 cern, to take this fubjedt into ferious confideration* 
 Should our church require any terms of communion 
 with which they are perfuaded they ought not to 
 comply, fo long as that perfuafion lafts, their fepara. 
 tion from the church ought to continue. But it mufl 
 be remembered at the fame time, that their perfuafion 
 in this cafe will be their j unification in the fight of 
 GOD, in proportion only as it has been built upon 
 rational and confcientious conviction. Should it have 
 been taken up with paffion .or prejudice, or adopted 
 without examination; and fhould any means of in- 
 formation have been neglected, which might have 
 been made ufe of for the direction of their judgment, 
 their error in this cafe will be their fin, becaufe it has 
 
 4 
 
 been derived from their neglect; and their confequent 
 reparation from the church will be alfo a fin; for 
 one fin will not^ be permitted to be pleaded in excufe 
 for another. 
 
DISCOURSE, 251 
 
 Let me intreat fuch Chriftians, then-, to examine 
 fairly the ground upon which their reparation ftands. 
 Let the objections which they have to communion 
 \vith our church be brought to a fair trial; laying 
 afide every prejudice, not being too wife in their own 
 conceits, but adviling with thofe who are better qua- 
 lified to judge than themfelves, and from whom they 
 have a right to expect light and direction: remem- 
 bering, that the Chriilian miniilry was inflituted for 
 the very purpofe of preventing Chriftians " being 
 carried to and fro with every wind of doctrine, by the 
 Height of men, and cunning craftinefs, whereby they 
 lie in wait to deceive; and that profefTmg the faith 
 in the unity of the fpirit, and in the bond of peace, 
 they might be edified in truth and love." 
 
 Having thus brought to recollection the principal 
 defign of the foregoing Difcourfes; which was to fur- 
 nifli that uniform and confident notion of the nature, 
 defign, and cottftitutioil, of the Chriflian church, which 
 might qualify the reader to judge of the confequences 
 attendant upon a wilful feparation from it, I hafteu 
 to a conclufion ; craving time only to prefs that part 
 of the fubject upon his mind, which it was one object 
 of the eftablifhment of CHRIST'S church upon earth 
 to promote; namely, that whilft men with one mind 
 
252 CONCLUDING 
 
 and one mouth glorified GOD, their communication 
 with each other in the fame als of religious worfhip, 
 might form a bond of Chriflian fellowfhip, effectual for 
 the fecurity of peace and good- will among themfelves. 
 
 It was a remark long fince made by a learned 
 writer, that the fame fate (if the expreflion may- be 
 admitted) has attended the Chriflian, which of old 
 attended the Jewifli, religion. The great command- 
 ment, which conflituted the foundation and principal 
 chara&eriflic of the Jewifh religion was, that the 
 Ifraelites fliould worfhip the LORD their GOD, and 
 that to Him only their fervice fliould be dedicated. 
 But, alas! this was the commandment which they were 
 moft difpofed to break; idolatry being that prevailing 
 fin of the Jewifh people, to reclaim them from which 
 all the methods of Divine Providence proved for a 
 long time ineffectual. 
 
 Charity, or a difpofition to peace and unity, is the 
 fecond great commandment of the Gofpel, and a 
 principal chara&eriflic of the Chriflian religon. " By 
 this fhall all men know," fays CHRIST, " that ye are 
 my difdpleS) if ye have love one to another." But 
 of all the commandments obligatory upon the Chrift- 
 ian profefTor, this, perhaps, is the one to which leafl 
 attention has been paid. Indeed, through the nunv 
 
* DISCOURSE. 2,53 
 
 berlefs divifions which have unhappily taken place 
 among Chriftians, and that alienation of mind from 
 each other confequent thereupon, it is a command- 
 ment which feems almofl entirely to have loft its force. 
 Hence it has happened, that Chriftians, fo called, have 
 too frequently borne no refemblance to that amiable 
 chara&er, by which, in conformity with the Gofpei 
 ilandard of perfe&ion, they ought to be diftinguifhed. 
 
 The firft and great defign of Chriftianity was to 
 reconcile man to GOD ; the fecond, to reconcile men 
 to each other, 
 
 If then we are right in our principle, that one ob- 
 jeft which the Friend of fallen man had in view in the 
 eftablimment of his church upon earth was, to pro- 
 mote peace and good- will, by engaging the members 
 of it in the uniform and focial purfuit of the fame iu- 
 terefling concern ; we fhall not be. wrong in our con- 
 clufion, that the caufe which has produced an effe& 
 fo contrary to this benevolent object, muft proceed 
 from the very oppofite quarter; and that the grand 
 enemy of man, confequently, is the parent of divifion. 
 " The greatnefs of GOD," as a found writer* of our 
 church has well exprefTed himfelf, " is meafured by 
 his goodnefs j his power is exercifed in communicating 
 
 * W. JONES* 
 
254 CONCLUDING 
 
 light and comfqrt. He openeth his hand, and the 
 whole creation partakes of his bounty. Being per- 
 fect in love and beneficence, He is therefore perfect in 
 greatnefs. But look on the other hand, and you will 
 find that mifchief diflinguifhes the power of SATAN :'** 
 his greatnefs confifls wholly in croiTmg the merciful 
 plan of redemption, and counteracting the Divine 
 benevolence; the propagation of difcord and diforder 
 is neceiTary to the keeping up of his grandeur, and to 
 the increafe of his kingdom." 
 
 This confideration accounts for the frequent and 
 urgent exhortations to peace and unity, to, be met 
 with in the facred writings; as conftituting a grand 
 hinge, upon which the fuccefs of the Chriftian fcheme 
 mud, in a great meafure, be expected to turn. Upon 
 this idea the GOD of Chrifftans is reprefented as a 
 GOD of peace and love, and his example fet forth as 
 a pattern for man's imitation. fc Beloved, 3 ' fays 
 the Apoftle, " if GOD fo loved us, in fending his only 
 begotten Son into the world, that we mfght live 
 through him, we ought alfo to love one another. 
 And hereby know we that we dwell m Him, and He 
 in us ;"- in other words, " that we are Chrftians, 
 ^ecaufe He hath given us of his fpirit. 5 * ! John 
 iv. ii &c. 
 
-DISCOURSE* 
 
 Upon the fame idea, the kingdom of CHRIST, 
 which is his church, is defcribed to be " righteouf- 
 nefs, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghoft." 
 
 To qualify men for a fhitc of memberfhip in this 
 fyiritual kingdom, they are required to " follow after 
 the things which make for peace, and things where- 
 with one may edify another." Rom. xiv. 19. 
 " As much as lieth in them to live peaceably with 
 all men." Rom. xii. 18. " To be of one mind, to 
 live in peace, and the GOD of peace (hall be with 
 them." 2 Cor. xiii. u. " Finally, my brethren," 
 fays the Apoftle, in profecution of the fame Divine 
 idea, * c if there be any confolation in CHRIST, any 
 comfort of love, if any fellowfhip of the fpirit, if any 
 bowels of mercies, fulfil ye my joy; that ye be like 
 minded, having the fame love, being of one accord, 
 of one mind. Let nothing be done through flrife or 
 vain-glory; but in lowlinefs of mind let each efleem 
 others better than themfelves." Phil, ii, i, &c 
 And as " there is one body and one fpirit, even as ye 
 are called in one hope of your calling, walk worthy 
 of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all low- k 
 linefs and meeknefs, with long-fuffering, forbearing 
 each other in love; endeavouring to keep the unity 
 of the fpirit in the bond of peace."* 
 * Ephef. iv. z. 
 
2561 
 
 From hence it appears, that the religion of CHRIST 
 is a religion of fenfibUities, no lefs than of motives. 
 It teaphes us, after the example of that bleffed Perfon. 
 who felt for all men, to take a lively intereft in the 
 concerns of our fellow-creatures $ to rejoice with them; 
 in profperity, and fympathize with them in diftrefs; 
 and treading in the fleps of Him who went about 
 cpntinually doing good, to abound in the labours of 
 Chriflian benevolence; in the words of the Apoflle, 
 " to be kindly affe&ioned one to another with bro-^ 
 therly love; to be tender-hearted, fqrgiving one an^ 
 other, even as GOD for CHRIST'S fake hath for- 
 given us." Rom. xii. 10. The foregoing picture 
 of Chriffianity, though but partially drawn, furnifhes 
 a powerful argument in favour of that plan, which 
 places man in a condition beft calculated to promote 
 this great objecl: of his Chriftian profeffion. 
 
 Upon the fuppofition, then, that there was no 
 Divine iriftitution in this cafe, which claimed obedience 
 on the part of man ; and the mode of religious wor- 
 fhip, as a matter of perfect indifference, was left 
 to the arbitrary difcretion of every individual en- 
 gaged in it; the plan which GOD has gracioufly 
 marked out for men, by incorporating them into, 
 one body or fociety under regular 
 
DISCOURSE. 257 
 
 in confequence of which they became neceffarily 
 joined together by that fimilarity of condition and 
 intereft, and that ufe of the fame appointed means 
 for the promotion qf their general concern, which 
 muft, from the confutation of human nature, be pro- 
 du&ive of mutual regard and mutual afliflance; would 
 be the plan, which, if propofed to him by his fellow* 
 creatures, every thinking Chriilian, it might be fup- 
 pofed, would readily adopt. 
 
 Let not, then, this plan okfocial religion be neg- 
 }e&ed, or thought lightly of, becaufe it has been 
 projected by that all-wife Being, who, from knowing 
 what was in man, not only knew how befl to provide 
 for the circumftances of the party for whofe fervice 
 it was eilabliflied, but who, from the relation ia 
 which man (lands to Him, has a right to exa& his 
 obedience to it. Rather let us with gratitude avail 
 ourfelves of that affiflance, which the eftabliftiment 
 of the church upon earth minilters to our condition; 
 and not facrifice that good, which it is fo well cal- 
 culated to produce, to vain dreams of more fpiritual 
 perfection, in ways of our own devifmg. 
 
 " The* firft bleffing that I daily beg of my GOD 
 for his church (faid that pious and affe&ionate bi- 
 jhop,* whofe character the Chriltian is only at a 
 
 * Bifliop HALL. 
 
CONCLUDING 
 
 lofs whether mofl to love or admire) is, our. SAVI- 
 OUR'S legacy y />raf<?; that fweet peace, which in the 
 very name of it comprehends all happinefs both of 
 eflate and difpoiltion. Other graces are for the 
 beauty of the church; this for the health and life of 
 it. No marvel then, if the church, labouring here 
 below, make it her daily fuit to her glorious bride- 
 groom in heaven: " Give peace in our time, O 
 LORD." And would to GOD, that the united voice 
 of Chriftians, of every denomination, might be heard 
 joining in the charitable petition, " Give peace in 
 our time, O LORD; that peace which pafleth all 
 underflanding." 
 
 But diviiion, we all know, cannot lead to unity 
 and peace. Divifion, therefore, mufl in its nature 
 be hoftile to one great objeft of the Chriflian religion. 
 As fuch, it mull be fcrupuloufly avoided by every 
 man, who would co-operate with GOD in the refto* 
 ration of his fallen nature. 
 
 It is the employment of the Chriftian's life to be 
 gradually changed into the image of his Divine 
 Mafter ; that " the fame mind," fo far as human 
 infirmity will permit, " may be in him, which was 
 in CHRIST JESUS: and the hope which he enter- 
 tains, will be always proportionate to the degree of 
 
DISCOURSE. 259 
 
 refemblance, which is to be traced between him and 
 his Divine pattern. 
 
 When Chriftians, therefore, regard the Church as 
 their common mother, and themfelves as brethren, 
 travelling in fellowfhip through the "wildernefs of this 
 "World to tlv T promifed hind; they will not, by petty 
 disputes on the road, expofe themfelves to the attacks 
 of their furrounding enemies: but, the grand ohjeft 
 in view fwaliowing up every other confideration, all 
 differences of opinion will give way to the cultivation 
 of that temper, neceflary to qualify them for the 
 enjoyment of the blefled country towards which 
 their courfe is dire&ed. 
 
 In fuch cafe, the golden age of the primitive 
 church would return upon us; and the proverb, 
 defcriptive of the amiable character of ks early mem- 
 bers, " fee how thefe Chriftians love one another," 
 would again be realized. Such an event, rather to 
 be wiflied for in thefe days than expefted, would 
 bring in the accomplifhment of the glorious promifes, 
 which in the fpirit of prophecy have been made to 
 the church " when the wolf iliall dwell with the 
 Jamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid; 
 and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling 
 together; and a, little child ihall lead them:" when 
 
260 CONCLUDING DISCOURSE. 
 
 c< Ephraim fhall no longer envy Judah, nor Judah 
 vex Ephraim j" and there fliall be no more confuming 
 or devouring in all GOD'S holy mountain. 
 
 O thou Prince of Peace, and Friend of fallen 
 man! who purchafed the church with thine own 
 blood; heal the breaches of it, we befeech thee, by 
 the communication of thy grace to all its members; 
 prepare them for that more perfect flate of thy king- 
 dom, to which they are taught to look forward; by 
 giving them an heart capable of receiving all thofe 
 imprelfions, which thy religion was defigned to make 
 upon it, that thofe who hold fail the faith of thy 
 Gofpel, may alfo pofTefs the fpirit of it : to this end, 
 fix in the mind of every Chriftian profeffor this im- 
 portant truth, that charity, or a difpofition to peace 
 and unity, is jthat bond of perfeftnefs, without which 
 no man, be his other pretenlions what they may, can 
 be qualified for admifTion into that holy place, from 
 whence difcord and divifion will be for ever excluded, 
 and where nothing will be heard, but the grateful 
 founds of harmony and love. Even fo, blefle4 
 JESUS, for thy church's fake. Amen. 
 
POSTSCRIPT; 
 
 To those Members of the CHURCH, who occasion- 
 ally frequent other Places of Public Worship. 
 
 /^iCCASIONAL Separation from the church 
 *-^ (lands, in point of argument, on the fame 
 ground with occajlonal conformity to it. If conformity 
 to the church be a fin aga-nft the confcience of the 
 party, which was the plea originally fet up by thofe 
 who feparated from it in this country, every a& of 
 occafional conformity, being a commiflion of that fin, 
 mufl be fubjeft to condemnation. 
 
 If fchifm^ or a wilful feparation from the church, 
 b^ in itfelf a fin, as from the authority of fcripture 
 and the primitive writers of the church it is adjudged 
 to be; every occafional feparation from it mufl be 
 feen in a fimilar point of view. It is a commiflion of 
 an acknowledged fin; and the only difference between 
 
. C j2 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 the conftant feparatft and the occafional one appears 
 to be, that the one continues in the habitual practice 
 of that fin, which the other pccafionally commits. 
 
 Now the fin of fchifin confifts, as we have already 
 obferved, in a wilful and needlefs feparation from the 
 communion of the church. And the church, as we 
 underftand the term, is that body or regular fociety 
 of Chriftians aiTembled together under the form of 
 government which has been eflablilhed by its Divine 
 Founder. What that government is, having been 
 already fhewn, it need only be here obferved, that 
 for fifteen hundred years, the Chriftian world knew 
 no difference of opinion on this fubjeft. 
 
 To get clear of the fin of fchifm, then, we muft 
 deny the exiftence of the church, confidered as an 
 eftablifhed fociety under its regular and appropriate 
 government; and in contradiction to the original and 
 eftablifhed ufage of the term, apply it in a vague 
 and indifcriminate fenfe to all affemblies of Chriftians, 
 of what denomination or perfuafion foever. 
 
 This latudinarian mode of fettling the point, by 
 making the church of CHRIST compreheniive of all 
 the different fe&s, into which the Chriftian world has 
 been divided, does certainly make it a matter of indif- 
 ference, with what particular affembly of Chriftians 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 263 
 
 a man is conne&ed. For, upon tliis principle, he 
 may attend the fervice of the church in the morning, 
 and that of the meeting-houfe in the afternoon, and 
 flill preferve a conilitency of character; becaufe, in 
 in this cafe, he equally holds communion with the 
 church in one place as in the other. But this idea 
 being in direft contradi&ion to the letter of fcripture, 
 and fubverfive of one great end which CHRIST had 
 in view in the eftablifhment of his church, which 
 was that the unity of the fpirit and bond of peace 
 might be. preferved among its members, it is not to 
 be fuppofed that thofe to whom I now addrefs myfelf 
 are governed by it. 
 
 The confideration of their being profeiTed members 
 of that branch of the Chriftian church eftabliihed in 
 this country, added to that of their being ferious and 
 fpiritually-minded perfons, obliges me to conclude, 
 that they have fome better reafon to give for their 
 connexion with the church, than what is to be de- 
 rived from the accidental circumflance of their having 
 been born in its communion. I therefore conclude, 
 as in charity I ought, that it is either from an imper- 
 feft knowledge of, or want of due attention to, the 
 nature and defign, of the Chriftian church, as a regular 
 and vifible fociety, together with a partial view of 
 
64* POSTSCRIPT 
 
 the end of its eftablifhment, that they are thus induced 
 to aft in contradiction to it. 
 
 It is a prevailing notion of modern times, that 
 where the Gofpel of CHRIST is preached, there the 
 church of CHRIST is afTembled. 
 
 This notion, from its plaufibility, has with many 
 gained a degree of credit, to which, upon examination* 
 it will not be found entitled. In fbme fenfe, indeed* 
 every private Chriflian family, affembled for the pur- 
 pofe of religious worfhip, may be confidered as a 
 church of CHRIST; but when we fpeak of the church 
 as a public body, under the direction of its appointed 
 minifters, this mode of expreffion is certainly not to 
 be admitted. As the church does not make the 
 doctrine, fo neither does the doctrine make the church^ 
 Thefe two ideas, though defigned to be infeparably 
 connected, have neverthelefs each a diftinct and ap- 
 propriate meaning. The church is the candle/lick; 
 the doftrine the light fet upon it, for the purpofe of 
 illuminating the place where it is fixed. The candle- 
 flick without the light is an ufelefs piece of furniture- 
 On the other hand, the light without the candleftick 
 to hold it is in continual danger of being thrown 
 down and extinguished. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. '26$ 
 
 In the book called the Revelation of ST. JOHN, 
 the explanation of the firfl vifion given by the angel 
 was, that the feven candle/ticks fignified the feven 
 churches of Afia; and the feven flars, which he held 
 in his right-hand, the feVen angels (or bilhops) of 
 thofe feven churches. Our SAVIOUR, in allufion 
 to his Gofpel,, is emblematically filled " the day-ftar 
 from on high;" " the light which lighteth every man 
 that cometh into the world." JOHN the Baptifl is 
 called " a burning and a Jhinirtg light;" and his 
 Apoftles, " the light of the world" In conformity 
 with this idea of giving light to a world in darknefs, 
 the angel, in the vifion above-mentioned, calls the 
 bifliops of the churches Jlars, in allufion to their 
 office, which was to fpread the light of Gofpel truth 
 through their refpeftive diocefes. 
 
 The threat, in the courfe of this vifion , pronounced 
 againfl the church of Ephefus, was, that if ihe did 
 not repent, and do her firfl works, her candle/lick 
 fliould be removed, /*. e. her miniflry fhould be taken 
 away, and fhe fliould be no longer an Apoflolic 
 church. A threat which has been fince carried into 
 complete execution, in the cafe of all the churches 
 Above-mentioned. 
 
S66 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 From hence \ve fee, that the church, as it was 
 eftablifhed, that it might be (what the Apoftle calls 
 it) " the ground and pillar of the truth," fo it is 
 preferved in the world for the fake of the truth. 
 When that truth is turned into a lie; in other words, 
 when the doftrine of the church becomes fo corrupt, 
 as no longer to promote the end for which the church 
 was originally eftabliihed; the candleftlck^ we have to 
 expeft, will be removed; the ecclefiaflical edifice, origi- 
 nally built upon the Apoftles, will be taken down; 
 and men left in that Hate of darknefs, in which the 
 experience of the world tells us they mufl live, when 
 the light which fliineth from on high is withdrawn. 
 
 From (he poiition here advanced then, upon the 
 authority of the Apoftle, that the church is preferved 
 in the world for the fake of the truth contained in 
 it; the inference is, that the truth, abftraftedly con- 
 fidered, does not conftitute the church ; for, upon 
 that fuppofition, the eftablifhment of the church, a$ 
 its guardian and prefervative, had been unnecefTary. 
 The circumftance of their having been joined together 
 by GOD leads us to conclude, that the church and 
 the truth cannot long exifl in a perfeft flate, inde- 
 pendent o each other; and the experiment of fepa- 
 rating them has never teeen attempted by man, 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 267 
 
 without the evil confequences attendant upon it hav- 
 ing been manifefted in a greater or lefs degree^ 
 
 But allowing that the Gofpel may be preached out 
 of the church, and it is not faid that the removal of 
 the light from the candleftick is always immediately 
 followed by its extin&ion, ftill the members of the 
 church ought not to go out of the church after itj 
 for this appears to be doing evil that good may come 
 of it, by making an obedience to GOD'S ordinance 
 give way to a fiippofed fpiritual advantage. 
 
 It will be urged, perhaps, that, in a matter of 
 that eilential concern as the falvation of a foul, all 
 attention to the nature of the Chriftian church will 
 be fwallowed up in the grand confideration of 
 
 * " In all the annals of the church, whether under the Law or 
 ihe Gofpel, there is not one inftance of a fchifm againft the priefr.- 
 hood which GOD had appointed, but great errors in doctrine and 
 .worfhip did follow it. Thus the priefthood which Mi CAM fet up 
 of his own head, and that which JEROBOAM fet up in oppoiition to 
 that of AARON, both ended in idolatry. Thus the Ndvatians and 
 Donatifts, who made fchifms againft their bifliops, fell into grievous 
 errors, though they did not renounce the faith. 
 
 " What hydra herefies, and monftrous fects, fifty or fixty at one 
 lime, flowed like a torrent into England, in the times of forty-one, 
 after epifcopacy was thrown down. 
 
 " So evident is that faying, that the Church is the pillar and 
 ground of the truth, that we can hardly find any error which has 
 come into the church, but upon an infraction made upon the epifcopal 
 authority." LESLEY. 
 
268 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 following the found of the Gofpel, wherever it is 
 to be heard. 
 
 Had man been left to judge abfolutely for himfelf 
 in this bufmefs, it might have been difficult to have 
 found an anfwer to the foregoing pofition; but GOD 
 having judged for him, the moil certain provifion for 
 man's falvation will doubtlefs be found in the ufe of 
 the means appointed by GOD for that purpofe; and 
 thefe are to be had in the church. 
 
 It is not, therefore, a confideration of fo little im- 
 portance as fome men imagine, by whofe miniflry 
 our prayers are offered up to GOD, or through whofe 
 hands Divine ordinances are received : for we are 
 affured, the bleflings and graces which Chriflianity 
 teaches us to expeft from thefe ordinances, can ordi- 
 narily be derived from them, only when adminifterecj 
 according to CHRIST'S inflitution, by perfons regu- 
 larly called, as he has dire&ed. Where fuch may be 
 had., and we may lawfully join with them, and ufe 
 their miniflry; to feparate from them, is to rebel 
 againft theautbority of CHRIST, whoappointed them. 
 
 But it is alleged by thofe who occafionally fepa- 
 rate from our church, that the clergy of it poffefs 
 neither that zeal nor knowledge, which ought to 
 chara&erize their profeffion; that their preaching is 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 269 
 
 not that plain preaching of the crofs which it ought 
 to be, but a fpecies' of human philofophy, which can 
 never make the hearer wife unto falvation. 
 
 I am not more furprifed that fuch a charge fliould 
 be brought, by thofe who have fuffered an acquaint- 
 ance with the conduct of fome minifters of the church, 
 and an attachment to certain preachers out of it, to 
 create in their minds unfortunate prejudices, than I 
 am perfuaded that the ground for fuch a charge, as 
 applicable to the great body of our clergy, does not 
 in thefe days exift. The truth, I believe, is, that the 
 defect of individuals among the clergy has been in^ 
 duflriously magnified into a general plea for feparation 
 from the church ; which is, in fact, to pronounce that 
 fentence upon the caufe, which ought to have been 
 confined to the party, by whofe unlkilfulnefs it has 
 been injured. 
 
 The Gofpel, it fliall be admitted, is not preached 
 exactly in the fame manner in the church, as it fome- 
 times is out of it; and GOD forbid it fliould. From 
 the general tenour of the writings of thofe, to whom 
 the miniflerial office was originally committed, who, 
 from the circumftance of their being under the imme- 
 diate direction of the fpirit, mud be confidered per- 
 feft models for imitation; the religion of CHRIST 
 
270 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 appears to be a comprehenfive fyftem of faith and 
 morality; the one confidered as the foundation, the 
 other the -fuperftru&ure of the Chriftian building. 
 Now we know that where the foundation is not 
 firmly laid, the fuperftruhire raifed upon it, however 
 excellent the materials of which it is compofed, muft 
 in a fliort time fall to the ground. But we alfo know, 
 that where the whole time is fpent in laying the foun- 
 dation, the work not being carried above ground, 
 nothing will appear to which the term building can 
 with propriety be applied. The objeft, therefore, 
 which the Chriftian divine ought to have in view, is 
 fo to join the two parts of the Chriftian edifice, that 
 they may together form , one compleat building ; in 
 other words, fo to connect faith and obedience, thofe, 
 two parts of the Divine fcheme of falvation, that they 
 may conftitute that perfect fyftem of Chriftianity, 
 whereby " man may become qualified for his hea- 
 venly inheritance/ 1 
 
 Whoever fees the fubje& in this light, and he 
 who does not is unqualified for a teacher of Chrift- 
 ianity, will confider it to be his duty to pay that 
 attention to both parts of the Chriftian fyftem, which, 
 according to his beft judgment, the circumftances of 
 tjiqfe committed to his charge may require. He will, 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 
 
 therefore, from time to time, be a preacher of mora- 
 lity; and he muflbe fo, if he would fully difcharge his 
 office; not the morality of the heathen^ which looks to 
 the merit of the work as its title to reward, but the 
 morality of the Chriftian ; a morality built upon the 
 Gofpel foundation, and deriving all its value from 
 the principle upon which it is performed; a morality 
 dependent upon Divine grace, and looking only to 
 Divine grace for acceptance, upon the terms of the 
 Gofpel covenant. 
 
 The common objection, therefore, that is made to 
 the moral preaching in our churches, is inapplicable 
 to that fpecies of morality of which we are now 
 ipeaking; and which, I trufl, is now generally in- 
 culcated. A morality of this nature, effential to the 
 completion of the Chriftian plan of falvation, mufl 
 be. preached; and where it is not, the whole truth, 
 as it is in CHRIST JESUS, not being delivered, the 
 Gofpel is, as it were, preached by halves ; and the 
 confequence is, what it too generally has been, that 
 the hearers of it are a fort of half Chriftians; {land- 
 ing (if we may fo fay) in a tottering condition upon 
 one leg ; whilfl the defign of the Chriftian revelation 
 was, that they fliould ftand firmly upon two* 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Unfortunately, thefe pious members of our church, 
 (for in that light I am moil willing to cqnfider them) 
 who are led to an occafiorial feparation, from a zeal 
 which they feel for the glory of the bleffed Author 
 of falvation, fuffer themfelves to be frightened with 
 the found of a word, to which they themfelves affix 
 a wrong idea: hence it has happened, that the word 
 has ofttimes been condemned, without the meaning 
 annexed to it Hy the clergy, from whom they turn 
 away, having been fairly examined; upon the fame 
 principle, that indifcriminating Chriftians are fright, 
 ened with the words crofs, altar ^facrifice^ and/>r/V/?, 
 words peculiarly chara&eriflic of the Chriftian church, 
 becaufe they have been feverally abufed in the Romifh 
 communion. 
 
 Might I be permitted to fpeak for the clergy, 
 xvhom as a body I have always coniidered to be greatly 
 mifreprefented on this fubjeft, (for in all general 
 conclufions individual cafes muft be put out of the 
 qucftion;) I fliould not think that I incurred a riik 
 pf contradi<^ion by faying, that the dotfrine which 
 they preach correfponded in the main with the revela- 
 tion they have received. There was a time, indeed, 
 when the doftrine of the crofs was kept too much out 
 pf fight j and when the language of our pulpits, \\ 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 273 
 
 muft be confeffed, was calculated to teach men to place 
 a vain dependence on moral performances. But it 
 fliould in juftice beconfidered that this was an extreme, 
 which grew out of a laudable defire to counteract the 
 fatal effects of that oppofite and not lefs dangerous doc- 
 trine, by which the Chriftianity of this country had 
 long been difgraced. But neither the writings nor 
 difcourfes of the prefent clergy, fo far as my acquaint- 
 ance with them has extended, juftify, generally f peak- 
 ing, the fame charge being brought againft diem. 
 
 They preach, I truft, CnRisr crucified, as the 
 foundation of the Chriftian building; and " other 
 foundation can no man lay." They look, generally 
 fpeaking, to the Crofs as to fallen man's only hope, 
 and only title to falvation. But it being the office of 
 the Chriftian miniftry " rightly to divide the word of 
 truth," the grand objeft they have before them is, 
 ft to preach the doctrine of the Crofs that no erro- 
 neous conclufion may be drawn from it. 
 
 Confidering that CHRIST, by his death, has re- 
 deemed fallen man from the curfe of the law, and 
 placed him, if the expreffion may be allowed, in a 
 fahahle condition 5 they occafionally feel themfelves 
 called upon to enforce obedience to the moral law, as 
 peceflary to the accompliihment of the Chriftian 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 fcheme; neceflary to bring fallen man into a ftate of 
 acceptance with GOD, by qualifying him for the fal- 
 vation which has been purchafed. 
 
 Man's title to eternal life has been founded on an 
 aft of Divine grace and covenant from the beginning. 
 For ADAM in his ilate of innocence had no right to 
 immortality, till GOD was pleafed to make it over to 
 him by covenant. Still it was a right fufpended on 
 the performance of a condition. This right loft by 
 the fall, through the mercy of the fecond covenant^ 
 has been re-eftablifhed in JESUS CHRIST, Man 
 therefore, fubfequent to the fall, with refpeft to a 
 right to eternal life, {lands on the fame ground that 
 ADAM did previous to that event. His right to 
 eternal life being, what ADAM'S originally was, a 
 right founded on an aft of Divine grace and covenant, 
 but dependent on the performance of a condition.* 
 
 Hence it becomes neceffary, that a proper diflinft- 
 ion fliould be made between the works of the law ? 
 confidered as making any part of man's title to eter- 
 nal falvationj and thofe works which are required 
 
 * The reader will find this fubject handled at large, and fully 
 eflabliflied by authorities from the early writers of the church, in 
 a " Difcourfe on the firft covenant and Hate of man before the 
 fall," by the learned ISiihop BULL. 8vo edit, vol, iii. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 275 
 
 to be performed under the Gofpel, as the condition 
 on which that title has been fufpended. Whoever 
 fees works in the former light, is \vhat the judaizing 
 Chriftian was in ST. PAUL'S day, he is going about 
 to " eftablifh his own righteoufnefs, not fubmitting 
 himfelf to the rlghtcoufnefs of GOD." But if works 
 are weighed in their proper fcale, not as man's title 
 to eternal falvation, but his qualification for it, upon 
 the Gofpel axiom, that " without hoi inefs no man 
 fliall fee the LORD," it appears to be of eflential im- 
 portance that they fliould be preffed upon Chriflians 
 at all times, as the condition upon which they are 
 taught to look for the completion of the Divine 
 covenant. " They (hall walk with me in white," 
 fays CHRIST, " for they are worthy." Rev. iii. 4. 
 Worthy ) not abfolutely fo in themfelves, but relatively 
 fo; worthy, in that fenfe in which GOD, through 
 CHRIST, gracioufly thinks fit to confider them. In 
 this fenfe, '* blefTed are they that do his command- 
 ments, that they may have right to the tree of life, 
 and may enter into the city of GOD." Rev. xxii. 
 14. A conditional right eftabliftied by grace on the 
 fart of GOD, not by merit on the part of man; for 
 that, we truft, is univerfally difclaimed. GOD has 
 gracioufly condescended to become, in a certain fenfe, 
 
527$ POSTSCRIPT 
 
 man's debtor; in the language of ST. AUGUSTINE, 
 " non aliquid debendo, fed omnia promittendo, DEUS 
 fe facit debitorem." Upon this ground works be- 
 come entitled to reward;* not becaufe they poiTefs 
 in themjehes a title to reward, but becaufe a gracious 
 GOD is pleafed, through CHRIST, to regard them as 
 proper fubje&s for it. Such is the language of 
 Scripture; fuch the do&rine of the church of England. 
 
 But there is a manner of flating this fubjecl:, very 
 common to thofe who entertain a low opinion of our 
 clergy; upon which it may be proper to remark. 
 
 The revelation of the Gofpel, fo far as it refpe&s 
 the eflential point of falvation, delivers a plain and 
 intelligible language. It fays to fallen man, believe 
 rightly, and obey confcientioufly ; and through the 
 merits of a crucified SAVIOUR thou flialt enter into 
 life. In the* comprehenfive language of die Apoftle, 
 
 * Extremum utrumque omni cura ritandum: turn eorum qui 
 opera noftra per fe vitas eternas meritoria ftatuunt, (error ifte ponti- 
 ficiorum quorundum toto animo deteftandus eft) turn eorum etiam, 
 qui eadem opera ullam aliam cum coelefti praemio connexionem 
 habere praeter hunc, quod fint fidei ejus, cui falus promittitur, 
 fign|a, omnio negant. Haec enim fententia non paucis, ufque cla- 
 riflirais fcripturas teftimoniis (ut vidimus) apertum bellum indicit. 
 Media itaque via hie tenenda eft, ut dicamus, relationis iftius, 
 quam ad vitam aeternam habent opera noftra, unicum illud efie 
 fiindamentum, quod fint conditio infadore E-vangelico requijiia, cui 
 praeftitae ex eodem gratiofo faedore prsemium caclefte indulgeatur*. 
 BULL. Harm. Apoft. cap. v. feel:. 5. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 277 
 
 it teaches him to " deny ungodlinefs and worldly 
 lulls, and to live foberly, righteoufly, and godly, in 
 this prefent world; looking for that bleffed hope, 
 and the .glorious appearing of the great GOD a,nd 
 our Saviour JESUS CHRIST; who gave himfelf for 
 us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and 
 purify unto himfelf a peculiar people, zealous of good 
 works." Titus ii. 12. The doftrine of falvation, 
 then, is not a fcheme of natural philofophy; it is 
 not a fyflem of civil policy; nor is it the art of fine 
 fpeaking and rhetorical difcourfe. But it teaches men 
 of every rank the duties of their refpe&ive ftations; 
 what they are to believe, and what to do, in order 
 to their being faved. At the fame time it furnifhes 
 directions and affiftances for the refitting and over- 
 coming the temptations with which they are affailed, 
 together with the bed and moil powerful arguments 
 for the promotion of that holinefs, which conilitutes 
 the indifpenfable preparative to eternal happinefs. 
 
 If we will receive this doftrine as it has been re- 
 vealed, we certainly fliall be faved by it. But if we 
 will make a do&rine for ourfelves, different from that 
 which CHRIST has taught, it matters not on which 
 fide the error lies, whether by repofing a falfe confi- 
 dence on the one hand, or poffeffing an evil heart of 
 
 
278 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 unbelief on the other; in either cafe we make void 
 the fcheme of falvation that has been projected, and 
 our mifcarriage mud be inevitable. 
 
 Now the perfons to whom I immediately allude, 
 have always appeared to me to confound^ rather than 
 to explain, the Chriflian do&rine; by reprefenting faith 
 as compreheniive of all Chriflian duties. Where 
 true faith is, there, they tell you, will be repentance, 
 obedience, and holinefs of life; infhort every thing 
 that tends to the completion of the Chriilian charac- 
 ter. Certainly where true faith is. (underflanding 
 thereby true 'lively faith) fo long as it continues in 
 that (late, it muil be poffeffed of all the properties 
 belonging to it. But this is a defcription of what 
 Chriflian faith ought to be, when in its perfect (late, 
 accompanied with its correfpondent effects; not what 
 faith, abftrafiedly confidered, really is. As fuch, 
 though it poflibly may do no harm, whiifl confined 
 to the minds of thofe perfons, who through Divine 
 grace feel themfelves difpofed to that life of holiilefs^ 
 to which Chriilian faith was defigned to lead j yet it 
 will do, and has done much injury to the Chriilian 
 caufe, when confidered in connection with that erro- 
 neous and dangerous conclufion, which ignorant and 
 unfan&ified men have at all times been ready to 
 draw from it. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS, 279 
 
 To fay that faith, by which \ve underftand 
 belief In CHRIST, as the whole and fole caufe of fal- 
 vation, will fecure to man the pofTeffion of all thofe 
 graces and virtues neceflary to adorn his Chriftiau 
 profeflion, is, in other words, to fay, that when the 
 foundation is well laid, it will of itfelf raife the fuper- 
 ftrufture; or, to make ufe of another fcripture allu- 
 fion, where the root of the tree is planted in CHRIST, 
 Chriftian fruit will be the confequent produce of the 
 branches. But in this cafe fa&s are, alas! often 
 againft us. 
 
 66 No corrupt tree bringeth forth good fruit." 
 Man, in his prefent (late, is that corrupt tree of na- 
 ture, from which no fpiritual fruit is to be expected. 
 But it does not from hence follow, that when this 
 corrupt tree is moved into GOD'S nurfery, if we may 
 be allowed the expreflion, and has its root planted 
 in Chriftian foil, that it will of courfe bring forth 
 good fruit ; for this mufl depend upon circumftances, 
 neceflary to be taken into the account. The fhuation 
 of a tree may be improved, without any material 
 change being produced in its a&ual condition. It is 
 not fufHcient, therefore, that this tree of nature (to 
 carry on our allufion) be moved out of a barren and 
 unfruitful foil ; it muft moreover be regularly pruned 
 
280 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 and trained, and the wild and luxuriant branches muft 
 be carefully and conftantly cut back, that proper 
 nouriihment may be carried to the bearing wood; 
 fliould not this procefs be regularly purfued, in fpite 
 of the foil in which the root ftands, no fruit will be 
 brought to perfe&ion. 
 
 Similar to this is the conclufion which our SAVIOUR 
 has led us to draw upon this fubjeft, where he re- 
 prefents himfelf under the emblem of the vine, and 
 his Father under that of the hufbandman. " Every 
 branch in me,'* fays CHRIST, " that beareth not 
 fruit, the hufbandman taketh away." By which we 
 underfland, that being in CHRIST, i. e. having faith in 
 CHRIST as a SAVIOUR, and bearing Chrift Ian fruit, 
 do not, always mean the fame thing. Care, confe- 
 quently, fhould be taken, that thefe two different 
 meanings be not confounded. Faith in CHRIST is 
 allowed to be, if we may fo fay, the grand germina- 
 ting principle of the whole fpiritual creation. " The 
 branch cannot bear fruit of itfelf, except it abide in 
 the vine/' But though the branch does abide in 
 the vine, fhould no fap from the root be conveyed 
 into it, it will fr.il! be unfruitful. 
 
 In this particular addrefs, therefore, to his Apoftles, 
 gur SAVIOUR may be underftood as telling his dif- 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 281 
 
 ciples at large, that they muft not only abide in him, 
 but that his fpirit mitft alfo abide in. them, if they 
 would become what Chriftianity was.defigned to make 
 them, " purified perfons, zealous of good works." 
 Without the fpirit of -CHRIST, if is certain, we are 
 none of his. The fliadow, in this cafe, will not be 
 taken for the fubftance. As members of his church, 
 we may, in fome fenfe, be faid to be in CHRIST; but 
 being dead 9 not living members of it, we are thofe 
 unfruitful branches of the vine, which the hufband- 
 man taketh away. 
 
 It is readily allowed, that many of thofe < fpiritual 
 perfons, who occafionally feparate from the church, 
 fee the fubjeft in the light in which it is here placed; 
 although the gratitude which they feel towards that 
 SAVIOUR, who has wrought the great work of falva- 
 tion, accompanied with a defire to guard againft any 
 felf-fufficient claims on the part of man, upon the 
 ground of his own performances, induces them at 
 times to give that partial account of the Gofpel plan 
 of falvation, which experience has proved to be un- 
 favourable to the promotion of its general purpofe. 
 I fay, partial account of the Gofpel plan of favation; 
 becaufe the whole truth, as it is in JESUS CHRIST, 
 is not fairly brought forward. 
 
When fpeaking, for inftance, of the fundamentals 
 of Chriftianity, they often negleft to pay due regard 
 to thofe other parts which are necefTary to the per- 
 fection of the Chriflian fcheme. They defcribe 
 Chriflianity , as " a fcheme for juftifying the un- 
 godly;" " for reconciling us to GOD when enemies;" 
 " and the fruits of holinefs* as the efFeh, not the 
 caufe of our juftification;" as " a fcheme which 
 opens the door of mercy to the greatefl and vilefl of 
 .penitent miners, "f In onefenfe 9 all this is certainly 
 true; and GOD forbid that the clergy of the church 
 fhould preach other doctrine; that they fliould not 
 bear their moil decided teftimony againft all preten- 
 fions to falvation, upon the ground of human merit ; 
 
 * Provided Chriftians are difpofed to underftand one another; 
 tliis fubject, it is prefumed, need not to furnim occafion fordifpute: 
 becaufe it will probably be found, that the fame thing is meant, al- 
 though the mode of expreflton may be different. The " fruits of 
 holinefs" are both the effe&s and the caufeof juftification, though 
 in different fenfes. They are the effefts of our juftification in bap- 
 tifm ; by which facrament the grace of the Holy Spirit, " from 
 whom all holy defires, allgood counfels, and all jufl works, do pro- 
 "ceed," was originally conferred on the .party; v/hilft, in another 
 fcnfe, the fruits of holinefs are, not in the ftria fenfe of the word, 
 the caufe,bu.t the condition, or as Bifliop BULL'S term is, the " caufa 
 fine qua mri" that without which our final juftification at the day 
 of judgment will not take place : for " without holinefs no man 
 Hull fee the LORD." 
 
 t WILBERFORCE'S Pradical View, p. xai, isz. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 288 
 
 for fallen man can have no claim upon his Creator 
 but by virtue 'of an aft of grace that has been pafled 
 in his favour. But this aft, it is to be obferved, 
 contains in it certain conditions; the performance of 
 which, though not to be confidered as man's title 
 to the benefits of the aft in queilion, is neverthelefs- 
 necefTary, according to the revelation of the Divine 
 will, to fecure to him their pofTelFion.* 
 
 When, therefore, the Gofpel covenant, of which 
 this aft of free grace on the part of CHRIST confli- 
 tutes the bafis, is kept out of fight; when perform* 
 ances and conditions on man's part are decried, upon 
 the laudable, though miflaken, idea of preventing all 
 encroachment upon the benefits of CHRIST'S fatis- 
 faftion, as extended to us freely " without money 
 and without price;" when the obfervance of the 
 moral precepts of the Gofpel, enforced by the awful 
 confederation, that GOD " will judge every man ac- 
 cording to his works," is defcribed as " main wifdom, 
 and falfe phi!ofophy,"-\ and when the work and com- 
 mandment brought forward to the attention of the 
 Chriflian difciple, as it were 'in oppofition to this 
 
 * The reader will find this fubjeft handled at large in " Vindicise 
 Icclefise Anglicanse," cap. vi. 
 
 t WILBIR FORCE'S Practical View, p. 131, 
 
284 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 revealed account of a future judgment, are compre- 
 hended in this one aft of faith, that he " fliould 
 believe in the name of JESUS CHRIST;" we cannot 
 be furprifed, that perfons who have formed no ade- 
 quate conception of the Chriftian fcheme of falvation, 
 confidered not only as providing a redemption from 
 the immediate confequences of the fall, but alfo means 
 for the reiteration of the fallen creature, to that fpi- 
 ritual flate which can alone qualify him for a fpiritual 
 inheritance ; fliould, by taking part of the Gofpel for 
 the whole of it, fall fliort of the perfection to which 
 it was defigned to lead.* 
 
 * The following is a fpecimen of the doclrine propagated by 
 one of thofe felf-conftituted itinerant teachers, who, to the mis- 
 fortune of this country, the abufe of toleration, " that glory and 
 difgrace of Proteftantifm," as it was called by a late learned Bimop,f 
 is now pouring forth upon us ; the channel from whence I received 
 it leaving me no room to doubt of its authenticity. " The regular 
 Clergy know nothing of Chriftianity ; their whole preaching is, 
 <work, work. They do not know, you cannot work. You muft 
 wait your call and for your comfort I tell you, it is never too late. 
 If on your fick-bed you can call out on the name of JESUS, or groan 
 JESUS, or even whifper JESUS with your laft breath, you are fafe/' 
 How far fuch a mode of preaching (and I have reafon to think it to 
 be by no means an uncommon one) is- calculated to promote the two 
 great ends of religion, the honour of GOD, and the welfare of 
 mankind, the reader will judge. Grieved am I to think, that the 
 lower order of people in this country, who, generally Ipeaking, arc 
 well difpofed to religion, mould be liable to be thus deluded. 
 
 \ Biftiop LOWTH'S Sermon before the Society for promoting the Gofpe!. 1771. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 285 
 
 Faith in the all-fufficient merits of a crucified 
 Redeemer, muft, by all who receive the Gofpel, be 
 admitted as the Chr.ftian's only hope; it being his 
 enly title to falvation. Through the door of faith, the 
 Chriftian difciple is admitted into the church; as a 
 member of the church, he is entitled to all the benefits 
 of the Chriftian difpenfation. Thcfe benefits are, re- 
 1 demption from a ftate of certain condemnation, and a 
 reftoration to a ftate of poflible or conditional falva- 
 tion ; together with a gracious provifion of afliftance to 
 make that falvation fure. But whether this ftate of 
 poffible or conditional falvation through CHRIST may 
 become a ftate of attual falvation to the believing 
 party, muft depend upon the ufe made of the means 
 vouchfafed for that purpofe. For although faith is 
 the leading condition of falvation, and the foundation 
 of all Chriftian graces and virtues, upon the Gofpel 
 axiom, " that without CHRIST we can do nothing, 9 
 yet to reprefent faith as conftituting the completion 
 of the Chriftian chara&er, upon the idea that it nc~ 
 cejfarily comprehends under it the performance of all 
 ChrilHan duties, is what the fcripture, I conceive, 
 no u here warrants, and what experience continually 
 contradicts. A writer, who has lately favoured the 
 world with his thoughts on this fubjecl, and with 
 
286 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 whom every Chriflian mufl wilh to join in opinion, 
 has told us, " that true faith is in fcripture regarded 
 as the radical principle of holinefs." Thus far every 
 one who underftands the Gofpel mull agree with him. 
 But when we are told by this fame writer,* that 
 where the root ex ills, the proper fruit will be brought 
 forth, we feel ourfelves called upon to deny the con- 
 clufion; becaufe it may lead to confequences fatal 
 to the caufe it is defigned to ferve. Nor dpes the 
 proof brought from ST. J A IVIES, in fupport of it, 
 flrike me in the light in which it is placed on this 
 occafion. ST. JAMES has always appeared to me to 
 fpeak, not of a man who merely fays that he has faith, 
 and has it not; but of one who actually polTefles faith, 
 but a faith unavailable to falvation, in confequence of 
 its being unaccompanied by its correfpondent effects. 
 The reader, by turning to the chapter referred to, 
 (JAMES ii.) and reading from the i4th verfe to the 
 end of it, will be qualified to judge for hirafelf. 
 
 Chriftian fruit, it is allowed, can grow only on 
 the Chriftian tree. But it does not follow, (as it 
 has been above obferved) that where the root of 
 this tree exifts, there the fruits of it will necejjarlly 
 be brought forth. Thefe are by no means conver- 
 
 * WILBERFORCE'S Pra&ical View, p. izj. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 287 
 
 tible proportions. To reprefent them as .fuch, is to 
 fay in other words, that principles and praftice always 
 go together; whereas the fa& is, through the de- 
 Ceitfulnefs of the human heart, they are too often at 
 variance with each other. And the general language 
 of fcripture agrees with this pofition; in which faith 
 and works, the tree and its fruits, are fo clearly 
 diftinguifhed from each other, that no man who con- 
 fiders that the Bible, as containing a Divine revelation, 
 mult be uniform and confident in all its parts, can, it 
 ihould be fuppofed, be at a lofs for his conclufion. 
 
 It is true, faith is often reprefented in fcripture as 
 the completion of the Chriftian plan of falvation. 
 And fo, when taken in its full and finiihed flate, as 
 made perfett by works^ according to ST. JAMES'S 
 defcription, it certainly is. But we are now guarding 
 againft a miftake, to which an unqualified ufe of this 
 term often leads. 
 
 When our SAVIOUR laid the foundation of his 
 religion, he annexed falvation to faith; becaufe^//^ 
 in him was the bafts of that plan of falvation which 
 he came to publifh to the world. When ST. PAUL 
 told the Jews that they mufl be faved by faith ', and 
 not by the works of the law; and that the Gofpej 
 alone contained the power of GOD unto falvation 
 
288 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 unto every one that believeth; his object was to 
 oppofe the new difpenfation, whofe bafis w r as faith in 
 CHRIST crucified, to that old one which CHRIST 
 came to take away; becaufe, in confequence of the 
 fall, man was no longer in a condition to be faved by 
 it. Upon the Jew renouncing all dependence upon 
 his own righteoufnefs, and profeffmg his faith in 
 CHRIST crucified, as the author and finifher of his 
 falvation, he was admitted into the privileges of the 
 Gofpel covenant. But in this cafe his faith was, as 
 ST. IGNATIUS calls it, " the beginning or the prin- 
 ciple of his Chriilian life." It gave him admnTion 
 into the Chriflian church. Now had ST. PAUL 
 thought, that where this principle was once efta- 
 bliihed, it would of courfe draw after it all thofe 
 graces and virtues necefTary to render it effe&ual to 
 falvation; in other words, had he thought that the 
 faith, which gave admuTion into the church, would 
 of courfe make the party zperfeff member of it, he 
 would not have furniftied his difciples with that 
 complete fyflem of moral duties which is to be found 
 in his writings. If he had thought that faith in- 
 cluded under it Chriflian practice, his direction to 
 TITUS, that the conftant fubjeft of his preaching 
 fhould be, " that thofe who believed in GOD (thofe 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 289 
 
 \vho profefled the faith) fhould be careful to maintain 
 good works," had been fuperfluous. 
 
 If ST. PETER had thought that Chriflian faith 
 was neceflarily of that prolific nature, th^t it could 
 no where exift without producing its proper fruits, 
 he would not, after having mentioned the precious 
 faith obtained through the righteoufnefs of GOD, 
 have directed his difciples " to give all diligence to 
 add to their faith, virtue; to virtue, knowledge; to 
 knowledge, temperance; to temperance, patience; 
 to patience, godlinefs; to godlinefs, brotherly kind- 
 nefs; and to brotherly kindnefs, charity." The 
 important reafon for this direction he immediately 
 fubjoins: " For" (continues the Apoftle) " if thefc 
 be in you, and abound, they make you that ye {hall 
 neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of 
 our Lord JESUS CHRIST. But he that lacketh 
 thefe things is blind." He may have a knowledge of 
 our Lord JESUS CHRIST as the Saviour of mankind, 
 and profefs his faith in him as fuch; but his faith 
 being barren and unfruitful will profit him nothing. 
 " Wherefore, brethren, give diligence to make your 
 calling and eleclion fure: for if you do thefe things, 
 ye (hall never fall. Yorfo (or upon this condition) an 
 entrance fliall be miniftered unto you abundantly 
 
590 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 into the everlafting kingdom of our Lord and Sa- 
 viour JESUS CHRIST.''* 
 
 This plain paflage from ST. PETER places the 
 whole plan of falvation through CHRIST fairly before 
 us. It repiefents the exceeding great and precious 
 promifes which have been obtained for man, through 
 the righteoufnefs of CHRIST, as the bafis of his fal- 
 vation; but the bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit, 
 as the condition upon which that falvation will be 
 ultimately realized. In this fenfe, the writings of 
 ST. PAUL and ST. JAMES, and all other parts of 
 feripture, will be found to harmonize; and we need 
 no longer be afraid to talk of works, if we reprefent 
 
 them, as the learned Bifhop BULL,! in vindication of 
 
 . 
 
 * a PETER i. 5, 6, &c. 
 
 f " Accedamus jam ad alterum iftud, quod breviter notandura 
 duximus; nempe, phrafi ilia, | ^ywv, non id voluifle JACOBUM 
 opera noftra efTe juftificationis noftrae caufam principalem aut meri- 
 toriam; ilia quippe in mera et gratuitt DEI Patris mifericordia 
 htec in CHRISTI folius morte ac mentis unice ftatuenda eft, et ab 
 Apoftolo revera ftatuhur. Etenim quamvis particula E| earn nonun- 
 quam vim obtineat, fsepe tamen adhibere'folet fenfu quodam mitiori? 
 ut notet medium quodcunque rei obtinendrty Jive conditioner)! prxce- 
 daneam, quae vulgo caufa/w qua non dicitur, licet revera vix caufaj 
 nomen mereatur. Atque is loquendi modus neque a communi 
 fenfu abhorret, neque a ftylo fcripturae alienus eft. Ut enim alia 
 taceam, cum dicitur homo * isisTtas Stxouuo-Qai, particula H mani- 
 fefte hoc fenfu fumitur. Quippe ne ipfa quidem fide tanquara 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 
 
 ST. JAMES, has reprefented them; not as " either the 
 principal or the meritorious caufe of man's falvation, 
 but as only the condition, upon which, according to 
 the terms of the Gofpel covenant, man is to become 
 partaker of it." 
 
 There is another part of this refpe&able writer's 
 publication, which, as it ftrikes me, ought to be read 
 with fome comment; becaufe, as it ftands, it feems 
 calculated to lead the indifcriminating reader to a 
 conclufion different, I fhould fuppofe, from that 
 meant to be conveyed by it. The part alluded to is 
 to be found in p. 327 and 328, and runs thus: " But 
 the nature of the holinefs, to which the defires of the 
 true Ghriflian are directed, is no other than the ref- 
 toration of the image of GOD; and as to the manner 
 of acquiring it, difclaiming with indignation every 
 idea of attaining it by his own ilrength, all his hopes 
 of pofitiTmg it reft altogether on the Divine aflu- 
 ranees of the operation of the Holy Spirit, in thofe 
 
 causd principal^ imo non ut causa omnino, nifi improprie di<5la> 
 juftificari aliquis dici poteft. Dicitur igitur homo, s t^yuv 3ix.xi- 
 SvQxi, quia bona opera conditiofunt,juxta ordinationem divina??i in 
 E-vangelicQftfdsreftabiUtamneceJJ'arioin hoc requifita, ut quisjufti- 
 ficetur, /'. e, remiffionem peccatorurn per CHRISTUM partam obtl- 
 neat, Dsoque ad fnlutem gratus et acceptus fiat." 
 
 . Harmon. Apoflol. cap, i. J ^. 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 who cordially embrace the Gofpel of CHRIST."- 
 Thus far we are perfectly agreed. 
 
 To proceed with our author: 
 
 "He knows, therefore, that this holinefs is not 
 to precede his reconciliation to GOD, and be its caufe; 
 but to follow it, and be its effect. That in fliort it 
 is by faith in CHRIST only, that he is to be juftified 
 in the fight of GOD; to be delivered from the con- 
 dition of a child of wrath, and a ilave of SATAN ; 
 to be adopted into the family of GOD; to become, 
 an heir of GOD, and a joint heir with CHRIST; en- 
 titled to all the privileges which belong to this high 
 relation, here to the fpirit of grace, and a partial re- 
 newal after the image of his Creator; hereafter, to 
 the more perfect poffeffion of the Divine likenefs, and 
 an inheritance of eternal glory," 
 
 That general reconciliation of GOD to man in his 
 fallen condition, through the facrifice of CHRIST, 
 by virtue of which he is placed in a flate of condi- 
 tional falvation under the new covenant, feems here 
 not fufficiently diftinguiflied from that particular re- 
 conciliation of GOD to the individual in his redeemed 
 condition, when reftored to that degree of likenefs to 
 his Creator neceflary to qualify him for admiflion 
 into his prefence. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS, 293 
 
 There can be no fuch thing as holinefs in man, 
 independent of the operation of the Holy Spirit; and 
 the work of the Holy Spirit being the part of the Gof- 
 pel fcheme of falvation confequent upon that all-fuffi- 
 cient facrifice by which alone GOD became reconciled 
 to his fallen creatures, it certainly follows, that this 
 work cannot precede the caufe which gave it birth. 
 
 But every one admitted into the church is, in 
 fome fenfe, in a (late of reconciliation with GOD; that 
 is, he is taken out of a condemned condition, in 
 which there can be no holinefs, and placed in a con- 
 dition of grace and relative holinefs; in confequence 
 of his dedication to the fervice of GOD in baptifm. 
 But whether this relative holinefs may become perfecl: 
 holinefs, effeftual to the falvation of the party, mud 
 depend upon fubfequent confiderations. The Apoftle 
 therefore, after having firlt mentioned GOD'S recon- 
 ciliation to man in CHRIST, as the foundation of all 
 our hope, proceeds to remind us of man's reconcili- 
 ation to GOD, as neceffary to give effect to the for- 
 mer. "We pray you in CHRIST'S flead, be ye 
 reconciled to GOD:" and how this is to be effected, 
 the Apoftle proceeds to inform us; " We pray you 
 receive not the grace of GOD in vain ;" but having 
 in confequence of GOD'S reconciliation to man, the 
 
2)4 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 promifes of an eternal inheritance through CHRIST., 
 and of Divine aiMance to qualify us for it, " let us 
 cleanfe ourfelves from all filthinefs of flefh and fpirit, 
 perfecting holinefs in the fear of GOD :" in other words 
 let the work of the Holy Ghoft, to whofe afliftance 
 the difpenfation of grace has given us a title, be car- 
 ried on to perfection in our hearts ; and fo fliall the 
 work of reconciliation between GOD and man be 
 rendered complete.* , 
 
 The line of diftin&ion between prcfejfing faith and 
 praftifmg faith fhould at all times be fo marked, as 
 to leave a diftincl: idea upon the mind refpefting a 
 fubjecl: which has been fo open to mifconception. 
 Prof effing faith, it is to be obferved, gives admuTion 
 only into the church of CHRIST, and a title to the 
 privileges of the baptifmal covenant. Praftifing 
 faith, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, is 
 what renders that admiilion a title of real value; by 
 producing that renewal of our fallen nature, which 
 fecures our inheritance of eternal glory. 
 
 Words need not be multiplied to convince the 
 reader, that thefe are two very different things, and 
 that the one does not neceffarily comprehend the 
 
 * a Cor. y. ao; vii. i. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 
 
 other. The remark, therefore, fubjoined by our 
 author to the above pafiage, " that faith, where 
 genuine, always fuppofes repentance, abhorrence of 
 fin, c." p. 328, is calculated to lead into error, 
 becaufe it teaches the reader to take for granted, 
 what mufl alw r ays remain to be proved. 
 
 For, allowing that the practical precepts of Chrift- 
 ianity do grow out of her peculiar do&rines, which is 
 certainly true; yet that they are " infcparably co?i- 
 tte fled with them?'* is a pofition not to be admitted; 
 for in fuch cafe faith and practice may be confidered 
 but as two words for the fame thing; and it becomes 
 impoflible for profeflbrs " to hold the truth in un- 
 righteoufnefs;" which ST. PAUL tells us fome did 
 in his days, and which, in confequence of the corrupt 
 nature of man, fome will do in a greater or lefs degree 
 in every flage of the Chriftian church. The learned 
 Bifhop BULL has fo clearly flated this fubject, as to 
 render further enlargement upon it unnecefftiry.* 
 
 * WlLBERFORCE, p. 38*. 
 
 * " Quodja&lnt de inflrumentalitate fidei in juftificationis nego- 
 tio, nihil etiam quam meram ct inanem fiibtilltatem rsdolet. Prce- 
 lerquam enini quod extra fbripturas hie loquuntur, fi inilrunientum 
 ftricle et proprie fumatur pro causa efficiente minus principal!, 
 clarum eft, fidtm jujlificallo?iis injlrumentum nullo modo diet potfe. 
 ^am primo, cumjuftificatiojit ztlio Da foliuu, eaquc tota extra mp 
 
296 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 The Gofpel fcheme of falvation can then only be 
 complete, when the whole 6f it is taken together; 
 when each part of the Chriilian obligation, compre- 
 hended under the general terms of faith, repentance, 
 and obedience, is fuffered to have its due weight in 
 the fcale of human eftimation. 
 
 In a word, that man is not to be faved by any 
 works of righteoufnefs of his own, becaufe, in confe- 
 
 ' frodufta, quomodo vel fides nojlra, vel quaevis nojlra aflio adjujlifica- 
 tionis effefium producendum phyficam nllam efficientiam habeat, 
 -prorfus outatrxXyirrov eft. Deinde omnis caufa inftrumentalis, (ut 
 jam innuimus) fuo modo in effe&um influit, eique effefti produftio 
 proprie attribui poteft. Jam vero, cum juftificatio nihil aliud fit 
 quam gratiofus DEI a&us, quo paecata noftra nobis condonet, ac 
 nos adfalutem acceptet, valde abfurdum effet dicere, vel fidem, vel 
 opera noftra, vel quidvis aliud noftri, aut remittere peccata noftra, 
 aut perfonas noftras acceptare; quod tamen, fi inftrumentalis caufa 
 juftificationis fides fit, plane difcendum eiTet. Etiam fi igitur con- 
 cedereraus, habitum fidei efle inftrumentum iilius a6lus quo CHRIS- 
 TUM ample&imur ; qui tamen inde intulerit, fidem effe juftificationis 
 inftrumentum, manifeftiffimas certe inconfequentiae reus tenebitur. 
 Ut ergo quod res eft dicam, fi fidem inftrumentum eflevelimus, fieri 
 non poteft, ut concipiatur alio modo inftrumentum efTe, quam qua- 
 tenusopus eft ex prefcripto, et per gratiam DEI a nobis praeftitum. 
 Conditio enim, quatenus praeftita eft, aliquo modo medium, five 
 inftrumentum dici poteft, quo confequimur rem, qua fub conditions 
 promittitur. Et vocatur hoc a nonnullis inftrumentum morale. 
 Et fi hoc fenfu inftrumentum fumatur (nempe pro conditione five 
 inftrumento moral!) fidem efle unicum juftificationis inftrumentum 
 omnino negamus ; cum, ut fatis evincimus, etiam paenitentias opera 
 non minus necefTaria ad juftificationem obtinendam aSpiritu San&o 
 diferte ftatuantur." BULL. Harmon. Apoft. cap. ii. 9. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 297 
 
 quence of their imperfe&ion, they can have no merit 
 in the eyes of GOD, but by what JESUS CHRIST has 
 done and fuffered for him, is a do&rine which cannot 
 be too unequivocally expreffed; at the fame time it 'is 
 to be remembered, that the qualification of the party, 
 through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, 
 is the indifpenlable condition upon which falvation 
 through CHRIST is fufpended. 
 
 Satisfied in my mind that there can be no real 
 difference of opinion between this refpe&able author 
 and myfelf upon this matter, he will not, I flatter 
 myfelf, feel offended at my endeavour to counteraft 
 a conclufion, to which certain unqualified paffages, 
 againfl which the beft of writers are not always upon 
 their guard, may poffibly lead. The apparent dif- 
 agreement between us, (if I have been correft in my 
 remarks) arifes from the different idea annexed to 
 faith, confidered either as a comprehenfive term, in- 
 cluding under it all the conditions of the Gofpel 
 covenant on man's part, or the fimple aft of believing 
 the Chriftian doftrine, unaccompanied with that fpiri* 
 tual transformation of the finner, neceffary to render 
 the death of CHRIST effe&ual to his falvation. 
 Thefe two ideas, applicable to faith in its different 
 ought at all times to be clearly diftinguilhed, 
 
 A A 
 
298 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 to qualify the Chriftian to form a correct judgment 
 upon this important fubjeft. 
 
 The account given by this author of the a&ual 
 flate of Chriliianity in this country is, it is to be 
 feared, but too true. Vital Chriftianity we can 
 fcarce expect to find at a time, when the meaning 
 annexed to that term is, to the bulk of profeiling 
 Chriilians, become unintelligible. In this degenerate 
 {late of things, every man who feels for the honour of 
 GOD, and the welfare of the community, muft regard 
 with gratitude and refpeft an author, whofe profeffed 
 obje& it is to reflore this dead thing, modern Chrift- 
 ianity r to life and vigour; and,, in the fcripture 
 fenfe, -will bid him " GOD fpeed," But whilft I 
 agree with this author in his account of the declining 
 ilate pf genuine Chriftianity , I cannot fo perfectly 
 agree with him with refpeft to one caufe, to which the 
 further continuance of that decline is to be attributed. 
 
 The clergy of the church, as we have already ob, 
 ferved,-foon after the Reiteration, with a view to 
 counteraft the abufe that had been made of the 
 do&rine of grace, gave into the oppofite extreme 
 Finding the (tick bent too much one way, they inju- 
 dicioufly adopted the natural procefs of bending it the 
 other, with the view of bringing it (straight. But 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 299 
 
 the clergy of the prefent day do not, I conceive, 
 Hand in the fame predicament. 
 
 Doctrinal points, it fliall be admitted, are not fo 
 often, nor fo powerfully, enforced in our pulpits as 
 they once were, or as they ought to be; but I do 
 not recolleft having ever heard a fermon which, in 
 fair conflruftion, placed man's hopes of happinefs 
 upon the unfound ground of his own moral perform- 
 ances. Indeed 1 am inclined to hope that the gene- 
 rality of hearers, in the prefent day, poffefs no relifh 
 for fuch heathenifli do&rine. There is a wide dif- 
 ference, it will be allowed, between powerfully en- 
 forcing a fundamental article of the Chriilian faith, 
 and preaching a do&rine incompatible with it. 
 However deficient fome of our clergy may have 
 been in the former cafe, inftances, I trufl, are very 
 rare of their being found guilty in the latter; thereby 
 proving themfelves declared traitors to the caufe they 
 have in charge to maintain. 
 
 It is not confident with candour, from incautious 
 language occafionally made ufe of, (and what man 
 is always fo guarded in his expreflions, as to bid de- 
 fiance to mifconftru&ion ?) to draw thofe conclufions 
 either for an author or a fpeaker, which they them- 
 felves do not acknowledge. If, therefore, thcfubjeft 
 
300 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 of CHRIST crucified be not always taken up in our 
 pulpits, yet when it is confidered that the fermon is 
 accompanied with a liturgy, which preaches that , 
 faving doctrine throughout ; charity forbids me to 
 conclude, unlefs upon very evident ground, that it is 
 the defign of the preacher to place the Chriftian's 
 hope upon any other foundation. 
 
 May it not happen, then, that judgment in this 
 cafe has fometimes been too haflily formed? A perfon, 
 for inftance, who entertains the unfavourable idea 
 here alluded to, refpecting our clergy, enters a church 
 \vith a certain prejudice in his mind: and fhould it 
 fo happen, that the object of the preacher's difcourfe 
 is the enforcement of fome pra&ical duty of Chrifl- 
 ianity, he leaves the church in difguft, with the coo- 
 clufion that nothing but moral preaching is to be 
 heard in it. He attends, it may be, fome irregular 
 place of worfliip in the evening, where the funda- 
 mental doctrine of the crofs happens to be the fubject 
 of the preacher's difcourfe; he goes away confirmed 
 in the conclufion drawn in the morning; and the 
 clergy of the church are, in confequence, unequivo-. 
 cally condemned. Whereas, had this fame perfon 
 attended the fame church the following Sunday, he 
 might have heard the fame minifter, perhaps, who on 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 301 
 
 the preceding Sunday had taken up a praftical duty 
 of Chriftianity into the pulpit, now enforcing that fame 
 do&rine of the crofs, which had given the preaching 
 of the conventicle the decided preference in his mind. 
 Now would this perfon, before he pronounces 
 fentence in this cafe, but confider, that it is the duty 
 of a Chriflian minifter, not to dwell altogether on 
 the fundamental truths of religion; but alfo (to make 
 ufe of our author's words) " to trace and lay open 
 ail the fecret motions of inward corruption, and to 
 inftruft his hearers, how beft to conduft themfelves 
 in every diftinft part of the Chriftian warfare; how 
 beft to ftrive againft each particular vice, and to cul- 
 tivate each grace of the Chriftian chara&er;" he 
 would conclude, that this could not otherwife be 
 done, than by dedicating a confiderable portion of 
 his public inftru&ions to the due enforcement of the 
 practical duties of Chriftianity ; that the man of GOD 
 may " become perfect, thoroughly furnifhed unto 
 every good word and work." In doing this, if the 
 clergy are not to have credit given them for preaching 
 morality upon a Chriftian plan, they are placed in 
 that unfortunate fituation, as not to have it in their 
 power to difcharge their office to the fatisfa&ion either 
 of themfelves or their hearers, 
 
302 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 It is fubmited, therefore, to the candour of this 
 author, whether in his laudable zeal for the promo- 
 tion of the Chriftian caufe, the defcription which he 
 has given of the prefent clergy of our church be not 
 too ftrong: whether, taking them as a body, (and all 
 judgments drawn from individuals, when generally 
 applied, are moil liable to error) " the aftual principles 
 of the clergy of the eftablifhment can be faid to be 
 extremely different from thofe which it profefles."* 
 Whether, when there are fo many ftriking teftimonies 
 to the contrary to be produced from the writings of 
 modern divines, it can be faid with truth, that " the 
 peculiar doctrines of Chriftianity have almoft altoge- 
 ther vaniftied from their view;"f and that the fer, 
 mons in our churches contain no other traces of thefe 
 peculiarties, either direfily or indireftly 9 fave what 
 may be derived from the ordinary form with wliiclj 
 they conclude; which, in the author's words, may 
 " juft ferve to protect them from falling into entire 
 oblivion. "J 
 
 " Is there then no balm in Gilead? Is there 
 no phylician theje?" Jer. viii. 22. "-Are all the paf- 
 
 s 
 
 * WU.BE&FORCI-'S Praflieal View, p, 408. t Ibid. .383* 
 
 $ Ibid. j>. 384. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 303 
 
 tors become brutifh, neglecting to feck the LORD ; 
 and is the judgment patted upon them, that therefore 
 they fhall not profper, and that all their flocks fliall 
 be fcattered?" Jer. x. 21. GOD forb : d! 
 
 Had the foregoing defcription of the actual ftate 
 of things in our church, fallen from the pen of a 
 writer, of whofe Chriili an character any doubt could 
 be entertained, it might have been confidered an in- 
 tentional libel upon the clergy of the eflablifhment. 
 But feeing the writer in the light in which I wifli to 
 fee him, it is regarded as the overflowing of an honefb 
 zeal, in a caufe in which every Chriflian mufh be 
 fuppofed to feel. And I fhall only hope, for the 
 credit of my brethren, that the drawer of the above 
 picture will, upon a further acquaintance with them, 
 judge it to be confiderably overcharged. 
 
 The fatal confequences attendant upon the extinc- 
 tion of vital Chriftianity, cannot be contemplated but 
 with the greateft concern; becaufe the Chrifiian re- 
 ligion provides the bed fecurity for man's happinefs 
 in every ftage of his exigence, having " the promife 
 of the life that now is, not lefs than of that which is to 
 come." Taking the fubject, therefore, in no higher 
 point of view, a regard to our political welfare muft 
 lead every thinking mind ferioufly to deprecate the 
 
304 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 decline of a caufe, without the powerful afliftance of 
 which, man, though living in civilized fociety, can 
 fcarcely be confidered as far removed from his wild 
 flate of nature, 
 
 Whilfl, then, I would cordially join in bearing the 
 moil public teftimony againft that lukewarmnefs in 
 the caufe of CHRIST, that indifference, and even 
 daring contempt for religion, which chara&erife the 
 prefent age; and whilil I admit, as in truth I mult, 
 that fome of our clergy do not feel that intereft for 
 the Chriftian caufe, which they ought to feel; and 
 by their injudicious conformity to the manners of a 
 diffipated age, leffen that influence which their facred 
 profeffion ought to have in the world; I ftill am 
 inclined to think, that, taken as a body, they are 
 more wanting in zeal than in knowledge. But upon 
 this fubjeft, did I feel difpofed, it would not well 
 become me, fenfible as I am of my own manifold de- 
 fe&s, to enlarge. 
 
 Difallowing, however, the /charge againft the 
 clergy in the extent in which it is brought, I ftill feel 
 ib ftrongly what the caufe of genuine Chriftianity 
 owes to the chara&er and abilities of this author, .as 
 to give him full credit for the fmcerity of his inten-. 
 tion f At the fame time it may be fuggefted to his 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 305 
 
 conlideration, whether a defcription of the aftual ftate 
 of our church, as deftitute of the vital fpirit of Chrift- 
 ianity, in confequence of the genuine principles of 
 it not being inculcated by its paftors, who, in their 
 collective character, are reprefented as " having for- 
 faken the fountain of living water, and hewed them 
 out citterns, which can hold no water;" be not a 
 defcription, in the prefent day, when eftablifliments 
 poffefs fuch little hold upon the human mind, which 
 may do harm, by putting an idea into the minds of 
 inconfiderate people, not eafy to be eradicated; and 
 thereby preventing the clergy from doing that good, 
 which the majority of them, I truft, are ftill di- 
 pofed to do. 
 
 For it may be afked, to what fuch a defcription 
 of the infufficiency of our clergy (derived more from 
 the indecent revilings of irregular preachers, than 
 from faft;) mufl lead, when accompanied with that 
 notorious ignorance of the nature of the Chriftian 
 church, which now univerfally prevails; but to a 
 more general feparation from its communion, than we 
 now deplore? And in proportion as this event takes 
 place, we know, from pad experience, how to cal- 
 culate the confequence. In proportion as the body 
 -of the community feparate from the eflablifhed church. 
 
306 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 the eftablifhment itfelf is weakened; becaufe every 
 feparatift becomes, upon principle, an enemy to it. 
 And fliould this enmity, by a continued addition to 
 its caufe, proceed fo far as to effeft its fubverfion, 
 we need no prophet to inform us, that our ineftimable 
 liturgy, to which, as to the mod fpiritual produ&ion 
 of the human mind, we now look up with reverence, 
 will not be fuffered to furvive the ruin. 
 
 " By all who are fludious of their country's wel- 
 fare, more particularly by all who defire to fupport 
 our ecclefiaftical eftabliftiment, every effort fliould be 
 ufed to revive the Chriftianity of our better days."* 
 Upon the revival of primitive Chriftianity, there can 
 be no diffenting opinion among thofe who have duly 
 confidered the influence which religion has upon fo- 
 ciety; which may be regarded as the key-ftone of 
 the arch which bears up the weight of all human 
 government. But though the fupport of an eccle- 
 fiaftical eftablifliment, as our author has obferved, 
 depends in a great meafure upon its pofleflion of 
 public opinion, it muft, neverthelefs, be remarked, 
 that the truth and excellence of Chriftianity become 
 no certain fecurity for the poiTeflion of that opinion. 
 We know that the church was in its pureft condition, 
 * WILBERFORCE'S Practical View, p. 419. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 307 
 
 when public opinion, or the judgment of the ftate, 
 was decidedly againft it. We alfo know, that when 
 the eftablifhment of the church was loft in this coun- 
 try, that lofs was not to be attributed to a decay of 
 Chriftianity in it, fo much as to fome other notorious 
 caufes. From whence we are authorifed to conclude, 
 that the exigence of vital Chriftianity in the church, 
 furnifliing no fecurity for the pofieilion of public 
 opinion; the lofs of that opinion can become no fure 
 criterion, by which to form a judgment of Its a&ual 
 corruption. Although, therefore, the lofs of that 
 eftablifhment which the church now enjoys in this 
 country, may, in the judgment of GOD, be the con- 
 fequence of the degeneracy of its clergy; and in this 
 light their character muft become a fubjecl of intereft- 
 ing concern with every well-wiftier to the confutation ; 
 yet as this event has been, and confequently may be, 
 brought about by other caufes, it were to be wifhed 
 that the popular publication alluded to had provided 
 fome antidote againft their prevalent effecl. 
 
 With this view, I could have wiflied to have fee 
 the church defcribed in its ftate of independence 
 upon every Jmman eflablifhment; vefted with thofe 
 fpiritual powers which it pofTeiTes in itfelf; in the 
 exercife of which, every individual ought to be go- 
 
308 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 verned by the authority, from which alone thdfe 
 powers are derived. This representation might, in 
 fome degree, have tended to counteract that loofe 
 way of thinking, which prevails upon this fubjeft; 
 which has fent fo many unauthorifed, and, for the 1 
 moil part, it is to be feared, unqualified, individuals 
 into the miniftry; an evil, which, if it go on in- 
 creafmg in the degree it has lately done, threatens 
 more certain ruin to the eltablifhment of this country, 
 than is, in my judgment, to be apprehended from 
 any other caufe. 
 
 What opinion the author in queflion may have 
 formed upon the nature and conftitution of the Chrifl- 
 ian church, it is not for me to determime. But that 
 there is no part of his publication calculated to give 
 the reader any difcriminate idea upon this important 
 fubjeft, will not be deemed an hazardous afTertion. 
 There are fome paiTages, on the contrary, which, if 
 I miflake not, may lead to an erroneous concluiion 
 upon it. 
 
 In page 379, BAXTER is claiTed with HALL, BE- 
 VERIDGE, HOOKER, and ANDREWS, as " among 
 the brightefl ornaments and pillars of the church of 
 England."* 
 
 * WILBERFORCE'S Practical Vew, p. 379,. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 309 
 
 Whatever refpeft may be entertained for the chara&er 
 of BAXTER, as a flrenuous maintainer of the peculiar 
 doftrines of Chriflianity, (and in that chara&er he is 
 doubtlefs entitled to reipeft) nothing, it is prefumed, 
 can be faid in favour either of his political principles, 
 or his bigoted prejudices agalnil the church of Eng- 
 land; of which not one of thofe venerable perfons 
 above-mentioned would, I conceive, have admitted 
 him to have been a pillar , or an ornament. In 
 faft, when BAXTER flourifhed, the church in this 
 country, according to the idea here formed of it, 
 was in a notorious ilate of perfecution. The reli- 
 gion which at that time enjoyed the national fup- 
 port, was the religion of non>conformifts\ of thole 
 who, having feparated from the church, deftroyed its 
 government, plundered, and in many cafes murdered, 
 its miniflers. The church eftablifiiinent, therefore, 
 at that time, if we pafs over the impropriety of the 
 term, was of a piece with that of the date ; it was 
 an ufurpation of rights, of which the legal pofTefTors 
 bad been forcibly deprived. 
 
 What our author fays, therefore, in a note, (pages 
 379 and 380) that " BAXTER with his brethren 
 vtzrefoamefully ejefted from the church in 1 666, in 
 vivlaihn of the royal word, as well as of the dear 
 
310 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 \ 
 
 principles of juftice" is what will not be readily ad- 
 mitted by thofe who are acquainted with the hiflory 
 of the times, or the ftate of fafts. 
 
 The clear principles of juftice require, that the 
 parties who have fuffered injury, fliould receive the 
 earliefl poffible redrefs. Had thefe principles pre- 
 vailed at the Refloration, the ejection of non-con- 
 formifl miniflers from the patrimony of the church, 
 in favour of the epifcopal clergy, to whom the right- 
 ful pofTefTion belonged muft have been the imme- 
 diate confequence of the re-eflablifhment of the 
 constitution.- But fo far was this from being the 
 cafe, that two years were fuffered to elapfe, before 
 any legal methods were taken to difpoiTefs them. To 
 the credit of the then government, fuch refpeft was 
 entertained for the fpi ritual characters and abilities 
 of many of the then minifters, that all the means of 
 argument and perfuafion were made life of to retain 
 them in the church. And it was not till a determined 
 perfeverance in their prejudices againfl the form and 
 government of the church, as it was then re-eftablifli- 
 ed, rendered hopelefs all accommodation upon the 
 fubjeft, that their rejection was fuffered finally to take 
 place. So that inftead of faying, they " ivcre jhame^ 
 fully ejeftedfrom the church in 1 666, in violatiofltef 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 311 
 
 the clear principles of juftice," it ihould be faid, that 
 thefe minifters ejected themfelves, becaufe they would 
 not continue in the church upon any other condition, 
 than that of its being fafliioned after their own model. 
 
 Nor does the charge refpe&ing the violation of the 
 royal word, upon this occafion, appear to be finely 
 juflified by facts. 
 
 When a perfon does every thing that poilibly can 
 be done in his fituation, towards the fulfilment of 
 any promife, he ought not, in charity, to be made 
 chargeable with its violation. 
 
 The King, in his declaration at Breda, promifed 
 liberty to tender confciences; and that no man fliould 
 be difquieted, or called in queftion, for difference of 
 opinion in matters of religion, which did not difturb 
 the peace of the kingdom; and that he would confent 
 to fuch an Aft of Parliament, as, upon mature deli- 
 beration, fliould be offered to him for the full grant- 
 ing that indulgence. When the non-conformift 
 divines afterwards waited on the King at the Hague, 
 Jae told them, that he referred the fettling all differ- 
 ences refpe&ing religion to the wifdom of Parliament ; 
 that the two Houfes were the befl judges what in- 
 dulgence, or toleration, were neceffary for the repofe 
 e kingdom. The King, therefore, by concurring 
 
312 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 \vith his Parliament in this bufmefs, acted up to the 
 full meaning of his declarations. But he did more 
 than this. So difpofed was he to do every thing to 
 gratify the non-conformifts, that could be done con- 
 fident with there-eftablifhment of the epifcopal church, 
 that he even acted without his Parliament upon this 
 occafion; by publifhing, with the advice of his Privy 
 Council only, a declaration of indulgence in their 
 favour; v.hich the preffing and repeated remonftrance 
 of the Commons obliged him afterwards to recal. 
 
 Though the King did therefore, immediately on his 
 reiteration, promife, that non- conform ift minifters 
 iliould not be ejected from fequeftered livings, where 
 the epifcopal incumbents were dead ; in confequence 
 of which many remained in quiet poiTeflion of their 
 preferments ; yet this promife cannot be faid to have 
 been violated, becaufe the Act of Uniformity, which 
 parted two years after, obliged thole who {till retained 
 their prejudices againlt the form and government of 
 the church, to retire out of it. And when it is con- 
 fidered upon what ground this Act was brought for- 
 ward; that it was judged neceiTary, in confequence 
 of the non-conformift divines returning to their old 
 feditious practice of inveighing againft Government; 
 and taking advantage of their public office, to bring 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 313 
 
 the minds of the people back to thofe fatal errors, 
 which had already proved fo deftruftive; the pafling 
 it may be confidered, not fo much a breach of promife 
 on the part of the King, as an aft of prudential pro- 
 vifion for public peace on the part of the Government. 
 That fuch was the cafe, may be concluded from 
 the fpeech which the Chancellor made at the opening 
 of the Parliamentby which this Aft was patted; when 
 fpeaking of the feditious preachers of the day, he fays, 
 cc that inftead of repenting of any thing they had 
 done amifs, they repeated every day the fame crimes, 
 for the oblivion whereof the Aft of Indemnity was 
 paired. Thefe (fays he) are the feditious preachers 
 who cannot be contented to be difpenfed with for 
 their full obedience to fome laws eftablifhed, without 
 reproaching and inveighing againft thofe laws how 
 eftablifhed foever; who tell their auditories, that 
 the Apoftle meant, when he bid them (land to their 
 liberties, that they fliould ftand to their arms; and 
 who, by repeating the very expreffions, and teaching 
 the very doftrines they fet on foot in the year 1 640, 
 fufficiently declare, that they have no mind that twenty 
 years fliould put an end to the miferies we have 
 undergone. What good Chriflian can think without 
 horror of thefe minifters of the Gofpel, who by their 
 
 B B 
 
314 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 function fhould be meflengers of peace, and are hi 
 their practice the only trumpets of war, and incen- 
 diaries towards rebellion. And if the perfon and 
 place can improve and aggravate the offence, as no 
 doubt it does before GOD and men, methinks the 
 preaching rebellion and treafon out of the pulpit 
 fliould be as much worfe than the advancing it in the 
 market, as poifoning a man at the communion, would 
 be worfe than killing him at a tavern." 
 
 It is not in charity to be fuppofed, that this account 
 applied to the non- conformifl miniflers in general. 
 In this cafe, as in moft others, it is probable, fome 
 few hot-headed imprudent individuals brought dif- 
 grace upon the body. It is a circumflance to be 
 lamented, therefore, by all ferious Chriilians, that 
 an Act fhould be deemed neceffary, which operated 
 to the exclufion of fo many pious and learned men 
 from the church, as were doubtlefs to be found in 
 the number of thofe, whofe prejudices would not 
 permit them to continue in communion with it. 
 
 But of all the non-conformifl miniflers ejefted, 
 BAXTER appears to have had the leaft caufe for 
 complaint. He had diftinguiflied himfelf as a fire- 
 nuous fupporter of the republican caufe. He had 
 even boafted of his exploits againft the king. In the 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 315 
 
 editions of his " Saints everlafting Reft," printed in 
 the years 1649 and 1652, he tranflated feme of the 
 regicides and other rebels, whom he has named, into 
 heaven;* which he defcribes, in compliment to the 
 then ruling power, in the form of a parliament-, 
 calling it parliamentum beatum\ though in the edition 
 of this book printed in the year 1660 he thought it 
 prudent to drop his faints out of heaven again. 
 This CANONIZER OF REBEL SAINTS was, immedi- 
 ately upon the Reftoration,^made king's chaplain; and 
 foon after tempted to remain in the church, by the 
 offer of the biflioprick of Hereford, which he rejected 
 And it was owing in a great degree to his invincible 
 prejudices againft the epifcopal church as then efta- 
 bliflied, that all attempts at accommodation between 
 the church and diiTenting divines were rendered 
 fruitlefs. Bifhop MORLEY, who was one of the 
 chief managers of the epifcopal caufe, complained of 
 the frivolous and falfe manner of arguing made ufe of 
 by BAXTER on the occafion ; that the fceptical length 
 to which he carried his obje&ions againft ecclefiaftlcal 
 inftitutions, took away all legiflative power, not only 
 from church and ftate, but even from GOD himfelf. 
 
 * BAXTER'S " Saints everlafting Reft." Edit. 1649; p. 82, 83 ; 
 where he names feveral of the rebels and regicides, as BROOK, 
 PYM, HAMPDEN, and WHITE, who was one of the regicides* &c. 
 
316 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 The reprefentation, therefore, which Our author 
 has given of the caufe of the non-conformifl miniflers, 
 who, fye fays, " were fhamefully eje&ed from the 
 church, in violation of the royal word, and the clear 
 principles of juflice," appears calculated to difpofe 
 the unwary reader to give more credit to that caufe 
 than it really deferved ; and not to do that juflice to 
 the oppofite one, to which it was certainly entitled. 
 
 It was upon the fame unfound ground, that CA- 
 L AMY, in his life of BAXTER, attempted to preju- 
 dice the public mind in favour of his diflenting 
 brethren, by a reprefentation of their extraordinary 
 fufferings ; to which we are indebted for a book* by 
 WALKER, which will enable every impartial mind to 
 hold the fcale of judgment between the cafe of the 
 perfecuted clergy of the church of England, who 
 fuffered for the royal caufe, and that of the ejected 
 non-conformifl divines, the principal fupporters of the 
 oppofite party; and determine for himfelf on which 
 fide the balance of juflice and charity evidently turns. 
 
 There is no pleafure in calling to mind circum- 
 flances, which, it were to be wifhed, had never found 
 a place in the Englifh hiflory. But as there is 
 
 * WALKER'S Sufferings of the Clergy. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 317 
 
 always fome danger attendant upon giving wrong 
 names to either things or perfons, I have thought it 
 neceffary to fay fomething in anfwer to the note here 
 objected to. By the learned reader, fhould fuch an 
 one honour thefe papers with a perufal, that may be 
 parted over, which to a lefs informed one may be ufeful. 
 
 Had the author to whom I allude, reprefented 
 BAXTER and his ejefted brethren in their character 
 of pious and learned minifters, the Chriflian reader 
 would have readily fubfcribed to the pofition; and in 
 common with every well-wifher to the caufe of reli- 
 gion, have lamented the exigence of thofe unhappy 
 prejudices which deprived the church of their mi- 
 niilerial labours. But when thefe non-conformift 
 minifters are reprefented as ornaments and pillars of 
 the church of England, fuch a confufion of ideas re- 
 fpefting the Chriftian church are introduced, that we 
 feel ourfelves obliged to call them, what HALL, 
 BEVERIDGE, HOOKER, ANDREWS, and every writer 
 properly informed upon that fubjeft muft have called 
 them, feparatifts from that branch of the church 
 of CHRIST, eflablilhed in this country 5 and confe- 
 quently fcbifmatics. 
 
 Should any additional authority be wanting to 
 confirm this pofition, it may be taken from the opi* 
 
318 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 nion of thofe, who may be confidered as impartial 
 bye-ftanders, during the time that the points in dif- 
 pute between the epifcopal clergy and non-conformift 
 minifters were in agitation. 
 
 The Bifhop of London, many years after the Re- 
 ftoration, in the charitable hope of bringing back the 
 diflenting minifters into the bofom of the church, 
 wrote to feveral of the then moft eminent divines of 
 the foreign proteftant churches, to obtain their judg- 
 ment of the controverfy fubfifting between the non- 
 conformifts and the church of England. The anfwer 
 of all was decifive in favour of the church of Eng- 
 land. But that which was received from the cele- 
 brated Monfieur CLAUDE, befide the general good 
 fenfe which it contains, fpeaks fo fully to the point 
 before us, that the infertion of it will be pardoned 
 by the reader, upon the confideration of its leading 
 o a decifive conclufion upon this fubject. 
 
 66 I could wifh (faid he, alluding to the indepen- 
 dents) that thofe who fly out fo far, as to think of 
 nothing Jefs than coming to an abfolute rupture, and 
 throwing off all dependence and fubordination, in 
 order to give every particular congregation a fort of 
 fovereign government; I could wifh thefe people 
 woul4 thoroughly confider, whether their fcheme be 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 319 
 
 'not a direft contradiction to the fpirit of Chriftianity, 
 which is a fpirit of union and focial correfpondence, 
 and not of divifion. That they would confider, that 
 though the principle of the reformed churches will 
 by no means fuffer men fhould have dominion over 
 their faith, and govern the confcience at difcretion; 
 and that fuch arbitrary and implicit methods are de- 
 flrucYive to religion; that notwithflanding this, it does 
 by no means follow, that it is lawful for Chriftians to 
 take check at difcipline, to throw off the yoke of go- 
 vernment, and deprive themfelves of thofe aiTiftances 
 which are the confequences of general union; and 
 that fuch a fubordination in the parts of this fpiritual 
 fociety is very ferviceable to fecure orthodox belief, 
 and regular practice. And laftly, I defire they would 
 confider, that the fame reafon which makes them iniift 
 upon the independence of one congregation upon 
 another, will carry them much further than they de- 
 fire ; and may be made ufe of to break the union 
 of particular congregations, and make every fingle 
 perfon in dependent of each other. For one congre- 
 gation has no more right to claim an independency of 
 other congregations, than one fingle perfon has to 
 let up himfelf independent of others in the fame con- 
 gregation. This principle, therefore 3 muft of necet 
 
320 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 fity deftroy all difcipline; throw the church, as far 
 as in us lies, into a horrible confufion; and expofe 
 the heritage of our LORD to the reproach of the 
 adverfaries. 
 
 " As for thofe among you," continues this cele- 
 brated writer, " who are called Prefbyterians; though, 
 I perfuade myfelf, they are not unfurnifhed with 
 knowledge, judgment, and zeal, yet I could wifh, 
 with all my heart, they had fhewn more temper in 
 refenting the fcandal, they fancy has formerly been 
 given by the bifliops ; and that they had diftinguifhed 
 the order from the men. Perfons in public ftations 
 are not only liable to mifcarriage, but it may happen 
 that the moil holy and confiderable fun&ions are 
 fometimes managed by ill people; and in this cafe, 
 both reafon and rel'gion will tell us, that the minifter 
 and the employment ought not to be intermixt and 
 thrown together. And fince at prefent, by the blef- 
 iing of GOD, there is no fuch pretence for difguft, 
 and that my lords the bifliops are remarkable for their 
 piety, their zeal, and conftancy to their religion; I 
 hope the advantage of their example will have a 
 good effeft upon the generality, compofe the minds 
 of thofe formerly difaffe&ed, and fweeten their dif- 
 pofition. Befides, the Diflenters fibould pleafe to 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 321 
 
 confider, that if the epifcopal government be attended 
 with fome inconveniences, as I do not queilion but 
 it may be ; fo on the other fide, the Prefbyterian 
 conflitution is not without very great difad vantages. 
 No order or fun&ion, where mortal men have the 
 management of it, is exempt from inconveniences. 
 Equality among the minSftry is fub : ,c& to biemifhes 
 and excefles, no lefs than fuperior'ty. The fafeil 
 and mofl prudent conduct, therefore, is not to rim 
 from one fettlement to another, nor to hazard the 
 fliaking the whole frame in hopes of a better confli- 
 tution, though we had both authority and power to 
 make fuch an experiment. Prudence, juftice, and 
 Chriilian charity, will by no means give us leave to 
 pufh the point thus far, and venture on fuch dan- 
 gerous extremities, only for a different form of go- 
 vernment. The beft expedient is to endeavour the 
 drawing towards a temper, and leffen as much as 
 may be, the inconveniencies we are afraid of, and 
 not to have recourfe to violent remedies. My Lord, 
 I make no fcruple to call the fetting up private meet- 
 ings, declining the public congregations, and with- 
 drawing themfelves from your lordfhip's government, 
 violent remedies. Such practice is apparently no 
 better than a formal 'fcbtfm ; a crime in its own nature 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 hateful to GOD and men; and for which both thofe 
 \vho fet it up, and thofe who encourage it, mufl 
 expect to give an account at the great day." 
 
 There is {till one remaining paifage in the publi- 
 cation before me, to which, as it puts the unity of 
 the Chriitian church quite out of fight, I think it 
 neceflary to fay a few words. 
 
 Among the concluding hints which this author 
 gives for the practical direction of true Chriftians, we 
 find the following one; which, from the liberal and 
 philanthropic fpirit that it breathes, is well calculated 
 to gain credit in a world, uninftru&ed, as the prefent 
 is, upon the fubjecl: to which it belongs. " Let true 
 Chriftians," fays our author, " cultivate a Catholic 
 fpirit of univerfal good-will, and of amicable fellow- 
 fhip towards all thofe, of whatever fed!: or denomina- 
 tion, who, differing from them in non-effentials, agree 
 with them in the grand fundamentals of religion."* 
 
 The good contained in this fentence appears in 
 fo queflionable a fliape, that an apprehenfion of the 
 evil which may be derived from it by the uninformed 
 Chriilian, leads me to conclude, that the author could 
 not fee it, in the light in which it will be feen by many 
 readers. Whilft, therefore, I honour the general 
 
 * WlJ-BERFORCE,p.42j> 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 323 
 
 fentiment, I raufl beg leave to ftate my obje&ions to 
 the wording of fome part of it, when confidered as 
 drawing out a line of praftical conduct for the Chrift ian. 
 There is no fallacy by which common underiland* 
 ings are fo readily impofed upon, as that by which 
 a proportion of acknowledged truth -in its proper 
 and reftrained fenfe is made to minifler to a general 
 and unlimited conclufion, Inqueftions of nice dif- 
 crimination, the far greater part of mankind, " whofe 
 fenfes are not exercifed to difcern between good and 
 evil," Heb. v. 14, are not poiTeffed of ability fufficient 
 to qualify them to draw the line between what is 
 and what is not to be admitted. Proportions which 
 bring immediate conviction to the mind, from the 
 evident truth contained in them, are readily embraced; 
 whilft at the fame time little or no attention is paid 
 to the limitations by which thofe felf-evident pro* 
 pofitions are neceflarily bounded. Hence it is, that 
 a confufion of judgment, upon the moil important 
 fubjefts, ofttimes prevails in the minds of uninformed 
 people, unfavourable to thecaufe of truth: when the 
 admiffion of one proportion in an unlimited fenfe 
 comprehends under it the reje&ion of another, which 
 Hands upon an equally firm foundation. In this cafe, 
 they either determine upon a wrong conclufion, which 
 
324- POSTSCRIPT 
 
 neceflarily leads to error; or in confequence of their 
 remaining poifed between two apparently oppofite 
 pofitions, which they know not how to reconcile, 
 they are in that (late of uncertainty which leads to no 
 concluilon at all. 
 
 In proportion, therefore, to the importance of the 
 fubjeft, fhould be the attention paid to the precife 
 boundaries, within which every pofition, however 
 incontrovertible in itfelf, ought to be confined; that 
 no opening may be left for a general conclnfion to 
 be drawn, to the proper eflablifhment of which 
 other circumftances may be necefTary to be taken into 
 the account. 
 
 The proportion here alluded to is that by which 
 a reader may be led to conclude, that provided the 
 faith of the Chriftian be found, provided he hold 
 the grand fundamentals of religion, other confidera- 
 tions are not fubje&s of effential importance to him. 
 
 Upon what is to be underftood by the grand fun- 
 damentals of religion there is no queflion, Where 
 thefe are not admitted, there can be no Chriftianity. 
 This is a pofition in which all who receive the Gofpel 
 muft agree. But though there can be no Chriftianity, 
 \vhere the grand fundamentals of religion are not 
 admitted, it does not follow, that where thefe are 
 
grO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 325 
 
 admitted, there remains no other fubjeft of effential 
 importance, to which the Chriftian need pay attention. 
 
 It may be afked, is every thing relating to the 
 church of CHRIST to be deemed non-essential, fave 
 what refpefts the profeflion of its peculiar doftrines? 
 Such a conclufion, it is prefumed, will lead* the 
 Chriftian reader further than the author meant. For 
 upon this fuppofition, that every thing but the grand 
 fundamentals of religion is a matter of no effential 
 importance; the conclufion which the generality of 
 readers will draw from the fentence under confider- 
 ation will be this; that provided they believe what as 
 Chriftians they muft believe, it is a matter of no con- 
 fequence what form of religious worfhip they adopt ; 
 whether they hold communion with the church , or the 
 meeting- houfe-y in other words, whether they aiTcmble 
 as members of the church of CHRIST, or as members 
 of a fchifmatic congregation. 
 
 The admuTion of this idea cuts up by the roots the 
 unity of the Chriftian church; and makes what the 
 Apoftles and firft Chriftians wrote upon this fubjeft 
 fomething worfe than nonfenfe; for in this cafe they 
 impofed on their fellow-Chriftians, by making matters 
 in themfelves indifferent fubjects of very important 
 confideratioD, 
 
326 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 In {hort, this inter- communion (if we may fo fay) 
 between the church and the conventicle, fo utterly 
 inconfiitent with the regular ceconomy of Divine 
 grace, can never lead to good. It muft ultimately 
 deftroy the caufe it is meant to ferve. To point out 
 its danger, we have only to alk, whether Jt be not 
 poflible for Chriftians to profefs the true faith, and 
 yet by d if obedience to lofe all the benefits expected 
 from it? If fo, there is, doubtlefs, fomething of 
 ejjential importance with the Chriflian, befides the 
 acknowledgment of the fundamentals of Chriflianity. 
 
 KORAH and his company were fwallowed up, not 
 for any error in faith, but for difobedience of practice; 
 not becaufe they difbelieved any of the eflablifhed 
 doctrines of the Jewifli church, but becaufe they rebel- 
 led againft the Divine ordinance in its eilablifhment. 
 
 It was not for their renunciation of the faith, but 
 for their feparation from the church, that ST. PAUL, 
 ST. CLEMENT, and ST. IGNATIUS, in their addreffes 
 to the primitive Chriftians, expreffed themfelves fo 
 ftrongly and decidedly upon the fubject of ecclefiafti- 
 cal unity; that it is impoflible, one fliould fuppofe, for 
 an unprejudiced reader of their writings, to harbour 
 a doubt upon this fubject. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 327 
 
 Upon what ground, then, are we to conclude, 
 that conformity to the eftablifhed government of the 
 church, which in the primitive days conftituted a fub- 
 jeft of the firft magnitude, is now dwindled down into 
 an unimportant confideration? Can any thing which 
 has received the fanction of the Divine inftitution in 
 religion be deemed a non-effential? Can, for inflance, 
 the Divine inflitution of the Chriftian church become 
 at any time a matter of no importance? Can the rule 
 given by the Apoftle to the members of that church, 
 in confequence of its Divine eftablifhment, refpe&ing 
 their obedience and fubmiflion to the fpiritual autho- 
 rity of their appointed governors,* become a matter 
 of indifference to the profeflbrs of CHRIST'S religion? 
 Can the cultivation of Chriftian charity, that bond of 
 perfe&nefs, as it is called; that Chriflian grace, 
 which the eftablifhment of the church was in a par- 
 ticular manner defigned to promote among men ; in 
 fpeaking of religious pra&ice, can this be deemed a 
 non-effential? 
 
 Our author, it will be urged, means no fuch thing. 
 It (hall be readily allowed that he does not. On the 
 contrary, that he dire&s true Chriftians " to cultivate 
 
 * HKB. xiii. 17. 
 
328 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 a Catholic fpirit of univerfal good- will and amicable 
 fellowfhip towards all, of whatever feft or denomi- 
 nation,'' &c. 
 
 Had we no experience in human affairs, did we 
 know nothing of the corrupt creature man, we fhould 
 pay attention to a dire&ion fo well calculated to har- 
 monize a jarring world. But as man is, it is a direction 
 irreducible to praHce upon any plan, but that which 
 has been laid down by GOD for the purpofe. GOD 
 knew what was in man. He knew that what ought to 
 be the flrongeft cement of affe&ion and brotherly 
 kindnefs, would, through the corruption of his nature, 
 be made the ground of animoiity, hatred, and revenge. 
 He faw, when on earth, in the cafe of the Samaritans, 
 a flriking inftance of the fatal effeft produced by a 
 difference of opinion in religious matters upon the 
 harmony of fociety. The remedy which he provided 
 againft it was the inilitution of a church, in which 
 all mankind fhould be brought together " in the 
 unity of the fame fpirit, to worfhip the fame GOD 
 in the bond of peace. 3 ' 
 
 Such is the idea fo ftrongly inculcated by the 
 Apoftle, in his epiflle to the Romans ; where he 
 direfts the members of the church " to follow after 
 the things which make for peace, and things where- 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 329 
 
 with one may edify another."* " Now the GOD 
 of patience and confolation," fays he, " grant you 
 to be like-minded one towards another, according to 
 the will of JESUS CHRIST, that you may with one 
 mind and one mouth glorify GOD the Father of our 
 LORD JESUS CHRIST."! " Let the peace pf GOD 
 rule in your hearts, to the which alfo ye are called 
 in one body."J 
 
 The peace prefcribed to Chriflians, and intended 
 as a blefllng to them, is here defcribed by the Apoflle 
 as the end of their vocation, and of their being united 
 into one body. If then the end of Chriflians being 
 united into one body, the church, be the produ&ion of 
 peace among them; the mod probable confequence 
 of their being broken into fefts and parties will be the 
 deflruftion of it. Had it not been for the fake of 
 peace and love, and the great bleffings which attend 
 them, GOD might have let Chriflians live in different 
 bodies, as well as in one ; and exercife their religion 
 in oppofite churches, as well as in churches agreeing 
 in the fame communion. But the reafon why He 
 hath enjoined Chriflians to unite into one body and 
 communion, was to put them into a bleffed flate of 
 
 * ROM. xir. 17. t Ibid. xv. 5, 6. t COL, iii, 15. 
 
 c c 
 
330 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Catholic peace and love; for promoting the happi- 
 nefs of mankind, and the honour of his holy name. 
 Could this perfe&ion of Chriftianity have been brought 
 about in any other way; toufe our author's words, 
 could the fundamentals of religion have been pre- 
 feryed in the world, and " a Catholic fpirit of uni- 
 verfal good- will, and amicable fellowihip," have been 
 kept alive among men in any other way, than by their 
 joint communion in religious worfhip; it is probable, 
 that the inftitution of the Chriftian church, as a fo- 
 ciety under an appropriate government, had never 
 taken place. 
 
 To talk, therefore, of nothing being of effential 
 confideration with the Chriftian difciple, but the 
 profeffion of the true faith, is to propagate a doftrine, 
 as unknown to the church of CHRIST, as it is con. 
 tradifted by the experience of the world. For con- 
 formity to the appointed government of the church 
 is not only a matter of importance to the Chriftian, as 
 it is an obedience to the Divine will ; but it is more- 
 over a fubjecl: neceflary to be attended to by him, 
 upon the very ground pointed out by our author; 
 becaufe it efTentially contributes to the promotion and 
 prefer vat ion of thofe very obje&s which he has par- 
 ticularly in view. " The church," the Apoftle tells 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 331 
 
 us, " is the ground and pillar of the truth."* One 
 of the ends of its inftitution was, that, by eftablifh- 
 ing a ftandard of judgment in religious matters, it 
 might be the guardian and preferver of the Chriflian 
 faith; that Chriftians might " not be tofled to and 
 fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, 
 by the fleight of men, and cunning craftinefs, whereby 
 they lie in wait to deceive. But fpeaking the truth 
 in love, they might grow up into him, in all things, 
 which is the head, even CHRIST: From whom the 
 whole body (of the church) fitly joined together, and 
 compared by that which every joint fupplieth, ac- 
 cording to the effectual working in the meafure of 
 every part, maketh increafe of the body, unto the 
 edifying of itfelf in love."f And experience, as it 
 has been above obferved, has abundantly convinced 
 us, that corruptions of the faith among Chriflians 
 are, fooner or later, the confequences of their fepara^ 
 tion from this body thus Jit ly framed. 
 
 * " Quibus verbis fignificat PAULUS, ne intercidat veritas DEI in 
 tfmndo, ecclefiam efTe fidamejus cuftodem: quia ejus minifterio e fc 
 opera voluit DEUS puram verbi fui praedicationem confervari et fe 
 nobis oftendere patrem familias, dum nos fpiritualibus alimentis 
 pafcit, et qusccunque ad falutem noftram faciunt, procurat." 
 
 CALv.Inft. l.iv. c.i. 
 
 f Ephef. iv. 14, 15. 
 
332 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 The unity of the church, therefore, as inftrumental 
 in preferving the grand fundamentals of Chriftianity 
 in the world, muft on that account be a fubject of 
 effcntial importance to the Chriftian. 
 
 It muft alfo be feen in the fame light, when we 
 regard its direct tendency to produce that Catholic 
 fpirit of good-will, which conflitutes the great bleffmg 
 of fociety, and which will in vain be expected from 
 any other caafe. 
 
 " I know, 3 ' fays a learned writer,* than whom no 
 one was better acquainted with the fubject before 
 us, " that men will now fay, that they can love all 
 parties, and that they can live without animofities 
 towards all forts of men; but if a few men can be fo 
 perfect, what is that to the generality of mankind, 
 who will ftill be divided in affections as they are in 
 parties and communions; as has been found by woeful 
 experience, not only in this church,but all the churches 
 where divifions have been fince the time of CHRIST. 
 Wherefore, generally fpeaking, it muft needs follow, 
 that oppofition in communions will breed partiality 
 
 and oppofition in affections among Chriftians. Where 
 
 
 
 particular perfons, or congregations, feparate from 
 any church as corrupt, there muft needs be bitter 
 
 * Hi CKEs'sPofthumous Sermons. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 533 
 
 ftrife and envyings between that church who will 
 juftify herfelf, and the feparatifts who willjnaintain 
 their reparation; and in fuch contentions for the truth, 
 Chriftian charity and difcipline will decay, and utter 
 licentioufnefs and atheifm and all manner of herefies 
 will fpring up. Thefe are the reafons into which the 
 precepts for unity, and the flri<ftures againft divifion 
 in the Chriilian religion are refolved : and I am per- 
 fuaded, were the benefits of the one, and the direful 
 eifefts of the other, well confidered, by thofe who 
 hold oppoilte communions to this church, they would 
 be as zealous for the pofitive precepts of Chriftian 
 union, as for the mofl weighty duties of the moral law/' 
 
 It may be remembered, that the Jews and Sama- 
 ritans agreed in the eflentials of religion. But the 
 ieparation of the latter from the worfhip at Jerufalem, 
 and the fetting up diftinft altars of their own, were 
 circumftances which operated fo ftrongly upon the 
 minds of the refpeclive parties, as effectually to de- 
 ftroy all focial intercourfe between them. 
 
 It may be remembered, alfo, that the two principal 
 fects among the Jews (the Pharifees and Sadducees) 
 were engaged in a kind of ceafelefs hoftility with each 
 other, during the whole time of their exiftence. So 
 irreconcilable was their mutual enmity, that they 
 
334 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 chofe rather to perifli in their divifion, than to unite 
 in oppofition to their common foes. 
 
 If we come down to later times, the conduct of the 
 Puritans towards each other after their emigration to 
 America, together with the fpirit of intolerance ma- 
 nifefted by the contending feclaries in the lad century, 
 leads to a fimilar concluiion upon this fubjeft. Whilft 
 the railing accufations continually brought againft the 
 eftiiblifhed clergy, together with the indecent language 
 in thefe days fo laviihly beflowed upon them, by thofe 
 felf-conflituted teachers, who neverthelefs profefs 
 themfelves to be difciples of the fame Mailer; will 
 not allow us to hope for better things, than have 
 heretofore been experienced from the uncontroled 
 paflions of the natural man* . 
 
 To lead men, therefore, to think, that a Catholic 
 fpirit of univerfal good-will and amicable fellowfhip, 
 may be kept up among thofe of different feels and 
 perfuafions in religion, is to induce them to a& upon 
 an imaginary idea unfupported by facts; whilft they 
 hold themfelves indifferent to the plan which GOD 
 has provided, for the certain attainment of that de- 
 firable object. Let us not fancy men to be more 
 charitably difpofed than they really are, and thereby 
 flatter them into fchifm. Charity, be it remembered^ 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS., 335 
 
 is the offspring, not of nature, but of grace. Let us, 
 therefore, rather tell men what they are; and ufe our 
 utmofl endeavours to perfuade them to make ufe of 
 the means calculated to make them what they ought 
 to be. The unity of the Chriflian church will as 
 certainly lead to a Catholic fpirit of good-will and 
 amicable fellowfhip, as does the divifion of it to the 
 oppofite difpofition. To imagine that this charafter- 
 iftic of true Chriflianity, will be found among men 
 left to the guidance of their own fancies and paffions 
 in religion, is to be wife above what is written ; is to 
 forfake the paths of truth and knowledge, and flatter 
 ourfelves that we ihall find comfort in thofe of con- 
 fufion and error. 
 
 Whilft, therefore, it is impoffible but to look up 
 with refpeft to the author before me, I neverthelefs 
 mufl think, that the effectual advancement of Chriil- 
 ianity, and the confequent fecurity of its benefits to 
 the world, will ever depend upon a conformity to the 
 plan laid down by GOD for that purpofe. Confe- 
 quently, the more attention is paid to the unity of the 
 Chriflian church, confidered as a fociety of Divine 
 institution, the more of true Chriflian faith and cha- 
 rity will be found in the world. 
 
336 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Upon this ground I would fugged it to the con- 
 fideration of thofe members of the church to whom I 
 now addrefs myfelf, who regard the eflablifhment of 
 the church in this country as an object of great 
 national importance; whether, by their occafional 
 attendance upon irregular teachers, who hold them- 
 felves independent of it, they would wifh to become 
 inftrumental to the definition of the caufe they pro- 
 fefs to have at heart. Whether they are not a&ually 
 placing themfelves in that predicament, when, by their 
 influence and example, they convey an idea into the 
 minds of the people, abfolutely definitive of one 
 great end of the Divine inftitution of a church, by 
 leading them to conclude, that it is a matter of no 
 confequence whether they continue in communion 
 with it or not. I would entreat them by the love of 
 CHRIST to confider, whether the doctrine which they 
 may hear out of the church, will balance againft what 
 they lofe by their feparation from it? Putting the 
 nature of the Chriflian miniftry, as a commiffion, out 
 of the queflion; whether the partial good that may 
 be done by a certain individual, to whofe miniflry 
 they have attached themfelves, in confequence of the 
 good opinion to which his character may have en- 
 titled him, will compenfate to the community for 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 537 
 
 the general evil derived from that violation of order, 
 which, in the appointment to a moil important office, 
 removes the line of diilinction neceffary to be drawn 
 between the real and imaginary qualifications of dif- 
 ferent parties. For is it not more than probable, 
 that the evil, in this cafe, will be found to outweigh 
 the good, in the proportion that vain pretenders to 
 knowledge exceed in number thofe who really poiTefs it? 
 But upon the confideration that all order in this 
 matter proceeds from GOD, (the Apoftle having told 
 us, in reference to the priefthood, " that no man 
 taketh this honour to himfelf, but he that is called of 
 GOD, as was Aaron," Heb. v. 4.; and that, as 
 man, JESUS CHRIST himfelf proceeded in the dif- 
 charge of the Chriflian priefthood by commifTion;) I 
 would conjure them, by the obedience which they owe 
 to the Head of the church, to confider, whether 
 their difregard of an eftablifhment calculated to pro- 
 mote peace and unity among Chrlflians, may not 
 provoke GOD to deprive them of a bleffing which 
 they thus appear to undervalue. "Whether this taking 
 the caufe, as it were, into their own hand, and upon 
 the ground of occafional defeft in the minifters of 
 the church, running into an open breach of order in 
 contempt of a Divine inflitution, be fo likely a way 
 
333 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 to correct the evil complained of, as leaving the caufc 
 in GOD'S hand, continuing dutiful members of his 
 church, praying for its minifters, and by converfation, 
 writing, and example, endeavouring to re-animate 
 them to a more fpiritual difcharge of their trull.* 
 
 " It is fafefl" (fays an old writer) " to truft GOD 
 with his own caufes. If AARON had been chofen 
 by Ifraely MOSES would have flickered him under 
 their authority. Now that GOD did immediately 
 appoint him, his patronage is fought, whofe the elec- 
 tion was. We may eafily err in the managing of Di- 
 vine affairs, and fo our want of fuccefs cannot want fin. 
 GOD knows how to ufe, how toblefs his own means." 
 
 It fhould be remembered, then, that there is no 
 excufe for feparating from a church, where the word 
 of GOD is preached, and the facraments duly admi- 
 
 * " Cogitent in magna multitudine complures efle vere fanftos 
 et innocentes coram oculis DOMINI, qui afpe&um fuum fugiant. 
 Cogitent, et ex iis qui mprbidi videntur, multos efTe, qui in vitiis fuis 
 nequaquam fibi placent aut blandiuntur ; fed ferio timore DOMINI 
 idenudem expergefa&i, ad integritatem majorem adfpirant. Cogi- 
 tent non ferendum efTe de homine judicium ab uno fa6to ; quando 
 fandiflimi interdum gravifTuno cafu excidunt. Cogitent plusfubefle 
 ad coliigendam ecclefiam momenti, turn verbi minifterio, turn fa- 
 crorum myfteriorum participationc, quam ut quorundam impiorum 
 culpa, vis ilia tota evanefcere queat. Poftremo reputent, in cen* 
 icnda eccl^lia pluris e/Te divinum quam bumanum judicium." 
 
 CALY, Inftit. lib. iv.c. i. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 339 
 
 Biftered; becaufe, as it has been above obferved, the 
 efficacy of the fervice and facraments of the church 
 does not depend upon the private character of the 
 officiating minifter : and as there is no excufe for 
 feparation under fuch circumftances, fo neither can 
 there be any advantage derived from it. Pioufly- 
 difpofed perfons may certainly be as pious in the 
 church as they can be out of it; and it is the defign 
 of our church, that all its members fhould be fuch. It 
 may be a fubjeft, therefore, well worth confideration, 
 whether the practice fb frequently adopted by ferious 
 perfons, of feparating from a church which furnifh.es 
 the moft effectual means of promoting the true fpirit 
 of Chriftianity, may not be traced to the artifice of 
 that grand Deceiver, whofe bufmefs it is at all times 
 and by all means to prevent, as much as in him lies, 
 the fuccefs of the Chriflian miniftry: and, under 
 this head, whether the idea which is now taken up 
 by Chriflians of a certain defcription, relative to a 
 fuppofed diflinftion between the church of CHRIST: 
 and church of England, be not employed by him, by 
 way of prelude to their more eafy feparation from 
 church communion. Upon thofe pious perfons who 
 are on the point of being led captive by fuch a fatal 
 delufion, the flrong language of Bifhop HALL will 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 * 
 
 produce more effects, at the fame time that it will 
 be better received, than any thing I can hope to fay 
 upon the fubjeft. " The GOD of the church (fays 
 this pious biftiop) cannot abide either conventicles 
 of feparation, or pluralities of profeilions. This 
 fiourifhing church of Great-Britain (after all the 
 fpiteful calumniations of malicious men) is one of 
 the moft confpicuous members of the Catholic church 
 upon earth j fo we, in her communion, do make up 
 one body with the holy patriarchs, prophets, apoflles, 
 martyrs, confelfors, and faithful Chriflians of all 
 ages and times. We fucceed in their faith, we glpry 
 in their fucceilion, we triumph in this glory. Whi- 
 ther go ye, then, ye weak, ignorant, feduced fouls, 
 that run to feek this dove in a foreign cote ? She is 
 here, if ihe have any red under heaven." Serm. on 
 Cant. vi. 9. 
 
 To the foregoing important conliderations, let it 
 be added, that every reprefentation of the clergy of 
 this church, which tends to leifen their influence 
 upon the community, does :i?jury to the general 
 caufe. For this reafon, it becomes necefTary to fe- 
 parate, as far as may be, the office from the man; 
 and not to difregard the ordinance of GOD, becaufe 
 it has been occafionally difgraced. And this dif- 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 341 
 
 tin&ion between the public and private charafter of 
 the teacher, our SAVIOUR has taught us to make, 
 in the direction given to his difciples refpecYmg their 
 conduft towards the Scribes and Pharifees, who 
 were at that time notorious for moral depravity. 
 " The Scribes and Pharifees (faid he) fit in MofcV 
 feat. All therefore whatfoever they bid you obferve, 
 that obferve and do; but do not ye after their 
 works, for they fay and do not." MATT, xxiii. 2, 3. 
 Though the minifters of the church, therefore, ought 
 to be, and would to GOD they all were, burning and 
 fhining lights to the world; yet it mull be remem- 
 bered, they are men. " They have received this 
 treafure in earthen veffels," as men of like paflions 
 with thofe to whom they are fent. As men, there- 
 fore, they will have their perfonal defers. But as 
 their perfonal defers do not, through Divine grace, 
 vacate the obje& of their commiffion, cc any thing 
 (according to the obfervation made by DJONYSIUS 
 to No v ATI AN*) muft rather be borne, than that 
 we fhould rend the church of GOD." A proper 
 diftin&ion, therefore, fliould always be made between 
 the clergy and the church. For if well-meaning pious 
 
 * "Oportebat quidem nihil non ferre, ne ecclefiam DEI fcin 
 ." DION. pift. ad NOT AT. vide EVSEB. lib. viii. c. 44. 
 
342 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Chriflians are to leave the church, becaufe there are 
 fome minifters who do no credit to their office in it ; 
 it may be difficult to fay, when fuch a thing as unity 
 could be found in it ; ilnce there never was a time* 
 from the days of the Apoftles, when fuch a caufe for 
 feparation did not in a greater or lefs degree exift. 
 
 ST. CYPRIAN fets forth the corruption of an 
 early age of the church in the following melancholy 
 flrain: " The difcipline (fays he) which the Apoftles 
 left us, was corrupted with idlenefs and a long reft- 
 Every one's care was to increafe his eflate; and 
 quite forgetting either what the believers had done 
 in the Apoflles* days, or what it was always their 
 duty to do, they gave themfelves up to an infatiable 
 covetoufnefs, and laboured for nothing but to get 
 wealth. There was no devotion in their prieils, no 
 charity {hewed in good works, not fo much as the. 
 form of godlinefs in their behaviour." Yet ST, 
 .CYPRIAN was fo far from thinking that this ihame- 
 ful degeneracy of the clergy furnifhed an argument 
 for feparation from the church, that he was one 
 pf the flrongeil advocates for the prefervation of 
 Chriflian unity. 
 
 When the prophet faid, (MAL. ii. 7) " The lips 
 of the prieils fhould keep knowledge, and they 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 545 
 
 fliould feek the law at his mouth, for he is the 
 meffenger of the LORD of Hofts;" it was at a time, 
 when the Jewifh church was in the moil degenerate 
 Hate; when the priefts, as he afterwards tells them, 
 <fc had departed out of the way, had caufed many 
 to Humble at the law, and had corrupted the cove- 
 nant of LEVI." 
 
 The reader will not fuppofe, that it is our wifh to 
 flicker the prefent degeneracy of the clergy under 
 that of their predecefTors in any former flage of the 
 church. The only conclufion meant to be drawn 
 from the foregoing circumftances is fimply this; that 
 the minifters of the church are to be regarded in 
 their public chara&er, as " the meiTengers of the 
 LORD of Holts," " the ambaffadors for CHRIST ;" 
 as bearing a commiiHon, which, though at times 
 unworthily difcharged, demands confideration froin 
 the refpecl due to the Being from whom it is derived; 
 and that the caufe of the mafter ought not to be 
 affected by the unworthinefs of the fervant.* 
 
 * In the courfe of the great rebellion, when the people were 
 deluded to believe they could not fet up the kingdom of CHRIST 
 "without pulling down that of their fovereign ; among other tran 
 a<5Hons, we are told of an officer belonging to the rebels, who, after 
 fome fkirmifli, being taken prifoner with his party by the royalifts, 
 was modeftly afked by one of them, " How it came to pafs^ thjrf a 
 
344 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Were this argument managed with ikill equal to 
 its importance 5 it would, with GOD'S bleffing upon it, 
 put an end to all difference of opinion upon this 
 fiibjeft. The errors into which many men have 
 run in confequence of their ignorance of the nature 
 of the ChriiHan church; of their having confidered 
 it, not as a fociety made for man, but fomething left 
 for man to make for hlmfelf; (like a lump of ihapelefs 
 wax, to be moulded according to every one's fafhion) 
 would be corrected; and the object of that grand 
 enemy of all religion, whofe caufe derives advantage 
 from divifion among Chriftians, would be in a great 
 meafure defeated. Nothing is wanting to do juilice 
 to the caufe of the church, as a fociety of CHRIST'S 
 
 gentleman of his feemingly good fcnfe and education could be 
 induced to engage in a caufe fo very unjuftr" His reply was; " He 
 had not fo ftric"tly examined the merit of the caufe, as now he was 
 convinced he ought; but one thing he could not but mention, that 
 had prejudiced him (and. he believed a great many more) againft 
 his Majefty's fervice, was the licence taken among the cavaliers 
 of fwearing and drinking." The anfwer to this was; " Admitting 
 the charge were true, it was highly unpardonable fo excellent a 
 .prince as his Majelty fhould fuffer for the irregularities of his 
 foldiers; and belides, he ought farther to have confidered, the 
 crimes he mentioned were entirely perfonal, and the vices of men : 
 whereas the malice, treachery, hypocrify, and feveral other un- 
 paralleled vices, which made up the very efTence of bis caufe, 
 were the Vices of devils," 
 
tO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 345 
 
 forming, but an unprejudiced mind, an honefl heart, 
 and a competent acquaintance with primitive Chrift- 
 ianity. A bright ornament* of our church, who 
 poiTeffed thefe qualifications in an eminent degree, 
 has fpoken fo ftrongly and fo plainly upon the fubjeft 
 to which I am now alluding, that every confiderate 
 man will at lead paufe before he ventures to fet at 
 nought fuch authority. " I would not (fays he) be 
 an heretick, or a fchifmatick in the church, to have 
 the wifdom of SOLOMON, the tongues of ST. PAUL, 
 and the eloquence of APOLLOS; no not to be caught 
 up into Paradife, and hear thofe unutterable things. 
 I would not be the beft preacher that ever was, and 
 fpeak in the pulpit by infpiration, to have that 
 accufation lie againft me, which ST. PAUL drew up 
 againft the Corinthians, of envy, flrife, fchifm." 
 Elfewhere fpeaking of thofe fpiritual gifts, which, 
 -through the vanity of their poffeiTors, heretofore 
 difturbed the peace of the church of Corinth, he 
 thus admirably exprefles himfelf: " Gifts, (fays 
 he) whether real or pretended, whether natural, ac- 
 quired, or infpired, are temptations to pride and 
 apoftacy, rather than fecurity from them; witnefs 
 LUCIFER in heaven $ ADAM in paradife; and So- 
 
 -* HlCKES. 
 
 DD ' 
 
346 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 % 
 
 JLOMON, who for his exceeding wifdom was flyled 
 the wife. So that no comparifon ought to be made 
 betwixt the excellency of knowledge and grace, and 
 betwixt the intelle&ual and faving gifts of the Spirit; 
 or between the gifts of the Spirit that make us wife, 
 and learned, and fluent talkers, and thofe which 
 make us good. 
 
 " It is better to be humble, than to be a prophet; 
 it is better to be righteous, than to have the faith of 
 miracles; and it is better to be holy, than to have 
 the gift of tongues. But, to be peaceable and love 
 union, is as great a grace, as to be humble, righteous, 
 and holy; nay, as to be pure and temperate. For 
 it is equalled with all thofe, and many other of the 
 prime graces in the New Teftament; it is reckoned 
 with many of them among the fruits of the Spirit ; 
 and the fruits of the Spirit are better and more de- 
 iirable than the gifts of it. The gifts of it may 
 improve the conformity of my foul after the meta* 
 phyftcal image of GOD, in knowledge and wifdom; 
 which the apoflate fpirits retain. But thefe are the 
 fruits of it; as love, joy, peaceablenefs, &c. which 
 conform my foul after his moral image, and make 
 me partaker of his moral excellencies and perfections, 
 and which alone can qualify my fpirit for his prefence 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 347 
 
 and acceptance; when many infpired men, and many 
 more enthufiafts who think themfelves infpired, fliall 
 be fhut out of the kingdom of GOD: as for other 
 fins, fo efpecially, for disturbing the peace, and rend- 
 ing the unity of the church. 
 
 " Wherefore, if we lived in the age of miracles; or 
 if GOD, to confute the infidelity of atheifls, or to 
 convert the Mahometans, or for any other reafons, 
 fliould now renew the gifts of his fpirit; in fubmiflion 
 to his good pleafure, I fhould beg, with the prophet 
 JEREMIAH, to be excufed from all intelle&ual infpi- 
 rations, from vifions and revelations, and prophecy; 
 from the gift of tongues and difcerning fpirits, and 
 preaching and praying by immediate infpiration. 
 Inftead of thefe gifts which fail, and which are good 
 or bad, as the man is that receives them, I would 
 beg him, for the fake of JESUS, to infpire me with 
 the graces of his fpirit, which never fail; with hu- 
 mility, temperance, purity, juflice, and charity; for 
 every one of thefe furpafleth all underflanding, and 
 the knowledge of all myfleries; more efpecially would 
 I befeech him to grant me his peace, or infpire me 
 with the love of union, which furpaffeth all under- 
 ftanding, and would keep my heart and mind from 
 
348 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 envyings and ftrife, and from making or fomenting 
 needlefs divifions, through JESUS CHRIST my Lord." 
 
 An attempt to add to the force of the above ex- 
 cellent paffages, would be prefumption. They are, 
 therefore, left to produce their own effe& upon the 
 reader's mind, who, if unacquainted, as moft probably 
 he is, with the writings of this great divine, will 
 thank me for producing thus at length a quotation 
 from him, which breathes the true Chriilian fpirit in 
 fo eminent a degree. 
 
 To prevent mifconftruftion, it remains only to be 
 obferved, that what a fmcere regard for genuine 
 Chriflianity, accompanied with an earned wifli to 
 promote the unity of the Chriftian church, has in- 
 duced me, in a former part of this difcourfe, to fay, 
 in apparent contradiction to a writer, who has lately 
 favoured the world with his religious fentimentsj 
 muft be confidered, as faid againfl the meaning, 
 which may be drawn from certain unguarded paffages 
 in his publication, rather than againfl that of their 
 author* So much refpeft is due to this amiable au- 
 thor for the defign of his undertaking, that it would 
 give me pleafure to think, that what has been here 
 written, might prove the means of putting his pub- 
 lication into the hand of one additional reader j 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 349 
 
 becaufe fo much of good is contained in it, that the 
 reader mud be either good or bad in the extreme, 
 who does not derive benefit from it. 
 
 Feeling with the Critic,* " that an extra official 
 exhortation to that renovation of mind which confli- 
 tutes the charafteriftic of the true Chriftian, affilted 
 by the credit of this author's fituation, the juft and 
 general confidence in the worth and fincerity of his 
 character, the clearnefs of his intelleft, and the force 
 of his eloquence, will produce a more extenfive, and 
 on many minds a more powerful effeft, than any 
 inftru&ion from the pulpit, or even from the pen of 
 a divine^" I feel earneflly defirous of contributing to 
 fo important an obje&. 
 
 Before I conclude this poftfcript, however, I could 
 wiih (if it may be done without offence, and where 
 no offence is meant, none mould be taken) to recall 
 to the particular attention of this refpe&able author 
 fome few confiderations. 
 
 In his late publication he has pronounced a general 
 condemnation upon the profeflional chara&er of the 
 Clergy of the eflablifhed church. By wife and can- 
 did men, a general and indifcrimmate condemnation 
 will be feen in a light, in which this author, if we 
 
 * rit. Critic, for Sept. 1797. 
 
350 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 may judge of him from fome parts of his work, 
 would be very unwilling that his fentiments fhould 
 appear. Confidered, in its reference to the Clergy 
 as a body, his fentence is certainly not lefs impolitic, 
 than unjuft. It is unjuft, becaufe unfupported by fafts. 
 It is impolitip, becaufe it mufl prove detrimental tq 
 the conftitution of this country; by alienating the 
 minds of the community from that branch of it, which 
 has always been regarded as its firmed fupport. 
 
 The utmoft credit will be readily given to this 
 author for his good intention. Upon this head I 
 believe the opinion of the public is not lefs honour- 
 able than it is decided. But convinced, as I am, that 
 the church of CHRIST has been ever an Epif copal 
 church, and that a feparation from its communion 
 has been, what it always will be, the fruitful fource 
 pfherefy* and uncharitablenefs, and confequently 
 one of the greateft misfortunes that has ever hap- 
 pened to the Chriftian world j it is impoffible to loojc 
 \vith indifference upon that growing prevalence pf/#- 
 ;, which marks the character of the prefent day, 
 
 * " Inde fchifmata et hasrefes oborta funt et oriuntur, dum epif- 
 copus, qui unus eft, et ecclefiae praeeft fuperba quorumnam pra-- 
 fprnptione, contemnitur : ethpmo dignationeDEihonoratus, indigq\;s 
 homioibus judicatur." CYPRIAN. Epift. 69. 
 
TO OCCASIONAL SEPARATISTS. 
 
 Our author would be confidered to be a profeffed 
 friend to our happy eftablifliment. No one can feel 
 more difpofed to fee him in that light than myfelf. 
 At the fame time, I trufl, it will not be regarded as 
 any intentional impeachment, either of his integrity or 
 judgment, to remind him, that railing againfl the 
 clergy of the eflablifliment has been that preparatory 
 flep to fubverfion, which has been twice adopted 
 with fuccefs by the fubjefts of Great-Britain. It 
 may be unneceflary to add, that the Revolution of 
 the lad century in this kingdom, and that lately ef- 
 fe&ed in our colonies, are the inflances which I have 
 in view. 
 
 It is not pofitively faid, becaufe I would not haflily 
 pronounce fentence againfl the good fenfe of this na- 
 tion; but he muft be a very unprofitable fpe&ator of 
 what is going forward around him, who does not fee 
 reafon to fear, that a confpiracy againft our eflablifli- 
 ment is now in a flate of rapid growth in this country. 
 
 But furely thefe are eventful times, in which no 
 wife man will be forward in hazarding experiments. 
 Allowing that reformation is wanting, (afubje<5t,upon 
 which, alas! there can be but one opinion) it is flill a 
 matter of effential confideration, in what manner that 
 
352 POSTSCRIPT, &C. 
 
 reformation is to be effe&ed. The difeafe of which 
 we complain, fo far at lean: as the clergy are con- 
 cerned, is partial; fuch as, \ve truft, the vigour of a 
 found conftitution will prevent from becoming def- 
 perate. But an ill-judged method of cure ofttimes 
 brings death to a patient, not otherwife in danger. 
 
 If, upon the ground of the prefent fuppofed in. 
 fufficiency of the clergy, (a fa& which their enemies 
 know themfelves to be incapable of proving) com- 
 munion with our church be no longer confidered a 
 matter of Chriflian obligation ; and it be judged ad- 
 vifeable, for the more effectual advancement of the 
 Chriflian caufe, to follow what may be deemed the 
 found of the Gofpel, wherever heard, or by whom- 
 foever delivered ; we do not hefitate to fay, that in 
 fuch cafe the remedy will, in the end, prove worfe 
 than the difeafe; and that thofe well-meaning per- 
 fons, who are perhaps mofl fanguine in its application* 
 will eventually find that they have been only inflru- 
 ments in the hands of defigning men for the accom- 
 plifhment of purpofes, which, could they forefee 
 them, they might be anibng the laft to promote* 
 * c If the foundations be deftroyed, what can the 
 righteous do?" Pfalm xi. 3. 
 
[353 
 
 POSTSCRIPT to the CLERGY 
 
 HP HE confideration of writing to my Brethren the 
 Clergy on a fubjeft, with which every minifter 
 of the church is, from his profeiTion, fuppofed to be 
 acquainted, has more than once flopped my pen. 
 But circumftances and lituation may qualify one mi- 
 nifter to fpeak more fully upon fome particular fubjecl: 
 than another, without his laying claim to any general 
 fuperiority in profeffional knowledge. 
 
 It having been the will of Divine Providence to 
 fix my refidence in a place, which has given me con- 
 tinued opportunities of lamenting the effects produced 
 by a feparation from the communion of the Chriftian. 
 church; it is to be expected, that my thoughts fliould 
 occafionally have been employed upon this fubjeft. 
 Such of my brethren as are placed in iimilar fitua- 
 tions, may perhaps beobl'ged to me for bringing into 
 one collected point of view the refult of my reflec- 
 tions upon iti 
 
354 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 And though the office aflumed by me upon this 
 occafion, is not more honourable than that of the 
 Gibeonites, who were but hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water fpr the fervice of the tabernacle; 
 yet if, by collefting good and found materials, I fhall 
 prove the inftrument of conveying ufeful information 
 upon a fubjedl:, now as little underftood as it is gene- 
 rally neglefted, I fhall hope that the merit of the 
 defign will be fuffered to atone for the imperfe&ion 
 of its execution. 
 
 To thofe who are advanced, and confequently (it 
 may be fuppofed) well informed in their profeffion^ 
 thefe papers are not addrefled; for to them nothing 
 new can be faid upon this fubjeft; nothing that per- 
 haps might not be better faid by themfelves. But to 
 thofe of my brethren who are not in the fame flate 
 of advancement ; who are unpoiTefled of the leifure or 
 advantages neceffary to the proper ftudy of their 
 profeffion, it may be a convenience to have inform- 
 ation, which has been derived from various quarters, 
 placed before them in fome regular and connected 
 form. Without wifhing to foreflall their judgment, 
 J feel myfelf juftified in faying upon this occafion, 
 that if I have been deceived in the fubjeft before me, 
 I have been deceived with what I confidered to be 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 355 
 
 the bed means of information in my hand, and the 
 lincereft intention in my mind of promoting the 
 Chriftian caufe. Should the ground upon which I 
 have trodden upon this occafion be deemed unfound, 
 k appears to me, that there muft be an end to all 
 authority on fubjects of this nature. 
 
 From the general tendency of the human mind to 
 extremes, the blind credulity of one age often leads 
 to unbounded fcepticifm in another. But the implicit 
 faith of the monk, who, as the ftory goes, when 
 SATAN would have drawn him into herefy, by aiking 
 him what he believed upon a certain point, anfwered, 
 <c Id credo quod credit ecclefia j" and to the fubjoined 
 queftion, " Quod credit ecckfia" cautiouily replied, 
 " Id quod ego credo;" is not more contemptible than 
 the profane licentioumefs of a PAINE, who would 
 make his fenfes the only ftandard of his belief. 
 
 We do not difclaim private judgment; much lefs 
 do we admit the infallibility of the church. But if 
 we have not difcretion in thefe days to draw the line 
 between an implicit obedience to authority, and an 
 utter contempt of it, the experience of paft ages feems 
 to have been thrown away, and reafon tp have been 
 given us for very little purpofe. 
 
356 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 <c Call no man your father upon earth; for one is 
 your Father who is in heaven. Neither be ye called 
 mailers; for one is your Mailer, even CHRIST;"* is 
 a text that has not unfrequently been ilrained beyond 
 its original meaning. It was addreiTed by our SA- 
 VIOUR to his hearers, with the view of guarding 
 them againil the extravagant fuperiority aiTumed by 
 the rabbies over the difciples, and the blind fubmiiTion 
 with which their do&rines were received. So far as 
 it applies to a fimilar fubjeft, either to an affumed fu- 
 periority in the teacher, who. would " exercife lordfhip 
 over GOD'S heritage," i Peter v. 3; or to the blind 
 fubmiilion of the difciple, who makes his faith in man, 
 rather than in the Divine word, the flandard of his 
 religious perfuafion, fo far it contains moil whole- 
 fome inilfuftion to religioniils of every age. 
 
 But when the idea, founded on this text, is carried 
 to an extent tojuilify difobedience to the .authority of 
 the church, upon what ground foever it may be 
 maintained, fuch a wild principle of conduct being 
 totally inconfiilent with the obje& of a regular foci- 
 ety, may be determined not to be within the meaning 
 of a precept, delivered by the founder of that foci- 
 ety to tho.fe who were to become the members of it;, 
 
 * MATT, xxiii. a8* 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 357 
 
 The difficulty in this cafe has always been to efta- 
 blifh the exaft line of conduft, which will fecure that 
 government, without which the church, as a fociety, 
 cannot fubfift; and that liberty to the members of it, 
 neceffary to free them from all ufurped tyranny over 
 their confciences. Men, according to the different 
 objefts which they have had in view, and the ideas 
 which they have formed upon the fubjeft from the 
 different lights in which it has been feen, have been 
 continually drawing this line too much either to the 
 one fide or the other of that golden mean, in which 
 reafon, founded upon revelation, has placed it. : 
 
 GREGORY NAZIANZEN, from the confideration 
 of the fallibility of fynods, and the difputes which 
 too often prevailed in them, fpoke of them with a 
 contempt incompatible with the lead degree of reve- 
 rence for their authority. Such writers as LE CLERC 
 and SCALIGER will not fail to record his faying. 
 " Si aurem pnebeamus viris, quorum alioquin aufto- 
 toritatem fpernere nequaquam poffumus, de fynodis 
 veteribus loquentibus, nobis magnifica oratione defcri- 
 bent ' ccyluq xa; oiKVfAevtKag <rvvo$vg Seotpoguv 
 Beivas en rocg /3aG~iXet<xg TV 
 y KKI Hra7ro$'oXv fan&os et cecu- 
 raenicos ccctus adflatorum divinitus patrum, congre- 
 
358 POSTCRIPT 
 
 gatos in regno magni regis et Apoftolis cequiparartdL 
 Quis auditis his et flmilibus verbis, religiofo quodam 
 horrore et corpore-et animo non contremifcat, ac 
 paratus non fit oracula ejufmodi ccetus avidis auribus 
 excipere, hand aliter ac li ccelo ipfo emittereritur?. 
 Verum, hcec eft, (quis crederet?) abflra&a notio fyno- 
 dorum, quse in inconfpicua idearum republica cogun- 
 tur; non imago earum, quo? inter miferos mortales 
 olim congregate fuere. Reges ignari, (non legent 
 hcec Mohammedani, nee ethnici, fed ii quorum fcire 
 intereft, quo fiet ut verum aperte proloquar) reges, 
 inquam, ignari, nee inter bonos principes numerandi, 
 convocarunt Gneculos, qui linguce acuendas per to- 
 tam vitam operam dederant, rerum ipfarum ignaros, 
 contendendi fludiofos, perpetuis rixis inter fe divifos; 
 et bardos aliquot homines ex Occidente, rudiores 
 quidem illis, fed non meliores ; iique poll pudendas 
 contentiones, obfcuriilima quceque dogmata, verbis 
 fcepe parum aptis, auftoritate fua firmant; qux flu- 
 pidi populi fine examine adorent, quafi divinitus ac- 
 cepta. Non fifta me loqui norunt qui fynodorura 
 hiftorias legerunt; nee certe vanus erat GREGORIUS 
 N.AZIANZENUS, qui dixit, 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 359, 
 
 rt -ZFH (rvvo$ot<rtv opLoS^ovog etrcrofji 
 * Xyvuv v] yegavuv CCKQITO, 
 Evfi' WJf, tv6<x,podo<; TB, KO,I 
 En; evse, Svrpeveuv XM^O 
 " Nunquam ego fedebo in fynodis anferum aut gru- 
 um temere pugnantium. Illic contentio, illic rixa, 
 et probra antra latentia fevorum h'ominum in unum 
 locum collefta." CLERICUS, Art. Grit. i. page 430. 
 The later corruptions of the church of Rome have 
 furniflied Proteflant divines with a fimilar theme for 
 declamation. But the defence of either of thefe 
 caufes is not necelTary to the fupport of the ground 
 upon which the prefent fubje<ft (lands. The infalli- 
 bility of councils and fynods, and the infallibility of 
 the church of Rome, may be fuiTered to fall toge- 
 ther, without the proper authority of the church of 
 CHRIST, for which alone we plead, being in the 
 leafl affefted by the event. For if CHRIST did 
 leave an authority with his church, (and if he did 
 not, every idea of the church as a vifible fociety mud 
 be laid afide) every argument brought againfl that 
 authority can apply only to the improper exertion of 
 it. Thofe authors, confequently, who attempt to 
 defend the Reformation upon principles inconfiftcnt 
 with the external conilitution of a church, bj general 
 
360 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 and unreftramed affertions in favour of private judg* 
 ment, are in faft ferving the caufe againfl which they 
 would be thought, perhaps, to be zealoufly engaged: 
 for if by any mode of arguing, the governors of the 
 church can be deprived of all authority over its mem- 
 bers in fpiritual matters, the conftitution of the church 
 is diffolved: in this cafe, all fefts fland upon the fame 
 footing, and are jiiflified in ating upon the fame prin- 
 ciple, of gathering as many of the difperfed and feat- 
 tered Chriflians into their refpeftive flocks as they can. 
 This endlefs divilion among Chriflians, fo irrecon- 
 cileable with the unity of the Chriftian church, (a 
 neceflkry confequence of the admiiEon of thofe prin- 
 ciples,, upon which the Reformation has been de- 
 fended by fome writers) has occafionally proved 
 fuch a flumbling block to undifcriminating perfons, 
 that they have known no other way to get rid of it, 
 than by returning to that ftate of bondage, from 
 which their forefathers were fo happily delivered. 
 And indeed no argument has tended more to confirm 
 the enemies of the Reformation in their prejudices 
 againft it, than that which has been drawn from 
 thofe incautious pofitions, which, if purfued to their 
 confequences, utterly annihilate all order and go- 
 vernment in the church. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 36l 
 
 In fa&, the loofe manner of writing, which has 
 of late years prevailed, feems calculated not fo much 
 to give an idea of the plan upon which the church 
 of CHRIST has been founded, as by a latitude of 
 interpretation to accommodate the language of fcrip- 
 ture to the various opinions that have been formed 
 upon it; that the term of church communion may be 
 rendered as comprehen/ive as poflible, or mean no- 
 thing. A liberality, if fo it may be called, which 
 tends to diffolve all ecclefiaftical government, and to 
 leave us in polTeflion of no determinate idea upon 
 this important fubjeft. For the unity of the church, 
 upon which fo much ftrefs is laid in the facred 
 writings, is abfolutely incompatible with that dif- 
 jointed flate, in which Chriflians (in confequence of 
 miflaken ideas, and a certain indifcriminate applica- 
 tion of terms, which originally conveyed a diflinEl 
 and appropriate meaning) now think themfelves at 
 liberty to live. And it is a melancholy confideration, 
 that the writings of fome perfons, who, from their 
 office, were bound to underftand the conflitution of 
 the Chriftian church, and to manifefl a due zeal for 
 its prefervation, by loofening, as it were, what GOD 
 defigned to confolidate into a regular and well con- 
 nected form, have thereby contributed to furnilh 
 
 E. 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 mankind with the moft plaufible reafons for their 
 various deviations from it. 
 
 The produce of the feeds of liberty, fown at the 
 revolution, has, we are forry to fay, in thefe days, 
 affumed a wildnefs of growth, not to be reconciled 
 with any regular mode of cultivation. Nor can we 
 be furprized at the circumftance, when we confider 
 the little influence which the Chriftian religion now 
 poiTefles on the public mind. 
 
 The natural man, it is well known, is indifpofed 
 to reftraint of every kind. The facred right of inde- 
 pendence, as it is called in modern language, is the 
 idol which he worihips. Unfortunately for him, 
 confidered as a moral agent, there have been diftin- 
 guiflied characters in every age, whofe talents have 
 flamped a credit upon principles, which tend to favour 
 his natural difpofition, by counteracting thofe modifi- 
 cations of liberty neceffary to its becoming an ufeful 
 quality in fociety. Forgetting, or not admitting, the 
 actual condition of fallen man, they have proceeded 
 upon the idea, that the chief danger to focjal happi- 
 nefs was to be apprehended from the fide of govern- 
 ment ; and provided man was but left free enough, 
 he was fure to be what his Creator defigned he fliould 
 be. Thefe diftinguifhed characters have, perhaps, 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 363 
 
 gained the title which they coveted, that of being 
 eileemed liberal men; but they have gained it for the 
 mod part at the expence of reafon and revelation; 
 and neither church nor (late owe them any acknow- 
 ledgment for their fervices. For he mull be very 
 little acquainted with human nature, and very un- 
 obfervant of the prefent progrefs of licentious opinions, 
 who does not know, that the principles of indepen- 
 dence now propagating in the world are abfolutely 
 incompatible with all regular order and government. 
 It has been urged, in reference to the fubjecl: imme- 
 diately before us, that in proportion as the human 
 mind has advanced in knowledge by the progreflive 
 difcoveries which have from time to time been made 
 in the various branches of fcience, it has become more 
 qualified to eftablifh a rule of judgment for itfelf, in- 
 dependent of the authority of former ages. And fo 
 far as this pofition ought to apply, we may reafon 
 with LACTANTIUS in fupport of it, " DEUS dedit 
 pro virili portione fapientiam nee quia nos illi tem- 
 poribus antecefTerunt, fapientia quoque anteceflerijnt, 
 Quce ii omnibus sequaliter 4atur, occupari ab antece- 
 dentibus non poteft. Sapientiam fibi adimunt qui 
 fine ullo judicio inventa majorum probant, et aliis pe- 
 ^udurn niore ducuntur. Sed hoc eos fallit, quod ma,-* 
 
364 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 jorum nomine pofito, non pntant fieri pofTe ut aut illi 
 plus fapiant, quia inheres vocantur 3 aut illi defipuerint, 
 quia majores nominantur."- LACT. Div. Inft. ii. 7. 
 
 But whilft the argument is thus ftrong in favour 
 of the freedom of human judgment, and againft all 
 implicit fubmifiion to authority, it is neceifary to dif- 
 criminate in its application. 
 
 Subjects of fpeculation and experiment open to 
 man a boundlefs field for enquiry and improvement, 
 and were defigned to exercife his faculties, and en- 
 large his underftanding. Upon thefe fubjefts, he 
 may be expected to grow in wifdom, in confequence 
 of its being in his power tq profit by the experience 
 of thofe who have gone before him. His knowledge, 
 therefore, upon thefe fubjects, becomes confirmed in 
 proportion to its advancement. 
 
 But in matters of revelation and fact, the convic- 
 tion of his underflanding decreafes in proportion as he* 
 is removed from the time in which that revelation 
 and facl took place; and depends lefs upon the exer- 
 tion of his rational powers, than upon the credibility 
 of the teftimony with which they are refpe&ively 
 accompanied. There is a reafon, therefore, for 
 deference to authority being paid in the one cafe, 
 Which does not exift in the other: and fo long as that 
 
tO THE CLERGY. 365 
 
 deference is paid with judgment, the caufe of truth 
 and knowledge cannot fail to be advanced by it. For 
 the idea of a progreflive faith and progreffive hiflory 
 is attended with equal abfurdity; becaufe no exertion 
 of the mental powers can produce an alteration in 
 either cafe. Revelation, being the declared, not the 
 imagined^ will of GOD, muft, what mifreprefentations 
 foever it may be liable to, continue to be what it 
 was at its original delivery \ and fa&s which once 
 actually took place, can never ceafe to be fa&s, what- 
 ever attempts maybe made to miflate or fupprefs them. 
 The fact to which our attention is now dire&ed, 
 is the eflablifliment of the church by CHRIST, the 
 founder of it. That fuch a fact did take place, is 
 generally admitted. Indeed, to difallow it, would 
 be to renounce all faith in hiflory. The difference 
 of opinion that has unfortunately prevailed with re- 
 fpect to the form of its government, it is not my 
 prefent purpofe to reconcile; for I am now addreffing 
 niyfelf to thofe who are fuppofed to entertain no dif- 
 ference of opinion on that fubject. What is re- 
 quired of the clergy of the church, therefore, is, 
 that their language and conduct fliould correfpond 
 with the judgment which they have formed. Per- 
 fuaded as they muft, or at Tcaft ought to be, that thj 
 
366 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 church, of which they are minifters, is built upon the 
 foundation of theApoflles; that its ordinances are 
 of Divine appointment ; and that, confequently, it is 
 that vifible fociety to which Chriftians ought to be 
 gathered, for the purpofe of carrying on the work 
 of falvation; it cannot be a matter of indifference to 
 
 them, whether communion with this church be pre- 
 
 > 
 
 ferved, or not. Whatever thofe who have unhappily 
 feparated from it may think, or perfuade themfelves 
 upon the fubject, they who have undertaken a com- 
 miflion in it can, it is prefumed, have but one opinion 
 upon it; they muft think with IGNATIUS, that 
 " without the bifhop, it is neither lawful to baptize, 
 nor to confecrate the feafl of love;" and that " that 
 eucharifl only was in the primitive church accounted 
 firm and good, which was confecrated by the bifhop, 
 or one whom he appointed."* 
 
 In the liturgy of the church we pray againft/2://;;z. 
 If, by their writing or conduft, the clergy at the 
 fame time give encouiagement to it; will they not, 
 in fo doing, be thought to be afting in contradiction 
 to the profeffion which they have made? But this, 
 
 * IGNAT. Epift. ad Smyr. cap. 8. EXE/WJ @t<*tot 
 
 w u atv avros iwtTpi-\>ti. Ibid 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 it is to be feared, is the cafe with all thofe, who, 
 inftead of pointing out to the laity the danger at- 
 tendant upon their officioufly meddling with the 
 minifterial office, and the duty of their fubmitting to 
 thofe teachers, who by authority are fet over them, 
 by their loofe writing or irregular pra&ice lead them 
 to the very oppofite conclufion. And what reafon- 
 able hope can be entertained, that the unity of the 
 church will be in any degree preferved, whilfl thofe 
 whofe office it is to preferve it, become the inftru- 
 ments of its diifolution. 
 
 " Much charitable allowance" (a learned bifhop 
 of the prefent day has well obferved) " is to be 
 made for the errors of the laity, upon points, to 
 which it is hardly to be expected they ftiould turn 
 their attention of their own accord ; and upon which, 
 for fome time pail, they have been very imperfe&Iy 
 inftrufted. Diflenters are to be judged with much 
 candour, and with every poflible allowance for the 
 prejudices of education. But for thofe who have 
 been nurtured in the bofom of the church, and have 
 gained admiflion to the miniftry, if, from a mean 
 compliance with the humour of the age, or ambitious 
 of the fame of liberality of fentiment, (for under that 
 fpecious name a profane indifference is made to pafs 
 
368 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 for an accomplifliment) they affeft to join in the 
 difavowal of the authority which they fhare, or are 
 filent when the validity of their Divine commiffion is 
 called in queftion; for any, I hope they are few, who 
 hide this weaknefs of faith, this poverty of religious 
 principle, under the attire of a gown and caflbck, 
 they are, in my eflimation, little better than infidels 
 in mafquerade."* 
 
 It is not, indeed, to be wondered at, that the opi- 
 nions of the modern clergy fhould become lefs fettled 
 upon church matters than they have been; fmce the 
 authority of a HOOKER, a HICKES, and a LESLET^ is 
 by many confidered to be in a manner fuperfeded by 
 that of an HOADLET, a WARBURTON, and a PALET. 
 It is a very common thing for profeffors of the law 
 to be feed for the fupport of what they know to be 
 a wrong caufe. Would charity allow us to fuppofe 
 that minifters of the church could ever aft upon a 
 fimilar plan, it appears to me, that the three writers 
 above-mentioned would have defer ved well of their 
 fuppofed clients; for, were I a diflenter from the 
 church, I fliould feek for no argument to juftify my 
 reparation, which might not be fairly drawn from 
 their refpeftive writ'mgs. 
 
 * Biihop HORSLBY'S Charge to his Clergy,' p. &. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. -369 
 
 Bifhop HOADLEY, whilft he allowed that there 
 .tvas a Catholic vifible church, compofed of particular 
 vifible churches, which churches ought to be regular 
 ibcieties, by his loofe and unqualified pofitions in 
 favour of religious liberty, fo undermined the foun- 
 dation of all ecclefiaflical authority, as to render null 
 and void the conceilion, which, from a different view 
 of the fubjecl:, he found himfelf conitrained to make.* 
 Bifhop WARBURTON, in his Sermons before the 
 Society of Lincoln's-Inn, upon the authority of 
 church government and church communion, appears 
 to be throwing down his gauntlet, in the hope of 
 calling forth fome antagonifh into the field, with the 
 view of proving himfelf a more fuccefsful champion 
 in favour of religious liberty, than Bifhop HOADLEY 
 had been before him. For the principles of thefe 
 two writers, though perhaps fomewhat differently 
 exprefled, tend to the eftablimment of the fame point. 
 
 WARBURTON acknowledges the church to be a 
 fociety; that " from the command of its Founder, 
 obedience i due to it as fuch ; and that authority 
 without obedience and fubmiffion is but a mockery." 
 
 * To enter at large into a fubjeft which has been fo fully- 
 treated by a celebrated writer, as to leave nothing to be faid 
 upon it, would be to trefpafs oa the readef. See. LAW'S Letters 
 td the Bifhop of BANG OK. 
 
370 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 At the fame time he tells his readers, that this obe- 
 dience and fubmifTion are to depend entirely upon the 
 xvill and opinion of the party intended to be governed. 
 Which is to fay, that CHRIST made a law, which as 
 fuch is obligatory upon the confcience; but which, 
 according to this interpretation annexed to it, man is 
 to obey or not, as he thinks proper. For (in the 
 words of this learned writer) " all the jurifdi&ion 
 which follows from the authority committed to the 
 church of CHRIST, is this: that fo long as any man 
 continue a member of this fociety, called the Church, 
 he is to be obedient to fuch laws of his fpiritual go- 
 vernors, as concern difcipline; but when he choofes 
 to withdraw himfelf from that fociety, the rights of 
 confcience (as it is erroneoufly called) furnifh him 
 with a juftifiable exemption from his former obliga- 
 tion." So that confcience, in fuch cafe, not being 
 governed by the law laid down, but by the judgment 
 from time to time formed upon it, enjoining obedience 
 or juftifying difobedience, according to the different 
 difpofition of the judging party; it follows, that 
 church communion, inflead of being a matter of 
 Chriftian obligation, dwindles down into a matter of 
 mere private opinion. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 371 
 
 The above mode of fhting this fubjeft might have 
 force in it, provided the church was a hitman fociety, 
 of which men were left at liberty to become mem- 
 bers, or not. But as the church is a fociety of 
 CHRIST'S forming, with the intent that all men 
 fhould be admitted into it, for the purpofe of their 
 being faved in it; and the government of it was efla- 
 bliftied by CHRIST, with a view to the effectual pro- 
 motion of that gracious object; every exertion of 
 human liberty, in this cafe, mult be at the peril of 
 the party exerting it; it being exerted in oppofition 
 to a pofitive eftablifliment, and in a matter in which 
 it does not appear that GOD has left man at liberty 
 to determine for himfelf. For if the eftablifliment of 
 the church by CHRIST be true, the diiTenter from it 
 is in an error; if his error be unavoidable, we re- 
 joice to think that he is in the hands of a merciful 
 GOD; but fhould he deceive himfelf, (hould his fe- 
 paration from the church be derived from evil caufes^ 
 be it remembered, that that wife Being who has 
 eftablifhed nothing in vain, is not to be mocked. 
 
 But to render fubmiflion to ecclefiaflical authority 
 incompatible with the liberty of the rational Chriflian, 
 recourfe has generally been had to arguments drawn 
 from the ufurped tyranny of the church of Rome; 
 
372 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 which, though well calculated to produce efFeft upon 
 the mind of the Proteftant, do not apply to the fub* 
 je&; unlefs we confider fubmiilion to an authority 
 eftablifhed by Divine wifdom, and to the corruption 
 of it by human pride, to be the fame thing. Widely 
 different, however, as thefe cafes are, the Proteftant is 
 not taught to difcriminate between them, when he is 
 told (as he is by the author here alluded to) that the 
 principle upon which the Reformation proceeded, was 
 not fo much a right of feparation from the errors of 
 a corrupt church, as " that Chriftian liberty which 
 gives every man a right to worfhip GOD according to 
 his confcience." But furely this is making the ex- 
 ertion of what is called Chriftian liberty, regarded 
 merely as fuch, rather than the caufe in which it is 
 exerted, the object of confideration; upon which 
 principle, feparation from a falfe church and feparation 
 from a true one, become modes of conduct entitled to 
 equal juflification. Yet fuch is the Proteftant ground, 
 upon which the Proteftant church of England has 
 been placed by fome modern Divines, by whom pro- 
 teftantifm is made to confift in the right of feparating 
 from a church, without regard to the caufe. " When 
 we left the Popifli doftrines, (fays Biihop HOADLEY) 
 was it becaufe they were actually corrupt? No 5 the 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 3?3 
 
 reafon was, becaufe we thought them fo." The 
 fame reafon, therefore, founded In the private opi- 
 nion of the party, juftifies reparation from any other 
 church, whatever its actual (late may he. " The 
 principle of the Reformation (fays Bifhop. WARBUR- 
 TON) was not fo much a right of feparationfrom the 
 errors of a corrupt church, as that Chriflian liberty, 
 which gives every man a right to worlhip GOD ac- 
 cording to his confcience;"* in other words, to fepa- 
 rate from a church when he 'thinks proper.' 
 
 Bifhop JEWELL, however, who partook of the 
 fpirit of our reformers, thought very differently upon 
 this fubjec~h In his apology for the Church of Eng- 
 land, he writes thus: 
 
 " The church of Rome (fays he) accufe us of 
 herefy, of feparation from the church and communion 
 ef CHRIST. It is true, we feparated, but not as 
 heretics do from the church of CHRIST, but as all 
 good men ought to do, from the corrupt fociety of 
 
 * But fuppofing this conference, according to which a man wor- 
 fhips GOD, to be an. erroneous one; what then? Should my reader 
 have duly attended to a foregoing chapter on Confcience, he will, 
 I flatter myfelf, have an anfwer ready for this queftion ; becaufe he 
 will perceive, that the Biihop, in this cafe, does not appear to 
 jnake that necefiary diilinx?-ion between confcicnce rightly fo called* 
 opinion or fzrfuajion. 
 
374 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 wicked and hypocritical perfons. Neither fliould we 
 have feparated at all, but upon the utmoit neceility; 
 and even then it was with all the unwillingnefs ima- 
 ginable." The corruption of the church of Rome 
 then was (in direft contradi&'on to what Blfliop 
 Ho ABLE Y fays on this fubjecl) the ground upon 
 which our feparation from it was built; not that 
 right of Chriftian liberty, for which Bifhop WAR- 
 BURTON is here pleading: a right which Bilhop 
 JEWELL never admitted; as may be feen from his 
 fermon at ST. PAUL'S Crofs, in which he learnedly 
 defends the church of England, and feverely con- 
 demns the DifTenters for their non-conformity to it; 
 which he could not confidently have done, had he 
 feen the Reformation in the light in which Biihops 
 HOADLEY and WARBURTON have here placed it. 
 
 In faft, this right, upon which the reformers did 
 not aft, becaufe it was a right which they did not 
 acknowledge, takes the Reformation oil from that 
 firm ground of reafon and fcripture upon which it will 
 ever (land fecure ; and places it upon that uncertain 
 ground of precarious opinion, upon which the church, 
 as a focieiy, can no where exift. 
 
 For if Chriftian liberty give every man a right 
 to worfliip GOD according to his conftience, ia 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 other words, according to his own private opinion and 
 perfuajion, (for confcience, in the modern acceptation 
 of the term, means nothing more) I would be glad 
 to know what argument can be brought to promote 
 the unity of the Chriftian church, which this principle 
 does not immediately fet afide; a principle which 
 juftities the extravagancies of the wildefl feftary, and 
 places religious perfualions of every kind upon the 
 fame dead level. 
 
 Bilhop WARBURTON'S notions of the church 
 communion, as it was to be expefted, correfpond 
 with his notions of church authority ; and appear 
 calculated rather to loofcn and diffolve that bond of 
 union, by which the church of CHRIST was defigned 
 to be held together, than to anfwer any other purpofe* 
 They are founded upon the following dill: nation, 
 which this celebrated writer has made between the 
 Jewifh and Chriftian church. " The Gofpel (fays 
 he) was firft addrefled to the Jews as a nation, a 
 church^ a fociety. But when the Gentiles had in 
 their turn the Gofpel offered unto them, the addrefs 
 xvas only to particulars. For though the terms of 
 falvation refpecled the Jewifh Sanhedrim, yet the 
 Roman Senate, as fuch, had no concern in them. 
 And thofe par titular* who receive4 the word, became, 
 
376 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 not neceflarily, from the fimple nature and genius of 
 the faith, members of any community , but of the fpiri- 
 tual kingdom of GOD" 
 
 Should the foregoing account of the diftin&ion be- 
 tween Jew and Gentile have conveyed a fatisfa#ory 
 idea to the mind of the reader, it certainly has not to 
 mine; for with a defire to pay all due refpeft to the 
 authority from whence it proceeds, I have been una- 
 ble to difcover the lead ground for it. 
 
 The Jewifh Sanhedrim and Roman Senate, with 
 refpeft to the terms of falvation under the Gofpel, 
 appear to have flood precifely upon the fame footing : 
 for to the members of neither of thefe bodies, ia 
 their collective chara&er, were thofe terms addrefled. 
 In ST. PETER'S firft fermon at Jerusalem, his addrefs. 
 was not to the Jews as a nation , a church , or afociety ; 
 but to " the men of Ifrael, who had crucified the 
 LORD CHRIST." And his anfwer to their queflion, 
 when, upon their being pricked in their hearts, they 
 faid to PETER and the reft of the Apoflles, " Men 
 and brethren, what fhalLwe do?*' was thus addreiTed 
 to them as individuals " Repent, and be baptized, 
 every one of you, in the name of JESUS CJIRIST, for 
 the remiffion of fins, and. ye mall receive the gift of 
 the Holy Ghoft," A&s ii, 38. It was ordained, 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 377 
 
 indeed, that the Gofpel fhould be firfl preached to 
 the loft ftieep of the houfe of Ifrael; upon the idea, 
 it is probable, that from their education under the 
 law, as a ichool-mafter to bring them to CHRIST, 
 they ought to have been in a ftate of preparation to 
 receive it. But this particular attention to the Jew, 
 though it tended for fome little time to confirm the 
 Apoftles in their prejudices, made no alteration in 
 the nature of the commiilion which they had received. 
 That was of the most general kind. They were " to 
 go into all the world, and preach the Gofpel to every 
 creature." MARK xvi. 15. When " the wall of 
 partition between Jew and Gentile had been broken 
 down by him, who had made both one," the church 
 \vas open for the equal reception of all people. In 
 the general execution therefore of the Apoftlic com- 
 muTion, there was to be " no difference between Jew 
 and Greek, between bond and free, between male 
 and female; all were to be one in CHRIST JESUS; 
 the fame Lord over all, being rich unto all who call 
 upon him." Rom. x. 12. Gal. iii. 28. Both Jew 
 and Gentile, therefore, were admitted into the church 
 of CHRIST upon the fame plan; refpect being had 
 only to their profeffion of faith, as individuals , in a 
 
 crucified Redeemer. 
 
 F F 
 
378 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 The diftin&ion, then, here made between the Jew 
 and Gentile, in their manner of receiving the Gofpel, 
 appears to be not lefs imaginary, than the concluiion 
 built upon it to be unfounded. For the fpirituai 
 kingdom of GOD has generally been underftood, in 
 fcripture language, to be defcriptive of the Church 
 of CHRIST; or of that community of which the author 
 mufl be fuppofed to be here fpeaking. 
 
 This mode, therefore, of reprefenting Chriftians, 
 as members of CHRIST'S fpirituai kingdom, as it were 
 in contradiftinftion to their beirig members of any 
 community, is that kind of defcription which every 
 profefTor will not fail to accomodate to his own par- 
 ticular cafe; but it is not to be reconciled with the 
 account of the Chriftian church in the facred writ- 
 ings; into which all who profefled the true faith were 
 neceflarily to be admitted. For from thefe writings 
 it appears, that the particulars to whom the Gofpel 
 was addrefled, were, by virtue of their faith, admitted 
 members of a community, or fpirituai fociety, diflin- 
 guifiied by the name of the kingdom or church of 
 CHRIST. 
 
 It would be to trefpafs upon the reader to enter 
 upon a particular analyfis of this learned author's 
 mode of arguing upon the fubjeft before him ; or. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 379 
 
 to point out the various contradi&ions that are to be 
 met with in the pages alluded to. It may fuffice to 
 obferve, that the argument upon which much is built, 
 by all advocates for religious liberty, and which has 
 its force when confined to the corruptions of the 
 church of Rome, becomes weak and ineffe&ual in its 
 general application to the church of CHRIST. 
 
 But an author, who, though highly diftinguifhed 
 for his fagacity and erudition, appears, from his 
 writings, not to have formed a confident idea of the 
 nature and conflitution of the Chriflian Church him- 
 felf, cannot be expected to convey that idea to his 
 readers. And in fuch cafe, great abilities ferve ra- 
 ther to confound and perplex the truth, by rendering 
 it a fubjeft of more complex invefligation, than to 
 elucidate and confirm it. 
 
 What we lament in this cafe is, that biihops, 
 whofe facred office it is to prefide over and govern 
 the church of CHRIST committed to their charge, 
 fliould ufe a language calculated, if generally a&ed 
 upon, to leave no church on earth for the exercife of 
 the fpiritual authority with which they have beea 
 entrufled. 
 
 There is ftill a third writer of great refpeftability, 
 \vhofe opinions upon church fubje&s appear to differ 
 
380 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 widely from thofe of the old fchool. In his chapter- 
 on religious eftablifhments, Archdeacon PALEY in- 
 forms his readers, " That it cannot be proved that 
 any form of church government was laid down in 
 the Chrifiian church ; that no command for that pur- 
 pofe was delivered by CHRIST himfelf ; and upon 
 the fuppofition that bifhops and prefbyters were ap- 
 pointed by the Apoftles, that the true conclufwn is, 
 that fucll offices were at firft erefted in the Chrifliaa 
 church, as the good order, the inftruftion, and exi- 
 gencies of the fociety at that time required; without 
 any intention of regulating the appointment, autho- 
 rity, or the diftin&ion of Chriftian minifters under 
 future circumftances." 
 
 Such appears- to be the Archdeacon's conclusion 
 upon this fubjeft; although fuch is not the conclufion 
 which it might be expected would have been drawn 
 by a preflbyter of the epifeopal church. But without 
 oppofing to this confident affertion of Dr. PALEY our 
 own confident negative, (which, from our particular 
 examination of this fubjetf, we need not hefitate to 
 do;) it fhall be obferved only, that the Doftor's ar- 
 gument, though entitled to attention, upon the con- 
 fideration of the quarter from whence it proceeds, 
 does not fland upon firm ground. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 381 
 
 Should we allow, that no command from our 
 SAVIOUR, refpe&ing the Mm of church government 
 appears upon record, does it follow from thence that 
 no command was ever delivered upon this fubjeft? 
 And on the ground that no exprefs form of church 
 government is to be found, totidem verbis, laid down 
 in the fcripture, are we authorized in concluding, from 
 that circumftance, that no form was eftablifhed ? 
 
 The inftruclions which our SAVIOUR might, and 
 moft probably did, give the Apoftles on this fubjeft, 
 upon the delivery of their commiffion;* the refem- 
 blance to be expected between the form of govern- 
 ment eftabliihed under the Jewifh and Chriflian 
 
 * The Apoftlc to the Hebrews, fpeaking of the priefts under the 
 law, fays, Heb. viii. 5, that they ferved " unto the exampK- and 
 (hadow of heavenly things, as MOSES was admoniflied of GOD 
 when he was about to make the tabernacle; for fee," faith he, 
 " that thou make all things according to the pattern {hewed to thee 
 in the Mount." From whence it appears, that the plan for the 
 fervice of the tabernacle was delivered by GOD to MOSES in the 
 Mount. We do not fay, that the neccflary inference from the 
 above circumftance is, that our SAVIOUR'S conference with his 
 Apoftles in the Mount, when he delivered to them their commif- 
 fion, had a fimilar object in view with refpect to the fervice of his 
 church ; but we think that the analogy between the two cafes does 
 at leaft make fuch a conclufion highly probable ; and ought, in our 
 judgment, to more than balance againft any fuppofed want of in- 
 formation on tills fubjecl io^the Apoftoli^ writings. 
 
382 POSTSCIPT 
 
 oeconomy, confidered as two branches of the fame 
 Chriftian church; (Chriftianity being only Judaifm 
 fpiritualized) and the circumflance of the Apoftles, 
 in the difcharge of their office, afting under imme- 
 diate infpiration; are confiderations which appear not 
 to have had fufficient weight allowed them in the 
 Archdeacon's fcale of judgment. Whllft his reafons 
 why no permanent church government could be fixed 
 upon, becaufe " no^ precife conftitution could be 
 framed, which would fuit with the condition of Chrift- 
 ianity in its primitive ftate, and with that which it 
 was to affume, when it ihould be advanced into a 
 national religion ; and becaufe a particular defignation 
 of office or authority amongft the minifters of the 
 new religion might have fo interfered with the arrange- 
 ments of civil policy, as to have formed, in fome 
 countries, a confiderable obftacle to the progrefs and 
 reception of the religion itfelf j" are reafons which, it 
 is prefumed, will not be generally admitted. 
 
 That a *' religious eftablifliment is no part of 
 Chriftianity, but only the means of inculcating it," 
 is a pofition that will be readily granted. But if a 
 religious edablifhment have been deemed neceffary to 
 the propagation of Chriftianity, it will be concluded, 
 that that form of it, which was fet on foot by thofc 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 383 
 
 infpired perfons, to whom the charge of the church 
 \\cis firft committed, is bed calculated to aufwer the 
 end in view. This is a fair preemption, not to be 
 fct afide but upon fubdantial evidence. 
 
 " The authority of a church edablifliment is 
 founded," we are told, " on its utility." The po- 
 fition, thus dated, appears capable of leading into 
 error. The authority of the edablifliment of the 
 Chridian church is founded upon the character of the 
 party who edablifhed it; that party being JESUS 
 CHRIST, through the minidry of his Apoftles, its 
 utility mud of courfe be admitted. No fuppofed 
 improvements, therefore, to be expefted from human 
 " deliberations concerning the form, propriety, or 
 comparative excellency of different edablifhments," 
 can balance againd the authority of thofe perfons, 
 who were favoured with that competent judgment 
 upon this fubjeft, which is now no longer pofTeffed. 
 
 The Archdeacon's arguments upon this fubjeft, if 
 I underdand them, may, when brought together, be 
 thus dated : " A religious edablidiment is no part 
 of Chridianity. It cannot be proved, that any form 
 of church government was ever laid down in the 
 Chridian church. ' However this be, certain it is, no 
 command was delivered by CHRIST on the fubjecT:. 
 
3S4? POSTSCRIPT 
 
 But admitting that the form of government, by bi- 
 fliops and prefbyters, was eflabliflied by the Apoflles, 
 it muft be confidered only as a form adapted to the 
 circumflances of the church at that time, but not 
 with a view to its being a permanent eftablifhment j 
 becaufe no precife conftitution could be framed, 
 which would fuit the church in its accommodation to 
 the different arrangements of civil policy. The au- 
 thority of a church eftablifliment is founded in its 
 utility." The conclufion to which the foregoing 
 premifes are defigned to lead, feems to be this : That 
 whenever it fhall appear to the governing powers, 
 that any new .church eftablifhment, different from 
 that in poffefTion, fhall be more conducive ^to utility, 
 as a fcheme of religious inflruction, than that fet on 
 foot by the Apoflles; they are juftified in adopting it- 
 
 But before this conclufion be admitted, we have a 
 right to be fatisfied with refpeft to the validity of 
 the premifes upon which it is built. 
 
 In anfwer to the pofition, cc that it cannot be 
 proved that any form of church government was laid 
 down in the Chriflian church, with a view of fixing 
 a conftitution for fucceeding ages/ ' fome readers will 
 fay, that the contrary pofition has been abundantly 
 proved. The authority of St. IGNATIUS and CLE- 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 385 
 
 WENT, topafsover later writers, will, in the opinion 
 of many, be deemed fuiUcient to balance againrt it. 
 The certainty with refpect to our SAVIOUR'S 
 having delivered no command on this fubjeft does by 
 no means appear: this certainty ftand-s only on the 
 ground of the Archdeacon's naked aflertion; to efta- 
 blifh which, it mult be proved that every thing that paf- 
 fed between our SAVIOUR and his Apoftles, relative 
 to his church, has been recorded. This undoubtedly 
 is not the cafe. The Apoille, for inftance, direfts 
 his difciples " to obey them that had the rule over 
 them, and to fubmit themfelves." The commifiion 
 then, whictrthe Apoftles received, inverted them with 
 an authority, to which Chriftians were to be obedient. 
 But there is no pofitive command of our SAVIOUR'S 
 to be produced, upon which fuch authority is built. 
 To guard, therefore, againft the idea of the Apoflles 
 affuming to themfelves an authority, which their com- 
 miflion did not warrant; itmurt be fuppofed, that the 
 evangelical narrative does not contain all the parti- 
 culars relative to this fubjeft. Now we read, A&$ 
 i. 3, of our SAVIOUR'S being feen alive of his Apof- 
 tles, during the fpace of forty days after his paiGonj 
 and of his " giving them commandments^ m&fpeaking 
 io them of the things pertaining to jhe kingdom of 
 
386 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 GOD" Is it not, then, moil reafonable to conclude, 
 that fome of thefe commandments, and part of the 
 inftruftion vouchfafed to the Apoftles at this time, 
 refpefted the fettlement and government of the 
 Chriftian church ; and that although nothing decifive 
 on this fubjecl: has been left upon record, the conduft 
 of the Apoftles in the difcharge of their high com- 
 miflion was in a great meafure regulated by the 
 directions which they had received. 
 
 But, upon the fuppofition that the Apoftles, in 
 their eftablilhment of the church, were governed by 
 the confiderations pointed out by the author here 
 alluded to 5 before we place the authority of the go- 
 vernors of the church at any fubfequent period upon 
 a level with that of the Apoftles in a matter of this 
 kind, it requires that we fhould be fatisfied that the 
 advantages poffeffed by them are equal with thofe 
 heretofore poiTeiTed by the Apoftles for the direction 
 of their judgment on this fubject. 
 
 The eftablifliment of the Chriftian church being 
 only temporary, to be altered as the future circum- 
 Aanccs of fociety, and the different arrangements of 
 civil policy, might require, appears to be a pofition 
 irreconcileable with the independence of the Chriftian 
 church, and calculated only to corrupt it. Before 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 387 
 
 it be therefore admitted, fome ftrong proof fhonld 
 be brought that the eftablifhment of the church was 
 defigned to be of this accommodating nature. The 
 language and conduct of the Apoflles in the difcharge 
 of their office, together with the ftate of the church 
 for the firft three hundred years of its exigence, au- 
 thorize us to draw the contrary concltifion. 
 
 In fact, the connexion of the church with the (late 
 appears to be an accidental circumfhmce, which may, 
 or may not, exift ; and which, confequently, did not 
 conftitute a part of the plan upon which it was ori- 
 ginally eftabl iflied. The (late may come into the 
 church, as in the days of CONSTANTINE; but the 
 church is not to accommodate itfelf to the ftate, to 
 produce this effect: or the ftate may be in oppofition 
 to the church, as in the days of the Apoftles. Its 
 eftablifhment therefore, as a fpiritual fociety, muft 
 refpect its permanent condition, as it exifts in itfe/f 
 upon the authority of its Divine Founder; not its 
 accidental one, as it is occasionally connected with 
 civil policy. When kings and queens become the 
 nurfmg fathers and nurfmg mothers to the church, 
 the church is fupported and benefited by their pro- 
 te&ion: when thofe who ought to protect and fup- 
 port it, defert it or act in oppofition to it, the church 
 
388 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 is no longer in a flourifliing condition with refpeft 
 to temporalities; but its eftabliflwient is in both 
 cafes the fame. 
 
 When Archdeacon PALEY, therefore, talks about 
 " framing an ecclefiaftical conftitution, adapted to real 
 life, and to the a&ual ilate of aftual religion in the 
 country," he appears (if I underfland him right) to 
 be placing the fubject in that political point of view, 
 In which it was never defigned to ftand; and to be 
 giving fcope to that innovating fpirit, which mufl be 
 the confequence of eflablilhing the Chriftian church 
 upon a hitman^ rather than a Divhie, foundation. 
 
 Pefore Dr. PALEY again commits himfelf on this; 
 important fubject., he will do well to confider what 
 was fo judicioufly faid upon it a hundred years ago; 
 " that in accommodating church government to the 
 frame and occafion of the date, nothing be difefta- 
 blifloed or unfettled^ that feems to have been fettled by 
 the authority of fcripture. Therefore, whereas we 
 fee there the government of the church firfl fettled 
 in the hands of bifhops, that is, paflors that had 
 authority over paflors; (fee epiftles to TIMOTHY and 
 TITUS) and we find no other form of church govern- 
 ment, neither in the fcriptnre, nor in the practice of 
 the univerfal church; though the whole form an<j 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 frame of epifcopal government is not fo exprefsly 
 prefcribed, but that the church may, in many things, 
 have power of making therein accommodations to the 
 times and exigencies of the ftate; yet may not thofe 
 a#s of accommodation amount to fuch a height, as 
 to fubvert or abolifh the government, which by the. 
 judgment of her members, then infallible, was fet on 
 foot; becaufe no judgment of her prefent members 
 now can come in any competition with her firft. And 
 if any (late fhall fo accommodate itfelf, the accommo- 
 dators may, perhaps, be foundjigbting againft the f pint 
 of GOD, manifefted both in the fcripture, and in the 
 judgment and practice of the uriwerfal churcb of GOD"* 
 A fhorter and ftill more direft anfwer to th 
 Archdeacon's eccentric pofition, refpe&ing the ap- 
 pointment of bifliops, confidered only as a matter of 
 temporary accommodation to the circumftances of 
 the primitive church, wiFl be found in the following 
 judicious obfervation of the celebrated Mr. LAW. 
 <: We do not fay that epifcopacy cannot be changed, 
 merely becaufe we have Apoflolical pra&ice for itj 
 jbut becaufe fuch is the nature of the Chriflian priefl- 
 
 * " A Proteftam's Account of his Orthodox Religion/' p. i$ 
 17. Publilhed in " Bibliotheca Scriptorum Eccldix Anglicanse j" 
 by fche Rev. GEO. HICKBS, D.O. 
 
390 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 hood, that it can only be continued in that method 
 \vhich GOD has appointed for its continuance. Epif- 
 copacy is the only indituted method of continuing 
 the prieilhood ; therefore epifcopacy is unchangeable. 
 The Apodolical pra&ice, indeed, fhews that epifco- 
 pacy is the -order that is appointed; but it is the 
 nature of the priedhood that allures us that it is 
 unalterable. So that the queftion is not fairly dated, 
 when it is afked, whether epifcopacy, being an Apof- 
 tolical praftice, may be laid afide? But it fliould be 
 alked, whether an inflituted particular method of 
 continuing the priefthood be not neceflary to be con- 
 tinued? Whether an appointed order of receiving a 
 commiffion from GOD be not neceflary to be ob- 
 ferved, in order to receive a commiffion from Him? If 
 the cafe wer'e thus dated, as it ought to be fairly- 
 dated, any one would foon perceive, that we can no 
 more lay afide epifcopacy, and yet continue the 
 Chridian priedhood, than we can alter the terms of 
 falvation, and yet be in covenant with GOD."* Till 
 the Archdeacon has anfwered what has been fo ably 
 advanced upon this fuhjecl by the celebrated writer 
 above-mentioned, the reader will readily difpenfe 
 with further enlargement upon it. 
 
 * LAW'S Second Letter to Bifhop HOABLKY. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 That a writer, who fees the Chriflian church in 
 the light in which Dr. PALEY appears to fee it, ra- 
 ther as an appendage to the flate, than as a fociety 
 poffefTing an exigence and government independent 
 of it, fhould exprefs himfelf on the fubjecl of creeds 
 and confeflions in the manner he has done, is but 
 -what was to be expected. He who confiders the 
 eflablifhment of the Chriflian church as the mere re- 
 fult of human 1 judgment, exercifed on that particular 
 fubjecl: at a certain given time, will confider the 
 eftablifhment of creeds and confeflions, as expreffive 
 merely of the opinion or perfuafion of the age in 
 \vhich they were compofed; rather than as fixing any 
 ftandard of judgnient for mankind at any future time. 
 
 To fuch a perfon the eflablifhment of the Chriil- 
 ian church, and the eftablifhment of an article of 
 Chriflian faith, will appear fubje&s equally open to 
 difcuilion ; and fubjefts upon which no fettled judg- 
 ment can ever be formed ; becaufe they mufl be 
 continually varying with the opinions of mankind 
 upon them. What was therefore an acknowledged 
 article of faith in the primitive church, may in pro- 
 cefs of time ceafe to be fo; becaufe (to make ufe 
 of the Archdeacon's words) " in confequence of the 
 changes which are wont to take place in the judgment 
 
392 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 of mankind, it may contradict the aual opinion of 
 the church of the prefent day upon that fubject." 
 The inference to be drawn from this pofition may be 
 extended, I fiiould conceive, beyond the boundaries 
 marked out to it in the author's mind. For, as an 
 unqualified pofition, it authorizes us to conclude, 
 that articles of faith, fuppofed to be built upon the 
 revealed word of GOD, are matters of mere opinion ; 
 in other words, that articles of faith are true, juft 
 fo long as men think them to be fo, and no longer. 
 How this poiition is to be reconciled with the rule 
 laid down by TERTULLIAN, and universally acted 
 upon in the primitive church, we muft leave Doctor 
 PALEY to confider. " Regula fidei immobilis irre- 
 fonjiabilis; costera difciplinse et con ver fat ion is ad- 
 mittunt novitatem corre&ionis."* And Ihould this 
 fluctuating pofition be admitted, in what fenfe, it may 
 may be afked, can the church be called, as it is by 
 the Apoflle, the ground and pillar of the truth ? In- 
 Head of having any form of found words to have 
 recourfe to for the determination of his judgment on 
 any given point, the Chriftian nurd, in this cafe, be 
 continually afking, what is truth ? And if it be made 
 to depend upon the fluctuating opinions of men, we 
 
 * TERTULLIAN, Lib. de Virgin. vekmcL 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 3<)3 
 
 may venture t6 fay, that it will not be worth his 
 while to wait for tile anfwer.* 
 
 By a perfon entertainihg the foregoing idea re- 
 fpe&ing the accommodation of religious fubjefts to 
 
 * T*he accommodating articles of faith to the varying opinions 
 of the members of the church for the time being appears to be fo 
 very incontiftent with the direction given by ST. PAUL to TIMOTHY 
 for the difcharge of his miniftry, that that part of ST. PAUL'S wri- 
 tings muft, it may be fuppofed, have efcaped the Archdeacon's 
 obiervation. " Hold faft," faid St. PAU L to Ti MOTH Y, " the form 
 of found words, which thbu hail heard of me, in faith and love, 
 ivhich is in JESUS CHRIST." a TIM. i. 13. "And the things 
 which thou haft heard of me among many witnefles, the fame com- 
 mit thou to faithful men, who mall be able to teach others alfo." a, 
 TIM. ii. a. ST. PAUL (as we read Acts ix) was, by an immediate 
 command from the head of the church, fent to ANANAIAS and the 
 difciples at Damafcus, for inftruction in the Gofpel. The know- 
 ledge received by ST. PAUL on this fubject, he afterwards commu- 
 nicated to TIMOTHY ; whom, on that account, he called " his own 
 Jin in the faith'" i TIM. i. a; with direction that he fliould commit 
 the fame to other faithful men, for the purpofe of their teaching the 
 fame to others. Here then appears to be a form of found words 
 handed down throughfive fucceflive ftages,originating with CHRIST 
 himfelf ; a circumftance, which warrants the conclusion that a cer- 
 tain ftandard of doctrine was eftablifhed in the church for the 
 uniform profeflion of its members from time to time. 
 
 But, according to the Archdeacon's idea upon this fubject, TI- 
 MOTHY fliould have reminded ST. PAUL, that however determined 
 he might be in his own mind to hold faft the form of found words, 
 which had been delivered to him ; neverthelefs that he could not 
 take upon himfelf to anfwer for the conduct of thofe who might 
 fucceed him in the miniftry; becaufe, " by reafon of the changes 
 that are wont to take place in the opinions of mankind upon reli- 
 gious fubject s," the form of doctrine which he had received might 
 
 G G 
 
394 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 the changeable opinions of mankind, it was to be 
 expe&ed that creeds and confeffions mould be con- 
 fidered as attended with ferious inconveniences. 
 jEftabliftiments of every kind are liable to the fame 
 obje&ion; they will be inconvenient to thofe who 
 wiih to be at liberty, and fometimes fo far forget the 
 nature of man, and the condition of fociety, as to be 
 perfuaded, that they ought to be at liberty to efta- 
 blifti every thing for themfelves. But the queflion 
 is, whether this obje&ion be not abundantly overba- 
 lanced by the convenience derived to mankind from 
 their adoption. It may not be poffible to guard 
 againft all the inconveniencies arifmg from eftablifh- 
 ments, in which fallible men are concerned: there are 
 however fome, againft which we would not wifh to 
 guard. The laws of the land, for inftance, are incon- 
 venient to thofe who are indifpofed to obey them. So 
 are creeds and confeffions to thofe who are diiinclined 
 to believe them. Whilft by others they are confidered 
 as reftraints upon human liberty, neceffary to the 
 prefervation of peace, order, and truth, in the 
 
 not be fluted to the future circumftances of the church; the efta- 
 blifhment of it, therefor e,muft be left to depend upon the difcretion 
 and judgment of its minifters for the time being. The anfwer 
 which ST. PAUL would have returned upon fuch an occafion, the 
 reader, it is prefumed, has already formed for himfelf. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 3<)5 
 
 ' The charge brought againfl the latter, that they 
 check inquiry, and violate liberty, does not appear 
 to be well founded. It certainly was not intended 
 that creeds and confeffions fliould check proper in- 
 quiry: for every Chriftian is called upon " to prove 
 all things^;" to make inquiry, that he may be able to 
 give a reafon for the faith that is in him; but 
 " withal to hold faft that which is good." Should 
 doubt remain upon this fubjeft, the language of the 
 Homilies will clear it up; by which the opinions of 
 our reformers may be clearly afcertained. In the 
 firft of thefe homilies, which begins with a fruitful 
 exhortation to the reading and knowledge of the 
 holy fcriptures, the members of the church of Eng- 
 land are conjured to read and judge for themfelves* 
 " Let us reverently/' (fay our reformers) " hear 
 and read holy fcripture, which is the food of the 
 foul: let us diligently fearch for the well of life in 
 the books of the Old and New Teftament; for in 
 holy fcripture is fully contained what we ought to do, 
 and what to efchew, what to believe, what to love, 
 and what to look for at GOD'S hand at length. In 
 thefe books we Jhall find the Father from whom, the 
 Son to whom, and the Holy Ghofi in whom all things 
 have their being, and keeping up \ aud thefe three per* 
 
596 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Jons to be but one GOD and one fubjlance. In thefe 
 books we may learn to know ourfelves, how vile and 
 miferable we be; and alfo to know GOD, how good 
 he is of himfelf, and how he maketh us and all crea- 
 tures partakers of his goodnefs. We may learn alfo 
 in thefe books to know GOD'S will and pleafure, as 
 much as is convenient for us to know. And (as the 
 great clerk and godly preacher, St. JOHN CHRY- 
 SOSTOM faith) " whatfoever is requefted to the 
 falvation of man, is fully contained in the fcripture 
 of GOD." Is fuch language calculated to check 
 inquiry? Does it require the members of the church 
 to fubfcribe to her doftrines without examination? 
 Does it not rather enforce the very contrary mode 
 of proceeding ? The conclufion therefore is, that the 
 articles of the church, though recommended to the 
 Chriflian profeffor as fummary deductions from the 
 language of Holy Writ, were not defigned by 
 the compilers of them either to fuperfede the ufe of 
 the fcriptures, or to abridge the right of private 
 judgment fo far as it might be exercifed with advan- 
 tage to the party. And he who, upon proper ex- 
 -animation, cannot adopt the faith profefled in the 
 church, is left, as he ought to be, to worfliip GOD 
 m his own way. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 397 
 
 As creeds and confefllons, therefore, were not 
 meant to check inquiry, fo neither can they be faid 
 to violate liberty; becaufe no man is under obligation 
 to fubfcribe to them. All that is required in this 
 cafe being, that he who does fubfcribe iliall do it ex 
 ammo, as an honed man; plain language which ad- 
 mits of no ambiguity in the interpretation. 
 
 Should Dr. PALEY, therefore, have any ferious 
 objections to the creeds and confeilions of the church 
 of England, (which, from his manner of writing on 
 the fubjecl:, fome readers may be led to conclude) he 
 has but to follow the fteps of thofe honefl men who 
 have feceded from the communion of the church, 
 becaufe their confciences would not fuffer them to 
 continue in pofleflion of preferments which mufl ne- 
 ceffarily be accompanied with a declared affent to 
 her do&rine. 
 
 But when we are told, that creeds and confeffions 
 46 enfnare the confciences of the clergy, by holding 
 out temptation to prevarication ;" it appears to us, 
 that a refpe& for the body fhould have withheld 
 fuch a fuppofition. For my own part, I can fay, 
 that I did not prevaricate on this fubjeft. Charity 
 bids me hope, that every one of my brethren caa 
 fay the fame. 
 
398 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 But notwithftanding the objections made to the 
 eftablifhment of creeds and confeffions, the Arch- 
 deacon does not abfolutely determine that they ought 
 to be abolifhed, bait that they " fhould be made as 
 fimple and eafy as poffible;" in other words, that by 
 the general and comprehenfive form in which they 
 are drawn up, they may poiTefs as little of the nature 
 of a teft as poffible. If, for inflance, " promifes of 
 conformity to the rites, liturgy, and offices of the 
 church, be fufficient to prevent confufion and diforder 
 in the celebration of Divine worfliip, then fuch pro- 
 mifes ought to be accepted, in the place of drifter 
 fubfcriptions." 
 
 Byjlritferfubferiptions, we are here to underftand, 
 it is prefumed, fubfcriptions to, our creeds and articles^ 
 But if thefe fubfcriptions to the dq&rines of the 
 church prove fometimes ineffe&ual to the fecurity of 
 the defired objeft, can better hopes be entertained 
 from mere promifes of conformity to its rites, liturgy, 
 and offices? Upon the fuppofition, that an honefl 
 man can, as a minider, make ufe of the liturgy of a, 
 church, whofe creeds he does not believe; will con- 
 formity to the liturgy of a church anfwer every 
 purpofe of a belief of die do&rines contained in it?. 
 Surely not. " If articles of peace, as they are called* 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 399 
 
 that is, engagements not to preach certain do&rines r 
 nor L to revive certain controverfi.es, would exclude 
 indecent altercations among the national clergy, as 
 well as fecure to the public teaching of religion as 
 much of uniformity and quiet as is neceffary to edifi- 
 cation, then confeffions of faith ought to be converted 
 into articles of peace.' 1 
 
 This mode of pleading in behalf of religious 
 liberty does not appear calculated to do fervice to 
 the caufe. To me the violation of religious liberty 
 appears to be greater upon the plan here laid down, 
 than upon the one adopted by the church in the 
 cafe of its miniflers. 
 
 We will fuppofe that a minifter who difbelieved 
 the divinity of our SAVIOUR, Dr. PRIESTLEY, for 
 inftance, fhould, for the fake of peace and order, 
 conform to the rites, liturgy, and offices of the church; 
 and upon his engagement not to preach certain doc- 
 trines, or to revive certain controverfies, ftiould be 
 admitted into its facred miniftry. Would not the 
 engagement, by which Dr. PRIESTLEY, in the dif- 
 charge of his miniftry, is held bound, not to preach 
 thofe very doftrines, which in his confcience he be- 
 lieves to be true, be a much greater violation of his 
 Chriftian liberty, than the excluding him from aa 
 
400 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 office by a teft, to which he, as an honed man, cannot 
 fubfcribe? ST. PAUL, when he took leave of the 
 church of Ephefus, told the elders of it, that he had 
 kept back nothing that was profitable for them; " I 
 take you to record (fays he) this day, that I am pure 
 from the blood of all men. For I have not fhunned 
 to declare unto you all the counfel of GOD." A&s 
 xv. 26. Would not Dr. PRIESTLEY, with the ex- 
 ample of ST. PAUL before him, when he felt himfelf 
 fliackled by the obligation under which the church 
 had laid him, be apt to bring the authority of the 
 Archdeacon againft himfelf, by telling him in his 
 own words, that " every fpecies of intolerance which 
 enjoins fuppreiTion and filence, and every fpecies of 
 perfecution which enforces fuch injunctions, is adverfe 
 to the progrefs of truth;" and that confequently fuch 
 an engagement as the one here propofed ought not 
 to be required? 
 
 But there is a confideration which church go- 
 vern or. s mufl be fuppofed to have before them, in the 
 eftablifhment of creeds and confeffions, which mufl 
 always give them a decided preference to the plan 
 Ijere propofed; becaufe they promife to anfweran 
 effe&ijal purpofe; whilfl an engagement of a loofer 
 i^ture might anfwtr no purpofe but a bad qne. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 401 
 
 But before reformation in any cafe is adopted, the 
 conllderate man \vlihes to be informed, vvith refpeft 
 to the precife nature of the reformation propofedj 
 that he may be qualified to compare the prdent con- 
 dition of things with what it may be under a new 
 fyltem. Some inconveniencies in theeftablifhment of 
 public focieties, like fome diftempers in the body, are 
 borne with lefs danger than they are cured. Before 
 the eftablifliment, therefore, of our prefent teft is fet 
 afide, he requires to be made acquainted with the 
 conditions of the engagement propofed to fuperfede 
 it; what particulars it refpects; and what are thofe 
 certain doflrines upon which it enjoins filence; left 
 the extreme of our profeffion being burdened with 
 more articles of faith, than may by fome be deemed 
 necelTary to exifling circumflances, fhould lead to an 
 oppoflte but ftill more dangerous extreme, by which 
 the church may be left unpoflefled of any fettled 
 faith at all. 
 
 >In fhort, the object of a tefl is to preferve the 
 unity of the faith among thofe who are apppinted to 
 teach the Chriftian religion; fliould it not be made 
 fufficiently explicit to anfwer that purpofe, the objeft 
 in view is defeated, and the end of its eftabMiment 
 fendered nugatory. In due fubferviency tQ this 
 
402 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 confideration, the pofition advanced, " that tefts and 
 fabfcriptions fliould be made as fimple and eafy as 
 poilible," will be readily admitted. 
 
 But the reafon given for relaxing the terms of 
 fubfcription, or for dropping any or all of the articles 
 to be fubfcribed, " that no prefent neceility requires 
 the ftri&nefs which is complained of, or that it fliould 
 be extended to fo many points of do&rine," is a 
 reafon that will not perhaps be readily admitted. 
 The propriety of fixing fome {landing marks upon 
 thofe errors,, by which Chriftians in former days have 
 made ihipwreck of their faith, appears to be of a 
 fimilar kind with that of placing a light-houfe upon a 
 dangerous rock, where fhips have been heretofore 
 caft away. It is an old faying, that what has been 
 may be again. Herefies, like the fafhions of the 
 world, have a kind of periodical revolution. A man 
 who could fit ftil.1 for a certain number o years, 
 might in both cafes fancy himfelf living in the days 
 of his forefathers. 
 
 No man fliould, indeed, be charged with all the 
 confequences which may regularly follow from his 
 notions; whilft he neither draws them, nor perhaps 
 perceives, nor owns them. But in the treatment of 
 religious matters, it were much to be wifhed, that 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 403 
 
 no opening fliould be left, for confequences to be 
 drawn inimical to the Chriftian caufe ; by giving a 
 greater degree' of latitude to human fpeculations than 
 is confident with the nature of the fubjefts upon 
 which they are employed. 
 
 The Archdeacon's objection to teds and fubfcrip- 
 tions is, that " they have been extended, multiplied, 
 and continued, beyond what the occafion juftified." 
 Should this have been the cafe, the remedy propofed 
 againft the evil, that they fhould have no permanent 
 eftablifhment, but be adapted, from time to time, to 
 the varying fentiments and circumftances of the church 
 in which they are received, appears to be better fuited 
 to the members of the Roman Catholic, than to thofe 
 of the Proteilant, perfuafion; by making the opinions 
 of men, rather than the revealed word of GOD, the 
 {landard of Chriftian faith. Upon this principle, the 
 moft notorious herefy may at times become the efta- 
 blifhed faith; and the creed of a Pope Pius fland 
 upon the fame ground of authority with that of the 
 Apoftles. 
 
 The foundation upon which this pofition is built 
 muft be fuppofed to be this; that the judgment of 
 mankind upon religious fubje&s improves in propor- 
 tion to their advancement in other branches of fcience : 
 
404- POSTSCRIPT 
 
 in confequence, a modern eftabliihment of creeds and 
 confeflions ought, upon the ground of fuperior per- 
 fe&ion, to fuperfede that of any former age.* 
 
 This, if I recoiled right, is the idea upon which 
 Dr. PRIESTLEY has proceeded in his difcourfe upon 
 the fubjeft of free enquiry in religious matters. If 
 my jnemory ferve me well, (for I have not the dif- 
 courfe at hand) the Do&or's words arethefe: " In 
 nature we fee no limits to our enquiries. One difco- 
 very always leads to many more, and brings us into 
 a ftill wider field of fpeculation. Why, then/' (con- 
 tinues the fame writer) " fhould not this be the cafe, 
 in fome degree, with refpe& to knowledge of a moral 
 and religious kind?" The effeft which this principle 
 has in its operation produced in the mind of Dr. 
 PRIESTLEY, according to his own account, has been, 
 that, after having led him through feveral different 
 
 * The following anecdote, which has lately fallen in my way, is 
 fubjoined for the reader's application ; At an ordination fervice, which 
 took place at a meeting of DifTenters, it was obferved by a minifter 
 who was expatiating on the modern improvements in religious 
 knowledge, that the divines of the prefent day pofTefied great ad- 
 vantages; " for ftanding, as they muft be confidered to do, upon 
 the moulders of the Apoflles, they could therefore fee further than, 
 they did." To which an old minifter prefent, who did not fee the 
 iubject in the fame light, mrewdly replied, " that the modern di- 
 vines, it muft be allowed, not only faw further than the Apoftles 
 did, but alfo further, he believed, than ever QQD faw yet." 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 405 
 
 m odes of faith, to a profeflion deftitute of all the 
 eilential do&rines of Chriflianity, it has left him dill 
 in a ftate of uncertainty with refpeft to the " nc plus 
 ultra" of his creed. And though this principle may . 
 not always be attended with the fame fatal confe- 
 quences, yet if the ground upon which it is built be 
 unfound, the principle itfelf ought not to be admitted. 
 When we confider the various opinions which 
 have prevailed, and which continue to prevail, upon 
 the fubjecl: of religion, we feel ourfelves occafionally 
 at fome lofs to reconcile them with that uniform con- 
 fiftency, which is one of the mofl ftriking chara&er- 
 iftics of truth; no lefs than with the benevolent defign 
 which the DEITY muft have had in view, in revealing 
 that truth to the world. But when we take a view 
 of man in hi^ prefent ftate of degeneracy, as a being 
 perverfe in will, and corrupt in underflanding; we 
 ceafe to be furprifed at an effect neceiTarily refulting 
 from that variety of caufes, to which the opinions and 
 pra&ices of men are at different times to be traced up. 
 Pride, felf-opinion, intereft, and paffion, are the mofl 
 prevailing principles of the human mind. A fingle- 
 nefs of heart, accompanied with an uncorrupt love of 
 truth for the truth's fake, is a perfe&ion to be coveted, 
 rather than to be looked for, from that general de* 
 
406 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 rangement of the human faculties which was brought 
 about by the fall. When the fame fubject, therefore, 
 is viewed through thofe different mediums, which 
 correfpond with the different characters and difpo- 
 fitions of the parties concerned ; it is not to be 
 expected that an uniform conclufion fliould be drawn 
 from it. 
 
 But there is a medium, it is prefumed, between 
 throwing an improper ftumbling-block in the way of 
 human enquiry, and that degree of licenfe which is 
 definitive of all authority, by placing the improve- 
 ment which is to be expe&ed from human fpeculations 
 in religion, and other branches of knowledge, upon 
 the fame footing. The work of grace in the reve- 
 lation of the Divine will, not being defigned fo much 
 to exercife and improve the head as to corre& and 
 purify the heart, becomes on that account a fubjeft 
 for faith and pra&ice, rather than fpeculation. The 
 difcoveries in nature and art, though calculated to 
 improve the condition of man in this world, as a 
 rational and focial being, were neverthelefs left to 
 depend for their advancement upon the exertion of 
 thofe natural faculties with which GOD thought fit 
 to furnifh him. But religion was a fubject of too 
 effential importance to be left upon fuch an uncertain 
 
TO. THE CLERGY. 407 
 
 footing. The advancement of it, therefore, became 
 an objeft of immediate attention to the DEITY himfelf. 
 Religion, then, as coming from GOD, muft be 
 perfeft; and can receive no improvement from the 
 wit of man. We may talk of the progrefs of the 
 arts and fciences; and in this fenfe the phrafe is pro- 
 perly applied; but when we carry the fame idea with 
 us into religion, we are attempting to place fubjefts 
 under the fame point of view, which are as widely 
 feparated as earth from heaven. The characteriftic 
 do&rines of the Gofpel have nothing to do with our 
 improvements in any other fcience whatever; as they 
 were originally revealed by GOD, the fame they muft 
 continue; objefts of faith, and of knowledge, to the 
 end of time. " If itudying the works be the method 
 (fays a learned divine) of knowing the workman, it 
 is fomewhat myfterious, that thefe laft ages, which 
 have fo vaftly improved natural philofophy, fhould 
 have made no new difcoveries in the Divine nature; 
 \vhich is neither more nor lefs than it was before; 
 juft fo far as GOD revealed it, and' no human mind 
 can carry it further; yet we fee every day freih rea- 
 fons to admire his wifdom and adore his power, but 
 not to add to his nature or perfections." 
 
40$ POSTSCfttPT 
 
 Religion, it is certain, may be, corrupted; for ex- 
 perience tells us it has been fo in numberlefs inftances; 
 and as thebefl of things, it is perhaps the moft liable 
 to be fo. In fuch cafe it becomes neceffary that it 
 fhould be reformed. But according to a well-known 
 axiom, " to innovate is not to reform." The re- 
 formation of religion does not confifl:, therefore, in 
 modernizing its profeiTion, by an accommodation of 
 it to prevailing opinions, but in reftoring it to its 
 primitive ftandard; in conformity with the pofition 
 laid down by one of the moft ancient fathers of the 
 church, " that what was firft, that is true 5 what- 
 foever comes after, that is corrupt." It is therefore 
 to lay anew the foundation; to go back to the be- 
 ginning, (according to our SAVIOUR'S expreffion to 
 the Pharifees) to return to the ways of our fathers ; 
 having that fentence in view which was heretofore 
 pronounced in the Council of Nice, st 1$*} U^XZIOL 
 ZQ&TStTu" Upon this rational ground did the re- 
 formation of our church originally proceed. " Be 
 it known to all the world," (fays Bifhop HALL) 
 cc that our church is only reformed or repaired, not 
 made new: there is not one ftone of a new foundation 
 laid by us; yea the old walls ftand ftill; only the 
 overcafting of thofe ancient ftones with the untem- 
 
TO, THE CLERGY. 409 
 
 pered mortar of new inventions difpleafe thus. Set 
 aiide the corruptions, and the church is the fame." 
 Upon this fame ground mufl every reformation of the 
 church continue to proceed: it mud tend to fome 
 eftabliflied point, and be governed by fome fixed 
 flandard of judgment; otherwife a boundlefs field of 
 fpeculation being opened to the human mind, theory 
 will follow upon theory in endlefs fucceffion; till man, 
 with refpeft to his moft important concern, will be 
 left in the hopelefs condition defcribed by the Apoftle, 
 <c ever learning, and never able to come to the know- 
 ledge of the truth." 
 
 In a word, what upon the ground of Divine reve- 
 lation was the faith of the church feventeen hundred 
 years ago, mufl continue to be fo (till. " GOD has 
 revealed himfelf; and all that He has fpoken, and 
 confequently all that is demanded of us to accede to, 
 is declared in one book ; from which nothing is to 
 be retrenched, and to which nothing can be added. 
 All that it contains, was as perfpicuous to thofe who 
 firfl perufed it, as it can be to us now, or as it can be 
 to our pofterity in the fiftieth generation." To talk, 
 therefore, of adapting creeds and confeflions to the 
 varying fentiments and circumftances of the church 
 for the time being, is to forget that the fafhion of the 
 
 H H 
 
410 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 vvorld has nothing to do with a bufinefs of this kind. 
 It is to forget that religion, as deriving its eflablifh- 
 ment from that Being, with whom " is neither vari- 
 ablenefs nor fhadow of turning," mufl be expected 
 to wear the character of its Divine Author, that of 
 being " the fame yejlerday^ lo-day, and for ever." 
 
 The reader will, I trufl, excufe my having thus 
 dwelt upon a fubject, which to me appears important. 
 The matter prejudice of this enlightened age is, that 
 all opinions or modes of faith are equally good. That 
 liberality of fentiment, mifnamed charity, the offspring 
 of fpeculative religion, which affects to think well of 
 men's fafety in any religion, or even without any, 
 has introduced a way of thinking upon religious 
 matters unknown to the members of the Chriflian 
 church in its better days. The object at prefent 
 feems to be, not fo much to bring mankind up to 
 the flandard of revealed religion, as to accommodate 
 that flandard to the opinions of mankind; by infixing 
 as little as may be upon thofe docTrines which con- 
 ftitute the effence of Chriflianity; and fo generalizing 
 our creed, that perfons of every perfuafion may find 
 no difficulty in fubfcribing to it. This plan of ex- 
 tending the Chriflian communion at the expence of 
 the Chriflian faith, may certainly anfwer the purpofc 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 411 
 
 of enlarging our congregations; but in that cafe they 
 will be congregations of unbelievers of different de- 
 fer iptions, rather than what they were defigned to be. 
 Had the Chriftian religion been of this comprehenfive 
 nature; or had the firft preachers of it thought fit 
 to have adopted eafy and conciliating meafures for 
 the fake of making converts to it, inftead of being 
 decided preachers of the faith as it is in CHRIST; the 
 hiflory of the church would have prefented us with 
 a very different fcene from what it now does; and the 
 Apoftles and martyrs might have died natural deaths. 
 
 The ground upon which I have proceeded in the 
 fubjecl: before me (and I wifh it to be tried fairly 
 upon the authority on which it {lands, and not haftily 
 condemned, becaufe it is old-fafhioned) is this; that 
 there is an eitablifhment both for the government 
 and doftrine of the church of CHRIST founded upon 
 Divine revelation, and confirmed by Apoflolic practice. 
 Should this be admitted, that eftabliihment, fo far as 
 it can be afcertained, conflitutes a certain fixed ftan- 
 dard of judgment for mankind in religious matters. 
 It cannot otherwife be what the name itfelf implies. 
 
 Archdeacon PALEY, if I underfland him, has 
 
 ' placed this fabjeft before his readers in a different 
 
 light; by making both the government and do&rine 
 
412 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 of the church dependent upon the varying opinions 
 of its members from time to time. The fubflance of 
 what he has faid in his chapter on religious eftablifh- 
 ments, when condenfed into one fentence, being limply 
 this ; that there is no fettled ftandard of authority 
 by which the judgment of mankind is to be regu- 
 lated on this fubjeft; but that, confidering the 
 church as a flux body, its opinions and pra&ices 
 mud be accommodated to the flu&uating condition 
 of its members. 
 
 It fhall be left with the reader to judge which plan 
 is moft conformable to facred writ, and the defign of 
 the Chriftian revelation ; that, whofe objeft it is to 
 bring mankind together in the unity of the fame 
 profeffion; or that, the perfe&ion of which feems to 
 confifl in reconciling differences of opinion on reli- 
 gious fubjefts with the fame church communion. 
 
 The circumftance of not one iingle reference being 
 made, in the Archdeacon's chapter upon religious 
 eflabliihments, to the authority of any preceding 
 writer upon that fubjeft, will not, I truft, operate fo 
 far upon the reader's mind, as to make him forget 
 that there have been, among the primitive fathers of 
 the church, fuch writers as IGNATIUS, CLEMENT, 
 and CYPRIAN 5 and among die divines of our own 
 
TO THE CLERGY 413 
 
 church, fuch learned men as ANDREWS, HOOKER, 
 HAMMOND, HICKES, and LESLEY; from whofe 
 writings, as from a florehoufe well furnifhed with 
 information upon all matters of do&rine and govern- 
 ment, as they exifled in the primitive church, every 
 fcribe, who wiflies to be inftrufted unto the kingdom 
 of Heaven, would do well to draw. 
 
 Should it be urged, that appeal to human authority 
 was forborne, upon the idea that the letter of fcrip- 
 ture could furnifh the only conclufive evidence on 
 fubje&s of this nature, the anfwer which CHARLES 
 I. heretofore returned to HENDERSON the Scotch 
 prefbyter, may not be mifapplied: " Scripturam qui- 
 dem fe omni veneratione profequi; at, cum fcripturce 
 fenfus fit ipfum xwopevov, et interpretandce fcripturce 
 aliqua demum methodus aut norma accommodanda 
 fit, fibi quidem nullam hoc primitive ecclefia fuShigia. 
 magis idoneam videri." 
 
 There is ftill one remark, which prefents itfelf on 
 the perufal of moil writers who appear difTatisfied 
 with our prefent eftablifhment; that when they would 
 be underftood to allude to the left required by our 
 church, they adopt general pofitions, and ambiguous 
 expreffions, without particularizing thpfe 
 
414 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 ionable points, to "which it is at the fame time their 
 objeft to direct the attention of their reader. 
 
 Bifhop HOADLEY, in allufion to the foregoing 
 fubjeft, wrote thus: " Thofe things which are not 
 plain, are not neceffary; thofe things we cannot com- 
 prehend, are no further neceffary than is revealed. 
 And when men go about to explain, and make them 
 clear to the world, they go about a work they need 
 not. But when they thrufl into the faith their vain 
 philofophy, and impofe \he\rfcholqftic niceties for ne- 
 ceffary religion, they do more than they can juftify. 
 How far fome councils have been guilty of this, car- 
 ried more with a zealous hatred to a man or a party, 
 than a love to neceffary truth; let them that think it 
 concerns them fee." The late Bifhop WARBURTON 
 on the fame fubject expreffed himfelf flill more parti- 
 cularly. " Some men," fald he, " who held the 
 truth, that it is \yyfaith alone we are juftified, thought 
 they could never have enough. Inflead therefore of 
 flopping at the few general and fundamental princi- 
 ples of Chriftian faith, clearly difcovered and uniformly 
 believed* by all, they went' on, and brought into the 
 
 * To prevent the reader from being at any lofs for the Bifhop's 
 meaning in this cafe, thpfe " fundamental principles of the Chriftian 
 faith, -which are uniformly believed by all," mould have been 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 415 
 
 church, as terms of communion, abftrufe queftions 
 relating to points obfcurely delivered ; and made flill 
 more doubtful by having the principles of the Greek 
 ^philofophy, to which the facred writers paid no re- 
 gard, and with which the faith had no concern, 
 applied to their folution." " The violation of the 
 unity of the fpirit having been occafioned by thefe 
 miftakes, we may eafily collect, that the means of 
 preferving it entire had been the requiring no more, 
 as the terms of church communion, than what 
 CHRIST hath delivered to be explicitly believed; and 
 thefe not confiding of many particulats, and all of 
 them clear m&fimple" c. 
 
 The remedy propofed by this writer for reftoring 
 that unity, which has thus been unhappily violated, 
 was, that all unneceffbry articles fliould be retrenched, 
 to which the animofity of parties, the fuperflition of 
 barbarous ages,* and even the negligence of time, 
 
 pointed out. The Bifhop might not perhaps have wifhed to be in- 
 terrupted by an inquiry of the kind. 
 
 * " It is foreign to the purpofe," faid the learned Dr. BALCU Y 
 in one of his charges, " when we are fpeakingof eftablimments in 
 general, to fuggeft that our prefent Articles impo/e upon us the doc- 
 trines of dark and ignorant ages. Otherwife indeed one might be 
 tempted to afk the objectors, of what ages they fpeak. I hope 
 they do not fpeak of the times of the Reformation. The age of 
 RIDLEY, and JEWELL, and HOOKER, will be. reverenced by the 
 la'teft pofterity." 
 
416 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 had given an imaginary importance; and that the 
 formula of faith fliould be reduced to its primitive 
 fimplicity, leaving all difputable points to the free 
 decifion of every man's private judgment. 
 
 Archdeacon PALEY'S opinion upon this fubjeft 
 appears to correfpond flri&ly with that of the prece- 
 ding writer. The remedy propofed by him againft 
 the complicated evil occaiioned by the unneceflary ex- 
 tenfion and multiplication of tefls is, " that they 
 fliould be made as fimple and eafy as poffible; and 
 upon the fuppofition that a promife of conformity to 
 the liturgy, or an engagement not to preach certain 
 doftrines, might fecure to the public teaching of re- 
 ligion as much of uniformity and quiet as is necefTary 
 to edification, that then fuch promife or engagement 
 fliould fuperiede the ufe of/?r/ter fubfcrptions." 
 
 One great objeft with every writer is to convey a 
 diftinft meaning to his reader. When this is not 
 done, it mud proceed either from defeft of ability in 
 the party, or fome other caufe. Where no defeft 
 of ability can be fuppofed to exifl, it becomes a quef- 
 tion which ought to be refolved, why, in a fubjeft 
 of importance, which refpe&s the articles of the 
 Chriftian faith, ambiguous language fliould be made 
 ijfe of 5 which at the fame time that it may mean any 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 417 
 
 thing, yet fpeaks fo indeterminately, as to leave the 
 reader in doubt with refpeft tp the precife meaning 
 of the writer. 
 
 It may be afked, why we are not plainly told 
 in this cafe, what is that vain philofopby, and what 
 are thofe fcholqftic niceties > which the church ira* 
 pofes upon her minifters for neceflary religion? 
 What are thofe u abjirufe qucftions to which the fa- 
 cred writers paid no regard, and with which the faith 
 hath no concern?" What are thofe unncccffary 
 articles which fhould be retrenched; and thofe ccn- 
 troverted duftrines upon which it is propofed that 
 filtnce ihould be enjoined ? By a plain anfwer to 
 thefe queftions we fhould be qualified to judge to 
 what articles of the church obje&ion was meant to 
 be made ; and in what clafs of profeflbrs the objectors 
 were to be placed. 
 
 Defirous of avoiding cenforious judgment, I feel 
 unwilling to draw any conclufion from the pafTages 
 above noticed; or to allow a conjefture with refpe& 
 to the particular profeffional tenets of the authors 
 here alluded tp, to engage my mind; becaufe charity 
 conftrains me to think, that thofe who have fubfcribed 
 to the articles of a church muft believe them. The 
 pnly confideration fuggefted to the reader on this oo 
 
418 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 cafion is, that the bed of men are liable to error; and 
 that writers moil diflinguiflied for their talents will 
 not always be found the fafeil guides in purfuits of 
 religious knowledge. 
 
 A full convi&ion, at the fame time, with refpeft to 
 the nature, defign, and conftitution of the Chriilian 
 church, calls upon me, as an honeil man, what tri- 
 bute foever I may feel difpofed to pay to the abilities 
 of the writer, from whom I am bound to diifer, fin- 
 cerely to lament, that in thefe times efpecially, when, 
 if we may fo exprefs ourfelves, the difTolution of 
 eftablifliments feems to have become the order of the 
 day, a propagator of fuch ideas as are to be met 
 with in the writings of Archdeacon PALEY, fhould 
 be placed, as I underftand he is, in the oracular chair 
 of a learned univerfity. 
 
 But how ambiguous foever the language of fome 
 of our clergy occafionally has been, we muft hope, 
 till we have convi&ion to the contrary, that their 
 principles were found. For to form a conclufive 
 judgment of any man from a fpeech haftily delivered, 
 or a fentence unguardedly written, would be not to 
 deal with another as we would wifli to be dealt by. 
 It muft be taken for granted, therefore, that every 
 Hiinifter of the church, in confluence of his engage- 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 419 
 
 ment, poffeffes fome decided judgment in favour of 
 the do&rine and government eftablimed in it. By 
 him therefore it cannot be conlidered to be a matter 
 of indifference, whether men believe that doftrine, or 
 fubmit to that government, or not. 
 
 If he believe himfelf to be in the truth, he muft 
 of courfe think thofe who differ from him in opinion 
 to be in error. And whilft he makes all due allow- 
 lowance for thofe who differ from him ; (and large 
 allowances will be made, when, to borrow an idea 
 from Lord BACON, it is confidered, that the human 
 mind takes fuch plies from education, and a thoufand 
 other caufes, that even wife and good men rarely 
 think exa&ly alike upon any fpeculative fubjeft what- 
 ever;) he will neverthelefs conclude, if he be confident 
 with his profeffion, that where there is a ftandard for 
 the regulation of human judgment on Divine fubje&s, 
 two oppofite opinions upon them cannot be true. 
 
 There is indeed, we are forry to think, a wild fec- 
 tarian fpirit growing up in this country, which, if 
 not properly counteracted, will work to the utter 
 fubverfion of its conftitution. For (as it has been 
 excellently obferved by a late writer, whofe opinion 
 I am proud to think perfeftly correfponds with my 
 own on this fubjeft) " fefts in religion and patties 
 
420 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 in the ftate originate in general from fimilar principles. 
 A fed is, in fad, a revolt againft the authority of the 
 church, juft as a fadion is againft the authority of 
 the ftate; or, in other words, a fed is a faction in 
 the church, as a fadion is a fed in the ftate : and the 
 fpirit which refufes obedience to the one, is equally 
 ready to refift the other."* A pofition which will 
 not be controverted, but by thofe who feel them- 
 felves indifpofed to admit the regular eftablifhment of 
 authority in either cafe. 
 
 But upon this head, it is to be feared, it may be 
 faid, " Iliacos intra muros peccatur." What from 
 the loofe writing of fome of the clergy, and the ge- 
 neral filence of the body, upon the conftitution of 
 the Chriftian church, the fubjed is fo grown out of 
 knowledge, as to have loft almoft univerfally its in- 
 fluence upon the mind. Alk an ignorant man, why 
 he feparates from the church, his anfwer probably 
 will be, that he lives in a land of liberty, where he 
 has a right to worfhip GOD in the way he thinks 
 proper. Aik a man of reading and underftanding, 
 and he will quote refpedable authority for the fame 
 opinion : whereas both one and the other might, it 
 ig probable, have continued members of the church, 
 * BOUCHER on the American Revolution. Difcourfe IJ. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 42! 
 
 had they been taught to form a correct notion of it. 
 But when they have been led to confider the church 
 as a word of general and indifcriminate application, 
 and religion itfelf as a fubject of mere private opi- 
 nion, independent of all authority; it is not to be 
 expefted that they fhould feel difpofed to reftrain a 
 licence, of which, from the latitudinarian way of 
 thinking and afting, in which they have been educated, 
 they conceive themfelves born in rightful pofTeflion. 
 
 The minifter of the church however, who prays 
 conilantly againfty2:///7/, fhould in confequence think 
 it is duty to prevent Chriftians, as far as may be, 
 from falling into fo dangerous a fin. And whilft he 
 remembers of what fpirit a Chriflian ought to be, 
 the means made ufe of by him for the purpofe wil 
 be no other than what a Chriftian ought to employ. 
 " Following," (to make ufe of the words of the ce- 
 lebrated Mr. LOCKE) " the example of the PRINCE 
 of Peace ; who fent out his foldiers to the fubduing 
 of nations, and gathering them into his church, not 
 armed with the fword, or other mfhruments offeree, 
 but accoutred in that befl armour, the Gofpel of peace, 
 and the exemplary holinefsof Chriflian con verfation." 
 
 Without pronouncing fentence therefore upon, or 
 difturbing, thofe who are without the church, his 
 
422 POSTSCRIPT ^ 
 
 obje& will be to preferve thofe that ftill remain in it. 
 This he will do, by enabling them to form correft 
 notions of the nature and conftitution of the Chriftian 
 church ; and by giving them fuch an explanation front 
 time to time of its fervices, as may produce in them 
 a rational attachment to its communion. Confider- 
 ing the church as a fociety, which has GOD for its 
 founder, and Chriftian faith as the offspring of Di- 
 vine revelation, he will regard the varying opinions 
 of mankind upon thofe fubje&s, rather as proofs of 
 the weaknefs and incapacity of the human mind, 
 than as illuftrations of the truth. At the fame time, 
 therefore, that he is defirous of laying no unnecefFary 
 reftraint upon human judgment in religious fubjefts; 
 he will take care to point out the flandard by which 
 it fliould be regulated ; a flandard which draws the 
 line between faith and credulity ; between a fober 
 inquiry after truth, accompanied with a proper refpeft 
 for authority, and that licentioufnefs of opinion 
 which knows no authority but its own; in a word, 
 between that liberty with which CHRIST has made 
 us free, and the liberty which the natural man is at 
 ail times difpofed to make for himfel 
 
 But the clergy, fome individuals of the body at 
 lead, have ftill more to anfwer for on this fubjeft. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 A freedom of opinion on church matters has led, as 
 it might be expected, to a freedom of practice. 
 Whilfl fpme by their writings have put the eftablifli- 
 ment of the church, as it were, quite out of fight; 
 others by their conduct have openly withdrawn 
 Chriflians from it, by becoming, in fome cafes, offi- 
 ciating miniilers in the places of public worfhip in r 
 dependent of epifcopal jurisdiction; in others, bj 
 their attendance at places of worfliip which are in an 
 actual ilate of feparation from the eilablifhed church 
 of their country. How fuch conduct is confident 
 with the eftablifhed government of the church; how 
 the circumflance of a minifter of the church taking 
 upon himfelf to preach in a place of worihip unli- 
 cenfed by the bifhop, is to be reconciled with ca- 
 nonical obligation;* with what propriety fuch a 
 minifter can, in the liturgy of the church, pray againft 
 fcbifm in the place where he is in the actual com- 
 miflion of the fin; are points upon which I feel myfelf 
 
 * If the oath of canonical obedience mean any tiling, it means 
 obedience to the bifhop according to the canons of the church. 
 Taking it in this light, I do not fee how thofe of the clergy, who 
 renounce epifcopal jurifdiclion, by officiating in, or attending in 
 direct defiance of the canons, at places of worfhip feparated from 
 the eftablifhment, can be fecure from the charge of at lead 
 ' -virtual perjury. 
 
424 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 at a lofs to determine. For, as I have always under- 
 ftood, the fchifm of which fuch a minifter is guilty, 
 flrictly correfponds with that fin, againft which the 
 Apoflles and firfl bifliops fo loudly inveighed., which 
 confided in breaking the unity of the church by a 
 feparation of particular congregations from the au- 
 thority of their refpeftive bifliops.* But exclufive of 
 this important confideration, there is, moreover (as 
 the fubjeft flrikes me) fomething like two fallacies 
 praftifed upon this occafion. The proprietors of thefe 
 feparate places of worfhip, by flickering them under 
 the Toleration Aft, proftitute an aft of the Icgiflature 
 to a purpofe for which it was never made. By fo 
 doing, what was defigned only as an indulgence to 
 thofe who diffented from the church, becomes 
 
 * ST. CYPRIAN confidered that the unity of the Chriftian church 
 was liable to be broken two ways; by herefy and fchifm. " DIA- 
 BOLUS haerefes invenit skfchifmata; quibus fcinderet unitatem." 
 CYPR. de Unit. Eccl. a. In allufion therefore to this diftinction, 
 after having, with an eye to the profeflion of the fame faith, exem- 
 plified the unity of the church in the words of ST. PAUL ; " unum 
 corpus, et unus fpiritus, una fpes vocationis veftrae, unus DOMINUS, 
 una fides, unum baptifma, unus DEUS ;" he proceeds to point out 
 that other bond of unity, by which it was defigned that the Chriftian 
 church mould be held together. " Nemo fraternitatem mendacio- 
 fallat; nemofidei veritatem perfida prgevaricatione corrumpat; epif- 
 copatus eft unus; cujus a fingulis in folidum pars tenetur." 
 CYPR. .de Unit. EccL 4. 
 
TO'THE CLfcliGY. 
 
 terial to the a&ual divifion of the church itfelf. This 
 is a fallacy pra&ifed upon the legiflature.* 
 
 But there is ftill another fallacy attached to thefe 
 feparate places of worfhip, which, though it may not 
 be defigned, ought to be guarded againft. The 
 adoption of the liturgy of the church of England 
 ferves as a decoy to many well-meaning Chriftians; 
 who, from their perfect ignorance w'th refpect to the 
 nature of the Chriftian church, and the fin of fchifm, 
 conclude, that if they attend the church fervice, it 
 matters not where it is performed, or by whom; 
 and thus become fchifmatics^ without knowing that 
 they are fo. 
 
 It may be a pofition inadmiffible in the prefent 
 day, though founded upon the bafis of truth and 
 
 * By the Aft of Toleration, thofe who declare themfelves dif- 
 fcnters from the church of England are exempted from certain 
 penalties, on their taking certain oaths. But in the places of wor- 
 fhip here alluded to, fuch as Lady HUNTINGDON'S chapel in Bath* 
 as it is called, and others of a fimilar kind, the parties afTembled are 
 not diflenters from the church of England; for they make ufe of its 
 fervices, and have at times a clergyman of the church of England 
 for their officiating minifter; they are therefore a fort of feparatifts 
 from the church, at the fame time that they conform to it : a fallacy 
 which, it might be hoped, no clergyman of the church of England 
 would countenance, becaufe it tends to defeat an object which he, 
 as a minifter of the eftablifhment, ought to have at heart. 
 
 I I 
 
426 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 propriety, that no clergyman of the church ought to 
 appear, much lefs to officiate, in any place of public 
 worfhip, feparated from that eflablifhment of which 
 he profeffes himfelf a minifter. The fpirit of the 
 canons is certainly exprefs to this purpofe. Seeing 
 this fubje&, therefore, in the light in which I have 
 been taught to fee it, I beg leave to fugged it to the 
 confideration of my brethren, whether there is not a 
 great inconfiftency in their appearing under the cha- 
 rafter of Proteftant Diflenters on one Sunday, and 
 under that of minifters of the eftablifhed church on 
 the next: and whether, putting all other conlidera- 
 tions out of the queflion, the fingle one of not giving 
 offence ought not to operate with them fo far as to 
 prevent their adopting a pra&ice, which renders 
 their miniftry lefs welcome to many ferious members 
 of the church ; . at the fame time that it tends to 
 bring the eflabliihment into that contempt in the 
 minds of the common people, which may prove the 
 prelude to its definition. 
 
 It is not confident with charity to make the aftions 
 of men the decifive interpreters of their principles ; 
 becaufe the motives by which men are impelled, are 
 perfe&ly known only to that Being to whom judg- 
 ment belopgeth. Whether, therefore > there may or 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 427 
 
 may not be a portion of the old Corinthian leaven 
 mixed up with this zeal for promoting GOD'S honour 
 in an irregular way is a point upon which I venture 
 not to pronounce; my object being only to confider 
 the evil confequences derivable to the eftablifhment 
 from the eccentric practice of- its clergy; which will 
 be the fame, let the motives by which they have been 
 directed be what they may. 
 
 Upon this head it will be fuflicient to obferve, that 
 if the prefent fchifmatical practice, adopted by fome 
 clergy, of feparating congregations from their biftiops, 
 continue to prevail; and nothing more is deemed 
 necelTary to the eftablifliment of a congregation upon 
 a church plan in any place, than money to erect a 
 building, and popular talents to fill the feats; the 
 office both of biftiops and patrons is in a fair way to 
 become ufelefs. And thus the building a place for 
 public worlhip, which in better times was confidered 
 a pious undertaking, having the promotion of GOD'S 
 honour for its chief object, degenerates into a bufinefs 
 of mercenary fpeculation, and like other buildings for 
 public refort, is eftimated by the probable quantum of 
 intereft which it will produce to the proprietor. This 
 is one of the figns of the times, and affords a ftrong 
 proof of our living in the latter days; when the love 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 of many is waxed cold, and when faith is a thing 
 rare to be found in the world. 
 
 But the evil will not flop here; for irregularity of 
 any kind, like a bowl rolling down a declivity, feldom 
 flops till it is arrived at the ne plus ultra of its courfe. 
 
 If the clergy of the church aft thus independently 
 of the bifliop, and in breach of the eflabliiliment, it 
 is not to be expe&ed that laymen will feel themfelves 
 under greater restraint. Buildings will therefore be 
 erected, and the church fervice performed, by perfons 
 not in epifcopal orders. * For in fuch cafe, who is 
 to draw the line between the irregularity of an au- 
 thorized minifter, and the licence of a prefumptuous 
 layman? If the epifcopal authority be openly difre- 
 garded by thofe whofe duty it is to reverence and 
 fupport it, we mult not be furprifed, fliould GOD in 
 Judgment fuffer an eftablifhment to be totally duTolved, 
 of the excellency of which its members feem, by their 
 conduft, to be grown infenfible. 
 
 It is to be feared, indeed, that the cuflom which 
 has long fmce been adopted, even under epifcopal 
 authority, of erefting chapels at the expence of indi- 
 viduals for the performance of religious worfhip, has 
 in fome degree led to this total Reparation from it. 
 
 * A place of worfhip of this fort there is now open in Bath* 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 For by withdrawing the parifliioner from the charge 
 of his appointed minifter, it has introduced a way of 
 thinking more fuited to the frequenters of conven- 
 ticles, than to the members of the eftabliflied church; 
 by which the office of the parifh prieft is in a manner 
 fuperfeded by that of the preacher. 
 
 Confidering, therefore, that we live in an age, in 
 which many, who neither know the fcripture, nor 
 the nahire of CHRIST'S church, think they can 
 make their own religion, their own church, and their 
 own minifters, it is not to be wondered at, that it 
 fkould by degrees become a matter of indifference 
 with Chriltians where they are aflembled, provided 
 they like their teacher. But this plan of erefting 
 chapels for the emolument of individuals not only 
 introduces among us extra-parochial affemblies of an 
 anomalous kind, deftructive of the connection which 
 ought to fubiift between minifter and people ; but 
 being incompatible with that principle of unity upon 
 which the church of CHRIST is founded, and fubver- 
 five of that order and difcipline by which it ought to 
 be maintained, tends to undermine the eftablifhment 
 itfelf. We are told by a celebrated writer* of the 
 prefent day, that fliould tl;e diffenters from the efta- 
 
 * Archdeacon PALEY, 
 
430 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 blifhmcnt become a majority of the people, the efta- 
 bl'fhment itfelf ought to be altered. This muft be 
 allowed to be a very fummary, though to many it 
 \vill appear to be neither a very fatisfaftory nor very 
 pra&icable way of fettling a moil important concern. 
 How far an old proverb, though not conflrued Ike- 
 rally, ought to weigh in this cafe, thinking men will 
 be apt to confider. 
 
 " Eft turba femper argumentum -pcjjimi" 
 Indeed this ftrange and novel idea of putting the 
 eftablifhment of the Chriftian religion, as it were, to 
 the vote, by making it dependent on the voice of the 
 majority; thus bowing the knee to popular opinion, 
 rather than to the GOD of our fathers; (in con- 
 formity with which the proteftant government of 
 this country may be called upon to defert the caufe 
 of proteftantifm, and become the eftablifher* of Ro- 
 mifh error and fuperflition ;) is an idea, which as it 
 was not to be expefted from a minifler of the church, 
 jnufl, it is to be concluded, -not have been confidered 
 by the Archdeacon in all its bearings. 
 
 * In Ireland, upon a moderate calculation, there are four Reman 
 Catholics to one Proteftant. In conformity therefore with the idea 
 here advanced by the Archdeacon, the Reman Catholic ought to 
 be the eftablifhcd religion in Ireland. To detail the operation of 
 an unlimited principle, would be an infult to the reader. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 431 
 
 That fuch fhould be the ground upon which Dr. 
 PRIESTLEY places this fubjeft, can be no matter of 
 furprife to us, when we confider that fuch is the 
 ground upon which he builds his projected reformation 
 of our church. In the character of a decided fe&arift, 
 a bold and open enemy to our ecclefiaftical conftitu- 
 tion, he tells us plainly, that means are preparing 
 for its definition; and that the final accomplifhment 
 of the undertaking waits only for the time, when the 
 majority of the people {hall be feparated from it. 
 
 Now though I do not think Dr. PRIESTLEY'S 
 religious tenets calculated to gain him many converts 
 among the people, and confequently no ferious ap- 
 prehenfions are to be entertained on that fcore; it 
 may not, however, be amifs to draw a lefTon of 
 prudence from the Doctor's information on this oc- 
 cafion. " Fas eft et ab hofte doceri." 
 
 Certain it is, that feparation from the eftabliflied 
 church of this country has of late years abundantly 
 jncreafed; and it is equally certain, that in proportion 
 as this is the cafe, the eftabliftiment itfelf is weak- 
 ened. For whatever be the different opinions of 
 different fe&s, and what enmity foever they may bear 
 towards each other on that account, the deftruftion 
 .of the eftablifliment is a point upon which they are 
 
432 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 at all times ready to join hand in hand. Now, if to 
 this consideration we add the circumftance of that di- 
 vifion, which is growing up as it were within the 
 church, by which the parochial connection between 
 mmifter and people is deftroyed; in confequence of 
 which, all ideas about a church eftablifliment are 
 every day growing more and more out of fight; we 
 mufl not be furprifed, if an evil, which every think* 
 ing well-wiftier to his country deprecates, fliould 
 advance upon us with more hafty fleps than we may 
 at prefent be willing to believe. This appears to be 
 an obje& that well defends the attention of thofe 
 whofe office it is to watch, " ne quid detriment! ref* 
 publica capiat," 
 
 Should our governors think as they ought upon 
 this fubject, that our ecclefiaflical eftablifliment has in 
 the prefent, as in every former day of trial, proved 
 the firmed fupport to the government of this country, 
 they will of courfe conclude that it is worth preferring, 
 To fpeak with an immediate reference to thofe mad 
 doclrines, the unhingers of all regular fociety, which 
 have of late been circulated with fuch pernicious in- 
 duftry, the clergy of the eftablifliment may fay with 
 OTHELLO, that they have " done the ftate fome fer* 
 vice," Indeed, tq conilitutional government at ajl 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 433 
 
 times they have felt it their duty to promote the firmed 
 attachment. It will therefore be but a prudent ex- 
 ertion of pol.tical wifdom, to provide all means, con- 
 fident with found judgment, for the more general 
 exteniion of the benefits of an ellablifhment, to which 
 the government of this country confefTedly ftands 
 indebted, with the view of counteracting, as much 
 as may be the prefent plan of limiting and con- 
 trading them. 
 
 The mod deciiive experiment having been made, 
 that the principles' of non-conformity ultimately pro- 
 duce faction in the flate, and infidelity in the church; 
 thofe to whom the guardianfhip of our conftitution 
 has been committed, cannot better difcharge their 
 truft, than by giving all poilible encouragement to 
 the building additional churches in all populous 
 places, where thofe already built prove too fmall for 
 the accommodation of the inhabitants. 
 
 Whereas, if to remedy this inconvenience, the 
 prefent mode of creeling chapels at the charge of 
 individuals, with an eye to private emolument, con- 
 tinue to be adopted, we are promoting the very 
 object which Dr. PRIESTLEY has before him; for 
 we are thereby feparating the great body of the peo- 
 ple from the efUUiflied church j and in a manner 
 
434 "POSTSCRIPT 
 
 forcing tl)em to become non-conforiniits, by render- 
 ing their communion with the church incompatible 
 \vith their circumftances. In which cafe, we mufl 
 not be furprifed, if the body of the people ihould feel 
 unintereiled for the prefervation of an eftablifliment, 
 which feems to take fo little concern about them. 
 
 The confequences of fuch a ruinous practice are 
 incalculable; and never more to be dreaded than in 
 thefe times, when the licentious doctrines of equality 
 and confequent mfubordination are induflriouily pro- 
 pagated; do&rines, which a plan of religious worihip 
 feparating the rich from the poor feems peculiarly 
 calculated to promote. 
 
 There is indeed an equality ^ by which all ChrifHans 
 fland connected with each other, as children of the 
 fame heavenly Father; which ONght as much as pofr 
 fible to be kept alive among us in all religious 
 affemblies. A church therefore never looks fo much 
 like what it ought to be, as when all ranks of people 
 join together in thefe general afts of worfhip, which 
 are exprelfive of their general dependence upon that 
 " LORD over all, who, in one fenfe or another, is 
 rich unto all who call upon him." The GOD whom 
 we worfhip is no refpe&er of perfons; the church* 
 be confident with order and decency, to keep this ia 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 435 
 
 view; that the rich, from this indiftin&ive plan of 
 wornYp, may continually be taught to remember that 
 the poor man is his brother ; and that the poor man 
 may be fupported in the confcientious difcharge of 
 his humble and laborious duties in life, by looking 
 forward to the day, when all worldly diftinftions 
 will be fwallowed up in that common relatiohfiiip^ 
 which all true members of the church will then 
 bear to CHRIST its head. 
 
 Sorry we are to think, that the doftrines which 
 have long been induflrioufly circulated, and which 
 have produced too fuccefsful an effect upon the minds 
 of the people of this country, are inimical to govern- 
 ment in any fhape. The very name of an eilablifh- 
 ment in thefe days, as it implies fom'e reflraint upon 
 liberty, conveys to the ears of many an unwelcome 
 found. Separated from the errors and freed from 
 the chains of Popery, we feem, alas! (to make ufe of 
 the words of a great writer) to be cc breaking out 
 into a flale of religious anarchy. " An attention, 
 therefore, to the fubjeft before us becomes a matter 
 of moil important concern. 
 
 We do not profefs ourfelves to be in the number 
 of thofe, if there be any fuch, who think that there 
 is nothing amifs amongft us; for this would be to lay 
 
436 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 claim to that perfe&ion which belongs not to man. 
 At the fame time, in reference to the prefent (late of 
 things in the world, it may be proper to fuggeft to 
 the reader, the great danger of his being too readily 
 imprelfed with the idea of improvement, either in 
 church or flate. There are no two words in the 
 Englifh language, the found of which, from the ufe 
 that has been lately made of them, conveys fo flrong 
 a fcnfe of alarm to the thinking mind, as thofe of 
 liberty and reformation. Things moil valuable in 
 themfelves become mod definitive in their abufe. 
 We have lived to fee, what we fhould not otherwife 
 have believed, the giants of infidelity waging open 
 war againft heaven; falfe philofophers, under the fpe- 
 cious pretence of diffufing light and liberty through 
 a benighted and enflaved world, engaged in a more 
 daring league of fyftematic oppoiition to the plans of 
 Divine Providence for the benefit of mankind, than 
 has been ever witnefled. It is with a mixture of 
 horror and indignation, that we look back to the 
 fcenes, which thefe miniflers of rebellious, darknefs 
 have been permitted to bring forth; it is with awe 
 and trembling, we look forward to what may, in 
 the Divine Council, be the winding up of this 
 eventful tragedy. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 437 
 
 It is fome confolation, indeed, to thofe who are 
 humbly waiting for their LORD'S coming, to think, 
 that the gates of hell fhall not finally prevail againft 
 his church. At the fame time it fhould feem, as if 
 <J woe had been pronounced againft the inhabitants of 
 the earth and of the fea; and that the Devil was come 
 down unto them, having great wrath, becaufe he know- 
 eth that he hath but a fhort time." Rev. xii. 12. 
 
 From the chapter which modern hiftory prefents 
 to our perufal, we feel confident in the afTertion, that 
 even the mod corrupt religion is to be preferred to no 
 religion at all ; and that where reformation is really 
 wanted, it is not to be effected by means which tend 
 to the diffolution of conftituted authority: Whilft 
 From the plan, which has been adopted for the 
 purpofe of enabling infidelity to triumph over the 
 Chriflian caufe, we hefitate not to affirm, that the 
 prefervation of our eftablifhment is effentlal to the 
 continuance of the church in this country; it being 
 the beft fecurity againft that Babel of religious con- 
 fufion and confequent infidelity, which would be the 
 ultimate effeft of its deftru&ion. An eftabliihment 
 is to be regarded as the out-work of religion. The 
 enemy who pulls it down, does it but with a view to 
 
438 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 the more complete deftru&ion of the citadel which it 
 was defigned to fecure. 
 
 Some well-meaning people, indeed, have found a 
 way of fatisfying themfelves upon this head, by 
 making the church of CHRIST and church of Eng- 
 land mean two different things: and thus, while 
 they flatter themfelves that they are aftlng upon the 
 befl principle, they are putting themfelves into a ftatc 
 of preparation to become inflrumental in the deflruc- 
 tion of that church of which they profefs themfelves 
 members. That ignorant people fliould be carried 
 away with fo plaufible an idea, can be no matter of 
 furprife; they have been, and always will be, im- 
 pofed upon by founds. But that men of reading and 
 education fhould adopt it, affords one proof among 
 many, that experience does not always furnifh wifdoin. 
 
 It mufl be confeifed, indeed, that the age in which 
 xve live, though a reading, is certainly not a learned, 
 age. Light publications of the day, calculated for 
 the purpofe of prefent entertainment, and fuperficial 
 information, are preferred to the fcientific pages of 
 the learned, though lei's amufmg writer, which require 
 abftraftion of thought and intenfenefs of application 
 to make them yield fruit to the reader. Advantage 
 therefore, which we frequent, ought, as far as may 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 439 
 
 lias been induftrioufly taken of this general tafte for 
 Superficial reading, to undermine thofe fundamental 
 principles of government, both in church and ftate, 
 which conftituted in better times a ftandard for 
 judgment iathefe matters; by means of thofe plau- 
 iible theories and fpecious arguments, which, by un- 
 hinging and unfcttling the human mind, are calculated 
 to prepare it for every change. 
 
 Againft fuch men and their writings it was neveF 
 perhaps more necefTary to be on our guard than in 
 thefe daysj when the right of private judgment and 
 the freedom of enquiry (principles in themfelves of 
 unqueilionable and excellent ufe, when properly em- 
 ployed) have been carried to fuch an extent, as in a 
 manner to fet at nought all authority, under the 
 plaufible pretence of delivering mankind from efla- 
 blifhed prejudices. 
 
 To form a judgment, indeed, from the fyflems of 
 fome modern fpeculatifls, which, manifeft a fupercilious 
 inattention to the fober deductions of all who have 
 gone before them, in the walks either of religious or 
 political knowledge, we fliould conclude, that we 
 were newly dropt into a world of yeflerday, and had 
 all our experience to learn; or that our forefathers 
 had been fleeping through a long dark night of ig- 
 
440 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 norance and infenfibility, or at beft had been groping 
 their way by a glimmering taper, which had afforded 
 but light fufEcient to make their darknefs vifible ; and 
 that we, their more favoured Tons, were juft opening 
 our eyes to that dawn of enlightened reafon, which 
 our Creator in his wifdom had thought fit to referve 
 for the more full illumination for the prefent day. 
 
 What people are taught to defpife, they will not 
 long be felicitous to preferve. Upon this principle, 
 it may be a fubjeft worthy the confideration of thofe 
 who really mean well to our eftablifhment, whether 
 this imaginary diflinction between the church of 
 CHRIST and church of England now propagating 
 among us be not defigned, by the enemies of the latter, 
 as an introdu&ory ftep to its wiflied-for diffolution. 
 
 Wife and good men, in difcerning the figns of the 
 times, will learn from them, we truft, a feafonable 
 leffon of prudence and caution. 
 
 Should it, however, be the will of that wife Being 
 who direfteth all things, (as from the complexion of 
 die times we are occafionally led to fear may be the 
 cafe) that this nation fliould learn a fecond leffon in 
 that licentious fchool, in which it might be thought 
 that it had remained a length of time fufficient to 
 have received a finiflied education j it may at leaft be 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 hoped that the clergy will not be brought in as ac- 
 ceflary to the judgment. 
 
 Be it remembered, that the mofl common way of 
 wounding the church has been through the fides of 
 its clergy. This method was praftifed with fuccefs, 
 when the church of this country poiTeffed a mod pious 
 and able miniflry. We are not therefore to be fur. 
 prifed that it fhould be attempted in the prefent day, 
 
 But although no argument drawn from the con- 
 duel: of individuals ought in equity to bear again (I 
 the body to which they belong; yet when a preju- 
 dice once takes poffeilion of the human mind, it is 
 not always in the power of reafon to confine it to 
 the precife object that originally gave rife to it. This 
 conlideration fliould make the clergy, of all men, 
 mofl circumfpeft in their conduct; becaufe, as the 
 world will judge, it is in their power to do the greatefl 
 injury to the caufe, of which they ought to be the 
 mofl effeftual fupporters. 
 
 We are told, that " the time is fail approaching, 
 when Chriflianity will be almofl as openly difavowed 
 in the language, as in faft it is already fuppofed 
 to have difappeared from the conduct, of men; 
 when infidelity will be held to be the neceffary ap- 
 pendage of a man of fafhion; and to believe will be 
 
 K K 
 
442 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 deemed the indication of a feeble mind, and a con- 
 tracted underftanding."* Should fuch, alas ! be the 
 a&ual condition of this country, the hiftory of the 
 Chriftian church will fliew what its future condition 
 mud be. In fuch cafe, with lamenting JEREMY we 
 may weep over the fallen " city become as a widow; 
 {he that was great among the nations, and princefs 
 among the provinces : among all her lovers {he hath 
 none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt trea- 
 cherouily with her. The ways of Zion do mourn, 
 becaufe none come to the folemn feails: all her gates 
 are defolate : her priefts figh, her virgins are affli&ed, 
 and flie is in bitternefs. Her adverfaries are the 
 chief; her enemies profper; for the LORD hath af- 
 flicted her, for the multitude of her tranfgreffions." 
 Lamentations of JEREMIAH, i. That GOD, who 
 fpared not the countries where his church was origi- 
 nally planted, but in confequence of their corruption 
 fuffered the light of his truth to depart from them, 
 will mod affuredly not fpare this country under fimi- 
 lar circumftances. When the purpofe for which the 
 church has been eftabliflied is not anfwered, it will 
 not long be fuffered to mock the defign of its Divine 
 Founder. In the prophetic language, when the vine,- 
 
 * WlLBERFORCE, p. 375' 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 443 
 
 yard which GOD has enclofed fliall ceafe to be duly 
 cultivated; and the vine be fuffered to take its wild 
 and natural growth; the hedge by which it had been 
 feparated from the wafte will be pulled down; and 
 the boar out of the woo^l, and the wild beaft of the 
 field, be permitted to devour it. Some anti-chriftian 
 power, intent upon nothing but plunder and deftruc- 
 tion, or a domeftic enemy having the fame objeft in 
 view, will fooner or later be let loofe upon a church 
 when in this degenerate condition, and become the 
 inftrument of executing upon her the vengeance due 
 to her crimes. May GOD give the people of this 
 nation fuch a fight of their danger, as may tend ef- 
 fectually to guard them againft it! 
 * Indifpofed, as I think I am, to fuperflition and 
 enthufiafm, the prefent events of Europe are never- 
 thelefs of fo awful and alarming a kind, as to aiFecT: 
 me with the moft ferious and interefting concern. 
 Upon the " authority of facred writ we are allured, 
 that the time muft come when " the kingdoms of 
 this world (hall become the kingdoms of GOD and of 
 his CHRIST." That Being " who feeth the end 
 from the beginning;" before whom all nations are as 
 nothing, yea, lefs than nothing;" will make human 
 policy fubfervient to the accomplishment of his wife 
 
444 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 purpofes. What important page in the great hiftory 
 of the world may now be turning over, it is not for 
 us to determine. As Chriftians, we look with reve- 
 rence to the iffue of the Divine councils, whatever it 
 may be ; knowing that all things will work together 
 for good to thofe who have the LORD for their GOD. 
 At the fame time we Ihould wan; the feelings of men, 
 did vc not tremble at the threatening afpecl of that 
 
 v 
 
 black cloud, which has been long pouring forth 
 fweepmg defiruction upon the nations around us. 
 
 In fuch a critical feafon, the office of the priefthood 
 becomes more than ever an office of dignified import- 
 ance. In the character of atoning AARON, with 
 incenfe in his hand, the pried is called upon to ftand 
 as it were between the dead and the living; and, if 
 it may be, to flay the plague, the word of plagues, 
 that plague of religious and moral diforder, which 
 . has long deformed the face of civilized Europe. 
 
 Should not the fait have quite loft its favour, the 
 land which we inhabit may yet be feafoned and 
 thereby preferved. In fuch cafe, the judgments of 
 the LORD now in the earth, inftead of bringing down 
 and deflroying, will be employed in mercy to purge 
 purify our church and nation. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 445 
 
 To this end the priefts and minifters of the LORD 
 mult ftand between the porch and the altar, and exert 
 themfelves, " before their eyes begin to wax dim, 
 that they may not fee; and ere the lamp of GOD 
 gui'th out in the temple of the LORD." i SAM. 
 iii. If, in confequenceof the unfettled notions which 
 now prevail upon religious fubjects, Chriftians are 
 continually dropping away from the church, let it 
 be for any caufe rather than on account of the irre- 
 gularity, incapacity, or want of zeal, in its minifters. 
 Ignorance, among the lower order of people at leaft, 
 is well known to be one general caufe of feparation 
 from the church. Let it be an object with the clergy, 
 then, to remove that ignorance with refpeft to the 
 church, by bringing their people fo acquainted with 
 its nature, and the defign of its eftablifliment, that 
 they may feel it their duty to continue members of 
 it. Whilft they are fuffered to remain uninformed 
 upon this fubject, the prefervation of Chriftian unity 
 is not to be expected. 
 
 But above all, their object muft be to take away 
 all juft reafon for the defertion of their miniflry, by 
 giving full proof of their evangelical commiilion. 
 With the Apoftle they muft be able to fay to their 
 hearers, " We take you to record this day, that we 
 
446 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 are pure from the blood of all men; for we have not 
 fliunned to declare unto you all the counfel of GOD." 
 The plea generally advanced by modern feparatiils, 
 tliat found doftrine is not preached in our church, 
 upon how partial ground foever it may really {land, 
 muft at all events be effe&ually removed. For the 
 people muft not only be taught, that it is their duty 
 to live in communion with the church; they mull 
 moreover be fatisfied, that they fhall be profited by 
 that communion. In a matter of this importance, 
 men will take the liberty to judge for themfelves: and 
 if they have reafon to think that they are not fed 
 with the true bread of life within the walls of the 
 church, they will unqueilionably feek it, where they 
 fancy it maybe found, either in fields or in conventicles. 
 
 -And if to the preaching found doftrine the clergy 
 would add an occafional explanation of the meaning 
 of our church offices, that their congregations may 
 become active and fpiritual performers in them; the 
 people would foon be convinced that thofe Chriflians* 
 who would oiler up to GOD the moil reafdnable fer- 
 vice, mufl come to the church of England to do it. 
 
 This is the only way, that I know, to preferve the 
 unity of the church; and to revive, through Divine 
 grace, the fpirit of Chriflianityj by informing men* 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 447 
 
 in the firft place, that there is fuch a thing as an 
 eftablifhed conftitution of the church of CHRIST, 
 and that Chriftians are to confider therafelves mem- 
 bers of it, as a fold of flieep gathered under its fhep- 
 herd, and not as ftraggling individuals: and in the 
 fecond place, by convincing them, that the church is 
 beft .calculated to carry all thofe purpofes into effect, 
 for which it has been eftablifhed by its Divine Founder. 
 
 It were devoutly to be wiflied, and I truit there 
 is but one opinion among my brethren upon this 
 head, that every minifter of the church might fo dif- 
 charge his duty in thefe refpe&s, as to be qualified, 
 in the language of Archbifhop SHARP, thus to ad* 
 drels himfelf to his people: " This I am fure of, 
 fo long as you continue in our communion, you are 
 in the communion of the true church of CHRIST* 
 I dare anfwer for the falvation of all thofe who, 
 continuing in our church, live up to the principles 
 of it. But I dare anfwer nothing for them, who, 
 being brought up in this church, and having fo great 
 opportunities given them of knowing the truth, do 
 yet depart from it. I pray GOD, they may be able 
 to anfwer for themfelves. 
 
 1 conclude this difcourfe with what my brethren, 
 the clergy, may probably thank me for redeeming 
 
448 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 from oblivion ; I mean that prayer from the elegant 
 pen of ERASMUS, which was heretofore fet forth as 
 a part or appendix to a Primer or Liturgy, which 
 HENRY the Eighth caufed to be publifhed by the 
 fupreme authority of the Church of England, and 
 which appears ftri&ly adapted to the circumflances of 
 the prefent times. 
 
 " DOMINE JESU CHRISTE, qui omnipotentia tua 
 fecifli nines creaturas, vifibiles, invifibiles, et Divina 
 fapientia^tua gubernafti difpofuiftique omnia ordinate; 
 qui ineffabili bonitate tua cuflodis, defendis, promo- 
 vesque omnia; qui profunda mifericordia tua reficis 
 ruinofa, renovas collapfa, vivificas mortuos; digneris 
 (precamur) ad extremuai, in dile&am fponfam tuam 
 ecclefiam, dulcem ilium et miiericordem vultum tuum, 
 quo cseleflia omnia terreftriaque, et quce fupra coclum 
 iufraque terram funt pacificas, conjicere: digneris te- 
 neros mifericordesque oculos in nos convertere, quibus 
 PET RUM feme!, magnum ecclefiae tua? paftorem af- 
 pexifli, et confinuo rediit fecum in memoriam, et in 
 psenitentiam duftus eft; quibus difperfam femel mul- 
 litudinem perluftrafti, et mifericordia commovebaris, 
 quod boni paftoris defe6lu errabant quafi oves fparfe 
 palentesque. Tu fatis vides, bone Paftor, quot varia 
 Itiporum genera in ovilia tua irruperunt, e quibus 
 
<fO THE. CLERGY. 449 
 
 unufquifque clamat, Hk CHRISTUS eft. Hie CHRIS- 
 TUS eft: ita ut, fl fieri poflet, in errores deducerentur 
 elefti. Tu vides, quibus flatibus, quibus fluftibus, 
 quibus tempeftatibus, mifera navis jahtur; ia qua 
 pufillus grex tuus de fubmerfione periclitatur. Quid 
 autem nunc reftat, nifi ut prorfum fubmergatur, om- 
 nesque nos pereamus? Hujus tempeilatis caufa efl 
 noftra iniquitas et depravata vita; hoc nos videmus 
 et confitemur, juftitiam tuam cernimus, et injuflitiam 
 noftram lamentamur: fed ad mifericordiam tuam pro- 
 vocamus quas (iecundum pfiilmum prophets tui) 
 exuperat omnia opera; multa fupplicia fuflinuimus, 
 multis bellis frafti, multis jafturis bonorum confumpti, 
 tot morborum peftiumque generibus flagellati, tot 
 flu<ftibus quafsati, tot perterrefa&i ; et nullus tamen 
 nobis ita fatigatis, et inuiitata malorum vi debilitatis., 
 portus perfugiumque apparet, fed quotidie magis ma- 
 gisque graves pluresque poence imminere cervicibus 
 noflris videntur. Non hk de tua afperitate conque- 
 rimur, mifericordiffime DOMINE, fed tuam potius 
 mifericordiam intuemur, quod longe graviores plagas 
 commeriti fumus. Nos vero abs te, mifericordiiEme 
 DOMINE, precamur, non quid mentis noflris dignum 
 fit confideres aut perpendas; fed potius quid deceat 
 mifericordiam tuam, fic qua ne angeli quidem in ccelo 
 
4,50 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 confiftere poimnt, . nedum nos vafa luti infirma. Mi- 
 fererenoftri, REDEMPTOR nofter, qui facillime exora- 
 ris, non quod nos mifericordia tua dignifumus; fed 
 hanc gloriam nomini tuo dato. Ne patiaris Judasos, 
 Turcas, reliquosque qui vel non noverunt Te, vel glo- 
 rias tuse invident, perpetuo de nobis triumphare et di- 
 cere; ubi DEUS, ubi REDEMPTOR, ubi SERVATOR, 
 ubi Sponfus illorum eil? Hasc contumeliofa verba et 
 convitia in te, DOMINE, redundant; dum ex mails 
 noftris bonitatem tuam exiilimant, nos derelinqui 
 putant, quos emendari non cernunt. Cum feniel 
 in navigio dormires, et tempeflas fubito exorta mina- 
 retur mortem omnibus qui in navi erant, ad clamorem 
 paucorum diicipulorum excitabaris ; et continue) 
 ilu&us quieverunt, ventus ceffavit, tempeflas in 
 magnam tranquilitatem converfa eft; aquee mutoe 
 Creatoris vocem agnoverunt. In hac autem longe 
 graviore tempeflate, in qua non paucorum hominum 
 corpora in difcrimen veniunt, fed innumerabiles ani- 
 inse periclitant; ad vocem univerfce eccleiise tua?, 
 DOMINE, precamur, ut vigiles, quse nunc in periculo 
 fubmerfionis eft. Tot jam millia hominum clamitant, 
 DOMINE, ferva nos, perimus; tempeftas lisec hu- 
 manam potentiam fuperat, immo vero cpnatus eorum 
 qui illi prxfidium ferrent, in contrarium avertunl;ur. 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 451 
 
 Qiiod ha?c prneftabit, folum verbum tuum eft: verbum 
 foluin oris tui dicito, tempeftas cefla, et confeftlm 
 tranquillitas expetilaapparebit. Quot millibus impi- 
 orum pepercifles, fi in civitate Sodomas vel decem 
 invent! fuiflent: mine vero tot millibus hominum 
 gloriam nominis tui amantium, et propter decorem 
 domus tua; gementem, non horum precibus adduftus 
 iram remittes, et confuetarum antiquarumque miferi- 
 cordiarum tuarum recordaberis ? An non Divina fa- 
 pientia tua noflram ftultitiam in gloriam tuam conver- 
 tes? An non malorum improbitatem in ecclefice tuce 
 bonum commutabis? Cum enim mifericordia tua folet 
 omnia fublevare, cum res nobis immedicabilis effe 
 videtur; nee potentia aut fapientia humana corrigi 
 potefl. Tu folus res etiam inordinatiilimas in ordi- 
 nem adducis, qui folus author confervatorque pacis 
 cs. Tu antiquam confullonem quam Chaos appel- 
 lamus formavifli, in qua fine ordine, fine modo, per- 
 turbat difcordia femina rerum jacebant, et admirabili 
 ferie res natura fua pugnantes, vinculo perpetuo 
 copulaviili et colligavifli. Quanto, qucefo, major 
 confufio eft hasc; ubi nulla charitas, nulla fides, nulla 
 copulatio amoris, nulla legum, nulla magiftratuum 
 reverentia, nulla opinionum confenfio ; fed quaii in 
 perturbatuTimo choro unufquifque diverfum canit? 
 
452 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 In cccleflibus placetis nulla eft diffenfio; elementa 
 fuas fedes tenent, unumquodque conflitutum fibi 
 officium facit: et fponfam fuam cujus causa omnia 
 fa&a funt, continua fie diffenfione perire et labefaftari 
 permittis? Malosne fpiritus feditionis authores atque 
 adminiflros, in ditione tua fine ulla reprehenfione ita 
 regnare permittes? potentemque ilium iniquitatis du- 
 cem, quern femel dejeceras, caftra invadere et milites 
 tuos, fpoliare fines? Cum Kic in hominibus verfabaris, 
 vocem tuam fugiebant dsemones. Emitte, qucefu- 
 mus, DOMINE, fpiritum tuum, qui e peftoribus 
 omnium nomen tuum proiitentium males fpiritus ma- 
 giflros intemperanti^e, avariti<e, vance gloria?, libi- 
 dinnm, fcelerum, difcordire, abigat. Crea in nobis, 
 Rex et DEUS nofter, cor mundum, et ipiritum fanc- 
 tum in peftoribus noflris renova, nee fpiritum fanftum 
 tuum auferas a nobis. Reflitue nobis fruftum falu- 
 taris fanitatis tuse, et fpiritu principali corrobora 
 fponfam paflorefque ejns. Hoc fpiritu reconciliafti 
 cceleftia terreflribus, hoc formafli ac reduxifli tot 
 linguas, tot nationes, tain diverfa hominum genera in 
 unum corpus ecclefix, quod corpus eodem fpiritu 
 copulatur capiti. Ilunc fpiritum fi in omnium homi- 
 num cordibus renovare digneris, turn externoc ho? 
 quoque miferia? ceflabunt: aut fi non ceffavcrint, ad 
 
TO THE CLERGY. 453 
 
 frufhim faltem, utilitatemque diligentium te tradu- 
 centur. Sifts hanc, DOMINE JESIJ, confufionem; 
 hoc horribile .Chaos in ordinem reducito: expande 
 fpiritum tuum fuper aquas male fluctuant! urn opinio- 
 num. Et quia fp'ritus tuns, qui juxta prophets 
 fententiam continet omnia, fcientiam etiam habet 
 vocis; effice, ut quemadmodum omnibus qui in 
 domo tua funt, unum lumen, unus DEUS, una fpes, 
 unus fpiritus ; lie ;::iam quoque habeant vocem, unam 
 cantilenam, unum folium, unam Catholrcam ver tatem 
 profkentes. Cum in cerium gloriose afcendifli, 
 dcmifiil. de cceio res pretioihTimas ; dcdilli dona 
 homlnibus, varia munera fpiritus divifidi: renova, 
 DOMINE, de coclo veterem bonitatem; da nun^, ec- 
 clefio? labefacli^ et inclinatce, quod illi emergent*! et 
 exorienti initia dederas. Da principibus magiurati- 
 busque gratiam timoris tui ; ut ita rempublicam fuam 
 gubernent, quafi ftatim tibi, REGI Regum, rationem 
 reddituri. Da fapientiam femper ailiftricera illis, ut 
 quodcunque optimum fa&u fuerit, et animo provi- 
 deant, et faftis perfequantur. Da epifcopis tuis 
 donum prophetice, ut fan&as fcripturas non ex fuis 
 ingeniis, fed tuain fpiratione declarent et. inter ^.rt-ten- 
 tur. Da triplicem illis charitatem, quam a PETRO 
 requirebas, quando illius curas oves tuas commififti. 
 
454 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Da facerdotibus tuis temperantise caftitatisque amo- 
 rem. Da populo tuo fludium fequendi mandata tua, 
 et promptitudinem obediendi iis, quos tu fuper illos 
 conftituifli. Ita fiet, ut fi largitate tua principes ea 
 imperent, qux tu praecipis; paftores eadem doceant, 
 populus utrisque pareat: veteris ecclefias dignitas 
 tranquilitasque cum ordinis confervatione ad gloriam 
 nominis tui reflorefcat. Ninivitis peperciiti morti 
 addi&is, flatim ut ad pcenitentiam converfi fuerant; 
 domura tuam inclinantem jam et corruentem difpicies, 
 quce vice facci gemitus, vice cinerum lachrymas pro- 
 fundit? promififti remiilionem converfis ad te ; at hoc 
 donum tuum eft, ut quis cum toto corde fuo ad te 
 convertatur, ut omnis bonitas noftra ad gloriam tuam 
 redundet. Tu factor es; refice opus tuum quod foiv 
 mafli. Tu Redemptor es; ferva quod emifti. Tu 
 Servator es; ne fmas perire qui tibi innituntur. Tu 
 Dominus es, et Poffeffor ; vindica poffeffionem tuam. 
 Tu Caput es; opem fer membris. Tu Rex es; da 
 nobis legum tuarum reverentiam. Tu Princeps Pacis 
 es; afpira nobis fraternam charitatem. Tu DEUS, 
 miferere fupplicum tuorum ; fis (ut beatus PAULUS 
 loquitur) omnia in omnibus; ut univerfus ecclefice 
 tuse chorus confentientibus animis et vocibus confer 
 nantibus gratias de mifericordia inventa agant Patrij 
 
TO THE CLERGY-- 455 
 
 Filio, et Spiritui Sanfto; qui pro perfe&iffimo concor- 
 dice exemplo perfonarum proprietate diftingnuntur, 
 et conjunftione natures adunantur; quibus laus et 
 gloria ad omnem a?ternitatem. Amen. 
 
 OF VOL. I. 
 
 Cruttweli, footer, St. James'u-Strcec, bath. 
 
AN INDEX 
 
 OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS- 
 
 ARTICLE XIX. explained 5 
 
 Anfwer to LE CLERC'S inconfiftency vi6 
 
 AUGUSTINE 3 1 
 
 AUGUSTINE 10 
 
 Apoftolical Pra&ice for the Government of the Church, equal 
 
 to Apoftolical Precept for its Do&rinc a 7 
 
 AUGUSTINE'S Rule for interpreting Scripture 90 
 
 Abfolute Decrees, none in Scripture 95 
 
 Abrahamical Covenant, what 108 
 
 A Gofpel Covenant no 
 
 ANDREWS Bifliop 164 
 
 Advocate, the Holy Ghoft an - 23 % 
 
 Angels, Stars of the Churches, and Bifhops 265 
 
 BLONDEL'S Opinion of Epifcopacy iz 
 
 Bigot, what -43 
 
 Bible, not defigned to furnifh particular information on all 
 
 BARNABAS, ST. 71 
 
 Baptifm, incapacity of Children no Argument againft its 
 
 Adminiftration 104 
 
 Baptifm of JOHN, peculiar preparatory, 114, but no precedent 115 
 
 valid in the Church, why 120 
 
 Bigots of every defcription 209 
 
 Bifhops, Stars of the Churches 263 
 
 BULL Bifhop, of Faith 290, 295 
 
 BACON Lord 419 
 
 CHRIST'S Kingdom, what 3 
 
 Confecration Service -3- 
 
11 AN INDEX 
 
 i 
 
 Church true and lawful, what . 
 
 Conftitution of the Church, unqueftionable 
 
 CALVIN'S Opinion of Epifcopacy 
 
 CAMPBELL'S Dr. ftrange Pofition 
 
 Commiflion exclafive 
 
 Church, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth 
 
 CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS 
 
 Commiflion efiential 1 
 
 Covenanted Title 
 
 Chriftian Charity, what 
 
 Church, the Spoufe of CHRIST, and Mother of Chriftians - 
 Church Jewifh and Chriftian, two Editions of the fame Church 
 Church, the Body of CHRIST 
 CALVIN J. 
 
 Confcience, what it properly is 128 
 
 Covenanted Claim 176 
 
 Covenanted Title, Advantage of it 179 
 
 Church, the Candleftick 364 
 
 CLARENDON'S Speech after the Reftoration 313 
 
 CLAUDE'S Opinion of the Diflenters 318 
 
 Catholic Spirit, kept alive by the Church * 330 
 
 CALVIN, on the Defects of Minifters 338 
 
 CYPRIAN'S Account of the early Church 34 a 
 
 Corruption of the Church of Rome, the Ground of our Se- 
 paration 374 
 
 Connexion between Church and State* accidental 387 
 
 Churches, Increafe of neceflary - , 433 
 
 Clergy, their Character particularly important in thefe times 443 
 
 Doubtful Opinion, what 21 
 
 DURY'S Opinion of the ancient Government 33 
 
 Doctrines not to be kept back, becaufe they may be offenfive 46 
 
 Doctrines, if found, not anfwerable for Confequences 4? 
 
 Defign of the Church 15 
 
 Delivery of Commiflion to the Apoftles, 19, and Nature of it a a 
 
 DIOTREPHES, a Schifmatic ji 
 
OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS. Ill 
 
 Declaration from BREDA 14* 
 
 DhTcnter from the Church of England, a Schifmatic grafted 
 
 on a Proteftant 15* 
 
 Divifion, hoftile to Chriitianity 528 
 
 Debtor, GOD to Man, in what fenfe 276 
 
 Difference between the Science of Religion and other Sci- 
 ences, as progreflive Sciences 405, 406 
 Diftinction between the Church of CHRIST and Church of 
 
 England, imaginary 438, 440 
 
 Doctrine found, necefiary to prevent Separation from the 
 Church 446 
 
 EfTentials and Circumftantials ~ 25 
 
 EfTentials to be preferved in the way of Divine Appointment 32 
 
 Elect People cannot fall < 86 
 
 Election, how underftood - 94 
 
 ESAU and JACOB'S Cafe fhted 97, and explained, in its re- 
 ference to Gentiles and Jews - 98, 99 
 
 Evangelical, the Abrahamical Covenant ~ 109 
 
 EUSEBI us, of the Primitive Church - 181 
 
 Extemporary Prayers, compared with a compofed Form - 187 
 Extraordinary and Ordinary Affiftance diftinguimed 234, 236 238 
 
 Eftablifhment Church, its Foundation 383, not temporary * 386 
 
 Eftablifhment, Dr. PALEY'S yiew of its political not fpiritual 388 
 
 Eftablifhment necefTary 394 
 
 Enquiry not checked by Confeflions 395 
 
 Equality among Chriftians, how to be underftood 434 
 
 ERASMUS, his excellent Prayer . 44 g 
 
 Form of Prayer to be preferred to extemporary, why 194 
 
 Form of Prayer, Scotch Covenanter's Objection to it 197 
 
 Faith, abftractedly confidered . ~-~ 278 
 
 Faitii properly diftinguifhed 279 
 
 Faith According to St. JAMES'S Defcription 287 
 
 Faith, profelling and practifing - , 394 
 
 Faith Articles of, Dr. PALEv'sloofe Opinion on this Subject 39$ 
 
IV AN INDEX 
 
 Government of Church, Epifcopal j 
 Government of the Church - . 17, 1 8 
 
 GROVE'S Bifhop Definition of a Church 44 
 
 GROVE'S Conclusion, on Schifm 6a 
 
 GREGORY NAZIANZEN 357 
 
 Government Church, not founded in any exprefs Command 
 
 revealed, totidem verlis r 385 
 
 General and ambiguous Pofitions inadmiflible 414,416,417 
 
 HAMMOND'S Comment on i TIM. iii, 15 -*- 23 
 
 HOOKER'S Enquiry, important 40 
 
 High Churchman 43 
 
 HOOKER'S decided Teftimony 31 
 
 HICKES on the Jewifh (Economy, and Chriftian Church, as 
 
 Counterparts 33 
 
 HAMMOND on Schifm >. 41 
 
 His Character of it 60 
 
 Holinefsj no Difpenfation for regular Appointment 67 
 Holinefs, inftanced in our SAVIOUR, a regular Commiffion 
 
 thtjtne qua non in this Cafe ; 70 
 
 Holinefs of Office, independent of the Minifter - 71 
 
 Harmony of Prayer in the Church i8a 
 
 HOOKER, on extemporary Prayer 188 
 
 HICKES, ditto 332 
 
 HALL Bifhop, on Unity 340 
 
 HICKES, on excellent Quotation from 345 
 
 HORSELEY Bifhop -s 368 
 
 HOADLEY Bifhop 369 
 
 HENDERSON, CHARLES I. Reply to - 413 
 
 IGNATIUS, IRENA:US r 27 
 
 Intolerance, a Characterise of Error rather than of Truth 46 
 ST. JEROM on the Correfpondence between the Jewifh and 
 
 Chriftian Church 33 
 
 ST. JEROM'S Argument drawn from it 34 
 
 T. IGNATIUS'S decifive Teftimony, 37, and Conclufion 
 
 . from the Premifes ^ . ^ * 3$ 
 
OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS. V 
 
 ST. IGNATJUS'S Teftimony for Epifcopacy 53 
 
 infants capable of Baptifm 105 
 
 Infant Baptifm, pra&ifed by the Jews na 
 
 Independence, natural Spirit of i?3 
 
 JONES W. Quotation from him 253 
 
 INGATIUS, fpeaking of Truth 288 
 
 Juftification, how understood 28* 
 
 JEWELL Bifhop, oppofed to HOADLEY and WARBURTON, on 
 
 the Subject of Proteftantifm 373 
 
 Importance of the Character of the Clergy, in thde Times 
 
 in particular 44; 
 
 KING on the Creed 
 
 KORAH, the Nature of his Sin 
 
 Its parallel in the Chriftian Church 
 
 KORAH'S Plea of Holinefs 
 
 LE CLERC'S Inconfiftency 
 
 London Cafes 
 
 LUTHER, faying of 
 
 LAW, his Opinion on J. WESLEY'S Plan 
 
 Liberality, Term miiapplied 
 
 LESLEY 
 
 LUTHER ' 
 
 Liturgy, Advantages of it 
 Liturgy, Excellence of it *- 
 
 LESLEY, on Schifm 
 
 Love, the Badge of Chriftians 
 
 Latitudinarian Mode of fettling Chriftian Subjects 
 
 LACTANTIUS 
 
 LAW'S Judgment on Epifcopacy 
 
 Liberty not checked by Confeffions 
 
 Liberality of Sentiment, mifnamed Charity 
 LOCKE Mr. >- 
 
 . MELAKCTHON 2* 
 
 , the Eftablifher of Prefbytery * 33 
 
INDEX 
 
 Merit, Romifh Doftrine of - 
 
 Morality of the Chriftian - 
 
 Moral Preaching neceffary 
 
 Man's Title to eternal Life, what 
 
 MORLEY Bifhop, Opinion of BAXTER 
 
 Minifter, the Caufe of GOD not affected by 
 
 Minifters of the Church feparating from it, irreconcileable 
 
 with canonical Obligation - 423 
 
 Such Minifters guilty of Schifm, - - . 424 
 
 Numbers againft an Eftablifhment furnifli no Argument 37 
 Non-elTentials of Chriftianity, 322, confounded, 323, and 
 
 enquired into ....... - 327 
 
 Origen, on Prayer - - - 195 
 
 Occafional Separation^ - 261 
 
 Ordinances, effectual from CHRIST'S Inftitution - 268 
 
 Obedience canonical, Oath of 423 
 
 Practice Catholic, a Bafis of Epifcopacy 23 
 
 Piety true, not neceflarily eccentric - : 24 
 
 Plea of Confcience mould be well examined - 132, 134 
 
 Proteftantifm explained 148 
 Praying by the Spirit explained - - 190, 192 
 Praying by the Spirit, in the enthufiaftic Senfe of the Expreffion 193 
 
 Prayer Common, why fo called 196 
 
 Prayer and Preaching compared - - 202 
 
 Puritans, great Perfecutros - 208 
 
 Pride, HOOKER on - - 229 
 
 Puritans in America, their Conduct ; - 334 
 
 Progreffive Faith, abfurd - - 365 
 PALEY Dr. againft Epifcopacy as a fettled Form of Church 
 
 Government - ...... 380 
 
 PRIESTLEY Dr. his Difcourfe on Free Enquiry - 403 
 
 Quaker's Confcience, mifcalled - 130 
 
 Reviewer, Anti-Jacobin * - - 40 
 
 Road to Heaven through the Church -** 10 
 
OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS. vu 
 \ 
 
 Rule to direct Men in their Judgment on the Subject of 
 
 Right of Private Judgment 145 
 
 Rebellion and Schifm connected > 2ia 
 
 Reformation, the Defireof it depends on Circumftances 213 
 
 Remedy the, may be worfe than the Difeafe 214 
 
 Religion of Man, fuited to his Condition 246 
 
 ,Roman Catholic like other Formaliils 248 
 
 Reconciliation, how underftood . . 293 
 Rtafons of Dr. PALEY againft a fettled Church Government 
 
 Reformation not to be nattily adopted 400 
 
 Reformation of Religion does not confift in modernizing it, 
 
 but in reftoring it to its primitive Standard 407 
 
 Reformation of our Church built on this 'Ground 407 
 
 Rule of Conduct for a Chriftian Miniiler 42* 
 
 SHERLOCK, on the Reformation it 
 
 Society, a Church, CHRIST the Head of it 18 
 
 Schifm, Derivation of the Word 4 1 
 
 Schifm, its Nature and Quality 45 
 
 - , Rule for Direction on this Subject 47 
 
 , where to be found 5^ 
 
 SHARP Archbifhop, on Schifm 61 
 
 SOUTH 8f 
 
 Samaritan, the good __ g^ 
 
 Seals, Baptifm and Circumcifion . * no 
 
 Seals of the fame Covenant in 
 
 Seal, its Validity depends on the CommuTion of the Party 
 
 affixing it n^ 
 Separation from the Church of England diftinguiflied from 
 
 that of Separation from the Church of Rome 148, 149 
 
 Sacraments, Seals 177 
 
 Salvation, none out of the Church, how to be underftood 17$ 
 
 Spiritual Prayer, Definition of it 199 
 
 Separation, fatal to Peace 407 
 
Vlll INDEX OF PRINCPAL MATTERS. 
 
 Scotch Covenanters, their zeal 7 2& 
 
 Saint's everlafting Reft, BAXTER 315 
 Subfcriptions, Dr. PALEv'sloofe Notion on this head, 398, 
 
 his Objection to them 402 
 
 Standard of Authority, no fettled, according to Dr. PALEY 41 1 
 
 SHARP Archbiihop 447 
 
 Bifhop TAYLOR, on Church Government - 8 
 
 TERTULLIAN'S Argument againft Heretics 28 
 
 Bimop TAYLOR ' 28, 30 
 
 Toleration Civil, not Religious, an Aft of Sufpenfion 135. 
 
 Text of St. MATTHEW xxviii, 19, 20, explained 240 
 
 Text of St. JOHN iii. 5, explained 241 
 
 TERTULLIAN on the Rule of Faith, in contradiction to Dr. 
 
 PALEY -v Wi 
 
 Uniformity, Act of 138 
 
 Union, only within the Church " 206 
 
 Unneoeffary Articles mentioned by Dr. PALEY fliould be 
 
 pointed out 413' 
 
 Unity of the Church, how to be preferred 449 
 
 WESLEY JOHN, fent Bimops to America 34 
 
 Words, in a perverted fenfe 4fc 
 
 Words taken for Things 134 
 WILBERFORCE'S Practical View 282, 283, 291, 302, 306 
 
 WALKER'S Sufferings of Clergy 316 
 
 WARBURTON Bifhop, on Church Communion 369 
 WARBURTON'sDiftinction between the Jewifhand Chriftiaa 
 
 Church unfounded ' 375*376, 
 
 Mifrepreientation of CHRIST'S Kingdom 378 
 
 Zeal Chriflian, what io 
 FINIS. 
 
 Cruttwell, Printer, St. James's-Street,Bath. 
 
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